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Once again, my opinion doesn't seem to align with the majority.
I adored the first 5 episodes, liked the sixth -- but then the drama went downhill. Actually, I was slightly bored when the end credits of last episode started.
The first half of "Me and Thee" took several tropes, like the age-old "love conquers class differences", the "rich people are detached from reality" and a few others, and played with them -- inverted or subverted them, played them for laughs and so on (cf. https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/PlayingWithATrope). Khun Thee was the perfect mix of clueless and charming, with his lakorn-style over-the-top view of how the world works, and he made me like him a lot, even though I usually despise the ultra-rich.
I adored the silliness that at times bordered on the absurd, and thought I'd understood why this series got so much praise.
But even in the first episodes it was very obvious that the post-production team was doing the heavy lifting. The precise work in the cutting room as well as the clever use of background music were what brought the comedy to the on-point timing it had. I can see that Pond ("Thee") did his best -- and he wasn't bad at all! -- but in my view, his role would have deserved an actor with the abilities to *really* lean into the absurdity of the character's quirks.
Thee and Peach are a classic comedic duo (aka "double act"), with Peach taking over the "straight man" and Thee being the "comic"; and they would have been brilliant if both actors were able to play it up much, much more, so that most of the comedy comes from their own performance and not from the work of the post production team.
Better acting abilities might have also ironed out the weaknesses of the screenplay in the second half to some degree.
Because the screenplay let me down from episode 6 or 7 onwards: It decided to pivot away from playing with the tropes to playing them straight, but not to the point where they got funny again -- and that reduced the charm of the first episodes to a minimum and left only the eye-roll-inducing cheesiness. Great comedic moments were few and far between, and that was just not enough to keep up the energy of the first half.
An excellent screenplay would have been able to keep up the comedy *and* develop the romance at the same time -- but the comedy was reduced in favour of ramping up the romance. Unfortunately, the repeated use of the same tropes -- once to play with them, then playing them straight -- doesn't work for me at all. The romance part of the script also failed for me, see below.
The writer *also* tried to give some character growth, depth and background to their main characters. On the one hand, I love some depth with my comedy. On the other, the way they did it causes inconsistencies with previously set-up characterisations.
And I don't understand why this happens again and again (Ossan's Love Thailand is another example of this) -- Thailand has some very good screenwriters, and Thai productions are often surprisingly excellent at integrating different genres into one story, and even giving it some additional depth by doing so; but with GMMTV BLs, this just doesn't happen.
Overall, the last four episodes should have been condensed into two, to keep up the comedic energy of the first half, and maybe they shouldn't have tried to make it swoon-worthy romantic, if they can neither integrate it with the comedy nor deliver a heart-felt romance.
And that is a problem that quite a few (GMMTV) productions have: If you want to make a story romantic, then commit to it and make it so.
But the love and attraction just isn't there to see. Really, have any of the people working on the drama -- writers, director, actors -- never seen a couple in the springtime of their love? I don't mean the continuous snogging of teenaged couples or explicit sex scenes. But new couples in real life (yes, exen if they are adults) can't help themselves: they touch each other often, sometimes as little as a small brush on the shoulder, they look at each other constantly, they seek to be as close to each other as possible. None of these things can be seen here. On the contrary, Peach continues to hold Thee at arms length at every turn, and stays passive whenever Thee initiates physical intimacy. It's as if he doesn't even want any of it! Up to the point that Peach initiating a kiss is somehow a big thing -- in the last episode, *after* both of them vowed to stay together.
Maybe it could have worked if the second half of the drama had reversed the roles of the "double act": Make Thee the "straight man" and give Peach the role of the "comic"; for example make his "reluctant bottom" role carry the comedy. Even if that has been done many times before, it might have given the series a second wind that could have carried it to the finish.
That Phuwin's ("Peach") acting abilities are limited only makes things worse. In emotional moments, Phuwin is not able to convey fear, grief, love or any other deep emotion to a point where I can feel with his character.
Both of these two points combined make for a relationship dynamic that is severely lopsided -- from Thee's side we get the over-the-top, I-would-die-or-at-least-buy-all-of-Thailand-for-him romance, from Peach's side we get a grudging friendship.
Other than that (and let's not speak about the ubiquitous product placements, which were occasionally, but not often enough, well integrated into the script), there were some holes and contradictions in the way some points were resolved. Which is not a problem per se in a comedy of the style they had in the first half -- and could have been used to keep the drama on the silly, even absurd side of things. But it wasn't, see above.
Was it good?
The first half was brilliant, especially due to excellent use of cuts and background music. But then a combination of unfocussed writing and average acting made the comedy lose its steam and the series lose its charm.
Did I like it?
As with most GMMTV productions, this was an easy watch. But while I loved the first half, I was bored by the second.
Would I recommend it?
I don't think so. But "Me and Thee" is adored by many, so I recommend that every one should see for themselves.
