The Ex-Morning Review: GMMTV Simply Cashes On Familiar ‘Ship’
Sneha Jaiswal (Twitter | Instagram)
Peak exaggerations were achieved in the very first episode of ‘The Ex-Morning’, because in this imaginary world of GMMTV series, Weather News Anchors are like Thai-pop idols, with women flocking newsroom building with placards screaming their names, while they smile, pose, and drive away in a fancy sports car to a luxury condominium, both premium buys bought in less than five years of entering the world of Journalism. What even?!
Directed by Lit Phadung Samajarn (Dangerous Romance, Love in Translation), this 12-episode romantic drama heavily banks on the popularity of its lead actors, Krist Perawat Sangpotirat and Singto Prachaya Ruangroj, who shot to fame starring together as the lead couple in the 2016 college romance SOTUS and its sequel. In ‘The Ex-Morning,’ Krist plays the wildly popular weather anchor Phi, known as the “Weather Prince,” who loses his show after being caught throwing coffee at a colleague during a live broadcast. Demoted and publicly shamed for his bad attitude, Phi is tasked with pitching a new show, and is forcibly made to team up with a new producer who turns out to be his ex-boyfriend, Tam (Singto). Can the former lovers make things work professionally?
At its heart, ‘The Ex-Morning’ is all about second chances, both in the professional and private lives of its lead characters. Phi falls from being a star anchor to facing nationwide condemnation for his tantrums and is in desperate need of revamping his public image. Meanwhile, it’s clear his ex-boyfriend Tam broke his heart, but the producer wants to give their partnership another shot. Their core personalities are quite different, and while Phi wants to do splashy commercial stuff, Tam wants them to work on a show that would cover serious issues. College flashbacks show how Phi and Tam grew close while doing student reporting together. Back then too, while Phi wanted to cover haunted houses, Tam wanted to interview farmers. So both their working styles and romantic troubles serve as primary conflicts in the tale.
Despite the promise of a fresh newsroom-themed plot, ‘The Ex-Morning’ treats the media setting as a joke, but without being funny. And Krist’s Phi is almost always dressed like a Thai pop star, in leather jackets, flashy shirts, and loud sunglasses, instead of looking like a media professional. Even his singer character in ‘Be My Favorite’ (a much more entertaining show, BTW) wasn’t dressed so flamboyantly. The Japanese series ‘My Personal Weatherman’ offered a better representation of what a popular weather anchor might actually dress like. And then there’s the usual cliche of Phi playing songs on the guitar, because obviously it’s mandatory for a romantic lead to know how to do that.
Krist Perawat Sangpotirat definitely exudes the sassy, egoistic charm of a popular, snobby TV news anchor, and his onscreen chemistry with Singto Prachaya Ruangroj is cute in the romantic scenes of ‘The Ex-Morning’. Although Singto’s performance is hot and cold, great in some scenes but awkward in others. Singto seems more at ease in the college flashbacks and doesn’t carry Tam’s personality with the kind of confidence the older, working professional version demands. So, it’s Krist who does most of the heavy lifting in ‘The Ex-Morning’, while the supporting characters barely leave an impression. For instance, Aou Thanaboon Kiatniran, an actor who is usually pretty impressive in his supporting roles, was reduced to a boring villainous caricature in this series as a scheming rival anchor called Te.
Instead of stretching it to 10 episodes, the creators could’ve trimmed the side stories and delivered a tighter 8-episode show. Surprisingly, even the soundtrack fails to leave a lasting impression, with editors relying on familiar stock sound effects for comedic scenes, a letdown, especially considering GMMTV has its own record label. Ironically, the one time the music did stand out in ‘The Ex-Morning’, it was a borrowed track from the ‘Ossan’s Love Thailand‘ OST.
With several Easter eggs referencing SOTUS, including a direct nod in the final episode where Phi mentions it was the first show he and Tam watched together, it’s clear the creators were banking more on the nostalgic appeal and popularity of Krist and Singto as an on-screen couple than on delivering a strong script. In-fact, I am pretty sure a lot of their fans would be happy with ‘The Ex-Morning’ as it is. However, I had higher expectations from the series. To the creators’ credit, the series does have a super fun climactic episode, which gives its lead a dreamy, celebratory ‘happy ending’.
Rating: 5.5 on 10. You can watch ‘The Ex-Morning’ on YouTube.
Read Next: ‘Good Boy’ Review: Park Bo-gum Is All Punch, No Pause
Also Read: KPop Demon Hunters Review: Light Sticks Meet Dark Arts (Audio Version Below)
