Never Let Me Go (2022)

A rather forgettable series

As always, everything is my own opinion and not intended to offend or upset anyone. (Let's be honest, I'm just rambling, really.)

So, I'll be honest - I didn't enjoy this as much as most, it seems. Perhaps I'm just fed up with every other BL being mafia related in someway, and the whole 'boy from powerful family falls in love with boy who is a nobody' feels so over done these days. The storyline was predictable and very little felt realistic or believable.

In terms of the cast, until recently I didn't enjoy Phuwin as an actor at all; I feel like he often gets typecast and comes across as whiny, which makes me sad because he is obviously a great actor and very talented, but I feel like he doesn't get to shine very much. Even Pond didn't really get a chance to show off his acting skills; I feel like the cast were a bit restrained? I'm not sure how else to explain it.

Over all, I felt it was pretty forgettable, and not a series I would ever rewatch. (However, I will say that the 2 special episodes for Our Skyy 2 were fantastic, and I would have loved to have seen more of that Palm and Nueng because Pond and Phuwin actually looked like they were enjoying themselves. I'll hold back from saying too much, though, as I'll save those rambles for my OS2 review.)

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Left me unsatisfied.

I’m a sucker for vintage and retro in movies and shows and that’s what I want to talk about first. The atmosphere In this drama is just ravishing. My eyes are in heaven. Thank you.

Many people say that this movie is a miserable attempt to recreate KinnPorsche, but I won’t agree. I am used to seeing similarities between Thai dramas, they stopped bothering me. I always look for specificities in every drama and I have never failed to find them, and that’s what I pay attention to while rating dramas.
Salient similarity: “You do it, because my/your father told you so. That’s your duty, you don’t have feelings for me”. The same situation was with Phupha and Tian. Classic story.

Thai dramas would have lost their peculiarity without beach vacations, musical instruments and motorcycles. I’m glad to see that the guitar was replaced by the piano. There’s something that has been bothering me all the time: american songs. It was so unusual to me…Thai songs were outnumbered by american songs, but I’m not saying that it is a bad thing. I just love listening to Thai songs in Thai dramas, that’s it.

Everything is comprehensible in this drama until you get picky about the plot: What happened to Palm’s father? When did Ben manage to generate feelings for Chopper? I knew from the start that these two would end up together, what I’m saying is that they needed more screentime.
Sometimes the main leads were clutching at straws for showing some chemistry: either they had smoldering emotions or tried to forge them. This is the main reason I couldn’t force myself to feel that special emotional boud with the leads. I still can’t get over Khao and First, because they enchanted me with their acting skills and chemistry. Palm was naturally shy and meek, but what about Pond? Was he shy to act? There were a lot of sad moments and only once they made me cry and I apparently felt the chemistry: when Palm was screeming and calling his mom after she died and when Palm hugged Nueng from the back after pushing him away. I adore that scene.

I can say the same thing about Nueng’s emotions. When Palm got a tattoo to honor Nueng, the latter was supposed to act like he was really astounded. In my opinion, he failed. Instead of manifesting surprise, he was acting as if Palm MUST have done it a long time ago, because he was his Young Master, and it would have been a shame not to do that. I need real emotions, that’s it.

This transition from teenagers to adults was not smooth. Nueng became a businessman in the blink of an eye..or maybe I’m underestimating him. I don’t know, it just wasn’t convincing enough to me.

And the last time when Palm left Nueng…C’mon, bro, you have talked this over for like hundred times already and the deduction has always been the same: You love each other and want to stay together. I understand, that Thanya’s words affected him, but c’mon, how could you think of yourself as an impediment after what you had been trough? This was either a way to get them separated for worrying the audience, or forgetting promises given once or even more was a piece of cake for Palm.

7.5/10.

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This series is definitely not everyone's cup of tea just by reading at the reviews, well I am disagreeing with them.

The story is so good. Yes, it started like a school drama but doesn't we except it to go into action just by the start scene and just by role that is played by Palm?

