BLISS RATING: ★★
“Leave yesterday behind and let’s start again today. Forgiveness isn’t a reward but a decision to more on.” – Quote from Yesterday
This series is so appropriately named as the whole series is ‘so yesterday’. I know that may be parochial, as it denotes something ‘extremely outdated, unfashionable or irrelevant’. The thesis of this series has honestly run its course. Its story is banal, passe, and completely dysfunctional. In addition, it is further encumbered by suspect editing. It tried to encompass yesterday’s actions into current scenes; it did not work. That has to be done with flawless integrity to make the story flow with integrity. When one has a hard time figuring out what time frame one is in, that is a serious deficiency. When you do not have a smooth transition to a story, you literally have no story. The interest wanes and it begins to look like a manipulative tool rather than an explanative function of the happenings. I frankly got lost because I became disinterested. The jumping of the story is erratic and very confusing.
I do not like convoluted and complex stories that weave and bob back and forth from current to past, flashing behind to present in a twisted way. And to make it even more exacerbating was the absolute degenerate characters that were involved as well. While some were obviously mentally ill, others were completely nefarious charlatans. Much of this story is unrelatable to ordinary individuals and I could not connect to them.
If one seriously analyzed this story, one would see from the very beginning that none of the characters are virtues of morality. They ALL are only interested in the bottom line – making a profit. While that in and of itself is not necessarily an evil thing, it is when you exploit and use the weakness of others as the wedge to gain an unfair advantage. That for me is abuse. While Vier (Fort Thitipong) is not as ruthless as some others, he still knows how to take heartless advantage of an opening when he sees one.
Handsome, charming, with a brilliant business mind, he sees both a weakness and an opportunity in using the passive son of KING group named Kelvin (Peat Wasuthorn). Thinking he is a milquetoast but knowing he is the brains of the outfit, he helps rescue him from his rather toxic family. Kelvin, admittedly handsome with a boyish and enticing charm about him, is a chameleon. But to his credit, is one of the sharper ones. He manages to con Vier into falling deeply in love with him. And once he has been hooked, he unleashes a plan to reverse course on him and control Vier. Not just professionally but also physically. We begin to see, as the story unfolds, how mentally unstable and deranged Kelvin is. He becomes a raging jealous manic, locking up Vier, trying to convince him of his deep and passionate love and that everything he is doing is indeed for his own good. From any sense of standard human behavior, none of that is even remotely on any plain of reality. While he is able to function in society, especially in the business world, he is losing grasp on any sense of morality. For individuals like Kelvin, and Vier when he finally escapes from this toxicity, both function in the business world, which speaks volumes of how easy the world of business is so full of negativity that no one seems to sense or care or understands boundaries. Just as long as one makes money.
Who really S.T.O.L.E. this series? This series is filled with horrible characters but the one I adored the most is Ken played by Tao Sattaphong. Not only was he evil through and through, but he is also like a Phoenix rising from the ashes. No matter how bad or inept he was at doing the bidding of his father, he always managed to wiggle out of his dilemma. Forced into an unwanted marriage with Lalin (Ninenine Natthanicha), he still manages to mess that up for which Lalin does everything she can to bring him down as well. This was one of the most hapless roles in a BL I have ever seen, and I had to admire Tao for making the most of it. While it could so easily have been a caricature as there were so many times when we thought this is ‘it’ for Ken, he still managed to survive. And for making this character who was ridiculous become so integral to the story, I applaud his skills in keeping us entertained throughout. Ken was a character that we ‘loved’ to ‘hate’ and I enjoyed every minute he was on screen. Secretly, I wish he had been even more dastardly at the end. This series needed that jolt to get it out the BL doldrums of cliché and trite endings. Tao, I completely and totally appreciated your characterization. And you were handsome portraying Ken.
This is a toxic series. And is a reprehensible one as well. Kelvin does such repugnant actions to Vier physically, emotionally, and mentally. Yet in the end, Vier forgives him and loves him for who he is. He tends to and wants to ignore Kelvin’s diagnosis of bipolar disorder with depression along with acute anxiety and a high prone to self-harm. But status, rank, and money doth have its privileges and this is a prime example of that. I do not have to state, as it should be obvious, that Kelvin is in serious need of intensive therapy but because of his stature, is given a pass to pretty much get away with torture, kidnapping, sexual assault, attempted murder, extortion, exploitation, and undoubtedly a number of other illegal activities. But all of that is glossed over with no consequences. And Vier knows all of this, so his hands are not exactly clean in all of this either. He too has not exactly been a pillar of above-board-negations himself throughout.
Sorry, but I cannot ‘pity’ these two or feel any sort of positive emotions for them, even if the story paints them as this virtuous couple at the end. And are supposedly deeply in love. How can that be? It is all based on lies.
I also could not get into their so-called on-screen romance either. The acting here is certainly unchallenging for either Fort or Peat. Sure, they looked good together but if you are going to have a believable sex scene perhaps looking less rehearsed might have worked more to be more convincingly. I know there is this adage of the best sex is with a ‘bad-boy’ but theirs was bland, boring and way over produced. It needed to be wild and over-the-top. There was none of that.
This series also got lost in the weeds as well. So much attention was spent in the nuances of the myriad of business dealing and mergers, and connections, that honestly who cares? Way too much and too detailed.
I know there is a GL component to this story that just felt, at least for me, out of place. While I could have believed in a relationship between Lalin and her bodyguard, Nana (Friend Dina), it just seemed a bit too contrived and convenient. It felt kind of rushed. Although they did have several emotionally strong moments together, I wish there would have been a more extensive development of their relation as it did seem genuine.
Frankly, this series is hard to dislike. It has more entertaining moments than not. But it could learn from doing less. Less here would have been more. It starts out well, but it gets toxic and rather ugly quickly and paints the business world in broad sweeping generalizations as bad. Perhaps a stereotype but maybe becoming an earned one. You must be prepared for the toxicity which I disliked and the fact there were no consequences for our protagonists who were not exactly innocent in all of this. They get to have a ‘perfect’ life at the expense of a lot of other people. That is hard for me to rectify as a decent message.
The quote above is a fine saying for people who are in the inside looking in the inside. For the rest of us who are not of their caliber or on the outside, we might dispute that conclusion.
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