The Midnight Studio (2024)

Good Enough

Korean Drama '' Midnight Photo Studio '' is a fantasy romantic comedy.

The drama has many funny moments, with the side characters adding their special flair to the mix. The ghost stories were also quite emotional and bittersweet, and, fortunately, plenty.

The romance was also enjoyable, with many sweet moments between the leads, though the final episode had a cheesy twist, but, still, the couple was adorable. The side couple was a bit awkwardly handled.

The performances were, in addition, pretty enjoyable by everyone in the cast.

So, overall, six and a half out of ten.

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Of Ghost and Curse and unfinished business in an unremarkable manner

Ghost/horror genre and ability of a human to see them is not new. ML has a fulltime job as a photographer of the dead prior to crossing over to afterlife. It's a cursed ability handed through generation in his family. His sidekicks are 2 ghosts (ex deskworker and ex cop) both with reasons of unfinished business and had stayed in the land of the living.

The main selling point were the episodic telling of the stories of each ghost visitor. From child to elderlies, each with their final request. ML's role, often challenging but rewarding to see the visitors have a proper closing before sending off to the other realm. This worked well in the beginning.. I cried on episodes of grandma, the child, abd the courier deliveryman. Those were stories that were touching and memorable.

Enter my criticism. Later on its fixated on the overall big baddie ghost. And sidetracked by cop ghost's story about his wife (very skippable). That enjoyable nature of diff ghost diff story was abandoned.

Next the romance between our ML and FL. In the beginning I enjoyed how ML seem a lil antihero and FL was kind of bubbly and goofy. ML was just trying to survive the curse and escape the looming death. I felt their relationship never reached the height it should. If hot is 100C, theirs is like lukewarm. Cause of this I never felt the intensity of a love thats connected to life and death.

From execution of plot to casting of the leads, it never truly fulfilled what it was supposed to. Nothing truly disastrous, but isnt remarkable either.

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What I expected but not really (to be edited until series ends)

I was interested in watching this after seeing the cast cry during the script reading and it had similar vibes to "May I Help You?"(which I recommend btw) so I was interested in seeing how the theme of helping the dead safely move on to the afterlife without having any regrets was going to be tackled. Plus, it being a photo studio was already I guess unique because how are they going to deal with providing such a service to ghost customers when living people may give them issues.

the series has a solid opening. It gives basic understanding of how everything works and still leaves enough curiosity for plot development in future episodes. I enjoyed the stories of the deceased (ep3 was hilarious imo- the aespa cameo you didn't know you needed) and learning more about how our ML's family came to be cursed this way and how FL comes into play in everything especially the link to a ghost from the past. We get to meet all type of ghosts so not every story is the same/similar. Plus, not every ghost has good intentions and seeing how they deal with them ensures the interest in the story is maintained. The side character stories are also somewhat interesting, but I hope they are fully developed by the end of it all.

My problem with the series starts(?)/started(?) in ep7 when the romance plot finally takes off, that's if we can call it that. I am all for FL taking initiative but tbh it was more coercion than positive pursuit. She keeps crossing the line and not respecting his stance. My guy says no she hears try again (just because she felt embarrassed and feels like he is stringing her along which he isn't btw). We are blinded in seeing this because he is also interested in her, but oh well.

I am still struggling to wrap my head around why ML is looking for his uncle when he knows about the family curse but there is still time for clarity.

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One...Two...Three...Click

There is a saying that goes like this, “A tiger leaves its fur after death and humans leave photographs as evidence of their life.’

The Midnight Studio is now opened.

We have countless memories in our lives, but there is one we can’t photograph – it is the memory of the last breath.

If there were a studio that took photos of your last memories, the ones that you couldn’t take when you were alive, wouldn’t you want that? Somewhere between life and death. Somewhere on the treacherous and arduous path of death. It only allowed you to want it desperately. You cannot go back once you get lost on the path to death. You have to walk in the skin-cutting snowstorm, across the valley where the ground splits and fills with molten lava and go through endless mazes to finally reach this place. What place is that? A photo studio only for the dead – a photo studio that only opens at night.

