Ready, Set, Love - a colorful mini series for Valentine's Day
Netflix Thailand really opened their 2024 with a fantastic original work. Ready, Set, Love is a dystopian romcom miniseries (6 episodes) with a LOT of comedy, a hint of thriller, the cheesiest and corniest writing but also a lot of heart. The perfect Valentine's Day binge in my opinion.STORY
Set in a dystopian world the female population outnumbers the male, our protagonist Day (Belle Kemisara) got selected into a government-sponsored reality competition called "Ready, Set, Love" where women compete to win the affection of five "Gentlemen". While the premise is original, I thought the execution of the story was a little bit of cliche and predictable at times. I definitely feel like I caught many references to The Hunger Games and Divergent and other popular dystopian genre works (Eve Capital????). But besides the cliche writing, there were a LOT of LGBTQIA+ positive messages sprinkled throughtout the dialogues and LGBTQ+ representation. I was so happy to get a scene where our supporting lesbian couple having an ultrasound of their baby. Althought the series promoted itself as a romantic comedy series, I think Ready Set Love is was much darker than I had expected for a Valentine's Day release. But with a tight-pacing, the series did well to tell everything in the span of 6 episodes while covering all the characters' subplots as well as not leaving any loose threads (BUT THAT CLIFFHANGER POST-CREDIT SCENE? @NETFLIX BE SERIOUS). The series got very dark all of a sudden in the last episode but I thought it was a reasonable writing choice.
ACTING/CAST
Our ML is Son, the most popular and handsome Gentleman, played by Blue Pongtiwat. I think the romantic scenes between Belle Kemisara and Blue Pongtiwat were believable but not crazy insane, just decent enough because they're two incredible actors. I think the supporting characters definitely stole the series a little bit more for me. I particularly love Paper (the youngest Gentleman), May (Day's younger sister) and Valentine (Day's bestfriend) and Chun. The actors for these supporting characters were delivering top-notched performances even with the little scenes they had. The miniseries did very well in giving all the supporting characters of the series a lot of room to fully portray and tell their stories.
MUSIC
The score is bubbly and fun. I love the jazzy opening intro and the graphics fit it perfectly. There's this song that the character Chun (played by Kunchanuj) sings and I absolutely adore it. Music is a huge part of Paper's storyline and I love the songs seletion for this series.
REWATCH VALUE
This is one of those series where I don't think I'll rewatch because the mystery plot only really works the first time that you watch. But I do think I'll rewatch certain episodes for the cinematography because the color palette of this series is so vivid and vibrant, I was in awe the wholetime. It reminds me of the color palette of Pushing Daisies, which is a favorite series of mine.
PRODUCTION
This was such a high value production from Netflix Thailand, I'm surprised by how bad they're marketing this. I keep mentioning the colors of the series but I'm not kidding at all, it is truly beautiful and so gorgeous. The set, the costume, the visual effects. You can FEEL the high budget for this series from just the first episode because the fictional world they've created is honestly very realistic.
OVERALL
If you're looking for a high-value, fast-paced, quirky campy romcom Thai miniseries (6 episodes) with a dash of dystopian and thriller element, Ready, Set, Love is definitely a must-watch Netflix Original.
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Ready Set…Should’ve Been So Much More Than Love
This started off like it was going to be light comedy built around a love story with all the bright set colors and silly incidents with the FL. But once the story started to unfold I found that there shouldn’t have been anything light and fun about this series. Or if there was going to be comedy it should’ve been used to lighten the story when it got too heavy.The premise of the show was interesting and original, but the writers failed to do a deep dive on the themes they were throwing out. For whatever reason the birth of boys had severely declined. We are never given a reason why or even if research was being done to determine why they were rarely being born. As a result of this decline, there was a shortage of men in the world, so the government’s response was to essentially hold every boy that was born hostage at “The Farm”. They had this national reality game where women would compete to marry a man , but then we are told that’s just a scam and the marriages don’t actually happen.
It seemed as if TPTB were forcing the men to be with women whom they chose, for the purpose of…we’re never told why? The assumption was also if a girl was born, she was allowed to be out in the world and free. It was said that some women’s son’s were stolen from them and taken to The Farm if the they failed to comply with the law in giving up their sons. And those women would then be drugged and imprisoned. But if all men were held hostage at the Farm, who was impregnating these women in the outside world?
So again, it wasn’t clear what the government was hoping to accomplish with imprisoning boys at the Farm and marrying them off to what appeared to be wealthy families. As previously stated, this show had an interesting concept. There were many social commentaries at play ie “fake” vs “real”, population decline, human rights just to name a few.
