This review may contain spoilers
dare i say this show is a masterpiece?
yeah folks we can stop right here we've officially done it: this is the best bl not only of this year, but in my opinion the best bl ive ever seen (and ive seen a decent amount). i dont even know what to say, i usually break my reviews into a positive paragraph and a negative paragraph, but i kid you not i dont have a SINGLE negative thing to say, isnt that insane? miss negative nancy over here doesnt have a single bad thing to say, this is a rare sight ladies and gentlemen.
ive been watching this show since the first week, and i was lowkey kinda nervous bc i havent seen netjj in anything, since i STILL havent watched the next prince. i watched some of bed friend, so i did kinda know net's acting before this, but holyyyyyy shit absolutely NOTHING could have prepared me for the acting both net AND jj delivered in this show. not even kidding this might be the best acting ive seen in a bl in a veryyyyyy long time. net is really great in this, i genuinely could not get enough of phob i love that man so much. jj was amazing too!!!!! i really enjoyed seeing the slow shift in his word choice from when he originally traveled back to the past to when he was there for a long time. while i am not fluent by any means in thai, nor am i extremely educated on the linguistic differences between modern thai and the thai spoken during the ayutthaya period, what language differences i could gather from my somewhat decent thai skills was really fun and cool to see. latte and kim were really great, i do wish they couldve gotten a LITTLE more screentime, but hey, beggars cant be choosers, am i right ladies
guys i love phob so much. i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i think i could go on for days about this man. genuinely i think he's broken into my top 5 bl characters of all time (hes right in fourth place behind palm from never let me go, style from the heart killers, and karan from cherry magic in case anyone was curious). not only do i love phob because net is amazing, i love him becauese he is a very well written character. i FELT that mans emotion dude, like i felt that shit deep in my soul. every scene that man cried i was right there with him like i havent felt this attached to a fictional man in quite a while. he was sooooo green flag, and he made a lot of sense. like, does that make sense? i feel like obviously a gay romance occuring in the ayutthaya period is obviously a little far fetched, but the way phob's character is written and acted doesnt make it seem ridiculous. it feels rooted in something real, and i really enjoyed that. klao, or nakkun (but i think im gonna stick with klao) is so cute guys like AWWWWWWWWW!!!! i feel like that one tiktok sound thats like awwwwww so cute!!! so cute!!! is that niche? guys idc like everytime i would see klao on screen i would wanna pinch his cheeks like i love jj so much hes so cute i cannot like UGHHHHHH!!!! omg and jom and kaew in the past had a veryyy good plot in my opinion. i really enjoy when bls actually explore the deeper themes of societal homophobia, and i was really scared that this show wasnt gonna do that properly. obviously a bl taking place in a historical time period warrants at least a little bit of discussion on the homophobia of their society, but ive seen a lot of these shows do it in a very surface level way. i feel like the plotline with jom not wanting to be judged was a really good one because it EXPLORED those themese on a bit deeper of a level. now was it the most complex, well thought out, and emotinoally moving plot ever? not necessarily, but it was deep enough that it at least satisfied me.
i also really did enjoy how they explored the controversy of phob and klao's love with phob's parents. when i tell you i sobbed for MULTIPLE DAYS over when phob's dad was gonna kick klao out i mean it. i legit had tears welling in my eyes when i thought about it during class like yall it was genuinely consuming my every waking moment. i know i just said i like when bls explore homophobia and the societal issues with being gay that still persist, but MAN that shit gets me. i feel like bls that explore those themes are more geared at an actual LGBTQ+ audience, and less just straight girls that wanna watch two hot dudes kiss (no shade to those people but..) this show felt geared towards the LGBTQ+ community, if that makes sense. as a member myself, i really saw myself in the characters. these struggles still persist in the modern day, hell, my parents are very similar to phob's in a lot of ways. in addition, the ending really felt like it was meant to hit home for LGBTQ+ people because of the marriage. i am actually still crying over the ending a little bit, and i finished the episode almost an hour and a half ago. that full circle moment of seeing a love transcend both centuries AND societal norms like yall dont know how that gottttttt meeeeeeee!!!! im sorry guys but that ending was PHENOMENAL. like actually. that ending felt so earned, that marriage felt so powerful, and it was a perfect conclusion in my opinion. yes i cried when thee and jun got together. yes i cried when phob and klao met in front of the car. yes i cried when they visited the temples. yes i cried THE WHOLE FREAKING EPISODE. i cant make this up the last episode was 1 hour and 27 minutes (ayyyy 127) of me genuinely struggling to see through my tears. god, this show is everything to me can you guys tell?
