BLISS RATING: ★★★★★
“Life’s most persistent and urgent question is What are you doing for others?” – Martin Luther King, Jr.
Watching this series is more like observing an experimental theater performance. It feels real, heavy-handed, sad, yet profoundly moving and you cannot divert your eyes from it. Is this pleasant or easy to watch? Absolutely not. But its overall message is one of change evidenced with passion and commitment, even if the outcome is bleak.
What makes this series so unique is that they allowed all these actors to finally act without the usual formulaic restrictions. And when they are able to do that, we can see the depth of acting skills these actors have, and they are astonishing. Even if you dislike the theme of this series, you will be impressed with the depth these actors went through to bring out their characters. It is the best acted BL I have ever seen certainly so far this year and one of the best ever.
However, I hesitate to label this series as a BL. Even if I did, that focus is tertiary. Its primary message is one of social/political change. Its second message is the gravitational pull of the individuals into a political/social movement and idealogue. And the third message is the raw, gritty, almost malapropos BL relationships that develop along the way.
This series is a complex story of social justice and the story of power begetting more power at the expense of those that have none. Sometimes the story got lost in its own importance and it tended to get too deep into the weeds so to speak, but that did not adversely affect its overall message. As an American, I was profoundly lifted by its message of social justice. Having been a product of the 60s and a supporter of the civil rights movement during that time, I understood these struggles and empathized with their emotions. I lived it with them. And understood their passion and zeal. It felt real.
It is a story about twin brothers. One good and the other one bad. In other words, Black and White. The irony and the symbolism of which one is considered good and which one bad was not lost on me and I felt even stronger as an American with all of our own continuous inequalities staring us in our faces every day. Black and White are twin brothers, and both are played by Gun Phunsawat. His dual role performances were nothing short of remarkable and I shall have something more to say about his astonishing performances a bit later. In a metaphysical sense, they have a very strong connection to each other on many levels. White has grown-up with his father while Black has grown up with this mother.
While the physical connection between the two have been lost for years, they can literally feel each other’s near death occurrences. Suddenly While senses his brother being beaten and can feel and see what he is experiencing. Black is beaten up so badly that he is in a coma. Since no one knows that Black has an exact twin, White decides to become Black to discover who was responsible for his brother’s beating. Along this journey, White begins to recognize that Black is an angry, broken, bitter, and anti-social individual but has a cause that he deeply believes in and is willing to die for it. His methods of trying to achieve those goals are clandestine and stealthy and illegal. Almost by de-facto he is a leader of a band of misfits who struggle to maintain a connection to each other.
Undoubtedly, none of them would be real friends except for each of them have their own personal commitment to what they all believe in. White as Black, must become him yet not lose his own identify and principles.
Slowly, he begins to get a picture of his brother and who he is and yet is wily enough to begin to change the direction of the group from becoming too surreptitious. In that process, he becomes drawn to Black’s nemesis in the group, Sean (Off Adulkittiporn). Initially, Sean is confused by the changes in Black, but he too begins to become drawn to the new Black. This begins their unlikely love story. While unfolding, it all seems destined to be so, no matter the obstacles.
The production and screenwriting allowed these two to develop this relationship in an astonishing soft way in a world of chaos and mayhem. This love story is one of the finest BL love stories told on film. It is a thing of beauty to watch with all its rawness, grittiness, pain, and realism.
Within all the madness of what they are trying to do, others around them are also trying to get at the ‘establishment’ as well. One of those was a tagger artist by the name of Unar (Fluke Caskey). Yok (First Puitrakul), another member of this gang saved Unar when one of their missions goes awry. Yok becomes intrigued as to who Unar is and wants to recruit him for their cause. Through this process, they fall in love but are faced with painful realities of decisions that affect, perhaps negatively, their relationship and love. Their love story is full of pitfalls and tribulations. It too is also masterfully shown through great production and incredible screen writing. There relationship is challenged to a breaking point in order to save it. That is an almost incalculable emotional toll.
