Roommate (2020)

SHORT AND SWEET

Four (technically five) short easy to watch, fun and sweet episodes.

I enjoyed every minute with Sky and James although i have to say that the time spent with the girl characters to provide comic relief were all wasted - time that could have been better spent in further developing the 2 leads' love story.

However with that said, even though i am left wanting to see more, i still feel like the story of James and Sky is complete enough and i am glad they didnt leave any unfinished story. This is a good series and i felt like my heart was lifted after the last episode.

Kudos to the team and to the actors. Overall rating 8.0.

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Kind of bad.

Maybe I'll edit this after the special episode [I did below], but I'm not sure if that means the story continues or it will be a "making of".

I was enjoying the series, not passionately, but it was watchable. But then the 4th episode happened. It was almost all with the 2 silly girls and there was virtually no interaction between the leads, which is inexcusable in the final episode. I don't know if that was supposed to be a cliffhanger, but it was kind of silly. Everyone keeps saying James raped Sky, which is ridiculous. James fantasized about kissing Sky in his sleep but he didn't do it.

The acting was acceptable, the production was fine, the couple was cute. Nothing special, but I did appreciate the passion the makers put into the project. But the 4th episode was so bad it canceled all that out for me. I would watch the first three and stop - nothing is really added by th 4th episode, but plenty is subtracted.

EDIT: The Special Episode partially redeemed this series for me, but again way too much time for silly girl antics. A substantial female character would have been welcome and could have had a role in the plot. All 5 episodes together are about 100 minutes - you can save yourself half of that by fast-forwarding through all the scenes with only girls. You will miss absolutely nothing as none of it has anything to do with the story.

Anyway, there was at least an ending, and a nice one, but you never really got much of a sense of how Sky felt about James other than being into his body (can't blame him) since the only interest he showed was going bug-eyed and staring at him whenever he was naked. I'll up James to "good" from "acceptable".

I imagine the production was extremely low-budget and had to operate with the limitations of COVID, so I'll cut them some slack, because they accomplished a lot with limited resources - I will definitely watch any future productions from this company. IF they cut out the silly girl thing. Thai BLs can learn from the Philippines on this issue.

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Cute... but not for long

STORY: The story is has a very simple plot-line. Two guys are roommates, one is gay. They both fall for each other, the end...or is it?
The first three episodes were very cute. However, the fourth episode had a few... questionable scenes, mainly, peer pressure to drink wayyy more alcohol than is safe, and non-consensual sex with a drunk/unconscious person (so basically rape). If it hadn't been for these two scenes in the last episode, I would've given this drama a 10/10 because even though its not perfect and obliviously has a cheap budget, you could tell that everyone working on it had lovingly put the show together.

ACTING: The cast did great! Sometimes, the character were over exaggerated but besides that, I really enjoyed their acting!

MUSIC: The music was pretty good, not memorable, but cute and worked with the drama.



EDIT: After watching the special episode, it has come to my attention that the rape scene was misleading. It was meant to make it seem like the MC had been raped when he really hadn't.
I'm not going to change my rating because I really really hate any drama that uses references to rape to help build the romance and keep readers watching because of a misunderstanding.

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Not Worth Watching IMO...

I was excited to see that another BL has premiered from a BL Instagram account! And it's pretty good so far. The story is pretty simple; just two roommates living with another. However, I really liked that there was only one setting/location, the room, which made the atmosphere feel intimate and comforting. I also liked how the confident gay and panicked gay trope is playing out so far with them sleeping on the same bed and sharing a bathroom that has an opaque see-through-ish door. I'm excited to see the next episode!

Episode 2 was quite dull. The introduction of the ML's best friends who are also yaoi fangirls was awkward and totally unnecessary. All the drama felt manufactured in this episode. Nothing was natural, sweet or kilig.

Episode 3 was nice as James and Sky had their first kiss though their relationship was way too rushed. After their kiss, which was an accident of which one of them was drunk, there was literally a montage of them doing couple things. Like what? There's still 7 more episodes in this series. How will they fill it out when all the cute, sweet couple moments were edited into a montage?

Episode 4 was a bore with the unnecessary filler scenes with the best girl friends, who were so annoying. It was also kinda problematic with a possible rape/ambiguous consent. I'm glad that there will be one more episode to answer this.

Well, the Special Episode was so bad. I cannot! The entire duration of the episode focused on the annoying girl best friends and and the fangirl photographer. LIke what was the point of focusing on them? They literally serve nothing to the table. Nothing! The finale where the two ML's kiss was nice though a little too late. All in all, the series started off cute and sweet and became such a bore.

