ThamePo Heart That Skips a Beat (2024)

Absolutely brilliant series that will give you butterflies

I love meta series that are about the entertainment industry (also see: Lovely Writer and To My Star), and ThamePo turned out to be no exception.

This series follows the ascent of idol group Mars (played by actual idol group LYKN) and the challenges that come with fame. In exchange for creating that perfect image, idols give up privacy and a love life, and all important decisions about their future are made on their behalf.

Believe me when I say that the visuals in this series are a solid 10/10. And oh man, this show had me kicking my feet and screaming.

Many elements of Thame and Po’s relationship trajectory were wildly unrealistic and illogical – even Est admitted that dating in real life doesn’t happen this way. But that’s also what made the show so good. The relationship development is a glorious slowburn and the romance was romancing HARD.

I think the success of ThamePo lies in all its characters and the relationship that each of them have with each other. It's a story that goes beyond William and Est.

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A story that felt like home

ThamePo and Williamest has been my comfort place. A place of warmth and understanding. From the first episode, it wrapped me up in its world, not just with romance, but with healing, growth, and love that spoke through unspoken moments.

William and Est brought something truly special to the screen. Their chemistry wasn’t just seen, it was felt in every glance, every hesitation, and every raw and tender moment. Their story unfolded with an emotional depth that lingered long after the credit roll.

Knowing it’s over is sad. Now I won’t be so excited every week, awaiting fridays. Thank you William and Est for everything.

“ThamePo has ended but Williamest hasn’t ended yet.” - William

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A Love Story With Self-Reflection

the story in thamepo is not only of romance, but of the inevitable self-discovery, self-reflection, and growing that we as people go through--celebrity or not.

with thamepo, you are taken through a journey of failure, slumps, growth, and the different types of losses that you experience as a working adult in society. the impossibility we see so often take the lead in thamepo gives room for the viewer to realize there are times we, as people just trying to get through life, often have to make sacrifices or face a separation that are not part of the fairytale we want to believe in.

with this also comes a constant obstacle and issue in this series that prevails in real life: irrational fanatism of idols/celebrities. there is a lesson for everyone, regardless of how much we want to say we don't care about idol relationships, and it's about not focusing on the big picture: happiness.

baifern is the vessel for this lesson for us as viewers and supporters of artists. and even with the laid out explanation of how this type of behavior is irrational and harmful, i fear that the discussions, criticisms, and putting down of william for this series and his dreams are a real manifestation of the very problem that has to stop. we often see thame talk about how he is not tired, does not need anyone to coddle him, and he is doing things because he likes it (being with po, in this case). so to hear william also be as confident and vocal about this stage of his career being very much his choice, how he's fought for this opportunity and to keep est in his life, it makes it absolutely insensitive, overbearing, and borderline psychopathic to see people bash him for going after an acting career that he very much has always been vocal about.

so, to sum this up, the amplifying of bad takes also is an issue that we see far too often and does not create a healthy relationship with your favorite celebrities. ignoring people that set out to harm others is the best tool. silence and moving with purpose to show continued support is more powerful when there is an uproar about something as normal as idols dating, which also ties in baifern doing more harm than good when closing the fan page rather than bearing through that storm with mars.

although we can talk about the toxicity forever, i think another important lesson is the acceptance of success coming in many forms.

po has a long struggle finding happiness. through the series you start to see him be happy and he realizes far too late that his happiness didn't have to be glamorous or "successful" like earn's. even the topic of dreams was so impactful for many of us that didn't necessarily grow up with grand or specific dreams for our future. uncle jo talking about how happiness can be as simple as making suits for people to love and enjoy wearing and how it can be fulfilling. we don't all dream of being doctors, lawyers, or some grand career. sometimes, just being comfortable in what you do and the impact you have on your own community is good and valid enough for you to be seen as successful. uncle jo was successful to po, and to uncle jo it was really nothing more than just being content with what he does in life. po realizing he was just constantly comparing himself to earn and their friend group made me feel like he grew to understand not only himself more, but the importance of mars and their dreams too.

the ability to get so much out of a rookie series like this has made thamepo something that will forever resonate with me. the brilliance from est and lykn to capture these roles so flawlessly makes thamepo the best series of this year for me. there is not much more to ask for in this series other than more episodes, but i did kind of wish the confession between thame and po had been through their own mouths and not a game of telephone with jun. still, it made sense with the flow of the story. the entire team and cast made incredible work here and the gentleness in the entire delivery makes this all the more impactful.

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Things I'm concerned about ThamePo the series.

