I never really write reviews and this is my first on here, but I feel I really wanted to add my thoughts on this series, for which I had really high hopes and was excited to see. I will start off by saying all of the actors are very good and it seems to be a lighthearted series where nothing really terrible happens and there are no bad people, which is nice for a film set around the holidays.
Perhaps I watched and read too many promotional interviews for this series before it premiered, but it made you think it was going to be this grand love story between the two protagonists, Alex and Bruno. The main issue I had was the poor character development for the two supposed leads. There were several episodes with no real interaction and therefore the few last scenes of the series are a little hard to believe. I questioned how each of these characters (maybe Alex even more so) could reach this level of emotion based on what has (or really hasn't) transpired in previous episodes. According to the interviews with the actors, it seemed the play it was based on was mostly reflected in episodes 1 to 3, and therefore the writer had to expand on the story, including introducing the other characters to fill eight episodes. It's not that I feel the other stories had too much screen time (and they were in fact well done), I just expected a lot more between Alex and Bruno, to make you really feel like you are rooting for them. Yes, the ending tied it up nicely and you realize this was all about them just having a legit start to a relationship, but the two characters literally have one night of real conversation. Perhaps it should've been made as a film and not a series. Overall, I feel like the buildup of a relationship is really the heart of a series like this and would have been nice if it was represented with more substance.
There was a sequel to the play according to the writer/creator, and he said there is material for a second season. Based on the very last lines of dialogue it almost sounds as if they are talking in the future (which might make sense, if I got the translation correct in one of the interviews I watched). It would be interesting to see how a second season would be written and how the story of these two characters would play out, if this is the case.
Perhaps I watched and read too many promotional interviews for this series before it premiered, but it made you think it was going to be this grand love story between the two protagonists, Alex and Bruno. The main issue I had was the poor character development for the two supposed leads. There were several episodes with no real interaction and therefore the few last scenes of the series are a little hard to believe. I questioned how each of these characters (maybe Alex even more so) could reach this level of emotion based on what has (or really hasn't) transpired in previous episodes. According to the interviews with the actors, it seemed the play it was based on was mostly reflected in episodes 1 to 3, and therefore the writer had to expand on the story, including introducing the other characters to fill eight episodes. It's not that I feel the other stories had too much screen time (and they were in fact well done), I just expected a lot more between Alex and Bruno, to make you really feel like you are rooting for them. Yes, the ending tied it up nicely and you realize this was all about them just having a legit start to a relationship, but the two characters literally have one night of real conversation. Perhaps it should've been made as a film and not a series. Overall, I feel like the buildup of a relationship is really the heart of a series like this and would have been nice if it was represented with more substance.
There was a sequel to the play according to the writer/creator, and he said there is material for a second season. Based on the very last lines of dialogue it almost sounds as if they are talking in the future (which might make sense, if I got the translation correct in one of the interviews I watched). It would be interesting to see how a second season would be written and how the story of these two characters would play out, if this is the case.