BLISS RATING: ★★★★★
“What is love? Love is the absence of judgement.” – Dalai Lama
This is an phenomenally comprehensive and all-encompassing tale of family dynamics – of the ugly type. It is a lakorn of Biblical proportions. And it was so much fun to watch that I did not realize how much time I actually invested in completing this series. By the end of it, I actually began to ‘feel’ for this family, and soon found myself sympathizing with their plight. Overall, this is a good series that tackled some thought-provoking concepts.
The whole plot is way too complicated to summarize but its main focus is on two individuals who happen to be brothers but from different mothers. The major plot centers around the oldest brother, Thian (Film Kawila), who is to become the head of a business association that his family organized many years ago. The problem is Thian is gay. He has known he was ‘different’ from an early age. Unfortunately, years ago, another business partner of this association was ‘outed’ as being gay and having a lover, which forced him to commit suicide in front of the entire family.
Upon dying, he cursed Thian’s father, Song, (Saksit Tangthong), to someday know what his suffering was like and the pain he has had to endure simply because being gay is enough of a reason to exclude you from leadership and any role in the association. Li (Pock Mittiraroch) , now the number one wife of Song witnessed this suicide as well and it has been imprinted into her memory and becomes the driving force for her actions.
Something while watching an opera while a child awakens in Thian that makes him feel different. Along with his mother and her matron, know of his secret as well, and have committed their entire lives to protecting Thian from this curse and assure no one would find out this ‘secret’ and expose Thian to any danger.
The younger brother, Yang, (Tongtong Kanogtorn), has been close to Thian since childhood and are inseparable. They are devoted to each other and have a very special bond that is intense and unbreakable. Both would quite literally give up their life to save the other. Throughout this series, this special bond only strengthens even more so when Yang realizes that Thian is gay. It is a stunning and beautifully unshakeable relationship these two brothers have with each other, even if they are only half-brothers.
By chance, Thian meets a stunningly handsome commoner named Jiu (Jam Hampanont) who is streetwise with questionable virtue because he has been forced to work for a rather unscrupulous partner of this association. Nevertheless, the two are fated to be drawn to each other and eventually fall in love. Which of course is a forbidden love. To protect her son from anyone finding out he is gay drives Li to plot and scheme for their silence with included their elimination.
On the other hand, Yang’s mother, Jan (Panward Hemmanee), since she is the ‘second wife’ has had a long-standing dislike and rival with Li. She becomes an irritant and is continuously trying to disrupt Thian from becoming the head of the association. She is constantly plotting to get her own son, Yang, in that position. Yang is not like Thian and has no interest in being in charge of the association. Eventually with her spying network, she soon gets a hint that Thian has some kind of secret that could tumble him from becoming the next leader. It now becomes her mission to find out what that is and expose it. Like Li, she will do just about anything unscrupulous to get her son in that position.
For while, this continuous bantering to try and find out the ‘secret’ is fun but so much time is focused on that issue, that the story gets twisted into knots trying to extrapolate what is the secret. There are so many hints, clues, and innuendos given but no one seemingly can deduce from the obvious. Seriously? Those who are most vested in trying to find out, never concludes the apparent which makes them dumber than a box of rocks. Too much time was spent on this fool’s errand.
Who really S.T.O.L.E. this series? Honestly, the acting in this series was superlative. They took an implausible story and made it seem genuine and to a degree surprisingly believable. All the women in this series deserve this distinction by far. They controlled the narrative, were both the antagonist and protagonist, and ended up becoming the heroines of the story. Kudos to all of them. One particularly is noteworthy. Mille Kittivat Kirn as Phin is memorable. She plays the betrothed to Thian but becomes astute enough to sense how unworkable that relationship would be. In addition, she wants to marry for love. By chance, Yang falls madly in love with her and she with him. Her role becomes pivotal in balancing all the craziness and plotting going on by all sides. She also figures out on her own what Thian’s secret is and keeps it to herself and becomes supportive of the relationship between Thian and Jiu because it is simply the right thing to do. To have that kind of power and knowledge and do the right thing with it rather than be mercenary about it shows a dignity in character that is outstanding. This character was elevated with solemnity and grace, and it showed brilliantly. All the women in this series were outstanding performers and each deserve special kudos.
There are really three parts to this series. The first part is getting to know these characters, of which there are many. The second part is the ridiculous journey to discovering the secret and, when some do, covering up their untimely disappearances. It got that you needed a road map to see where this was going. The third part was simply fabulous and extraordinary. Here is where the story begins to become cohesive and where there are some outstanding cabals.
Is it all believable? Well, no but it sure was so much fun to watch. And through all of this, the relationship between Thian and Jiu only intensifies.
I admired this series a lot, but it tended to get lost in its own plot. What made it unique, however, is the special relationship that existed between Yang and Thian. That bond is really a thing of beauty to watch. It was not only one of respecting each other as brothers, but it showed the intensity of unconditional love for each other despite both mothers being bitter rivals. This is the closest I have even seen that clearly defines the term bromance. They never let that cloud their relationship. While the relationship with Thian and Liu was never really shown intensely, it did not need to be. These two actors had an intrinsic connection to each other that made them feel as if they were in love. Their screen chemistry is one of the best I have ever seen. The softness when they looked at each other and the gentleness and sweetness when they interacted with one other, superimposed believability that I felt they were indeed in love. I also could feel on an emotional level how strong that relationship is. That is truly a work of art.
However, I do wish the relationship between Yang and Phin had been more intense rather than just superficial through most of the series. They had a certain chemistry, but their intensity was never allowed to fully blossom.
The plot at times was silly. The spying and the ‘just happen to be in the right spot coincidentally’ was way overdone. But its message was clear, profound, and meaningful. In one scene when in a dream state, Song is visited by Zhang. Zhang explains to Song that all he wanted is what he had given everyone else, and that was, “Respect”. And this series was a noble intent to do just that. Seeing love, no matter with whom, is and should be respected and honored and celebrated. Good job in getting that message out in a very entertaining way!
Honestly, I was surprised how impactful this series was on me. Throughout there were times that I cried and felt deeply the various connections to one another be they between brothers, husband and wife, lovers, and even business partners.
Almost tongue-in-cheek, it never got flippant. And in the end, I felt its message a good deal harder than I was expecting to. Despite its silly plot at times, it self-corrected and became for me one of the better BLs for 2022.
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