BLISS RATING: ★★★★
“To love and be loved is to feel the sun from both sides.” – David Viscott
Yet again, another Thai BL that, one, does not live up to its expectations, and two, does not live up to its title. This was a typical formulaic standard, trite, and tropey BL that I could have written even if I were in a coma. It is pretty much epigonic. Only the names were changed.
Rich kid, Kang (Perth Tanapon) faces the usual disinterested father who indulges his almost completely out-of-control son, who is begging for attention from him. Grandma (Pimkae Goonchorn Na Ayutthaya) is the only adult in the room and is essentially the only person who can remotely keep Kang grounded to any sense of reality. And is astute enough to see the big picture with him. Of course, Kang thinks his status and money can get him anything and everything he wants, including staying out of serious trouble. Because his family is a big supporter of the school, all of Kang’s misdeeds are chalked up to ‘boys just being boys’.
Meanwhile, the poor kid on the block, Sailom (Chimon Wachirawit) who studies hard and is tops in his class has to work hard to get what he wants and refuses to cower to Kang’s bullying. In fact, he literally can beat him at his own game, which make Kang even angrier and so Kang goes to even greater lengths to discredit him until it finally reaches a point where Grandma finds out that Kang indeed is really the bully and abuser.
You do not need a roadmap to figure out the rest of this tale. Kang and Sailom are ‘forced’ into spending more time together. The reasoning is irrelevant. It is just the way it needs to be. And of course, the relationship flows and ebbs from romance to disappointment back to romance again. In between, the two do learn some valuable life lessons and there is a happy ending.
Had this been more creative or even a thought-provoking series or one that even tried to be a little bit different, perhaps it might have been more impactful. As it is, it became another run-of-the-mill BL with little creativity with one exception.
That exception, and disappointment, was the secondary relationship between Guy (Marc Natarit) who was Sailom’s best friend and Nawa (Pawin Thanik) who was Kang’s best friend. Initially bitter enemies, they had an almost secret admiration for each other. Deep rivals, yet something always drew the two of them together and oddly, they seemed intimate even though they never were, until the end. While they teased and tortured and mercilessly bantered about, the two were almost inseparable and to some degree got to know each other through contact that was deeper than their superficial argumentative bantering. They respected, admired, and then slowly, almost imperceptibly fell in love. We could see it, oh so subtly but it was there.
How I wish the series had deepened and massaged this relationship and had it blossom into a full-blown celebration. These two had such wonderful screen chemistry together and their timing was impeccable. You do not necessarily need to show love by a physical means; you can do it with a glance, a look, a word, a gesture, a deed. These two showed along with sincerity more so than even between Sailom and Nawa. And when they finally kissed at the end and both asked to be boyfriends, it felt real and I found myself smiling and saying, “Yes.” They showed such passion in the most indirect way imaginable. Kudos to what should have been their story.
Who really S.T.O.L.E. this series? Although Guy and Pawin are exceptional in this series and I do wish their screen time was greater than what it was (a big disappointment), the real star of this show was Pimkae Goonchorn Na Ayutthaya as Grandma. She is pivotal not only for the series but more importantly to the development of Kang. She plays him like a fiddle and is able to steer Kang into what he wants to do with his life, yet not let him get away with bullying and abusing people. She provides the foundation for Kang to make good judgements because she does the same thing. She is his comfort and support through her love. Her performance simply exudes all of that. Although she is wealthy, she has learned to respect others and to treat others without judgment based on their character, irrelevant of their background. She does not have to say that; she shows it, and she tries very hard to instill that to Kang. She is also astute enough to know the importance of Sailom in Kang’s life and what he means to him. She is a picture of acceptability.
Honestly, this is not a bad BL series by any stretch of the imagination. It is just so standard that once watched, it falls into a category of mundaneness. It is unimaginative, ordinary, and lacks creativity. The major distraction for me in this story is that there is very little screen harmony between Perth and Chimon. Individually, they are fine actors, but together there is no spark and honestly no real chemistry. Some of their kissing scenes were quite painful to watch as they were both not into it and it was obvious they were not. Kissing the upper part of the lips, not showing the kiss, etc. You do not need to be a rocket scientist to see that they were uncomfortable in the bedroom scenes. You cannot make love with clothes on; no matter how hard you try, it cannot be done.
However, there indeed was a natural chemistry between Marc and Pawin as Guy and Nawa without even a hint of romance until the end between them. Yet they showed a greater connection between themselves than all the supposed bonding between Sailom and Kang. Merely acting together does not always translate into showing an innate connection with one another. Actors need to understand that they project so much more on screen than what they think they are performing.
I do not think I am alone in thinking that this series missed the mark in showing a dynamic and intense relationship between protagonists. It should have been off the charts; instead it seemed disappointingly weak, and it showed. Perhaps it was the story itself. Perhaps it was the direction. Perhaps it was the actors themselves simply not having the where-with-all to want to be together. Whatever the reason, any small entertaining value that was gained by watching this series, will be forgotten because the characters are pretty much unexceptional.
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