The Hidden Character (2023)

A fake competition

What did I just watch?
After the worldwide success that "KinnPorsche" was for Be On Cloud, someone inside the company... mainly CEO Pond, decided to create a "reality" competition between aspiring actors with zero or very little experience in order to find the "new" couple to be the leads in the next Be On Cloud series... and let me tell you, this competition was a complete and utter disaster and here's why:

1. What was the point of dividing the show in different chapters? If they are looking for actors, shouldn't they be training with the acting coach like they did in the final episodes or at least doing acting workshops with different scenarios to see if they can act? The answer of course is a NO because CEO Pond decided to craft this mess of a show with the first episodes dedicated to the "The Hidden Story" where one character did something wrong in their past and the others had to guess who it was. Of course, we found out very questionable behavior from some of them like being homophobic or hitting their father (albeit it was apparently in self-defense). We also got the usual sad stories to bring tears to our eyes about a sick family member, a family having economic issues, etc. These episodes were a waste of time as we couldn't see any acting skills at all. Maybe they were preparing for a future scandal like the accusations against Build and his resignation from the company by revealing all the issues from most of the cast members of this show.

2. I know Be On Cloud is riding the "KinnPorsche" success train as much as they can but the whole show centered around it. Having Mile as host was fine (more on him later) but bringing nearly the entire cast to play silly games in the second part of the show was another waste of time. Perth, Us, Bas, Nodt, Barcode, and the others, appeared to play dumb games and provide nothing useful. Bible was a mentor alongside Apo in episode 9 and Bas, Nodt and Tong came in for episode 10 but they barely had an interesting or helpful comment to give. Apo was the exception as he either was in a really bad mood or was told to play the strict judge as his comments were sometimes too harsh and picky in some of the re-enacted scenes. And, speaking of those scenes... more "KinnPorsche" as all the cast members had to re-enact scenes from the series in another mistake. Why not have them act their own scenes? That will show adaptability, creativity and flexibility... but instead, we had awkward moments like Apo stopping a scene because it was so bad (in his opinion) or New looking like a crazy man imitating Bible's character Vegas, but doing it wrong.

3. The final portion had the real acting part that should have been the center of the show. The re-enacted scenes were not properly executed but some were nice surprises like the chemistry between Mio and Bump and JJ and Fuaiz acting skills (with JJ being a complete rookie). However, episode 11 was a mess as it was done live and apparently very difficult to watch on IQIYI for international viewers. Plus, it was incredibly rushed as the episode was probably the shortest with around 45 minutes compared to the others that had between 65 and 70 minutes... So, we saw poor Barcode singing his new (and self-composed) song only for him to be nearly kicked out of the stage at the end without even saying thank you so Mile could read the final results. The judges gave a few comments after each of the final scenes were shown but they were also rushed as time was ticking. We knew 1 couple was going to be eliminated before the episode even began and New and Jet were left out of the episode entirely as they had the lowest votes and didn't even get the chance to appear on screen and look sad for being eliminated. In addition, the voting system was a confusing and a questionable one... the explanation on how to vote and the charges for voting were explained in a super long on-screen segment that aired once on every episode starting from episode 7. Mile looked completely lost during some of the episodes as he looked like he was forced to read a script and tried to find dramatic moments to make it more interesting and his personality was not exactly one cut to the show's MC as he was not really energetic or engaged. He didn't vote in the final episodes so he was just there to tell us the results and look handsome on TV.

4. The final decision of who was going to win was most likely made when Ta appeared as a guest in episode 2 and then was added as a cast member soon after. He already had the "KinnPorsche" fame and a steady fanbase, so this show was almost meant to find him a suitable BL partner for the next series as if he was taking the baton from Mile and Apo. Copper selected Ta in a clever strategy as Copper seemed to be such a fake character who was only interested in winning and could not stop smiling all the time. Him and Ta were definitely the WORST acting couple of the remaining three but were chosen as the winners with a ridiculous number of votes because of Ta's huge fanbase and, apparently, all of Copper's family and friends who spent millions of Baht voting for him. In a weird moment of the voting system, Mile said the votes will reset to zero after eliminating New and Jet... which was fine. However, during the 1st couple's re-enactment, the number of votes were put on-screen and Copper had already over 19,000 votes and Ta had over 2,000 votes, compared to JJ who only had around 200 in similar trend with the others... so, no idea how someone got so many votes so fast. The fact that they won 500,000 Baht, a cover in a Thai magazine and the right to star in the next BOC series seems a bit unfair when Ta was already part of "KinnPorsche" and BOC and Copper felt so fake during the whole show.

