Interesting, Convoluted, Incomplete

The feeling I get after watching the whole series is the feeling of waking up suddenly in the middle of the dream. I may well wish to continue with the dream but can't. This is another series that is tough to review. There is plenty I like about it, but it's too obviously incomplete to unreservedly give it a good rating.

This series reminds me of Dream Detective, a series with an uncannily similar premise about entering people's subconscious, which isn't as interesting to me overall but has a much more nicely done ambiguous ending.

The revelations in the last episode complicate things a little, so I will just review Episodes 1-35 first.

Set in the Chinese Repulican era, the story starts with Jiang Shuo being found in a ditch. He has lost his memory but hasn't forgotten his special skill of entering people's subconscious. Some incidents result in his forging a friendship with a psychiatrist, Qin Yi Heng, and a romantic relationship with a warlord's daughter, Yuan Mu Qing.

Like a detective series, this series can be divided into a series of cases (which are ultimately tied to a mysterious masked person, Liu Zhi (meaning Six Fingers). The story occupies an interesting position between a conventional detective series and a series about supernatural occurrences: it is actually neither but has elements of both.

Some events in the stories are a tad too illogical. For example, one of Mu Qing's schoolmates is supposed to have lost her mind after a traumatic incident, but she still turns up in school properly uniformed and no one really seems bothered though everyone knows she has kind of gone nuts. There are also occasions when Jiang Shuo could look exactly like another person by simply wearing a mask of the person's face over his head (and the masks get made in an instant, it seems). This is the stuff of some wuxia dramas that are meant to be far-fetched anyway, but isn't what you would expect in a series like this one. Still, if we are not too exacting, the cases can be fairly nice. One involving a trip to an isolated island goes a little too far with its extended dream sequences with layer upon layer of dreams, but still, the story remains quite fascinating.

The main characters help in making the series more watchable. Mu Qing likes Yi Heng at first but shifts her affections towards Jiang Shuo. The romance part isn't excessive in my opinion, but shows the increasing attachment between the characters.

The bromance between Qin Yi Heng and Jiang Shuo is also nicely done, though I suspect it is more like one-sided and repressed romantic affection on Yi Heng's part--it can't be shown anyway, thanks to China's censorship rules. From Yi Heng's expressions as he observes JS while tailing him (to investigate an early case) to how he stops wearing glasses after Jiang Shuo comments that he looks better without glasses, his affection for Jiang Shuo seems to go beyond bromance. There are many more examples though I would urge you to skip the next paragraph if this isn't your cup of tea:

When Jiang Shuo almost drowns trying to save Mu Qing, Yi Heng frantically calls out Jiang Shuo's name though Mu Qing is also his friend. After near-drowning incident, Jiang Shuo is hospitalised and the only person next to him after he wakes up is Yi Heng and not Mu Qing who is starting to fall in love with Jiang Shuo. After Yi Heng is sacked from the hospital (affiliated to his family), he wants to rent a place where Jiang Shuo stays. Jiang Shuo asks him what he's doing there, and Yi Heng just says emotionlessly that it's because he misses Jiang Shuo. (This later leads to some joke about Jiang Shuo being Yi Heng's sugar daddy.) Sometimes Yi Heng is shown brooding in a corner when Jiang Shuo and Mu Qing are being loving, though he could simply be thinking about the mysteries (yeah, right). Yi Heng is always protective of Jiang Shuo: in one scene, he assures Jiang Shup that he doesn't have to fear because he (Yi Heng) is around. Though Jiang Shuo is clearly in love with Mu Qing, the way addresses Yi Heng is also suggestive; he insists on calling him Qin Er4 (short for the second son of the Qin family), but it sounds suspiciously similar to Qin Er0 (which would actually be affectionate). The good thing is the series doesn't bait BL fans in an irritating way; it just doesn't say exactly how Yi Heng feels towards Jiang Shuo.

The revelations in the last episode, however, complicate things too much and the series doesn't end properly as a result. Spoilers are inevitable here:

In Episode 36, it is revealed that everything that happens in the story (so far set in the Chinese Republican era, remember?) is merely occurring in Jiang Shuo's subconscious as he is seeking treatment from a psychiatrist (Dr. Qin, whose alter-ego is Yi Heng). Jiang Shuo is actually someone existing hundreds of years after the Chinese Republican era. Liu Zhi is his evil split personality trying to take over the body fully. To take over the body completely, Liu Zhi has to lock the good Jiang Shuo in the subconscious (as deeply in it as possible) and make him accept being locked. So, because of Jiang's attachment to all this people like Mu Qing in his imagination (these people are very real to him even though he now knows that they are imagined), he will have to destroy the anchor that allows him to get back to the real world. In other words, he has to save these imagined people he loves (hmm...). Well, he also wants to save Dr. Qin. So Jiang Shuo destroys the anchor and lets himself be locked in his subconscious in exchange for the safety of both the imagined people and Dr. Qin, which allows Liu Zhi to take over the body entirely.

