Water Boyy (2017)

Most of the people who watched this show can be put into two categories: the ones who really liked it and the ones who were really disappointed. I understand the sentiment of both groups.

This show is a remake of the popular Waterboyy movie but don't expect to get the movie just in series form. The overall feeling is really different, you'll only recognize some things from the movie, although this show brings a lot of new and interesting elements.

Acting
Different from the movie the series has other couples and straight couples in it too. And while I was mostly interested in Waii and Apo's story I caught myself watching some of the other stories too. But all for a different reason. Min and Wan as example, many people thought they were bland and didn't match well...well, I thought Min's actor was so good that I just watched his story for his acting and less because I was interested in where it goes.
As for Waii and Apo. Let me say, Apo's actor, I think New or Neww is his short name? He is really amazing. I watched him in a supporting role in SOTUS but in this show he gets all the spotlight as a main lead and I'm amazed how good he is. He really managed to show emotions just through actions, looks and his body. Not always words needed. He also gave Apo character and made him more believable.

Story and Chemistry
One thing Thai (BL) series are better in than any other shows I watch worldwide, is chemistry. Thai shows excell at that and that's one of the reasons I love them so much. So...the storytelling in this show is...strange...yea, this is one of those shows where I can say: If you didn't like the first two episodes but like shows like this, then continue watching. The first two episodes are awkward and strange and the chemistry seems forced and staged.
And then comes ep 3 and 4 and so on and suddenly there is chemistry where there was none before. Don't ask me how it happens or what is going on but it is what it is. The chemistry between the couples takes some time to bloom but when it's there, it's there and it stays. So don't worry if you don't like the first few episodes.

Unexpected...
I decided to bring up some points here, that others were disappointed in. A lot of people say that Waii and Apo's relationship is like awkward 2 eps - teasing the audience 10 eps - full on romance 2 eps. It sometimes just seems rushed and strange how fast the sentiments of the charas in the show change. Well, I don't take it too seriously. Just when they fall into full on romance, I'm like "and that's the moment when the producers had enough of their own teasing". So the storytelling is definitely not perfect in this series.

Why to watch?
Because the chemistry between Apo and Waii grows really really strong.
Because Min's actor is amazing.
Because Apo is just the right mix of cute and cheeky especially around Waii. He knows how to be sweet and is totally in love but also knows when he has to stand strong and not give in.
Because it features a really nice scene every BL fan will love.
Because it needs to get really popular for me to get a second season to watch ^.^

I don't think this review helps anyone but if it does, my pleasure :D

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it could've been good... but it wasn't.

besides apo (the only good character in this) and the swimming club friendship (aka puth, song and kluay being babies), this show was a train wreck. we had a rape scene that was never addressed and waii didn't even bother to apologise to apo.... we had a great lesbian character turned into a predator (which is very harmful to the lesbian and lgbt community) and then become straight? bi? what tf was that clownery??? we had some of the most terribly written female characters ive seen (wan being shown as crazy and evil and then being slutshammed, mai being possessive and manipulative, and fay being a victim of the cliche cheating plot) and forced romantic dynamics (yes this applies to waii&apo as well as kluay&achi). i wont even get started on that age gap couple bullshit.
waterboyy could've been a good show, but gmmtv made every single decision to make sure it was a disaster. and tbh thats sad because the cast is amazing ):

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I didn't give a full 10 cuz I found that the two main characters' scenes were limited. Though I find the other cast enjoyable, too much time was spent there. I know I didn't watch this for Min&Wan's story or for Pan&Fah, which I found even less interesting. These couples' time on screen could have been edited out shorter. I found that damn girl coach segment especially annoying too. If it's a BL, then make it a BL rather lump every other couples' problem as if it were the main story (ah but I'm reminded its GMM, and they tend to bait people). If I wanted an Everyone Drama, I'd stick to watching stuff like Hormones. So next time, production team, less dragging around and more focus on the driven source of the drama.

Casting: Earth and New's chemistry was on par. They did really good together. The kiss scene felt natural. A 10 for them and 8 for the rest of the cast.
Music: Love Pete Pol. A 10 Also.
Rewatch: Only when I'm bored. Even then I'll just watch Waii and Apo.
Overall: Narrative could have been better. A 7 here.

