Winter Is Not the Death of Summer but the Birth of Spring (2024)

It is based on a true story

The book took 44 years to write, based on a true story, the story is complex but you realize why it had that ending, prison can be cruel, it makes you make decisions that you don't like just for your own benefit, the series itself is very good, totally recommended.
The story is a bit slow, but entertaining, it catches you and gives you a new perspective, it is not a common and current series, it is not the typical Thai bl, it is very different but that does not mean that it is bad.
Both actors played their roles really well, you could tell their feelings and what was going on in their minds. The entire cast and production were excellent, I loved the songs chosen.

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I would recommend this

i’ve seen a lot of critical reviews saying the series was poorly made, but we all know it didn’t have a big budget for better production. still, i think they really tried.

so far, i like the story because there aren’t too many characters, so the plot focuses on the main pair. they make a great duo, and the story feels different from other bl shows. the trope of a prisoner and a prisoner is rare since most bls are about high school love stories. the characters seem mature, but they’re clearly struggling with their relationship, like they’re yearning to be loved even though it feels forbidden because of who they are.

i’m honestly so curious about their backstories. i really want to know more about them.

to be honest, their acting needs improvement, but it’s understandable since it’s their first time acting. and while we can’t really complain about the writing since it’s based on a true story, i think they could’ve added better elements to the plot and executed the drama more smoothly.

this would be a good drama to watch if you’re short on time but still want a good plot. the episodes are really short, but so far it's a great story to watch.

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Must watch!

Set in the unsual setting of a Thai prison, this story tells of the love blooming between two young inmates from different worlds. Its title reminds us that darkness holds the seed of light or, like the emblematic lotus, that beauty can grow from the mud. It is told, filmed and played with talent and a deep sensitivity which almost doesn't need words. At this stage (12 episodes shown so far out of 21), there is no saying where the story is actually going and how it will end. But one thing is for certain: this series is addictive, and the airing of 4 episodes at a time avoids the frustration short formats often bring to the viewers. I strongly recommend to watch it as well as one of these new opuses which lift the so-called "BL" genre out of cliches, and make it more mature.

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meandering plot and incomplete feel

Overall: I was intrigued in the beginning, but it lost my interest with the large amount of staring and lack of meaningful dialogue. Began airing on YouTube November 20th https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PL0Njz75725bXKH1h92Yn-RCgu5EZb_SW-&si=P7Jx-VCWqEIUqr_b, then moved uncut episodes to a different platform and then moved an uncut version to WeTV in January https://wetv.vip/en/album/dd8g63nmfpkqdwg

Content Warning: sexual assault, non con touching, death off screen, self harm

What I Liked
- unique premise
- caring moments
- steamy scene in ep 4 uncut version was well done but it seemed to go on for too long
- production value for what I assumed was a very indie production

Room For Improvement
- voice over exposition
- too much staring/flashbacks, they needed to talk/learn about each other more
- I'm not familiar with the Thai prison system but it seemed odd they had a fully stocked music room and library based on the other facilities and the whole music video/the voice thing, how some characters had those numbered shirts and others wore regular clothes, also they were packed like sardines for sleeping but then magically at the water area there was no one around
- showing a character defecating was not needed
- the ending was a non-ending, apparently there was supposed to be a special but months later and there's no special, the series feels extremely incomplete
- made viewers wait a month for the last 4 episodes, the release platform/schedule felt like they figured it out as they went instead of it being preplanned

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mature story, bad audio-editing

The most positive of this show is that it's not childish at the least, as most of the thai shows aired 2024.. The young actors did their best to transport the story which plays out in an unusual setting: A thai prison. Of course this is not a polished high budget production, but the lack of polish was compensated with more workshops and pre-production run at least a year to improve the acting skills of the cast. In contrast GMMTV does the reverse, high polished production but the acting skills of most of it's actors are either lacking or the script is so bad, their skills don't matter.

The most negative of the show is the drowning of the actors voices whenever background music overlaps. This is really annoying. They also used some lip-sync which were not top-notch. Also the ending is not a real ending, it's a cliffhanger for the special episode which is seperated from this short series. That we had to wait for the last four episodes for nearly a month made the show not better.

