Star and Sky: Star in My Mind

JoongDunk Deserve Better

I am late to the Star and Sky party, but I am just on time for Hidden Agenda, so I might as well throw in my two cents about Star in My Mind, which I finished watching today.


1. Plot, or rather a checklist of clichés.

This series shows that even a sweet, uncomplicated story about a college student reuniting with his high school crush and realizing that his feelings haven't been one-sided can turn out badly in the wrong production team's hands.

The first problem is that everything in the world of this series revolves around our main character, Daonuea. His brother, friends, acquaintances, and the people who are romantically interested in him -- everyone's only purpose is to drive his story forward, to give him advice or to profess their love for him. Outside of Dao's orbit, these guys and girls apparently have no background and no life.
He has a cute friend called Ting Ting, for instance, who is part of a number of scenes, including his first appearance on screen, and seems to be close to him. Who is she? When did she and Dao become friends? After the last episode, we still have no idea, which I find weird because a big part of Dao's conflict with his love interest, Kluen, happened because of Kluen's close friendship with a girl. If Dao demands from Kluen to clarify his relationship with his friend, why did Kluen, who often gets jealous, not ask the same about Ting Ting, a girl that is apparently close enough to Dao to barge into his dorm in the morning, while he is still in bed?
Ting Ting is a minor character. What about Typhoon, Kluen's main rival for Dao's heart, though? He has a lot of screen time, but we know nothing about him except that he studies Medicine, his parents own a mountain resort, and he is obsessed with Dao. When he is not needed for the development of the story, he is forgotten about -- just like every other character except Dao and Kluen.

The second problem is that to spice up the simple plot, the scriptwriters of this series turned to the checklist of clichés and chose some of the worst ones.
A crowd of people falling deeply in love with you at first sight? Check.
Dating someone you don't like for a trial period of one day? Check.
Arriving at the precise second needed to overhear something that can be misinterpreted? Check.
Eavesdropping on a conversation only to walk away mid-sentence for no reason, completely misunderstanding what was said? Check.
Introducing a heavy topic like domestic violence just to use it as a cheap plot device? Check.
Romanticizing kissing someone while they are asleep and unaware of your actions? Check.
I think that there are more, but you get my point.

The third problem is the situation with Gia, Kluen's ex-girlfriend and close friend. It seems that the production team of this series intended it to be a great revelation that Kluen and Gia are not together anymore, but it was obvious from the moment she appeared on screen. In itself, this does not bother me much. What surprised me is that not only Dao, but no one else who went to high school with Kluen and Gia knows. Come on, these characters live in the age of social media. How do they not know that these two broke up ages ago? Things like that spread like wildfire without social media too -- at least one of Kluen and Dao's friends should have caught on.

2. Characters, or more precisely, two [not always likeable] main characters and a group of one-dimensional sidekicks.

Let's begin with Dao again. He is most definitely a character. The thing is that he is not a particularly well-written character. Although the scriptwriters have attempted to present him as a person who charms everyone with his kindness and attentiveness, his actions do not match this depiction. For instance, he knows how painful and humiliating rejection is, but he insensitively rejects a girl in front of his friends, embarrassing her. I do not mind a main character who makes mistakes, but he should be written as flawed on purpose and undergo character development. The scriptwriters of these series, though, obviously did not realize that Dao's behavior is wrong -- the other characters take his side.
Dao can also be really selfish, and he lets others force their decisions on him. A main character who has no backbone and allows himself to be carried by the current is not interesting to watch. It also does not help that Dunk, who plays him, has a lot of work to do on his acting.

More effort should have been put into writing Kluen. He had the potential to be a great love interest and a sympathetic character, but he did not get there. He was supposed to convey the struggles of people who are bad at expressing their feelings. However, the scriptwriters did not care to add any inner monologue, and this made him difficult to sympathize with as instead of struggling with communication, he seems indifferent to Dao's feelings. Kluen should have been written like Tinn form My School President -- a character who looks cold, but is actually overwhelmed by love and gay panic.
There is also a scene in which Kluen forces himself on Dao, which I think is completely out of character for him. The only thing that saves Kluen from being completely unlikeable is that Joong is a good actor, especially when it comes to facial expressions, and he conveys a lot with his eyes.

The rest of the characters are not fleshed out at all, and this makes it difficult to connect with them.


It is not all bad, though. Joong and Dunk's chemistry is amazing, especially in the last two episodes, when Joong stops behaving like Kluen and begins to behave like himself. The two of them look like they genuinely enjoy being around each other, and their kisses do not look awkward. There are also moments that made me laugh, which is great because I usually do not like the humor in BL series.

Overall, though, I hope that JoongDunk's new series will show what they are capable of as a pairing because this one did not. Their entertaining chemistry was almost wasted here, and at the same time, it was the only thing that kept me watching.

