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The Luminous Solution thai drama review
Completed
The Luminous Solution
0 people found this review helpful
by 07222023
Sep 30, 2023
6 of 6 episodes seen
Completed
Overall 8.5
Story 9.0
Acting/Cast 7.0
Music 6.0
Rewatch Value 7.0
This review may contain spoilers

The Luminous Solution was the solution to an uneventful Friday

Despite its low rating of 6.3, poor subtitles, and all the honest reviews on here, I for one enjoyed this series. I thought it was well made, down to earth, and clever in subtle ways. Right away, the series title is incorporated as the main cast is introduced. Thana, Patis, and Mai’s scenes were ‘dark’ and/or ‘light’ representing “Luminous” and Ryou’s was ‘Solution’ as he’s working on his school project.

I enjoyed the characters A LOT, flawed as they were. I love the bantering and different personalities of the main and side characters. I liked the uniqueness of the plot twist though I have to brag that I had a clue that was the case since episodes 2-3. Solely because the older and younger casts' timelines moved at different paces. I think it was episode two or three where Mai and Ryou had a time-lapse of a few days whereas it was the same day for Thana and Patis. As the series progressed, I saw more and more similarities between the older and younger characters (for example Thana and Mai having a habit of biting. Thana and Mai hate being alone and are afraid of loneliness. Thana and Mai smoke. Patis and Ryou are clear about who they like and want to stay friends with Naphat/Nack. Patis and Ryou are 'perfect' in the eyes of others, they're smart and hardworking. Patis considers Thana as his only family while Ryou has a distant uncle and auntie. Mai has a closer relationship with his parents, Thana does too except his dad has passed. The wooden stickhouse and wooden figures), then I started questioning why the older and younger characters hadn't had any direct interactions yet. That's when it hit me that they were most likely the older and younger versions of each other. I guess figuring that out earlier on made the whole series less confusing, messy, and more enjoyable.

Except for Bhu Bhudis, the whole cast is new to me so that was nice. Means I get to know more actors/actresses! I see that this is Mig Teerapat Prongaroon's acting debut? I have to say that this man has the talent and potential to make it big if he stays in the industry and away from scandals.
Gun Napat and Bell Ratchata are straight-up adorable! Gun just makes me happy whenever he smiles. I love his interactions with just about everyone, especially with the nurse, Dr. Praem, and the older lady patient he saw twice. I do have to say that he does need to work on being less twitchy when it comes to serious/intense scenes but otherwise, I was in love with his character from beginning to end (and honestly, I would have thought Mig is the more experienced actor as he had more range but Gun’s acting isn’t terrible, at least not for his character).
I like Mig and Gun as a couple, they're cute as heck! The only thing that didn't seem right was the lack of natural physical contact. It might have been the director's choice or lax writing but a lot of it feels like what you'd witness in an acting class and not in real life. When they hugged or comforted each other, it felt like they did it because it said so in the script. And when you expect physical contact between two characters who have been madly in love for 10 years, you get nothing. (i.e. Patis coming home and crashing on the bed after a long day and night at work. Seeing Thana tuck Patis in would have been nice. Or the part where Patis bawled his eyes out and instead of staying and crying, hugging it out together Thana left to cry outside.) So lots of missed opportunities to showcase what I would think was a long-term healthy relationship.
I thought Bell did great. Dena, Safe, Tontae, and Bank were also all great.
Kanda and Pie being mother and son wasn’t that surprising either. I mean if she’s the younger woman we saw in the beginning then clearly Pie was either her boyfriend’s ghost played by Dome Woranart or her son who looks exactly like her ex-boyfriend also played by Dome Woranart.
Once again, the cast and characters were a plus for me. However, I must admit that Thana and Mai got super ugly. Hated the attempted rapes and Thana, for some reason, is always doing things he’ll be sorry for. Guy never learned.

Other than the lack of consent in some parts, my biggest issues with the show had to do with the director and editors’ choices. For one, they never made Time’s age clear though I’m assuming he’s 18/19 given that he drives a motorcycle and well, that fire exit scene. The show used terms like ‘student’, ‘homeschooled’, and ‘self-educated’ to hint at his age but we never got a solid number.
Secondly, there were A LOT of ‘romantic’ scenes that were played back to back to back to back and at one point it got annoying; I didn’t need to see Mai pulling Ryou towards him four different times from four different angles, thank you very much. Also, a lot of the close-ups on the faces were mostly awkward, especially when facial expressions weren’t key.
Thirdly, they play the same ‘mysterious’ song every time Kanda is on screen, and my goodness, please stop. Kanda’s repetitive theme song is not hitting when it’s being overly used and adds nothing to the scenes!
A lot of these episodes are about 1 hour and 15-20 minutes and seriously they would have been sweeter if they just cut back on the repeating and slower parts. The series having only 6 episodes was a good choice. I don’t mind open-endings but I don’t like that there’s a bigger chance Thana and Patis will get back together within a month :/ The idea of a secret cafe was interesting but its execution was mediocre at best so personally the show would have been better off without it, and as a slice-of-life-only series instead.
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