#and episode 8 and onwards are absolutely worth getting through the slow middle for

[sonnburn]

If I wrote it — Vice Versa⏳

This tag is literally the whole reason I made this side-blog, so I’m starting it off right ^_^

Opinions on this BL are surprisingly divisive. It seems like everyone who watches it either loves it or hates it with no in-between. I fall into the former camp, I think the premise was really intriguing and it’s beautifully shot. I also really like Sea and Jimmy, I think they did a great job as the leads and have really good chemistry. Praises aside, I’ve got some criticisms too.

So, I can’t express enough how much I really do love the premise of the show— Two guys die and get body-swapped into a parallel universe, both need to try to live someone else’s life while also trying to find a way home, all while slowly falling in love with their sole companion from their original world? Adorable, sign me up lads. That being said, I don’t think past the first two episodes the show really capitalized on it’s potential— while it could have been more focused on the sci-fi fantasy setting, what it really wanted to be was just a romance set in an alternate dimension. And it accomplished that goal, but I can’t help but wonder what if?

So as the title says, If I wrote it, I would have gone a lot further with both the premise itself and the emotional impact it would’ve had on the characters.

First of all, I think it’s a pretty unanimous opinion, but the real Tess and Tun should’ve been the B-couple. I’m honestly shocked that they weren’t and that we only got the Alternate-Universe point of view with Puen/Talay while never checking into the OG-Universe and how Tess/Tun were dealing with their lives! So much potential just unexplored U_U

PLOT WISE: the portkey. I would have made the portkey, as a concept, a total mystery. Like, we are told that the characters need to find it in order to go home, but that none of the refugees from the OG-universe actually know what it is. Because everyone who finds it goes back home before they get the chance to tell the rest of the universal travellers. And the Alt-Universe travellers only recall having a dream about it but that once they got home they completely forgot it. The mystery of the portkey should have been the driving force of the plot instead of the Friend Credits movie-making pursuits.

More flashbacks to Talay’s old life. The goal of going home would have had a lot more impact if the audience could see why Talay loved his life so much. Show him missing his friends and family. Have him struggle with his relationships in the Alt-Universe because he’s technically lying to the people in Tess’s life, passing himself off as him because the truth makes him sound crazy. But the longer they’re stuck there, the more guilty he feels for replacing Tess and having Tess’s friends and family replace his real ones.

I would have had Talay and Puen learn more about Tess and Tun’s lives, like what kind of people they were, and what they were struggling with. Talay— king that he is, made a real effort to turn Tess’ life around, which is great! But I would have appreciated just a little more detective work about why Tess’ life was like that in the first place before Talay went about fixing it. Puen could have learned the reason that Tun was in love with Tess despite Tess being kind of an asshole. All four of them are sharing each others bodies, I think it would have been a cool way to connect them to each other by having them learn more about each other, since they can never meet face to face.

The decision whether or not to go back to the OG-universe. For as much as Talay wanted his life back, Puen should have made the point that they have no idea what lives they’d be going back to. Puen’s life was empty and lonely which is why he didn’t mind not going back, but he never brings up the possibility that the real Tess may have completely destroyed Talay’s life (which he kinda did in canon). He might have done so much damage that Talay might never be able to achieve his dream, he may have ruined all his relationships, Talay’s life as he knew it might be over. So why not stay there, in the Alt-universe where he has friends and family who love and support him, where his dream is his for the taking, where he and Puen can be together and in love? I was surprised that the fear of the unknown, the risk, wasn’t a part of the conflict and that Talay was so sure he’d be going back to a life unchanged by his absence.

Tess messing up Talay’s life should have had actual consequences that couldn’t be fixed in less than a few days.

More interaction between Tun/Talay and Tess/Puen when the switch happened. I really wanted to see them catch each other up on what they’d missed in their lives, their reactions would’ve been amazing!

Like, again I can’t believe this didn’t happen in the show but, someone in their lives should have figured out that Tun and Tess had been replaced! Up and Aou are the obvious choices. It would have made Talay/Puen’s friendships with them even more meaningful because as much as they would want to help them get home and get their original friends back, the members of Friend Credits would be forever separated. It would’ve been even more sad for all of them to say goodbye.

I would’ve had Tess/Tun’s actors pop in briefly in every episode, just to remind the audience what Talay/Puen look like to everyone else. It was easy to forget that part of the premise with JimmySea always playing the roles

And those are all the changes I would’ve made to the story if I wrote it! The set-up for Vice Versa was so intriguing, but I guess it was too ambitious of an idea for the showrunners to really capitalize on. Oh well, what we got out of JimmySea was still worth watching in my book. It may not have lived up to its potential, but it was a fun ride all the same!