The Middleman’s Love Review – Not Even Middling
This was just blah – it wasn’t funny, it wasn’t cute, it wasn’t romantic, it sure as hell wasn’t emotional. If anything, it was a boring cringe-fest. Yim Pharinyakorn Khansawa and Tutor Koraphat had already won over fans with their portrayal of a secondary couple in the romantic-comedy “Cutie Pie”; however, their foray as a lead pair in the Thai series “The Middleman’s Love” is an unfortunate dud, and it’s purely the creators’ fault.
Directed by Cheewin Thanamin Wongskulphat, the series is set in the same universe as “Bed Friend,” where Yim Pharinyakorn Khansawa played the protagonist’s best friend Jade, a nerdy clueless goofball who likes helping out others. “The Middleman’s Love” focuses on Jade’s romantic life, as he becomes close to a new handsome intern called Mai (Tutor Koraphat). Mai knows Jade from college, and already has a massive crush on the senior, so he constantly follows him around like a pup, while Jade is ridiculously clueless about Mai’s feelings. The writers simply drag out Jade and Mai’s love story for eight episodes, with jokes that would only be funny if this show was made for ten-year-olds.
Even though the show is set in an office, everybody behaves like they are school-kids, and perhaps the creators should’ve just made this a high-school comedy and then maybe the idiocy of the characters might’ve seemed funny. Cheewin Thanamin Wongskulphat’s 2022 romantic-comedy “Secret Crush On You” was also filled with cringe-y exaggerated jokes, but a lot of them did induce laughter. James Supamongkon Wongwisut and Net Siraphop Manithikhun reprise their roles as office couple Uea and King, who are also close friends with Jade. But despite Uea and King’s chemistry in ‘Bed Friend’, they have no concrete sub-plot in “The Middleman’s Love” and are just wasted as secondary characters. Leo Peerapun Chungcharoenpanich and Tai Thanaphat Kajonchaikun play interns Tong and Gus, who also have a romance brewing, but apart from the fact that they look good together, even their side story isn’t interesting. Each couple has the same dynamic – one is too needy, the other is annoyingly aloof.
The cinematography is in line with the show’s comedic theme, with a bright palette, however, some of the scene transitions were very abrupt. The background music was a copy-paste job from ‘Bed Friend’, and the series is laden with comical sound-effects that do nothing to make a scene funnier. “The Middleman’s Love” should’ve either been a two-episode special or a sub-plot within ‘Bed Friend’ itself.
Rating: 3 on 10.
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