It'a mostly a story of power dyanamics in a prison with a flair of a partly fluffy BL. It's also a story of a gay youth doing something stupid and going to prison for it twice, finding someone he falls in love with but his partner while showing some feelings does not commit. I liked this story much more compared to most other shows... It's not great, but it's good for what it is. The end is a bit abrupt and not happy at all, but I suppose the special episode will resolve that. For a low budget production it's well done. If you watch on youtube, be aware there are only auto-generated subtitles on the last four episodes which makes some dialoges hard to understand. Maybe in the future they remedy that problem.

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Watch This Series From A Prisoner's Perspective

Don't listen to the negativity about this series! Sure, there are production issues but this is a different BL. This whole series is unique in that despite its dark surroundings, it is still a human connection that binds two people together and that might be the requisite for survival in their world. Perhaps without that, the days and nights become a crestfallen abyss. If that connection is a form of love, then let it be named so. All I know is that this throw-away series is an exceptional and phenomenal series that says more with less. This series, I think, is misunderstood. It does not flow well. It feels disjointed. Time is hard to discern, as in reality, it would. So much is done cryptically. However, I am guessing that is exactly what prison life is like, plus more. There is also more unsaid than said. It is up to you to fill in the blanks here. This is one of the few real, honest, and genuine BLs to come out of Thailand in a long time. It is brilliantly acted, as the story is told with a brutal sincerity that is relatable for all of us to understand, if we open our minds to their confinement. They lost their souls in prison. We see that clearly. They are shells of humans. The only vestige of humanity is the here and there touch by one another that brushes past them occasionally, and even then, it can never fully be intimate. This story is gritty, touching, and unfeigned and not comfortable to watch.

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Hooked from the Very Beginning!

The title of this series alone had me hooked since it is so esoteric. This whole series is unique in that despite its dark surroundings, it is still a human connection that binds two people together and that might be the requisite for survival in their world. Perhaps without that, the days and nights become a crestfallen abyss. If that connection is a form of love, then let it be named so. All I know is that this throw-away series is an exceptional and phenomenal series that says more with less.

Unquestionably, this is a story conceivably of thousands mirrored in two people. ‘Jed’ Pathomakan (Mark Methasit) is arrested and sent to prison for cheque fraud. Perhaps he would be unremarkable in the sense that typically he would blend into society well. Quiet, somewhat studious-looking, but now having to fend for himself in prison- alone. In this setting, his face and demeanor are enticing and to a degree charismatic. Almost immediately he is ‘protected’ by Bible (Art Pawaret). Bible is haunting. He is boyishly handsome and hypnotic. He seems to be somewhat of a leader in the prison yet obviously given the pecking order within the penal environment, is still subservient to those to whom he owes money. While quiet and introspective, he wields a lot of force among other prisoners and seems to be respected by the guards. Not by force but by demeanor. He rarely, if ever, smiles and even more rarely gives in to any emotions.

Read the complete article here-

https://theblxpress.wordpress.com/2025/02/08/winter-is-not-the-death-of-summer-but-the-birth-of-spring-series-review-ep-1-to-5/

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Lesson lost in production

This is the first Thai prison production that I've seen and I believe more should be told. Two things: I've never been to prison and most importantly a Thai prison so the commentary below is from a novice's pov.

Plot: The story of prison life and learning to appreciate your life outside. That's universal. Learning to love yourself and accept love from others. Also universal.

Acting: It's a first time for both main leads but even with a better script, this was terrible. Especially, Jed. Bible and Khuen did a fair job. Kudos to the warden who seemed to have had more experience than all. The long stares and pauses between made this feel even cheaper than it was.

Thoughts: What hampered this from having a greater impact was the production of it. Bad audio. Bad directing. Impromptu humor that didn't fit or was grossly displayed. Very poor script. Choppy, disconnected and erratic pacing. Unrealistic scenes. Prisoners walking around doing nothing at all but talk. Doing laundry, sporadically talking and stares. Why was one actor given two roles? Being the prison doctor and being a prisoner, which did nothing to propel the story. Lack of funding, perhaps. This story could have used less people and made the a more concise representation of prison life. Jed made this unbearble. His wide open mouth and creepy mannerisms, one would think he should be behind bars. Having sex in the open where communal washing is done. This is one of the unrealistic parts. Having to wait 3 weeks for the ending as the series was paused, here the momentum was lost.

