Exceeded my expectations

I am not quite sure why I see such negative reviews for this series. Admittedly, I had rather low expectations for it and even considered not watching it at all; but one week before the finale I got curious and watched it. My expectations were definitely exceeded! I will explain why I felt like this was an above-average GMMTV production.

First, aspects I didn’t like:
- Even though it only had 10 episodes, the series felt lengthy throughout. Fewer or at least shorter episodes could have helped to avoid some repetitive and just overly slow moments. I like moments of calm, but the story should not get boring because of them. In contrast, the last part of the finale in Paris went way too quick and should have been extended significantly, to make the ending more believable.
- The supposed main plot, the search for Enchanté, didn’t manage to pique my curiosity. I must say that I was surprised by the revelation and did think it was quite a clever twist, but the build-up to that moment just didn’t work the way it should have.
- The main character remained a bit too shallow. While I do not agree that Theo was being overly manipulative and therefore didn’t deserve a happy ending, he should have been given more depth. His character shone through in some rare actually emotional moments, but overall he didn’t leave much of an impression on me. Still, I find it somewhat believable that a rich and overprotected boy like him would be as naive and awkward and make use of unconventional methods, while also relying on others a lot.

But the positive aspects to me were much more prominent:
- The French theme was taken seriously. I imagined they would use the French connection as a mere gimmick to give an otherwise bland story a hint of originality. But they successfully integrated French elements into the soundtrack, some essential dialogues and central symbols (the fox and the rose), and even went for a finish in front of the Eiffel Tower. Sure, this is all pretty cliché, but it worked very well.
- The locations were beautiful. The campus of Assumption University looks stunning, and the scenes in France made up for the lack of the usual mandatory beach scenes. The shots at the democracy monument at night and Theo’s home also contributed to a coherent visual concept.
- The storytelling was surprisingly clever with its use of short flashbacks and changes of perspective, significantly upgrading an otherwise often boring story. The revelation of Enchanté and the background stories of the four admirers were clearly enhanced through the skillful storytelling. The good cinematography played its part as well, the colours and camera angles always fit very well with the story.
- Whenever the series got into emotional territory, it hit all the right notes. Acting-wise, it was Force who carried those moments. For the rest, music, symbols (rose and fox) and several moments of unspoken, but very noticeable thought processes contributed to some truly touching and even tear-jerking moments.

Therefore, all things considered, I will admit that this is not an outstanding and flawless series, not at all. But visual excellence, clever storytelling and a good use of the main theme made up for an unexciting story and some weak characters. Especially for its emotional moments, I will definitely keep a fond memory of Enchanté!

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Visually pleasing, but that’s about it

This series had a promising premise, with its combination of baking and thriller elements. Unfortunately, it didn’t deliver.

The visual aesthetics were really good, from the beautiful cafe with all the sweets to the house and the outfits of the main characters. The baking scenes were especially beautiful and made me crave for sweets more than once. Some of the characters were also well-written: first of all, Krating, but also Weir got a solid background story. Singto and Pluem did really well! The rest however didn’t work out for me.

Apparently, it was the director’s first project, and it shows. There was a lot of awkward acting (Mone’s father was arguably the worst) and many dialogues sounded unnatural. The main story of the four Baker Boys had several cute, funny and also dramatic moments, but it felt dragged and got boring easily. And while I usually appreciate efforts to give each episode of a series its own story arc, here this led to a complete marginalisation of the only actually interesting story arc, the (surprisingly dark) kidnapping and murder case. The thriller part only got full attention in the two final episodes, but ended up being rather disappointing as well, mainly due to the overly superficial depiction of the villains and their motives. And the light conclusion also felt tone-deaf, considering that children had been killed.

Undoubtedly, everyone had best intentions in making this series. For the visuals, the baking parts, Singto’s and Pluem’s acting, and several actually touching moments, I can still give it 7*, but the bad directing makes it hard to enjoy, so I doubt that I will watch it again. Maybe I will give the original a try!

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What is essential in life?

I see that a lot of positive things have already been written about this wonderful series and I do not think that I can add much. From early on, I had the feeling that this could finally be a 10/10 again (ten stars for the Thousand Stars), and I was not disappointed.

Was it without flaws? No. The series suffered from some annoying product placement, as we are used to from GMMTV. Also, the dialogues had their weaker moments and the music, while really memorable and fitting overall, was a bit over the top at times.

