An entertaining mystery-comedy, but could've been better
The Thai title “ฆาตกรรมจำไม่ได้” pretty much tell the whole idea of the series. The series follows the story of a group of friends and a woman who finds themselves in a peculiar situation to solve a murder mystery with the help of the spirit of her deceased best friend. It might not be an entirely new concept, but the series manages to seamlessly combine elements of comedy and investigation, creating an entertaining viewing experience.One of the main highlights of this series is the balance between humor, mystery, a bit of drama and romance. The story unfolds at a nice pace without dragging on. I like its addition of supernatural elements. The presence of the spirit of the deceased best friend adds an intriguing layer to the plot. Plus, I love that alongside the laughs and suspense, the series emphasizes the value of friendship. However, the story slowly gets quite predictable toward the end and losing its suspense.
Every actor delivers remarkable performances, bringing their respective characters to life with authenticity and humor. From the quirky group of friends, the drug lord, to the playful spirit of the best friend, each character adds charm to the series, making it a fun watch. But with so many characters to focus on, a few of them end up feeling less significant and turn into just funny bits (well, I found Jock to be quite an annoying character rather than funny). I’ve seen nearly all of Engfa’s work so far, and she has shown she can definitely dive into the comedy genre.
Thai comedy often leans into slapstick and silly humor. While some moments manages to bring a good laugh, some just feel a bit over-the-top. Some of the jokes landed quite well, while quite many have missed. While it's entertaining, nothing really stands out from other Thai comedy I've seen before. The production quality is okay, with some scenes appear lazily executed. it doesn't quite deserve a better rating from me. But overall, with its blend of humor, mystery, and supernatural, this series is sure to keep you entertained from start to finish.
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3I'm loving it so far
It's fun. A fresh and addictive blend of mystery and comedy.The pacing is tight, the humor is surprisingly sharp...and dark and the mystery keeps unfolding in ways I didn’t see coming. It’s that rare show that balances chaotic energy with actual plot development.
Would I recommend it?
Absolutely. Whether you're a fan of light mysteries, or just want something bingeable and fun, The Tipsy Mystery delivers.
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This review may contain spoilers
This is just gathering some thoughts as to why this comedy-lakorn/series didn't quite work for me despite a VERY promising start and offered here for others who may share them or are trying to work out their reactions. If you haven't finished it yet or adore it, feel free to pass this by. There aren't actual spoilers but I've marked it as such to reduce the chances of prejudicing anyone before they've seen it. There is a lot to like and it will work for many.The physical comedy in the first episode was a delight, especially when it was a giant wink at tropes and conventions and fully committed to the spoof. It settled down of course, that sort of writing is hard to sustain. A strong female lead character, but also a nearly entirely male cast and a heavy lean towards young men's humour and let's call it a western amount of cleavage, swimsuits and ogling camera shots which they kept returning to. Clever play with product placements. And some of the moments which leant into the absurdity of the situations were good fun.
The lakorn set-ups and short-cuts mostly played for laughs mostly worked well initially. But two things stopped it working for me. The easy one to explain is the shift from fun, comedic violence to tense and 'serious' violence with the winks relegated to the denouements. Many will love the action of course but I found the quantity and pacing of it tiring. There was just too much for me, and more and more densely packed as we approached the end. Plus it took up a lot of a very short run time. All of the characters needed to have their moments with it I guess.
(Please note that I recognise action is a popular genre with many fans. If you've decided to take offence because I don't get on with it so well and I am talking about that in public, please don't.)
The second thing is harder to put into clear words, and ultimately more important. Because there was a full lakorn's worth of characters crammed into 8 hours, and a crazy twisty plot, and a fair bit of that was some combination of tropes as short cuts and played for laughs, I never really became invested in the characters. There were moments, but then it would race on to something else. I love lakorns for the characters and emotions, not the plots. The actors played their roles suitably to each moment, there was just too much crammed into 8 hours for me.
Maybe I'm at the wrong level of viewing, I've seen enough there were no real surprises here, including everything to do with the ghost, and the crime/police sides, and the backgrounds/motivations...but not enough to, I don't know. I sincerely hope that the majority love this. If you want to respond, I'm interested to read what you have to say as well. Please spoiler comments if there are specifics.