I adored the first 5 episodes, liked the sixth -- but then the drama went downhill. Actually, I was slightly bored when the end credits of last episode started.
The first half of "Me and Thee" took several tropes, like the age-old "love conquers class differences", the "rich people are detached from reality" and a few others, and played with them -- inverted or subverted them, played them for laughs and so on (cf. https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/PlayingWithATrope). Khun Thee was the perfect mix of clueless and charming, with his lakorn-style over-the-top view of how the world works, and he made me like him a lot, even though I usually despise the ultra-rich.
I adored the silliness that at times bordered on the absurd, and thought I'd understood why this series got so much praise.
But even in the first episodes it was very obvious that the post-production team was doing the heavy lifting. The precise work in the cutting room as well as the clever use of background music were what brought the comedy to the on-point timing it had. I can see that Pond ("Thee") did his best -- and he wasn't bad at all! -- but in my view, his role would have deserved an actor with the abilities to *really* lean into the absurdity of the character's quirks.
Thee and Peach are a classic comedic duo (aka "double act"), with Peach taking over the "straight man" and Thee being the "comic"; and they would have been brilliant if both actors were able to play it up much, much more, so that most of the comedy comes from their own performance and not from the work of the post production team.
Better acting abilities might have also ironed out the weaknesses of the screenplay in the second half to some degree.
Because the screenplay let me down from episode 6 or 7 onwards: It decided to pivot away from playing with the tropes to playing them straight, but not to the point where they got funny again -- and that reduced the charm of the first episodes to a minimum and left only the eye-roll-inducing cheesiness. Great comedic moments were few and far between, and that was just not enough to keep up the energy of the first half.
An excellent screenplay would have been able to keep up the comedy *and* develop the romance at the same time -- but the comedy was reduced in favour of ramping up the romance. Unfortunately, the repeated use of the same tropes -- once to play with them, then playing them straight -- doesn't work for me at all. The romance part of the script also failed for me, see below.
The writer *also* tried to give some character growth, depth and background to their main characters. On the one hand, I love some depth with my comedy. On the other, the way they did it causes inconsistencies with previously set-up characterisations.
And I don't understand why this happens again and again (Ossan's Love Thailand is another example of this) -- Thailand has some very good screenwriters, and Thai productions are often surprisingly excellent at integrating different genres into one story, and even giving it some additional depth by doing so; but with GMMTV BLs, this just doesn't happen.
Overall, the last four episodes should have been condensed into two, to keep up the comedic energy of the first half, and maybe they shouldn't have tried to make it swoon-worthy romantic, if they can neither integrate it with the comedy nor deliver a heart-felt romance.
And that is a problem that quite a few (GMMTV) productions have: If you want to make a story romantic, then commit to it and make it so.
But the love and attraction just isn't there to see. Really, have any of the people working on the drama -- writers, director, actors -- never seen a couple in the springtime of their love? I don't mean the continuous snogging of teenaged couples or explicit sex scenes. But new couples in real life (yes, exen if they are adults) can't help themselves: they touch each other often, sometimes as little as a small brush on the shoulder, they look at each other constantly, they seek to be as close to each other as possible. None of these things can be seen here. On the contrary, Peach continues to hold Thee at arms length at every turn, and stays passive whenever Thee initiates physical intimacy. It's as if he doesn't even want any of it! Up to the point that Peach initiating a kiss is somehow a big thing -- in the last episode, *after* both of them vowed to stay together.
Maybe it could have worked if the second half of the drama had reversed the roles of the "double act": Make Thee the "straight man" and give Peach the role of the "comic"; for example make his "reluctant bottom" role carry the comedy. Even if that has been done many times before, it might have given the series a second wind that could have carried it to the finish.
That Phuwin's ("Peach") acting abilities are limited only makes things worse. In emotional moments, Phuwin is not able to convey fear, grief, love or any other deep emotion to a point where I can feel with his character.
Both of these two points combined make for a relationship dynamic that is severely lopsided -- from Thee's side we get the over-the-top, I-would-die-or-at-least-buy-all-of-Thailand-for-him romance, from Peach's side we get a grudging friendship.
Other than that (and let's not speak about the ubiquitous product placements, which were occasionally, but not often enough, well integrated into the script), there were some holes and contradictions in the way some points were resolved. Which is not a problem per se in a comedy of the style they had in the first half -- and could have been used to keep the drama on the silly, even absurd side of things. But it wasn't, see above.
Was it good?
The first half was brilliant, especially due to excellent use of cuts and background music. But then a combination of unfocussed writing and average acting made the comedy lose its steam and the series lose its charm.
Did I like it?
As with most GMMTV productions, this was an easy watch. But while I loved the first half, I was bored by the second.
Would I recommend it?
I don't think so. But "Me and Thee" is adored by many, so I recommend that every one should see for themselves.
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