Low Frequency (2023)

Irregular Frequency

I'm not sure how a novel adaptation has managed to become a dull and sometimes boring TV series. This show had the perfect combination (or imperfect, maybe) of bad editing, an interesting plot that turned into a laugh, questionable acting and a small studio that has already produced very mediocre BLs such as Hidden Love and What's Zabb Man. So, let's talk about each.

1. The plot is not a new one as we've seen plenty of ghost-human Thai BLs starting with "He's Coming to Me" (with Ohm and Singto), "Peach of Time" (the Korean-Thai co-production with Jimmy and Tommy) and the more recent "Something in My Room" and "Ghost Host, Ghost House", among others of course. All the series I mentioned had the mystery component of finding either who killed the ghost, why, how and finding a way for the soul to reach the afterlife safely. In this case, Thames has an apparent accident that leaves him in a comma and, suddenly, his soul leaves his body and he is able to communicate with Mon (his manager's brother) and interact with him. The pair form a type of Sherlock Holmes-Watson dynamic trying to find clues as to who caused Thames's accident and why before time runs out for his soul to return to his body (otherwise he'll die). So far, it sounds good, right? Well, that's as far it goes because the storyline falls into the same traps we've grown used to in recent BLs where managers or agents or producers try to exploit actors for their own benefit (Thames is a famous actor in this series). Thames discovers the tricks Thanit is doing while managing Ai, records him, and Thanit discovers Thames and chases him down and almost kills him. So, sadly, instead of trying to find something a bit more original or creative, we have all the usual pitfalls that are increased by the terrible...

2. Editing... oh boy! The problem of having a series with only 8 episodes is that the producer and the director have to be on-point and be almost flawless in the way they link the scenes to solve the mystery and give us a happy ending. Unfortunately, this doesn't happen as some of the continuity in the scenes got lost by having flashbacks to tell us what happened to Thames at the party before the accident and also to introduce some of the characters and their storylines. In one scene Thames and Mon will be talking in Mon's house and the next scene he will be sitting in his work desk talking to his friend Pete or Thames will be chatting with the house guardian Guy and next he will be cuddling with Mon in the living room. Some of the major moments did not get the proper editing like Thanit's capture (a joke of a scene by the way) in episode 7 or the non-sense between Guy and Thames just before he comes back to life where magically, we find out that the house guardian was actually Mon's childhood friend who died in an accident and that Mon blames himself for all these years but he never recognizes him at all?! Now, not all is the issues happened because of the editing... some have to do because of the...

3. Poor acting. I get it, Guitar and Ping are cute and look good together... end of story. The reality is they had virtually zero chemistry and I don't know why they were instructed to give their lines the way they did (actually, all the actors were the same). Thames will say a line, he will wait for 5 seconds of staring into Mon's eyes, silence, Mon will then say his line, wait another 5 seconds and just stare into Thames's eyes, rinse and repeat. ALL the actors did the same and I'm not sure why the acting coach and the director decided to do this. No actor had really complicated lines with medical terms or difficult words or had to talk for a long time... so I think this prevented me from being more engaged in the story as I was just pressing the fast forward button to skip several seconds of silence and awkward stares. The chemistry part is a bit more worrying as the lead couple had Ping trying too hard to be cute and Guitar not doing enough as he fell flat in most scenes, in my opinion, to be the lead couple.
The other actors were there just to be there... Mon's sister Bua seems like a possible culprit of Thames's accident when she pulls out Thames cellphone out of nowhere in episode 3 or 4. Then, she disappears for a lot of moments and stays at the hospital with the grandmother but does nothing relevant. Pete is a useless character who works with Mon and later ends up being the son of a mafia boss (another laughable storyline). Ai is exploited by his manager Thanit as he has to have sex with clients until he lures Thanit to catch him. Beam (playing Mark in this series) has already appeared in a few BLs (most notably "Check Out", where he has an extra steamy scene near the end of the series) but in this series he likes Ai without anything interesting happening between them aside from brief flirting scenes. The house guardian, played by Bonus (who we saw in the disasters that were "What Zabb Man!", "Gen Y" and "Gen Y Season 2") also does nothing until he appearently helps Thames's soul to return to his body before telling him he is Mon's childhood friend.
And, let's talk about the scenes in episode 7 where Thanit gets caught... Pete brings his mafia gang to catch him and despite being surrounded by 6 gunmen plus Mon, Ai, and Mark, he still manages to have a half-ass fight and shoots his gun. I mean, there is no police in Thai BLs or all the characters are masochists who enjoy getting hurt or putting themselves at risk just to be the heroes?

So, once again, Kantana gives us a nice idea but a far from ideal end result.

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slow frequency

Overall: a promising start was bogged down by slow pacing, nonsense plot things and a lack of chemistry. 8 episodes about 40 minutes each. Aired on iQIYI. Re-aired on Kantana Kol YouTube channel.

