TheFirstMichael2206
This review may contain spoilers
When you order a #PinkMilk, but get #GuavaJuice instead
STORY : 7/10
It's your typical thai college BL premise. Boy has a crush on another boy (often from his past). Boy 1 doesn't think his feelings are reciprocated (spoiler alert: they are). Boy 2 is unclear about his feelings, which creates drama (often a female rival is introduced). All communication issues will be cleared and we'll be treated to happy ending, hopefully. If you've watched 5+ thai BLs already, you'll think you've seen this film before. Mutliple times.
Personally, I still enjoy this kind of plot. So instead of judging its uniqueness, I'll judge the execution of it. And Star in My Mind doesn't fare that well. Let's break it into parts. I will try to avoid spoilers as much as I can, but if you wish to skip it, head straight for the "acting/cast" part. To give you my overall feelings - start was great, upper middle quite bad, ending couldn't save it. Miscommunication seems to be the main conflict for major part of the show.
Episode 1-3 : 8.5/10
I adored this BL when it started!! Was there anything new? God, no! But it was really cute, really funny, dare I say well-written? The characterization was also good and consistent. We've got a bit of mystery and angst, too, on top of all the cliches. It was paced a bit faster than I expected, but not too fast. Nor too boring. If you're gonna watch this drama, stay for at least those 3 parts!!!
Episode 4-5 : 6.5/10
This is where it started to go wrong. For one thing, they rushed through the part I looked forward to the most!! Then introduced a non-fluffy filler. A lot of angst. Unnecessary conflicts-to-be. Characters were still consistent imo, but the acting is showing its limits.
Episodes 6-7 : 5/10
All the good things go to hell. Consistency? We don't know her. Rational thoughts? Never had those. A lot of stuff is reaching its climax and resolution without believable progress, pushed mostly by side characters and not-so-shocking rushed revelations (which felt made up just to patch some plot holes). The lowest point of this series. I hated it. Actors are trying, but they can't do much with this mess.
Episode 8 : 7 / 10
Mostly fluff and introduction to Sky in Your Heart. Perfectly skippable in my opinion. Since nothing important is happenning, it dawned on me that their acting actually hasn't been that great (the whole time, I presume), especially from one of the MLs.
POTENTIAL TRIGGERS (with minor spoilers included) :
Domestic violence - mentioned, aftermath shown in one scene. Not much has been done about it and it wasn't very graphic, but could be triggering if it's personal for you.
Consent in relation to kissing - It's flat out not there, vast majority of time. Even before establishing to each other that their feelings are mutual. Sometimes it's forceful, but mainly not. It might be uncomfortable and disturbing, but not exactly emotionally triggering in my opinion.
Emotional manipulation / Hiding one's true feelings - One character doesn't talk about themselves, at all. Other one is so emotional, they not only let other people push them around, but they also do things without thinking it through, hurting others in the process (whether intentionally or not could be debated).
ACTING/CAST : 6.5/10
I'll talk only about the mains, since side characters were your middle-of-the-road, good enough actors in this show.
Main leads look perfectly fine for their roles, as always in BL series. They are cute/hot just in the way they need to be. Their acting skills, on the other hand...
Dunk (playing Daonuea) is the newbie lead this time. At start, I considered him adequate for the role. But with added depth, cracks started to appear. If nothing else, he should really work on his facial expressions during emotional outbursts. Often I cringed so hard, it took me right out of the scene.
Joong's character (KhabKhluen) is controversial enough to claim Joong acted badly. Khluen is very stoic for the most part. Very blank. Doesn't require much acting. So when he shows more emotion, it may look out of character and wrong. I was satisfied with him, though.
MUSIC: 7.5/10
The song(s) they use are nice. A tad forgettable, but sweet. There isn't much of them, though, which hurts the overall variety of soundtack.
REWATCH VALUE : 7/10
Liked it once? You'll like it a second time. And third. It's the kind of basic story you can just play in background or when you don't want to be challenged. Problem is to fall in like with it in the first place. The plot isn't strong enough to encourage rewatching, but it's also not bad enough to prevent you from doing it.
OVERALL: 7.5/10
This is what you'll get when you purchase 2moons from wish.com . A faulty replica. Usable, but very disappointing. If they just took the content of first 5 episodes, edited it and added more context with filler, this could have been exactly what I wanted from SIMM. I'm giving it a bonus .5 points just for my love of cliché college gay love stories. But in the end, I wish I had gone somewhere else.
