Star and Sky: Star in My Mind

The story of Dao, the not so bright star

The biggest problem with Star in My Mind is the fact that it only has two real characters, and the entire plot is driven by one of them. Unlike almost every single BL in existence, this show is exclusively about Dao and Kluen, and every aspect revolves around Dao. There are no side characters, nobody has a story or plot outside of things that directly affect Dao. No character has motivations, a plot, interactions or even scenes if Dao is not a part, or is the topic. So, if you don’t like Dao, like me by the end, there’s nothing left to like. And that’s such a shame, because the friends showed enough charisma to help Star in My Mind.

Dao is the worst type of protagonist, the type that’s dumb, really dumb. And he’s paired with a love interest that’s not good with expressing his feelings. That’s a great combination for disaster. Dao was unable to get any of the signs from Kluen, when they were so obvious that everyone else knew. And that’s even worse if we consider that, the biggest moments were just between them, so other people didn’t even know about. Like the birthday dinner with the mom, the talk by the poll, the “have a safe fight” line, the backstage talk during the contest… I’m not even going to mention the “fake boyfriends for 24h” ideia. It’s probably the worst plot device ever created to separate a couple in a BL, even worse than the famous “someone is traveling to another country in the last episode”, which, in this case, was how the story started.

It also really rubbed me the wrong way how Dao handled the moment when Kluen had to go off to help Gia. That was the moment when he crossed into unlikable territory for me. Kluen was clearly shaken when talking to her on the phone. So, I have zero sympathy for Dao at that moment, specially when he tried to make Kluen choose between him and Gia. By looking at his reaction, you’d think Kluen was running away with his ex and leaving Dao at the alter. They weren’t even boyfriends at that point!

Dao reminds me a bit of Kao, from Dark Blue Kiss, who also suffered from a complete inability to tell people he was not interested, and chaos followed. But Kao had a major advantage, he was part of a pair that had several sweet and romantic scenes. Dao on the other hand, spent the entire series being in love with Kluen, but suddenly decides to play it cool when he finally got Kluen to admit he’s been in love him him for years.

These two have been in love for 2/3 years. They’ve given each other all the signs that the feelings are mutual. But even after the kisses and confessions, I got zero romantic chemistry between them even in their most romantic scenes, like at the end of episode 7. Honestly, I would’ve expected Dao to love hearing Kluen call him his boyfriend, kiss him or call him Dao.

I also have a major problem with how this show decided to use Georgia being in a violent relationship as a cheap trick to cause conflict. This series doesn’t have the capacity of tackling such a delicate and serious issue.

This was Dunk’s first role, and starting as a protagonist is not easy. But, it was very clear that the emotional scenes were very weak, specially if he needed to cry. I feel like Dao should’ve been way more emotional in several moments, like the conversation at the bridge or the confession in the parking lot. There were a few tears, but I didn’t really feel it from him in those moments. In happy scenes I think the acting was better. Outside of the show, be on social media or videos, Joong and Dunk really seem to have a good chemistry, but that didn’t translate into the screen, specially in the romantic department.

Episode 8 really didn’t need to exist, since nothing really happens, and the bracelet scene could’ve been the ending of episode 7. The connection between Star and Sky could have been a short bonus video after the credits.

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Cute & Sweet

This drama was really sweet and to the point...

it’s the same old story - two cute guys pinning for each other because they suck at communicating their feelings. It should be all cute fluff, pure entertainment, feel-good watch. The story of Kluen and Daonuea is a classic tale of meeting your high school crush after entering college and falling in love .

There were some really bad points to this drama, especially when dao acted a little immature over the situation with Kluen and Gia, and understanding the franticness in Kluen voice, also the whole idea of lets do one date, when you knew full well that you were not interested, and stringing them along instead of just setting the record state from the start.

Kluen was cute to watch after 2moons2, so that was pleasant enough and possibly the only reason why I carried on watching it.

Overall: It was kind of sweet and cute, and looking forward to Fah story, hopefully this one will a little better and more mature.

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Short and Sweet

RATED = 7.5 ~ 28.5/50 ~ 5.7
RPG Scene // Two confused homosexual Mages separated in the crumbling castle and it's pesky moving corridors, and using their magical glowing battle axes to find each other again.

