Nolan Peale

Episode 8
-glad they didn’t string it out with So. Glad he won’t die. But it’s probably been his dream to go to a music academy. Anyway, as soon as I found out I was both relieved and disappointed. Maybe I would have been more satisfied were he in more serious peril. Death is a bit more exciting. Well, it’s a Thai drama. He could always be run over by a car.
-Regardless of who he ends up with, Q needs to adopt some orphans. He just gives off “good, patient dad” vibes. I’d watch a movie where he found himself in charge of a group of brownies and cub scouts. It’s just fun to watch him react and then pull his thoughts together.
-This really is the “double shoulder tap” series.
-Saint’s behaviour confused me for a bit, especially day 2. But I figure what he was trying to accomplish by sleeping in the court and then leaving after the drink was to give Mon a taste of his own, uncommunicative medicine. Mon is actually a bit of a drama llama when he’s pouty.

Yeah. It is a romance, even if a very sad one so far. So its kind of hard to blame them for having the mother obsessed about her dead husband/failed first romance. Because its a romance, everything is going to point back to love in some way, though.

Pripha is a poorly conceived character all around. I think she's a good example of your test failure. While she's going to be involved in the Chaing Mai story (hopefully), all she does each episode is talk about Nut without any other goals. If she were to disappear, we wouldn't notice that she's gone.

That's fair, too. But I have a little more sympathy for him now. I don't think he's equipped to deal with his mother and his parents probably hid a lot of her issues from him. As someone who had to deal with one parent with a stroke and another with dementia, it was really hard to change roles and get them to admit that there were problems, while they kept slipping away, sometimes there. Sometimes not. Some people have more patience than others. Some caregivers go into complete denial as well and imagine miracle cures that'll just put everything back the way it was. He's coping about the best he can, which is not all that well. Yeah, he shouldn't have hit Tofu, who is actually even less equipped than he is to process what he's seeing.

Knowing where 1 set of behaviors starts and another ends is a bit challenging. Seems like she has schizophrenia, depression, but probably other issues as well. There's really been no one documenting her behavior except Nut and the furniture, which normally isn't included in discussions with doctors.

I'm through 3 episodes. For viewers who like to watch crucially, I think overall this series is very well written, with a notable exception. I think we need to pay attention to Song and Gen because they are in the series to be the light mirror of the issues that Nut and Tofu are facing. So in one episode, Song jokes that he's going to charge Gen with assault. Then an episode later, Nut is physically assaulting Tofu. Tofu gets cast in a series to get closer to Nut. Then Song gets cast in a series to be closer to Gen. Gen causes Song to injure his arm in an accident. Gen causes Song to to injure his arm in an accident. Not much more to say about that, but its worth keeping an eye on.

I'm wondering if Nut really did know that Neung died and has blocked it out. We'll see.

Anyway, the weakest point of this series is still Phrippri . Its very jarring to have this character who's main attribute is being "crazy in love" in a series where the main story arc is about a family that's falling apart emotionally and is under tremendous stress due to schizophrenia and depression and the impact of a failed romance. Its like she's been plopped into the series to give light relief but she's not the comic relief that we really need or want. I kind of wish it was her in a coma in Chaing Mai so we wouldn't have to deal with her for a few episodes.

So I guess Porsche hasn’t watched a lot of mafia movies and series, since he’s a little not quite getting how little patience mafia dons sometimes have for cocky underlings. Lol.

I’ve not read the novel, so my expectations aren’t all that high. I just wanted a different kind of Thai BL. The first episode delivered that. It’s different. A little silly action wise, but different. I’m not quite ready to get excited about it. I’m skeptical that it won’t turn into Golden Blood.

On the plus side, the MC managed to get through an entire fight in the first episode without falling to the ground in a near kiss. Pschew!

Hopefully next episode, Mickey goes to find Q to explain what happened. Q knows what’s up with So, and he can never say no to Mickey. Mickey, Q, and Saint all know So is lying. But Mickey is the one who is bold enough to interfere.

Going to commend Gap’s physical acting here. As Mon has grown happier, Gap carries his body more confidently. He’s not just smiling more.

I don’t think So is dying. I think Q wouldn’t have been so encouraging of the romance if that were the case. He probably would have asked So more questions.

