Jen

I wasn’t thrilled about the premise of the show, but I like TayNew so I decided to give it a chance. The first two episodes were a complete brainrot compilation - I don’t know how I forced myself through these. I am not saying this because of the abundance of sexual jokes, the exaggerated comedic acting style or the peculiar editing. The set up and the situations that resulted from it were unbelievable at best and disrespectful to my time as a viewer at worst. But I pushed through - and the backstory of Toto plus the vulnerability Kanit showed here and there kept me somewhat invested in the plot.

The good things first - I loved the serious side of Toto and Kanit’s relationship. I enjoyed their ability to communicate, their support for one another, their willingness to sacrifice themselves for each other (but also acknowledgement of how draining this sometimes is). I also liked the glimpses into Southern Thai culture. The class difference depicted was also an interesting aspect of the show, although I believe it could’ve been explored further. I was especially intrigued by Toto’s past and loved seeing his house and interactions with his sister (his scenes with his mom could've been, again, expanded upon. But props to him for not flat out forgiving her!). Toto's job was something new and refreshing, and all the scenes surrounding it were generally pleasant to watch.

But other than that, the drama is veeery mediocre. With many GMMTV productions, once you’re past episode 5 or 6 and the couple has confessed to each other, every conflict feels blown out of proportion and the momentum the show had gained in the beginning is suddenly lost. Episodes 7 through 10 all felt like filler, at no point did I wait impatiently for the next Friday when I would finally know how TotoKanit's story unfolds. I also couldn’t care less about the second couple - skipped all their scenes from a point onwards.

Let’s talk about the crimes I will not forgive - it’s 2026 and I still can’t believe we have Thai dramas centering queer love stories while seemingly also making jokes at the expense of queer people (and usually the most visible ones in the community as well). For instance, when Akki talks about his girlfriend cheating on him, he says he doesn’t trust her that the guy in the background of her calls is gay, because he apparently knows gay guys and they don’t “speak like that”. To me, that was a distasteful attempt at a joke, but I brushed it off, thinking his character is straight and this is meant to show his ignorance. Except that an episode or two later, I find out he will become part of the show’s second couple. I didn’t get the impression he included himself or Toto in his observation on gay accents/slang, so this moment had me raising my eyebrow.

Or in a gym scene, Toto gets hit on by a guy the viewer immediately reads as gay, who is coincidentally also pushy and can’t take rejection. We are supposed to be laughing at that and rooting for his friend who pretends to be his boyfriend to save him from the undesirable situation. But when it comes to our main couples - their queerness usually goes completely unmentioned. Correct me if I'm wrong, but I don't remember any of leads explicitly referring to themselves as gay/bi/queer, they only talk about their attraction to men, but this attraction also seems purely circumstantial, not something they identify with. I know that BL scripts tend to brush over lived experiences of queerness and the importance queer community, but that's all the more reason I dislike jokes like the ones I listed above in the shows I watch, especially if those shows are set in a "homophobia-free" world.

I mean, the joke is probably on me, since I did finish watching the show after all. But I felt unfortunately very let down by it in the end.