A third love story is a story of unrequited love of Gam (Mond Wijitvongtong) another member of this gang, for Eugene, Black’s girlfriend (Film Mahawan). This story has a number of twists and turns involving the fake Black, the real Black, and the dynamics among them all. It is a beautify story told with surprising sensitivity and tenderness in the end. The grittiness to this series is astonishing.
The struggles these guys are going through are relatable to many places around the world with the USA certainly on that list as well. I felt their anger and resentment towards injustice, and their frustration of those in power who never see anyone or anything that is not in their sphere. It brought back those days for me when I felt the same as them. While not as involved as these guys were, I fully understand and if I knew then what I know now, I would be one of them. These are their postulations that are the themes to their actions:
1. Social injustice exists everywhere in many different forms and in many different ways. It is no comfort to see that powerful people everywhere do not see, care, or want to change for the betterment of the lives of so many people who have not. I had hopes that when I protested in the 60s here in the States that when I finally reached the age I am now, it would be a Utopian world. It is sad to see that little has improved. And is apparently universal.
2. So many that are supposed to be helped by a system inherently governing all, cares so little for those individuals with so little and stacks any kind of justice towards the haves, and never for the have-nots. Powerful people still literally manage to get away with murder with little to no impunity.
3. Gay rights and justice have a long, long way to go even in those countries where the buzz word of ‘freedom’ is bantered about like a volleyball. We are NOT free to love who we want without fear and prejudice, no matter where we live. Societies, cultures, family values, religions, and governments themselves still thwart what is natural in nature – love. This series bring that to light again and is emblematic around the world.
4. Yok’s mother is deaf, and this series does an astonishing job of showing, sometimes with subtlety but mostly openly, the discrimination of persons with a disability (or a perceived disability) face with employment, acceptance, and having a sense of worth. Those scenes were so powerful I wept deeply. I have worked over 40 years in the field of disabilities and know all too often the pain, the blatant discrimination, and ostracization these individuals go through. Yet still it is here.
5. Through all this pain, however, this series had hope and its coined phrase is a powerful one – ROL. Rule of Law. Dispensed with equality, fairly, and non-discriminatorily. Black says at one point, “Power is corrupting. Ideas are what have the power to transform society.” Let us never forgot that. They do indeed. They do indeed.
Who really S.T.O.L.E. this series? This is an exceptionally well-acted series. So many of these performers have been in other BLs but this one gives them a chance to perform and sink their teeth into more intensive meaningful roles. And they all, without exception, displayed brilliant performances. But one actor does an exceptional job as both Black and White. And that is Gun Phunsawat. Having to play two parts in and of itself is not easy but to literally play a mirror of a character was exceptional. He had to be “Black” yet not lose himself in the role or become a clone of him. He had to share some of his traits but not necessarily the same personality characteristics. When playing both parts together, the nuances of differences between them were evident. Mostly in his body language. He had an astonishing way of distinguishing White completely, Black completely, and White as Black completely, all displayed within the subtlety with his eyes and facial features. White made Black’s character his own yet maintained his essence. It was astonishing to watch. It is worth watching this series just to watch his growth as Black within While’s body. I cannot say enough about his performance. Kudos!
I have gotten carried away with this series. As you watch it, its message creeps into your subconscious and it takes over you. You just do not see their pain, you feel it. While you may perhaps want to embrace the futility of what they are doing in trying to create a message of hope, I admired the direct actions of trying to do something to awaken the public’s lack of perception of injustice. I applaud the production company for making a themed BL series not focused solely on BL but on social issues and comradery.
Please watch this series. It will affect you if you have any empathy for the plight of those who have not, no matter how you define that term. This assuredly will be on my Top 10 list and is also vying for ‘Best’ of 2022. If you want romance, stuffed animals, and contrived breakups, move on. If you want to see reality and watch kisses of love between two guys that show an honest connection and true passion, then this is for you. They were not afraid to go in both places. An extraordinary series!
Leave a Reply