#of:do

HOWEVER.

I don't like that it's the sequel to Only Friends.

The charm of Only Friends (which will further be referred to as OFTS) was that it was messy. It wasn't clean. It wasn't clear-cut. It was toxic and horrible and there were no true good guys, only crappy people and people who got caught up in the crappy actions.

And that was OFTS.

There was cheating. Betrayal. Exposing. Hell---there was the wiretap plot point. It was spicy and messy and messed up as hell.

But Only Friends: Dream On (which will further be referred to as OF:DO) just... doesn't have that.

I don't like that it's branded as Only Friends for several reasons, which I will put here.

1. The only real link is Boston.

Really annoying to me. OFTS was called that because of the hotel they were running. The Only Friends Hotel. Yet... Why is this one called "Only Friends"? Because Boston is there. Because it's the same universe.

Yes, Sand and Ray come back. Yes, Top and Mew come back. But they are hardly plot points. Boston is, though.

And to me, that makes it feel like we're saying Boston was the defining factor of OFTS. And he.. wasn't. BostonNick was NOT the main pairing. I see arguments on whether TopMew was your main pairing, or if SandRay was the main characters---but BostonNick was not the star of the show. And treating Boston like he's the one making it Only Friends? No. It feels... wrong to me.

And my memory may be failing me, but as far as I'm aware, the Only Friends Hotel hasn't been in OF:DO (feel free to correct me on this if I'm mistaken). Yes, at the end of OFTS, we see Mix/Dean come into the hotel as their first customer (or whatever you call people that stay in hotels), but that's... it? It's not Only Friends. It's a new series that happens to have the cast from Only Friends in it.

2. It doesn't feel like OFTS.

Obviously I don't want a carbon copy of the prequel. If I wanted that, I'd just rewatch the show. But like I stated before, the glory and notability of OFTS was that it wasn't clean and happy like most GMMTV shows.

Top cheats on Mew. Boston sleeps with the guy his best friend is talking to. Ray has a crush on his best friend but is also sleeping with his best friend's boyfriend's enemy. But also, he dates his childhood best friend then cheats on him. And Boston is sleeping with Sand's friend and Nick is wiretapping cars and expecting a relationship from a man who said he didn't want a relationship.

It was NOT clean.

But this one, just... feels so much more defined and clean-cut and that isn't right.

I guess the most OFTS character in OF:DO is Raffy. He's messy. But everyone else?

Dean is a guy who wants his ex back. He kissed Arnold because they're actors together... big deal. Jack is a total jerk and a bad boyfriend. He's rude towards his stepbrother. Okay Rome just wants to stop being compared to his stepbrother. Tua.. has a crush on Arnold. Arnold is just kind of there.

No. That's not OFTS. I want drama. Because the glory of OFTS wasn't just that the characters were toxic---it was that they grew. Top learned to be loyal. Mew learned how to cope. Ray got through his addiction. Sand found self-worth. Nick realised that he didn't need Boston to go on. Boston realised he messed up. And that was the glory of OFTS.

There's not much to go for OF:DO to improve when the characters are already just subpar at the worst. The only real hope I have for the show is RomeRaffy, cos they remind me of SandRay. UNFORTUNATELY. They feel like somewhat of a carbon copy of SandRay.. which leads me to point 3.

3. RomeRaffy is just SandRay again.

I love RomeRaffy, don't get me wrong. And I adore SandRay. But they're just too similar. Feels too recycled. And they riff on it in the show, even---Sand and Ray comparing themselves to RomeRaffy in a way.

But I just wish there were more differences.

Some similarities I thought of here. Please again correct me if I've put anything untrue here---my memory sometimes fails me.

I just wish I saw more differences between them.

I don't mind that they're similar---it's a cute homage. But almost everything is the same. They start as a one-time hookup that turns into friends with benefits. One-sided pining. Second options. It's all the same. I would prefer it if it stopped at just an homage. A few similarities here and there, something to make SandRay and the viewers say, "Haha, I remember something like that". But not when it's every plot point; every scene.