BLISS RATING: ★★+
“To love, is all that matters…Even if it is one-sided love. I’m just happy to get to love someone.” – Quote from Gen Y
What a mess and not in any kind of good way either. None of the main couples were even remotely gripping. However, the minor characters were way, way more interesting and one minor couple (in which I totally did not understand why or how they got together) salvaged this mess of a series. This series centers essentially around two main couples.
One is between Mark (Kim Varadom) and Kit (Copter Panuwat). Both actors are stunningly handsome but that was just not enough to keep me interested in this drab story. It is a light comedy of sorts with Mark unceasingly pursuing Kit who continuously plays hard to get. Of course, the inevitable happens and Mark wins him over. Parts of that pursuit are quite charming and funny but most of it was formulaic and the constant ‘pshaw” response from Kit got old real fast. It was all so artificial to me.
Honestly, these guys seem to have no connection together and very little chemistry. I just never bought their relationship together. Kim as Mark seems more sincere in his role with Copter only occasionally coming out of his stand-offish attitude. When he smiled, it seemed genuine and the whole scene changed but that was so few and infrequent that watching this relationship was more painful than intriguing. I do not think it was bad acting as much as it was bad directing and very bad screenplay and no sense of giving them direction on their character development. There was very little depth to either of their characters and neither of them grew very much. Too bad because they are an incredibly handsome couple together. What is the value or point of the constant bantering? Why the constant need to look aggrieved/insulted/or offended when everybody knows you are not. This gets so old really fast.
Then we have the long suffering and delicate flower Wayu (Bas Suradej). I have seen Bas in several other series, and he is one of my favorites but in this one, his talents were wasted. He has such a photogenic boyish face who can look forlorn and long suffering with incredible ease. His story revolves around his deep love of Pha who without basis or explanation breaks up with Wayu. For some unknown reason, we are never permitted to see Pha’s face as if to do so would be to look upon the face of God and undoubtedly die. It made no sense to me why that was the case. We finally get to see and meet this mysterious guy in the last scene as basically an introduction to Season 2.
I found that whole not seeing the face of God silly as it added nothing to the story and was so contrived. It would have been different if there was a reason or purpose to use this mysterious approach to a character. There was none. So, to help Wayu get through this emotional crisis of the breakup, his two friends who happen to be Kit and Mark help him and prop him up.
Of course, now that Wayu is unattached, all kinds of guys pursue him, for what purpose I simply do not know. While some of that is amusing, all of that could have ended with Wayu telling them, “Look guys, I am NOT interested in dating or seeing anyone now as I am dealing with some emotional issues. So, please stop.” But of course, that does not happen and every time he gets propositioned, Wayu has this bewildered look on his face. Just tell them to STOP!
Now a friend of Pha, Thanu (Dun Romchumpa) comes into the picture to help support Wayu’s increasingly delicate nature and provide even more emotional support. Dun is a stunningly, breathtakingly handsome man to say the least. He is believable in a sense that his demeanor is soft, and he seems like he really wants to help but something is ‘off’ about him. There is something mysterious and uncharacteristically devious about him, that makes him just a bit sinister.
He has this awful feud with a character named Padbok (Junior Ronnakorn). It is NEVER explained why he so despises Thanu but it is obvious that he hates him and does so throughout the series. He warns Wayu not to trust him, but the reason is never given. And no one seems to want to know the reason why. There is just something very odd about all of that. Because it brought an element of surprise to this rather boring series, it piqued my curiosity.
Initially, Wayu mistakes Thanu for Pha and you can see a ‘spark’ from the very beginning. It takes a while but the relationship festers into more than just a bromance and Wayu begins to deepen his feelings for Thanu.
However, there is something peculiar, intriguing, and very mysterious that happens. Kit’s brother, Phai (Pon Thanapon), is doing a work internship at a coffee shop that Thanu frequents. He and the other interns create a contest among the customers to see who ‘can have the best definition of what love is’.
Phai picks a saying that intrigues him and as he leaves with it, that note is blown out of his hand and Thanu picks it up. They look into each other’s eyes and there is a sudden almost magical connection as if they were soulmates. In fact, Phai’s friend Sandee, played by Thanathip Srithongsuk (Bank) has had discussions with Phai about destiny and soulmates, planting that seed into Phai’s consciousness.
At first, I thought he was doing so because he himself liked Phai but at the end of the series, I was rather perplexed by Sandee’s actions. He is quite an intriguing character and baffling. I truly did not know what he was up to or his motives. In any case, the feelings between Phai and Thanu deepen but in an abstract way. Not really physical but in a metaphysical way.
Finally, when they do meet, there is a deep connection that when they touch for the first time, they both see themselves together but with Thanu breaking Phai’s heart, leaving Phai’s love for him unrequited. It is very sad and very confusing. It is as if the universe is saying they should be together yet will never be. Thanu is torn between what he feels in his gut and what he feels emotionally in his head and his heart for Wayu and he chooses Wayu. Phai is heartbroken but knows there is a deep connection between him and Thanu and sacrifices his love for him so Thanu can be with Wayu. Ironically, their connection is so strong that in reality Phai saves Thanu’s life. Yet, Thanu still does not ‘see’.
