Step by Step (2023)

A bl with huge potential fell flat due to poor execution

Well I am going to come straight to the point and jot down the positive points first
1. This was a bl with immense potential cuz it had actors with extremely good visuals. Plus the actor who played Mr Jeng was on point with his mannerisms and expressions. I loved the character.
2. There were scenes that honestly made me laugh. No sarcasm I really did laugh and giggle.
3. I loved few side characters like Chot and I really wish they make a sequel of him and Krit his partner falling in love 8 years back.
4. The bl was realistic in many ways how toxic office culture is.
But that's it I guess.
Now comes the reason why this fell flat
1. There was no binding agent in the various sub plots. Some items didn't even mean sense as to why they were added.
2. Mr Jeng is the only round character who had a change in his personality and although it's being said that Pat has become more mature, his constant whinning infront of his colleagues was heavily unrealistic and honestly irritating, which ultimately makes him a flat character that never changes throughout.
3. The actor playing Pat has to go through a lot of acting classes to be able to perfect the role of Pat cuz even if you're a fresher, at one point you don't break down and cry in front of colleagues even if you're being fired. You express your disappointment through subtle expressions and words, not by letting your snot drool over your face.
4. I didn't realise this was a mature bl until the very end episodes. In the first episodes, it seemed there was chemistry but it severely lacked in the middle and even in the end in the bed scenes. Man aka Mr Jeng did his best to bring the chemistry but unfortunately only one actor cannot drag the entire show.
5. The intimacy was too sudden. Why Pat couldn't believe Me Jeng liked him and why he suddenly started liking him was beyond me. Gay men have a radar where was that. We never had our bosses running us favors even as women and even if they do we get the hint.
Basically, the direction was at loss. Screenwriters were being misled to make sure there were enough scenes for promoting the drinks and what not. As a director, one must know how to make art and make profits alongside. I feel bas for the plot really had high potential to be a super hot drama.

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Drama mediano que poderia ter sido muito melhor

Tinha tudo para ser ótimo.
O Man tem uma das melhores atuações do drama, mas, em contrapartida, o personagem Pat é terrivelmente imaturo e dramático, transformando a relação dos dois em algo cansativo de assistir.
Os personagens de apoio são ótimos, com destaque para a Ae e para o Chot.
A história de amor do Jaab e do Jane foi muito mal construída, confusa. Entendo que talvez queiram fazer drama só para eles, mas acho que não valeria, pois foram muito mal desenvolvidos.
O próprio casal principal teve um desenvolvimento raso. Boa parte da história se passa no escritório com conflitos de trabalho. A relação mais aproximada e "apaixonante" do Jeng e do Pat só floresce após muitos episódios. Enfim, poderia ter sido bem, bem melhor. O que considero uma pena, pois alguns personagens realmente tinham muito potencial, como o Jeng.

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The timeline stopped making sense in the end

I was really looking forward to this and I really enjoyed it at first. I actually liked the fact that we got to see everyone at the office working, doing projects, have actual conversations and meetings related to work. It was mundane things that are often overlooked. It also made a lot of sense with how the story between Jeng and Pat was developing.

However, as the story progressed, I felt like the focus on the office related things became a bit too much. There was very little development in the relationships of characters and almost no character development. Instead, it was all work, work, work.

Jeng & Pat: Jeng has a very strong presence, kind of mysterious but also very intriguing. I know he is supposed to be this cold and ruthless boss, but I don’t really get that from him. I think he does tend to micromanage everything, which in turn makes him appear like he doesn’t trust his subordinates. He is not rude, but he expects people to do their work – something most were not used to. He is trying his best to make the department succeed. I found Pat adorable at first. He is a people pleaser and finds it hard to refuse others, but he is a good person. He does find it hard to deal with his emotions sometimes, but I can also understand his reactions. Sometimes it just all becomes too much, and you need to let it out somehow. However, as the story progressed, I started to find him a bit annoying at times. He is not really someone who is good at handling stress or work-related confrontations, which is something that often happens in his line of work. Their relationship was slow to progress, but when it did, it really went from zero to a hundred.

Whoever paired Man and Ben as Jeng and Pat deserves a raise. I absolutely love their height difference. They have great chemistry and did great portraying the longing the two characters had for one another. I did find some of their intimate scenes a bit awkward, like the focus was on everything except the intimaciy. Which made their actions appear stiff. The crying scenes were not beliveable either.

