Sickly, Stupidly Saccharine (in a good way!)

My own rating references for context:
1-3 stars - This needs some major reworking
3-5 stars - Not the worst, but not to my taste
5-7 stars - Pretty solidly okay (could use improvements, but not terrible)
7-9 stars - We have a great thing here
10 stars - Please don't change anything, it's glorious!

Story/Plot: 6.5 stars
"Star in My Mind" was already a fluffy and sweet series to begin with, and if the audience expected anything else from these special episodes, I'm not entirely certain what information they received that gave them a different impression (since the exact same crew worked worked on the series and these episodes). We get to see Khabkluen (Kleun) and Daonuea (Nuea) going on two years in their relationship, and everything is as cute as a button between the two of them - Kleun won't stop spouting his love for Nuea in public or private, Nuea still loves having Kleun model for him, and the two of them are looking forward to their future together. It was nice to see the maturity of their relationship in the communications department, seeing as how their series was originally based on the distinct lack of communication between Kleun and Nuea. We get Kleun's delivery of the cliche line "I'm making up for lost time" when asked why he insists on saying "I love you" so much, as well as Nuea's beautiful "Just thinking about getting jealous already means I'm not trusting you, right?" to drive home how well they've learned to communicate with one another. Additionally, I'm always a fan of consent scenes - a long-term relationship can still have romantic moments, and romance and consent are not mutually exclusive. Kleun's "Can I kiss you?" and Nuea's soft response "Of course" was probably my favorite scene across both episodes.

Acting/Cast: 7.5 stars
Across the board, it's hard to say that GMMTV has any bad actors per say, but some definitely outshine others. Joong is one of the outstanding stars at GMMTV, and it really boils down to his ability to silently act with his eyes and facial features to deliver micro-expressions that make his characters come to life. I will concede that it helps that he was blessed with beautiful features to begin with, but it's very impressive how well he uses what he was given. The slight misfortune is that Dunk has to compete with Joong, because everyone naturally compares actors in scenes together and even more so if they are a ship (you really need both actors to sell their half of the ship in order for their characters' relationship to be believable, after all). Dunk has less experience in the acting business than Joong, so there's boundless opportunities for him to continue climbing; Joong is such a good friend and scene partner already, I'm excited to see them continue to grow together. With all of that said, I will also add that Dunk's hair stylist is not doing him any favors at all - the boy needs less bangs falling in front of his eyes! Joong has naturally massive (gorgeous!) eyes which help with capturing his eye movements and micro-expressions, and Dunk doesn't have that in his acting arsenal, so having Dunk's hair constantly in front of or shading his eyes make it harder to see any of his expressions.

Music: 9 stars
I have yet to find myself disliking an OST written by Boy Sompob, because his music is simple, catchy, and perfectly emotive of the series they have been a part of. Joong sings the majority of it, though Dunk has more parts in this OST than the previous "Star in My Mind" OST, and they both delivered a beautiful performance of it. Throughout the episodes, Director New employed his classic tactic of acapella-start-of-the-OST-chorus-at-the-beginning-of-a-touching-scene-and-then-have-the-background-instruments-come-in-to-close-out-the-scene, and as basic of a tactic as it is, it works very well to help sell sweet moments. The MV that was released a couple of days ahead of the episodes can be found here: https://youtu.be/mEiWEewQZbw.

Rewatch Value: 1 star
I would technically give this 0 stars, and not because it was a bad watch at all - there just wasn't anything substantial enough to grab my attention and remain rooted in my mind to encourage a rewatch. In all honesty, I think the only part I rewatched multiple times in the moment was Joong's surprise English line of "Can I kiss you?" along with Dunk's even-more-surprising English response of "Of course". Their English delivery was a beautiful surprise, made all the more delicious that they have beautiful lower registers when they speak English softly, and it was a romantic consent moment!

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