in terms of the plot itself, the time travel element was very interesting. was it a little underexplained? kinda, but i could figure it out well enough. the coming back to avenge klao's dad plot was fun, and so was the whole opium thing. i'll be honest here, i didn't 100000% understand the opium plot the whole time. like, a good comparasion is the snake plotline from revenged love. like did i fully get it the whole show? like no, but it got it ENOUGH for me to still have a fucking awesome time. the opium search and trying to find cherd and all that made enough sense for enough of the show for me to be happy. it could have been explained a LITTLE better but once again, i still knew what was going on for the most part. besides, the important parts of the plot made perfect sense, so thats really all that matters to me.
okay, so this has been an absolute glazefest of this show, i get it. i know this review might be hard to take seriously since i havent brought up any major criticisms, but unfortunately i cant bring myself to have an issue with anything in this show. are there some nitpicks i could see others having? sure, absolutely. i could see people hating pim, i could see people thinking the time travel is stupid. i could even see people disliking the ending, and thinking it should have been opened ended or it should have ended with klao and phob never getting together at all. however, i myself dont have these issues. i think that phob and klao getting to live together is such a powerful message about queer love, about how strong it is. i found pim to be a very interesting and important character, and she conveyed how men can control those of weaker social standings. the time travel thing i dont have a big speech to make that seem cool and important, but i thought it was fun like i vibed with it. idk, for all the faults i have seen others pointing out, i just havent felt the same. every tiny issue i see is so inconsequential that the thought barely even crossed my mind while watching.
WOAH. thats a lot of writing. im not reading this back, i really hope there arent any typos or grammar mistakes since i take pride in my writing abilities. i want to wrap this up so if anyone is still reading they can finally rest their eyes and take a breath. let me end with this: i found this show not only to be a fun watch, but to be a meaningful one. this show has left me with this feeling in my chest that very few others have been able to do. it feels like i just finished thamepo, never let me go, boys in love, and my school president all at the same time (these are all my favorite bls in case anyone is curious why i picked those ones). i feel like i laughed with this show, i cried with this show, i held my breath with it, i cowered in fear with it, i did everything with it. i mean this so genuinely when i say this show feels like it was a core part of my life for months. literally every week revolved around friday, because i would get a new episode. letting go of love upon a time is really hard. this sounds soooooo dramatic but its really how i feel. i am so beyond jealous of anyone who waited until the show was over to just binge, because omg you're in for the best time of your life. so to anyone still reading who hasnt watched: RUN BITCH RUN GO WATCH IT NOW PLEASE GO PLEASE GOGOGOGOGOGOGOGO YOU WILL LOVE IT RUN GOOO GOGOGOGOGOGOGOG PLEASE!!!! okay im done! :)
ive been watching this show since the first week, and i was lowkey kinda nervous bc i havent seen netjj in anything, since i STILL havent watched the next prince. i watched some of bed friend, so i did kinda know net's acting before this, but holyyyyyy shit absolutely NOTHING could have prepared me for the acting both net AND jj delivered in this show. not even kidding this might be the best acting ive seen in a bl in a veryyyyyy long time. net is really great in this, i genuinely could not get enough of phob i love that man so much. jj was amazing too!!!!! i really enjoyed seeing the slow shift in his word choice from when he originally traveled back to the past to when he was there for a long time. while i am not fluent by any means in thai, nor am i extremely educated on the linguistic differences between modern thai and the thai spoken during the ayutthaya period, what language differences i could gather from my somewhat decent thai skills was really fun and cool to see. latte and kim were really great, i do wish they couldve gotten a LITTLE more screentime, but hey, beggars cant be choosers, am i right ladies
guys i love phob so much. i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i love him i think i could go on for days about this man. genuinely i think he's broken into my top 5 bl characters of all time (hes right in fourth place behind palm from never let me go, style from the heart killers, and karan from cherry magic in case anyone was curious). not only do i love phob because net is amazing, i love him becauese he is a very well written character. i FELT that mans emotion dude, like i felt that shit deep in my soul. every scene that man cried i was right there with him like i havent felt this attached to a fictional man in quite a while. he was sooooo green flag, and he made a lot of sense. like, does that make sense? i feel like obviously a gay romance occuring in the ayutthaya period is obviously a little far fetched, but the way phob's character is written and acted doesnt make it seem ridiculous. it feels rooted in something real, and i really enjoyed that. klao, or nakkun (but i think im gonna stick with klao) is so cute guys like AWWWWWWWWW!!!! i feel like that one tiktok sound thats like awwwwww so cute!!! so cute!!! is that niche? guys idc like everytime i would see klao on screen i would wanna pinch his cheeks like i love jj so much hes so cute i cannot like UGHHHHHH!!!! omg and jom and kaew in the past had a veryyy good plot in my opinion. i really enjoy when bls actually explore the deeper themes of societal homophobia, and i was really scared that this show wasnt gonna do that properly. obviously a bl taking place in a historical time period warrants at least a little bit of discussion on the homophobia of their society, but ive seen a lot of these shows do it in a very surface level way. i feel like the plotline with jom not wanting to be judged was a really good one because it EXPLORED those themese on a bit deeper of a level. now was it the most complex, well thought out, and emotinoally moving plot ever? not necessarily, but it was deep enough that it at least satisfied me.
