Cold Guys Falls Hard for Heartbroken Guy

This show will not be for everyone. If you want real BDSM, it isn't here. If you don't like animals in entertainment, wave goodbye. If you hate fake tattoos, see ya later. If you want the 2nd couple to have a story, another pass because one of the partners in the source material is still under 18, and they probably didn't want to deal will the complaining.

I have a bias for cold man/normal guy would can be a BAMF, when need be. I find both Yoon and Ton attractive, and like their chemistry together. Both Yoon and Ton have emotional baggage - Kamol was raised as an orphan, and Kim is still in love with his ex from high school. That ex has moved on and has a boyfriend he is in love with, causing Ton extra heartache.

Kamol is from the underworld, and his main enemy is Danai. Unlike most mafia dramas where the lead is the godfather, Kamol has a godfather, Evan, a Russian-Thai gangster who primarily lives in Russia. The are fights and shootouts in this series, but it isn't high budget like Kinn Porsche.

This is a simple BL and I enjoyed it very much. Many people on MDL didn't care for it, but I form my own opinions of the shows that I watch. I did walk in with a bias toward this type of couple, so I think each individual viewer will need to decide if they like it or if they don't.

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The Best Thai BL of 2020!

In my opinion, this was the best Thai BL of 2020. Why?
Story:
1. The leads are working adults.
2. No high school students or university students.
3. No struggles with sexuality.
4. Not an angsty teen melodrama.
5. Action scenes and adult content, such as human trafficking.
6. No community homophobia for having a male teacher in a gay relationship.
Yes, there were flaws. The medical procedure portrayals were weak, even to a layperson such as myself. When people were injured, they fully recovered within 5 minutes.

Max and Tul have chemistry and since they have kissed hundreds of times, their love scenes were not awkward. They did a great job as the heroes, and Max as a somewhat gray character. The support cast were great, especially since the age range of the cast was pretty wide. The older actors were the strongest, especially the villains, even though Mint could be a little scream queenish as Rungtiva. I would love to see a spin-off between Sarawat M x Dr. Oat and/or That x Sorawit.

Manner of Death kept surprising me and the story line kept me interested. The plot touched on problems such as drugs, sexual abuse, human trafficking, systemic corruption, abuse of power, and murder. It was nice to see working professionals falling in love and not denying their love. None of their friends questioned their relationship and even helped them out.

The shooting locations were breathtaking. It was the perfect setting for this series. I now want to visit the locations because they were so beautiful.

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Ending did not Live up to Potential - Soundtrack was great!

**Spoilers**
High School awakening of sexuality and love. Fine acting by War, and cast, but War is the standout. I thought the cinematography caught the heavy makeup on the actors here and there, but I overlooked that.

The soundtrack and singing was fantastic. War is very good at singing and the love song was wonderful.

This mini series really did a fine job showing how teens grapple with their new feelings of sexuality, love and attraction. Where it went wrong is when one of the female classmates (Fern) used her feelings over unrequited love to destroy the very person she claims to love (Dew). Fern uses Dew's mother as the weapon to separate Dew from Best even before the guys even expressed their feelings toward one another. Dew's mother makes sure that he attends university across country so that he doesn't "turn out" like Best, the gay. Dew's mother is so lame that she uses the "you're my only child" reason to guilt Dew into capitulating. It shows that women aren't always the allies in these situations.

Upon first watch, I was angry about homophobia winning again, but upon reflection, I realized that Dew returned Best's feelings in the very last 10 seconds of the series. Best was going to confess that he liked Dew when he autographed Dew's shirt, but stopped writing when he saw Fern's autograph expressing her ongoing love. According to Thai translators, Best wrote, "I li" on Dew's shirt. At the very end, viewers are shown a photo Dew sent to Best where he wrote "I li" in the lost notebook where Best wrote about his feelings for Dew. Not only did Dew confess, this also revealed that he had the lost notebook. Maybe now that their feelings are on the table, and are reciprocated, there will be room to defeat the homophobia keeping them apart.

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Ambiguity Made Beautiful

This series left more unanswered questions than revelations, but I'm fine with that. I usually cannot stand open endings, unanswered questions, etc., but in the case of this series, it's wonderful. I still do not completely understand this story and home some events happened, but when the strong storytelling and acting, I found that I was satisfied with this. The leads, Meen and Rossi, did a fantastic job. I highly recommend this series. I hope they do not try to make a prequel or sequel, because sometimes less is more. I do not want to spoil the plot, so I will just say that sometimes, we do not need all of the answers to still feel a story is complete. On Cloud 9 does this for me.

