This one really took me by surprise by how much I for the most part enjoyed it- especially considering I was pretty uninterested in the premise when I watched the original trailer. (The whole Torfun/heart transplant storyline is too unreal, cliché melodrama for my usual taste in storylines. I still don't really care for it tbh. But I see how it was required as the vehicle to deliver the rich, metro Tian to that rural environment so that his character development could take place).

I had planned to give this one a pass until I saw all the hype the series was getting. By the time Ep.8 came out I ended up binge watching all the available eps in one go. My favourite scenes were all the fun, flirty moments between Chief and Tian that made me laugh. I thought they had lovely chemistry with both the physical and personality traits of both characters playing off each other really well. I was soooo impressed by Mix's acting, he was delightful. And surprisingly I was impressed by Earth too. I've watched the majority of Earth's dramas and have been pretty unimpressed with his acting for the most part (finding him pretty flat/bland in general). But I really think taking him out of the teenager/college student role for once and casting him as a more believable character for his age and appearance really did him wonders. I thought he was a perfect fit for the chief as he was believable in portraying the strength and independence of the character as well conveying the more vulnerable, insecure moments- often just with his eyes.

I think the best part of this series is the fact that it lets BL characters free of the college campus/high school cage, allowing for a more refreshing storyline. Seriously if anything, I hope the popularity of this series pushes more BL series out of that box into seeing that yes we can have fully fledged, interesting stories with BL romance that aren't focused around teenagers. I want to see more series like this, Lovely Writer and Manner of Death where BL stories get to branch out a bit more plot-wise. I found the rural setting pretty, interesting and refreshing. It was also nice to learn more about traditional Thai culture as well as see the commentary being made on class/wealth differences etc.

Now onto some aspects I didn't love. I really enjoyed probably the first 3/4 of the series before I started to get a little bored tbh. I stopped enjoying the storyline as much when the whole "Tian is revealed as having Torfun's heart but lets not reveal the whole story to drag out some miscommunication angst" arc played out. From then on the story got a bit more shakey imo and I thought it could've been handled better (especially ep 10. which I found a real drag to get through if I'm honest).
The thing I ended up absolutely hating the most was how every character takes away Tian's agency by force- yes even Chief. Even though they sell it as being out of love and I see why they did it- I still dislike how they went about it. I hate how his mother forces him to study education in the US and acts like allowing him to study teaching at all is such a divine gift.

I hate how Chief forcibly removes him from the teaching position and tells him he HAS to leave the village even though that is where he wants to be. I understand that the whole point of forcing him to the US for two years was to "prove" that his character truly wanted to live in the village for his own happiness rather than to pay it forward for Torfun... But the fact that everyone forces him to do that when he clearly of his own volition had already decided in his heart that that's where he wanted to be pisses me off. It made that whole last ep just feel like filler to me as you were just wading through the bs waiting for Tian to get back to where he already wanted to be. I just wish they gave Tian's character more respect to decide for himself what was best for him rather than forcing a mandatory time skip for melodrama's sake (I understand this is an adaptation of a novel though- so I'm assuming this is how the story was originally written).

I also kind of wish there was more of a payoff in terms of scenes with Chief and Tian living "happily ever after". Or even showing them a couple of months in the future and how their lives adapted to each other- rather than just the last scene of them flirting on the same crappy single bed in Chief's shitty room lmao. I didn't find the one real kiss scene to be much of a payoff tbh. It was a romantic moment on the top of a mountain I get it, but meh tbh. We waited through 10 episodes of longing glances and endless flirting for one short kiss lol.

Overall I did enjoy this series for the most part, but it was dragging for me by the end. For the first 3/4's I had been ready to add it to my "best of BL" list- but the ending episodes were a little disappointing for me so I lowered my ranking a little. I would recommend this one as one of the more heartfelt, romantic BL dramas out there- but I don't think I'd re-watch it tbh.

TLDR: If you loved I Told Sunset About You- you'll likely LOVE this. But if like me, you were a little less rose-tinted glasses with that one- you might not 100% drink the 10/10 cool-aid with 1000 stars either. Although I would say 1000 stars was a LOT more enjoyable than ITSAY was for me and I'd personally recommend 1000 stars a lot more.