A Tale of Thousand Stars (2021)

One of my favorites

Oh my where do I start with this masterpiece???

First things first, it was so WORTH waiting for this drama to finally release! We waited for a LONG time, but it really was worth it!

This really was a fresh drama, I think we kinda needed something like this, I mean I really love watching college-based bl's, but I wish we could get more unique dramas like ATOTS! there was no side couples who got more screen time than the main couple. Every actor in this this drama acted their role to the fullest and I seriously loved it. This drama taught me something, it's to finally start doing things I would like to try, help others, give without expecting something in return, not to be scared of facing the reality, learn to forgive yourself because not everything is your fault.

The whole story line was so well made and managed! Actors... they really stole my heart with their amazing acting skills! All of them!

Oh the OST, I could clearly picture myself lying in the grass at night and looking at the bright stars in the sky! One day when I finally get the opportunity to experience lying in the grass in the night, counting stars, I will definitely play ATOTS's OST!

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The Best BL in history - A new standard

Honestly, this single series should be the face of BL in Thailand. From the casting (Earth as Phupa was the best fit and Mix as Tian showed many surprises), theme song (can we just say the first 10 seconds of the opening song send chills down my spine every episode), the filming location and even the flavors added in by the supporting casts (and the kids) are nothing short of amazing.

What surprised me more was the chemistry EarthMix had and, there's a twist! I was surprised and also bawling my eyes out every single episode after episode 7. The only series i can think of that can rival 1000 stars in terms of storyline and cinematics would be ITSAY.

The series goes beyond BL and encompasses many other learnings as well. Mix impressed me as this is his first acting film and to be honest, he is already better than many other veterans out there. Earth convincing acting as Phupa was the one that impressed me the most. His subtle expressions and micro aggressions really caught me, His role as a captain needs to be less dramatic in terms of expression, but i could really felt his sadness throughout.

That said, this is a very heavy show and although this is my best and most favorite BL series. I didnt really rewatch it much because it's quite hard to watch - too much emotions needed and i would say not very light hearted.

To end off, if you are looking to start a Thai BL. This will be the best one to start but dont compare this with others because ATOTS is simply just refreshing and legendary.

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Just Wow

If you're looking for sexual content BE GONE! If you're looking for something new and refreshing WELCOME! The story was amazing all around. It's truly a humbling, emotional, cute and realistic series. As an experienced BL fan I gotta say I've never seen anything like this before and I love that fact. The MC's having great chemistry, visuals all around and with some gut punching parts all make for an impressive series.
With all the praise I'm giving I can't explain why I didn't give it a perfect 10. I think it's cause I felt it was a bit basic for a bit too long but I'm proud to say I'm definitely going to recommend to a newbie BL fan or honestly anyone in general lol
PLEASE Enjoy...

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A Really Pleasant Unexpected Surprise!

I really did not have much hopes from GMM TV because of their usual tendency to go with kiddish unrealistic BL tropes, unlike a few exceptions! But this one really left me short of words! In the beginning it seemed more like a BL version of Crash landing on you, but the story and execution was so unique and captivating in a way and it leaves you with such pleasant and good vibes. The Morales put up at the end of every episode were so thought provoking. The show gave me all sorts of emotions whatsoever, I was happy, sad, excited, numb, thrilled, all at the same time.

The chemistry between the leads was so strong, their gaze, the expression portrayed so much intimacy that no kind of skin-ship was even needed. And Mix's acting was unbelievable, totally couldn't believe he was Rookie actor, his eyes can ease up even the coldest of hearts.

I really hope thailand makes more of such unique and beautiful shows in future! <3

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Life from different perceptive

The story line exists on the life of Khun Tian from rich family and the another one from the very remote area.
When the true love comes, no matter in wealthy, gender and their prosperity, the most important things is to build the love with faith, sympathy, compassion, protection and most importantly mutual understanding. The characters prove that everything is not flawless, and perfect, and things are not happening as what we expected before, but we can feel the love of P Phuu over Khun Tian and how much he values on his love.
I am still remembering each and every moment of all episodes and still eagerly seeing again and again repeatedly without any boring.
The story line and the characters, all still remains in my memory and still missing the voice of both P Phuu and Khun Tian.

