The first season of “Hit Bite Love The Series” seemed like a surprisingly fresh BL series. With the lack of the now aged format of Engineering and Medical students in favor of using High School teenagers, the show seemed to have an innovative edge. It was an interesting experience, to say the least. I myself found myself enraptured with the characters.

Burger (Jur Vasin), the shy new kid who transfers during the middle of the school year, quickly gets under the homeroom teacher’s skin simply by being there. But with the help of Theater club president King (Newyear Nawaphat), he was able to secure a sense of stability, as well as friends. King himself quickly came to realize he had a crush on the boy. Hida (Vic Vittawin), a presumptuous and rude boy, also joins him for lunch, while Burger himself develops a crush on a girl. This caused a bit of confusion as he realizes he has similar feelings for King as well.

Burger then spends the next two episodes awkwardly dealing with his feelings. Little details he dismissed as embarrassing would grow onto him. The way King treats him kindly confuses and bemuses him. Till King gets the courage to act on his feelings for the boy. Burger, being imperfect, tries to set King up with the girl he has a crush on instead (simply because she likes King and not Burger). Realizing his error, he quickly leaves them alone. King follows him outside in rage, only to point out the idiotic move he made. The two reconcile their friendship and grow to be something more. Its sweet, delicate, new and well acted by the actors who play them.

Shokun (Bigboss Woraphon) and Ken (Pure Napolpong), the titular couple of the first episode with their love scenes and love-stricken script, worked well as Shokun strives to be everything that Ken wanted (at the expense of his own feelings). The push and pull becoming too much for the boy. He ends things early on in the series. Ending up in an “interesting” romance with the student council president Matteo. I said interesting because it is a BDSM situation where Shokun “plays” with Matteo (Alan Campana) and explores it in kind for the sake of Matteo allocating funds to his music club.

Ken realizes it too late that he truly loves Shokun. While dating the self absorbed Fern, he secretly pines for Shokun. Fern, who when not applying copious amounts of makeup and casting scathing insults at her classmates, seems to sow mischief where she can, for no real reason other than the fact that it is fun. This puts her in direct confrontation with Pimtha, a sweet and innocent (on the surface) girl over casting in the school play. The teacher implies it’s because of Pimtha’s look and appearance. So even though the girl hadn’t been in the class as long, the part was hers. (The role had been Burger’s til he accidentally set the teacher’s jacket on fire).

Pimtha’s confrontation with her boyfriend Saint’s stepbrother, Hida, is far less sugar sweet. When Saint (Tae Natthapat) tutors her, she goes out of her way to make everything sexual with double entendres. Finally she slips into his lap and is about to kiss him despite his protests, when brother Hida interrupts them. Over the course of the series, it becomes apparent that Hida clearly loves his stepbrother in a more serious way, tricking the boy into a kiss. Whether Saint picks up on the incestuous manner, his brother wants him in is unclear, but Pimtha wants their own place. She manipulates Saint into making it happen and Hida tricks his brother into wasting the money their father gave him for it by investing in a place that won’t be built for years.

Ken, who has been sleeping with Fern, leaves her dismissively to shower and she reveals her true colors as she scrolls through his phone. Seeing he had been secretly texting Shokun the whole time romantically, she outs them publicly with Ken’s name cut out. This forces Matteo to say they were from him, outing himself and allowing him to claim Shokun as his boyfriend to the whole school. Such a lovely and complicated story surrounding a high school and the two inept teachers who are shown. But as each episode leads into the next episode, the plot simply doesn’t play out consistently.

In the pilot episode, we see Ken lying on the ground dead and two officers investigating the murder. The first two episodes have random moments related to this. But as the series continues, this plot device is abandoned entirely. So the viewer is given the impression that Ken’s murder mystery is the subject of their questioning. But when the finale occurs, the subject of their investigation is Fern. Ken’s dead body is nothing more than an afterthought.

Episode six felt almost entirely like a haphazard compilation of scenes, discordant at best. In episode five, Hida’s scheme is revealed but quickly overshadowed by Pimtha’s leaked sex clip. Something Hida over sees in the locker room and quickly informs Saint. Pimtha fights with him over Hida and his machinations, so the sudden revelation of her sex tape causes Pimtha to have a psychotic break. She attacks Ken, who shames her for enjoying the experience and being filmed by him.

Heinous in and of itself, it causes her to attempt suicide. The entire scene was powerful and well acted. But downplaying it in Episode 6 was a confusing turn. I understand time constraints, but with that ever present “1,000,000 subscribers for a season 2” playing at every episode break, Jinloe could have spent a little more time with the story arc or the characters involved. Saint personally to me, seemed indifferent, to the video or what the issues it created between him and Pimtha. The pair move through the episode, barely acknowledging it or what it means for them. Again, I’m going with time constraints for the unrealistic way the pair treat the fact that she probably cheated on him.

Burger and King, who were an established couple by this point, were largely peripheral in the final episode. With the way the show talks about condemning teens for having sex or the fact that the teacher who is the loudest voice on “no sex campaign” is the director for the school play is the most ironic part. Shokun has been going through emotional turmoil over the love triangle he is at the center of. Ken has been begging for another chance, even saying he will come out of the closet if Shokun wants. I love the camera work for this moment. The tight shots capturing the emotion of these two boys as Ken steps into Shokun’s space for a kiss as confirmation was well portrayed. Due to the editing, we get the impression that he does agree.

But after a scene where Ken is being dressed down to by his father (I’m assuming as this is the first time I’m seeing this man) where he shows a moment of pure lunacy. Shokun goes to Matteo about the situation involving his feelings in BDSM. The actor who plays him did a wonderful job portraying Shokun’s turmoil and the guilt over his terrible job being a submissive He broke Matteo’s nose in self-defense while being struck by him (these scenes are part of the uncut version for which you need to buy a subscription). I think it’s ridiculous that the essential aspects of this storyline happen in those scenes, because the free version doesn’t provide these scenes. Ken watching the scene resolutely as Matteo discards the whip as a sign that he choses a vanilla life with Shokun over one he clearly wasn’t comfortable with.

These scenes are interspersed between the two detectives investigating the crime of who attacked Fern. This nonlinear storytelling was truly jarring. I think it’s an international naivete that I don’t understand why all the characters are dressed in a gothic way. Like the play was a Gothic play, but being American, it was lost to me.

When Fern confronts Pimtha in the presence of Saint, all hell breaks loose. The entire season Fern has been bullying everyone and seeing her being especially nasty to Pimtha seemed inappropriate. She wants to drive the knife into her by poking at the fact there were probably other clips, too. She also takes a dig at the possible incestuous relationship between Hida and Saint because of which Saint snaps and strikes her.

The filmmaking of the scene was perfect as the music builds, the close-up shots leading to the act of violence is wonderfully done; which makes me wonder why the episode was so random, if that was the intention the whole time. By the end of the episode, the case is haphazardly solved as Hida confesses to save his brother. Doubt grows amongst most of the cast who believe different characters they love could have done the deed.

Again, it could have been a great ending if they had made the story leading up to it stronger. But they made it clear they have reached the required subscriber’s goal by the way they ended it. I loved it until episode five, but episode six felt rushed, having secured the goal of season two. All the random moments in this episode could have been used to compliment the story. Like Burger and King aren’t swimmers, so why shot a scene at the pool?

It could have been great, but wasn’t.

Rating- 3 out of 5

Streaming on- Jinloe YouTube Channel