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Less Rhetoric and More Stories

I was excited about this series. It looked dark, and dingy with A+ actors such as Gun and Off, but I walked away very disappointed. I have been to Thailand and I know about the political protests, but in my opinion, there was way too much moral grandstanding and preaching. I felt like the writers took 1960's American talking points and wrote a story around it. To me, this is an example of the elites, grooming other elites to be "revolutionaries," but who will probably be authoritarians themselves when they take power in the future (e.g. look at the leaders who imposed pandemic lockdowns, travel restrictions, freezing bank accounts of protestors, throwing protestors in jail without bond, etc). They missed opportunities to present problems that poor Thais face (except for Yok's mom), and chose to use rhetoric instead. In social science classes, we are always reminded that by sitting in a chair at university, we are by definition elite, regardless of where we start in life. Yok is the only member where you see a person living in poverty with a disabled single parent. Since this is fiction, of course, he is probably on his way to becoming a famous artist, and he saves himself (successful artists become rich) at the end by describing proletariats as a state of mind, not SES, or class. Instead of white savior syndrome, it's university educated syndrome, reinforcing that a formal education is the only pathway to a meaningful future. This is just my amateur opinion.

The acting was top notch, and I could see a difference between Black and White, that's how good Gun's acting was. I think that Gun deserves many acting awards for this role. I enjoyed seeing him paired with women partners too. Off has really grown as an actor as well, and he has gotten over his awkwardness when he has to do intimate scenes with Gun. I especially liked that they didn't use the normal filters, so we could see the actors' pores, blemishes and lines on their faces. The sets they used were just as gritty and grimy, fitting with the tone of the story. I felt that Black and White disowning their family was another 1960's cliche, and it made it seem like, all people working in government and the legal system are morally corrupt people.

I'll only rewatch if I fast forward through all of the rhetoric. Had they spent less time on rhetoric, and more time focusing on the characters (Yok's mom could have used more screen time) and people who are really struggling, I think that I would have enjoyed it more.

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Watched for the Messages

I loved this series. Many of us (including me) do not understand rural life, especially in the countryside of Thailand. In Northern Thailand they have tours where tourists visit people in villages to see their lifestyle tp bring in some money. I did not go because as with the elephant industry, I had no idea who is getting the money. So I cannot judge a series that like this that needs to raise capital, even with intrusive product placements. The series is trying to send a message, even if the execution is not flashy, preachy with other the top drama.

Watching the scene where Mongkon's parents are welcoming Mek into the family, was so touching. I looked at the bed that was resting on wood blocks, so different from the luxury condos and villas we see in Bangkok-based series, yet showing that even people who do not have much can be very happy. Hometown's Embrace also shows that even in rural areas, LGBT people can be accepted, and are part of the community. The heroes were a bunch of gay men and a trans-woman!

The casting was well done. The young actors from the the province so maybe they do not have the polish of the Bangkok-based actors, but they did a fine job.

I'm hoping to see more from this team and the actors. I look forward to future projects from this team.

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Excellent Series & Angsty Tearjerker

Excellent series, but not perfect. Why? Because it seemed like the goal was to wring every last tear and emotion out of me, and that distracted me from noticing the subtle nuances of this series. To me, making me emotional is not what makes a great story, it's the whole package. The ending was unsatisfying, especially if I'm to believe they are meant to be together.

Story - A coming of age story. I usually love slice of life stories, but the reliance on melodrama and angst worked against it. I would have been happy if Oh-Aew chose Bas after the blessing, because the Teh x Oh-Aew's relationship was always on and off and full of drama. They were barely ever happy. At that point, I should have been solidly rooting for Teh x Oh-Aew. For me to be ready to accept Bas shows the story didn't express true love between the leads. Some positives were the expression of sexuality that is present during adolescence, and that Bas and Tarn were good people, not villains.

Acting/Cast - All of the cast did a fine job. I especially liked the two leads and Teh's older brother.

Music - Music was great, but the opening song and the score were not subtitled. The music selection was important, so they should have subtitled everything.

Rewatch Value - Probably not unless I want to cry.

Overall - An excellent series and would recommend it. The cinematography was beautiful and the locations scenes were gorgeous.