But wait a minute. As if the above isn't complicated and convoluted enough, it is very possible that this thing about Jiang Shuo being Dr Qin's patient in the real world could simply be yet another illusion created by Liu Zhi. Perhaps the dilemma between saving Dr. Qin of the real world and saving the imagined people who feel entirely real to Jiang Shuo is itself an illusion. In Episode 35, the environment of the ship the characters are on suddenly takes on a reddish hue. There is some attention-grabbing visual effect in case you don't notice the sudden change in the environment, which makes it seem as though the ship has entered a different realm. So everything that happens after this point, including the "revelations" in Episode 36 could be illusions created by Liu Zhi in Jiang Shuo's subconscious. The purpose could be similar: to trap Jiang Shuo in the world of the subconscious. The ultimate reason for doing so could be different. (After all, the real world hundreds of years later doesn't make much sense. Jiang Shuo tells Dr. Qin that someone called Liu Zhi has been harassing him, and he shows Dr. Qin the mobile phone texts sent by Liu Zhi. All Dr. Qin sees is a blank screen. If Liu Zhi is another personality in the same body, he could well send actual messages using another phone. How does he make Jiang Shuo see something non-existent?)

Nevertheless, if the "real" world of centuries after the Republican era isn't truly the real world, why would Liu Zhi be able to create an illusion of a future in which the Republican era is over and which has things like computers? What sort of power would he need to have to predict things like computers and mobile phones? On the other hand, if everything in the Republican era is is not real but meant to fool Jiang Shuo, why would the stories involve the other characters' personal affairs and interior worlds that Jiang Shuo does not have access to? We end up with a situation where there are many possibilities but none really makes complete sense. Even if there is a sequel, we would likely have to settle for story with significant plot holes. It would actually be less problematic if the writers had not opted for such an unnecessarily far-fetched twist in the last episode.

At its worst, the series is like a bad story that ends with "I woke up and it's all a dream." However, there are also interesting things before the equivalent of the "I woke up" bit that are the story's redeeming qualities.

Citeste mai mult

Satisfactory but not all that satisfying

There seems to be a trend of detective dramas set in the Chinese Republican era recently (Detective L, My Roommate is a Detective). Perhaps the setting allows some circumvention of censorship to some extent--it's probably easier to get away with portraying the police or some policemen somewhat negatively in a made-in-China series since it represents a bygone era not under the current political regime.

The Case Solver is a somewhat decent addition, but it is hard to sing praises of it. The series can roughly be divided into six main cases, with links between a couple of them. About half the cases involve some fake supernatural occurrences, and perhaps this could have been a feature of the series though I guess making it a feature would not really allow the historical context to be fully exploited.

What we end up with is a few rather implausible cases, some with a better story than others. The weakest story is probably the one involving a magician who uses hypnosis. The main revelation is a little too predictable and the crimes committed are simply quite impossible to execute with the supposed methods. If you do not care too much about plausibility, most of the stories are interesting enough.

The final case is clearly meant to be the most exciting, but it is also one of the more erratic ones. To be fair, the last episode does not end up being as rushed as expected, but the turn of events does not really fit the rest of the series. Furthermore, the dialogue sometimes seems a little too silly (like the male leads wishing each other a happy new year after the villain gets his just desserts--it just seems silly coming after the spate of violence that have resulted in the deaths of a loved one).

Sometimes interesting characters and relationships may compensate for flawed stories, but this series doesn't shine in the characterization department either. The romance between the second male lead and a female reporter isn't very interesting or touching. Although they clearly like each other, they spend most of the time bickering with or teasing each other. There is a hint of potential romance between the first male lead and the forensics pathologist, but there is no development.

The bromance between the two male leads is better handled--they become closer progressively. Although the first male lead seems like a somewhat cold person, he clearly cares a lot about the second male lead, putting a coat over him when he gets drunk and shedding tears when he has to point a gun at him and arrest him.

There also seems to be a missing back story about the first male lead and his teacher (who happens to be the father of the forensics pathologist). It also remains unclear how the first male lead has sustained an injury that gives him frequent headaches. The acupuncturist who is able to relieve his pain is an intriguing character, but nothing much is revealed about her.

The series does turn out okay, but it isn't really outstanding in any particular way.

Citeste mai mult

Didn't expect this to be so good

When I first read the synopsis for this drama (not having watched the movie version before), I was wondering if the show would end up over-glamorizing the teenage cheats or over-moralizing on how wrong it is for them to cheat. Thankfully, it does neither.

What we have is not only a good story that is paced and directed well but also a nuanced take on the rampant corruption and inequality in society. We are invested in the characters early on--the main characters, Lin and Bank, are definitely likable people in whom we invest our emotions. The scene in which Bank carries a small boy so that the boy could get a balloon that has floated to the ceiling shows the innate kindness in both Lin and him as they try their utmost to help the boy, who does not even seem friendly at first.

Lin and Bank are the geniuses that the title may refer to--they are really good academically, which is why they can help others cheat in exams. (I do wonder why the school seems to exclusively have MCQ tests, but we can probably ignore this lack of realism.) The other two main characters, Pat and Grace, are also developed in interesting ways although I thought they would be flat characters at first.

Although Bank later turns into someone we may have reservations feeling sympathy for, the story of his gradual loss of innocence is compelling and saddening story. Despite being an innocent and upright boy, he betrays his own principles when his mother is injured and requires a massive sum of money for surgery. However, after he is caught for taking part in a cheating scheme, he is expelled from school and will not be able to fulfill his dream of enrolling in medical school and becoming a doctor. At this point, his moral descent begins as he he sees his future destroyed and hatches another exam cheating scheme, even going to the point of betraying his friends and cheating the customers who pay him to help them cheat. Can we really blame him when his poverty drives him to cheat to get money for his mother's surgery and as a reward for his filial piety, he gets expelled from school and have his dreams destroyed without a second chance? (No doubt, had he the money to bribe the headmistress, he would perhaps have been able to continue studying in the school.)

