BLISS RATING: ★★★★
“Four wheels move the body, but two wheels move the soul.” – Studds
Is this series cute, sweet, and adorable? Yes! Is it well acted? Absolutely. Is it filled with astonishingly handsome men? For sure! Does it have an interesting theme? I shall give it that. Does it have passion or believability? No! I am sorry but it does not. It gets to a pinnacle (no pun intended if you watched this series), but never got to the top nor did it grab me along the way. Rather than develop something that resembles any type of deep connection between them, it stays superficial and therefore mundane. And honestly, very confusing. I simply do not understand this constant and continuous need to play, act, and pretend to be naïve with relationship development.
Just once, I would like a Thai series to begin to recognize a relationship early, develop it, and see where it goes with an honest and truer sense of reality. Not this constant triviality of relationships. I am becoming annoyed with the ongoing development of gay relationships (which these are) appearing to be so superficial and full of artificiality. It is becoming insulting. Ok, so here goes!
This is an adorably sweet story between a motorcycle taxi driver named Mork (Fluke Pongsakorn). Honestly, to say that Fluke is handsome would not do him justice and that dimple of his made him even more irresistible. He is the kind of individual almost every gay man would want in his life. He places the needs of others way before his own and his first thought is always a concern for others. And he does this consistently throughout this series which made him even more alluring. Initially confused about how he felt about Tawan, once he knew, it never wavered. He seemed committed and single minded and focused. His performance in this series made this whole series pop with beauty and a grace and elegance from someone who by societal standards would not necessarily have been thought of or expected to have these traits. His goodness shined throughout this series, and one could see how easy it would be to fall in love with him (or I could certainly see that). He initially has a girlfriend, but she concluded that this relationship was moving nowhere as Mork seemed rudderless and too content to remain directionless, even though he was assisting her in her education.
Tawan (Fame Chawin), is a medical resident at a hospital. Tawan is a very handsome, quiet, reserved, and committed doctor but has astonishing jejune. He establishes a budding relationship with a dentist that he has been enamored with for a long time. Dr. Pol (Pat Chatburirak), at first seems like a romantic and relatable character. But slowly, one can sense that Dr. Pol loses interest in Tawan because of his egotistical needs to be number one. In reality, however Tawan has been nothing more than a rebound. Inexplicably, from a human perspective (and frankly from a story perspective), he ‘strings’ Tawan along without being open, honest, or truthful with him. Mork and Tawan are introduced to each other because Tawan needs a ride to Dr. Pol’s residence and Mork is available.
Almost from the beginning, they form an attachment which always has the feeling that it is more than a fondness for each other’s company. Dr. Pol begins to distance himself from Tawan with Tawan beginning to internalize the cracks in this relationship as his fault. Even though it is obvious to most rationale people that it is not, he still shoulders the burden that he could do more to resurrect this relationship. Throughout all of this, there is Mork – always present, always available, and always the leaning post for Tawan. He, by accident, knows what is going on with their relationship but is fearful of sharing that knowledge with Tawan. It is obvious to everyone around Mork and Tawan, except for Tawan himself, what is happening between the two of them. And this is where for me the story goes off the rails.
Had this simply been a story of connection and love between a doctor and a motorcycle taxi driver, this would have been phenomenal. Rather than developing and strengthening this connection with each other, they obfuscate and seemingly only concentrate on ‘soap opera’ events. That is sad as both Fame and Fluke are very good actors and played their individual roles with great intensity. It would have been resplendent to watch how they would have navigated a relationship, which in reality, would be a difficult relationship to maintain but not impossible. (Instead, they wrapped it up too neatly and disappointingly in the end).
Rather, they portrayed Tawan as a bumbling, gullible, naïve, person who is rather dense and lacks appreciation of the reality around him. Honestly, I KNOW you might not want to believe a relationship is over, but when someone tells you, both directly and indirectly, that it is, and several obvious creditable sources state that it is over, then you ought to believe it. This droning on and pining for someone that is long gone from you simply gets old and makes this story too contrived and unbelievable. And then to add that either you cannot see or will not see what is right in front of you. Mork either loves you or likes you intensely and is giving you so many signs to tell you that, hoping that your density wall will crack and see that. Seriously. What made this series even more incredulous when at the end, (without giving too much away), Mork drives and walks all night to get to where Tawan was way up in the mountains, and to confess his love for Tawan, that his former girlfriend and he are only friends, Tawan then responds with “I am just not sure”.
Metaphorically speaking, I jumped off that cliff. I have seen and heard some bad and stupid dialogue, but this was the absolute worst. Honestly. He comes all the way to see him, stands near the edge of a cliff (knowing he is terrified of heights), takes on the responsibility of raising his brother’s child, thinks of others before himself, and YOU still are not sure. I just simply could not wrap my head around this nonsense at all. It is just illogical and is simply not reality. And I honestly hated it.
To add to the twisted plot of this series is a rather unnecessary development of a relationship between two internship doctors named Boss (Best Tiewwanichkul), and Toy (Yoon Wongavanischakorn). Boss is a stern, no-nonsense study-hard third year intern and mentor of Toy, a first-year intern. Toy is pretty much a bit of a slacker and unprepared for his rounds. Toy literally starts to ‘toy’ with Boss initially to irritate him but eventually to get him to relax and have a little fun as he seems to develop feelings for him. While all of that might be amusing and humorous in very small doses, it gets old real fast. In addition, some of his techniques of teasing seem offensive and insulting. Look, I get wanting to perhaps get under the skin of your instructor especially when he is such a disciplinarian, but to go beyond simple teasing to seeking out and using his vulnerabilities is questionable at best and borders on abuse.
