Bad try...

This drama main problem is that it wants to be deeper than it is.
So in order to appear as mysterious and artsy as possible it throws us viewer in the middle of the plot without any explanation and keep being vague enough.
Character introduction or their motivation – nope - puzzle them yourself from what you can observe, maybe then they will make deeper sense.
So we have three main characters that storyline joggle from person to person with time skip – making one confusing start of drama.
But okay middle part for sure will clarify it for everyone, right? Nope.
What big crime Cha Jung Woo commit to be banned for writing under his own name? Everyone speaks of it in such vague manner that its just scream that script wants to appear more than it is. In days of digital printing and self-published book this whole storyline just don’t make sense the more you think about it.
Making main points of storyline vague doesn’t make drama artsy or deep.
As for romance – just forget it. Leads don’t have chemistry, their romance plot line is not cute or believable they just woke up one day and decided – Oh I want to be with that guy.
There is nothing memorable about this drama – maybe except this song they use.

Overall I watched worse dramas but also many better ones.
If this drama didn’t pretend to me more than it is – it would be a much better experience.

Citeste mai mult

Just Pretend That This Drama Don't Exist

Rather than writing what went wrong in this drama, it is faster to write what went right. Because it will not be long.

Summer is a time of love - what is better than a short summer love story in a beautiful resort?
Clear blue water and amazing beaches would give us really nice background for romance.
Romance that takes place between a popular duo of Boun and Prem who play debt collector and resort owner.
Sound fun?
It's not...
There are 6 episodes in total - each 43 minutes long but in fact only have about 25 minutes of actual drama. Yes, about 20 minutes in each episode is for full intro and ost song, previous episodes summary, and BTS.
But the intro song is really catchy and BTS bits are sometimes funnier than actual drama.

That is all for the positive aspects of this drama if you want to know why - it has the same screenwriter as That's My Candy, plot and story is a mess it has 4 couple in total but not enough time to develop even one of them while plot progression is almost no existent.
The last episode is definitely the best and kinda improves the overall quality of the show. Happy ending - if we get there in a more reasonable way it would be a pretty nice and original drama. But most of the plot goes straight from point A to point D leaving viewers with the feeling that we skipped development in between (That doesn't exist)
Script, storytelling and editing are just painful to watch - I am sure that if I give character and story setting to a group of middle schoolers they would come out with something better than what we get from "professionals" who got paid for this job.

I scored this drama 5,5, only due to my sympathy for the actors. They worked very hard only to star in this flop so the best thing you can do is pretend this drama doesn't exist.

Citeste mai mult

Careful what you wish for

Many fans after a good first season wish for the second season of their favorite show, but sometimes same titles are better left alone. "To My Star" is a prime example of it.

The script is so bad I am not sure if even the scriptwriter knew what he wanted to convey.
Because it seasons 2!!!
We already have established characters but what scriptwriters do? Change one main protagonist character so much that I start to wonder if it's split personality disorder or some evil twin plotline? But no luck! Just forget season 1 and let Ji Woo have a new personality starting from season 2!

The main storyline and conflict is so ridiculous boardlining toxic and abusive that I have no words left for it. After Ji Woo ghosted Seo Joon on his birthday ( yes birthday again - Seo Joon really start to hate his own birthday soon) and disappeared for a whole year, Seo Joon looked for him everywhere to get an explanation and closure. But when he finally meets Ji Woo we are meeting Ji Woo season 2 version which is ruthless and can - for his own convenience - hurt people. We have full 8 episodes of that so get ready!

I will not go into the details but in episode 5 or 6 I was really convinced that this two are better off breaking up. This conviction didn't even disappear after watching 2 last - fluffy episodes that should convince the audience to have memory loss and forget the previous 8 episodes and feel that the main couple should be together once again.
They even try to explain it from Ji Woo POV but if you rewatch episode 1 after it and try to feel bad for Ji Woo.... i am really amazed by an audience that can eat this BS. Ji Woo sad past and his own issues - excluded he had a whole year to get his shit together and reflect on himself so when he finally meets Seo Joon again he should have guts to apologize, explain himself or something on this line. But what did he do? Push all the blame on Seo Joon.

Clap Clap Clap

When we as the audience who rewatch know at this point he still supposedly love Seo Joon and waited for him...

