Ready, Set, Love (2024)

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***DISCLAIMER: This is just my opinion. We don’t have to agree and I’m not here to argue with anyone.***

Tropes: enemies to lovers, dystopian society, grumpy sunshine, childhood friends to lovers, forbidden love etc.

This was honestly so much fun to watch. I was smiling, giggling and kicking my feet the whole time. I can’t explain how much of a serotonin boost this drama me. Ahhh I’ve been in the biggest kdrama slump since Marry My Husband ended and I couldn’t find any airing dramas that piqued my interest but this — THIS DID IT FOR ME!

OVERVIEW:

Picture a dystopian world where the population of women to men is 9:1. Boys are essentially harvested (rounded up) and brought to a place called the farm where they are raised until they are of age and eligible to take a wife. Except this doesn’t happen organically it happens by way of a game show. So picture hunger games meets Barbie princess charm school (lotto system) meets a dating / game show. Basically 5 civilian girls are picked to join in on this exclusive game show “Ready, Set, Love” to vie for any of these chosen “gentlemen’s” hearts. Our protagonist Day wants nothing to do with this “stupid” game show as she’s quite content living her life and taking care of her sick sister. But what she doesn’t anticipate is that her sister has been buying “moo milk” and entering her name in the lottery religiously. It’s no surprise (to us viewers) when Day’s name is called as one of the contestants but Day has no idea and is totally shocked (her reaction was priceless) Initially she is upset and doesn’t intend to go as she doesn’t care for the lottery and has to take care of her sister. Out of curiosity she eventually goes under the ruse that she’s going to get Son’s autograph for her sister. She meets all the girls and guys and she’s not impressed in the slightest as she’s more focused on eating the food provided. Then she gets a phone call that her sister has gone under and is in the ER for her illness. She immediately wants to drop out but Ms. Jenny convinces her to stay as the ultimate chance of winning the game or even getting to pick a gentleman and live on the farm where she would be able to get medical care for her sister is far greater than what she’d be able to do on her own. In a turn of events, she decides to stay and give the games her best shot.

GENERAL REMARKS:

The chemistry between the leads was so damn good. Like ahhh you could feel the tension / angst through the screen and I just ate it up. I loved all the other gentlemen too… I still can’t get over how silly their names were lol (Paper and Almond especially threw me off) But other than that they were all likable characters. The second couple I loved and rooted for since the beginning was Max and Chanel. They were so cute and I’m glad she chose him in the end. I also liked the side stories of Ms Jenny and her wife as well as Jin and Chun.

I have to say though, When Son and Day were in their enemies to lovers era I low key started to root for Almond (Al) and day because he seemed like green flag. I’m so disappointed to find out he was the invisible witch / enemy hidden in sheep’s clothing. He betrayed his friends and played as a double agent of sorts even though he kept saying he was only trying to help them. I felt bad because Valentine risked everything to find him for her mom and in the end even when he found out she was his sister and had the opportunity to leave with all of them he was a coward and said he couldn’t. In my opinion he was far too brainwashed by the Farm and thought he was better off inside that glass house / glass world than on the outside. I understand he’s afraid of change etc. but he would’ve had his friends and his family. Plus now that he decided to stay he’s basically a prisoner and they are trying to get information out of him even though he’s feigning innocence.

I loved the ending. It calls for a season 2. I can’t help but think Chanel’s mom is plotting something and that the man in the photograph (the leader of City Ground resistance ie. Son's dad) is the man she fell in love with when she was younger? I feel like there's some connection between them. Also I don't understand why he wouldn't have returned to Son by now? Wouldn't Son recognize him? I need answers and I need to see more of his backstory and how he escaped. I’m so excited to see this storyline continue.

Although Day and Son + the rest of the gang were not able to achieve freedom for all civilians I feel like this was a step in the right direction. Given a few more years I believe more people will grow tired of the capitals games, manipulation / control and resist / start an uprising. Nevertheless, I am so happy that Day, Son and their child are safe and they can live in harmony. It warms my heart to see them raising their little family.