It was well acted, storyline was good, and cinematography was perfect (a fan of ITSAY, Your Name Engraved Herein...). Never imagined to have PondPhuwin to be in this kind of genre considering their other series but they really fitted well, I commended their acting a lot. And can I just say that Perth is an actor to look foward to. I knew him from Love Chance and he keeps on improving not just in acting but visually too. PerthChimon is a great pairing too.

Current rewatching the series because I miss them. I just hope to have another series from them soon.

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Was not a fan of PondPhuwin Now a big fan

I honestly doesn’t know what to expect from this series but as the stories went by I was hoping to see more of them. Phuwin as Nueng is my favourite character through the series as he displayed a much better acting than in Fish Upon the Sky. They played a different role and I must say they really did a good job. The mothers and the supporting characters did a good job despite some plot holes. The good thing about it is the story doesn’t gets boring until the end after clearing up the main threat Palm manage to pull another cause for their parting. The bad part was they knew who caused the problems but instead ran away which could either have been solved in the first place. Also Neung father was shot and they let the murderer to slide without careful investigation.
For the cast, Chopper was such a character I was hoping he didn’t turn out like his father as there were a good reason for him to hate Neung. I’m glad he wasn’t. Perth displayed a whole emotions well with his character with Ben. Although there was some lack of development from Ben side, I don’t think I can expect alot from support characters.
Pond played his part well despite there were some off-emotions during his dialogue and it was as though in the last ep makes me feel Palm doesn’t want to be with Neung and the leg injury only requires months of physical therapy he could have stayed and gets better with him. Leaving Neung is a let down.
Overall, I want to see another Pond-Phuwin series. I wish GMM give them another chance to portray different characters and hoping their acting improves for best.

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It's not what i expected, BUT at least...

For me, it's still one of the best Thai bl series in 2022. However I agree with the comments below and can’t deny the fact that there’s a lot of nuance here.

I’ll start with the good parts. First of all, the idea of the story isn't cliche. Love between boss and bodyguard, it's like fresh air. The second one is the main character's acting: it's stunning, I believed in it and don't have any pretension to them at all. The last is the storytelling. I thought it has a good content. There were a lot of happenings, locations, which constantly changed and kept in tension. So I wasn’t bored watching it.

So, now about the nuances I mentioned at the beginning. Palm has a very strange relationship with his parents. Their reactions to each other are not natural. Palm so easily swallowed mom’s egoism. " I’m sorry I left you" - I’d be crying in there. Characters are not completely disclosed. It’s about Ben and Chopper. Their relationship was very flat. They lacked time and more intimate conversations. And a huge claim to the filming of fights. Sorry, but it feels like the work of another shooting team. Was it not possible to put the sound on top of an implausible slap?

In the end, I want to say I probably expected a lot from the series, but I didn’t get it. I liked the sea views, the beach and etc. Such a beautiful picture, but not enough attention to details. And I think it applies to many Thai series. But with that kind of experience, why not get better?

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I loved it!!

Gorgeous men, fantastic scenery, great music, interesting plot with a lot of surprises. Ok, ok, ok, I know it wasn't Shakespeare. It isn't supposed to be. To those who compared it to a soap opera; what's wrong with that? That is what BL stories are. They are light entertainment. And this series delivers! From a technical point of view, it has all of the great qualities of a Thai BL that we all love down to the perfect costuming. It also has all of the disappointing features of every BL series; too many loooong loving stares, too many looong teasing conversations, too often looong plot development. But once again, those qualities are found in every series in this genre.
My single complaint is the lack of any development of the relationship of the secondary characters. I have been a fan of Chimon since his performance in "Sweet Boy". I've enjoyed watching his acting skill grow. The same is true for Perth since "Love By Chance". Two actors with their experience and skills deserved more face time and expanding their characters would have added depth to the story line.
In summary, not a perfect piece, but a darn good one and well worth watching.

