A Waste of Good Talent

The ending was a thudding disappointment, an enormous waste of the palpable chemistry between the leads, but I'm so glad we got to see the male lead's feelings being soothed, because that's what's really important. Nevermind he's a voyeuristic stalker who broke into someone's home, whipped out a gun, and threatened to kill two people, the script helpfully points out that he's blameless because the women drove him to it. We even get to see him presented as a hero based on a single moment of emotional clarity. This is capped with a teaser happy beginning for his potential new BL - because a man IS the most important character in a GL drama.

As long as men provide the funding for these shows, they will center men and a man's POV. That needs to change; but there is no excuse in any universe for a woman to write a GL script that panders so explicitly to exalt the male view at the cost of the integrity of the female characters. I'm talking to you, Ticha Aphaiwongs.

We got to hear a couple of truly [un]original period jokes. Because period jokes are so funny. In fact, there are so many yuk-yuk "she must be on her period" lines in Chao Planoy dramas that it seems that single misogynistic theme is the entire range of her "humor." At least we weren't subjected to fart jokes, so there's that.

Overall, the production delivered seven episodes of a well paced drama and one final episode of a hashed up kettle of hot mess that focused more on the tender feelings of side characters than the unfinished business between the leads.

SOUNDTRACK
I'm not sure one lovely, but thoroughly overplayed, song counts as a soundtrack. Nice song, though.

This issue may be relevant only for non Thai speakers, but the lyrics to the theme song weren't included in the alternate language subtitles, which was a shame because the song lyrics reveal more in 3 minutes about Pleng's seeming reticence to overtly commit to Wan than the script does in eight full episodes.

If you're interested, you may be able to find an English translation online. I ran across a Spanish version that I could understand (thanks to Señorita P, my high school language teacher). It was very enlightening of Pleng's character.

REWATCH VALUE
Episode 6, yeah; the rest of it, meh.

STORY / ACTING
I rated the story 5 and the acting 8. The premise, with its tropes of rich girl/poor girl, unrequited love, lesbian panic response, lovers separated through misunderstanding, had tremendous promise. As clunkily written (or perhaps translated, since I didn't read it in the original Thai) as the book was, it did much better with character development and conflict than the TV series. That said, both book and series had some profoundly stupid elements, so go into this with the full knowledge that you may occasionally want to throw a shoe at the screen.

This review focuses more on the final episode than the entire series, because the final episode was a disservice to the series, on the whole.

Starting out in episode 8, Pleng acknowledges she hasn't considered Wan's feelings and promises to do better, then promptly does worse. Even Pleng's reaction to perceived competition for Wan's affection was based on Pleng's feelings, not concern for Wan. Pleng showed more real concern for Wan's happiness when she ran away as a teenager than she did in the alleged happy ending finale.

If this series depicted a real relationship, I would be screaming for Wan to run fast and run far - a lifetime of being the one who loves most, gives more, wants more will be miserable. Pleng's adamant resistance to emotional and physical intimacy, even after the lovers have united and reconciled, is a huge red flag for the relationship. If one partner rejects the other's loving advances and, even on the honeymoon, openly disdains the importance of intimacy, married life is NOT going to be an improvement - as we later see.

I have no idea what plot function it served to have Pleng avoid intimacy and all but lecture Wan that marriage shouldn't be "all about that." On. The. Honeymoon. [FYI: on the honeymoon it definitely should be "ALL about that."] The honeymoon the viewers got served up was a couple of tender teaser kisses and an abruptly truncated make out session that was more moment than session.

Pleng's resistance to physical intimacy was thematic throughout the series - unlike book Pleng, series Pleng was always lukewarm - but it was made explicit in the finale, so the producers left absolutely zero room to resolve it. Nor did they drop any clues that it was something they saw as needing resolution. If the pathetic jealousy response shoehorned in at the end was a resolution attempt, it was a dud. So much so, I hope Wan kept Neung's phone number.

Sonya Saranphat Pedersen and Lookmhee Punyapat Wangpongsathaporn, the two leads, put so much heart into this series, they deserved a better send-off in the final episode.

Throughout, Lookmhee never wavered in her portrayal of a young girl / woman certain she belonged with her soul twin and willing to sacrifice anything to live that dream. Every moment of Lookmhee's performance rang true to the character.

