22
22
2
Zii3
Starts great, quickly slips into poorly written melodrama filled with air.
Watched 9/12 Eps. Overall: I wanted more quietly sassy and flirtatious Nail like in Ep 1 & 2. I was immediately intrigued by, and empathetic for, him. I also liked that he communicated boundaries but was straightforward and kind about it while being firm. It was a fresh take on a character, especially a Thai BL one, and I loved it. Sadly, the former fades away and the later starts weakening half-way through.
Ep 1 & 2: Interesting! The characters and plot mystery is intriguing and the sex/intimacy satisfying. The long bathtub scene in Ep 2 is sensual and hot and done extremely well. The action, cinematography, music, and editing all work together to build a sensual crescendo. Some of the music so far is great too. These two Eps are the highlight out of the 9 that I watched.
Ep 3 & 4: Nothing memorable, but I was still hooked on the slowly-revealing mystery and looking forward to the next weekly episode.
Ep 5 & 6: Much weaker. Ep 6 especially felt more like set up for the next episode (instead of continuing the story). A lot of back-tracking to fill in a lot of history gaps at once; the previous episodes did a better job of balancing the present with insights into the past while keeping the overall story moving forward. Stopped looking forward to the next weekly episode.
Ep 7 Things keep going downhill. The entire episode is Him working to get Nail to listen to him explain and when the scene comes nothing is said! In fact, not much is said the entire episode, it's a bunch of air and some spoken statements. It's like the writer is allergic to conversations that actually go back and forth between people. There are so many latent pauses that the director/editor kept in to fill out the time. There are stereotypical "bad guys" scheming, but doing it poorly (Tec is so clueless in his approach that he's not really a threat; he keeps blatently rubbing Nail the wrong way). The "comedic" silly sound effects were copious and inane, when nothing is funny and the overall mood should be serious to sustain tension. My interest and hope in this series is sinking fast.
Ep 8 & 9: I debated dropping, but decided to give it one more chance and watched 8 & 9 back-to-back. And I *am* dropping now. At least I finally learned what happened to Blue in Ep 8. The story starts making leaps in character relationships and the progression of scenes without showing how things got there. I was so confused about Him, Nail, and Tec's first scene in Ep 8 after the way Ep 7 ended. How they got there makes no sense whatsoever. I thought I had missed an episode or something, but nope. The secondary couple is annoying, especially Chao. Tec and the cousin are 2-dimensional, delusional, low IQ, and irritating. The intimate scene between Him and Nail feels oddly forced/over-exaggerated this time, and it lacked the 'crescendo' built with actions, cinematography, and music that Ep 1 & 2 did so well with.
Tor as Nail/Blue is the most charismatic and nuanced actor of the cast. Not awesome, but above average, especially for a rookie. Everyone else is mediocre. Dew as Him shows some potential, but he is not a rookie, and his lack of range becomes more and more obvious as the story gets more dramatic and emotional for his character.
I might rewatch Ep 1 & 2 for fun sometime, but I certainly won't bother with the rest of it again.
Ep 1 & 2: Interesting! The characters and plot mystery is intriguing and the sex/intimacy satisfying. The long bathtub scene in Ep 2 is sensual and hot and done extremely well. The action, cinematography, music, and editing all work together to build a sensual crescendo. Some of the music so far is great too. These two Eps are the highlight out of the 9 that I watched.
Ep 3 & 4: Nothing memorable, but I was still hooked on the slowly-revealing mystery and looking forward to the next weekly episode.
Ep 5 & 6: Much weaker. Ep 6 especially felt more like set up for the next episode (instead of continuing the story). A lot of back-tracking to fill in a lot of history gaps at once; the previous episodes did a better job of balancing the present with insights into the past while keeping the overall story moving forward. Stopped looking forward to the next weekly episode.
Ep 7 Things keep going downhill. The entire episode is Him working to get Nail to listen to him explain and when the scene comes nothing is said! In fact, not much is said the entire episode, it's a bunch of air and some spoken statements. It's like the writer is allergic to conversations that actually go back and forth between people. There are so many latent pauses that the director/editor kept in to fill out the time. There are stereotypical "bad guys" scheming, but doing it poorly (Tec is so clueless in his approach that he's not really a threat; he keeps blatently rubbing Nail the wrong way). The "comedic" silly sound effects were copious and inane, when nothing is funny and the overall mood should be serious to sustain tension. My interest and hope in this series is sinking fast.
Ep 8 & 9: I debated dropping, but decided to give it one more chance and watched 8 & 9 back-to-back. And I *am* dropping now. At least I finally learned what happened to Blue in Ep 8. The story starts making leaps in character relationships and the progression of scenes without showing how things got there. I was so confused about Him, Nail, and Tec's first scene in Ep 8 after the way Ep 7 ended. How they got there makes no sense whatsoever. I thought I had missed an episode or something, but nope. The secondary couple is annoying, especially Chao. Tec and the cousin are 2-dimensional, delusional, low IQ, and irritating. The intimate scene between Him and Nail feels oddly forced/over-exaggerated this time, and it lacked the 'crescendo' built with actions, cinematography, and music that Ep 1 & 2 did so well with.
Tor as Nail/Blue is the most charismatic and nuanced actor of the cast. Not awesome, but above average, especially for a rookie. Everyone else is mediocre. Dew as Him shows some potential, but he is not a rookie, and his lack of range becomes more and more obvious as the story gets more dramatic and emotional for his character.
I might rewatch Ep 1 & 2 for fun sometime, but I certainly won't bother with the rest of it again.
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