Be My Favorite

Incorporates Many Aspects I Didn't Think They Would

(Very Light Spoilers!) Unexpected surprises in this series! A perfect slice-of-life genre!

I did not expect them to talk about life, discuss various relationships, autonomy of one's own body and love and choices, even older generation talking and understanding about their children's life.
I loved it.

Krist's acting can be a bit of cringey at times but I will give him benefit of doubt because I believe the character he is playing is supposed to be like that. Krist's character is immature, whiny and self-deprecating. While I can dislike the continuous negative self-talk, I can empthaize with him.Because only if you are in a disadvantaged position and a bit accustomed to stay in your own head, that is how you will act.

Also, it is Kawi's predicament that has made him cynical. His mother left him, his father is sick and they never had enough money and people tell him that he is ungrateful son because he has chosen a stream to study that is not very lucrative in job market (this part hit me the most because I find many similarities with my country and the people's mindset here) .
It is really easy to fall into self-deprecating behaviour. It is his own insecurity that makes him stay away from people in fear of judgement.
And as a side effect, that distance creates a rift among people who could have actually helped him.


Krist's acting has become very natural. He does not shy away from the bold scenes. Even though there is not much, he has become far better since SOTUS. I found Kawi to be a great character full of follies and foibles who slowly understands and rectifies his mistakes.

Gawin Caseky is brilliant. I am his fan since NOT ME Series and he did not disappoint.

Aou as Max is probably my most favourite character aside from Kwan. He plays the role of the conscience in the story, giving advice, pointing at the mistakes and lending a helping hand whenever needed. Aou looks fabulous, acts even better. Whoever designed his costumes and did the hairstyle deserves a raise.

I will add my precious feelings for Kwan. She is a great friend to Pear, protects her when needed, throws great sardonic punchlines and sees good in people even when those people have hurt her. The actress of Kwan Justina Suvanvihok is not a brilliant actress but she has been an assistant director and screenwriter previously. Colour me surprised!

Absolutely amazing how they gave space to talk about the side characters. I feel the female characters in BLs are often not much talked about in the plot. But we see a beautiful storyline for them too. I saw Aye first in A Tale of Thousands Stars as Torfan and while she had very little space to act her parts, she definitely shined. I am so happy to see her in this series where even though she is a support character, she has her own story and arc. And she did it deftly.

Overall I absolutely enjoyed the message of the story.

The shots, the lighting, the locations are well chosen. Especially the last scene where they are sitting in a beach, WHAT A SHOT! Extra props for Krist and Gawin's improptu singing. I loved the OST and bgms.

I gave it a whopping 8 out of 10. Well deserved.

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An underrated gem

I’ve had this series on my list since it finished airing. The plot seemed interesting, but honestly the ML pairing didn’t convince me so much, so I’ve been holding off on seeing it. And now that I decided to give it a go, I’m so mad I didn’t watch it before. I finished this in less than 2 days, that’s how good it is. It’s one of the few series that do the time travel concept right. I feel a lot of the series or movies that do the time travel concept fail by making it to complicated to understand or having production mistakes in the time travel back and forth. But in this series it’s well done. And I also loved that they included more of the LGBTQ community, and they showed a little bit of the real struggles of coming to accept sexuality. Not that much, but still an advancement from other bl’s that don’t even mention it. The only thing is that I love this for the plot, the production and the story. I wasn’t convinced of the chemistry between the ML. They’re both amazing actors, but I feel they don’t work as a on-screen pair. Sometimes it felt more like a bromance than a romance. But since I wasn’t convinced of this pairing since the beginning, I expected it. So it didn’t ruin it for me, because the rest was so good. Overall, this really underrated, it deserves more than the 8.0 rating and it will definitely go on my favorite bl’s list.

