BLISS RATING: ★★★★
“Love is inclusive in its infinite diversity of expression.” – The Love Foundation
I do not know what drew me to watch this series. Perhaps it was the synopsis of three gay couples featured. Frankly this series was a bit under the radar. But I am glad I watched it. Certainly, this series was a mixed bag both in terms of emotions and story content. It matured and seasoned well towards the end except for one major flaw. Its editing left a lot to be desired. The story jumped and ebbed and flowed without a lot of consistency especially in its time jumps. The story became very uneven then. There are also great moments of brilliant directing and then periods of mundane, standard, and trite BL scenes. I wish the director would have pushed the actors to emit and emote a bit more emotions. I KNOW these actors are capable of displaying such emotions (as we did see episodic glimpses of strong emotions throughout), but for some reason I have yet to fathom, they seem to be have been directed not to.
Initially, the story starts out as almost every other Thai BL – in college. What made this exceptional were two circumstances. The first is the relationship between the guys. One was a senior while the other was a freshman. That was a nice twist as you got to see the perspectives from two different frames of reference. And from my advantage point, I found the freshman’s perspectives were surprisingly mature as opposed to the senior’s. And secondly, we had three principal couples. Not quite equal in terms of screen time but certainly in effectiveness.
My least favorite couple and the one with the most screen time was between Tupfah (Tae Kongsub) and Torn (Suar Sripattiyanon). Surprisingly the younger account of their life story as friends was deeply moving and made that aspect feel more real. Tupfah instilled in Torn the love of basketball and in teaching that, also planted the seeds of love with him. While obviously not realizing that when they were young, as they got older Torn discerned the effect Tupfah had on him and his friendship for him only deepened and turned romantic.
Their love connection had a lot of twists and turns that confused me, and I found that all to be completely unnecessary. Rather than sticking to a story of how difficult it would be to develop a relationship between two rather good basketball players who were at different levels in their accomplished skills, they veered off into sometimes mundane and artificial stories. When they stuck to the development of their relationship, the scenes were brilliant and breathtaking. Plus, the added disadvantage that Tufah was a senior while Torn because of life’s circumstances, was only a freshman, adding a refreshing dimension to their relationship. The problem I had with their relationship was Tae playing Tufah too laconically and unemotionally. That manifested Tufah’s level of unavailability intrinsically thus driving a wedge between them that was so obvious. That seemed counterintuitive to who Tufah was. For me at least, there simply was no screen chemistry between the two as the two lacked any passion. Sure, there was a softness and a warmth between them when they professed their love for each other but only with a kind of superficial sensitivity that was only partially believable. I could not shake the belief that of the three couples, theirs was the least stable and the most vulnerable.
The second couple is sort of a mismatch but is nonetheless an astonishing and adorable couple. Saen (Boom Jiraratchakit) is defiantly the most forward of the two. As I freshman and exceptionally handsome, he immediately makes it clear the person who he is most interested in pursuing; that is Aii (Jump Yansukon), a senior. But Aii’s only focus is getting to study in Japan and is a novice when it comes to being in a relationship. Saen is a bit more worldly and pursues him almost relentlessly. Both seem to come from lonely places and when Saen tricks him into spending the night at his grandmother’s house who essentially raised him, the connection between them becomes magical and special and is one of the more believable love scenes to come out a Thai BL as of late. Their relationship is fraught with difficulties as Aii has been accepted to go to Japan. The intellectual part of him wants to go but the emotional part does not. In their own rather awkward way, they love each other. What is very likeable about this relationship is Saen is assuredly the more mature one as he constantly encourages Aii to pursue his dream of going to Japan. He will wait for him and convinces Aii that long distances relationships can work. He almost convinced me.
The third and by far the most interesting and to a degree the deepest one is between Dome (Kris Strickland) and Vee (Porsche Charoenratanaporn). Both these actors are drop-dead gorgeous and are so laid back in their performances. It is as if a veil envelopes them. The reason for their tempered relationship is because Dome is the boyfriend of Vee’s sister.
Without meaning for something to happen, it does. Dome begins to fall hard for Vee with Vee becoming equally attracted. But he knows and is cognizant of the relationship Dome has with his sister. Always and forever present to moderate their relationship. But Vee, the more levelheaded, does not pursue it even after Dome breaks up with his sister. It is just not the right time. As they aptly put it, it is the right person at the wrong time. The sister finds out about their attraction to each other (accidentally) and all of that is handled in a very adult and mature fashion and very realistic. I do wish these two would have been the major focus of this series as these two were so emotionally invested into their characters. When they were together and not even close to each other, you could still feel the sexual tension between the two. It conveyed an obvious sexual attraction. All very subtle but so good. I just loved watching these two and wanted more screen time to see their relationship grow. It was the least developed but the most impactful of all three relationships.
Who really S.T.O.L.E. this series? All these actors had some exceptional moments. I found Suar’s interpretation of Torn a bit unfocused but oh he is hard to keep your eyes from. His acting is so intensely personal that he gave his character of Torn life. He was always searching for love, especially love from Tupfah. That never wavered and you could always sense a love for him even when the relationship was at its weakest moments. Yet, when it comes to the intimate scenes, few in number, both actors, were awkward and certainly not believable. That intimate chemistry just did not exist. As mentioned, Kris and Porsche are the couple to beat. They had incredibly strong performances. So many of the supporting roles are the real stars in this series as well. Rattanachai Pakdeerat as Coach Tuan is a scene stealer. He is menacing and a character you love to hate. Winning at all costs is his mantra. Wave Knoo Pei-Cong as Coach Big provides a balance and a buffer between the stern lessons of Coach Tuan and the real meaning behind basketball being a team sport. And the role of Pan (Apple Lapisara Intarasut), Vee’s sister and girlfriend to Dome, was played with the right amount of emotional distress and pain without seemingly laying too much blame on either one as to what happened. It really was a beautiful performance. But who really shines like a beacon in this series is Fluke (performer unknown). This is an astonishing and unique role. Fluke is transitioning from a male to a female but still retains her basketball skills from her previous experience when she was on the team. Coach Big does not distinguish who can play on the Team so Fluke tries out and she is accepted. And accepted by her teammates and is thought of by all as a regular team player. I simply applaud this series for accepting, playing down, and making her role equal to all the other players. Thank you for giving her equality and a sense of purpose and achievement. Her soliloquy at one point explaining her desire to play and future plans was so realistic as she has accepted her place and is at peace with it. The role was played remarkably laid-back (as it should have) and was done with grace and dignity. I tip my hat to this series for this inclusion and how she performed it.
But what distracted from this series is the awkward acting and lack of commitment to displaying a modicum of depth to embracing romance. These BL series, now that they are prolific and are telling a story, need to intensify the relationships within the bounds of acceptability. You cannot have kissing scenes that only involve a peck on the cheek, or a ‘cold fish’ kiss, or lips that only graze one another. These are, for the most part, young men in their lustful years, and there has to be some sense of passion, horniness, or intensity for us to believe that they are, or want to be, or will be a couple. If this does not happen, then the series is a failure. I saw more intensity with the secondary couples than I did with the primary one. That to me is sad and frankly unacceptable. I want to feel they are indeed in ‘love’.
For me to fully immerse myself into the experienced, I need to feel something on both an intellectual level and an emotional one. I simply am not getting that. The couple that came the closest was Dome and Vee. I want their story to be next.
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