1
LightHouse74
U.S.A.
The Sign Special Episode Encore
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It was consistent
I placed spoilers at the end of this review.Overall, this was not a bad continuation of the main series. Unfortunately, it did mirror some of the positive and negative aspects with it. The script quality was not consistent, but successfully connected the storylines and characters from the main series.
The positive: Once again, they did a great job with the supernatural and suspense thriller elements. All of the actors were incredible, especially the child actor. They all did a great job with their characters. The cinematography was stunning and had incredible special effects.
The negative: Although it was toned down a lot, the comedy element was still off. There were also some odd background music choices and annoying sound effects that didn’t fit the mood of certain scenes.
The in-between: The romance element between the main couple was still a hit or miss for me.
Random Note:
Don’t stop watching after the ending credits because there is a bonus scene after it.
I liked how they incorporated the last bonus scene into this special episode.
*****Spoiler Alert******
The ending was a lot better. There is defiantly a hint another series is in the works set in the same universe.
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Both versions are good in their own way.
I placed spoilers at the end of this review.The movie/series: For a low budget production, it was an enjoyable and cute series. It had a great story concept, but the execution was not the greatest at times. It had a good script, but it was a little disorganized and had some inconsistencies. Although it had one of the most annoying story elements to me, it was used in the correct way and had a purpose to the story. Because this was a low budget production, it had some audio and camera issues. The majority of the actors did a great job with their characters. There are a few big differences between the series and movie version involving the editing. I noted these in my spoiler alert section.
The series: I watched the series on Viki. My main criticism is the series wasted a lot of screentime in many of the episodes by using too many flashback scenes. There were also a few flashback scenes with a flashback scene which was not needed. Another miss use of screentime was many of the episodes started with reshowing the previous scene from the last episode which added up to 4 minutes of wasted time. The episodes on Viki are actually around 35 minutes long and the last episode is only 28 Minutes long. After the closing credits of each episode, they show you behind the scenes footage and actor interviews. They also did not edit out the in between credits.
The movie: I watched the movie on Ultimate Troop’s YouTube channel. Overall, they did a good job editing this into a very cohesive movie. Even the parts that were edited out within the same scene was not choppy and had a smooth transition. It was able to weed out one unneeded side storyline from the series. There were a few scenes that were deleted that I wished they kept, but I understand they had to take time into consideration. However, the material they edited out had no negative impact on the movie.
Random Notes:
The series on Viki had better English subtitles, but the movie on Ultimate Troop’s YouTube channel had better sound quality.
You will get a great experience with either version you decide to watch. I will stick with the series version when I rewatch this. I just like the scenes that were edited out for the movie version. I also know what parts I can fast forward, lol.
******Spoiler Alert******
The differences between the series and movie:
They cut all of the scenes involving Prem Warut Chawalitrujiwong’s character (Puen) which was not a big deal for me. He’s a great actor, but this was an unnecessary storyline that was used to fill screen time for the series.
They also cut out most of the scenes with Nut’s brother Note (Tonnam Piamchon) and boyfriend Tar (Get Sorawut). I understand they had to do this due to timing, but I enjoyed their scenes, Note’s interactions with Nut, and the additional info the scenes provided.
There is no 1-year time jump at the end in the movie version.
The series ended with a small cliffhanger involving the side BL couple (Note and Tar). Maybe they were planning on doing another series involving them as the main couple, but I’m guessing that fell through.
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A Ghost of a Good Time
I placed a potential spoiler at the end of this review.I am a sucker for supernatural storylines and this was really up my ally. This is one of those series that has a great script that successfully connects multiple storylines and characters together. They did a great job in the beginning of the series with introducing the characters. It also had a few twists that I didn’t see coming through out. I enjoyed watching this but admit some of the sections felt rushed and the last episode was a little off. The actors were great and did an incredible job with their characters. The special effects and cinematography were awesome.
******Potential Spoiler Alert******
Although the ending was mostly happy with most of the characters, the set up was not the greatest. There is a time jump forward, then backwards, and then back to the jump forward. I know they wanted to create suspense with this but wished they did a better job with it.
