The moment I watched this movie’s trailer (which I’ve embedded below, at the end of this quick review), I knew that I would love this movie, and I also knew that it would make me cry.
I believed that those tears would be worthwhile, and now that I’ve come out the other side, I am happy to report that I was right. I did cry, and it did feel worthwhile. 🥲🥲
Definitely recommend. ❤️
Mostly, Show is an offbeat, quirky little thing that is endearing and charming, even as it serves up plot developments that I might not have expected.
My favorite thing about this one, is our would-be OTP, played by Hirose Suzu and Nagase Ren, whom I found likable and quite delightful, particularly when they were together.
Props to Show, though, for making sure to give our lead characters individual attention as well, instead of just banking on their combined cuteness quotient, which I personally thought was pretty high. I found that nicely refreshing.
Show does wobble a bit in sticking the landing, but we do ultimately get our happy ending, so that’s an overall win, yes?
If you’ve been waiting and wondering whether my year-in-review would ever come out, I apologize. 😅
Here it is, finally.
I know it’s almost April now, so mine is probably not only the last End Of Year review of 2023 on this site, it’s probably the last one in the entire drama blogosphere. 😂
In my defense, we’ve been having lots of guest posts from folks on Patreon, sharing their year-end reviews, so that we can have a more wholistic look at Dramaland’s offerings.
With the community chiming in, we get to see a bigger range of dramas mentioned – so this approach doesn’t give us a fast overview of Dramaland, but.. it offers a pretty good one?
This year, we’ve had 15 (!!) guest year-end wrap posts (they’re all listed here!), and now, I hope you’ve still got room in your heart for one more. 😉
On the upside, when Show is good, it is breathtakingly cracktastic, with a fantastic OTP anchoring our story, and that OTP relationship wonderfully teased out with excellently written conversations, that make it easy to understand why these two people belong together. 😍
On the downside, when Show isn’t at its best, it can be ungainly in its plotting and characterization, and even whiplashy, sometimes. Plus, there’s that infamous ending in the mix as well. 🙈
That said, I do think that Show’s strengths outweigh its missteps, and is a worthwhile watch.
Also, I have an alternative endpoint to suggest, if you’d like to watch this, but want to avoid the ending. 😉
Show’s a good example of a drama that is solidly entertaining – provided you keep its pedigree in mind.
What I mean is, Show is a solid B-grade makjang, and sits in the moderate range of makjang-ness (in my opinion, at least). It’s makjang enough to be classified as makjang, but it’s not in the range of the more extreme makjangs out there.
Reasonably consistent and well-paced, with an appealing contract marriage OTP in the center of it all, Show works out to be very watchable, despite being a little rough around the edges.
Works better binged, with your logic lens on a blurry setting.
As warm and feel-good as it is poignant and heart-tugging, Twinkling Watermelon is a show where its sum is definitely greater than its parts.
We’ve got lovable characters, endearing relationships, relatable angst, and vicarious joy, all packaged into one little drama world, and we even get a blithely breezy soundtrack, to score it all.
Show’s greatest strength, is how it consistently serves up all of the warm, fuzzy feels, while expertly getting us to care about these characters.
An underrated gem.
In a nutshell, I’d say that Show is two main things.
One, it works as an educational, illuminating PSA, aiming to help everyone who watches, to come to a better understanding of the struggles that many people face, with regard to mental health.
Two, Show is, at the same time, a tender, compassionate representation of all the patients who have mental health struggles, thereby showing them that they are seen, and they are not alone, and that there is hope.
Poignant, tender, and important.
With an interesting premise and a solid cast, Show starts strong out of the gate, at least in my experience.
I loved the younger days portion of our story, and the bonding of our key characters, which sucked me in right away.
Once we move to the present-day portion of our story, though, I feel like Show starts to lose focus, in terms of what it really wants to do, or be.
Show is still feel-good and warm, but because of its lack of focus (at least in my opinion), the watch experience feels kind of.. digressive, in a manner of speaking?
Some lens adjustments are likely to help, which I’ll talk about shortly.
Overall, not bad – but it could’ve been so much better, I feel.
You guys.
I got to attend Junho’s fanmeeting here in Singapore, on 8 December 2023, and I am still kinda in a daze right now, a full week later.
I mean. I got to see Junho in the flesh; in REAL LIFE. 😱
How very surreal, honestly. 🫠
When I’d asked on Patreon, if you guys felt it was worthwhile for me to write a post about my experience even though I don’t have great photos and videos, I got a resounding, collective ‘yes’ in response – so here I am.
For the record, I will be sharing other fans’ photos and videos, which are much better than mine, to help to make the fanmeeting come alive for you, as much as possible.
So here’s an upfront THANK YOU to all my fellow Junho fans, for taking such great pictures and videos, and being so generous to share them with all of us. ❤️
Not as dark as typical crime noir, and yet, definitely darker than your average kdrama, this show sits in a pretty niche space, in terms of its appeal, I imagine.
It’s gritty, violent, bloody and full of moral dilemmas, and at the same time, it’s also laced with a kdrama sensibility, with some very recognizable tropes in play.
Ji Chang Wook and Wi Ha Jun are two big reasons to give this one a try, and I thought they both did well, in their roles.
I personally found this much more watchable and engaging than I’d first expected, and I don’t even really gravitate towards crime noir.
I think that if this show works for you, it’ll really work for you – but if it doesn’t, you’d probably not like it very much, and the only real way to find out, is to dip a toe in. 😅