Fish Upon the Sky (2021)

Loved the comedy, wasn't feeling the characters or the romance.

My feelings on this show are very mixed. I think if it hadn't followed 1000 Stars, and if it hadn't been from the same Author and Director as 2gether, I might have come in with lower expectations and enjoyed it more. If you're here for comedy, you're in the right place. This show surprised me with how funny it was. One of the funniest shows I've seen from GMMTV. If you're here to fall in love with the characters and the romance arc.... I might skip this one.

My biggest complaint is that I didn't like Pi at all. Phuwin is a great actor but this performance didn't do it for me. He was whiny and mean-spirited. I know we're supposed to sympathize with him because he's had a rough life, but it's hard because he's just not a pleasant person. I think this was done to add humor to the show, but Pi's whole character was just about the only part of the show I didn't find funny. Mork was ok in comparison, but a very standard, boring BL love interest. The actors have chemistry but there wasn't anything in the writing to make that shine.

Back to the comedy, though: I'm serious when I say that this show is worth watching for the comedy alone. The best part of this show, hands down, was The Story of the Fifth Year Student -- the portion of the show dedicated to Pi's older brother, Duean. Neo is hilarious (as always) and Louis plays really well off of him. Yeah sure they have chemistry -- more importantly, they're the perfect comedy duo.

My only other comment about this show is that someone at GMMTV needs to stop giving Janhae these awful roles. First Tonhon Chonlatee, now FUTS, they're casting her in roles that bring out some of the worst in poorly written female BL characters. At least Miriam was sometimes funny and likeable. Bam is awful. Thoroughly annoying character with a dumb plot twist. Janhae is a talented actress who deserves better roles!

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The trailer had me so hopeful

This turned out to be a four-episode series stretched to twelve, with a second couple that was excruciating to watch and utterly unbelievable as a romantic pairing.

The director should be scolded for making Neo come off like a terrible, scene-chewing actor who shouts his lines. If I was Neo's manager I'd be immediately searching hard for another role that will allow him to truly showcase his talent. His performance here was a disaster.

Right around the midpoint my level of interest in the series dropped significantly and I started to forget that new episodes would be airing. It got to where YouTube would serve them up and I'd be like "Oh yeah ... that's still going." Then I'd put off watching until I'd consumed everything else that had come out that week.

The last few episodes took me multiple days to watch because they could only keep me engaged for 15 minutes at a time. FUTS had become a borderline hate-watch.

For me the high point was the episode where Pond was hiding out in Pi's house, trying to avoid detection by Duean. That was comedy gold. So many other shows try to pull off a sequence like that and fail, but this one nailed it.

I also appreciated the episode where the insecurity that Pi had built up over many years had realistic consequences, making it hard for him to accept that anyone could really care for him. While we all love Mix, Pi's relentless pursuit of Mueang Nan in the early episodes rang false. Somebody who felt as bad about himself as Pi did would never have had the courage to keep going after a guy like Mueang Nan time after time -- and even continue after being gently rebuffed.

Speaking of Mix, another high point was his OST song.

Pond is a discovery. His role made him into a borderline stalker, but wow, his visuals are way up there and he clearly has the acting chops. He's going to go on to to great things.

Phuwin also did well, but it was another case of the wardrobe department thinking that if you make a character wear glasses along with messy hair and braces, you can pass them off as homely. I realize that this is a constant tactic in Asian series but really, asking the audience to accept that kind of thing only drives home how much of a fictional universe you're creating. You can't disguise cuteness of that caliber.

For me FUTS goes into the same pile as "2gether" and "The Shipper" -- a series with a big budget that I couldn't wait to debut, that ended up being even more of a disappointment because of how bad it was.

6/10. And I think that's being generous. ^_^

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Sweet and dorky

This drama is kind of sweet, well atleast the main couple is but more or less everybody else with a few exceptions got on my nerves one way or another.

