Give it a try

This review is a LONG time coming because I watched the show months ago, but I couldn't think of what to put in my review once I finished it. I thought giving it some time would help and then I promptly forgot to actually do it.

Since High Street (sequel to Senior High) just started airing, I decided to write it now.
Here's the review:

⚠️ CONTENT WARNINGS ⚠️
The show contains depictions of bullying, violence, SA, murder and much more. I found it pertinent to include this because the depictions are rather explicit, and caution may be exercised before watching.

I started watching this because I came across some clips on YouTube, but I decided I wasn't going to watch an 50 episodes (100+ with both seasons) just to catch a glimpse of two people who may or may not become a couple. I decided the clips were enough until I realised that I didn't really have the complete context of the story, plot wise or romance wise, since both seemed to be integral for my understanding.

I then caved and started watching it, deciding that if I didn't like it, I could just stop. And would you know it, I couldn't stop. The show is dramatic, a little cringey, and downright impossible at times (most of the time), but it keeps you invested.
It's the kind of series where the kids have more common sense, compassion and just plain humanity compared to the adults. It's more dramatic than it needs to be and that's probably what worked.

The story follows Sky Love Cruz, a recent transferee to Northford High, the school which her twin Luna Amore Cruz attends. Not long after, Luna dies of an apparent suicide, but Sky thinks otherwise and decides to investigate. As she rules out suspects and gains allies, she discovers the deep, dark secrets of the school and the people in it.

Without giving away much about the plot (which I won't either way because it's far more complicated than one would expect) the story manages to keep you on your toes the entire time. Yes, the scenes are drawn out, yes plot points could have been concluded much faster than they actually did, but there is a high chance that you'll be invested either way. It very much reminded me of the soap operas we get on television where I live, and maybe the familiarity made me like it a bit more.

Now, I will admit that both seasons have sort of become one in my mind because I watched them at a stretch, but I do vaguely remember where they made the cut, and season 1 provided quite the setup for an even more dramatic, over the top and traumatic viewing.

Give it a try and see if you like it. If I'm being completely objective, this is not everyone's cup of coffee, maybe even not mine but be what it may, it surprised me and maybe it'll surprise you as well.

Leia Mais

What Did YOU Eat Yesterday?

Every once in a while, when the drama and conflicts feel too much, when you find the need to watch something that feels like a warm embrace, when you want to watch people navigate real issues with grace and sensitivity, I hope you'll think about this series.

I'll keep this short and sweet. Watching two people in love, handling their lives in the best possible manner makes you incredibly happy. Watching them influence the lives of those around them and get influenced by the very same people, watching them grow and evolve as they solve problems big and small, issues important and relevant, all while maintaining the healthiest of relationships is something admirable.

So I'll just say this. If you ever find yourself searching for a drama where every scene feels like a conversation you can witness in real life, where food plays an important role, whether it's to discuss issues or bring people together, or simply satisfy your craving, where you may get the sense that you're somehow part of this huge family, where it's just genuine happiness on screen, I hope you'll think about this series.

Leia Mais

Food and Love

There's something incredibly beautiful about watching two people already in love developing their relationship, handling issues together and just being incredibly in love. It's even better with food.

There isn't anything to say when asked what I didn't like, it's just that sort of wholesome vibe you get when you see a couple who've been together for a while and are just comfortably in love now. Yes, they have their issues big and small, but you get to watch with the confidence that there isn't going to be some overly dramatic, long drawn out fight. You can watch with the confidence that the only overly dramatic moments will be their reactions.

Above anything else, it tackles a lot of relevant and personal issues with a lot of nuance and sensibility. I loved seeing that.

A really sweet movie and a worthy sequel.

Leia Mais

A few ups and downs, but mostly serves

Man Suang is a solid production.

Though this may be a fictional story, it is intricately connected to the events of the time period, including the societal norms of the time period. The movie also showcases the political and cultural landscape of Thailand in a realistic way. When you produce a fictional account set in a very real and turbulent political and historical period, it is bound to get confusing at times, but for what it's worth, they did an admirable job.