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Weird All Around
First off, this is not a horror movie and I don’t know why it has this tag on MDL.This move was just weird, and not in a good way. It tried to incorporate action, comedy, and romance to give a meaningful message. Unfortunately, it has a bizarre mix of all three elements that did not succeed. I apricate them trying to use comedy to balance out the serious topic of suicide, but some of it was not funny. The script also did not fully explain many aspects about the world it introduced and events that were happening. However, the movie ended with a clear heartfelt message. On the positive side, the acting was great. The movie also had spectacular cinematograph, graphics, and special effects.
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I wouldn’t call it a masterpiece, but it was pretty close.
I placed spoilers at the end of this review.Overall, this was a very interesting series. The general story concept was great, but the script quality was not consistent. However, it successfully connects multiple story lines and characters together. The ending of the whole series was ok, but it was a little lack luster. However, I liked how they tied up everything in the end.
The positive: The series had a very strong beginning and really knew how to draw you into their world. The areas that the script did very well in were the supernatural and suspense thriller elements. The actors were incredible and did a great job with their characters. The cinematography was stunning and had incredible special effects.
The negative: The big miss for me was the comedy element. It would have been fine if this was your usual series with a high school or college setting. Considering this was supposed to be a more mature series with the police setting, the comedy seemed very out of place. A lot of the humor came across as very juvenile.
The in-between: The romance element was a hit or miss for me. There was just something off with the romantic relationship with all of the characters. The relationship development between the main characters in the beginning was also a little off, but it did get better as the show moved forward. The only two characters I didn’t like were Yai and Dao. The character Yai was very annoying, immature, and unlikable during most of the series. As for the character Dao, she was very irritating.
Random Note:
Don’t stop watching after the ending credits in episode 12 because there is a bonus scene after it.
The location used for the coffee shop scene in episode 4 is the same location used for the restaurant scene in episode 8 of “Step by Step”.
I did not take point off for the obvious money grab maneuver they used for the last episode. I like how all of the series they made at this point address many social issues, but this has tarnished my viewpoint about Idol Factory a little.
*****Spoiler Alert******
Although the ending had one of my most hated story element (time jumps), this is one of those times it made sense and served an actual purpose.
The reunited scene with Tharn and Phaya was a little anticlimactic for me. I would have liked to see a grander way for them to meet again.
The bonus scene is open to interpretation. I don’t know if it was a hint of a second season or the only way for Saint to find a way to make his usual guest spot. Either way, it was cool.
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The Review Section: This 4-episode documentary was really good and focused on various social issues in Taiwan at the time. I love learning about what the LGBTQ+ community/culture is like in different contraries. I only had two minor problems with the series. The first is the production quality is ok, but not great which is why I didn’t rate it an overall 10. The other complaint is the English subtitles. The timing was too fast at some points and missing at times.
The Full Series Description
Episode 1: Back to the Start
The description on MDL is actually about this episode.
Episode 2: My Own Stage
There are men who have jumped out of their gender boundaries and embraced "drag" all over Taiwan. However, every drag queen sees this art differently. Some are proud of being drag queens, some see drag shows as a profession, and there is a group of youngsters who do not want to be categorized. They just want to get rid of all definitions, put on makeup, and become the shiniest dancer on the stage.
Episode 3: Seeing an Angel in the Dark
“Hand Angels” was founded four years ago. Their arrival was a wake-up call making people start paying attention to the sexual needs of disabled people. More importantly, these “angels” have been long-awaited within the disable community hoping for a deeper understanding of this issue.
Episode 4: A Path to Happiness
How hard is to start a family? Whether it is a gay or straight family, people go to great lengths to achieve their dream home. The appearance of surrogacy supposed a turning point for gay couples. However, the controversial figure of the surrogate is still illegal in Taiwan and most part of Asia. In the last episode of “Queer Taiwan,” we explore the issue of surrogacy from an objective point of view.
(Source: MyDramaList, GagaOOLala)
This series is a precursor to GagaOOLala’s Queer Asia series which include Queer Asia-Japan, Queer Asia-Vietnam, Queer Asia-Philippines, and Queer Asia-Hong Kong.
