a lovely, heartfelt ghost-of-the-week with a weak through plot
I wasn't originally going to watch this show because it looked like a style of humor I don't really jive with (and it wasn't really), but I was convinced by the gifsets of exorcisms. The first seven episodes of this series are absolutely heartwrenching--I cried every single week and came back ready for more. Even if I wasn't a huge fan of the slightly obnoxious comedy aspects, I really felt that the individual hauntings were so beautifully well done it was beyond worth it. However, once we left the ghost-of-the-week format to chase Home and Peach's stories... the plot got muddled, less sharp, and less interesting. I enjoyed my time with these characters, but it ended on a bit of a whimper for me.-The Full Review-
STORY:
This story was at it's absolute strongest when it was incisive and political. The early episodes delve into important failings in society in a sympathetic and earnest way that I found very moving. Particularly, Ciize, Foei, and ForceBook's hauntings have really stuck with me over the weeks (although I liked the other ghosts as well). There was a true sense of justice and purpose in these episodes that hasn't been present in a lot of dramas lately.
But, as I said above, I was very disappointed in the end of Home's story. Rather than truly delve into the issues unpacked in early episodes, Home's entire family got off easy. The societal evils of capitalism melted away into a pretty trite family drama that wrapped up quite easily. It felt the humor became more and more forced, when the show had been successfully trending to something much more emotional and resonant.
ACTING:
This is a tough one. In those most emotional moments? This show is spectacular. Tay and New have an undeniable chemistry that makes their arguments feel very natural and high-stakes. Likewise, the moments intended to show off this growing family feeling are all so, so lovely and warm. Mook and Jan blend into this chemistry perfectly and it truly does feel real.
On the flip side... some of the "comedy" is borderline unbearable. Shrill, whiny screams, performative deliveries, and egregious over-acting with no charm riddled the "lighthearted" moments and felt considerably more amateur than I KNOW these actors are capable of. Perhaps it was simply not my style, but I rarely laughed at this "comedy."
PRODUCTION:
This production was pretty fun for GMMTV this year. While it felt a tad bit over-produced, it was still enjoyable and fun. In particular, the wound/ghost makeup was genuinely exceptional. I put me perfectly on edge of a little uncomfortable, a little grossed out, a little awkward that helped nail that emotional impact.
That said, I think it's a little ironic how curated some of the scenic design was, given that this was supposed to be a story about finding out what Home mean. It was a bit too... clean, by the end. I missed the hominess of Peach and Pangpang's original apartment. I would like to see GMMTV directors/designers be a little bit more intentional and thoughtful about how the look of the show reflects the themes and messages.
A NOTE:
At risk of becoming the too woke friend, I do think this show crossed a line of queerbaiting for me. I want to be perfectly clear: this has nothing to do with Tay or New (who were always clear it was not a BL), shippers promoting the show, or even a preference for it being a BL. This is about certain tweets from the director and official account, as well as "Easter eggs" for "bl fans" in the script left a sour taste in my mouth.
If you want the attention and energy of queer audiences, you need to actually engage with queer storylines and characters. I don't want clever references or teasing jokes that fail to come to fruition. This half-in-half-out style feels slimy and exploitative--just tell the story you mean to tell, whichever that might be.
In all, I enjoyed this show but it definitely still makes my ever-growing list of 2024 dramas that failed to stick the landing.
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This review may contain spoilers
It's a good show but, It's overrated
How much you like and actor shouldn't be the reason you give their work high ratings.This is my opinion and it's perfectly Okay to disagree. This show is not as good as people a claiming it is. It really isn't funny not one bit (Except for that one Mjolnir joke, that one still makes me chuckle) It's not scary either, but that's expected, it's available for free on YouTube. I'm not going to go into much detail because I don't want to be too negative, just because I didn't like certain things it doesn't mean it's bad it's just that it's not as good as the ratings may lead tou to think it is.