The secret of this drama was based on the camera which could not only take photographs of the dead but also the miraculous power to bring them back to life. Many intruders tried to get the camera, but the Grim Reaper was the guardian and its protector.

One soul came to the Netherworld and stole the reaper’s belongings. His Excellency made it back to his child who was ready to die with the camera, but the Grim Reaper followed him. Chastising him for taking the camera and he wanted it back. His Excellency begged the reaper to let him have the camera to save his child and let him live until his age, 35. The reaper agreed telling him that his sons and all his descendants that follow will all end with the same fate. The dead would chase them during their very short lives. His Excellency agreed to the reaper’s demands. But with this agreement, little did he know that he created a curse that lasted thousands of generations.

The ML (Joo Won aka Seo Ki Joo) was the 7th photographer in his family that ran a photo studio that only ghosts frequent. The FL (Kwon Na Ra aka Han Bom) is a lawyer who unbeknownst to her would become involved with Seo Ki Joo due to their past history.

Seo Ki Joo has two ghosts who were earthly bound which were: Assistant Manager Go (Yoo In Soo aka Go Dae Ri) and a former police officer (Eum Moon Suk aka Baek Nam Gu) who were in charge of bringing in ghosts as customers as well as handling closure to cases to help the ghosts move on.

Assistant Manager Baek Num Gu was a violence crime unit detective who married his childhood sweetheart. On the night of their anniversary, he promised her he would be home on time. Chasing and cornering the perp they began to fight and in split second Baek Num Gu was stabbed and died. His partner came too late and found him dead. Staying bound and not leaving he wanted to help his partner find who killed him which eventually he did. Baek Num Gu had the ability to hold objects and move them.

Assistant Manager Go was earthly bound due to dying of a heart attack on the job from overwork. The day of his heart attack he was to go on a blind date. He thought that Han Bom was his blind date until he realized her roommate was the woman he was looking for. His ability was he was able to take possession of another person’s body for approximately 20 minutes. This allowed him to go on dates with Kim Ji Won. She did figure out that he was a ghost.

Han Bom was connected to Seo Ki Joo based off her car accident with her parents and also his uncle being at the scene at the time. He died trying to save Han Bom.

This drama gives us various poignant moments as we learn more about the studio and are given beautifully crafted stories of the "ghost" who will or are facing death.
.
- The Virgin Ghost Bride
- The child is Han Bom (she was in a coma)
- The husband who the police believed killed him in the hospital
- The priest
- Han Bom’s grandmother
- The CEO
- The high school senior
- The twin brothers
- The con
- Seo Ki Joo's uncle
- The evil stalker

There is one particularly funny part when all the "ghost priest" are dancing to Aespa. Hilarious. They do get out of character; you will definitely enjoy that.

Of course, everything cannot all be happy and light. We do have an evil spirit that possesses a stalker and finally takes full possession of Lieutenant Lee Seon Ho. His demise comes on the death of our favorite detective...Baek Num Gu.

Each moment with the “soon-to-be-departed” Seo Ki Joo would take a photograph. The camera would only allow him to take two shots. The first one of the living and dead to meet each other. These are such heart wrenching moments that you better have some tissues nearby. The second photo signifies – goodbye or their final departure. This is also so gut wrenching. The lovely part is as they watch them leave and fighting through their tears, the last photo of the desperate souls last moments falls down giving them that inner peace and memory of their final goodbye.

Seo Ki Joo did find out how his brother did die. He did have the opportunity to take the last photograph of his brother.

To lift the curse Seo Ki Joo had to take the camera back to the Netherworld and to the Grim Reaper. He was successful but unfortunately, he could not leave. It took him one year to come back with the help of the twin brother who he had helped cross over.

The ending -- we see them all sitting ready for a photograph together and as we know that Seo Ki Joo and Han Bom will be happily together but unfortunately for Kim Ji Won and Assistant Go, he was just a spirit who one day would have to cross over.

