This review may contain spoilers
Pond alone
An alright comedy with small excursions into musical territory, "Me and Thee" fails as a BL – mostly due to poor writing and weak performances of most of its principal cast. The only notable exception is Pond, who proves to have a knack for comedy and carries the show alone, which saves it from failing entirely.
Pond’s previous performances in BLs – "Fish Upon The Sky" (FUTS), "Never Let Me Go" (NLMG) and "We Are" – were pretty bad. Only in FUTS I bought him as a guy attracted to another guy; he was mostly wooden n NLMG and "We Are" and gave the vibe of a straight person clueless how to portray an LGBTQ character. It is a little different here, since Thee’s detachment from reality is his most prominent feature (and only feature for almost the entire show) obscuring everything else – hence his sexuality is, at best, unclear. Why did Thee want to sleep with Aran, an employee of his company? No idea, but is seems to be because of plot, as Thee and Peach needed a confrontation to kick off their relationship. Thee’s pursuit of Peach – full of daydreaming, imagined singing (which was pretty good, actually) as well as extraordinary, grand gestures and ridiculous actions – seems genuine mainly because Theerakit Kian Lee is such a larger-than-life figure (and Pond’s overacting is spot on in this case). This also frees the show from answering some basic questions, like why would Thee fall for Peach: he is crazy and over-the-top, so he does crazy and over-the-top things, like falling for a stranger who prevented him from getting what he wanted. Even if the entirety of the series proves that this is completely out of character for Thee (he sulks or gets annoyed every time something does not go his way, but he is not falling in love with people who thwart or oppose him), the show gets a pass because this is funny. It is the series in a nutshell: the comedy works, everything else does not.
The main reasons "Me and Thee" fails as a BL are the way Peach is written and portrayed as well as lack of chemistry between Pond and Phuwin.
I will not dwell on that last issue, as it is up to every viewer what they perceive as chemistry between performers, actors or characters (there are plenty of examples of BL ships which have amazing chemistry on and off screen – but only according to their fans). Last time I saw some chemistry between Pond and Phuwin was in FUTS – and that is my take on it.
The other two reasons are intertwined. First of all, Phuwin in "Me and Thee" is the straightest I have seen him in anything. Furthermore, for the longest of time Peach is presented as a straight character. He is established in-show as such – we see his past relationships and all of them were with women. More importantly: he is not interested in Thee, neither romantically nor physically. When he finally comes out and claims to have feelings for Thee, it falls flat and feels phony. There is a trope I noticed in some BLs: love/relationship out of pity (as well as fear of being loved out of pity). I do not recall encountering it in real life or in non-BLs, so I could never fully understand what it is about or how it would work – until now. Phuwin’s Peach is a candidate for being with someone not because of love, physical attraction or any other reason (including money, convenience or other selfish reasons), but because of feeling pity for that person. Both the contrived writing as well as Phuwin’s performance point to that: a boring guy (another trait the show specifically attributes to Peach – and Phuwin confirms it with a bland performance) who got dumped by all women he was with, meets someone infatuated with him, someone so delusional that he finds Peach to be the greatest thing ever. When Peach acknowledges that, he does not feel love for Thee, he pities him instead – at least that is how I read it.
This is where the show could deploy its two side couples to at least save its BL aspect – even at the risk of getting infected with the "multiple couples syndrome". It could, but it does not – and yet the risk sort of materializes. First problem with side couples in "Me and Thee" is that only one of them – Tawan (Perth) and Aran (Santa) – is an actual couple. Second problem: all side couple characters either have an incidental impact on the main story (Aran) or have zero impact (Rome, Mok, Tawan) and could have been replaced with anyone (Aran) or removed entirely (the other three) and the main storyline would not be affected. Third problem: Tawan and Aran have a toxic, on-off relationship (Perth – for the third time in a GMMTV BL – portrays a scumbag; Santa – again – portrays a weakling incapable of setting boundaries) which is allowed to continue – sending the worst possible message. With other words: the supporting couples are not doing their job as supports. What they do instead is stealing bits of screen time for their own subplots, separate from the main plot and leading nowhere; the Tawan-Aran subplot even gets its own subplot with Touch (ineptly portrayed by Tee). All of that is filler (the main plot is short on content) and fanservice.