The main couple is this really dorky immature, self conscious guy who falls for this super sweet (that is actually super sweet) guy. His best friend mr super popular has however had a huge crush on the dork for the longest time. Mr popular tries hard to get the attention of mr dork but mr dork just will not believe his efforts no matter what he does. But mer popular is VERY persistent borderline stalking him or is it getting him out of his shell... Well what ever it is most of the show revolves around mr populars attempts to get mr dork of his best friend and in to him instead while facing intense shipping and other peoples looks. Mr popular is however extremely sweet and caring and if we can look past the being way to persistens he is actually a model boyfriend and probably one of dramalands sweetest guys (so is his best friend).

The dorks brother is probably one of the most gross and stupid guys in the land of the bls, he had 4 good friends that may or may not be a mix of the guys in boys over flowers and fab five (ok 4) they are kind of sweet and do allot to help the plot move along. But also offensive and use unexeptable punch down, CA humor.

The highlight of this drama is the dorks parents who give us a lovely display of a happy marriage.

All in all sweet but not much more.

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Manipulation meets insecurity

Seriously.

That's the story of this show. The entire show is about Mork. Mork, who has absolutely no personality traits outside of loving Pi and who uses his supposed popularity to constantly pressure him into their relationship. From stalking him, refusing to give him any time to think or space to never accepting his no to refusing to actually be his friend to threatening to out their relationship if Pi, who has been chronically insecure and uncomfortable with crowds, doesn't do it for him.

Mork repeatedly makes posts about their non-existent relationship despite Pi's objections, including doing a FB live with the stalkers who Pi asked to stop before WITH MORK NEXT TO HIM. Mork also never accepts no, confesses to Pi in public multiple times and generally refuses to respect a single boundary Pi ever tries to have.

Pi's ever attempt to lay down a boundary is met by resistance, no matter how basic that boundary might be. It's honestly depressing.

I, honestly, find this to be the worst BL was a 'happy' ending I've ever watched. It's so bad I'm writing an actual review just to be sure people know.

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No, He Wasn't A Stalker

First, I loved this show. I did not agree with many of the negative comments in the review, but everyone watches for a different reason, I guess. Not going to compare this show to any other show, because doing that is unfair, there will always be shows you like and dislike more than others. I loved the fact that this show was long, there was no rushed feeling. I loved the characters, especially the guy who is so persistent in going after the person he loves. Of course, it took him a long time to understand why his intended was the way he was, but at the same time he was always doing things that took care of him. His persistence was because he knew from the long looks between them that there was something there. I also loved a lot of the meaningful things that were said over the course of the show. They are actually listed in another review, so I am not going to list them here. Overall, I loved every episode, and I suggest you give it a chance.

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Praising the Series

The story is beautiful it starts off in a cute way, and it breaks all the expectations we created in the beginning.
The surprises are open-mouthed!
When we like someone, we can't really see anything around us anymore, the way they embraced this concept, and giving us a character –Pi– who was a real "Fish Upon the Sky" without knowing, to someone close to him, his "enemy"– Mork, and his feelings turning from hate to love, is certainly beautiful and applauding.
I loved the naturalness of everything in the series. And all the other characters (like Duean's gang– Koh, Yok, James and Jeans) Duean and Meen, theirs parents, and the plot twist made this series a pleasure to watch and listen to.
I loved!

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Fish Upon the Sky, There is a Predator Nearby

Never in my whole life have I witnessed this crazy level of manipulation and gaslighting made out to be romantic. The character of Mork is actually insane, and I feel like I'm stuck in the upsidedown place and no one else is seeing what I'm seeing. This is a character that is relentless in manipulating and harassing his love interest. He shows up in front of Pi's house (after stalking him to find out the address), watches him from afar, doesn't take no for an answer, pressures and manipulates him face to face and anonymously, and takes no responsibility for his actions to the point of being a bystander. He sounds like a horror movie antagonist and he would be one if the tone of the show allowed for it. He could be in the next season of YOU.

