From the opening scene you are drawn into the main protagonist's life and where he comes from. N' Ngern draws you in with the back story and total likability of his portrayal of Mong. The gritty realness of his moving from home and trying to make a new life is just simply portrayed perfectly.
As the story progresses you can't help but love the cast. As relationships develop the realness is felt. The daily struggles, the forged friendships, the problems balancing school and outside life, especially sleep! This is truly University life!
What's interesting is although Mong is the genesis he is not the only focus as the world expands. All the characters are given their fair share of development so you don't really feel boxed-in or linear. Kinda rare in dramas, especially with such a large cast.
The music score is more an upbeat, dreamy, and story-book-telling like. Adds quite an atmosphere to the series!
The directing is simply perfection! Camera angles, capturing faces, always on-point!
You don't feel like a spectator. You don't feel like you're intruding. You don't feel like you're spying. You don't feel like an outsider! You get to know the characters, their ambitions, their wants, their needs, their emotions! It just feels like you are there going through life with them!
All in all a wonderful drama that comes really close to mimicking true life as it could get! Thai television coming of age and really maturing in this genre!
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my only issue with this series is too MANY characters. and each character has its own thing going own so sometimes its hard too keep up with their lives lol. when you are already invested/attached to a certain character then another episode will be spent for another story line, which is sometime frustrating since you cant follow the characters that you just wanted to see.
for the acting, i haven't seen a lot of thai dramas like this but to compare this to lovesick and make it right, the actors here are way way better.
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Surprisingly, the cast were all fantastic actors. I was expecting the odd one or two 'unable to expression emotions properly' characters, but they didn't come out! For that I am so thankful. The whole process of watching was a roller coaster of emotions and I'm genuinely a 100% satisfied watcher of the series.
Since I've watched it a lot later than the initial release, I don't know whether this series received the limelight it deserved but know that this series deserves so much love, the actors and actresses too!
The cinematography was great, the sound quality was practically 10/10 and the soundtrack was beautiful to listen to.
Overall, I think this series is definitely worth the watch. For me, it was superb. 10/10 ????
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Love the flow of the series and the storyline is well structured. As the story progress, viewers will able to form stronger bond with each of the main characters. I like the way of how each of the character was slowly mould. However, the series storyline can be improved if there is more episodes as it seem there are so many characters to develop. Even for few of the supporting roles, I would love to see further stories of them or as leading characters, e.g. Q, Om & Tee.
Wishing that there will be a new season 2 for this series. Highly recommended!
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There also is a bl couple in it, it's not 100% confirmed but when you've watched all the episodes you can probably already tell, that Ti and Hall belong together.
So if you are not sure if you should watch this one, I suggest you to give it a try and I'm pretty sure that you're going to like it^^
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( HEART )^this means it's one of my absolute favorites
A little bit of background: I have to admit I started watching this because I saw a video on youtube about the best bl dramas and it mentioned two of the characters and I thought they were cute so I started watching it. I went into this drama knowing very little about the plot and also the culture, because this was the first Thai show I've ever watched. I ended up falling in love with every single character (uh... except maybe Melon) and I truly felt their struggles as if I was in their shoes. Thai language and culture is so beautiful; I can't wait to learn more about it (I'm literally going to buy a book about it- that's how much I loved it). This drama made me want to watch more Thai dramas so I'll start a new one today even though I've just finished this one.
The characters: As I've already said, I fell in love with the characters and the relationships between them. Specially the five main boys. Their friendship made me soft. I also loved the fact that the characters grew a lot throughout the episodes- they weren't perfect to begin with but they developed and matured, specially Jod, whose personality I wouldn't be able to handle in real life but who matured soooo much and made me proud. When *something* happened to *someone* (I DONT WANT TO SPOIL) you could clearly tell how close they had become. I just really love their friendship.
Ti and Hall did not disappoint me at all. Their friendship was a heathy one, because they helped each other out- Hall learned a lot from Ti (he became such an amazing friend, son and person in general) and Ti also learned to open up more thanks to Hall. I was disappointed at the end because their situation isn't clear but I'll talk more about that later.
Each character has their own opinions, personality, dreams and expectations. So even though there were quite a lot of things going on it wasn't that hard to follow the plot because it was all very different (I mean, the situations the characters were living).
The plot: I loved the whole idea of the drama: teenagers/new adults struggling to keep up with school and their part time jobs while bonding with others and growing up. I do think there were less necessary things in the plot that took too much screen time that could have been spent differently (I liked the scene where Jod's foster family visits him but two whole minutes of his foster mother singing him to sleep while the others watch is a /little/ too much. Some scenes just took too long. That "wasted time" could have been used to explore the characters even more because, since there were like 30 characters on the show, some things were rushed. I was surprised with how fast Melon got over what happened to her in one of the first 10 episodes (I dont want to include spoilers in this review but if you've watched it then you KNOW what I mean). And I know I'm being biased but more Ti & Hall moments wouldn't hurt a soul.
There are lots of characters so lots of things are going on at the same time but dont worry too much about it: as I've said, each one is dealing with their own problem and also each episode seems to focus more on one or two particular characters so it's not as overwhelming as it might seem.
