A for Effort/C for Execution

I placed a spoiler alert at the end of this review.

This series was good, but it could have been a lot better. However, it was nice to watch a mature BL series that didn’t use the typical university set-up. The script was ok, but there are a few elements that don’t make sense. I have no medical training, but even I found the medical scenes very unrealistic. If they didn’t have the budget to do them correctly, they could have found a better way around it. I like the cast, but the acting was not the greatest at some points. As for production, the series does suffer from poor background music choices and bad editing.

Random Note: The English title is not grammatically correct. It should be Dear Doctor, I’m Coming for Souls.





******Potential Spoiler Alert******
The ending is bittersweet, but it makes sense considering the storyline. The time jumps in the last episode is the only editing in the series that was done correctly.

My main criticism is two characters sleep together when one is very drunk. It doesn’t matter who initiated it; this is not ok. The other character was sober and should have said no. It was also out of character for the other one to move forward with it.

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Cutely bizarre which just became bizarre at the end.

I placed spoilers at the end of this review.

I enjoyed most of this series despite its flaws, but I am a pushover for supernatural storylines. That being said, you should probably skip this series if that does not interest you. This was an interesting and bizarrely cute series with some cool story ideas. The script was light, fluffy (most of the time), and quirky. Unfortunately, the implementation of the ideas was not the greatest at times. My main problem was the end of episode 11 and episode 12. This is when it just became bizarre. Some of the comedy aspect didn’t really hit the mark and there were sections/things that didn’t make sense. Although I liked it, the mystery/suspense aspect was not incorporated very well and seemed out of place. The overall story pacing was good, but there was a lot of wasted screentime. The acting is ok (not horrible or great) considering many of the actors were new.

Random Notes:

Maybe I enjoyed this because I already went into this with low expectations. I was not a fan of the screenwriter/director’s last series (I Will Knock You) which I dropped.

The subtitles are ok. Sometimes the lines get mixed up with the words of the song that is playing in the background which was confusing.


******Spoiler Alert******

I would have loved to see more of the ghost story element. You do see the girl ghost a few times, but nothing about her backstory.

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Something was missing

Overall, this was a good series and I was hooked from the beginning. However, the script seems a little off. The main problem is they tried to pack in a lot of content into 5 episodes. I felt that I was not getting the complete picture about many of the characters and this fantasy world. As for the positive, the cast was excellent and did a great job with their characters considering what they had to work with. The cinematography and special effects were amazing.

Random Note:

I would have liked a few more episodes to help me fully understand this world. Then again, my overall disconnect with this series may be due to the fact I did not read/watch the source material.

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It Was Bizarre at Times

This series was somewhat bizarre and all over the place. It started off cute, gradually became annoying, and then took a drastic turn to being cute again. It did not help that the very basic story concept was not well executed.

The positive: The cast was great and tried their best considering what they were given. The reality type interview scenes were enjoyable. It had a happy ending, and the opening and closing credits was fun to watch.

The negative: Unfortunately, the script and execution was simply not quite there. Xia Shang Zhou and Yao Shun Yu’s relationship had an interesting and cute beginning, but became tedious and annoying during most of the series. It’s hard to explain, but the comedy did not work. I was also not a fan of the comic book aspects used in the first few episodes.

Random Note:

Don’t stop watching after the montage of pictures in the first episode and closing credits in the last episode because there is an additional scene after it.

Can someone please explain how is this linked to the series Stay by My Side. It’s listed as a compilation series but I must have missed something.

I know I’m going to sound like a broken record, but the synopsis on Viki does not accurately describe what goes on in the series.

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Heart Warming

I placed spoilers at the end of this review.

This was an excellent movie with an outstanding script. What is interesting is that the script had a mixture of many different things that somehow worked. The overall theme is the importance of friendship, but also has some slight romance. It also was a tribute to a famous Thai film actor, Mitr Chaibancha. See the spoiler alert at the end of this review if you want more information. This had an outstanding cast that did a great job with their characters. It also had beautiful cinematography and great music.

Random Notes:
I love watching moves/series that are set in a different generation. Although I don’t know how accurate it was, it was cool to see Thailand in the 1970’s.

I’ve only watched a few Thai movies, but this is the first one that had a solid script and great acting.





******Potential Spoiler Alert******

There was a love triangle that was resolved quickly. It was not overpowering and did not become the main focus of the movie.

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It was cute.

