CapitalW

I wanted to support this series because I like Sea and Keen but because of some major drawbacks I ended up disappointed.

One problem right away is the Cheewa character. Sea plays him like he's a robot, and tbh the supposedly brilliant facts that Cheewah spouts endlessly aren't really all that brilliant. ("The light from a star 100 light years away takes 100 years to reach us.") The writers dress up most of these insights using bigger, fancier words but there's no hiding the fact that they're things a 12yo should know.

This all means what we end up with is essentially a lay person's idea of what a genius sounds like. Ironically, this results in the opposite effect the writers intended by making Cheewa seem he's a little "off" and a bit of a poser.

Another problem is how they've given Sea a make-under (as opposed to a makeover), resulting in a Cheewa who looks frumpy. (The comments I saw about how cute he is seem to come from an alternate dimension.) I don't know why the series thought it was necessary to make Cheewa so plain looking. The other members of his science club are attractive in their classic nerdy way, so why not let Cheewa be attractive too? I mean, at least give Niran this much to latch onto once he learns that Cheewa likes him.

Which leads me to the aspect in the series that is the toughest sell of all: We're meant to believe that an attractive and popular athlete like Niran would accept romantic overtures from this odd, robotic junior, even seeing him as a potential boyfriend, let alone as a friend, and welcome his constant presence in his life both at school and at home.

I think this pursuit would make a lot more sense if the roles were reversed and it was Niran who was chasing after Cheewah. With such a setup it would be more socially permissible for the guy being chased (in this version the nerdy Cheewah) to put up a fight and recoil from the unwanted attention from a school jock. The story would have a lot more tension and entertainment potential.

As it is, though, because Niran is higher up on the school's social ladder he is required to remain kind and understanding at all times, lest he be seen as "punching down" at Cheewah. The result is the bland interaction we get here, with no dramatic spark. To compensate, what the series gives us instead are "hug scenes" with their contrived sweetness and "crying scenes" that strain to warm our hearts. And because both are repeated too often they eventually lose whatever effectiveness they had in the first place.

With an opposite setup where Niran chases Cheewah there'd be the opportunities that are missing from here. It would be okay, even funny, for Cheewah to "punch up" at Niran in his effort to make the guy go away. I think Niran's eventual display of emotional vulnerability would have a lot more impact too. And yes, I know this concept has been done over and over in other series, but that only further validates it as a classic trope. To pull off what they wanted here required a level of skill that the writers and director just couldn't manage.

I commend the production, though, for keeping things between Niran and Cheewah platonic until the very end of the final episode. That's where we finally get a chaste kiss that by BL standards is weak sauce but which undeniably fits the characters and the tone of the series.

I believe what GMMTV wanted to achieve is precisely the idea that a nerd can chase after a popular athlete and win him over, but the story they came up just didn't make it happen. Unfortunately, because of that I think this series is destined to be forgotten not long after it has run its course.

I hope Sea and Keen will get better material the next time around.