Put: there is something about him that just doesn’t sit well with me. He obviously hurt Pat a lot in the past, but it also seems very realistic for Pat to want to try and make it work with him again. It’s a sad reality that a lot of people go back to their ex at some point. It’s usually a bad idea in real life, and I think it’s a bad idea for Pat too.

Jaab & Jen: Jaab is a cutie too. I am not really a fan of him going after a taken man, but Jen doesn’t seem that indifferent either. There is obviously something on his side as well. Jaab just seems to be a bit more lovestruck. Or maybe lovesick. The two also confuse me a lot. I am not sure if we are just missing a big part of their story, but there are certain things about them that just don’t make any sense.

As for the side characters, most of the office workers are horrible. But I think it does show reality of such work – there are always those who gossip and do nothing, and then there are people who do everything and get no recognition. I really liked Nan. She is an excellent mentor to Pat. And Chot is so sweet! I really love his interactions with Pat. Plus Chot and his boyfriend are so adorable together! I do have a lot of complaints on what they did with some other office workers in the end, it came very out of the blue too.

Pat’s friend group is something! I really love the dynamics between Pat and Ae in particular. And the way Kanun treats the two is kind of funny. He seems to be the voice of reason while dealing with two troublemakers.

I liked the pacing of the story at first. It was a slowburn romance and I knew that going into it. The episodes were long, it felt like each one was longer than the previous one, with the finale topping the charts at 1h 42min. I think they could have done much better with the storyline distribution for it to make more sense. They tried to cram so much into the last two episodes, that it ended up being sloppy, messy and rushed. We were jumping around and forward, making me confused on when things happened and how.

A major letdown for me was how almost everything was left unresolved or never properly addressed. I guess we got an ending, but we didn’t really get any solid conclusions. I also found the fact that episodes continued from a different place than they ended annoying. There were a few scenes that should have been continued from when we finished in the previous episode, but they weren't. Even the change from ep1 to ep2 had that.

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Good series with some flaws

I really like this series so far. The story is interesting, the dialogues feel natural and I like the slowburn romance between the main leads, as well as the story of Jane and Jaab.

However, episode 6 left me unsatisfied in some ways.
For example: I feel like Jaab's character is a bit too much at times. The constant pouty face during the scene with his mum made me cringe. He is supposed to be an immature person but somehow it just felt like bad acting during this scene (which should not the case because he did a great job in the previous episodes).
Speaking of unnatural acting, why the hell does Pat always look like he was asked to eat a pile of crap, whenever Jeng asks him to spend time together? Who would dare to look at their boss like this after a nice dinner invitation??? Even if you don't want to go, at least be subtle!
The episodes are pretty long, while little happens storywise. Some scenes could be cut without making a difference.

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despite everything i enjoyed it

I got interested in this series when i saw for the time the pilot trailer because at that time it was even not planned to come out many bls with office romance that nowadays exists. So when i saw the first episode i enjoyed so on and even didn't complain about the slow pace but I'm a little disappointed being more than hour per episode and until episode 10 love is mutual and maybe that's not that bad but then they rushed everything and later you are telling me the didn't talk for 2 years. I think is fine how the took all the situation with Pat's ex but everything should be shorter i don't if was actually necessary the tell us everything about Jiang group does.

Characters:

Nan: Talking aboutn Jiang group i'm glad to see Nan because there are not many girls in bls, but they took it from us for about many episodes and and returned it for the last 3 ones.

Ying: i don't why they made us hate her to the beginning just because she likes to gossip and at the end we love how she defends Pat.

The straight couple: ... I mean what was that, they have more story than the secondary couple. Honestly, i don't care if they are straight my point here is what was the purpose of them.

Chot: I think his story was interesting but they also didn't show us much

Jeng: For me one of the best characters, i related to him as older sibling and i really like his development

Pat: at the beginning i related to Pat because i thought he was a sensitive person but then I think he is a little bit immature and maybe and emotionally unstable and i didn't like at the he didn't considered Jeng's feelings.


