Multilicus

This cast deserved better - and so did the audience

After hearing a lot about LITA I binge-watched the whole series + the special. Intrigued by how different the reactions and reviews are (most people either love or hate LITA), I decided to write a few words about the show myself. I didn’t read MAME’s novels the show’s based on nor do I think comparing the novels and the show would be useful – after all these are separate works and the show needs to stand on its own.

Plot, characters & message
The plot is basic and simple: hot faculty legend Payu seduces cute and naïve student Rain, while Payu’s rich and hot friend Prapai pursues cute and sassy student Sky. While this seems perfectly okay, the devil is in the details: Payu manipulates Rain from day one and Prapai is a stalker; neither Payu nor Prapai take no for an answer nor acknowledge any boundary or limit – they alone decide where those are and how far they will go pursuing their goals. Even when they offer support, protection, affection and love, it’s from a dominating position, exploiting Rain’s and Sky’s vulnerability and desires (in the special episode attempts are made to mask this imbalance: Rain and Sky go on a trip and “punish” their partners). There’s more disturbing behavior resulting from the above, like nonconsensual touches, kisses, spanking (although this isn’t sexual) or coercion. Many have criticized this aspect of the show, while others found it appealing and okay. In my opinion we need to separate two things: the show including characters like Payu and Prapai and their actions and the message the show sends along with it. The show has every right to include manipulative, calculating, even creepy characters, instead of clean cut, perfect human beings. I hate, however, the message sent by the show – that Payu’s and Prapai’s actions are okay and justified by their desires, feelings, (supposedly) good intentions or by how hot they are or, what’s even worse, by Rain’s and Sky’s actual feelings for the two pursuers. Take how Rain was portrayed: he starts as a closeted 19 y.o., meets Payu and is immediately smitten with him, gets aroused by Payu’s every touch and does everything to spend more time with him, doing his best to tease him and win him over. The show even disavows Rain’s objections to Payu’s forced sex attempt in episode 1 – Rain willingly climbs into Payu’s bed, falls soundly asleep and even hugs Payu lovingly. In my opinion stuff like that confused many watching the show, twisting their perception and making them color-blind to all the red flags risen by Payu’s and Prapai’s actions. Instead of punishment or at least failure the show rewards Payu and Prapai, making them the good guys; there isn’t a single line of actual, serious condemnation or disappointment uttered by Rain nor Sky towards Payu nor Prapai (even something light like “you hunted and cornered me, treated me like a trophy; you should be ashamed of yourself”), no need for forgiveness for their part misdoings – as if they did nothing wrong. That’s where the show fails completely. There’s one more issue with the Sky-Prapai storyline: Sky’s trauma. I was surprised to see a serious and heavy issue like that thrown into such a show. It wasn’t dealt with properly, sending another harmful message: that love can heal you from trauma. It can’t; therapy can.
My biggest complain regarding the plot is that the script could have avoided all of the above and still be hot and sexy. You can be seductive without being manipulative, you can pursue someone without turning into a stalker and you can definitely be strong and independent respecting boundaries set by others. The showrunners didn’t know that or didn’t care about what message they were sending.

Cast
I was impressed by how natural and laidback the performances of Boss, Noeul, Fort and Peat were – given that only the latter two had some, albeit very modest, acting experience. There’s so much banter and good chemistry between them (to no small degree thanks to both couples being very well matched) and their portrayals are very convincing. This was only helped by them not shying away from performing all the scenes filled with sexual tension or sex itself. Seems that Boss and Fort channeled a lot of their personal charm into their roles, making Payu and Prapai likeable and desirable (that’s another reason, I believe, why so many were okay with those characters and what they did). Noeul was very effective in creating a young, naïve, confused and relatable character – which was no small feat, as Noeul seems very different from Rain. Peat deserves highest praise from the principal cast, as Sky is the only somewhat developed and complicated character (compared to rather one-dimensional Payu, Rain and Prapai); also his scenes, including solo ones, were the best.
Shame that Boss, Noeul, Fort and Peat didn’t have a better script to work with. Seeing how they managed to elevate the mediocre material they got I can only say that they deserved better.

Editing, sound
The editing was at times confusing, with weird cuts and scenes disjointed, unconnected with the rest of the show and/or previous and/or next scene; order and succession of scenes seemed off a few times, as if the editing team had too little time to make an actual show out of the material shot by the crew (e.g. in episode 7 Rain is with his friends somewhere outdoors and Payu calls him to tell him he’ll pick him up; in the next scene Rain is surprised to see Payu show up there and hides from him – these two scenes contradict each other, maybe just one of them was meant to be used in the show).
Sound editing seems non-existent. No idea whether they recorded dialogues on set and didn’t redub them or what happened there but through most of the show music is to loud and distracting while dialogues are too quiet.

Impressions
I liked the show for all the right reasons: hot actors, cuteness and banter, unabashed intimacy. All of that was like sweet-sweet candy poured over everything wrong with the show; blinded by that I enjoyed myself.

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It has some serious problems, but I liked&enjoyed it

Before I start:
1/ I don’t speak nor understand Thai, so I relied entirely on subtitles provided on GMMTV’s YouTube channel;
2/ all my comments and remarks below are about the GMMTV series – I didn’t read the book which inspired the series; for me the series is a completely independent work, not connected with the book, and it needs to stand on its own.

What I like about the series
1/ On-screen chemistry. Toptap and Mike work so well together that I’d be surprised to learn that off-screen they are anything less than good friends. But what I enjoyed even more was the chemistry between Pod and Khaotung; they sold me on Ton and Chon having genuine affection and feelings for one another. It was more than the absence of awkwardness; both actors seemed confident and relaxed in each other’s presence (for most of the time), hence their interactions (including the goofy ones) were believable. We deserved to see more of those two together; we got loads of cuteness and emotions, what we should have gotten more of was boyfriend banter (we got some of that, but more would be nice – Khaotung showed that his Chon can be shy, confident, loving, stubborn and angry, but also very sassy).
2/ Less non-problems than I feared. My prime example is Chon’s reaction to the kiss video in episode 9. Initially I was disappointed and thought Chon reacted according to BL-silliness (by which I mean that characters usually suspect and assume the worst, act without real reason, judge the situation without actual proof, tend to overreact and/or react to things no real person would bother reacting to; also, they don’t talk to each other). Then I watched episode 10 and saw that Chon’s reaction was much more grounded and relatable. Chon recognized Ton as a show-off prone to dumb stunts and actions which would give Chon constant heartache. Suddenly it made sense and the BL-silliness was gone; there was no fake problem – there was a real one and Chon was reacting to it.
3/ Showing homophobia’s still a real thing. We see LGBTQ characters fearful of how their friends and other people would react to their coming out/revealing they are in a same-sex relationship and we see homophobic characters with their stereotypes, prejudice and aggression. Pretending we live in a world were nothing stops LGBTQ persons from having a happy life would be bad. Glad the show writers didn’t do that. That being said:
- the way a gay character was presented in episode 1 (guy who followed Ton and Chon after they had lunch) was appalling and homophobic,
- Ton never apologizing nor even addressing his homophobia was a huge mistake of the writers,
- Chareon getting his wish fulfilled instead of being denied and ignored was an even bigger mistake of the writers – c’mon, guys! if you want to show everyone that homophobia is bad you can’t reward a homophobe!
4/ Very limited side plots. Compare “Tonhon Chonlatee” to, let’s say, “2gether”, where we got 4 couples: Tine&Sarawat, Type&Man, Dim&Green and Mil& Phukong (5 if we include Pear&Boss). Were they all necessary to tell the story of Tine&Sarawat? Did we learn more about the main characters because of these additional characters and their relationships? What purpose in the story did they serve? In “Tonhon Chonlatee” the side characters are acutely aware of their purpose; Ai explaining to Ni, that they are the protagonist’s sidekicks was on point and almost breaking the 4th wall.
5/ Miriam. Once she shows up she does a lot to push the plot forward – which the story needed after the slow-paced first few episodes. The character itself is likeable and a much needed voice of reason.

