Alright, here we go. FUTS is my lowest rated show on MDL. Even lower than some of the shows that I dropped. The reason why I didn’t drop this show and watched the whole thing is probably because I didn’t realize how much this show bothers me until after it was over.
The first glaring issue that I remember having with the show was the extreme appropriation of Sikh culture that bordered on mocking and racist. It was clearly supposed to be played for laughs, but it was REALLY not funny. And on the topic of humor in this show, where was it? This show was very obviously intending to be funny, but I swear I didn’t laugh once while watching this show. A lot of the humor was slapstick or gross, and that is just way too juvenile for me.
Honestly, I feel bad for the actors in this show, because I am confident that they could do so much better. The only actors in this show I had seen in other things were the actors who played Duean and Bam. They were both in Tonhon Chonlatee, and they were both so much better in that show! I actually also didn’t like Tonhon Chonlatee, but that is not because of these two actors.
Next on my list is the pacing. This is honestly one of the worst paced shows I have ever seen. There are 12 episodes, and episodes 1-11 are VERY slowly progressing Pi and Mork’s relationship, and then at the very end they get together, fight, and get back together. I swear I got whiplash from the pacing. This pacing managed to make a show that dragged 95% of the time feel rushed right at the very end.
My penultimate point is about the ‘shipper’ characters. I get what the show was trying to do; poke a bit of fun at the people online who ship real people together and are crazy and delusional. I really do get that, Lovely Writer did something similar and it worked; but these characters are the ACTUAL worst people, and the show plays them for laughs! They do not respect Pi’s privacy at all, and find out information about his family, and take pictures of him at his house! They should be arrested for stalking, but FUTS makes them out to be comedic characters. It’s not funny, it is terrifying. As a segue to my final point, at one point, in order to get Pi’s attention, Mork joins a livestream hosted by these stalkers and adds fuel to the rumor of their relationship, going directly against Pi’s wishes.
My final point is that Mork and Pi are not good for each other, and Mork does not respect Pi at all. At their core, these BL shows are about a main couple, and the process of those two people becoming a couple. In FUTS, I TRULY did not want Mork and Pi to end up together, and that is a huge problem for a show like this. The basis for their relationship is that Mork likes Pi a lot and spends the whole show trying to get Pi to like him back. In theory, that is fine, it works in shows like We Best Love and Gameboys; but we are never given a good reason why Mork likes Pi so much. The fact that Mork works so hard to try and get with Pi would make you think that he has some reason that he likes him that much, but we are never given a good explanation for it. In addition to this, Mork is WAY too pushy, and does not take no for an answer. Comparing again to We Best Love, when Shuyi tells Shide that he doesn’t want to fall for a man, Shide immediately respects what Shuyi says and leaves to respect his boundaries. Whereas in FUTS, Pi is CONSTANTLY telling Mork to leave him alone, and Mork doesn’t listen, and even encourages the shippers to keep shipping them even though he knows it makes Pi uncomfortable. And then when Pi finally gives in and agrees to date Mork, he has conditions for the relationship that Mork agrees to. But then after like one day, Mork doesn’t want to keep the relationship secret anymore so he uses jealousy to manipulate Pi into publicly announcing their relationship. I could write more about this show, but I’ve already written an essay. Please don’t watch this show, it is not good.