wellwellbelle
This show drives me crazy because there are moments of cuteness, sweetness, and fun scattered throughout one of the most poorly paced stories I have ever watched. UPDATE: As of episode 16, I've revised my rating way downward. Parm's motives and emotions make zero sense and come out of nowhere. Everything below still stands; just that as of this episode, the cons have tipped seriously over the pros.
The TL/DR is: There's a core of a good story and some fun characters here. Watch it if you love BL, if you love any of the actors or the novel, but if there was ever a show to make use of the fast speed or preview functions, it was this one.
Now for the full pacing rant:
It's mainly a directing issue. The director is in love with slow motion, to the point where sometimes I watch on double speed and the only way you can tell it's not normal speed is because of the music. There are long, long long long....
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pauses that don't make sense. There are scenes that have extended periods with no plot or character development, just people unpacking groceries or doing their regular stuff. Which *could* be used to great effect if we were getting insights into our characters or hints about the story, but no. They're just unpacking the porridge or walking into the room where the action is going to happen, or looking across the cafeteria before the action happens or whatever.
Other than the pacing, the biggest frustration is the character of Pharm. I'm not sure if it's partially an acting issue because I haven't seen him in other stuff, but it is definitely also a writing and directing issue.
Pharm starts out cute and sweet... he's shy but also a good friend, likes to cook, and is generous. He crushes on Dean and finds it confusing, and he has these scary dreams and memories.
So far, so good. Except as the show wears on, he's basically always either experiencing excruciating shyness or crying. He cries constantly, and the director is fond of slo-moing or holding those moments for horribly extended amounts of time without developing any actual feelings or plot.
By episode 15, the relationship with Dean has gone from cute and sweet to deeply uncomfortable, because Pharm never seems into it. Every time Dean touches him or flirts with him (moments that *ought* to be the lifeblood of the show), Pharm screetches and hits him and says "no!" or "p'Dean!!!!" It seems like we're supposed to be seeing him shy, but since we never see actual desire or much in the way of enjoyment, it at first is super confusing: like, does Pharm actually like Dean? Is he okay with Dean but confused about his sexuality? Does he like Dean but not want to be with Dean? Is he confused about the relationship between Dean and the guy in his dreams? None of these questions are answered because there's almost no dialog addressing them and the direction (or possibly acting) means we can't tell Pharm's feelings beyond "I'm scared!" "I'm sad!" "I'm uncomfortable!"
As the show goes on and the relationship becomes closer, the fact that none of these important questions about how Pharm feels makes it more and more uncomfortable when Pharm is pushing Dean away or asking him to stop. It feels like whatever his feelings are, he's clearly *not ready* for what Dean wants, and it's getting less and less fun to watch them.
There's a wealth of side characters who could be used to help round out the show and let the director rely less on agonizingly long shots where nothing happens and more on fun interactions. Pharm's friends Manow and Team are great; their interactions tend to be fun, the actors have a good chemistry. Manow's love line was hinted in an early episode but as of ep 15 hasn't been touched again. Team and Win have a tiny but sizzling secondary couple thing going on that could easily have been given a touch more time without having to have the relationship develop faster. The pace of their relationship is totally fine and wouldn't have been challenged by, say, an extra 4 minutes per episode taken out of all the non-development moments. Less time on Pharm and Dean might have pushed the writer and director to make more of their moments together as well (I think that Team/Win and Korn/In are both more interesting in part because they had less screen time and so more had to be done with their characters... although Korn/In's story does drag at points as well.)
The TL/DR is: There's a core of a good story and some fun characters here. Watch it if you love BL, if you love any of the actors or the novel, but if there was ever a show to make use of the fast speed or preview functions, it was this one.
Now for the full pacing rant:
It's mainly a directing issue. The director is in love with slow motion, to the point where sometimes I watch on double speed and the only way you can tell it's not normal speed is because of the music. There are long, long long long....
......
.....
.....
.....
pauses that don't make sense. There are scenes that have extended periods with no plot or character development, just people unpacking groceries or doing their regular stuff. Which *could* be used to great effect if we were getting insights into our characters or hints about the story, but no. They're just unpacking the porridge or walking into the room where the action is going to happen, or looking across the cafeteria before the action happens or whatever.
Other than the pacing, the biggest frustration is the character of Pharm. I'm not sure if it's partially an acting issue because I haven't seen him in other stuff, but it is definitely also a writing and directing issue.
Pharm starts out cute and sweet... he's shy but also a good friend, likes to cook, and is generous. He crushes on Dean and finds it confusing, and he has these scary dreams and memories.
So far, so good. Except as the show wears on, he's basically always either experiencing excruciating shyness or crying. He cries constantly, and the director is fond of slo-moing or holding those moments for horribly extended amounts of time without developing any actual feelings or plot.
By episode 15, the relationship with Dean has gone from cute and sweet to deeply uncomfortable, because Pharm never seems into it. Every time Dean touches him or flirts with him (moments that *ought* to be the lifeblood of the show), Pharm screetches and hits him and says "no!" or "p'Dean!!!!" It seems like we're supposed to be seeing him shy, but since we never see actual desire or much in the way of enjoyment, it at first is super confusing: like, does Pharm actually like Dean? Is he okay with Dean but confused about his sexuality? Does he like Dean but not want to be with Dean? Is he confused about the relationship between Dean and the guy in his dreams? None of these questions are answered because there's almost no dialog addressing them and the direction (or possibly acting) means we can't tell Pharm's feelings beyond "I'm scared!" "I'm sad!" "I'm uncomfortable!"
As the show goes on and the relationship becomes closer, the fact that none of these important questions about how Pharm feels makes it more and more uncomfortable when Pharm is pushing Dean away or asking him to stop. It feels like whatever his feelings are, he's clearly *not ready* for what Dean wants, and it's getting less and less fun to watch them.
There's a wealth of side characters who could be used to help round out the show and let the director rely less on agonizingly long shots where nothing happens and more on fun interactions. Pharm's friends Manow and Team are great; their interactions tend to be fun, the actors have a good chemistry. Manow's love line was hinted in an early episode but as of ep 15 hasn't been touched again. Team and Win have a tiny but sizzling secondary couple thing going on that could easily have been given a touch more time without having to have the relationship develop faster. The pace of their relationship is totally fine and wouldn't have been challenged by, say, an extra 4 minutes per episode taken out of all the non-development moments. Less time on Pharm and Dean might have pushed the writer and director to make more of their moments together as well (I think that Team/Win and Korn/In are both more interesting in part because they had less screen time and so more had to be done with their characters... although Korn/In's story does drag at points as well.)
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