However, the flaws are forgivable. What I took away from “A Tale of Thousand Stars” was romanticism in its purest form. It did not stop at the slow-burn, yet still intense romance between the main characters, but involved the whole setting and storytelling. The story could have been about leaving one’s comfortable and predictable life behind to be with the person one loves, but it was just as much a story about personal growth after being confronted with what is essential in life. I admit that the way the series looked at the “simple life in the countryside” was naive and idealised, but in that it followed the traditional romanticist ideas about nature. Adding a romantic tale/myth to the mix worked very well. Thankfully, the format of the series allowed for a slow progressing of the plot and proper character development; every episode was able to deliver both strong emotions and true peace of mind.

The series made me think about my own life more than I could have imagined. What is essential and what are we willing to give up in our lives? For what reasons? Definitely a strong recommendation; I need to rewatch it myself as well!

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Funny, touching and thoughtful

It is easier for me to criticise than to praise, therefore this review will be rather short.

There are only two things I can criticise:
- First of all, it was too short. A story with such a variety of established characters needs to be told in at least 12 episodes. I assume that was also the original plan, but once again the pandemic changed everything. Really a pity, some characters deserved more screen time.
- Then, probably connected to the first point, the ending felt forced in some ways. Especially Saifah and his mother would have needed more time to give us a convincing reunion in the end. One or two more episodes leading up to it could have saved the ending.

But other than that, I was very surprised by how much more I liked this season compared to the first one. The story always kept a good balance between comedic and genuinely touching moments, it wasn’t unnecessarily over the top. The single storylines were very well interwoven and delivered unexpected twists. All characters seemed interesting (maybe Lookmai stayed a bit “flat”, though) and very real. I believe there is a lot to take away from the story for the viewers, especially the Doctor’s advices. I really liked the overall pace of the storytelling, not too hasty, but also not too slow. And last but not least, the cinematography in this season was on a whole new level! Good choice of colours, thoughtful composition of locations and systematic use of camera angles. And all of this combined with a solid soundtrack.

The first season got an 8.5 from me: enjoyable, but average and not very memorable. Season 2 was a clear improvement and is an absolute recommendation!

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Entertaining and thought-provoking

This was for sure one of GMMTV’s best productions in a while! For me, “Friend Zone 2” was always the first series I would watch on Fridays, even though there were several others airing on the same day.

The only negative thing I can say about this series is that it got lengthy in the later episodes. It felt like the opposite of “The Gifted: Graduation”, thus planned for a 12-episode format but subsequently extended to the final 16; this would explain why the Bew storyline ended long before the final episode and the occurrence of some soap-opera-like repetitiveness in the later episodes. The finale was much better than the episodes leading up to it made me expect.

Other than that, I am generally impressed. I liked season 1 a lot, but like everybody else (as far as I have understood from comments and reviews) I was very disappointed by the final episodes with all the forced “happy endings”. Therefore, I was scared that something similar could happen this time around again. But already the first half of season 2 was stronger than season 1, mostly because the central characters were already well-established. All characters had many layers and remained interesting throughout the entire 16 episodes; especially Earth’s story arc gave me a lot to think about. The endings of the various storylines were all satisfying; although Tor and Boom’s relationship still seems rather shaky, it developed in a genuine way throughout season 2.

The series tackled many important topics and managed to avoid an abundance of cliches. Also, it was never shy to show morally questionable behaviour without judging. There is undoubtedly a lot to learn from it about (self)love and the true meaning of happiness. Good actors, fascinating characters, unconventional relationships and a daring, but always entertaining story make “Friend Zone 2” a must-watch!

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Wonderful sequel with a rushed execution

I had mixed feelings when I started watching this season, because the ending of season 1 was amazing and written in a way that in my eyes didn’t easily allow for a sequel that wouldn’t ruin the story. Turns out, season 2 was in part an improvement over its predecessor, although it unfortunately also had some weaknesses.

There was one major problem with this season: it was packed with a variety of characters and many complex storylines, but the storytelling was extremely rushed. Without having researched the production details of this season, I strongly assume that something went wrong during production, forcing them either to radically cut scenes that had originally been filmed or to skip parts of the screenplay already during filming. Probably GMMTV had to rearrange their schedule due to the pandemic and this series ended up in an airing spot it was not designed for. In my opinion, the screenplay was probably aiming at a format similar to “Who Are You”, with 18 episodes à 60 minutes (maybe a little less, 16 episodes or so). That would explain why many characters were underused, there were huge gaps between scenes, many developments lacked explanation and the opening credits were left out or radically shortened. It’s a shame, because what ultimately ended up in the series was extremely promising and exciting, only disturbed by the rushed storytelling. 13 episodes of this length are a joke for this story.