One of my favorite episodes was the sea trip one. It warmed my heart (well... at least at first haha ^^'). It was just cute and fun and hfbdshrjfk. I really liked it.
Ending: I WILL BE TALKING A LITTLE ABOUT THE ENDING. I'LL TRY NOT TO INCLUDE SPOILERS BUT IF YOU HATE BEING 1% SPOILED THEN DON'T READ THIS PART ^^
Okay so: WHAT WAS THAT ENDING??? I liked Hall's friend too but I'd rather see him with Ti because long term friendships should stay as friendships 99% of the time, in my opinion. Some other storylines didn't have a clear ending either, for example, Jin, Tong and Nich's and also the three girls'. These are just the obvious examples- there are several other loose ends. This makes me hope for a second season hahaha. It isn't impossible, right? ... right? ): I dont think the drama was that popular so I doubt there will ever be a continuation. But oh well, the ending could be worse!
Conclusion: I loved it. I loved it so much. It made me discover a whole new world (A DAZZLING PLACE I NEVER KNEW- okay, it's time to stop) and it definitely taught me some important things. It contributed to my personal growth and isn't that enough to place it high on my favorites list?
ALSO I followed some of the actors on Instagram and stuff and I found out Hall/Kimmon and Tee are in a group??? Watch me stan.
Does anyone know if the actors were friends before the show? This is my first time watching a Thai drama so I have no idea of how it works. Did they promote it together? Are they good friends still? Has there ever been a reunion? Okay, I'm sorry, I'm a sensitive person. I like the friendships haha
Sorry about this review. I'm too overwhelmed to express myself cohesively. If you're considering watching it then do it! You won't regret it^^
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This show is a mess. It's hard to understand who likes whom. But I liked it tho. I specifically came for Hall and Ti 's relationship and I have to say I'm disappointed. And their ending scene wasn't clear at all. The ending overall was okay.
The things I hated: The rape, and abuse stuff. It was really bad. And the girl who got raped, Melon. She got over it quick. It was unreal for me. The second thing is, that Tong fell in love with Jin while helping him and his sister to get together.
Anyways..
Despite all the drama, cringe, and the ridiculously long, unnecessary scenes I enjoyed it so much. The actors/actresses were loveable and cute.
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I know this show has a lot of characters. But I was so invested in all of them. The boys group (Mong, Jod, Ter, Jin & Ti) and the girl's group (White, Om & Melon) were both so adorable.BB!Kim was hilarious. And is it just me or is Tee a vampire? I swear he looks the same from Part-Time to Today (Kim looks so different!)
I loved all the storylines. And even though this show had 26 episodes, it didn't feel like a drag to watch it all.
The only thing I was upset about was the ambiguous ending. I know there was meant to be a Season 2, but they could have given us closure, or not brought up things that would imply more of a story. It seems liek S2 is totally out of the question though -- I mean, it's been 4 years since this one aired, so the chances of a sequel are none to none.
What happens between Nich-Jin & Tong? Nich just found out her brother is in love with her boyfriend (who is very close to her brother).
What happens between Hall/Ti & Q? We know Hall has feelings for Q, and we assume Ti reciprocated those feelings. But then Q is also circling the water waiting to smell blood... And what about Tee who is in love with Q?
Also what happened with the Girls? Are they a triad, are they staying single? I know from the offset that Om was liked by both White and Melon, but White and Melon seem to have had a tryst, and White kissed Om. So what's going on?
What about Mong & Jod? Will they ever find their happiness?
I'm glad Ter seemed to have at least found closure to his story without any added complication.
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Not Satisfying
this isn't the usually fluffy romcom BL, that i'm used to. it was "raw" and too real, to "take" this as anything but a serious drama -the fact that some of the character's represent the LGBTQ community is inconsequential.this was good - in spite of the seriousness of every topic, and how "real" and depressing it got from time to time (even the romance is almost nonexistent to an extant). but like in a load of Thai drama's, the number of character's and storylines was mindboggling - especially when the ending was a quick wrap up - which if "they" freakin managed their "time" better (ironic - as the last episode everyone was going on about time management) this would've been a more fulfilling conclusion, when we got to "the end". this was 26 episode after all - u want to tell me they couldn't divide the stories between all the episode's and give each one the respect "it" needed, to unfold and some kind of reasonable ending to each?!? plz - donno who to blame, but this could've been so much more -
and yet this was good - the actors as young as they r did a great job making u live their happiness, hurt and pain - there wasn't a boring moment, interesting until the end - if only this had focuses!!! chose a few good storylines and run with them, instead of this mess that (brings me back to) not satisfying ending. yeah u kinda get a "wrap up" on each story, but nothing conclusive and a lot is left open - so Not Satisfying - when u want / need a happy ending for the character's u loved / cared for, throughout this -
there isn't a lead per-say - so no side character's. each story had its lead but with so many stories, it was a mess and counterproductive - which reinforces the point i was trying to make above. going into this u think Mong is the lead - but nope he is the first character u get to know, and through him u get to meet additional character's. like the annoying Jod - and ironically these two's story is more a buddy, friendship growing-up and finding their path in life storyline.