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Love it!

Really love this series however, It's really sad that I'm expecting that the series will having 10 episodes but down to 4. Really really like it so much. I'm hoping for a big plot. James and Sky have a great chemistry and they have a great best friends. I really appreciate all of their work. Didn't expect this. It's really pissed that they didn't had pay attention to them. I'm still in shocked that the series is about to end. ? But still hoping for a season 2.
Please if you read this. Give them the support that they need. This is so underrated. But, again, still can't believe that the series is about to end. Huhuhuhuhuhuhuhuhuhu ????????
But, again, the series is really really really gooodddddddd ???????
Support themmmmmmmmmmmmmmm!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

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Largely pointless but somewhat likable

(Reviewed together with the Special Episode)

The Special Episode is really more like an Episode 5 and final episode because Episode 4 is in no way an ending even for a story with a plot so thin it could break into pieces at so many places.

This series isn't so bad that you won't be able to stand watching it. The main actors, especially Golf (who plays Sky), are surprisingly natural though their roles aren't demanding. Some random parts are funny in rather random and pointless ways--this series probably deserves an award: The Most Ridiculous Costume Ever Designed and Worn for No Reason Whatsoever. You have to see what the woman from the clinic (Jum Pook) wears to believe it, though it is rather pointless, like many happenings in this series.

It is as though the scriptwriters have made a bizarre decision to give only a glimpse of most things that can be developed or turn out to be interesting and opted for trivia. Maybe someone just thought, "F**k it! What can I do with 5 short episodes?" As it turns out, the series is a demonstration of how much one can do with 5 episodes, simply by not doing it. James' growing attraction to Sky deserves more focus while the extent of Sky's affection for James should also get more focus.

It seems quite likely that the production team consists of quite a number of inexperienced people, so various elements like the editing and cinematography are inconsistent in quality. Or perhaps it is simply a matter of a low budget coupled with tight deadlines. I do think, however, that there is some promise shown. The effort may be inconsistent, but many people involved in the production seem to be doing what they can with fairly weak material. The story is inexplicably weak, and it's a pity--catch the right moments and use their comic energies well, and you can have something much better. If I get to rewrite the story for the series to be remade with the same cast and crew, I would start with the part where James and Sky, two roommates, pretend to be a couple to get the free treatment promotion at the skin clinic; thereafter, a series of attempts to keep up the pretense to Jum Pook (underused in the series) can cause them to develop affections for each other.

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Short, Sweet, Subtle

*outline*
Because the series is so short, you can easily watch it in one go and not even feel guilty about watching the whole thing. Or at least I felt that way. The pacing was a little off, however. My interest in the story also rose because of how short it was, it meant the story was moving more quickly than it would if this were like a normal series. However, I really liked the fact the drama was quite plain (or subtle, in other words) because it let me take a break from the other dramatic dramas.


*thorough*
STORY : The starting of the story was quite cliche, as suggested by the title of the drama. However, it really doesn't continue on as I expected. There weren't many twists to the plot, which I found a good thing because it made the drama more natural and neutral. It is exactly as my headline says. Short, sweet, and subtle. There aren't any antagonists, no drama to the story, just natural love. It's a good drama to watch if you wanna take a break from the usual overly dramatic plots in other dramas. It felt quite refreshing to watch, actually. However, I do have to say the pacing was quite off for me. It just felt unnatural how slow the starting was and how fast the ending was. The time skip in the middle of the drama didn't help either. The protagonists should've taken more time to get into a relationship, or should've been closer. If only we could see a little more of what happened during the time skip.

ACTING/CAST : They aren't your stereotypical roommates who start fighting straightaway, and you'll only find out what I mean when you actually watch the drama. This also added quite a refreshing feeling to the characters and the story, in general. But throughout the story, as I watched the protagonists individually, it almost felt like there weren't actually feelings there after all. It may be because the actors aren't actually experienced, but there was lack of exploration for their roles. They stuck to one feeling throughout and that didn't feel right with me, because it was almost robotic. Like they were told how they were meant to feel and they portrayed it as part of their job, not like they actually felt what their character was meant to be feeling. Though, I do hope this drama helped their teething with the whole drama industry thing.

MUSIC : Well, there was only one song anyways. But I don't blame them because the drama does look like a very low budget drama. I was expecting a little more to the drama, but that's okay because I was satisfied with what I got in the end anyways. The music really helped me settle with the drama, too. There's nothing much to the song, but it did get slightly catchy because of the numerous times I heard it. I wasn't disappointed in the end, which I'm slightly surprised about, still, because I get irritated very easily when listening to one song only throughout a whole drama.

