YOUR SKY 2025 – Thailand

BLISS RATING: ★★

“I’m your sky and you are my sea.”  –  Quote from Your Sky

Because I binged watched this series, I gained 5 unnecessary pounds from all its sweetness coming from its plot. This is one of the most saccharine-filled series I have ever watched. And of course, it employed every BL cliché, trope, and stereotypical hackneyed ploy scriptwriters could possibly think of utilizing. There was absolutely nothing original in this series, except in a few instances in which they really excelled in storytelling. However, that was not enough to even make this series fully entertaining. The plot was excruciating, and the script was jejune.

Teerak, or better known as Rak (Kong Kongpob), is one of the most exasperating characters in BL history. Infantile in behavior and prepubescent mentally, he simply cannot say no to anyone or anything. Rak is a freshman in college but acts more like a regressed child playing castle in the neighborhood sandbox.  Literally, he is his own worst enemy and everyone around him is forced to protect him from himself. His meekness is legendary.

Initially it starts with Oh (Mike Chinnarat) pursuing and pestering Rak to become his boyfriend. He does not and cannot say no to his advances and in fact really does not like Oh. Surrounded by a circle of friends, they pretty much rescue him from these unwanted onslaughts, as he is too fainthearted to say no. One evening, Oh gets Rak drunk (surprise, who could see this coming!) but who enters the picture to rescue Rak is Muenfah (Thomas Teetut), the owner of the bar who is also a college student but a year or two ahead of him. He claims to be Rak’s real boyfriend and whisks him away.

This begins their journey to relationship bliss. Of course, along the way, while it was set up to be a sham romance, becomes fraught with all kinds of pitfalls because others may find out that it is indeed ‘fake’. The whole premise is utterly laughable at times but admittedly it was cute and funny to watch in spots. Naturally over time, the two begin to develop stronger feelings for each other (who could see that happening!) and end up being a bonafide couple. End of story.

Along their sojourn to discovering each other, there are interesting themes and if the series had only concentrated on these premises, this could have been a good if not great story.

In order to ‘see’ this series, one has to look at its flaws and then suggest ways it would have made the story more tenable:

1. Why are so many protagonists infantile or pre-pubescent in characterization? In this case, Rak. These are late teens or early 20s individuals but act like they are preteens and completely helpless. Additionally, they lack any ability to mature or in fact seem to not want to mature and become adult. The amount of childishness and immaturity, especially on the part of Rak was almost unbearable. They are and pretty much remain delicate flowers and fragile. It is time to put a stop to this mindset.
2. On the flip side, you have protagonists that are astonishingly young, drop-dead gorgeous, own businesses, run companies (or in this case, a bar), or make massively consequently business decisions while still undergraduates with little to no real life experiences but yet at the same time display a level an astonishing immaturity. They are unable to demonstrate even a modicum of interpersonal skills with others, especially his boyfriend. Worse, he maintains a flat affect throughout as if he has no personality at all but then suddenly goes into a fit of rage or becomes astute and spews out pearls of wisdom at complex business negotiation meetings. All incongruous behavior patterns that at the very least require an explanation and some anchor to and foundation for believability. How can you possibly be both at the same time? This is fast becoming a very cliché storyline that is just not credible.
3. You have individuals who should not be playing young roles. Regrettably, Mike Chinnarat as Oh was and is much too old to convince us that he is some young college student. Morakot Liu as Babe, Rak’s slightly older sister, is again way too old for her part. It has nothing to do with their acting abilities per se, but it has everything to do with the physicality of the part. It was obvious that they are NOT the age they were supposedly portraying. This robs the story of believability.
4. Since everything is so Pollyanna and sweet, even the most innocuous and mundane discomforts in life or the slightest bump in the road to adulthood becomes a major crisis. Of course, with everyone then needing tons of stroking to get over these life-altering traumas. Each must be coddled and infantized or they simply crumble. I have never seen more fragile people in my life!
5. There is no real growth in most of the characters, with then having to sit and slog through insufferable scene after scene of protagonists’ inability to make decisions or even act decisively. This is a modus operandi for Thai BLs. Unbearably long and agonizingly slow maturation patterns until finally someone grows a backbone, and some level of sagacity is shown. This then usually becomes the ‘highlight’ of the series. How sad that a whole story is wrapped around this one theme.
6. Both sets of parents were right out of the trope playbook. Muenfah’s parents were excessively accepting while Rak’s father went over-the-top in the opposite direction. Neither made sense to me in terms of appropriateness. Caution is certainly warranted here and getting to know each of their respective partner’s is a prudent and wise course to follow for both sets of parents. While I understand, at some level, Rak’s father’s reaction, that seemed counterintuitive to who he was and a bit irrational. In any case, this could have been handled with much more depth to it and understanding than how it was. His struggles were real, and we needed to see an intense heart to heart talk with him and Rak, where Rak, for once in his life, should have acted like a young adult responsible for himself. That would have brought down the house emotionally and could have been a good learning lesson for others who might seem on the outside to be so understanding but on the inside, frightened and scared. There was a lot missing here that could have and should have been more effectively dealt with that was not, unfortunately.  
7. The series itself is way too long and astonishingly tedious. It drags on and on. So much of the story is superfluous. Muenfah’s brother Lee (Por Suppakarn) who is also quite handsome, teases a relationship with Ghlai (TeeTee Wanpichit). This is again one of those silly peripheral never-really-sure if there is or not going to be a relationship. I simply do not understand why it take so long to develop gay relationships in Thailand. Everyone seems so timid and unwilling to ask anyone out on a date. And yet everyone also seems to be gay. He seemed like a wasted character. Stop with these nonsensical teased relationships that go nowhere and leave the whole connection hanging. Why? What is the value of this?