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It was worth waiting one more year for this

This drama was set to be released in 2020, but due to some reasons they had to push it back for another year. It was definitely worth the wait.
I mainly watched because Earth is my favorite Thai actor (and also criminally underrated), so when I saw that he would be one of the main characters I immediately added this series to my list. The premise of the story also seemed pretty good, so all I had left to hope is for GMMTV not to ruin an otherwise beautiful story. (It happened to other series in the past and at this point I don't trust them with anything)

Now that I'm done watching, I can say that it was really beautiful. It's definitely not perfect, as there were some details about the story that annoyed me: the decisions made by some characters about certain situations that didn't make much sense to me, for example, or how one or two things in the plot weren't talked about as much as I wished to. Other than this though, it was VERY good: the series kept its focus on the story and the relationships among the characters without going overboard with comic reliefs or fanservice, and even the product placements didn't feel overwhelming.
Talking about fanservice, there is little to none of it in this series, which I highly appreciated. On top of this, there are no side couples, which let the two main characters shine all the way and let their relationship develop without it feeling rushed.
Extra kudos to the writers for talking more in detail about various important topics. This series deals with touchy themes and issues that are hard to tackle for any writer, but in my eyes they did a very good job. Even when the plot focused more on those issues, it never felt heavy or overwhelming, but also never shallow enough to be hard to understand.

The chemistry between Earth and Mix was off the charts. I was very proud of Earth while watching, but also amazed by Mix since this is apparently his first role. They had me glued to the screen the whole time and I'll definitely watch anything featuring them in the future.

I highly recommend this series. It's touching, very sweet and romantic, but also with a good dose of heartbreaking angst. You won't regret it!

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A Drama I Never Expected to Love

I have to be honest, I wasn’t thrilled when I found out about this drama. The first time I’ve known about one of the leads, Earth, is during Waterboyy and I wasn’t impressed with that drama at all. Mix is a new face in the field and there wasn’t much to expect from him because he had no previous works before this project. So I dove into this piece with no expectations whatsoever. I just watched it for the heck of it and to fill the gaping hole of my previously-finished BL drama. I had nothing else to watch that time so I opened Youtube and got to it. And boy was I in for a ride.

For a first episode, a lot was going on so it was hard to keep up at first. I’m not a fan of too much crying and drama on a show so I was “meh” at this point. I was interested in the premise and I’ve got to say, it was Mix’s acting that hooked me in the episode. For someone new to acting (in a series), he proved to have potential. His expressions were heartfelt and I can see he portrayed the character of Tian very well. The feelings were relayed properly and I guess we have p’Aof to be thankful for it because without good direction, the actors would not have been able to pull it off properly.

The second week came and the story was still interesting but it didn’t hook me deep yet. Third ep was when I started to fall into the series hard. It was the point when I actually looked forward to next Friday again. There were so many heartwarming moments then on and you can finally see a development into each of the leads. Tian is a multi-dimensional character. It slowly showed throughout the episodes. He wins best character development for me. A rare instance where I find the protagonist so likeable and, well… so human. Each week, you will see his growth as an individual and it seems as if you’re going through the journey with him. Every week, I’d think Friday couldn’t come soon enough.

One of the things I love about this series is that it didn’t solely revolve around the romance of both leads. It wasn’t an in-your-face love story and you’ll see it being laid out slowly through the episodes, which I love. It was apparent but it’s definitely not the only plot of the whole show. In fact, a lot of the story also focused on Tian’s growth as he discovers what he really wants to be as he lives through his teaching assignment in the village. And also the importance on how he finally realizes that his life’s meaning is not in his family’s legacy or wealth but his love for the villagers (especially the kids and Phupa).

The villain, Mr. Sakda, was also a good addition. His heinous and unbearable presence as an influential smuggler gives you the feeling of unease which is a good portrayal of a perfect antagonist. Although, I’ve got to say, they could’ve expanded his character more. Like show how powerful he really is. The way his conflict was resolved was rather lackluster for me. But with the limitations this series could provide (given the 10 episodes, a probable limited budget and the pandemic situation going on), I guess it could suffice. But I was really glad it wasn’t some third party (boy or girl) that would cause a rift between the two heroes of the story. It’s more of an internal conflict which is a bit more relatable and realistic. It showed how different they are in the point of their lives — Tian, a rich college brat on a road to self-discovery while Phupa is a humble ranger with a strong purpose in his 30’s.

Overall, I really love the show. With the congested BL market nowadays, I have to say this is one of the masterpieces out there. A gem! The story is solid. A few holes I would say that needed improvement, but I could give them a free pass. The characters were well-written. Earth has improved a lot since I was last exposed to him and Mix proved to be a powerhouse novice in acting. The chemistry is skyrocketing and I guess it was one of the reasons that made this series so much more enjoyable to watch. Some of the support roles needed a little work but still passable. Dr. Nam, Yod and Mr. Sakda would be the most outstanding ones out there, in my honest opinion. Music was great! In fact, I have a Spotify playlist of all the background music they utilized all throughout the series. It says a lot because I don’t usually do that. With replay value, I guess I can say I wouldn’t be bothered to watch the whole series again. I’d love to see Tian and Chief Phupa once more!