With that being said, the material that we got to see was great. They seemingly were not afraid to push their criticism of the Thai education system even further, digging deeper in the political environment allowing for all of this to happen in the first place. Including the gruesome red drum killings from Thai history was not something I would have expected from a kids’ show. The story was pretty strong, with many unexpected plot twist (which actually made sense, unlike those in “Blacklist”), a healthy level of tension throughout and an interesting shift of “leadership” between several characters. The antagonist was again very convincing, while on the side of the protagonists the roles of various characters were rather “blurred”; this made it a little hard to sympathise with the kids, but in the context of the story it still worked. The acting was generally fine, although I felt like Nanon was a little spaced out sometimes. As an improvement over season 1, I liked that the story didn’t need several slow introducing episodes, but started right away. On the other hand, the ending, while still strong and unpredictable, lacked the kind of build-up of the finale of season 1, probably due to the overall rush.

In short: this is an extremely strong second season! If the director had been given enough time to tell all of the story and that in a proper pace, it could have been a 10/10 for me; like this it is still 9*, as I can't find anything to criticise besides the rushed storytelling.

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Underwhelming, but oh, the feelings

I don’t want to spend too much time on reviewing this, but I saw many negative reviews that seemed way too harsh to me, so I felt the need to “defend” this season. “Love by Chance” for me was a 10/10 (ignoring the Techno/Kengkla storyline), so clearly this season didn’t stand a chance (pun intended) and I agree with the general feeling that we could have done without it, but still, it has its charm.

First half of this season was indeed a mess, changing the timeline was the worst idea I have ever seen in a second season of a drama. Why show us the same story again, when it was already done better in season 1? If they had at least used the chance (yup, I did it again) to write out the Techno/Kengkla rape incident, but no, it was a completely unnecessary change. In general it was pretty boring and it already became clear that Plan had to carry the whole season on his little shoulders.

Second half was more like what I had hoped for (my expectations were clearly not high). I feel like they did the best they could in dealing with Saint’s absence; Ae had a proper story arc throughout the whole season, culminating in a very nice ending getting everyone’s hopes up. The feelings were still strong with most of the characters. Ultimately, while most characters unfortunately stayed very passive without taking any relevant part in the story, it was Tul and Gonhin that saved the season for me. Their story was heartbreaking and delivered quite convincingly. The complex family problems in Tin’s family could have been told much better, which would have helped in getting some more dramatic moments, but it was at least something.

Summing up, the season was of course underwhelming, but a lot of that can be attributed to Saint’s absence and to the incomprehensible change of the timeline. We got a lot of eye candy, some convincing acting performances (Plan, mostly, how can he keep up this childishness all the time?), a happy ending for Can and Tin, a beautiful and quite complex family drama around Tul and Gonhin and even a bit of hope for my all-time favourite couple, Ae and Pete. However, due to the overall lack of engaging and original storylines, the dramatic underuse of several characters and a general “blandness” of the product as a whole, this is definitely not something to watch again; well, maybe parts of the second half.

I would rate it lower, but even with all its flaws this season managed to deliver some of the feelings I felt during season 1 again. Therefore, I would still recommend fans of the first season to give this one a chance (I’ll stop now)!

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Fascinating and disturbing

I already expected that I would have to say more positive things about this movie than the previous reviewers. Disclaimer: I feel like there might be several versions of the movie out there, I watched the official one on GagaOOLala.

In short: I thought this movie was fascinating and somewhat disturbing, although not entirely satisfying.

Some background information on the movie would be helpful to better understand it. Sadly, I couldn’t find out a whole lot. I also don’t really know about the connections to “Bittersweet Chocolate”, as I have not seen that one. What I understood: the director wanted to pay tribute to classic Pink Films, a particular Japanese genre between art movie and porn. That’s also where the whole gangster/mafia background is derived from. Apart from some smaller Queer Film Festivals, the Movie had its probably most important screening at the Berlin Porn Film Festival, where they announced it as “probably one of this year’s most extreme movies” and explained that the director intended to portray a gay subculture obsessed with outdoor sex as well as a generation of women fascinated by gay sex. If anything, it can be derived from this background that the project was really ambitious. Most of it seems to have been done by the director himself in collaboration with his sister (?) and honestly, I am happy that there are talented actors like Gun Atthaphan out there willing to experiment with such projects, it really adds a lot.