Yes it has heart touching stories, Episodes 4,7 and 8 being the best, But the first 3 episodes at least for me were so bad I almost dropped this and the only reason I didn't was because I love Tay, New and Jan so much. I was going to drop halfway through episode 2 but was encouraged to continue by 4 different people on here and I am so happy that were really nice about it and made me curious enough to continue. My favorite part has to be the ending credits, starting at episode 3 or 4 the credits show how their friendship is evolving and it's so wholesome, I loved that.
This is a good show as I said, but let's be honest If it started unknown actors would you really had rated it so highly??
I would recommend this show but with the warning to keep expectations low and bear with the bad comedy because it's a cute show.
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The premise revolves around Home (played by New), a wealthy heir to a real estate tycoon, who is tasked with exorcising the ghosts haunting the properties left to him by his recently deceased grandfather. Enter Peach (played by Tay), a traumatized chef who gains the ability to see ghosts after a freak accident. Peach has a little sister, Pang (played by Janhae), who does online selling and, in contrast to her worrywart brother, has a cheerful and playful personality. Finally, there’s Kan (played by Mook), a lawyer with a strong sense of justice, hired by Home’s family to assist with the legal aspects of selling the properties.
As they embark on their ghost-busting journey, they begin to uncover that their connection is not only supernatural but also tied to something much more sinister.
I won’t go into detail to avoid spoilers, but while the plot itself is interesting and unique from what GMM usually offers, what failed PPS is its inability to tie up the acts presented and make them sensible. It attempted to adopt a messy, Charlie Kaufman-style approach, but it struggles to deliver it cleanly in the end.
The first eight episodes follow a consistent theme, but from episodes 9-12, the series takes a different direction, wasting the build-up from earlier episodes. The rush to resolve the issues in the later episodes, without fully exploring them is evident and frankly speaking as a viewer, it became harder to watch as the story progressed.
Another issue is the failure to develop the characters, who could represent experiences of complex social issues (e.g., power imbalance, capitalism). More than the plot holes, this was where I was most disappointed because it could have been a way to explore the stigmas or traumas stemming from these issues through the characters. But PPS instead chose to create an image where the world is all butterflies and sunshine. Instead of the story vilifying the conditions that breed these social problems, it ends up condoning them.
On a more positive note, the editing and color grading in this series are superb. The editing makes you want more, while the color grading perfectly represents the tone of each scene. The makeup crew also did a fantastic job with the ghosts. The production team also deserves an award for balancing the spooky elements with a comedic vibe, ensuring that neither one overpowers the other.
In terms of acting, the main cast portrayed their characters excellently. It helps that all four are veterans, who have worked on previous projects, creating a natural bond that fits perfectly with the series’ theme of found family. The guest actors also delivered impactful performances.
I recommend this series to anyone who would want to watch it on days when you'd like time to pass idly.
6.5 out of 10.
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TayNew DELIVERED
Peaceful Property was not a show I expected to like all that much if I'm being honest. Based on the trailer, it looked to be a monster of the week-style horror/comedy ghost hunting show, and I wasn't sure that the jokes would land all that well given the language barrier. However, this show was so much better than I expected!Peach (Tay) and his sister Pangpang (Jan) are struggling to make ends meet after Peach lost his job as a chef due to a car accident that left him unable to work in the kitchen. Pangpang has been trying to make it as an influencer, which ends up working in their favor when Home (New) discovers their ghost hunting show. Ever since the accident, Peach has been able to see ghosts - which is exactly what Home needs after inheriting multiple haunted properties from his recently deceased grandfather. Home is trying to sell the properties asap, and needs Peach's help to exorcise the ghosts; Pangpang plans to film everything and start up their ghost hunting business. Peach and Home don't get off to a great start, but through working together on the exorcisms, they start to understand each other and bond more. However, it seems that there's a lot more hiding in the secrets of Home's rich family, and he has unknowingly dragged his new friends into a bigger mess than any of them could have expected.
