“Last Twilight” is a heartfelt romance between Mhok (Jimmy Jitaraphol) and Day (Sea Tawinan) who meet because Mhok lands a position as Day’s caretaker, as Day is going blind due to infectious keratitis. The two take each other on a journey of overcoming adversity, acceptance and personal growth. Throughout the series, Day has to come to terms with his eyesight getting worse and worse, but also getting over this and moving on with his life, forgiving his family, maturing in his worldview and starting a career for himself. While Day’s character develops, and so does Mhok’s the way they handle conflict was supposed to be in line with the growth that their characters experience, however, they do not and this leads to an unsatisfactory conflict plot line that did not make sense for the characters.

We are introduced to Day as someone who has not fully reconciled with his situation and his disability, who is a little arrogant, petulant; he agrees to hire Mhok because Mhok doesn’t “pity” him like the other caretakers. Through Mhok’s help and On (Kun Kunchanuj), a friend of Day’s who is also visually impaired, Day begins to come to terms with his loss of sight, although still holding hope for an eye transplant, beginning to deal with situations, including going out more while confronting his feelings for his badminton partner August (Ohm Thipakorn).

It’s important to be weary of using disabilities in stories like this whereby it’s very easy to cross the line into ablest inspiration porn; using someone’s disability and how they overcome adversity and romanticizing this. The writers want to have their cake and eat it too. They insisted that Day was living his normal life after the first surgery did not work, however, they still had him regaining his sight by the end of the series as part of the “happy ending” package, despite us all seeing the happy ending when Day and Mhok get back together. The last two episodes do not match the tone of the story. Conflict does not always need to end in a break-up. After everything that Day and Mhok had been through, they could have talked to each other about Mhok taking off and working abroad. In any relationship, people have insecurities that overcome them, especially at the early stages of a relationship, there will always be obstacles to be faced, and none of them have to be deal breakers or lead to a breakup especially for a couple that has been established to communicate well. The writers continue to portray Day as an uncharming and unsympathetic character; this is fair enough because he is who he is. Day doesn’t have to be lovable for the people who love and understand him to love or understand him.

The relationship between Night (Mark Pakin Kunaanuwit) and Day was poorly written. Their names imply that they are stark opposites, and that Night was some kind of villain, however, this is never really established. Day’s anger towards Night seems misguided, as Night tries by all means to be a good brother and help Day. Sure Day might blame Night for the accident, and Night surely blames himself too, however, it’s portrayed in such a shallow way that neither of the characters shine in that dynamic. If they had at least shown a confrontation between the two to clear the air, it would have solidified their bond as brothers and made their relationship more believable. We always got the sense that they were stepbrothers who met each other at a later stage, like there was no relationship between the two before the events of the series start.

A good relationship that ought to have gotten more screen time was Phojai, (Namtan Tipnaree Weerawatnodom) Mhok’s ex and Night. It’s not often that a newly single and heavily pregnant woman be the face of a budding romance, and this would have been such an endearing story about a woman finding another chance at love. Phojai and Night’s interactions made the characters so likable, especially Night, considering how he is portrayed in his interactions with Day. It was as if he was in two different shows.

The third act of the series was so badly written. After finding out that Mhok was going to deny his opportunity to go and work abroad, Day took it so personally because Mhok lied, but did not give Mhok the opportunity to redeem himself or even explain. Sure, it was a way of Day stepping out of the way as a “hindrance”, however, Day was too rigid and unforgiving of Mhok, after all they had been through together. The benevolent act did not do any of them any good. Sure, Mhok pursued his career and Day finished his degree and started his own, but they could have done that anyway without breaking each other’s hearts. We also get two time jumps in the last episode, despite Day and Mhok’s breakup being brushed past so quickly, it doesn’t make sense. Did they completely cut all contact from each other? That wouldn’t really be possible because of Phojai and Night who connect the two as well.

Endings or the third acts are very difficult for BL writers most of the time. Did they bite off more than they can chew, or they just become tired at the end? “Last Twilight” started off quite interesting, but the ending was rushed and disconnected from the theme or tone of the series. With a character such as On, who not only fell in love but also got married to the love of his life, there is no reason why the same could not have been done for Day. After the failure of his first surgery and how well-adjusted, he had become to his life, it wouldn’t have been farfetched that he did not want to go through the trauma of another surgery. The story somehow became a consolation instead of a romance between Day and Mhok. Sometimes romance is the story and the fuzz, it doesn’t need anything more. “Last Twilight” tries to do too much and loses sight of what drew the audience in and this leads to a bad ending to a good story.

Rating- 3 out of 5

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