My last complaint is setting-related. Thee is an heir to a mafia family with more money than god, living in constant danger, requiring permanent protection by a squad of armed bodyguards, separated from his parents for security reasons etc. etc. With all that one could expect that some sort of mafia-related danger will become an obstacle for Thee and Peach becoming a couple – but nothing like that happens. The Lee family has specific rules to prevent it from becoming vulnerable to rival families; one of those rules is that love is forbidden. Again, with a setup like this one could expect that Thee’s parents will be against his relationship with Peach – but they are fully supporting it from the get-go. Wiwid, a photographer and rival of Peach – so not a mobster nor criminal – turns out to be more dangerous than everything mafia-related. The whole mafia thing is a dud. At the end of the day the only actual obstacle for the main couple was Peach’s indifference towards Thee. This is also the reason why the main storyline feels so short on content (it is) and plot progresses so slowly – the show could be over after 3 episodes if Peach was interested in Thee.
The show’s soundtrack consists of four songs: "แค่คนขี้เหงา (Me And You)" by Phuwin and Pond, which is serviceable, but not memorable, "ไม่มีคำว่ามากไป (Everything is for you)" by Pond, "Love’s Eye View" by Phuwin, by far the best part of the OST, sounding like something Nanon would sing, and "บอกธีร์ (One Word)" by Pond, in-show used in ep. 10; what surprised me was that "บอกธีร์ (One Word)" was released on GMMTV Records – I thought it was made for laughs. All but "ไม่มีคำว่ามากไป (Everything is for you)" have visually interesting MVs actually worth watching. What I did not get was that William – GMMTV’s best singer and one of just a handful of actual singers of that company – did not perform any part of the OST. How so?
As for my rating of "Me and Thee": it was supposed to be a rom-com, and since it fails in the romance department, but succeeds as a comedy, a rating in the middle of the scale is appropriate. Same for performances: Pond’s good and genuinely funny portrayal of Thee balanced the bland (Phuwin, Est) and weak (Santa, Perth) performances of other cast members. Also, William’s part in "Me and Thee" was too small to help the show and improve the acting rating. Like with other PondPhuwin BLs (except maybe FUTS) I seriously doubt I will watch it again.
Pond’s previous performances in BLs – "Fish Upon The Sky" (FUTS), "Never Let Me Go" (NLMG) and "We Are" – were pretty bad. Only in FUTS I bought him as a guy attracted to another guy; he was mostly wooden n NLMG and "We Are" and gave the vibe of a straight person clueless how to portray an LGBTQ character. It is a little different here, since Thee’s detachment from reality is his most prominent feature (and only feature for almost the entire show) obscuring everything else – hence his sexuality is, at best, unclear. Why did Thee want to sleep with Aran, an employee of his company? No idea, but is seems to be because of plot, as Thee and Peach needed a confrontation to kick off their relationship. Thee’s pursuit of Peach – full of daydreaming, imagined singing (which was pretty good, actually) as well as extraordinary, grand gestures and ridiculous actions – seems genuine mainly because Theerakit Kian Lee is such a larger-than-life figure (and Pond’s overacting is spot on in this case). This also frees the show from answering some basic questions, like why would Thee fall for Peach: he is crazy and over-the-top, so he does crazy and over-the-top things, like falling for a stranger who prevented him from getting what he wanted. Even if the entirety of the series proves that this is completely out of character for Thee (he sulks or gets annoyed every time something does not go his way, but he is not falling in love with people who thwart or oppose him), the show gets a pass because this is funny. It is the series in a nutshell: the comedy works, everything else does not.
The main reasons "Me and Thee" fails as a BL are the way Peach is written and portrayed as well as lack of chemistry between Pond and Phuwin.
I will not dwell on that last issue, as it is up to every viewer what they perceive as chemistry between performers, actors or characters (there are plenty of examples of BL ships which have amazing chemistry on and off screen – but only according to their fans). Last time I saw some chemistry between Pond and Phuwin was in FUTS – and that is my take on it.
