This review may contain spoilers
A great show, until it wasn't
I'd like to start this by saying I haven't seen 2Moons so I went into this show blind.
This show very quickly became a comfort show to me. The actors portrayed their characters perfectly, the characters were nicely written, plus the actors were attractive. It started as a cute, fluffy romance and I was in love.
My heart broke along with Wayu every time he got hurt, my heart fluttered with Kit whenever Mark hit on him - which I must admit, was very annoying at first.
However, the show started going downhill the moment it started adding more characters.
I'm gonna talk about the characters and the relationship first, then I shall talk about the pacing and the finale.
I thoroughly enjoyed MarkKit as the main couple. Their characters are brilliantly written, they have a healthy relationship which is great to see on screen. Mark actually respects consent and doesn't do anything to a drunken Kit even though he wants to. Plus the actors have *incredible* chemistry. Their relationship blossomed at a steady rate, it wasn't too quick but it wasn't too slow. It felt earned, and as a viewer, it was satisfying to watch. Unfortunately, this couple seemed to be shoved to the sidelines as soon as they established a relationship in order to make room for the love triangle. For a series supposedly dedicated to this couple, they got the bare minimum of screen time.
As for the secondary couple, well...it's complicated. Wayu is a marvellous character. They wrote him with just enough flaws to make him human yet still allowing him to be a cute angel. He did not deserve the pain he went through this season. I was constantly ready to throw hands at Pha. I loved his character development as he gradually recovered from his breakup - especially his subtle hairstyle change. If I'm honest, I would rather Wayu have stayed single. I think it would've benefitted the plot if Thanu wasn't interested in him and it was just Jack and Koh chasing him (only to become lovers later)
This whole love triangle was really annoying. They spent so long of the show building up this destiny plot point between Thanu and Phai yet it was completely disregarded in the final episode because "Wayu depends on me" or some nonsense like that. The love triangle did make the plot more interesting - however, it also made the plot too crowded. There were too many romances going on at once that this one was too much. I can understand why Thanu did chose Wayu, but what was the point in these supernatural visions of the future if Phai and Thanu weren't destined? It complicated the plot.
Now for the side characters.
Jack and Koh...So much potential wasted. Why did the writers think this battle for Wayu was funny? It was annoying. After all these complicated relationship plots, I did not need 2 more characters chasing Wayu. I needed a breather. As I said, it was wasted. I really wish they had got these two together so it didn't feel like a waste of time. They kept hinting that there was some romance between these two, but they were disregarded once Wayu found Thanu. Also, WHY WAS MARK ENCOURAGING IT?! Like dude, it's making your best friend uncomfortable, ESPECIALLY after a breakup, you should not be encouraging this type of behaviour no matter how concerned you are for your friend.
I don't even know where to begin with this next bit. Sab, Sandee, Pok and Tong...I have no idea what went on with this lot. I liked the coffee shop plot point. It was cute, I just wished they had continued it further into the series. As for the other characters, it felt like they had been brought together just for the sake of adding more characters. Their story was too complicated for me to keep up. One minute, they're best friends, the next, they're betraying each other. And don't get me started on the toxicity between Pok and Tong. How did the writers let this slide? They tried to hint at s$xual tension between the two every time they're on screen. Which is ok, I felt uncomfortable because they're like 16-18 years old, but it's legal. It kind of worked. It just didn't feel right. The two hated each other. No; they loathed each other. So why were they so attracted to each other? The writers never explored this, creating holes in their plot. AND DON'T GET ME STARTED ON THEIR S$X SCENE. It wasn't even a s$x scene, it was r@pe. Pok was drunk. I don't care if he was the top and was willingly participating, he was drunk. It is not ok and SHOULD NOT BE ROMANTISIZED.
So something I didn't quite understand was the confrontation between Thanu and Padbok. Maybe I missed something, but I don't understand how they went from friends to enemies or why Jack is friends with Padbok but also Thanu and Wayu.
Ok so let's talk about pacing.
I feel like this is something that Thai dramas often struggle with - and this one is one of the worst victims of bad pacing. Firstly, there were too many plotlines happening at one time that it crowded the show and didn't allow for each point to be properly explored. As I said earlier, I think some of the relationships should've been scrapped or left for a season 2.
I also found that the pacing of the episodes was bad. It's hard to explain, but so much yet so little happened in one episode that it felt very tiring to watch. I found that all of the action and plot events happened in large chunks spread throughout the episode, which were glued together by slower, less significant scenes such as product placement, visits to the Community Arts Department or the group of younger kids (Sab, Sandee, Phai etc). I found that the episodes got boring and dragged. I found myself thinking "How long is left? ANOTHER 40 MINUTES?! But so much has happened!" It made 1-hour episodes feel like 5 hours.
Finally, the finale.
This finale wasn't it. There was such a huge build-up in the episodes before, that it was hugely disappointing and anticlimactic. The majority of this episode felt like a filler for the finale. Nothing was resolved, if anything, more problems were created. Nothing felt satisfying for a finale. No puzzle pieces fit together.
So...the big reveal. I didn't like it. It was very predictable but I still didn't like it. I don't want to bash the actor's appearance, but I was lead to believe that Pha was a more handsome, mature figure. I expected him to look like Earth if I'm honest. I wanted Pha to look like a leader-type figure because then it would feed into the question of "Why did he leave Wayu with no explanation if he was so good of a person?".
This entire show - but the finale especially - feel like it was made in a few weeks. I heard it was a fanfiction of 2Moons, which explains why. It just needed more thinking so that plot points were spread out and the characters were developed better.
