BLISS RATING: ★★★★
“Love songs we listen to in high school are the test love songs ever. Because they are original soundtracks of our first loves.” – Quote from My School President
This rather astute line is from the tail end of this long-drawn-out coming-of-age comedy/melodrama of high school. This apothegm is quite adept and reflective of this whole series. It is a walk through a nostalgic path of high school memories. There is not much to summarize about this series.
It is another high school romp involving a bunch of misfit boys in the music club who are categorized as not serious and rule breakers (they really are not bad at all). But they are very serious when it comes to their music. This group is led by Gun (Fourth Jirochtikul). Gun is a born leader who at times is a bit unfocused by always aiming to be better and subsequently the band becoming better. He is indeed charismatic, charming, and adorably cute. He ‘fights’ the system to try and feel recognized and acknowledged.
Along the way, the new School President, Tinn (Gemini Titicharoenrak), seemingly is against the club and him, yet is not. All along Tinn has had a major crush on Gunn and desperately wants to be his boyfriend. Tinn is intelligent, reserved, focused, and has a flat affect about him but oh so adorably cute and handsome. While his mother is the principal, he does not see things exactly like she does. He of course is fixated and focused on only one thing – Gun.
This is an adorable and cute story of their relationship. The two actors have a natural chemistry together and are a ‘cute’ couple. Of course, they are thwarted along the way from kissing or being a couple for the usual tropey and non-tropey reasons that really, really got old. I am well aware of their ages when they began production. These two carried the series with such great acting, I could spend days watching them interact on their more treasured level. They took a mediocre plot and a very weak story and ran with it on the strength of their acting. This is not to say that there are not other endearing moments throughout this series. The interactions with Gun and his mother and Tinn and his family are endearing and captivating.
In fact, dare I say, that the last two episodes (especially Episode 11) are some of the finest acting individually and as in an ensemble I have seen in a Thai series in a long time. They were able to capture the essence of this story, which was not really about the band, but the camaraderie and kinship of the group. At the end, they realized that is all they had but what a treasure it was. We get to see the reflective, pensive, and beauty of a group of guys simply being guys together like a second family who will no doubt later in life only remember the good things they did and fun times they had. It was rather wistful and retrospect and oh so beautifully done.
I appreciated the intensity of their deep connections with each other. That does not perhaps happen very often in life, and it was a joy to see a wholesome, realistic, and truthful example of a bonding between young men that is special.
Who really S.T.O.L.E. this series? This is most assuredly a coming-of-age series that is done tastefully and with some effort to detail. The acting is very good, not just from the main actors, but all of the supporting cast. They held their own and were believable and of course all cute. Fourth and Gemini did a commendable job in pulling off rather complex characterizations. And the singing in this series was passible and better than most. But who outshined for me was Mark Kunaanuwit as Tinn’s best friend and confidant, Thiu. I found his interpretation of his part remarkably steady and consistent and always present. He knew what was going on between Gunn and Tinn and was supportive and encouraging. This is a very vital role to the story as he is the kingpin that keeps all sides in check and in order and moving. His character is steady and consistent and never once did I get a sense that he was playing second fiddle to anyone. That is hard to accomplish as it could look like he was being manipulated by everyone. But he literally was in control. And towards the end, when there is perhaps a hint of a romance with another band member, I enjoyed that subtlety. We never see if fully developed and perhaps it never would, but his portrayal of this character was so realistic that honestly, I found him critical to the story. Hopefully, he can become a leading actor in one of these series himself. His range of acting is quite good.
Surprisingly, the romance between the lead guitarist, Sound (Satang Sereevichayasawat) and Yo (Captain Koolkang) was way more believable and intense for me. Mainly because they were able to maintain themselves as individuals and showed a sexual tension between the two that is more likely to happen between two teenage boys. It was more of a slow burn with a realization of how unsure they were that this thing would work. I liked that as the dynamics were not so cute and were way more realistic, i.e., constant arguing, but also caring for each other in very subtle ways, etc. And they were willing and wanting to work on it.
This is a ‘cute’ story and hard to dislike and makes you feel good, actually. I became rather pensive watching this series because it creates an environment for you to ponder what those days were like. But honestly, this series in another sense is also a disappointment. Let me try and explain:
1. It has endless and I mean endless tropes in it. Too many to even mention.
2. The lack of being able to show any bond between Gunn and Tinn was unwarranted and showed the inadequacy of the screenwriting that they could not make it suitable. And that storyline droned on endlessly and became silly and contrived. It simply was not entertaining.
3. Even when the relationship was ‘obvious’, I never bought Gunn’s and Tinn’s relationship. There was no sense of affinity or feeling. Sure, there is a closeness, even a devotion to one another, but no perception of a natural attraction. It worked better for me as a bromance than a romance. The magnanimous gestures by Tinn of ‘waiting’ for Gunn is just too much of fairytales than reality. I wish the story had merely ‘flirted’ with a relationship but at the end, they knew it was fruitless and each would go on separately. Perhaps later in life, something could develop.
4. While Fourth and Gemini have good screen chemistry, I, sorry to say, did not buy their romantic connection at all. They are cute and adorable and had some powerful and meaningful dialogues between them, but there is just something distant about Gunn that felt off or indifferent. There is no sexual tension between the two of them. He always seemed to reserve some of his feelings back for Tinn. While he said the right things, it all rang hollow. Gun struck me as a character that had his sight focused on his future and his first and perhaps only love is music. Maybe that should have been the theme.
5. I am not a fan of music stories and less when they throw in dancing. It is all such a cliché. This of course is about music and the singing is passable for the most past and good in a few songs. I do not know who did the singing but some of the numbers were good while others were not. The problem I have with ‘music’ is its unevenness. The drums are too loud, the singing is off key, and the rest of the instruments are at a different tune or offbeat. None of that is pleasing or pleasant to the ears. The production aspect of trying to make music seem like a part of the story needs some serious work in these series and yet is in almost every one of them. For the most part, it is awful and you honestly need to hear that. And the dancing is even worse. This one was a bit better as they seemed more polished with coordinated routines, but it was obvious they were uncomfortable doing those numbers. The dance numbers need to be tightened up and rehearsed, rehearsed, and rehearsed. You need a dance coordinator.
This series is certainly entertaining and fun. It is obviously written from the perspective of nostalgia about high school and its message of acceptance, tolerance, and equality is loud and clear. And I might say commendable as it was also not too preachy. Where it shined the most were the scenes with the band members, especially the last two episodes. These guys can act and get deep if the story allows them to do so. That is its strength. Not the lightness of romance which for me did not work.
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