Ticket to Heaven

ITS TIMEEEE!!! FOR ANOTHER MASTERPIECE!!!

JUST WATCHED THE FIRST EPISODE AND I CAN ALREADY TELL THIS IS GOING TO BE AN ABSOLUTE MASTERPIECE.

After waiting nearly 2 YEARS for Ticket to Heaven we're finally here. And honestly? Just watching the trailer was enough to make me emotional. The way every scene is filled with so much feeling, the cinematography, the acting, the emotions everything looks breathtaking.Of course I'm still heartbroken that there are only 6 episodes after such a long wait because this already feels like the kind of story that deserves so much more but no matter how many episodes it has I already know it's going to leave a huge impact on everyone who watches it.

This isn't just another series. It feels like one of those rare stories that stays with you long after it ends. The kind that makes you laugh, cry, scream, and then stare at your ceiling at 3 a.m. thinking about it and judging by the first episode I already know we're all going to be crying our eyes out.

The wait was long but I truly believe it's going to be worth every second. I'm so excited and soo so nervous to finish this journey with yall!! and our lovely GeminiFourth🩷

PLEASE GO WATCH TICKET TO HEAVEN. Because I have a feeling we're about to witness something unforgettable..

Read More

THE BEST STARTING EVER IN BL HISTORY (WORTH THE WAIT )

TICKET TO HEAVEN, WHAT DO YOU MEAN THIS IS ONLY THE START? 😭 The opening was absolutely incredible and I'm already emotionally attached. Gemini and Fourth have me locked in from the first episode, and I can already tell they're about to ruin my life. Fourth said to prepare a box of tissues, and for once I am choosing to listen. My expectations are high, my tissues are ready, and my emotional stability is in danger.If you're not watching Ticket to Heaven yet, what are you doing? Get on this flight with the rest of us before we're all crying together every week. ✈️😭💙

Read More

So So Beautiful

I love Ticket to Heaven so much because it uncovers so much symbolism and depth within its storyline. Barth and Tanrak start off as two different people from different worlds, and they slowly blend together to form such a sensual and intimate bond. Their acting is so good and the scenes really put things into perspective, there are times when I just softly sob at how much raw emotions and tension J can feel within this show. These episodes have really showed how much of coming of age and how discovery of oneself has challenges and how love may not always be consistent. Even when everyone complains about the serious only having 6 episodes, I find warmth in it because of how the story carries itself and its beautiful meaning throughout. Ticket to Heaven will definitely be life changing, and so many more people should watch it because it’s certainly wiring my brain differently.

Read More

A Story of Faith, Love, and Self-Acceptance

If you are looking for:
- a love story shaped by faith, guilt, and healing
- strong acting with layered emotional performances
- beautiful cinematography and a grounded emotional tone
- thoughtful themes of devotion, identity, and self-acceptance

then this series is perfect for you!

=============
Things I like
=============
(1) The acting
The performances in this series are superb. The growth that Fourth Nattawat and Gemini Norawit have shown since My Love Mix-Up TH is very apparent here. With a strong script and solid direction behind them, both actors are able to carry the story with much more emotional depth and complexity, especially in a series like this where so much depends on conveying inner conflict that may not be easy for every viewer to personally relate to.

Fourth Nattawat is impressive in the more introspective scenes, where little or no dialogue is needed. His body language and facial expressions carry complex emotional moments with remarkable control, and he makes Tanrak’s inner world feel believable even in silence. I can easily see him doing very well in theatre or films in the future. That said, Gemini Norawit still takes the cake for me when it comes to the single best acting moment, in the scene with his mother in prison. That scene had so much emotional force, and he handled it beautifully.

(2) Barth and Tanrak feel like gifts sent to each other
What I find beautiful about this story is how Barth and Tanrak feel almost like gifts sent to each other at the right time.

For Tanrak, Barth feels like a gift from God. Having grown up without much loving care from his parents, Barth becomes a source of love that is steady, sincere, and unyielding. He gives Tanrak the kind of warmth and acceptance that he has been missing for so long.

At the same time, Tanrak feels like a gift from God to Barth. After losing faith because of the abuse caused by his father and the pain surrounding his family situation, Barth meets someone who is deeply devoted yet gentle, and through Tanrak, he is reminded that God can still be kind and loving.

That is what makes their relationship feel poetic to me. They are not just lovers who happened to meet, but two people who arrive in each other’s lives carrying exactly what the other has lost, reminding us that the right person can still find their way to us.