Now, there are obviously things I did not like (or better: things I thought did not contribute in a positive way to the movie as a whole):
- The length. Two hours was way too long. If it had been filled with action (sex, torture, murder, whatever), I wouldn’t mind, but the overall pace of the movie was very slow. That is fine, but then you just need to cut it to a more digestible format. Many of the scenes could simply have been shortened, without cutting them completely, as they just went on for too long.
- The vagueness. By that I mean that there was a promising gangster story unfolding throughout the movie, but the hints given were too vague to understand it even in part. James and Mac had a talk about what? What deal did James and Cherry have? What happened to the drugs? Why did they keep Boy as a prisoner? The gang was dealing with drugs and offering sex work, but other than that the story did not explain any details.
- The character introductions. There were many interesting characters in the movie (and all actors were pretty good in their roles!), but the way they were introduced and how their screen time was split was really confusing. Gold Hair completely disappeared after the first scenes, James appeared rather randomly and Ladyboy and Big Boss were just thrown in somewhere.

But overall I did enjoy the movie. Positive aspects I would like to point out:
- The actors. As I said, they were all doing really well in their roles. Clearly, all of the characters had mental problems: Cherry was bipolar (and probably sexually frustrated), James a drug addict, Mac a BDSM addict, Boy was completely traumatised. I wish they had explored the Ladyboy and Gold Hair characters a bit more though. James got too little screen time, maybe because Gun did not agree to participate in more explicit scenes, but I really enjoyed his presence.
- The cinematography. The construction site was an amazing location for such a movie. The camera knew very well how to capture the scenery, both the buildings and the surrounding nature.
- The soundtrack. The strange drum beats during the explicit scenes and some interesting punk interludes fit very well with what was going on. The movie also wasn’t shy to work with long moments of silence.
- The story. Although I criticised its vagueness and its flawed character introductions, the overall messed-up story was fascinating. I think, with the few clear infos the audience receives, it can be condensed down to the fact that Mac was indebted with the mafia and worked for them as a prostitute. At the end he manages to quit and takes Boy with him, who he apparently fell for during his captivity, cutting ties also with the bad influence of his friend/partner (?) James. James probably kills Cherry for good and goes his own way (but he might also go after Mac and kill Boy as a witness of everything, who knows).

As I already said, I was not satisfied with the movie in the end. Less vagueness and better character introductions would have been great, and I also wouldn’t mind if it was even more “extreme” in some parts, that aspect wasn’t balanced very well. In any case, cutting it down to 90 minutes could work wonders. However, it is a movie that is ambitious, experimental, featuring good actors and giving a lot to think about. Definitely not for the mainstream, but I am thankful that such movies exist!

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What a surprise that they made this special episode! I didn't even have the time to build up expectations, but I was definitely a big fan of Theory of Love (please check out my review).

Story-wise this episode doesn't have a lot to offer, which is not surprising, but I feel like they could at least have tried to keep the tone a little more serious. The series had a lot of really emotional and dramatic moments, those were mostly absent in this episode. Also, there was too much voice-over in my opinion; that was a nice addition to the series, but here it became overdominant. And although I agree with comments saying that Gun and Off don't "need" kisses: I believe it is a bad trend in the latest Thai shows not to show intimacies, especially after many series in previous years have dared to show much more than just simple kisses. Theory of Love has some beautiful kiss scenes, which makes the lack thereof in this episode not very believable.

Nonetheless, the visual style of the episode and the soundtrack were fairly consistent with the series. The characters worked well together once again, the setting was nice. The two proposal scenes and the car scene were well done and managed to outbalance the comedic moments to a large extent. With all this said, the special can obviously not reach the 9.5 I had given Theory of Love, but I feel that with 8.5 it is still worth a watch.

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A pleasant surprise

I was not expecting much from this, honestly. It initially seemed like a silly, over-the-top comedy show with immature, high-school characters. But The Shipper is so much better!

