Never Let Me Go

A Surprisingly Enjoyable Mess

Objectively speaking, this series does not deserve the high rating that I am giving it at all. Most of the criticism that other reviewers have leveled at it is completely valid. The plot is a disaster, and the acting ranges from mediocre to bad. If you are looking for a well-written story, Never Let Me Go should not be on your list.

That being said, I enjoyed this series a lot. I am surprised myself -- I usually have no patience for poor acting, plot holes, and characters making obviously stupid decisions. What is it that made this mess so fun to watch for me? Let's see.

1. Good kissing scenes.
If you are tired of the classic "lips barely touching and not moving" kisses that plague BL series, Never Let Me Go will delight you. Palm and Nueng's kisses are intense and leave no doubt that the two of them actually want each other. Hot, hungry, passionate -- this is how I would depict PondPhuwin's romantic scenes. Unlike other reviewers, I believe that they have great chemistry together and that their acting was most believable during the romantic moments.

2. Striking visuals.
GMMTV knew what it was doing when it paired Pond and Phuwin. These two are maybe the most visually pleasing BL couple not only in their company, but in general. Their looks compliment each other so well. Pond gives off a bad-boy vibe, while Phuwin is classy and expensive, like a prince. Turning off your brain and watching beautiful people flirt with each other can be entertaining too. If you, like me, happen to be in the mood for that, Never Let Me Go is a good choice.

3. Rich bottom, poor top.
Now, this is a self-indulgent reason to like this series, but I am really into this trope. A prince and a servant, a billionaire heir and a bodyguard -- these are my kind of romances, and PalmNueng delivered what I was hoping for. Other reviewers point out that Pond looked like a kicked puppy the whole time, but I think that he did a good job conveying the inner conflict of someone in love with a person way out of their league. If you like the "spoiled, rich, and pretty bottom and smitten top" trope, you will have a great time watching Nueng and Palm.

This is all that I can praise Never Let Me Go for. Its drawbacks are many and glaring, and for me, they almost outweighed the good things about it. Had I not been as into the "rich, pretty boy and his bodyguard" trope as I am, I would have probably not finished this series. You should either turn your brain off and watch for the visuals and the hot romantic scenes, or do not watch at all.

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COULD HAVE BEEN BETTER

First of all, this series has got a very good plot with truely amazing ambition. A smart and talented, yet, untrained heir of the biggest business in Thai living in solitude within the social envy for him while facing the loss of dear family members and running away from hitmen, while meeting the love of his life. I bet you can't find another one like this.
However, there are minor to apparent plot holes that happened:
First, Where is Ma Mam's employees when she was shot ? It's a hostel, the employees were supposed to be there since early morning, therefore, she wouldn't have died from a gun shot. And, Her wound was in the stomach, how can you physiologically die from that in such a short amount of time ?
Next up, how did Neung found out his uncle's plans and the uncle's son's involvement when he had just got back ? Did he receive a message from the universe ? I don't think so.
And lastly, where were Neung's abundantly hired bodyguards in the last ep ? They could have saved Palm's a bullet, I guess Neung had ran out of money before the event happened.
So as you can see, many plot holes.
In addition, the 2 main actors did not deliver persuasive tears during sad scenes. They looked like they were laying eggs instead of crying. But you know what, they're one of my favorite BL couples out there so I can let it slides. On the other hand, the supporting characters did a wonderful job. They fulfilled their missions of conveying the emotions to the audiences, especially the actor who played Neung's uncle/Chopper's dad. There were no scenes in which he appeared that didn't make me mad, which is the best thing that he had done playing the villain. I praise him.
Nevertheless, I enjoy the copyrighted soundtracks the inserted into the series, It support the atmosphere extremely well. The OSTs however, there was only the Pond's soundtrack that was impressive.
To conclude, this series had room to be made better. But not at all bad or unworthy of you time. If you are not a detailed person, you would surely enjoy this series.

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Liked it but could've loved it

Getting the Chimon issue out of the way first. I liked how Ben was portrayed as much as any of the other characters.

In fact, I kept thinking not only would he be an absolute cutie in something fluffy but I also think he could carry a villain role. The "betrayer" type of role like the cray-cray of ThornType. Some of his eye cuts gave me villain vibes (not sure why the director/editing team left them in or why he is taking the hit for their decision).

