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A Soft Take on a Few Soft Boys
I don’t usually watch Period dramas, but I always enjoy BL dramas, and someone here on MDL recommended this to me, so I thought, why not?
I can positively say I’ve never seen anything like this before. This drama really drew me in from the very beginning. Like a cowboy that wrangles a rope around a horse, it held on tight and never let go.
The first thing I must commend this drama for was blending French and Thai languages and cultures. I don’t see this very often in dramas, and the act of bringing cultures together makes this drama more universal and it was executed in a beautiful and compelling way, with Rati coming from France and meeting Phi Thee in Thailand(in that era, it was known as Siam). Even though there was some resistance from both countries, they still did their best to work through their differences. Rati was eager to be in Siam to fulfill his duties, and Phi Thee eager to embrace someone from another country.
My second point I’d address would be the portrayal of respect in regard to social class and professional standing. I understand that your supposed to respect those that rank higher than you, but there were certain characters that would abuse that in this series, which I found to be rather ridiculous. If everyone is an adult, then surely someone can take a stand and speak against unjust criticism and outright discrimination, but that rarely happened until something extreme occurred like public physical assault. If everyone in this drama just stopped being so damn reluctant to speak up, a lot of the violence could’ve been prevented. I can’t really speak on if that’s what it was really like in that era in that country, but that bothered me.
The third thing I would touch on was the romance aspect of Rati and Phi Thee. Throughout the series, there was a lot of hidden promise for them. It was evident that Rati had never been in a relationship before, so it was all the more exciting to see Phi Thee pursue him in such a gentle and reassuring, and flirtatious way. I’ve never seen a man pinning for someone so innocently before, so those were my favorite scenes of the series. I can somewhat understand the direction the writers were trying to take with this relationship; letting their bond grow over time and creating a delicate sort of sophisticated romantic dynamic, but it was almost like this romance was one-sided sometimes.
This drama was thrilling, ambitious, and aspirational. I was really impressed that this drama really went the extra mile with its use of the French language and multiple cast members speaking French and Thai throughout, and made me appreciate it that much more.
If my hypothetical future relationship doesn’t look like this, I don’t want it. Overall, everyone in this series did such an incredible job bringing this series to life, watching it was a pleasure and an honor.
I would definitely rewatch this with a friend.
Memoir of Rati, I 💜 you
I can positively say I’ve never seen anything like this before. This drama really drew me in from the very beginning. Like a cowboy that wrangles a rope around a horse, it held on tight and never let go.
The first thing I must commend this drama for was blending French and Thai languages and cultures. I don’t see this very often in dramas, and the act of bringing cultures together makes this drama more universal and it was executed in a beautiful and compelling way, with Rati coming from France and meeting Phi Thee in Thailand(in that era, it was known as Siam). Even though there was some resistance from both countries, they still did their best to work through their differences. Rati was eager to be in Siam to fulfill his duties, and Phi Thee eager to embrace someone from another country.
My second point I’d address would be the portrayal of respect in regard to social class and professional standing. I understand that your supposed to respect those that rank higher than you, but there were certain characters that would abuse that in this series, which I found to be rather ridiculous. If everyone is an adult, then surely someone can take a stand and speak against unjust criticism and outright discrimination, but that rarely happened until something extreme occurred like public physical assault. If everyone in this drama just stopped being so damn reluctant to speak up, a lot of the violence could’ve been prevented. I can’t really speak on if that’s what it was really like in that era in that country, but that bothered me.
The third thing I would touch on was the romance aspect of Rati and Phi Thee. Throughout the series, there was a lot of hidden promise for them. It was evident that Rati had never been in a relationship before, so it was all the more exciting to see Phi Thee pursue him in such a gentle and reassuring, and flirtatious way. I’ve never seen a man pinning for someone so innocently before, so those were my favorite scenes of the series. I can somewhat understand the direction the writers were trying to take with this relationship; letting their bond grow over time and creating a delicate sort of sophisticated romantic dynamic, but it was almost like this romance was one-sided sometimes.
This drama was thrilling, ambitious, and aspirational. I was really impressed that this drama really went the extra mile with its use of the French language and multiple cast members speaking French and Thai throughout, and made me appreciate it that much more.
If my hypothetical future relationship doesn’t look like this, I don’t want it. Overall, everyone in this series did such an incredible job bringing this series to life, watching it was a pleasure and an honor.
I would definitely rewatch this with a friend.
Memoir of Rati, I 💜 you
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