- First of all, great production value! The budget seemed to be quite high, the product placement wasn't too aggressive. The series had good cinematography, a varied setting and a really wonderful soundtrack. The work of the film editors was particularly noteworthy, creating many surprising moments with a clever use of flashbacks and jump cuts.
- The series provided us with a wide range of characters: the inconspicuous nice guy, the mean girl gang, the involuntary bad boy, the perfect student with secrets and the two naive shipper-best friends. The actors portrayed them well. I obviously have a soft spot for Ohm Pawat, and he did not disappoint; even his age didn't seem too far-off for a high schooler, which is mindblowing, actually. Little details in the various relationships shown really made this series above-average. The mean girls writing about each other in various chat groups were hilarious, for example. Adults were not very present, but especially Pan's uncle had some very touching moments. Oh, and the Angel of Death was pure comedy gold, thanks to Jennie!
- After the first few episodes, the character development got (in most cases) surprisingly deep, sometimes in sharp contrast with the overall comedy. We learned about a difficult siblings relationship, about strong bonds of friendship, about unexpected first loves, and about parental pressure. The whole yaoi phenomenon wasn't as present as the title would have suggested, but it was used well to portray the girls' naivete when it came to love. And I loved the audacious gender-bender concept, making all kinds of relationships between the characters possible, disregarding gender stereotypes. I am a little mad however that they went with a male love-interest for Soda in the end.
- I will end with some critique. Generally speaking, the series didn't always get the tone right. By that I mean that over-the-top comedy and very serious issues (sexual misconduct, violence, death) were sometimes clashing too harshly. Leaving the boys' locker room porn crime at the beginning largely uncommented was a very bad move. The Angel of Death's role sometimes ridiculed the concept of death in itself, which is questionable, since this touches upon the very dignity of human life. And storywise it was certainly surprising that Kim was actually dead the whole time, but it ultimately made a lot of the story appear pointless. I appreciate that they tried to fix that problem with the post-credit scene though, maybe we will get a second season (I certainly wouldn't mind)!

If you are looking for a hilarious comedy with great characters, a surprising story and enough emotional depth, this is a total recommendation! Once again a female director saves the day.

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Great job, Kanittha Kwanyu!

A Korean original (which I have not seen) and Kanittha Kwanyu as the director – these were two pretty good reasons for me to watch the show. And I certainly didn’t regret it.


First the things I wasn’t so happy about:

- The length. The original has 16 episodes of about 45 minutes, the remake has 18 episodes of about an hour. I really can’t think of a good reason why they had to stretch it like this. Cutting it down to maybe 15 episodes would have helped to avoid getting repetitive (some dialogue was repeated several times with only slight variations) and to keep up the high tension (the “revelations” were mostly announced way too early). I really can’t say that it got boring, but the storytelling would definitely work better in a shorter format.

- The antagonist. I’m sorry, but Tida was just too evil. Especially if the overall message was that at the age of 17 nothing is as serious as it seems etc., you can’t just put in such a psycho. She was not a victim of domestic violence herself (as far as we know) and she didn’t experience any peer pressure, so where ist the key to understanding her behaviour? Although her final moments were very strong, with everything that she did I feel like she needed to be cured in a psychiatric clinic. I refuse to believe that such cruelty could just be a simple character trait.

- In my opinion, they unnecessarily idealised high school as an institution, I really cannot relate with such a depiction of it. Especially when they were wishing goodbye to Mr. Q, it got pretty awkward. Maybe this is in fact the experience students in Thailand (or Korea) have, to me it seems unrealistic.


However, I really enjoyed everything else:

- The production value. It is pretty obvious that the budget for this was above-average, resulting in more episodes, a great ensemble of actors and amazing work in the technical departments. If it results in this, I am certainly able to forgive the annoying product placement!

- The soundtrack. Getsunova stands for quality when you need emotional songs, and they did not disappoint. Also the general soundtrack was really on point, a lot of effort must have been put into it. In some scenes it however went a little over the top and felt more suitable for an epic Hollywood movie than for a high-school TV series; less is more, I would say.

- The cinematography. As a fan of cinema, I do pay attention to the camera work. And generally speaking, (Thai?) TV series most of the time are pretty average in this regard, also because it is mostly not an essential element of the storytelling (after all, movies and series are pretty different formats). In recent years, “Theory of Love” really stood out with regards to cinematography, followed by the great “A Gift to the People You Hate” and now “Who Are You”. It wasn't that outstanding in this case, sure, but the frequent use of inclined camera angles was a memorable and impactful effect. Colours and lighting were also well-harmonised.

- The story. The first episode already played a nice game of confusion with the viewers, showing Meen'a and Mind's parallel, but very different lives, setting up everything that was to come. Afterwards, there were lots of “hints” dropped throughout the series, making it a really exciting experience that (almost) never got boring. I would criticise that after that much buildup, the “revelations” about Meen and June were not so surprising and fell a bit flat, mainly because of the length of the series. However, the series luckily didn't just focus on the stories of Meen and Mind. The side-stories, above all Gun's, but also Pete's, and even Lyla's, really added something relevant and were masterfully interwoven with the rest. Much of what happened in the series felt in one way or another relatable and realistic and there is certainly important messages to learn about friendship and family relations.