This show very quickly became a comfort show to me. The actors portrayed their characters perfectly, the characters were nicely written, plus the actors were attractive. It started as a cute, fluffy romance and I was in love.
My heart broke along with Wayu every time he got hurt, my heart fluttered with Kit whenever Mark hit on him - which I must admit, was very annoying at first.
However, the show started going downhill the moment it started adding more characters.
I'm gonna talk about the characters and the relationship first, then I shall talk about the pacing and the finale.
I thoroughly enjoyed MarkKit as the main couple. Their characters are brilliantly written, they have a healthy relationship which is great to see on screen. Mark actually respects consent and doesn't do anything to a drunken Kit even though he wants to. Plus the actors have *incredible* chemistry. Their relationship blossomed at a steady rate, it wasn't too quick but it wasn't too slow. It felt earned, and as a viewer, it was satisfying to watch. Unfortunately, this couple seemed to be shoved to the sidelines as soon as they established a relationship in order to make room for the love triangle. For a series supposedly dedicated to this couple, they got the bare minimum of screen time.
As for the secondary couple, well...it's complicated. Wayu is a marvellous character. They wrote him with just enough flaws to make him human yet still allowing him to be a cute angel. He did not deserve the pain he went through this season. I was constantly ready to throw hands at Pha. I loved his character development as he gradually recovered from his breakup - especially his subtle hairstyle change. If I'm honest, I would rather Wayu have stayed single. I think it would've benefitted the plot if Thanu wasn't interested in him and it was just Jack and Koh chasing him (only to become lovers later)
This whole love triangle was really annoying. They spent so long of the show building up this destiny plot point between Thanu and Phai yet it was completely disregarded in the final episode because "Wayu depends on me" or some nonsense like that. The love triangle did make the plot more interesting - however, it also made the plot too crowded. There were too many romances going on at once that this one was too much. I can understand why Thanu did chose Wayu, but what was the point in these supernatural visions of the future if Phai and Thanu weren't destined? It complicated the plot.
Now for the side characters.
Jack and Koh...So much potential wasted. Why did the writers think this battle for Wayu was funny? It was annoying. After all these complicated relationship plots, I did not need 2 more characters chasing Wayu. I needed a breather. As I said, it was wasted. I really wish they had got these two together so it didn't feel like a waste of time. They kept hinting that there was some romance between these two, but they were disregarded once Wayu found Thanu. Also, WHY WAS MARK ENCOURAGING IT?! Like dude, it's making your best friend uncomfortable, ESPECIALLY after a breakup, you should not be encouraging this type of behaviour no matter how concerned you are for your friend.
I don't even know where to begin with this next bit. Sab, Sandee, Pok and Tong...I have no idea what went on with this lot. I liked the coffee shop plot point. It was cute, I just wished they had continued it further into the series. As for the other characters, it felt like they had been brought together just for the sake of adding more characters. Their story was too complicated for me to keep up. One minute, they're best friends, the next, they're betraying each other. And don't get me started on the toxicity between Pok and Tong. How did the writers let this slide? They tried to hint at s$xual tension between the two every time they're on screen. Which is ok, I felt uncomfortable because they're like 16-18 years old, but it's legal. It kind of worked. It just didn't feel right. The two hated each other. No; they loathed each other. So why were they so attracted to each other? The writers never explored this, creating holes in their plot. AND DON'T GET ME STARTED ON THEIR S$X SCENE. It wasn't even a s$x scene, it was r@pe. Pok was drunk. I don't care if he was the top and was willingly participating, he was drunk. It is not ok and SHOULD NOT BE ROMANTISIZED.
So something I didn't quite understand was the confrontation between Thanu and Padbok. Maybe I missed something, but I don't understand how they went from friends to enemies or why Jack is friends with Padbok but also Thanu and Wayu.
Ok so let's talk about pacing.
I feel like this is something that Thai dramas often struggle with - and this one is one of the worst victims of bad pacing. Firstly, there were too many plotlines happening at one time that it crowded the show and didn't allow for each point to be properly explored. As I said earlier, I think some of the relationships should've been scrapped or left for a season 2.
I also found that the pacing of the episodes was bad. It's hard to explain, but so much yet so little happened in one episode that it felt very tiring to watch. I found that all of the action and plot events happened in large chunks spread throughout the episode, which were glued together by slower, less significant scenes such as product placement, visits to the Community Arts Department or the group of younger kids (Sab, Sandee, Phai etc). I found that the episodes got boring and dragged. I found myself thinking "How long is left? ANOTHER 40 MINUTES?! But so much has happened!" It made 1-hour episodes feel like 5 hours.
Finally, the finale.
This finale wasn't it. There was such a huge build-up in the episodes before, that it was hugely disappointing and anticlimactic. The majority of this episode felt like a filler for the finale. Nothing was resolved, if anything, more problems were created. Nothing felt satisfying for a finale. No puzzle pieces fit together.
So...the big reveal. I didn't like it. It was very predictable but I still didn't like it. I don't want to bash the actor's appearance, but I was lead to believe that Pha was a more handsome, mature figure. I expected him to look like Earth if I'm honest. I wanted Pha to look like a leader-type figure because then it would feed into the question of "Why did he leave Wayu with no explanation if he was so good of a person?".
This entire show - but the finale especially - feel like it was made in a few weeks. I heard it was a fanfiction of 2Moons, which explains why. It just needed more thinking so that plot points were spread out and the characters were developed better.
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