There's not a whole lot I can about this one other than I enjoyed it. It's just a short, sweet and fluffy BL about our ML Daonuea who confesses to his crush before he is to study in Germany for a year, and is awkwardly crushed. They coincidently meet up again a year later in University, where both have been selected for a 'Freshy Boy' contest. This all seemed like a beauty pageant to me honestly, where the boys have to live together in a dorm while the competition takes place. This is only half of the show while the boys grow closer, and the second half is to allow for some truths to reveal themselves.

Overall, it's nothing complicated, nothing major intense. It's just a sweet afternoon watch. Dunk and his adorable little face gracing the screen for a few hours.
Acting did feel a little 'stiff' for me. I don't know why. Maybe for the more emotional scenes, it felt a little held back? But nothing too major.

The side characters did make me laugh though. Between forcing the two leads together, being over with the drama and the two Moment Killers of the show and, damn....those....phones.... LOL

You'll either like it for what it is or just move on. I suppose I could watch it again just for the fluff.

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"Have a safe [emotional] flight"

Impression engraved in my mind of a series with a rather calm plot but in return, the script and acting concede the points to make the series a bit more exciting.

Production / Music >> 8.5 >> 6.5
The light concept of this series is not only introduced to the viewer with solid storytelling, superb colouring and smooth cinematography but also with the uplifting background music, thus the series is enabling the audience to be more laid-back while watching. However, it´s not memorable.

Plot / Story >> 8.0 >> 6.0
Even though a story that has "skipped" the first encounter seems to be more of a challenge, the writer(s) introduced a rather light love story to the viewers, also not that memorable, but cute.

Acting / Cast >> 8.5 >> 7.5
Joong and Dunk convince us of Nuea´s and Khluen´s story with good acting, which is displayed through a lot of eye-work and expressions rather than through words. The supporting cast is solid but not outstanding.

There is still room for improvement but my overall impression of this series is that it is watchable.

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A good watch

SO I'm going to start off with... I absolutely LOVE the cast which I why I couldn't wait to watch this. However, I feel like the chemistry, story line and conflict could have been a bit better.
The conflict was mediocre at best and we need to stop using these bad story lines. The show had so much potential but I feel like the conflict made no sense/ was really bad. If you like the misunderstanding genre of conflict this is perfect for you. Plus something felt off about their chemistry. Like there was room for more depth. Khluen was just overall a badly written character with his whole lack of communication issue.

Enough with the negatives.

I really enjoyed watching it nevertheless because... what can I say I'm a sucker for college bls no matter how bad they are. It was a good watch and it had me laughing and gushing over the cute moments. I wish it was longer so more effort could've been put into the storyline. I love the entire friend group and I made lots of ghost ships. (Like Maithee and Sean and to a far extent it would've been interesting to see Noel and Typhoon. Maybe its cause I felt sorry for Typhoon ) The show has lots of eye candies. :)

I can't wait to see Fah's and Prince's Story.

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a thin plot with some cute moments

Overall: this is what I would call a standard or traditional university Thai BL. Despite a thin plot built on poor communication that could have been remedied with a 1 minute conversation, I was prepared to rate this an 8/10. However, the first 3 things in my Room For Improvement section and the fact that this is a large production company and it's not a few years ago knocks this down to a 7/10. Watched on YouTube.

Content Warnings: non con kissing, non con touching, domestic violence discussed (injury shown), punches, non con photos
 
What I Liked
- Daonuea's supportive/joking friends
- it was fun to see Sammy & Yacht
- the cute moments
- the funny moments (fyi the series does have comedy sound effects which are neutral for me)
- Khabkhluen's mom
- an example of good consent "can I kiss your cheek" in the finale
- good that they were physically affectionate, it wasn't just 1 kiss for an established couple

Room For Improvement
- the non con touching and kissing (on more than 1 occasion!) was totally not needed and was disappointing to see
- the very serious (sometimes deadly), common and world wide social problem of intimate partner violence was thrown in for some last minute drama. I was horrified watching that scene and again very disappointed that the writers used this topic in this way. The writers could have easily gone with something else like illness.
- the lack of the next video at the end of a video and the lack of subs for the finale premiere (would not bother me for a small company but this is not a small company)
- the full flashback scene was disappointing. Khabkhluen can't use social media? Can't contact Daonuea's friends to contact Daonuea?
- Khabkhluen's atrocious communication skills. I know very introverted people and they communicate with their romantic interests/partners. It took over 1 year to solve a problem that would have taken a 1 minute conversation to fix.
- there were too many characters and yet we didn't get a side plot or couple...
- why were 4 people attracted to Daonuea???
- Danouea has 1 conversation and sees 1 Instagram post and does a 180, it felt very sudden
- the finale was okay if a bit anticlimactic but that scene at the end was jarring and not needed
- that Daonuea didn't even suggest taking a cab to his possibly drunk brother who was going to drive a car
- I didn't like the intro sequence drawing/animation style, especially the lack of faces

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Joong is the best

I watched this series to see the evolution in the acting of Joong … and again I wasn’t disappointed.