I've seen comments and reviews characterize Pi as selfish and annoying for rejecting Mork's advances. The more reasonable comments call Mork's actions "not cool" or "a bit weird". I have to be 2 years late to the party and be the person who says straight up that Mork is a predator. Fish Upon the Sky is a romcom where the comedy aspect holds strong but the romance aspect is batshit insane. Pi was rejecting Mork for legitimately the entirely show. Even after an established relationship and a two year timeskip, Mork doesn't have any grasp on the concept of consent. Is that romance? I think y'all are on drugs.

I thought Mork's character was so blatantly a manipulator and it was just an aspect of the show to add craziness and absurdity, but after reading the MDL comments and reviews I've realized I live in the multiverse of madness where in the MDL universe harassment is hot. I shouldn't be surprised considering the history of the BL genre and its fans, but can it really get more blatant than Mork????? You can find the dynamic between MorkPi fun in a slapstick, cat and mouse, exaggerated way, but seeing people be genuinely mad at Pi's character makes me realize y'all would be gagged over abuse.

I still decided to give 3 stars overall which generally reflect the first few episodes of the show. Honestly they were fantastic and the comedy in this show is crazy. I would watch any show that's as funny as this one was, as long as it doesn't put me on suicide watch like FUTS did. I went from having the time of my life to being stressed the fuck out. If Mork got hit by a bus in episode 12 I would have been so happy again. I only got through the ending of the show because I watched it with a friend who loves crazy toxic shit. Love you babe. Thanks for keeping me off the ledge.

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it feels mean

Listen I love pulp ridiculous shows with problematic characters, like I loved My Engineer, but FUTS is a failure at pulling that of.

I genuinely believe that if this story was done by a different director/screenwriter then I could have loved it. However, I feel like this director went into this show in bad faith.
In summary this show attempts to a lighthearted comedy filled with tropes and not meant to be taken seriously. I say attempts because it can't even manage that. Before I get into the negatives, I will say that I think the actors did as well as they could have, and I felt they were genuinely engaging and I would be glad to see them in other shows in the future. I also like the general premise of a shy, insecure person falling for someone the exact opposite and them both growing together, I also really like the rivals to lovers trope and how it could be used in this context.

Now to the negatives:
1. The comedy is about as subtle as a brick to the face, and there are many places that can work but this feels like what a 40 year old thinks people in their teens think is funny. It misses the charm and nuance that comes from comedy based around a group of peers or friends. In fact a lot of the humour feels mean, it feels like its reliance on making jabs at other characters, or worse in some cases. Which leads us to:

2. There is a part that is played for laughs that is racially insensitive towards Sikhs. This was called out when it aired and though I have criticisms of the response of those higher ups involved, I do have a hope that this leads to this not happening in future shows. The issue is that this once again shows a disconnect with the humour, it gives the show a low level feeling of being mean because of its reliance on punching down humour. It doesn't know how to be funny without being immature or trying to put someone else down.

3. I also feel like the pacing could use work, though I'm more forgiving of this knowing the set episode numbers. The middle episodes got realllll slow, which doesn't really fit the feel of the show.

4. The female representation. Not unique to FUTS, this is an issue in most BL series but there is a habit of BL series to either villainise, infatuated, or infantilise female characters. In FUTS, We see that with the 'twist' female character being the one behind things due to infatuation that they then got over in like 2 scenes. Of the very few other female characters they are toxic shippers which is reliant on the 'infatuated' element of villainising women.

5. Speaking of toxic shippers, They're generally bad and FUTS halfway tries to show that critically but does it with no pay off or development. They don't learn or get consequences. And here is another overarching element of FUTS: it is noticeable that the characters the show is trying to criticise with the shippers are either women or gay characters that are coded more feminine. Which brings me to one of my biggest critiques.

6.Mork. Just Mork. Mork is the prime example of my main critique of FUTS and its that I feel like the director went into the show in bad faith and was reliant on stereotypes. Mork's behaviour throughout the show is the light version of 'gay people are predators'. He is stalker-ish, dismissive to Pi's opinions and autonomy, manipulative and generally an uncomfortable character to watch. He spends the show pushing Pi's boundaries, talking down to him when he says he is uncomfortable and engaging in stalker behaviour but with the veneer of romanticising it. Pi isn't ready to tell people about their relationship, Mork says thats okay but acts otherwise. Pi is extremely uncomfortable with the shippers, so Mork goes to the shippers when Pi doesn't do what he want him to do.