What I don’t mind about the series
1/ How character development of Ton was handled. The writing is rather basic and often clumsy, with a difficult-to-believe revelation in episode 10, but we also get a clear character arc for Ton. BTW: I liked that the show didn’t immediately explain why and how Ton got the idea of having Chon stay at his place and them two spending so much time together. Ton felt something for Chon and acted on what we were initially led to believe was instinct - I'm fine with that.
2/ Clumsy writing. (i) People condemning Amp after her rant in episode 8 - apparently students carry paper balls with them at all times (ii) The shoehorned beach scene at the end of episode 8 (I guess we needed that to illustrate that Ton made a decision, that from now on – instead of being a homophobe – he’ll fight homophobia, that he’s no longer afraid and so on).
3/ Unanswered questions. (i) How come Ton didn’t recognize Chon in episode 1 and what purpose did it serve? From a story point of view it would be better for Ton to recognize Chon right away, saying something like “Just the person I wanted to see. I’ve missed you so much. Let’s have lunch”. (ii) Who leaked the picture of Ton sleeping in episode 8? Was it Chon (he took the picture)? Was it Pang (she saw the picture and held Chon’s phone long enough to send the picture to herself)? We know why it happened (drama), but how? (iii) Is everyone allowed to see other people’s kites that hang if front of the Sam Muk temple? And to tamper with them? (iv) Don’t Ton’s parents have any social media accounts? Don’t they follow their son?
I can live without knowing these things.

What annoys me about the series
1/ How Ton’s attraction to Chon is explained in episodes 9 and 10. On reviewer (deetsy) addressed this nicely today, so let me quote: “In the end what we got was a homophobic story of "I'm not gay, I just love you". It worked well 5 years ago in SOTUS, but now I think LGBT community moved on past this narrative and deserves something better”. In short: why can’t Ton just be gay or bisexual or pansexual? Why the additional “explanation” that he’s attracted to Chon because they have had a special bond as children? Why the emphasis on Ton not being gay, on Ton “still liking women” and not feeling anything for other men? Maybe there’s something I don’t get about some BL series, but this wasn’t the first time I saw something like this. Did you notice the emphasis on past girlfriends, who don’t even have to appear in the show nor become villains (like Amp), but are casually mentioned? As if the writers wanted to establish that gay characters don’t exist and if two guys get together they are bisexual or pansexual at best. In “Tonhon Chonlatee” this applies not just to Ton, but also to Na, and you can see the same pattern in other series: a boy dating girls until he meets that one special boy he’s attracted to (see both Tine and Sarawat in “2gether”, see Tee in “Cause You're My Boy”, see Knock in “Together with me” and see many others examples).
2/ Chareon’s homophobia and “the baby solution”. Chareon is a homophobe and a domestic tyrant. Everyone is trying to make him realize he can’t separate Chon and Ton nor impose his wish to have grandchildren, but at the same time everyone tries to satisfy that wish: enter Nam and the surrogate mother idea. Why is this even in the show? Why did the writers decide to fulfil Chareon’s wish and disregard basically everything done up untill that point? Chareon was told he can’t force his kids to do his bidding and then he got exactly what he wanted. As much as I enjoyed the first part of episode 10, I was facepalming for most of the rest of it.
3/ Nueng facing almost no consequences for his assault on Chon. Nueng is a would-be rapist and almost nothing happened to him. Ton kicked him once, dragged him out of the toilet and punched him once – that was all, that was the whole “punishment” for what Nueng attempted. I’m not saying we needed a scene of Ton and Chon testifying at a police station, but something should have happened, e.g. Ai or Ni doing their sidekick job and telling Ton (e.g. a day after the assault) that the university announced Nueng was suspended and facing a police investigation. Instead we got Nueng on best-buddy terms with Amp, supporting her lies (I didn’t know would-be rapists hold the moral high ground to lecture junior students on splashing seniors with water) until she was revealed as a homophobe. The guy shouldn’t even be in the series at that point! BTW: remember how Chon was reprimanded for kissing Ton while Ton was asleep? If the writers (correctly) wanted to tell us that any form of sexual activity, even a kiss, needs to be consensual, they shouldn’t send conflicting signals like that.

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PondGun my day anytime

There is a lot to like here.
The show is truly captivating – initially due to its plot and later thanks to good performances.
Furthermore, it is atmospheric and mysterious – due to plot and writing, but also thanks to mostly fitting music (heralded by very strong track used for opening credits) and proper cinematography (including plenty of surprisingly good shots sprinkled throughout the series like little gems).
It is also emotionally engaging – because the stakes are set very clearly and because it (the show) has real heart. This was achieved by decent writing, mostly for the Day-Ozone side of the story (a notable mention for the Night-Dream side is Dream’s phone call with her mother in ep. 12), and – again – very good performances.
"Leap Day" is very good in creating a feeling of hopelessness, of walls closing in, of fighting a faceless and unfathomable dread all alone, of suffocating in an indifferent world, oblivious to ones problems, unable – or maybe even unwilling – to help or sympathize. All these sensations were conveyed masterfully and allowed to highlight the remedies that work, that allow to survive and lead a mostly normal life: determination and support of friends and loved ones.

The cast is small (which I liked) and gave very uneven performances.
I was never a fan of Gun and have criticized Pond’s performances in BLs, calling him stiff, wooden and boring. Here I was very pleasantly surprised by how good they both were. I loved Pond’s Day – strong, determined, honest, straightforward and deeply caring for Ozone, emanating purest warmth while at it. Gun was utterly convincing as Ozone, delivering a complex and difficult performance, very far from a one-note one. Watching both Pond and Gun in "Leap Day" was a treat – the show deserves a good rating for that one aspect alone.
I cannot say the same about neither Dew nor Pahn. Dew gave a subpar, mostly flat performance of an annoying character, who felt unlikable even when he was supposed to be loving and tender. Pahn, whom I have previously seen only once (in "My Love Mix-Up!"), did not impress me with anything; her performance was uninspired and even vexing at times.

The writers mostly did a good job, though at times the show was losing its momentum and felt like dragging for no reason (other than to fill all 12 episodes with something). This is not a critique of all those moments the main characters were walking in circles trying to figure out anything about Leap Day – those moments were necessary and justified. I do, however, believe that some parts of the show, like the lengthy thread of introducing Pon's character (Kit), could have been done differently, preserving the show’s generally good pacing. I have no issues with "Leap Day" leaving us with most questions unanswered and a lot of plot threads leading nowhere/unexplained – all that can be considered part of the show’s mystery aspect. Going a little into spoiler territory I need to voice my biggest complaint regarding the script: Wiwat’s fate. That man should be dead or jailed; instead we see him alive, free and treated with respect.

I mentioned music as an important factor contributing to the show’s atmosphere. While this is the case for most tracks used in "Leap Day", I was not a fan of "อยู่เพื่อรักเธอ" ("Here You Are") sung by "Louis" Thanawin, "Ford" Allan and "Fluke" Nattanon. I like all three of them a lot and have only respect for their work – but do not think that particular song fits this series.

Having said all that I consider "Leap Day" one of those shows where "pros" are so solid and numerous that they clearly outweigh "cons", covering them completely. If you are not convinced by that, just watch it for Pond. It is worth it, the guy can actually act.

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Missed golden opportunity

Let’s start with the obvious: vampires – powerful, often immortal, carnal creatures that need to consume blood to survive – are among the sexiest beasts invented by our imagination. Representing a multitude of things considered forbidden and often evil, like unrestrained lust, following animal and predatory instincts, hunting, pursuing and killing prey, evading death etc., vampires are a projection not just of the darker (or even darkest) aspects of human nature, but also of a desire to be truly free, to do whatever we want, with no boundaries nor restrictions. So, in theory, a love story about gay vampires should be awesome, right? Well, in theory – yes. In practice, however, it can turn like MGB did: not so awesome.