Coming to the actual story, it was quite predictable. Like I mentioned, historical stories require a certain amount of explanation and background to be fully appreciated, and while I would have preferred that, the storytelling was solid for the most part. The characters are well fleshed out, the motives were clear and despite the fact that the mysteries were easily solved and the plotlines were succinctly wrapped up. The ending left something to be desired, but I guess that's what the sequel's for.

One thing that needs to be cleared up: there's no romance. This is a political thriller through and through, and even with the occasional glances, I'm glad it didn't develop into a romance. Including a full fledged romance would have taken a lot of time, and this was already chock full of events that including more scenes would have messed up something that already felt like it lacked a few things.

I probably wouldn't re-watch this, maybe if I wanted to see if I missed some details. More than anything, it was a pretty good watch and it will keep you invested.

Leia Mais

It's a wide universe..

First off, with the sheer amount of stories, they probably should have aired two episodes a week. It is an anthology, but several characters appear in multiple stories and there is a sense of continuation to them all. They are set in the same universe after all.

While there wasn't anything extraordinary about these stories, some of them were mildly interesting, others were plain boring, and some seemed borderline criminal (before they changed the synopsis), but something they all had in common was the fact that the premises were kind of interesting. This seemed like a set of pilot episodes to determine which one would garner the most attention and love, that would then be developed into a full length series, like an En of Love type of deal. Fair, but considering they had neither the airtime to fully develop most stories, nor the fact that they didn't realise if they weren't going to fully develop it, there wasn't a need to extend it for as long as they did just to fill the runtime was a huge misstep on their part.

That isn't to say that the anthology didn't have it's moments. I enjoyed several stories that had the hints of a good plot, solid acting and most importantly, potential to be done better, in case they do. While the rest didn't lack in potential, they failed to capture my attention because of repetitive and boring scenes, weak acting and poor execution.

I would definitely watch stories like Marry Go Round (although that's mostly for the leads), You Are My So(ul) Mate, Lucky Love and The Camp Fire if they were developed into full length series', as is. As for the rest, even though I'm interested in seeing if they would be remade, it'll take a great executional overhaul for me to give them a try.

Leia Mais

Mirror mirror on the wall..

Why weren't you used at all?! I genuinely thought the mirror would play a bigger role than simply making all the characters dream, but I'll let it pass because they did actually use it to set up the story.

I Wish You Love is the story of Pond, who takes extreme pride and caution in his looks and the way he presents himself. Naturally, he has a huge collection of mirrors and takes extremely good care of them. When he accidentally breaks one of his mirrors and obtains a replacement from a second hand store, he discovers that he can see his old junior Marwin in his dreams.

Initially terrified and later curious, he visits Marwin in person and finds that he's sick and confined himself to his house. Seeing all this, he decides to help Marwin step outside and hopefully fulfill some unresolved wishes he has.

The rest of the series pretty much follows all the things Marwin wants to do, and them doing it which is sweet yes, but.. that's it. It's difficult to create emotional depth and a steady story in two episodes, but it's definitely possible. While the message they tried to get across with all the scenes was obvious, it only managed to be displayed in bits and pieces. There was a lot of time wasted on unnecessary scenes, heavy dialogue that didn't quite cut it and a plot that was half baked to give room for another plotline. This is the kind of story that required either a longer runtime or more episodes, but in a bid to keep it interesting and short, they messed up the execution.

They tried to do the best they could and you can see they put some effort into it, but unfortunately it was just missing that spark that takes it from an okay story to "okay, this story is heart breaking and amazing".

Leia Mais

Pluto, Black Holes and Revolutions

This was actually a pretty poignant little story, just like the previous miniseries in this anthology. A story about separation and fledgling feelings, done in a different way than expected.

