BLISS RATING: ★★★+
“A good love should be pushing you forward, not holding you back.” – Quote from Match Point
This is yet another overly wholesome series. It has a theme that is kind of wearing thin. It is another storyline around two families that do not get along; yet their sons, while seemingly ‘hating’ each other, are overtly displaying sexual tension between themselves without realizing it. When they were children, the two boys had been close and perhaps the seed of companionship already took hold; however, their families, in this case specifically the fathers, forced them to be ‘enemies’. As they grew, they became competitive and bitter rivalries and were compelled to be separated from one another.
Yet, underneath all this tension, their connection to each other remained unbroken and in a sense, as the two boys began to grow into young men, their attraction to one another took on a new, deeper meaning. All undefined and unorganized, of course. Their only way to express how they felt towards one another was by being bitter and acrimonious towards each other.
Sun (Ping Krittanun) became an athletic, specifically leading in tennis. Meanwhile Bay (Teshow Promsakha) took a softer approach and went into art. The whole school, including the administration, is well aware of their constant bickering caused essentially by the rivalry between their fathers. As Sun is well on his way to becoming a national tennis champion and maybe leaving for training camp, which means he will no longer be at the school. While he tries to ask for a truce until the end of the term, things between him and Bay just seem to progressively worsen.
Finally, after a number of particularly nasty encounters with Bay, Sun decides to leave school to put an end to the continuous rivalry. At this point, Bay finally confesses that he cannot bear the thought of Sun not being around. He finally discloses that he is and has always been in love with him and simply cannot bear that Sun will not be there beside him. He wants and needs him in his life. He would have him as an enemy rather than not have him around at all. Shocked, Sun also begins to realize his own feelings for Bay may be stronger than he had realized. While his feelings were not initially as focused as Bay’s are, they were nonetheless just as strong. He needs time to sort them out.
Of course, in a story like this, the premise must be to keep from the fathers finding out. Since their conflict is long standing and based upon a bitter betrayal, both families have suffered the consequences of their anger. In fact, Chun (Chai Chartayadom) [Sun’s father] and his wife are divorced because of it. Meanwhile Bee (Am Amarin) [Bay’s father] has ‘lost’ both Bay and his other son Boat (Sing Harit) because his fixation on getting even and revenge on Chun that his whole world is evolved around that, to the exclusion of anyone or anything else.
While the story does drone on excessively about the bad-blood between the fathers, the relationship between these two young men, surprisingly took a very adult pivot. They did manage to keep their connection a secret until they could not. Although it was delicate as they tried to navigate their father’s consternations, and it may have wabbled a bit, they never stopped seeing each other as the light and strength of their young lives. Both had to see each truly was the love of the other. Ping and Teshow did an admirable job of making us believe in them – not only as characters but also as, most importantly, committed partners. I did, overwhelmingly. What tipped it over the edge for me is that both were focused on their futures. Sun wants to commit himself to becoming a national tennis player while Bay wants to commit to his studies in Italy. Both focused enough to commit to their goals. An admirable and adult fortitude to understanding that eventually, they would be together. With stability and with good futures.
Who really S.T.O.L.E. this series? Actually, I should call this section the two that could have ‘stolen’ the series but never did. Both came agonizingly close to doing so and were so good in their roles, but they never were given the final push to make them stand out. I have seen my fair share of unfortunate roles but Sing Harit as Boat and Kong [Coach] played by Chimon Wachirawit are two of the most soulless creatures I have seen in a series in a long time. Boat, who did not want to be a doctor, as he neither had the personality or passion or drive to be one. His father became ‘ashamed’ of his son’s inability to complete medical school because he could not process his son’s personality traits were different from his. When Boat reconnected with his high school friend Kong, their special bond they had strengthens and Boat finds comfort in Kong’s warmth and acceptance of who he is. Sing and Chimon have such a warm, wonderful, and special bond between themselves that went quickly from friend to something more. Only we never got to see the something more. It was obvious through innuendo, flirtatious expressions and stares that these two shared a love for each other that we WANTED to mature. Theirs was from the heart and life’s experiences. Unfortunately, we were not even treated to a kiss or a hand holding (well, except for the very, very end). That is unfortunate as these two had confronted living and knew what a romance, a heartfelt romance, would have meant. Why the story only teased it, and only superficially, is beyond me. This is one of these complete misses in a series. To be honest, this is one of the major deficiencies that brought this series down.
What further brought this series down is the constant and continuous childishness and immaturity of the fathers and their despicable behaviors. More so perhaps on the part of Bee who committed a heinous act which created the ongoing conflict between them. Nonetheless, as adults, it is something that should have been resolved years ago. It went on too long and occupied too much of the story as well.
When Bee kicks Bay out of the house for having a relationship with his mortal enemy’s son, I thought that was the most genuine and honest response of anger I have seen from a father in a long time. That felt raw and Teshow’s reactions as Bay felt genuine but not quite strong enough. I wish he would have dug deeper. That moment was powerful and hurtful. Your father just kicked you out of your own house. The feeling that no one loved you must be overwhelming. And it needed to be stronger. And ironically, Chun reacting as a father took the only action an empathetic father would take. That scene was powerful which honestly does not happen very frequently or often in a BL. This series should have been replete with these moralistic messages that are right here in front of us which would have given this series a much wider and more powerful message.
What frustrates me the most about these BLs is its glossing over of significant issues in the lives of the young men that are involved. Rather than filling up space with the same ongoing feuds with the fathers, do something constructive. We GOT there was a conflict and we understood that it affected the whole family. Now do SOMETHING about that. Make it real, relatable, and relevant. This story, while cute, is forgettable. It is a cookie-cutter one with a premise we have seen before. I did appreciate that one of the father’s came to his senses sooner than the other and even allowed both to sleep together. And when both Sun and Bay called him “Pa”, that drove the other one to snap. More of that was needed and we should not have to wait until the end of the series to get a resolution. Build it into the story. A golden opportunity to have a sweet, genteel love story between Boat and Kong was unfocused and actually not even developed; only teased at the very end. One CAN have a BL with two main love interests; there is no law against it.
Instead, as usual, it wants to take the ‘cute’ road. Make it reasonably entertaining but in the process, forgettable. Our young protagonists can act. They went from being juvenile teenage boys to two young men seriously in love with one another and did so with complete unwavering conviction. If we had seen more of this intensity along with the potentially beautiful story between Boat and Kong, we might have had a true masterpiece, But the pablum path to mediocrity was chosen. For reasons that baffle me, the story avoids emotional depth, even though life is full of dramatic highs and lows. For once, can we break the Pollyanna curse.
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