Random Notes:
It would be really cool if GagaOOLala did a 10-year follow-up on all of these series.
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I placed a spoiler alert at the end of this review.Overall, this series was ok. I like the story concept, but it was not executed very well.
The positive: The series does have many cute/sweet moments. I enjoyed the show within the show aspect by seeing behind the scenes of the fake lakorn (Prince of Love). I also thought the opening scene in the first episode was very smart. It was nice how supportive Mueng and Mrs. Wan was with Ashi. I also like how Ashi and Punn’s relationship progressed. It also had a great theme song.
The negative: The main problem is the script was not the greatest. It is surprisingly bland considering the multiple conflict scenarios that it had. I also need more than a bunch of random soft porn scenes incorporated into a series to make it interesting. I was not a fan of how the character Punn was portrayed. This character appeared very childlike for someone that is about to graduate college. It was not too bad, but it did get annoying at times. I’m going out on a limb and say this is not the actor’s fault. I feel this was either how the character was written, how the actor was told to play him, or a combination of both. This may be an unpopular opinion, but I didn’t like the secondary couple storyline. It started off interesting, but took a wrong turn in episode 6 for me. After this, I was not fully invested in their storyline.
The in-between: It has a great cast. I give them credit for doing a great job considering the weak script that they were given. I originally did not like the fighting mangers aspect, but it started to make sense as the series continued. Although it became over the top at times, it at least created some interest. As for the main couple storyline, it was not fully developed in some areas. They also get a very weak story conflict in the last two episodes. There is a lot of misuse of screen time and filler scenes which I skipped. The ending of the whole series was ok, but at least it was a happy one.
Random Notes:
Overall, the series was not horrible and had enough stuff to maintain my attention. I just don’t see myself ever wanting to rewatching it.
Punn’s bedroom is the same one used for Jaya’s bedroom in the series 55:15 Never Too Late.
******Spoiler Alert******
It would have been better if they just kept the scheming manager scenario up to the end instead of introducing the half-baked story conflict for the main leads in episode 11. It was ridiculously weak and made no sense. The resolution, although happy, was just as weak.
Punn and Ashi’s relationship progressed at a nice pace. Their dating relationship did not happen too quickly or too long. However, we don’t get a lot of detail with their backstory. We learn from a few random flashback that they knew each other in high school, but we received no real details about it.
My main criticism with the secondary couple is what happened in Episode 6. Muang slept with Naming knowing that Naming was very drunk. For me, this was not ok. Muang was sober and knew what he was doing. At least Naming was rightfully pissed off and told Muang that he took advantage of him. Another problem is this had a very weak resolution which leads to them dating out of nowhere.
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Not a Traditional Sequel
This is not a sequel in the traditional sense which didn’t bother me. It’s a sequel in the same way that the first few seasons of the HIStory franchise was a sequel, in that it only shared the name. However, there were two links that sort of connects this to the first season (see 1st couple description).This series was ok, but had problems with the execution due to the script and editing. As for the script, it was inconsistent. It had many great moments that was mix with some poor/questionable aspects. It also does not help that the first episode has a very dark and bizarre beginning with no gradual transition from dark to light subject matter. This episode continues to be confusing, for me at least, because they try to introduce all the main characters in a very short time span. The story progression and pacing was better by episode 3. The cast was great considering what they had to work with. Unfortunately, the character development is off with many of them. The relationship development between two out of the three couples was ok. As for editing, they should have alternated the flashback scenes at the end of each episode between all three couples to help the views understand all of the characters motives. We don’t get to see the flashbacks involving the other two couples until episode 8 which did not help the story progression.
Couple Breakdown (Don’t worry, no spoilers):
1st Couple (Lee Hyun and Kim An): This couple had the only loose links to the first series. They are both in a class with “Marriage and Family” in its title and have a scary mystery element. The relationship development was odd but at least the series gives you hints about their past relationship from the start with flashback scenes. The only real problem is the mystery story element does not get a complete resolution and left some aspects completely forgotten.