The story is from the POV of Tod from Pisces of Love, his experience since he moved to Khon Kaen at the beginning of the previous anthology, and his memories involving Nick, his tutor in Bangkok, and someone he left behind. Through flashbacks and narration, we see the events that transpired from the moment they first met to the moment they separated.

What's incredibly obvious is that they're both very important to each other. Nick definitely sees Tod as a younger brother, and whether Tod sees him as something more is left upto ambiguity. Regardless, they have a huge significance in the other's life. The ending is bittersweet and kind of open, since this was more of an exploration of their feelings and thoughts more than anything, it made sense.

A good miniseries, slow at times and not really one that has a plot per se, but compared to the way they marketed this, I'd say it's a relief they took this approach.

Leia Mais

Friends Forever

What could have been huh? There's no telling though because absolutely nothing happened in the two episodes. It took an episode and a half for the contents of the synopsis to take place, leaving no room for anything else to happen.

What followed was a whole lot of flashbacks, which would've been understandable if this was a long format series with a lot of twists and turns and actual intrigue and suspense about who the murderer is. Unfortunately, since everything is incredibly obvious, the flashbacks play no role. It would have at least made sense if they were just showed once, but one scene was shown as a flashback multiple times, and this applied for several scenes.

It's a shame though, because there was absolutely no story beyond the synopsis, no proper genre you could think it is, and not even a proper conclusion to what could have been a solid miniseries.

Leia Mais

Confusing, from beginning to end

This has got to be one of the most confusing miniseries' I've ever watched, because you can see what they tried to say with the story and at the same time, you can't. I have so many doubts about episode 1 but I can't remember them because they've been replaced by equally confusing doubts about episode 2!

The actual premise they wanted to execute is quite interesting, ghost of the lead's ex - boyfriend takes over the body of someone the lead detests, but ex - boyfriend can't let anyone know it's him in the body of the casanova, simple enough. They screwed up the execution though, and boy how! The thoughts and actions of the characters rarely line together, the dialogue and narration is so messy that it's impossible to distinguish between the flashbacks and the present, and there are so many plot holes. More often than not, it's like the ex - boyfriend cannot remember that he mustn't reveal his identity because he's dropping clues everywhere. There's a weird love square between the lead, the ex - boyfriend, the casanova and the lead's sister, I mean, you have to see it to believe it.

You can tell what they wanted to do though, they wanted to create something sad and angsty, but with the runtime and the way they bungled the story, there's only so much they can present. Interesting premise that just faltered.

Leia Mais

A cute tourism ad, that does what it should

For 6 short episodes, each under 10 minutes, there isn't much to expect, but it does what it needed to do while giving us some cute, and some genuinely romantic scenes that pull on the heart strings.

The series itself is an anthology of stories promoting tourism and sustainability in Thailand, and they did a wonderful job merging the values with the story without making it seem too much like an advertisement.

The stories themselves are short, there isn't much backstory, but you can feel the connection between the leads and they're really cute. There are some sudden changes in genre, but that episode ended up being my favourite.

A short and sweet series.

Leia Mais

So this series was not initially available where I live, but after I started watching it, I could not stop!
This series is EVERYTHING!
Now this series uses the engineer trope very well, but it isn’t nothing I’ve not seen before, that’s my only complaint about this series.

THE STORY:
The story is good. Duen has to buy flowers for Bohn every morning for a month. The story starts from here and evolves into the relationship of four total couples - Bohn/Duen, Ram/King, Boss/Mek, and Thara/Frong(Yim). The rest of the season is the evolution of their relationships.

THE ACTING:
I’m very pleased with the acting in the series. Each character is well written and actually have substance unlike some other series’ I’ve watched. Sometimes the actors can be uncomfortable with their roles, and they were decidedly so at some points in the series, they managed to make up for it very well. This may be the first series for several of these actors, but credit where credit is due.

THE PRODUCTION :
Very good production. One thing I’ve already mentioned is the engineering trope which is overused according to me, but other than that I’ve got no problem with this production team.

