ReniValentine
See You After Quarantine?
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Micro-series set in the pandemic with minimal cliches? Yes please.
To be fair, I've avoided most dramas that used the pandemic as a significant aspect of the plot setting because it often reads as far more gimmicky than the actual reality (which is wild to me given that this is a shared, lived experience). I went into this one knowing nothing but the title, so the expectations were pretty low.The cast is tiny which I personally prefer in this type of series (sometimes I need a break from learning sixty-four names, eighteen couple configurations, and four sets of interwoven family trauma arcs, thanks). I can count the characters on my fingers and have fingers left. To be completely fair, I was invested because of Aaron Lai and he did not disappoint. The majority of the side characters are engaging and fun to watch as well; MAMA needs their own variety-slash-drinking show. I was originally concerned that they were going to use one of my least favorite BL plot devices where two completely different languages are spoken concurrently and no one notices but everyone can communicate seamlessly with one another. Not only was this not the case, the brief language "barrier" and its sudden end actually made sense within the story. There are a few moments toward the beginning where the plot is a little muddy (i.e. random pieces of information given without context that have middling significance later, but if missed it's nothing major). True to form, there is the token female character that makes me want to strategically remove my own teeth just for something more irritating, but she's not the worst offender in that category.
I enjoyed this so much more than I thought I would.
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A case of throwing plot devices at a wall to see what sticks
From the first episode, I found the premise vaguely interesting in a "if this is done well, it could be really good; if it's not, I'm going to roll my eyes hard enough to see the future" way. And I promise you that it plummeted like a physics class egg drop experiment (Google it). Did it get better? Euh, kinda? Did it get good? Absolutely not. Did it get tolerable? In the same way that the sound of a dripping faucet does when you're waiting for maintenance to come.This felt like the writers started out by giving the audience too many characters to start with, and then made most of them immediately unlikeable. Great on paper, as I'm someone who's a huge fan of a (well-done) redemption arc, but maybe give me more than three minutes to learn a name and associate it with a face - especially when we're talking about new actors. Each time the characters started to settle into their storylines and it felt like we were going to get a moment of cohesion, we either got a new character, a new story arc, or both. If you're at all familiar with the genre, I'm sure you can guess the percentage of clean resolutions to introduced conflicts (hint - it isn't 100). There are entire scenes/occurrences that are never explained or even addressed and incidents that just show up toward the end of the series as though it's just canon that's been there all along. To be fair, I have not read the book (I actively try not to read a book when I know it's being adapted into a series), so this may be something that just didn't make it into the adaptation.
Will I watch this again? Absolutely not. No. Not even if I lose a bet. Take my eyes out first and then maybe. No, actually, still no.
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Sometimes too much is just... too much
I will be completely honest here and say that I had to force myself to watch this show from the very beginning. It literally started out by assaulting the viewer with cliched, poorly-written, badly-acted, horribly overdone tropes that don't still need to exist in QL media in 2024. I decided to give it the benefit of the doubt (maybe my SSRI was working that day) and stuck with it.Honestly, I will never doubt my instincts again. A spoiler-free pro-con list:
PRO:
- Chaos gremlin side character (always a welcome addition to any show)
CON:
- Pretty much everything else.
- It is deeply difficult to like most of the characters. At all.
- Speaking of unlikable characters, why are there so many? Did someone feed the Mogwai after midnight and their multiplying? No one needs this many villains in a BL; it's not Kinnporsche.
- The constant additions: characters, backstories, conflicts; why do we need so many?
- I made it through episode 8 without the slightest sign of character development from anyone. None. Mayflies go through more growth and don't they only live for a day?
The show would take the bullet train to the realm of "yeah, I'm done" and then suddenly have eight minutes where it looked like it was going to be interesting. The interesting aspects of the show, however, were few and far between (quite literally). The show seemed to rely on NC (and even that was mid - and I'm being kind here) and extraneous drama to cover the gaping plot holes and flat performances.
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