A slow start ultimately leads to a satisfying conclusion for this couple

*Will touch on SOTUS The Series in this review*

When I first started watching this I thought I found myself in a slump as I felt disinterested in watching. As I continued to watch I realized I wasn't in a slump, only that the first few episodes never really showed any purpose or a driving force to progress the series forward. When you look at the first series, you understand that the story revolves around the main couple, whether theyʻll get together, as well as trying to understand what the purpose of the SOTUS system is. All that is set-up from the beginning and its clear. But with SOTUS S, it's not as clear what the main storyline is supposed to be. The first five episodes or so act as a set-up to get the main characters together in one place so that the tension and "story" could actually build. I use "story" in quotations because there didn't seem to be one main story the series tried to follow. There seemed to be small mini stories that drove the plot along, which is why my rating of story is a little lower, it just seemed disjointed.

However, once you get through the first few episodes, and the characters start to share the same space, thats when things get interesting. Iʻm glad they gave us Special Scenes after each episode, I donʻt know if I would have made it to the end with out them. They tantalized me enough to get them to continue. Iʻm also glad they introduced other side couples to keep my interest as well, although I am disappointed that they never really got a gratifying conclusion, only implying a certain end for those characters.

I think my main issue with this series while watching it was the fact that the main couple didnʻt act like a couple at all. I was so confused after the conclusion to SOTUS. It seemed that the relationship went back to being one-sided, which I was disappointed in. But after finishing this series I realized that this was a great companion series to the original. With SOTUS, we follow Kongpob on his emotional journey and his personal story to finding love. Whereas SOTUS S provides a story and emotional growth for Arthit, specifically in learning to accept himself and his love for Kongpob. The way I see it, SOTUS is the story of the how their love began, while SOTUS S is the continuation of the story after "Happily Ever After" and what obstacles need to be addressed in order to keep that relationship flourishing.

So although it is kind of uneven in its storytelling, ultimately SOTUS S serves as a great conclusion to the story of Kongpob and Arthit and builds on what was shown in the first series.

SIDE NOTE: TW; outing someones sexuality
Is outing of people a normal thing in Thailand because this happened in both series, in SOTUS a throw away line outed a side character, but to make it a major plot point in this series did not sit right with me.

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The cast is cute, but the acting and characterization is weak

Overall, I liked this title. Cute cast and the story was alright. However, not sure if it was me, but I donʻt think I felt any chemistry between any of the couples. The acting was subpar for certain cast-members. But also it almost felt like there was no romance between the main couple. They had really romantic moments, but the story centralized on their conflict, which I know is the point of telling the story, but it seemed like majority of the show showed them butting heads. And the romance between Sun and Mork didnʻt really make sense. It was never understood why they were infatuated with each other in the first place, there didnʻt seem to be any legitimate reason for them to be drawn to each other, other than that they hated each other, and for some reason love always seems to be born out of hate. Honestly, I would rewatch this just to see the cast together.

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Confusing Romance but the friendship is AMAZING!

So basically found the main romance very confusing, I never could follow the development of their feelings towards each other. However, the relationships that really shine in this series are the friendships, especially surrounding Mark’s friends. This the first in the “En Of Love” series I watched so I think I was missing context for a lot of it, but when Vee ultimately did what he did and everyone was defending Mark, it was amazing to see! I heard an expansion of this story is being developed and I think that’s great, the romance could definitely benefit from an expansion. But I just hope they keep the strength of the friendships intact, because that’s definitely where this story shines.

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An intriguing concept that never reaches its full potential

I was pleasantly surprised with the mythology this series created with Monos and Probes being commonplace in society. However, this concept never really develops any layers beyond the violence that some Monos exhibit towards their Probes. I would have loved for them to explore their relationship a lot more. There is a lot of potential for tension with their relationship. I could definitely Yeon Woo questioning his interest in Yoo Han as actual attraction to him as a person or to what Yoo Han gives to him as his Probe. But I guess that is the downfall of such a short series.

There are two things that stick out as loose threads for me. The story of Yeon Woo's missing mother and his Aunt looking for her, never really served a purpose and didn't go anywhere, so Iʻm not really sure what the point of that was plot point was. And then the reveal of Yoo Han's disorder seemed to come out of nowhere, I wasnʻt really alluded to anywhere prior, other than Yoo Han being interested in Yeon Woo's face and eyes. That was something that could have been explored more.

I did like the visual effects they did with the color, it was very clean and enhanced the scenes. Also combining that with the sound fx was very nice. The music, although repetitive, was also very calming and fit the scenes.

However, unless they expand on the story a bit, I donʻt think I would rewatch.

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