Until We Meet Again (2019)

Unique Premise But Execution Could Have Been Better...

I was really excited to watch this BL as several people mentioned that it was their favourite BL. My first Studio Wabi Sabi production! Beautiful premise, but the execution could have been better. Not a fan of the Korn and In storyline to be honest. I find In to be kinda annoying and the love between In and Korn to be random, superficial, and rushed. Their relationship felt more like just an infatuation from In and Korn reluctantly giving in to In's advances rather than love, especially one that will transcend time and be worthy of suicide. Their story should have been fleshed out more. You don't believe that Korn and In are soulmates who are meant to be with one another. And to have their weak 'love' be the basis of the love between Dean and Pham kinda takes some semblance of truth away from the story. Their circumstance didn't warrant a suicide at all. The stakes weren't there. The double suicide came across like a cheap plot device used to create drama. Kinda disgusting of the writer to be honest. Couldn't Korn and In run away instead of commit suicide? They do have their own condo and were planning on eloping anyways. And like why didn't In's father stop In from committing suicide? Like he only shouted, "Don't" right when In already had the gun to his head. Like what?

However, in regards to Pharm and Dean's story, I really liked it in the first few episodes. Those moments when Pham and Dean came across one another made my heart so full! However, the story got aimless quickly as there was like no real destination; no end goal for the story to go towards, no momentum. In other BL series, usually, the protagonist and his love interest will get together after one of them gives chase and the other resists initially but finally relents. That's the end goal. But for this series, Pham and Dean are technically like together just 3 episodes in, so there's nothing to build towards, nothing to resolve (uncovering the past lives of Pharm and Dean as an end goal only came about like episode 9). They both love each other and there are no obstacles to their 'perfect' relationship. Even Alex (who is absolutely beautiful) who flirts with Pham, Pham doesn't give him a second glance because he only has eyes for Dean. They encounter their first moment of friction (when Dean forced himself on Pham) in episode 10 but it gets resolved a minute later. Not sure what the purpose of Dean forcing himself on Pham served but it was never addressed.

Without the reincarnation angle, Pham and Dean's story would be quite simple to be honest. They found each other quickly and it was love at first sight. That's it. And even with the reincarnation angle, they weren't actively searching for answers to their 'visions.' They just have flashback memories once in awhile and that’s it. The search is a subplot as the story focuses on their relationship, which is already rock-solid. And the search was so quick like literally two episodes because Dean luckily had a friend whose father is a police officer.

The last few episodes were pretty engaging though. That grandma confession moment in episode 10 was powerful! I literally held my breath throughout that entire scene. And there were some other powerful, touching moments sprinkled here and there. That finale was kinda messy. Pham finds out that Korn is his uncle and he decides to attempt to commit suicide? That makes absolutely no sense since he already knew he was related to Dean; that he (Intouch) is Dean's granduncle. What difference does knowing that Korn is his uncle make that makes him want to the condo with a gun to commit suicide. Nothing! Yes, Pham could have gotten a psychotic break where In 'took' over Pham's body, but why then? Why not earlier? The attempted suicide seemed like just a cheap plot device to amp up the tension. The last episode was touching though and it was nice to see the effects that suicide can have on a family, especially over something trivial like sexuality. I was pleasantly surprised to see them acknowledge the issue that I had in the back of my mind throughout the series, whether Dean and Pham love each other due to the 'red thread' (their past selves loving each other) or in spite of it.

It is interesting that the reason why Korn's father didn't want Korn to date a guy is because he fears what others would say, not that he is homophobic himself. And the reason why In's father didn't want In to date Korn is because Korn's father is a criminal.

There are a lot of tender moments between Dean and Pham, which pulls at your heartstrings and makes you wish that you had someone like that in your life. Their portrayal of intimate moments is probably the best when compared to other BL's that I've seen. Better than Tharntype, which I find tacky. Better than GMMTV, which are too PG. Better than History 3: Trapped and Addicted, which are more sexual.

The performances were good all around. I must say that Fluke, the actor who plays Pham, is very good at crying though it can be a bit much at times. The amount of crying in the series is way too much! It kinda takes away from the story in a sense. Because there is so much crying, you get numb and annoyed whenever someone cries due to a past memory. Like chill, fam! And though I found Pham to be so cute in the beginning, he began to irritate me. He literally doesn’t have any personality traits, other than cooking for his friends (his friends are using him but he’s clueless), being cute and crying a lot. And always getting embarrassed when his friends or Dean's friends brings up his relationship with Dean or when he sees a photo or video of him with Dean posted on social media. And being squeamish with Dean even though Dean is his boyfriend.

