Analog Squad (2023)

"Our mouths can tell lies, but our hearts don't believe it"

Analog Squad was a heartwarming made family and biological family drama that reached inside and touched me. Execution can make or break a story that’s been told before in different ways and this story nailed it. Without becoming maudlin the characters all faced secrets that they were keeping or were being kept from them.

“We lie to make other people happy”
Pond is a mysterious character when we meet him. He’s hired his ex-girlfriend to play his wife, a guy who works at a pager company to play his son, and a young woman whose family owns a video rental store to play his daughter. They head south to visit his dying father whom he hasn’t seen in over a decade. When his father makes a miraculous recovery the fake family has some tap dancing to do to keep the charade up.

“Everyone lies for their own sake”
Each of the family members is hiding a secret or several. Pond keeps secret why he left home, why his wife and children left him, and a host of other problems. Lilly/Mam is hiding a health problem. Keg/Mon hides the fact that his mom whom he adores is a nude model and that he’s going to the United States. His mom is hiding a whopper of a secret from him. Bung/Mag is hiding the fact that she’s a lesbian from her family, plus a family member is hiding a devastating secret from her. Pond’s biological daughter discovers a secret as she’s preparing to be married.

“Because when you compare it to death, anger is literally nothing”
The secrets could be overwhelming at times but most of them were dealt with a loving and forgiving hand as the characters worked through their complex feelings. This made family became deeply entwined with Pond’s parents and with each other. Just as real families struggle to communicate and confront complicated problems, the fake family found themselves dealing with many of the same issues. As they worked together and spent time with the “grandparents” they began to untangle some of the knotted challenges in their own lives.

“You have to accept that mistakes are a part of life and you deal with them”
The made family began to develop deep feelings for each other and the couple they were lying to, including love and guilt. The journey that took the longest to traverse was the one that had started the convoluted mess everyone found themselves in-Pond’s. Running away from the truth had caused him to make decisions that went from bad to worse over three decades and brought him to a place where he was ready to take his own life.

“Sometimes waiting is its own form of happiness”
For those of us old enough to remember the 1990’s and Y2K, this will bring back some memories. People were afraid that computers would stop working and planes would fall out of the sky. The fear was that it would be similar to an EMP blast that would cause technology to cease. Some of the technology on display included portable CD players (the darn skipping!), videos and video stores, and ancient looking computers that held less than your cell phone and were slow. Then there was the now almost obsolete technology of pagers and phone booths. Pond’s dad owned a photography studio and used cameras with film. They did a good job of taking us back to 1999 after the financial collapse and the devastation it caused people. By setting most of the story in a small village it was believable that it was 24 years ago. The best part of the cinematography were the shots of the gorgeous Thai scenery. The forests, water, and islands were stunning.

“There are no real or fake bonds. If we feel it, we feel it.”
This story of healing, reconciliation, forgiveness, and growth both in the family and made family was satisfying on several levels. Not every problem was neatly tied up in a bow, but most were resolved satisfactorily. Each member of the newly expanded family discovered something that filled an empty place in their heart. The family might have been fake but the love was real.

9 Dec 2023

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Everyone has Family Drama!!!

I placed spoilers at the end of this review.

This was a great series from start to finish. The script was outstanding with the exception of one aspect. See the spoiler alert at the end of this review if you want more information. The overall theme is that families are complicated, including the ones you create for yourself. The actors were outstanding in this series and did such a great job with their characters. This also had beautiful cinematography.

Random Notes:
I love watching series/moves that are set in a different generation. It was cool how they incorporated the Y2K millennium bug scare.



******Potential Spoiler Alert******

I personally felt the minor romance storyline between Keg and Bung was unnecessary. It would have been cooler to just see them form a close friendship without this. However, the good thing is this was not overpowering and doesn’t take up that much screentime.

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„Is it worth lying for good intentions?”

At first, I wasn't too keen on "Analog Squad," mainly because it's a sentimental series set in 1999, which made me think it would be boring. However, the first episode made a huge impression on me, and I fell in love with it right away.

First of all, the acting. I didn't know Primmy (Bung) before, so it was my first time seeing her on screen. Her charisma in the first episode made a huge impression on me. Jaylerr (Keg), who is very well known (and a very good actor), also did a fantastic job. His acting never disappoints, considering he's an ex-Nadao actor. The rest of the cast also expressed their emotions very well through their acting, which I really love.

The story is a real tearjerker, but in a good way. It's more about tears of emotion, happiness, and understanding. We get a story about how people, despite not knowing each other before, can create a loving family. The characters, who have family problems but are also good people, evoke huge emotions in the viewer. All the storylines are well concluded, leaving no loose ends, which I really appreciate.

Each character has a very different personality, which is very interesting. They pursue what they want, and there are no unexpected changes in the series. Each character has their own shocking, sad family story. As viewers, we can also ponder the question, "Is it worth lying for good intentions?" It seems to me that this was the main theme of the series. Each character experienced a completely different story but with the same theme, which is very interesting and moving.

Overall, I rate it very highly. I was moved most of the time and was never disappointed.

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This series was absolutely amazing!! It exceeded my expectations. I decided to watch it because the Netflix summary made it seem really interesting and I needed something good to watch after twinkling watermelon and this did not disappoint! I like how the story unfolded slowly and revealed family secrets of all the members in the squad, even unexpected ones. It was keeping me on the age of my seat even though the show was slow paced. The cinematography was amazing and the character’s reactions were realistic and humane. The ending was something i really appreciated, i liked that bung rejected keg. Overall this show did great in portraying the found family trope.

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