Sometimes a total disaster of a series, like Unforgotten Night or So Much In Love, can be more entertaining to watch than a thorougly mediocre one. Coffee Melody aspires to be the most mediocre it possibly can without falling over the line into being bad. There are many things that can be individually critiqued, but the quality of this series that most stands out is its dullness.

Part of this is the limp script. Nothing really happens. The main pair meet and like each other and enter into an unearned relationship, there are a couple of minor bumps, all externally driven, and everyone lives happily ever after.

But even then, a featureless script can still create a series that's entertaining - but this production lacks any passion. Was Benz even playing a character, or just being himself? Pavel Naret was apparently neutered, given bad hair, and then directed to be as blandly nice as he could possibly be. The style department couldn't even be bothered to make Titnuea's hair a consistent color - one moment it's deep red, the next it's light pink. That's almost certainly because of the filming schedule, which is based on location, not the story's chronology, but that's the sort of sloppiness that's endemic to this series.

It's largely about musicians and music, but there isn't any until past he halfway mark, and it was underwhelming when it appeared. The sound editing is poor - sometimes the music drowns out the dialog, and other times you can barely hear it. Nobody could be bothered to write or obtain decent background music, so the just played easy-jazz piano Christmas carols.

In the end, this story has nothing to say. Even the difficulties of maintaining a long-distance relationship is papered over by having someone move abroad, and then move right back 5 seconds later. Presumably time has passed, but it was so poorly set up that it came off as unintentionally funny, and his boyfriend reacted as if he'd merely been on an overnight business trip.

There were a few positives: whoever wrote this has a love of coffee that came through, Palm Veerapat who plays Jean was adorable and engaging, and some of the ad-libbed scenes, mostly with Duean Yi's parents, were quite charming.

This isn't terrible. But it's so-so in the most boring way possible. I can't recommend it, and it saddens me, because I was excited Pavel got a role, and I hope this doesn't damage his chances of geting another one.