On a side note, the flourishing musical score that backgrounds scenes of Dean and Pharm is beautiful but it doesn't fit the story. It sounds more like the backdrop for an epic adventure film like Mulan to be honest.

On another side note, it was pretty nice seeing a fat person in a Thai BL series in the role of Manaow. I have watched a ton of BL's over the past several weeks and have yet to see an actual fat person, so the representation was nice. It sucks that everywhere you go, fat people don't get representation, even in American media. Manaow is the comic relief though. The crazy, hyper, obsessed, fujoshi fangirl. Hopefully, we will see her relationship with Pruek more in the sequel, Hemp Rope (weird title). And apparently, the actor who plays Pham, Fluke, is gay (according to a Reddit reply), so that's pretty cool also! He's so lucky to be able to get intimate with Ohm Thitiwat, who is the hottest BL actor in my opinion.

On a different note, I absolutely love the theme of reincarnation! The idea of soulmates finding one another again in a different lifetime makes my heart stir and those were the most powerful moments in the series; whenever reincarnation was at play. One of my favourite films, Cloud Atlas, also deals with it. We need more high concepts for BL like this and He's Coming To Me instead of the standard school setting.

On a final note, It would be nice to be able to meet your soulmate, feeling incomplete and having an vague idea of loving someone growing up until you actually see them and your heart swells. You feel overwhelmed, warm and longing. I wonder if there are people who felt this in this world...

P.S. I realized how much I wrote for this review. Damn! I had a lot of thoughts! Anyways, I enjoyed the series. Yes, it had a number of flaws, but its premise was unique. I am looking forward to and will be watching its sequel, Hemp Rope.

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Honestly my favourite drama right now

OKAY SO. This is by far ine of my all time favourites. The acting and the chemistryis unbelievable, and the story is beautiful. Before starting this drama i had actually just begun a different one. Almost dropping it so i could watch this, id seen a fanmade trailer and instantly fell in love with it. I ended up waiting till I'd finnished the first one, and im so glad i did, I dont feel like i was prepared in the slightest for the litterally instant emotional roller-coaster. I got about 5 minutes into the first episode and i was sobbing. The side ship between Win and Team is honestlymy favourite thing they are so cute together i cant wait to see how they develop and what actually becomes of their relationship since currently it hasnt actually been said they are together, just heavily implied by some scenes. The series is only at episode 11, and i feel like so much has happened already, cant wait for even more, bring on the next 7!! Still have a full week till the next episode comes out ahhh

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This show actually makes me angry. How can you mess up with such an interesting plot and talented cast. It should've had it all the plot, the cast, the director (I know there's some debate about P' New's talent but we can't deny the buzz around him after LBC) I don't know how they could possibly mess that up but they found a way. Now don't get me wrong the show isn't absolutely horrible but it isn't good either, and it is now where near as good as I know it could be. In my opinion there are two main things wrong with the show:

1. THE LENGTH!!!!!!!!
They dragged this show out at first it started with like 12 episodes and then they extended that to 16/17 and in my opinion even 12 was too long. Now I have not read the book but many people have said that it is actually pretty short so why they thought they could get this many episodes from one short book is anyones guess. With such a short story they had to find something to fill the rest of those 16hrs and what they came up with...... cooking lessons and awkward dramatic staring contests. Like no joke I felt like I was watching a Thai cooking show half the time, and while that might be interesting to some it's was not what I signed up for. Don't even get me started on the pauses and stares, at a certain point I started wondering why people around them weren't questioning why these two guys were stopping to stare into each others eyes for 5 minutes mid conversation. By the time they announced the episode extension I was begging them to end my suffering. It just took too long for too little to happen . After the 13th episode I gave up and not even WinTeam (who I absolutely love and really hope they have their own BETTER series) could save it for me.

2. THE STORY
The main plot of reincarnation and a love that surpasses even death is a very interesting one and I think would make a great series.... it didn't here though. People have said that the book is good so I have to assume that the main problems came with transforming the book into television. Tbh I had a lot of trouble connecting with Dean and Pharm's love story. It felt a little too much like insta-love. I understand the whole idea of how they were in love in their lives before, and their souls recognize each other etc but it's hard to connect to that having only a few flashbacks of Intouch and Korn. I kinda think it would've been better if the first few episode had just shown In and Korn's story in the past before moving to the present with Dean and Pharm. It might have changed the original story but then at least viewers might have been able to connect better with Dean and Pharm's love story making it feel less insta-lovey, especially if you haven't read the book.