Acting:

I feel like Dee hup was like, let's take mostly of the cast of lovely writer and don't tell Kao (I'm joking because i think Kao actually couldn't be there because he signed with other company) i think the characters from lovely writer have the same attitude for Step by step so i feel like it's nothing new, now with Man i think he made a great Job and portrait right all the emotions, this the first project of Ben so of course he has a long way to go but he did his best and we love both of them 🫶

Talking about Up I also think he made a great job because his character it's really different from lovely writer

Some good aspects:

Dee hup queen of consent.

My final thoughts:

They should have handled the pace of the story better, too long for some stuff, short for the other... like, at a very lacking level.

Honestly it wasn't that great as i expected but i love dee hup projects so i'm rooting for their next one, 'I feel you linger in the air' i hope the don't mess up this one 😭 because i have high expectations for this.

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Worth the steps

Honestly, the story develops pretty much like the name "step by step". It is definitely slow burn and demands your patience for the romance to blossom. But I will consider the fact that this is not the story of a couple living their love-life, but a couple (or two) navigating through their life to their ultimate love .
If you are into stories which you can relate to in your life, this one is for you. There are no lies here, it shows life at its realest form. No exaggerated scenes, no unbelievable happenings.
The actor portraying Jeng is the cherry on top of the cake, he's such a natural actor. He perfectly shows the emotions and confusions and awkwardness of his character and is a delight to watch.
A little unclear about how the side couple's story ends, but probably (hopefully) its for a second season.
Totally recommend, its worth it.

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TAKE A STEP, IT AIN'T THAT BAD

There is always that one employee who is bullied in an office, and there is always a strict and indifferent office chief, and there is definitely always a love triangle between people that you know. This series has been a refreshing breeze blown into the BL industry.
Step by step showcased a real life development of a realtionship of working adults, without that Love at first sight effect nor the Magic of television bringing characters together with little effort; it was real, full of endeavors and persuasive. There was that employee getting pushed to the limit of resigning soothed by his self-reflective office chief and they spent time and mercy on one another and on themselves. In time, they found out their hearts had already reserved a place for the other person. That was full-proof and credible. It also brought up the genuine confusion and hesitation of people being in love with someone out of their reach. The absence of crazy mind-bending dramas were actually good in this series because we actually got to see how love hurts, how love lifts, how envy and disappointment projected into actions. Almost everything were close to reality, understandable and well-captured.
However, the series seemed to had taken a turn for worse since the latter-half of ep 9 to the end. Suddenly, the character, the integrity of the series just went off; we had jumbled timeline, we had people making nonsense drama, we had characters going against their nature and made bad decisions, we had plot holes-making time jump and we had problems being solved so easily that it should have been illigal. It became so off-putting and dissuasive when now, I can't figure out what had happened during that time jump, I can't piece together any development of the characters and I was so surprised to see nonsense drama appeared making the core value of the series depreciated.
All things aside, I do love the acting of the actors, almost everybody did their parts wonderfully and they were expressive and persuasive; making the whole journey became enjoyable despite the down turn that I mentioned.
All in all, this series didn't win the prize for me but It definitely did what it could and I would recommend everybody to give it a try, you'll be stunned by the main couple's chemistry.

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So far meh

I have finally made up my mind and i am watching this but personally to me this series is booring. Kept watching, take a break and coming back. Its like a boss and a babe just slower and boooring. The main cast pat his facial expression just pissing me tf off. I hope later down it picks up because i Am at episode 4 for the longest while. I know its called step by step but come on nah man. The other brother whos in love with the pete look alike to me hes just beautiful and thats about it and the pete look alike 🙄😒 but as i said before Lets see if i can reach to 10 because right now i dont know.

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TESTING MY PATIENCE STEP BY STEP

The starter is doing great but after episode 4 it's getting boring and I couldn't afford nor waste my time to watch this series. The uke is great but the seme-... Im sorry but I really get bored just watching him playing this character. Like no emotion, his eyes are empty. The casting is great but I don't think the director being fair to Man when they decided to hire Up as the second lead. Obviously I like Up to be pair with Ben better. I mean HELLO??? Anyway, I think the gap of acting skills are huge between Man and Up. Up looks much sincere and his eyes are sparkling with admiration when playing the character Put whenever he is looking at Pat. I am sorry but this series DISAPPOINT ME SO MUCH. The review is 7.5 which is total nonsense. There is no real conflict in this series just a bunch of office workers gossiping about his boss and there is no heart throbbing scenes either. I can count how many times I doze off while watching this series and I feel like they are trying to give off the same vibe with 'A Boss and A Babe' but failed miserably. Anyway, I am dropping this. Never going to continue watch this.