The good stuff
There’s plenty of things in this show that I liked a lot – mostly the interactions of Mark and Tong, especially once they became an item. Fortunately that makes up a big portion of the series – it is a BL after all (no, it’s not a show about vampires – that’s just a pretext to tell a love story). Joss and Fluke work well together and their chemistry is MGB’s saving grace (that and Joss displaying his flawless physique). Another thing I enjoyed: the OST, consisting of “Closer” by Fluke (heard during opening credits), “Just You” by Joss and “Ever After” by Joss and Fluke. Pretty modest by GMMTV’s standards – and that’s also okay.

Writing
The show’s script is based on two intertwining storylines: Mark’s and Tong’s love story and the golden blood vampire story.
The love story is a variation of a well-known trope of a protector becoming a romantic interest/partner of the person he’s protecting. Inserting a vampire into that pattern doesn’t change a lot – after initial problems Mark becomes a rather traditional bodyguard-turned-lover character. Here’s where the vampire aspect of the show fails the most: once he overcomes his lust for Tong’s golden blood, Mark becomes so mundane that it’s easy to forget he’s a vampire. This is not an isolated case: all vampires in MGB seem weirdly bland, tamed and controlled, turning violent only on the rare occasion of coming into contact with Tong’s blood. Those are not the sexy vampires I imagined that would fit a daring gay love story, passionate, spicy and full of lust – this is a golden opportunity which was missed (or maybe deliberately abandoned). These vampires have been washed and bleached, deprived of feelings and senses – and became boring. Vampirism in MGB is like a curse: an eternal life of feeling nothing. Sure, this image is inconsistent (Thara has a genuine lust for power, Nakan seems to have some emotions and desires, Wan gets all teary in ep. 12 etc.), but heavily influences how Mark is presented and the love story progresses: it’s not taming of a wild beast lusting after Tong – it’s waking up a man’s sex drive and getting it to hum (instead of roar).
Another issue I have with the love story is its length – there simply doesn’t seem to be enough of the story for all 12 episodes. This leads to inclusion of filler elements; some (like most of ep. 4) are dull and unnecessary. This also gives room for subplots, chief among them the Tonkla subplot – which seemed to be important to the writers until they killed off Tonkla in ep. 9. Did it have a lasting impact on the story or characters? Not really.
The second main plotline – the vampire story – is messy, vague and inconsistent. Since MGB is not a show about vampires and this plotline is only meant to provide setting and obstacles for the love story, I’m not bothered by the aforementioned flaws; this is less important than the portrayal of vampires themselves, which I complained about above.

Characters
Both Mark and Tong are written in a proper manner (contrary to some opinions I read on MDL, I didn’t find Tong’s character to be annoying or subpar), fitting the love story plotline. Thara – as a villain – is a bit generic, but passable; revealing her as the main baddy of the show was foreshadowed in ep. 10 by some ominous music, which actually made me laugh. Tonkla is irritating and generally useless; I begin to understand why some comments express regret that Tonkla wasn't paired with Nakan – at least that would give Tonkla something to do in the show. Nakan seemed plausible as a villain, but then ep. 11 and 12 happened. I’m unsure whether that was plain old bad writing or an attempted redemption arc; whatever it was – it didn’t work for me. That character had potential, clearly, but it was wasted – mainly because it wasn’t developed properly. Seeing pictures of Tonkla and Nakan displayed next to each other with flowers in front of them (ep. 12), as for some cherished fallen comrades or good friends, left me with a bad taste in my mouth.

Acting
As much as I enjoyed the Mark-Tong dynamic I have to point out that Joss gave a flawed performance in MGB. It’s something I noticed in ep. 1 and what did not change until the very end of the series: Joss was good at being hot&sexy, cool, manly, funny, caring or vulnerable – basically in almost every scene Mark interacted with Tong; the opposite happened when Mark needed to be serious, angry and “mature” – Joss kept missing the beat, becoming (unintentionally) funny: becoming lifeless and stiff or reciting his lines in a weird, solemn manner (as to underline that what he says is important). Fluke’s performance was much more consistent and without major flaws; same can be said about Um’s performance as Thara. Mond, whom I learned to respect a bit after “Only Friends” (while disliking the show itself and most performances in it), is all over the place here; much of that is due to the writing, but some has to attributed to the performer. Mond seemed sleepy, stoned or bored for much of ep. 1-10 and his face looked swollen – all of which made me think he was having some health issues while MGB was filmed. Fortunately this was no longer the case in ep. 11-12.

Visuals
Much was said about CGI in MGB – and how it (supposedly) was indicative of a low budget. While I wasn’t bothered by the use of special effects nor their quality, I do believe that – with writing adjusted in this regard and consistent use of more traditional means, like filming after sunset, proper lighting, filters and color grading, MGB could have created a better, convincingly “vampiric” atmosphere. Same about locations: while I applaud some choices in this regard (in particular Wan’s flower shop), others were baffling. Speaking of which: what’s with the wedding venues used by BLs recently? First “The Next Prince” located the interiors of the Emmalian royal palace in “La Chapelle”, a “unique luxury venue for weddings” in Bangkok, and now MGB used what seemed like two wedding venues (or just two areas within one venue) in ep. 12.

Final thoughts
Is MGB bad? No, it’s above average – mainly because most of its flaws have nothing to do with the love story while Joss and Fluke work so good together that they sell that story. My biggest issue with MGB is that it could have been much more – given its potential; instead it’s a half-hearted bite: you felt it, but it’s painless.

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Uninteresting and undecided

This BL lacks basically everything a BL should – at least for me – have: an engaging story, relatable and/or interesting characters, decent performances and chemistry between the main couple.
The story doesn’t have to be painfully plausible nor super realistic, it can contain a reasonable number of plot holes etc. etc. – but it has to be engaging, it needs to pull me in. The “Love Sea” story (there was one, you can take my word for that), was so uninteresting that I had to force myself to follow it. I also got the feeling that MAME couldn’t decide whether to focus on the relationship of Tongrak and Mahasamut or their personal issues (like self-doubt, trauma or inability to connect) or something else. The result, predictably, was poor: a story about a little of everything – eventually a story about nothing in particular. It was so unengaging that I couldn’t care less about its development or the characters involved.
Since I mentioned characters: I try to set the bar low – don’t be annoying, have something I will like you for and let me understand where you come from. Again, this was where “Love Sea” blew it, mainly because both main characters as well as the secondary couple are annoying like hell. This stems from both the script as well as from performances of Fort, Peat, Chanya and Aya (and Forth). Redeeming qualities? Hardly any and – in any case – far too few to balance it out. Sure, the story tried to explain why the characters are so unlikeable, but – at least for me – it didn’t change anything, I didn’t have a single “oh, now I get why X is like this – I’m gonna like X from now on” moment. If anything, I liked the characters even less.
I was wondering whether “Love Sea” would be any different – better perhaps – with a different cast. I still do not know that; what I know for a fact is that this cast made it worse. I used to think – having watched “Love In The Air” – that Fort and Peat had a decent chemistry; now I doubt that. There’s no chemistry between them here and the script is not helping it either; both Fort and Peat have exactly two poses each (Fort: smug and fake-caring; Peat: smug and whiny) and they switch between them, trying to produce something interesting – to no avail.

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True BL with some really good songs by the cast

I remember watching the announcement trailer for MSP – back in autumn 2021 – and thinking to myself that those kids don’t look like much and that another highschool BL combined with singing can’t be good. Boy, was I wrong.

My reception of MSP rests on three pillars: script, chemistry and music.

The plot is simple and old as the BL genre, but works like a charm. The script was crafted in a smart way, creating a new kind of obstacle the main couple needed to overcome: instead of unsympathetic parents or a homophobic environment we get club rules the characters need to respect to focus on their main goal. Basically: they voluntarily restrained themselves from dating and found cute and creative ways to be together despite of the rules. Some very good choices were made while writing the script, like avoiding toxicity, angst and silly, overblown drama – which meant the characters had to act like real people, properly communicate with each other and get serious about serious stuff. I was very positively surprised but how much we learn about Gun and Tinn – making them three-dimensional characters. The script is in no way perfect, but as BLs come – it’s a top tier one.