While the show did start off very episodic, it perfectly transitioned into drama that spanned for longer. It managed to use the first few ghost hunting adventures to help flesh out the characters themselves, making the twists in their relationships and backstories more interesting and engaging. I love a found family, and that's exactly what this show delivered. If GMM wanted to, they easily could have made this a BL - Tay and New were absolutely wonderful in their arcs and the tension between them was excellent. Even though some of the twists were expected, the way they were done still left me surprised, and there were plenty of instances where I had no idea what was coming next. A really fun watch overall!
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Fun, Silly, and Coherent
The series felt like a really good college student production with a straightforward story line with some foreseen plot twists. I think the actors were cast well for their roles and are all likeable. It does as good job blending over-the-top humor with the more serious undertones of the ghosts' backstories. Some of the backstories were of deeper grievances and others were a bit shallow but it was all enjoyable thanks the dynamics of the main actors. Wish they delved a little deeper into the history of our mains. Note that the ghosts here are all portrayed in their decayed form for anyone who can't stomach this particular aspect.Haven't seen as many Thai series but really appreciate how natural and comfortable they are with portraying the intimacy between male relationships. It's a good and fun watch with a well-rounded ending. The average scoring is really just for the simplicity of the series when compared to others of the same genre.
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Haunted by the ghost of the full potential it could have had
The now removed from youtube conceptual trailer made to drum up attention and funding is one of the best trailers/short film in and of itself of all time for me. The creativity, cinematography, pacing, and comedic timing of the visual jokes are perfection. If the actual episodes was like it, then the show would be perfect too, but when the official trailer came out I could see that it wasn't as snappy and tight, but still excited to give it a chance. I really like how the show makes use of the ending credits to actually show case the status of the group with scenes that change along with the storyline. The design of the spirits as seen by all the living people is excellent, unrelentingly uncomfortable even it's revealed that the ghost was a good person or a good person all along. Kan's great, she's the only one with sensible character development. She bravely went against the privileged rich people that hurt her, her father, and her community. She's right to whistle blow about Home getting away with the hit and run. The only one to treat it with the severity of an issue that it is. She's also the person that saved Home's life. Suradech is pretty fun, they gave the poor guy one line when he answered Kan's question before passing out. It's a real missed opportunity to have him also gain abilities having almost died from poison.I enjoyed Peach and Home's friendship and it's the only roles of the main actors working together that I have enjoyed out of their filmography, but it was a huge unresolved issue that Home really hit Peach with a car and left him to die. Somkid covered it up, but Home really did that. It doesn't matter that Peach already forgave him after finding out once they are already friends. Home dragged out his apology and then there is nothing that comes of it. He has main character immunity and is the only one of his family to not have to pay for his crime. He's a privileged guy from the beginning to end. It's also feels like a huge chunk is missing that we never find out Chai-Un's beef with his family. He seems to be supposed to be a mirror to Home, but it goes nowhere. It's also really horrifying that Peach decided to serve Chai-Un, the man that he almost killed with his neglectful cooking last time, imitation peas that may or may not have been swapped with real ones based on the guess of Home. It's weird the show framed it as "trust" that Peach has for Home. The guy is just guessing! Peach is nice but does not take deadly allergies seriously and that's really bad for someone who wants to sell food to people. Pangpang has a problem, where she has no self control regarding money at all. She's the one that forced her and Peach to homelessness. She's also rewarded and she learns nothing. She treats Home having run over Peach and Peach demanding the minimum apology from Home like it's petty bickering. The man left her brother for dead and that's her attitude. There would be times the characters would make conveniently very stupid decisions to move the plot along. The poor writing moments seems at odds with a lot of well written moving moments of various guest or secondary characters like Thansai and Ride's tragically cut short love, Kan and her father's familial love, and the tragic lifelong misunderstanding between Somkid and his father. I wonder if perhaps there is an issue of not having enough time to flesh out the script of the series as it does have a very promising skeleton.
