I loved the romance, best part of the drama, and the main song by Elaine Kim. The rest of it is mostly nonsense, but watch for the romance.

This show shined brightest when it was an episodic story about people helping ghosts to take care of the things left undone in their lives and move on to the next stage of their journey. Our grumpy photographer acts cold but actually cares deeply about his customers, even when they get him in hot water, and was a delight to watch. Our bubbly lawyer is his perfect foil, and I loved getting to see her discover the caring side of the ML and begin to help him in his work. I cried at least once per set of episodes in the beginning, but in a way that felt comforting, intentional, and deserved. The relationships between all the major characters remain a highlight throughout the show.

When the show left its episodic stories behind, it made sense at first - the main characters need time to identify their overarching obstacles and come up with a plan to overcome them - but as the episodes went on, they began to feel more and more disconnected from the earlier ones, and I think the show suffers for it. The two main ghosts who work at the photo studio didn’t get super satisfying conclusions either; one was slightly disappointing and one was the complete opposite of what I was hoping would happen.

In the end, I think the show would have been better if it had stuck to the earlier stories longer (at least one ghost-of-the-week longer) and tightened up its ending, which was not so much bad as it was a bit slow. I think this could still totally be worth your time (the beginning was really great and I think binge-watching would help the latter half), particularly if you’re new to this type of ghosty drama, but if you’re looking for something like this that does it a little better, you might look to Hotel del Luna, <bTomorrow, or even May I Help You (though you should be a little wary of this ending too).

I've been trying to think of an accurate review and all I can come up with is "it's alright".

I think I preferred the beginning over what happened later in the drama. I get that the whole premise was that being the photographer was a curse and an early death sentence but during the photographer's interactions with the ghosts, that's were alot of the touching and emotional moments (for me). I cried during the first 2 or 3 weeks of this show but it also kept me coming back.

I did like the relationships and dynamics between the characters sometimes. Maybe it's because I'm not so into romance, that is just not a big factor in my enjoyment of the show. I think the actors played their roles well and they had chemistry but it wasn't a standout for me. It was just nice and comfortable. I liked the friendship between the women. I liked the interactions between the photographer and his ghost assistants.

The conclusion was... I don't know. It feels kinda wrong to say unsatisfying or disappointing cause it's fairly predictable but it was just "well, that happened and it's over" to me. It had it's nice moments and wrapped up everything but it was alright in the end.

I think it's an easy watch and possibly lighter in tone & vibe compared to other shows. There are things to like about it so if you're curious, there's no harm in watching but also know that it is just "alright", not a "must see".

I liked the OST and that's been stuck in my head haha. It was very fitting for the show. I also liked the look of the show (set design, costuming, etc).

I think the best review of The Midnight Studio was foretold by Ri-Eul in The Sound of Magic (Annarasumanara).

Sometimes whether you believe or not is more important than whether it's real.

Despite being a ghost based story there were no unnecessary jump scares. The inevitable ghost make up shots were minimal.

The love story of the OTP was the best part. That is where the drama really shined. Despite the somewhat uneven pacing and plot towards the middle, it was in the truest sense a healing drama.

The scenes in the amusement park with the lake and the sun in the background were beautifully picturized.

The tropes were true to form and don't miss the weekly Queen of Tears Easter eggs. My conspiracy theory is that interns in the writing departments of both dramas had a secret affair and inadvertently exchanged notes. 🤣