Chemistry is a constant challenge for this genre, as it can save or even elevate plain or dumb scripts. MSP focuses on the relationship of Tinn and Gun, so Gemini and Fourth were the ones who needed to sell us the show – and they did it starting from episode 1; what they delivered was on the level of OhmNanon and EarthMix, two best ships GMMTV offered in recent years. Impressive when one considers that Gemini and Fourth were the youngest and, I believe, the least experienced members of the principal cast. The confidence with which they performed was remarkable. Their efforts were supported by strong performances of Mark, Winny and Satang. Lookwa, who played Gun’s mother, was a delight to watch and listen to.

MSP is loaded with songs, both covers and original pieces composed for the show, ranging from soft ballads to pop/rock. This must be the best BL soundtrack of all time – and all of it is performed by the cast. This shows how strong it really is, with Ford, Satang, Gemini and – most of all – Fourth literarily shining. If they get bored or tired of acting, they already have a second career – as singers. My favorite part of the soundtrack is “พูดได้ไหม” (“Let Me Tell You”), Fourth’s powerful rock statement, which gave me goosebumps and reminded me of Polish rock bands I used to listen to as a teen.

There’s something of “Bad Buddy” in this show – not just the cast (Mark, Prom, Satang, Ford, Gemini and Fourth all appeared in minor roles in OhmNanon’s hit series), but more the vibe, feels and atmosphere, which are very familiar. At some point I even called MSP “Bad Buddy Light”. It doesn’t mean that MSP needs the support of another great BL – it stands firmly on its own: well crafted and shot, smartly scripted, with good acting and unrivaled music.

The world needs more wholesome stuff like that.

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YinWar’s tour de force

This has been a roller-coaster ride and I enjoyed it immensely. Since I went for a non-spoiler review, I’ll focus on issues that are not plot-revealing. I thank YWPB (which stands for a company established by Yin, War, Prom and Bonz) for this gem of a BL, this brainchild of theirs and wish us all more shows like that.

Let’s start with the script. If you go to the MDL comment section (which I don’t advise) you’ll see that the script of J&J received criticism from various angles and positions - for what’s in it as well for what’s not in it/what’s (supposedly) missing. Was I fully satisfied with the script? No. Did it matter to me? No. I enjoyed the show despite of things I myself might consider script-related. Without going into detail: I appreciate many things included in the script or resulting from its execution, like character development (and character consistency), plot twists and revelations, mostly successful attempts to combine serious issues with comedy, as well as some general ideas spanning across the series, like involvement in criminal activity and dealing with it or various aspects of social injustice.
The story is not short on crazy, which I also enjoyed: it’s often a metaphor and a fairy tale with larger-than-life villains, brave heroes willing to sacrifice themselves, artifacts, powerful symbols and some good old mysticism, bordering on magic.
I also liked that – in many cases – the story isn’t straightforward; there are nuances, tweaks, not everything is as it appears, not everything is resolved as one would want and some issues remain unresolved entirely.
All of that, however, is but a canvas for the main plot: a story about the titular characters, their journey – sometimes together, sometimes separately. Side note: I find it safer when a show is named after the main characters. Other names often lead to confusion (see “Hidden Agenda” with a not-so-hidden agenda which became unimportant halfway through the series, or “Dangerous Romance”, which was not dangerous at all); “Jack & Joker” is a great title (“U Steal My Heart” – also very good and to the point). As this series has faced plenty of criticism for that too, let me list the following:
1/ this is most definitely a BL, not a bromance,
2/ the main characters are portrayed by Yin and War only, not by other cast members (sorry PromMark fans),
3/ the show is first and foremost about Jack and Joker, not about side characters,
4/ Jack and Joker are, at the same time, the main characters and the main couple – the series is about them as individual characters (hence it’s not just them spending all on-screen time together) as well as about their relationship.
The above are not just features of this show, they are also creative choices made by the producers and I agree with them.

The show’s music deserves at least a brief mention. The three main songs are very distinct and very good. “แค่ยัง…(มีเธอ)” by Tattoo Colour perfectly illustrates the action aspect of the show, “ทำไมต้องเป็นเธอ” by Dome Jaruwat is the romantic theme of the series, while War’s “ร้อยวิธี” is a love letter drowning in tears and the emotional core of the soundtrack. A special mention goes to the opening credits theme and it’s dark rendition used at the end of ep. 5. What did surprise me a little about the score was that Bonz was not it’s composer (as an actual musician he’s more than qualified for that) and that Prom (another cast and crew member perfectly capable of doing that) did not perform any part of it.

The shows biggest asset is the cast. It’s core is mostly young, consisting of YWPB and their friends, associates and frequent cooperators, first and foremost Mark Siwat. This core team was bolstered by seasoned and experienced artists, including GMMTV’s own Jennie Panhan. However, the show was on another level due to what YinWar did to it and in it. You’ll find it in most of my BL reviews and I keep repeating it: a good ship will save a BL while the lack of chemistry will doom it every time, regardless of how good other elements of the show are. Thailand has several top tier ships; YinWar are a powerhouse among them – that’s basically the stuff dreams are made of. Both actors have grown, matured and honed their talents to hijack our imaginations on that crazy roller-coaster ride I mentioned at the start of the review. Both are superb and outperform the rest of a very good cast; War, in particular, shines with his versatility, and both he and Yin are visibly enjoying themselves. Their powerful performances and chemistry elevated the story, covering for all of its flaws, plot holes etc. I have not seen this level of acting in a BL before – simply amazing.

Engaging, emotional, ambitious and very well acted, “Jack & Joker” is the best BL I’ve ever seen.

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Jojo's heartless shlock

Whenever I see "Jojo" Tichakorn Phukhaotong’s name attached to a project as a director or screenwriter – I worry. When it was announced that Jojo will both write and direct "The Heart Killers" I was worried sick – not just because I sensed a repeat of the worst aspects of "Only Friends" but also because I really like First, Khaotung, Joong and Dunk. Initially I thought that – when it comes to acting – FirstKhao will eclipse (pun intended) the much weaker JoongDunk. Apparently I did not learn my lesson from the abovementioned "Only Friends".

THK has a very interesting plot: two actual killers become romantically involved with people who need or want to bring them down, but later fall for them – and the aftermath of all that. On paper – it’s dynamite with great dramatic potential. Such a plot can be developed into a script for a fiery romance or a heartbreaking story about love, betrayal and (possibly) redemption or a morality play about crime, love and punishment or a tragic tale of desire, passion, anger and jealousy with no happy end. So many options to choose from. Shame Jojo didn’t go for any of them.

The script we got was little more than a pretext for stuffing the show with as much nudity and pretended sex scenes as possible. No wonder the writing is weak, characters are shallow, unrelatable and at times unlikeable, emotions are mostly absent, stakes are non-existent (THK has the least intimidating villains I’ve seen in any show) and the script generally makes little sense (two multiple killers get only 5 years in prison instead of spending the rest of their lives on death row; their boyfriends visit them regularly to have sex; Bison singlehandedly beats up 3 inmates etc. etc.). On the other hand we get plenty of eye candy, as Jojo’s mission – since at least "Only Friends" – seems to be "spicing up" BLs. I even had a theory about that; it went like this: Jojo – an openly gay creator – was fed up with the often sterile and non-sexual BLs and decided to offer audiences a more realistic view of male intimacy. This coincided with GMMTV facing stronger competition from Domundi and other companies, which recognized that at least part of the audience will be in for "mature" content – even if it’s pure clickbait and no substance (like "Bed Friend"). Jojo got his opportunity and used it – that’s how "Only Friends" got made. To be clear: I’m not blaming Jojo for wanting to get BLs more realistic and adding some of what they were missing (male intimacy and sex). However, Jojo overdid it – not just focusing almost exclusively on that one aspect, but also reducing all depicted relationships to it. As a result "Only Friends" had no likeable characters – everyone was either whiny and slutty, cold and slutty or weird and slutty. Nothing against including slutty characters, but – like with everything – overdoing it was a bad idea.