All of the actors were very good and there acting very natural, the story was interesting and not too long … but every scene with Joong made the screen “explose”.

This young actor is among the best artist we can currently see in Thai drama. I would love to see him in other BL drama but he has soo much more potential … he should go to Hollywood and find a good agent over there to launch his career there as the next Hollywood heartbreaker ( like Tom Cruise or Leonardo di Caprio or …)

If he could reed this I would say : Joong 👏👏

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BRO. Ok. The amount of emotions Ive gone through in these SIX episodes! Ive gone from screaming into my pillow, choking my pillow out, and almost crying. I SWEAR I CANT ITS TOO MUCH GIVE ME FLUFF. Anyways, though the main character, Daos acting isnt the best, I can sit with it and it doesnt make me uncomfortable. Ive seen sosososo many negative comments in the comment section, but let me just say that I havent felt anything negative towards this show while watching (except towards the main characters, of course) THE AMOUT OF STRESS I WENT THROUGH IN EPISODE 5, I WAS CHOKING OUT MY BLANKET WITH THE AMOUT OF FEELINGS. What I dont like is the "does he like me? I like him" WHEN HE'S SAID HE'S LIKED YOU SO MANY TIMES ALREADY. Otherwise, this show has been one of the best Ive watched in 2022, and I wasnt really expecting much from it. Its a standard thai bl drama, and its just a great watch. If you havent watched it, do it! No, its not the best, but its great to add to the watch list. ALSO JOONG, (actor who plays khun) IS SOSOSOSOOSOSOOO FINEEEEE like the most handsome actor ive seen.

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An introvert's love story.

For those who are wondering, this series has a *happy ending*

Plot/Storyline/Pacing:
I like the plot of this series. It is simple but quite overused. Sometimes cliche is good to watch as pastime and that is what I would describe this series. The storyline kept reminding me of 2moons2. Add to that that Joong is the main character. So, if you are planning on watching, think of 2moons2 but rushed. Also, for me, the pacing is a bit messy. The first few episodes (episodes where they are still not together) paced quite well, and then 3/4 of the episode later, they are resolved! I feel like the angst I felt in the last few episodes are waived away by an IG post and it made the story rushed and incomplete. I did not like that quick transition.

Chemistry:
Unpopular opinion: Joongdunk did quite well in their acting.... when they were not together. I do not know what went wrong, but when the characters finally resolved the issue and got together, the chemistry vanished. I did not felt longing and love with Dunk's acting especially when his character finally got together with Kluen. And for someone who has an unrequited love I did not feel 'love' for most of his scenes. He is cute though. When Kluen and Daonuea got together, for me they act more like friends than when they weren't together. That is just what I felt in the last episodes (ep7-8).

What I like in this series:
The friends in this series is *chef's kiss*. Shout out to Sean and Noel ❤️ the best friends in the series. They are all supportive, helpful, and funny, active listeners. A lot of comments mentioned that if they were not there, KluenDao will not be together and I agree with that. Fah is also a great older brother. Handsome too. I also love the little details in the series to show who loves who and how they show how they love each other in their own way. Another thing I liked is the improvement in Joong's acting. His eyes are very expressive that he can have a scene with no script and still deliver it well.

What I didn't like:
The miscommunication and misunderstandings that are stretched too much and formed the 'plot.' I admit the plot is simple, and this is a series with little to no drama so the conflict should be simple as well. But! It is very frustrating how Kluen doesn't straighten the story or correct misunderstandings. This then stretches the angst unnecessarily in the series which I did not like. I also didn't like how shallow the misunderstandings are resolved. Freaking IG post? I would have liked the parking scene to be longer and have that reconciliation scene there, or maybe something more dramatic to equal the scene in episode 6.

Overall, this series is simple, short, and a bit bittersweet. I quite like it but it is not something I would rewatch once again. Though it is something I recommend you to watch atleast once!

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CUTE, CUTE, CUTE!

