LonelyTranslator
This review may contain spoilers
Unique and interesting story, but some choices make certain scenes and interactions fall flat.
WARNING: THIS CONTAINS SPOILERS FOR THE SHOW
OVERALL (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.
OVERALL (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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