Ai Nhai (2023)

A nice cap off to the Ai and Nhai love story.

Quite a few people hated the main series. I understand their concerns but it was different for me because i loved it. AI lhong Nhai was a guilty pleasure watch and its such a delight to see them end the series with this.

Lets not kid ourselves, it looks like it was shot within a day and on a limited budget but there was some good camera shots and sceneries here. The locations are amazing but they could have spent a little more time with the set - the empty bookshelf when Ton and Nhai is having lunch is so distracting they didnt even bother to put a single book or plant in it.

Like the main series there will be a few violent reactions again about the script (or the very poor way it was translated). I would also like to know how expensive it is to get the rest of the gang, at least Nhai's father, and why it wasnt possible for them to even make a cameo for this occassion.

I however love them bringing back Sippakorn and Jaonan. Seeing this lovely real life couple onscreen is like rainbow on a rainy day.

I am not sure if there is a demand or a clamor for this but i really appreciate them most for giving us this special episode to end the Ai Nhai story. The main series ended quite abruptly and this special felt like they planned to do it like this all along.

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Better than the series

I personally like this one better than the full series. The storyline is kind of cute, it ties up Ai and Nhai's relationship nicely. The whole conflict seemed kind of exageratted and caused by lack of clear communication. I am not usually bothered by it much (it's a go-to plot twist in most series), but I have praised them for being good at communicating in the main series, so I felt like them doing just the opposite in the special had to be brought up.

Nhai is still silly, but his silliness wasn't as overdone in the special as it was in the main series, so that was a nice surprise. Thon was a little devil, I feel like he was trying to make Nhai worry on purpose with his whole cryptic horoscope reading. But it also felt like something a friend would do.

And yay, we got to see Suppakorn and Nan again! Nan is probably my fav character in the whole series, he steals the show whenever he appears.

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Cherry on top...

I am one of those rare people who actually liked the series a lot: it was consensual and sweet with minimal angst and no toxicity. Well, I call it "MAME antidote".

The producers offered us this additional episode, taking place one year after the last episode of the series.

Nhai is still being his childlike self but Ai has become distant which scares Nhai. So with the help of Ton, he follows Nhai to his father's resort to sort things out.

This is just a piece of fluff but what a very pretty fluff it is! The scenery is pretty, Ai is pretty & serious, Nhai is pretty & cute as a button,

Anything negative to say about this? Well let me think....it is extremely sweet and the music is bad, generic and unremarkable!

For die hard fans only!

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Well, they almost made it..

The main thing that I loved about the Ai Long Nhai series was the communication between the main characters.

...and then this happened.

Overall, it was a cute little side story. BUT. A misunderstanding that led to the dreaded "I don't love you anymore" declaration in the heat of the moment is like a complete series killer for me. And unfortunately, they used it here. Honestly, I don't know why writers use this so much because if this happened in real life, there's no coming back from a claim like that, as far as I'm concerned. It doesn't matter the reason for saying it... once it's said, that relationship is doomed. If the couple managed to get through it and end up together, the likelihood of them walking on eggshells for the rest of their lives for fear that claim might come out again would make for a horrible relationship.

But I digress.

If you liked the series, sure, go ahead and watch this. It's cute, has some good skinship and hotness along with the sweet ending. It's basically a 13th episode.

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Better but still not best

While I do appreciate the fact that the writers and directors knew that the series itself was lacking and attempted to make up for it with this one off; it was still slightly lacking some important elements. It was nice to see an actual complete problem they worked through all the way to the resolution, and Ping's acting skills definitely improved between the series and the short film. However Porsche and Arm are still the only other couple that we see in front of us. While we know Ton and Chol are "together", Chol never actually makes an appearance. The music didn't draw me in or putt me off, it was simply forgettable. That being said, it was a defined improvement, so I don't feel as though I wasted my time watching it.

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Still fluff, but misunderstood fluff!

In my review of the actual series, I had mentioned that while Ai Long Nhai has some glaring errors, it still can be considered a pretty sweet show all in all. Hardly any toxicity, miscommunication (except when Nhai sees Ai with Jom and destroys his room like a 5 yo), absolutely supportive friends and family (still majorly in love with Ai's dads Sib and Nan and Nhai's dad!).
However, this special episode is anti-sweet. I mean, it's still cute and fluffy, Nhai is still silly and sometimes brainless, I sort of got upset with Ai. He is pretending to be tsundere while in Ai Long Nhai, he was the sweetest seme. Don't get me wrong. It's not like doesn't love Nhai. He has just been told that he is not loved anymore. Coming back to faith from that kind of declaration would be hard for anyone. But no one knows better than him how childish and silly Nhai is. He has been taking care of him for more than an year. He should have learnt some lessons.
What annoyed me was the lack of communication. Ai has always made it a point to talk to Nhai about what he feels, even if he does it slowly. I do not understand the complete 180 degree turnaround. I know he explains himself later, but if he had been open from the beginning, we could have avoided a lot of unnecessary angst.
But I sort of am loving how childlike Nhai is. His shenanigans to win his guy back are actually quite sweet. I find him really innocent and guileless. Not many characters like Nhai like Thai Bls or in Thai series as a whole. The only one I have seen other than him is Jade, a totally pure soul)
And then there are Sib and Nan. I am so totally in love with that couple that I can't seem to get over them. They just exude chemistry and sweetness!
There is ample skinship. Both Ai and Nhai have never been able to keep their hands off each other, right from the first series. And Nhai is also become bolder, probably stemming from the fact that he is so sure in his relationship with his man!
So, while I am not really a big fan of sequels, prequels etc., this one, all in all, was a sweet end to Ai Long Nhai. You can definitely watch it once! :)