(3) The cinematography
This is another strong point of the series. The framing consistently knows where the viewer’s attention should go, so the emotional focus of each scene comes through clearly without unnecessary distractions. The scenery and backgrounds are also used well, and the color palette adds a lot to the mood without ever feeling too heavy-handed.

I also appreciate that the series shows restraint with product placement. There are a couple of moments where it appears, but they never pull me out of the story too much. For a series with this kind of emotional tone, that restraint makes a difference.

============================
Things I wish were different
============================
(1) Tanrak’s inner struggle needed more weight
What I found interesting about Tanrak is that his conflict never really felt like a simple choice between God and Barth. If anything, the series shows that he wants both. He continues to carry his faith with sincerity, while also loving Barth fully and naturally. The way he keeps their notes in the Bible and shares sacred objects with Barth makes it feel less like he sees love as a betrayal of faith, and more like he is trying to hold both parts of himself together.

The final episode does make it clear that this burden never fully leaves him, and I appreciate that the series acknowledges he has not completely forgiven himself. That said, I still wish the emotional and spiritual weight of that struggle had been felt more strongly throughout the journey. Since Christianity shaped so much of Tanrak’s life into adulthood, I expected more sustained pressure, guilt, and inner turmoil around what it means to choose love while stepping away from the path that once defined him.

(2) More time for the story to breathe
This is less a complaint and more a personal wish, but I think this story could have benefited from two or three more episodes. The series already has strong emotional material, and a little more time would have helped flesh out the character arcs in a fuller way, especially for moments and details that were omitted from the novel. I would have liked more space for the “getting to know each other” phase, because at times both of them seem almost starstruck from the moment they meet. A slower build there would have made the emotional progression feel even richer.

The time skip also leaves some important parts of Tanrak’s journey more implied than shown. While some of it is addressed through later conversations, the audience is still left guessing about the depth and shape of his devotion to God during those missing years. That feels important, because his life in Magdalene House shaped him deeply, yet the life he eventually builds with Barth spans an even longer stretch of time. Without seeing more of that transition, it becomes harder to fully grasp how faith, guilt, love, and identity continued to live together inside him across the years.

===========
Best scenes
===========
(1) Barth visiting his mother in prison
One of the best scenes in the series for me is Barth visiting his mother in prison. On the surface, it is already emotionally powerful, but what makes it stay with me is how much it reveals about Barth’s heart. This is the moment where we can really feel how battered both Barth and his mother have been by life, and yet neither of them has fully let go of the other. There is still love, tenderness, and hope between them, even after everything they have suffered.

What makes the scene even more meaningful is that it also becomes part of Barth’s spiritual journey. Through that moment, we see him slowly begin to trust God again and open himself back up to prayer. That shift is handled in a very moving way, because it does not feel sudden or exaggerated. It feels like the beginning of healing. For me, this scene is one of the clearest examples of how Ticket to Heaven ties love, pain, and faith together so beautifully.

(2) The line that says it all
Auntie Lek (the MVP) delivers the line that feels like the main takeaway of the entire series: that you can love God and yourself without having to sacrifice one for the other. That single moment captures the heart of Ticket to Heaven so clearly that it hardly needs any further explanation.

=========
Takeaways
=========
When this project was first announced, I was a little skeptical about whether it could strike a good balance between the core lessons of Christianity and a story centered on homosexuality. In the end, I think the series handled that balance with a great deal of grace and care.

Director Aof Noppharnach already has a strong track record when it comes to delivering thoughtful BL stories, and this series is another solid example of that. It is sincere, emotionally grounded, and careful with the themes it chooses to carry. Fourth Nattawat and Gemini Norawit have also grown a lot as actors, and this series makes that growth very clear. I look forward to seeing what both of them do next, and hopefully one day on the big screen as well.

Read More

A lovingly crafted tale, like a gentle, soothing balm for hearts going through 'me vs my faith'

This show turned out quite different from what I expected it to be, but I loved it anyway....it is crafted as a gentle, soothing, balm for all hearts that are in pain and intense guilt with the inner conflict of me vs my faith...it steers clear of all the difficult questions around homosexuality vs faith, but one - can I love god and me at the same time, even if I am not 'perfect' and am a sinner, as per the scriptures...it comes back with a resounding YES....and does that very beautifully, avoiding most of the underlying power struggles, dogma, and murk that one probably goes through to arrive at this conclusion, usually on their own. This journey, I believe, is going to help a lot of people who go through similar inner conflicts, guilt and hopelessness

