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Objectively good art piece but not my thing - Very Short Review
The story is decent, and the acting is good. The cinematography is excellent, and the lighting is used incredibly well. The music is inoffensive, and I know people genuinely enjoy the songs in this show. Some editing choices were "strange" in the sense that most typical films won't use them, which may make the show feel "off" to some people, so keep in mind that the transitions and choices are deliberate and "artsy" rather than commercial. Some of the audio balancing and transition between BGM was odd.It's worth the watch to most people. I unfortunately couldn't connect to the show, so I didn't particularly like it. It is, however, easily recognisable as high quality work.
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Unique and interesting story, but some choices make certain scenes and interactions fall flat.
WARNING: THIS CONTAINS SPOILERS FOR THE SHOWOVERALL (TL;DR): A unique and interesting premise, decent but inconsistent acting, memorable and great music, and good comedy. Not a bad watch, but it’s more of a casual watch than a “I will binge this with my full attention and remember this for the rest of my life” show. The side characters are stronger than the mains. Not a waste of time but it wouldn’t be a tragic loss to miss it.
STORY: The story is unique and different to other ghost romance stories I have seen. It follows a streamer who moves in with his aunt and uncle, not realising they’re ghosts. He and the gardener for the house (decidedly not dead, as of episode 6) are attracted to each other, and romance-y ghosty things happen. The ghosts have their own side plots, but their actions are limited by merit points they’ve earned throughout their life, which they have to spend to do things and have people see them. Once they’ve run out, they will disappear. The plot is good, the lessons learned are good, and they put an emphasis on healthy communication and the misunderstandings are often resolved somewhat quickly. I adore the side plots with See-nam and See-foon, I want to learn more about Jake and the scenario surrounding the deaths, and I’m scared for the family, hoping they’ll get to finish their unfinished business and be happy in the end.
However, that is where the praise ends, as the writing of the script is not… bad. Not by any means. Nor are the performances. But the main characters feel almost…. lacklustre in comparison to the side characters, and the combination of acting and directing choices weakens it. A lot.
But first, the acting:
ACTING AND CHEMISTRY: The cast have shown that they are good actors. Pleum is believable in his grief and feels like a real person (most of the time - I’ll elaborate later). Kawin feels pretty real, kind of stubborn but also mild-minded. We can feel him crushing on Pleum from the start and the chemistry between romantic scenes is really good. See-foon takes the spotlight for me though. The whole cast has good comedic timing, but he is exceptional. See-nam and See-foon feel realistic as twins and their sibling chemistry is great. The entire family is cohesive and is fully believable as one.
Episode 6 contains what is perhaps the best performance of this entire show so far - See-foon’s final day on earth made me tear up, and you could feel the loss and subtle grief from a single expression. His eyes can portray any emotion without needing to speak or move, and it’s enhanced even further by his delivery of his lines. This actor really has potential, and I hope I can see more of his works in the future.
Additionally, See-nam and her relationship with Prim is bittersweet, and it makes me wish I could see more. Even though they have a tiny amount of screen time together, they have good chemistry.
BUT there are places where the series is lacking or inconsistent. The arguments between the parents and see-nam, and the argument between Kawin and Pleum are in entirely different leagues. The former felt raw and emotionally true to the characters, and I could feel See-nam’s frustration, her parents’ worry and their own frustrations. The latter…. It felt stilted. Their faces were stiff and at most conveyed slight worry and “I’m somewhat annoyed at the world”. The script felt awful, despite being perfectly normal for an argument of this type. Technically speaking, the script was fine; good even. However, the stiffness of the scene lends to the idea that the actors aren’t good with this kind of scenario —but the actors aren’t bad, and the direction has been proven to be decent (as exemplified with the aforementioned arguments), but the combination seems to fall short when it comes to conflict between the two mains. Additionally, Kawin is entirely un-believable as an “American” moving to Thailand. His English is heavily accented unlike the accent that is often gotten by a Thai person who lived in America most their life. However, in the grand scheme of things, this is a small nitpick, but it still really bothered me.
