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kay

white truck-kun✌️

kay

white truck-kun✌️
The Shipper thai drama review
Completed
The Shipper
15 people found this review helpful
by kay
Aug 7, 2020
12 of 12 episodes seen
Completed
Overall 6.5
Story 6.0
Acting/Cast 9.5
Music 9.5
Rewatch Value 6.0
This review may contain spoilers

A Moral Lesson Disguised as A Nonsensical Comedy

Throughout the first half of the show I did not take this drama seriously which is probably why I’m so shocked by the past two episodes. There was always this darkness looming in the background but the tone and cinematography of the series always made me ignore it. Why would anyone take this nonsensical series full of weird characters and dialogue seriously? By the fifth episode I just gave up on trying to wrap my head around the plot; I would just sit back and enjoy myself.

All things considered I did enjoy myself. I really enjoyed the humor, most of the characters, OST, and cinematography. That’s why I’m simply not going to give it a low rating because i was unsatisfied with the final episode.

The series is about two high school students, Pan and Soda, who writes BL fiction about their Ship. The Ship consists of Way who is the resident bad boy with a record but is balanced out by Kim. Kim is the ‘perfect’ top student at school but as the episodes progress we find out that he’s not as ‘perfect’ as every one thinks. That’s not to say that he’s this horrible person but he’s human. Like every other character he makes mistakes and is flawed. Another important character is Kim’s younger brother (and is crushing on Pan) Khet.

Without going too much into the plot Kim and Pan switches bodies after a near fatal accident. The problem is that only Pan wakes up in Kim’s body but he doesn’t. The twelve episodes follow Pan as she struggles to keep the secret hidden and find her way back to her original body. Throughout this journey she, and the audience, are taught lessons. We are taught how toxic shipping real life people can be, you can’t judge anyone by its cover, people can make mistakes without becoming a villain, life is short, etc. There was so many moral lessons that were hidden behind the comedy and I have to give them kudos for it. I feel like a lot of the lessons were relevant but I can understand why a huge proportion of the audience will be upset by the ending.

I don’t want to go over ever little plot point but I do want to address a few things. Keep these in mind if you ever decide to watch it because the way it’s framed (the synopsis/first few episodes/poster) you could be mislead. Not all of these things I’m going to address is bad but I believe still should be mentioned. Obviously there is going to be plenty of spoilers mentioned so if you don’t want to see them refrain from reading below.

The most important thing to remember is that this is NOT a BL. The series wants you to believe that the main characters are Kim and Way but they are just the supporting cast. Pan and Khet are actually the main characters. There is nothing wrong with that but it’s understandable why people would be upset about the back and forth. I pretty much assumed Pan and Soda was just reading too much into their relationship and that the big lesson we would learn is that ‘we shouldn’t push feelings on people’ but...I was wrong. Kim and Way has genuine feelings for each other. Even when Pan is in Kim’s body the drama makes that fact known. It was so refreshing even if I feel like these two characters go the short end of the stick.

There are also incest undertones. I repeat there are incest undertones that happened way too frequently. It’s obvious that things would get weird when your crush is in your brothers body but I feel like the series went too far. I blame this on First and Ohm’s amazing chemistry though. Actually, every character on this show can be shipped together hence the title. If these types of plot lines makes you uncomfortable than you might want to avoid the show. It might be Pan’s soul but it’s still Kim’s body. That’s something that was kind of addressed in the show but pushed aside too: free will and consent. Either way all these characters will need to undergo lots of therapy because the events that take place in this show can scar you for life.

I’m trying to not list every bad aspect of the show because it was enjoyable but the reason it won’t get a higher reason is because of the ending and incest undertones. I just feel really let down. Should I, though? Feel let down? Is it my fault for never taking it seriously or is it just poor writing? There was such a sudden shift in the last two episodes that I feel whiplashed.

So...is this drama worth it? Maybe. I’m not sure. I do want to say that my complaints solely are because of the plot. The cast did a fantastic job and they deserve praise. Especially First (Kim) and Prigkhing (Pan) but all the cast did a phenomenal job. It’s not easy for First to play two distinct character, one of them he even has the mannerisms and nonverbal cues that Prigkhing has as Pan. The cast is a big factor on why I never gave this series up and why it still has a special place in my heart despite how messy the plot is. The OST and cinematography deserves a special mention too. Basically I feel like this stellar cast went to waste. If the writing wouldn’t of been so inconsistent and the ending so jarring I would give it a higher rating but because there is no chance of a second season (which means the characters with unresolved endings will stay unresolved) I can only give it a 6.5.
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