by Deidra Kathleen Sunday 30th June 2024

Ready, Set, Love Review (No Spoilers)

When I was forced to get my own Netflix due to the new restrictions on password-sharing, I started off watching Kdramas which then led Netflix to solely suggest to me more Kdramas and pretty much any other Asian type of drama possible. So, I ended up watching the newest Chinese version of Boys Over Flowers called Meteor Garden — which I might review too but for now, no spoilers.

My most recent watch, Ready, Set, Love, surprised me in that it was my first ever auto-rewatch of a series — well, I mainly rewatched all bits involving the main characters, Day (Paladesh) and Son (Tangwancharoen). #Sonday.

Look, I will readily admit I am a straight up bleeding heart/cornball. But this series was different from the usual romantic melodramas with touches of goofiness that I sometimes watch. I found the primary differences in the aesthetic of the Thai rom-com-esque Ready, Set, Love compared to my usual shows in that it is faster paced, makes you laugh a lot more, and has more of a Hunger Games meets The Bachelor vibe – if the latter had a 90s boyband’s worth of men being forced to find “love” and repopulate the earth on a yearly basis.

So what did I think of this new series?

What I loved about this series were its plot twists, faster story pace, and there were teasing snippets of a backstory but they were not excessively used. Look, I love flashbacks but for this specific series, I think the usual drawn out usage in romantic type series would have been incredibly ill-suited for this particular piece.

I would also like to note that I loved the warm-mentioning of the LGBTQA+ community without question as well as subtle dashes of feminism throughout despite the overall theme of the series being to form five couples in order to hopefully help replenish the lessened male population of the earth.

As for production design and costumes, I loved it all but especially costuming. The show hosts in particular were given the most extravagant costumes like those of the characters in the Capital in the Hunger Games.

In regards to casting, I was genuinely impressed by most of the cast, especially the main characters and their journeys throughout the series. Despite the quickened pace of the series, I found myself not even questioning the metamorphosis of the main characters and honestly, not them alone. All of the character changes, or lack thereof for some, fit the backstories and personas of all. Outside of the main two protagonists, one actress in particular stood out to me, played by Naiwattanakul. I would explain more, but again – spoilers.