Overall, it was a cute, fluffy, and relaxing series. It had an interesting story idea, but the execution was not quite there. On the positive side, I really like the two main leads which were cute together. Yang I Hsuan did a good job with his character. He was able to make Jiang Chi come across as stand-offish and cold individual without making him coming across as an A-Hole. Hong Wei Zhe did a great job making Gu Bu Xia appear as a loveably goofball without him being annoying. Both characters balanced each other out very well. As for the negative, the script had some flaws in it. Although there were a few, the major flaw for me was the constant picture taking/shipping chat aspect of the show. I found this very annoying and felt a little out of place for a Taiwan BL series. I would have expected this more from an older Thai BL series. I also hated the comment about sexual positions, why does it matter who is the top or bottom. It would have been nice to see more of the supernatural aspect of the script in the beginning of the series, but this is just a minor aspect for me.

Random Note: Although it was not perfect, it was a nice change from the last two BL series I watched from Taiwan.

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What a Spell

GMMTV did a great job with this Series and I’m not saying that because I love supernatural storylines. This was a creative and interesting series. It’s a good example that it doesn’t matter how many episodes a series has as long as it has a great script. It grabbed my attention right from the start. My only criticism is the comedy element. I understand what they were trying to do, but I found it annoying at times. The last episode had some weak parts to it, but it had an interesting scene at the very ending that suggests a possible 2nd season. The acting, cinematography, special effects, and FX make-up was outstanding.

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Kudos for Trying

I placed spoilers at the end of this review.

I give GMMTV credit for thinking outside the box and trying something different. This series had some interesting story ideas that were not well implemented. The script was messy and had many weak elements. It had a slow start, became interesting towards the middle, and then had a very lackluster ending. The script also had a lot of comedy that was missed placed. It had a fair amount of science fiction, but the scenes were not that suspenseful or interesting. The romance storyline was ok, but I could have done without it. I wished it focused more on the club/friend dynamic more. The actors were great with what they had to work with. Unfortunately, many of the characters were not completely fleshed out. See the spoiler alert at the end of this review if you want more information. The FX make-up and main costume used for 42 was not the greatest and appeared amateurish. I don’t even know what they were thinking with the second costume used for 42. It seemed most of the budget was used for the awesome CGI and cinemaphotography.

Random Note:
I want to see GMMTV continue with sci-fi shows, but use better writers. This easily could have been an 8- to 10- episode series because there was not enough content for 12-episodes. Many of the episodes had a lot of filler scenes that didn’t add anything to the main storyline.

I went back and forth about watching this. I was very interested after seeing the teaser trailer because of the sci-fi aspect, but was somewhat disappointed by the official trailer. However, curiosity got the better of me and decided to watch it anyway. The teaser trailer showed more potential and was more interesting.

********Spoiler Alert********

The character 42 was intriguing when she was first introduced but then was used more as a comical element in the middle of the series. The character development was better towards the end but they still had her in that horrendous costume.

I’m very puzzled by the name of the series. There were some hints of a romance between Erng and Mew but they never became a couple during the whole series. It seemed they were very attached to the series name, but didn’t know how to live up to it. The title could easily have been UMF (Unidentified Mysterious Friend) with the content we received.

The hinted love triangle was not that bad and was resolved very quickly.

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My review for each section of this series is based on the following criteria:
- Did it add anything to the original series
- Was there either an absence, advance, or regression of character/couple development
- Was the story concept interesting
- Script quality

This had a cute storyline (like the main series), but it’s basically two episodes full of nothing. Yes, it was sweet and fluffy but it doesn’t add that much to the main storyline. I had trouble getting into it because of some weird/poor direction choices. There were some parts that had long and awkward pauses between the actors’ lines and actions. I think the actors did a good job but may not seem it due to this. The end was also cute but does not lead to much character/couple development. It also had a very boring side story that was not needed. The background music choices were great and it had good cinematograph.

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Grabs your attention from start to finish

This was a very good series. The script did a great job hooking you into the storyline. It kept my attention up to the very end. My only complaint is the medical aspect is not very realistic, but it’s only a minor detail. After all, this is only a 6-episode series. The actors were great at portraying their characters. The cinematograph was beautiful and they did an excellent editing job. I love how they used the frost aspect as a metaphor for Ritsu loss of memory of Fumiya.

Random Note:

I know this is only minor, but the opening and closing credits don’t really fit the mood of the whole series.

