2
cdvmty
Mexico
This review may contain spoilers
An attempt that falls flat
It is a shame... I've seen most of the reviews and comments posted in here and I agree with some of them.
The idea presented by director Anusorn and GagaOOlala when part 1 was about to air was an original and almost controversial one. Exposing some of the ugly truths about BLs, particularly in Thailand, that happen usually in small companies with low budgets and inexperienced actors that don't have proper representation and need the job and shameless directors or producers who might take advantage of that inexperience, was something unheard of in a world where everyone watched BL stories and shipped the couples without thinking about what was happening behind-the-scenes.
Anusorn had a very successful series when the remake of 2Moons, now labeled as "2Moons2", aired in a production done by a company called Mello. However, it is well known that Mello has had plenty of issues in the past with poor handling of their actors that led the original cast of "2Moons" to be completely replaced for "2Moons2". Anusorn was also told he will not be directing the new sequel, "2Moons3", so he openly complained on social media and promised to expose some of the secrets from the industry. Then, in more errors, Mello created a music group with the "2Moons2" main cast but excluded Earth, which caused a whole bunch of protests from the fans and ended with most of the cast quitting "2Moons3".
This whole process took Anusorn to direct "Call It What You Want" and "Call It What You Want 2" with GagaOOlala and it gathered quite a lot of interest because of what he promised to deliver... sadly, he delivered something, just not what we all expected. The series (speaking of CIWYW as a whole) was a failure in my opinion and here is why:
1. While part 1 had a nice setup of the characters and the situation that Bas was facing with his boss, Tee, part 2 descended into chaos with how rushed some of the stories were developing. From Bas crying his heart out and Marco taking him on a road trip to the beach, to Bas exposing Ait and James and trying to kill himself, to Marco saving him and having sex, to the press conference. It ALL felt super rushed... Marco drove through Bangkok in 3 minutes to save Bas and fell in love with Bas in like 2 seconds apparently.
2. The plot in part 2 makes no sense. Marco and Bas have barely met, so there is no reason to take him on a beach trip. At least I don't bring someone I nearly just met on a trip and share a room with that person. Then comes the plot mess of Marco and his love decisions... he loves James, he hides his feelings but Ait senses that he likes James, but during the beach trip he is starting to like Bas, only to turn around and confess his feelings to James after Ait corners him into doing so, then he drives like a maniac to rescue Bas who is about to kill himself, saves him and immediately decides to have sex with him (despite Bas having all the trauma from Tee's sexual harassment that drove him to the suicide attempt, but they seem to ignore that), then Marco openly questions James and Ait about their relationship during the press conference with no apparent reason as both James and Ait look confused and don't know how to handle it in the beginning. So, Marco goes through many phases in just 6 episodes but some don't make sense.
3. Bas had the most miraculous recovery of a clinically-depressed patient I've ever seen. From crying in episodes 1 and 2, telling James and Ait about Tee's abuse, getting mad/jealous of Ait and James and sending their picture to Tee just to expose them, to crying again when his father called him a failure, to trying to kill himself, to finding love with Marco. In just 6 episodes, Bas magically recovers and goes happily with Marco. I will say that Michael (the actor who plays Bas) did a very good job in portraying his emotions from a distressed man that was a victim of abuse, to a depressed man being labeled as a failure by his own family, to a hopeless man when he felt nobody was able to help him, to a hopeful man when Marco showed him that he needed to have more confidence and self-esteem.
4. The James-Ait relationship was dull and boring. Ait is a whiny spoiled brat who desperately wants James's attention and James is confused (in part 1) about wanting to risk his career as a director for a relationship with Ait and then acts like a firefighter (in part 2) putting out all the fires caused by Marco's confession, Ait's tantrums, Tee's abuse, Bas's mental health, etc. The confession in episode 6 was nice but it was way too long and useless. All BL fans know BL couples are fake (with very few exceptions like Both-Newyear in "Top Secret Together"), all BL fans know that BL couples do a LOT of fan service in all the press conferences, interviews or live IG sessions, etc., by acting all cute and lovely around each other... the issue is that SOME BL fans do not want to understand that is all an act and want to live in a bubble where their favorite BL couple is real and love each other. That is why Max received a lot of angry messages when he revealed his relationship with Mook Worranit, as BL fans were obsessed about him and Tul being an actual couple. That is why fans were concerned when it was announced that Saint will not appear in "Love by Chance 2" as fans claimed that Saint and Perth were the perfect couple. The message that James and Ait tried to portray in episode 6 was a nice one in theory, but in reality, obsessed BL fans will not understand that fiction is not the same as reality.
5. The villain of the story, Tee, just vanishes. After Bas, Marco and Kaprao decide to expose Tee in the press conference, he just stands up and walks out of the room without answering any questions from the press and without providing any sort of explanation. The woman who acted as the main sponsor of the fake series Ait and Bas were starring, just looks around disappointed and then we see James directing the new series and Bas and Ait acting in it... but no Tee anywhere and no scene that maybe showed him being in jail or something. The whole idea of director Anusorn was to expose some of the ugly truths behind Thai BLs and you had Bas suffering from Tee's harrassment since season 1, you would at least expect some punishment for Tee... but NOTHING happened to him on screen. And yes, I am aware that sometimes the guilty person can go unpunished but since this is a story that was created with the specific purpose of showing these truths, but, sadly, part 2 just focused too much on the Ait-James and Marco-Bas relationships rather than focusing on exposing the bad guy. And also, why have Kaprao if you are barely going to use him in both parts? He is the one who initially accused Tee so he should play a bigger role that what was given to him,
In the end, "Call It What You Want" parts 1 and 2 end up being a failed attempt to bring something different to the Thai BL industry and is just, yet another mediocre series in my opinion.