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Joongdunk deserved better than this…

Warning this review is a little brutal but that’s only because I think joongdunk could’ve been given so much better.

I’m watching all of the GMMTV couple’s shows that are in ourskky2, so I can watch the whole series. I finished SIMM around a month ago, and now that I’m done with the rest of the shows (exception of ABAAB cuz its still running) and I can with full confidence say this is the weakest show out of all of them: which is a shame because joong dunk have such good chemistry that was wasted on an awfully bland show like this.

The plot is what really makes this show unredeemable. It’s the basic, “they knew each other in highschool and had an unrequired love but now they meet when they’re older and pretend to hate each other but they actually have been in love with each other the whole time” and like… that’s all I can tell you about this show- I barely remember the “plot” at all. The main character is so oblivious that it’s unrealistic, and pairing him up with the usual cold and unsympathetic on the outside character was utterly painful and troupey. Don’t get me wrong, these common plots and troupes can be extremely entertaining when mixed with knew and unique elements, (bad buddy, our dating sim, ) but this show? Nah. Let’s add nothing. YESS!! GIVE US NOTHING!!! literally that meme.

I don’t know when joongdunk joined GMMTV, but the fact that they’re advertising them as a main couple, but giving them a shorter and arguably weaker show than the rest of the 7 in the lineup, is just kinda disappointing when so much could’ve been done. It really feels like they have a specific show planned for them in their minds and like, pulled SIMM out of their chamber of discarded or drafted shows that they may or may not release. And if not… I think they thought people would enjoy the basic and sweet college romance. Which we would! If the show was actually interesting on top of it being sweet and romantic which GMMTV has already proved they’re good at.

I’m conclusion, the show is not awful. It’s just disappointing. I mean, I could get through it with only skipping a few scenes, the length of the show helped with that for sure. Watch this if you’re a GMMTV fan like me, and want to know all the lore and couples. But if not, seriously don’t waste your time on this show unless you’re a fan of the basic college troupe. If you are then hey, no judgment. That’s just my take but I can totally see how people enjoyed this show as well!! No hate at all to any of the actors or crew! Making a show is hard and GMMTV has proved to produce quality things, not everything can be a hit though.

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Snoozefest

My main reason for finally watching this was because it was the only show included in Our Skyy 2 that I hadn’t watched. I probably could have skipped it because I spent the entirety of it bored out of my brain.

Dao was just so whiny and annoying, and I didn’t have any sympathy for him at all. It felt like he was being a little too overdramatic constantly. Kluen was more likeable, but sometimes his silenced felt a little overused. In all honesty, I only stuck with the show because of the support cast - I reached a point where I was only watching for Fah, Maitee and Sean. (Not Phoon, who was creepy as hell.) I only finished the show so I could move on to Sky in your Heart.

This isn’t a show I’ll ever revisit.

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One step forward, two steps back, same old cliché story with unnecessary conflicts

Story: The typical, over-used plot, where the main characters are in love with each other, yet because of the miscommunication they are not aware of the other's feelings so they will suffer in silence until a miracle happens, in our case the miracle was the third wheel who triggered jealousy, so the bear finally came out of the cave.
It was a bad attempt to show emotional world pain in a university setting with almost zero plot.
Also, what was this ”go away, but don't leave me” thing? They had to ”suffer” that much just to get together in 5 minutes.
Even though Daonuea was longing for years after Khabkluen's love, he didn't seem to be that happy and excited after they got together, in fact, he seemed low-key irritated when Khabkluen was trying to approach him.

Acting: The acting was pretty okay, with a decent amount of chemistry between the main couple. But I think that Joong wasn't professionally ready to be able to play someone who hides his love well.
They had their cute moments being together, but I got tired of it. Unfortunately, I couldn’t bring myself to like the main couple, nor the side characters.

Music: it wasn't really rememberable.

Overall: Nothing that really stands out about this series, nothing new and it could have had fewer episodes because what should have been an easygoing love story is strangely exhausting to watch.
But it's not that bad, I've seen worse, so watching this series is not a total waste of time, especially if you don't have that much expectations :)

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StarInMyMind.

For the story...it seem like a common school BL series, but thanks for adding many funny moments and sweet moments into it. Im laughing so crazy when there have sweet scenes.The chemistry among them was too best for me. For the casts....wow very cool. Joong's face and acting is very suit with KabKluen. Then his voice...soft and gentle, made me hearts melted🥺 For Dunk, he was very cute and funny in the series!! Although this is his first time to be main role in a series but his acting skill was quite good. Music....quite a nice song but i want to suggest that if can change the opening song to Joong's song named My Starlight. It might be good to have different song for opening and closing.

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Forgettable...

