BLISS RATING: ★★★★
“Sometimes you just have to follow the rhythm. Even if something makes you stop, as long as you’re not afraid, you’ll finally be able to dance.” – Quote From Me And Thee
This series started out in the traditional sense of most Thai BLs. Initially, I almost thought it was a spoof on Thai BLs because it seemed like the characters were more like parodies than representatives of real people. However, as I got into this series, I found it to be intriguing and fascinating, maybe unintentionally? While most perhaps found this series humorous with tongue-in-cheek situations, as it is billed as a ‘comedy’. However, I found it utterly sad and melancholic. It represents one of the dolefulest stories I have watched in a very long time. Admittedly, I cried more than laughed through most of this telling. Allow me to explain.
Thee (Pond Naravit) is a young man, astonishingly handsome, owner of a perfume company, and completely unapproachable. To say that Thee is stunted emotionally and socially would be an understatement. There are a whole host of reasons for this. He, as the expression goes, has enough money to ‘choke a horse’. His parents are a mafioso-type family and have kept him isolated within palatial comforts. Yet, the things he craved the most and desperately wants is a feeling of belonging, loving, and being needed. All things his parents did not give him. His mother (Kik Mayurin) was a former actress and Thee sits around watching old reruns of his mother’s lakorns, basing his concepts of love and relationships on what he is watching. Thee’s world is his mansion, his business, and watching reruns of his mother’s lakorns, simply as a way of connecting to others.
To say Thee is underdeveloped, immature, and vapid would be putting it mildly. Yet, he still manages to be quick-witted, intelligent, and sharp with business dealings and negotiations. Interestingly, as off-the-wall as Thee appears to be, I have in my long life met on more than one occasion many Thees in this world. His portrayal was mostly spot-on but at times a bit too on the naïve side to be completely believable. Pond sometimes slipped into complete silliness, which made Thee feel a bit too artificial. Nonetheless, Thee is quite functional because he manages to have individuals around him who keeps him effective.
Thee meets a fascinating young man about his same age as he, who is a free-lance photographer. His name is Peach (Phuwin Tangsakyuen) who is doing some contractual work for his company at the behest of his sister, Lookplub (Bonnie Pattraphus) who works in Thee’s company. Peach and Lookplub also have an intriguing background. Both were orphaned with Peach raising her. So, while their background has been arduous, it did not hinder them from becoming forceful dynamic individuals. Peach is a very attractive young man with an exceptionally level-headed view of life and reality.
The cornerstone of this series is the ebb and flow in the development of their courtship. Thee tries to ‘buy’ his way into Peach’s heart but realizes that Peach is unimpressed with his wealth. He also imitates utopian solutions from his mother’s lakorns, using them as strategies because he has memorized all of her soap operas. Yet, Peach wants and needs to fall for the individual behind the wealth; not the theatrics. And that is the beauty of this series. We get to see the peeling back of the layers of walls that both have built up to finally expose who they truly are.
We find that Thee is an astonishingly sad and lonely individual who wants to be desperately loved. We find that he to his core loves Peach. Peach, because of his difficulties with his background, is a bit more cautious. But apparently, Peach is falling in love with the real Thee. Both men were broken internally, and their chance encounter and formation of a relationship made them whole.
There is even more realistic sadness in this series. Rome (William Jakrapatr) is the brother to Thee who also is weighted down by the same restrictions that Thee has been placed under when it comes to relationships. Only Rome has had to live with his parents in Hong Kong. Rome who is equally as handsome as Thee, is madly in love with his brother’s bodyguard/assistant, Mok (Est Supha). While Mok tries to hide his feelings for Rome and ‘act’ professionally, crumbles ever so slightly at the sight of Rome. One can discern Mok’s strong sense of attraction to Rome even if the forbidden fruit is not his to partake in. His obligation first and always is with Thee. Their relationship, up until the end, is a prime example of an unrequited love.