I saw reviews of how realistic this relationship is and I need to agree that is really realistic abusive relationship. Ji Woo do only things convenient for him and only takes from Seo Joon because he knew Seo Joon love him. It's always about him, he don't give a crap how he made Seo Joon feel or how hard he made it for him.
In the whole season, i didn't seen any genuine care from Ji Woon toward Seo Joon, or Ji Woo self-reflection on his behavior (only the magical forest scene that supposedly convinced him to get back with Seo Joon - that is a slide show from their happy moments)- Ji Woo is as he is and it Seo Joon that needs to change, not him. Even though the whole mess is all about Ji Woo and caused by him.

Their whole conflict resolution in last episode felt so shallow that I just know that Ji Woo will pull that shit again. There was no lesson learned for him and I don't think he even felt genuinely bad about what shit he put Seo Joon thought. If this was real life Seo Joon would really break down mentally and become a mental institution patient while Ji Woo would be too busy feeling bad about some no-existent hurt Seo Joon put his thought.

To sum it up if it wasn't season 2 of To my star, most people would see it for what it really is. I just hope more and more people realize that nice cinematography and good acting shouldn't cover how bad and toxic the script really is.

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Lost Potential

After watching the show trailer i developed some expectations for the show, I thought it will be a typical harem story with multiple love interests. Centered around the mystery of "Who is Enchanté?"
The first episode showed me that it was nothing like expected and "Who is Enchanté?" mystery is at best side plot.

I think the reviews for Enchanté will be pretty polarised because if you come for "harem", or "mystery" you will end up pretty disappointed.

What I liked:
- Nice cinematography and locations. The campus scenery is really beautiful.
- Little Prince by Antoine de Saint-Exupéry - analogy intertwined in the plot .
- Plot ideas - just idea their execution is so-so at best.
- Akk character - he is really likable character and showed pretty good acting skills.
- Akk little sister - she is a future star in making for sure the only downside is that she had too little time onscreen.
- Exploring hidden intentions of various Enchante imposters.

What I disliked:
- Enchanté plot - the whole idea of the show is about learning who is Enchante, but screenwriters made Enchanté irrelevant from the start which affected the whole plot and gave it a feel of time filler or subplot at best. If they build him up some more, my reaction in ep.5 for Theo looking for Enchante wouldn't be like - "Huh? We are still doing that? Why? Go back to Akk..."
The entire exchange between Enchante and Theo was so short and meaningless that it's a true mystery why he or us viewers should care about it.
- Theo character - i wouldn't call him unlikable but his character setting makes it kinda hard for viewers to cheer for him or connect to him on an emotional level. He is very self-centered and kinda just there... he feel more like plot device than the main character.
- Attention to details - there is several plot point that just doesn't make sense, in scrip and in editing - how no one caught them before airing is beyond me...
- Peacing - it feels draggy at times, making it feel boring because nothing interesting happened that affect the main storyline. There are many scenes that just have these time-filler feelings about it and felt like were written as middle school fanfiction, just not sure if it was caused by budget or screenwriting.

Overall Enchnate is a good show that had some really nice ideas that really weren't executed properly due to poor screenwriting. Directing and post-production also didn't help it. While main duo are pretty much newbies to acting...
But it has this comforting quality about it making it very easy to watch so if you are bored and want some no-brainer and unproblematic storyline you might like it.

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Instruction of How to Enjoy this Drama

First of all Rainbow Prince is a true labor of love, you really need it to produce something so cringe, awkward and over the top.

Rainbow Prince is the "Disney" channel mid-2000 musical that was accidentally blended with BL. So we have a cheesy plot with more plot holes than cheese, Disney logic (or her lack) various quality songs and dance numbers.

But let's move to instruction, first you need to go through 3 phrases:
1) It's bad - are they serious?
2) Huh? It getting even worse?
3) It's so bad is started to become funny.

To archive 3 phrase you need to turn off your brain, a bottle of Prosecco or better 2 - depending of your % tolerance and drink every time you think it's bad while singing along to RP song (The effect become better if you try to mimic the original choreography).
Doing it with a friend double effect!
Personally after 2 episodes I was crying with laughter and having the time of my life.

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Good or Not?

