BLISS RATING: ★+
“Cry. Forgive. Learn. Move on. Let your tears water the seeds of your future happiness.” – Steve Maraboli
If this series had learned from the above quote, perhaps it would not have ended up so messy and dysfunctional. To be truthful, it is one of the worst series I have ever seen. Disastrous screenplay that made no sense. Bad acting. No chemistry. Disjointed story. In other words, just plain awful. It went around using the same trope, cliché-filled lines, and themes that I literally got bored out of my mind.
It is a story about Pat (Ben Bunyapol) who gets a job at a company after a stint in the United States. It starts out rather cutely with him spilling coffee on his new boss’s shoes. His new boss, named Jeng (Man Trisanu), is the son of the owner of the company. As handsome as he is, his personality is equally dull. For someone so visible in the company, his affect is so flat and bland, that at times he becomes so monotonous to listen to, although well-groomed. In other words, he had no personality. Admittedly, he was controlled by his father, and seemed unable to break away from his domination or unable to seize a personality of his own until near the end of this series. By then, it is too late. Multi-talented, he is simply unable to step out of his comfort zone to show off his personality.
For reasons that I cannot fathom, he takes a liking to Pat, and the story is their on-again-off-again-on again saga that goes through many trials and tribulations. We see a lot of whining, almost endlessly so from Pat that is distracting and annoying and shows a complete lack of maturity. A lot of these Bls rely on drinking to get through plots holes and this is no exception. There is a lot of drinking and a lot of ‘almost drunk’ sex that never is. Honestly, while I am no prude, someone needs to have a long discussion with the producers in the overuse and heavy reliance on drunk scenes to get through the plot pitfalls in these series. It is getting old and wearisome. I am beginning to think that there is a serious alcohol problem in Thailand.
If you are looking for romance in this series, it is best to move on. There is little here. Some ogling. Pretending to be couples. Eye contacts and occasional hand holding but a few kissing scenes that not even a mother would blush about. It is quite sanitized.
There are only two incidents in this entire series that are handled with any type of sensitivity and even with those, it is done with such speed, there is no real depth to them. The one that had potential is with Jeng’s brother, Jaab (Saint Paramee) who is an astonishingly handsome young man with very strong features. He develops intense feelings for a friend and co-worker of his, Jen (Wind Theerameth) who is in a relationship with someone else, which is not a particularly healthy one. While on a work outing, both succumb to temptation but realize the timing and circumstances are all wrong. But by the time both realize what they must do to finally rectify their feelings for one another, it is too late, and circumstances dictate that both must take different directions.
However, the routes that were taken were so sloppily executed and choppy and uneven, it all felt so contrived. But it nonetheless did have a certain realness to the feel even if for a brief moment; way more than the main couple ever did or could. As usual, it all stems from the inability to communicate with any kind of clarity or openness.
Who really S.T.O.L.E. this series? Which now leads to who really is the main star in this series and the character who had a rather deep impact on me. That was Put (Up Poompat), the former boyfriend of Pat. For sure, he had some questionable behaviors from the past concerning Pat but given who Pat is and the intensity of Pat, it is no wonder why he would want to escape from his constant whining and cringey and clingy behavior. While not completely faultless, he acknowledges his shortcomings and tries to make amends. Yet throughout he is constantly looked at in a somewhat villainous fashion. Still, he is always asked to bail someone or some situation out because of his celebratory status in life. His portrayal of the misunderstood celebrity who is unhappy, sad, seemingly alone and miserable shines through yet is believed by no one. He is looked at as being privileged but I thought he was indeed lonely, quite a sad figure, unhappy and looking for love and acceptance with people always wanting something from him. He was always willing to give it. Even if he felt he was being used. His was a painful story often misunderstood and thought of as being nefarious but ironically, I felt everyone else was more so than him. I felt profoundly sorry for his character and his treatment. Up’s portrayal is just the right combination of pathos and torment that took him from villain to hero in a quiet almost imperceptive fashion and helped put into perspective the actual relationship between Pat and Jeng. I thought his performance in this series was one of the best and is one of the best supporting roles I have seen in a BL in a long time. Kudos and well done.
Let us get into the nitty-gritty of this series. This series went absolutely nowhere. It meandered about with a lot of caricatures, some of whom were not very likeable, i.e., Jeng’s parents, and certainly the oddities of Pat’s family. But they were not the problem as much as they were irritating. What was the problem was the incomprehensible storyline. It literally made no sense to me. I know there are always issues with translations from one language to another, but it was obvious that what was happening in this series was they were parroting phrases in English, trying to make them sound intelligent and relevant but they were not. It sounded so robotic to me as if they were hurriedly trying to say the lines before they forgot them. This is not how people talk, especially if you have some proficiency in a language. You must have some intonation and inflection of the language for it to have meaning otherwise it merely sounds rehearsed.
Overall, this was, I am sorry to say, poorly acted. Perhaps Man is a good actor, but it was certainly not evident here. He acted too robotic, with a flat affect and pretty much unemotional. In a few instances, where he was given free reign to let loose, he was surprisingly animated in emotions and believable but honestly, I could hardly tell any of his emotions, good or bad, one from the other.
Ben was a work in frustration. He can be a bit more animated but never veered from what he knows he is comfortable with and never got deeper into his character. Why do I say this? Well, after a two-year hiatus, he looked, acted, and behaved much like he did before he took his 2-year leave from the company. Did he not grow? Did he not learn? It is as if he just left last week.
I have seen some reunions that would bring the house down. This one was a snooze fest. After two years, they barely hugged, did NOT kiss, and did not shed one tear even though there was a pretense of crying. I have said this before, and I shall say it over and over again. If you cannot feign crying, either real tears or fake ones, you should not be an actor. If you can not do a love scene, you should not be an actor. These two guys could do neither with any type of effectiveness or believability. There was no chemistry or connections. I never believed they were a couple and that last episode with all that house-playing was utter nonsense and was a waste of screen time. I would love to have seen that time used for a reunion between Jen and Jaab, a way more interesting and animated coupling. (I literally fast-forwarded through the last episode with great haste).
This series was disappointingly bad, incoherent, insulting to its audience, loveless, and one of the least romantic BLs in a long time. Yet it also had a figure who was genuinely repentant of what he did, constantly tried to make up for his errors and mistakes, yet, still seemed to be projected as a villain. You have a rich rather indecisive individual who is gay and will never meet his father’s expectations yet still too timid to stand up to him (or his family) with any kind of real fortitude and a partner who quick-tempered, impulsive, and righteous and rather judgmental before knowing all the facts, and, in my opinion, might be prone to having a drinking problem. A cautious tale indeed as Put tried to warn.
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