Nothing was learnt at the ending that wasn't told in the beginning. I will defin̈itely not rewatch. If you haven't, pass.

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It is not original, but it is unrealistic in sweetening the reality of prisoners in Thai prisons

'A Prayer Before Dawn' is a prison drama directed by Jean-Stéphane Sauvaire. Based on a true story collected in the book "A Prayer Before Dawn: My Nightmare in Thailand's Prisons", by Billy Moore, it tells the life in prison of a young British man with a problematic past and addicted to heroin, who ends up being confined in one of the Thai prisons, considered among the most dangerous and inhumane in the world, for drug possession.
In the film, the relief for the self-destructive life and mind of Billy Moore, masterfully played by Joe Cole, known for his role as Luke in the series 'Skins', John Shelby in 'Peaky Blinders' and Sean Wallace in 'Gangs of London', comes in the arms, lips and the inconstant sexual attentions of Fame (Pornchanok Mabklang), a ladyboy, with whom the main character will maintain a homosexual relationship, and the discipline of Muay Thai and boxing practiced by the British citizen.
The image that the West has about the life of a prisoner in Thai prisons, such as the Bangkok Hilton, which many call "The Great Tiger", one of the harshest prisons in the world, is consistent with the reality shown in this 2017 film: institutional corruption, extreme violence, overcrowding and unhealthiness where prisoners fight to survive in inhumane conditions.
The recent sentence to life imprisonment of chef Daniel Sancho, the son of renowned Spanish actor Rodrigo Sancho, for premeditated murder, dismemberment and concealment of the body of Colombian plastic surgeon Edwin Arrieta, on the tourist island of Koh Phangan, in southern Thailand, in August 2023, has once again brought to debate the inhumane situation experienced by prisoners in Thai prisons.
In addition to living with drug traffickers, pedophiles and murderers, between 30-60 prisoners survive in each cell, without water, electricity or hardly any food, with a single hole in the floor to relieve themselves. Fights over a crust of bread or a piece of soap, or to avoid being raped by other inmates and even by the guards themselves, are constant. If the prisoner runs with good luck, he will be cared for by a doctor and two nurses, alone, to provide medical care to thousands of inmates.
While in other prisons around the world convicts spend their time with the aim of reintegrating them back into society in most cases, going to prison in Thailand is simply a punishment.
In this scenario where the days are tremendously difficult and hard, in which crime and daily violence outside prison continue inside it, and survival is the greatest challenge, 'Winter Is Not the Death of Summer but the Birth of Spring' focuses on showing the life of the main character already inside a cold and hostile prison in Thailand. A voice-over, which tells us, during the first minutes of the plot, how he ended up there, helps us as viewers to become familiar with him from the moment he crosses the threshold of the prison and leaves his routine life behind.
The series follows a real love story between two inmates: "Jed", sentenced to one year and six months for a check fraud law, and Bible Khamphi, a young man guilty of illegal arms trade who must serve around four years, but as a model prisoner, after two years in prison, he could soon be released on parole. Although Bible seems indifferent to life, he possesses a magnetic attraction that attracts Pathomkan.
It is precisely the approach of anguish, oppression and confusion that Andy Rachyd Kusolkulsiri, known for directing numerous BL series and films, such as 'Love Sick Season 2', 'Make It Right: The Series' and 'Tom Gay', turns to tell us the story.
From the first scenes, the audience is able to perceive that the director does not stop to explain anything to us, he builds his main character as he goes and at the same time he inserts the other characters and subplots. The series manages to keep the viewer stunned and disoriented, holding Jed's hand in a prison that looks at him with brutality, leaving this peaceful and dejected man alone in the middle of a violent place, waiting to be rescued by a pious soul... or loving.
In addition to a love story, 'Winter Is Not the Death of Summer but the Birth of Spring' is a story of survival in prison conditions, something unusual in BL series, but it will show the desire for redemption and the search for light after the tunnel, with Jed waiting to get out of prison to dedicate himself to work, help his mother and pay off debts, and Bible with the truncated dream of finishing his studies in International Business Administration to continue a correct life away from crime.