Similar thing happened with THK: almost all of the emotional scenes and moments fall flat, action scenes are unrealistic and used as filler, while the only scenes that seem important are those where the main characters are kissing, shirtless or almost completely nude. Even those scenes, however, suffer from the mostly tacky, phony aesthetic and frequent lack of emotion or tension. There are some exceptions, but the majority of what this show offers is either uninteresting, banal or outright boring.

This may seem unrelated, but the setting of most of the series weirdly matched the above: the show’s world seemed empty, with hardly anyone there – save for the characters. The most populated area – the bowling alley – was nearly deserted in every scene, with a few people other than the main cast present. Other locations were almost devoid of extras – empty stores, hotels, office spaces, restaurants etc.; even Fadel’s and Bison’s burger joint was usually empty. The few self-help group scenes were a good example of that: a huge sports hall, empty and dark, with a handful of people sitting in a circle. No idea if this was a creative choice or an attempt to limit production costs, but it looked very strange; where is everybody – I kept asking myself.

I was surprised by how weak the performances were. I’ll repeat myself saying that I really like FirstKhao and JoongDunk. I’m also aware that Dunk has no acting skills – he’s just a pretty face, privately seems to be a nice and good guy, and he has good chemistry with Joong, both on and off-screen. And – as mentioned before – I was having some hopes regarding First (I liked his performance in "The Eclipse" a lot) and Khaotung (loved him in "The Eclipse", but also in "Tonhon Chonlatee" and "Moonlight Chicken"). Unfortunately the entire main cast gave very disappointing performances. Dunk’s was by far the worst in his career, with dreadful delivery, missing every beat he could, often so badly that it wasn’t even funny. I was not "so bad that it’s good" – it was simply very bad. Joong seemed uninspired, sometimes lost and confused, regaining his charisma and spark only few times; some of that might be blamed on the script and direction (or lack of it), but Joong – whom I’ve seen actually acting in other shows – is just not doing his best. As for First and Khaotung, they shared some cute, intimate and even touching moments, but their performances were below average for most part. Khaotung’s over-the-top acting might have been deliberate – to showcase that Bison is a little unhinged – but felt cringy and embarrassing.

No idea if THK was supposed to convey a message, if the audience was meant to learn anything from it, if there was a point to it – for me it was another of Jojo’s attempts to produce a show with attractive young men as main content. An attempt as successful as it is pointless.

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2nd review - after seeing all 10 episodes

This is my 2nd review of ATOTS; I posted the 1st one after ep. 1 aired (see below) and gave the series an overall rating of 7.0 (story 7.0, acting/cast 6.0, music 8.5, rewatch value 7.0) – I also made 2 “awful predictions”, none of which came true (for which I’m very grateful). Rating the series now, after watching all episodes (and rewatching ep. 10 multiple times) I gave it a higher score – the story is still lacking, but turned out to be okay (see more detailed remarks below for what I didn’t like about the script), the music is less diverse than I thought it’ll be and the whole show rests firmly on shoulders of Mix and Earth – hence I increased the score for acting and rewatch value.
WHAT I LIKED
1/ Most of the script is good. Setting the show out of Bangkok – great. I enjoyed everything connected with Tian finding his way in a new surrounding – as a volunteer teacher, a fish out of water character, someone who needs to learn the basics of life. I liked even more that the script didn’t stop there: Tian learns how to gain the trust of villagers, reacts to injustice, helps the village and makes enemies in the process. Becoming responsible for others – first the children, later the village – suits him well (I wish we’d see Tian acting in this capacity towards Phupha, even briefly – just to reverse what we got in the show for a moment).
2/ EarthMix. They shaped the dynamic of Tian and Phupha, making both characters very likeable and their story – our story. Their chemistry is insane – probably due to the fact that Mix and Earth have known each other for 7 years. Where the script is lacking – EarthMix carry the story. Countless tears I shed watching ep. 8, 9 and especially 10 are not the only proof of how good EarthMix works – they generated tension, emotion and drama lifting a slightly underwritten story to the much desired tearjerker master level. “The feels are real” and even their argument in ep. 9 was handled in a great way. But Earth and Mix were even better at creating joy and satisfaction, teasing each other and banter – which was showing throughout the whole series and was highlighted by the last 10 minutes of ep. 10.
3/ Earth. Didn’t like his acting initially (truth be told ep. 1 was his weakest), but now I think he did a good job of portraying an ex-soldier who hides behind an image of a reserved, strong, armed man in a uniform, believing in discipline, obedience, duty, rank and hierarchy. Seeing Phupha turn into a cute cuddly hunk madly in love with the volunteer teacher was a delight.
4/ Mix. Tian is mostly Mix, right? All the quirks, humor, mischievousness, frolics and banter – that’s Mix and I loved every bit of that. At times he’s frightened, unsure, vulnerable and fragile, but also brave, defiant, committed, stubborn and jealous. He’s a complete, 3D character. I enjoyed his self-confidence, especially in the last episode; it wasn’t vanity nor arrogance, but true strength. I commented elsewhere how much I liked the hilltop scene when Phupha embraces Tian’s waist; this wasn’t a sign of taking possession – Tian was actually in control, beaming with confidence, casually leaning on Phupha. Our young adult displayed more maturity later – the whole sleeping together scene was written the way it should have been, with request for consent from Phupha and Tian giving consent. Very well done, even if it’s partly played for laughs, to lighten the tone of the finale. Mix shined in ATOTS and I hope to see more of that in future projects of his.
MY COMPLAINTS
1/ Unnecessary Torfun and heart transplant. What was the point of all that? Was that a plot device to get Tian to the village? If so – it’s not relatable nor believable. We got (despite one of my “ugly predictions”) an explicit confirmation that Tian was gay and his feelings for Phupha were his own – they did not stem from him receiving Torfun’s heart. The metaphysics (like Torfun appearing in Tian’s dream and replacing his reflection in a window pane) ended before it really started. Tian feeling guilty for Torfun’s death – even Phupha and the villagers forgot about that within one episode, which says something about our main character’s motivation. I get that Torfun and the transplant were in the novel, but I’m not reviewing the novel; the series is an independent piece of art and needs to stand on its own. And in the series a lot of things would make much more sense than the whole Torfun and her heart bit. What made me even more displeased with that aspect of the story was how it was revealed – one piece at a time, leading some (me included) to assume (in ep. 1) and to believe (in later episodes) that Tian was the one who killed Torfun (in that case his desire to replace Torfun, complete her work etc. would make much more sense). Nothing came out of that, no dark secret (hinted for several episodes) was revealed, Tian was innocent and plagued by (in my opinion) baseless guilt.
2/ Little to no character arcs. Phupha’s “character arc”: starts as someone who hides feelings, falls in love with a city boy, admits his feelings with greatest difficulty and changes into a living human being for the last 5 minutes of the show. Tian’s “character arc”: starts as a bored rich kid, goes to village where we find out he’s actually resourceful, kind, fair, strong-willed, caring and gay, goes back home after his boyfriend tells him to and becomes a bored rich kid again. Obviously I’m exaggerating for dramatic effect, but what struck me was that no one who knew the “old”, pre-transplant Tian, noticed any difference once he returned home. Not Tul, not his parents, not anyone else (I’m not including the audience here – we saw this version of Tian for mere minutes). But maybe I got it all wrong, maybe this wasn’t about Tian having a character arc (=changing), but about him discovering what he’s capable of – a voyage of self-discovery which pushed him to drop out of engineering school (wonder if it was the same that Tonhon attended) and pursue a career in teaching.
3/ Tian’s parents and the 2 years in the US. Remember ep. 1 and Tian running away from home? Back then his parents didn’t seem to be an obstacle for him doing what he wanted. How come they became an obstacle in ep. 9? It was solely due to their insistence that Tian had to return home and later to go to America. 2 years passed and Tian – again – was free to do what he wanted, including returning to the village? Seriously? Was there no other and more convincing way of splitting Tian and Phupha to generate drama, to have the audience sob and weep during the airport scene? What did Tian’s stay in the US change, what did it solve? What was the point of creating a no-problem issue, making it an issue, blowing it out of proportion and then “solving” it off-screen by skipping 2 years? That’s some very lazy writing from beginning to finish. You either make the parents a genuine threat to Tian’s freedom (like making him dependent on them, having to obey them) or forget about the parents and introduce a real problem our mains would have to solve (on-screen – this is a TV series, you need to show us stuff) to be/stay together.
4/ Friends underused. Tul and Longtae could have played a more important role in the story. My idea: cut the Torfun stuff entirely and give her screen time to Tul and Longtae, who could do what Nam, Rang and Yod did for Phupha. Make Tian a truly arrogant and obnoxious spoiled rich kid (Tul would be the one to notice Tian’s change) who goes to the village for a compulsory internship and discovers there’s more to life and to himself than he thought. The series would still be 10 episodes long and would still focus on Tian and Phupha becoming a couple, but without the whole guilt thing.
===========================
1st review (which most if not all comments are about):
What I like about episode 1? That it partly takes place in a new setting. We still see a lot of big city scenery (as well as an exterior shot of a nice modern house used as Tonhon’s parent’s house in “Tonhon Chonlatee”), but the action seems to be slowly moving away from the city and into the country. Oh, seeing Drake was also nice (no Khaotung in episode 1? too bad). The rest… Well, Mix and White were okay, but Earth has the acting range of a wooden board. Also let me make some awful predictions – basing on what I could guess from both trailers (including the first one, released on 15.10.2019 and still available on GMMTV’s YouTube channel, which used completely different takes, shots, scenes and even costumes than the second one, released on 07.01.2021; I assume they produced the 1st trailer prior to filming the series), foreshadowing as well as gaps in the story presented so far:
1/ Tian will fall in love with Phupha because Torfun’s heart is now beating in his chest, which is a new take on the heavily criticized “I’m not gay, I just love you” approach (Dear writers, please do at least this bit right and make the two main characters fall for each other without any convoluted "explanations" and "reasons"),
2/ we’ll find out that Tian did race after he left the casino (in episode 1 we are led to believe he was hospitalised after collapsing at the casino) and that Torfun was killed during that race (why do I think so? cause Phupha already declared that he will never forgive the person who hit Torfun – that’s ideal for some drama which will become necessary around, let’s say, episode 7 or 8, when Tian’s and Phupha’s relationship will become unbearably blissful).
At least we should see more of Thailand’s beauty in future episodes (instead of Bangkok and some more of Bangkok) - that always good.