THE OST:
I love the OST’s of several other series’ as well, but this one hits different man! I love the OST and the lyrics of the OST. It’s just so beautiful.

SPOILERS:
I’m going to give only one spoiler. The first kiss is between... Mek and Boss!( Agghhhh!)

THE NEGATIVE:
There’s only one negative and that is the relationship between the leads. While very cute, it’s also a bit toxic. Bohn is prone to fits of jealousy and the episode about the “husband and wife” in the relationship was just unnecessary. Though it is quite usual for jealousy in a relationship, Bohn’s knocks on an unacceptable level. Also the fact that apparently Ryan won’t be returning for season 2 is just disappointing. Just have to see what happens to Mek and Boss.

THE ENDING:
So as previously announced, the series ended on an open note. Bohn and Duen make their relationship official and so do Mek and Boss. Ram King share a kiss, but King decides to not talk about it. Thara and Frong have these moments with Thara finding Frong’s necklace and all, but their arc ends with Thara describing his relationship with Frong as that of a senior and junior. I was ready to be disappointed with the final episode but I was mildly impressed. As for the sad ending Lay was talking about, my best guess is it’s Thara Frong. This was an open ending so for closure, we’ve all just got to wait for season 2.

Overall this series is quite amazing and I would urge you all to give it a try. Thank You!

Leia Mais

Highly ambitious, but faltered along the way

The Sign has everything I adore in a series: romance, mystery, action and that infallible touch of mythology, which is my weakness. Under these circumstances, my rating should be higher, also considering the story is interesting, the plot is airtight (plot holes are one of my peeves), and the chemistry genuinely chemistry - fies.

Not that this is a bad rating, but again, I would generally rate something like this much higher. So let me explain my thought process, starting with the mystery/action aspect. It's solid, it truly is. Albeit slightly predictable and simple, it was consistent. I genuinely loved that they solved multiple cases that umbrella - ed as one big case, and as far as I took note, there were no loose ends or plot holes. Every case they worked seamlessly tied up with the major case through the players, and it even seemed like they would link the mythological aspect to this plotline.

That's where I was wrong. Let's clear this up first: I know it's difficult to incorporate mythology/history into a fictional account. It requires tons of research, poring over books, journals, documents, and so much more. I also understand that when you're working with mythology and history, it's a difficult situation to maneuver, (especially when you're talking about two major characters who's stories have wide and varying interpretations). But there's still room to work with. Without giving away too much, let's just say I expected more. They promised grandeur and complexity, but what we got was absolutely none of that. The entire mythological plotline was tied up to the romance between the leads and not much more.

Which then leads us to.. the romance. I'm going to be completely honest, Billy and Babe, they have chemistry. I did say the chemistry chemistry - fied, and I wasn't lying. They have a hot and cold relationship in the beginning, which I'm going to chalk up to a genuine plot point, it was understandable. Even when you felt they were being bratty, frustrating or just a teensy bit hypocritical, they turned the situation around pretty smoothly and soon. It's really too bad we didn't get to see enough though. This is a totally subjective opinion, but they spent so much time focusing on solving the cases, and the mystery of their past that there was barely any romance. At least for me. And I know it's ironic because I said I appreciated the well developed story, but I wanted romance as well. That's more of a me thing, but I just wanted to mention it.

Let me segue back to my rating now, because despite the positives, I did kind of end up saying they could have improved upon it. That is the reason for my rating.
The truth is, I genuinely enjoyed watching the series. The plot was innovative, the characters were endearing and you all know that I already have a slight bias because of the mythology plot they used. When you watch the series, you can tell they put a ton of effort into this. The cast, the crew, everyone. But I just wanted that little bit more. Again, that's a me thing.

While I do wish they had changed a few things, tied up the loose ends that inevitably cropped up, it was a decent series, and truly one of a kind: I don't see a lot of mythological BLs and it was a rare treat in that sense.

