This review may contain spoilers
Killing people is okay? Right? Right? Anyone? Only with KCl though?
This is absolutely a stand alone review of the show without reading the book.𝐀𝐝𝐝𝐫𝐞𝐬𝐬𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐄𝐮𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐧𝐚𝐬𝐢𝐚 𝐚𝐬 𝐚 𝐒𝐮𝐛𝐣𝐞𝐜𝐭
The idea of grappling euthanasia in Spare Me Your Mercy is an unique concept, but the execution fails to present a concise, well thought out perspective into the multiple perspectives and ethics that go into euthanasia. The show started out with patients receiving palliative care for terminal illness. We see bits and pieces of frustration and pain they feel from this incurable state they're in. What is highlighted mostly is frustration and sadness their loved ones are feeling from watching them be in pain (this is normal and important), but when tackling ending one's life, there has got to be a deeper look into the patient's course of journey to making the decision. The way this was laid out only showed us patients being in such immense pain that they were asking for death. A doctor can listen to that and not come to the conclusion of "oh this calls for potassium chloride". To the patient, a doctor is like a God. Dr. Kan is almost like a God in the sense that he does give death. I think that adds to his delusion that he is doing the right thing. I know for a fact that this man skipped all of the medical ethics classes in med school. It must've slipped through the cracks. Euthanasia is controversial, mainly because it deals with ending human life legally. For euthanasia to be successful, countries have stringent system of safeguards in place to review ethics of reasoning behind ending a patient's life. It's not a one man decision. Euthanasia can only be given to those who can give informed consent. In Dr. Kan's case, that's not how it goes at all. He takes it upon himself to make the final decision because he is feeling bad. It's like seeing a man remedy his own guilt through making the decision of killing someone. It's never for the patient for him even if he likes to tell himself that. What makes this exploration into this topic more worse is by not having someone sane who understands ethics behind euthanasia. There is no balance of perspectives/opinion. It's not a tug of war between what's right or wrong, but a man doing whatever the hell he wants because he's a coward who can't process guilt of seeing patients die. We see a glimpse of Kan walking into a room where his mom is bleeding out from self harm. That trauma is not reflected upon in any scenes where he's also dealing with seeing patients die. I don't see Kan's real motivation into killing people except for his own satisfaction.
𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐂𝐨𝐩𝐲 𝐂𝐚𝐭 𝐊𝐢𝐥𝐥𝐞𝐫
Boss was freaky, kinky, and cute. I really liked this guy. He knew what he is and owned up to it. The conversation with Dr. Kan during apartment confrontation scene was the only scene where we have a character questioning Kan's code of ethics when it comes to euthanasia. If what Boss is committing is murder, then what can we call what Kan is doing? Is it not the same? Even after this conversation, Kan is easily convinced to kill Boss. If Kan's intentions were just saving his patients, then how is killing Boss ( a person who is not a terminal patient) justifiable? Boss should've been a real rat even if he worshiped Kan for what he was doing. It's sad that he wasn't so involved in the story. He appears in the last few episodes which takes away from other conversations this show could've explored.
𝐏𝐨𝐥𝐢𝐜𝐞 𝐔𝐧𝐜𝐥𝐞𝐬 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐏𝐚𝐫𝐭𝐧𝐞𝐫 𝐢𝐧 𝐂𝐫𝐢𝐦𝐞
What is going on in that police station? Are we even allowed to open cases 50 different times every 5 minutes? This was my comedic relief. All of these uncles going "exactlyyyy" and then closing the case prematurely only to be freaking clowns who open it back up again. Captain Tew, I think it's time to transfer out. What a bootleg police station. It's also detrimental to your relationship with Dr. Kan that you doubt at least once every episode only to get back to him. It's like watching a stressful ping pong game.
Some police guy: Something suspicious happened!
Captain Tew: you don't say, it's probably Kan isn't it?
Later that day...
Captain Tew: hey I got something to talk to you about
Dr. Kan: *distraction activated* I made a new dish just for you! What do you wanna talk about?
Captain Tew: Oh for me?... (internal monologue: he can't be the one, he made me a meal)
Above is how this captain probably thinks. It's almost like we should take him off the case cause he's literally connected with a suspect.
Moving on, ms. nurse, what's happening here? How was she so easily convinced to keep killing people? It felt like she was enjoying it and sharing that enjoyment with Dr. Kan. She showed neither empathy nor understanding as to what euthanasia means for patients. She saw what happened with her husband, but after that, her psychopathy just went off the rails. It was an interesting dynamic to see. It's very different from what Boss was trying to do.