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STORY: * BL and GL themes * This is not a continuation of the movie but a series remake. It starts out with a clear plot: Save the Swim Club! But the plot wanders a lot and gets lost.

ACTING/CAST: You'll recognize much of the cast from other Thai series.

MUSIC: The theme song and its lyrics are good, and it was English Subbed (at least later episodes).

REWATCH VALUE: Maybe a BL cut but otherwise not really.

OVERALL: There are hot bodies and some funny moments, and the second BL couple is also cute. I was disappointed in the overall lack of direction.

Episodes are English-subbed by Part Time Subbers (Thanks guys!).

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Things this show tries to normalise:
1. rape
2. bullying
3. stalking

Awful characters, awful personalities, and awful things that they do. I don’t get the show at all. Can’t believe it even aired and there are people who excuse Wai and Pan’s disgusting behaviour. They both did not deserve the people they got with at the end. Not to mention Wai’s dad is so old and he get’s with Wai’s friend. Grooming much?

Nothing is cleared up and talked about and these people all display horrifying behaviour. I watched it only for New and honestly Apo deserved much better than he got.

Do yourselves a favour and don’t watch it. It’s not worth it.

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Spoiler that shouldn't be a spoiler ahead because it's a Trigger Warning!

I'm just going to jump right into it:




Waii rapes Apo. And afterward, a "romance" blooms between the two. It is not a scene featuring questionable consent. It is undeniably rape. Apo says no and tries to fight back; Waii doesn't listen and restrains him. You may be asking hopefully, "Is it condemned?" I'm sorry to tell you, it's not. The drama doesn't treat it as the horrible act it is, not at all. Not only does Waii face no consequences for what he does, but romantic music is played over it, and it's even used in a flashback later. Apo also takes almost no time to forgive Waii, as if he stole his homework rather than forced himself on him against his will. Now, it is each survivor's right to be affected by their experience in different ways and heal from it however they see fit. However, this drama did something unforgivable and extremely damaging by not properly framing rape as wrong. If you can stomach the experience, I would recommend watching The Effect. It properly shows how horrifying and violent rape is and its effects on someone, including not only trauma but also the conflicting feelings that may come as a result of someone you love hurting you in a way you never thought they would.

After reading all of this, you may be wondering, "Why in the Hell did Noir watch this?"

I started this for the Bi/Pan FL. Every time I asked for Queer FLs, this drama kept getting recommended to me, always tagged along with the phrase "problematic content." I wish now I'd looked into this drama more so I knew what to expect and could skip that horrible scene. So, if, like me, you do decide to watch this drama for the rep alone, let me save you: The rape scene takes place in Ep 4 1/4. Unfortunately, I can't remember what episode has the flashback.

What also hurts me inside is seeing the year this was made was 2017. It was only 5 years ago that this mindset of using rape as a plot device for romance was perfectly acceptable.

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Just lacking.

I want to call out all of them bitches here because you're all damn LIARS!!!

Let me tell you something: If you're not going to give a thoughtful and constructive review of the drama (story, acting, writing, etc.), please, STAY AWAY FROM THE REVIEW SECTION! I was fooled by all of you who tried so hard to give a good review to a show that doesn't deserve it! Honey, if something is bad then something is bad, period. That being said, just because you're a fan of an actor/actress, doesn't mean that every single project they work on is automatically good. Some things are bad and they should be called out for it. Lastly, with all due respect, NOBODY CARES ABOUT THE DUDE'S NIPPLES, BARBARA, GET YOUR FETISHES OUT OF THE REVIEW SECTION!

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Rant's over, let me talk about this show:

Long story short, it was poorly made. There's so much that could be improved from EVERY aspect of it and, honestly, there are so many faults that it's insane someone could come up with the audacity to tell me this is actually good.

- Story: What is even the story in here? This is just a conglomeration of people's petty "struggles" that do not seem to get better even though they are improving. I was constantly asking to myself, "but do they *really* regret their actions? "Are they *really* learning from their mistakes?" "Why are these college students acting like they are still in high school or elementary school?" And I'm still wondering these things.

I happened to watch this drama before the movie and oh my goodness this made the movie look like a work of art. It was actually quite good, so you should definitely go and watch that instead.

