solipsism5

I’m thinking of the scene where he’s writing music next to the baby-grand piano inside the mansion. I’m assuming that’s his place, but who knows. I think the screenplay was written by that old lady with dimentia

I blinked and he won a contest, I blinked again and he suddenly owns a beautiful French restaurant, then, suddenly, Tommy who looks and acts like a homeless person, is revealed to be a millionaire, and then he suddenly disappears, along with the beautiful French restaurant. I am totally baffled. This is just total crap. I guess it was a brief disaster of a show, so not much harm done. I'd hate to have had several hours of this mess. I should put this under spoiler, I guess, but who cares - sorry for spoiling the sh$tshow.

I just don’t like Mix’s character in this drama, and does anyone else think he would be terrible at running a business? He seems to lack any level-headedness which is very important in dealing with employees and clients. He can’t see that things like the bakery would be beneficial as an added revenue stream for his failing company because of his vendetta with Korn.. Korn is the one who thinks of getting the extra water just in case their plan A didn’t work out because he thinks of contingencies. Korn, in fact, is much better at business - remember also his improvisation for the wedding cake. Mix seems only good at animal husbandry, as far as I can tell. He’s also very irritating with his incessant pig-like eating, grouchiness, fits of jealousy, and peevishness. What good is he? You almost have to think Korn loves him for his money - I know he doesn’t, but what is there to love in Mix’s character?

This is an awkward little drama. I thought it was an Indie film at the beginning with its disjointed elements, but I quickly saw that it was just a lot of bad editing. I'm watching this for Han Gi Chan who looks like he should be the main lead in some big budget production, not this dinky little show. I do like Holland's cute moments as well. It's passable as some light entertainment and since my standards for BL's are very low, I'm still enjoying it.

I don't know what to make of this series. It seems totally bland. There seems to be nothing going on and I find it hard to get involved in the character's struggles because they feel so artificial. I don't have any problems with it, though, and it is a pleasant enough watch. I wish there had been some more kissing, cuddling, etc., but most of the story has been wasted on the body switcheroo so we hardly get any romantic interactions between the ML's.

It's like the whole Thai BL industry is built around miscommunication. If they didn't have miscommunications, these series would only be 2-4 episodes long. I wish they would be more creative. It seems it's all about the chase towards the relationship. The relationship itself is always given far less screen time. The summary of the plot is: (1) introduction of the main leads; (2)misunderstanding 1,2, and 3; (3) people learn to speak English [ meaning Thai]; (4) game over. The rest is all minor variations on this central theme. Just a few BL's break out of this mold, and those are usually the best ones. I like the main characters in this BL, but it has far too little to distinguish it from the rest - it's like blurred in my perceptions with 10 other BL's. As an example, Phoon's actions seem just like James' in Oxygen [when he tries to get Solo angry by kissing his boyfriend].

I do think BL's are getting closer to reflecting actual gay lives. They have become far more liberal and very sympathetic to LGBTQ views - I'm not sure you saw the wonderful scene in Not Me with the pride flag? Or the wedding at the end of History 4? I'm not sure what you mean about BL's not having happy endings [in general]. That is really why I watch them - because of the lightness, fluffiness, and generally positive endings. I've had a recent tragedy in my life with the loss of a long term partner that died of HIV and I watch these dramas to escape reality. I find a lot of the gay dramas are just too oppressively bleak. Even though I say that, I like a little bit of both. As a recommendation I would suggest you see Firebird, probably the best gay drama I've ever seen. It's just been recently released.

I don't know much about gay dramas in Thailand. Can you recommend any? I've only seen one or two.

Thanks for the long and detailed reply! I like your take on it and you make your points beautifully. I just can't agree, though. Tofu had a long journey to becoming human and even all the other inanimate objects reflected on how he was feeling all the complex emotions that they believed humans experienced. I think he loved Nat as a lover, not platonically. It seemed in the end that his human emotions were lobotomized, torn out, and we were left with something totally different. Perhaps this new creation at the end is something people were happy with, but I felt the real Tofu died and we were just left with a pale reflection of who he was.