"𝐂𝐡𝐞𝐦𝐢𝐬𝐭𝐫𝐲" & 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐄𝐧𝐝𝐢𝐧𝐠
They're both good actors. As a person who liked them back in 9x9 and in their multiple other projects, this fell short in terms of their chemistry. There was absolutely no romance that translated across to the audience. It felt like watching two bros who have no romantic feeling for each other. It felt really forced. It's bad when I think Dr. Kan has more chemistry with Boss than his actual love interest. That's not how it should look to us. Since they were lacking in the chemistry department, I would think they would use the time in the episodes to actually explore the development of their relationship. It felt unrealistic cause I couldn't tell how deep their relationship went.
The ending left you with a feeling of "meh". Why did he get a two story house for one storage safe? He has that big house that he shares with no one to keep that safe in. Dr.Kan has the means to advocate for hospice care for patients along with advocacy for euthanasia if that is what he believes in. The things he does is so counterproductive. What made this story so unpalatable is that the whole story somehow felt like convincing the audience that what Dr. Kan did was right. There was no room for doubt or anger towards him. You're set up to feel bad for him when that shouldn't be the case. I feel like this show advocates for one side too much.
At the end of the day, they tried. It was an interesting topic with interesting character not executed well.
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This review may contain spoilers
Gotta leave Heng hanging cause this is just too boring to continue watching
This is the loudest show GMM has ever produced next to their other loud shows. I need the interns to stop with the sound effects and adding music while they speak every single line. Anyways, I expected this to get better after the initial 2 episodes (iykyk for anyone who saw my comment), but it went downhill for me. It felt like someone (me) was torturing me to watch it. This is gonna be my final take on it.𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐒𝐭𝐨𝐫𝐲 & 𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐀𝐜𝐭𝐢𝐧𝐠
This adaptation of the Japanese version falls short of the story that was already established. Most scenes felt predictable so there wasn't any anticipation to make it through certain parts. While melodrama is a good part of comedic story telling, this felt cringe. Cringe isn't bad oftentimes, but whatever was being done here didn't bring grace to the cringe like it's supposed to. I felt as if there was a disconnect between the director's vision of who Heng were supposed to be vs what the actor could do for the character. I think Earth was trying to replicate who Haruta was instead of making his own version of Haruta. This made it so difficult to watch because I know Earth can do a lot better. Earth has the ability to make his characters his own, but this one felt like bad mimic of Haruta. Compared to how Earth played Heng, I have no notes for Mixx who plays Mo. He feels like what Mo should be. I also don't have any problems with the actor who plays the boss except the fact that he's too young looking. I'd rather see a old man. Though, I don't like how they approach showcasing the boss courting Heng. I know the story itself is about this whole thing mainly, but the Thai version keeps stretching it. Instead of spreading out how the boss courts Heng, it feels like every episodes, it's just one thing after the other to the point it's predictable what's going to happen. Boss pursues and Heng doesn't really explicitly say no nor does his discomfort gets noticed by the boss. Overall, considering there's 12 episodes, they could've made this fast paced instead of it feeling so repetitive.
Final thoughts:
- Still stupid that they took out the older woman wife role. The daughter added nothing to the story that the wife couldn't have added. To the folks who say having this older woman role is overdone and regressive, I say give me a break.
- I can't say that I enjoyed the comedy. It wasn't for me, but this isn't because I'm an international viewer. Comedy transcends language and culture and I have watched many Thai series/movies/programs that made me laugh. The type of comedy that this series was trying to do was a little bit too on the nose and didn't leave any space for wit. Any chuckles it got out of me was cause of how ridiculous some parts just feel.
- I hope EarthMix either separately or together get to be in a better series, maybe even a comedy series.
People who can watch badly done shows can watch this in its entirety. I usually can too, but this one is so loud to even put on in the background. I feel crazy cause of how much sound there is. There was nothing earth shattering about this series to really promote. Kudos to everyone who enjoyed it! Mad respect for y'all.
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This review may contain spoilers
Love & Revolution, anyone?
Dear Readers,Let me preface this by saying, I am not the same person I was before I started watching this. No- like legitimately I was in the TRENCHES! The last two episodes were like machine guns going off - even till the end. The only fault I can highlight in the show, is the first episode, which felt overly convoluted. I think they should've spread the introduction of the characters instead of piling it up. The story-boarding for this production was amazing: everything from the pacing to the colouring really highlighted what each scene sets out to depict. I think because of that every character's emotions were amplified. I loved the set- design too for the news room which felt lived in and authentic of the time. I can tell they put in a lot of effort to the costumes and the hair designs - all of it places you in that time period.