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I really like the concept. It wasn't boring at all and very entertaining. The main couple was great. To sum it up, I was really invested into the plot and the development of their relationship. Though, there were some incoherencies with the present/past plotline. Also, the chemistry lacked a bit imo. I loved Fluke character and he portrayed his role really well, I believed his feelings. For Krist... not the same story. His behaviour got on my nerves several times, I felt like he hasn't fallen in love with his pair... But, this was still enjoyable and one of the best BL released in 2023 which was very poor of Good BLs, sadly

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Turns out to be one of my faves

At first I thought this would be one of those cringe time travel series but turns out it was good!
Can't deny the acting - actors delivered~
the reason of the time travel is a bit too shallow at first though but the story was good **chef's kisses**
Pear (female lead) isn't toxic too~ such a breathe of fresh air on bl's~ ep10 could have also been an end but tge last 2 eps gives us a much more additional story and an additional ending on everything🥰
the Time travel concept isn't too scifi too~ Idk what is it but it just seems so natural on the series and I love it!

Krist as an Uke is such a cutieeee too😅

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Refreshing Thai BL series

The story depicted in Be my favorite is really fun and different from the usual BL stuff. The addition of fantasy elements - time travel - is not overpowering and it makes the story stand out.

The characters are mostly depicted in a realistic manner and I have to say that personally I really enjoyed the portrayal of Pisaeng. Gawin is a really mature and his skilled actor. I really love his subtle way of expressing emotions, never over the top, never exaggerated.

Kawi's character is a little more colorful, a little more tropey, but I think that Krist showed a good balance between being serious and funny. I wasn't a fan of Krist or his character at first, but as the show progressed, he definitely grew on me. Also he's actually really cute even though at first I only saw Gawin's charm.

The pacing of the story is fairly balanced, not too fast, not too slow.

I have to admit that as much as Ioved the way they handled things with Pear, from their admission that they love each other, and Kawi's realisation that he actually fell in love with Pisaeng, and he had no feelings for her anymore, I feel that they allocated way to much screentime to the resolution of Pear's story. I mean, let's be honest here, most of us want to see more of the guys story, and I just feel that they could've cut short all or most of her scenes after they came out to her as a couple.

Overall, I rate this BL at 8/10 especially for the realism and the solid acting of the guys and side characters. It's definitely worth a watch, a very cute, refreshing love story.

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A Heartwarming Blend of Relationships and Time Travel

This series easily secures its spot as one of my favorite BL series of 2023, thanks to its captivating plotline that delves into a range of relationships between characters. Going beyond the typical romantic focus, the series masterfully explores the dynamics between a father and son, parents and their daughter, a son and his mother, and the bonds of friendship. This heartwarming series stands out as a feel-good watch, void of any antagonistic elements, and instead, centers on the growth of multiple relationships that viewers can't help but root for.

Centered around the protagonist Kawi, a modest and self-deprecating student harboring a crush on Pear, a popular girl in school, the series takes an intriguing twist when Kawi discovers a crystal ball that grants him the ability to travel back in time. His attempts to alter events brings him closer to Pisaeng leading to a realization that destiny might have other plans.

The series' brilliance lies in its well-developed characters and the underlying message of cherishing our time with loved ones. Kawi's journey to secure a connection with Pear inadvertently leads him closer to Pisaeng, and their evolving bond is beautifully portrayed. Pisaeng's struggles with self-acceptance resonate powerfully, drawing strength from the support of friends and family. Kawi's motivations for time travel extend beyond romatic gain, as he attempts to save his father's life and mend relationship with his friend Max. Pear, portrayed as a compassionate and empathetic individual, navigates her own challenges, reconciling with her mother and forgiving those who have wronged her. Similarly, Kwan's journey towards healing from a toxic relationship with Knot adds depth to the series.

Kawi's charismatic and endearing personality steals the spotlight, credit to Krist's commendable portrayal. Fluke brings a patient and understanding demeanor to Pisaeng, allowing their chemistry to shine through. Notably, the characters of Pear, Kwan, and Max are thoughtfully crafted and skillfully portrayed by the cast, enhancing the series' overall appeal.

In conclusion, "Be My Favourite" excels in its storytelling, largely due to its intricate character development and the inventive use of supernatural time travel. As relationships evolve and intertwine, the series captivates viewers with its heartwarming exploration of connection and second chances.

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Is it my favorite?!