Thanks! I was thinking the same thing. Can you just imagine the cut scenes that will help us get through this? One day Nut forgets to put Tofu in the closet during some hot steamy sex with Tarn, and you see Tofu hovering over the both of them with his angelic smile. He's thinking to himself I'm so happy when he's happy and he couldn't be any happier than he is now. If only I could see this more often. I wish I could communicatee with him - I'll just have to pray for one more miracle.

I was rewatching the last scene with Tofu when Nut says to him "I'll be happy in your stead". I was thinking I would rather be dead than have someone live a happy life in front of me, where I couldn't enjoy anything myself [except watching them be happy?] Ugh, I only rewatched this one scene in the whole drama thus far. I don't know why. I generally only like to watch happy dramas, but I felt I had to watch this, because it was the scene that epitomized why I hated the ending. And what happens to Tofu afterwards? He lives for a hundred years watching Nut grow old and die? Watching everyday as Tatarn makes love to Nut on the bed [or does Nut put him in the closet, so he can have some privacy?]. He gets one last hug, and then gets 100 years of sadness. Don't worry, he's just a Teddy Bear with no emotions that you have to care about.

Sorry for this gloom and doom post, but I want you to see what I'm seeing. I'm watching a lot of fluffy dramas in the meanwhile to get over this. [I would recommend One Love for anyone interested in a very witty and uplifting drama].

Still sad over the ending, but I want to say what a positive image this show conveys to the general Thai public, even if it is not positive for me or the normal BL crowd. It is still a wonderful show that is very affirming to the LGBTQ community, even with its drawbacks, especially with its 50's like tragic ending. I am more and more convinced that the creators of this drama wanted to finish on a happy note, but also unconsciously didn't for whatever reason. The Thai community is maturing, and the Thai producers, who are well ahead of the general public, are also maturing, and one day we will have a Miracle of Teddy Bear - like show that will be even more affirming and beautiful than this one. This show is just the beginning of a very positive progression, and I hope the next gay drama on Channel 3 will have an ending that shows the very real and very joyful lives of gay men and women.

Exactly what I think. It’s like someone who is being buried alive saying I’m good with this just as long as my lover is happy with the man I’m jealous over. Why is this a good ending? I could only see it if Tofu has totally unnatural emotions that we are never made aware of - which is understandable because they never put much thought into this ending.

I thought the ending to MODC was bad but this one takes the cake. This drama should have been the best BL ever but it was sunk by this ending. But I still, like many people who hated the ending, love this drama. That is why we are still talking about it. And I agree it has many good points outside the love story, and you can always enjoy it for that.

To each his own. If you liked that ending, good for you. If, like me, you did not, I encourage you to make up your own. The director would probably have no choice but to promote the ending unless he was a real maverick which is probably rare, but he also could have liked this ending - doesn’t change my opinion. There were multiple people making this ‘suggestion’ about the author and the book deal but even if that part is somehow not true that doesn’t negate the great bulk of my argument against the ending -it actually makes the choice even worse.

I don’t know why it’s a great ending for Tofu to be trapped as a Teddy Bear, never being able to speak to Nut. That is just a very flawed ending. Imo, but you are entitled to yours.

You are very welcome. I wish I could get more out of Pasit, and I'm sure you'll enjoy his explanation of the various novels as well as his explanation of the Thai perspective on the series.

Got it. I was still editing the post when you wrote this.

