There is probably a universe in which Moonlight Chicken was the series it promised to be: a series about a chicken rice restaurant owner who has a chance meeting with a mystifying young man who changes his life, a series about complicated love relationships and infidelity, juxtaposed with messy family dynamics and the purity of young love.

Many of these things exist in Moonlight Chicken, but it’s not the series it promised to be.

Don’t get me wrong, I still think that it’s one of the best BLs GMM has produced in the past year. Every single acting performance is solid and there is not a single weak link in the entire cast, the work that the actors have put into their roles is amazing and I love and respect them all. In terms of visuals, cinematography, lighting and even costumes are all on point. There are frames and sequences so beautiful you want to cry. The music is, for the most part, well chosen and there is not a weird, quirky sound effect to be found. The story is refreshingly real, it talks about the way your perspective on the world changes the older you get, how people and relationships can grow, evolve and heal over time.

Basically, Moonlight Chicken is so good, it’s a shame that it got the script that it did.

This review will contain minor spoilers for the series, but anyway, here goes

What I Liked

1. The Acting

As I mentioned before, the acting is spectacular. I could write essays about each of the actors but I’ll just point out some of my favourite performances.

Earth embodies someone 10 years older than him so well it’s easy to forget it’s the same man who was twerking on Safe House. He brings a tired-millennial weariness to many of his scenes, and it shows the way his body language changes between some of the flashback scenes and present-day scenes. I already mentioned how well Mix plays Wen, seductive but also world-wise, he excels at micro-expressions and even the faintest twitch of a muscle speaks volumes. Fourth as Li Ming is the other standout performance for me, his performance is nuanced and deep, and the scenes between Jim and his nephew are some of the best in the whole series. Among the supporting cast members, Khaotung is fantastic in a very emotionally demanding role and he is guaranteed to make you cry at least once.

2. The Setting

I fell in love with the world of Moonlight Chicken in the first episode. The story brings Pattaya’s Chinatown to life, the streets with red lanterns are magical and real, and you can almost smell the fragrance of joss sticks burning in some of the scenes. I wish there had been more time to dwell on the world around Jim’s chicken rice restaurant, because the community feels warm and loving.

3. The Relationships

The actors have really good chemistry with each other, and this makes for strong character relationship work. It goes without saying that EarthMix as JimWen and GeminiFourth as HeartLiMing have fantastic chemistry together. I especially loved the growth of Heart’s character with Li Ming’s influence – the whole arc making important statements about disability and acceptance. But equally powerful are Jim and Li Ming’s scenes – whether in conflict or in conciliation, there’s a rawness and warmth in their scenes and they feel like real family. Wen and Alan are also so good, they nail the quiet, somewhat awkward sadness of former lovers who don’t quite know how to move on from each other. I also loved the scenes of the diner gang together, their closeness feels natural and not at all forced for a screen.

What I Didn’t Like

Basically, the storytelling is where Moonlight Chicken falls short.

There are too many plots in an eight-episode series, many of them feel unnecessary and completely superficial because they’re dealt with so quickly and you wonder why they even existed in the first place. For example, I love View as Saleng’s girlfriend Praew, whose pregnancy is introduced early in the series, but by the end of it, it’s clear that the script has no room for the plotline beyond a few meaningful conversations (that she isn’t part of) which is unfortunate.

The other thing I didn’t like is, well, JimWen.

Don’t get me wrong, they’re both very interesting as characters and I was waiting eagerly for the progression of their one-night-stand to lovers relationship. Whether the payoff was worth the wait is a whole different thing.

Moonlight Chicken is Jim’s story but we never see his thoughts; a lot of the time he’s a spectator reacting to problems around him – and even in the last episode, we are never actually told why he makes the decisions that he does. I wanted a story about an older gay man and his perspective on love, and I did get it… To an extent. While I understand that Aof may have had his reasons for shying away from dealing with actual cheating as a plotline, the way that he does avoid it feels a little shallow.

The idea of two characters falling in love while healing from past relationships can make for a good, compelling romance, but somehow JimWen don’t quite heal over the course of the series, they stay grounded at the same point in their relationship until around episode 5 or 6, which is when they progress again, and at which point it feels a little unearned.

That said, I will still recommend Moonlight Chicken for the way it looks, the way it sounds, and the way it’s acted. In a genre that rarely goes beyond college romances, I like that it introduced older characters and more complex relationships that resonate a lot with older members of the queer community. I also love the soft, warm domesticity of the ending.

I just wish there had been more.

Rating: 4 out of 5