BLISS RATING: ★+
“Oh what a tangled web we weave….. when first we practice to deceive.” – Sir Walter Scott
This is a prime example of how to turn a bad series into an even worse one by not knowing what your direction is. And we can see it slipping away because of the lack of perspective. Why do I say this? The first thing that is obvious is that it has an incomprehensible storyline. While I admit I am getting older and my intellectual acuity is not what it used to be, this story made no sense whatsoever, including its ending. You had a story whose familial lineage of relationships to one another required a genealogist to explain and even then, I doubt it would have been clear.
You also had spiteful quirks in the rich family that should have made anyone run as far from that household as possible, i.e., wearing chained locks around their necks for unknown reasons, not eating until older brother gives permission, no cell phones, no friends, no females in the house, staff must pass an inspection to see if they are actually males, etc. And the story has not even begun yet. So here goes; follow along if you can.
Luv (Frank Thanatsaran) is a vegetable street vendor at a local market along with his stepbrother, Inn (Elflfa Weeravich). Almost immediately you can sense a deeper unrequited connection between the two, but Luv is rather oblivious of any signs or signals. Shouting and being clownish to announce his presence, is their best friend Mamuang (Kohliang Parinya). While loud, he is incredibly endearing.
From here, the story only sinks into implausibility. The butler for a rich family, Som (Pak Papungkorn) frequently visits the vegetable stand where Luv works. Som’s brother Sin (Pak Chavitpong) quits (before he even gets started) and does not want to be a butler and so Som persuades Luv to pretend he is his brother Sin to be the butler. Luv agrees because he was told by a Fortune Teller that he would meet his soulmate who would be rich, handsome, and live in a big mansion and the necklace she gave him would be the ‘key’ to finding his soulmate.
The three are an odd trio of brothers who wear these strange locks around their necks. Thod (Nueng Suriyon) seems to be the ringleader and controls the other two via atypical and arbitrary rules. Thep (Joseph Pharmtharm) is the happiest of the lot and the most outgoing and soon figures out who Sin really is. But it is Thad (Lee Long Shi) who takes an immediate interest in Sin and becomes enamored with him and so Luv reciprocates the feelings. Since they do not allow any women in the house, Luv must prove that he is a man and therefore has to drop his pants and show them what he has, which he does. Obviously from an ethical and legal standpoint that would or should be completely illegal for employment purposes. However, this is where the story and its direction veered off course. I found that funny, but I am not sure that it was really meant to be. If it was meant to be funny, I kind of get it, which hopefully I can explain later.
The story just goes downhill from there. Another ‘brother’ is introduced, and I honestly could not figure out how he was related to them at all. His name was Thian (Mon Varakorn) who was an obnoxious creature and despicable at the same time. While they portrayed his as being disabled, I never did believe that he was. His aide certainly never acted like a real aide and therefore it was a dead giveaway that this was all a ruse and a sham. So, whatever the other brothers decided to do to him, I did take as being funny and frankly I laughed whereas normally I would have been appalled. (I have a professional background of working with individuals who were disabled). All of it was so patently silly and dumb. But I got it. Again, I shall explain.
There is not much suspense here and, surprise, guess who the real owner of the wealth of the family is. The premise on how this all happens is so twisted and dumb and completely implausible that if you believe it, then you really do believe in fairytales and unicorns.
Who really S.T.O.L.E. this series? There is only really one person who gave this series any real life and pep and that was Kokliang Parinya as Mamuaung. He begins the series with his infectious smile and bubbly personality and never loses it. His innocence is sweet and his loyalty to both Inn and Luv is even sweeter and more intense than what a friend should be. He brings a certain human connection to this series that is so lacking and manages to bring to down to an earthly and understandable level. What a joy to watch him perform with his infectious smile and ever-present twinkle in his eyes. I could always count on him to make me feel good about this series. He represents pure joy.
If this series had some sort of direction, it could have been good. If they were going for comedy, they failed miserably. If they were going for some sort of mystery, it also bombed. However, in my opinion and why I think this series worked a little is that they (I think, or I hope) were going for a ‘tongue-and-cheek’ approach to humor. But never went far enough with what they were doing to make that work. You had two main characters here. One was dumber than a box of rocks. If you have a main character (Luv) who is dumb or naïve but cute, then you must use that throughout until you have a punch line at the end that wakes up the audience with something catchy or cute or creative.
If you have someone so willing to drop his pants, then make that a bigger deal than what it was. Even respond to it either in their heads or out loud! That would have been funny. That did not happen. The second main character was naïve but cute. He had odd mannerisms that made no sense and played to the camera too much. That, however, could have all worked if it was followed through completely. Make those gestures, movements odder, more pronounced, or with greater emphasis. Allow him, for example, to take his frustrations out more on Thian, or more slap-stick with him to add to the over-the-top humor.
I know most criticisms of the voiceovers or dubbing were not well received, but I loved it. It gave the series character and the tongue-and-cheek I think it was going after. It was ridiculously corny at times, but funny, nonetheless. The mocking of the ‘disabled brother’ was funny but again did not go far enough. In other words, if you do these ‘off the wall’ scenes, you must go all in otherwise it becomes offensive or looks too contrived or even worse comes out looking undeveloped (euphemistically speaking, half-baked). The audience has to know and realize that the series is ‘tongue-and-cheek’ for this type of humor to work.
Honestly, you cannot even quality this as a BL. A few innuendos between stepbrothers does not do it. A couple of glances and very weak kisses between Luv and Thad does not constitute a romance of any kind. There was actually more sexual tension between Luv and Inn than there was between Luv and Thad so how can you possibly think there is anything going on between them other than a mild infatuation.
While this is a bad series, this is certainly not the worst and does not completely deserve all the negative criticisms. It was obviously going for humor, but it lacked a clear direction in how to get there. Do not be afraid to make it funny and this series was a perfect one for going over the top with both physical and intellectual comedy. You almost succeeded in the intellectual comedy with the dubbing and voiceovers (but it did need a lot of work to make it better). The physical comedy failed because it did not go far enough, deep enough, or insensitive enough.
The potential was there. I wanted to laugh more.
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