Regarding the OST, some of the songs felt out of time and don't even get me started on the song Tanwa sang which honestly if you think about sounds like Scooby Doo. This was especially hard because Victor was actively dying.
Victor
Victor my love, Victor my sweet darling- you were gone too soon!!!!!!!! America was waiting and I was waiting.
Historically, the martyrs have always been the young and the charismatic, headstrong orators. His populist ideology though resonating with masses were not really achievable in the short period of his life. What's more depressing is that even though he is risking his life fighting on the front lines for the rights of the oppressed , his mix-race status still makes him an 'outsider'.
And this is the cruel reality this show captures well. His puppy love for Trin manifest in ebbs and flows through the conversations that essentially placed them on different sides of the same coin in their diversely inherent worldviews.
Sometimes when I mourn over Victor's death, I think it is because that he appears to me in the image of young Max Nattapol.
Trin/ Tanwa
Trin is a very 'polished' guy a complete 180 from who Tanwa is - which essentially is what drew them together. Trin is able to let shed a lot of his shell because of Tanwa. With his interactions with Victor he became more headstrong and understood the consequences of remaining stationery with the privilege. After interacting with his students and getting involved with the youth activists he began to realize the importance of his own position and the disillusionment of power.
Tanwa is a self- proclaimed hippie trying to escape from his own privilege. He's also so deeply depressed in a way that he doesn't even recognise how depressed he is. I think in a way he needed Trin to lead him out of that trance he constantly puts himself into. Tanwa's time stopped once his mother passed away and since then he's just been existing and constantly antagonising his dad. In my opinion, he should've antagonise his dad more! All this to say, Tanwa's a rich kid with a world of chances given him, yet its given to someone who wont seek out anything greater for others. This juxtaposition of Trin's status and privilege versus Victor's lack of, is depressing to say the least.
Krailert/Naran
Guys, love can bloom from within the pages of the newspaper!
Their story almost reads as a early 2000s romcom- minus the comedy and we are in the 60s. Everything is viewed through a rose colored (weed) lens yet the reality of the common people are drenched in fear and blood.
I really loved how the screenwriters introduced them. Naran, a man behind the camera, while Krailert, a man always in the headlines. Inadvertently, both start interacting through their differing opinions about music and its connections to current affairs. Their interest in each other both in real life and the interactions through the newspaper are both laced in with some hate. Every interaction between them is a dance of passion and antagonism. Though both parties are aware of their positions in society, they are willing to pursue a doomed relationship in hopes of achieving some freedom in their own ways. Perhaps the most heartbreaking aspect of this relationship is watching these two people find each other during a turbulant time. In the moments they're together, they try their best to keep the outside from "leaking" in, but the outside finds a way. No matter how tightly sealed they can keep this relationship, reality is inevitable. Krailert's guilt feels so deep rooted when I watched him not fight back with Devhi. He wanted to repent and also keep Naran safe. I think Naran deep down also knew that they wouldn't find that freedom he talked about in that last note. I hope Trin told Naran about what happened instead of Naran believing that Krailert's wasn't brave enough to come to him. Trin also should've smuggled uncle out! Why would Trin say their room was beautiful, but also not try to do more for him? Fighting our own battles is great and all, but I feel like Krailert's ending is the most tragic. He's basically imprisoned for the end of his days.
Devhi, Veera (+Moira)
I understood Devhi's plight, but I don't understand her reactions to her reality. It was her who chose a prison of her own making. She chose to be with a man who will never like her back. She strives for his love, but both of them just end up hating each other more and more. She's trapping herself and him to have an ideal life that she thinks will make her happy. In this relationship, there's more hate than love. She thought Krailert would keep up the pretenses of being a married man, but he never does despite all she did to secure this marriage. What I don't understand more is how she didn't internalize how it felt to be liked by someone like Veera. Why would you want to go back to a marriage where you're not loved? Veera loved her even in hiding. Sadly, despite his love, Veera met such a harsh death. Veera's death mostly pushed her to a harsh reality where she finally realizes that she can continue to imprison herself and Krailert like she has done this entire time. Moira is the only perceptive character in the entire show. Moira knows all the secrets and tries to guide everyone towards a happier path. However, you can lead a horse to water, but you can't make it drink.
Overall, it's a show worth watching, but make sure you don't have any pressing things to get through the next few days cause man, this show hurts like a bitch!
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