BLISS RATING: ★★★★
“Habits change into character.” – Ovid
Consequentially, the concept that it takes 21 days to form a habit, is a endearing premise and they used this notion to make a great BL story. This story is based upon this premise that it takes 21 days to form a habit. Not to burst anyone’s bubble, but scientifically, it takes anywhere from 18 to 254 days to form a habit, based on information from www.healthline.com. But I am not here to squelch a very good ‘love’ story, or should I say ‘love’ stories.
This story is not unique, but its presentation certainly is. With the knowledge that it takes only 21 days to form a habit, a smart, intelligent student decides to test that theory. X (Bever Jansuppakitkun) is a popular individual who is up for several awards at this school. He is asked by Mook (Bambam Ketawattananon), the most popular girl in the school and a net idol, to go to an event with her. But X turns her down and asks her to assist him in trying to win someone over in the 21 days he has left before he must fly to Japan. So, he manipulates Q (Tee Sunantham) into thinking he can win her over to being her date and if he does, he will win a bet with X. Since Q is a rather hot-headed individual, he greedily accepts (without knowing the outcome of losing a bet), and the web is now woven for Q to spend more time with X with the hope he will learn to like X, as much as he likes Q from afar.
There is nothing very suspenseful or frankly novel about this pursuit except that it is so endearing and cute that I fell for it. It is on the strength of these two actors who made this silly romp, fun to watch. They have astonishingly good chemistry together.
Q has two best friends who are as charming and innocent as he is. One is Toy (Prat Itthichaicharoen) who is the mediator between Q and Mook in this scheme to win her over. However, he ends up as well as her having strong feelings for each other. A rather charming story even if it is predictable. What makes it charming is also the great chemistry between these two leads and it is so much fun to watch as their attraction to each other grows slowly but exponentially.
His other friend, Frank (Bigboom Sahguansin), has another type of ‘love’. We are led to believe that his special relationship with Mind, (Bell Jitpreedasakul) is one of physical attraction but it is not. Instead, he feels a sisterly love for Mind as he lost his older sister, who would have been around Mind’s age, due to an illness, and so he feels a special bond with her and thus his aim and desire and focus is to become a doctor. Again, this special relationship works because of the great chemistry that these two had on screen as well. This story is poignantly told.
Overall, this is an astonishingly well-acted series with a strong ensemble cast and perfect rhythm and timing that makes the dialogue feel natural and original.
Who really S.T.O.L.E. this series? All the main actors and actress deserve this distinction but for me who shines out the most is Sarawut Sirphet as Q’s Uncle Man. He is gay and lives with his sister, who is Q’s mother. He lives with her as his family could not accept his gayness. He provides just enough guiding light for Q to see where his heart lies and gives him the wisdom and counseling from the perspective of being gay himself. He also helps Q’s mother to not try to interfere with Q’s feelings. While well meaning, his mother is naturally concerned about all the issues that comes with her son being gay. But in the end, she is supportive. Uncle Man also teaches Q a valuable lesson about being jealous without fully understanding why or the forces that are driving him to being so jealous. Uncle Man warns Q to not overreact and to explore all the facts and listen before responding. Sarawut does a great job of the supportive uncle you all wish you had if you were growing up gay. It is remarkably soft yet poignant role with tremendous impact on how this story goes. Kudos for taking a throw-away role and making it not only integral to the story but adding a complete sense of reality to the character.
As you can read, I loved this series a lot, but one thing stops me from giving this series a much higher rating. Q gets angry with X, thinking, without logical reasoning or listening, that X manipulated him into liking him and in a fit of anger, hits X. Please, please stop reinforcing this notion that one can resort to physical abuse to display anger towards another, especially when that anger is completely unjustified. Remember, these series are in the forefront of trying to change society’s minds and thought processes of gay people and gayness in general. We just cannot continue to show that bursts of anger can be shown by physicality. They cannot be and should not be. I understand the emotion. However, I do not understand, nor will I ever, the need to physically take anger out onto another individual other than for self-defense. And for any series whose aim is tolerance and acceptance to continue to show that physical abuse, especially in fits of anger, is somehow tolerable, is unacceptable and is making a serious mistake.
Overall, this is a very entertaining series. Short. To the point, but surprisingly effective. This was all due because of the astonishing chemistry that they all had with each other. This was fun and except for that slip of unjustifiable stupidity in displaying a wrong response, this would have been an exceptional series.
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