With all the other more pressing story threads going on the love story was really irrelevant. And at times it seemed as if two shows were being explored within one, but the writers didn’t know how to merge those stories into a coherent show. The leads looked good together and had nice chemistry. It was sweet that they got their HEA but it seemed so out of place within the context of the story, much of which was not properly explored.
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It was fun but could've been so much more
The production values were incredible and especially impressive for a Thai series, the leads were all eye candy and some of them could actually act (especially Paper, Almond, Chanel and Bovy), some of the games were fun. But there were so many missed opportunities to make this show deeper and more interesting.The premise is that most of the men in the world die off and the ones who remain become a commodity to exploit. What happens when men are out of the way and women are the ruling class - are they really interested in solving the problem of male births or do they actively suppress knowledge that would fix the birthrate in order to secure their power? How are the men treated in the marriages, is it similar to how women are treated in patriarchal societies where they are abused and have no freedom? What is it like when men are forced to breed (this is kinda sorta touched on with Paper but the full implications of that aren't explored).
Don't get me wrong, this show is a very fun binge and I enjoyed it, just felt let down when I saw the potential it had to be so much more.
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The Bachelor + The Hunger Games = The hilarious and fun Ready, Set, Love
Subjective Gut Rating: 8.25My first impression of “Ready, Set, Love” is BRIGHT! The colors are so vibrant and it feels so cartoonish! This is the perfect drama to watch if you want something light, a little over-the-top and hilarious!! Is it the best drama out there? Definitely not! But it brings me joy when I need some lightheartedness in my daily life. It feels like a live action adaptation of an anime.
The plot is nothing unique and is actually quite predictable. I would describe this as a combo of the American reality TV show, “The Bachelor” plus the movie, “The Hunger Games”. We have women competing for the love and attention of 5 eligible bachelors aka Gentlemen. The ladies are thrown into ridiculous games to beat out each other, in order to win the chance to choose one of the 5 gentlemen they want to marry. Additionally, in this dystopian world, you can’t really escape the political commentary of this supposedly perfect world inside The Farm.
I really enjoy the competition part of the drama including all the hilarious characters from the Gentlemen, Ladies to the commentators. If you don’t mind over dramatic acting, this is perfect. The romance is not bad, just not quite enough for my taste. The couples are cute, but I wanted more fluffy scenes. I do appreciate the inclusion of a lesbian couple and a gay couple (just not enough screen time). On the other hand, I like the portrayal of sisterhoods between FL and her sister, and 2FL and her BFF. With only 6 episodes, the political plot and commentary might be the weaker part of the story. It’s no surprise they included this in the drama, but there is just not enough time to develop and write a satisfactory ending to that. Everything seems too easily resolved, and I was never worried that things would turn out badly for them. You can probably see from a mile away how the drama is going to end.
Nevertheless, I had a lovely time watching this. I will recommend this if you are looking for some over-the-top fun with decent acting and chemistry, a good-looking male cast (especially one who wants to show off his abs at any given chance) in very vibrant HDR colors but am OK with a simple plot.
Completed: 3/15/2024 - Review #418
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Thailand is now bringing us into dystopian
Clever, imaginative, well-written, and well-executed. Don’t get swayed by its cheesy title since the show has a deeper story to tackle about. I am a big fan of the concept of dystopia; showcasing injustice in a society and bringing a creative set-up on the way people live, was truly a chef’s kiss. Thankfully, the show succeeded in offering this to us. The story's foundation of having an uneven ratio of two genders where the chance of giving birth to a male child is too low was phenomenal.They also managed to give depth behind the characteristics of everyone from the show with reasonable development throughout the end. The majority of the cast is likable, the same with their cute and fun little games with budgeted props that make it more lively.
When I finished its pilot episode, a question came to my mind, “If all existing gentlemen are living in a small luxury city, what would happen if one or two of them fell in love? Not to a woman but to a man since they aren’t that pretty exposed to the women outside their living environment.” Fortunately, my BL heart was satisfied enough with Pepper’s story. A man from The Farm fell in love with another man who is living in a hidden place called City Ground.
This is certainly a mini-dystopian series that is rarely produced by the entertainment industry in Thailand. Although I felt that the progression of the story lacks in terms of expansion and solving cases, it is still understandable since they only have eight total episodes to fit everything. The open-ended conclusion was great since it allowed people to be hyped for a possible sequel. Yet, I honestly think that the four-year time skipped before the ending credit was unnecessary and they should just stick with the cliff-hanging part of what will happen to them after freeing from the government. I want to see more scenes of how they will fight back the injustice and bring peace and prosperity to the people.