The series is... very forgettable. I'm writing this not to be mean or exaggerate in any way, I've watched this show very recently, watched another, and then already forgot abt SIMM's existence.
There's nothing extraordinary about it. I'm the type of person who would scream and swoon for fluff (so I really don't need anything mind-blowingly dramatic to keep a series replaying in my brain). And yet nothing much was retained in my mind after I finished the series. The plot is pretty much the usual with misunderstood protags who just have 0 communication skills. So you know how that goes. Like I remember the 1st 50 seconds when Dao got rejected and Kluen said to 'have a good trip' and then the rest is just mush. The end. The acting is OK I think?? Music isn't WOW (especially when I watch MSP afterward it's just day and night).
But truly, it is mediocre and I just kinda forgot about this show.

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A supposed-to-be meteor shower that did not happen ?

Ok so first of all, these two mini series under the title Star & Sky got me intrigued. It's just like GMMTV put it right ahead Enchanté suddenly or idk. It felt like rushed to be released, seemed like it. Not gonna lie, the story is basic and not that exciting. The interaction of the main leads felt awkward like getting along easy with the one you confessed your love which the latter replied Good luck with your flight (or something like that). I was disappointed that why Khabkluen held back his feelings before for Danouea when he once knew they like each other before. It's frustrating, but I mean I get it there's seemed to be a lot of pressure replicating the same feelings with someone you like. The story never went anywhere, it just revolves around the past clinging to present and nothing more. I don't know if it's just me or anyone feels it too. I felt no attachment to the story and the characters, it's just like ‘can it go somewhere better', like I need something else to make the series interesting. Feels like damn, every episode is 45 minutes and each episode has its own cliches and shit that I wish it was shorter. Everytime I watch an episode, I was like please end the episode right there, I'm ok. The acting tho, don't come at me hehe, I was not that impressed but I like Dunk's acting and nothing else. Khabkluen character gives me Sarawat vibes from 2gether. Maitee (Win) is a little bit eyecatcher for me as well as Nay (Winny), anything else ok.... Osts are good. Overall the drama is not over the top and will I rewatch it? Nah, not for me even if it's cute. Just the story is repetitive going from past to present vice versa. I don't think they got me. I was surprised that this is just 8 eps. I think with much time spent more of making this will make it a good watch. It feels like it was rushed because there are no BLs besides Cupid's Last Wish GMMTV has to offer this like month.

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Sigh, the Drama We Didn't Need.

First, I'd like to say that I had a hard time watching this one.

Plot: Dao(nuea) falls in love with (Khab)Khluen in high school and confesses his love right before he goes to Germany to study abroad. He returns to Thailand for university only to meet Khluen again in the school's pageant. He swore he was over Khluen but after seeing him again, his previous feelings return. This is compounded by the fact that they're housed in the same room during the pageant's preparation. Khluen plays a quiet guy who seems cold, can't express himself clearly, and often times I wonder can he speak at all. Dao on the other hand, is full of emotions. He constantly tries to understand what Khluen is doing; "Does he like me? Or is he toying with me?" After a series of miscommunication's, the two finally admit they like each other, and get together.

Pros: Honestly, there weren't really any pros to this drama. I mean, the actor who played Dao is cute and I loved his voice. Hearing him speak was one of the things I liked about him. I also liked Maithee because he was basically hitting on every guy.

Cons: The story's plot made no sense. Khluen knew that Dao liked him in high school and knew that Dao was doing his homework for him but selfishly never said anything. He knew Dao had confessed his love for him and still never said anything. He played hard to get, played it cold, and really sent conflicting messages for most of the story for what purpose except for them to make the drama? It was just pointless. Like getting jealous of Dao flirting with other guys without ever expressing yourself was lame. Finally like I know the actor that played Khluen grew up in Turkey and that he might not be the best at speaking Thai, but h had ZERO emotion in this drama. He didn't come off as mysterious, he came off as just a bad actor.

The scene where he drops everything to save Gia instead of telling Dao how he felt was so stupid. It was like such a ridiculous plot scene. I've never felt so bored watching a drama since Enchante lol. I'm worried that GMMTV's dramas are going down the drain.

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Star in Their Own Minds

Star in My Mind is unique in that despite the fact that it has a decent sized cast, everything revolves around a single character. There are no side couples here, no side stories even, everything and everyone is solely focused on this one person. It's a unique take and with a better character and stronger actor, it could even work. The problem though is that Dao isn't the most interesting or likeable character and this was Dunk's breakout role and he simply didn't have the experience to essentially carry the entire show. It's not bad, it's simply mediocre and at times, incredibly frustrating.

Such a laser focus on a single character is really the only unique aspect of this drama. Otherwise, it's a pretty standard college BL story with a lot of the standard BL tropes. The story is simple enough in that you have two characters in love but one of them doesn't know how to express their feelings and the other, having been rejected in the past, is afraid to confess those feelings again. Miscommunication is the name of the game here and it pervades nearly every aspect of the drama. If Dao and Kluen had simply sat down and had an actual conversation, this drama would have been done in maybe two episodes. But where's the fun in that? No, it's much better to have our leads running around in circles for six or seven episodes before they finally get their heads screwed on straight and get everything sorted out.