Bad Buddy gained massive popularity and many fans. For many reasons I understand it because it has many things that other BL drama lack:
- Good cinemography
- Actors who can really act.
- Budget
- Realistic characters that are multidimensional

If I rated this show till episode 6 it would be 10 out of 10. But after finishing watching this show I feel it wasted its own potential. Storyline after episodes 5-6 went suddenly downhill. It was repetitive and messy like the screenwriter needed to make so many changes that he no longer knew how he should fill the remaining episodes. When I liked the show tackling some common misconceptions, there is a very clear difference in plot quality. People who watched Game of Thrones and saw horse meme know what I mean.
I know that the plot is based on the book, personally, I don't read or speak Thai but I can bet that main problem of this show (SCRENWRITTING) is related to changes they made to the plot of the novel which would also explain the subtle changes in characters personality in laters episodes.
Some people reading this will think - you ask for too much, it was already very good for BL! But I ask you to compare for yourself do you really think episodes 7-12 were as good as episodes 1-6? Having skilled actors for main roles they really wasted their great chemistry.

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GMMTV & Director New collaboration

Star in My Mind is a collaboration between GMMTV (one of the biggest station in Thailand) and Director New who is an almost legendary figure in BL community due to BL dramas like Love by Chane or Until we Meet Again.

Making Star in My Mind one of my most looking forward to BL dramas of 22.

But is it good?
Anwer is yes and no.

Almost all BL fans know what GMMTV is capable of producing - Star in My Mind is not bad but also nothing special. It's definitely not one of GMMTV best works.
While drama plot is definitely not a good fit for director New.
Director New strength lay in simplicity, he is capable of telling pretty heavy and complex stories in a simple way. But if you mix his directing style with drama that already has a simple and straightforward plot .... we end with Star in My Mind.

Star in My Mind is definitely a show for binge-watch, the story is very simple and nothing major happens. Even these 8 episodes felt too long for the story it wanted to tell. Personally, I don't think this drama was memorable enough for anyone to mention it in half a year... Which is really a shame because the main actors really show some potential. In another project, they really could make a big splash.

I had a really hard time rating this drama because while there was nothing to dislike there was also nothing to like. If you compare acting, plot, scrip or directing to other BL I would say it was above average but put together as drama it feels very mediocre. It also has pretty strong screenwriting compared to other recent GMMTV projects.

If you are a fan of simple love stories that are no-brainers without any major drama, problems or twists it might be just for you. I think the younger audience might really like it or people who just started watching BL dramas and want something wholesome.

In conclusion, everything about this drama feels like it was good but somehow ends up feeling mediocre. While the script and directing were not a good fit. I think "showier" directing would spice it up and make it more memorable. Because i have a feeling that in half a year I will have a really hard time remembering anything beyond a few main plot points of this drama.

Citeste mai mult

Good but beware

First acting, our famous BL due really delivered so this drama lacked this cringe moment I got almost used to in BL dramas. Still dr. Bun really looked like someone who didn't know what to do with his hands on some scenes...
The storyline is like a diamond in the rough, in need of serious polishing. According to tag this drama was adapted from a novel, which made me wonder if all plotholes were the original author or screenwriter's fault because there are quite a lot of them.
I don't consider police or medical examination scenes as plotholes because procedures vary from country to country and it wouldn't be fair to judge them by my country's standarts.
Overall this drama starts a little slow and picks up peace in episode 6 or 7, the story skeleton is very good and has a lot of potential making it worth watching but as i mentioned before there is some problem with writing and plotholes.
If they revised the script properly it would really improve the overall experience. Still, it is much better plotwise than many other BL dramas.
Another thing was directing. one of the directors really liked close-ups and moving cameras around... please find another method to make a scene feel more dynamic because you overused this one.
Characters - there is some like Inspector M - that i loved to hate - his redemption didn't feel natural to me but overall his character felt like wasted potential if they give more rivalry role it would give another interesting storyline. While on the same time character like Sorawit had too much screen time without being really useful or having any kind of role in many scenes.

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Bad Directing

Cooking Crush is a typical Thai Rom- Com with OffGun as main leads. But even a popular ship would not help this drama due to its lazy Directing.
In the positive side, we have sweet romance story between a culinary student ( played by Gun) and medical student ( played by Off), with a culinary competition as part of a bigger storyline. Gun as always delivered good acting performance, but as someone commented before me it look like Gun can't or don't want to kiss Off and after finally finishing watching this show I must admit they were right. If I didn't watch their other shows I would suspect they lack chemistry or don't want to act together.
Then we have Off who after Not Me improved his acting skills, but while his acting improved he pretty much play the same character since Not Me, quirks aside his character act too similar to each other.
Then we have Neo - who once again showed a really good performance and Aungpao debut which was really good.
But all this small acting issues could be fixed if Director wasn't lazy and didn't always pick the easiest option.
Script aside, but 85% of this drama are characters sitting, standing or laying down while talking, with various close-ups of their faces as they deliver often too long of dialogues. Most scenes follow format of: character walk in silence from point A to B and when they stop or sit they start talking with various close-ups of their faces. More often than not, doing nothing. It just so repetitive it very hard to not find it boring, walking while talking or doing something shouldn't be innovative...