Content Warnings: murder, attempted murder, violence, coercion, manipulation, vomiting, drug dealing, non con picture taking

What I Liked
- Thames' manager and Mon's friend?/sister? was a good wingwoman
- Thames bought lube at that convenience store
- good reveal in ep 7
- ep 8 glad they didn't go a cliche plot route at the beginning
- negative consequences for the evil doer
- production value, natural light towards the end of ep 4

Room For Improvement
- the series moved really slowly at times
- because they didn't show right away why Thames liked Mon I couldn't enjoy their sweet moments (and even then that's a pretty weak reason to like someone that much)
- the first scene was horror/serious which then didn't fit with the fluffy intro, eventually we do learn what happened in the past
- not much world building/convenient world building (can't taste food, then randomly can taste food)
- nonsense plot things (terrible unbodyguards, why did the other ghosts look like zombies?, why is a stroke victim getting an mri and then appears to be totally fine a couple days later? why are they at docks but there is zero boats/water?)
- flashback transitions needed to be more clear
- very choppy, they'd be somewhere and then suddenly somewhere else
- dead fish lip presses

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A lot more mystery than romance

The premise of the series is not really my cup of tea but I decided to give it a go anyways as the trailer looked interesting. Sadly, the series didn’t really deliver. I put the majority of the blame for this on the script, editing and styling choices.

The script was not really well thought out. Most of the time, things were very slow moving and there was not nearly enough going on. There are a lot of things that also don’t have an actual explanation and / or proper conclusion. Or proper background information. Even just takin Mon as a lost soul into consideration – sometimes he can’t taste food or travel through walls and doors, and other times he can. It was a lot of inconsistency. Let’s not comment on what they did with the scene where the bad guy is caught. That was a disaster.

The editing cuts were sometimes done very strangely, so the jumps from one scene to another didn’t always look good. The flashbacks were okay, but I think the transitions between past and present should have been clearer. As for styling choices, the ghosts looked horrible and more like they have risen from the dead.

Mon & Thames: Mon does appear as a relatable character (which is more than I can say for a few others). He does appear kind of awkward, and I honestly don’t fully understand some of his decisions. Thames can seem quite arrogant at times, but we also see his more realistic and down-to-earth side when he is with his grandma. We do get some cute moments between the two, but their relationship just happens. There is not really any clarity on why they like each other. They just do. I also think that the two actors didn’t really have a good chemistry. There were times when they appeared really awkward with each other and I am not sure if this is due to the characters or the actors. I am loving Ping as Thames, I think he does well in the role, but Guitar’s portrayal of Mon does feel a bit flat at times.

The side characters were fun, I guess. I really liked Bua, she was a good friend and manager to both boys. The other two actors were a bit of a mess, I didn’t really like either of them. And the guardian spirit did very little guarding, but that’s fine. Mon’s work friend was an easy way out in the end, and I didn’t find his character persuasive.

A lot of focus was on the mystery part of the plot while the romantic aspect of it was not done well. It was lacking. I did enjoy most of the mystery stuff though, but there were a few situations that didn’t necessarily make a lot of sense or were just done in a weird manner that didn’t really fit the narrative or the characters.

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Ping was the best actor

I would have dropped this series if it weren't for the story being very very interesting and Ping was just so darn cute and really good at his character.

Guitar seemed a bit off his game. I'm thinking that maybe he was getting sick or he was exhausted. I don't have to have hot passionate scenes for BL. they could be light and fluffy... But Guitar just did not seem to warm up to Ping or pick up what ping was laying down if that makes any sense.
They seem to have really good chemistry at the beginning of the show but towards the end things changed... not in the plot, but in the way the Guitar was reacting. again I think maybe he was sick.

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Inconsistent

This drama was boring and had an inconsistent storyline.
There were details that did not progress or make the story more interesting at all' while there were a lack of details that would have explained things a little better.

The acting was inconsistent as well, some scenes were acted out well, while other were not.

The music was good though' Guitar and Ping have very nice voices.

One thing I did like and I wish they would have added more detail on was the story line of Mr. House Spirit. If written, directed, and acted well, that has potential to make a good drama by itself.

I will not be rewatching this series. I hope all the people involved get a chance to do better on what ever projects they work on next.

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too bad

It was an interesting supernatural premise and I agree the editing and direction were sub par...almost amateurish. There isn't much chemistry between the leads and the celeb was so lackluster in his energy, dull, trite facial expressions and plodding ways it was hard to imagine him being an international celebrity. If you have hours to kill and nothing else to watch it will slowly pass the time.
If you want to watch something fun, well acted, finely directed, paced with great visuals and chemistry and a supernatural element check out MARRY MY DEAD BODY. Show what you can do with talent and imagination

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Good show, bad editing.

It's not the worst BL out there, but it's also not the best.