Overall, the acting is great from the side characters and good from the mains but it is inconsistent in quality, sometimes being compelling and sometimes being lacklustre.
MUSIC: Absolutely banging, great for the tone of the show, solid 9/10, minus 1 point in some small scenes where it feels a little too loud compared to the dialogue.
FINAL SAY: Yeah, s’aight.
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The Circumstances of Pungdeok Villa Room 304
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A plot that has been done before, and I still can’t get enough
This is a plot that has been done many times before, the most noticeably similar case being Rak Diao (One Love), in which the owner of a house or an apartment has an “unlikeable” tenant who happens to be his boss. However, this show is distinctly itself.The comedic aspects of the show are great, and I really enjoy the humour. It’s light, and the drama doesn’t linger, instead flowing somewhat naturally (the final two episodes run a little loose and fast with the drama). The transition from pure comedy to romance to light angst is smooth, and the resolution is sweet, enhanced by the wonderful chemistry (comedic, friendly and romantic).
However, I think the pacing became a little abrupt near the beginning of the end, and although I understand that it’s because of the short run-time, I wish that they could have added a montage of time the main couple spent together so it would feel like some time had passed and the stress was starting to mount for Seo Jae Yoon rather than him suddenly being “bored” as he so said. We know his reasons, but it isn’t cinematically effective to simply show a timeskip and him expressing his questions about the relationship with some people chattering in the background about rumours surrounding a similar relationship to theirs. I also wish they talked a bit more about his insecurities and why he decided to leave for a bit - or at least alluded to starting that conversation after making up again.
I liked the return to comedy by the end of the series, and the tone was a relief from the slightly more serious tone episode 7 and the start of 8, and that led to an ending that I’m pretty satisfied by.
Overall, it was a nice drama, and probably one of my favourite short-length K-Dramas I’ve seen. The chemistry was great, and I liked the outro music. The plot is simple, and the drama was kept somewhat uncomplicated, and I know that in the future there will be LGBT stories a million times better in quality than this one as people slowly accept them as the norm, but for now, Solid 8.5/10.
Tl;DR: this is a nice, lighthearted comedy. Some aspects will require you to turn off your logic brain, but it tries to fill the time effectively, and it’s worth seeing the chemistry between the actors. One day, this show will be outshone by longer, higher budget KBLs, but for now, it is in the upper ranks of the genre. Worth the watch.
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Surprisingly charming and worth the watch: a short review
This show has an interesting yet fairly standard premise -- but with a twist.The story of "tutoring someone and then falling in love" is a classic Thai trope, and is the staple plot thread for this show. It is incorporated well into the story, which in and of itself is a feel-good, wholesome romp with incredibly poor comedic timing and misplaced sound effects. This may seem like a negative, but for this show, it manages to make it part of the charm. The acting is "over the top" but not "OVER THE TOP over the top", matching the acting to the tone intended for the scene. The sad bits were sad and not overly dramatic, and the funny bits were hilarious to the point I was curled up in pain from laughing. I enjoyed the evolution of the dynamics between characters, and the show managed to make the misunderstandings actually funny rather than stress-inducing. I loved the twist of the Watphlu gang all dressing like 80's greasers -- this just added so much more to the vibes of the show.
The music is a running theme throughout the show, in the background just linking bits together, and the cinematography is fairly standard decent quality with nothing too special.
Overall, I'd recommend watching this on a day you need a pick-me-up or just want to watch something wholesome.