The other two reasons are intertwined. First of all, Phuwin in "Me and Thee" is the straightest I have seen him in anything. Furthermore, for the longest of time Peach is presented as a straight character. He is established in-show as such – we see his past relationships and all of them were with women. More importantly: he is not interested in Thee, neither romantically nor physically. When he finally comes out and claims to have feelings for Thee, it falls flat and feels phony. There is a trope I noticed in some BLs: love/relationship out of pity (as well as fear of being loved out of pity). I do not recall encountering it in real life or in non-BLs, so I could never fully understand what it is about or how it would work – until now. Phuwin’s Peach is a candidate for being with someone not because of love, physical attraction or any other reason (including money, convenience or other selfish reasons), but because of feeling pity for that person. Both the contrived writing as well as Phuwin’s performance point to that: a boring guy (another trait the show specifically attributes to Peach – and Phuwin confirms it with a bland performance) who got dumped by all women he was with, meets someone infatuated with him, someone so delusional that he finds Peach to be the greatest thing ever. When Peach acknowledges that, he does not feel love for Thee, he pities him instead – at least that is how I read it.
This is where the show could deploy its two side couples to at least save its BL aspect – even at the risk of getting infected with the "multiple couples syndrome". It could, but it does not – and yet the risk sort of materializes. First problem with side couples in "Me and Thee" is that only one of them – Tawan (Perth) and Aran (Santa) – is an actual couple. Second problem: all side couple characters either have an incidental impact on the main story (Aran) or have zero impact (Rome, Mok, Tawan) and could have been replaced with anyone (Aran) or removed entirely (the other three) and the main storyline would not be affected. Third problem: Tawan and Aran have a toxic, on-off relationship (Perth – for the third time in a GMMTV BL – portrays a scumbag; Santa – again – portrays a weakling incapable of setting boundaries) which is allowed to continue – sending the worst possible message. With other words: the supporting couples are not doing their job as supports. What they do instead is stealing bits of screen time for their own subplots, separate from the main plot and leading nowhere; the Tawan-Aran subplot even gets its own subplot with Touch (ineptly portrayed by Tee). All of that is filler (the main plot is short on content) and fanservice.
My last complaint is setting-related. Thee is an heir to a mafia family with more money than god, living in constant danger, requiring permanent protection by a squad of armed bodyguards, separated from his parents for security reasons etc. etc. With all that one could expect that some sort of mafia-related danger will become an obstacle for Thee and Peach becoming a couple – but nothing like that happens. The Lee family has specific rules to prevent it from becoming vulnerable to rival families; one of those rules is that love is forbidden. Again, with a setup like this one could expect that Thee’s parents will be against his relationship with Peach – but they are fully supporting it from the get-go. Wiwid, a photographer and rival of Peach – so not a mobster nor criminal – turns out to be more dangerous than everything mafia-related. The whole mafia thing is a dud. At the end of the day the only actual obstacle for the main couple was Peach’s indifference towards Thee. This is also the reason why the main storyline feels so short on content (it is) and plot progresses so slowly – the show could be over after 3 episodes if Peach was interested in Thee.
The show’s soundtrack consists of four songs: "แค่คนขี้เหงา (Me And You)" by Phuwin and Pond, which is serviceable, but not memorable, "ไม่มีคำว่ามากไป (Everything is for you)" by Pond, "Love’s Eye View" by Phuwin, by far the best part of the OST, sounding like something Nanon would sing, and "บอกธีร์ (One Word)" by Pond, in-show used in ep. 10; what surprised me was that "บอกธีร์ (One Word)" was released on GMMTV Records – I thought it was made for laughs. All but "ไม่มีคำว่ามากไป (Everything is for you)" have visually interesting MVs actually worth watching. What I did not get was that William – GMMTV’s best singer and one of just a handful of actual singers of that company – did not perform any part of the OST. How so?
As for my rating of "Me and Thee": it was supposed to be a rom-com, and since it fails in the romance department, but succeeds as a comedy, a rating in the middle of the scale is appropriate. Same for performances: Pond’s good and genuinely funny portrayal of Thee balanced the bland (Phuwin, Est) and weak (Santa, Perth) performances of other cast members. Also, William’s part in "Me and Thee" was too small to help the show and improve the acting rating. Like with other PondPhuwin BLs (except maybe FUTS) I seriously doubt I will watch it again.
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