The depiction of the characters is wonderfully executed. There is neither harsh judgement on their morally ambiguous actions nor unnecessary valorization of their behaviors. In contrast, the irony of the headmistress moralizing to Bank for cheating is hard to miss. She is, after all, one of the key faces of the corrupt society that benefits the privileged and exploits the underprivileged. The reason the cheating has become something like an organized crime is the corruption on the part of people like her in the first place: Lin realizes that her father has to borrow money and pay a hefty sum of money for her place in the prestigious school, and she only gets "half" the scholarship although the money used to bribe the headmistress is more than enough for her fees for a few years. The headmistress herself tries to get Lin to give up applying for a scholarship so that her nephew can get it. One feels a sense of injustice throughout the series, so even as we know that the cheating teens are doing something wrong, we may just find ourselves hoping that they get away with it.

With the story premised on teens trying to earn money by coming up with elaborate cheating schemes, the ending is a bound to be challenge to write. Do we let them be caught and punished and risk undermining the social critique of injustice by emphasizing the immorality of their actions? Do we let them get away with it and risk sending the message that society is unfair and cheating is a legitimate way of making things right?

Thankfully, the writers are clever enough to find a way out of the quandary. The students do get caught (after one confesses), but the story does not transform into one that simply moralizes about how the teens are wrong to cheat. The differing punishments for the four teens actually hammers in the message about inequality further. The wealthy Pat essentially gets away scot free because his father is able get him off the hook (presumably with money). Amongst the less privileged, however, the less privileged you are, the more you suffer: Grace and Lin get away with a suspended sentence whereas Bank is sent to a boys' home. Why the difference? Lin is lucky enough not to have a record for cheating in the earlier scandal because he mother is around to help her whereas Bank, the least privileged, has no one in a position to help him get away with it. On top of this, we shouldn't forget that the criminals who get punished here are minors whereas adults like the headmistress get away with accepting bribes that are more or less an open secret.

The inherent unfairness even in the repercussions suffered by the perpetrators of the cheating schemes is observed by Lin herself as she eventually concludes that she and her peers have to use their intelligence and talents to change society without breaking the law because they the legal repercussions they have to face will prevent them from fighting the unfairness in society further.

In the end, we see Lin realizing that cheating will not help her achieve what she wants. We might see that she is perhaps just following her father's footsteps, trying to change the system in small ways whilst being part of the system. However, she is also more ambitious and intelligent, and there is hope that she will achieve more with her peers. Perhaps the ending is a tad too optimistic, but I won't complain too much in this regard.

This is definitely one of the best dramas of 2020 that I have watched so far.

Citeste mai mult

Good story with important issues dealt with sensitively

When I started o this series, I wasn't expecting rape to figure so prominently in the story. The theme can be a little heavy, but, interestingly, it has not been excessively so. Three different main characters experience rape in the series, and their individual experiences are all different.

Lookkaew is raped by a guy she is seeing when she is too drunk to resist. Som, who broadcasts erotic performances live, is raped by someone offering her money purely for a meal. Nhao is raped by two guys he meets at a bar.

The reason rape happens so often in a series with merely thirteen episodes is not directly explained (thankfully), and it's up to us to realize that every victim is different and yet rape is rape and their experiences similar in some ways too. This sounds like a ridiculously obvious thing to say, but perhaps people just do not get it that rape can be a wide-ranging experience but no matter what, it is traumatic. The case of Lookkaew shows us that a person can be raped by a good-looking and attractive guy who does not seek consent. With Som, we see that a woman who is willing to strip on camera for money is not necessarily willing to have sex with someone for money, and boundaries have to be respected regardless of what she is doing. With Nhao, we see how men can also be victims of rape. There is a different point to make for each of the three victims, but they also show how traumatic the experience can be.

The bigger point the series is making, however, that the judgement of others in society is almost like a continued rape for the victims. A revealing photo and video of Lookkaew is leaked, causing people to make derogatory comments about her without knowing that she has been raped. But even after it is made public, people question her intentions and wonder if she is seeking attention. Som refuses to even say that she has been raped, knowing that if she makes the claim, she will be criticized for being stupid enough to walk into a trap. She claims that the sex video of her being gang-raped is merely an act and bears with the judgement (which she has been getting for her erotic broadcasts). Nhao's identity is not revealed publicly, but he is no less traumatized because his parents judge him for being gay--to his father, it obviously matter less that he has been raped than that he is gay and has gone to a gay bar.

Nhao's case is particularly painful because he commits suicide, and though he does not tell anyone why he kills himself, we see flashbacks to all the comments that his parents have made about how being gay is abnormal as he commits suicide. Even if he may be able to eventually cope with having been raped, he is unable to deal with the homophobia of his parents.

It is quite amazing how much the series has managed to do within thirteen episodes. Apart from dealing with rape, misogyny and homophobia, it also comments on how the very institutions that are supposed to stand up for the victims may try to protect their reputations and even punish the victims. And then, even if redress is given, the victims' victimhood may be exploited by others for their own benefits. Lookkaew's school, for example, punishes her with probation and tries to stall the case after she reports having been raped--because the perpetrator, another student, is the son of an influential figure.

The series also deals with the issue of how leaked pictures and videos can be circulated on social media, causing the victims to be further victimized by the judgement of others and be subject to further harassment. And then there is also an exploration of victimhood: it can be a double-edged sword to speak up against one's victimization: it is necessary when one seeks redress, and yet it can also consign one to perpetual victimhood and cause one's identity to be reduced to one's victimization.

