Baker Boys (2021)

Hmmmm….

Honestly, the best thing about this was Pooh (and the bakery setting)… the other characters were a little bland… the story was a bit of a mess and hard to believe…. and Punn’s story is never resolved with his mysterious first love… Especially since that was the whole point of the bakery… instead the whole child kidnapping story took over….Also being a remake of the Korean drama Antique Bakery… this version doesn’t even compare… plus baking pastries in a toaster oven?!?!!!! So wrong in so many ways..l can’t take this seriously….plus the acting/ directing/scripting in this is a bit sub par… Singto as a playboy doesn’t work either…still it was watchable, but frustrating….

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Visually pleasing, but that’s about it

This series had a promising premise, with its combination of baking and thriller elements. Unfortunately, it didn’t deliver.

The visual aesthetics were really good, from the beautiful cafe with all the sweets to the house and the outfits of the main characters. The baking scenes were especially beautiful and made me crave for sweets more than once. Some of the characters were also well-written: first of all, Krating, but also Weir got a solid background story. Singto and Pluem did really well! The rest however didn’t work out for me.

Apparently, it was the director’s first project, and it shows. There was a lot of awkward acting (Mone’s father was arguably the worst) and many dialogues sounded unnatural. The main story of the four Baker Boys had several cute, funny and also dramatic moments, but it felt dragged and got boring easily. And while I usually appreciate efforts to give each episode of a series its own story arc, here this led to a complete marginalisation of the only actually interesting story arc, the (surprisingly dark) kidnapping and murder case. The thriller part only got full attention in the two final episodes, but ended up being rather disappointing as well, mainly due to the overly superficial depiction of the villains and their motives. And the light conclusion also felt tone-deaf, considering that children had been killed.

Undoubtedly, everyone had best intentions in making this series. For the visuals, the baking parts, Singto’s and Pluem’s acting, and several actually touching moments, I can still give it 7*, but the bad directing makes it hard to enjoy, so I doubt that I will watch it again. Maybe I will give the original a try!

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Recipes: Creamy visuals, fruity blend of stories, old fashioned nutty plot, and a messy ending.

A pilot episode should leave a good impact to the viewers so that they can continue to watch the rest of the episodes and Baker Boys did that. I never expected this show to turn out to be great. The filming of the process of making desserts was a fine one too, it makes me feel hungry and crave for sweets.

Lee Thanat being the eye candy with real talent is a wise casting decision. His character Punn is so cute that perfectly fits his personality as a person. The way his mom called him “baby boy” and his fluffy smiling reaction was wholesome. One thing I love about Punn is that he deeply cares for the people around him. He's a good man but really became weird when it comes to women. Throughout the show, he was just as hot, cute, sexy, and handsome as ever. It’s a good thing that he knows how to act properly and that no one can pinpoint his popularity just because of the help of his looks.

Singto on the other hand, has explicit versatility as an actor. I love his flirty and mischievous character. An episode of Baker Boys is incomplete without him doing all his might to romantically tease his boss. He nailed Weir’s character; the mannerism, voice, intonation, and the overall acting was delivered in a natural way. Singto can be paired with anyone, because he simply knows how to portray the role and give the chemistry needed from it.

I am so happy to see Pluem once again starring in a show. His extraordinary acting from “Happy Birthday” the series, still lives within me. He really grows a lot but still has the charm of being adorable no matter what he does. He’s such a promising young man. His role Krating, being a domineer boxer inside the ring but fragile to sweets is such a cutie. Him being brave enough to tell frankly how annoyed he is to his boss and by calling him “Weird Uncle” was the most amusing thing from the show. Krating’s backstory was something that was worthy of my tears. I cried the moment that he’s feeling too scared to say goodbye to his newly found family. That was a heartwarming episode to emphasize the importance of having a comfortable circle who are deserving to be called as one's "HOME.” Krating has his reason and sad reality on why he doesn’t like the idea of sending him abroad. The Sweet Day and the people he met there became his source of strength after leaving the Boxing Academy. Thank goodness that Krating and the people around him finally understand each other.

Pooh being not so good on anything because of what happened from the past is so sad. There was a specific scene where he was hit by Krating multiple times because he misunderstood the situation, and it will never be fun for me. Pooh’s character introduction was poorly executed. However, he has a kind and innocent nature that gives light to the show.

Hilarious. There’s no dull moments everytime Krating teases his boss by calling him uncle and doing stuff to irritate him. But Punn's reaction makes it funnier, along with Weir’s never-ending frisky attitude. It’s a total game over when Weir decides to wink for someone. Punn living his life with the line of “One person disrespect me, the other one flirts with me.” I've been constantly laughing from time to time thanks to them. The lovey-dovey moments of Lee and Pluem from the show made me ship them for a moment. It was perfectly cute and entertaining to see both of them mocking each other.