But the best part about this show is Fourth as Tanrak - he just embodies the very spirit of this story, with every glance, every gesture, all that he spoke and all his silence - the inner conflict, desire, guilt and finally finding peace with his love, himself and everyone around him. He is plain STUNNING 💓

BL-Needle Score: 7.5 Reasonably high BL-ness

I have been waiting forever for this one. This is a subject very close to my heart because the theme of this show deals with an extremely important and relevant subject - that of homophobia from one's closest people, loved ones and family. The pain of rejection from one's own family and loved ones is THE most damaging thing to ever go through for young queer people. It has been pretty common, and unfortunately still is, in many parts of the world, to see parents sending off their queer children to be 'converted', 'cured of the sin' of homosexuality. And more often than not, religion plays a big role in perpetuating such harm, violence and damage. I have seen catholic gay men up close, going around in a loop of self-loathing, suffering and struggle, just to reconcile their selves to their faith, and in turn, fail miserably at any form of meaningful human connection. More importantly, their parents and immediate support systems, the people who should have loved and protected them, have pushed them towards a life of guilt, shame, and misery, all in the name of God. We need to have more conversations around this and we need parents and families of queer people to be a part of these conversations. Stories like these need to be told, seen, heard, and repeated, so that no one is ever made to go through shit just because of who they are, and who they love...God, if he exists, is not sitting with a magnifying glass to judge your 'sins', its just us humans playing the power games using God's name ...

This show, however, steered clear of most of the contentious questions and focused more on the characters personal journey with their faith and actually shows faith-based people who are kind, if not supportive. Even though I did find the characters to be a tad unrealistic given my experiences of knowing Christian queer people and their lived realities, it is also a welcome change from the stereotypes.

I also must mention that some of the specific moments seem so real that I am almost sure that it is taken from real life incidents - like the one where Aof plays the ticket guy and directs Tanrak and Barth to a love-motel, or where Tanrak hides his face with his own t-shirt, or when Tanrak leaves Barth and his mother at the prison so that they can talk one-to-one....or some of the scenes of how the bully at the school operates...maybe also the thing about flowers that Tanrak keeps getting from Barth and preserving them, only to burn them later....so many poignant moments. I hard that people are saying that it is based on Aof's own experiences, whether or not that is true, these moments were so beautiful and I am so grateful that the person shared those with all of us.

I am hoping this show will help people become at least a little more aware and kinder.....and that this absolutely stellar combination of actors, director, and storytellers will help this show be a narrative changing act.

Verdict: DO NOT MISS IT

Read More

Amazing from start to finish

I dont even have the words. This was so incredibly good. I almost didn't tune in at all because the premise seemed cheesy. Holy crap, I got more than I could possibly have asked for! I got more than I knew I wanted!

It was so thoughtful and restrained in a lot of ways. But it was also full of emotions. I felt all of them but I didnt feel like I was manipulated into it. They just organically grew out of the story, and the way it was told. I literally cried for the entire last episode!

The acting was amazing. The ability of both Gemini & Fourth to portray so much emotion without speaking was true artistry. I was on the edge of my seat with my heart in my hand for every episode. Each character was superbly executed. And I felt invested in all of them, not just the mains. The Father gave me life. So did Lek in the finale.

The cinematography was beautiful. The light and the dark. The moments of stillness, especially between the mains. Just incredible.

The intimacy between Tanrak and Barth is electric. And I'm not talking about NC scenes (this is pretty innocent as far as BLs go), I'm talking about the expressions of intense, inescapable love between them. And every time they kissed it was like a million fireworks exploding. Chemistry on top of chemistry (layered with good acting, a good script, and good direction).

If you haven't seen it already, go watch it right now.

Read More

Crying sobbing throwing up

YouTube playlist: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLszepnkojZI7uWKLBqfRqXvmH3uACl2iw

I will say that my expectations were through the roof for this series, and yet somehow they were still exceeded.
This is genuinely one of the best GMMTV series of all time, if not one of the best series of all time as a whole.