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Better than I thought from reading the comments and reviews here
Just finished it after being put off by the negative comments surrounding it - I only really watched it because my friend (who knows nothing about Thai shows) just randomly picked this one out of a list of things to watch (I'd randomly put this on the list with no intention of actually watching) ; and having finished it, I'm glad they did.TL;DR: Don't let negative comments stop you from watching this: It may not be for everyone but it could be for you. The chemistry is great, the story is like that of a classic lakorn containing business and family rivalry chock filled with romance and messy interpersonal dynamics stuffed with the occasional 1/4 episode of modern GMMTV romantic cheese, the cinematography is worth the watch even if you don't like the story, and the soundtrack is great [even if there are some moments where they play Christmas music at really weird timings (like 3 at most)] . It's worth the watch, and I can guarantee it will subvert at least one, if not many of your expectations for a show like this. Whatever plot you think they're pulling, I can guarantee you won't guess them all. It's a solid 8-8.5/10. You won't even realise the show is over until it is, it's that addictive.
Story:
Honestly, I was gripped. Yes, it was a bunch of teenagers acting like adults, but it honestly didn't matter too much to me. It felt like they were just kids forced into shitty situations by their heritage and their parents, and I didn't mind the cheesy typical modern GMMTV vibes it had interspersed with the intense lakorn-style drama. It was a breath of fresh air in what was otherwise a dramatic romp. The action was pretty well scripted, and the show was tense when it needed to be. A bit cliché at times, and it was a little predictable at moments, but it was made up for by the execution of it all. And hey, who ever said a bit of cliché was a bad thing? They're clichés because they work. Additionally, there were some scripted moments that weren't perfect, but if you don't think too much it's not enough to ruin the watching experience. The story was engaging enough for me to lose track of time completely and binge it all the way to the end in 2 sittings, with a break for lunch. Once you're into it, the story is an absorbing watch, even if it isn't the best in the world.
Acting and characterisation:
Holy cow has the chemistry between the leads improved since FUTS: that show wasn't anything special to me and I didn't really connect with the chemistry there, but here, that chemistry was as thiccc as a trifle with a set custard and mud cake, I felt like it was actually able to be cut with a knife - that was great. And the side characters were so good. It made the show feel more real, their motivations were complex, and there were some characters where I just couldn't tell what their deal was from the beginning. I enjoyed the portrayal of pretty much everyone. Phuwin's character felt like a kid who got thrown into the deep end of a shady goings-on, because that's what he was. Pond's character felt like a pining kid who got thrown into the same situation but from the opposite perspective, because that's what he was. Perth's character -- well I'm not giving any more spoilers beyond the basic premise of the show, but let's just say the acting was great. (except for some of the crying here and there but what can you do -- anyways that's only enough to knock off a single point from my acting rating.)
Romance:
IDK what people say, I think it felt pretty nice and natural to watch - flawed characters making stupid decisions, an imbalanced power dynamic that slowly becomes more and more blurry, and dissolving when the romance really starts to kick off. It's also refreshing in some senses that will make more sense if you watch the show, but I really like how they handled Ben's arc with romance.
Music and soundtrack:
Just. Listen to it. It's perfect.
Mostly.
Just ignore the Christmas music. It only happens like 3 times I promise. (it's kind of subtle too so don't worry about it becoming an annoying thing)
Cinematography and editing:
I have multiple message exchanges with my friends gushing over how pretty the lighting is. That should explain enough.
But seriously, so many of the camera choices made were really great, and props to the editor - the music and the scene really did match well (even during the overly dramatic bits). I only wish THAT beach scene was a bit longer to allow for the emotional damage to sink in, and there was like one or two scenes where I noticed the audio act funny, but honestly those are my only complaints.
Rewatch Value:
Honestly I won't be rewatching it soon on my own, but if I make friend watch it (like a 6/10 chance) I probably will.
Overall:
Watch it and judge for yourself. This show isn't perfect by any means, and the quality isn't on par with Bad Buddy or Not Me, but it isn't that far behind. It's dramatic, there are wholesome moments, and the characters feel like actual 3-dimensional people with real motivations. If you enjoy the drama, if you enjoy cinematography, or if you like the actors, just watch it.
Peace.
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