Another BL, another adaptation of Romeo and Juliette. Including that does point to dead lovers. And fleeing an arranged marriage. Lol. Weird adaptation they staged, but then no one read the actual play. Romeo and Juliette don’t get married on the balcony after one kiss. (Man, these BL student Romeos and Juliettes never cast anyone as Friar Lawrence. So who marries them and gets the poison?)

The reason I’m hopeful that So isn’t destined to leave Mon is that they spent a lot of time playing the Wedding March as a duet. Which only went well when they were playing it together. If the soundtrack means anything, they transformed the playing into one of Mozart’s sonatas for four hands in the background. These two are meant to play together. The theme here was playing together.

Or, in a big twist, this ends with Saint and So together with Kon playing the wedding march at their wedding. Stranger things could happen.

Would have been nice to see a better transition for Aiouon developing an interest in Nawaee, since ep 6 was the first time Nawee wasn’t a prick to him. But then he’s seen Nawee naked or shirtless every episode so far. That would wear down my resistance, too. “I know you’re a douche, but could you just shut up and strip for me again?” Isn’t an unheard of basis for a relationship.

Ugh. In likely order of reasons…1) he’s dying. 2) he’s got a fiancé. 3) he promised his mom to spend 20 years as a monk. 4) he comes from a family of terrorists and promised to complete a suicide mission after college. 4) he’s an AI robot in beta test with Elon Musk and is set to be decommissioned after he’s shot to Mars. 5) he’s the lost prince of Zenurbia, slumming until he gets his kingdom back. Arghhh!!!!!!

Yeah. I don't want to go so far is to say that I'm liking the show because its more realistic. Its not. There's still a lot of that hyperreal, stylized Thai College Experience going on. There's a lot of low-key humor each episode where mundane interactions like a trip to the doctor or going to find a lollipop become a source of humor and an out of control quest. Mundane interactions that stop making complete sense.

I do find their university life a bit more relatable than most series where they end up living in dorm rooms the size of 2 bedroom apartments by themselves. I lived in plenty of overcrowded house shares. I had a friend in college who drove like Fame. (I laughed when he wasn't the one driving them back. I imagined that they had a discussion about it and decided that So would drive from now on). And had the experience of having someone's high school little brother dumped on me in a bar with that exact same conversation with a friend as to whether we should get him drunk. (Umm, lets not do that.) And had that awkward experience of being a guest in a house where the parents were having a a TMI fight in front of me. And a way too friendly dad getting drunk with us. (You mean, I became an adult so that other adults can drink with me? I think I liked it better when we were sneaking around behind their backs.) Maybe what I'm liking is that this show seems to be aimed at people who have been or are in University. Usually the series are aimed at an audience that's still imagining university.

He reminds me a lot of Pent from What the Duck. Very much aware of his own sex appeal and the confidence with which he carries himself because of that awareness makes him even sexier. Even if we're not supposed to like him, things get more interesting when he's around. Saint is what Pent was like as a virgin. (I'm assuming that even though Saint can be seductive, he hasn't actually slept with anyone because he's still pining for Mon.)

I think what's interesting about both of them is that despite their contrasting personalities, both of them have trouble when it comes to telling Mon that they like him. They want to show him, but never risk telling him. For all his bravado, charisma and overt sex appeal, Saint has been no better at courtship than So. They are equals.

I'm not O.K. with the way Nut treats his mother and it makes me not like the character very much. He's a snot and a brat to her and we're not supposed to like that about him. That said, Its a Thai drama so they aren't going to give this behavior a pass if there is going to be a happy ending. I'm assuming that "Learns to respect his mother" is going to be part of his character development. I think its noteworthy to add that his mother is right about Tofu and that by fighting against her wishes, he is preventing himself from finding true love. So as far as tragic character flaws goes, discounting his mothers intuitions when she's right about things works as a character flaw right now. He's his own worst enemy.

Satjaree is just an annoying character who adds nothing to the story. I'm hoping that that phone call she had means that she'll be given something else to do than fawn over the boys. Her only contribution so far has been to point out how hot and attractive the men are, which is a rather weak role, even as supporting roles go. We don't need any help coming to the conclusion that the leads are cutie hotties. We can see that for ourselves as they smile and run around naked. Its not so much toxic masculinity that's the issue. Its a poorly conceived, one dimensional supporting role for a woman. I'm enjoying the series overall, but "boy hungry office ditz" just isn't funny. Hasn't been funny since 1940. How many times are we going to have to pretend to be amused by her going gaga over a cute boy she has no chance with? The cast list indicates that there's cute boys we haven't even met yet. Are they going to have her hormones kick in each time? Lame.

