So, I stayed away from this so I could binge watch it, and I'm not sure that it was actually a wise choice. I've just started on episode 3 and I'm finding it a hard slog. First of all, I don't think that a 13+ rating is correct. The one initial scenes with the doctor is not something I'd recommend for children, and I'm guessing there will be other similar scenes down the track. At the very least it should be 18+.
I thought the concept was different, but did they really have to make the lakorn they're shooting so cringey? I thought that the behind the scenes shots, where Aschi accidentally hit Title, would have made a more interesting concept - shooting a lakorn about producing a popular TV series.
I like the Thai songs, but I have to admit that I really do not like the use of English songs, which seems to be popular these days.
There are so many actors that I really like in the show - JaFirst, Bosston, Ben, Lee Long Shi, and the very talented Jo, and luckily, I know they can act because of their previous series. One actor I can't seem to like very much, is Kokliang, and I'm sure I'm doing him a disservice, but it's all because of his, in my opinion, miscast role as Tar in TharnType. I really dislike when series recast characters, and I just wasn't able to get my head around his version of Tar. I shouldn't let it affect anything he's been in since, but every time I see him, I can only think of him as Tar. Yes, Ben was a recast Phana too, and whilst he didn't fit the character either, I found his acting decent enough to keep me interested, as long as I could 'forget' the original series. Lee Long Shi was also a recast character, and whilst I don't want to delve into the whole Unforgotten Night.Love Syndrome III debate again, he's another actor who was interesting enough to make me forget that LS III was a recast sequel.
The opening scenes where the younger brother is defiling Punn's personal 'collectibles', and being downright annoying is just plain ridiculous. I know he's Punn's younger brother, but he's obviously not a little child either. But then Punn wakes up... To have one childlike adult son seems unfortunate, but two, makes me question their genes.
I really didn't like the scenes between the constantly bickering managers, which were not only extremely annoying, but also terribly boring. I might have liked Noon's character better if her 'offscreen' character had been even slightly more redeeming than her 'onscreen' character in the lakorn. It reminded me of her OTT portrayal of the titular character in Rose In Da House.
That brings me to JaFirst... It's such a shame that their swansong as an onscreen couple should be in such an unfortunate series. I haven't read the novel, but I'm assuming from the title, that Punn is supposed to be a cute, dopey, bouncy and fun character, much like your typical puppy. Unfortunately, what we've ended up with, is a 3rd year university student, who acts more like a kindergartner most of the time. It's not cute, nor remotely appealing, yet we're expected to believe that this is normal behaviour for a man in his early twenties. If Ja is playing the character as he is written in the novel, then the fact that he's so annoying, is testament to his acting skills, but I still don't like him.
I really wanted this last onscreen pairing of Ja and First to be as good as Don't Say No, but I'm sad to say it isn't. As I said, I'm just about to start episode 3, so there is hope for improvement, but I seriously doubt it. I really wanted to be immersed in JaFirst's story, but I much prefer Dr Ming's story, and he's hardly had any scenes. I know these guys can all act, and I've always believed that what we end up seeing is down to the company/scriptwriter/director and/or acting coach's interpretation. The actors can only do what they're told to do, and work with the script they're given, so I tend to give a lot of leeway to them, especially if they've not had a lot of experience. It's such a shame, because this had the potential to be a memorable series. It is, but for all the wrong reasons.
No one should judge a production by the reviews of others, so I'll always recommend that viewers form their own opinions. I would have missed some of my favourite series if I'd simply listened to other people's reviews, including Love Sick and Secret Crush On You. SCOY also has a childlike and possessive main couple, but there was a lot more to keep me distracted. I also will always watch the whole series, unless it's really bad and that's only happened once - I'm currently struggling to get past ep 5 of Tin Tem Jai, which is another series with 2 characters who despite being men, act like 2 year wolds when they're within shouting distance of each other, but the reason I doubt I'll finish that series, is because the main couple is so totally mismatched and has absolutely no chemistry whatsoever. Though I watched until the end, I struggled to get through Check Out. Even the fairly explicit sex scene in the final episode couldn't save this one, which had such a promising start with episode 0. Apparently, according to Best, his character Daonuea was supposed to be autistic, but that was never conveyed. Knowing that afterwards, still didn't change my opinion of the show. I also struggled through Dinosaur Love, (where all I could think about is that this is how Saifah, Payu's twin, should have looked, instead of being like some random uncle off the street), and Future The Series - again mismatched main couples, with immature and possessive characters. Is this the current trend in BLs now ? If it is, despite so many BLs to choose from, I feel that there will be so many I will be choosing not to watch. After almost 10 years of watching Thai BLs, I'm totally over the cutesy content, and I want something more mature, and I'm not talking explicit...
If you find Ja's character cute and entertaining, then this series is for you.
I probably will re-watch it at some point, but I suspect that I'll be doing a lot of scene skipping, unless someone out there decides to make an edit of the best scenes, then I'll happily make do with that.