This review may contain spoilers
The promise unkept
I was promised angst, and drama, and so much emotion. After the prequel, I expected that much. The kind of angst that is caused by well written conflicts and misunderstandings because, let's face it, we enjoy red flags in dramas sometimes. I wanted love triangles and squares, and a ton of aching and heartbreak, and.. nope. They delivered nothing but the misunderstandings. Not well done either.
There was definitely a mood shift between the prequel and the series, they added comedy (which completely unnecessary, one of the worst aspects they added, especially since it did nothing for the story), the characters were incredibly inconsistent compared to the prequel, it was jarring going from a moody and emotional couple of episodes to a sitcom kind of series.
The leads were fine together (the child actors were really good though, I have to say), but the chemistry was almost non - existant during some scenes, which felt frustrating since you would expect two individuals who have liked each other for 10+ years, being confused about their feelings, being seperated from each other with no contact for over ten years, you would think the passion and yearning would be overflowing. It just wasn't. Like I said, they never really got that angst right, despite it being readily available to implement.
One thing I did like, was several of the supporting characters. It's weird because most of them started out being kind of pushy and a chore to watch on screen, but ended up being solid individuals. I especially loved that none of them actually crossed any line when it came to the leads, whether it be confessing their love or providing advice or nudging the leads on to confess to each other, none of these characters crossed a line, which is something I see quite often.
Talking about the actual misunderstanding now, I did not like it. I wanted something complex and emotional, and even though the reason Phupha chose to leave was because of a valid fear for him, the wait period of ten years and the payoff certainly didn't work for me. 10 years with absolutely no contact because of his reasoning was just a bit too unreasonable for me.
I'm a little dissapointed with how this played out, right up until the ending. There were so many scenes which could have been cut out, or the time they were used for could have been used to deepen their relationship, and it's a shame it wasn't. This was a slow burn story that never really picked up the pace, and thinking about it, two episodes somehow managed to tell a better story than ten did.
There was definitely a mood shift between the prequel and the series, they added comedy (which completely unnecessary, one of the worst aspects they added, especially since it did nothing for the story), the characters were incredibly inconsistent compared to the prequel, it was jarring going from a moody and emotional couple of episodes to a sitcom kind of series.
The leads were fine together (the child actors were really good though, I have to say), but the chemistry was almost non - existant during some scenes, which felt frustrating since you would expect two individuals who have liked each other for 10+ years, being confused about their feelings, being seperated from each other with no contact for over ten years, you would think the passion and yearning would be overflowing. It just wasn't. Like I said, they never really got that angst right, despite it being readily available to implement.
One thing I did like, was several of the supporting characters. It's weird because most of them started out being kind of pushy and a chore to watch on screen, but ended up being solid individuals. I especially loved that none of them actually crossed any line when it came to the leads, whether it be confessing their love or providing advice or nudging the leads on to confess to each other, none of these characters crossed a line, which is something I see quite often.
Talking about the actual misunderstanding now, I did not like it. I wanted something complex and emotional, and even though the reason Phupha chose to leave was because of a valid fear for him, the wait period of ten years and the payoff certainly didn't work for me. 10 years with absolutely no contact because of his reasoning was just a bit too unreasonable for me.
I'm a little dissapointed with how this played out, right up until the ending. There were so many scenes which could have been cut out, or the time they were used for could have been used to deepen their relationship, and it's a shame it wasn't. This was a slow burn story that never really picked up the pace, and thinking about it, two episodes somehow managed to tell a better story than ten did.
Was this review helpful to you?