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Went beyond my expectations

The plot is quite cliche but I like how there are very few plotholes, which is quite rare in Thai series as most Thai series has ending that looses the plot. But NLMG is very well written and well scripted. None of the scenes felt like it was not required or exaggerated. It's a show quite comfortable to watch without cringe scenes. I liked how even the jealousy scenes are showcased in a great way. The plot twists were predictable but what really threw me off was Palm's mother's death. I did cry when Palm left the letter for Neung. That was also unexpected. The emotions of each characters are portrayed well and totally valid. I love the color grading of the drama. It's so aesthetic. Phuwin is a great actor. Pond has improved so much. Overall it was a great drama.

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People are too harsh on this show/ stop comparing it to kinnporsche!!!

Ok so I’m not gonna sit here and say that Never let me go is an amazing show that you need to watch. But the reviews are not doing the show the Justice that I think it deserves so let me share a pretty neutral take. Not to harsh but not sugar coated.

Let’s start with the good:
-pondphuwin chemistry never feels forced, very good.
-the times in the show where it’s supposed to be emotional, really does a good evoking it.
-palm and nueng’s relationship is not perfect and is even problematic at the beginning, but the way it progresses later on is very natural and doesn’t feel rushed or sudden.
-basically the whole island arc deepened the characters which makes you feel more connected with them when the conflicts happen near the end.
-episode 9 is amazing and single-handedly brings this show up one rating
-side couple is very cute and loveable

Ok now what makes this show not the best:
-plot holes: why is palm like freakishly strong and can fight and shoot a gun if he’s a fisherman living away from the city??
-nuengs uncle could’ve been caught and stopped so easily even though they were tryna pretend he was rlly powerful
-weak and predictable antagonist (I thought maybe there’d be a twist cuz it was laughably predictable.. but no)
-nueng and palm are both annoying sometimes and don’t get each other. When palm pulled that running away stunt after nueng did it it just felt so out of place and unnecessary. (Unlike when nueng did it)
-Ben and chopper relationship rushed and not enough screen time.
-ending was very very predictable

Btw: GUYS!! palm being a body guard for nueng makes sense.. he needs someone his own age to actually attend the school plus palm kinda owes his family his life. Also, I think palms mom wanted nueng to have a friend more than anything and that’s kinda apparent when she’s pushing for palm to joint nueng with his activities: him being a bodyguard is just a perk. (But I do agree that nueng being so badly bullied in that school is incredibly unrealistic)

Also sorry but I have to give a little section to episode 9: because the emotions in that episode felt so real and were so realistic and it actually made me tear up a little. I was surprised because the acting throughout the show was very average but it was like all of a sudden they bumped it up for this one episode. So yeah that’s all I have to say on that.

SO:

Never let me go is a good show. Not amazing, but certainly not bad at all. They successfully created an entertaining and emotional show, that fell flat due to plot holes and rushed story telling. I wholeheartedly believe that if the writers had more run time, and more time to improve the script, the show would be amazing.

Please don’t be to harsh on it, all the actors did amazing and the show was a genuinely entertaining watch!!! Unnecessary hate in these reviews!

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Second half fell flat

So I wrote this long review and accidentally refreshed the page, so I'm going to sum this up quicker.

This drama had potential. The main characters had great chemistry, and from the start the way Palm looked at Nueng set off fireworks. Where they went wrong was with trying to make a plot without fully committing. It didn't feel like organized crime, but instead just like some solo bad guys being shady. I feel they may have avoided actually going down that path because it would've had them acknowledge Nueng's father's involvement in those dynamics, but who knows.

I appreciated elements such as Chopper's redemption arc (but his begging for forgiveness in the hospital was horrific timing), Mam's growth (truly don't think her end got the weight it deserved), and Maggie (seriously, Maggie was not letting anything slide... BUT WHAT HAPPENED TO HER?! Literally fell from the planet after her visit to the hostel.)

I think the cast carried it for me, but what is making me consider dropping the rating even lower is one my most detested tropes -- deciding what your partner needs/wants without ever actually taking them into account or talking with them. Unfortunately, this drama had it happen not only once, but at least twice (in large ways, many more in smaller ones). The end also felt like deflated balloon after Palm did it, so I didn't even really feel committed to most of the last episode, which is sad because the beginning and middle actually really captured me.

I'll watch more dramas with the mains for sure, but this one was just okay for me.

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