4
This review may contain spoilers
A Snail Might Be More Interesting to Watch
I'll admit I went into this with high expectations. The Chinese version was the first Chinese drama I ever watched and I adore it so the stakes were high. As far as I'm concerned, the Thai version does not come close to it, not even remotely. Even with a longer run time, rather than a more fleshed out, better developed story, there's just a lot of nonsense that goes on and while it had promise, it doesn't live up to it and goes up in flames with an absurd and disappointing ending.
What I was pleased with initially was that it was not a carbon copy of the Chinese version. It has a vaguely similar plot, but they ultimately made it their own so I wasn't able to guess what was going on exactly. The tone is also significantly different. The Chinese version played like a serious police drama whereas the Thai adaptation was far more humorous, especially towards the beginning. All of the characters had their comedic moments and Vita's cluelessness regarding romance was played up for laughs whereas it was a slow burn in the Chinese version. The romance in general was treated much differently with more of a focus on it in the Thai adaptation and the pair discovering their feelings and getting together while that was more on the backburner of the Chinese version though still present. But the plot did eventually become predictable and when the villains were revealed, I wasn't surprised at either one of them, having figured it out multiple episodes prior. It was honestly amusing because they seemed so proud of themselves like here's this huge reveal and I was just like, yeah, it was kind of obvious if you thought about it. Oh, well, kudos to them for trying. It really wasn't too bad until the last couple of episodes where the writing just really fell apart and it turned into a giant mess. It had potential up until that point.
The characters, for me, were just weaker versions of their Chinese counterparts. Bie was probably the closest and the one I liked the most because the man, for the most part, had a level head on his shoulders and got stuff done. At least until the end where his whole change of behaviour towards Vita, which despite the explanation, did not make sense to me because he'd been shown to be too level-headed up until that point. Vita did not come across as a genius to me. Taking a civilian along on a potentially dangerous mission screams stupidity. She lacked the reasoning to make her thought processes stick and actually seem like a genius and the fact that she kept putting herself into dangerous situations, not once, but repeatedly despite her lack of physical skills, again, just further spoke of her stupidity. She had moments of intelligence, but I would not call her a genius. I hated Ming's character. Her Chinese counterpart is an absolute badass in every sense and the Thai adaptation reduced her to a crying mess at the drop of a pin. She came in and I thought she was going to be amazing and then there was just nothing to her. She had no grit or guts to her and don't get me started on how unprofessional her wardrobe was for a supposedly elite police officer. I'm all for women wearing what they want, but the impracticality of it just irked me. Ta was cute, but again, I liked his Chinese counterpart better because there was just more to him. He was more forthcoming in his pursuit of Yao Meng than Ta was of Ming for one and he seemed more capable of acting as a second in command. In general, for a crack police team, I found them largely unprofessional.
Sen was just annoying. The fact he refused to get a clue that Vita wasn't interested made me dislike him even more. Also, what kind of police station allows civilians to just waltz in and out and about , just because of how rich they are? Mook and Wasu's romance was cute, but largely unnecessary aside from providing some cute and dramatic moments. Even their characters were largely superfluous, though I did enjoy some of the back and forth between Vita and Wasu. Badin and the police director were, quite frankly, weak villains. Both of their reasoning for what they did was, again, weak and there was a major lack of explanation for why two seemingly upstanding men would turn and commit such horrific acts. Loving your spouse is one thing, but the things they were doing were extreme. Also, the ending and the implication that Badin had once again cheated death was absolute bull. This is not a show that needs a second season.
The acting was okay, but nothing spectacular. The only one who really stood out to me in any way was Poppy because he has such good comedic timing and he made it work here. Otherwise, the rest of the cast was hit or miss with some good scenes and some bad scenes. I definitely felt the acting was less than stellar in those last couple of episodes. I wonder if the cast could feel how bad the script was too.
The Thai adaptation was not the worst thing to watch, but having seen the Chinese version which is so crisp and clean and to the point, it made the wandering plot here much more obvious. The characters of the Chinese version are also just more refined, exposing the weakness of the Thai characters. And while I did enjoy the comedic take here from time to time, I think I prefer the more clinical approach the Chinese version took. It was fun to watch the one time, I can appreciate the greater focus on the romance for one, but I'm afraid it's the Chinese version that I'll keep going back to and watching again and again.