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However, this is not all there is to this drama. It surprised me with a goodish amount of emotional depth and a light touch of social issues. Also, it has a ghost as a main character, it's a Thai drama, after all.
Contrary to the first impression, this is not an exact imitation of those 1980's action comedies. For one, the rampant sexism and machismo is missing. Yes, the men are all *very* heterosexual, and there are quite a few jokes about that, but mostly not at the expense of a woman. Actually, despite there being only two female characters versus more than ten major male characters, these two women are the ones that have the strongest and best developed personalities.
Bam seems to be a stereotypical sex worker at first glance -- who is killed and literally fridged; but during the course of the story, she is the one character that gets the most emotional depth of all. Phing, is a woman who doesn't take anything from men -- she is the strongest character of them all. And even the men, who go out to have a party with alcohol and sex, are always respectful towards *actual* women.
(Although, on second thought, maybe it is more sexist than I feel it is? I expected much more misogyny and machismo, so I might be biased here.)
Large part of the plot relies on the childhood connection between three characters; as well as a love triangle quadrangle -- but since most of the jokes are rather tropey too, this didn't impact my enjoyment. Actually, the romance was quite well done, usually not at the front of the story, and also a bit open-ended. Something I enjoyed was how the script ties in social issues with the comedy -- it usually lightly touches upon them, and then dances away immediately. The script also is not high-energy all the time; when needed, it gives the character time to show us their personality and tells us their backstory, and it lets the emotions breathe, which is what gave the characters the needed depth to keep me engaged for the whole eight episodes.
The actors fit their roles well, and are delightful in their overacting. A special mention goes out to Pearwah Nichapat (Bam), whose character had the broadest range of emotions to show, and whose ghostly Bam I loved to watch.
Was it good?
Overall, it was a light action comedy with a lot of silly jokes; and while it made fun of certain characteristics and tropes, I never felt that it laughed at groups of people in a mean way. On the contrary, most characters are very sympathetic, even some of the baddies.
Did I like it?
I did! I was looking for something where I could just pass the time with a bit of sillyness, and then I got surprised by emotions.
Would I recommend it?
It's something one neeeds to like, and I am sure not everybody will get on with the comedy violence and the over-the-top everything.
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The Tipsy Mystery: A Fun, Unpredictable Ride Through Murder, Mayhem, and the Supernatural!
ในที่สุด *The Tipsy Mystery* เป็นซีรีส์ที่สนุกและเพลิดเพลินที่ผสมผสานระหว่างความขบขัน ความลึกลับ และความเหนือธรรมชาติได้อย่างลงตัว หากคุณกำลังมองหาซีรีส์สืบสวนคดีฆาตกรรมที่มีการหักมุมที่สนุกสนาน เรื่องนี้ให้ทั้งความตื่นเต้นและเสน่ห์ในแบบที่ไม่ซ้ำใคร การผสมผสานระหว่างตัวละครที่มีเสน่ห์, การพูดคุยที่มีไหวพริบ, และการหักมุมที่ไม่คาดคิดทำให้คุณติดตามได้ตลอดเวลา ขณะที่องค์ประกอบเหนือธรรมชาติทำให้เรื่องนี้มีมุมมองใหม่ที่น่าสนใจมันสามารถรักษาความสมดุลระหว่างความลึกลับและความบันเทิงได้ดี และถึงแม้จะมีบางช่วงที่ดูสนุกสนานและไร้ระเบียบ แต่มันก็ยังคงเน้นเรื่องหลักที่สำคัญได้อยู่ ตัวเคมีระหว่างฟิงและร้อยตำรวจเอกแดนยิ่งทำให้การสืบสวนดูมีมิติและน่าสนใจยิ่งขึ้น และด้วยปริศนาที่ยังไม่ได้ถูกไขในแต่ละตอน ก็ทำให้เราตื่นเต้นที่จะได้เห็นสิ่งที่จะเกิดขึ้นในตอนต่อไป
*The Tipsy Mystery* เป็นการเดินทางที่สดใหม่และไม่สามารถคาดเดาได้ และศักยภาพของมันจะยิ่งเติบโตขึ้นเมื่อเรื่องราวดำเนินไป หากคุณกำลังมองหาซีรีส์สืบสวนที่สนุกและมีเสน่ห์พร้อมทั้งอารมณ์ขัน เรื่องนี้คุ้มค่ากับการรับชมแน่นอน!
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