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Director New suck at comedies

A Boss and a Babe is rom - com that fail in both comedy and romance aspect.

Director New suck at comedies - he can't do them - he and the editing just don't seem to understand that jokes and comedy depend on the delivery.
Most jokes don't translate well to other languages leaving us viewers most of the time with no-verbal comedy - that would land better if they didn't think Book making stupid expressions was it.... He is also the only one - he might not be the best comedic actor but I don't think under these circumcises even top comedy actor would pull it off.

Romance part also doesn't work because our main characters were already in love in the first episode (total Deux Ex-Machina) and act like middle school students when they were supposed to be working adults. Force play company boss - his hotness was pretty much the only thing that keep me watching, but he don't take off his shirt enough to keep me distracted for twelve episodes. But that cold company Boss- who could be sued for workplace sexual harassment don't even think about his work and company when he was supposed to be the intelligent cold boss... Why would he from get-go decide to get together with an intern that doesn't even have basic common sense (As office culture goes - he would be fired on the first day) and few episodes in still don't seem to do anything except bringing coffee.
This whole romance felt like something written by a person who never was in a relationship while Force and Book feel more like long-time friends than lovers.

There is also almost no plot progression - the romance part was pretty much stuck since episode 2 or 3 while most of the subplot was never explored or ended. This story was material for movie because twelve episodes series made it almost unbearable to watch with how flat it fell. All side characters were also wested - because the plot surrounding them was never explored or answered - there was just no need for most of them to ever be in this drama.

To sum it up I don't recommend it, twelve episodes don't make any sense when there are many better series around to watch.

Citeste mai mult

Nueng - Why? Just Why?

After watching this drama trailer, I wasn't too much interested in watching this drama but since it was pretty much the only title that I and my friend who is still in HS and is 10 years younger (an important point for the later part of the review) than me hasn't watched we decided to give it a chance during the weekend.

The drama cinematography, script and acting really surprised me in a positive way, it was only in episode 8 I realized that the actor acting as Maze was Singhto - Kongpob from Sotus. Both male leads are very good actors but the chemistry between them is not the highest. Making Phap overshadow Maze in more than one scene.
In terms of story I always judge script and storytelling because even the greatest script without good storytelling will feel only so-so. In Paint With Love we have a script that momentarily doesn't make sense ( lack of follow up for some events) but good storytelling still makes this show enjoyable to watch.

But what surprised me the most was the vastly different reaction I and my friend had to this series. She didn't like the main couple - especially Maze and pretty much thought that plot sacked. Due to my vastly different experience, we discusses it for a bit and i finally realized the reason.
Life experience and reading between the lines.
She is younger than me so she like things to be black or white while the characters of this series are very much grey. They have their strength and weakness. The storyline portrays it pretty good, Phab jealousy over Nueng that made him feel like he was just stand in for him and fuelling his desire for competition when he overall felt he was not good enough for Maze. Maze need for money and control, him like many other humans judge other people life by their own values thinking they knew better what is better for another person.
With leads to a flashback of Maze fight with Nueng, Maze fought against Nueng decision because he thought he knew better (As we can see he probably did) which caused them to lost contact for several years. Even though he pretty much begged while crying asking him to stay with him. Maze and Nueang storyline don't make a lot of sense in a lot of places so bear with it...
This situation also shed a nice light why Maze was suddenly set of making Phab go to Japan. Realizing you are wasting another person's potential with yours even good intentions - can be painful. (Think of it as Stephan King, for example, being forced to work in office writing Ads for others) It also nicely showcase Maze trauma, maybe if he push person to go this time he will not lose him for years to come. Maybe the person would decide to stay.

"If You Love Someone, Set Them Free. If They Come Back They’re Yours"

In this whole series what Maze and Phab did was very in line with their characterization, but the perception of them can wary because we are forced to read between the lines, Depending on our understanding of them our score of the plot can differ.

What I disliked the most in this show was the useless person - Nueng, he is just bland...
Later he also becomes a character who hides his selfishness with a mask of kindness. If screenwriters scraped his storyline and let us have a better view in main couple minds and motivation it would really improve the show quality and clear viewer perception of them. Nueng relationship with Maze is just bizarre at best, him not contacting Maze or his manager hitting Tharn manager while all trouble landed on Tharn was also super fu*ked up.
It was like Nueng storyline was added/rewritten in the last minute, that's why it doesn't really add anything to the plot except viewers' confusion.

