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The Tipsy Mystery relies heavily on silly jokes, comedy violence in the vein of 1980s action comedies and bickering between friends. If you are not someone who likes action comedy violence, then you might want to avoid it -- if you're unsure, then maybe just watch the first 30 minutes or so, which are representative in this aspect.
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.
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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