samyum

IDK what the story was even about, really...

So... this show was very bland... which is why I gave it a neutral 5 stars.

Let's start with the good things: the acting was great, the set designs and camera works and colors and wardrobe were also very good. But that's basically all that I liked about the series.

Now the bad things: my main gripe with the series is how slow and empty it felt. It took about 11 episodes for anything to happen in the plot, and even after that, when some conflicts started happening, the story still moved in slow motion, and every scene felt incredibly dragged out, at some point I even started watching in 2x speed. I was determined to finish the series because I had seen some good reviews about it and I was waiting for Something™ to happen, but I was sadly disappointed.

The next thing I want to talk about, which relates to the previous point, is how so many storylines and characters were so poorly explored. Princess Patt's backstory was shown once and then forgotten, Pin's parents and their deaths only exited for convenience (to explain why Pin lived at the palace, and to give Anin an opportunity to comfort her when she got scared), Keua's everything, Prince Anan's actual lover, the girl that sexually assaulted Anin, and probably some more. No plotline was truly explored to its full potential, and all the characters felt like empty shells, even Anin and Pin.

Lastly, I also felt that the historical context of the show wasn't well incorporated into the story, it felt more like a costume that the series wore, and the historical and political aspects could have been shown and explained a lot better. The series did make me curious enough, though, to do some light research about LGBTQ history in the UK and in Thailand, and in that time period the UK was only just starting to legalize homosexuality, while Thailand's homophobia mainly came from trying to copy Victorian Europe into becoming more "civilized", ironically. So, while true that Anin and Pin's relationship historically wouldn't have been accepted in Thailand, it made no sense for the UK to be painted in such a positive light when it came to queer relationships, and if there's anything I hate in any type of media, it's glazing of the west.

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