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Great Start; Ok Ending

I placed spoilers at the end of this review.

The series was enjoyable in the beginning even though the boss/employee office romance concept is nothing new. Unfortunately, this fades away as the series continues. The script started off strong, but gradually gets weaker towards the end. The last episode was ok, but a little bizarre and has my most hated story element. The script also had some very weak points. There are times it introduced things without any context to it. I also find the timeline a little confusing because there were no indications on the time progression. On a positive note, the script at least sticks with all of the storylines that were introduced. Well, sort of. See the spoiler alert at the end of this review if you want more information. Overall, the acting was ok. The new actors were not horrible, they just need to improve their skills. The more seasoned actors are the ones that shined. The co-workers’ actions seem overly dramatic, but I think this was done on purpose to emphasize how toxic some work environments can be. The cinematography was good most of the time, but there was some shaky camera work.

Random Note:

It was cute how they incorporated several nods to Lovely Writer. It was also great to see many of the actors from that series in this one. It was like a mini reunion.

I usually can keep track with how all of the characters are connected to each other, but I’m still confused on how everyone actually knows each other.

The English subtitles were good with the exception that it didn’t show English subtitles when printed content appears on screen a few times.

Although I was not bothered by the pacing, there was a lot of wasted screen time. Many of the episodes had a lot of filler scenes that were not needed. This should have been an 8- to 10- episode series because it really didn’t have enough content for 12-episodes.




********Spoiler Alert********

It was bizarre how the sexual harassment case was handled, but this is probably a cultural thing.

The storyline between Jaab and Jane was ok in the beginning, but became tedious and annoying by the end. I was not a fan of how Jane flirted with Jaab in the beginning when he knew Jaab obviously liked him.

I don’t understand Pat’s actions in episode 9. He acted like he was the one that confessed to Jeng and that Jeng turned him down.

As for the ending, it was a little weak. We get a 2-year time jump that serves no purpose. I hate series with time jumps because it’s just very lazy writing. It has a happy ending for Pat and Jeng, but Jaab and Jane’s storyline is left to the sideline. We see Jaab packing to see Jane, but we have to assume things are good with them with the little information we get in that scene. Once again, I’m confused at the time progression during the end.

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Great to watch with your finger on the fast forward button

I actually liked/loved the characters enough to stick with the whole series. For an English speaker - it was tough only getting translations of what was said - nothing written was ever translated but, I would eventually, be able to figure it out.

I agree with many reviews in that Pat took too long to mature. For being a 25-26 year old there were times his actions mirrored childlike. Understandable for someone who was babied/coddled but, when you enter the workforce - you do need to take steps to grow past your safety zones. The writing reflected the times - they mentioned safe zones many times.

I agree the writing was a little off. Plot points were introduced and never followed up on. The whys and hows of character choices were never fully explained. Side characters remained blank canvases and only used when needed. Many times you will find yourself asking "Who is that?".

I appreciated the reality of the whole story. Controlling Dad finally realizes he can't control his son but, has nothing against him - dad even mentions his performance for the past two years has been near flawless. It was a nice shot of him throwing away his son's resignation and basically, letting him do what he wants - relationship wise. The mother appeared to like Jaab over Jeng though, that is never explained.

Being a standard BL - you can fast forward through the fluff and waste of time scenes. So predictable and just by paying attention as you zip through the scenes - you can still see what is happening and not miss a thing. Overall, I really loved the characters enough to where I will be watching favorite scenes/episodes again.

I loved when Jeng is slowly watching and paying attention to everything Pat likes and dislikes. His reaction to Pat not liking the shrimp nuggets is perfect. For someone who loves to cook and wants to share his creations - it goes to your soul when you want someone to like what you prepared. It bothers him so much, he changes the recipe so, Pat would be able to eat if ever offered again. I have watched the submitting the peer review to the scenes of them working together several times - they are real enough to completely believe.

Again, worth a watch but, don't feel bad for fast forwarding through the things you don't like. I am not a fan of screaming queens - never have been. I can't even stand to watch that horror film Mama Mia - even with the Abba music as bait.

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