Things I liked:
1. Insane chemistry. It was truly something else here, especially the first few episodes.
2. Exceptional acting. All I can say is wow.
3. The ending. I strongly believed from the start we wouldn't get a happy ending due to multiple factors, but I was so happy to realize that we indeed got a happy ending.
4. "I'm not God's favorite son either." Somebody give him an oscar, trully a beautiful line that, while unexpected, made me so incredibly happy.
5. Bussaya (Barth's mother). She is THE mother, an absolute legend, and if I were her, I would've done the same with no hesitation. Protecting your child is one of the biggest priorities when you are a parent, and that's exactly what she did.
6. Cherry and Phai. Great, supportive side characters.
7. Kongdech. The best friend and genuinely the sweetest boy with a big heart. I was so proud seeing how far into his dream he got.
8. Master/Father Phak. Same as Kongdech, I couldn't be more proud seeing him achieve something he wanted. Still, his story broke my heart, seeing how similar it is to our main character's.
9. Barth. We are all people, and we all have flaws, so I won't say everything he's done was perfect, yet I do want to highlight how great of a person he truly was no matter what.
10. Honestly everything!

Things I disliked:
1. Genuinely nothing, and I cannot be happier.

Read More

If God Teaches Us to Love — Then What's the Point?

The series has become a massive global phenomenon, breaking records and sparking conversations in more than 160 countries—and honestly, it's not hard to understand why. It's visually stunning, full of careful symbolism and subtle visual storytelling. One shot that immediately stuck with me is when Barth tells Tanrak they're completely alone, only for the camera to slowly pull back and reveal Jesus on the cross behind them. They're never actually alone. It's a beautiful reminder that, in Tanrak's eyes, God is always present—even in the moments he's trying hardest to hide.

The visual storytelling is consistently this strong. Tanrak presses every daisy Barth gives him between the pages of his Bible and, with each bouquet, quietly paints another flower onto the ceiling above his bunk—the same bunk he's slept in since arriving at the seminary, where nothing in his life had ever truly changed until Barth walked into it. Even the bathroom becomes symbolic: it's where Tanrak retreats whenever his world begins to fall apart. It's where he first seeks refuge during his crisis of faith, desperately trying to find comfort in the only thing he's ever known.

Episodes five and six completely broke me.

Watching Tanrak burn the notes they wrote to each other, the pressed flowers hidden inside his Bible... I couldn't stop thinking about how much fear, shame and guilt someone must carry to believe they have to destroy something as innocent as the proof of their first love.

The series also handles Father Arnon brilliantly. He begins as a calm, compassionate mentor, almost a father figure. But as Tanrak's feelings for Barth deepen, Arnon slowly transforms into something far more intimidating. The scene where Barth and Tanrak hide between the stacked mattresses while Arnon's shadow creeps across the wall—introduced only by the shine of his leather shoes—is genuinely unsettling. He becomes almost ghostlike, constantly watching, constantly present. More than anything, though, it's a reflection of Tanrak himself. The institution that once gave him purpose slowly becomes the very thing he fears most.

Kongdech's confrontation with Tanrak hit just as hard, albeit for very different reasons. When he tells Tanrak that what disappoints him most isn't being lied to, but the fact that Tanrak apparently no longer wants to become a priest alongside him—and then asks, "Don't you want to see your parents in heaven anymore?"—I honestly had to pause the episode.

What an unbelievably self-centred thing to say to someone who's already drowning in guilt.

Instead of asking his best friend what he's going through, Kongdech unknowingly reinforces every fear Tanrak already carries. You can literally watch Tanrak break under the weight of those words.

What surprised me most, though, is that this isn't actually a story about religion rejecting queerness.

It's a story about two boys falling in love.

That distinction matters.

The series never frames Tanrak's love for Barth as something inherently wrong. He never denies loving him. He never even denies desiring him. His struggle isn't that he believes love itself is sinful—it's that he fears abandoning the people and the life that shaped him. Over time, his feelings stop being framed as lust and become what they've always been: love.

By the final episode, Tanrak doesn't choose between Barth and God.

He chooses both.

I can absolutely understand why this series has resonated so deeply with queer people who grew up religious. For many viewers, I imagine it feels genuinely healing to see faith and queerness coexist without one destroying the other. Even the inclusion of the trans woman in the finale quietly reinforces that idea: faith can still belong to people who've spent their entire lives being told otherwise.

For me, however, it's a little more complicated.

I didn't grow up religious—if anything, the opposite—and my relationship with the Catholic Church has always been deeply sceptical. Because of that, the ending felt just a little too optimistic.

Throughout the series, Tanrak's shame feels painfully real. His fear feels earned. His guilt feels believable. But when everything is finally resolved, it almost feels as though the institution quietly steps back and says, "We never actually had a problem with your sexuality. That was simply your interpretation."

That was the one moment where the series lost me.

I would have preferred it if the Church had remained exactly what it often is for many queer people: an institution capable of causing profound harm without needing to be redeemed by the narrative. Sometimes the damage is real. Sometimes the shame isn't self-inflicted. Sometimes it's taught.