FINAL THOUGHTS:

Overall I think this drama was very enjoyable. Yes I agree that the drama lacked in some areas in the sense that parts of it were slow and other parts were skipped / glossed over. However, for 6 episodes I think they did a pretty good job. Maybe if it was any longer I would’ve lost interest and gotten bored. Plus, this was my first ever Thai drama and it made me so excited to check out more.

If you’re deciding to watch this you definitely should. I promise you won’t be disappointed especially if you have no clue what to watch or are in a slump like I was.

With all of that said I give this drama a 8.5/10.

Ready, Set, Love is a light hearted rom-com you can’t miss.

Thanks for reading and happy watching!

❤️

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Ready, Set, Love - a colorful mini series for Valentine's Day

Netflix Thailand really opened their 2024 with a fantastic original work. Ready, Set, Love is a dystopian romcom miniseries (6 episodes) with a LOT of comedy, a hint of thriller, the cheesiest and corniest writing but also a lot of heart. The perfect Valentine's Day binge in my opinion.

STORY
Set in a dystopian world the female population outnumbers the male, our protagonist Day (Belle Kemisara) got selected into a government-sponsored reality competition called "Ready, Set, Love" where women compete to win the affection of five "Gentlemen". While the premise is original, I thought the execution of the story was a little bit of cliche and predictable at times. I definitely feel like I caught many references to The Hunger Games and Divergent and other popular dystopian genre works (Eve Capital????). But besides the cliche writing, there were a LOT of LGBTQIA+ positive messages sprinkled throughtout the dialogues and LGBTQ+ representation. I was so happy to get a scene where our supporting lesbian couple having an ultrasound of their baby. Althought the series promoted itself as a romantic comedy series, I think Ready Set Love is was much darker than I had expected for a Valentine's Day release. But with a tight-pacing, the series did well to tell everything in the span of 6 episodes while covering all the characters' subplots as well as not leaving any loose threads (BUT THAT CLIFFHANGER POST-CREDIT SCENE? @NETFLIX BE SERIOUS). The series got very dark all of a sudden in the last episode but I thought it was a reasonable writing choice.

ACTING/CAST
Our ML is Son, the most popular and handsome Gentleman, played by Blue Pongtiwat. I think the romantic scenes between Belle Kemisara and Blue Pongtiwat were believable but not crazy insane, just decent enough because they're two incredible actors. I think the supporting characters definitely stole the series a little bit more for me. I particularly love Paper (the youngest Gentleman), May (Day's younger sister) and Valentine (Day's bestfriend) and Chun. The actors for these supporting characters were delivering top-notched performances even with the little scenes they had. The miniseries did very well in giving all the supporting characters of the series a lot of room to fully portray and tell their stories.

MUSIC
The score is bubbly and fun. I love the jazzy opening intro and the graphics fit it perfectly. There's this song that the character Chun (played by Kunchanuj) sings and I absolutely adore it. Music is a huge part of Paper's storyline and I love the songs seletion for this series.

REWATCH VALUE
This is one of those series where I don't think I'll rewatch because the mystery plot only really works the first time that you watch. But I do think I'll rewatch certain episodes for the cinematography because the color palette of this series is so vivid and vibrant, I was in awe the wholetime. It reminds me of the color palette of Pushing Daisies, which is a favorite series of mine.

PRODUCTION
This was such a high value production from Netflix Thailand, I'm surprised by how bad they're marketing this. I keep mentioning the colors of the series but I'm not kidding at all, it is truly beautiful and so gorgeous. The set, the costume, the visual effects. You can FEEL the high budget for this series from just the first episode because the fictional world they've created is honestly very realistic.

OVERALL
If you're looking for a high-value, fast-paced, quirky campy romcom Thai miniseries (6 episodes) with a dash of dystopian and thriller element, Ready, Set, Love is definitely a must-watch Netflix Original.

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