Well, no. Though it did manage to pleasantly surpass my expectations. For the past year or so GMMTV has mainly been full of disappointing Bad Buddy regurgitations, or overly ambitious productions that miss the mark. Be My Favorite managed to have the same cheesy charm of a classic GMMTV BL, but set itself apart with great chemistry, believable acting and decent writing (and somehow very little product placement?!).

The best part of the series is definitely Krist and Gawin. I wasn’t really a big fan or even familiar with either of them before this series, but this duo worked out really well! Their chemistry didn’t feel stiff, and you are always waiting for the next moment you see them together.

I actually really liked the main character Kawi. He is a total asshole, but also cute and endearing. I understand why Pisaeng was drawn to such a puzzling character. Though I will warn you that Kawi is a little stupid and misguided at times, but it makes you cheer for him when he takes a step in the right direction. I’m also just glad to have a main character who isn’t lukewarm and plain.

Pisaeng starts as a bit of a mystery, but it’s quickly revealed that he is just 100% boyfriend material. I have no complaints.

I can’t say the plot itself was revolutionary. The story had a lot of overused cliches and some parts of the story were downright stupid and redundant.
What really made this drama stand out to me was its ability to get my heart racing. It literally had me giggling and kicking my feet. So be prepared to enjoy some surprisingly touching and charming moments, and buckle in for the corniness, stupidity, and embarrassment of a true romcom.

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Have you lived your life to the fullest with no regrets?

One of the fews BLs that justifies good story doesn't need excessive sex appeal to market it.

PLOT & GENRE DISTRIBUTION : - All the genres are well balanced in this story, you'll not feel anything is left out. Plot flow is interesting and you'll not feel bored. Nothing feels rushed and you'll feel satisfied but the filler episode could have been done in better way considering the uniqueness of concept. Climax of this drama is my favourite part when our MC learns that somethings cannot be changed, only the paths can be differed. The 3rd spin to future when Kawee becomes famous and is ignorant towards life is the peak of this drama, every possible dynamics you expect happens here.

THEME : - Living your life to fullest, second chance, knowing & loving yourself and embracing your mistakes are the concepts behind this in my eyes as this one can have various interpretations and possible messages can be drawn from it depending on your own experiences. Time-travel is not the unique concept, but given the execution and story it's logical and exciting.

ACTING & CASTING : - Dialogue delivery is really good, like you laugh when you need to and no one overacted their role. Krist as Kawee was well casted and acted, I have watched a lot of his work and he is a decent actor. I felt most of the Kawee's emotions. Confused, scared, lonely, sad, happy, goofy, you can see it all coming but except love, I can't feel his love for pisaeng but I liked their friendship more. Fluke as Pisaeng was well casted and decently performed again and he has one impactful scene with his mother that left an impression on me. I have watched him before but I can't remember much. Other actors did a good job as well.