I can only say how much this drama touched me personally. Dealing with the loss of my mother and sister made me wish that I would be able to really afford to have such moments one last time. I believe we all would. You will feel so much during this drama as I said, have tissues ready because it just helps in its own way to help all of us seek closure when dealing with death. We never can get over the loss of a loved one but if watching this drama can help, then I say do so, it did in its own special way for me.

Final thoughts regarding the studio: That it helped people who’d only been chasing tomorrow, cherish the precious moments right now. And I’ll ask you to cherish them today.

One, two, three…click

The Midnight Studio is now permanently closed.

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waste of my time

This drama started off real good, with a solid plot of the main leads helping ghosts to leave for the afterlife. I was really enjoying seeing backstories of ghosts until they ruined it with unnecessary romance. First of all, there was no chemistry between the main leads and their romance was so visibly forced. I wouldn’t say the acting was great either. It was my first time watching Joo Won star in a drama but his acting wasn’t realistic at all. The scenes of him being happy,sad,frustrated- he had the same expression in each of them. He looked confused. Wouldn’t say it was one of Kwon Na-ra’s best works either. Anyways, I watched the whole drama just for Yoo In Soo. I liked his romance with the female lead’s best friend but their ending was open. Like he was a ghost and the other was a person. I’m giving it 3.5 for the sake of Yoo In Soo and few ghost stories that were interesting. I would NEVER REWATCH THIS!!!!

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This drama is stuck in purgatory

This show is not bad. The real problem is that it doesn’t know when to stop. The initial premise is interesting enough. Multi-generational curse is nothing new but it is functional. The show pushed it for all its worth though. There are plot holes here and there but the show has enough momentum to push through most of them, at least initially.

Once it gets started, it gives off a similar vibe to several other wish fulfilling style fantasy shows such as May I Help You. While other shows are more focused on the “clients” and their backstory, this show used them as fillers when the main plot needs to take a breather. The overarching plot is focused on the ML and the curse he inherited. In that sense, it is a nice change from other series where the leads tend to fade into the background and only pops up at key moments. Our OTP is definitely in the fore.

However, this is a double-edged sword. With the focus firmly on the ML, this series struggles. As the saying goes, the tank is running dry. It seems to slice and diced the same plot into different combinations and pad things out. What was novel at the beginning become rather passe by the half way mark. Several times the show seems to have reached its logical conclusion only to be dragged back into the fray just to stretch it out a bit more.

On the positive side, not only are our leads more in focus, his two ghost helpers also have their moments in the sun which is rare in such shows. I appreciate that because they are both interesting characters and they deserve some growth and attention. Deputy Go does fairs better than Mr. Baek and I'm keen to see Yoo In See in other roles.

Acting wise, the ensemble cast did a decent job with what they are given. The ghostly makeup is rather low rent though and more Halloween than scary.

The last episode is probably the most problematic. It really ties itself in knots with its own DIY mystic mumble-jumble. A case of narrative purgatory, I suppose. It all ends well which came as no surprise. The series is watchable but could have been better and tighter. If only it ended 2 or 3 eps earlier while the going was good. One time watch for me.

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Shouldn't judge a drama by just 1st episode

This was worth it to watch it for around 16 hours ❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️ The ending is also very satisfying.??

The Midnight Studio feels like Hotel Del Luna and I'm happy SK created a horror?????☠️ close to my Genre so I can relate better.
But I was really missing beak nam-gu in the ending scene where four of them were clicking photos. I really wanted him to be there with his wife. If he was there, it would be the most perfect ending on kdrama history.
This drama literally keeps me in a hype for every episodes, The storyline is unique , cute and with perfect level of emotions.

