BLISS RATING: ★★★
“Can you listen to my heart until it stops beating?” – Quote from Low Frequency
Honestly, I really wanted to hate this series. Yet, I did not and actually came to enjoy it. This is one of the few BLs where the screenplay did not fail the series, but everything else did. And I do mean everything else. Surprisingly, there are some very good poignant moments in this chaotic, nonsensical series that kind of, sort of, in a way made it enjoyable to watch. Let me try and explain.
This is a low-energy love story about a young, up-and-coming BL actor named Thames (Ping Guntapat). Superficially, he appears to be a pleasant, very handsome, pretty levelheaded, young man who has been essentially raised by his Grandmother. His manners are proper and respectful. Thames dotting manager is Bua who is the sister of Mon (Guitar Sarin). She introduces the two of them and Thames becomes smitten with Mon and Mon is initially enamored with him as well.
Suddenly, however, Thames is in a car accident and is in a coma and remains so for no medical reason. Bua asks for Thames help in trying to get Thames out of his coma as the same thing happened to Mon 18 years ago but one of the high priests at the temple was able to call his soul back into his body. Since that time, Mon has been able to see and talk to the spirits around him. So, they are hoping he can assist in getting Thames back to consciousness again.
Even though Thames is not dead, his spirit has left his body and is now able to communicate and be seen only by Mon of course. The two of them set out to try and find out how the accident occurred, only to realize that it was not an accident, but a deliberate staging. Because Thames can be seen and also felt by Mon, their relationship strengths during this time.
There is the usual cast of suspicious characters but like an Agatha Criste novel, they are ruled out methodically until it does become obvious who the culprit is. Admittedly, this individual is in a position where he uses and takes advantage of vulnerable individuals – an all-too-common scenario for unscrupulous individuals. While Thames’ two best entertainment friends are initially thought of as suspects, they are not. Ai (Ply Chanakan) and Mark (Beam Atichart) are rather sad, often misunderstood figures throughout the series. There are hints and a bit of a tease at the end that they will become a couple. Admittedly, their relationship, had it been developed more extensively, could have been a very interesting one to unfold. They had depth and we got to understand why they took their actions. While not necessarily showing a deep physical connection between them, we certainly saw a stronger emotional bond between Ai and Mark that was worthy of further exploration. I wanted to see more of them as a couple.
Who really S.T.O.L.E. this series? There are really two here that stand out. Almost every time you have a “Grandma” you have her gobble up all the scenes. And she does the same thing here. I do not know who the actress is, but she is wonderful and adds such a dimension of kindness and sincerity and of course believability to this series. She looks and acts the part with compete conviction which makes her indispensable to this otherwise drab story. In the last episode, when she describes what she would have done to the individual who did these dastardly deeds to her grandson is so classic and beautifully done, it had me both laughing and crying at the same time. The other individual who is oddly present throughout this series is the House Spirit named Gus (Bonus Tanadeck). His presence is a protector of Mon and a guide/counselor to Thames and is connected to both. The connection may seem a bit cheesy, but it was delivered with such sincerity, warmth, and tenderness that I found myself so into the moment with him and Thames at the end. I found their exchange, without giving away their relationship, a very poignant moment. Both these roles are essentially throw-away roles but are vital to this story and these two individuals made these characters pop out with believability and conviction. Kudos for making these characters seem so real and honestly genuine.
So, what brought this series down? There were quite a few things, but the major culprits are these. The top of the list is the flat acting. It felt more like a high school performance. No one got deep into their characters. With Ping as Thames being so young himself, he just was not believable especially with strong emotions scenes. I have stated this before and shall state it here – if you cannot cry in a scene, you simply cannot act. Period. That is basic Acting 101. You cannot wipe away pretend tears. Two, if you are expecting any type of romantic interludes, you will be disappointed. There is barely a kiss let alone anything deeper than that. My conclusion is because of how young Ping was; they wanted no hint of impropriety. Again, why are you using individuals who are not fully 18 when production begins for what are obvious adult scenes? And then try to make the story work with obtuseness or cheesy lines? Lest it looks like I think Ping is the culprit here, he is not. None of the major performers here seemed challenged or outstanding and it was not due to the screenplay. It all seemed like basic acting. It looked like more time was needed with an acting coach for all of them, honestly.
So, for me the major culprit, however, was the overall dysfunctional direction of this story itself. Was it a mystery? If so, it never got very deep. That part was a bit entertaining but once the culprit was figured out, it took too long to resolve, and the plot was utter stupid. Was it a supernatural story? Well yes and no. The house spirit was handsome and well dressed and Thames was able to be touched and eat while other spirits seemed to suffer from rotting flesh yet walked around like they were doing a marathon with memories as sharp as a tack as well. Was this supposed to be a romance of some sort? Well, I guess so. Thames mouthed romantic words to be sure and he was adorably cute. Mon also mouthed pretty words at the appropriate times, poetic words of romance as well, but neither one even hinted that they were even slightly sexually attracted to each other or there was sexual tension between each other. Certainly, you could not call it even affection let alone love as they only knew each other for barely a few days. I could not even call it sexual curiosity as they never saw each other even without their shirts off. To say nothing of the fact that both actors had no chemistry between each other, and it seemed as if that was deliberate.
I simply did not understand the point of this series. The secondary couple was more interesting to be sure but was left out of being fully developed. Ironically, the screenplay was good, but the plot was awful. It had no clear direction. When you have to have Mon’s co-worker’s father be a ‘mob boss’, you know you are in trouble and pretty much lost all credibility. I never laughed so hard at the rather ineptly rescue; that was pure comedy magic even though it was not meant to be.
What I think impacted me the most was at the end when Thames and Mon were sitting alone and still being in the glow of the infancy of their ‘new’ relationship, Mon says to Thames to simply enjoy this moment as there may be very few of these junctures. He realizes, being a bit older, that Thames, being younger, may and no doubt will give in to temptations, and life for them may become formidable, being adored by so many fans. And the writers acknowledged that early on, which I thought was a profoundly thoughtful significance to capture. Both made empty promises they would be true to each other, but the reality is, life is so much more challenging than a pinky promise. For that plus the beautiful dialogue as the quote above shows was throughout this series, as well as some ethereal cinematic moments peppered throughout, did make this series entertaining and enjoyable to watch.
Therefore, I just could not hate this series and found it fun but would never watch it again. It is a one and done for me. It should be retitled Low Energy rather than Low Frequency. Its remembrance will be the screenplay. It is impressive.
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