5. That was the same fake perception I got from other cast members... Jet had already been part of several BLs in another company but for some reason decided to join this project and he was shown as being on his last chance to succeed in the industry along with the fact that his mother is (or was) very sick and he needed/wanted to help.
Mio and Bump (and even Ta during episode 10) said they were more interested in singing than acting so I had no idea why they were there. I know other musicians like Jeff Satur has done the same and Mio apparently worships Jeff, but if you are going to start a career that you don't seem to want, why bother and why bother us?
CEO Pond got his dramatic TV moment when he got super angry at Mio during episode 7 for him supposedly being late and not practicing one day. I mean, he clearly overreacted for dramatic purposes but Mio's heart seemed to be in his music and not in acting from the first place... even if he was good during some of the scenes they had to act.
Other characters like New, Perth and Copper seemed fake from the get go and I was never able to decide if they were lying or telling the truth. Max was cute but super green, Fuaiz apparently was a child actor, Woody was openly gay so, of course, the show had to showcase that before he was eliminated.

In the end, this "show" was a sad attempt to find Ta a partner and to keep riding the success of "KinnPorsche"... the results seemed fixed, the show was not that entertaining and the cast members really didn't showcase their acting skills until the final episodes and, when they did, it was by being forced to re-enact scenes from BOC's only successful show so far. Hopefully, possible talents like JJ and Fuaiz and possible future singers like Mio and Bump don't go to waste and find success somewhere else because I'm sure BOC is not the answer for them.

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This show literally traumatized me

Mr. CEO Pond Krisda woke up one day and had a brilliant idea. "We are Be On Cloud, we do things a little bit differently!" How differently, you ask? In Be On Cloud they don't just make an audition and save up money, no, they must do a WHOLE show about lying and telling secrets, like how someone was homophobic, or how someone literally beat up his dad??! Yes, in Be On Cloud, they do it very differently. I was kinda okay with the Hidden Character game, I didn't memorize a lot of contestants, but it was fun. UNTIL they started to "act". Mr. CEO Pond Krisda can excuse grooming, but he can't excuse BAD ACTORS. And of course, they act out scenes from KinnPorsche. Let's ruin my favorite series, I don't care.

I'm a simple person, I see a cute boy, and I immediately remember his name. Yes, the cute boy was Max. Then I of course remembered the loudest one, New. This dude... traumatized me the most. In the first episodes he was really good, funny, I could've seen him as a good actor... but oh boy, when he started to act, I was speechless. I could see how this everyone's favorite and funny contestant is changing. From the 7th episode on, he started to feel less confident, but when he was for a moment, he just said something wrong, and boom, Mr. CEO Pond Krisda wasn't happy. He needs good actors okay? He needs the Oscar worthy performance. (That was an irony, btw.) It was really hard to watch. I feel kinda sorry for New. And I can see that everyone feels sorry for him too. It's such a shame.

My favs were: Max, Woody, Perth, JJ, New. I didn't care about the other ones, maybe a little bit about Ta. They were cute (and Lotte extremely sexy, like wooow his muscles were godly yum yum!), but they weren't my favs.

Do I care who will win? No. Will I watch the last episode? Maybe. Will I rewatch this? NO WAY.

EDIT: So I watched the last episode, and when they announced the winners, I wasn't surprised at all. I just wasted my precious time. Nevermind. It's finally over, and I'm glad for that.

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Very Simply -- I Don't Recommend.

So, I was put off from the very beginning when I learned that part of the goal of this show was going to be exposing the dark mistakes that some of these VERY young actors have made. (and yes, to me 17-25 is very young)

I thought this was supposed to be a reality show to find the next great BL couple for a new show that Be On Cloud was planning on making. Instead, I think it was an excuse to find an actor that Ta liked enough to want to act with him in said future show.

Furthermore, I don't understand what playing stupid popularity games for other BOC actors & staff has to do with testing their acting skills. Two thirds of the show was pointless and had nothing to do with acting or the entertainment industry. Occasionally it had moments that were decent, because you got to see into the feelings and emotions of the guys, but that was just a novelty.

As for the final episode -- I did finally watch it, but it's difficult to find if you couldn't watch it live!!
It's absolutely unforgivable that iQIYI, the only legitimate streaming site involved, carries the entire series but then has no plans to ever share the final episode except for that one chance to see it live. So, if you find this series late -- don't plan on watching the final episode unless you're okay using illegal sites.

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This show is hated for absolutely no reason

So, The Hidden Character. What a show.

The hate it received in here and on social media was too much and very unfair, so I decided to offer my own opinion about it in the form of a brief review.

From the get go, let me just say this: I like BOC. I like what they're doing for the industry, I like their ideas and ways of expressing them and I like their aesthetic when it comes to their productions. I can't wait to see what they have in store for us in the future.

If you come into this show determined to hate it, because you hate Pond or BOC or whatever, then that's what will end up happening. If, however, you keep an open mind, you'll really enjoy yourself.

First things first; THC is a reality show. This means that it does indeed have some annoying reality show things in it (for example making the contestants call their moms to make them say "I love you", thus making them all emotional for obvious reasons) but during the majority of it, you spend time getting to know these guys, who they are, their past mistakes, their personalities and how they'll connect with BOC and the rest of the seniors, so it's worth it.