A potentially controversial aspect of the series is the portrayal of Lookkaew's rapist, Aud. It is a surprisingly nuanced portrayal. He can be quite an asshole, but he is also young and not brought up to be a responsible person. The series makes it clear that this does not make his actions excusable, and he himself realizes his mistake and decides to confess and face the music. I think the scriptwriters took a risk with this character because the sympathetic portrayal of a perpetrator of rape can be appalling if it is not handled well. It seems to have been worth taking the risk, though, for the character shows how important upbringing and education are when it comes understanding the notion of consent. (One may, of course, still be incredulous that he doesn't realize the gravity of his actions despite being grown up enough to be in the university, but maybe there is something about how easy it is for non-consensual sex to be normalized.)

It is unfortunate that none of the other perpetrators of rape are brought to justice despite their heinous actions. Perhaps that's the reality--a lot of times, the victims are left to suffer and cope while to criminals get away. Nevertheless, Aud seems to get away a little too easily. The university decides to suspend him for what he has done, and he himself feels that the punishment is too light and protests against it by leaving the university. But he is also a wealthy person and he tells his friends about going overseas. While he is genuinely remorseful, his act of raping Lookaew doesn't haunt him the way it continues haunting Lookkaew (as someone starts claiming that she has spoken up about the rape for attention). Because of this, the final episode isn't entirely satisfactory.

Still, the series comes across as a well-meaning and nuanced exploration of important issues like rape and the (lack of?) recourse victims has, It does this while telling a solid story, which is commendable. At first I was wondering if the subplot of Nhao and his boyfriend would merely end up being a barely related side story (as is sometimes the case with Thai series I have watched), but it ends up intersecting with the main plot rather well.

Citeste mai mult

The premise is interesting: Using an old phone, Min receives social media notifications from the future. The notifications reveal what would happen to Min in the future, so Min and her friend Sonia are excited about it.

What sets the story back is that the future based on the notifications seem unimaginably ideal to Min, so she shouldn't do doing anything except to let things happen, notifications or not. However, Min and Sonia embark on a mission to make the future come true, which is pretty odd. Needless to say, by trying to make the future come true, they are changing the past (their present) and therefore threatening to make the wonderful future fail to come true.

Logically speaking, Min should have ignored the notifications (though, understandably, it is hard to do so). There is also this idea that the notifications are meant as a sort of message from the future. But Min does not find out till the very end of the story, so she spends most of her time trying to make the future come true (which is rather bizarre if you ask me).

Having said that, the story does turn out to be rather interesting. Min meets the handsome junior, Napat, and they fall in love. There is a love triangle though, because Min's friend, Tong, is also in love with her. Sometimes Min seems to really be happy with Tong, but she also seems averse to the idea of being romantically involved with Tong. Often enough, she accidentally changes the future and the notifications from the future show her ending up with Tong instead of Napat, and she tries hard not to let that happen.

Spoiler:
There is a twist in the story later on that doesn't please many viewers: Min breaks up with Napat and ends up with Tong in the future. Tong is actually a really lovable character and his ending up with Min shouldn't be a problem. Except that the series spends too much time focusing on what a nice couple Min and Napat are. Even by the end, I wonder if Min thinks she doesn't love Napat or if she merely finds it too difficult to change herself to be with him. (Also, Napat loves Min as herself before she changes for him, so it doesn't seem that the two are not really in love).

As for Min and Tong, the chemistry between them as good friends is wonderful, and it is a bit harder to imagine them as lovers, though this is perhaps more a matter of casting and direction rather than a flaw with the story.

The story is quite enjoyable, but I don't find myself entirely satisfied with the ending. Admittedly, it's hard to end the story well. If Min and Napat have a happily-ever-after ending, then he notifications would seem to have no meaning at all, and would seem to be a fantastical element added in for no reason. On the other hand, the Min and Tong pairing (done via a changing of the past that undoes the Min-Napat pairing and involves some strange paradoxes that are best left unconsidered) is not very satisfactory. The Min that we know over seven episodes or so isn't someone who would suddenly realize that Tong is the one for her just because she finds out that he is in love with her. After all, it is not as though she doesn't already know. In fact, she is resistant towards the idea until suddenly* ... Still, it is a very watchable and lighthearted series.

*We are left wondering how many pasts and futures there are. I think there are 3:
1. The past and future without the notifications (Min breaks up with Napat, and Tong dies)
2. Modified past and future 1 (Min who has received the notifications ends up breaking up with Napat, and Tong dies)
3. Modified past and future 2 (Min who has received the notifications realizes how much Tong loves her and that she loves Tong too, and she doesn't start a relationship with Napat).
The last one is the happy ending of the story. But with this sort of stories, there is a paradox. The story has it that, if Tong doesn't die, the notifications to the past will not be sent. And if they aren't sent, then Min can't possibly end up with Tong because of the notifications.

Citeste mai mult

This whodunit series has interesting cases, most of which are solved within the same episode. It manages to have quite a few surprising endings without trying too hard to have twists or maintain suspense. I like the classic feel to this series. Unlike some other series from the same genre in recent years, it doesn't have a lot of focus on forensics and high-tech equipment but focuses on locked rooms. The detective is also not a detective but a locksmith who is more interested in unlocking rooms. It is charming in how it doesn't take itself too seriously, sometimes making fun of the genre itself.

What makes the series stand out is perhaps the overall quality of the production. The stories are good, the main characters are entertaining and likable, and it is well-paced. I actually watched a couple of episodes of the Chinese remake of this series and I dropped it to watch this. The stories may be similar (based on what I have watched), but this is just so much better.