I'm going to just state this argument as clearly as I can, because I don't think it's being understood. The ending is just not good. It is just objectively bad. The main issue is that the whole drama centered around Tofu and his love for Nut, but the rug was pulled out from under us and we were left with something that is just artistically, morally, and structurally regressive, flawed, and second-rate. The rest of the series was superb, but the ending was a complete downgrade of the whole series. The screenwriters were forced to choose a plot where Tofu is the central character and then forced to kill that character to replace him with a side character that is hardly anything compared to him. The ending was pre-ordained by the writer who made a deal with the production company to ensure that Tofu dies, just like in his novel. The production company forced the screenwriters to make Tofu the central character because that would have a bigger audience draw than if Tarn had been the main character. Consider that Tarn is in a coma and this would not be interesting to the viewers who have to witness his disembodied spirit pining after Nut. Compare that to the totally loveable Tofu being the main character and winning our hearts with his thousand acts of kindness, generosity, and love. The magnetic and angelic Tofu was one of the best creations in any drama, and the production company captured the spirit of this wonderful character perfectly, and In Sarin could not have played this character more beautifully. This character was done so well that we can hardly even notice Tarn and the others. Only Nut who is a person who totally loves Tofu captures our attention. Nut loves Tofu completely and to utter distraction, but is forced to drop him . We are left with nothing except despair for both Tofu and for him.

There are many great tragedies, and they teach us valuable lessons, but this tragedy teaches us nothing, unlike the tale of Oedipus or Macbeth. It teaches us about the cruelty of unnatural fate, perhaps, but consider that this is a fate dictated by a book deal rather than any artistic consideration. As a work of art the ending is just ad hoc - it was not the destination of the preceding events, but the flawed result of bureaucratic decisions which has no place in art. It is structurally unsound as 90 percent of the drama focused on one couple to be replaced in the end by another one which had never been developed. Also, why is Tarn who had 10 years to reconnect with Nut to be given precedence over Tofu? It seems it's because somehow his love is supposed to be deeper. This is just a regressive idea. It is similar to the idea that heterosexual love is supposed to be deeper than homosexual love. Tarn had so many years to come back to Nut who was suffering terribly with his mentally ill mother. This is just crazy to let him be considered the hero of this drama when he pays no attention to Nut and his suffering. Thank you for saving the trees, but no thank you for not helping the man you supposedly loved more than any other. His actions are totally contradictory, and he only becomes the main love interest of Nut because of another bureaucratic decision by upper management.

Again, the rest of the drama was great, but the ending was not the best by any stretch of the imagination. I still love this series and will recommend it to as many people as I can with the caveat that the ending is not even close to being good and that you should make your own up to redeem it. I remember how I felt about Game of Thrones and its ending, and I have the exact same sentiment here - watch this great drama and enjoy it, but watch out for this ending. Even GOT's ending was better constructed than this one.

You have to read the thread below from Pasit0612. It seems that there is a book called Tale of the Teddy Bear that explains the mysterious riddle of how the Teddy Bear, Tofu, and his life-force is not connected to Tarn. So there is no need for him to die to resurrect Tarn. The reason perhaps you can't see that Tofu is not the central character is that there are several interconnected books that do not involve Tofu at all.

I can't seem to get the total picture from Pasit0612 because he didn't really respond to my question as to why Tofu has to die in the novel. He sort of ignored my question but revealed a lot of the complex underlying underpinnings of the story. Unforntunately,, the novels are not available in English, and probably difficult to even get a hold of in the original Thai. I'm able to translate the Thai if I can at least get a hold of a copy, but that is also difficult as I've experienced in the past trying to purchase Thai novels.

If nothing else, the ending to this series is just ad hoc, and you don't have to take it seriously. Even the promos to this series stress that you could create your own ending - even though they were forced to go with the ending in the novel.

I wrote about it in a post below in response to Danielle. The screenwriters were forced to use this ending due to a deal made with the original author but they did not follow the original plot where the teddy bear is more of a minor character. If they had stuck with that then Tofu’s demise (return to being an inanimate object) would not have been so consequential.

You don't have to take that ending as canonical. I believe it was not made in very good faith and you have the right to make your own ending which would be more honest and realistic than the one we were dealt. I think this show just laid most of the groundwork for a great drama that just needs a little help at the end.