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Phi the Unimpressive

Not a fan of KristSingto, their previous work nor this reunion series of theirs I’ll be brief: the show left me mostly indifferent, with positives and negatives balancing each other out.

On the plus side:
1/ a slight diversion from typical BL storytelling, with main characters re-discovering they’re in love (instead of falling in love) and most obstacles for them becoming a couple stemming from their troubled past (instead of current events),
2/ most of Singto’s performance and Krist’s performance in ep. 9-10,
3/ the show (mostly) focusing on Phi’s and Tam’s story and properly intertwining the romantic and professional aspects of their relationship,
4/ most of ep. 9-10 (except the time jump),
5/ cameo of Mix as a vet (watch "Vice Versa" for his another appearance in that capacity).

On the minus side:
1/ Phi in ep. 1-8,
2/ underdeveloped side plots involving supporting cast, none of which lead anywhere,
3/ Tam’s mom and almost everything about that character, which felt added only to fill ep. 8 with content and create drama/uncertainty in ep. 10,
4/ time jump in ep. 10 (like with almost all time jumps in GMMTV’s BL – utterly pointless storywise, changed nothing and served no purpose),
5/ some story aspects which made little to no sense (why would an investigative journalist consider becoming a weather presenter to be a promotion or upgrade of any kind?).

My main issue with the story is Phi. He was written for ep. 1-8 as a whiny douchebag who undergoes almost no character development and then – all of the sudden, at the very end of ep. 8 – becomes a different person. While I understand that the character was meant to be hurt, embittered, egoistic and arrogant, he comes across as genuinely unlikeable, his flaws being inexcusable. Even in the flashbacks to his student years Phi appears to be full of himself – and I had to wonder why Tam (or anyone else, like Paul) would fall for that guy in the first place. I felt no sympathy towards Phi in ep. 1 nor later and can’t understand why a character written like that was a protagonist in a BL. Once ep. 8 ends, however, Phi is a changed man (and changed in an instant, I might add, as almost nothing prior to ep. 8 end signals or indicates that Phi is undergoing a change). The show became much better and more entertaining in ep. 9 and 10, even going a bit bonkers ("Ossan’s Love" style) – none of which would be possible with Phi being his old self.

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Flawed and messy, but not bad

MarkOhm’s debut series surprised me in several ways, both positive and negative. Generally I enjoyed it, mostly due to good performances of the main couple and some of the supporting cast, while the plot, writing and editing were the show’s weakest parts.

Let’s start with what was surprising and disappointing at the same time: plot and writing. "Classic" BL plot is simple: main characters meet, fall for each other, overcome whatever obstacles prevent them from becoming a couple and become a couple; at this point show either ends or main characters do something unrelated to their relationship. Diversions from this formula are welcomed, but often appear to be not thought through sufficiently. This seems to be the case with STGD, as its main plot follows a zig-zag pattern of progressing and backtracking:
-> Sant and Jay have a history when we meet them, which is an interesting addition to the standard formula; initially their past seems like something they can get over and start fresh – especially that Jay seems eager to continue where they stopped,
-> four episodes in we’re told it was all Jay’s ploy to get revenge on Sant for breaking Jay’s heart; what normally would be a major plot twist, gets disproven almost immediately and entirely forgotten in the next episode,
-> Captain shows up and becomes Jay rival, Jay declares that he won’t give in and proceeds to do … nothing (or almost nothing) to win Sant over; later Captain backs off and even helps Sant and Jay meet; to this day I don’t know whether Captain was actually interested in Sant or merely pretending – in order to get Jay motivated to move on from his other past experiences (the show hints at both these options as true, which confused me),
-> Sant and Jay reunite, but do not become a couple until late in ep. 8 for no clear reason (nothing prevents them from becoming a thing at the end of ep. 6) – instead almost the entire cast relocates to the country to solve Sant’s family issues.
On one hand – this is all very different from the "classic" approach to writing a BL story (the surprise I mentioned); on the other hand – it’s messy and makes very little sense (the let-down I mentioned).
With so much going on in the main plot one could think that STGD has its episodes densely packed with story development, meaningful dialogues and emotional scenes, right? Wrong. Lack of content from the main plot forced the writers to use filler – and a lot of it. The entire Gug-Yada-Baipor "storyline" (if one can call it that way) is filler, as it serves no other purpose. It gets pointless early on, but despite of that drags for most of the show – leading nowhere.
Both Jay and Sant have family issues, written, presented and solved skillfully (Jay) or poorly (Sant), but utterly unrelated to the main plot – hence suspected of being more filler. Jay’s mom, Sant’s mom nor his grandparents were never a hindrance for the main characters to become a couple and those "family issues" storylines don’t really help the main characters to deepen their relationship – although they do help to flesh out Jay and Sant, giving them both some background and complexity (Jay in particular).

I’ll mention this only very briefly, but the writing and choice of topics the show decided to address resulted in STGD’s tone being all over the place. At first glance it’s a rom-com, funny but not goofy nor silly (and not fluffy either). Already in ep. 2 tone changes for several scenes, as Sant’s traumatic past haunts him; this becomes more frequent in later episodes, with plenty of sad or serious scenes played entirely straight . The effect may not be to everyone’s liking: a generally comedic show interspersed with many sobering moments, starkly contrasting with the lighthearted tone. While this is not a major complaint, I do believe these tonal issues could have been solved better, in a more nuanced way, allowing for a better flow of the show.