2nd Couple (Min Woo and Ma Roo): This had a very basic romance storyline. Their relationship development was ok, but was tedious at times. There were no major bad elements that made me not want to know how they end up.
3rd Couple (Joo Hyuk and Sung Min): This is my least favorite couple. Joo Hyuk was too aggressive at times and played too many mind games. This made their relationship development too cringy for me. I found myself skipping forward some of their scenes. It does get better by episode 8, but it’s a case of too little, too late. I found myself not really caring or being invested in their storyline.
Random Notes:
Once again, the synopsis on VIKI does not match the actual content of the series.
Don’t blink. Kim Tae Hwan and Han Hyun Jun’s cameo in episode 5 happened so quickly that my brain almost didn’t register it. It was cute, but added nothing to the series. It’s interesting that they didn’t attempt to make a connection from their season to this season. It was also weird that the cameo of the lead actors from Private Lesson had a bigger cameo and actual lines.
Although I’m not bothered that this is not a true sequel, I would have loved to see a storyline continuing a possible relationship between the characters Kim Nam Jun and Min Jae. I always felt this was a missed opportunity in the first season.
You can see the Boom mic and other production items throughout the series. The most noticeable one is in episode 5 (time stamp 14:04) in the upper left-hand corner.
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Our Skyy 2: Never Let Me Go
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My review for each section of this series is based on the following criteria: - Did it add anything to the original series
- Was there either an absence, advance, or regression of character/couple development
- Was the story concept interesting
- Script quality
I placed spoilers at the end of this review.
I was not a fan of Never Let Me Go but I enjoyed this section. It’s not a new story concept, but it was an interesting one. The script is not perfect, but it was definitely better than the main series. See the spoiler alert at the end of this review if you want more information. It didn’t add much to the main storyline, but this was a good thing for this section. The cast did a great job with their characters. However, there was not much character/couple development. The ending was very similar to an episode of Our Skyy. See the spoiler alert at the end of this review if you want more information. The one thing that is consistent with the main series was the poor/weird background music choices. The cinematograph was good with a few minor exceptions.
Random Note:
It was nice to see Pawin (Petch/Phum) and Marc (Kla/Kan) paired up again. They were the main leads in the BL series My Gear and Your Gown (2020) which is very underrated.
******Spoiler Alert******
Although it did not match the original series concept, I get why they used the time travel aspect. This allowed them to do the role reversals. I also appreciate they wanted to make this interesting.
The ending instantly reminded me of how Our Skyy, Episode 5 (Characters Arthit & Kongpob from SOTOS/SOTUS S) ended.
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Great ideas with some weird script choices
I placed spoiler alert at the end of this review.This series had a very interesting story concept. Unfortunately, the execution was not the greatest. There are some major issues with the script. The main problem for me is the middle of the series, episode 6 to the middle of episode 9, seems very out of place with the rest of the series. There are also some parts of the script that don’t make sense. See the spoiler alert at the end of this review if you want more information. The pacing is also very off. It started off very strong, then lost steam in the middle. I started to pick-up again towards the end, but didn’t gain the same momentum. This had a great cast which did a wonderful job with their characters considering the script they were given. The cinematograph was good with a few exceptions and there were some problems with the sound quality in some sections. The songs used throughout the series was outstanding. However, there were some poor background music choices that did not match the mood of the scene.
Random Note: Despite the major flaws with the script, the series is not that bad. I think it just has a weird mix of crime, drama, and comedy. Just don’t set your expectation too high.
******Spoiler Alerts******
The writing for the middle of the series, the island episodes, had a weird mood to it. The underline tone came across as Nuengdiao and Palm only ran away to just be alone with each other to find themselves instead of our parents just got shot and we were almost killed. There was no real sense of danger or urgency.
Some examples of problems with the script include Palm’s father healed way to quickly from getting shot in the shoulder, the weird backstory involving Palm and his mother, and the random same-sex wedding during the island episodes. It was nice to see the wedding but I thought same-sex marriages were not legal in Thailand. If this is the case (please correct me if I’m wrong), this seems very out of place considering both men were not from Thailand and were just on vacation.