Andy Rachyd Kusolkulsiri's camera takes us into the warlike Thai prison world. It shows sweaty and tattooed male bodies like emaciated flesh eager for violence, blood, nicotine, drugs and sex, a voracious hunger that never sleeps, where you have to fight to get a few drops of drinking water with which to quench your thirst, sleep carefully open and where a visit to a latrine can end in a gang rape, since the guards are not there to ensure the safety of the prisoners.
The explicitness of the acts of institutional corruption, authoritarianism and physical and psychological abuse, both by the guards and by the prisoners towards other prisoners, in a hierarchical order, of supremacy, remain in the feint and the attempt, and do not reach to show all the truth revealed in the first minutes after Jed's arrival in prison. The director chooses to avoid the underworlds that inhabit our same planet.
Jed is going to end up in prison for a crime committed, he will ask for bail, and the most terrifying thing is not the stay, but that he must denounce the smoking inmates, it does not matter if Bible is among them, as if he had a pact with the guards to obtain freedom or enjoy some privileges. This is something that shocks me, because I did not expect to witness an act of lack of camaraderie in the main character. I also don't understand how smokers are persecuted as if they were committing indiscipline, when cigarettes are brought into prison by the inmates' relatives during their scheduled visits.
The intrusion does not remain in the auditory, but also in the visual: down there, in the depths of hell, among dark men with elaborate tattoos, pronounced abdomen or extreme thinness, their pale skin and innocent gaze, in contrast to those around them, shine like a beacon, bringing to light the sexual desires of those who have not enjoyed sex in a long time. But we will only have a hint of this in the first scenes, since this phenomenon that is always present in prisons will soon be left aside, and that could provide drama and realism, to give way to the love story between the two protagonists.
It is the unfavorable side of justice, stuck within four narrow walls of an underworld, stuck inside the purest shit of the environment that surrounds him, Jet will try to find the light, that is, freedom. Or at least a relief for their tormented days.
An innocent young man, with an angelic look in a prison: in these circumstances, I hoped that the protagonist would live the pain of a traumatic experience that would allow him to draw life lessons and achieve redemption for his crimes. However, none of this is represented in the series. It seems that, instead of a prison, the prisoners enjoy a stay in a cheap and little-publicized hotel by the Thai Ministry of Tourism.
Another aspect to consider is the acting, where for obvious reasons, the majority is either novice actors or are not professional actors. Likewise, we have a notable work by Art Pawaret Prapapornvorakul, who plays Bible Khamphi, and Mark Methasit Aiyakornkul, who plays Jed, both in their debut in the entertainment industry.
Although it is original for a Thai LGBT+ series, its premise is not unique in world cinematography in telling a homosexual relationship in a prison in that Asian nation, nor is the label "based on a true story."
On the other hand, it seems to offer a sweetened and complacent image of the harsh conditions and life of the convicts, such as Jed's quiet walks through dubious and improbable reading and music rooms full of convicts, or the images of convicts kissing and enjoying sexual games in the light of day, under the gaze of anyone around them.
Despite not being realistic, the story moves in two directions: that of survival in a brutal environment, and the love that Jed finds in another inmate. That is to say, on the one hand it is an unpleasant series in substance and form that evolves in a rude manner to feed on violence and hostility, while on the other hand it offers the romantic rapprochement of two beings destined to suffer confinement.
Loaded with intrinsic dirt, the viewer waits anxiously to see if the next frame shows us even a drop of tenderness and redemption.
'Winter Is Not the Death of Summer but the Birth of Spring' has very powerful bases, since the presence of ladyboys is added to the above, which gives it an exotic touch. However, it fails to convince because it avoids showing a reality widely known to humanity: the darkness of confinement in a Thai prison.
In addition to the above, the lack of a budget that allows satisfactorily guaranteeing that all aspects of production are handled effectively and efficiently plays against the series, in order to better develop the story.
Due to its crudeness, the unusual settings, and the fact that it does not tell a romantic plot as lovers of the genre wish, it is not suitable for all audiences, but that does not mean its effort to tell a true story should be detracted, despite their failures.

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