Past-Senger (2023)

CREEPY CREEPY ENDING

I couldn't emphasize enough how that ending is giving creepy sexual predator vibe.

This fantasy-scify has a very unique main story. A guy from the 90s is transported to the present after offending a local deity (or priest). The story revolves around his adjustment to the present time and his quest to get back to his own time, all while meeting his old and making new friends, and of course it wouldnt be a BL if theres no romance so finding the unexpected love of his life is a given.

The end. Or actually that should have ended it.

First of all, whoever thought that title Past-senger should be given a raise, because thats the only witty thing in this series. Title alone summarizes what Kiew is - a traveler from the past and the first few episodes has also successfully explored the concept of a time traveler adjusting to his life in the present. However things got boring so fast and the slow and repetitive pacing bored me with almost nothing significant happening in the middle episodes.

The whole series screams low-budget. The cinematography is giving an old tv soap opera vibes and combine that with poor makeup is a total disservice to the artists. Here we are bombarded with a lot of close up shots that exposed the actors in a bad way.

I also dont know if anyone noticed how grating the background sound is - that monotonous guitar strum will sometimes be exchanged with an equally annoying piano or musicbox melody that only highlights how much they spend on music. These background music were utilized so unfittingly that it gives me headache and muting the show became a necessity.

Seriously, can anyone raise theiir hand if you think literally tripping or falling over someone is romantic? I have never known any couple in real life with that experience and to see that happen in almost every other series out there is so infuriating.

I can forgive the script (i will blame it on the poor translation) and i think the actors did what they could with what they were given. There was a few story arc (and quite a few tropes) that i wished they didnt do and the young stars is in need of major acting workshop.

I, however, liked the fact that they almost respected the concept of the time travel paradoxes (as they did it much better than a certain series with 609 in it). There were a few lapses but they are bearable.

The biggest issue is when they added that ending scene, where the present day Kiew meets Bamee again. There is an air of almost predatory creepiness in it and i think they could have handled that a little better.

Finally, I should also call out producers in Thailand to please please give Cooper a good project. This guy deserves a big break and maybe a partner who will elevate him into a bonafide star.

This series, although not exactly A-class is admittedly a guilty pleasure watch every Wednesday night. Would i re-watch? Oh hell no! Unfortunately, no matter how much fun, well intended and lighthearted the series is, it is still hard to recommend.

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Loved the series, but not the ending.

The series was a lot of fun to watch, seeing the chemistry of all the actors was great from both the adults and young adults. Love the timeline story. The couples fit together great and it kept you smiling, crying, and laughing throughout the episodes. The lead couple was great together. The only down part for me was the rushed ending. The ending I felt was very rushed and did not really make sense or fit the story. I am fine with the older and young dating if the story started like that but, sadly I was disappointed with this type of ending, I was hoping he would have stayed in the future and made a new life, but I love the series and the chemistry between the actors. The only down part was the ending, it did not work for me and did not fit the beautiful chemistry.

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Not good.

3/10 dropped, disappointed.

I wish the boy stayed by him........so bad......ending...i donk like that ending....it was weird.....
i would have liked to see much more of the beautiful main couple. I was very disappointed afterwards.
If the series had been implemented well then it would have been something. The potential was definitely there.

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Not entertaining and simply disconcerting

This series is misguided, misconceived, and misdirected. It other words, it missed. The entire series was so unfocused and presented in almost a cartoonish manner that I did not know if this was to be taken as a comedy, drama, fantasy, or romance. So how did this series fall apart? While the concept of the story itself was interesting, it never fully committed itself to seeing it to its completion. Was it a comedy? A drama? A fantasy? A romance? It tried to be everything and failed at all of it. This series went for cuteness but did not understand the price it paid to get to that end. It sacrificed a lot of integrity to get there. I found its underlying message subtly abusive and disconcerting, not funny, and mostly sad. And very little understanding of what it is like to be gay. Its negative message overpowers its cuteness and slight humor. Personally, I cannot dismiss so readily the attempted rape, the bullying, and its cringeworthy ending that made me feel uncomfortable.

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CRINGE CRINGE CRINGE!!!! CREEPY ENDING!!!