Sonya deserved a less emotionally stunted, self-centered character. In Pleng, Sonya was saddled with a character who never became fully vulnerable with her partner, in contrast to Wan's gaping emotional wound open for all to see. I would like to see what Sonya could have done with a character that showed some insight and emotional development. In absence of that, with limited exceptions both the actor and the character seemed self-conscious and uncommitted. Lookmhee's Wan exudes hunger and craving for Pleng, but Sonya's Pleng never returns that intensity. Her physical surrender to Wan seemed more conciliation than craving.

Eight episodes should have been enough for Sonya's character's emotional development to at least move the needle, but even at the end Pleng showed less concern for Wan than for creepy playboy Earth (a more benevolent character in the novel). As an actor, Sonya didn't have a lot to work with, based on how the character was scripted; still, the portrayal lacked the vulnerability and desire the character desperately needed.

SPOILER AHEAD

Spoiler, but it needs to be said: Whoever decided to end the show with one sided foreplay deserves to never get near GL drama again. Or any drama, ever. That was a queer baiting nonsense slap in the face for viewers who deserved so much better.

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Everything in this series works!

"Lovestruck in the City" is a rarity of a romantic comedy -- one that's actually funny. I was still laughing about the drunken palm blast even while writing this review.

PROS
1. Kim Ji Won is the reason I picked up this series and she really showcased her chops playing two very different aspects of a single character. I wanted to spend a week at the beach with one of them and hug the other. The candle lighting scene was so raw I felt all the feels. Her realistic portrayal of a woman who feels so much, yet shows a flat, cold front when overwhelmed rang true.
2. So Ju Yeon was pitch perfect and may have impressed me so much simply because I adored how she presented her character - a woman who is who she wants to be and makes no apologies, nor tolerates disrespect.
3. Ryu Kyung Soo did a marvelous job making a low key, taciturn character multi-dimensional. I was really rooting for his character and...
4. Han Ji Eun's shallow-at-first-glance, yet terrifying teacher character had the most interesting and surprising character journey of the series. Han Ji Eun took a tough, intimidating persona and made her 90% of why the comedy worked, and still delivered one of the most touching scenes of the show.
5. Kim Min Sook brought gravity to a character that could easily have been relegated to comic relief otherwise.
6. Park Jae Won wasn't my favorite character, his tenacity bordered on obsession, but Ji Chang Wook put all his emotions on the line to make it work.
7. Breaking the fourth wall - well, almost: by using a reality show interview style we got a view inside the heads of the characters and their perceptions of the story. It was fascinating to contrast what they claimed was their persona versus what they showed us through the action.
8. The scriptwriter crafted an original, nuanced, touching, and witty show that held enough turns to keep it interesting for 17 episodes. It's really, really hard to tell so many stories and be fair to all the characters; this is the most successful effort I've seen.
9. The director gave the cast room to develop their characters. The result of that is why my rating is so high. Also, that long shot of Oh Sun Young after her final meeting with Kang Gun was a heart punch.

CONS
1. Unlike some other reviewers I wasn't bothered by a pop-up romance in the 17th episode. It had been teased in the 16th, so it wasn't a total surprise, plus it showcased a previously underutilized character. What did bother me was the zero backgrounding of who these two characters were to each other and what was behind their familiarity.
2. Obviously the two leads are going to get together in the end, but it felt abrupt when it happened, a 180 from where the FL's character was previously. Maybe I just needed a little more transition on how the FL's character leapt to that point from her adamant push back until then. Perhaps even one brief shot showing her reluctance crumble.

So many things worked so well in this series that it deserves an 8+ rating overall and I'm baffled by the lower scores. I enjoyed every episode and would definitely rewatch the series.

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Multi episode promo for Miss Grand Thailand

After a promising beginning with two likeable and engaging leads, what was billed as a romance devolved into a 9 episode paean to the Miss Grand Thailand (MGT) pageant. The upside is I learned a lot about MGT, the downside is I'm not particularly interested in MGT, and that isn't what I tuned in for.

The two mostly inexperienced actors, Charlotte Austin and Engfa Wahara, did a credible job of slogging through the script. Of course, they excelled at the pageant portions of the series, an accomplishment that was largely lost on me. For some inexplicable reason, someone (writer, director, actor) seemed to have unresolved issues with tall women, forcing Austin to trip over her own feet just to appear shorter than Wahara.

