BLISS RATING: ★★★★+
“Never doubt yourself. Never change who you are. Don’t care what people think and just go for it.” – Britney Spears
Undoubtedly, this is one of the best BLs to come out of Thailand in a long, long time. Assuredly, it will be like nothing you have ever seen before. It is realistic, fresh, and reflective of today’s fast paced adolescent living. Antithetical to when I was their age? I hate to tell you this, but little has changed! It is exactly what it was like when I was their age. While the forms of communication, clothing styles and slang, and certainly the awesome freedom to express oneself are all vastly dissimilar, what the internal feelings and emotions are and how those are established and exhibited are exactly the same way that we expressed them some 60 years ago and I suspect goes back much further. It is comforting to know that egocentrically and emotionally little has changed. If this is representative of today’s generation, then the reality is we have always been generational gelboys.
This is a story of four very mixed-up adolescent boys. Two of whom are fumbling their way around the halls of liking someone but are not sure which room to enter first. The third is a bit more solid in who he is but nonetheless is still trying to direct how far the scent he leaves behind actually covers territorially. While the fourth is focused primarily and frankly only on himself to see how much he can control and to what extent he can manipulate the world. In general, while they are not bad boys, they are not especially likeable either. What this series does is show how these four young men maneuver their feelings, express their sexual tensions, and display how hard can they thump their chests as part of the mating ritual to attract others. What you will see is each of them trying to get recognized without wanting to take a risk of rejection but wanting all the rewards. If by chance, one does sense a level of rebuff, well then it can all be either a let us leave the status to no status and all is as it was; or it was all a ‘joke’ or a ‘just kidding’ and leave it like it is and we can remain friends, knowing full well that your insides have just been torn apart and scattered about. Confused? Verifiably, most adolescents are.
Fou4Mod (New Chayapak) straddles the fence as a tenth grader in terms of his sexuality. Handsome and popular and he knows it. Initially, he leans straight but becomes intrigued by Chian (Pide Monthapoom). Chian is a bohemian, and he too is handsome in a rather rugged manner. Fou4Mod gets these strange vibes from Chian that he is attracted to him and seems to be somewhat seduced by his charm, wit, and ever presence.
Being mesmerized by him, Fou4Mod falls hard and begins to like him only to be put on the backburner and then ghosted because Chian is interested in his dance partner, Bua (Leon Zech), a very handsome young man of European and Thai descent. He of course represents a physical blessing from both worlds which makes him astonishingly handsome. While Bua is not romantically interested in Chian, he nonetheless likes to keep him on a leash close to him as a friend. Bua finds himself getting jealous of Fou4Mod because he will take away his time from Chian. So, he has learned to manipulate Chain effectively, causing Chian to ghost Fou4Mod on several occasions. This in turn festers a dislike of Bua by Fou4Mod.
Of course, Fou4Mod is not without his own set of manipulative tools to regain control of Chian. He solicits the help of his good friend, Baabin (PJ Mahidol) who is only too eager to help, mainly because he has been in love with Fou4Mod for a long time. However, Fou4Mod is way to self-absorbed in his own world and trying to rein in Chian that he does not see the hurt he is causing Baabin. Baabin too also has a bag of tricks at his disposal that he uses to manipulate a lot of the dynamics that goes on between Chian and Fou4Mod.
The two ‘outsiders’, Bua and Baabin, begin to commiserate with each other over the individual losses of the two that are so meaningful in their lives. However, something rather unexpected happens to them and in that process. Bua falls very hard for Baabin. Instead, in a rather immature and childish fashion, Baabin rejects Bua in a truly hurtful manner. The story unfolds into allowing us to see that while Baabin loved Fou4Mod, he rejected Bua because of his friendship for Fou4Mod. In his private world, he was beginning to like Bua but was more blinded by the loyalty to his friend than guided by the emotional attachments he truly felt.
