Thai Cave Rescue

The intimacy with these characters naturally makes the series more affecting, even if some of the performances are a bit stilted and raw. The earlier episodes are pretty rough, especially when the writers desperately seek levity in a story that doesn’t often leave such breathing room. ... There’s more confidence in later episodes.

The story is what’s going to keep viewers watching, because there aren’t really any compelling characters to latch onto.

The Thai-language series has a hefty seriousness of purpose and hits easily legible emotional beats hard. However, it sometimes overreaches in making the case that this incident was tense, scary, and upsetting — making a story that lends itself very easily to drama into a strained melodrama.

For as much as it can seem interesting and tense, the six-hour treatment begins to feel stagnant and bogged.