It's your typical thai college BL premise. Boy has a crush on another boy (often from his past). Boy 1 doesn't think his feelings are reciprocated (spoiler alert: they are). Boy 2 is unclear about his feelings, which creates drama (often a female rival is introduced). All communication issues will be cleared and we'll be treated to happy ending, hopefully. If you've watched 5+ thai BLs already, you'll think you've seen this film before. Mutliple times.
Personally, I still enjoy this kind of plot. So instead of judging its uniqueness, I'll judge the execution of it. And Star in My Mind doesn't fare that well. Let's break it into parts. I will try to avoid spoilers as much as I can, but if you wish to skip it, head straight for the "acting/cast" part. To give you my overall feelings - start was great, upper middle quite bad, ending couldn't save it. Miscommunication seems to be the main conflict for major part of the show.
Episode 1-3 : 8.5/10
I adored this BL when it started!! Was there anything new? God, no! But it was really cute, really funny, dare I say well-written? The characterization was also good and consistent. We've got a bit of mystery and angst, too, on top of all the cliches. It was paced a bit faster than I expected, but not too fast. Nor too boring. If you're gonna watch this drama, stay for at least those 3 parts!!!
Episode 4-5 : 6.5/10
This is where it started to go wrong. For one thing, they rushed through the part I looked forward to the most!! Then introduced a non-fluffy filler. A lot of angst. Unnecessary conflicts-to-be. Characters were still consistent imo, but the acting is showing its limits.
Episodes 6-7 : 5/10
All the good things go to hell. Consistency? We don't know her. Rational thoughts? Never had those. A lot of stuff is reaching its climax and resolution without believable progress, pushed mostly by side characters and not-so-shocking rushed revelations (which felt made up just to patch some plot holes). The lowest point of this series. I hated it. Actors are trying, but they can't do much with this mess.
Episode 8 : 7 / 10
Mostly fluff and introduction to Sky in Your Heart. Perfectly skippable in my opinion. Since nothing important is happenning, it dawned on me that their acting actually hasn't been that great (the whole time, I presume), especially from one of the MLs.
POTENTIAL TRIGGERS (with minor spoilers included) :
Domestic violence - mentioned, aftermath shown in one scene. Not much has been done about it and it wasn't very graphic, but could be triggering if it's personal for you.
Consent in relation to kissing - It's flat out not there, vast majority of time. Even before establishing to each other that their feelings are mutual. Sometimes it's forceful, but mainly not. It might be uncomfortable and disturbing, but not exactly emotionally triggering in my opinion.
Emotional manipulation / Hiding one's true feelings - One character doesn't talk about themselves, at all. Other one is so emotional, they not only let other people push them around, but they also do things without thinking it through, hurting others in the process (whether intentionally or not could be debated).
ACTING/CAST : 6.5/10
I'll talk only about the mains, since side characters were your middle-of-the-road, good enough actors in this show.
Main leads look perfectly fine for their roles, as always in BL series. They are cute/hot just in the way they need to be. Their acting skills, on the other hand...
Dunk (playing Daonuea) is the newbie lead this time. At start, I considered him adequate for the role. But with added depth, cracks started to appear. If nothing else, he should really work on his facial expressions during emotional outbursts. Often I cringed so hard, it took me right out of the scene.
Joong's character (KhabKhluen) is controversial enough to claim Joong acted badly. Khluen is very stoic for the most part. Very blank. Doesn't require much acting. So when he shows more emotion, it may look out of character and wrong. I was satisfied with him, though.
MUSIC: 7.5/10
The song(s) they use are nice. A tad forgettable, but sweet. There isn't much of them, though, which hurts the overall variety of soundtack.
REWATCH VALUE : 7/10
Liked it once? You'll like it a second time. And third. It's the kind of basic story you can just play in background or when you don't want to be challenged. Problem is to fall in like with it in the first place. The plot isn't strong enough to encourage rewatching, but it's also not bad enough to prevent you from doing it.
OVERALL: 7.5/10
This is what you'll get when you purchase 2moons from wish.com . A faulty replica. Usable, but very disappointing. If they just took the content of first 5 episodes, edited it and added more context with filler, this could have been exactly what I wanted from SIMM. I'm giving it a bonus .5 points just for my love of cliché college gay love stories. But in the end, I wish I had gone somewhere else.
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