I probably would have liked this more of it had stuck with the rich boy/poor boy storyline. Oh, and if they hadn't killed off the Mom. I AM not really into gangster flicks anyway so they could have saved all the pew-pew to the end.

Also, yet another show with absolutely crappy "bodyguards". At this point, I think I could kidnap the man. Lol.

And I always roll my eyes at the "No, don't you dare help me financially". As if turning it down proves some kind of point.

Nong in a suit, though. Mostly he was overshadowed by the pure beauty that is Pond. But standing alone, rocking a suit. Looking good, sir. Yas!!

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Pondphuwin is cute okay?

First of all, I have serious trouble rewatching series but I've actually already rewatched it. Yes, the writing had its faults but the story was pretty interesting. And above all, Pondphuwin slayed. They're adorable and I actually enjoyed this series more than Fish Upon the Sky (which I binged after starting NLMG so I don't know how valid my opinion on this is). The one thing I felt was a little overkill is that the characters went through hell over and over again like there was not much reason to kill of some characters but it would've taken up too much time to not do it (Pondphuwin rocked the "I've lost everything except you"-devastation/love. At least it felt refreshing that they still chose to love and protect each other instead of fighting and leaving each other. It's worth watching just for Pondphuwin.

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Interesting rewatch

So I first watched this series before we are aired but after we are I just needed more of PondPhuwin so I came back to rewatch and then I recently rewatched it towards the end of last year again and honestly the rewatch was more enjoyable than my first watch. When I first watched it I was in a hurry for some reason I didn’t sit through the entire episodes and definitely did not sit through when the screen switched to others it was more of like me satisfying myself with the little PondPhuwin scenes there were and initially Phuwin’s character was annoying….Neungdiao I thought he over acted a lot and such but my first rewatch I understood his character better but then comes my second rewatch WOW there were so SO SO many things I missed on my previous watches firstly Neungdiao is NOT annoying his situation is quite serious and if I were him I wld have been a thousand times worser, secondly I used to find Palm(Pond) doing the servant part of his character a bit too hard but when I rewatched….hey he’s actually so real for that he’s calm composed straight to the point and setting his limits and very duty minded that’s actually kinda..why he kinda….anyways this leads me to my third point I thought Neungdiao casually accepted Palm’s kiss because of the timing and he only started liking him afterwards…..but no I was wrong I must have missed the point but Neungdiao already liked Palm way before that since the start….it was obvious from the way he cared for him helping him in class being shocked he really went all out to protect him coming into his room and feeling jealous n protective over him and after kissing chimon thinking about palm like help….he never liked chimon and he said so himself when palm kissed him like how did I miss that it just made things sweeter and then comes them running away taking refuge it was the best part in the series really cute n shit by then they already somewhat knew they liked each other but obviously the financial difference really was a big obstacle n I truly understood that but that’s what makes this sweeter true love isn’t easy it’s something that is achieved through hardships and backlashes and prevails even when challenged I quite came to love Perth in this series he is an actor with potential I actually loved the dark plot of this series to those who are planning to watch piece of advice(don’t skip through don’t necessarily over analyse but pick up on some details) those who watched…rewatch it when ur in a calm n relaxed mood don’t rush through don’t skip through don’t watch it tensed

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everything is going to absolute shit and Nueng and Palm are just being gay on some goofy ass island

I am doing average right now because I watched the show Hella Spread Out. I watched Ephesians 7–12 in the past day, and for the rest, I don't know how long it has been since I have seen them. The average is 8.5833 stars out of 10 stars, and I rounded down to 8.5 stars out of 10 stars. Okay, let's do this fast because I have to get ready for work. And I have no idea what my headline is going to be. if anything is spelled wrong, that's my bad.

Starting off, I absolutely hated Nuengdiao. He was unlikable and just getting on my nerves. I understood why he has no friends and no one likes him. Palm was very chill and just kind of took all of Nueng's sh*t at the beginning. This was a lot for me to process from the start. I could already tell these two were going to clash, and at first I had no idea how they were even going to get together. I started this on May 7, 2023. Which is always fun.

The second episode was way better than the first one. It filled a lot of the plot holes that the first episode left open. That's the point of episodes, but whatever. I started to understand Nuengdiao more, who he was, and where he was coming from. I am obsessed with the contrast between Pond and Phuwin's voices; it was just smooth, and I loved it. It really added to the characters and plot so much. I was watching this instead of doing homework, lol.

