BLISS RATING: ★★★★
“Love never fails. But where there are prophecies, they will cease; where there are tongues, they will be stilled; where there is knowledge, it will pass away.” – 1 Corinthians 13:8
Fantasy BLs are a difficult genre to make believable. Not just because one must feign being in love with someone with whom one is not but must also convince us that some sort of magic or fantasy is part of the scheme. Additionally, it must be a major part of the theme, short of overwhelming the storyline, without also making the whole premise look ridiculous. Overall, this series does a very good job of making the story not just conceivable but also relatable. There are some very strong acting performances by the main leads that help pull this story together rather well.
Inthu Thammasirikul [In] (Sea Tawinan) is an emotionally fragile young man, just now graduating from college. Alone and very lonely in large part because he is a clairvoyant. He suffers from this uncanny ability of merely touching someone, he can sense a pending crisis that will befall that person. In also has the gift of reading fortunes by tarot cards. All these visions take a toll on him not only emotionally but also physically. In is burdened with almost insufferable guilt for not being more forceful in warning his parents of their car accident which took their lives. He now carries the burden of feeling somehow, he is responsible for their deaths, making his functioning in society quite triggerable and susceptible. Thus, In comes across as angry and occasionally irrational in responses to his surroundings, especially when it comes to his personal possessions. His closest and dearest friend is Dao (Acare Chompoopuntip). She understands and accepts him and the hardships he has been through. Dao has an older brother who is a rather handsome, gregarious, youthful-looking doctor named Thapfap Kittiphokhin [Thap] (Jimmy Jitaraphol). Thap and In meet under unusual circumstances and by fate they become intertwined and destined to be together. In becomes instrumental in saving Thap and the reverse is also true for Thap. This is so much more than just a BL. It is a story about forgiveness through love; it is more like a personal journey to atonement. In morphs from being an introspective, fearful individual controlled by fates to becoming an outgoing individual who controls his own destiny. In that sense, this saga is unique and done well. It is a narrative that is replete with heartwarming emotives and stirring scenes that will no doubt bring out the tears. This is one of only a few Thai series (at least as of late) where the emotional scenes honestly feel genuine and well-earned and we can see and also discern the natural progression of their stages to development.
Who really S.T.O.L.E. this series? To the plethora of supporting casts, I applaud your efforts. You all did such a great job of enhancing this story that it is hard to identify just one or two of you. This is one of the few times where, in essence if it were not for the supporting cast, this series would have lacked gravitas and a strong association. There are so many powerful scenes between the protagonists and these characters that I found myself emotionally bonding to many of them. Thap’s father (M Apina), for example, comes to mind. The exchange between him and his son is simply one of deep reflection between a father and a son and done with such intense devotion that it feels astonishingly tangible. The visits to In’s province and the interactions with the locals were all so solemnly pensive and meaningful that I found myself reaching for tissues to wipe away tears – sometime for joy, sometimes for sadness. They were quite powerful and dynamic. Even the sometimes-contrived exchanges between In and Tul (Junior Panachai), who deeply liked In, were more than superficial and had meaning and purpose. These roles all made the story feel so organic and raw and gave it a sense that it could be germane and relative.
I do wish the story had stuck to the development of human interactions rather than trying to introduce an element of a murder mystery into the storyline. It became obvious early on who the main culprit was and who the accomplice was. That took away dimensions from the story that could have been used to amplify the relationship between In and Thap. Indeed, there was so much more to explore in what ways In was capable of utilizing his talents. Also, the road to self-discovery and self-forgiveness was not as smooth as it was purported to be. All of that was so worthy of further exploration rather than solving a ‘murder mystery’.
There is, as usual in these series, a secondary love interest that yet again is about as believable as me becoming the next King of England (I am not even British). It was contrived, silly, unconvincing, and pedestrian. It is the usual theme of two guys who knew each other in high school, both having crushes on each other, losing contact with one another, and then suddenly finding themselves thrust into being together fortuitously. A police inspector, Ton (Save Saisawat) and Dr. Pong (Franc Naruth) try to masquerade sexual tension between them but fail miserable at it. It is established from the moment they re-meet that they obviously knew each other and had a thing for one another but something happened that thwarted their past budding relationship. (I guess phones, Facebook, IG, mutual friends, were not invented yet or they did not know how to use them). This storyline is frankly getting so trite, old, and worn out that it simply does not work anymore. Both looked and acted silly like schoolboys trying to be prepubescent in their mindset, but we know they are now both in their mid to late 20s and are therefore at the point in their lives that honesty and forthrightness ought to be front and center. Not childish, immature behaviors especially from two professional individuals. Why have these asinine contrived relationships if they go nowhere and add nothing to a story. Do something mature with them; just do not treat them like preadolescent simpletons. Give us something to be emotionally attached to them about. Otherwise, just let it be. Better yet not develop a relationship at all.
Overall, this story is good, almost very good. The acting, in my opinion, is far stronger by Sea as In than Jimmy as Thap. If I am being honest, I have mostly found the expression of deeper emotional experiences by Thai actors to be relatively reserved or at least held back somewhat – until now. There were a lot of very emotional scenes that needed to solicit strong emotions from the character enough to make us, as the audience, feel it in our souls as well and Sea delivered. These events stood out and jumped out at you. When he cried, I did too. A rarity for me in Thai series as I do not feel that deep of a connection emotionally. He made it feel very organic and honest. Kudos to some fine acting by Sea. I felt his sensitivities were sincere and meaningful. Whereas, with Jimmy, while ‘there’ but not feeling it at a core level. He needed to dig deeper to give the impression of making it more acute. Ironically, I felt that from M Apina as Thap’s father in their father/son exchanges. M Apina dug deep into the soul of the father and we could see a real act of contrition on his part.
For me, this story tried to cover too much within their relationship in a choppy fashion, intertwined into an awful murder mystery theme. In has a lot of significant issues to resolve and so much of what he has been feeling remains nebulous. Thap is a wonderful source of strength and love and is a great foundation for healing. But he must know as a doctor, In needs more and he cannot and should not be all that to him. I wanted more to be done with In’s ability to ‘read people’ and his other clairvoyant skills. I firmly believe that some people do have that ability and a whole story (or dilemma) surrounding that notion could have been explored, developed, or even foundationally established as an option to explore. What now do you do with that astonishingly unique ability?
While they made a great couple and it felt right, the story moved their relationship much too fast to make it tenable. It became just a bit too Pollyanna.
I keep wishing and hoping for more sensible and honest and earthly stories about gay (BL) romances with a strong mixture of joy and pathos. Otherwise, we end up watching a tropey soap-opera that is based on a world of fantasy or wishful thinking. For me, this was another missed opportunity to be a more impactful series.
Leave a Reply