BLISS RATING: ★★+
“I hope this can happen, equally everywhere in the world, that we can feel happy that we been been granted this right and that I, Kon Dio, will never be alone again.” – Quote from Naughty Babe
This is the continuing story of CUTIE PIE which itself was an incoherent hot mess. Fortunately, this series was a bit better and less emotionally abusive in content. It also made an attempt to tell a story and did try to bring a certain level of maturity to the forefront.
Unfortunately, it merely continued the overindulgent and pampered story of Kon Dio (Nat Natasitt) and Yi (Max Kornthas) and why Yi and the Chen family have been protecting Kon Dio. Sure, the background is mildly interesting, but the theatrics was spoiled by bad special effects.
Seriously, this whole story could have been tightened up so much because it lost itself in the weeds. It went off into so much unnecessary minutia. The central theme to this drama is self-centeredness. Everyone is just so privileged here and any disruption to their advantaged lifestyle makes them almost completely fall apart. Struggle is not a word they fully understand. The story becomes an incomprehensible and silly mess after a while. Kuea (NuNew Chawarin) and Lian (Zee Pruk), are relegated to supportive roles in this sequel and only move the story along minimally. Early on we got that Kon Dio’s family were bad people and were trying to use the Chen family to gain some business leverage, but to build a whole series about this seemed ludicrous.
The romance between these two was limited to who was trying to outfox the other in terms of stopping the ‘wedding’ with the underlying reason being to thwart Kon Dio’s family from further dastardly deeds against the Chen family. The one thing I was able to glean from this mess was that I felt rather sorry for Kon Dio’s father because he deep down did seem to really love his son and was not really the one manipulating the family into doing inappropriate deeds. He too was a victim. And over the years, became unable to express or show the love for his son.
Who really S.T.O.L.E. this series? As usual in cases where you have flashbacks to childhoods, the two young men who played Kon Dio (Kuma Pannathorn Pornsprasit and Yi (Roodbus PakaponTanphanich) have the unenviable roles of playing characters perhaps not fully understood in the long run what the outcome to their relationship would be. So, they have to establish their personalities, their friendship, and to a degree, a certain unrequited love connection not fully understood. That is hard to do but these young actors did just that with commendable spirit. They gave Yi and Kon Dio an early spark without realizing what it might lead to. That is acting and for that they deserve kudos. There is also another individual here who deserves a special shout out and I rarely do this. But one actor here simply took my breath away with his handsomeness and his quiet presence. His face is astonishing. While it looks so sad, his eyes are so deeply piercing. I am talking about Est Supha Sangaworawong as On. I have seen some handsome men in my day, but none as handsome as he is with a physique to match. Honestly, he is a complete scene stealer without of course even trying. He has such a deep reflective look about him and when we find out who his character really is, I felt a tinge of sadness for him, without knowing anything more about his personality. He affected me that earnestly and, while his natural beauty may have been a contributing factor, it is not the only reason. He does seem to have a natural ‘it’ factor. I hope we see more of him in future series.
To be honest with you, I could hardly wait to finish this series because overall its story is so uneventful and the outcome so obvious. It is not deep BUT there are some deeply and profoundly moving and poignant moments to this series that are worth mentioning and for these reasons, will not be on my list of worst BLs for 2023:
This is what makes this series stand out:
1. Its message is magnanimous and commendable and ought to be applauded. It takes place in the future of Thailand where marriage equality is now the law of the land. I cannot begin to tell you that is my fervent hope for your wonderful people. For my husband and I living in the United States, it has been a lifeline to happiness. I want that so much for you and your society. And if I can say, your society will not fall apart when it happens. Despite the ongoing protests and religious fervor, our society has not fallen apart because of gay marriage.
2. The families in this series accepted the relationship between Yi and Kon Dio as if it were a normal part of sufferance. That warmed me, even if it is fantasy. It made me feel good that Kon Dio was accepted as part of the Chen family now without reservation. My husband does not have that privilege in my side of the family, but I am blessed in having it in his side of the family. He is Filipino and his family is way more accepting of our relationship than my family is or will ever be.
3. The marriage ceremony was breathtakingly beautiful and honorific. I love, what I am assuming is the traditional ceremonies and costumes. I found that so moving and elevated the whole concept of ‘marriage’ to a new level. I wept happy tears at its beauty.
4. The series moved itself from a delicate flower stage of companionship to one of sensuous, passionate lovemaking of an adult nature. It was sensual, erotic, and just what this series needed to show that these BL series are really about adult gay men. We got to see that. Deeply appreciated the effort to make this more than just a silly tropey series.
While certainly not deep and more like a soap opera, it had the potential for being a good BL series that just would not push itself to tell a love story. Instead, it continues to rely on the formulaic standard format with no depth and wasting good talent on nothing plots. The romance gets reduced or is presented in the last 5 minutes as a hot and heavy erotic interlude almost as an afterthought.
Come on, you can do better than that!
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