Otherwise, I'm liking the series a lot and its lived up to its expectations.

I think he’s been testing So. He probably planned to give those rare lollipops to Mon himself, but wouldn’t have given them to So if So had given in to his seduction. While he looks down on So a little, he trusts that So is going to be a decent person to Mon and isn’t just trying to get into Mon’s pants.

I think the most similar series to this one are Nitiman and Oxygen. Series where the main pair are introverted. Unlike those series, this main couple works for me. I don’t find them dull together. Not sure why. I think it might be because they are Largely figuring it out in their own. Unlike those series, there isn’t a fujoishi conspiracy going on to get them over the hump. And they haven’t inexplicably been voted campus moon with all their activities monitored on cute boy gossip pages. They haven’t made them “the best” at anything, really. So is a drunk in a band that is good enough to have a regular gig at a bar, but doesn’t have throngs of groupies making him a BMOC. Mon isn’t actually the best basketball player right now, and might always be on the bench. I think the absence of fans in the background makes them more poignant.

Overall, I loved this series. I thought Suar, was on point when he was asked to carry the episodes. Boom had a lot of charisma that I'd like to see again. Porche was good as well. The seniors? Well, they did o.k. Not sure what I would have done differently, but there was a pacing problem for me that made it feel that the "happy" ending was a little rushed. Like they ran out of time and we need to make it happy.

I would have liked another episode to demonstrate that Fah and Thorn had actually changed their behaviors that led to their break up. O.K. Thorn learned his big moral lesson, but one of the whole themes of this story was dealing with grand wishes and promises that fall short. He may say that he's now fine, but he hasn't shown us anything. Same with Fah. I think having him win a tryout so that they are both back on track to get everything they want was a bit much. (Cynically, Thorn's chance came based on Fah's insider status rather than merit - something that made them mad when it happened to them. So I guess that's a coming of age kind of realization - sometimes, its not hard work, but who you know and you'd better get accustomed to that as you grow up since that's how you overcome the fact that life isn't fair.) Anyway...

I'm fine with Vee and Dome still not being ready. That was actually the most realistic ending. Its good that his sister is fine with it, but Vee is probably going to wait until he doesn't see his friends so often. His sense of shame has been his most admirable quality. He knows his friends would know that he's dating his sister's ex and might gossip. If he had started doing the "boyfriend" boat dance and announced that he loved Dome at that point it would have been out of character. I thought the ending was good because that's where this couple would be by graduation.

The only thing I can say about Saen/Aii is that we found out that they are making the LDR work. I found their reuniting scene odd. Saen was behaving like he had some dude hidden under the bed. Liked the couple, but it is another one where the issues that they had were never resolved. The characters just said that they would behave differently and that was that. Does Aii include Saen in important decision? Does he trust him to handle bad news? Who knows. No bad news came up again.

That said, I don't want to detract from how much I enjoyed this series overall. After about ep 2, it was the series I looked forward to watching the most each week, even to the point of making excuses to be late for social engagements on Saturdays so I could watch it immediately when it dropped.

I agree on letting Thorn try out for Phoenix. He certainly didn’t earn it. But I’m assuming he actually got it because of Fah’s connection to the team. The type of insider preferences that we were supposed to hate when Coach What’s his name did it. Lol. I guess that’s the “coming of age” part of it. Realizing that the world isn’t based on merit, so you might as well join in the smoky room dealings. 🤨😛🤨

Good catch.

I’m still hoping that he meant “you’re out of time before your dad forces you to move abroad and enter an arranged marriage” and not “before your leukemia moves to stage 4”. Can deal with the former. I’m still not emotionally recovered from Grey Rainbow 6 years ago. I cant do that again.

I read that scene as Saint testing So. And a little bit of resignation on Saints part. If I were to rewrite the dialogue it would be…”I like him, too. Maybe you should tell him, because he would never give me a chance to tell him. He listens to you. He never hears me.”

I don’t think he’s throwing down the gauntlet to duel So for Mon. He knows that his plan to come in and be the hero helping Mon get on the team has failed. Mon is playing worse after practicing with him, and it won’t matter how long they practice.. He only made it as far as he did because So let him practice. So he’s backing away. Despite his cocky demeanor, he respects So enough to trust him to help Mon.