Bake Me Please (2023)

Uma torta caprese imperfeita.

Para um torta caprese ser inesquecível são necessários ingredientes de qualidade, equilíbrio de sabores e técnica. A proporção dos ingredientes, a habilidade manual e o tempo de forno são elementos essenciais para que a receita se torne o carro-chefe de um empreendimento de sucesso. É isso que a série nos ensina. E talvez seja esse cuidado que ela deveria ter aplicado em sua produção.

Quando a proposta de uma série/drama é apresentar um formato de curta duração, ela precisa se atentar na quantidade de informações que quer passar para que não fique superficial. Bake Me Please apresenta sua trama de forma coerente, mas a sequência de acontecimentos se tornam inverossímeis pela falta de profundidade das situações. Há vários fatores em jogo, como a relação de Shin e Peach, a frustração do Guy em relação ao seu papel da confeitaria e sua amizade com o Shin, a indecisão de Atom sobre seu futuro, o crush de Oab no Shin, a pressão da mãe sobre os filhos para manter e expandir a confeitaria... mas não conseguimos sentir suas importâncias na história pelo modo efêmero e superficial em que esses plots são dispostos na narrativa. Às vezes, o menos é mais. A montagem também não deixa subtendida a passagem de tempo. Algumas situações podem ter durado três dias ou três semanas. Difícil discernir.

Infelizmente, Ohm, que interpreta o Shin, está fraquíssimo no drama e isso fica ainda mais evidente nas cenas de conflito. A obra apresenta um ar de novelão em alguns momentos, então é fácil cair na canastrice. Mas, no geral, os demais atores estão bem. A doçura e otimismo de Peach é facilmente captada na interpretação de Guide. O excesso de beleza de Poom me distraiu, mas ele conseguiu trazer à tona toda a frustração de Guy, mesmo mal inserida na trama.

Pra finalizar, vamos voltar para o começo: a abertura é constrangedora. Parece que eles queriam encontrar a maneira mais fácil e barata de fazer essa introdução, filmando-a em duas horas, no máximo. Mesmo sendo curtíssima, os planos se repetem, há alguns inserts sem sentido, os atores não parecem saber muito o que fazer, o figurino é breguíssimo. Acho que o próprio diretor não soube mais o que filmar em certo ponto.

A real é que agora só me resta descobrir onde encontrar um bolo de palma toddy.

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Good Until it Wasn't

I'm not proud to announce how long it took me to watch this 6 episode series (approximately a week), but for my sake, this got incredibly dull after episode three. I was excited about this one, while a little unsure of all that it was going to entail, but I was super stoked to see Guide in a lead role since his minor one in I Feel You Linger in The Air, and of course, Ohm is a sight for sore eyes so I'm seated. But initially what had started out as a really good story with some interesting characters has ended with the weirdest and most rushed character redemption and a very sappy happily ever after.

Let's Dive In.

Again, I was super excited to see that Guide was given a lead role after IFYLITA because he was one of my favorite characters from that series. And with his counterpart Ohm, I was hooked to see how this quaint little BL would turn out. Turns out this BL could've done with a lot more work. In the beginning episodes, I was hooked on the plot, I was hooked on how Peach was going to get Shin out of his little stoic bubble, and I was hooked on all the side characters of the bakery. It wasn't until after episode three that this series just fell straight on its face. Shin is the most manipulative walking red flag I've ever seen, who's also narcissistic in thinking that he's the only one who can bake a good cake, while also being over-possessive of Peach and his life. Yes he was all these things in the beginning, but I thought Peach would "change" him and he'd have this amazing character development, but nope, he's the same stoic character that he was in the beginning at the end, just add on that he smiles and gives frequent kisses. The series is also just incredibly boring, There are very low stakes and nothing to look forward to after Shin and Peach get together. Because after that, it was a bunch of miscommunication and misunderstandings. The reason why it took me a week to watch this? Kept falling asleep. Honestly, this series could've ended at episode three and I would've given it a better overall score.

Moving onto Guy's incredibly ridiculous redemption arc; I only have two words -- terrible writing. I don't know what the writers were doing when it came to coming up with that ending, but it's the most rushed shit I've ever seen. Guy wasn't the worst character (Shin was actually) but he still didn't deserve the redemption arc he received, especially within a 30-minute time frame of the last episode. One minute Shin hates him, the next Guy's back working in the bakery and they're all besties again. The ending on top of that was just so overly-sappy to me, but then again the entire series felt the need to do flashbacks every 5 minutes, so I guess that's just how the feel of the series was supposed to go.

