Guys, I really like talking about the shows that I watch. I hope you have been enjoying reading about the shows that I watch. Because even though I may not write these up very often, I still enjoy doing them.
That said, I do watch a lot of weird stuff. And these two shows that I will be discussing today could be triggering for some people. So, content warning. The shows discussed contain the following: sex, murder, drug use, suicide, prostitution, dubious consent, rape, drinking, cults, revenge porn, BDSM, illegal activities, gangs, underage relations, and rugby. If any of this is triggering to you, please do not continue with this post. I appreciate you and your viewership, but I also care for your wellbeing. Thank you for the view, but please leave.
Okay, if you are still reading then I assume you are okay with frank discussions about the above topics mentioned.
Dead Friend Forever – DFF
Eight school friends take a trip to a vacation house in the mountains. It's supposed to be a last sendoff to a friend who's going to study abroad. The farewell has them revisiting old memories and they discover hints there's a ninth person hidden somewhere in the house. Soon, they're contending with life-threatening incidents and realize this is no ordinary farewell; a dreadful party of disaster awaits them.
Cast:
Phee – newest friend in the friend group, formerly seeing Jin
Jin – photography student, leaving soon to study abroad
Tee – tall guy, currently in relationship with White
White – about 3 years younger than everyone else, currently dating Tee, pure cinnamon roll
Tan – also one of the newer friends to the group, generally unassuming
Fluke – studying to be a doctor, wears glasses
Top – best friends with Tee, group comedian
Por – rich friend, the cabin belongs to his father, wants to be a filmmaker
Non – former friend, whereabouts currently unknown
Mr. Keng – teacher for after school study group
Perth – just Perth
Okay, Jin is leaving to study abroad, so the group gets together at Por’s cabin in the middle of nowhere to celebrate with a drunken party. But things go off the rails quickly when some of the members start seeing things in the woods. Then Por runs full force into a branch and is impaled. It is all downhill from there.
As the story progresses, we find out just how much of a collective douchebag this friend group was to Non. Non was a shy kid who just wanted to have friends. After pitching an idea for their student film, he was added to the group, but they just made his life hell. Top broke Por’s expensive camera and blamed it on Non. So Non had to somehow raise money to pay Por back. Tee swooped in and had Non “work” for his uncle, but that ended up being a big embezzling ring and everyone got in trouble with the law. Then, in order to stop Non from hanging out with them, they drugged him and took him to be “taken care of” by Tee’s uncle, who is a gang boss. Not only that, but Non was filmed having sex with Mr. Keng and that video was shared all over school. And now Non has been missing for three years and “no one” knows what happened to him.
There’s a twist, though. Throughout these goings on, Non had been dating Phee. Phee went to a different school at the time, and they met on a dating app. So, while Non had all these problems going on in his life, he had Phee to fall back on as emotional support. Phee even helped him out when all the law trouble came out, as Phee’s dad is the Chief of Police and was working on taking down the embezzling ring. However, when the video came out with Non and Mr. Keng, Phee was quite upset. He even told Non to “get lost and die!” right before Non went missing. So, Phee feels responsible for Non’s disappearance.
And there’s yet another twist! Tan is not Tan. He is New, Non’s perfect older brother. Non’s parents had been giving New all their savings so he could study in England and have a better life. And when all this went down with Non, New came back to try to find and help him. The only other person that knew New was New and not Tan was Phee. Before they hatched their plan of getting into the friend group and find out what happened to Non, New’s parents both died. Since he had nothing left in the world to live for, he decided revenge would be the best strategy. He developed some herbal medicines to give people hallucinations in order to reveal secret truths. He would then use these herbs to make the friend group go crazy and tell him what happened to Non.
New, now Tan, and Phee transferred into the senior year class and immediately became friendly with the group. Phee and Jin became very close, very close indeed. But as Phee didn’t want to stray too far from his mission, he wouldn’t admit to harboring feelings for Jin.
Meanwhile, Tee knows exactly where Non is. He convinces his uncle to keep Non as an employee in the casino to work off his debt. Non has been beaten up very badly at this point in time, and definitely needs to see a doctor. But instead, is made to work in the casino and live upstairs under constant surveillance. After some time, Non dies, most likely from undiagnosed injuries that needed treatment. Tee stops working for his uncle and instead starts working at an internet café. There he meets White, and even though he doesn’t deserve to be happy because of all the shit he has done in this show, they are quite happy together.
We are now caught up to the party. Por is dead, from branch related injuries. Top has been drugged out of his mind and is running rampant trying to kill everyone for what they’ve done to Non. Jin dislocated his shoulder at some point and is basically useless. Fluke is having hallucinations. White is scared out of his mind, and has found a gun, so that’s a good combination. Tee just wants to get out. Phee is helping Jin. And Tan/New is living it up in the chaos.