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loved the destination but not the route to get there

Overall: I loved the ending to their story but wish the writers had done something else plotwise. This is one hour, aired on iQIYI https://www.iq.com/play/ainhai-episode-1-26ex87suy4w?lang=en_us

Watch Suggestion: watch the funny dream sequences at 5 minutes and 21:30 then skip to 29 minutes and watch thru to the end (and watch after the initial credits)

Content Warnings: manipulation

What I Liked
- the two dream sequences were funny
- caring/sweet moments
- good kissing/intimacy
- the supportive dads

Room For Improvement
- such a terrible "plan" from Ai who is supposed to be the one with more brain cells, Ai could have just said, "I have a surprise for you, meet me at this location on this date and time" instead of the first half that we got
- several errors in the subtitles but I didn't deduct points for that

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The ending we deserved?

From what I’m reading, Ai Long Nhai was not a popular series? I guess, like other commenters here, I’m one of the minority who actually did like it. Having said that, I’m really disappointed in this final episode. Obviously done on a small budget, I think this ending was too full of ‘blanks’, so frankly, I don’t know why they even bothered. Let’s get rid of the obvious first… The original series was chaotic, especially when all the friends were together, but this ep feels really empty, just like the shelves wherever it was that Ton and Nhai were eating… I found this so distracting... and missing characters aplenty. Also, it’s another one of those series where actors have been replaced. I still can’t get my head around this being a Tonhon Chonlatee side story, and had totally forgotten that Ton was in fact, Tonhon. I really do understand that companies don’t always want to use the original actors – maybe they’re contracted elsewhere, or are committed to other series, but I find it really off-putting, and not conducive to an ongoing storyline. At the beginning, Chon was nowhere to be seen due to exams, and although he now seems to be free, he’s still nowhere to be seen. Why bother even mentioning him in the first place, if he’s not going to appear? The next glaring omission is obviously Ai’s gorgeous, in your face, orange BMW sportscar… Why do I find this so annoying?
So down to the actual story… This whole episode starts with Ai taking a phone call that he obviously doesn’t want to share with Nhai. We know just how insecure Nhai was, and this obviously starts him thinking. Sure there is no real evidence of anything, but we all know that Nhai’s mind tends to jump to conclusions. Twelve months on Nhai still is insecure, and Ai still hasn’t learnt to communicate... really? It was obvious what the ‘secret calls’ were about and where this was all heading, but I’ll be honest, I kind of wish they’d left Ai Long Nhai open-ended, or made the series 14 episodes. At least that would have done the story justice, and kept the flow going,whereas I just don’t think that this episode did. It seemed empty and pointless. I didn't have a huge problem with the acting, and the storyline, or should I say, conclusion, was expected, but was overall flat and full of holes, seemingly written just to give an 'official', albeit obvious ending. I didn't pay much attention to the music, I'll be honest. Whilst I would definitely re-watch Ai Long Nhai again, I won’t be bothering to watch this episode again, preferring to let my mind draw it’s own conclusion.

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Si eres amante de Ai long Nhai este especial es para ti!!

Un espacial que llena en los corazones, volver a ver a Ai y Nhai es tan gratificante! amo su química, son de esos Ships que te dan tanta felicidad y alegría con solo verlos, son adorables y en todo este espacial no deje de sonreír viéndolos, esperando cual será el siguiente paso, sin duda alguna vale la pena verlo. Si eres amante de Ai long Nhai este especial es para ti, para que disfrutes y le des de algún modo un cierre a esta bella historia, que quizás para muchos al igual que para mi, comenzó por "vamos ver que tal" y termino con esa sonrisa de cariño llevando esta historia en el corazón, porque es de esas historias que hay que ver para pasárselo tranquilo y sin volverse loco, una historia para ver y disfrutar de la dulzura.

Espero de corazón volver a ver a Mean y Ping actuando juntos, tienen una química increible y son tan adorables juntos, que deseo mas series con ellos.

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