snorlaxintheroad

A very charming and sincere adaptation

I remember watching the Korean version of this years ago, so I was very interested in seeing a Thai version. This series was so sincere and heartwarming. All of the leads were so good in their roles; the lead actress is just so charming and really was just outstanding as Jiw. I already loved the Korean version and the Thai version is just as good, which was so great to see. Amazing work to everyone who worked on this.

I also want to mention that the music was really good. It's been so long since I've seen the Korean version, so I can't remember if they used the same music, but in any case it's really good. It just really stuck out to me this time.

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Challenging but worth it

I didn't want to get too detailed, but okay let me be real I have Thoughts.

The narrative explores the themes of guilt and regret and asks each character to look at their life and choices through the lens of the mysterious moments, the four minutes, between life and death.

What's challenging and provocative, I think, about this series is the non-linear narrative, which appears, at first, very tangled and confusing. However, this series unravels those tangled webs of time and memory and provides us with, in actuality, a very simple story. The non-linear approach effectively shapes that simple story about the follies and sins of its characters into a rumination on the unknowable mysteries of consciousness, memory, and imagination. Using memory as a vector, the series takes moments from its characters' past, connects it to their present, and transposes them into the "4 Minutes" dreamworld: the intangible, fourth-dimensional liminal space between life and death. This space crosses the boundaries of consciousness and imagination itself, with characters reliving past moments, making changes to their own memories and even, seemingly communicating with each other through shared imagination.

One character quantifies this into his "4 Minutes" theory, exploring the idea that these moments between life and death can reveal a person's true character, or at least who they want to be. At the same time, the Real World looms over, telling us that no one can change the past, letting each regret hang over like an executioner's axe. As the series progresses, we're painfully aware that Great couldn't actually do anything to change the events that preceded his near death experience, that his experience in the 4 Minutes was just his regret and imagination at work.

Still, though this is the 'truth' revealed about 4 or 5 episodes in, we're still left with many unknowns about these 4 minutes. Indeed, in a very fitting ending, we're left questioning some aspects of what was real and what was in these 'dreams'. If it was simply "imagination", then why did it seem as though characters learned things they didn't know before? Or seemed as though they were having a shared experience within the 4 minutes?

The series never really aims to answer these questions and so doesn't, because the real heart of the story isn't to give a definitive answer to these mysteries but rather to answer the question of whether, given the chance, a person would change themselves for the better. And so, a change does happen; perhaps Great couldn't change the past, but he could and does change his future, which is, ultimately, what saves his life in the end.

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An adorable and hilarious series!

This series was so fun and genuinely had me laughing out loud. I absolutely loved the practical effects used, especially in those old-timey movie-esque dream sequences and the lore of the alien pig curse. I sometimes get wary of some fantasy in contemporary setting because they often end up being quite angsty but this was not that. It was appropriately absurd and sincerely heartwarming.

I also loved how they immediately went in like 'we know this appears to be another CEO/employee drama but' and then proceeded to subvert that trope in a number of ways. First, I was pleasantly surprised that Yang Xiaoyang and her friend were both appreciated for their ideas and skills. I also appreciated that the boss character wasn't just idol-ified. He was appropriately chastised for his terrible behavior towards his employees. This is one of those things that I loathe from other CEO dramas. If my boss was as much of an asshole as some of these C-drama CEOs are, I would quit and genuinely think that person was a sociopath. Being good-looking and rich is, like, not even a factor.

Another moment of subversion that I appreciated was when we learn that the Yang Xiaoyang is actually really rich; she just didn't know it! She apparently has this huge inheritance that her parents didn't tell her about. It was such a funny moment because I know that it was specifically supposed to subvert the whole rich man/poor woman dynamic and just immediately put him back down on planet earth next to her. It's not really about artificially raising her up, but instead being like 'yeah he's rich, but so what?'.

I also really appreciated that they decided to show how awkward it would be if you thought you HAD try falling in love with a person you don't actually know at all. It was only until they started trying to be normal about their relationship and working on getting to know each other as real people that things became less awkward. It was also refreshing to, at least subtextually, have this idea that it wasn't 'fate' or 'destiny' but rather a choice on both their parts to try and be together romantically.

My absolutely favorite piece of this was the curse lore as explained by his mother. It was so funny and absurd. I really think all curses should be like this. I will die on this hill.

My ONE critique would be that I actually wished we saw more of their just hanging out. I mean, there's a bit of a flashback in the last couple eps where she recalls the fun times between them, and I was like, 'wait, can we see more of that?'. Because we got the awkward forced dating but then I really wanted to see that they eased into being friends and stuff. Do they have fun together? What do they laugh at? Do they have a similar taste in movies or tv shows? What I do appreciate is that they showed that the two of them really worked well together. They found out that they have similar goals and then really played to each other's strengths. And in fact, the male lead was like, 'I can't wait to get to that sweet moment of making new products together'. That was such a great character moment I thought.

All in all, I really do think this was such a solid series totally worth watching.

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Here for this series.

Copying from my Viki account:

I give this series 10 though I have Thoughts. First off, let me just say that the chemistry between the actors playing Rain and Phayu was off the charts; they really brought 1000% to their roles and the romance. My main beef with this series, though, is that there are two separate narratives in the first and second half as a result, it feels more like two, 6-episode mini series that got squished into one. I really think they should have made two distinct series and then expanded each storyline to 10 or 12 episodes. Because I definitely would have watched more Rain and Phayu if there was more—especially if they gave us more build up to their relationship. It's very good as-is, (they really crafted a tight narrative and told it well) so I only say this because I really wanted more!! I liked it that much!!

The second half, I'm more lukewarm on. I appreciate how this series wanted to tackle issues of abuse and trauma, but that's really not the kind of story for me. Some people might have mixed opinions on whether the show did it well or not; I'll just say that I don't think there's one Right Way to portray these types of stories, because I know personally that people's lived experiences and feelings with similar traumas can vary widely. That all being said, while this part of the series wasn't for me, it definitely could also have benefited from being its own series with an expanded storyline to more fully realize its potential and have more space to explore those issues.

Overall, super fun and amazing series. Wish there was more!

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