There's one scene in the finale I still can't get out of my head.

After Tanrak and Barth spend the night together, Tanrak wakes before Barth, walks silently into the bathroom and begins holding the cross of his rosary against the flame of a lighter. The scene cuts away before we see what happens next.

My interpretation was that he was trying to punish himself.

It's such a devastating image of internalised shame that the almost utopian ending which follows feels like it's happening to a different version of Tanrak altogether.

Even so, I think Ticket to Heaven is one of the most impressive Thai BLs in years. It's beautifully acted, visually confident and emotionally fearless. It isn't perfect, but it's the kind of series that stays with you long after it's over—not because it has all the answers, but because it's willing to ask difficult questions.

And there's one line I don't think I'll forget anytime soon:

"If God teaches us to love, but we're not allowed to love each other, then what's the point of having God in this world?"

That one sentence alone captures everything the series is trying to say.

Read More

Neither Hot nor Cold

I appreciated this series for being made with care and for daring to address the themes of religion and sexuality within the church, but the overall approach felt a bit restrained to me. I felt that Tanrak's inner conflict between his faith and his feelings wasn't explored with enough depth or with as much intensity, at least. There are definitely some strong scenes that got me in my feels, but regarding the rest of the story I just didn't get as emotionally invested. As for the main characters, they were well-written overall with an interesting background, but the plot focused too much on them, it made any support characters feel almost irrelevant to the story and the universe of the series feel small.

Acting-wise, Gemini and Fourth delivered as always and everyone in the cast in general did a great job with their roles.

Overall, this series has definitely quality and it's well-made, but this more optimistic take, just didn't click with me. Maybe, I had set my standards higher based on the pilot trailer and expected a more dramatic result, but I still recommend the series. There's nothing really bad or wrong about it -- it simply didn't resonate with me as a viewer.

Read More

They can act, when the script lets them...

This is hard to judge, because I'm not into religion at all and not into christian religion especially. The premise to be gay is bad in Gods eyes is an interpretation and translation errors due to the history of this incredible book. For me the bible is nothing more than like "Lord of the Rings" - an epic story madeup by many people and rewritten so often to fit the narrative of the people of the then religious power. Don't forget that the pope, cardinals and arch bishops had more power than any king or emperor. And to break that power we had for example the breaking off the Anglicans in England because the power of the papacy was too much for King Henry VIII. And soon after the christians fought themselves with the protestant movement and the excess corruption of the catholic church.

When I see people demonstrating against gay rights because they are christians, then I ask myself what's wrong with them. It can't be God is love for all or just for heterosexuals. That does not work out. This series never questions the stance of the christian religion at all and make it too smooth especially in the 90ties when gay rights are not as developed as they are now.

Edit: GMMTV did something different, but it felt like propaganda for the cathlic church. I know some where not even alive when all the sexual abuse scandals broke, gay priests f*cking innocent boys marking them with a trauma for a lifetime. Besides burning woman alive it was the most disgusting thing the catholic church ever did and they also kept it under the rug for a long time. Some will say but the church did not do it, and I say, of course they they did, because they knew. And not telling is the same as doing it. End of Edit.

GMMTV only did something different in the scope of the MLs. The struggle about the imho "false teachings" and his sexuality was perfectly done by Forth and I believe him, when he said this series was mentally draining. Other than that, the pacing was a bit off, the first two episodes were too slow for my taste, abruptly picking up the pace. For me the portrayal of the catholic faith was way too positive and unrealistic. I especially missed the struggle of Father Arnon. He was just too perfect for his times. He already knew what was going on, but he decides to let it go?

The finale also was a bit off. First I was confused in which timeline we are in the beginning after the emotional end scene in ep 5. So did they run away or what happened? And because it's GMMTV we get a happy end. Could not have been that Tanrak broke and went to be a priest as he always has envisioned - which would the more realistic and plausible scenario in that time.. Of course that can never ever happen with any GMMTV show.

So, is this a bad show? No. Considering all the other medicore to crap shows GMMTV mass produces, this series did at least attempt to show the struggle of being of faith and being gay. We see that ships can act, when the script lets them. I don't think especially Forth did improve, I think he always had the capability but with 08/15 BL scripts there was no chance he could shine. Production quality was very good as expected but for me this show is not a master piece because it does not question the catholic church and their teachings. On the other hand it's also not the standard BL which makes you to switch off your brain which is an improvement generally speaking.

Overall it's a good show with many flaws, but you need your brain switched on to process the content.

Read More