CHARACTERS & DEVELOPMENT : - All the characters represented were realistic except Pisaeng (reasons below) apart from the fact in real life you hardly get second chance.
> Bodkawee - He is introvert, shy, reserved, had low self-esteem and struggled while approaching people. He had a negative view of world, that everyone will leave him and judge him for who he is, that's why he was scared to face his true self and became self-proclaimed loser. After helping him on his first day praemai becomes his crush and he feel in love with her then he mustered up his courage to confess it to her but things went south, so when he got a magical second chance he left no stone unturned to achieve his desired outcome even-though universe was against it. After he traveled back in time, on outside he did changed into more approachable and tried to achieve all those things he couldn't earlier but on inside he was still insecure about people accepting him and with all these piled up emotions Pisaeng became his first friend and also his emotional punchbag ^^ Unintentionally he turned mean and selfish towards Pisaeng as he was frustrated with results of his efforts. Even after he was drawn to him, he denied his feelings and got scared to show his true self as he was conscious about people around him and became dependent on alcohol. His 30-yr soul in his 20-yr old couldn't be of much help as he haven't experienced much in life previously, so he came out as goofy and sometimes childish when he tried to change. But by the end you could see him becoming more calm and understanding. His love for his father was unconditional as he tried to undo the inevitable. Embracing his mistakes and learning from them is his biggest strength. I felt he was asexual to be stopping all of Pisaeng's advances but they didn't dived into it and pulled he was not ready arc. (which is also important tho)
> Pisaeng - What a saint is he, isn't he? This boy really has the patience of a saint, as you his love for Kawee remains unwavering in every spin to future. He is always there for him. No matter how cruel and selfish Kawee became but this guy supported him at every turn. And oh boy! when he cried in climax I saw him breaking down and feeling shitty after Kawee pulled another "oh I need my friend I'm heartbroken" He was sweet, caring, loving, lonely, supportive and best friend material ever. His character has an arc development of finding yourself. They didn't pull gay for you idiocy, but he truly tried to discover his sexuality and to understand himself. His dynamics with his mother and Max were applauding. In true sense he was Kawee's angel and not the mysterious uncle. Him distancing himself from Not showed how much friendship, respect and integrity mattered to him. That being said, they made him too perfect without a flaw which is unrealistic. Also, when he was asked why he loved Kawee he would say "because you're cute" come on there is always a reason, that pretty much implied to me he was there to love Kawee and was unrealistic.
> Praemai - This woman is goddess to be forgiving everyone left, right, centre. But eventually she is most confident, level-headed, sincere, kind, caring and definition of true friend but her only flaw is she expect so much for people around her but to get disappointed and this started with her mom leaving her to make progress in her career. As she said "I'm maybe disappointed, but I'm not desperate" She owned herself, knew her own worth and could differentiate right from wrong. Her putting people in their place when they are wrong is her strength. She grew up to mend her issues with people around her in composing manner which made her stronger. In climax, during wedding scene she was complete opposite of her true self, where she compromised with her life, which justifies you don't know what future holds.
> Max - He was guide to our main characters. His radical mindset made him clear minded and he was confident in his advices. He was the best supportive Kawee could have after his father. He found his own peace in working for the cause. And his stylist need a raise. lol.
> Not - His demeanour was everything, he expressed his feelings with his body language. He was not a lost cause, he was distracted from right path and as Kwan told him off he had his positive traits and you can see that when he encouraged Kawee but he was hell bent on not acknowledging them. He mindset was still immature for love so I guess it was right for him to not end up with anyone.
> Kwan - This character was short but had an impactful presence. She didn't became lovelorn and cherished her friendship with Pear and put stop to Not's impure intentions, it was enough to make assumptions about her character.

STORY : - Story was well-structured, it wasn't creative but made sense and was enjoyable. It's pretty much straightforward and not difficult to understand. A boy who tag himself as loser gets second chance to change things and try hard to align everything from love, family, ambition to friends. One of the strongest part has to be romance, although both actors played their roles well but together their wasn't much spark.
1st Act pulls you in but was a little (ignorable) stretched. 2nd Act and Climax was interesting and engaging while 3rd Act was satisfying but not great
There were somethings I wished they had explained them more and just didn't shrug it off because it has to happen.

PACE : - Every scene was as long as it should be, it was medium paced and let the story to develop.

EXECUTION : - There were fillers in last eps which could be done in better way. They wanted to show more of their romance but it didn't landed. It has consistent tone flows well.

Direction & Cinematography : - Direction is Good, giving each scene deserving time and was without random and abrupt shots. There wasn't much to cinematography but lightings where needed were well done. Max had some great outfits, I would love to buy them. hehe.

Music & SFX : - Music was good, I loved the opening song "REDO" and "Unable". At some places I thought SFX were weird but overall they were alright.

Did I enjoyed it? Yes.
Is it the best? No.
Did I care about the character? Yes, especially Pear.

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Missed potential

Bless Gawin for being an incredible actor who tried really hard to have chemistry with Krist. Despite the commendable attempt from Gawin and a really good script, I found Krist's acting quite lackluster which ruined the series a little bit for me.