REWATCH VALUE : I don't really know if I would ever watch this drama again, but I might miss it and try find FMV's for it. I might.


*p.s.*
I would definitely recommend this to a friend, whether they're a new or old Thai BL enthusiast. The fact it's very age appropriate also helps. I didn't feel the need to hide my phone from my parents or anything while watching it and I felt quite comforting with it.


*recommendations*
'TharnType' but there's a completely different take on things in this drama ;) you'll enjoy it, don't worry

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cute but low budget

honestly this was extremely cute but it falls short on so many levels that i have a hard time explaining why i gave it 7,5.
the actors are adorable and well not way to bad, they are on no level good but since the series has a funny undertone i guess it didn't bother me all to much.
the biggest problem is the fact that this had such a low budget (i'm assuming) and it really does make the series take damage on a visual level. not to mention that the episodes are short and as much as i enjoyed it the story fell short since a lot of important information goes lost between the scenes.
the ending cliffhanger doesn't even feel planned it just felt like they ran out of screen time and energy and decided that was the way to quit it.
i will go watch the special episode now cause i've been told that it is a bit of an explanation to the end but i wanted to write this first.
if you're looking for a chill watching experience where you can laugh at some stupidity for about an hour then this is probably for you. if you want a detailed story and like when things make sense i'd say skip this one. although the actors are cute and it was somewhat fun to watch it doesn't really have much more than that, cute actors :/

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THE FIRST BL I HAVE EVER DROPPED!!!!! CRAZYY

The first BL I have ever dropped! I can't believe this! in my opinion, this series is just overall bad. I know that this is a short series but there are many short series BL out there that's wayyy better than this ( like EN of love: TOSSARA and LOVE MECHANICS)
The chemistry: THERE'S NO CHEMISTRY BETWEEN THE ACTORS AT ALL>I know that they are new actors but it's just so uncomfortable watching them together but with no chemistry. the conversations are so plain and boring. The atmosphere when they are in the room together is just awkward.
Skills: as I said before they are new actors so I was not expecting anything professionals or over the top but this is just disappointing. there is no emotion in the lines. they just doesn't know how to express the feeling of their characters.
WHY I DROPPED THIS?
well, because it was just not my cup of tea. I was about to dropped it the first 5 mins I watched it from the 1st episode and I did for a while until I heard people said that it's getting better so I decided to rewatched it and watched it till episode 3 but then I completely dropped it. many of their conversations are just boring, everything is boring. the two girls are so annoying. I have to skipped scenes multiple times ( which I barely do when I watch BL)
would I recommend this? NO, but if this is what you like then I wouldn't stop you. I have watched so many BL from Thai BL to Taiwanese BL to even Japanese BL so I pretty much an expert in BL. Maybe this is just not my kind even though I;m a pretty easy person. I can watch almost all the BL out there. Anyway, this is the first time I have EVER rated anything this LOW before and dropped it from just 3 episodes. I'm really disappointed because I thought that this could be good and it turned out to be the opposite

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Only is you need a BL fix

RATING: C-

A very low-budget 4 episode (plus Special) mini-series. Very simple, straightforward, PREDICTABLE. Nothing new or exciting or really even interesting here. Two boys become roommates (again, I question this trope that Universities can only supply one bed for two boys) and slowly fall for each other. There was little to no real conflict. It was only a question of when the two boys would admit to each other their feelings. With so little to go on, the characters did not develop any depth and I was left not really caring if they ended up together or not.

ACTING/DIRECTION
These actors had nothing to build upon, and I’m not certain they could have delivered any more than was evident. It was all surface level. Neither of them had any real charisma and for my taste were not that appealing. For the women (all given far too much screen time, as most reviews state) Mook as Maprang was annoying. Torlum as Smile had a bit more depth and ease in her portrayal. Bell was far too over the top, though she was meant only for extreme comic relief. Her role was entirely unnecessary, however. The direction was limited by the script, budget and production constraints. It felt like cameras were simply set up in a corner and that was it. Substandard at best. Washed out colors made this feel like it had been shot in the ‘70s.

KISSING/INTIMACY
Only a couple of chaste kisses (these boys don’t know how to fake a kiss at all). Fine for the story. A little bit of skin shown in brief flashes.

THE DOWNSIDE
Shallow characters, predictable script, limited production values. Not much to offer overall.

SUMMARY
I would only recommend this one to the most ardent BL fans who have watched everything else and need a quick fix.

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