Who really S.T.O.L.E. this series? For some of the characters, the acting is inordinately entertaining. I used that expression because sometimes with exceptionally wealthy people, they can be very off-the-wall and unique yet would not be dared called ‘odd’, although if it were anyone else, he/she likely would have been thought of as at least quirky. Who I found so intriguing was Kik Mayurin as Nat, Thee’s mother. She is, to say the least, eccentric in her dress and mannerisms. She seems to be a throwback to an era when she was a ‘star’. Yet she understands her son better than anyone else. She accepted her limitations of not being a nurturing mother and fully appreciates the need to fill those deficiencies by someone who would love him completely for who he is. She senses that in Peach. The quote above is hers to her son. I found her performance so curiously compelling. An aloof mother but strangely caring yet still not enough to provide much of a nurturing environment. She comes across as a has-been actress, living in the past, but somehow remaining elegant and sophisticated. It is a world only the very, very rich could live in and she knows exactly how to live in it. She represented everything that is both good and bad about being rich beyond description. While she understands Thee’s needs, she herself seems incapable of fulfilling fostering skills and revels with a sense of glee that someone has taken her place, literally, in doing so. To display the nuances of someone so far beyond the ordinariness of most of the rest of us is quite a task. Kik’s portrayal of this complex woman made to look simply was brilliant. She hid the pain well.
Yet, this story did not carry itself to a logical conclusion. While good, it is not great. This time it was not the storyline that faltered but the acting. While I understood what Pond as Thee was going for, he at times became too much like a caricature, which was too bad. I have met so many immature individuals who are quite successful. He played the successful part well; not so much the immaturity part or at least not convincingly. On the other hand, Phuwin as Peach was certainly consistent in his approach. And that I had a problem with as well. He seemed unable to change his demeanor. What we saw in the beginning is exactly what we saw at the end. I saw no real crossover or transition to when he began to ‘love’ Thee. While he said all the right things, there is a certain intensity to the commitment that is missing. I saw no twinkle in his eye; no smile on his face; no lighting up when Thee walked into the room that made me feel he loved him unconditionally. Thee is much better at projecting an intensity of love than was Peach, ironically. I never honestly believed he ‘loved’ Thee. In fact, their intimacy scenes lacked enticement and seduction.
Their kissing scenes were badly chorographed and not at all convincing. Half-hearted, passionless kisses, and going through rehearsed motions of love just do not cut it for me. It all appeared contrived and way too planned. I am sorry I never for a moment thought they were a couple. I just did not believe them even though they checked off all the boxes except one – authenticity.
Even though Mok and Rome never really had a whole lot of screen time together, they honestly had more sexual tension between them than anything I saw between Thee and Peach. Of course, when we should have had a somewhat rousing ending for this couple, the production company, yet again, turned them into pre-pubescent teenage couple, even though throughout, they had been adults. That was so disappointing and utterly uncalled for. Why?
Ironically, this is a very touching series. It is filled with example after example of nurturing interactions outside of the world of Thee and Peach. There are other amiable interactions between abandoned children that will warm your heart and pull at your heartstrings in addition to the obvious attachment between Peach and his sister, Longplub, and also the special bond between Thee and his brother Rome. The point being, as Thee’s father so aptly put it – “true love and truly friends are what truly matters” – was the mantra of this series. Yet, the father’s words had all along been misunderstood. The worlds of Thee and Peach are nearly incompatible. These two made it look easy. Too easy with the father warning Thee (and Peach) of the difficulties ahead.
Honestly, this series could have been an early contender for Top Ten for 2026 honors, but as usual it took the low road to simply making it cute rather than completing the story behind the story. ALL four of these guys – Thee, Peach, Rome, Mok – are astonishingly sad characters whose lives have not been destined by their actions but by the antics of others. This was not a comedy but a serious study of very sad, stunted young men who miraculously found love with each couple, meriting all the happiness that a fairytale ending should give them. They deserve one. Their lives have not been necessarily easy ones. More importantly, they seemingly understand that but are willing to give back to society tenfold more than society gave them.
Interestingly, it was all made to look so entertaining. Perhaps a bit too entertaining?
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