GURL.. I- *takes a deep breathe* WHAT WAS THAT ENDING?!?!?!?! Thailand... We are gonna have to have a conversation because this series WAS NOT IT. At first I was like "let me give this a go" and it did grow on me a little bit and I tolerated the bad script, hot mess scenes (there were a lot of them!!) so I could finish til the end. After like episode seven, it really started going down hill. The only thing that really kept me watching was because of Cooper and Marc. Cooper wasn't bad in My Engineer (at least I think so) but after that, he just kept getting crappy roles (My Bromance was just...) Marc is a good actor to me as well. The difference between his character in Chain of Hearts vs this one, I can tell that he has potential! Please Thailand, our baby Cooper needs a break! He needs a good series.. Anyways back to the review. Even though a lot of scenes were super cringe, I watched all the way through anyways. Filled with every cringe worthy BL trope you can think of. A lot of the scenes did not make sense. The acting was very off and there wasn't much chemistry between the characters. There were a lot of cute, fluffy moments and that saved the series a little bit. The friendships were very wholesome! I loved the connection between the characters. They were there for each other and supported one another. I also liked the fact that Kiew's friends in the future really resembled their past selves, so I was really happy with that. This series had the potential to be great, especially with the concept and what it was about. I love shows about time travel (I guess that's just the geek in me), so it had the means of being great, it just wasn't executed very well.

The ending... THAT. BOTHERED. ME. SO. MUCH!!!!!!!!! I literally closed my eyes and paused the show idk how many times during that whole scene... I was like "NO NO NO NO NO NO" the whole time. It was very unsettling to watch. That ending could have went a whole different direction. To be compeltely honest, it would have been better if both Kiew and Bamee forgot each other. I mean yes, that's kind of sad but at the same time I would have stomached that a lot better than 40 something Kiew still in love with 20 something Bamee.. Yes, age aint nothing but a number but sheesh man.. this was just cringe. Also I wish they didn't have the actor playing 40 year old Kiew staring at Bamee like a creep.. I mean he was staring at him more like a predator than someone who's "in love".

I am glad that Bamee's dad was alive. That's about the only happy thing about that ending. Really should have just had Kiew and Bamee forget each other. Kiew should have been able to keep his memories either. I mean what is that?? He keeps his memories but everyone else doesn't? Dont get me wrong, I do understand why they had to forget, but still SIGH..

Anways this was just not all that great. I wish Cooper the best. He really needs a boom a** series to break this trend he's got going on.

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I dreaded the ending from the start

The plot seemed interesting, especially because Kiew ends up being thrown into the lives of his friends and their children. He must navigate between two generations, while adapting to all the changes that happened since 1995. It had potential to be quite messy, but that was not really the route they took. Don’t get me wrong, there are situations that were not handled well, but it wasn’t as terrible as it could be.

Generally speaking, I liked the series. I do think that they really did a good job at making Kiew act like he came from the past (not knowing how to use cellphones and being amazed by technology, etc.). I was a lot less impressed by his view on LGBTQ+ community. His comments and reactions were hard to swallow at times, but it is also something that gets addressed as problematic in the series, so that is something I liked.

The characters mostly seemed realistic. I like both friend groups, and poor Kiew having to navigate between the two. The dynamics of each group were nice, but they did seem like a copy paste of one another. I think it wasn’t as obvious, as we didn’t really get a good feel for how the “old” group was when they were younger, but we only get to saw their mature versions interact. I do like how the older version of Kiew’s friend group do look similar to their younger versions. That was a good casting choice.

Kiew & Bamee: I really like the chemistry of Cooper and March, not that I expected anything less from the two. Both of them have done great with emotional scenes, and they portrayed a lot through their eyes as well. Kiew and Bamee have an enemies to lovers story going on, and I was really enjoying their bickering at the beginning. I think Kiew struggling with his feelings was more obvious than Bamee, but the latter was not as indifferent as he wanted to appear.

Plawan & Mudaeng: a pairing I didn’t know I needed, but they make so much sense. I am not happy with how fast Plawan seemed to move on from his crush on Bamee (especially to his brother), but that is also something that is in a way brought up. So, kudos for that. I really love the way the two interact, they are very lovey-dovey with one another and super cute. I found Plawan kind of childish and Mudaeng can be quite mischievous at times, but I think they match each other well.

There are things that don’t really make sense to me, plot wise. Especially towards the end when Kiew is trying his best to return to his time. Wouldn’t it be a lot less painful for those involved to do things differently? If you have to leave, people not remembering you would be best. Because remembering you would mean missing you. And missing you would be painful.

