This review may contain spoilers
top tier GL!
I was honestly really underwhelmed by the first episode, so I was expecting this to be a fun and silly time but I didn't think I was going to get very invested in it. I am so very happy to have been wrong! It's pretty simple on plot — you can easily ignore the whole "the mafia is after Phethai" aspect as it's pretty peripheral for most of the run time, and the rest of the show feels very slice of life with its focus on Pun, Ploy, Prang, and Jay. While the mafia subplot adds a splash of danger to the story, it's for the benefit of building Ploy and Pun's relationship that that thread has minimal presence overall.
Pun and Ploy's dynamic follows an established formula that we've seen countless times in romance stories. They have been emotionally wounded over and over when it comes to love and they initially treat this as a game — Pun's ulterior motive is to try to get her money back from Ploy's brother via seducing Ploy, while Ploy is testing to see if Pun's feelings are genuine as she doesn't believe anyone can truly love her as a result of her fractured relationship with her mother. The first 4 episodes are a lot of fun as Ploy and Pun flirt a bunch, but Pun keeps chickening out from going further and only initiates a kiss when she gets nervous that Ploy is losing interest in her. Pun is basically all in by the first kiss (even though she still wants to get her money back and withholds this situation from Ploy), and Ploy, known for never getting into serious relationships, clearly quickly develops feelings for Pun as well. It doesn't take long for the two of them to enter a relationship after that first kiss, but unfortunately the honeymoon phase doesn't last long because this secret and we enter the angsty phase as Ploy turns cold due to knowing that Pun is lying to her. This show works as well as it does because of the great performances by Ice Amena and Memi Muanfun. The two actresses clearly put so much thought into these characters and they have sizzling chemistry and nail each phase of the PloyPun dynamic.
The start of the angst is actually when I went from "oh this is a cute and comforting show" to "wow this is REALLY GOOD." The character work that is done in this section of the show is exceptional — we fully understand why they were both so closed off before becoming involved with each other and how devastated they are to be apart; but we also innately understand why Ploy can't bring herself to believe Pun was genuine and why she repeatedly pushes her away. And while this angsty period lasts for a relatively long time given there's only 12 episodes, it is absolutely necessary for the audience and the characters to sit with this as it has to fully sink in for Ploy what she has given up, and Pun has to rediscover what she wants outside of their relationship as she had dropped basically everything to be with Ploy. (Plus I'm an angst lover, so I love when a show likes to twist the knife on me lol.) A lot of my favorite scenes from the entire show happen in episode 10 when we get to see Ploy's perspective after their break up — that scene with the butterfly collage completely and utterly destroyed me.
If you're looking for a GL to watch, I can't rec this one enough. It's truly near perfection.
Pun and Ploy's dynamic follows an established formula that we've seen countless times in romance stories. They have been emotionally wounded over and over when it comes to love and they initially treat this as a game — Pun's ulterior motive is to try to get her money back from Ploy's brother via seducing Ploy, while Ploy is testing to see if Pun's feelings are genuine as she doesn't believe anyone can truly love her as a result of her fractured relationship with her mother. The first 4 episodes are a lot of fun as Ploy and Pun flirt a bunch, but Pun keeps chickening out from going further and only initiates a kiss when she gets nervous that Ploy is losing interest in her. Pun is basically all in by the first kiss (even though she still wants to get her money back and withholds this situation from Ploy), and Ploy, known for never getting into serious relationships, clearly quickly develops feelings for Pun as well. It doesn't take long for the two of them to enter a relationship after that first kiss, but unfortunately the honeymoon phase doesn't last long because this secret and we enter the angsty phase as Ploy turns cold due to knowing that Pun is lying to her. This show works as well as it does because of the great performances by Ice Amena and Memi Muanfun. The two actresses clearly put so much thought into these characters and they have sizzling chemistry and nail each phase of the PloyPun dynamic.
The start of the angst is actually when I went from "oh this is a cute and comforting show" to "wow this is REALLY GOOD." The character work that is done in this section of the show is exceptional — we fully understand why they were both so closed off before becoming involved with each other and how devastated they are to be apart; but we also innately understand why Ploy can't bring herself to believe Pun was genuine and why she repeatedly pushes her away. And while this angsty period lasts for a relatively long time given there's only 12 episodes, it is absolutely necessary for the audience and the characters to sit with this as it has to fully sink in for Ploy what she has given up, and Pun has to rediscover what she wants outside of their relationship as she had dropped basically everything to be with Ploy. (Plus I'm an angst lover, so I love when a show likes to twist the knife on me lol.) A lot of my favorite scenes from the entire show happen in episode 10 when we get to see Ploy's perspective after their break up — that scene with the butterfly collage completely and utterly destroyed me.
If you're looking for a GL to watch, I can't rec this one enough. It's truly near perfection.
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