What I was pleased with initially was that it was not a carbon copy of the Chinese version. It has a vaguely similar plot, but they ultimately made it their own so I wasn't able to guess what was going on exactly. The tone is also significantly different. The Chinese version played like a serious police drama whereas the Thai adaptation was far more humorous, especially towards the beginning. All of the characters had their comedic moments and Vita's cluelessness regarding romance was played up for laughs whereas it was a slow burn in the Chinese version. The romance in general was treated much differently with more of a focus on it in the Thai adaptation and the pair discovering their feelings and getting together while that was more on the backburner of the Chinese version though still present. But the plot did eventually become predictable and when the villains were revealed, I wasn't surprised at either one of them, having figured it out multiple episodes prior. It was honestly amusing because they seemed so proud of themselves like here's this huge reveal and I was just like, yeah, it was kind of obvious if you thought about it. Oh, well, kudos to them for trying. It really wasn't too bad until the last couple of episodes where the writing just really fell apart and it turned into a giant mess. It had potential up until that point.
The characters, for me, were just weaker versions of their Chinese counterparts. Bie was probably the closest and the one I liked the most because the man, for the most part, had a level head on his shoulders and got stuff done. At least until the end where his whole change of behaviour towards Vita, which despite the explanation, did not make sense to me because he'd been shown to be too level-headed up until that point. Vita did not come across as a genius to me. Taking a civilian along on a potentially dangerous mission screams stupidity. She lacked the reasoning to make her thought processes stick and actually seem like a genius and the fact that she kept putting herself into dangerous situations, not once, but repeatedly despite her lack of physical skills, again, just further spoke of her stupidity. She had moments of intelligence, but I would not call her a genius. I hated Ming's character. Her Chinese counterpart is an absolute badass in every sense and the Thai adaptation reduced her to a crying mess at the drop of a pin. She came in and I thought she was going to be amazing and then there was just nothing to her. She had no grit or guts to her and don't get me started on how unprofessional her wardrobe was for a supposedly elite police officer. I'm all for women wearing what they want, but the impracticality of it just irked me. Ta was cute, but again, I liked his Chinese counterpart better because there was just more to him. He was more forthcoming in his pursuit of Yao Meng than Ta was of Ming for one and he seemed more capable of acting as a second in command. In general, for a crack police team, I found them largely unprofessional.
Sen was just annoying. The fact he refused to get a clue that Vita wasn't interested made me dislike him even more. Also, what kind of police station allows civilians to just waltz in and out and about , just because of how rich they are? Mook and Wasu's romance was cute, but largely unnecessary aside from providing some cute and dramatic moments. Even their characters were largely superfluous, though I did enjoy some of the back and forth between Vita and Wasu. Badin and the police director were, quite frankly, weak villains. Both of their reasoning for what they did was, again, weak and there was a major lack of explanation for why two seemingly upstanding men would turn and commit such horrific acts. Loving your spouse is one thing, but the things they were doing were extreme. Also, the ending and the implication that Badin had once again cheated death was absolute bull. This is not a show that needs a second season.
The acting was okay, but nothing spectacular. The only one who really stood out to me in any way was Poppy because he has such good comedic timing and he made it work here. Otherwise, the rest of the cast was hit or miss with some good scenes and some bad scenes. I definitely felt the acting was less than stellar in those last couple of episodes. I wonder if the cast could feel how bad the script was too.
The Thai adaptation was not the worst thing to watch, but having seen the Chinese version which is so crisp and clean and to the point, it made the wandering plot here much more obvious. The characters of the Chinese version are also just more refined, exposing the weakness of the Thai characters. And while I did enjoy the comedic take here from time to time, I think I prefer the more clinical approach the Chinese version took. It was fun to watch the one time, I can appreciate the greater focus on the romance for one, but I'm afraid it's the Chinese version that I'll keep going back to and watching again and again.
Was this review helpful to you?
