BLISS RATING: ★
“Wherever the art of medicine is loved, there is also a love of humanity.” – Hippocrates
I do not even know where to begin. Usually, I can find something positive to say about a series, but in this case, I am breaking that rule. This is one of the worst all around BL series I have ever seen. How I ever finished it is still a mystery. Maybe it was all the alcohol that I drank to get me through it. This series had it all: bad acting, incoherent story, no plot, no sense of connection from and to anyone, and the pièce de résistance, no romance. If you are looking for a love story, this is not it.
I am not sure I can even summarize the story as it jumped all over the place with nothing ever seemingly related. It centered around a young man named Milk (Son Ravisut). How does one describe Milk? Of all the characters in this series, he actually had a personality. Not a likeable one, but he did display one. He is a whinner, insensitive, melodramatic, caustic, disingenuous, but someone who is smart and can be very calculating. He hurt his back (the exact reason why is lost in the weeds now) and needs physical therapy to recover.
In walks Dr. Pun (Petch Jakkaphet). How does one describe Pun? Think of the antithesis of excitement, dynamism, full of energy, decisiveness, talkative, and emotional. If you wrap all of that up, then that just begins to describe him. Throw in a good measure of dullness, flat affect, aimlessly walking around with a silly smile, then you have a more complete picture of his character. (In addition to be the worst dressed person in this series). These two dynamos are the center of this story. And thus begins their insufferable, agonizingly boring, and tedious journey to finding love for each other or I think that is the case. Along the way, I seem to recall some sort of dog they are looking after that gets lost, they look for it, find it, and the dog helps solidify their relationship. Or I think it does but maybe I am mixing BL plots together. Oh dear.
Anyway, others float in and out in various scenarios and as the story moves incoherently along with the exact reason why they are all together becoming less and less clear. Situations come up and everyone falls apart when they do but I could never quite figure out why. In the first few episodes, there was a point as it did seem to center around the development of a relationship between Milk and Pun. But as the ambiguity drags on, it becomes more and more pointless and unfocused with no clear goal. It is a bag of bumbling buffoonery. As the story expanded, I needed more and more booze to even begin to figure out the story, where it is going, let alone any idea of its point. I gave up and simply used this series as an excuse to drink.
The editing of this series is the worst I have ever seen. This is no consistency, continuity, or even an attempt to tell any kind of coherent story. Let me give you just two examples of how bad this series from a story telling and editing point of view:
1. Towards the end, the story jumps 5 years (with no rational for that jump. Milk and Pun now have a child living with them that he each calls Dad. No explanation as to how that happened. He is just there. What happened in that 5 years is anyone’s guess. There is finally an explanation at the end when we find out that Milk’s sister apparently dropped him off and they raised him. Huh? What? It is apparent that even within that 5-year gap, they still have not consummated their relationship because they display no sign of affection and pretty much thwart any attempt to become amorous.
2. Pun asks Milk to marry him, with him proposing to Milk at a dinner party with all their friends. Pun slips a ring on Milk’s finger and Milk displaying his typical reactionary emotions, looks at him blanketly, impassively, and stoically replies with what is translated as a yes, although I did not hear the exact wording but a quick nod. When the gathering screams, “KISS’, Pun attempts to kiss Milk on the lips but Milk squints his eyes and contorts his face as if he is in unbearable pain and with true to form display of Pun’s passive nature, gives in to this childish behavior and quickly kisses him on the cheek as if to do otherwise would cause his lips to burn. This is the highest point of romance in this series.
At this point, I had to take an extra drink, so I would not throw myself out of my bedroom window screaming, “Put me out of my misery” as I fell to my death. While Milk wears the ring, there is nothing on Pun’s finger. I am guessing that whole extra scene had to be deleted from the series.
This entire series is replete with these non-sequitur scenes like these two.
I am not sure if it was just bad translation but, at least in English, the dialogue with the story made no sense and did not seem to match the scenes. In addition to the less than adequate translations, the story became more and more incomprehensible, unconnected, twisted, and finally it drops off into complete opacity. It is just snippets of irrelevant dribble.
In addition, only one person in this entire series displayed any type of growth and actual character development. Ake (Q Nattaphop), who was Milk’s former lover and a founding member of Milk’s company. Ake has depression and surprisingly this series did an acceptable job of explaining what that is and how to cope with it as friends. While it felt a bit rushed at times, the outline of what needs to be done was good and all his friends treated him respectively and accepted him back with open arms and support. And for that, they deserve some kudos.
Who really S.T.O.L.E. this series? Honestly, this is some of the worst acting I have ever seen. However, I do not necessarily think it is completely coming from the performers. I place the blame on the poor direction of this series. There were so many consistently long pauses in the dialogues that it appeared as if the direction was to wait before responding. None of these people brought any personalities to their characters. There were all so one-dimensional. Milk and Pun remained Milk and Pun, never changing. No connection; no chemistry; no romance and no love shown at all. Some played their parts a bit more effectively but certainly not standing out or even memorable. For all except one. That was Punnathorn Pornprasit as Nammon. He was the young boy adopted by Pun and Milk. He was adorable, precocious, and the only one who was real and genuine. He was a kid! And he was sincere. When he hugged Pun and called him Dad, I believed him. (However, his relationship with Milk seemed very distant and not very warm. Not surprising, as Milk throughout this series shows very little warmth towards others).
There is no point going on bashing this series. I think you get the point. For me, however, what got me the most upset was the fact that this was a story primarily focused on a love between two men. But that did not happen. It was motionless, non-romantic, and a bungle through banality. Worst of all, the whole series displayed no sense of intimacy at all. God knows there was no connection between the characters of Milk and Pun and zero chemistry either between those characters or the actors who played them. Further, to deliberately thwart moves to show any intimacy or even a simple kiss on the lips is unacceptable and inexcusable.
Moreover, to show and make cringey facial expressions every single time when trying to kiss, especially from the person your purport to love, cheapened the whole image of love between two men and therefore made the visualization of gay desire feel dirty and therefore should not be shown. They became afraid to show even the slightest display of affection or intimacy. Whether the actors were themselves unwilling to play the part of lovers, or the director put a kibosh on any sense of connection, I do not care. The message is clear. It is wrong to show any form of romance, intimacy, or connection between two men other than on an acceptable intellectual basis displayed only by innuendo and inference.
I hated and loathed this series. It degraded gay relationship, cheapened the whole idea of gay romance as acceptable, and implied that if any of that were to be displayed openly, it would be inappropriate and offensive. This series led to the one emotion that I, perhaps along with many other gays, have tried so hard to tamp down, overcome, and destroy because it is so painful to feel – SHAME.
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