BLISS RATING: ★★+
“Thank you for being born so I can love you.” – Quote from We Are
This series is yet another standard cliché-driven BL from Thailand. Certainly not original nor even all that entertaining except. Those exceptions I shall outline and that is what gave it a modicum of uniqueness and originality. Otherwise, the storylines are right out of the BL playbook. But it is wholesome and a complete gay fantasy. How I wish their gay world existed.
An overwhelming four relationships are explored. Of course, not all on equal emphasis or priority. The most time is devoted to the relationship between Peem (Phuwin Tangsakyuen) and Phum (Pond Naravit). Honestly, the way these two meet is amusing and interesting and the story does a very good job of actually making their respective course studies a relevant part of the story. It admittedly does not take much time for both to develop feelings for one another but of course, there is this endless need to belabor the point in doing so. There is indeed a lot of bantering about feelings. Yet the flow to the development of their relationship is surprisingly steady.
To the point, it becomes boring and to coin a phrase that seems to be used a lot lately, a bit ‘vanilla’. It is not that they are not a great couple. They are, somewhat. Indeed, they are also an astonishingly handsome couple. They deliver lines (such as the one above) with a certain gravitas that makes them believable; otherwise, this would have been a fiasco. While nothing is suspenseful here, there are the usual ‘pretending’ to be surprised by their friends that they are a couple. All very amusing and entertaining but trite.
The second couple, at least for me, was a bit more cringey because they seemed so incompatible. Although they have an interesting relationship, it felt ‘off’ and awkward. Q (Winny Thanawin) is a friend of Peem and in the same fine art department at the university. He is a sometimes-uptight individual who presents a confusing picture as to who he is. Mostly closed off from others but not antisocial. He has a mentee named Toey (Satang Kittiphop) who is obviously in love with him and has been for some time. Their connection is quite unique, and I found it inventive. It started out by using posit notes early on, with neither one finding out who the other was while writing the notes. Although they have their ups and downs, it evidentially leads to a solid relationship. Yet, I had a hard time wrapping my head around Q’s sudden metamorphosis in loving Toey. It all seems so quick and quixotic to me and just a bit too convenient. He goes through such a major personality change which was just a bit too much to process. Toey’s fragile flower shtick got to be a bit much also.
The third relationship is the life-long friends to lovers’ story. This one took time to develop and was way more relatable and felt more genuine than the others. Chain (Marc Natarit) and Pun (Poon Mitpakdee) took their relationship in a more significant tone and developed it with more serious elements to it. I liked their development because it did have more of a realness to its creativity. But it takes so long to come to any type of fruition that by the time it does, no one honestly cares.
The fourth and the most perhaps tongue-in-cheek is between Tan (Aou Thanaboon and Fang (Boom Tharatorn). At times, some of those scenes were uncomfortable to watch as they were so disconcerting. The character of Tan was a bit much and his relationship with Fang was simply over-the-top. I never bought it for a second. A found that they did not have any screen chemistry, although they did try. The comical theatrics could not hide that there was nothing underneath. An interesting relationship that simply did not work. They acted more like preteen boys in a puppy-love relationship for the first time than in any serious relationship. This is the least believable relationship.
Who really S.T.O.L.E. this series? Overall, this is a well-acted series. No one person stood out for me and with the rather overly sentimental dialogue as quoted above shows, this could have been a disaster. But strong acting made it feel a bit more genuine, although really is that what you expect to hear from young men in their 20s? But it does seem to work. However, there is one brief role here that is an unenviable role but one that kind of makes the series shift into second gear. Title Kirati as Kleum is an interesting role. He accidentally mistakes Peem for a friend and becomes enamored with him and tries to woo him. This of course causes Phum to become jealous but that is not the point. What he does really is help Peem realize the extent and how deeply he is in love with Phum. And it also helps this series make a distinction between remaining a friend with someone who ‘likes’ you but you cannot reciprocate. Peem gives such excellent advice, “But if one day someone takes your happiness way, I hope you will choose to love yourself first.” Sage advice; rather than waiting around for something that is never going to happen. It was a poignant moment in the series and surprisingly shifts the series into a bit more of a serious mode. Sometimes these small roles, played well, can have a profoundly significant effect on both story and characters.
Overall, this is not a good series. It is simply too long. It droned on and on for no reason with the same old storylines. This story is cute. Certainly not deep. Entertaining for sure. Fluffy and sweet. Predicable and boring a lot of the time. There are way too many pairings of relationships and way too much idealism shown. What it did do right and what it should have concentrated on was the camaraderie of the group of friends. It is rare to have such a solid group of friends who know they are in the last throws of all of them being together before life has other plans for them. It could have been a much better story if it reflected more on the dynamics of friendships among friends. That would have been a good story instead of the contrived ‘love pairings’ that they thought we needed to see. There was a lot of great screen chemistry between the actors.
Everyone here is gay. Everyone is accepting. Everything is romantic. But there was no anchor to any sense of reality here. Even a tiny bit to bring this story out from the clouds and onto the surface of the earth. This is again another fantasy. I am not opposed to fantasies, but some sense of grounding has to be established in these stories. I wish in my heart that gay relationships were as easy as this story shows them to be and equally important for everyone around them to be as accepting as they are.
None of the ‘relationships’ presented are really moving and if you have not watched this series, it is best to not begin this rather long tedious series. It is not worth it unless of course you are interested in pure escapism.
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