That is why I simply could not get it out of my head that Thanu remains a rather ominous character. There is indeed an ironic twist at the end, when in an ice-breaking exercise among contestants for the Beau Contest, Wayu is blindfolded, and he gets to feel faces of others to guess who he really wants to be with. As he is about to touch Thanu’s face (with everyone assuming that he will choose him), Thanu is accidently pushed out of the way, and Pha is there, and tells Wayu he is back. (We get to see Pha’s face. Yea!). The end.
Of course, there are other characters that take this story sideways, but some are still nonetheless interesting. Two that are not are Jack (Jet Jetsadakorn) and Koh (Jame Kasama). What makes these two so exasperating is their constant flirtations with Wayu that simply go nowhere. Initially it was funny but after a while, it became annoying and obviously Wayu was never going to pick either one of them. A golden opportunity was missed here for them to develop a relationship. It was alluded to a couple of times but never really got off the ground. Too bad.
There is a rather odd relationship between Tong (Bonus Tanadech) and Pok (Bank Toranin). They were friends. Pok is a swimmer while Tong is a studious individual. Both were Beau finalists and their transitions from being nerdy to breathtakingly handsome guys is a complete metamorphosis.
Perhaps it was a translation issue, but I just did not understand why Tong made Pok miss his swim meet and what Pok had to do with it. I honestly could not figure it out. And afterwards, there compulsive need to be together as roommates. Their relationship was just so intriguing to me — lustful, kinky, full of sexual tension, and almost abusive. Honestly, their whole sexual scene was quite enticing. It made me uncomfortable because of its almost abusive nature yet it was like watching a train wreck — you could not stop yourself from watching.
Finally, we had a sex scene in a BL series that was not cute or romantic but based on raw, incredibly licentious, and very erotic behaviors (but all very acceptable). It was dark and dirty but is more realistic in life than we care to imagine. I enjoyed this couple way more than the others as they were real, honest, brutal, and presented sex in a more uninhibited way. Their relationship is based on emotions and lust with love being an undertone. Ironically, they gave in to the lust but not the love. (They are NOT permitted to do one thing that would put their relationship into the love column). What a change!
Who really S.T.O.L.E. the series? I can categorically say it was none of the main characters. It is not that they were bad, it was that they were boring, rote, and did not display any type of believability in their characters. Honestly, I NEVER believed any of them were in love with each other. I did see some connection and spark between Thanu and Phai that had a flame of sincerity to it. Tong and Pok were, frankly, kind of hot. Sandee was delectably perplexing and added mystery to who he was. I also liked Padbok because he knew more than the others and he played his part of disliking Thanu with some real gusto. BUT who really runs aware with this series was a character that I have not even mentioned yet. And that was Wayu’s little brother Sab (Gad Kad). He is a minor character but for me represented what was best in this series. He is the only one in this series who made his character his own. He was believable not only as a younger brother but as a real person. He made his part look easy, natural, and always the doting brother to Wayu. He brought warmth and character to his part and there was just something so endearing and charming and fun to watch. Perhaps because of the others rotenss in their acting that made his part seem so much more real and enchanting. He was the friend that everyone needed and wanted. There was a warmth to his characterization that was infectious. I wish he had a greater role and I do hope he gets more meatier roles. He is someone I would love to watch.
This series was such a mess, and it did not have to be. Each episode was over one hour so they had time to develop a solid story with interesting characters but instead chose the formulaic storytelling that in essence went nowhere.
While the whole metaphysical theme between Thanu and Phai was noteworthy, by the time they got to that, it seemed so tangential, and it appeared thrown in to make the story more interesting. While it seemed so out of place, it had the most impact on me as the viewer. I had strong emotions to this and wanted to see where it was going to go.
Some of the characters indeed stood out but none of them were the main actors. I wish they would stop treating main characters like they are so fragile and frail. While I understand emotional need and a sense of loss at a breakup, it becomes rather stale to continue to have a story revolve around that theme. Then you have such a great portrayal of self-sacrifice by Phai when it comes to giving up his love for Thanu that could easily get lost if you were not paying attention. It is magnanimous. One observation that is evident is that the entire school is gay (just kidding). Everyone there is almost all gay and they did make gay people and gay relationships normal and very acceptable. That was refreshingly different and commendable. But the overall story lacked depth, lacked character development, had no cohesiveness, and frankly difficult to follow. And why the need to not show Pha until the end baffled me.
I struggled with rating this BL series because of its too soft approach to relationship development and character depth (except in a few exceptions). I guess it is a comedy in a sense, but it got way too formulaic and boring. I like Phai, Tong, Pok, Padbok and especially Sab. Develop a BL story based on lust with Tong and Pok. These characters I would watch again and again because they brought life to this mundane story and gave it a sense of reality. More of them and less of the others.
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