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labcat
This review may contain spoilers
Funny and cute though not exceptional
The episodes for this series were released on GMMTV’s YouTube channel on Friday nights after the impressive and much-praised 100stars ended. It seems that this invited some comparisons, but this is a much more typical BL.
In Fish Upon the Sky, the main characters are university students (what’s new?) and we have a main and side couple. But Thai BL series this year seem to have a greater tendency to be self-reflexive, displaying and sometimes questioning BL conventions. This is in many way a typical BL, but like Lovely Writer, it also critiques the dark side of the BL fandom’s shipping.
The main couple is Pi and Mork. We see in Pi a rather familiar ugly duckling trope. GMMTV probably has to try harder to convince me about the ugly part, but it is interesting that Pi’s transformation to a swan takes place quite early in the story. This makes it a somewhat different spin to the ugly duckling trope – Pi remains awkward and diffident in many ways (though this isn’t always made obvious). But Pi’s behavior must be seen in this light. At first, he has a crush on Muang Nan, and seems to be a total dick to Mork, who secretly likes Pi and wants to befriend him. For a while, Pi rebuffs Mork regardless of how nice Mork is to him. This is quite plausible since Pi, as an ugly duckling, is used to people wanting to make use of him when they talk to him—he simply doesn’t believe that people would want to be his friend. (The affable Muang Nan, who doesn’t try to get close to him or get anything out of him, may be different in his eyes,)
When Pi and Mork eventually becomes a couple, Pi’s demands seem a tad unreasonable as one of the conditions is that Mork must keep their relationship a secret. This clearly isn’t because Pi is in the closet—he is quite openly gay except to his parents (earlier in the story). But I believe this is quite likely for someone who feels insecure—he neither wants to be mocked for being with a guy beyond his league nor be laughed at should the relationship not work out. The fact is that he has fallen in love with Mork even whilst he’s trying to convince himself that he is still in love with Muang Nan (his vehement denial that he is actually in love with Mork proves the suspicion). There is a beautifully shot scene of Mork helping Pi wash his hands after a lab session, which shows how in love Pi is.
The side couple is Duean and Meen. The series calls this “The Story of a Firth Year Student”—and the focus is on Duean, Pi’s elder brother, who should have graduated but has to retake a course before graduating. While the Pi/Mork parts of the series can be funny, the really comic parts are in the Duean/Meen segments. They aren’t really that interesting as a couple and they do not even become one by Episode 11 despite Duean’s open admission to Mork (Meen’s brother) about how he feels towards Meen. Nevertheless, Duean’s silly behavior can be really hilarious, especially in the first half of the series or so. He may not be someone you would want to meet in real life, but he’s entertaining as a character. He often behaves like an ass only to end up regretting his behavior and having to make up for what he has done, like when he gives Meen’s bottle away and then has to go through a whole lot of trouble to get it back when he thinks that it is a present from Meen’s late mother (she’s very much alive).
Unfortunately, Duean and Meen do not get developed much as a couple. There are obvious couple vibes from early on, and we know that they are supposed to be the side couple, but there isn’t that much of a love story despite the entertainment the scenes with Duean provides in the series. With Pi and Mork, we do at least get to see the transitions from hostility to tolerance and then to friendship and romance. With Duean and Meen, we get to see Duean’s diminishing assholery towards Meen, but there could have been more. I actually like The Story of a Fifth Year Student and wish there had been more attention on it.
This series will certainly not be everyone’s cup of tea. You are not going to get Tharntype’s sort of skinship (hey, the actor for Pi has not even turned eighteen). Neither will you get the 1000stars sort of touching grown-up love story. But you do get quite a decent BL comedy with rather high production values. To me, it’s better than recent offerings like the somewhat disappointing Tonhon and Chonlatee, the rather forgettable Gen-Y and the disjointed The Cupid Coach.
In Fish Upon the Sky, the main characters are university students (what’s new?) and we have a main and side couple. But Thai BL series this year seem to have a greater tendency to be self-reflexive, displaying and sometimes questioning BL conventions. This is in many way a typical BL, but like Lovely Writer, it also critiques the dark side of the BL fandom’s shipping.
The main couple is Pi and Mork. We see in Pi a rather familiar ugly duckling trope. GMMTV probably has to try harder to convince me about the ugly part, but it is interesting that Pi’s transformation to a swan takes place quite early in the story. This makes it a somewhat different spin to the ugly duckling trope – Pi remains awkward and diffident in many ways (though this isn’t always made obvious). But Pi’s behavior must be seen in this light. At first, he has a crush on Muang Nan, and seems to be a total dick to Mork, who secretly likes Pi and wants to befriend him. For a while, Pi rebuffs Mork regardless of how nice Mork is to him. This is quite plausible since Pi, as an ugly duckling, is used to people wanting to make use of him when they talk to him—he simply doesn’t believe that people would want to be his friend. (The affable Muang Nan, who doesn’t try to get close to him or get anything out of him, may be different in his eyes,)
When Pi and Mork eventually becomes a couple, Pi’s demands seem a tad unreasonable as one of the conditions is that Mork must keep their relationship a secret. This clearly isn’t because Pi is in the closet—he is quite openly gay except to his parents (earlier in the story). But I believe this is quite likely for someone who feels insecure—he neither wants to be mocked for being with a guy beyond his league nor be laughed at should the relationship not work out. The fact is that he has fallen in love with Mork even whilst he’s trying to convince himself that he is still in love with Muang Nan (his vehement denial that he is actually in love with Mork proves the suspicion). There is a beautifully shot scene of Mork helping Pi wash his hands after a lab session, which shows how in love Pi is.
The side couple is Duean and Meen. The series calls this “The Story of a Firth Year Student”—and the focus is on Duean, Pi’s elder brother, who should have graduated but has to retake a course before graduating. While the Pi/Mork parts of the series can be funny, the really comic parts are in the Duean/Meen segments. They aren’t really that interesting as a couple and they do not even become one by Episode 11 despite Duean’s open admission to Mork (Meen’s brother) about how he feels towards Meen. Nevertheless, Duean’s silly behavior can be really hilarious, especially in the first half of the series or so. He may not be someone you would want to meet in real life, but he’s entertaining as a character. He often behaves like an ass only to end up regretting his behavior and having to make up for what he has done, like when he gives Meen’s bottle away and then has to go through a whole lot of trouble to get it back when he thinks that it is a present from Meen’s late mother (she’s very much alive).
Unfortunately, Duean and Meen do not get developed much as a couple. There are obvious couple vibes from early on, and we know that they are supposed to be the side couple, but there isn’t that much of a love story despite the entertainment the scenes with Duean provides in the series. With Pi and Mork, we do at least get to see the transitions from hostility to tolerance and then to friendship and romance. With Duean and Meen, we get to see Duean’s diminishing assholery towards Meen, but there could have been more. I actually like The Story of a Fifth Year Student and wish there had been more attention on it.
This series will certainly not be everyone’s cup of tea. You are not going to get Tharntype’s sort of skinship (hey, the actor for Pi has not even turned eighteen). Neither will you get the 1000stars sort of touching grown-up love story. But you do get quite a decent BL comedy with rather high production values. To me, it’s better than recent offerings like the somewhat disappointing Tonhon and Chonlatee, the rather forgettable Gen-Y and the disjointed The Cupid Coach.
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