then u meet Ter and Jin who r the guys that r the romantic knights in shining armor - ready to sacrifice themselves for girls, that don't know they exist or don't care to know - and yet these two persist until the not so bitter end - well in one case - the other just gets complicated and i really donno why, as at the end they add a supposed love triangle with the sibling coming to realize that the person he was helping woo his sister, he himself fell for - and as there was "No time" to deal with this at all. i'm left wondering WTH?!???
then we have a trio of girls - roommate's(?) that u get from the start that both Melon and White r infatuated with Om. but their stories took so many twists and turns and was left with "...they spent the weekends in White's room..." - and i'm like WTF??? then why even have them in this drama, just so we get a representation ??? plz
the one i started to watch this for, was Ngern whom i loved in Love Sick and i watched the 2nd season cause of him, but the dude doesn't get a break there or here. and even though "came" for him, the one that stole my heart was Ti - he so sweet, naïve and pure of heart - hard not to love this character - and the fact that the sec Hall (the womanizer) notices him, he is "hooked" just made this that much more sweeter (as Hall or rather Kim playing him, is another actor that i really enjoy seeing, loved him in 2Moons and Gen Y). so of course was rooting for their story, which was developing at a snails pace. but still added the much needed spark to liven things up, let alone lift my spirits as most of the storylines were rather depressing, even angering. and of course Hall's childhood-bud (who is gay, but still in the closet) has a crush on his bff since forever, and the end for them, is both of them whispering in Hall's ears and him smiling and i'm like "well f*ck u very much - i deserve better after sticking it out until the end..."
so any "stars" go to the actors and their acting - in spite of all the emotion's bombarding me (and most, not so pleasant) i didn't want to stop and was so interested in where this was going and how it would end, and then got to the end and felt cheated.
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A Thrilling Look into the struggles of Thailand's Youth...
Just wanted to share my thoughts on this amazing drama. I know a lot of viewers came to this show expecting another BL drama, especially considering that so many of the actors in this show have established reps in multiple BL lakorns (Love Sick, 2Moons, etc.). What I love most about this show however is that it isn't exclusively focused on the BL scene. Despite that, it did more than even the most thrilling BL lakorn to showcase not just male same sex relationships, but lesbian and bisexual individuals in a wholesome and entirely natural way (for example, the interactions with Hall's mother/father). Such a rare breath of fresh air, this is an element that so many other BL lakorns can stand to learn from.The strength of this drama is that it gives a more faithful portrayal of what life could be like for the youth of Thailand struggling to fulfill their dreams than any other drama produced in the last several years. It showcased the daily life or what I call the slice of life of the average joe. Sure, there were rich characters in this drama, but they were the exception rather than the rule. Rather than strictly romance, it focused on the relationships between friends, co-workers, and family, which I enjoyed thoroughly.
This also showcased in a way that few other dramas of the BL variety do, the cultural aspects of Thailand that is woven into the very soil, water, and air of this amazing country. I love seeing the way that the characters interacted with the religious path of Buddhism and how it informed the way they interacted with the world and with their fellows.
The actor who plays Mong is of course famous for his BL roles in Love Sick and Waterboyy, but I think that his role in Part Time is one of his best performances as a character that wasn't gay or bi but straight. The story of his character's struggles to survive and thrive as a young adult with no family to help him or to support his dreams was so inspiring to me.
Despite the fact that this drama is not strictly a BL lakorn, the BL vibes are strong in this series. Like most viewers, for me the main BL attraction was the budding relationship of Hall and Tee (and possibly Q, if that last scene in the series is to be believed). The character development of the two characters with their families and separate financial situations and how it slowly but surely began to meld together as they grew closer and became better for their interactions together was breathtaking. They were so good at what they do, and their talent (the actors playing Tee and Hall) is off the charts. I've seen the actor playing Hall feature in more recent BL dramas. He's amazing in those projects, but I will always love him best in this particular drama. I really hope that the actor who played Tee is featured very soon in his own BL drama or just any drama in particular. He is crazy gorgeous and has serious talent.
All in all, this is such a great show, as well as being one of the longest running lakorns in recent history with 26 episodes (most only have 8-14). Even so, I felt that they could have expanded the episodes to 30 in order to give more in depth looks into the exploration of the possible relationship triangle between Hall, Tee, and Q; the exploration of the dynamic between Jin, his girlfriend and her brother who has now realized that he's falling in love with the guy he constantly pushed to court his sister. They only teased out that storyline in the last two episodes. It definitely needed more time to breathe. They never really explored the fallout of the relationship of White's brother and his boyfriend of 2 years and how it would be viewed by his family that he's been concealing it from.
I hope that someday in the next couple of years, they'll be able to assemble this supremely amazing cast (or as many of the original cast members as possible) and make a follow up to this series, or even a spinoff. Such a great drama and definitely deserves to be rated much higher than some here have elected to rate it due to their various reasons. Check it out! It's not as dramatic as some of the other popular shows out there, but it is so worth the time and effort needed to get through all 26 episodes. Can't wait to watch it again!
Rating: 9.5/10
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