The scenes just keep getting humorous every episode. The chemistry between Lee and Singto is so captivating, unfortunately, I define the show as a semi-BL one. Still wishes that GMMTV will give Lee a real BL show cause it fits him a lot. The moment they lived together, Baker Boys became a family. Punn being the father, Weir as the mother, Pooh as their older son, and lastly Krating being the youngest son in the family. Their bond is as sweet as their desserts in the cafe.

But…

I hate to admit that I began to feel bored after the sixth episode. The heartwarming father-and-daughter talk was comforting to hear but it just doesn't make me feel the same kind of enthusiasm vibes that I felt during the earlier episode. Anyways, the additional character entry was an exciting one. Seeing Weir’s ex-lover seems to help lighten up the mood yet he has a trash character that is obsessed with Weir even though he already has his own family.

The weakness of the series is that the plot twists are so easy to predict. It was so obvious that the new teacher is the sweet murderer, there is no one in the cast that was as suspicious as he is. I didn’t even call it a plot twist anymore. I think they wasted a good opportunity to give the viewers an unexpected turn out.

The biggest flaw Weir presented in the show is his phobia about women that involved his past with his own mother. Trauma’s formed because of the painful situation that they experienced from the past. It is hard for an individual to overcome it in a merely short duration of time. I am okay that Weir and Punn both overcome their trauma at the end but I guess it is more realistic to let the other one end without forgiving the person who causes their phobia, specially to Punn and Tert condition. He was abducted as a child and the reason why he is so afraid of eating desserts. Yes, the kidnapper is feeling sorry about the past but the ending in which Punn is the one who initiates to visit Tert house doesn’t suit my expectation or maybe I’m the only one who feels this way.

The ending doesn't leave a mind-blowing scene and it was just simply saying goodbyes to the whole cast. I am a little bit disappointed with the last few episodes but it was good enough to be labeled as one of GMMTV’s fine shows. The transition on having a comedic sequence to the story of the murderer seems off at the beginning but I manage to get used to it. The most important thing is that I enjoyed watching the show and I love hearing myself laugh because of them.

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This show doesn't know what it wants to be

I understand that a lot of people loved this show. I personally feel like it’s mainly because they like Singto. For me, this show was a mess and I can’t exactly say where things went wrong because not many things went right from the beginning. My best guess is that Baker Boys has too many side plots and the main story doesn’t work well.

The 4 boys taking care of a Café story would be enough as the basic plot of the show, throw in a little romance + fun situations and it would be a nice light series. But then we got the mystery aspect. A mystery by itself is not a major problem, although it always makes rewatches less fun. But this particular mystery is too heavy to go side by side with the fun café story. It’s literally a plot about people that kidnap and kill children. We actually get to see two dead kids in that fun show about the 4 guys trying to run a café. Those two things don’t fit together!

Then we have the other subplots. The boxer that could die if the continued competing. The guy that got kidnapped 20 years ago and cannot eat anything sweet ever since. The same guy opening a café just to try to find his first love (which does not ever happen). The guy that has phobia of women because he caught his mom cheating on his dad with his tutor, which was also his first love. We have the guy that kidnapped a boy and held him captive for 5 days, but he’s a nice person and didn’t mean any harm (WTF?!). The guy that has been a bad bodyguard since he was 14. We have a cooking competing where a contestant bribes the producer to win the show. Then we have a second competition created just because a guy wants to get back with his ex, which broke up with him after finding out the guy has a wife and children. We also have the boss that offered to sleep with his employee just so he would leave the café…

This show runs like a case of the week type of series. Each episode has a random plot that will be resolved quickly, so that the main overall plot can be dragged for 12 episodes. The cast is not bad, they are all amazing actors. But, honestly, don’t know if liked any of the characters. I only finished this show because I don’t like to keep shows unfinished and because I was curious about how many more weird plot they could come up with.

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it's not bl BUT YOU WILL ENJOY the comedy

Well at first i thought it's a bl series but no, it is not. But you shouldn't be disappointed. Because the story line is good. It has gay characters but it's soft and comedy type. A good time pass you can say. [..] that's the only thing I wanted to say but since a review cannot be posted unless it reaches 500 character least , I am writing this blabber. [...] YES BUT The acting of side characterS was something really appreciable. It was wonderful acting of them.
...............................................................................................Do watch and enjoy.

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Wasted Talent on a Scattered Story

Let me sum up this series by saying this. Avoid it. Frankly, it is awful. It is not a BL which does not make it bad. I have watched several non-BL series that have such strong male friendships and bromances (I’M TEE, ME TOO; HOTEL STARS, YOU NEVER EAT ALONE) that are excellent. These in particularly are strong series. This one, however, is not. But interestingly, it has some very good acting and some very bad acting. It has some excellent story lines, and it also has some very, very bad ones. Although it has some very poignant moments, it is also peppered with too many cringeworthy ones as well. In other words, this series is all over the map with no clear focus, direction, or story plot. It tries to cover too much and subsequently gets lost in convoluted details.