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This review may contain spoilers
Home Sweet Home
I placed spoilers at the end of this review.Here is my usual warning that I am a sucker for series with a paranormal/strange element to it. This was a fun series. The first few episodes were a little rough around the edges, but the following episodes get better. Overall, the script was funny and heartwarming. I really liked the mini storylines involving the guest roles. The script also did a great job tying all of the various storylines together. Three out of the four main characters started off a little annoying and/or unlikable. However, the script did a great job explaining reasonings behind their behaviors as the series progresses which made them more likable. My only minor complaint is that I was able to guess some of the plot twists beforehand. As for the entire cast, they were amazing and did an incredible job with their characters. The cinematography and special effects were also amazing.
Random Notes:
The closing credit scene showed various stages of the team’s relationship development was very cool. I normally don’t watch closing credits, but found myself doing so because of this.
The saying on the neon sign with the burned-out letters was hilarious.
Home’s condo in America is the same one used in the series “Wandee Goodday”, “Only Boo”, “My School President”, and “Good Old Days”.
The smaller globe next to the one Home was staring at in episode 8 was the same one used in the series “Be my Favorite”.
******Spoiler Alert******
The beginning of the first episode threw me off because I didn’t realize that Home was in America. They could have incorporated some other hints to this other than the news. It did not help that I recognized the place from other GMMTV series.
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GMMTV and TayNew has don it again!
I just started this series on a whim, and honestly, I am glad that I did. It had me coming back every week because I wanted to know what will happen. Might I say, that I actually enjoyed this series more than their last project (and that's saying a lot for me as I totally loved and adored 'Cherry Magic.' I believe that seeing this was an original work and I did not know what was going to happen made this series have a special place in my heart.All of the actors did a stellar job—from the main actors to supporting actors and even actors who guest starred in a few of the episodes—all of them were excellent. They were able to get from me emotions from laughing, (a wee bit) scared, and even sad. I must also add that I honestly thought that about halfway through this series, it would have lost some steam because I thought at the time that they had discovered the big plot point for this series. but, no! This was not the case, as it still powered on, carrying me on a journey that I totally did not expect to occur.
I don't want to give away any of the plot, because that's just how good it was that I want people who have not watched this series to go now and watch it. I really recommend this series to you guys out there and (hopefully ) you guys enjoy it as much as I did.
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I wish I could give this 100/10
My only complaint about this show is that 12 episodes is too few 😭 บ้านหลอน is a MASTERPIECE. EVERYTHING about it was well executed. Casting and acting, script, music, sets, colorgrading, camera angles, pacing of storytelling... EVERYTHING. Everyone from those who've been around from beginning to end, to those who joined the chaos for only one episode, did an incredible job of assembling what imo is the best non-romance series that GMMTV has ever released. This show is a masterclass in doing it *right*. PERFECTION.And those who say this is "queerbaiting" have been inflating the meaning of the word. Even as a Polca I was able to watch this without attaching any romantic context to Home and Peach. Tay and New were given the challenge to act opposite each other in a non-romantic context, and they truly delivered. (Pang and her 🫢🤳-ing notwithstanding 🤣🤣🤣) Like P'Dome himself said, their chemistry is just /insane/ ("through the ROOF!"), and so it becomes easy to read non-platonic insinuations between their characters, but I personally was able to put aside PeteKao (despite, yknow, Pete พีท and Peach พีช sounding almost the same when pronounced in Thai) and KaranAchi to see Home and Peach. Tay and New are talented actors on their own and they shine so brilliantly when put together.
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A funny good (slightly thrilling) show
I just loved everything about this series!First of all, I'm someone who crave for spooky / horror / mystery with comical elements in a story and adding to all of this, some lovely and heartwarming moments. So, Peaceful property did all of this, even the touching / sad moments.