- The characters and their actors. I had already seen Namtan in several roles and she is definitely a strong actress. She delivered her role(s) very well, whether she was crying, being fierce or caring for her friends. Distinguishing between Meen and Mind wasn’t always easy though. Krist was definitely better than what I had seen of him before, playing a seemingly indestructible nice guy with a certain underlying sadness. Sing was very convincing as well, I felt his struggles a lot; he seemed so lost sometimes that it really hurt. The adults all delivered great performances (which isn’t always the case in GMMTV productions), except for maybe the mother, she seemed a bit unnatural to me in some moments. Mr. Q was a really interesting character, his initial shadiness soon made space for a striking idealism.

- Kay. The best performance however, and I think many will agree with me on this, was clearly Kay’s. Isn’t it incredible that this is his first role? I haven’t felt that much for a fictional character in a long time (Jaylerr’s performance in “Angel Beside Me” probably came close), in these last episodes he really wrecked me emotionally. Gun’s messed-up relationship with his father, his social isolation and his determination when it came to Mind, it was all delivered perfectly; his character had definitely the most nuanced story arch and the strongest personal development and I heavily doubt that many other young actors could have done such an amazing job.


Long story short, I loved this series! It had an interesting story from the beginning, was technically well-made, could rely on an amazing cast (seriously, Kay alone was better here than the entire cast of “Blacklist” combined!), had a great variety of fascinating characters and managed to convey strong emotions through all of its main elements (story, cinematography, music, acting). I am happy to see that my enthusiasm about Kanittha Kwanyu is justified! Additionally, this series gave me more Getsunova music to get emotional to and a new YouTuber to follow (Kayavine).

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So I finally managed to watch this, after having planned to for several years! Good to hear some Mandarin again, after so much Thai ... I had followed the backstory of the series a bit and was really impressed when two years ago I stumbled across a huge advertisement with Timmy Xu in a shopping mall in Ho Chi Minh City; happy to know that he has had a successful career.

Anyway, what we got was pretty short (I'm more used to the 50-minute format), so I will keep the review short as well. Overall I really liked Addicted!The series sets a good mood in my opinion, in that it has a healthy mix of (sometimes surprisingly) comedic and emotional moments. I also liked the setting, even though it got kind of depressing (always cold and grey, reminds me of my home); it's pretty different from what I'm used to in Asian (mainly Thai) series. The main actors (by that I mean the two leads and their respective parents / parental figures) are convincing and seem very genuine in their interactions. Gu Hai had some really interesting lines regarding gender roles. Not to forget: the soundtrack is really memorable (I would have never expected to hear the Shameless title song in a Chinese BL series!).

Obviously, I have things to criticise as well. I realise that these 15 eps are basically just an introduction to what the series could have really looked like (without imperial intervention), but the cuts and jumps between scenes were already too fast for me. I find it hard to follow a story when it goes on at such a pace and with so many things never shown on screen. And generally speaking, the amount of drama wasn't big in this, so the story felt a bit "flat". Additionally, the supporting cast did either not get enough screen time to give a relevant contribution to the series or was pretty bland (Gu Hai's girlfriend, as well as his brother). Then, let's not forget that Gu Hai is quite abusive in some moments (both with his girlfriend and with Bai Luoying); it sure fits his character and makes him more interesting, but consent-related issues need to be made clearer (by the way, that ridiculous kidnapping was completely unnecessary).

The two lead actors, the setting and the soundtrack are big pros for me, while I am not impressed by the length (shortness, actually) and the absence of serious dramatic moments. I have a good overall feeling though and would definitely recommend this!

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I did not expect such a hype, but this series certainly deserved it. They did a lot of things right and I really enjoyed it, but I still got a little frustrated with it.

Let’s start with the positive aspects. First of all, the cast was great, I can’t complain about anyone. Also, the characters they played were mostly well-written, they felt relatable and genuine. I could feel the author of “Theory of Love” (which I loved); unlike other BL series, the characters didn’t feel cartoonish or totally unrealistic. The music was on point, obviously, the screentime of the side characters was okay and the amount of humour was just right. The overall storytelling was smooth and never boring, although it sometimes jumped a little too quickly from one scene to the next one.

However, I expected more. After the first, say, 5 episodes, some more story development and more drama should have occurred; it just started going in circles at some point. When there was some tension, it was usually quickly resolved within the course of just one episode, so I could not get invested in it. The emotions of the characters felt very real, but it all went too quick to really get me emotional while watching. It was all fun and sweet, no doubt, but just too “light” for me to fully enjoy it.

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Although originally not expecting much from it, I liked this series from the very beginning and have even become somewhat obsessed with it towards the end. Therefore I believe it deserves an in-depth review.

