FINAL REVIEW: The Promise สัญญา I ไม่ลืม (2023): How comes that out of series worth of 8.1 Episode in a span of two last episodes happens series rated 7.4

 

How comes that out of series worth of 8.1 Episode in a span  of two last episodes happens series rated 7.4

*sghs*

*rolls over and sighs more*

*and some more*

The Promise (2023) - country: Thailand, native Title: The Promise สัญญา I ไม่ลืม, also Known As: Promise | I Won't Forget , The Promise, Never Forget , Sanya | Mai Luem. Director: Khom Kongkiat Khomsiri

Screenwriter: Funt Thanyathorn Siwanukroh

Genres: Comedy, Romance, Drama

Themes: Friends Reunited, Childhood Friends' Relationship, Best Friends' Relationship, Gay Male Lead, Gay Romance, Long Time Crush, Ghosting, Long Time Friends, Slow Burn Story, Secret Crush, Friends to Lovers.

10 episodes. Original Network: WeTV. Average duration: 47 min.

Currently: 7.4 rating, 6,465 Watchers. People between 25-34 rate this series - 7.5 (20,2%), then age group 18-24 7.7 (18.2 %). People above 65 year rate it highest - 8.9 (0.6 %), follwed by age group 55-64 (8.4 - 1.4 %) and age group 45-54 (8.3 - 3.9 %).

Main male leads: Kun Kittikun Tansuhas as Phupha / "Phu".

Kiak Wattikorn Permsubhirun as Nanfah / "Nan".

brief synopsis: Ten years ago, Phupha left college and disappeared from Nanfah's life. Now, Nanfah is starting a new life and wonders how he'll meet up with Phupha again. How will he start his new life without his close friend?

This review may contain spoilers

I loved this show until episode 9 came. And then…episode 10.

I mentioned somewhere I considered this rushed roller coaster and it is closest to what I feel.  Many things I felt should have been in the series or should have been there sooner…  were not there at all or they were there at the last second.

The constant delays did not help their case at all.  First it was split into two divisions aka we had two weeks for a month for the next five episodes,  and then before the last episode we had to wait another week and we had to wait two weeks again. Moreover the way they fetched episode 9…  I am still waiting for the explanation of what they had to cut out. And why.  and what did they try to correct on episode 10 for each to be postponed.

In the last episode we got to the rushed reuniting of families,  deciding that the MML split  because of one's work, then leaving abroad and actually splitting  in the midst of angst of an argument  that a very close to the point where the one is really leaving solves itself, one nearly broken promise of returning the back to the other, suggested airplane catastrophe, Nonsense query appearance of the main male lead and then at the very end suggested sex scene. How they manage to squeeze all of that in the very last episode with only over 40 minutes is beyond and above me.  but they did it. And that is the result. 7.4 rating.

So for those of you who start writing and wonder how to do these things.. - maybe please don't.  choose one drama and one drama only and make things circulate about this thing.  Don't combine.

Don't already do it.  it is not doable in audio visuals and it is importantly not doable even in a book, a novel whatever. Make it Japanese style -  clear, tidy and cut. It is very rare to swim in emotions and feelings and not make it a mud instead of a palace.

What  probably suit for me to say is that I didn't watch the the first episodes from the another director before,  and I is will realize there is an existence of deleted scenes obviously from the first two parts on a like…  after the release of episode 7 or something like that and I actually started to consider watching the deleted scenes after watching episode 10.  but I have seen two deleted scenes between watching episode 7 and 10 and I sincerely fought it's deleted  scenes from this series not from the prequel.  and it generally got me mad that they decided to cut something so widely important and something so good out of the series and I was constantly asking why….  until I kind of stumbled across the information that those deleted scenes are deleted scenes from the prequel. So, yeah, that is my situation.

Anyhow would I want to say, I wasn't disappointed with the series itself and its beginnings because I really believe it's a very good story.

But this should have been so much better, but instead they hurried to pack as much information as they could into one episode and dubbed it an epilogue. The couple and the story had some promise. Strangely, the moment they started dating, their chemistry vanished. Even the last love scene, which is obviously staged since it isn't genuine (duh! ), was awkward and poorly staged and should have been avoided because it wasn't absolutely essential. The main issue is that they behaved virtually exactly like they did when they were friends (hug with taps on the back instead of a caress, and so on.). I did love some of it, but it might have been so much better if they had chosen a different path ( scratching most of the detours, and starting anew, redoing episode 9 and 10 for sure. Completely. Less plot twists  that serve nothing (a.k.a.  Yes, please scratch out the whole China thing and the whole moving to a different country for the main male lead,  just  so what you already hinted in previous episodes, which is the brother thing,  and properly explain the situation between Phupa and Nan Fah. Yeah, that easy.).

I'd just sum it up as being ok. I've witnessed both better and worse. This should have been the bedroom. The last two episodes though make it worse. For me personally it does not change the quality of the story of the series,  but I absolutely understand the people who refuse it altogether for the trust episodes or the people who fall in love with the previous director's work and decide that it is way better than this one director's project.

And I don't give up -  I hope that the feedback will force the creators to redo the last two episodes. I'm going to wait for it.

 Anyhow if the journey is ahead of you, don't let this discourage you and make your own opinion. The first seven episodes are definitely worth of it from my point of view.

Have a nice day.