Who really S.T.O.L.E. this series?  As usual in these series where the main protagonists show no ability to mature, the secondary characters outshine them. And the on-again off-again romance between Real (Auau Thanaphum) and Hia (Save Worapong) became way more interesting and dynamic to watch. They had depth in their characters and unveiled actual growth and we could see them struggling with developing a relationship, despite all the silly fluff of the whole story. Not only were they adorably cute, but we also could see and sense the sexual tension between them even before they recognized it themselves. That does require some level of acting sophistication to be obvious about that without being too obvious, however.  Their bantering lead somewhere and we could see them growing and developing not only as a couple but as individuals. They began to understand the effect they each had on the other. That is quite challenging to do, particularly in this type of banal series in which they were not the main attraction. It had to be nuanced, and it was rather effective. Kudos for making Real and Hia intrinsic people.

There is an inherent and unspoken inability to treat romance and sex with any level of sophistication and respect for the gay community. It merely becomes a game, followed by a standard Yaoi romantic script. Ironically, the one criticism that I have seen of this series is the one area that they did accomplish with finesse. Yes, the intimacy between Rak and Muenfah is intense. This for me was the one aspect that this series absolutely did well in. It showed a gentle soft tone to their love-making with a delicate musical undertone to it that enhanced the romance and sexual overtones of the mood considerably. They both brought a certain charisma to their love-making that made it feel genuine and quite real and honest. Frankly speaking, it was hot in a sensual sense of that word. While slow to develop, they did not employ the usual modes to hide it, and we actually got to see two adult men enjoying making love with each other and feeling as if they were indeed getting pleasure out of doing so. Often, these scenes just feel obligatory. Theirs were much richer in tone and in composition and because we were not expecting that from essentially two ‘wallflowers’, made it the more enriching. Kudos in excelling where they took the series from a mundane level and made to feel honest. More of this is needed in BL series.

These kinds of BLs are getting stale and tedious. Yet I hypothesize they will remain popular. For me, I see wasted talent and storylines. Sure, there are occasionally good subplots here, but they are few and far between. How about maturing the protagonists. Take out the fluff, even half of it. Added more angst and reality even a little to the storylines. Enrich the story and give it some gravitas. These BLs are likened to movies way back in the 50s – fantasy romances of rich idealized couples, wishing it were us. Only this is for straight people (I am guessing mostly females) who think this is how young gay men live. It is an idealized version of a gay world. (Oh, we might WANT to live like this, but it just ain’t so).  Far, far from it. Not even close.

With only an occasional brush with any sense of reality to it, this is another dud from Thailand.