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Love That Will Freeze To Death
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An OK Love Story
I placed a spoiler alert at the end of this review.I like the behind-the-scenes reality show approach with the main love storyline. However, I have a problem with the side storylines that they introduced. The script was really great up to episode 11 which is where it goes off track. Although it was still entertaining, I found the ending a bit weak. See potential spoiler alert at the end of this review for more information. The cast was wonderful and did a great job with their character. It also has great cinematography. The editing was great for the most part. I found the costume choices for some of the characters a bit odd, but this is only a minor problem for me.
Random Note: Once again, the synopsis for this series on VIKI is completely inaccurate. About the only information that is correct is the characters’ names and job titles. Do the people that write the synopsis actually watch the series? Sorry, I’ll end my outburst now.
******Potential Spoiler Alert******
I appreciated the script introduced some important subject matters, such as sexual abuse, eating disorder, bipolar disorder, and PTSD. However, I’m greatly disappointed on how it approached them. They should have done a better job with this.
The script really started to lose itself by episode 11. Especially during the end of episode 11 and beginning of episode 12. I kept asking myself where the hell are all the security guards. A large-scale production would have guards all over the place. They didn’t even have one guard at the gate, which was wide open, for night security.
The ending of the series does not link up to the first scene we see in episode 1. What was the point of including this scene if they were not going to go back to that point in time?
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A Simple and Enjoyable Series
I placed a spoiler alert at the end of this review.As I’ve stated before, I love series with a paranormal storyline. It had a great story concept, but the script is not perfect. However, the weak parts of the script did not stop me from enjoy the series.
The positive: The main thing I like about the script is it’s a ghost story that incorporates the BL couple development. The acting is decent considering most of the cast members are newbies. I also like how they portrayed their characters.
The negative: Unfortunately, the script started off very strong but begins to unravel by the middle of the series. This is where the plot holes become visible. There are also some aspects of the script that are underdeveloped. The last episode was a bit of a letdown which also has the 1 story element I hate. See potential spoiler alert at the end of this review if you want more info.
The in-between: The cinematography was good, but the special effects and make-up could have been better.
******Potential Spoiler Alert******
The script introduces one too many side storylines for an 8-episode series. They should have added more episodes to develop them properly or not introduce so many in the first place. I wish they picked a few key storylines and fully develop them. Although the last episode has a happy ending, it was weak. It also had an unnecessary time jump (3 years) which did not help the series.
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Very Interesting
This was a great supernatural/suspense thriller series. The script did a very good job keeping guessing what was going on. The cast was great and did an excellent job with their characters. I also like how some of the characters are not all that they seem. The music was place very well to help create the right mood of the scenes. The cinematography was done very strategically towards the end. It really helped the progression of the story and understanding the changes between events/characters.Random Note:
Although I’ve only seen a few, this was the first Non-BL series from Taiwan that I enjoyed watching.
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The Circumstances of Pungdeok Villa Room 304
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A Very Enjoyable Watch
Although the story concept isn’t new, it was very funny. The script was the right mix of comedy and drama. I wish the script for Rak Diao was more like this. I found the pacing to be just right for an 8-episode series. The actors were also great portraying their characters. The only down side is the music was not that rememberable. However, it was used effectively to set the mood of the scenes. I would rewatch this again to help left up my mood after an excessively dramatical series.Random Note:
The description on Viki is not completely accurate, which is nothing new. The description on MDL also not the greatest.
I like the silent nod (papercut incident) to the lead actors’ previous series.
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It all becomes clear in the end
This series is a great example that a good script does not need 10+ episodes. Yes, It’s another BL series involving high school students but it has a fresh outlook somehow. There are some story elements introduced in the first episode that may scare people off, but these elements make sense once you see episode four (don’t worry no spoilers). The cast was great and did a wonderful job with their characters. I like how the series acknowledges the fears of how gay men will be accepted by family, friends, and society. I also like the more positive aspect it used with these fears.Random Note: Q’s house was also used in the Mama Gogo Series as Annie’s house. I always get a kick when I see a familiar location used in different series.
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