STGD feels messy for one more reason: editing. While it’s okay for a good portion of the show’s running time, there are multiple examples of baffling editing choices which make an episode or part of it less coherent and disjointed. Strangely enough this is not (as one could expect) due to flashbacks, which are visibly distinct from "present day" content, but due to other show elements, like product placement scenes (only some of which were mercifully located at the end of episode or post credits) or the show’s writing. Take ep. 7, which starts in Bangkok, but relocates to Suphan with almost no warning, and ep. 8, most of which take place in Suphan, only to very abruptly get back to Bangkok; there’s a hard cut after a romantic scene with Jay and Sant and – all of the sudden – we’re back in the capital. Or ep. 9: halfway through it Sant and Jay wake up, realize they made love while drunk, talk it out, go either to sleep or to make more love (this is unclear due to writing, editing and subs), scene cuts to Jay’s dream about Jeng, Jay wakes up and (again, due to editing, writing and subs) it’s unclear whether this is a continuation of the scene from before or a new scene taking place on a different day. There are other examples of scenes which – at best – seem loosely connected to each other; all that makes STGD look messy, rushed and unfinished.

Having written all of the above I should explain why I enjoyed the show – despite its many flaws. As I mentioned at the start, the decisive factor are good performances, first and foremost by Mark and Ohm.

I believe Mark to be one of the most talented young actors in Thai BLs, when it comes to versatility second only to "War" Wanarat Ratsameerat, and I enjoyed most of his work – including in STGD. Mark’s Jay is quirky, funny and sexy, but also deeply wounded, vulnerable , split and hiding a lot of doubt and sadness. Mark does in STGD what I appreciate most: elevating a character he’s portraying, like in two painful moments of self-awareness in ep. 7 and 10 or interacting with Ohm’s character and breathing life into Jay.
While Ohm’s credentials are not as impressive as his on-screen partner, he nevertheless does a good job as the sassy, funny and somewhat chaotic Sant. I equally liked the softer, calmer, more collected side he displayed at times, especially in later episodes.
Mark and Ohm work together really well – I don’t recall any scenes with them being the main focus or only characters present that I disliked; I enjoyed most of them for the interaction, comedy, banter and cuteness. The chemistry and dynamic are there – a little polish and MarkOhm will be able to handle more than rom-coms.

Out of the supporting cast one deserves praise: "Honey" Passorn Leowrakwong, who portrayed Jay’s mother. The veteran actress shows what experience, competence and talent can do, giving a small, but important performance. While comedic at first, it turns heartwarming and later almost heartbreaking. Despite of appearing in only a handful of scenes, her character is still better defined – thanks to writing and Honey’s performance – than Yada, Captain and Gug, all of whom are supporting characters (formally more important than Jay’s mom, but nevertheless bland and one-dimensional).

As a BL (and that how I judge it) STGD doesn’t fail, it ticks the most important boxes, lacking where most BL do – in the writing department. Not a bad show, STGD deserves revisiting – which I’ll do, maybe not in its entirety, but I will. For the solid work of MarkOhm and Honey, for the laughs and tears, kisses and banter – I will.

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More than the sum of its parts

This was kind of unexpected, but I liked watching this show despite its flaws, which would normally make me dislike a series. There is plenty of things that should have lowered my rating of "Boys in Love", but somehow – to my surprise – they did not. It's not that the positives of this show outweighed the negatives; it's a little more complicated. I think that the things I liked about "Boys in Love" combined, creating an added value – like an overall feel or vibe of the show, which was generally sweet, nice and made me return to it week after week.

What I enjoyed
- As for characters – Kit. He's the only one with something roughly resembling an arc, in course of which he becomes a model boyfriend. As one of only two characters he has some depth: he seems easy going (bordering on spoiled rich kid), but it’s really a pose, a mix of light nonchalance and distance to himself; he's very well aware of his own shortcomings and flaws, finds motivation to change, but nevertheless doubts whether he’s doing good enough. He's flawed and therefore relatable, but – at the same time – he does all the important things the right way: supporting Shane both before and after they become a couple, being open about his feelings, respecting boundaries set by Shane, displaying patience and caring about someone else more than about himself. If I was back in highschool, I'd love to have a boyfriend like that.
- As for couples – Per and Tar. They are there for comedic relief, but most of their interactions were much more than goofy fun, having an emotional layer and a tension of sorts. All four couples in "Boys in Love" are build following the same principle, joining two very different guys; when it comes to internal dynamic and chemistry, Tar and Per work the best. They are almost always together (without being together), they visibly enjoy each other's company and there's that unspoken (yet palpable) thing between them. I loved their last scene in ep. 12, played completely straight (despite the smiles) and serious, with an absolute minimum of lines – a very good conclusion of their plotline.
- As for writing – which is mix of decent and subpar – there's a handful of scenes that deserve special mention: Shane's and Kit's final scenes in ep. 2 and 5, Kit's talk with his mom in ep. 12 (every kid should hear what she said at least once from their parents), the entire "Mr. Tan and Mr. Nut move in together" sequence in ep. 12 and the aforementioned final scene with Per and Tar. Well crafted, they left me with a lasting impression. Another thing worth mentioning: the writers decided to give more attention and screen time to two out of four couples; with only 12 episodes available that was the right move.
- As for performances – Luke and Paul. Very different, but both are solid (although I'm not entirely sure whether Paul was acting or just being himself), with good screen presence and competent delivery. Would like to see both of them in other roles.
- The setting - a vibrant, lively world inhabited by a lot of people. While a school of some type is probably the most common BL setting, it doesn't have to be boring nor mundane - and it isn't here. Same applies to the rest of the world in "Boys in Love" - which is full of students, teachers, family members and ordinary people (compare that to some recent BLs of the same company which seemed to be taking place in a desert or right after an apocalypse - in a desolate, empty world) creating proper background for the story and its characters. I also noticed and appreciated the variety and relatively high number of locations where the show was shot.
- The show – despite some issues I indicated below – was an easy watch.

What I did not enjoy.
- As for characters – ex æquo Mon and his mom. Paraphrasing the proverb: like mother like son. I commented earlier (before ep. 12 aired) on MDL on how Mon is written by indicating that in ep. 3, 4, 5, 7, 9 and 11 he was either displeased, annoyed or outright angry because of something Kim did, he was (at least initially) unsupportive of Kim’s efforts to become a model student in ep. 8, failed to notice (or ignored/disregarded) Kim's insecurities in ep. 10 and helped Kim with something only once (in ep. 8). He’s like the anti-Kit – the last person I’d like as a boyfriend. Mon seems focused primarily on himself and likes when things happen the way he wants them to happen – his mom is exactly the same. They may not be outright toxic, nevertheless both are unlikeable – no idea why a main character and a supporting character are written like that.
- As for couples – Mon and Kim. No idea why anyone would call them "KimMon" – Mon is the dominant side of the relationship from the very beginning and the power imbalance is glaring; I don't recall seeing anything like that in a GMMTV show before. While I understand that including such a relationship might be good for authenticity sake, I do believe that the show should have addressed this issue as a problem and at least tried to solve it.
- As for writing – how undecided the show was. Either by accident or on purpose, "Boys in Love" wants to be too many things and tries to include too many topics for its own good. It would be much better if it was just a rom-com (either more lighthearted and fluffy or tilted towards comedy); instead other story elements were introduced (sometimes – shoehorned in, like the conflicts in later episodes) and the show became less coherent when it comes to genre and message.
- As for performances – Mick. He was boring and wooden like a plank throughout the whole show; he can't act and I'm not sure anything can be done with it.

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Simply a wonderful story

General overview
This is a well written, almost classic BL and coming-of-age story, which stays consistent and focused on the plot and the main characters. With good pacing for almost the entire span of the series, proper presentation of the plot and solid performances of the main couple, the story flows nicely and is easy to follow. Despite apparent cuteness and occasional comedy it deals with serious issues like family relations, character growth, following one’s dreams, realizing and expressing one’s feelings, communication, love, relationship, breakup and longing for a loved one, making choices and accepting responsibility of those choices and – in the latter part of the series – reality of becoming and being an idol. The story is accompanied by a decent soundtrack performed exclusively by cast members.

