BLISS RATING: ★+
“My life looks perfect just because you are in it.” – Anonymous
Honestly, I do not think this series was deliberately trying to make itself look bad, but it sure ended up summarily looking that way. There seems to be a whole host of reasons for this. A bad script. Unchallenging acting. Really bad editing. And a story that is so full of stereotypical, overused, trite behavioral patterns that all it seemingly did was repeat itself over and over again. The characters never grew. Never matured. And the plot simply went from one silly scenario to another.
Bluntly, if you asked me what the story was about or where it was going, I could not tell you. It seemed pointless. Dull and drab. Perhaps its premise could have been interesting, it was never fleshed out or built upon to make us care, or even want to take notice.
Tin (Tiger Aekapol Saeheng) is a rather pathetic and sad figure who is supposed to be in college, but acts and is more mentally, junior high school. In a sense, this is understandable as his mother abandoned him at an early age, truly under awful circumstances. And therefore, mentally Tin never progressed from that point and everyone treated him and continued to treat him like a delicate flower or a fragile piece of glass, easily broken if he is not taken care of properly. He lives with and is cared for by Park (Run Kantheephop).
Park is a close family friend and took on the responsibility of raising Tin as he felt responsible for the death of Tin’s father, even though he had nothing to do with it. The father’s death was simply an accident. Yet, Park raises Tin as a brother but eventually as Tin gets older, deeper feelings awaken. Tin, on the other hand, has always been in love with Park. Perhaps initially as a protector but as time went on and as his sexual stirrings developed, he begins to see and want Park in a different reference. He is sexually attracted to him.
This is the story, which could have been a good one but with all the childish bantering and immature silliness throughout to try and make it funny, it became a farce and never took itself seriously enough to make it a good story. A story where Park should have wrestled more deeply with his feelings for Tin rather than the constant jousting, threatening to kick him, or sarcastic comments trying to make the series entertaining on a comedic level. Sure, parts of it are humorous but that gets stale. This story had a solid message but came across so infantile and juvenile that seeing the two of them in bed made me feel uncomfortable. Tin acted and seemed so much like a child that I had a hard time wrapping my head around the fact he was an adult. He was so immature which made those scenes uncomfortable at best. All of that should have been explored with more sensitivity. I just wish Tin would have ‘grown up’ in this series. For him to suddenly be a full-fledged sexual creature seemed incongruous and a bit mind twisting.
The other cast of characters made no sense as a whole, even though their individual stories were interesting. Kana (Tong Surawit), a cranky wise-cracking young store owner banters with just about everyone in the neighborhood. Pao (Lee Long Shi), an incredibly handsome ‘successful civil servant’, is the acme of his family unit while his trans sister, Bai (Yoshi Rinrada) can do nothing right and therefore is essentially forced out of the family and moves away to Bangkok. Although we are aware of a sexual tension between Pao and Kana, it does not culminate until the middle of the series in a drunken stupor and only for a brief encounter that is hot and heavy. Then for the remaining episodes, nothing, nor is it even mentioned. Pao takes a dramatic turn as a desperate cry for help and nearly overdoses on drugs at the end. That is unfortunate for at least those two had some chemistry together and would have made an interesting couple.
For a brief moment, Tin had an infatuation with an adorably innocent looking college guy named Phleon (Noom Phongsathon). His approach to trying to win over Tin was enchanting but oh so cheesy. Fumbling and awkward, it did give this series a bit of character and a nice diversion from an otherwise boring plot.
And finally, you have a bubbly character named Barbie (Pangpond Potchana), who is a gregarious individual but does not conform to either family or societal standards of an acceptable career. All these characters twist and turn in the wind and breeze in and out of Tin’s life but do not enhance the story much. They merely provide interesting background noise and if all of this tied into each other, then, this would have been quite an interesting story. But they are simply presented as installments, albeit even short ones, in each of their lives and then on to the next incident. There is no consistency or continuity of story here.
Who really S.T.O.L.E. this series? Honestly, it is hard to distinguish anyone who is memorable or has an impact. Everyone is just here. It is not badly acted. It is poorly directed and edited very inadequately. Scenes seem short, cryptic, and sometimes inconsistent with tie-ins. Ironically, who has the most impact here, are the children in this series. They are so annoying and irritating that I enjoyed their antics and their childhood playfulness. While overdone, they brought more of a realness to this series than any of the main characters.
Sadly, this series played everything ‘safe’. There were so many interesting characters and a lot of divergent backgrounds, but true to Thai formulaic plots, it fizzled. It has funny moments and is entertaining but seeking any deep meanings or messages are looking for a needle in a haystack and not finding it. For example, Tin on numerous occasions shares how he feels about Park, but Park merely dismisses his feeling frivolously. That must be painful and yet again adds to Tin’s sadness. That is always glossed over until it simply could not be anymore. There is a good scene when both are in bed and Tin gets uncomfortable and says they need to stop as he is getting an ‘erection’ and becomes confused and unsettled. Park begins a litany of medical reasons why males get erections but Tin snaps back and says that is not what he is talking about. Their mutual solution? They are tired and decide to go to sleep. I could write a disquisition of the silliness of this kind of response about how this is not the way two horny young men would handle their erections. How about some honest reality here?
I understand that this is a comedy, but it also has some very serious overtones to it. Overall, it presents gayness as light fluff, gay feelings as superficial, and an imagery that gay people (or possible gay) as flawed, tortured, child-like in nature, or superficial in desire.
Not all is completely lost in this series. As of late, in this (as well as many other BL series from Thailand), there is a clear message that these series are pushing and advocating marriage equality. Applause. Applause. Keep doing so. Just make your journey to that message crisp and concise.
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