The idea presented by director Anusorn and GagaOOlala when part 1 was about to air was an original and almost controversial one. Exposing some of the ugly truths about BLs, particularly in Thailand, that happen usually in small companies with low budgets and inexperienced actors that don't have proper representation and need the job and shameless directors or producers who might take advantage of that inexperience, was something unheard of in a world where everyone watched BL stories and shipped the couples without thinking about what was happening behind-the-scenes.
Anusorn had a very successful series when the remake of 2Moons, now labeled as "2Moons2", aired in a production done by a company called Mello. However, it is well known that Mello has had plenty of issues in the past with poor handling of their actors that led the original cast of "2Moons" to be completely replaced for "2Moons2". Anusorn was also told he will not be directing the new sequel, "2Moons3", so he openly complained on social media and promised to expose some of the secrets from the industry. Then, in more errors, Mello created a music group with the "2Moons2" main cast but excluded Earth, which caused a whole bunch of protests from the fans and ended with most of the cast quitting "2Moons3".
This whole process took Anusorn to direct "Call It What You Want" and "Call It What You Want 2" with GagaOOlala and it gathered quite a lot of interest because of what he promised to deliver... sadly, he delivered something, just not what we all expected. The series (speaking of CIWYW as a whole) was a failure in my opinion and here is why:
1. While part 1 had a nice setup of the characters and the situation that Bas was facing with his boss, Tee, part 2 descended into chaos with how rushed some of the stories were developing. From Bas crying his heart out and Marco taking him on a road trip to the beach, to Bas exposing Ait and James and trying to kill himself, to Marco saving him and having sex, to the press conference. It ALL felt super rushed... Marco drove through Bangkok in 3 minutes to save Bas and fell in love with Bas in like 2 seconds apparently.
2. The plot in part 2 makes no sense. Marco and Bas have barely met, so there is no reason to take him on a beach trip. At least I don't bring someone I nearly just met on a trip and share a room with that person. Then comes the plot mess of Marco and his love decisions... he loves James, he hides his feelings but Ait senses that he likes James, but during the beach trip he is starting to like Bas, only to turn around and confess his feelings to James after Ait corners him into doing so, then he drives like a maniac to rescue Bas who is about to kill himself, saves him and immediately decides to have sex with him (despite Bas having all the trauma from Tee's sexual harassment that drove him to the suicide attempt, but they seem to ignore that), then Marco openly questions James and Ait about their relationship during the press conference with no apparent reason as both James and Ait look confused and don't know how to handle it in the beginning. So, Marco goes through many phases in just 6 episodes but some don't make sense.
3. Bas had the most miraculous recovery of a clinically-depressed patient I've ever seen. From crying in episodes 1 and 2, telling James and Ait about Tee's abuse, getting mad/jealous of Ait and James and sending their picture to Tee just to expose them, to crying again when his father called him a failure, to trying to kill himself, to finding love with Marco. In just 6 episodes, Bas magically recovers and goes happily with Marco. I will say that Michael (the actor who plays Bas) did a very good job in portraying his emotions from a distressed man that was a victim of abuse, to a depressed man being labeled as a failure by his own family, to a hopeless man when he felt nobody was able to help him, to a hopeful man when Marco showed him that he needed to have more confidence and self-esteem.
4. The James-Ait relationship was dull and boring. Ait is a whiny spoiled brat who desperately wants James's attention and James is confused (in part 1) about wanting to risk his career as a director for a relationship with Ait and then acts like a firefighter (in part 2) putting out all the fires caused by Marco's confession, Ait's tantrums, Tee's abuse, Bas's mental health, etc. The confession in episode 6 was nice but it was way too long and useless. All BL fans know BL couples are fake (with very few exceptions like Both-Newyear in "Top Secret Together"), all BL fans know that BL couples do a LOT of fan service in all the press conferences, interviews or live IG sessions, etc., by acting all cute and lovely around each other... the issue is that SOME BL fans do not want to understand that is all an act and want to live in a bubble where their favorite BL couple is real and love each other. That is why Max received a lot of angry messages when he revealed his relationship with Mook Worranit, as BL fans were obsessed about him and Tul being an actual couple. That is why fans were concerned when it was announced that Saint will not appear in "Love by Chance 2" as fans claimed that Saint and Perth were the perfect couple. The message that James and Ait tried to portray in episode 6 was a nice one in theory, but in reality, obsessed BL fans will not understand that fiction is not the same as reality.
5. The villain of the story, Tee, just vanishes. After Bas, Marco and Kaprao decide to expose Tee in the press conference, he just stands up and walks out of the room without answering any questions from the press and without providing any sort of explanation. The woman who acted as the main sponsor of the fake series Ait and Bas were starring, just looks around disappointed and then we see James directing the new series and Bas and Ait acting in it... but no Tee anywhere and no scene that maybe showed him being in jail or something. The whole idea of director Anusorn was to expose some of the ugly truths behind Thai BLs and you had Bas suffering from Tee's harrassment since season 1, you would at least expect some punishment for Tee... but NOTHING happened to him on screen. And yes, I am aware that sometimes the guilty person can go unpunished but since this is a story that was created with the specific purpose of showing these truths, but, sadly, part 2 just focused too much on the Ait-James and Marco-Bas relationships rather than focusing on exposing the bad guy. And also, why have Kaprao if you are barely going to use him in both parts? He is the one who initially accused Tee so he should play a bigger role that what was given to him,
In the end, "Call It What You Want" parts 1 and 2 end up being a failed attempt to bring something different to the Thai BL industry and is just, yet another mediocre series in my opinion.
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