This review may contain spoilers
Not the best produced BL drama out there but... it's EarthMix so it's a win for me
I had high expectations for this series as did so many other fans and tbh I was a little disappointed with the outcome but because it's EarthMix and Jan as the lead roles I managed to enjoy what Cupid's Last Wish brought to the table.
Story/Production -
Okay I'm gonna break this down between story and production (value);
The overall plot of the story is pretty interesting and original for a BL drama. I can totally get on board with a body swap trope. The story was more or less easy to follow, with the character's intentions and motivations more or less being spelled out for us which is good because this series really throws a lot at you and if they didn't explain it quickly/clearly what the problem was then they would've lost the audience way too early. There are a few parts that didn't make much sense to me or that don't really get discussed (like why Win had to be /that mad/ at Korn or that scene with his dad talking to the Venerable Uncle) but because this series was only 10 episodes, I figured I'd overlook these parts. There are also a handful of scenes that I didn't think were super necessary to the main plot (i.e. the menstruation scene) but it gave some cute moments of EarthMix or EarthJan and for that I can appreciate them. I'd say the whole story was otherwise well paced, with enough drama each episode to keep me from turning off the video and there was a clear beginning, middle, and end. Overall the story was pretty good for a 10 episode series.
Now for production value... Yeesh. Now that was... definitely something. If I recall correctly, Cupid's Last Wish aired on YT right after Not Me and if you've seen Not Me (if you haven't, what are you doing stop everything you're doing right now and go watch it!!) I think you would agree that Not Me makes Cupid's Last Wish look like a joke (in terms of production value). Like it almost feels like GMMTV put all the budget into Not Me -- which I can understand to some extent due to the heavy subject matter of that series compared to Cupid's Last Wish -- but as a result, Cupid's Last Wish was left with crumbs to work with. The opening sequence every episode looks a bit sloppy compared to other GMMTV productions, there's random editing that makes the characters look way too unnatural, and there's some pretty bad audio quality at some points in the series. All these and more really made it hard for me to take this series seriously at first but I will admit that it gets a little better as the series progresses into later episodes. It's shame though because it feels like there wasn't nearly as much effort put into this series as other series under GMMTV, and EarthMix definitely deserves way more than that.
The production value is the only reason why I feel the need to rate this lower than I would have.
Acting/Cast & Romance -
Main cast did absolutely wonderful. Earth pulled off his character so well that my expectations for men have been raised even higher than they already are. Mix and Jan did so amazing with their characters as well, and I'm so impressed with the way they were able to portray Win in Lin's body. Their portrayals of Win were consistent with one another throughout the entire series, they couldn't have found a better pair of actors to play these roles. There were a couple of moments where Mix's acting was a little less convincing than it usually is, but to be honest, I blame it on the production crew. He still did an amazing job, especially with what I thought was a particularly difficult character to act. Not gonna lie, Win's character was absolutely infuriating, like at some moments I almost felt like I hated his character the most, but to me that only means that Mix did an awesome job acting the part ^^
The romance scenes were sweet and cute to see. They were by no means awkward or uncomfortable. If you're someone who likes EarthMix there's no doubt that you'll enjoy these scenes. But what bothered me a bit was that some of their couple scenes were kind of written like... a stereotypical straight couple? Like the scene when Korn tells Win to shut up and he gets upset with him and ends up crying because he's "on his period" or something... Like don't get me wrong, Mix is absolutely adorable when he pouts and that scene won my favor back when Korn hugs him to distract him from crying. Like that scene? I ate it up. It was adorable and I enjoyed it. But it was still a little weird in the grand scheme of things. It seems like Win's entire personality was modeled off of a stereotypical straight girl who nags her boyfriend all the time and eventually gets what she wants in the end. I don't think it's a cute dynamic at all but it's ignorable enough to enjoy the romance scenes/couple scenes.
(Also the scene in the last episode when they're packing--AHHHHHH now that's the kinda lovey dovey stuff I was waiting for 10/10)
Music -
10000/10 without a doubt. The opening goes so hard and it really fits the overall theme and story of this drama. Same goes for the ending song. This might've been just me, but playing the ending song during emotional scenes was probably one of the best (/only) good decisions that the production team made because it played up the scenes so much and made them so much more touching. Also EarthMix sang both the opening and ending so you already know they're gonna be good.
Rewatch Value -
Because it's short, I'd argue the rewatch value is pretty high. Because the story is very segmented and there's only two different stories max going on in the same episode, I think it would be easy just to pick up a random episode and enjoy the cute EarthMix scenes in it.
TL;DR -
Kind of disappointing if you were expecting an experience similar to A Tale of Thousand Stars. But once you get used to the standard that this drama sets for itself, it's a quick and enjoyable drama with an easy to follow story and character development. Bonus points because it's EarthMix and if you're like me, you'll like anything with EarthMix in it. And bonus points for Jan and her amazing acting skills!