This is where we start at the season finale. Everything has gone to shit and Tan/New is making everyone else go through hallucinations. Fluke stabs out his eyes with needles (which was the most triggering to me personally) and then Top, who is not dead yet despite having been shot, and him fight and go over the railing, falling to their death. Tee stabs and kills White, who might I remind you HAS DONE NOTHING WRONG!!!! This upset me so much. His only misdeed was falling in love with the clerk at the internet café he frequented. Now his hallucinations always dealt with him looking diseased, so he may have slept around while he was at college, but there was nothing stated outright, so I refuse to believe it. Anyway, Jin’s hallucinations are about being filmed doing the sex, because that is what he is feels most guilty about. And Phee hallucinates Non dying in front of him A LOT! Like the amount of scenes Barcode had to film of him killing himself… crazy. Phee is able to get himself out of the hallucination and saves Jin and Tee. Phee and Tan/New fight with the gun and Tan/New is shot and dies.
Cut to 2 years later.
Jin is back from his study abroad and meets up with Phee at the lake. As they discuss being happy and the future of their relationship, Phee sees Non walking into the Lake. He then asks Jin, “How did we get out of the cabin?”
Because they never left the cabin!
And the show just fucking ends!
Excuse me, WHAT!?
I understand that no one in this story is innocent (except my dear, sweet White, who did nothing wrong) but this ending seems like a cop out. It’s not an ending. I need some finality in my shows! And this just doesn’t feel right. Either actually kill everyone off, like you want to, or have someone escape to tell the story.
This is why I don’t like found footage movies. How did you find the footage? But I digress.
The show is still amazing. I like the characters, even though they are all bad. And I really cared for some of them to make it out alive.
4.5/5 – deserves a rewatch to catch anything I may have missed.
Playboyy (2023)
When Zouey's best friend Nant goes missing his twin brother Nont came to investigate. Zouey joins forces with First to help Nont solve the case. Delving into Nant's past, the trio find themselves entering a dark community of the sex industry (Aob/Puen), illegal pornography (Keen/Captain), online hook-ups with drug dealing (Nuth/Phop), covert sex work (Jump/Porsche) and sex-love revenge exposing human's darkest nature (Prom/Nont-Nant). In the meantime, Zouey—who's afraid of sex—is seduced by his nude model 'senpai' while First delves so deep into the ecstasy of sex when met with Soong, an ex-sex worker, that he might become sex-addicted.
Will they find the missing person? Or will they discover some hidden truth about themselves through this daunting journey?
Cast:
Nont/Nant – twins, Nant is missing, Nont is trying to find him
Zouey – Nant’s best friend, artist
First – has rich dad, addicted to sex
Porsche – also has rich dad, works at his car detailing shop
Captain – wants to join the rugby team, runs a lewd video website
Puen – also wants to be on the rugby team, recently hired at Playboyy
Prom – host at Playboyy, is adorable and has glasses
Teena – hot guy with motorcycle, moonlights as artist model, formerly worked at Playboyy
Soong – pizza delivery man *wink*, formerly worked at Playboyy
Jump – works at car detailing shop, formerly worked at Playboyy, currently hustling out of said shop
Keen – interim Coach for the rugby team
Aob – works at Playboyy, is 35
Phop – a sex worker
Nuth – amateur film maker, drug dealer
Mr. Jason Lee – rich guy, Prom’s father, Porsche’s dad
Tutor – reporter
Playboyy is a show that is approximately 70% NC and 30% plot. You know the phrase “watching porn for the plot”? That is what it felt like I was doing watching this. I know the story is about sex work, but I didn’t expect this much sex. I found myself skipping through most of the sex as it usually didn’t advance the plot.
The plot, on the other hand, was very interesting. However, I am having a hard time putting it into words. Every character is connected to every other character in some way, sometimes multiple ways. It gets so twisty, that even now I’m not sure I completely understand the story. And it ended with a “To Be Continued…”
So, again, what do I do with that!? I would like a complete story please. Hopefully the rest of my backlog isn’t this convoluted. Then again, I prefer convoluted over the bullshit toxic relationships of TharnType and 2Moons 2. And I have a feeling I am going to be seeing more of the latter than the former.
Anyways… 4/5 – unsure if it would be worth scanning through again
I think I’m gonna take a brief break from the BL. I have a show on my watchlist that is on the cutesy side, so I think I’m gonna use it as a palette cleanser.
Laters!
~ Harper