Vices and Versus

For the first time ever in yearsss. I managed to watch an hour long drama Melayu and be thoroughly entertained. In a good way!

Now.. I do not know if this very rare occurrence take place due to Effi's MBI or his insult on my BM (LOL), or the dry up of series in the La La Land, but I found myself transfixed in front of the idiot box.

Oh the cerita? Its Vice Versa. And its just my luck to watch it on the first episode.

Taken from TV3 site, the sypnopsis:

Couple dynamics is given a whole new meaning in vice Versa. Things get interesting when the men get together..but that's nothing compared to when the ladies start talking when they meet. Perspective matters at the micro level as well as in the big picture. And when it comes to men and women, perspective is rarely the same.

Kinda like Lipstick Jungle, but with less the gloss and glamour and the added perspective of men. Actually its an interesting concept. The first half an hour, they show the women side of things, em bitching about men, basically what their say. Then the next half an hour, they show the men bitching and thoughts and stories which correlates with the event on the first half an hour, only looking on from their perspective.

I may even watch again. Gasp! My sister shouted at her husband that I am enamored with a Malay drama and I refused to budge in front of the TV. Basically making fun of me. I may never hear the last of it especially if my brother get hold of this fact. (The bro whom I love to torment with the theme song of "Gerak Khas". He is in absolute denial that he had ever argued with me years dahulu in the matter of him wanted to watch GK while I was watching Friends, which was in the same time slot)

I do however have some 'thorns' with some of the thing in this story, that seems persistently to be in almost every typical Malay drama. Grrr...

The script is still cringe worthy at times. But hey! I don't cringe as much as others. And to be fair some English series also have pretty cringey moments and lines.

Orange juice. I don't know if anyone else notice this, but almost all drama Melayu, in the restaurant scene ke ape ke... the drink of choice is always... always... freaking orange juice. I think this reason alone is why I abhor ordering orange juice. And don't think you Vice Versa can get away with this, since I could see briefly an orange juice the main character had with her meal.

When they dine, it is always at some swanky restaurant where there are very little people, with real cloth napkin, and 2 tablecloths. I totally get if you are on date or meeting a client, for dinner. Tapi lunch hour? For chit chatting?

Office yang... do not look much of any offices I ever encountered upon. I won't give so much crap on this since prolly my encounters with offices are only limited to boring depts only. Maybe filming company office does look swanky, clean, no files everywhere, have leather chair, lots of space and some exotic looking standing lamp to boot. But when would I get an office in a drama Melayu that look like any other crap offices that I seen so far?

The business dealings. Come on drama Melayu scriptwriters. Jangan malas2. Take pride in your work. We always get that Character A are handling some sorts of business. What kind of business? Why does these deals needs to be done in overseas? What kind of clients? Who are your mysterious clients? If you are doing a 'cerita' regarding career woman, a little insight on the career would be mighty helpful.

The argument between parents done in front of children. Now. To be fair again, this might be a part of the story on how parents should NOT argue in front of the children. But adalah cara ditunjukkan like its freaking okay for a parent to argue in front of their children pasal child support and on how the father is a lazy bum. Ini sampai anaknya tidak lalu makan roti canai la oi mengenangkan bapaknye tadek duit. I do hope they address this problem, which that its never OK to argue in front of your children. Inilah punca2 relationship and trust issues ok. And so I will wait for several episodes more before bitching on this again.

Well... these are the sorts of discrepancies that I found irritating in most Malay cerita or redundant and seems to be also prevalent in this one.

But I am also a kind and generous ruler criticizer. I will admit that

• The story is engaging
• The script is better than the usual craps
• The actors and actresses are a great batch of talents.
  
• Its funny that Aziz M Osman and Nur Aliah Lee are willing to play the part of the divorced couple. They seems to do it in great fun too
• The fresh new outlook
• The theme song and the 'joget' by the actresses at the beginning is so terrible and corny and not to be taken seriously that its enjoyably watchable
  

p/s: Egad! A blogworthy sorts of history where I posted a recap regarding Malay drama? Wow!