Believable plot mostly!

I've been watching BL from quite some time, and most of them follow a patron or try too hard to be trending topic that goes overboard and ended up being messy or unbelievable. I didn't have this problem with "Venus in the Sky". Right from the very beginning you kinda know what you'll get.

Some people criticizes the pace. I think it's on point. If you have been rejected by your friend/crush, you won't recover that fast. There's always a grudge, a feeling of distrust ... and petyness. That's why I understood Venus.
On the other hand, we have Sky, the clearly MVP of this series for me. It's the first time I've seen Tod Panapong Khaisang, so I was pleasantly surprise by his acting. Sky is the ultimate go-getter. He recognized his mistake (I can't blame the guy for not knowing his own feeling at a young age, but still), and as soon as he saw an opportunity he went above and beyond.
Honestly, Sky was perfect in my eyes. He made me laugh most of the time with his audacity. His reactions were always so extra, and if the guy has to sulk, oh, he sulks alright! Also, the guy was clingy as baby!
Janus/Bom was a nice support couple. Both were involved in the main plot, and the one of their own was nice.
The third couple (Tonkla/Tong) it wasn't that good, in general. I didn't connected with them, to be honest.

About the "sex scenes", which by the way aren't that many and also far from shocking (some prude person was classifying the show as "softcore", lol). I don't have much to say. I am a grown man, I don't mind watching guys showing some skin and having sex. In fact, I've always hated shows in which the couples are too shy to even kiss INDOORS. Like what!? I get the whole not-PDA trend, but in your private space, at your home, and specially when you are starting a grown-up relationship, you really wanna have as much physical contact as you can. So, I'm really glad I could see some realistic and sloppy kisses, and more.

So, in general:
A) The plot was very simple and portrayed in a realistic way. Don't expect crazy twists.
B) The main couple had great chemistry (in banter, cutenes and sexyness). I liked their storyline. Both actor did a good job. If anything, I think Tod's was better in his interactions with the whole cast, while Cheque felt comfortable only in his dialogs with Tod and Tontae).
C) If you want things to move quickly, this show ins not for you. Just remember, slow and fun can be better than quick and messy.
D) The budget for this series was clearly a moderated one, and you can see that right from the start. Maybe that's one of the reasons I wasn't too hard too judge.
E) When it comes to "rewatch value", I wouldn't underestimate this show. By the time I'm writing this review, I'm on my third re-watch, and I actually had much fun than the first time (mostly because I skip most of the Tonkla/Tong story arc.

Leggi di Più

So much love, so little budget.

In all honesty, it wasn't that good.
(A) The PLOT, the idea, wasn't bad at all. I hate sad endings that are usually associated with paranormal/supernatural love stories, so I really liked the early twist (ML was comatose, not dead) which lead me to believe there would be a happy ending.
(B) Too many characters, too many sub-plots. There's no need for that. Some support characters really didn't need that much screen time.
(C) The ACTING was pretty much amateur. The characters were most of the time either not emotionally invested or overreacting to everything and anything (think "extra", like really extra!). I would usually blame to the young age, but this is not the case. The coaches (all of them) were specially bad, and the Director was borderline campy. The guy playing "Jedi" (Oat Pasakorn Sanrattana) was the only one who seemed more natural, which is sad, because is the ML who has the least amount of time on screen.
(D) The AUDIO was terrible sometimes, and the english SUBTITLES (Line TV) even worse.

It was an OK show. I think the same story could easily be told in 7 or 8 episodes.

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Overrated, but the acting is superb.

ML's acting was the very best of this bL.
However, the series itself is kida overrated. I get the frustration about being censored and the whole homo-ban situation, but even without that, this series had some serious plot holes in the fist 15 episodes (continuation errors, and some silly mistakes due to the scrip writer's superpower to forget how reality works).
Also, the ending. If they were forced to shutdown the show by episode 15... then all they needed to do was to delete the very last scene. That way, it wouldn't have feel like an ending still, but it would have been better.

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The plot itself is great. The actual script, not so great.