Citeste mai mult

The fame of My Roommate is a Detective seems to exceed that of this series, which is set in a similar era. However, as a detective series, this series actually surpasses My Roommate, with more interesting stories that are solved by a more believable detective, who has good deductive powers without being ridiculously intelligent and knowledgeable. My Roommate is a Detective may have better characterisation and more interesting relationships between characters, but I find the stories in Detective L to be better stories in he whodunit genre.

Detective L consists of stories of disparate cases with something something related to a criminal known as Captain connecting quite a few of the cases. Many of the cases have interesting twists that keep the viewer guessing. I particularly like the penultimate case involving a wealthy man who is rumored to have a valuable painting. The case of the serial killer on the loose is also interesting even though the twists may be overdone (the twists for this case seem to be written in without a care for being realistic because the writers think that the viewer can only be impressed by an outcome that s/he cannot guess correctly). Overall, I find the mysteries with simpler solutions to have a more classic whodunit charm. Apart from the case of the wealthy man with a valuable painting, the case of how a numbers of diamonds go missing from a safe are a case in point.

The biggest problem with the series is that it builds up and promises a story connecting at least some of the cases, but doesn't complete it. I'm OK with cliffhangers and Season 2 teases, but this one goes overboard, promises too much before basically saying in the last episode, "Hah, but we haven't written what you've been waiting to see for the last 20 episodes!" (This also hints at how the writers actually work -- there can be any number of twists and any kind of unpredictable outcomes as long as they feel like writing them into the series. Anyone could have done it in the whodunnits of this series, so the person who has done it may not be really convincingly the one that must have done it.)

Most of the individual cases are engaging on their own to make this series an interesting watch. But reviewing it is like reviewing an incomplete series. If there is a Season 2 that gives the story a sense of completion, it should probably be seen as a part of this season of this series.

Citeste mai mult

This is a review that requires only a summary of the story because a lot depends on whether you can accept the rather illogical story.

- Neung and Keng have sex when they are drunk. (It's not even clear if it's consensual as Keng later say that he would not have done it to Neung if he had not been drunk. But it doesn't seem like Neung was raped either.)
- Neung seems unable to accept what has happened and quarrels with Keng.
- But later on, Neung looks for Keng in his room again. And they have sex AGAIN, not exactly in a very loving way.
- But Neung and Keng become very loving ... the next morning (maybe the sex did wonders??)
- It turns out that Neung has been dating a girl (who appears and denies to a friend that Neung is gay). Yeah, and also, for some reason, people are gossiping that Neung and Keng are dating (maybe someone has been stalking them???).
- Cut to Tui asking Neung if he's gay. Neung denies it, BUT Tui says that he isn't going to have any gay friends and leaves. Two other friends leave with Tui, leaving Neung alone.
- Neung goes to Keng's room, but realizes that he has left the room, leaving behind only a note. (Aren't these two people in a relationship? What reason is there for Keng to leave so abruptly?) We don't know for sure why he has to change schools AGAIN, but it may have something to do with his sexual orientation. Who knows?
- Neung is depressed, but Tui approaches him and apologizes.
- Apparently Tui's homophobia has magically disappeared after watching My Bromance, which has made him realize that he shouldn't discriminate against friends who are gay. The other two friends (the ones who leave with Tui in the earlier scene) are there too--apparently they don't have a mind of their own and simply behave like Tui.
- Cut to Neung and Tui having a strikingly similar conversation to the conversation Keng and Neung have had about the fish in the tank And ... Neung and Tui end up having sex/being a couple ... possibly with Neung's girlfriend (who never appears again) in the dark.

I understand the constraints of such a short series (more like a short film). But taking out the conversation between Neung's girlfriend and her friend and removing the two friends who come and go with Tui would have given space for more development for Keng and Tui.

Citeste mai mult

This is a difficult series to summarize. We may say that Praewa is bullied by the cheerleading team, which has more than a few highly awful people. The bullying turns violent and vicious after Praewa is maligned of being the woman in a sex video with the boyfriend (Brave) of Aya, a central figure in the team. Here's where things get complicated: Aya and a few members of the team beat her up viciously (I think almost to the point of dying), one of them even sends a group of thugs to rape her (in her badly beaten up state) and, inexplicably at first, she is the victim of black magic. Praewa struggles her way home to her adoptive mother, a black magic practitioner, who can only save her from being killed by the black magic by transferring her power to her. After this, Praewa's vengeance begins.

The baiting of BL fans is fairly obvious, with Boun and Prem looking basically the same as the characters they play in Until We Meet Again at first. It's not clear why though, other than for the sake of complementing the message that things are often not what they seem to be. Nevertheless, the story is good enough to hold its own without resorting to BL baiting.

The vengeance plot is rather interesting: we may feel a sense of injustice for Praewa, and the members of the cheerleading team she goes after are such awful people that we are unlikely to feel sorry seeing them punished. However, the series also falls short , at some points even making Praewa seem like the villain and the rest victims. Sure, given her actions, she may well have turned villainous, but most of the rest do not seem convincing as victims. Furthermore, she has to fight the black magic inflicted on her until she deals with the person behind it (who also happens to be the actual person in the sex video).

As it turns out, one of the cheerleading team members is the person in the video. Maybe there is supposed to be a twist in the revelation, but, to be honest, the identity of the person is quite easy to guess. There are only so few women in the team, after all. I think Praewa should have been able to guess it by elimination, but she doesn't. What is interesting is why the person did it, which is where the series manages to throw us a few genuine surprises. The loose threads of the plot get tied up in a rather nice way at the end.