I do not think it was the directors/screenwriters intent to be negative. I think they went in to this thinking they were making a show that was just a bit of fun. But the overarching feel of the show is that it was created by a middle age straight man whose view of gay people is unintentionally tainted by old stereotypes. Its not intentionally malicious, I think the director wanted to make a good show that did a gay romance well but didn't know how and so relied on water-downed versions of stereotypes without realising.
The result of this though is a show that feels like its mean to everyone and everything it could be with a beautiful assistant of over the top comedy distracting you from it. So if you want to watch it I say keep your eye on the beautiful assistant rather than what the magician is doing in the corner.

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it's cute & all but that's it..

While I've watched bls from gmmtv & really liked few of them , my overall opinion about the company & the type of bls it produces isn't that good. So I tend to avoid watching their contents. When I decided to watch this series I just wanted to see how it is & didn't have much expectations. Honestly I was surprised by how much I enjoyed the first few episodes but the series as a whole wasn't that fun for me.
The main lead Pi & his stupid antics during the first few episodes were so much fun to watch.
& then Pi's bro Duean.. he's such a crackhead always leading his bro to embarrassing situations with his dumb aadvices. also his love story was funny too. & the way the story switches between the main couple & the second couple was interesting & hilarious. But then as the story moved forward everything stopped being fun & I realised I wasn't enjoying it anymore. The couples are cute & all but I couldn't form any emotional connection with the characters & I realised there's nothing new in the plot that I haven't watched before.
Still I decided to complete it because I didn't have much episodes left to watch. At one point I just wanted to know how everything is going to end & I kept fast forwarding & skipping scenes.
Yeah it's cute & all but honestly the story don't have much depth. Watch it if you want something light & have lots of time to spare. You may or may not enjoy it. It depends on your mood & taste.

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Another Typical GMMTV series

This series was hard for me to get into only because it had aired right after one of GMMTVs greatest BL series ever, so going from a dramatic and serious tone to this comedic and crazy setting was a bit difficult for some reason. Sadly, this series didn't leave anything impressive for me to remember it months down the road, and it will surely be forgotten about after another handful of series are watched. It was another typical BL series with a boring plot, an even boring-ier setting, and one-dimensional characters plus a stalker.

Let's Dive In.

let's start with production and plot. As for settings and whatnot, nothing new, but, I really did like the OST. The plot was pretty simplistic and something we've seen played out many times before. There is nothing ugly about wearing glasses or braces, but I knew they needed something to drive the plot, so I was willing to look past that. One thing that I really enjoyed about this series was the way they changed the proportions of Duean and Meen's screens when they were on. It felt like I was watching another series but in a good way. I liked also how they had their own title to each episode, and really appreciated how much work was put into their screen time. A big pat on the back for that part. The craze-BL- fans' side plot ruined this series. I literally am begging GMMTV to stop these ridiculous crazy-BL-fans plots in literally every BL they make (TOTS is an exception cause it was a MASTERPIECE). The other side plots were not important and were just like any other series we've seen before. I was hoping there would be this big moral at the end of the series about loving oneself just the way they are, which we sort of got, but not in the way I was hoping for. It was more of, as long as you change the way you look than past you was okay.