Overall its good show with strong and weak points where i think rewatching will clear some doubts of the viewers and put character action in perspective.

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Worst Timed Lunch in BL History

My true score for this series is 7.7

Star and Sky: Sky in Your Heart is a continuation of the previous part Star and Sky: Star in My Mind. If you asked me if it's better? I can comfortably say: Yes.

The characters are more fleshed out, side characters are more likable, and don't feel like props. Peacing is also a lot better. While storyline and cinematography also look better than in the previous part (Or it's scenic village scenery that distracts you from it)

The whole story revolves around Doctor and Teacher who fall in love with each other in a small village. 8 episodes feel like a very short time but somehow it's more than enough in the Director and Screenwriter's opinion to feed us sweet scenes of the previous part couple in all-time weird timing. That why when Prince fight for his life sick (malaria) we have - TADAM - a sweet scene of Daonuea and Khabkluen flirting over lunch. It all you should know about timing on this series or therefore lack of it.

All actors really tried their best with what all watchers can notice "colorful" script - 10/10 for effort. I want to especially applaud the actor who played Prince who is a newbie to acting - he really did best he could with what he got. When for some reason - the wardrobe department seemed to have difficulty with finding him clothes that fit him ( Like really give him pants that don't look so ill-fitting), and other little and the bigger things that I will not mention because I want to keep this review short. Anyway i couldn't help noticing that with such a "colorful" series Prince sometimes give us this blank start - that perfectly gives off a feeling of - What I am doing with my life? Screenwriters and directors really should take it to heart before producing something like this again.

The script is mediocre, the execution of it is also mediocre while post-production editing feels like it was done by a drunk person...

Is this series Bad? NO.
Is this series GOOD? NO

There are much worse and better series than this one, it feels like a discount version of A Tale of Thousand Stars but still watchable enough to stay for 8 episodes. While the main couple is likable and has a cute storyline. I even liked their romance aspect till Prince suddenly got a sudden character change and started behaving like a heroine from a Victorian romance novel (Even in this genre I saw spicer romance). Anyway everyone probably already noticed that GMMTV has a problem with writing adults character that behaves like adults.

To sum it up if you have some free time give it a go, it would be probably a nice, sweet or even cheesy PG intro into BL genre. But if you look for something of more substance and plot-oriented or dramatic it might not be for you.

Citeste mai mult

Alternate Universe of 2moon

I have a hard time describing what this drama is supposed to be, is this 2moon sequel? While most characters are still here, some characters magically disappeared, some events happened others never happened, or happened differently.
Me after the first episode… Ok let’s treat it like 2Moon alternate universe with Mark and Kit as lead (anyway I liked them best in 2moon)
Now the main couple, their storyline is pretty good and worth watching. But something is off and cringy. I had a hard time putting my finger on it but it's a mixture of Mark character, it was almost like he was written by two writers who had similar but at the same time vastly different visions of him in mind. There is also a problem of lack of chemistry between the main couple. Some people would push it on bad acting but their performance in group scenes or with other actors is pretty solid. There are many romantic scenes that I would normally love but due to their chemistry, they are at best mediocre.
Then episode 9 - is pretty normal until a couple that misses each other for the last 8 episodes finally meet and have a flashback - me - wow is this analogy to leaving behind your past and moving on? I like it… but no, now they both have mysterious visions at the same time - I didn’t know I watched supernatural shows till this moment…
Episode 9 also adds other changes, like - let’s push the main couple to the side and give their screen time to others. Then adding to the new love triangle, we also have elements that could come out straight from Wanda Vision.
This show also has way too many characters, like we have maybe 15 - 20 min in the 9 ep. each one hour long is about some dudes at the pool, their storyline doesn't add anything to main storyline so why we still randomly get feed scenes of them? Since their screen time is so short it would be better to delete it completely because it's only confusing viewers. But in the last 3 episodes, they suddenly get promoted and have more screen time than the main couple - while most of the viewers (or just me) don’t care about them at all at his point in time.
We also have a plotline about Pha hiding from Wayu, can’t meet, can’t contact, can’t explain anything for some unknown mysterious reason … still driving his own car like nothing in the city and creeping from shadow to stalk Wayu… True love in the finest.
In conclusion, if the showrunner stuck to the main couple it would really improve this drama overall, side plots are confusing at best or just plain weird.

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