It's actually nice to watch a Thai BL Serie that feels more mature, and not the typical "freshmen year BL" that ends up portraying characters like high-schoolers. In fact, the strongest point of this serie is the acting (also the soundtrack), by far.
The plot itself is great. However, the actual writting (script) was far from perfect. Way too many political speeches that felt forzed (not by its content but because of its lenght and reiteration). Sometimes, all you need is 2 or 3 strong sentences to get the audience's attention, instead of a whole speech/debate in every single episode. Real changes comes with "actions", not with "words". I wish we could have seen more actions.
By the end of the serie you will be feeling conflicted. You will be feeling happyness, because the two main BL couples end up together, but you will also feel like something is missing... and there will be a lot of questions, simply because the writer forgot how real life works.

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Recomendation: If you watched this on Viki... MUST rewatch on dailymotion.

I watched this a couple of days ago on Viki for the first time. Even when I really enjoyed the series overall, I got kinda pissed off by the ending (which felt unfinished), I just wanted them together (Xia Yao and Yuan Zong) somehow.
Last night, all my dreams came true. I found out that I watched a heavily censored version (without even realize it).

So, I won't spoil anything, except that: If you liked the series or the ML's chemistry; If you thought there was "potential" to be good; If the ending left you weird out somehow... Then go inmediately to Dailymotion and watch the uncut version (30 episodes, +21 mins each).

Leggi di Più

There was something missing.

It feels unfinished, in more senses than one.
I won't blame the actors. At the end of the day, I think they did what they could, considering how POORLY WRITTEN the story was. In fact, the script and the plot itself are the real problems here. The story lacks importance. Big issues were taken lightly, while stupid things were taken out of proportion.
Let's review the main issues:
1) We are presented with a love story about two people from apparently two different worlds. However, in 24 episodes we never knew about those worlds. We never got to know their families, so the 3 or 4 times that any of the leads received a call from a familiar... it ment nothing. In fact, it felf random.
2) If the little girl and the little boy were around the same age in the flashbacks, how on earth did he become 4 or 5 years older in present day? This issue has nothing to do with the "real" age gap between the leads (I'm used to 30-something people playing highschoolers, so I really couldn't care less about that). I'm talking plot wise. He's a MBA student while she's just starting architecture.
3) The heart-shaped music box did not get the importance that it should have. It was supposed to mean something, a real connection or a symbol... at the end, the fact that they met each other as kids ment nothing. A wasted oportunity.
4) Stupid situations taken out of proportion: (A) Nobody spends two days in the hospital for a simple gut punch. (B) The whole "she went missing" situation was cringe. The classmates did nothing, but then comes the heroe and instanly finds her... unharmed,.. sitting there,.. waiting. Not even a scratch!
5) Abuse of flashbacks. Background music louder than dialogue. Some scenes felt out of place.

Anyways, it wasn't good, but I've seen worse.
Despite everything, there was some good chemistry between the leads (I mean, Dennis could have good chemistry with a plant after all), but the dialogue was really bad. So, every sweet moment between them was hijacked by some bad wording statement.

Leggi di Più

The plot was nothing new, but good enough.

This was the first C-Drama I ever watched. It wasn't "amazing", but it was good enough to keep me hooked.
By the end of the show, I felt like something was missing. It didn't fit as great as it should, mostly because of two things:
1. Hou Zi was WAY TOO GOOD for Xiao Yi, in every single sense. By the last third of the series you can't help it but feel bad for the guy... and kinda dislike Xiao Yi because all of her poor choices.
2. The ending feels rushed, not because viewers don't wanted Hou Zi and Xiao Yi to be together, but because writters wasted two whole episodes on Tian Fei and his CRAZY-OVERACTED mother. She was the worst part of the series, by far.
Tian Fei should have instantly died. We didn't need her mother's circus. I did't care for Lu's happy ending either, because neither her or Tain Fei had any redeeming qualities.

In general, the plot was nothing new, but good enough. The real problem was in the last few episodes.

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