Initially, the lack of communication isn't terrible. Dao and Kluen meet again after being separated for a year. Their last meeting involved Dao confessing his feelings for Kluen and with Kluen responding by telling him to have a safe flight, thus breaking his heart. The kicker here is that Kluen is, in fact, in love with Dao as well, he just royally sucks at expressing himself and giving voice to those feelings. So when they meet again, Dao is faced with the fact that he still has feelings for the guy who rejected him and Kluen is continuing to say nothing while getting irritated at all the guys hitting on Dao. Speaking of which, having three guys pursuing Dao was a bit much, plus Papang, can't forget her. Don't get me wrong Dunk is cute, but not quite to that degree and the character of Dao wasn't nearly interesting enough to garner that level of attention. In any case though, the miscommunication just keeps ballooning to the point that everyone else is aware that these two have feelings for each other, except for Dao who is oblivious.

I've seen a lot of people give the character crap for being so obtuse, but I can understand where he's coming from as well. As far as Dao is aware, Kluen essentially rejected him previously. Not explicitly, but he also didn't accept Dao's feelings. Why would Dao expect that a year had changed anything? Even with the signals that Kluen was sending, I can see why Dao would second guess whether he was reading those signs correctly. And then Kluen tells him that Typhoon is a good guy and essentially tells Dao to be with him. There was also the matter of Gia. As far as Dao was aware, Kluen and Gia were still together and Kluen doesn't say anything to dispel that notion. That simply adds to Dao's confusion because why should he believe Kluen would be pursuing him when he's already got a girlfriend. Again, I know people like to give Dao crap, but frankly, Kluen was sending so many mixed signals that even if everyone else knew that Kluen liked Dao, I can see why Dao was so uncertain. Essentially the majority of their miscommunication boils down to Kluen being entirely too close lipped for his own good. Also the fact that he seemed to be able to communicate with others just fine, it was just when it came to Dao that he suddenly was unable to communicate in any way meaningfully.

There is one scene that I was very much not okay with and was extremely out of touch. Dao and Kluen finally have a conversation and Kluen essentially confesses his feelings when he receives a call from Gia. It's later revealed that Gia had a fight with her partner that turned physical and she called Kluen. There are numerous issues with this scene, first and foremost though the use of domestic violence as a gimmick to separate our leads. It is both tactless and tasteless and should never have been used. Almost any other excuse would have been better. Dao's reaction is another issue. He uses that moment to try to force Kluen to choose between him and Gia and then gets butthurt when Kluen still leaves to help Gia. Again, he's purported to be this very caring guy, but apparently he was temporarily struck deaf since there was a clear urgency to Gia's call and Kluen was obviously very concerned.

When it comes to the characterization, neither Dao or Kluen is particularly unique or interesting. Dao's big thing was that he's supposed to be caring and compassionate, but in reality, he was frankly a coward. His inability to say no to people wasn't a strength or a sign of a good person, but rather that he was afraid. He tried to make it seem like he was thinking of the other person, but in reality, it was simply selfish. When it came to Papang, he didn't reject her right away because he didn't want her to get hurt the way he had when Kluen didn't accept his feelings, but did he really think that time was going to make the pain any less? Wasn't it in fact more cruel to give her hope and then dash it on the ground later? Similarly with Typhoon, he obviously didn't want to actually be his boyfriend for the day, but rather than rejecting such a ridiculous idea, he went along with it and, of course, there were consequences which he never really took responsibility for.

With Kluen, I got real tired of his whole "am I too late" schtick. Like, dude, you are literally doing this to yourself, if you would simply open your mouth and communicate, things would not be so messed up. I really needed more from him to try to wrap my head around his mindset and how he was thinking and why he did and said some things, but we're never given that opening and so he remains a bit of an enigma and not in a good way.

The acting was nothing spectacular. Frankly both Dunk and Joong were outshone by some of the supporting cast with more acting experience. That's not to say it was completely terrible either. Dunk did a decent enough job for his first main role, but clearly struggled with the more emotional scenes. He also lacked nuance in his expressions, though not to the same extent as Joong. While I understand that Kluen was supposed to be a stoic character who didn't show a whole lot of emotion, Joong's acting came across not as deliberate, but as wooden. He needed a greater balance in his facial expressions so that the audience could see that he wasn't just a robot.

This drama started out pretty well and seemed promising but then it was just a steady decline from there. There are still some cute, fluffy moments, but it could have been so much more than it wound up being. It's not unwatchable though and it's short enough that it's not a total waste of time, it simply gets frustrating as the story progresses. For this one, I would say watch at your own risk.

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