Aside from the focus on pageant life dragging the plot to a near standstill, the creators of this series exhibited a profound aversion to the characters kissing, to the point of employing thoroughly ridiculous avoidance mechanisms up until the final episodes. The result was that the considerable chemistry between Austin and Wahara was largely squandered.

Any popularity of Show Me Love is a testament to said chemistry and how starved for content the GL public is. The bar, it seems, is very low, and SML tripped over it anyway.

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Yay!, OK, Meh, and Boo

My theory, based on doctors I have known: medical students spend so much time in school and internships that they miss normal adult social interactions, and consequently suffer from arrested emotional development. I submit "Doctor Slump" as a case study. The maturity of the main characters wasn't what one would expect of people their age.

This series suffers from trying to be too many things: drama, romance, and comedy; the first two worked well, if inconsistently, but the third came off as juvenile and misplaced. Whether the attempted comedy was a script choice or a directing choice, it was so off pitch and over-acted that it made me want to throw things at my TV, and is primarily why I didn't rate the show higher.

A couple of things I found baffling:
1) Ha Neul's wardrobe seemed chosen to have her fade into the wallpaper - neutral on neutral. For a while I thought it was a visual reflection of the character and would perk up as her personality evolved, but nope, stayed boring and unflattering throughout.
2) How did these characters last 16 episodes without dying of cirrhosis? I'm honestly worried about the health of the script writer if she thinks this level of consumption is normal or healthy.

On the pro side: based on my personal experience, the script's treatment of depression, it's manifestations, effects, and recovery hit all the right notes, particularly in presenting Ha Neul's unresolved anger from the violence and mistreatment at work as manifesting as helplessness, defeat, and demoralization. The development of her character and behavioral responses during treatment was also realistic and well handled. The development and clarity of Yeo Jeong Woo's character was a little more murky to me, but I did like that solving his business problem didn't magically solve his personal problems.

In contrast to other viewers, I thought the story was sluggish in the beginning but really picked up in the last eight episodes. The plot lines and character arcs set up in the first half of the series began playing out and resolving and that was a lot more satisfying for me than the build up. I also liked that we finally got to see a more holistic picture of Nam Ha Neul after eight episodes of more than I ever wanted to know about Yeo Jeong Woo.

I loved the gradual reveal of the family dynamics and IMO the characters were perfectly cast. Park Shin Hye is compelling in everything she does, Jang Hye Jin was the perfect Mom for this story, Yoon Sang Hyeon really grew on me as the series progressed, and I want Hyun Bong Sik's Tae Seon as my real life uncle and Kong Seong Ha's Lee Hong Ran as my real life best friend.

I won't rewatch it, but I mostly enjoyed it the first time around.

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Compelling from start to finish

I watched this drama because I was captivated by Park Shin Hye's performance in "The Heirs." In both dramas, her eyes tell the story in a way that sets her talent apart even in a field rich with talented leading women. That, coupled with her "girl next door" charm and looks, plus that undefinable Q factor, makes her compelling in a way that sneaks up on you.

To avoid spoilers, I won't say much about the ending except that I prefer that final episodes do a little more overt work toward the happy ever after. Instead, the ending felt like the set up to a Season 2 that didn't happen. Still, the writer gave us enough to know all was well and and that love and creative programming would win.

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Something a bit different

The biggest plusses for me with The Greatest Love are that it doesn't follow the standard tropes of lesbian romance and while one of the outcomes was predictable, the other was definitely not. The script and the characters reactions to tough situations was natural and believable; and the fear and anguish of the lead characters at the plot climax was palpable. The ultimate outcome was more hopeful than I expected, given the plot set-up.

I'm going to leave this review a little light on substance because I don't want to risk spoiling the experience of finding something new and different in the genre. Suffice to say, I've already watched it twice and I'll likely revisit it again. Well worth your time

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This show is a hot mess

Aside from the repulsiveness of using external beauty as an absolute metaphor for internal beauty, the questionable standards and moral relativism of that standard's application gave me whiplash.

STORY
ML, who is absolutely every bit as obsessed with beauty in seeking a romantic partner as FL lead, is given a free pass on his shallowness, and even gets to lecture FL about it. Naturally, he is rewarded with a near flawless new appearance.