There is only one time from the show that I feel extremely frustrated. It is when on EP02, they labeled Almond as the best cooker among the gentlemen. Yet, he happened to be the clueless one when it came to finding the right ingredients for Thai dishes and desserts. That was just naive of the production that they let this idea end up being aired for the sake of romance between the second lead. Despite some of its flaws, the overall impact of the show was cool and entertaining. Blue Pongtiwat introduced me to this series and I am grateful for that. I’ve been following him on his Instagram for a long time but this is the first time watching him in a drama. He does prove to me that his undying charm is there for a reason. He is indeed a good actor, the combination of his appeal and acting was well-balanced.
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Ready for a drama-filled world where women reign supreme? Tune in to find out!
The dystopian love rom com Ready Set Love is not only light hearted, but also highly entertaining. Also adding to the drama is the dating competition concept . Aside from being a good pick-me-up, this drama also provides a thoughtful commentary on gender roles. Considering the world's majority is female, the show explores how power dynamics and relationships would differ in a female-dominated world. This film also challenges traditional ideas of romance and love, making it a refreshing and thought-provoking experience.Overall, this drama is a must-watch for those looking for a unique and engaging romantic comedy.Vond je deze recentie nuttig?
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Dystopie entraînante saupoudrée de comédie, romance et thriller
Au départ, je pensais voir une sorte de drame thaï usant d'un jeu télévisé stupide avec des personnages sans saveur, mais Ready Set Love s'est avéré bien plus intéressant. Je n'ai pas vu les bandes-annonces ou quoi que ce soit d'autre. Je me suis lancée à l'aveugle avec comme seul indice le résumé de Netflix. Et quelle aventure loufoque et entraînante !On suit Day, une jeune femme (décrite comme ordinaire) qui est tirée au sort pour participer à la septième saison du jeu télévisé pensé par le gouvernement : « Ready, Set, Love ». Un jeu dans lequel les femmes s'affrontent pour se rapprocher d'un des cinq prétendants en jeu. Une chose en entraînant une autre, la vérité derrière le mur impeccable de la Ferme s'effrite pour laisser entrevoir une réalité bien plus moche.
C'était amusant de découvrir l'univers ultra coloré qui m'a rappelé Hunger Games pour le côté très excentrique et Squid Game pour la DA et l'ambiance générale qui se dégage. La série exploite pas mal de thématiques (l'élitisme, la liberté et la maternité en tête de liste). Dans un monde où les hommes sont rares (plus de quatre ans viennent de passer sans qu'aucune naissance de garçons ne soit enregistrée), la maternité devient une thématique forte. L'annonce d'un garçon à naître est une grande nouvelle à l'échelle mondiale. Le fait de ne pas avoir de cause connue quant à la soudaine diminution de naissance masculine n'est pas un problème. D'une certaine façon, la source originale n'est pas la quête principale. J'ai aimé le choix de se concentrer sur l'intrigue actuelle et ne pas s'encombrer du reste.
Tous les personnages étaient bons. De Blue et sa belle gueule, jusqu'à Man et son sourire charmant (d'ailleurs, j'ai été ravi de le retrouver ici). Max et sa haine du tissu qui touche la peau de son torse (le personnage est ridiculement drôle). Day et ses convictions de fille ordinaire ayant grandi dans le « vrai monde ». Ou encore Chanel qui peut, à la première impression, être toute désignée comme la garce du podium, mais s'avère bien plus intéressante que ça (et de toute façon, ce n'est pas vraiment une garce). On s'attache à eux sans trop se forcer. Les choses se font naturellement.
Derrière les personnages, les acteurs et actrices qui étaient excellents, principaux ou secondaires. Rien à redire sur ce point.
En raison de son format de 6 épisodes, le dernier s'accélère et prend une tournure plus sombre et tire sur les dernières ficelles dramatiques. L'histoire se termine avec une petite ellipse pour nous donner un léger aperçu de l'après. Cependant, Netflix restant Netflix, une scène pré-générique nous laisse apercevoir une possibilité de suite. Elle pourrait être intéressante, mais cela dépendra des choix des scénaristes.
En bref, derrière son générique peu flatteur, Ready Set Love s'amuse des apparences tout en ayant réussi le mélange bien dosé entre dystopie, comédie, romance et thriller.