The story itself is an interesting concept. I think what really hurts this show is not the show or actors themselves, but whoever the editor/team is. The amount of jump cuts between scenes is insane. One minute they're asleep and the next they're sitting together at a random waterfall? One minute you're in the present and the next the past, or the future. It feels clunky and hard to follow sometimes. Whoever edited the show let some things drag, get stagnant, and also jump around random clips without any real transition. Sometimes I was confused as to what or why something was happening. I questioned if I missed a scene or scenes just ended up deleted.

As far as the actors, I think they've done fine acting their roles. The kiss scene was just barely lip touching not actual kissing. That's really my only complaint about the actors.

I look forward to finishing the show and solving the mystery within! This is definitely worth watching, I just don't think the editors did this show justice.

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A bit of a let-down

I generally like to go into shows completely blind, so you can imagine my surprise when the story barely even advanced. Ping really sold the show for me, so he was the only reason I watched all of it.

what bothers me the most about this series is how uninteresting most of the cast is. Bua was also questionable for me, as she was portrayed as being someone plotting something… or I could’ve just had the wrong idea about her… who knows. I’m not that interested in knowing.

what I did truly love was how good both guitar and ping sing, they compliment each other so well musically.

other than this random praiseable moments, Low Frequency is only a casual watch. I was hoping for so much more, it’s a shame these series with high potential aren’t being written out thoroughly.

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Bof bof...

Comme souvent il y a une idée de départ correcte et hélas, le résultat n'est pas génial. Les acteurs ont faits ce qu'ils pouvaient avec un scénario assez foutraque et des incohérences : Guy est décédé à l'âge de 10 ans et 18 ans plus tard il a pris 18 ans! Je ne pensais pas que les fantômes vieillissaient! ; Un fils de mafieux qui aide un brave collègue à contrer un autre mafieux! Je crois plutôt que les mafieux se tiennent les coudes!
Si au moins il y avait eu plus de moments tendres et sensuels entre les protagonistes, cela aurait privilégié la romance. Les baisers manquaient cruellement de réalisme.
Pour être un peu positive, les caractères assez opposés des deux protagonistes principaux étaient intéressants même si ce n'est pas nouveau ; les personnages féminins étaient normaux et pas homophobes ou hystériques fanas de BL, c'était très reposant.
Ce n'est pas le pire des BL mais ce n'est pas non plus celui dont on se souviendra pour 2023.

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Interesting idea but a little slow

This wasn’t a terrible show by any means, but it just felt like it dragged on and it was missing a spark of excitement.

The storyline itself was quite enjoyable and the mystery was a good blend of suspense and letting us see the side character’s stories, but it did feel like there was a lot of filler at times and it probably could’ve been condensed down a few episodes.

The main couple were nice enough and they had some cute fun moments, but there was a bit of a lack of chemistry and the few kisses were awkward and bland (one was fully eyes open and it’s such a pet peeve of mine!!).

My favourite part of the whole show was the House Guardian - he was absolutely wonderful and easily the best and most interesting character, he won the show at least an extra star in my rating.

Probably not one I’d rewatch but if you’re looking for something low angst, low drama and easy to watch then this fits the bill.

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É triste quando você tem uma história interessante, mas uma direção ruim e um roteiro confuso estragam tudo. Gosto de histórias com reviravoltas sobrenaturais, então a série chamou minha atenção. O fato de Thames ter entrado em coma e se tornado um espírito torna a série interessante, mas infelizmente a série faz uma leitura superficial de uma história paranormal, fazendo meu interesse diminuir após cada episódio. Não me importo com um ritmo lento, desde que o roteiro consiga manter o público envolvido e interessado na história, o que não foi o caso. Personagens somem e aparecem do nada. Algumas coisas são simplesmente risíveis. De modo geral, a atuação do elenco em geral é boa e eles cumprem seus papéis, com destaque para a atuação da avó do Thames. Gosto que Thames, apesar de famoso, tenha uma personalidade pé no chão, compartilhe um relacionamento próximo com a avó e uma química fofa com Mon. Gosto do visual elegante e das filmagens ao ar livre.

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Interesting BL mystery

I enjoyed the series overall. It was an interesting take on a BL mystery. There are some parts like repeating the flashback was not needed as much as they did it and I would have liked a bit more explanation about Mon's abilities. I wish Mon's best friend Pete and house spirit/brother Guy had a bigger parts both looked like an interesting characters. I found Mark and Ai relationship weird and was annoying and they don't tell you how Ai and Thanes history. A lot of backstory missing to help the story come better together, but the chemistry was nice and they had good funny moments and touching moments. It had a lot of potential to be better but it was good overall for new actors. I did enjoy the big twist of faith connection to each of the two leads and the house spirit. Cried a lot as the ending was sweet and had a few touching moments. Wish more intimate moments too. I enjoyed it for a light hearted mystery was fun to watch for first time lead actors.

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