Again I wanna repeat I am not saying that this show is horrible and unwatchable, it's not you can watch it. you might even enjoy it, but it is nowhere near as good as it should be especially with such a talented cast. Just gonna take a moment to give Fluke his props he is an amazing actor even with the script he was given, which I'm pretty sure is 40% crying, 50% P' Dean and 10% cooking show host. Some others were also noting a problem with the volume of the music and editing and I gotta say I didn't notice it, I didn't even mind all the repeated flashbacks. I really hope that if this show hasn't does as well as they expected/wanted it to it doesn't prevent other directors/studios from creating new bl series with more creative, non stereotypical plots because I think we can use a lot more series like this one..... just better.

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Give it a go!

I have always been interested in anything to do with soulmates or past life. This drama truly portrayed the depth of it. All the actors were wonderful especially Ohm who played Dean. He truly portrayed the seriousness and the introvert side of his character really well. I loved how he could show how gentle and teasing he could be when he was with Pharm. The overall background story was super cute and equally heartbreaking. The other actors did an amazing job to portray how being gay in a family in the past was degraded and how much abuse they might have received from their family members. The 16th episode was a bit confusing for me to understand whilst putting me in Pharm's shoes because I don't know if he got possessed to become 'In' but I think their past selves live within them that is why perhaps. Personally I think that the ending was a bit rushed and that they could have shown more growth between the protagonists but it is what it is. One of my top five bl drama! I definitely recommend watching :)

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Top notch but have the tissues ready

Having seen many BL's over the years, this rates as my all time favourite and is the only one I have rewatched fully a couple of times and every so often come back to to watch segments.
No other BL can match the tear jerking emotions that has me bubbling every time whilst Fluke's performance as Pharm is outstanding with his acting in some scenes being the best I've ever seen in a BL.
The sound track really deserves praise for heightening the mood of the scenes, and if I had to nit pick at its weak point I'd say that sme scenes were a bit too drawn out and you can get a bit fed up hearing 'P'Dean' for a million times!

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It was not extraordinary yet considering the other BL Thai series, it can be considered in the good category. If you generally enjoy most of them, you will enjoy this one too.
The story and the idea in general was good, there werent any parts where i got frustrated with the characters, felt like they were adding unnecessary drama or dragging the plot. However, the scenes and the dialogs in the current timeline felt very empty. While watching i constantly keep thinking "if they have done this scene this way it would be much more impactfull". I think the execution was not very good in general.
The side couple's story was just sprinkled randomly that i couldnt connect with them other than liking the characters. One time you see them they are just meeting, the other time you see them they are already very close friends that you think "maybe they were already friends before the series timeline?" yet there is nothing to confirm or deny that, the next time you see them they are already a couple but you are also not sure of it because they didnt show anything about it either? Rather than being a side couple, it felt more like there was a spin-off series about them already and you are just getting updates in this series.
LOVED Korn and In's chemistry and acting, especially Intouch's actor did such a killer job portraying the character. I am satisfied enough with just their parts that i cant regret watching the series. However i am really disappointed with Fluke's acting as it keep annoying me for the whole series. He had the same expression during the whole series whether he is annoyed, happy, shy.
I really liked the cinematography, color and lighting choices they made in may scenes.
Ost was average but background music choices were really, really good.

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This was a very sweet story of reincarnation, deep love and deep regret. It was sad, touching, soft and loving with great actors and great cinematography.

Personally, though, I found the story a bit too slow and I think it would’ve really benefited from being shorter, the usual 12 episodes and not 17. To me it felt as if almost all the scenes and all the pauses between the characters’ reactions were a beat too long, it felt slo-mo without the use of slo-mo.

My favorite pairing was the secondary - tertiary? - one, WinTeam, because their back-n-forth felt more lively than the main pairs’. And my favorite character was Dean, hands down. His guilt he felt over what he had done in his previous life, his devotion to Pharm… it was wonderful.

I definitely plan on following Ohm Thitiwat and Boun Noppanut’s further series, they were THE discoveries of this drama for me. I’m very curious about their future career!

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Phew, just crying and more crying with that blank face of male lead...