Yet, despite the rather clever plot, one may find that the twists and surprises in the last two episodes are somewhat excessive. The twists given to the character, Dan (played convincingly by Mark Siwat), may be interesting for the plot but is also bad for characterization. If it must turn out that he's under a spell, I would appreciate knowing more what sort of person he is beyond the spell that makes him so devoted to Lin. There are hints of it, but I find it insufficient, so what is becoming a very interesting character till/in Episode 7 suddenly gets flattened in Episode 8.

In the end, the villain wins. The twists and connections between events are nicely presented. However, there are also plot holes, e.g. why doesn't the person (seem to) appear in photos with some dark shadow around, just like how Praewa appears in photos with a dark shadow?

Citeste mai mult

The most daring BL from GMMTV to date

When I started watching Not Me, I started wondering if it's BL at all. Gone is the excessive use of beauty filters or blurring effects to make the actors look unnaturally perfect. Instead, you can see the actors' complexions, pores and all. The cinematographic elements tend to be dark and gritty, and one might be surprised by how politically daring it is to talk about the problems with Thai society. And while fans may start watching the series thinking that it is yet another Off-Gun BL vehicle, the series takes its own sweet time developing their characters' relationship to a point where they are clearly in love with each other. It has the sort of guts to chart new territory that the Thai BL industry needs.

To be sure, Not Me does not eschew all BL conventions. Quite early in the series, we get to see White (Gun's character) and Sean (Off's character) sharing a bed, Gun falling into Sean's arms, etc. However, the ship for the other couple, Yok and Dan, starts sailing faster and one may wonder if the White-Sean ship is going to happen at all. But what is surprising is that it leaves out a whole lot of feel-good fluff. The main characters may be mostly university students, but their vigilantism is legally problematic and morally ambiguous. There isn't much putting them in a glamorous light although they seem to be good people. With Not Me, we are definitely not watching the typical idealized rich-and-handsome or romanticized struggling-poor-but-cute leads though some of the main characters are wealthy and others are poor. They are not guys who go around campus with legions of screaming fans. If they are privileged in some way, the access to that privilege is questioned.

Of course, not everything that is different from the norm is great. So what makes Not Me such a riveting watch? The plot development, for one, is excellent. There is a good story beyond the BL. And while a revelation in one of the later episodes about how Black (White's twin brother, also played by Gun) gets injured at the start of the story isn't totally unpredictable, it is interesting how the person behind his injury is portrayed with a certain degree of ambiguity rather than as an outright villain. It is hard to tell how the story will end until you have watched the last episode.

The story of White impersonating Black and joining the latter's vigilante group isn't a story that will definitely benefit from an infusion of BL into the plot. It is good enough on its own, and having BL relationships may attract more fans while alienating others. If we consider the social impact of the series, it is a good thing to have such a series instead of series that cater only to BL fans because the portrayal of gay relationships can reach more than just a niche audience.

Despite all the praises I can shower on Not Me, I shouldn't exaggerate how ground-breaking the series is. While the social criticism is strong at the start, the society's problems seems to be very much reduced to a single villain (Tawi) later on despite hints that getting rid of him isn't going to change society. Certain deep-seated social issues like how the wealthy have connections that help them get ahead of others who may be equally or better qualified also seem to take a backseat later on. Yet, the series has done what I don't expect from a GMMTV production. (If I remember correctly, The Gifted came close but seems to chicken out of it.) Such a production deserves all the support it can get. If nothing else, the commercial viability of such a production will mean that it won't just be indie, low-budget productions that would venture into the same sort of social criticism.

I don't usually take the numbers in my reviews seriously, but I would say that if we take everything else we can out of the series except for the BL, the BL would at most be 8/10. But it is everything else that is working together with the BL that elevates the series to 9.5/10. With the same cast and production team, GMMTV could well have made another excellent but mostly safe series like Bad Buddy. But I'm really glad it didn't.

Citeste mai mult

Commendable if imperfect in several ways

Apart from a plot twist that I could see coming from Episode 1, I find this series more than decent. It has elements of horror but its horror is not exactly its forte--some scenes that are meant to frighten are clichéd. (But rarely do we see something in the horror genre that is free of the clichés of the genre.)

The series does much better at telling a reasonably good story about two friends (Chiu and Hung) who do something that get themselves into trouble with supernatural forces, changing the entire courses of their lives as a result. There is a plot twist that I think many people are likely to see coming from Episode 1. This could have been handled more effectively: either do without the twist and exploit it fully to convey nuances in characterization from the start or do it so skillfully that few would see it coming.

Another flaw with the story is that there could have been stronger connections between the part of the story about a building with many inexplicably haunted apartments and the part of the story about how the main characters deal with the problem that has started eighteen years ago. (Perhaps the bad guy in the first part could have been given a role to play in the events of the second part.)

One may also find that many of the ghosts are caught too easily and in more or less the same methods without much of a back story for them. Still, through the events, we see how Chiu is affected by his past. On the one hand, he still has a certain anger against ghosts. On the other hand, he is taught to be merciful and not destroy the spirits. He is also tormented by guilt as he sees himself as being responsible for causing a family tragedy. His coping mechanism is different from Hung's, and he tries his darn best to face things bravely, so he becomes an inspiration for Hung when they meet again after eighteen years.