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I definitely liked the Korean movie adaptation of this manga, which we have here under the name Antique Bakery (2008), much more than this somewhat "artificial" series for me. What was a plus was the cast, nice people and generally well acted, I liked less the small percentage of the BL component and on top of that, it was strange and completely against my skin that the children were more involved in the story, their disappearances and murders. If you don't want to bother and waste time with the often unnecessarily drawn-out and superimposed scenes of this project, I recommend watching Korea instead.

Rozhodně se mi mnohem více líbila filmová korejská adaptace této mangy, kterou zde máme uvedenu pod názvem Antique Bakery (2008), než tento pro mě tak trochu "vyumělkovaný" seriál. Co bylo plusem, bylo herecké obsazení, sympaťáci a vesměs dobře zahráno, méně se mi líbilo malé procento BL složky a ještě k tomu divné a úplně proti mé srsti bylo větší zapletení dětí do příběhu, jejich zmizení a vražd. Kdo nechce trápit a ztrácet čas mnohdy zbytečně protahovanými a nadstavovanými scénami tohoto projektu, doporučuji raději zhlédnout Koreu.

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Yes, I like this series. However, it was weird at times.

The positive: The cast was great. They did a great job with what they were given. I also like the ending and how they tied up the many storylines.

The negative: It does not know if it should be a comedy or a drama. It seems they did not know which direction to go. There is also no clear main story idea. The script is a bit of a mess and had some discrepancies. Another problem is the logic in the series does not make sense at times. I was also able to predict who was involved with the “mystery” behind the children.

Random note: I watched this series first before I watched the 2008 South Korean film Antique (it’s listed as Antique Bakery on MDL). Baker Boys is not a perfect series but I enjoyed watching it more than the movie.

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A Sweet Found Family

Having watched Antique Bakery back in the day, I had some idea of what I was getting into. I anticipated that this would be a wild slice of life drama that pivots rapidly between moments of absurdity and seriousness and that's exactly what Baker Boys delivers. It sticks quite a bit closer to the original manga and I personally enjoyed that.

Throughout the episodes, I really came to care for these 4 men who came together to work at Sweet Day, and found a family where they least expected too. Each character has their own issues and past trauma they bring to the table, and as a family they support each other through their journies. There are some really funny moments, some absolutely heartbreaking moments, and some downright absurd moments, but this drama stays entertaining all throughout.

Forgiveness is a heavy topic within this drama and I have to say this is something it at times does not execute particularly well. Forgiveness and what you're willing to forgive is a very individual thing and so I'm sure this specific topic is bound to divide many audiences. Definitely something to be aware of when considering whether to watch or not because depending on your views on these types of things, these aspects of the show could get annoying fast. Also, something to be aware of again is how this show juxtaposes very serious topics with humor in adjacent scenes. This may not be an appealing concept for everyone and may feel jarring for some.

All in all, I knew what I wanted for this show and it delivered that to me. I love the Baker Boys found family and the wonderful vibe of Sweet Day Cafe.

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Baker what now?

According to many other reviews here, this is the third adaptation of the source material. They say imitation is the sincerest form of flattery, but maybe sometimes we shouldn't flatter ourselves. This show was fine, but not great. Baker Boys has a few good moments, good actors, but is fatally wounded by a bad script and a lack of direction.

The actors and actresses make a good impression but the script is really awkward and clunky at times (Weir gets the short end of the stick on this front). What's more, the direction these otherwise good actors were given can make their performances just painful. The actor for Pooh typified this. He's a good actor, but the ways in which he was directed (the weird smiles and strange placement in scenes) was bizarre. What's more, the chemistry between Punn and Weir is legitimately good, but the plot and the script seems hell-bent on keeping them in a weird nebulous void of 'will they won't they' that's usually reserved for the first third of a BL show (irrespective of whether this show actually is or is not a BL).

Now for the ending. One of the strangest things about this ending is that Krating and Mone got more progression as a couple (platonic or otherwise) than anyone else. Pooh is back with his family, subverting the found family thing this show half-heartedly tried to pull. As for Punn and Weir, they're just two bros living together and also running a pastry shop. That's just weird and unsatisfying. I didn't expect them to just make out as the credit rolled, but this ending somehow felt both rushed and overdue. In the spirit of Baker Boys, I'll just end this review on that rather unsatisfying note.

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I Enjoyed it!!

I haven't seen the original work yet (Antique (2008)),
But I really enjoy this series! ^^

This is just the type of series I want to watch while eating my lunch, slow paced, comedic and light
yet sometimes just makes you slam your head to the table with the events that happened (just like episode 3 T^T)

The cast is super cute! All their different character are interesting to watch (my fav is Weir and Pooh -3-)
I enjoy this series and I'm looking forward to see how their relationship progress -3-

Ep. 7:
Its really a surprise that the relationship between weir and owner become like this!
I LIKE IT! HAHAHAH
its a fresh view for Ppun become like that hahah

Ep. 8:
Everyone got something going on in their past..

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