The games they get to play in the beginning are fun, if not a bit convoluted, and as the episodes pass, you realize that every person is distinct from one another. I started this show not knowing any of them and ended it with having a fully formed image about all of them. They were delightful and fun to watch and their chemistry was natural and refreshing. The episodes in which the KP guys were also a part of were very enjoyable too. They bounce off of each other well and I hope we'll get to see them all in a show soon.

The decision for the show to start with those games and then make them reenact scenes from KinnPorsche was brilliant in my opinion, because it gave us the time to get to know these actors as people, before they showed them as performers. It humanizes them and gives us the chance to connect with them and it makes them memorable.

All in all, if you're curious about watching something a bit unconventional and fun, I would suggest THC. I had a blast watching it and I'm going to miss it. If not, do the cool thing and skip it, instead of trash talk about it or hate watch it. You'll save yourself some precious time and you'll spare us of your whining.

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Promising start butgradually became a huge mess

When I first heard of this I was really hyped. More from KinnPorshe staff? Hell yeah, I'm in!!
Ep1 promised a lot, it was great to see Mile again, and to get to know the "contestants", however, the goal of the game was pretty blurry for me to understand, tell a story, but lie, find liars, etc... It didn't really work for me but I enjoyed the episode a lot.
Later episodes started to feel cheaper and cheaper, and got more and more boring. The second section with the outdoor trials was kinda fun to watch, the guys also had fun, and a tied-up Ta Nannakun is a priceless sight as well hahaha
The last, acting section was a catastrophy. Disorganised episodes, horrible acting, it was a total mess. The last two episodes are the worst ones in my opinion. No more high stakes, the whole show bacame a plain, cheap and boring mess.
I don't recommend spending 1+ hour watching each episode. Fast forward to the actors you like or find symphathetic, so you can save 30 mins per episode...

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Skip to Ep. 7

I started watching The Hidden Character when it was first airing, but quickly dropped the show after Ep. 3 because I strongly disagreed with premise of the first segment (that actors need to share vulnerable, personal information with the world in order to act authentically). I did not like the gamification of these boys personal stories nor the way Pond chose to offer life advice at the end of each episode. It was fairly sloppily edited with a lot of dragging run time and lack of any kind of story arc that made it difficult to keep track of the cast.

After starting Dead Friend Forever, I came back to give it another try. The second segment (Ep. 4-6) was marginally better. With a focus on team/partner building games and cameos from most of the cast of Kinnporsche, it was lighter and more fun than the first. Still, most of this segment seemed like filler, with very poor attempts to create interesting arcs between the contestants. Where I found the show really got interesting (for me), was in Ep. 7 when the boys actually got the opportunity to start acting and receiving feedback.

From Ep. 7 to the end, The Hidden Character switches from a generic reality show to an interesting opportunity to watch young actors really start to sink their teeth into their craft and form connections with those who will become the cast of the next production by performing scenes (from Kinnporsche) together. That said, wasting 6 episodes on stupid reality shows means that the performances are crammed into a few short episodes with little time to expand on the feedback and rehearsal process. Some of the commentary is cut so short, I fear that viewers with little formal experience in acting won't even truly understand what is being said.

Finally, others have already stated it but the voting system was pretty disappointing. Given a group with such diverse existing fanbases and popularity, it would have been better to include, for example, a percentage of the final score coming from the judges. That said, it has little impact when watching this show retroactively--and especially when you already know how many of them make it into Dead Friend Forever.

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No direction as to what is the outcome of this show

At least MILF Manor main goal is to secure each other's son in a relationship that prolly won't last months but this show is beyond that clownery level.

Chemisty between cast/candidates - 5 out of 10
I am way too generous in giving 5 for the score , I believe maybe they do have talents outside of exposing each other problematic past & present but I'm willing to bet it wasn't until they had at least a few acting classes.

Script/pace/storyline - 3 out of 10
While the mc was giving script as to what the contestants will do and the outcome of each games slot, non of these kids were given enough ample screentime that showcases what they had learn from each episode or even the episode previously

MAJOR GASLIGHTING MOMENT - 0 out 10
When the director/mc lays out advises to be given to the contestants after they had pour their heart out to tell the stories that will deff jeopardize their future career, non of the advises were consulted and discuss with profesionnal therapist / behavior consultant that should stationed on the set itself. These boys had gone through stuffs that was beyond their understanding from their past self and apologizing for those behavior right now is not enough to mend the souls that was hurt during that situation. They need to seek help from professional instead of having their behavior exposed for the sake of viewer's rating each episode.

Overall I don't think the director or creator plan well on how to deliver this show to their target audience , the MC and director is not a therapist and these boys need to understand the c onsequences of their action to the society involved especially to the victims itself. Please DO NOT watch this show if you are not into supporting homophobic, rape apologist, domestic violence and all those trigerring stuff that was deem redeemable by the show

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