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Fast, Fun, and Full of Surprising Characters
From the trailer and promo images, you would think this was a bit of comedy fluff but it's actually a dystopian thriller full of character development disguised as a rom-com.The story is simple on the surface: for some reason there are hardly any men in the world, so the government gathered them all into a place called The Farm and basically raffles a few off every year through a reality competition show called Ready, Set, Love. Our leads are all involved in this show as competitors and production staff, and it becomes clear very quickly that the game is not only rigged, but also hiding some really, really dark truths.
In the middle of this game we have our leads, Day and Son, who trace the path of dislike to friendship to love quickly but with real sweetness. There's several drama tropes thrown at them, but the actors and the story make it all work in an adorable fashion.
Alongside Day we have her best friend, Va, who is working on the show with an ulterior motive. I loved her character and her family's story, sad as it was. Day also deals with two rival competitors, Chanel and Bovy. These two are great - just when I was worried they'd become the typical villainess and airhead friend, they surprised me with complexity and emotional depth. Chanel's story was, to me, especially touching and I was so glad when she got to make her own choice and thrilled by the decision she went with.
Son's friends are the other men who are the prizes in the game show, and three of them (Paper, Almond, and Max) have really interesting stories of their own. It's impossible to praise them much more without major spoilers, but each one had a personal journey that was well written and acted. They each broke my heart a little and their brotherhood was lovely.
My favourite character, though, was Jenny. She's the show runner for the reality game and her story, her relationship with her wife, and her choices throughout the series had me completely entranced. I love, love, love Jenny.
There production values of the show were insane - particularly the reality show competition elements, which were so elaborate. I don't watch that kind of show so I found some of those sequences kind of bizarre, but I appreciated them in how the showcased the characters. I am also new to Thai dramas, so the occasional exaggerated acting was jarring for me but it wasn't too frequent.
I will happily rewatch this show in the future, presumably ahead of the second season that was teased in a little mid-credit scene.
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I NEED SEASON 2 ASAP!!!!!
I wasn’t really expecting much from this show just a cute romance comedy but it was so much more than just that and i enjoyed every second of it I REALLY HOPE THEY DONT CANCEL SEASON 2 AFTER THAT CLIFFHANGER (i don’t know if that was a spoiler or not LOL) I WANT TO SEE MORE OF SON AND DAY THEYRE SERIOUSLY SO FREAKING CUTE IM DYING FOR MORE😭😭❤️❤️❤️❤️Vond je deze recentie nuttig?
BEST Thai series!
I've had the opportunity to watch other Thai series and I admit that none are comparable to this one, I really hope for a second season.. there's the right amount of romance, it's fun and has interesting twists. I recommend watching it in the original language with subtitles, well-made graphics and script, I find the filming really good. Carefully chosen cast. If you like cute and funny series this series is for you, but it is much more, it transmits a concrete message regarding our current world... be Ready, Set, Love!!Vond je deze recentie nuttig?
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Im in LOVE with this show
Everything from the acting to the plot is amazing!Also the friggin intro is a bop.I love the way they can make a show seem lighthearted and start it out with the viewers watching in the perspective of a dating show and then switching it up.
All the deep trauma and societal problems get uprooted as you go, but it still keeps it's comedic side which I loved!
Other than that. EVERY character in the gameshow is likeable and understandable. I like that there is no clear "villian". Some would argue it's Chanel's mom, but I don't think so.
Also let me not start talking about Almond. His character is so interesting! Although some people might dislike his character, I simply feel bad for him. He had acted as a bigger brother all his life and all he wants to do is protect his brothers from what they don't know. I mean, he is wrong in his assumptions, he's very brainwashed🥲
I ALSO LOVE THE CAMERAWORK! That one scene in episode 2 (I think) when Day yells "no" and it zoomes out, and then Son catches the camera, smirks and throws it back so it hits her. That was the funniest thing ever, very creative.
(Bonus, oml, Son with braids in the last episode killed me (in a good way), but Son in a wig was even better haha)
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WOW… just WOW
I knew I would enjoy the show as my friend recommended it to me but this has got to be one of my favorite shows. Literally everything was done so well. Most people have the misconception that due to the lack of episodes, it would have poor execution but 6 episodes is perfect. The concept and plot of the show is just amazing and the romance and politics are just so well done. I also love how the show shows so many different types of relationships and dynamics. I’m absolutely in love with this show. It was so enjoyable and it was silly and not too serious. Also the ost was great and I’ll keep listening to itVond je deze recentie nuttig?
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