9.5 out of 10! Highly recommended! Definitely gold standard ?

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A sweet ending to a beautifully done series

!!Disclaimer¡¡
This review is based on my personal opinion. It is not meant to encourage/discourage you from watching. Please feel free to agree/disagree with it. This is going to be quite a lengthy review, it also might contain a lot of spoilers so if you're not into that go ahead and skip reading it.


Ok, first of, let me start off by saying that this series has officially made me fall in love with Thailand and its absolutely gorgeous nature. I've seen the bts of this series and I want to give all the people behind this amazing series a big hug for their amazing work. Although there were some parts of the plot that didn't make sense and made my head spin a little, I was able to ignore these little things because the positives outweighed the negatives in this one so thank you GMMTV, for not ruining this one.


Story/plot :
Let me say this first, as someone who has not read the novel and only discovered this drama a couple of months ago, I didn't know what to expect from it, and I literally just dove in headfirst (which is a rarity since I don't like going in blind) and I must say that it really exceeded my expectations and left me feeling very much contented. The script was written really well and you could really feel the efforts put into it. The way they presented each scene and how they introduced each character was very good and I'm more than happy with it. The series tells the story of Tian, a rich college student with a terminal illness who gets a second chance at life after undergoing a heart transplant surgery. While still unconscious, he dreams a strange dream and upon waking up, is curious about who was his heart's donor. His parents try to conceal the identity of the donor from him but he finds out anyway after secretly looking at his medical file. He tries to know more about his donor who turns out to be a woman named Torfun, a volunteer teacher at a remote village, and discovers that her death was caused by an accident. He gets hold of her diaries and after reading it, decides to become a volunteer teacher at the same village she was in and finish what she had started. While there he struggles to adapt to the very unfamiliar environment and the very closed people of said village, while hiding Torfun's death and his identity from the villagers. There, he meets Phupa, the chief of a group that protects the village, who helps him adapt with the help of a few friends as he aides and protects him while he teaches the kids of the village. Phu and Tian start off on the wrong foot but they slowly start to get closer and eventually fall in love, but as time goes by and the closer Tian gets to Phu and the villagers, his secret starts weighing on him and it leads him into dangerous situations, and eventually he reveals his secret and faces the consequences of it. That is a very summed up version of the plot.
When I first watched the trailer for it, I was very skeptic about how such situation would be portrayed considering it is not your usual romantic drama nor is it college/school life originated. However, I was pleasantly surprised with the final results. The way they presented the difference between social classes, the importance of money and influence in our modern society, and how someone's life can change in the span of a day was very believable, so a big shout out to the screen writer and the creators for this great plot.
Now that we've got that out of the way, let's talk about some of the very minor plot-holes that really annoyed me personally. How on earth did no one ask for Tian's last name? How was Doc able to get hold of all this information on Tian? Isn't that illegal? Why did Phu have to out Tian like this? Was it really necessary? And a few other things. I really wanted to give the plot a perfect rating, but these very small details really bothered me so I had to deduct 2.5 stars from the final rating, but apart from that, the plot was very unique and I enjoyed it very much.

Acting/cast:
Every single actor was gorgeous. I really loved the cast and I think everyone did a really great job in playing their own character. I loved the main couple and their chemistry throughout the show and I really liked how everyone interacted with each other. The supporting cast on this series is one of my favourite supporting characters of any Thai drama out there ( especially Lhongtae, Khama and Tul) BUT, I must say I did dislike some characters (like Tian's mother and his friends back home expect for of course, Tul) and I found them really annoying tbh. But yeah, with that out of the way, let's move onto our main characters.

~Tian: A
Mix is an amazing actor and I'm honestly really shocked that this is his first time acting, like I'm legit stunned by this fact. The way he played his role and how he brought Tian's character to life is fantastic and I'm officially in love with him. I must admit, I did dislike how his character's personality lacked in some aspects and how he acted in some situations. But yeah apart from that, I really liked his character and I think he did an amazing job in portraying it. Also, mad respect for Mix since he continued filming even though he was very tired and fainted eventually from exhaustion. Also also, can we talk about Tian coming out as gay instead of him going with the usual overused "I'm not gay I just like this guy" line? Cuz whoever is behind that scene needs a freaking raise cuz FINA-FREAKING-LLY!!

~Phupa: A
I have seen Earth act before in LBC and I honestly didn't really like his portrayal of Type back then. However, I think the role of chief Phupa really suits him and he does an amazing job in portraying him. I loved how his stoic face completely differs from his gentle and caring personality. What I didn't like tho is how they removed the part where Doc tells Tian that Phu is gay (I heard it was a scene in the novel and was really excited for it) and how he acted irrationally in episode 8, contrary to his usual self, which resulted in me being kinda disappointed and angry at him and doc for a while, but I got over it eventually. It did irk me tho so I had to point it out. But that aside, I really liked his character and I'm very proud of EarthMix.