Worse than that is you are playing with his emotions. You can sense and feel that Boss is becoming attracted to you. Since you spent time with him, you know that loud noises terrify him significantly so you know he can easily internalize trauma. I could sense that Boss was not sure if he was simply being played with for amusement, or to get a rise out of him, or if he really liked him which is especially difficult for someone not wile to the ways of the world. Again, while a cute story, totally unnecessary since there were so many avenues to explore between Mork and Tewan. Missed opportunity to develop some real relationship development vs resorting to the formulaic format of a Thai BL. This side story proves which they went with.
The third and thus second unnecessary relationship was between Dr.Deer (Ging Pholphutrakul) and the incredibly and astonishingly handsome manager /barista of a coffee shop, Mayom (Oat Namkerd). Again, this story is quite cute and adorable and does point out the difficulties of seeing individuals not defined by their work roles as an equal and the difficulties of intermingling in different social status ranks, either real or perceived. Mayom is obviously attracted to Deer, and she suspects it but is torn because of the social inequities. Mayom is a sad figure but determined to be perceived in better eyes and does so, to pursue Deer on equal footing with her. Again, all of this is a cute story but not relevant to anything in this series. These performers are both good and the story is entertaining but not what this series is about or should be. The irony here is, and perhaps it got lost, is that they develop a more natural relationship because we can see it grow based on actions taken by both parties rather than what we see between Mork and Tawan which is based on innuendoes and imprudence and no real actionable growth.
Who really S.T.O.L.E. this series? In terms of acting, this series has exceptional performers. What impressed me the most was the laid-back approach to their characterizations that gave them a genuine sense of reality about them. When they got angry, it was appropriate with appropriate responses. When they were hit with a sad situation, they responded with a mellowness and melancholy way that was astonishing believable. So, kudos to all the lead actors and actresses. However, who I think deserves this distinction were Mork’s uncles. Cheep (Nu Surasak Chaiat) and Dej (Patson Sarindu). The two uncles are in a gay relationship and have been for a long time. They played these parts like an ‘old married couple’ together for a long time – constantly fighting, arguing, and torturing each other. Yet, underneath, you can sense and appreciate the deep connection they have to each other and the sheer devotion to one another. These were astonishing roles played convincingly and with humor and grit. I believed them completely. In one particularly poignant scene, when Tawan asks them what keep them together. Is it love? No, they say. Shockingly. Love is not such a big deal. It is trust and honesty. They trust each other and will never lie to each other. And in an older relationship over many years, this made a lot of sense and was so believable. Very powerful.
However, there is a strong ‘Honorable Mention’ to Fluke as Mork. He is an astonishing actor who had to wear many different hats and transition to many different roles. Once a lover to his girlfriend, he transitions to loving a man with ease based on the wisdom he gets from his uncles and his own inner strengths. Even when she comes back into the pictures, he neither waivers nor questions his love for Tawan. He is totally committed. And he portrays that with his facial expressions and mannerisms with great grace. When he shows emotions, they seemed so heartfelt and genuine and natural. Simply remarkable.
So why do I not think this will go on my top ten list for 2022? It has good acting, incredibly handsome leads, a good theme, with occasionally good storylines. It just did not work for me because I felt no sense of connection between the two. There was no chemistry. Oh sure, they made a cute couple but not believable. While Mork upheld his end of the bargain, Tawan was as dense as a box of rocks and never changed. I have never seen anyone as dense as him and an unbelievably poor reader of what is going on all around him. It was astonishing the depth of his denseness. And it is consistent throughout the series. In addition, he never comes across wanting to fully commit to Mork and always seemed as if Mork would forsake him. I understand fears but this seemed beyond the pale. It was more like a wall he uses against truly developing any type of full commitment to another individual. I found that sad.
What made this series ‘less than’ was that awful last scene. Not only did he question the depth of Mork’s love for him, when they kissed, it looked like they were both kissing toads and if they got their lips wet by the other, each of them was also going to turn into frogs rather them becoming princes. I can not understand passionless kisses in BLs. Nor accept them. If you are in love, then kiss like you are in love. If you are in love, hug like you mean it. Not have distances between yourselves that say I am only doing this because the script says I must. Why are they afraid to get close? Their penises and chests just might touch together? If they fully embraced with an intense hug and a romantic kiss, that might be just too much intensity? When you kiss with passion and love with commitment, you get as close as you can so that the kiss means something. Besides, where they both not in relationships before and presumably had kissed others? I am sorry none of that made sense. None of that was believable. And it was an unbearable disappointment to what could have been an exceptional series.
I think the director has the responsibility to display a love story with meaning and not merely present a story as an overblown ‘soap opera’. It is now time for a change, especially in Thai BLs, to begin to show some real fervor for the concept of love. Not just superficial nudges towards it. This series frustrated me as it had so much going for it and it simple did not deliver with any type of honest commitment or real passion.
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