BLISS RATING: ★★★★+
“Oh, what I tangled web we weave when we first practice to deceive.” – Sir Walter Scott
Perhaps because I am older, I love the sense of an Agatha Christie novel coming to life. And I for one thoroughly enjoyed this series and am willing to gloss over its many faults to give it a good rating. And it has a lot of faults to be sure.
This series starts out so beautifully with an ensemble cast to ogle and fantasize about. Beautiful boys, and girls. Stunning clothes. A luxurious mansion to live in and a story told I am sure is not too far from the kernels of reality. It presents the world of movie/TV making under what I am assuming is similar to the old contract system in Hollywood. A house filled with prima donnas and/or wanabe actors/actress under the management and direction of a company. It is ruled by a head mistress named Miss Susie (Rudklao Amratisha), an iron fisted dogmatic individual with seemingly has little to smile about and herself hides a very dark past. Some of her dogmatic rules are based upon her own sad experiences. She also has her watchful minions keeping a close eye on any shenanigans in the house.
Be warned that there are a lot of characters in this series with a lot of unequal time among them and frankly disproportionate importance. Initially, somewhat confusing, they later simply blurred into one unit. Each individual has his/her own foibles and traumas, and these are explored to some degree or another. Though not really friends per se, the intrigue amongst some of them sometimes is a thing of beauty to watch, especially when it comes to the antics of Korn (New Nanthipat), his contracted girlfriend, Mintra (Oaey Theerawan), and his love/lust interest, Pawin (Double Tupthep).
Who really S.T.O.L.E. this series? Unquestionably, the gentlest and least baneful couple in the house is Wayu (Namchok Thanon) and Waha (Heng Thatpong). Wayu sees Wahu struggling and offers to help him navigate the tricky road to stardom. And in so doing more than a spark develops between them. Indeed, it is a slow burn initially and is really the only serious relationship we see developed before our eyes that had a beginning, a middle and an end. It was soft, genteel, and nicely developed and we saw some great character development and a natural progression to lovers with them unhesitatingly comfortable in kissing that seemed natural, unrehearsed, and who Wayu and Waha were. And the characters were individuals of fortitude and integrity. They were willing to sacrifice their careers to remain together. Kudos to making these characters seem like real people and relatable and well, human.
This story waxes and wanes a lot and frankly it is hard to follow at times. Editing is challenging to follow as it skips around in timelines without much notice or transition. The intrigue is deliciously evil at times and so sinister. But to pull that off, you have to make it entertaining and provocative. The acting needs to enhance that plot. Here, the acting was either spot on or not, and unfortunately most of the time it was not. It was amateurish, boorish, and boring. The story was way more complex than it needed to be and convoluted in an already convoluted story. I love mystery and who-done-it plots, but the story needs to flow smoothly so we are able to connect the dots. It looked at times, that even the actors/actresses did not know what the plot was. The only exception to that was Wayu and Waha as they seemed on their own and away from the others. In essence, they had their own story.
To get into the weeds on the individual characters would require a novel. Despite its disjointed story, its crazy plot, an introduction of a non sequitur character so late into the series (Susies’s son that seemingly was a ‘red herring’ or not, rather sloppy acting in many places, I STILL enjoyed this series).
Perhaps it was the feel of the lifestyle that we think of as a fairytale only to realize that it is far uglier than we imagine and perhaps not necessarily brimming with happiness as we envision. I am a person who enjoys seeing the other side of reality for which I might have dreamt I wanted only to realize their lives may not be as glamorous as I think they are. There is an uglier side to that world as well.
There is a deepness and a sadness in this series that is manifested in an act towards the end that pushes one of them to the limit of madness and creates an untenable almost perfect crime. I thoroughly enjoyed this series and felt that I was watching an Agatha Christie novel if she had written one about the BL world.
Pure escapism. Pure enjoyment despite its flaws.
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