BLISS RATING: ★★★★
“Throughout the course of my life, I have learnt that the current of time always runs forward without retreat. With the matter of time, I might already be your past but for me you are my future.” – Quote from I Feel you Linger in the Air
The universality of this series being praised as a ‘masterpiece’ or ‘the best so far’, makes me reticent to be critical of this series. As indeed, I had so looked forward with great anticipation to watching this series, thinking my reaction would be the same. I understand that it is a fantasy and I love fantasies, specifically time travel, as you have to suspect your beliefs and embrace your disbeliefs. And I could easily do that but not with this series. It left me feeling empty for some reason. I hate to admit this, but I felt nothing for the main couple whereas everyone else seemed to see their love destiny. All I saw was cute acting to deliberately set-up scenarios to pull at heartstrings, mostly at an agonizingly slow pace then filled in between with a density of immaturity defined by a constant sense of deference that made no sense. The only ones having the courage to fight that mindset were the ‘servants’ who were nothing more than slaves, and the women, who had the courage to stand up for themselves but paid a very heavy price for their convictions. The men, including our main characters, cowered, and are ‘waiting for destiny’ to save them.
The story is byzantine and frankly unnecessarily so. Jom (NonKul Chanon) is involved in a car accident after a rather traumatic encounter with his former boyfriend. While in the water drowning in the river, he is revived by a mysterious man in a laughable moustache and when he comes to, he realizes that he has passaged back in time. One of the first people he meets is Ming (Guide Kantapon) who while caustic at times, is a deeply intense individual who befriends Jom and helps him throughout, despite Jom’s constant missteps and ineptness. Although it is not really clear (at least to those who are not Thai) the actual time period until the end of the series, it is presumed to be around the 1920’s by the manner of dress and the history of the period.
Shortly, he meets Khun Yai (Bright Rapheephong), a rather forlorn individual who looks and acts lost in his own thoughts and his own world. Astonishingly handsome, he whittles the day away by reading books and making wreathes. Such is the difficult life of the privileged. He remains completely under the control of his parents and is more-or-less terrified of his father. One of Khun Yai’s secrets of course is that he is gay and almost immediately falls in love with Jom. The remainder of this series explores their predestined love story. There is this sense that they are ‘soulmates’ and they share a common destiny together that is both intertwined and entitled.
The issue I had with this series is that, for me, I never could figure out why that was the case or what made it so special or unique. I was one not mesmerized by them as characters. I never saw their exceptionality. Never felt their uniqueness. I am not talking about the screen chemistry as actors. That was surely there. They looked ‘good’ together. But the whole connection felt so contrived to me and so phony that I just did not believe it. I never quite got the emotional connection that I am guessing others saw that I just did not discern or more importantly, feel. Jom, who obviously perceives the future, and knows himself, falls victim to acting like a subservient subject so easily, and appeared to be dense much of the time. His hesitation, his docility, his continuously sighing and slowly closing his eyes in deference became distracting and annoying and simply did not suit him and soon became an affectation and a tool of reliance to show emotion rather than an actual display of emotions. And with Khun Yai over the years learning to become so passive, uncommunicative, and weak, it is no wonder he crystallized as whimpish.
To lack the basic courage or the fortitude to tell your ‘lover’ that are getting betrothed is a prime example of deep despondency. They both loved to wallow in their inevitable misery. To me, therefore, their acting became perfunctory and reliant; I felt nothing from them as characters. The acting did not tell a story. It merely showed us who they are. Individuals with no growth. No challenges. Rather than living life to its fullest, they chose to embrace its inevitability. I found that sad. All I saw was acting.
Their acting became a reliance on what worked, and, to a great extent, it did. Obviously, for many it resonated. To me, it was just too superficial. So many times, when they had emotional scenes, neither one cried or weakly cried. I find that a cardinal sin in acting. If you cannot cry, you cannot act. Period. That distracted me from this series immeasurably as so much reliance is placed on these emotional heart-wrenching scenes. Therefore, it all seemed like a giant acting skit.
