BLISS RATING: ★★★
“You can’t use my love as a boat to get ahead.” – Quote from My Gear And Your Gown
I think I was drawn to this BL series because I became intrigued by the title of it. I wanted to know what it meant. You do not really know (or at least I could not figure it out) until close to the end of the series. When you do, it is quite charming, but it takes a long, long time to get there. While there are some charming moments in this series, for me it drags on and is full of glaring incongruities. This series did have some good potential, but it never quite reached its peak. The first half of the series was a bit more realistic, and you cared more for the characters. The second half seemed a bit of a stretch in terms of believability.
It starts out slow and centers around an incredibly shy, withdraw, and introverted student named Pai (Wynn Pawin). He is smart but socially inept. He meets another student, Waan (JJ Chayakorn) who befriends him and helps him to begin his long journey to overcome his passivity. Along the way, Pai meets an assertive and at times aggressive athletic boy by the name of Itt (Mark Pahun). Mark and Winn are good ‘actors’ but these were not the roles for them. It looked too much like acting. As I said, the first half is better in the sense that they develop their characters, and you begin to see that they like and admire each other. The second half, however, is too much of a stretch for me. It made little sense to me, and I could not figure out why Itt was so ANGRY all the time with Pai.
Yes, I know what happened in high school with the room and Itt felt betrayed, but seriously. Is that worth a bitter and long-term feud with Pai over that? Rather than developing a relationship, it was torn down. Both obviously had strong attractions to each other but neither one wanted to act like an adult and deal with it more directly. So Itt took it upon himself to try and build character and strength in Pai by tearing him down. It all seemed so unnecessary to me, and it was literally wasted even if I sort of understood his motivation. If you are going to help someone with serious issues with timidity and fright, however, then you nurture the person and build up their ego; not tear it down.
The series tried to wrap up the message neatly and nicely in the last two episodes, but it did so clumsily and awkwardly. They tried to make it sweet but at that point it was not a plausible scenario. There is very little chemistry between the two actors which did not help in having me feel anything for them. Wynn, however, played the part of the quiet, nerdy, introverted person throughout the series and was certainly consistent. He bursts out (sort of) his passive bubble with his parents but it is weak. Both these actors seemed uncomfortable in their roles. Maybe it was due to the poor screenplay and bad direction. I do not know. I ended up literally not caring for either. I felt nothing for them as there was nothing to feel.
There were other supporting roles that basically carried the series to the finish line. And those characters showed some growth, vulnerabilities, and inherent human foibles. Pure (Fiat Pattodon) is a know-it-all, living for the moment kind of guy who tends to sleep around a lot. He meets up with Folk (Aun Napat) who initially likes Pai but Pai is not interested. Instead, Pure swoops in and wants a sexual conquest but eventually falls in love with Folk. There are some very serious moments of discussion between them about cheating, about sexually transmitted diseases, and commitments. These two share something more with each other than Pai and Itt ever do. Their acting is still a bit stilted and not quite convincing to me though. Aun is very young, but he does have potential for becoming a breakout star not only based on his good looks (which he has in spades) but his acting abilities. Given the weakness of the screen play, these guys did the best they could with what they had.
As I stated in the beginning, there are so many incongruities in this series. Pai in the first half looks nerdy because he wears glasses. In the second half, he does not. While they explain that he had surgery, it just seemed so out of place. (There is a time gap of course as the first half is in high school but the second half is in college. It all seemed just too convenient of an excuse).
Suddenly Pai becomes this popular guy in school and sex symbol. Yet, he remains stiff and passive. It takes a long, long time to explain the meaning of the title of this series but when it does come, it is both tender, sweet, and full of emotion. I thoroughly enjoyed the explanation (I will not give that away. It is so cute though) and wished that there had been more of these scenes throughout so I could have cared more for the characters. One other scene is noteworthy. It is when, Pai, as he sits with his parents at the dinner table, suddenly realizes that he has lost so much and may never see Itt again. He begins to cry. He cries softly and it never get loud. He just sits there and sobs and wails sounding like a young child whose world has just fallen apart. It is so sad and so child-like that you had to be moved. His parents are devastated. Pai is inconsolable. It is one of the best crying scenes I have ever seen, really. Unfortunately, these moments were so few and far between that the story did not make any sense until the last two episodes and by then, it is just too late. The build-up of this story never really reaches a climax. It is just a series of explanations.
Who really S.T.O.L.E. the series? While I am not particularly impressed with the acting in this series, Wynn as Pai shows the most consistency. He remains nerdy throughout and an introvert with just small steps to growth. Wynn has such an intense face of sadness all the time that you cannot help to want him to succeed. He played this part with complete commitment to his characterization.
All these characters were likeable. The actors are all handsome. The story takes way too long to develop. There really is no intensity in any of their relationships and it was hard to believe that any one of them were truly in ‘love’. I loved the title of this series and it started out good, but it just never grew or reached any type of intensity level for me.
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