We Are - a mid-term break.
(written just right before episode 9)
We Are, to me, is such a nice depiction of a university slice-of-life romcoms that actually live up to the very core of university life, a quite fluffy one, but still. Sixteen episodes? That's a sixteen-week semester for you. Well, to be precise, fourteen weeks courses, one week of midterm, and one week of finals. I'm sure the actual episodes didn't really go by the actual semester weeks (episode 7 shown that they were just transitioned into a new semester, but still on the same academic year). Anyway. You get the concept.
Note: If this show is not up to your alley, please just scroll through, I'm not putting this under a 'read more' :)
The first thing that I love is that the show took its portrayal of university life pretty seriously. Note that, I mean seriously by heart. You may want to question the accuracy of some elements and that's fair enough, but may I say they didn't deter my enjoyment of the show. Any elements they thought of adding, they did it right, so far at least.
Like, I know it's the right slice-of-life drama with university setting with all those assignments, deadlines (with actual deadline talks and stress), pin-up sessions (if you went to art/architecture school, you'll get it), grading, consulting with the professors, painting studio, clay workshop, architecture model making, art exhibition setup, group works, volunteer camp, cross-faculty activity, football, drinking nights, group lunch or lunch date at faculty's canteen, 'hanging out' on campus or nearby cafe or bar, and some more other things that I might miss.
Second: I really ADORE the friend groups and their friendship dynamics!!! I feel like this is the actual heart and soul of the show. Sure, honestly, I might have decided to start this show mostly because of Winny Satang (well, you know me), yet here I am, falling in love with the whole gang and by extension, the whole cast. It really surprised me how well they worked with the friendship side of this show. Everything just falls and blends naturally with the story. Understandably, with such big cast with numbers of main, side and supporting characters, I should expect there would be some proportion on their highlight. But (and I hope I am not too biased here) so far, I can say that the highlights are still within the range of proportional to the story.
And... I guess this is attributed to the line of actors, which you cannot say they're new to the field, that the chemistry among the characters just happened so organically, which is such a pleasant to see. I'm still amazed that I could see the Peem-Q-Tan-Chain-Pun's group (with special bond between Q-Peem) happens alongside Phum-Beer-Mick-Tan's group. (Bless you Tan for bridging the two. And later, Pun-Mick instant bonding.) And then insert Toey-Matt duo, and now we have a complete chaotic mix. Oh, but also remember we have Tan-Fang-Phum, Phum-Peem-Toey, and Q-Peem-Fai among them. Well, not all are exactly friendship links, but, talking about groups dynamics, we just cannot ignore the trios. Okay now, don't make me write my (love) notes for each individual character.
And finally: the love lines! I cannot and do not plan to write a lengthy description on how I love having all the four (going five?) different pairs. But I will just say I adore how each of their love lines intertwined very well with the friendship dynamics that happened along the way. The story of each pairs doesn't feel forced blending with how each group, to which they are bonded with, creates their stories. The friendship and the romance here are not two sides of the same coin, but rather are two layers of pictures, each with certain opacity that allows them to overlay perfectly creating a whole new complete picture. Not that anything others haven't said but I just need to say it in my own way, nonetheless.
That said, in short: long live slice-of-life romcoms!
We Are, by this mid-term, is truly a work of hearts (I still wanna cry if I think about the refilming part) and I cannot wait for the finals (please don't come too fast, though). As much as I need the show to finish strong, I need it more to finish warmly.
Second half of the show, I am ready! <3 <3 <3
*Note: Taking the academic terms more seriously, I knew by both logic and heart the second half of the 'semester' could either go better or go wrong and in no way I could predict which will happen but I do wish with my whole heart for the first. However, regardless of how it eventually goes, it won't erase the wonderful first half that I've had this far.