Nothing felt deep with many of the other actors or actress as well. While the series is well acted, it is not exceptional. Pretty, yes. Memorable, no. We just get glimpses of people. Nothing felt like it was given a chance to conclude. I had the same issue with many of the other actors and actress in emotional scenes – if you cannot cry, you cannot act. I lost interest in the emotional scenes and therefore felt nothing.
Who really S.T.O.L.E. this series? There is only one actor and subsequently one character who appeared to have any type of sincerity and that was Guide Kantapon as Ming. He is simply brilliant in this series. While I know his role is a minor one, he captures every scene he is in. He never seems to be ‘acting’ but is the character. Ming changed. Ming laughed, cried (with tears), felt pain, sorrow, defeat, happiness, and rejection and we saw all of it. Not only did we see it, but we also felt it. It never appeared like he was merely acting the role; he was Ming. He could be Ming but different versions of him. He seemed honest, real, genuine to me and so relatable. He is certainly the individual that kept Jom connected to reality since he is the first person that Jom was introduced to. He is Jom’s rock of emotional support played with subtlety but with complete conviction. A great role for him. One of the few in this series that deepened his understanding of his character and translated that onto the screen; not just acting the part, but making it feel like he truly was Ming. Kudos for exceptional acting for a series that he will not doubt be overlooked.
This series had everything going for it. Fabulous cinematography. Great costumes. Splendidly handsome actors and actress. Conceptually, an interesting idea that got lost in the weeds, literally. For me it never clicked. I think there are several reasons for this:
1. The story never flowed consistently. I could not understand the connection between Jom’s present and the past. Why for example was his present-day sister, the sister to Khun Yai? It just did not make any sense and I could not see the bridge. The logic of the story and the story lines was not self-evident. I could not see the tie-in to some of the other characters from his present life to his past life. It was just not logical. The ending of this series felt contrived and not logical or consistent and felt deeply rushed. What was the rationale for the re-meeting of Khun Yai with the fake moustache again before being rescued? Why is Jom so well-adjusted after he gets back from the past? The new references to the chest and how it got moved confounded me. When things get so veiled, they become obtuse, that is when the story goes awry.
2. Fantasy must have some grain of foundational connection to logic and believability. This was just too surreal and twisted. I could wrap my brain around Jom being in the past but why he would ‘fade’ back to the future made no sense. How his present could see himself in the mirror as in the past life is beyond paradoxical. And how Khun Yai is alive in what is now the present is mind bending. Just because it looks good does not make it good.
3. And finally, why is the relationship between Khun Yai and Jom so unique or special that it was blessed by the fates or divinity and made ageless? What did two rather privileged individuals who had pampered and certainly sheltered lives, who wantoned for nothing, do to deserve such special transfiguration? Meanwhile the servants were mere slaves, beaten or treated like chattel, and the women were property with their love stories either sidelined or treated cavalierly, yet had the courage and tenacity to stand up against the men and the system. Where is their celebration? Why were they not privileged? I found nothing to celebrate in this BL story that warranted such special treatment save an intense momentary love affair that should have ended with the times they were in. To do otherwise was to diminish the massive expense of so many other individuals with less opportunities than these two had. It should have been enough to have hailed their love with celebration in the moment. I applauded the homage to the beginnings of the gay movement in Thailand that elevated its respectability. Jom and Khun Yai had an opportunity to celebrate love, even if it was brief. That should have been the story. Others had to give up and sacrificed so much more. They were forgotten, ignored, or dismissed or even exiled. One love should not be portrayed as something better or greater than another. Perhaps this is what bothered me the most about this series. That gay love seemingly deserves this distinction is unwarranted. In reality, we are wanting and needing – equality. The way it is presented here is gay love will always remain a fantasy. It needs to be and needed to be real.
This series did not work for me, yet I know it does for many others. While the acting is reasonably heartfelt, the shallowness and lack of a clear message and the overuse of artificial tugs at sentimentalities within a twisted time-travel story to get there, made me want more.
While I know many praised this series, I am not one of them and therefore this is not one of my favorites.
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