Onto Peach and Shin's relationship: yeah, no thank you. I was stretching to try and find the chemistry, and I think some parts worked, but most didn't. The beginning was better than the end, but Guide and Ohm just make zero sense to me. I feel like in a way they cancel each other out, and they just don't connect very well at all. They're both beautiful men, but together, I get nothing. The intimate scenes weren't bad, but I think Guide and Ohm should've done more workshops to work well together. Otherwise, their romance on screen was mediocre.

And to the character I love the most -- to Atom -- I'm sorry they didn't give you more screen time or even a potential partner.

Ratings;

Story: 5.5/10 - Not terrible in the beginning, but the ending is less than satisfactory. Characters are entertaining, others not so much. Chemistry between the leads was lacking, but they're both hot so it's not so bad.

Acting: 8/10 - Guide did okay, but to be fair, I think he played better as Ming but that might be more on the writing and less on him. Ohm was how Ohm has always played his characters + hot. I think I liked Atom (omg that's also his real name) a lot because of his character's personality, and I think he did a really great job. Everyone else was fine too.

Music: 6/10 - Didn't give it much attention, but it wasn't distracting.

Recommendation Value: 3.5/10 - Nah, skip this, really not worth it. I mean unless there's an actor you really want to see, but otherwise, this BL belongs in the land of the "what-if" which is really just a list of BLs I'll eventually forget about.

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Beautifully Decorated Cake That’s Missing Flavor

I placed spoilers at the end of this review.

Overall, this series was ok. Although it’s not a new concept, I still appreciated the attempted. It failed with the executed and something got lost in the mix. One problem is the pacing was a little off. There were some sections that felt rushed and disjointed. This caused some scenes to make no sense. Then we get sections with long useless scenes that are there as filler screentime. One example is there were too many flashback scenes in episode 5 and 6. There were also some weird scene placements which added to the story disconnect. Another problem is the script has many weak elements. Once again, there were one too many story elements/conflict scenarios for a 6-episode series. All the storylines were messily incorporated and received half-baked out-comes. Considering most of the cast is still relatively new, the acting was ok. I normally don’t single out actors, but Ohm unfortunately didn’t do a great job with his character. He didn’t show that much range of emotions with Shin. The cinematography and locations were stunning. However, it had some poor background music choices which did not match the mood of the scene.

Random Notes:

The two opening credits in episode 2-6 was weird.

Product placement was ok with one exception. In the middle of the 4th episode and during a very important scene, it turned into a Toyota commercial. This killed the overall significance of a scene between Shin and Peach.

If you are new to my reviews, I’m fascinated by seeing familiar location used in different series. The location for Peace’s house was also used in the series “Shadow” (Dan’s childhood home), “Sing Again” (Piano’s childhood home), “Mama Gogo” (Annie’s house), and in “21 Days Theory” (Q’s house). Yes, I acknowledge I'm a nerd for this.

******Potential Spoiler Alert******

On a positive note, this had a happy ending. However, it was rushed with everyone forgiving each other.

I wish they had just focused on one- or two-story elements that showed the character backgrounds, relationship development between the main leads, and friendship developments between all of the characters.

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Excelentes atores, mas uma trama carregada.

Não é uma série ruim e a curta duração de episódios ajuda bastante a não tornar a série cansativa, mas apesar dos excelentes atores aqui, o roteiro ainda falha em apresentar os mesmos problemas e as mesmas narrativas que vemos em todo BL.

Poderia ser facilmente uma série leve, romantica e focada na construção do relacionamento entre o Shin e o Peach, mas a série insiste em colocar personagens, dramas e intrigas que realmente não acrescentam nada e só tornam a história cansativa.

Ohm, o ator que faz Shin, é provavelmente quem tem o pior desempenho aqui. Mais uma vez ele interpreta o mesmo personagem calado, apático e frio. Os erros e o comportamento do personagem são tão agressivos que chega ao ponto de você sequer torcer para que eles terminem juntos no final da série.

Se focasse menos em brigas e intrigas e colocasse esse esforço em criar um drama leve sobre o Peach conquistando seu sonho de ser um confeiteiro certamente a série seria muito melhor.

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The whole series missed some charm to it. The cast is magnificent, acting , and music are good. The background setup and colour choices are also not bad. It also tries to showcase some realities like family pressure, online platform and their effects, misunderstandings between friends or lack of communication in a relationship. But the whole point of the series has been lost somewhere in between. The hurried storyline or unnecessary plot in between feels like something is missing or incomplete. Probably due to the number of episodes also causing the story to not be executed properly but it can be much better. it's fine for a quick binge but not that worth it.