Something that I did like about this work is the inclusion of heterosexual relationships. As a gay man, I always enjoy when they add these relationships because it shows the audience a sense of normality and harmony between diverse sexual orientations. Surprisingly, I personally feel like the heterosexual couples were far more entertaining to watch. Why? Because they were fleshed out nicely and we got to have a full picture of their story with a beginning, a middle, and a solid conclusion.

- Acting: Lord have mercy. I mean, were they even trying? Everyone was pretty painful to watch, but the worst was definitely the female swimmer. It was staged-looking and predictable, incredible lack of chemistry, terrible dialogues, and more. If I have to be nice, I guess the two actors that did better were Apo's and Wan's.

-Production: This is from 2017 and I did not expect a lot from it, BUT Love Sick was older and looked better than this. Let's assume that the recording equipment was not of the best quality which caused things turning out looking quite cheap instead of believing the production team just straight up sucked.

The editing was decent at the beginning, but gradually became a mess the more we got into the story. Did they even try on the last two episodes? I doubt it. By the way, I am surprised at the lack of swimming from a story about swimming. I was expecting something similar to Free! Iwatobi Swim Club, but got not even a shadow of that.

Sis, this show has everything: questionable cast, questionable acting, questionable writing, questionable fashion (that actually works), questionable sexual orientation, questionable fandom, just questions all over the place. I do not recommend watching this, but watch the movie, though! It was pretty decent.

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Although New Thitipoom fits in the "painfully beautiful" category and is a strong actor, this is a meandering mess with boring side characters getting all the screen time. This series is heavily plagued by girlfriend-in-the-way syndrome, which makes this nearly unwatchable at times. The plot is a mess and makes little sense.

The only way to watch this is to fast-forward through everything involving everything uninteresting, which on the bright side means it will only take you an hour or two to get through.

Edit: Having now watched 1,000 Stars it's hard to believe that Earth is the same Earth as one in this. What a complete waste of perhaps the most talented actor in BL.

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the movie was better

I didn't have high expectations going into this, having read a lot of the comments and the reviews about it. I was mostly watching it for New, as i really liked his performances in Kiss Me Again and Dark Blue Kiss. He was as good in this as he has been in everything else I've seen in him. His emotional range is excellent, especially in the later episodes.

My problem is that this series goes for too long. They could have cut the episode number down to 10, or even 8, and still told the same story. Most of the scenes feel like filler. And tedious filler at that. So much of it is unnecessary.

I thought the conflict between Waii and his father was very well done. It was something I could relate to. I liked the portrayal of Coach Tee and Kan's relationship. Despite their 20 year age difference, there were no hints of abuse or manipulation (unlike the godawful relationship between Bright and Farm in Together With Me) and their relationship seemed more focused on supporting each other and honest communication, which was refreshing to see.

I liked the slow build of Waii and Apo's relationship, and how Apo always supported Waii whilst not hesitating to tell him the truth and giving him solid and well thought out advice.

I also liked the relationships between Kluay and Achi, and Wan and Min.

If the show had just stuck to the relationships between these characters and left the swimming club as more of a backdrop, it would have improved things considerably.

As it is, we get a terrible lesbian-meets-the-right-guy-and-turns-straight-for-him storyline (which wouldn't nominally be problem, but the show never says she's bi or pan, and we get so little of the 'L' representation in LBGTQ+ stories, especially in Thailand, that it really annoys me when this happens) that's made worse by the bullying she subjects the poor young man to. We get a half-assed plot about a play to raise money to save the club, which goes nowhere; a plot involving Min and his ex which also goes nowhere; and a lot of scenes of fit young men lounging around in tiny swim shorts - lovely eye-candy, but pretty much pointless.

And, of course, the ever-present love triangle, because a male character with a girlfriend can't fall for another man and then just do the right thing and break it off with her, because where's the drama in that? Maybe if this had been the first BL-ish series I'd ever watched, I might have let it go. Unfortunately, I've watched quite a few now and it's really, really over-used. I'm bored by it.

And here it's not even done right, because it's made clear that Waii wants Apo (he literally asks him to stay forever) and then, when his girlfriend tries to break up with him because she knows something is going on, he refuses to let her go and promises to stop being with Apo.

Refusing to break up before you're sure of your own feelings for another person is one thing. Refusing to break up after you've already kissed another person and told them you want to be with them forever? An entirely different thing altogether. It's just another plot device to up the melodrama and drag the story out some more.

I've heard the movie is better, so that's what I'm going to go watch next.

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