This review may contain spoilers
Between Boun and Prem
First time reviewing a BL that didn’t air recently I was a little worried of applying today’s standards and expectations to it ("error of presentism"). However, once I realized that "Between Us" aired roughly the same time as "My School President" and a year after "Bad Buddy", I knew I could safely apply my current standards and expectations to it. After all, 2022 is not 2016. Having that out of the way: as far as I understand, this show is inspired by the Win-Team storyline outlined in "Until We Meet Again". Generally it is new/original content for that couple that – I assume – should match glimpses into their relationship the audience got in "Until We Meet Again". I haven’t watched "Until We Meet Again" and even if I did, I wouldn’t check whether plotlines of both couples – Dean-Pharm and Win-Team – do properly interlock between both shows. I’m reviewing "Between Us" mostly as a standalone show and should I watch and review "Until We Meet Again" I’ll maintain the same approach.
The writing – as with most Thai BLs, both in 2022 and 2025 – isn’t the best.
Both main and side plotlines suffer from being generic (which on itself isn’t a problem) and there’s a lot of repetitiveness. Almost every episode main characters seem to be going full circle and returning to square one – and with little progression of their relationship the show drags on. I’ll blame it on the writer and her inability to write an intriguing and involving "slow burn" type of story.
Dialogues are bland, uninspired and often unnecessary (like stating the obvious or telling the audience something that should have been shown). Don’t get me wrong: there are meaningful and emotional exchanges, especially between Team and Win, there are examples of proper use of humor, banter and even sneer, but in general it sounds pretty mundane, like written by an early version of a chatbot.
What also surprised me was not the number of side characters – some of which were "inherited" from "Until We Meet Again" and sort of had to appear – but the number of side stories. Including a very rough outline of the Dean-Pharm was, to some extent, understandable and justified, but why were all the other side stories in this show? Did it really need all 4 (that’s four) side couples, and if so - why? Thanks to MDL I know that the writer of "Between Us" went on to co-write "We Are" and write (on her own, but basing on a novel by JittiRain) "Perfect 10 Liners", two shows suffering from the multiple couples syndrome, but did it begin here? Filling every paragraph of script with "couple content" and assuming that the more couples the better hardly is the correct way to do it, especially when the writing is bland and paper-thin. Was is done to fill the episodes with something besides Team and Win content? If so – what’s wrong with having 8 or 10 episodes instead of 12 or cutting all episodes to 45 minutes? Why not focus on the main couple and develop its story properly? There are other BL of similar length that have done it more than successfully – take "A Tale of 1000 Stars", which has one couple, a classic, nearly perfect "slow burn" buildup and more than enough content for 10 episodes.
What I liked about the writing was – despite of everything above – giving both Team and Win a proper background, revealed slowly and actually influencing what kind of persons they are, what they do, how they perceive the world (including themselves and each other) and what their relationship is like. While it may seem obvious that a script should include certain background elements for its main characters, this is often not the case – hence so many BL characters, including main ones, appear more like cardboard cutouts rather than actual humans. Not here, fortunately; both Team and Win are fully fledged characters. Team, in particular, is written like a proper multifaceted character, and this is the main reason why I’m not condemning the script of "Between Us" entirely.
As for performances, the situation is complex. With different writing I’d be inclined to say that most of the cast gave serviceable performances, but since 8 cast members were pushed from being conversation partners for main characters to being main characters in their own little side plots – one needs to include that. Ohm’s everlasting blank stare and Fluke’s permanently frightened expression – and the fact, that they stayed like that in almost every scene they were in – are signs of how poor their performances were. Sammy was annoying and difficult to watch while Bosston was just kind of there (Manow’s and Phreuk’s first encounter was cringy). Of the remaining side couples I was considering rooting for Prince and Bee, but there was too much of goofy, unfunny elements in Tae’s performance and something off-putting in Benz for me to actually do it.
Unsurprisingly, the only performances I was fond of were those of Prem and Boun – in that order. With very few exceptions, Prem did all of the heavy lifting here – and did a very good job. The multifaceted Team I mentioned before came to life thanks to Prem’s performance: Team the infantile teen, Team willing to go all in with a senior, Team trying to get a grip on himself after his first time, Team happy to eat everything around him, Team haunted by his past, drunk Team… Those and many more faces – all convincingly portrayed. An actual actor – more by talent and skill than by education or training – Prem stuck out every time he was in frame with someone else than Boun, outperforming the rest of the cast with ease. As for Boun, he had the "easy" job of portraying the nonchalant (but not cocky nor arrogant) senior – and that he did so effortlessly that one has to wonder whether he was acting or just being himself (judging from what he’s like behind the camera, during events, interviews etc. – yes, he was acting). But there’s more to the ethereal Win than that: a secret doubt, a vulnerability buried deep and hidden behind a façade of coolness – and Boun conveys it well. Together, Prem and Boun manage to make the often clunky dialogues sound good, doing the best with the material they got. Their efforts pay off and are by far the best part of the series, not just making it watchable, but making it actually worth watching. Where the script fails to create a true emotional progression, Prem and Boun do it themselves and end it with a powerful culmination in ep. 11. I cried with them during that long opening scene, filled with fear, love and sadness. Simply beautiful and very moving – a sure sign of true skill of both actors.
The soundtrack is rather average, with three songs receiving "official" MVs: "Your Smile" by Boun, "Unexpectedly" by O & Soodyacht and "It's Always You" by Prem. Out of the entire soundtrack it is that last song that stands out - not because of Prem's vocals (which aren't the strongest and get a lot of help from the music), but because is a good song and an even better love/BL song performed with full dedication. Out of all Prem songs - and I'm writing this with a 2025 perspective - "It's Always You" is the best and I added it to my permanent BL playlist.
