3
15
1
4
1
1
[I really urge everybody who might be interested in watching this, to avoid any kind of info. Don't look at the trailer, nor the official synopses, nor genre/tags or anything else. Part of why the drama works is the journey of finding out what is happening together with Alan.]
I expect that this series will be one of those that might stay with me for a while. As always, I go in blind if I can, and as always, I found that it was the best decision for me. The series started out as a classic horror in a Big House setting -- and then turned out to be something else entirely.
Instead, the drama follows the Thai tradition of happily mixing Western genres and making something unique. And what it is definitely not: A romance-focused BL drama for the masses. I guess that is why the rating on MDL is so low, as it always is for titles that look "BL" at first glance and then actually have layers and a focus elsewhere.
I had absolutely no idea what was going on for the first three episodes -- I was at least as lost as Alan there. Only during episode 3 and in episode 4 did I start to gather what was going on. And even so, the puzzle pieces did not form the whole picture for me until the reveal in the last episode: I had all of the pieces, and I had at least three theories but none of them wanted to fit.
So, for me, "Mystique in the Mirror" falls neatly into my favourite genre of "What on earth is going on?"
In all technical aspects, I didn't see anything I would object to. I did wonder at the start how they would keep up the suspense of the oppressive Big House-setting; but they did not, intentionally so. Likewise, at first I wasn't sure I liked that the second love story was even there -- but it, too, served a purpose: It kept the mood from getting too dark, it gave us hints about what is real and what is not, and it gave a generational balance to the main plot.
At times, I felt that the background music was too much but that was far and few in between. Similarly with the use of colours and shadows -- in some scenes less would have been more. Something that always, always worked for me were the camera angles -- both the use of reflections and the use of Alan's point of view.
Tou Sedthawut was brilliant in his role as Alan, and Nat Sakdatorn as Doctor Nil stood out to me as well. Gig Danai was a delight as always. And the other main cast did well too.
I have to mention the make-up too, which made Alan's face reflect his state of mind perfectly.
All in all, Meowchi on MDL expressed it perfectly in their rewiew here on MDL:
"So you watch this drama two times; first time for the journey and second time for the realization of being aware of the destination. It will hit the same as it did the first time."
Was it good?
Absolutely. It did have some snags, like the overuse of background music at times, but all in all it has an excellent script that neither gives away too much too soon nor has a deus-ex-machina surprise twist -- but *only* if you don't have any info beforehand, even just one tag would be too much. The actors were good to excellent, and everything fits well together in the end.
Did I like it?
Yes! I even replaced one of the four "favourites" on letterboxd with this drama.
Would I recommend it?
How could I not?
I expect that this series will be one of those that might stay with me for a while. As always, I go in blind if I can, and as always, I found that it was the best decision for me. The series started out as a classic horror in a Big House setting -- and then turned out to be something else entirely.
Instead, the drama follows the Thai tradition of happily mixing Western genres and making something unique. And what it is definitely not: A romance-focused BL drama for the masses. I guess that is why the rating on MDL is so low, as it always is for titles that look "BL" at first glance and then actually have layers and a focus elsewhere.
I had absolutely no idea what was going on for the first three episodes -- I was at least as lost as Alan there. Only during episode 3 and in episode 4 did I start to gather what was going on. And even so, the puzzle pieces did not form the whole picture for me until the reveal in the last episode: I had all of the pieces, and I had at least three theories but none of them wanted to fit.
So, for me, "Mystique in the Mirror" falls neatly into my favourite genre of "What on earth is going on?"
In all technical aspects, I didn't see anything I would object to. I did wonder at the start how they would keep up the suspense of the oppressive Big House-setting; but they did not, intentionally so. Likewise, at first I wasn't sure I liked that the second love story was even there -- but it, too, served a purpose: It kept the mood from getting too dark, it gave us hints about what is real and what is not, and it gave a generational balance to the main plot.
At times, I felt that the background music was too much but that was far and few in between. Similarly with the use of colours and shadows -- in some scenes less would have been more. Something that always, always worked for me were the camera angles -- both the use of reflections and the use of Alan's point of view.
Tou Sedthawut was brilliant in his role as Alan, and Nat Sakdatorn as Doctor Nil stood out to me as well. Gig Danai was a delight as always. And the other main cast did well too.
I have to mention the make-up too, which made Alan's face reflect his state of mind perfectly.
All in all, Meowchi on MDL expressed it perfectly in their rewiew here on MDL:
"So you watch this drama two times; first time for the journey and second time for the realization of being aware of the destination. It will hit the same as it did the first time."
Was it good?
Absolutely. It did have some snags, like the overuse of background music at times, but all in all it has an excellent script that neither gives away too much too soon nor has a deus-ex-machina surprise twist -- but *only* if you don't have any info beforehand, even just one tag would be too much. The actors were good to excellent, and everything fits well together in the end.
Did I like it?
Yes! I even replaced one of the four "favourites" on letterboxd with this drama.
Would I recommend it?
How could I not?
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