Started off strong but struggled to stay afloat

Between Us was three years in the making. It had an existing fan base for the lead actors and from Until We Meet Again. It was well set up to succeed but, for me, it ultimately failed to live up to the bar set by UWMA and its own early episodes. Though it was one of my most anticipated series - and one which did have moments when it shone - I can't help but be disappointed.

Going in, I was expecting it to take place on a parallel timeline to UWMA. I haven't read the novel, so I didn't know what exactly to expect plot-wise, and don't know how much of it is true to the source material. Despite going in pretty blind, my expectations were high and I was excited to see the cast I knew and loved from the original series.

BU started off really well, though it did feel like they expected you to have watched UWMA. UWMA didn't tell us much about Team and Win as characters so they were brimming with potential. The early episodes had me hooked by setting up Team's childhood trauma and subsequent anxiety/insomnia, and hinting that Win also had attachment issues and family conflicts of his own. The lead actors also have great chemistry so that alone was doing a lot of the legwork. However, where the series fell flat for me is that is barely scratched the surface of these character backstories which seemed to be goldmines for compelling arcs.

I think this series was meant to be a character study more than something plot heavy. But character studies take *work* and it just did not feel like the writers put any in. By the later episodes, it felt more like they were trying to cram in tried and tested overly-familiar tropes than continuing to refine and shape their characters. By the end of the series, I felt like I barely knew Win better than I did at the start. As for Team, at least his storyline was resolved, but by the time the resolution came it felt like the plotline had been exhausted without getting much added depth.

As for the side characters, I wasn't expecting much more Dean/Pharm content since they had their own series. But I was hoping we would get to see more of Manow and Phruek since they were pretty sidelined in UWMA. Again, they set up a really compelling story for Manow - a young woman who wants to make in acting but feels like she doesn't have the right "look" - but instead of fleshing out her journey or relationship, they once again got a handful of scenes that seemed like they were just there to placate the audience rather than add to the story.

The new side characters didn't really work for me. I didn't have any qualms about the ABC gang as friends and comic relief, but I didn't feel like the Bee/Prince storyline was necessary. In the same vein, I didn't really get invested in Waan/Tul. These romances weren't explored or resolved well in any case, just going to show that the writers threw more balls in the air than they knew how to juggle. The show also, in my opinion, did a disservice to the friendships already established in UWMA. Though we got a handful of scenes, we barely got to see Win's friendship with Dean which apparently goes back to childhood - in fact, we barely got to see Win open up to anyone. And sometimes when Team would be pouring his heart out to ABC, I would be left wondering why he wasn't having this conversation with his alleged best friends.

Halfway through the show, the plot started to get all over the place - in a bad way. Character development does not have to be linear. Plots can be messy. But the writers didn't seem to have any grasp of how to build tension (and not let it deflate) or the concept of a "beginning, middle, and end" that most of us are taught in elementary school. Plots are meant to culminate in a climax which, by the time it came on this show, was dumbfounding because it felt so long overdue. Team's insecurities that Win was "like this with everyone" started, after a point, to sound delusional since we as an audience never saw him do this beyond looking out for his brothers. The writers could easily have added weight to his concerns by showing Win offering to help other members of the swim team, for example, instead of scenes dedicated to Bee wiping off Prince's makeup while he sleeps. As for Win's inability to commit, the dysfunctional family was more than enough to flesh out where this trait comes from, but, like Team, we basically end up knowing not much more than his coffee order.

Other aspects of the show were also not great. The background music was terrible (and often completely at odds with what was happening in the scene) and the OST most definitely did not need to be performed live during one of the most tense scenes on the show. There were a couple of moments when sexuality was addressed so bizarrely it was hard for me to grasp what exactly the show was trying to say. And the less said about the hair and makeup the better.

Ultimately, the show was kind of a flop for me. It had a talented cast and so much potential, but it almost all completely wasted on an unfocused plot and no clear understanding of its own characters. I had been hoping this would be one for the ages, but I don't think I'll even be thinking about it by this time next week.

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