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Horror with a Message

This movie had a very good story concept with an underline meaning. The script was great because it had a great mix of horror, comedy, and drama. However, it had some weak elements but there only minor. I also loved the underline theme about the horror of loneliness. It had an excellent cast which did a great job with their characters. The cinematography and special effects were amazing.

Random Note:

Warning, there are some gory scenes but there not that bad. Keep in mind that I grew-up watching horror films of the 80’s and 90’s, so my tolerance level of gore is pretty high.

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More enjoyable than the series

I placed spoilers at the end of this review.

The movie/series: This had some great story concepts. The script was good and tried to address some important topics. The acting from most of the cast was good considering this was their first series. There are some issues with the audio/sound quality.

The movie: Overall, they did a good job editing this into a movie and was able to weed out some of the unneeded storylines from the series. However, there were a few scenes that were deleted that I wished they kept. See spoiler alert at the end of this review if you want more information. This is a good example on the importance of editing. The series suffered from some poor editing choices that made some of the episodes a little confusing. There were also some scenes in the series that did not make sense. They were able to fix a lot of these problems for the movie version. They were also able to cut out scenes involving few of the supporting cast members over the top/bad acting. As for me, all of the changes increased the quality and enjoyability level of the movie.

Random Notes:

I recommend watching the movie version first instead of the series version. If you’re in my region (US) it should be on MFlow Entertainment YouTube channel.

Was the “movie” that Plengrak and Duean Yi watched in episode 3 of Coffey Melody an Easter egg indicating this was going to be made into a move?

The opening and closing credit still say Second Chance the Series. This could have been an easy fix, but maybe they were just lazy or did not care.



******Spoiler Alert******
I wish they kept some of the scenes involving Near being bullied to give more context on the character and the reasoning behind his actions.

Why did they keep the scene with Sky and Paper under water at the end? By cutting the first scene from the series, this scene doesn’t make sense anymore.

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??Why??

This was consistent with the series which is not a good thing.

The episodes were cute but not that interesting. Although I appreciated some of the topics discussed, the script was underdeveloped and felt like the actors were mostly improvising their lines. The acting was ok and there were some audio/sound problems.

Random Note:

I don’t understand why they felt the need for the special episodes. Both episodes could easily be edited down to 15 minutes and added onto the last episode of the series.

This explains the confusion on the number of episodes it had on Viki when the regular series first aired. It seems this was filmed around the same time as the original series but was meant to be released around the holidays. I guess someone at Viki screwed up.

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Not a Magical Watching Experience

I love series with supernatural storylines, but this one is a bit bizarre (even for me). The concept was interesting but the script had elements that don’t make sense. It starts off slow, but it does gain steam by the end of episode 6. However, the last two episodes are pointless. I like the cast, but the acting is ok. The sets and locations they used throughout the series were nice. It also had great special effects.

Random Note:

Once again, the synopsis on VIKI is not accurate. Basically 90% of the information is inaccurate. I’m use to VIKI having synopsis that don’t completely match the series, but this one has a lot of wrong information.

The synopsis on MDL isn’t any better. It’s doesn’t even describe the series at all.

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Another Must Watch!!!

I placed a potential spoiler at the end of this review.

This had an awesome story concept. The series grabs your attention in the first episode. It does get weak around episode 7 but please stick with it. It picks up again and keeps you guessing up to the end of the last episode. See potential spoiler alert at the end of this review if you want more info. Some people may find it repetitive at time, but it is a series about a time loop. The time loop scenes were done to show how the butterfly effect worked. I felt they did a great job keeping the views interested. I think the medical scenes are very realistic, but I have no medical training. The script was good, but not great because some of the logic does not add up. However, it’s only minor and does not distract from the story. The script did succeed in showing how all the characters are connected in some way. I like the cast which did a great job portraying their characters. My only complaint is how the character Jinta was portrayed. This character comes across very condescending and annoying. I hate every scene he is in except the very last one. I know Jinta is this mystical character, but he could have displayed some compassion when interacted with the other characters. Jinta only displays this in the very last scene he is in. In fairness, I don’t know if this was a problem with the script or how the actor was told to play the character. As for production, the cinematography and locations were great.

Random Note: It’s cool that this series shares the same universe with Manner of Death.




******Potential Spoiler Alert******
The very last scene with Dr. Bun indicates there may be another series in the works that is set in the same universe. I don’t think it will be a second season of this series, but we may see some of the same characters.

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