The human relationships aspect of the story is probably the series' strongest point. It is not perfect though. I find the romance element between Chiu and Siu Mei (Yanny?) somewhat unnecessary. The woman spends too much time being irritating at first. I get the feeling that the romance is added out of a sense of obligation to have some romance, and it is not done very well. In contrast, the friendship between Chiu and Hung is nicely portrayed. The bromance is nicely done, and there might even be slight hints of BL for the imaginative. I'm not saying that the story must focus on bromance or have BL elements to be good, but the romance element pales in comparison to the depiction of the friendship..

The HK drama industry is now a shell of its former self, with an exodus of talents over the years and lack of new talents to replace them. While there are still decent productions, one can imagine that the same productions nowadays would look more slick if they had been made elsewhere. Ghost Hunting Ltd does give the vibes of a production that could appear more polished if TVB were still in its heyday. Still, I did find myself enjoying the series while watching it. Some of the weaknesses that I have mentioned were not something that bugged me as I was watching but rather issues that I started to think about when writing this review.

Citeste mai mult

An ad compilation with a tinge of BL

10/10 for the cat. AS for the rest ....

This is basically a commercial for a whole lot of different products including cat food. But this isn't what makes it bad.

The production quality is quite low overall, and I think a couple of scenes were added after filming ended, which is why the actors appear with different hairstyles (and even clothes) when such changes are not possible within the 'story'. (I guess certain sponsors demanded more screentime for their products.)

All this would have been potentially forgivable if the BL made some sense. First, the main character, Nine, seems to be depressed for no reason. He lives with his boyfriend (Tar), who seems like an at least ok person and understandably feels neglected. Despite having a rather nice boyfriend, Nine someone seems to feel like he lacks a soulmate. They break up, but Nine suddenly starts missing him because, you know, he used to do sweet things like reminding him to consume some supplements from the show's sponsor.

OK, fine, maybe Tar simply isn't the one. And so who's Mr Right for Nine? His cat, of course. And so his cat has to transform into a human. Yet, one wonders how the cat can be his soulmate when the human version doesn't seem to have the emotional complexity of a human but is more like a talking cat in a human body. (He doesn't progress much beyond this.)

The problem with such a "series" is also that once the cat turns into a human, the cat stops being feature. But the cat is the most watchable thing in the series, and everyone knows that. So maybe that's why the cat makes a return: Somehow Tar turns up at Nine's house and sees him with the cat-turned-human, and he leaves but somehow Nine runs after him. Nine then returns home only to find his cat-human missing. While searching for the cat-human, he sees an identical-looking cat.

Look, this is not the way to use BL as an excuse to trick people to watch a gazillion ads. It would be better to just ditch all attempt to have a plot. Get a pair of cute guys to act as a loving couple taking care of their beloved cat for 1 hour. The cute cat can be present almost throughout, adding to the watchability of the ad.

Citeste mai mult

Detective, mystery, supernatural, revenge, bromance, comedy ....

The story crosses multiple genres in intriguing ways and it cannot really be judged by the standards of any particular genre. There is mystery, for instance, but it would seem to fall short in some ways if we judge it according to what we expect from the genre.

Despite the somewhat convoluted plot, the assortment of characters, who are comedic at times but also multifaceted enough to be interestingly complex, makes the show a delight. Qiu Qingzhi, as one of the main characters, manages to keep the viewer wondering whether he is a good person right till the penultimate episode (though it does become progressively clear). His back story and friendship with Li Bing (the titular white cat) is beautifully portrayed. One might well ship the two characters.

Quite a bit of the humor, however, is unfortunately lost in translation in Alibaba's misuse of Chinese idioms. (I have to admit that I did not get quite a number of the idioms.) Yet, the approach is quite refreshing and adds to the entertainment value of the series.

One oddity of the series is that it clearly has a supernatural element, with Li Bing being able to shapeshift from human to cat form. Yet, Li Bing is the very character who insists that none of the strange cases he encounters involves the supernatural (simply because he does not believe in the supernatural. This seems a little odd.

At one point, I was wondering if the series would be one of those that would end without a proper resolution and leave the viewer hanging in the middle of nowhere because the plot is getting a little too complicated. However, the story does have a proper resolution even if one may find it a little unrealistic--basically the good guys manage to escape being killed by the villains because they public trusts them and will go great lengths to rescue them.

And while the story does not end with a silly cliffhanger, not all the loose ends are tied by the end of the final episode. Most prominently, for instance, the (female) emperor remains a mysterious figure whose face is never shown. At one point, it is mentioned that she seems to be getting younger and younger; later in the series we see her basically having the height of a child. Given that the central mystery lies in the pursuit of some immortality concoction that can reverse aging, one wonders if she might be tied to all the trouble caused by the pursuit of the concoction. Unfortunately, with the apparent death of Qiu Qingzhi, if there is going to be a Season 2, it may lack a significant character.

Citeste mai mult

The minor characters get ruined the least

If Gen Y 1 and 2 were an earthworm, Season 1 would be when it burrows holes so deep and twisted (e.g. Pha's unexplained break-up with Wayu and Sandees seemingly diabolical behavior) that it becomes trapped in its self-created labyrinth. And Season 2 would be the same earthworm struggling to wriggle out of its own mess. It is a fascinating watch after a fashion, but let it not be mistaken for something that is actually worth watching. (I think this is why so many people are watching and complaining all the way to the finale.)

Essentially Gen Y 2 is this: two men in love with each other but at least one decides not to seeing the other for one reason or another. Multiply that by a few times for different couples, most of the episodes.

I have to confess I did enjoy some parts like the sweetness between Mark and Kit (before things get messy and excessively sappy). What I liked most was the squabbling potential couple, Jack and Koh, who each vehemently denies any possible romance between them while fighting to have their ship named with his own name first.

