Thai Cave Rescue is about as review-proof as any series could be. All the screenplay had to do to be compelling was to approximate aspects both awe-inspiring and frightful of this ripped from the (global) headlines true story. Anyone who remembers the events that transfixed the world with horror and hope over nearly three weeks in 2018 will appreciate the drama's success at recreating not only the life-and-death stakes but also the roller-coaster emotions inspired therefrom. Anyone unfamiliar with those events will be gripped by the Netflix series' six-episode blend of claustrophobic peril, engineering ingenuity, and sheer human guts. Thai Cave Rescue recounts the adventures of the Wild Boars youth soccer team when 12 players and their coach become trapped in a cave. An early, out-of-season monsoon storm--missed by weather forecasters--generated run-off floodwater that submerged the cave entrance. Rescuing them required herculean efforts by the Thai government, and crowdsourcing problems to a watching world.

The series isn't perfect, but whatever its shortcomings in story, pacing, and editing, I think its signature success is not the narration but the emotion. The series captures the mood of those days.* Hope shifted to despair, cycled back to hope only to be again displaced by pessimism and angst, rising like the irrepressible flood waters that made rescuing the kids so very perilous. Watch the series for the emotional wringer born from NOT KNOWING as much as to learn what transpired. Each episode toggles between the plight of the boys in the cave, the hand-wringing of parents trapped outside and unable to do anything for their kids, the dedication of an international cadre of rescuers who problem solve each new challenge as it develops, and the growing fascination of a worldwide audience who found these events more compelling than the actual World Cup that unfolded in parallel. Thai Cave Rescue delivers riveting drama, plenty of pathos, and the happy ending you all recall from real life.

The child actors playing the trapped soccer team turn in decent performances, a requirement not always met by young performers portraying "children in danger" stories. Seeing how these kids reacted to their prolonged confinement provides a fascinating study in human psychology and resilience. Among the adults, I'd single out two performances. First, the actor playing the provincial governor did an outstanding job as the nexus between families, rescuers, and government inertia. The character tied together the disparate plot threads outside the cave. Second, as the team's coach Beam anchors the entire drama. His character, Coach Aek, could have been a villain (and Beam plays Aek as fully aware of that judgment) but emerges as the chief hero. He kept the boys alive and calm with no food and water for ten days until rescuers located them. As the "rescuers" have no clue how to safely extract the lost boys, Aek's role as caretaker extends another full week in the darkness. Beam infuses his portrayal with a mix of stoicism and compassion, even as the coach suffers through his own personal crisis of guilt for having led his charges into peril. The talented young actor passed away in March, just days after shooting wrapped. Fittingly, Thai Cave Rescue's last piece of storytelling, injected into the Finale's end-credits is a tribute to Beam.

*--This Netflix production is the third re-telling of these events released in Summer 2022. For those who prefer a documentary retelling of these events, see THE RESCUE, streaming on Disney+. For those who want a shorter, feature film, focusing more on the international cave divers, see the Ron Howard film THIRTEEN LIVES, streaming on Amazon Prime. Each production emphasizes different elements and contains bits of the stories omitted by the others. Of the three, Thai Cave Rescue is the most well-rounded, most balanced with the different arcs of the events, and most focused on the Thai part of the story.