Welcome to my Saturday blog post where I give thoughts on dramas I’m watching, whether at the beginning, middle, or end. Whatever I want, because I’m petty that way.
This week I recapped episode 4 of timey-wimey-thriller BL(?) 4Minutes which has both murder and glamping. So. You don’t wanna miss that.
I also recapped episodes 3-4 of Kidnap, where we see just how desperate and sad our rich boy Q is. He needs hugs, lots of hugs. Stat.
What did I watch this week? A couple shows! First, I’ve got an initial review of a show that isn’t even a romance.
Peaceful Property – บ้านหลอน On Sale – 2024
Currently airing Thai supernatural bromance, I’ve watched 7 of 12 episodes.
A young man terrified of the ghosts he sees constantly is forced/hired to help a rich guy with a ghost problem clear them off his various properties.
This show stars Thai BL combo Tay/New but it is not a BL, rather it’s a fun, inventive, supernatural bromance that gets better with each episode.
So why is it so awesome?
We’ve got a great, quirky cast of characters. To add to my rapidly growing harem of Poor Little Rich Boys (See also: Q, Joker) we’ve got Home. Home has been living a life sans responsibilities when his grandfather dies and leaves him all his properties. His hard-to-sell, haunted properties.
So he needs Peach. Peach can see ghosts but he’d rather not. He’s afraid of them and they’re ruining his life. Unfortunately, he has no choice when Home finds him and offers him some much-needed cash in return for help with his ghost problem.
In addition to these leads, we have some great secondary characters. Home comes with a serious, blank-faced lawyer who thinks this is all ridiculous but is easily startled and tends to sing very badly. He’s also got an ever-present bodyguard who passively goes along with everything, says nearly nothing, and is a key member of the group. Peach comes with a live-streaming sister, eager to do her best to help in any way she can, overcompensating because she can’t also see ghosts.
But wait, there’s more!
We’ve got great ghosts in great ghost make-up. The show doesn’t obviously rely on CGI, so we get lots of inventive looks tailored to how the ghosts died. And don’t worry, you can see them because this show doesn’t believe in hiding them in shadows and darkness. It’s gloriously colorful.
There’s an excellent balance of comedy and tragedy. Since these are ghost stories they are inevitably tragic and sad. Around these sad stories are the ridiculous antics of our quirky group of ghost hunters, who don’t always make smart choices.
But our ghost hunters have their own stories that are combinations of funny and tragic. Peach hasn’t always seen ghosts. Home is a sad rich boy from a household of questionable rich relatives. Why isn’t Peach, a trained chef, still cooking? When did he start seeing ghosts? How did all Home’s homes become haunted? Why did Home get exiled to America? As the episodes go on the ghost stories reveal more answers to these questions, and the episodes get better and better.
Does this all sound familiar?
Yes, this show sounds like Oh No! Here Comes Trouble, an excellent Taiwanese supernatural bromance that I recapped in full on this very website. In Oh No! Here Comes Trouble, a young man with a sad past can help ghosts move on using his calligraphy skills and carefully chosen words.
Peach doesn’t use calligraphy, but he has a unique way of drawing out the ghosts that’s great. The two shows have a lot in common but that’s not a bad thing. And it’s interesting to see the unique differences between them. Peaceful Property is brighter, more madcap, and silly at times. Oh No! Here Comes Trouble has a drier sense of humor and a darker aesthetic.
If you like Oh No! Here Comes Trouble I think you’ll like this show (and visa versa). The only caveat is that this show hasn’t ended yet, so I’ll be back in a few weeks to let you know if it sticks the landing!
This week I also finished:
Monster Next Door – พี่เขาบุกโลกของผม – 2024
Recently aired Thai college BL with 12 episodes.
An ENFP moves next door to an ISFJ and drives him crazy, leading to chats on their balconies and a slowly developing relationship.
This show was my soothing, relaxing, the-day-has-been-hard-and-long-and-I-want-to-get-away-from-it-all show for the weeks it aired. But this show also has a lot of problems that will likely turn people off, so I can’t recommend it casually to just anyone.
Let me start with what I liked
As a hard-core introvert, I related hard-core to the plight of our introverted lead. The world wants people to be chatty, friendly, and social. If you aren’t, the world assumes there’s something wrong with you. But truthfully, a lot of us are happy in a quiet room doing things by ourselves. This isn’t a sign of anything unhealthy, it’s just a different way of being.
The show stuck up nicely for the introverts. While other characters pressured our introvert to change, it was clear that this wasn’t what he needed. Not that he was perfect, he needed to grow and learn things like everyone else, but he didn’t need to party and make tons of friends.
It’s probably this acceptance of his needs, and his partner’s acceptance of his introvert’s need for quiet peaceful dates, that soothed me the most.
I also liked that, in this fairly tame, sweet show, it was implied that our two leads were hot for each other. There were no hidden motives or forgotten childhood connections or supernatural forces. They liked each other and wanted to be together. I found this simplicity very soothing and liked that two people so different from one another were attracted to each other this way.
Our second couple was baffling but kind of a fun ridiculous watch. They started the show living together, sharing a bed, and doing everything together. I was confused to discover they weren’t a romantic couple already. Their charmingly ridiculous fumbling into a real relationship was amusing and adorable.
I liked our leads shoulder devils and angels. I’m sad they disappeared at some point.
What didn’t work?
As I mentioned in my initial review, the show has very little production value. This didn’t bother me much, but they needed to spend more money on the writing. The clunky writing got in the way of my enjoyment.
For one thing, I was often confused about what was happening beyond what was shown on screen. I couldn’t tell if certain characters were supposed to be good or bad because I didn’t know enough about what was going on to tell. I think the show was trying for more nuance than “good” or “bad”, but this translated to scenes where a character was awful and then a scene where they weren’t. This made them more confusing than nuanced.
Similarly, problems would arise rapidly and then be solved just as fast. This gave the impression that our characters could be sent through a roller coaster of emotions via a few conversations.
Even longer issues were solved very simply. One relationship might have been healed years ago if a particular character listened to the lyrics of a famous REM song.
Although that in itself is a nice fantasy. Wouldn’t it be nice if all our problems could be solved in a single conversation?
This is another firm “maybe” recommendation from me
I enjoyed watching this couple of opposites meet, get the hots for one another, and have exciting dates where they put puzzles together at home. But I’m a sucker for opposites-attract and don’t mind slow, silly shows.
If you want something more, maybe with some action-adventure and sad rich boys, you have other options.
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