Blkittykat

Keep Holding On

I always find that with dramas or movies based on real life, no matter how dramatised they may be, there's no room to distinguish between fiction and fact. We're watching an event of someone else's life play out, and whatever emotions they elicit in the one watching, I imagine they felt every single one of those emotions magnified to a thousand going through it. And how much of the events were adapted and changed to be made feasible as a series, I don't know, but it also doesn't matter because this was a raw, emotional and hard hitting look at the Tham Luang Cave Rescue.

And while we could examine the narration or the acting in the series, I didn't feel any need to do that because at the end of the day, it was powered by emotion. The panic, the desperation, the loneliness, the tragedy, the sorrows, the joy, the relief, the companionship, the overwhelming wave of emotions that hit you while watching are incredibly powerful. They didn't cut corners showcasing those emotions, they were palpable and they pierced you. In a matter of life and death, you truly feel powerless, like fate is tossing you around and you have no control, and the narration made that incredibly clear.

It is in moments like these though, that you can see what the human spirit is actually capable of, and how human nature which can rear its ugly head more often than not, can sometimes be the best thing ever. This was the most beautiful thing about a story that was brutal and tragic, watching human beings put aside all other matters to come together for the 13 Wild Boars.

The people in charge of the rescue had to make difficult choices, sacrifices. They were sometimes put in situations where they essentially had to weigh the life of one person to another's, and I cannot begin to understand the torment they must have felt.

The thirteen team members who were trapped in the cave had no choice but to keep holding on, with no contact to the outside world and no way out, just waiting to see if someone would come to their rescue.

But they held on. All of them hold on. To whatever it was they had. Faith, trust, conviction, and hope. They held on with every fiber of their being, and it moved me to tears.

There was a quote in the series, by one of the kids on the team who said "Bravery doesn't mean you're not afraid, it just mean you keep moving forward despite your fear."
I've seen and heard that so many other times before I did here, but coming at the moment it, and the magnitude of the statement, no others were more meaningful than this one.

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How do I even rate this?

Let me preface by saying I love a good pun.
A Perfect Match 🎾
A Perfect Match 🧑‍🤝‍🧑
Huh?
My bad pun is probably better than this series was.

I imagine they shot this based on a scene breakdown instead of an actual script. Indications of what the scene would be without any real dialogue.
Or perhaps this is the cut version of an uncut version that doesn't exist, they just edited the cut version and then lost the hard drive which had the full, makes sense version.

The story had every single drama trope I can think of, even if they didn't show it on screen. Nothing made sense, absolutely nothing. There was a vague outline of a story that got lost in the hundreds of clichés seen and unseen and it was a hot mess.

The acting was pretty bad, the characters were pretty horrible. I guess the chemistry was decent, but overall this was around 100 minutes of literal nothingness.

And for a series about tennis, there were four scenes where they played tennis. FOUR

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A fast paced, quick watch

I'm a huge fan of variety shows like Busted, and I've been craving more content like it. As if right on cue, Agents of Mystery came out, and just from the preview, I knew this would be something I would enjoy.

For the most part, the mystery actually worked for me, which did take me by surprise. Some of the twists within the actual cases were definitely jaw dropping, and I did not anticipate them. The cases themselves were quite basic, what actually made them interesting was the cast.

This is my favourite part of mystery variety shows, the chemistry between the cast. And not only did the six participants have great dynamics, it was also incredible to watch each of their individual strengths. They also managed to create some moments of comedy despite being in very serious settings and I appreciated that.

When it came to solving each case, they had to rely on teamwork and trust each other, and the mix of solving the cases to the puzzles they had to solve to crack the cases was very well balanced. I do wish that there were more episodes though, I would have loved to see them get closer as teammates, and solve more cases.

If shows like Busted or The Devil's Plan is your cup of tea, give this a try as well. It's an easy and quick binge that will keep you on your toes with the mystery and delight with the teamwork

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Why would you name the series Petrichor though?

I know what it means, but oh boy it does not make sense with how the story played out.
I definitely came for the thriller aspect, not the romance because admittedly so, thrillers from Thailand are hit and miss when they include romance. Usually that means the story is awesome and the romance could've been better or vice versa. Here everything could've been better.

First of all, didn't need the uncut version because even with the extremely long episodes the story was extremely lackluster.

It was all so.. meh. The procedurals were laughable, the individual cases were so weak on their own when you realize that they set up an infinite amount of cases to be potentially related to the major case, only to dismiss them as individual cases within seconds of suspecting they may be related to the big case. That is how it usually goes, they have a hunch, it doesn't pan out but they get a new lead from that one, but here it all felt way too fragmented.

The characters - incredibly one - dimensional, the so - called villains were written like cartoon characters, and ultimately there was no real depth to anything in the drama.

And after all that, it was so, so easy to guess who the killer was lol. I don't know if it was supposed to be the shock factor but after a few episodes and reveals, it was incredibly obvious and I'm pretty sure that was the point when I lost interest. I mean yes, I go into a thriller trying to guess who the killer/villain is from the get go, but when you find out who it is less than halfway through the series, the reveal whenever it comes, loses some of it's punch.

I couldn't feel the chemistry between the leads either after the initial banter phase ended, they started dating and chemistry said I'm out of here. The acting could have been better just like the story could have been better, everything about this should have been better.

There were some things that I genuinely liked though, one was definitely the main villain reveal. Not the reveal itself, but the implications of the reveal to say the least without spoiling anything. A couple of actors did do an incredible job, no complaints there and I loved the teamwork moments they showcased at some points. But the rest.. eh.

It was nothing special, a few good twists and turns, the main reveal that didn't really hit, it could've and should've been better, but at the end of the day it was fine I suppose.

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I'm not talented.. but I'll try

I may have misjudged this show based on the trailer and the fact that only Off and Gun are listed as the leads, but make no mistake, none of that took away from how much I loved it.

I understand this may not be a common sentiment, but I genuinely loved this show. I don't need complex writing that's itching to create conflicts, or a plot that's completely out of the ordinary to enjoy a drama, sometimes I'm happy with a basic story with good emotional depth.
A tight story that's character driven, yes please!

And though I got a little fussy that Off and Gun, despite being billed as the leads, didn't have as much screentime as I expected them to, after a while I didn't think it was a bad thing. Sure, I'm still allowed to be mad that it was marketed one way and we got like a third of what they promised, but the fact that all the other characters got their time to shine is a good thing. I got to understand them better, I felt some of their stories and experiences on a personal level, I witnessed good character growth, not just for the support characters. The fact that Ryan and Jane also had time to grow into themselves, follow their dreams and figure out what they wanted, I think they handled that extremely well.
For what it's worth, even with the limited screentime, the Off Gun chemistry was amazing.

But, despite all my praise, I did find myself dissapointed with some things they did, actually one thing. The Tae - Ba Mhee - Judy love triangle.
*Sigh*
Not all growth is personal or work related, it can be romantic, but did it have to be this way? I don't think so.
All that push and pull, the kiss and the breakup, the tears and the arguments, it wasn't worth the eventual turn this triangle took. This is the one thing that genuinely frustrated me, all I could do was watch and rant.

Most of my review stems from the fact that this was a very personally touching story for me, and though you may not have experienced the same watching it, or though you may not have the same feelings watching it, I can say that this is worth a try.
Sometimes getting invested like I did is nice though, you may discover depths that even the creators didn't think about when making the show, and that's kind of wonderful ♡

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