The episodes start to get better the more we get to know the characters. Palm and his thick skull were breaking chairs. Palm is actually really strong because theres a lot of times where any normal person would have actually just given up and just died It's me; I am a normal person. He was apparently dazed in Episode 3, and I thought it was the best part of the episode. clearly not that good if I can't remember it.

I have no idea where episode 4 is. Found it. I couldn't remember anything because it had been a month since I watched Episode 3. I said that Nuengdiao is the mofo with no friends because he's a little bitch. Which isn't technically wrong. Palm is his boy guard, which is real. I think I meant body guard, but boy guard works too. I couldn't remember if Chopper was his cousin or if he was the guy who had a crush on him. Which is valid. Ben was for real getting on my nerves with his shit, my god.

Fuck ben. He is a pussycat for not telling the truth to his dad. Everything is somehow his fault—not really, but I am blaming him for every single thing that went wrong after episode 5. He was fueling Nueng's violence and vilian era, which sadly never happened. I was praying that Tanya lived because I loved her so much. Ben's dad saying that Nueng was gay because his dad died was so fucking annoying. Your son is gay too, and you aren't dead? Shut up. I got back into the show because Nueng became way more tolerable, and I started to love him so much.

I'm still hoping that Tanya didn't die because she actually didn't even want that. It started to become obsessive that Nueng had a thing for palm, and I am glad they didn't make it where Nueng was only gay for palm because I hate that trope. He was just gay and liked the palm. That's always fun. Nueng was trusting people to easily, and that was his downfall in all of this. And Palm started to have a thing for Nueng, and it was past work at that point. But he was trying to keep it professional because workplace romance never works out for anyone in the end, especially the employee.

Bark like you want It was there song. I felt terrible for Palms dad because he was just trying to protect his son and his boss. "Everything is going to absolute shit, and Nueng and Palm are just being gay on some goofy ass island." That hit. That might be my headline, lol. Phuwin's visuals are beautiful, and I love him.

They were in the honey moon phase for like one episode, and then the fact they were on the actual run kicked them in the face. the ATM exposed them and where they were. Nueng was turning around and becoming a good person. It's good for him to be honest. Palm has a serious temper; I didn't realize that until I saw the sh*t he was pulling. They were very much in love, and the whole world came to kick their asses.

We had their first break up with them leaving each other. I hate Nueng's uncle; he was getting on everyone's nerves for real, and everyone was blaming poor Chopper. I felt bad for everyone involved besides Uncle Kit or whatever his stupid name was.

That guy at the end said you really thought they would stay happy. Bam. Nueng, Chopper, and Palm are slowly having villains made out of them. With the parents dying in front of them or being hella corrupted. They are having villains made out of them.

Probably the best episode 11 I have ever seen. Chopper, come get you, daddy. They are going to have a palm at gunpoint, and he is going to sign it. Then Tanya or Chopper, is going to step in. These are the predictions. I love Nueng and Palm; they are actually so cute. I love me some fake boyfriend turned real boyfriend.

My predictions were half right for this one. A pretty mid-end to an actually really good show. I was eating this show up at the beginning, but I ended up falling flat on my face for all the characters and everything. They broke up and got back together so much that it wasn't even funny. I need to get ready for work, but I am going to write this review. I am surprised Nueng didn't become a Viliian; he watched his dad die in front of him and his mom get shot and put into a coma. He watched his lover's mom die in front of him; he wanted his uncle to get shot, and then he watched his uncle shoot his lover. I am glad he ended up being good, but that would have been such a good villain origin story, lol.

These last two are my reviews for the episodes because I am a lazy fucker and have to go to work, but I love everyone in this. This was fun, but had a pretty mid-ending. cant way to watch the our skyy. I would recommend it, it's funny. There's not a dull moment with these two. Okay bye!

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A nice story of growth and romance

First of all, the story is enjoyable. The beginning is a tad bit slow but aside from that, the flow of events is quite balanced and interesting to watch. There is action, character development and romance, great combo!
The characters are interesting as well, I like Nueng's attitude: he's not your typical obnoxious rich boy, he's actually quite brave, determined and resourceful, he shows that he wants to stand up for himself and for those he cares for.
As for Palm... he is a sweet character, I just don't really appreciate how he calls Nueng "Mr" no matter their growing fondness for each other, as if there's a power imbalance in their relationship and he is also quite over-caring.
However, I think the alchemy between the characters is more there than in Fish Upon the Sky therefore, I am quite pleased with the atmosphere of the series.
As for Chopper, he could easily have been the jealous, power-hungry rival but he's not and it's refreshing to see no rivalry between him and Nueng.
Some characters are too one-dimensional, mainly the adults: Tanya, Chanon and Kit are either white or black with no in-between. I understand the way they act but they lack depth.

