BLISS RATING: ★★★
“I am a museum full of art but you had your eyes shut.” – Rupi Kaur
Have you ever had food put in front of you that looked good and was excited to try it? Only to find out that once you bit into it, initially it tasted fine but then got tasteless but not bad enough to spit it out? It tasted ok but seemed familiar and ordinary with just enough flavor to not completely hate it? It was just ‘there’. However, you would never order it again. Well, that was what this series was like. Parts of it were edible and parts of it were so bad you wanted to spit it out. It droned endlessly on about a love so unrequited that it gave masochism a new meaning.
The story revolves around Pi (Phuwin Tangsakyuen). Initially, you are supposed to believe he is an unattractive individual because he wears braces, glasses, and his hair is not stylish. Oh please. This kid would look handsome in a burlap sack covered in dirt. Nothing is going to turn this kid ugly. Try being an underweight, gangly, nearly blind, horribly insecure, pimpled-face teen who lusted after boys in a steelmaking, coal-mining town. Now that is ugly! Pi is attracted to Mueang Nan (Mix Sahaphap) and understandably so. (He is so cute). Mueang Nan is a weird character in the sense that he appears to be unattainable by everyone and comes and goes rather mysteriously. He gives out pearls of wisdom that are quite profound and are well beyond his age or experience. He is a sage. He comes across as friendly but certainly untouchable. His best friend (although it seems overall like an odd relationship) is Mork, (Pond Naravit) .
He secretly has had a crush on Pi (even when he was ‘ugly’) and proceeds to spend the remainder of this series trying to convince Pi of the legitimacy of his feelings and the sincerity of them as well. He is irrationally persistent in his pursuit to the point that it is almost endearing. However, it could be seen as an obsession and skirts the definition of stalking. But his whole demeanor seems almost robotic and at times lifeless. And then we have Pi who is irrationally insecure, sensitive, and so afraid to be himself that he is almost unlikeable.
I TOTALLY understand feeling insecure about someone as handsome as Mork saying he likes you. In addition to never having friends or anyone ever liking you. That sure is relatable. (I was the kid mentioned above). But if anyone goes to the length that Mork did to convince him that his feelings are genuine, and Mueang Nan telling him that he does not like him other than as a friend, and everyone now telling him he looks good after making some changes to himself, and you are STILL unsure, then you are in serious need of some professional help.
That whole schtick got old, tired, and wearisome and after a while unbelievable. So, this drones on and on forever. Yes, there are some cute moments and funny ones at times as well. The dialogue (screenplay) was good occasionally but mostly it was mundane and stuck to the basic Thai BLformula of a semi-comedy .
However, the dialogue around why the series is called what it is, was well-written and delivered with a great deal of sincerity and believability. Pi says to Mork, “Mueang Nan will never like a looser like me. He is still a fish upon the sky for me, no matter what. Why? Because it is impossible. Have you ever seen anyone catch a fish in the sky or look for a star in the sea? No matter how hard I try to change, he is still a fish upon the sky for me.” There was something so poignant and beautiful about this exchange and had this been the framework of the whole series, then this could have been brilliant. But instead, they made it silly, formulaic, and no one really grows. Mork retorts with comparing his relationship to him like a flower.
You might go from liking a flower, to wanting it (obsession), to loving it by taking it home to care and nurture it. Again, a lot of sincerity and had this been the theme as well, the growth of their relationship and eventual love between them could have become a brilliant thing to witness.
There is another couple that also has its moments of fun. It involves Pi’s brother Duean (Neo Trai). He is an annoying character who is irritating but sporadically funny. He can be mean-spirited, sarcastic, and a bully and hardly ever realizes what his negative behavior is doing to others. Meen (Louis Thanawin), comes along and his constancy in who he is, and his fortitude begins to change Duean. He has such puppy-dog eyes and a naivete about him that he really becomes charming and a much stronger personality that loud-mouth Duean. Before long, both begin to fall for each other which is an endearing story. There is a much greater development of who these two are as individuals and what makes them tick than the constant whining from Pi and the obsessive behaviors of Mork. I rather enjoyed their relationship even though at times Duean was over-the-top. In their case, they seem to honestly and straightforwardly wanted to get to know the other and change and grow to be better persons. It is not until close to the end that Duean finds out who Meen is – Mork’s younger brother.