Plot & script
The main plot line revolves around Moo and Kang’s love story; the secondary plotline is about Potae’s and Payos’ situationship. The two storylines are, at times, opposites or reflections of each other (when Moo and Kang are coming closer, Potae and Payos are friendzoned; when Moo and Kang separate, Potae and Payos are frozen in a relationship limbo), which seems to be a deliberate choice of the showrunners and it works well. The script is pretty tight, with no filler nor longueur. We get a good introduction of the main couple from the very start of the series and the scene gets set for episodes 1-8, which deal with events spread over about 6 months; each episode marks a step in developing of the main couple’s story, which progresses at a steady pace. Events accelerate in ep. 9-12, which cover about 14 months of in-show time. There’s a time skip in ep. 10 of 12 months, but – contrary to horrible GMMTV fashion – we do learn (through retrospection) a lot of what happened during that time; this is what “saved” the time jump for me. It’s noteworthy that up until ep. 10 the story develops without major drama, with mere hints at potential problems and some foreshadowing of trouble to come. The writers did a good job setting up the emotional cliffhanger of the series and building up the tension. The resolutions of both the main and secondary plotlines are okay, although predictable (as this is a BL show) and a bit rushed (especially the Potae-Payos part).

Cast & performances
Keen gives the strongest and most memorable performance of the whole cast. His portrayal of Moo is very genuine, and the character itself comes across as very likeable, bold, optimistic and wholesome, relatable in his dreams and a certain (almost childish) belief that those dreams will come true. Moo’s saddest moments – and there’s plenty of them, despite of the show’s general lightheartedness – is where Keen really shines. As far as I’m concerned he’s not just a performer (like many other GMMTV employees), but an actual actor. A good singer and dancer, he’s even better at acting – he can proudly follow the likes of Fourth, Gemini, Khaotung, Mix and Nanon (to name those on GMMTV’s payroll who can actually act and sing).
Compared to Keen, Sea’s performance is almost muted – which actually fits Kang perfectly. Reserved, sometimes defensive, Kang moves at his own pace – though pretty often he feels Moo’s pull and follows him. There were several instances where Kang was opening up, coming out of his shell (and literally coming out) – and I wasn’t sure if it was just the character or the actor as well. That blinding, radiant smile, which brightened Sea’s face was far too rare… And – despite of all his apparent acting shortcomings – Sea managed to pull off some of the most emotional and intense scenes of the series; the gut-punching delivery was on point.
Opposites attract – and that rule applied beautifully to Moo and Kang; the chemistry is there from the very first scene. It’s easy to form an emotional connection with the main couple played by Keen and Sea – which can’t be said about other currently running GMMTV-made BL series. When together on screen SeaKeen are in their element – the show relies heavily on those two and they carry it with ease.
The secondary couple of Payos, played by newcomer Ashi, and Potae, played by Aun, is a mixed bag. Ashi mostly does a decent job, while Aun struggles to go beyond 2-3 poses (making fun of something or someone, crying and pouting).
Three GMMTV “veterans” were cast in supporting roles: Book as Moo’s cousin Shone, Louis as band leader Jang and Milk as Neth, Kang’s best friend and confidant. Milk does a decent job while Book and Louis give lackluster performances – and it’s not due to the script nor direction; I’d argue that both of their roles were miscast. Shone should have been played by someone like Mark Pakin, who can actually act (which Book can't) and elevate even an underwritten character (see his performance in “Only Friends”); Jang – given this character’s respect for the rules – should have been played by First.

Music
The soundtrack consists of seven songs written for the show and released by GMMTV Records: the title song “แค่ที่แกง” by Keen, “เกินกว่า Friend (Situationship)” by Ashi, “Check Me” by Louis, “พี่(อย่า)แกง (Don’t be fooled)” by Keen and Sea, “ดังกว่าเก่า (Louder)” by Keen, “ติดกลางใจ (Gump)” by Aun, Ashi, Keen and Louis and finally “สถานีที่ศูนย์ (Station No. 0)” – which is the strongest part of the soundtrack, with heartbreaking lyrics and a very good delivery by Keen.

Final thoughts
While the show had its ups and downs, SeaKeen kept going strong - "Only Boo!" is worth watching and rewatching mostly for this new ship. Hope GMMTV can appreciate this new gem it got.

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This could have been so much better

I haven’t watched the original Japanese show nor would I compare “Ossan’s Love Thailand” to it if I had – the Thai version/adaptation is an independent work and needs to be judged as such. The show had a big potential, but only some of it was actually used.

The script isn’t terrible, I actually liked how it managed to navigate the main plot through a total of 12 episodes – even if it wasn’t smooth sailing all the way. I do, however, have several issues with it. First of all – why does anyone love Heng? He’s an unlikable character – dumb and clumsy, for a big part of the show also quite selfish, at the same time unable to say “no”. And when I say “dumb”, I don’t mean it as “dumb but cute” – I mean dumb in an obnoxious way. So many flaws in one person and no redeeming qualities; why would anyone fall for this guy remains a mystery to me. Mo is a far better character, but I did not understand his hesitation and self-doubt, him stepping back instead of going forward. Other script-related issues include: break-up of Heng and Mo (break-ups generally solve no problems and BL’s use them to generate drama – here the purpose of the break-up eludes me), time jump in ep. 11 (barely noticeable, which was strange on itself, but nevertheless pointless like almost all time jumps in GMMTV’s BLs) and Heng’s loss of memory in ep. 12.

Tonally the show was all over the place, which I did not appreciate. I liked it when the show was crazy, exaggerated, over the top, even absurd, when it did unexpected things – and contrasted it with some characters (usually Mo) getting thrown into that whirlwind. Heng’s and Mo’s “last date” and engagement in ep. 12 – with performance of the show’s title song, dancing and everything else was colorful, surreal and immensely enjoyable; if the show kept this tone consistently, it would be much better. Instead the writers decided to also include toned-down, more traditional BL elements – which made the show less satisfying to watch.

As for the performances, both Krit and Mix were great. Krit did a lot to make Kongdech human, likeable and relatable, showcasing proper acting rarely seen in BLs. Mix gave a solid performance, doing what I like a lot: elevating an underwritten character. The very few intense interactions of Kongdech and Mo, them arguing over Heng, were delightful. Earth’s performance was a mixed bag: I disliked it’s comedic, goofy side (which, unfortunately, made up a majority of Heng’s character), but every time Heng got serious or sad, Earth was doing a good job. Heng’s and Mo’s break-up scene, while unnecessary, gave Earth a rare opportunity to outperform Mix – a seldom feat indeed.

“Ossan’s Love Thailand” is not the strongest entry on the EarthMix list of accomplishments – inferior to both ATOTS and “Moonlight Chicken”. Still, it’s worth watching.

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Once more unto the breach, dear friends, once more

A continuation of the main series more than a standalone show or even a bonus, this “special episode” offers more of the same good stuff the series did, inviting us to enjoy another crazy roller-coaster ride.

Most of the cast returns with a bang as familiar characters to deliver one more chapter of the Jack & Joker saga; the performances are on par with what we’ve seen in the main series. YinWar chemistry again provides the main selling point of the show, with Yin deserving particular praise for his performance in the second half of the special.

All the beats are there and mostly the same: some goofiness, some joy and love, but also sadness and a slowly creeping feeling of dread, trying to overshadow the happiness. There’s also some teasing of the audience – particularly with Aran’s and Tattoo’s situationship. The special includes one more important aspect the show did not explore to such extent: personal loss and how we deal with it – this is the emotional core of the episode.

A love untainted, a loss unimaginable, a pain only a heartless person wouldn’t feel and sorrow that lasts till the post-credits scene – that’s the special in a nutshell. I cried, I enjoyed it, I already rewatched it.

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