Lilaika

It took me quite a while to finish this series because it did start to drag somewhere in the middle and never fully picked up its pace again. Overall, I think this story could have been told in maybe ten episodes and would have profited from more concise storytelling. However, I ultimately liked more than I disliked about it and while it is not among my favourite series this year, I would still recommend it.

While Nut is definitely the star of the show (the comedy can be a hit or miss, depending on what you find funny, but he did a good job with the type of comedy they went with) and fabulous as Prince/Worradej, the biggest surprise for me was Pop, who played Banjong. I kept forgetting or rather struggling to remember that he also played Winner in Pit Babe. There he was always mean, scoffing and obnoxious, and here he was this insecure, soft, lovesick puppy for most of the time, so simply because of his acting his characters looked nothing alike to me.

My biggest criticism in regards to the writing are the female characters. It only took this drama ten episodes to make the only female character up to that point that was not an extra likeable… when will BL writers stop doing that?

What I did appreciate, however, was that this was the first BL I watched in which a main character identifies as 'kathoey'.
In the subtitles this was often translated as 'trans woman', which is a bit inaccurate. While Prince uses female pronouns and female polite particles, 'kathoey' is a much broader term that has a lot more nuance to it and can refer to a variety of people. It can also be used by effeminate gay men, by drag queens, and sometimes be perceived as a third gender, and many trans women in Thailand actually don't identify as 'kathoey', but use and prefer different terms.
If you are interested to learn more, I recommend to look up the word. English doesn't have an equivalent term and the subtitles often fail to adequately translate certain nuances and the way in which characters refer to themselves or address each other.

Overall, I don't have a lot to criticise about the plot. Is it silly? Sometimes ridiculous? Over the top? Full of unlikely situations? Yes, to all of it, but that's part of the charm, and there were many scenes throughout that I found funny, or heartwarming, or truthful. Like I said though, the plot tends to drag a bit, especially in the second half, so I really don't recommend binge-watching it.

This series has beautiful sets and costumes, a mostly compelling, but somewhat dragging plot, and if you don't mind silly, often over the top humour, you can definitely give it a try.