The other supporting roles were mostly for comic relief or for mocking. What I found cringeworthy is one of Duean’s friends is a heavy-set individual and, on several occasions, he is referenced to as Fatty. I know that there are different norms in different countries and perhaps that might be considered sarcasm, but I found that offensive and unnecessary. I think the whole point to these series is to show that love has many forms, and we should be accepting of all, no matter what the outward appearance might be. Yet, it is still okay to mock people for a perceived deficiency. I think we are all better than that. The other characters constantly following Pi and Mork around are also annoying and bordering on harassment. Just to see two people shipped? You are willing to trample on the personal privacies of others for your own personal enjoyment? Are we really that shallow?
Who really S.T.O.L.E. the series? It is rare for me to name an individual playing a main character as the person for this attribute as we expect the main actors to be distinct. But in this case, I was impressed with Phuwin Tangsakyuen as Pi. He is not only quite young (17) and obviously incredibly handsome, but he also really focused his role of being Pi with a certain conviction and vulnerability. Outwardly, he was at times playing the awkward, dorky kid who morphed into a stronger person. At times, still unsure of himself but slowly and carefully and too cautiously trying to find out who he was. It was never a question about being gay, which was refreshing, it was more about whether he was worthy of someone else’s desires and love. That is a separate and sometimes even harder challenge than merely accepting gayness. He yo-yoed between feeling good about himself but at the least provocation, he reverted to allowing his vulnerabilities to take over him again. It is so easy to do that and to accept that part of yourself more so than seeing that you are and can be an object of someone else’s wants and desires simply for being who you are. When you are so psychologically beaten down accepting only the negative, it is so hard to switch. He did that with sometimes great character of strength but with an uneasiness about showing his weaknesses. It is too bad that he did not have more scenes to watch him grow and become surer of himself. When he was with Mork, you could see in his eyes his deep connection to him but in almost all cases, just could not give in to it. He did not want to be hurt or worse yet have others thinks he was somehow not worthy of another person’s attention. As I mentioned, the dialogue around the fish in the sky left me understanding him better and even his desiring Mueang Nan. That scene was my favorite of the series because it brought a sense of understanding who Pi was. It was gentle, sweet, sincere, and heart-felt. He knew that liking Mueang Nam was ‘safe’ as he knew it was unattainable. Mork was attainable which meant he had to make that decision on his own. That conflict was real, genuine, and well-done.
Production was a bit sloppy at times. This series really overused repeated scenes with added footage that should have been a part of the original scene. For me, that just cheapens the production and make it feel as if you are trying to put one over on the audience. There was a lot of talking to the camera and a mysterious person in the background. Never could understand the need to use this technique except for something unique or a real twist. Otherwise, it makes no sense and to persons around them, it makes them look a bit schizophrenic. A pet-peeve of mine always involves the lack of professional detail to certain medical challenges. Honestly, when someone has a cut and you do NOT putting on gloves to take care of that you are asking for trouble. You also touching and then readjusting your mask after some type of outside contact is a no-no. Further, watching how you remove your ‘soiled’ gloves properly is a must. I know this is fantasy and make-believe, but please take the time to show how to properly administer first aid and standard gloving for medical procedures. You are projecting an image that others will emulate and you have a responsibility to show proper procedures and etiquette.
I know this review is a mixed bag. A part of me liked it and a part of me felt empty at its formulaic story-development. While the conflicting bantering between Pi and Mork was fun for a while, it became overdrawn. I would love to have seen them grow more as a couple, stand up to the ‘shippers’ more, and each develop a uniqueness to their characters. An opportunity was missed to show us how far they both could have developed as individuals and then as a couple. This series is likeable, and the acting is actually pretty good and light-hearted. But they were not given much to work with and it went sideways with the usual reliance of formulaic plots to a lot of Thai BL series. You really had a bunch of very good actors and actresses that for the most part was underutilized mainly because of the unfocused theme of this series.
Was it a comedy? It starts out funny then gets serious, then gets silly, then hosannas go off. I do wish more time had been spend on the fact that all three brothers were in gay relationships. Now THAT is a story!
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