Who really S.T.O.L.E. this series? There are no bad performances in this series. In fact, this is an exceptionally well-acted series. Too well acted, however. Everything was so well polished and perhaps understandably so, as there were a few references of sexual pleasures between Fou4Mod and Chian. Not withstanding that, it was obvious that most were way too old to be trying to pull off being 10th graders. They lacked the unsophistication that a young person would naturally display as well as the lack of life experiences that would not have shown in their faces as much. I am sorry there was no way I was going to believe that any of them were the ages they were purported to be. They did not look nor act it – naturally. However, one person does stand out for an exceptional performance and that is PJ Mahidol as Baabin. There is a particularly moving scene in which he confesses his love for Fou4Mod that is an emotional masterpiece. But as he sees him with Chian, he never does send the messages to him via the phone. He, like many of us, rehearsed what we wanted to say to our unrequited love, over and over in our own heads and wished we had given it but lacked the courage to do so as well. It is a brilliant scene and delivered with sheer perfection. He performs it with such passion with a face that is both mesmerizing and hauntingly erotic. Of all the performers in this series, PJ Mahidol is by far the most memorable and certainly is the most alluring and sensual character in this series. Not to be outdone, however, Leon Zech as Bua also has his moment when he tells Baabin of his hurt when he was leading him on and playing with his emotions and how painful and destructive his actions were. His performance was equally powerful and dynamic. In essence, these two young men show a range of emotions well beyond what was written on paper, and we could feel them coming out of the screen and grabbing us. It is no wonder at the end, they are seen together as we get to watch them grow to the point of understanding who each of the other was.
The issues I had with this series are the self-centeredness of the two main characters. Yes, of course, I KNOW they are teenage boys and by their very nature they are. But it seemed so much like a broken record. The two played havoc on each other’s emotions and feelings. And apparently this went on for over two years. This also became a flaw in the series as we could not measure the time. I had no idea that much time had passed by as these two never changed. They would be hot for each other and then one or the other or both would ghost the other. Often for long periods of time. Yet, neither one able to get the other out of his mind. Even when Fou4Mod tried to date a female, that ended up in a disaster. He could not shake his real passion for Chian.
Yet, in the end, it developed into a tentative and superficial relationship. While both were in love with one another, with Fou4Mod perhaps more committed to wanting it to be a permanent relationship, Chian is just too broken and free-spirited to make a full commitment. And never will. As he himself says, there may be a time in the future he might be too lazy to text him back but “he will let him know.” All they can do now is live in the moment and learn to accept each other, where each is. Will that be enough to maintain their partnership?
This is a worthy production as well. Filmed entirely by phone, it is a remarkable piece of cinematography. The locations are contemporary and there is such a hallmark of the grittiness of big city-living about it. It seems to be quite reflective of life as it really is in Bangkok and for the modern era. There were, of course, unrelatable concepts that went past me as well. I did not understand the fascination of and for having your nails done nor the complete reliance of the phone as an extension of oneself not only for communication but to act as a major source of defining your circle of friends. I understand I am not the demographics for this series, however.
What this series boils down to, though, are the age-old issues that have plagued relationships for generations: Insecurity. Jealousy. Pettiness. Immaturity. Selfishness. Resentment. Distrust. Doubt, Shame, Low self-esteem. And every other nuance and variation of these emotions. What I discovered was that I was seeing myself in these boys only in today’s world. I honestly understood their actions. As the same fears and anxieties they displayed, I felt as well. Perhaps not as deep nor as intense since I did not have the outlets to express them so, but I certainly understood their headspaces.
Where I wanted to see this unique series succeed was to tell a more truthful story. I wish they had used actual teens for the roles so as to have captured the genuine immaturity of the substantive times; not the reflections of the past memories of the current performers. I am not a proponent of using older performers for roles that are clearly contemporary and in the here and now. There is no reason to do so. That IS what the story is about. We want to see, sense, feel, and genuinely grasp what they are experiencing in real time. Not a reflection of what was but a reality of what is. If they had used contemporary performers this would have been a dynamic masterpiece and set the standards for others to follow. It would have lent a greater level of sincerity to the production and the story, and we would have grasped the deeper meaning of the emotions because they would not have lived them yet. We would have watched them project their raw emotions, and for me that would have given it a greater sense of uncertainty. After all, they are teenagers, and they have their whole lives ahead of them. Let us see how each of them would have portrayed their own ‘tabula rasa’.
Nonetheless, this is an outstanding series and uniquely accomplished. And very different for a Thai BL. I just wish they would have made it a more authentic story by using young actors and actresses to portray these parts.
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