Apparently, it's right and normal for a man to choose a partner based on physical appearance, but a woman with the same propensity must be punished. Theoretically, anyway, since despite the script telling us FL came back as unattractive, she actually came back as equally pretty, only shorter and with glasses. Huh. That's it, I suppose a teeny bit shorter than average height, nearsighted woman is the absolute standard for "not attractive". Now we know. Meanwhile, an indisputably evil serial killer is revived with no defects that some push-ups, a shampoo, and a haircut wouldn't overcome.

All that not withstanding, the reason I dropped the show after episode 5 is that the producers/writers randomly and mid episode changed an established plot/script point with no explanation and then gas-lighted. What the heck? Formerly Dead Girl 2's appearance had changed after revival, as per usual, in this case coming back with freckles and thinner eyebrows seems to be the giveaway to her flawed nature, but in her next scene, with no explanation, she's back to her formerly lovely appearance. How does that make sense? She's an habitual fraudster and liar who just framed her ex for murder.

What makes even less sense is that FL, aka Formerly Dead Girl 1, acts like it never happened, even says it never happened(!), and we're clearly supposed to forget it, also. Nope. Nope-a-dope nope.

I started watching episode 6, but it only got more non-sensical, so I threw in the towel. A plot that relies on the assumed stupidity of the viewers (including me, how dare they!?) is an absolute deal breaker for me

[Side note: the script included the obligatory evil mother and I am truly baffled why mothers of adult children in Korean drama are near universally appalling characters who need to either be bitch-slapped HARD or arrested for assault/child abuse. That can't be true, right? Right?]

ACTING:
The many, many flaws in this production weren't due to the acting. The performances were decent enough for what they had to work with. I was especially impressed with Park Bo Young's range, even given the limitations of her character. Overall, the only thing the cast can be faulted for is still taking the jobs after they saw the script.

MUSIC:
Honestly, I didn't notice it.

REWATCH VALUE:
I hate that I was not allowed to rate it less than 1.0.

IMO this show is a waste of time, and a waste of a truly interesting premise, but it's your time, so yours to waste, if you wish.

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I REALLY wanted to like this drama

The action was great, the actors even better, special effects were good, production values were top notch, and I'm throwing a serious shout out to the stunt performers. Everything worked except the script.

I loathe plots that rely on the stupidity of the protagonist because the scriptwriter couldn't be bothered to find another way to move the plot. When that stupidity is mired in mach 10 sexism I'm even less forgiving. I watch enough kdrama that I'm resigned to the sexism that pervades its stories, but even with that built in allowance, this script leaned too heavily on bimbo stereotypes to drive the action.

I won't spill anything that will spoil your experience if sexism and stupidity aren't deal breakers for you, and sadly they aren't for many people - that's why there's so much of it, but I will point out a few of the details that had me trotting back to my watch list for something more worthy of my time: A trained covert agent of the a Korean National Intelligence Service hides her multiple fake passports and IDs in her underwear box, because who would ever rifle through a woman's lingerie to find evidence? She keeps her gun unloaded, presumably because she's never heard of a gun safe, so it's never ready when she needs it. No matter how many times this recurs, her behavior doesn't change. It seems even superstar Bae Suzy did not have the clout to plead for a production that didn't make her character an idiot.

And, yes, I'm calling it sexism because, unless it's slapstick comedy, a script for a male agent would not have his go-bag tossed in with his underwear, his gun unloaded when he needed it, or his hands shaking too badly to load that gun; nor would he be the only character in the series that didn't qualify for at least a semi-automatic weapon. The script wouldn't have a male agent hand off his weapon to an untrained civilian to do the bang-bang stuff, even if that civilian IS a manly Mary Sue who could do everything but don a cape and fly - although he did some impressive parkour that was close to flying. Finally, I'm pretty sure the scriptwriter would not have a male agent advocate to flee the county where ALL the known suspects are because "our lives are at stake," like that's not in the job description.

The sexist stereotypes and dependence on stupidity are not, by far, the only saboteurs of a script that stretches credulity on so many levels, but if you're still undeterred, those things probably won't bother you either.

The actors, all of whom delivered on their performances, deserved better than they got. So did the viewers. Life is short and there are too many wonderful kdramas to waste time on a contrived story line with a Swiss cheese plot. I dropped the series after three episodes.

I won't hesitate to find other dramas these actors are in, because every one of them was excellent in their roles, but I'll avoid the scriptwriters like they're patient zero for the plague.

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