I wasn't expecting fireworks from Hidden Agenda, but I also didn't expect it to be as bad as it was. I anticipated the name to play a far larger role in the story than it did. It was barely a blip in the bigger picture. The acting, bless Dunk and Joong's hearts, is subpar and it definitely brought the quality down. The OST is kind of fun, but severely overused and it got old very fast. It ended up being a complete train wreck.

The plot was nearly non-existent. There's a bit of an over arcing focus on the debate competition, but it's pretty thin. Besides the romance between Zo and Joke which was underdeveloped, the drama, beyond Episode 5 or so, is mostly made up of various filler story lines that get wrapped up far too quickly to have any kind of meaning. Aspects like Zo's past with Puen, the whole stalker scenario, Zo's and Joke's conflicts with their parents, etc. all were introduced fairly quickly with very little meaningful background and then the issue was typically resolved within an episode or two. The sad part is that several of those story lines could have been interesting. The stalker part had potential, I actually thought it was going to play a much larger role than it did, but it ended up being incredibly lame in part due to how quickly everything was worked out but also because of foolish decisions characters made. The issue with Zo's and Joke's parents could have been introduced much earlier and played a bigger role in the characters' actions and behaviour. Instead they fell flat because of how late in the drama they came in. And then there's the whole "hidden agenda" which was just very poorly planned out. It felt forced and while Zo had every right to be upset, his reaction seemed excessive. In general, it felt very scatter brained and incohesive. The pacing while initially relatively smooth if slow, quickly became inconsistent. The filler episodes were tedious to get through and it felt like the story was going nowhere.

The characters were fairly lackluster. The few that actually breathed some life into the story were unfortunately underutilized. It was disappointing that they weren't given the chance to shine as removing a lot of the filler and giving them more screen time would have significantly improved the drama. Joke and Zo, despite being the main couple, lacked a lot of development in their relationship. There were moments where they seemed to be on the same page, but then there would be conflict out of nowhere. Joke in particular seemed to lack a sense of self. Everything about him was focused on Zo and yet it's never clear exactly why he's so in love with him. Zo's emotions were hard to read which I think was mostly an acting issue, but it made it difficult to identify with and care about the character. There were also some awkward moments between the characters. One that stood out to me was the scene where Joke and Zo have sex for the first time. Zo says he doesn't think he's ready, then apparently changes his mind two seconds later and then looks absolutely terrified when Joke goes to take off his shirt. Joke's actions also felt out of character. Considering how caring and attentive he had been towards Zo up to that point, he felt too assertive in that moment. I imagined him taking things much slower to make sure Zo was comfortable. The energy and emotions just felt very off for an intimate scene. Characters like Jeng, Pok, Kot and Pat added a necessary level of dimension to the story, but were never given full rein to develop into fully realized characters. Jeng and Pok in particular were a great addition as an established couple and frankly I found them to be far more compelling than Joke and Zo. They faced legitimate issues in their relationship that unfortunately were rushed but did provide a nice reprieve from the monotony. Kot and Pat were filtered in mostly as a source of humor, but I generally liked their characters and I think with better planning, they could have served as more than that. I found Nita to be fairly boring. She had some good lines, I did think she deserved to win the scholarship as her answer was the best thought out and compelling, but otherwise she didn't impress me. She felt like the token female character that needed to be present for the lead to crush on before realizing he was actually into guys. As a side note, the whole conflict between Wave and Trin was incredibly contrived and unnecessary. Why they couldn't have just had Wave not like the guy because their personalities clashed or something less convoluted is beyond me. The ending between them felt cliche and unresolved.

The acting, particularly the leads', was underwhelming. Dunk is a sweetheart, he seems like a genuinely nice and good guy, but when it comes to his acting, he really struggles. It felt like he was playing a very slightly different version of Daonuea from SIMM. He either under acts or over acts depending on the scene, emotional scenes are painful to watch, he fails to emote, and he does this weird thing with his head sometimes that I don't even know how to describe. Frankly, I don't know as he's so much acting as just being himself. It's just no bueno. Joong felt like he was portraying a less closed off Khabkluen from SIMM. His performance wasn't bad, just not great either. And the thing is, he can act. He had a small role in Home School recently and I really liked his performance. Here though, he was a bit boring. I do think some of that was the way the character was written though. Joke doesn't have much to him. The chemistry between Joong and Dunk wasn't great which is both surprising and disappointing because off screen, their chemistry is fantastic. But in this instance it felt forced and unnatural at times. Aou was one of the bright spots in the cast. I've seen every drama he's been in and he has yet to disappoint me. I don't think this was one of his stronger roles, but I'm chalking that up to the writing because he didn't have a whole lot to work with. Boom was another bright spot. His chemistry with Aou is great. They seem comfortable with each other and it shows. I love Louis. He's such a versatile actor and I found him entertaining in this role though I wish we'd had more of him. I like AJ, but I feel like he typically plays the same kind of characters. I'd like to see him in a different role. Jamie is a gorgeous young woman, I liked her in Home School, but here I just found her to be wooden. She lacked expression a lot of the time or seemed to only use one expression. Her performance was just bland. I felt she could have done a lot more with the character.

My biggest problem with the production was the sheer number of inconsistencies. Every drama is going to have them, but this one stands out in terms of how blatant they were. In the scene where Zo almost falls twice and Joke catches him, arms were in different places between takes. Same with the scene where they cuddle in bed. In one take, Zo's arm is under the cover, in the next it's on top of the cover. In the scene where Joke takes his roadside shower which was weird to begin with, there was a smear of grease on his arm that kept appearing and disappearing. And probably the most glaring instance was, in the shot right before Zo finds the smashed ceramics, as he's closing the door, you can clearly see them, still intact, on the shelf behind him. There were a few others, but those ones really stood out to me and to me it just showed a lack of attention to detail.

This is not a drama that I can in good faith recommend. It was too inconsistent and too poorly acted to make it worth the time to get through. There are some sweet scenes, but they're not enough to make up for all that's lacking. Unless you are a die hard JoongDunk fan, steer clear of this one.