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Positive Changes made from the Manga

I'm biased because I love fluff and I loved the manga series, so I think that Turbo and Kaownah did a great job! Turbo brought the essence of Izumi (Anda) to life. In the manga, Izumi is stubborn, a little naive and passionate, and I feel that Turbo showed those sides of Anda. This adaptation toned down the obsession that Ryoma had, and I think this translated better in live action. While in the manga, it could be shown as comical, but it would be a little too much in real life. Kaownah balanced Ryou out by making him very much in love with Anda, but not turning stalkerish. I was looking forward to the press conference scene, and I think they did a good job.

The changes that I liked were the rewrite of the Rei (Jet) character and the addition of Bank. Although I'm still irritated that they took Rei's glasses away, I like how Jet was warmer and more receptive to Tee than Rei was to Shougo. I also liked that they completely dropped the father subplot. The addition of Bank as a possible antagonist was nice, since his character was not in the manga. Bank started off in an ambiguous way, but in the end, showed his true self after being abused by his previous manager.

The changes I didn't care for were the loss of glasses of Tee and Anda. In the manga, Anda starts as a total otaku with glasses. I also didn't like that they improved Anda's drawing because the viewers did not get treated to the really bad drawings done by Izumi.

I prefer this version much more than the Japanese movie. I feel the actors did not have chemistry in the Japanese version and that some of them were a little too old for the characters.

I don't know if they will film more of this series (manga has 7 volumes) but if they do, I hope they bring back this cast.

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Original and Diverse Gay Characters

In my opinion, this was one of the best BL series of 2022. This series is unusual, and it can be zany, and has a typical Japanese comedic feel with narration and the mango superimposed at times. Some people are upset that the MCs do not kiss, but Japanese culture is more reserved. I was more enraptured by the amount of different types of gay men in the series. There is Mamoru, the nerdy doujinshi artist, Issei (Issay), the J-Pop idol, and Framboise, the guy who runs the doujinshi event, who is more of a bear, and at times presents flamboyantly. Although Issei is an idol, we do not see him shirtless, and his bleached hair is almost jarring.

I know some viewers thought that the MCs not kissing was "unrealistic," the mangaka is an openly gay man, who also draws sexually mature stories, and he chose to present Mamoru and Issei's story in this manner. This quirky slice of life series is based on a manga that has 5 volumes published and is still in serialization. Hopefully there will be further live action series based on this manga.

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One of the Best Sleeper HIts

I was going to pass on this because I thought it was going to be a zany comedy, full of sound effects and idiocy. I was wrong. I think that Secret Crush on You (SCOY) is one of the best series made. It shows excepting your flaws, being open to love with an unexpected person, This series also focuses on the bonds of friendship and being there for each other.

The major strengths in my opinion were that Nuea treated Toh just like he would a female partner (meaning gender wasn't an issue). He took Toh home to meet his family, and the family accepted him. Later, Toh took Nuea to meet his family. Toh had already told his mother about Nuea being his boyfriend, so the parents knew about their relationship before Nuea met them. Yes, there was some "drama" but it ended up being as quirky as the rest of this series is.

I was somewhat disappointed that Daisy turned out to be transgender, rather than a fem man. I think that BL at times creates too many straight passing, gym bodied men, and the industry doesn't pay proper homage to the fem gay man. I loved the character Daisy, but spent most of the series thinking she was a man, only to later learn that she is trans. I still love Daisy, though.

My favorite character was Toh. To me, Toh is the person who is saying aloud what many of us experienced during adolescence. I think this is why many people find Toh very cringy, because he reminds us of our most cringiest thoughts and behaviors while growing up.

I will rewatch this series because I love all of the characters, the friendships and the relationships.

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Selfish Rebel Without a Cause

I gave the series some slack, knowing they were fighting against the pandemic, and because the leads are not the top GMM stars that it wouldn't be like a Bright/ Win production. I'm usually very open to flawed characters, because all people have flaws, but this has to be one of the weakest endings I've seen in quite a while.

Theo is one of the least likable protagonists, who isn't evil. He is self-absorbed, and selfish at times. He is also a rebel without a cause. He fights for Enchante while knowing he is Enchante the whole time. He fights for the Literature major to not be abolished, but after finding out his parents broke up, promptly drops out of the uni. Fights for Akk, then dumps Akk to move to France with his mom, because his mom bought a house there. Theo inappropriately gets mad at Akk for not telling him about his parents, although he deceived Akk about Enchante. In the end, Akk chose to run to Paris to be with Theo. I wish that Akk had just stayed in Thailand and let Theo go. A member on MDL spoiled the novel's ending where Theo did not move to France, but ended up dancing together at the end. They should have just stuck to the novel.

I do not plan to rewatch this show, not even for Saifa's singing.

