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Burnout Syndrome (Thai Series)

True to its title, this show tries to capture burnout not as some big dramatic collapse but as this slow, draining exhaustion that quietly eats away at relationships and how you see yourself, and honestly it makes the characters feel really real. The pace is slow on purpose, and everyone here is flawed and full of contradictions, nobody's simple. It uses this messed up boss and employee dynamic to sneak in some pretty smart commentary on society. The story digs into toxic work culture, mental health struggles, and how money ends up running our lives whether we like it or not. And yeah, there's a love triangle thrown in too, because of course there is. This one runs ten episodes, each around 45-55 minutes. Jira's twenty eight, broke, and struggling to make it as a painter. Nothing's going right for him, his art isn't selling, he's got no steady job, and he's basically on the edge of falling apart. His best friend Ing does what she can, finding him odd jobs an...

Looking: Season 2 (TV series)

Just finished watching the last episode of Season 2 and at the same time I also find out that the series has not been renewed for Season 3. Now that makes me upset, because e decent gay series are hard to find in the first place, and now HBO wants to take away that pleasure from us. Anyway, at least they are going to allow a special episode so that all the stories can be given a proper closure. Now I will wait for that.

Season 2 continues to focus on the 3 friends Patrick, Augustine and Dom. Patrick and his boss Kevin are now secretly dating. Initially hesitant, Patrick tells this to all his friends. Kevin has still not broken with his current boyfriend, so the things are complicated. Patrick initially is ok with this but can’t take it anymore forcing Kevin to take a decision. Ultimately patrick and Kevin end of moving n together but the end of season is not as rosy as it seems because it seems the 2 want different things form their relationship as far as monogamy is concerned. Augustine is trying to stay away from alcohol and meet a positive bear. For some reason, he has this instant liking for him and he tries his best to sort his life and see if he can finally make it with this new guy. H also joins him in his volunteer service of helping trans kids at a centre. He finally feels happy. And then we have Dom and his fag-hag roommate Doris. Dom is still trying to find out how to put his dream to reality by opening some sort of eating join. When Doris’ father dies, she is left with some money which she offers to Dom. At the same time, Doris also meets a black straight man, who is too much into her and too good to be true. She is struggling with balancing her friendly love for Dom and love for this new man because she wants things to work out for them. In between we see some side stories of other people around them including Rich who was Patrick’s ex boyfriend and also Dom’s older boyfriend whom he met in Season 1. Season 2 ends on a high not without putting any closure tony stories.

As in season one, my absolute favourite thing about this season is the performances. Every single actor, I mean, every single one of them is amazing. And the credit has to go to the director for this to extract such natural amazing performances. I also like that this season focussed on all three characters and not just Patrick. Augustine's character and story was developed further which was good to see. I think we still need to see more of Dom and Doris history. Although this season my absolute favourite was Doris. How I wish, there was more of her. Patrick’s character could use some more bot of fine tuning and a little more reactions. I loved the scene where he and Kevin plan for an overnight stay. The entire sequence is funny but so damn realistic. The entire premise is realistic and very life-like. You feel you are following your friends in real-life and watching them through a secret camera. The spontaneity of the actors is amazing. I wonder how much of this is rehearsed vs improvised.

I am sad that the series has not been renewed but maybe one day we will see a movie version of this. Meanwhile enjoy this and lets hope we see more LGBT theme series and films that are actually good. I am LOOKING :) (8/10)

Comments

Unknown said…
so sad season 3 will not happen... we're left like "what?" in the season finale.. hahahaha
Golu said…
So true .. but i have heard that they will do a special episode so that they can give a proper closure to all stories
luigi43 said…
May be some "traditional family homophobic group" pression or just lack of audience beyond the expectations?
Golu said…
I doubt there was lack of audience. It is a good series with great acting and direction It has to be some HBO corporate bullshit. But I hear they may come up with a film version as well !!

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