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I'm here for the relationship and Grandma....others meh

I liked this show more for the people and relationships among them, than the actual storyline. I feel like the story was dragged out, while simultaneously just cutting off a part of the story when it no longer affected the relationships. Who won the competition? After them cutting the competition to a few teams, effectively ending the race for half of our leads, suddenly the competition no longer existed.

Our main leads, Shin (Ohm Thitiwat) and Peach (Guide Kantapon), had slow burn couple chemistry but fantastic acting chemistry in my view. I liked Peach's warm but strong heart personality being able to thaw the Pastry Ice King's heart enough for everyone, including Shin's own friends and business partners, to get to actually connect and be genuine friends unlike the surface level from before Peach's arrival. I'll be honest, I wasn't sure how much I would like to see Ohm with someone that wasn't Fluke, but I really enjoyed him with Guide. The protector illusion was gone, and Guide seemed on the same level as Ohm. I liked their chemistry too in the spicier scenes.

The best friend turned basically enemy was drastic on all fronts. Shin defiantly needed the reality check, but more lead up was needed for some of this. At first, I thought it was a jealousy thing over Peach, even though to me there wasn't even enough buildup of that. Like he was instantly enamored with Peach, why? Peach is great and deserved to be loved, yes, but where did this I will abandon my friends and business OF YEARS for you attitude come from? I understood what he meant about the business not supporting him because Shin was the star, but even going to a competitor's company without us seeing even once him trying to broach the subject with the actual owners was wild.

The Owner/brother that was in love with Shin their whole friendship was the expected issue, so I was grateful this wasn't the main complication for them. It's a hard situation to work around, but once everyone started talking, it seemed like it worked itself out. I need people to stop kissing people without consent though. Once again communication and listening would have solved so many issues early on. The friends as a whole were funny, especially in the special episode. AND THE GRANDMA WAS A GEM! I would watch it again just for her lol.

Overall, not a bad show, but not the best. I'm liking more cooking/baking shows coming out and 6 episodes + 1 special episode on GagaOOLala wasn't hard for me to spare to try this show.

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they seem friends rather than lovers !

Its noteworthy mentioning how fast based this series is probably the most fast based story development and transition in events I've seen both leads are on the handsome side worthy of being tops but i Don't mind casting them together like why not i mean they seem equal like i would cast them as friends rather than lovers, the lead always gets those roles where he is mean and socially awkward i wish i would see him have roles more on the bright side but i'm concerned did they shoot their scenes in one go they almost never change what they are wearing lastly i would like to see guide in more dramas he is promising

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It's pretty good! Really!

Geez, ya know I was thinking "oh no not another baking series", now I'm like "ya know this should have been a longer series. " Seems too short and the writers got lost a few times. I can see the writers going like "oh shit we only have 2 episodes left." LOL
Seriously folks, the cast was really great. Ohm is a so-so acter but I really hated Shin in this series so I have to say Ohm did a good job at portraying an unlikeable character. All Guide has to do is smile and he's adding to the series. So with all it's flaws this is really an 8.0 series but I rated it a 9.0 that's because the cast was so strong even with a poorly written script...AND the rating here on MDL is too low. Yeah it's not right but that's what I do. (lol)
I would have liked to have seen Atom with someone and yeah Guy and Oab would have been sweet.
BTW I thought Grandma was just great.
For sure someone with a keen insight could have made this into an 8 or even 10 episodes and improved the story line.
This was so close. It is still watchable and for me rewatchable.
Lastly, It's better than most of the other series that have been airing the last half of 2023.
HNY

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Kneading the Drama

So, I've just watched the first episode of 'Bake Me' and here's the scoop: it's like stepping into a bakery where the aromas are familiar, yet you're curious to try the goods. Shin, our main guy, is the classic orphan character with a penchant for solitude - might be too busy talking to his dough. And Peach? He's like that sweet loaf that comes out perfect every time, thanks to his grandma's recipe.

This first serving seems to follow the recipe book of BL dramas, but hey, it's only the first episode. We're just preheating the oven here.

And about Shin's "exclusive" 20 Torta Capreses a day? I'm not sure if that's a genius business strategy or just a plot to keep us guessing. It's like the show itself – straightforward, no complex flavors yet, just setting the base. Early days, folks! Let's see if the next episodes add a bit more spice or if we're sticking to the basics. Either way, it's a light start, easy to bite into without needing a deep dive into the culinary arts. Stay tuned for what's next on the menu!

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