Honestly, I was quite reluctant towards Home's character but later on, it grows on me, I mean, I've finally appreciated this interesting and lovely character. I also love all of the cast, especially the gang, including Home, Peach, Pang Pang and Kan (oh and P' Suradech haha). I don't think other actors would portray those characters so well as Tay, New, Mook and Jan. The one who picked them, need a really good raise! It makes me laugh because someone in MDL said this gang reminds them of Scooby doo gang and I have to agree with them, except they don't have a dog..!
I loved every episodes (is that possible??), I was so invested and got taken aback by the turn of events, it really catched my attention from the begining to the end.
It might have some (minor) flaws in terms of the plot but in my eyes, as long as I enjoyed more and that it made me forget about it (I didn't really mind it) then it's still a really good serie that I would to recommend.
For the horror part, it's not that scary but sometimes the make up is still scary / creepy haha and I love some details in terms of the cinematography, I really like the colors they used, for the effects, for everything lol
Lastly, I would like to add that it also feel personal, I mean I feel like the director and / or screenwriters leave a personal message / touch behind it. Maybe it's my impression. Not only the funny side that they want to show but also, it's more than this. That's why, I love more this show because it's relatable and familiar.
I would do a rewatch for sure (I may already start it with some scenes lol)
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To B(L) or not to B(L), that is the question
Peaceful Property is honestly the best BL that GMMTV has produced this year... and it isn't even a BL.I genuinely thought this was an enemies-to-lovers slow burn for 3 complete episodes. Mind you, it wasn't anything revealed onscreen that brought the reality of the show to life for me; it was the comments section that made me aware that this wasn't a BL series. Speaking of the comments section, I thought it was interesting: some try-hard spectators were being anti and uppity about viewing this show through a romantic or queer lens, seeing as it's labeled as a bromance. But there's some consistently purposeful romantic implications that were intensified by TayNew's chemistry, which has never been better. Insisting that this series should only be viewed as a friendship and nothing more is truly a disservice to both the writing and acting. TayNew are giving prime performances in this series, along with Mook and Jan.
Not only is the core four cast radiating pure chemistry onscreen but even the guest stars gave us amazing performances. Namely, Book and Force, whom both give the most emotional performances that I've seen from guests on a GMMTV series. Every person involved knew that they were working on something amazing, and it shows. This series has some of the best production value from a GMMTV series yet.
The only issues that I have, if I were to be nitpicky, is that the music isn't extremely memorable or expansive. It's nothing worth complaining about but there just isn't much variety, if I'm being honest. I also have to admit that I called the big twist of the finale from the very first episode, and I'm certain most other viewers did as well. Also, I'd be lying if I didn't say that I felt slighted by the lack of a PeachHome endgame at the end, or at the very least, a heavier romantic implication. I know it's a bromance but if this series was written the exact same way but produced with Western sensibilities, there would have surely been a heavily implied romance at the end, if not explicitly romantic. GMMTV (and Eastern media) continues to be tied down by genre and pairings... but I digress. Nothing that I hold against this series is worth passing on it. It's phenomenal and one of the first in a while that I highly recommend.
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A little scary, a lot of wholesome entertainment
Veteran stars Tay and New continue to deliver spectacular chemistry. Their chemistry was so good that some scenes left me questioning whether the series was hinting at something more than a friendship.But no, it’s just a very compelling bromance. Even though Peaceful Property isn’t a BL, it doesn’t have to be.
But be warned – I couldn’t watch this series after sunset. The first few episodes took some getting used to because the ghosts were just so scary!
I only put up with the scaries because the storyline proved to be sufficiently compelling. And also, I love TayNew (more on that later). While the ghosthunting format for Peaceful Property is somewhat predictable, the series actually had several unpredictable twists. Overall, the series was also really entertaining and well-done. It strikes a good balance between humour, drama, horror and romance and explores what a ‘home’ means for the different characters.
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