I like most of the music, it changes from the usual "drama soundtrack", it gives a special something to the series, something a little bit less drama and more "arty" (some songs are a bit cheesy though). Same for some shots/frames, it's pleasant to watch and to listen to.

Overall, it's a nice drama that is easy to watch and get into, with a decent, eventful plot !

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glad i didn't let go

the perfect casting + the perfect plot + the perfect acting + the perfect storyline = the perfect drama. from the first second till the last, i was into it.

it was the first time i saw perth acting in a gmmtv drama (i know him since LBC, which is a wabi sabi drama) and the first time seeing chimon. they both did a great job! perth's acting on beyond words.

pond and phuwin also got better, since FUTS! it looked more natural, spontaneous. phuwin looks more confident, more comfortable in front of cameras. they both (pond and phuwin) did really good at portraying their characters' emotions and feelings. when they were sad, you were sad. when they were happy, you were happy, etc. i also loved how they made dancing their thing!

the colors were pretty, the atmosphere was heavy and calming at the same time. what about the cinematography ? insane.

the only thing that stopped me from rating this 10/10 is that part with the couple at the bar, on the island (wu/david). making them interact with the main couple at the bar, why not. but what's the point of creating a story for them ? i didn't understand how it could be useful in the storyline, knowing it didn't have any impact on the main couple. that just made me cringe, to be honest.

but anyways, "never let me go" goes immediately on my top 5 best dramas ever! it really deserves a lot more, the cast and the storyline are literally perfect.

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I'll never let my fish that was in upon the sky go.

It's beautiful how they prove in so many ways how they can be versatile, before we really start with this review I have to say that the main point of this drama is the acting. They improve a lot, both of them did a amazing job and this is the point. Well we have to say that the story goes from expected points to some situations that have some points without connection but It's okay you can watch and move on. The soundtrack at the first sign not catch me, but in some episode the ost hit me like a hurricane, the production was good, when the money goes well we barely see mistakes. The rewatch value is not 10 because I don't see myself rewatching this again in months. In general was a good series who really put not only the main role but the lead role too in the game.

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The BL romance which we deserve

When you demand on the romantic BL stories the accuracy of a 'real life situation', have you ever thought: is it always logical and 'adult' in real life? And haven't you ever blamed the classical Hollywood stories about the straight couples for 'non-realistic plot'?

What is Never Let Me Go? It's a beautiful and a little painful classical 'prince and his bodyguard' story, but it has very good ideas about self-acceptance and the partner acceptance, despite the deep and co-dependent feelings. It often happens when we're young and in love... especially when this love is pure, deep and real.

I liked Nueng and Palm in general, especially their chemistry and how they looked in quite innocent love scenes. They are teenagers, but not children, and they behave quite adequate, despite all the illogical (but absolutely normal for the film) situations with teen-bodyguard etc. Phuwin and Pond are quite promising actors ib my opinion and especially Pond has very interesting emotional spectre onscreen. I liked both moms, Thanya and Mam, and the second couple, a little annoying Ben and quite interesting Chopper showed us rather natural types of late teenagers.

I liked the music, despite I prefer rock and the vusual is absolutely great, I adore the colors.

So, I can say it's a really good romance with the elements of action and drama, and I'm planning to rewatch NLMG soon.

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Heart warming to its core

I was waiting since Fish Upon The Sky ended ; Lets not say its the best show out there but was I disappointed ? Definitely not.
Yes, it might not be the best but its different. It really is. It doesnt have a strong storyline, but it will leave a trace. You'll end this show with a smile, or it can be a few drops of tears as well if you immediately start missing PalmNueng like I did- and the whole cast fell right in their places.
Its a pretty one. Something which makes us feel what they are feeling. The plot is would not make you think too much so relax and go ahead with a sweet, heartwarming story.
P.S Perth does it again. He remains the favorite. Cant wait for more of him!

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