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This review may contain spoilers
The show that proves lazy summers are not what they're made out to be
If this is what a summer romance is.. please don't sign me up because I do not think I will like it.
On paper, the setup for That Summer is limitless because where do you actually go with a prince who washed up ashore?
The rest of the story is kind of preposterous though because from the very beginning, they're doing this setup to try and con you into believing this island is a small spec in the larger scheme of things because we have a ton to cover! Darwin's a prince who's lost all his memories and he's been rescued by Lava, who seems to have lost all his manners, Tum whose entire identity seems to revolve around SNS and smoking.. stuff, and Kratae whose entire identity seems reduced to being Tum's crush.
But of course, we also have Peng and Dr. Wut, who have one of the better written plotlines in the series, revolving around the secrecy of their relationship and how it affects them and all the other people around them it shouldn't really affect, because the universe believes in balance and sometimes chooses to give us something comforting before absolutely pulling out the rug from under us.
This has obviously got a lot going on and should be enough to cover ten episodes generously. I'm also partial to a good beach setting and tend to accommodate a solid five minutes every episode just for the ocean cinematography because what is a summer romance without the beaches and blatant disregard of other people's romantic lives as the leads run in slow motion across them?
Clearly the universe and the writers hate us all because we got a whole lot of squat. I should have known better because why did I expect a series called "That Summer" to be about anything else? Lava says about fifty times that this is anything but a summer romance but come on.. this was either the world's worst tourism advert because not once did they mention the name of the island they're on or it's the world's most mediocre summer romance because other than the beach and the rushed romantic relationship, they didn't get much else right.
It's one thing to keep saying it's not a summer love story, but I draw the line at mediocre summer romance!! My lines are as stable as ones drawn on sand, but they're probably better than the writing of this series. Which is incredibly solid by the way! It did not move an inch for ten episodes. We started out the series as we ended it - take from that what you will but I'll give you a hint - the biggest plot point happened twice but created no impact whatsoever. The story was at a complete standstill for most of the ten episodes, all the characters spent them having the same conversations, the same arguments, just rinse and repeat.
The characters themselves were no gems, all of them had maybe one personality trait and a single facet of depth each. What you see is what you get. I genuinely do not think I cared about any of them at the end of thing because I refuse to believe that three months of the exact same conversations gets you nowhere. That amount of lacked communication when all they do is talk should be criminal.
No surprises, the relationships were equally bad. Before we know it, all the couples are dating and that's it. Slow burn romances.. still need to burn. These ones were like a bonfire that got doused in the rain. It was all just so.. meh. When your leads lack personality, so does their relationship and turns out I have a limit for the amount of beach shots I can tolerate. I was annoyed and bored because even the usual chemistry I expect from Winny and Satang decided to go on vacation at the island's beaches.
Through it all I just kept hoping they would reference the lost prince, just once, but no. They truly took to life on the island and said buh bye to his whole actual life like it was some side quest. Even towards the end, where usually the focus would shift to an actual story, they refused to let go of that island because again, this was a poorly executed tourism advert and the writers have some vengeance against a plot. The shift only came in the last episode (shocker), and when it did, it couldn't have made less sense because the plot twist they pulled in the penultimate episode basically sent the story and the love story back to square one, like a sandcastle in all it's glory - you know it's going to be ruined by the waves or some bratty kid (or adult) at some point, so you're just waiting for the when.
The second build-up was obviously worse than the first because it happened in the span of two episodes and if the first relationship arc was barely believable, you know I'm not in the market to buy the second one. We get a time jump, a rushed reconciliation to conflicts introduced in episode one and forgotten until now (because this IS a summer romance) and a really shallow attempt at creating chemistry, a relationship and ever after.. because Darwin is a prince after all.
That Summer is truly a great show - for sleepy time because I cannot count the amount of times I almost fell asleep watching it. Winny and Satang deserved a script better than this, and we deserved something much better from all of them. I am truly disappointed because unfortunately the only thing I'll carry forward on a positive note from this series will be the title track because Winny can sing. Otherwise, let's let THAT SUMMER be the LAST SUMMER.