Leia Mais

He will show what is real justice

What is this impenetrable line that holds the balance between justice and vengeance? What is the guarantee that the line forever exists? What happens when someone toes with the line? You know that a drama is intricately complex when it asks these types of questions. And as it may be, the audience may begin to ponder over these very questions, perhaps more as the drama moves along.

Vigilante tells the story of Kim Ji Young, a prospective police officer who adopts the identity of a Vigilante to punish those who have been let off lightly by the law, perpetrators who continue to commit crimes, in an attempt to provide a sense of safety to not only the victims of the crimes, but to the general public.

The drama is efficiently character driven, and there is not one character who is morally white or black, most of all our Vigilante. He is surrounded by characters with an equally ambiguous moral compass, a journalist who cares about ratings as much as the vigilante justice system, a vigilante fanboy who's values don't nearly line up with those of the actual vigilante, and a police officer who serves his own version of vigilantism to catch our dark hero.

When each character performs what they believe is right, a web of chaos is created wherein everyone has to now perfect unprecedented actions to achieve their goals. Beneath it all though, the leads have a common goal, the crux of it all: Justice. While their methods may differ, their morality may sway, they strive to protect the public by performing their own form of justice. This creates conflict and leads to confrontation between the characters where everything they believe in comes into question, until it finally bubbles up to create the complicated connections between the characters.

There were some interesting questions the drama asked, all the while blending it with the quintessential K Drama thriller vibes. Most importantly, the story was gripping and there were no scenes I would categorise as filler/unnecessary. I believe there is much more complexity to the story than they actually showed, sort of like barely scratching the surface, and it will be interesting to see the story play out as a result of Ji Young's state at the end of season 1. Overall, a very solid series in all aspects that I would highly recommend to those who want to get a glimpse of sweet, sweet justice.

Leia Mais

Could have been better

The fact that every apocalypse/disaster series seems more and more similar to one previous is nothing new, it may as well be one of the reasons I'm quickly losing interest in the genre.

Surprisingly enough, they managed to keep it fresh while still maintaining the same formula. They accomplished this by incorporating small details, establishing the story and workings early on, and focusing on the subsequent aftermath.

But even subverting the usual "everything is going to hell" trope, the story is bogged down by clichés you would usually witness in the genre, from the act first, think later characteristic that runs amok amongst all the characters, to the one - dimensional characterisation. There's the usual "who's the real villain?", and the darkness of human nature, everything you would usually see in the genre.

What seemed to be innovative started to take the usual, cliched route the minute it hit the halfway mark and just like that I began losing what little interest I had.

I put this on my list for Koo Kyo Hwan but also because despite my recent disinterest in the genre, I wanted to give the drama a try, and while I can't say I'm dissapointed, I can't say I'm impressed either. The short duration meant a perfect binge watch, but ultimately I didn't rate it as high as I thought I would after the first couple of episodes.

Leia Mais

There is only one you in the world

Part one was near perfection, and this was a masterpiece.

I'm still reeling from what I witnessed because what began as a revenge plot turned into one of the most poignant retrospect about life.

It's all too complicated to explain the experiences and emotions that Yi Jae is put through his 12 reincarnations, the pain of leaving his loved ones behind, losing someone he loves, living not knowing who he is, and living as if he isn't really living. It isn't until he finally experiences the memories and feelings of the 12 people in full does he truly start living.

Once again, the cast just, wow. I have no other words to describe how amazing this cast was. The guest stars, it is incredible how each of them portrayed their own characters, in addition to portraying their character as Yi Jae. Seo In Guk and Park Seo Dam get an extra round of applause, they played off each other so well, and boy can Seo In Guk act! Admittedly, these four episodes were much more emotional than the previous ones and he brought his A game.

This was a genuinely incredible drama, it is difficult to deal with this many genres and still provide a flawless production in just 8 episodes. However the interpretation, whatever it was that caught your attention, this is an enjoyable ride, through and through.

Leia Mais