Season 2 also attempts to resolve most of the problems created in Season 1, even if the resolutions don't altogether make sense. I guess this is one of the few good things about Season 2, apart from how a Season 3 seems highly unlikely. I can't help feeling that Season 2 could have been decent if Season 1 hadn't been such a mess. Too much effort spent needs to be spent to deal with the problems of Season 1, which had: (i) Pha's unexplained break-up with Wayu , (ii) Pha being uncontactable, (iii) Sandee's behavior, (iv) Thanu's random visions that results in a love triangle with him, Phai and Wayu (rectangle if you count Pha), etc.

In the end, the way the mess is slowly cleared seems forced, and the series ends up having to delve into heavy issues like dying and death that appear very much out of place. In the world of Gen Y, having little happen is perhaps a good thing. This is perhaps why the early Mark/Kit and JAck/Koh scenes are enjoyable. But even such scenes become draggy after Episode 10.

Season 2 also suffers from having a tad too many flashbacks: At first, the flashbacks can be forgiven for being reminders of what happened in Season 1, but soon enough, we get flashbacks of the earlier episodes in Season 2 as well. The flashbacks tend to be brief but either pointless or longer than they need to be.

There are also scenes of bare skin or sex that seem rather laughable or seem added in with the hopes of pleasing the audience. A case in point: in one scene, Pok finds out the truth about something and is angry with Tong. He goes home and confronts Tong, who is having a shower. Yet, despite his moment of anger, Pok storms into the bathroom and starts making out with Tong before confronting him about the matter he is angry about.

Since viewers are probably vexed and are likely just watching to see how the mess is cleared (even in unsatisfactory ways), once the mess is largely cleared, the series becomes utterly insipid. If there is anything that I will remember about Gen Y 2, it would be the stuff that are largely left undeveloped like the Jack/Koh romance and Sandee's apparent crush on Phai, The actor for Sandee handles the abrupt about-turns in the character fairly well and his quiet love for Phai is nicely shown.

Citeste mai mult

A big pity things are left hanging

When I first started watching this after watching The Lost Tomb (2015), I could not get used to the cast. The lack of continuity from what I had watched also made me lose interest. After enough time had passed for me to forget much of The Lost Tomb (2015), I started on Ultimate Note again with a bit more patience and was pleasantly surprised.

Although the references to other events may be confusing at the start, there is no need to have watched other DaoMuBiJi-based series. Apparently they don't join up very well anyway, and the cast, direction and even characterization tend to differ.

What I had hoped for after watching a few episodes was that Ultimate Note would be a nice series on its own. In some ways, it is. Although there are allusions to adventures that are not shown in the series, we can watch Ultimate Note without having to know the details. Ultimate Note is very much focused on Wu Xie and company's attempt to investigate the truth after receiving some mysterious VHS tapes, one of which featured someone who looks identical to the adult Wu Xie even though the tape was made when he was just a kid. One thing leads to another in the series, and we can follow the characters' adventures with relative ease.

Unfortunately, Ultimate Note suffers from the problem that all DMBJ series seem doomed to suffer from: things that do not get fully explained and ending in the middle of nowhere. Too many things that are important to the story in Ultimate Note end up not being explained, e.g. the apparent replicas of various characters, the identity of the man with the sloped shoulders, etc etc etc. This is the equivalent of watching a series about a locked-room murder and then the series just ends without explaining how the murderer has killed the victim and without the murderer being caught.

Despite the sense of incompleteness, the characters really grew on me in Ultimate Note. This was unexpected given how I was not used to the different cast after watching Li Yi Feng and Yang Yang's Wu Xie and Zhang Qi Ling. Whether it is the interactions amongst Wu Xie/Zhang Qi Ling/ Fatty or the growing friendship between Hua Er and Black Glasses or the understated strong bonds between Wu Xie and Hua Er, there is a lot to make them characters viewers actually like and care about.

At least a segment of viewers will like the bond between Wu Xie and Qi Ling, which is practically a romantic one. It's often portrayed through the characters talking about or teasing them about how they would die for each other. Fatty joking that he wants to complain about Qi Ling to Wu Xie or saying that he doesn't know how to account to Wu Xie if Qi Ling dies are just a couple of examples that make the relationship seem more than just strong friendship. The three of them are close friends, but Wu Xie and Qi Ling are definitely biased towards each other as they are extra protective of each other. However one interprets their relationship, it is a good thing that the characters come to life with the different ways one character would behave towards different people.

There is also nice development in Wu Xie's character. The general impression people seem to have of Wu Xie (from watching one DMBJ-based series or another) is that he is always needing to be saved by Qi Ling, like a damsel in distress. But in Ultimate Note, we see that he may not be very physically powerful, but he has the determination to fight for his friends and save them too. Whether it is the way he carries an unconscious Fatty to save him or the way he single-handedly fights off a snake and a monster to keep Hua Er safe, his character is admirable. Joseph Zeng does a good job portraying Wu Xie, managing to bring out both the kind, righteous side of him and the tougher, more jaded side of him when he has to deal with shadier people or challenging situations.

But why must the story end just as it seems to be getting somewhere near a climax? Even if there is no way to solve all the mysteries set up, there may be more appropriate moments to end Ultimate Note, e.g. at the moment he characters set off for the final adventure in the series. Some effort to provide a credible theory of the phenomenon of character replication-- even if it turns out to be wrong or inaccurate in a subsequent series or as compared to the novels--would also give a better sense of closure than what we have in Ultimate Note.

Citeste mai mult