On paper, the setup for That Summer is limitless because where do you actually go with a prince who washed up ashore?
The rest of the story is kind of preposterous though because from the very beginning, they're doing this setup to try and con you into believing this island is a small spec in the larger scheme of things because we have a ton to cover! Darwin's a prince who's lost all his memories and he's been rescued by Lava, who seems to have lost all his manners, Tum whose entire identity seems to revolve around SNS and smoking.. stuff, and Kratae whose entire identity seems reduced to being Tum's crush.
But of course, we also have Peng and Dr. Wut, who have one of the better written plotlines in the series, revolving around the secrecy of their relationship and how it affects them and all the other people around them it shouldn't really affect, because the universe believes in balance and sometimes chooses to give us something comforting before absolutely pulling out the rug from under us.
This has obviously got a lot going on and should be enough to cover ten episodes generously. I'm also partial to a good beach setting and tend to accommodate a solid five minutes every episode just for the ocean cinematography because what is a summer romance without the beaches and blatant disregard of other people's romantic lives as the leads run in slow motion across them?
Clearly the universe and the writers hate us all because we got a whole lot of squat. I should have known better because why did I expect a series called "That Summer" to be about anything else? Lava says about fifty times that this is anything but a summer romance but come on.. this was either the world's worst tourism advert because not once did they mention the name of the island they're on or it's the world's most mediocre summer romance because other than the beach and the rushed romantic relationship, they didn't get much else right.
It's one thing to keep saying it's not a summer love story, but I draw the line at mediocre summer romance!! My lines are as stable as ones drawn on sand, but they're probably better than the writing of this series. Which is incredibly solid by the way! It did not move an inch for ten episodes. We started out the series as we ended it - take from that what you will but I'll give you a hint - the biggest plot point happened twice but created no impact whatsoever. The story was at a complete standstill for most of the ten episodes, all the characters spent them having the same conversations, the same arguments, just rinse and repeat.
The characters themselves were no gems, all of them had maybe one personality trait and a single facet of depth each. What you see is what you get. I genuinely do not think I cared about any of them at the end of thing because I refuse to believe that three months of the exact same conversations gets you nowhere. That amount of lacked communication when all they do is talk should be criminal.
No surprises, the relationships were equally bad. Before we know it, all the couples are dating and that's it. Slow burn romances.. still need to burn. These ones were like a bonfire that got doused in the rain. It was all just so.. meh. When your leads lack personality, so does their relationship and turns out I have a limit for the amount of beach shots I can tolerate. I was annoyed and bored because even the usual chemistry I expect from Winny and Satang decided to go on vacation at the island's beaches.
Through it all I just kept hoping they would reference the lost prince, just once, but no. They truly took to life on the island and said buh bye to his whole actual life like it was some side quest. Even towards the end, where usually the focus would shift to an actual story, they refused to let go of that island because again, this was a poorly executed tourism advert and the writers have some vengeance against a plot. The shift only came in the last episode (shocker), and when it did, it couldn't have made less sense because the plot twist they pulled in the penultimate episode basically sent the story and the love story back to square one, like a sandcastle in all it's glory - you know it's going to be ruined by the waves or some bratty kid (or adult) at some point, so you're just waiting for the when.
The second build-up was obviously worse than the first because it happened in the span of two episodes and if the first relationship arc was barely believable, you know I'm not in the market to buy the second one. We get a time jump, a rushed reconciliation to conflicts introduced in episode one and forgotten until now (because this IS a summer romance) and a really shallow attempt at creating chemistry, a relationship and ever after.. because Darwin is a prince after all.
That Summer is truly a great show - for sleepy time because I cannot count the amount of times I almost fell asleep watching it. Winny and Satang deserved a script better than this, and we deserved something much better from all of them. I am truly disappointed because unfortunately the only thing I'll carry forward on a positive note from this series will be the title track because Winny can sing. Otherwise, let's let THAT SUMMER be the LAST SUMMER.
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