Literally just stumbled upon this show on YouTube and I must say I do not regret clicking on it!

Definitely a high-quality Thai BL that subverts all your expectations - you would not expect just how much cuteness, heartache, jealousy and love could be packed into this tiny series. Both Daonuea and Kluen do an amazing job of portraying their roles, especially Daonuea who, because of being rejected, tries his best not to hurt other people's feelings. You can really see the way both characters complement each other; Kluen learns to love through Daonuea, and Daonuea learns to express his feelings in an honest way.

Well-written characters and plot, with some comforting OSTs that really suit the vibe of the series. Would highly recommend to those who are looking for a cute, yet emotional series that will make you smile and (maybe) shed a tear - coming from personal experience. Currently rewatching the episodes as I wait for new ones!

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im bias ( for joongdunk) so remember that when reading this

overall thoughts :
honestly it started off good but ep 6 ruined the vibe of it i have yet to watch ep 7 but ive seen a lot of the clips already so it should be fine honestly this show isn't bad and somewhat enjoyable but my main problem with this is how none of characters are enjoyable like not even joong or dunk can save this show but i still watch it for some reason maybe because its gmmtv. i was excited for this considering its directed by the same person who did uwma and between us. i like the show which is weird considering how much i want to punch the characters and the story line was annoying the pacing is annoying the writing is annoying im honestly hoping for smooth sailing for ep7-8 because im done with conflict i just want to see fluff also i hate the intro bit like cmon now. ima be honest if this show had different actors i would of dropped it joongdunk are the only reason im watching this. its the type of bl where you turn off your brain and watch it.

acting/characters:
onto joongs character : hes doesn't communicate ig u can blame it on the fact he isn't outspoken and doesn't do well with expressing himself which makes sense hence why i dont completely hate his character because i used to be like him and its realistic. joong is a good actor i love his acting in 2 moons 2 i loved him and his current show that is airing right now hes good in that too he portrays this character nicely not showing emotion keeping a stern face its actually impressive.

for dunks character: i understand him being frustrated with kluen but hes unreasonable as well . dunk is new to the acting world so there isn't much to compare to. i honestly loved him because of safehouse S3 and because of the chemistry between him and joong. they have so much chemistry and it was wasted on this show i hope they get better bls in the future because it would be such a waste if they just stop here. i like dunks acting in some scenes but his crying and anger scenes do need more practice but i feel like since the chemistry is so good its really easy to overlook it and not be bothered.
both of their acting honestly goes up and down throughout the eps some scenes are great some arent.

music: i like the music there really isnt much to go off on i just like it.

rewatch value: i would rewatch this but skip a lot of the parts and defo would just go from ep 5 to ep 7 because ep6 is a mess and should be forgotten

ill come back once its over but its a 8.0 for now

edit : this show really was disappointing but i love joong as an actor as for dunk i hope he can improve because he does have potential whats weird is that the actors have more chemistry in real life than on the actual series i believe this just comes down to the poor writing it had so much potential to develop the first few eps were great it came crashing down around ep5-6 and the only thing that saved the last 2 eps was the cute moments. also the last ep was super cute the acting was a lot better i really did enjoy this episode

rating is so high because honestly its better than tharntype, nitiman watever is rated below 7 on my list and im bias since i like the actors i do have hope for sky in my mind it looks like the story is a lot better.

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No expectation just a delight!

One thing I could say is that, I did not have much expectation about this new series as the main couple is not familiar for me. To be honest, I did not even started watching from Episode one, I did it in reverse! 😅I just got hooked and more curious to watch more right after I watch the episode 5 were the two main couple were sitting in the bridge right below those street lamps. That scene was my favorite! It was a heart wrenching scene to start with but I think I started it right there. 🤣 It was such a pain when Dao told Kluen about him giving chance to Papang. My tears gushed out after Dao said he do not want to break her heart because he's been in her situation once. 😟 I mean, I can't! That was the trigger of the curiosity why I watched the episodes huhu and I have fully understood what happened. It was heart breaking and this series just got me hooked! I adore the music as well and the two main couple. They are lovely together but the story just hurts as hell huhu.

I also just discovered that the director of this series is the director of LBC and UWMA which got me impressed! This is a complete different from his trademark in the way he tell the story. The quality in terms of cinematography is top-notch! I really love this series!

Warm hugs to the director, writer cast and crew! ❤️💓💖💖💖💖

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