i also really did enjoy how they explored the controversy of phob and klao's love with phob's parents. when i tell you i sobbed for MULTIPLE DAYS over when phob's dad was gonna kick klao out i mean it. i legit had tears welling in my eyes when i thought about it during class like yall it was genuinely consuming my every waking moment. i know i just said i like when bls explore homophobia and the societal issues with being gay that still persist, but MAN that shit gets me. i feel like bls that explore those themes are more geared at an actual LGBTQ+ audience, and less just straight girls that wanna watch two hot dudes kiss (no shade to those people but..) this show felt geared towards the LGBTQ+ community, if that makes sense. as a member myself, i really saw myself in the characters. these struggles still persist in the modern day, hell, my parents are very similar to phob's in a lot of ways. in addition, the ending really felt like it was meant to hit home for LGBTQ+ people because of the marriage. i am actually still crying over the ending a little bit, and i finished the episode almost an hour and a half ago. that full circle moment of seeing a love transcend both centuries AND societal norms like yall dont know how that gottttttt meeeeeeee!!!! im sorry guys but that ending was PHENOMENAL. like actually. that ending felt so earned, that marriage felt so powerful, and it was a perfect conclusion in my opinion. yes i cried when thee and jun got together. yes i cried when phob and klao met in front of the car. yes i cried when they visited the temples. yes i cried THE WHOLE FREAKING EPISODE. i cant make this up the last episode was 1 hour and 27 minutes (ayyyy 127) of me genuinely struggling to see through my tears. god, this show is everything to me can you guys tell?
in terms of the plot itself, the time travel element was very interesting. was it a little underexplained? kinda, but i could figure it out well enough. the coming back to avenge klao's dad plot was fun, and so was the whole opium thing. i'll be honest here, i didn't 100000% understand the opium plot the whole time. like, a good comparasion is the snake plotline from revenged love. like did i fully get it the whole show? like no, but it got it ENOUGH for me to still have a fucking awesome time. the opium search and trying to find cherd and all that made enough sense for enough of the show for me to be happy. it could have been explained a LITTLE better but once again, i still knew what was going on for the most part. besides, the important parts of the plot made perfect sense, so thats really all that matters to me.
okay, so this has been an absolute glazefest of this show, i get it. i know this review might be hard to take seriously since i havent brought up any major criticisms, but unfortunately i cant bring myself to have an issue with anything in this show. are there some nitpicks i could see others having? sure, absolutely. i could see people hating pim, i could see people thinking the time travel is stupid. i could even see people disliking the ending, and thinking it should have been opened ended or it should have ended with klao and phob never getting together at all. however, i myself dont have these issues. i think that phob and klao getting to live together is such a powerful message about queer love, about how strong it is. i found pim to be a very interesting and important character, and she conveyed how men can control those of weaker social standings. the time travel thing i dont have a big speech to make that seem cool and important, but i thought it was fun like i vibed with it. idk, for all the faults i have seen others pointing out, i just havent felt the same. every tiny issue i see is so inconsequential that the thought barely even crossed my mind while watching.
WOAH. thats a lot of writing. im not reading this back, i really hope there arent any typos or grammar mistakes since i take pride in my writing abilities. i want to wrap this up so if anyone is still reading they can finally rest their eyes and take a breath. let me end with this: i found this show not only to be a fun watch, but to be a meaningful one. this show has left me with this feeling in my chest that very few others have been able to do. it feels like i just finished thamepo, never let me go, boys in love, and my school president all at the same time (these are all my favorite bls in case anyone is curious why i picked those ones). i feel like i laughed with this show, i cried with this show, i held my breath with it, i cowered in fear with it, i did everything with it. i mean this so genuinely when i say this show feels like it was a core part of my life for months. literally every week revolved around friday, because i would get a new episode. letting go of love upon a time is really hard. this sounds soooooo dramatic but its really how i feel. i am so beyond jealous of anyone who waited until the show was over to just binge, because omg you're in for the best time of your life. so to anyone still reading who hasnt watched: RUN BITCH RUN GO WATCH IT NOW PLEASE GO PLEASE GOGOGOGOGOGOGOGO YOU WILL LOVE IT RUN GOOO GOGOGOGOGOGOGOG PLEASE!!!! okay im done! :)
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