Story
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It seems important to me to look at the two main aspects of the story separately. On the one hand, there is the story of Lin and Somchai, who happen to meet and develop feelings for each other. On the other hand, there is the story of Lin being courted by an angel and by the devil, thus a human torn between good and evil. From the trailers, I expected to see mainly the first aspect, with the angel concept having only little impact. However, the second aspect has (at least for me) quickly become the dominating part of the story.

First some thoughts about Lin and Somchai. I must confess that I have not been much invested in their story at the beginning. It already sounds very cliche: two strangers meet by accident, need to spend time together and at some point start to develop feelings, even though they have never really thought about love before. Very predictable, not very original, and at odds with the second aspect of the story, that is very much based on the defining difference of angels and humans. However, Somchai and Lin were undoubtedly very sweet together. I still wasn’t convinced by their affection for each other, until the final episode hit me really hard. Never expected such a tearjerker, but here we are. Everything about Michael’s struggles when discussing with Gabriel and his final talk with the Lord was so nicely done, emotional and wise at the same time. Thus, although the ending was ultimately predictable, I must admit that they managed to create the ideal happy ending for this aspect of the story. Love is indeed stronger than anything.

Moving on to the second aspect. I was seriously blown away by how well they handled the eternal battle of good vs. evil and by how seriously they took the angels theme. It’s hard to tell what angel mythology the authors have based the story on, with Christianity being anything but mainstream in Thailand (in any case, they mixed in some clear Buddhist elements, making it even more interesting). I have looked at it from a Catholic background (plus I’m named after an archangel, so I’m really invested in the topic) and was amazed how well they actually depicted the angels’ hierarchy and even tried to enact the mythical fight between Michael and Satan. There have been a few theologically questionable elements which I will point out later, but overall they managed to not only use the angels as a funny supernatural gimmick, but as a serious framework for discussing problems of good and evil in our daily life and beyond.

Lin was shown as a weak character, not surprisingly so with all her terrible experiences as an unloved child and her permanent daily struggles, and therefore she was a perfect prey for the devil. I don’t think she was ever supposed to be a likable character, but she seems very relatable. Michael’s strict principles and his initial naivety in looking at mundane problems contrasted very strongly with her negative views on life. Throughout the series, both of them went through important learning processes: Lin learned to believe in good again, made real friends and reunited with her mother; Michael learned that principles can only be a guideline, so by simply evaluating people’s merit points and granting wishes solely on that basis, Heaven misses out on the concrete circumstances of individuals’ lives. Along the way, under Michael’s influence also several side characters underwent very positive developments: Lin’s mother, her landlady, her co-worker (and modeling agent) and of course Punpun. All of this provided for many memorable heartfelt moments, raising important moral questions.

Now, for this second aspect to fully work, I feel like the series could have ended with ep. 11; it is hard to imagine the Great Michael taking the kind of radical decision he took in the finale (if they had used just any angel instead, it would probably be more fitting). Alas, I think we should weigh both aspects of the story evenly, and therefore I can certainly overlook such little problems.


Theological problems
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I will now briefly address three of the theological “problems” I encountered.

First, Lin’s suicide attempt. Since it was basically the beginning of the story we didn’t get much information about that particular moment of Lin’s life; however, Satan admits that he pushed her to commit suicide in order to drag her to hell. Now, it is imaginable that the act of suicide could be the final step in a series of developments that Lin underwent under the influence of the devil, and having Michael doing everything to save her displays how her “good side” is unwilling to let her end her life. But throwing in the suicide without a deeper reflection on it leaves us with the brutal suggestion that committing suicide is necessarily an act of evil and an automatic ticket to hell, which is a very old-fashioned teaching not broadly supported by modern theology. The repetition of it in the finale made it even worse, since Satan didn’t even seem to be present anymore (but she still emphasises that she wouldn’t go to Heaven if she had died).

Then, the final confrontation between Michael and Satan. I was looking forward to that moment, but it was acted out somewhat strangely. There is a basic problem in this case (besides the controversy over the very existence of Satan, obviously): true, Michael ultimately defeats Satan in the bible, but only at the end of times, the Apocalypse. The devil cannot be defeated (neither by Michael nor by anyone above him) before the Apocalypse, because only his presence guarantees individual freedom of humans (to choose good or evil). Therefore, the outcome of the confrontation is very realistic: Michael can very well send the devil away, but it is clear that he might come back whenever Lin allows him to (he knowingly says “see you soon”). The part with Michael threatening to destroy Satan and Lin asking to spare him consequently doesn’t make sense, also because destroying the personification of evil cannot itself be an act of evil; the scene serves its purpose as displaying the positive developments both Michael and Lin have undergone, but undermines the good/evil question (not severely though, as one could also interpret it as a test knowingly posed to Lin by Michael).