I do think the makeup was not really done well in a few scenes. And the camera panning in or out was done in a strange way. I don’t really know how to explain it, but it didn’t feel right. I do like the OST though.

One thing I have dreaded since the start, was the ending. No matter how I look at it, no matter how it ends, it knew it won’t be a happy ending. Kiew will either not go back, meaning he won’t be able to fix what he wants to fix. Or he will go back, breaking both his and Bamee’s heart in the process. Either way, it didn’t look good (I do know how it actually ends; I’m just not saying anything). I do not really like how it ended though. It did ended up being creepy, and not romantic as they were probably going for.

So there is one more thing… I might be reading too much into it, but the way Kiew talked about Art (Bamee’s dad) made me think that he might have had a crush on him. It is possible that he wasn’t fully aware of it or that he was in complete denial. For whatever reason, I found it really uncomfortable how he would always compare Bamee to Art (e.g. both not liking taking pills). It made me think that in a way, he transferred the feelings he had for Art onto Bamee, and with gay relationships being more accepted in the modern world, he was only then able to show his feelings. But who were they actually for? Bamee? Or Art? It might be just a silly theory of mine, but it’s been bugging me since the start.

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It should have a sad ending and then everything will be alright

I am trying to think of the series as a whole thing and judge it based on all the episodes. But I just can't, the ending killed every little good thing about it (and there weren't that many, to begin with). The cast was good. I think they fulfilled the roles they were given, but I admit it wasn't anything exceptional. Since 5e whole plot is travelling into the future, you are prepared from the beginning that there is a big possibility, that it won't end well. You have a mother who died after her son went missing so of course he has to go back. But the fact that many many years later he still approaches a teenage guy like that really didn't sit well with me. He should have cherished him as a beautiful memory and even if they met so many years later he should just step back and watch him from afar. I admit the ending was kinda making me a little Ill. Maybe it's thanks to the fact I am now over 30 but relationship where there is a big age gap and one of the couple is still a kid, it just doesn't sit a well with me.

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Starts with good potential but the development isn't always good

First of all, the time-travel premise is fun but not very well done. Why would a spirit transport Kiew to the future as a punishment? Nevertheless, there is a compelling conflict: Kiew falls in love with Bamee in 2022, but is also morally obliged to return to 1995 or his mother will die of grief, so it is going to be a poor decision whether he decides to stay in 2022 or return to 1995. (Yes, he actually does have a choice because he can return to 1995 as long as he fulfills his promise to the spirit).

Unfortunately, neither the time-travel premise nor the conflict is fully exploited. Sometimes the story veers into illogical or frivolous developments. For instance, the about-turn in the character of Bamee's stepmother is not logical at all. Then there is the time when Bamee suffers from amnesia--it's understandable that he would become cold to Kiew because he can't remember him. However, it does not make sense that his character would be so different that he would do things without thinking about the feelings of the brother he dotes on and still remembers. The beginning scene in which Kiew dreams of kissing Bamee even before he has travelled to the future where he meets Bamee is also not explained.

Overall, Past Senger isn't a totally bad BL series, but I would find it hard to come up with a strong reason to highly recommend it. If you are bored and have watched all the better BLs, why not? But there are probably more interesting things out there.

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Unexploited potential buried in implausible ending

The series started with an intriguing premise. Kiew, the main character, is transported into the future where he connects with his now older friends and their kids that who are nominally the same age as he and become part of his new friendship group. The writers could have exploited more story potential. Kiew's old friends having matured beyond him could have provided some story moments. The changes in societal attitudes and technology could also have been used more.

Kiew is distraught to find out his mother's and best friend's fates that he thinks are due in part to his sudden disappearance and is determined, with the support of his older friends, to find a way back to make things right. In the meantime, he becomes more and more involved with the current generation of friends and starts a romantic relationship with one of them.
This could have been a fantastic story with him attempting to find a way back and slowly coming to the mature realisation that his future has to be in the present and not the past.

Ironically, any story involving fantasy and the supernatural can't be fantastical; it needs to have a plausible framework to make it work. Unfortunately the writers thought they could get away with breaking the time line constraints of time travel fiction and presented us with an unsatisfying ending.

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