Story/Production -
Okay I'm gonna break this down between story and production (value);
The overall plot of the story is pretty interesting and original for a BL drama. I can totally get on board with a body swap trope. The story was more or less easy to follow, with the character's intentions and motivations more or less being spelled out for us which is good because this series really throws a lot at you and if they didn't explain it quickly/clearly what the problem was then they would've lost the audience way too early. There are a few parts that didn't make much sense to me or that don't really get discussed (like why Win had to be /that mad/ at Korn or that scene with his dad talking to the Venerable Uncle) but because this series was only 10 episodes, I figured I'd overlook these parts. There are also a handful of scenes that I didn't think were super necessary to the main plot (i.e. the menstruation scene) but it gave some cute moments of EarthMix or EarthJan and for that I can appreciate them. I'd say the whole story was otherwise well paced, with enough drama each episode to keep me from turning off the video and there was a clear beginning, middle, and end. Overall the story was pretty good for a 10 episode series.
Now for production value... Yeesh. Now that was... definitely something. If I recall correctly, Cupid's Last Wish aired on YT right after Not Me and if you've seen Not Me (if you haven't, what are you doing stop everything you're doing right now and go watch it!!) I think you would agree that Not Me makes Cupid's Last Wish look like a joke (in terms of production value). Like it almost feels like GMMTV put all the budget into Not Me -- which I can understand to some extent due to the heavy subject matter of that series compared to Cupid's Last Wish -- but as a result, Cupid's Last Wish was left with crumbs to work with. The opening sequence every episode looks a bit sloppy compared to other GMMTV productions, there's random editing that makes the characters look way too unnatural, and there's some pretty bad audio quality at some points in the series. All these and more really made it hard for me to take this series seriously at first but I will admit that it gets a little better as the series progresses into later episodes. It's shame though because it feels like there wasn't nearly as much effort put into this series as other series under GMMTV, and EarthMix definitely deserves way more than that.
The production value is the only reason why I feel the need to rate this lower than I would have.
Acting/Cast & Romance -
Main cast did absolutely wonderful. Earth pulled off his character so well that my expectations for men have been raised even higher than they already are. Mix and Jan did so amazing with their characters as well, and I'm so impressed with the way they were able to portray Win in Lin's body. Their portrayals of Win were consistent with one another throughout the entire series, they couldn't have found a better pair of actors to play these roles. There were a couple of moments where Mix's acting was a little less convincing than it usually is, but to be honest, I blame it on the production crew. He still did an amazing job, especially with what I thought was a particularly difficult character to act. Not gonna lie, Win's character was absolutely infuriating, like at some moments I almost felt like I hated his character the most, but to me that only means that Mix did an awesome job acting the part ^^
The romance scenes were sweet and cute to see. They were by no means awkward or uncomfortable. If you're someone who likes EarthMix there's no doubt that you'll enjoy these scenes. But what bothered me a bit was that some of their couple scenes were kind of written like... a stereotypical straight couple? Like the scene when Korn tells Win to shut up and he gets upset with him and ends up crying because he's "on his period" or something... Like don't get me wrong, Mix is absolutely adorable when he pouts and that scene won my favor back when Korn hugs him to distract him from crying. Like that scene? I ate it up. It was adorable and I enjoyed it. But it was still a little weird in the grand scheme of things. It seems like Win's entire personality was modeled off of a stereotypical straight girl who nags her boyfriend all the time and eventually gets what she wants in the end. I don't think it's a cute dynamic at all but it's ignorable enough to enjoy the romance scenes/couple scenes.
(Also the scene in the last episode when they're packing--AHHHHHH now that's the kinda lovey dovey stuff I was waiting for 10/10)
Music -
10000/10 without a doubt. The opening goes so hard and it really fits the overall theme and story of this drama. Same goes for the ending song. This might've been just me, but playing the ending song during emotional scenes was probably one of the best (/only) good decisions that the production team made because it played up the scenes so much and made them so much more touching. Also EarthMix sang both the opening and ending so you already know they're gonna be good.
Rewatch Value -
Because it's short, I'd argue the rewatch value is pretty high. Because the story is very segmented and there's only two different stories max going on in the same episode, I think it would be easy just to pick up a random episode and enjoy the cute EarthMix scenes in it.
TL;DR -
Kind of disappointing if you were expecting an experience similar to A Tale of Thousand Stars. But once you get used to the standard that this drama sets for itself, it's a quick and enjoyable drama with an easy to follow story and character development. Bonus points because it's EarthMix and if you're like me, you'll like anything with EarthMix in it. And bonus points for Jan and her amazing acting skills!
Was this review helpful to you?