Music/soundtrack:
I'm officially obsessed with the soundtrack. This series has one of the most beautiful soundtracks in the history of Thai dramas imho. I loved the ost, especially Aye's version of it and I loved how the soundtrack fit in and how it enhanced the overall feeling of the episodes. They really outdid themselves with this one ngl.


Production:
Two words, true effort. That's it. When I tell you I was stunned by the amount of effort put into this, I literally mean it. The fact that they literally built everything from scratch and it took them 3 years to make this speaks for itself. So hats off to everyone involved making this masterpiece, you guys rock.


Product placement:
The product placement in this was surprisingly decent. It wasn't great and you could tell that some scenes were filmed in certain ways to advertise some products, but it wasn't that excessive or bothersome. And they didn't try to cram in that many products in one episode like other shows did (yes, I'm looking at you 2gether).


And finally, if you've read this far, hats off to you! Thank you for sitting through this long ass review. You're a beautiful, kind, great person and I really appreciate your patience.
My final thoughts on this show is that it was a very nice rollercoaster of emotions lol. I loved the pacing and how natural it felt and I really liked the message that this series is trying to send, I'm also a big fan of the little quotes at the end of each episode. I'm honestly really liking the new Thai BLs coming out lately, I really like how they're slowly breaking the mold and starting to relate to real life a tiny bit more. And with that being said, I hope other people like it as much as I did and I highly recommend giving it a try, cuz even if you don't really like the storyline or the characters , you'll at least like the gorgeous scenery and sets of this series.


P.s: I know that Torfun really effected the villagers and that everyone really loved her, but the fact that they kept bringing her up was really insensitive of them. I also really disliked how Phupa wasn't the one to break the news to the people and how he and everyone around him, kept comparing Tian to Torfun, it really annoyed me tbfh....

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Officially, The Best BL Series that I ever watched

When I say ITSAY is the BEST BL drama that I've watched and the series it a tough to beat series for a long run, I can't believe in just 2 months there is another gem come out flawlessly. Especially when I just finished a crappy series, Tharntype 2.

Everyone already knows that the plot story of ATOTS itself is rich n has its own depth. But I've watched few promising BL before that deemed to have a rich plot. But none of it live up to my expectations. Most of it was portrays either 'Boringly' or does not keep to excites me along the way. The 'university' type series is always they fun one even if it is cliche.

But ATOTS brings its ultimate quality. Whether its from cinematography, actings, background music, OSTs, character development, their sexual tension... Everything is a TOP notch. Not even once I skipped or fast forward any part or scene, even if it just a filler scene or non-romantic scenes. They able to grab my whole attention along the way, and fully engrossed with the story development.

Phupha and Tian is the most pleasant BL couple that I've seen. Their love story is a classic/vintage love story of a 2 people ogling each other and fall in love. They didn't talk much about their feelings yet, but they understand each other. So romantic, and so mature. While not communicating, they didn't insert any negative vibe on the love growth and just go along with their feelings naturally. It feels so healing to watch them. The major conflict hasn't come out yet at this point of time, but Im sure they will handle it maturely.

I'm at EP 5, and they already bought me in to write up the review already. Every episode beats the other one, as it just become even better and better. I don't even mind on any kind of story development that they will do for the balance 5 episodes, as I trust ATOTS will only bring the best for its audience.

Edited: As now I'm finished.. Yes, officially the BEST BL drama that I ever watched.

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Disappointed

The ratings really made me bing watched this, and I also recommended it to people thinking it was something great, and they were pretty much diss appointed like me, Apart from the village settings, nothing special about this, storytelling was bad, one of the main actors can’t really act, lot of filler episodes when nothing is happening, a lot of staring contest and that dude Constantly taking off his shirts. This is on par with 2gether the series . This music is nice tho, the cinematography is beautiful but this drama didn’t hit any spot for me. I can’t rewatch this because there is no particular moments I enjoyed there.

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YES....BUT...BIG BUT

This review contain spoilers

Ok... great expectations BUT... BIG BUT

YES...nice production, fair acting, nice soundtracks BUT ...the core of the story is basically a "spoiled - good in heart" rich boy trying to redeam himself and finds help and love in the poor handsome guy ...really? in 2021?!
There are tones of stories like this in the theater for centuries and in cinema for decades!
YES is trully touching and the good acting helps a lot BUT it's not new at all!
YES there were some clever ideas and turning points BUT ...one kiss in the last scene?! ...in 2021
Maybe I'm a little harsh due to the fact that I expected more since there is a high ranking... but I was a little disapointed
Have fun everyone :-)

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