Okay, I'll give an entirely honest review based on how I felt after watching this drama... I really dislike the lead couple. Especially Pharm... Such a good character, but this person was just not suitable for this role. On top of that, there was so much crying involved—crying while sleeping, crying while waking up, crying while eating, crying while walking, crying upon seeing the lover, crying upon seeing the mother, crying at deserts... Phew, just crying and more crying with that blank face... I only finished the drama because of one storyline; otherwise, the lead characters weren't worth watching the entire show. The second lead couple was good, and I really enjoyed the character of Manaow and her bonding with theme was also enjoyable. for me its 5/10

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I like Buddhism and its theory of reincarnation, reincarnation, and the bottom line, the story of this series is the most interesting for me. That's why the story is 10, even if it starts "terrifyingly tragically".
Otherwise, I evaluate the processing, prepare for an even slower pace than "normally" slow are Thai series of this type, sometimes stilted, weepy, but that's probably how it should be and it's actually a flowing drama, when in some parts there is a gradual uncovering and understanding who they really are in the thicket of Pharm and Dean's tangled family generations and sometimes those who "believe" get chills down their spines, others who mainly look for faults remain cold.

I don't have much to complain about the acting, I rate the level of acting not by Meryl Streep, but by these series, some of them shined (surprisingly for me, Manaow, Koi's grandmother, Wina's relaxed speech and some others.). I can't even condemn Dean and Korn as actors, whose characters were written this way and they were both damn hot.
The music is fine, because if you have a longer series, you simply get used to the central theme of the songs. I also see a positive in the fact that this project creates a positive, realistic relationship with gays, despite the fact that there will be a tragedy at the beginning - it is treated with respect throughout the series and not as a farce. I RECOMMEND it to all sensitive souls.


Mám rád buddhismus i s jeho teorií převtělování, reinkarnace a ta pointa, příběh tohoto seriálu je pro mě nejzajímavější. Proto ze příběh 10, i když začíná "hrůzostrašně tragicky".
Jinak hodnotím zpracování, připravte se na ještě pomalejší tempo, než "normálně" pomalé jsou thajské seriály tohoto typu, někdy ucajdané, plačtivé, ale tak to má asi být a vlastně se jedná o plynoucí drama, kdy v některých dílech dochází k postupnému odkrývání a pochopení, kdo vlastně jsou v houští spletitých rodinných pokolení Pharm a Dean a někdy těm, kteří "věří", přejede mráz po zádech, ostatní, co hledají hlavně chyby, zůstanou chladní.

K herectví nemám co moc vytknout, hodnotím úrovní herectví ne Meryl Streep, ale těchto seriálů, někteří se zablýskli (kupodivu pro mě Manaow, babička Koi, uvolněný projev Wina a někteří další.). Odsuzovat herecky nemohu ani Deana a Korna, jejichž postavy takto byly napsány a oba byli zatraceně sexy.
Hudba fajn, totiž pokud máte delší seriál, tak si prostě na ústřední motiv písní zvyknete. Pozitivum vidím i v tom, že tento projekt vytváří kladný, realistický vztah ke gayům, navzdory tomu, že zde na začátku proběhne i tragédie - zachází se s ní po celou dobu série s úctou a ne jakou s fraškou. DOPORUČUJI všem citlivým dušičkám.

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Romantic, sweet, angsty, just pure perfection wrapped up in a series

What I found the most interesting is that there are essentially 2 main couples. I had originally thought the past cpl would just be simple flashbacks, but the series actually shows the development of their whole relationship, and it was so endearing yet incredibly sad at the same time. I was crying buckets all the time for them.

The main couple is just adorable, who doesn't love an ML who's loyal and graceful only to his bf, and MC who's just the cutest with the most adorable smile in the world!! I love the similarities between the past and current couple, the mirrors and links were executed perfectly. ML was the one being chased in the past life, but this time he was the one chasing MC, MC can be shy at times but also brave as a lion when he wants to. The cause-and-effects were done perfectly, especially the last episode really made me cry my heart out.

The overwhelming feeling whenever they remember their past lives, was really vivid, and I applaud the actors for their amazing performances. And sibling love really does transcend even time, the grandma scenes made me super emotional!! And I especially like how the parents aren't the typical antagonists (both the current and past life ones), we see how the past parents had actually loved their children, they didn't want this tragedy to happen.

Truly one of the most spectacular written BL series, there's the perfect amount of romance, that doesn't need to be shown through explicit scenes.

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