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Could have been so much better

I cannot express in words just how unsatisfied this drama left me. There are sooo many issues with this, and I don't want to waste much of my time thinking about all of them - so I'll just go with the ones that pissed me the fuck off.
1. Seong Ho. If there ever is a more annoying supporting character, I haven't seen them yet. And I'm willing to bet that I won't be seeing one in the future either. He's wishy-washy and annoyingly self-righteous about the worst things, and oh so creepy with his interactions with Han Bom in the beginning. And yet all of this is written off so easily when ji won is introduced that it gave me whiplash.
2. The unbelievably unrealistic HE for SH x JW. What sort of future is there for a human and ghost? What about all the problems that is shown because of him being a ghost? Nothing is resolved, simply written off, like every other stupid thing about SH. Ugh. For god's sake, she can't see him and he can't touch her.
3. The number of resolutions. Every time I think oh, it's done, they go - oh no, not yet. There's yet another problem to resolve (and yet another episode with a pseudo ending to watch). This happened 4 times, and each time it was so unwarranted - like everything was so obvious and they could have so easily finished things off so much earlier without dragging it on and on and on and on. It's like one of those horrible C-list movies that have a perfectly reasonable ending with a dumbass post-credits scene showing that the villain is still alive/risen back from the dead so that they can make a sequel.

That's the top 3 - if I start thinking, I can probably list many more. But that's brain cells that I'll never get back so I'm not going to. The worst part is that this could have been sooo much better - the overarching villain reveal was actually pretty well done, it had a good plot that tied together a bunch of seemingly unrelated plot points, had pretty likeable main and supporting characters (SH notwithstanding - that one's a lost cause.)

So despite everything, I'm giving this a higher rating than it probably deserves because of above listed reasons. And because this made me binge it in a day, so something about it was worth watching.

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A Supernatural Thriller that Surprises

Yet again a ghost story, that was what I thought!

A supernatural suspense thriller, Joo Won stars as Seo Ki Joo, a 7th generation photographer who runs a small photo studio, which specializes in storing the last memories of the dead. The camera he uses for this taunting task was stolen by his ancestor, as such it is a cursed object and the descendants belonging to Seo family line bear the brunt of the curse. They are unable to live beyond 35 years and die in mysterious ways. The overall synopsis spells the ordeal faced by our main lead on a daily basis. Imagine what he has go to through when a crazy attorney who was fired from her job is added to this mix. “The Midnight Studio” weaves a subtle romance in the midst of horror and supernatural suspense. Both the main leads have their own set of problems; Ki Joo lives from day to day hoping to survive while leading the dead souls to their salvation, Han Bom (Kwon Na Ra) is busy finding jobs while being ostracized in her own field. As each case unfolds, the storyline turns into a gripping tale of long-lost love & reconciliation.

Read the complete article here-

https://kcdramamusings.wordpress.com/2024/05/07/the-midnight-studio-series-review/#more-810

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My favorite genre. (Hoping that we'll have a happy ending for the leads at least)

I especially love the romance genre where one of the leads can see ghosts, but I had put this one on hold because it was a bit heavy compared to the recent light hearted dramas I had been watching.

I love the ML, he is so adorable. What's more, he looks after the FL so much that even though he doesn't admit his feelings and rejects her, its hard to dislike him. The guy is sure he only has around 3 months to live, so, he doesn't really think he has much to offer. But he could at least just tell her that he is going to die. So far, I have loved episode 7 the best, despite rejecting the FL twice now, the ML was so damn jealous of her admiring another guy. Now that I have finally started the drama, I can't wait for next week's episodes.

Coming to the beautiful stories we have, each episode was created to make you cry. The deaths seem so untimely and we wish these people had another chance at life.

This drama gives me the same feels as The Master's Sun. (The romance and the ghost seeing lead (here both of them see the ghosts))

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A GOOD EXPERIENCE!!

I found the series quite enjoyable, although I must admit that other compelling dramas are currently airing. Despite this, the show's storyline captured and maintained my emotional investment, and the lead actors were particularly impressive. It is worth noting that the show is a work of fantasy and not based on logic, which may have contributed to its weaker aspects. Although I do not plan to re-watch the series, I found it to be a valuable experience overall. While the thriller and crime elements of the plot could have been stronger, the stories of the deceased characters were more intriguing. It would have been even more compelling if the show had focused on these characters, but I recognize that the plot revolves around the leads' quest to lift a curse. Rather than attributing the show's shortcomings to itself, it would be more appropriate to acknowledge that the genre often follows this pattern. I would recommend this series to anyone looking for an enjoyable and engaging viewing experience.

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