Finally, it was never properly explained whether Serena’s weird “temptation” of Michael was actually Satan’s initial plan or just part of his effort to confuse Lin. It would have been interesting to see what the devil could possibly gain from such an arrangement.

Besides these “problems”, it is worth pointing out that the depiction of Michael and his incarnation is clearly modelled upon Jesus (filling in the blank they left with not clearly identifying the Lord of Heaven). Making him walk on water in ep. 11 was a nice hint at that. In that sense, Serena’s temptation could be taken from the bible, only that Jesus in contrast always knows the identity of his tempter.


Technical aspects
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All actors did a decent job, only a few were a bit overacting (Police Angel, talking about you!). Of the three mains, JJ was obviously the shining star, I can’t criticise him in any way; what a wonderful performance! Mek was incredibly cool in his role and only got better towards the end. Jane … I don’t know, she was certainly weaker than her co-stars, but I guess that fits with her role.

The way the story was told was pretty conventional; no special camera or editing techniques were used, the storyline was very linear. I wish they had tried to hide Luke’s identity better, that could have provided for more surprises along the way. The overall production value was okay; the special effects in ep. 11 were visibly cheap, but I think they did the best they could.


Conclusion
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Long story short, this series has it all: good message, relatable characters, humour, romance, plot twists and drama. It takes its guiding themes very seriously and embeds the story into an incredibly well thought-out concept. Sure, it is not perfect. The middle part could have been accelerated a bit (10 episodes would overall probably have been enough), some silly humour could have been toned down, the depiction of the devil could still have been improved and the two aspects of the story could have been interwoven more neatly. But let’s face it: for an all-ages GMMTV show this is really outstanding! And why am I not surprised that once again the director is a woman?

I can only recommend this hidden gem to everyone, particularly to those of you looking for “simple but catchy storylines” (as pointed out by another fan of the show) with relatable characters and a good message. I loved it!

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Not the easiest review to write, but I’ll try my best. First of all, I was a huge fan of Love by Chance, I even gave it a 10/10 back then. So, this director’s style is definitely something I highly appreciate. Consequently, my expectations from UWMA were rather high. The series lived up to my expectations, yes, but there are definitely more aspects I have to criticise here compared to LBC.

Let’s start with what I didn’t like or what I felt could have been improved (they are all closely related, actually):
- The number of episodes was unnecessarily high. The story felt like it could have easily been told in the usual 12 or uttermost in 14 episodes, definitely not 17! I think it could easily be shortened down to that number of episodes without losing relevant parts of the stories.
- The film editing was not great. It felt as if they just left in everything they had filmed, while the job of a film editor should be to extract only the relevant parts of the scenes, so as to tell a coherent story. Scenes just went on and on, filled with meaningless phrases and awkward stares; I wanted to shout “Cut, please!” very often.
- There was absolutely no balance between the screen time of the main couple and the supporting cast. I get that by showing them in two incarnations you need to give them a lot of screen time, but I had the impression that the director was indecisive about whether to actually tell the side stories or to keep them out of this series/season. Like this it’s none of the two options, they just threw in some scenes without any sense of timing and inconsistent storytelling.

Anyway, I can’t think of any more negatives! What I liked:
- Great soundtrack: touching music that fits the scenes very well.
- Great story: Romeo and Juliet (Julian, actually) with a happy ending, that’s exactly what I needed! The concept of reincarnation isn’t really my cup of tea, but here it basically “saved” such a beautiful, but tragic love story. The pain felt so real (still don’t understand why Korn did what he did), and Pharm’s doubts at the end were very much understandable. The whole family entanglement (at least in my view) made clear that the tragedy in the past needed to be “resolved” by the same families ultimately responsible for it, very impressive.
- Great actors, I have nothing to criticise. Well, some felt wasted with such little screen time, but that’s a different problem. Also, no over-the-top comedic sidekick ruining the mood, big plus.
- High production value, no doubt. As I already mentioned, I really like this director’s style. Of course the aggressive product placement is very annoying, but it’s just how it works …
- The double suicide as a consequence of parents and society not accepting their children’s homosexuality gave the series a very dark theme; it wasn’t fully exploited imo, but still very present until the end.

I could continue the list of positives, but I’ll stop here. Compared to LBC, I think that UWMA has a better story and slightly better actors, but the lengthy and overly slow storytelling and the badly balanced screen times of different characters made it a little less enjoyable to watch for me. Still, I can highly recommend watching it!

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