I love ThamePo, but there are some things I don’t understand about this series. Overall, it’s great, and I appreciate how it restores the true meaning of romance in a series. However, I think everyone would agree that it’s not perfect for some reasons. LYKNEst poured their hearts into this series, and it was a success. But the sofa inside Po’s apartment bothers me so much. Why did they have to do it on the sofa? The sofa completely blocked the part where Thame was about to go down—boggie, go down! It just ruined the whole shot rawr. That damn sofa inside Po’s apartment! But then I realized… Po’s sofa is still better than doing it inside Mars' shared house. This is just a random review, and honestly, I was thinking about Wesley while writing this. That kid can’t even walk with those little feet. but he's cute and color blue with a smile. So you see, when it comes to color grading, editing, and the overall experience, ThamePo is excellent—almost perfect. But when it comes to that part… count me out.

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Ten stars solely for the jundylan sneak at the end

The actual show is a pretty solid 8.5 or 9 out of 10 though. It's not groundbreaking but it's very well rounded. The show doesn't really try to do anything too risky (people keep saying Thamepo is "so brave for calling out fan behavior" as if Only Boos, which is set in the same universe btw, didn't have the same plotline lmao) but everything it did try to incorporate into the story was written tastefully. Although the music is pretty generic pop, the vocals and choreo in the show was very good. The boy band in the show, MARS was played by a actual boy band and it shows. The casting of this show was definitely the standout part.
Also this show is amazing advertisement for LYKN (the band that plays Mars) cause unironically this show was the only thing that's ever managed to get me into a boy band. (Hong is now my bias. Really hoping the GMMTV Capitalism machine blesses us with more NutHong/ JunDylan content)

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Heart-warming series

if you’re feeling down you should watch this one. It not only evolves love but also friendships. Especially, thanks to this series, I realize that when you have love, life is worth living.
Acting: even though this is LYNK’s first series, they did such an excellent job! Est’s acting improved dramatically. Since I only watch his other series “Love by chance 2”, he was terrible in it, I was surprised at his transformation.
Plot: love will conquer it all. The realistic in this series is quite up to date and not too forced.
Music: ear-melting!!! If you have listened to William’s Last twilight OST, you won’t be disappointed with him singing in this series. Est also sang in this and his voice is unique.

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Reality Check For Sure!

This beautiful series showcased so many relevant issues currently. It emphasized the impact of fan expectations on idols and actors in the industry. I noticed that fans extreme reactions forces amazing talented individuals to extreme measures. Our judgement of them,as if they are not human, is a shame. I think Asian series, movies and music is the most beautiful and graceful creations. It's the best genre however I see so many amazing artists lose their fight in life. Often artists are exploited, by fans and by agencies. They say they pay the price for fame... But that's their job, imagine if we handled that in our daily jobs.

Back to the love story. It was mature and beautiful to watch. Two adults understanding each other, supporting each other, loving each others. There was no big gestures,raised voices and weird plots. Just a slow burn. The scene when they kept walking each other was so adorable. The cuteness of that 🥰 This by far the best series, that relationship was reality. What we all aspire to have in our lives. And I loved how Thame was jealous. But he's attentive. Another thing I loved was Po often saying it's alright and Thame replies no it's not. A relationship of all green flags

Last we talk about the group dynamic. In the begining it's a group of individuals and they end up bonding, understanding each other and supporting each other. They became family. It was satisfying and lovely watching those relationships grow and progress.

I have watched maybe hundreds of Asian series, BL or not but not many makes me want to write a review. Well done to everyone that was involved in the production of this series and Thank You 🙏

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High contender for BL of the year but unexpectedly tripped midway

Its enemy-to-lovers trope, idol setup, and overall appearance evoke K-Drama vibes. GMMTV made the best decision to bring their boy group into acting, as all five of them performed well in their respective roles. The concept was already unique for a Thai-BL, which made them different from the rest.

I want to re-experience those butterflies in my stomach moments when I watched the first few episodes when Thame and Po are just starting to flirt and get to know each other. Its sequence of having two parts of the story per episode was clever. Every EP begins with Thame trying to win back the hearts of his members and the last part focuses on Thame and Po’s romance. It covers my favorite moments from the show. One is when Thame memorized Po’s number. Second was the very long phone call with Thame learning Po’s favorite song overnight to play it to him. And of course, the jealousy scenes.

Throughout these EPs, I am patiently waiting for Friday to come faster. Not until they ruined Jun’s character and used him to align the romance between the main couple. I hate that they made it so evident that Jun admires Po to some extent. But select the latter to conceal his feelings and reason out of helping his dear friend Thame to realize things. I know that ThamePo will be the end game but they can make a better conclusion to Jun’s story.

Right after this EP, we’re back again with the same issue of who stay and who should leave Mars. It was too dull and repeated, together with the break-up scenes. The downfall from having a perfect ten to nearly reaching an 8-9 score was dissatisfying. At least the concert at the end was good enough for me to realize that this show still deserves a 9/10 for the overall impact.

A few more notable elements were the set of beautiful OSTs and Est and his greatness in delivering his role as a soft and gentle lover. He is so pretty even when he cries that I want to see more of his dramatic scenes in the future.

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