Here's the thing, for a series to be good, the viewers have to actually like and connect with the character. This premise is not new, this formula is the lovechild of "About Time" and "When We First Met". I absolutely adored Pisaeng's character in this - he was sensitive, in touch with his feelings, and has a chronic case of puppy eyes which makes you really feel for him. However, Kawi is a hugely different story due to the execution. Kawi is very flawed, which shouldn't be a problem if it was portrayed by a more skillful actor who could help balance out the negatives with some humanity. I usually love flawed characters, it gives their personality some dimensions. This is not the case with Kawi. The script wasn't the problem in this case - the problem actually lies in the delivery. The script gave Kawi so much chance of redemption: the internalized homophobia, low self esteem, and eventual self acceptance. The delivery was the main issue. Internalized homophobia & low self esteem appears as selfishness and disingenuity. The eventual self acceptance didn't actually feel like self acceptance - it just appeared to be "oh, I know what outcome is the best for me now, so I'll go with that". This could've been much better with a slight tonal change in the delivery. The relationship ended up feeling imbalanced, with Pisaeng's character giving in to everything Kawi wants.

I couldn't fault anything else, really. The theme was interesting, side characters were very well developed, and each scene was made with purpose. I just wished they casted a different actor to play alongside Gawin.

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Time-Travel BL Done Right

This is one of those series that does things right for better or for worse, but mostly better.

(Wait, what could possibly be worse about doing things right? Well, it just feels so safe and doesn't take risks that some other series might take. I am reminded of series like Bad Buddy here.)

The time travel premise is used well and fully exploited, and with the nature of the time travel being supernatural rather than scientific, it avoids having to be too logical. It's a wise move that Kawi manages to get his father to go for a heart surgery when he travels to the past but doesn't get to prevent his father from dying, As one of the scenes seems to suggest, there are some things that cannot be avoided or brought about (such as winning the lottery) but there are also many things that can be shaped by personal effort.

Kawi and Pisaeng are an adorable couple, but the cutesiness isn't overdone. There is a good balance of serious moments and light-hearted ones throughout. I don't know how deliberate it is, but I somehow don't get the sense that Krist and Fluke are going to be the sort of pairing that will stoke the fantasy of fans, the way many BL actors are meant to. (Perhaps this often does not end well, and it is just as well.) Krist and Fluke have played their roles well, and in my opinion, Krist's performance in Be My Favourite has exceeded that in SOTUS. His acting may seem to some a little exaggerated at times, but I feel that it is according to the demands of the role.

What this series excels in is the side characters, who are interesting without being distracting. I like the portrayal of Kawi's friendship with Max, for instance. Although they are really good friends, the portrayal doesn't get too idealistic because of the time travel premise. Max, who is gay, falls out with Kawi at one point due to a misunderstanding that Kawi doesn't like others to think that he is Max's boyfriend. In the original timeline, their friendship is not mended, but in other modified timelines, they become close friends again. Another interesting character is Pisaeng's mother. In many BL series, a parent who can accept that their child is gay is idealised, but not here. Despite her acceptance of Pisaeng's homosexuality, the mother and son still have issues to sort out. Then there is also Not (classmate of Kawi and Pisaeng), a talented writer who is also an asshole. Not does not turn out to be the villain of the series (there isn't any), and he also doesn't really suffer for his assholery. (Quite realistic, I guess.)

If I must have complaints about the series, perhaps it would be that a lot of the positive points that I have mentioned feel a little calculated. Yet, even then, the series must be given credited for being able to handle everything skillfully. There is a scene towards the end when Kawi is hospitalised and the doctor asks if Kawi has any relatives to be contacted despite being told that Kawi lives with Pisaeng, who is his lover. While other series with less skillful scripting may have the characters directly discuss the issue of marriage equality and remark on how unfair it is, the finesse with which the issue is handled here is commendable. We can feel a sense of the how the lack of marriage equality affects gay couples without the characters commenting on it directly, and this is the way to go even though the series as a whole does not really seem to be focused on such issues.

For me, Be My Favourite ranks up among the best Thai BL series from late 2022 to 2023, together with My School President. While My School President really excels in telling a compelling and lovable story about innocent high schoolers, Be My Favourite its its more mature counterpart. They are both signs that the Thai BL industry can really up its game if it bothers putting in the effort.

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