BLISS RATING: ★★★★
“Love is like a spoonful of sugar. It makes life taste a lot sweeter.” – Rubyanne
This is a ridiculously shallow, rather empty, plot of a story. It had fluff and was soft and squishy just like a marshmallow – you can see it, feel it, but it has little substance to it. While parts of it were indeed funny, a lot of it was lame, and, yet in a few cases, it attained some very insightful moments. Despite all the irregularities, I loved its diegesis. In a weird, deranged way, while it was so Pollyanna, it never veered far from being relatable to everyday people leading everyday lives. The reasons why we do the things we do in life were so beautifully portrayed. Every road, from why we might choose a career to why we move to be with the people we love, is traversed. It all made sense in the most basic, loving manner. It dealt with the painful life-changing issues honestly, openly, and matter-of-factly. And it did not get too maudlin about any of it. It simply made me feel good. More importantly, parts showed how by putting our most innermost pain in perspective so that we could see how we can move on from it. In that sense, this series does deserve kudos for showing contextual acceptance and peace. I wish it could have given more focus to its protagonists. It then would have been a great series.
The plot is simply ridiculous. Sant (Ohm Thipakorn) is a student vlogger who specializes in reviewing sweets and desserts. We can guess what happens when you eat too many sweets. Inevitably, he seeks the help of a student dentist by the name of Jay (Mark Pakin). Honestly, if the story had merely concentrated on these two, rather handsome young men and the development of their relationship, this would have been a creative and dynamic saga. But there is this obsessive need to go off into tangents that I never could figure out why. Each of their backstories was relevantly interesting and worthy of deeper attention and the way they approached the gentleness and softness of their relationship worked.
Sure, it was rocky in the beginning and full of misunderstandings and misconceptions. But we could see, despite the unsteadiness, a grain of solidarity between them was emerging and it was meaningful. Not only on a physical dimension but an emotional one as well. It did not move mountains, but it moved me. I could see the naturalness of their development slowly growing and fostering into a love. Not all love has to be one where hosannas are screaming from the mountain tops. Sometimes just listening to the soft gentle water running along the rocks in the river is enough and that is what this series was. It felt that way for me.
I found that a lot of the side characters were completely unnecessary and as the expression goes, were merely ‘window dressing’. Captain (Jimmy Jitaraphol), handsome as all get-out and a fine actor, was superfluous to the actual story. His character seemed and felt out of place, as he floated in and out of the story, lacking a serious intent. The GL pairing, while interesting, was again only partially developed and unnecessary to this story. They deserved a series for themselves as their story was an engaging one but again, what was its purpose? What do you want to focus the attention of the audience on? The BL or the GL? It cannot be both unless you devote equal time to each and that was not the case.
Who really this series? this series? This was one of the easiest decisions to make. It is Poon Mitpakdee as Sant’s roommate Kak. Not only is he deliciously handsome, but he is also so critical to the story itself. While straight, he begins to put the pieces together and helps Sant to understand his feelings for Jay and to help him move on from his past painful relationship. Being his life-long friend, he understands who Sant is. Kak had the unfortunate luck to fall in love with Yada (View Benyapa) who was a friend and a co-dentist with Jay. However, while she is bisexual and as much as he tried, her heart remained with her ex-lover, An (Jaoying Krongkwan), with whom she had a deep and intense loving lesbian relationship with. His role is a hapless one, but he portrays it with such grace and honor and takes such a high road, depicting an individual of integrity. He would eventually help Yada reunite with her true love rather than remain lost in a wilderness of doubt. What I respected about his portrayal, like the others, is that he is in the moment, reflected upon what is right in front of him, and responds with deep integrity and virtue. Something that has been lacking a lot in Thai BLs as of late. More importantly, he pushes ahead and evolves. Much like we must do with life. Kak’s outcome, while never fully realized perhaps the way he wanted it to be, quietly moves on with his life, taking on a new challenge for himself. A deeply reflective role that seemed superficial but is surprisingly deep for what is essentially a throw-away character. He made Kak real and made him believable. We could feel all his ups and downs with him. A well performed role for him that he should be proud of. Kudos for being a beacon of merit and showing us the right thing to do.
Of course, this whole series is ridiculously Pollyanna and yet it works simply on the strength of the believability of the two characters. They never overplayed them and surprisingly I felt that they learned to be in love with each other. It is a love that somehow felt connected to them as a couple that was ready to make a commitment to being with each other for the remainder of their lives. Something I rarely feel in BLs. I felt as if these two were ‘old souls’ and would, through it all, be together. Their relationship was not simply based upon a physical connection to one another but also a welded emotional bond to one another as each seemed to know and accept the other for who and what they were. And that is what I liked most about this series.
This is a fun, entertaining series. Cringey to be sure and certainly ‘sugar-coated’. But it got deep when it needed to, and it made the characters connect more immensely than the usual superficial reasons in a BL. They understood that their relationship had meaning not just to each other but to those around them and that is what they wanted to share as well.
Kudos for making a loving gay relationship feel nice, warm, ordinary, and accepting. Sant and Jay were willing to open their love and connection with those around them. A nice change of pace to wanting to fit in by simply being ordinary members of the community.
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