diff --git a/assets/controllers/comments_mercure_controller.js b/assets/controllers/comments_mercure_controller.js
index 1717b5e..cb03561 100644
--- a/assets/controllers/comments_mercure_controller.js
+++ b/assets/controllers/comments_mercure_controller.js
@@ -27,8 +27,8 @@ export default class extends Controller {
     this.es = new EventSource(url.toString());
     this.es.onmessage = async (msg) => {
       this._showLoading();
-      this.component.set('payloadJson', JSON.stringify(msg.data));
-      await this.component.render(); // Live re-hydrates from your server/cache
+      this.component.set('payloadJson', msg.data);
+      await this.component.render();
     };
   }
 
diff --git a/src/Twig/Components/Organisms/Comments.php b/src/Twig/Components/Organisms/Comments.php
index e878916..a83eddd 100644
--- a/src/Twig/Components/Organisms/Comments.php
+++ b/src/Twig/Components/Organisms/Comments.php
@@ -60,7 +60,7 @@ final class Comments
     /** Expose a view model to the template; keeps all parsing server-side */
     public function getPayload(): array
     {
-        $data = $this->payloadJson !== ''
+        $data = !empty($this->payloadJson)
             ? (json_decode($this->payloadJson, true) ?: [])
             : $this->redisCacheService->getCommentsPayload($this->current) ?? [
                 'comments'      => [],