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Sakura_Falling

Where The Cherry Blossoms Fall

Sakura_Falling

Where The Cherry Blossoms Fall
Vice Versa thai drama review
Completed
Vice Versa
1 people found this review helpful
by Sakura_Falling
Feb 26, 2023
12 of 12 episodes seen
Completed
Overall 8.5
Story 6.0
Acting/Cast 7.5
Music 10.0
Rewatch Value 3.0

Color Me Shy

I will start off by saying that I am aware the suggested rating and my actual rating do not match up. What started as a promising drama with a fun and unique twist quickly lost its way and floundered badly before managing to find its way in the end and conclude on a positive note. The good beginning and ending, decent to good acting and exceptional OST and the emotions it left me with are what led me to give it the rating I did. However, if you're looking at it from strictly a critical standpoint, it definitely gets a 6.5.

The synopsis states that after encountering accidents, Talay and Puen, find themselves in an alternate universe in the bodies of Tess and Tun, respectively and learn that Tess and Tun are now in their universe living in their bodies. These two, who would never have formed a relationship in their universe, come together in an effort to make it back home and in the process fall in love. It's a fun concept with huge potential. The problem is that the synopsis isn't really what happens. Their goal to make it home falls to the wayside for a significant portion of the drama and instead the plot revolves around their sudden aspiration to become screenwriters with their new friends.

Honestly there were parts of it that I didn't mind. I enjoyed the groups' friendship and seeing them come together and overcome obstacles as they pursued their dreams. For me though, these should have been two different dramas. Talay and Puen are literally ripped from their lives, dropped into an unfamiliar world with unfamiliar people and within a very short span of time, we're expected to believe that everything's great, they're adjusted and living perfectly normal lives. Um, no. I can generally go with the flow pretty well, but in this case, the absurdity of it was too much. Finding yourself alone or, in this case, very nearly alone in a completely unfamiliar place is scary, its stressful and confusing. Those initial emotions were just completely glossed over. And Talay at least was shown as having a close knit group of friends, he had family, yet at no point does he really mention them or say anything about missing them. This is where the drama really fails because instead of going off on the screenwriting tangent, the focus should have remained on the body and universe switching, exploring how Talay and Puen adjusted to their new lives, their thoughts and feelings, how they are affected differently by the change. For example, Puen's reluctance to go home is explained eventually, but because it takes so long, it lacks the emotional impact it could have had if it was mentioned sooner. That focus on their adjustment to their new world would have created more opportunities for their relationship to develop and grow not to mention creating some fun opportunities to show the differences between the two universes. The screenwriting could have stayed played a part, but a significantly smaller one, something for them to do so that they appeared normal as they looked for a way home. And finally, I would have liked to seen how Tess and Tun fared in Talay and Puen's bodies. Obviously they found each other and reconnected and I would have liked to have seen that. Again, I think bouncing between the two universes and the two pairs as they actually tried to make it home would have been a much better option. Plus, more Ohm and Nanon acting.

Another aspect that became a major annoyance was the product placement. I would have thought by now I would be used to it, but they really took it to the next level here. It wasn't too terrible at first, but they kept notching it up a couple levels every few episodes it seemed like until it was just impossible to ignore. It honestly killed some scenes for me because they were more focused on selling the product than they were on selling the story they were telling. That was just disappointing.

I enjoyed the romance between the two leads. The development felt overall pretty natural. My one qualm is that there is a time jump of a year and it doesn't feel like their relationship has a year's progression. Otherwise though, I really liked the portrayal of a healthy relationship. I was really impressed with their overall communication. They actually talked to each other, had mature conversations, and sought to work things out. There was also an equality to their relationship. It wasn't just one constantly taking care of the other, they took care of each other. I found that to be refreshing and I just really enjoyed their dynamic.

I feel like I'm going to be in the minority with this, but I found the vet storyline to be incredibly annoying, mostly because of how unrealistic it was. Unless vet med is vastly different in Thailand than it is in the US, vets are not running fancy clinics like that by themselves with no staff, nor are they letting volunteers waltz in and start handling patients with absolutely no clue as to what they are doing. That is a huge liability. And when Fuse grabbed Lucky after he'd been hit by the car, all I could think was, Sir, you are so lucky that dog didn't bite your face off because it was in pain. As a former vet tech, I spent most of those scenes with my face in my hands just shaking my head.

The acting was overall not bad. Jimmy has improved significantly since Bad Buddy but he does seem to struggle with keeping his expressions nuanced. I felt he could be a bit one note at times. More emotional scenes were also hit or miss for him. Sea I liked for the most part. I felt his acting was more dynamic than Jimmy's and a bit more refined. However, he also struggled with some of the more emotional scenes. Their chemistry together though, was excellent, no complaints there.

The OST is phenomenal, in particular the songs Sea and Jimmy sing. They can both sing and they can sing well. Those two songs are absolutely highlights of this drama for me along with the rest of the music. I feel like both those songs really capture the heart of the drama and what it should have/could have been.

I really liked how color was woven throughout the story, from the title of each episode which I thought was quite clever to the significance it took in Talay and Puen's relationship. It gave it all a certain beauty and its the one reason I would go back and rewatch this drama, because I feel like I probably missed some aspects of it.

Ultimately this drama just couldn't quite live up to the story it set out to tell. It has some sweet moments, some great scenes, but unfortunately those are almost bittersweet because they just remind you of what it could have been.
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