"Between Us" is a tad like two shows: the BounPrem main event surrounded by a plethora of side stories. My advice: skip (or fast forward) the inferior C-plots and go directly for what Prem and Boun bring to the table – that’s the meat of the show, the real money, the BL gold.
The writing – as with most Thai BLs, both in 2022 and 2025 – isn’t the best.
Both main and side plotlines suffer from being generic (which on itself isn’t a problem) and there’s a lot of repetitiveness. Almost every episode main characters seem to be going full circle and returning to square one – and with little progression of their relationship the show drags on. I’ll blame it on the writer and her inability to write an intriguing and involving "slow burn" type of story.
Dialogues are bland, uninspired and often unnecessary (like stating the obvious or telling the audience something that should have been shown). Don’t get me wrong: there are meaningful and emotional exchanges, especially between Team and Win, there are examples of proper use of humor, banter and even sneer, but in general it sounds pretty mundane, like written by an early version of a chatbot.
What also surprised me was not the number of side characters – some of which were "inherited" from "Until We Meet Again" and sort of had to appear – but the number of side stories. Including a very rough outline of the Dean-Pharm was, to some extent, understandable and justified, but why were all the other side stories in this show? Did it really need all 4 (that’s four) side couples, and if so - why? Thanks to MDL I know that the writer of "Between Us" went on to co-write "We Are" and write (on her own, but basing on a novel by JittiRain) "Perfect 10 Liners", two shows suffering from the multiple couples syndrome, but did it begin here? Filling every paragraph of script with "couple content" and assuming that the more couples the better hardly is the correct way to do it, especially when the writing is bland and paper-thin. Was is done to fill the episodes with something besides Team and Win content? If so – what’s wrong with having 8 or 10 episodes instead of 12 or cutting all episodes to 45 minutes? Why not focus on the main couple and develop its story properly? There are other BL of similar length that have done it more than successfully – take "A Tale of 1000 Stars", which has one couple, a classic, nearly perfect "slow burn" buildup and more than enough content for 10 episodes.
What I liked about the writing was – despite of everything above – giving both Team and Win a proper background, revealed slowly and actually influencing what kind of persons they are, what they do, how they perceive the world (including themselves and each other) and what their relationship is like. While it may seem obvious that a script should include certain background elements for its main characters, this is often not the case – hence so many BL characters, including main ones, appear more like cardboard cutouts rather than actual humans. Not here, fortunately; both Team and Win are fully fledged characters. Team, in particular, is written like a proper multifaceted character, and this is the main reason why I’m not condemning the script of "Between Us" entirely.
As for performances, the situation is complex. With different writing I’d be inclined to say that most of the cast gave serviceable performances, but since 8 cast members were pushed from being conversation partners for main characters to being main characters in their own little side plots – one needs to include that. Ohm’s everlasting blank stare and Fluke’s permanently frightened expression – and the fact, that they stayed like that in almost every scene they were in – are signs of how poor their performances were. Sammy was annoying and difficult to watch while Bosston was just kind of there (Manow’s and Phreuk’s first encounter was cringy). Of the remaining side couples I was considering rooting for Prince and Bee, but there was too much of goofy, unfunny elements in Tae’s performance and something off-putting in Benz for me to actually do it.
Unsurprisingly, the only performances I was fond of were those of Prem and Boun – in that order. With very few exceptions, Prem did all of the heavy lifting here – and did a very good job. The multifaceted Team I mentioned before came to life thanks to Prem’s performance: Team the infantile teen, Team willing to go all in with a senior, Team trying to get a grip on himself after his first time, Team happy to eat everything around him, Team haunted by his past, drunk Team… Those and many more faces – all convincingly portrayed. An actual actor – more by talent and skill than by education or training – Prem stuck out every time he was in frame with someone else than Boun, outperforming the rest of the cast with ease. As for Boun, he had the "easy" job of portraying the nonchalant (but not cocky nor arrogant) senior – and that he did so effortlessly that one has to wonder whether he was acting or just being himself (judging from what he’s like behind the camera, during events, interviews etc. – yes, he was acting). But there’s more to the ethereal Win than that: a secret doubt, a vulnerability buried deep and hidden behind a façade of coolness – and Boun conveys it well. Together, Prem and Boun manage to make the often clunky dialogues sound good, doing the best with the material they got. Their efforts pay off and are by far the best part of the series, not just making it watchable, but making it actually worth watching. Where the script fails to create a true emotional progression, Prem and Boun do it themselves and end it with a powerful culmination in ep. 11. I cried with them during that long opening scene, filled with fear, love and sadness. Simply beautiful and very moving – a sure sign of true skill of both actors.
The soundtrack is rather average, with three songs receiving "official" MVs: "Your Smile" by Boun, "Unexpectedly" by O & Soodyacht and "It's Always You" by Prem. Out of the entire soundtrack it is that last song that stands out - not because of Prem's vocals (which aren't the strongest and get a lot of help from the music), but because is a good song and an even better love/BL song performed with full dedication. Out of all Prem songs - and I'm writing this with a 2025 perspective - "It's Always You" is the best and I added it to my permanent BL playlist.
"Between Us" is a tad like two shows: the BounPrem main event surrounded by a plethora of side stories. My advice: skip (or fast forward) the inferior C-plots and go directly for what Prem and Boun bring to the table – that’s the meat of the show, the real money, the BL gold.
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