Moving onto characters. this is unusual for me to start with the parents, but that's where I'm starting. I was absolutely in love with Pi's parents. They themselves had such a good relationship and I loved how flirty the dad was with the mom. I like how they were both super accepting of Pi's older brother's boyfriend, and the relationship with Pi and his mom. Moving onto Pi, I loved Phuwin's acting in this. He did a fantastic job at playing with the comedic side of this series. I think I liked him best when he did have braces and glasses more than when he was "fixed". Although Pi was a good character, he was still pretty typical and was far from my favorite. Moving of Duean, Neo's acting in this is 1000x times better than in Tonhon Chonlatee. Neo played this character almost perfectly. His actions, the tone of his voice, his emotions. I'm very proud of how much he has improved. Duean was one of my favorite characters. He was a little mean and hot-headed at times, but I just loved the choices that Neo made with this character, and how soft he was around Meen. Onto Meen, by far my favorite character. He was so pure and lighthearted that it was hard for me not to like him. This was my first time seeing Louis and I am a huge fan. The emotions of Meen, the actions of Meen, and literally anything else were so precious that I was just too excited for him and Duean. I loved his little water bottle around his neck and the way he held his bag when he walked, urgh, literally just everything. Moving on the Kitty gang I believe they're called, nothing spectacular or anything, but I got to see one of the twins, so I'm pleased with what we got there. Bam was an excellent friend in the beginning until she just wasn't by the end. I wish they wouldn't have had her sabotage Pi and Mork's relationship and just had her really be a supportive friend. Mueang Nan was amazing, but I might but a little bias just because I love Mix so much. We didn't get to see much of him after the first few episodes, but what we did get was really good. All in all, these characters didn't have much of a personality outside of being someone's love interest or a side plot. I would've loved to see them being anything else other than what they were.

Moving onto Mork who gets his own paragraph because he was the worst person ever. I see everyone praising Mork and thinking that he was the best boyfriend ever and how they wanted someone like him, but if this were real life, I promise you that Mork would've been sent a restraining order. There was nothing good about Mork at all. Sure he liked Pi and he was a decent boyfriend, but the excessive stalking made me completely lose any love that I had for this couple. For example, Pi minding his business in the cafe just casually drinking his coffee until he spills it and then leaves for two seconds just to go clean up, which was perfect enough time for Mr. creeper to swoop in and buy him another coffee. How did he know he was there? How come Mork would just randomly be wherever Pi was? This turned me off for real. And it didn't help at all that Pond's acting was stiff as a board. Being pretty can only get you so far. He had one factual expression and that was it. I would give him the benefit of the doubt because he's a rookie actor, but Mix is just as new as he is and Mix is fantastic. Besides Mork being a stalker, he was still not the overall perfect boyfriend that everyone was praising him for being.

Since the beginning, I wanted Nan and Pi together, and that just never changed. I really could care less for Pi and Mork. Their entire relationship was just boring and I felt no chemistry between them. The fact that their entire relationship was being broadcasted everywhere for these crazy obsessive fans was also a huge factor in my dislike for them. Nan just seemed like the better choice for Pi in my opinion, and I was kind of hoping those series would surprise us and have them end up together, but nope, no hope there. Meen and Duean were the cutest. They didn't end up together until the very end, but I still loved their dynamic. I loved Duean and how caring he was for Meen, and I liked how Meen cared for him too. I don't know why they made him out to be this super annoying person in episode one, cause after that, we don't see him act like that again.

Some other nit-picky stuff. All the kisses between the couples were super stiff and cringey. If there is to be a season two, then I hope these actors learn how to kiss or they'll be in trouble. The long stares hurt my soul so much, it added such awkwardness into the atmosphere that was super hard to get rid of.


Overall, this series will probably end up being forgotten about. I would recommend this to a person trying to get into BL, cause at the end of the day, it was still super lighthearted and an easy watch.

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the potential was there....

....but then they made mork basically not respect any of pi's boundaries. i just. why did pi fall for mork??? because in my opinion mork certainly did. a couple of things where i would be like "okay nope goodbye" even if he had nice moments in between

the lowkey stalkerish behaviour?? engaging with the shippers even though pi is clearly super uncomfy? him being kind pushy about pi liking him? like damn let the guy breathe... idk that kind of behaviour just doesnt sit well with me

it also felt rlly sudden that pi changed his mind and decided to date mork. did they realize that they ran out of episodes and needed to bring it to an end?
the writing in general isn’t great. the actors are doing a decent job but they can only do so much if the writing sucks

also wtf was that whole shipping thing, it was so creepy, pi you should have called the police

i did laugh at a few moments and i rlly liked the actors' performances but that only made the show bearable, not good

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