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A Cute and Fluffy Series

This story hits me in my soft spots. I love romantic fluff, when a cold character learns to open up to the person they love. Both leads had to learn that they need to be honest with their partner and that they are a source of strength to get through rough times, not to be protected from all things bad.

There were many unanswered questions in the end. Will Kuea continue singing? Will the Keerati mansion be turned into a show room? Maybe we will never know the answers.

The acting was spot on. Zee was able to show vulnerability in his gestures and glances, as well as the dialogue. I grew to appreciate him as an actor, having only seen him in Why RU. NuNew is a wonderful singer an actor. His singing skills are amazing and the role of Kuea had different characteristics, depending on who he was with. I'm looking forward to seeing what else NuNew can do.

I greatly appreciated the representation of LGBT elders with the two Grandpas. Most LGBT films and series (not only BL) do not give homage to LGBT elders, who bore much of the hatred and discrimination, while still fighting for their rights. It was great that the younger generation respected the Grandpas and the patriarchs of the family, and this show did not portray the children and grandchildren whispering and bemoaning their sexuality. The photo at the end was for the people would couldn't figure it out.

I will definitely rewatch this series, and am looking forward to other Domundi productions.

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Stagey at Times, but a Wonderful Bittersweet Story

I need to get my one criticism out of the way. I felt this series was too stagey at times, including with over the top acting at times. It was distracting because in my opinion, I would have preferred a film style presentation, but I ended up being able to overcome my bias.

I had difficulty finishing this series, not because it was lame and cliche, but due to my feelings of not wanting the protagonist, Wang, to continue being in the middle of a love triangle that will never be resolved, because it cannot be resolved. Wang is one of my favorite fictional characters I've had the pleasure of meeting. Wang is such a delightful person, that it really hurt me to see the adults in the generation about him being so stuck in their own misery, mostly a misery they made and sustain. Initially, I was pretty judgmental about Wang's mother sending him to board school, but now I realize that it may have saved him from a s similar fate. Being away from his mother allowed him to not experience her over the top demands 24 hours a day.

The shallowness of Sasiwimol and In's existences are in sharp contrast to the liveliness and optimism of Wang. Even when offered a ray of light, neither of them could reach out for it. Since Siam was with Sasiwimol and In all of the time, he wasn't able to break out on his own, while Wang has the strength the adults never had. Sasiwimol won two prestigious awards and could not find one person to share her victory with, and In could not acknowledge his feelings and chooses to be alone.

I half jokingly said that Wang should take his father's ghost, and move out on his own. I stand by this. Wang will honor his father by living, while In and Sasiwimol will continue to be the walking dead.

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Beautiful Love Story

This is about as good as it gets. You have a rookie cast that does a phenomenal job telling a story of 2 boys/men who separate and what happens after they reunite. When children are faced with adult situations, sometimes they do not make the right decision when confronted with a major event or illness. Both leads are very good, especially for their first project. The supporting cast is great as well.

This is the first Thai BL series (Japan has the film, I Heard the Sunspot) that has a lead character with a disability, actually the amputation of his dominant arm.

Mean does a fine job his first time out as a director. There may be a season 2, if there is, I will watch it.

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Heartbreakingly Honest

This contains spoilers.

I did not have high expectations going into this series, but was immediately enchanted by it. One of my favorite things about this series is, the stories of Reb and JM were presented from their eyes. Even when they did not understand each other, they talked about it and really listened to what the other had to say. What I loved even though it killed me not to know, is JM's sexuality was never discussed. JM had been deeply in love with a woman, yet started having 1 night stands with men, and live streaming them. We do not need to know all of their secrets and JM's sexuality is not really relevant to his story with Reb.

Both men acknowledge their flaws without excuses. JM is still feeling the pain of his girlfriend leaving him at the altar for another man, and Reb's view of love is rooted in fairy tale like fantasies. Both try to make their points on why their view is valid, but in the end, they develop strong feelings for one another, despite their differing views on love. They eventually decided that they needed to work on themselves for their own sakes before jumping in to a relationship. JM needs to work on trust and his walls, while Reb needs to mature. They decide to keep in contact in the end, but not as boyfriends.

This series is for a more mature audiences, so viewers who want hot chemistry and instant passion may be disappointed with the pace and that the scenes that are mainly dialogue driven.

The end title teases that there may be a season 2. If there is, I hope that it continues the pace and balance of season 1. There were no external antagonists, the conflict was created by the two main characters. We do not need the former fiancée to show up to confuse JM. It would be nice to see them courting and dating to see if they have what it takes to make it long term.

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