Did I scream out loud and send 30 texts to my sister in succession the moment I learned that we were getting a Thai adaptation of “My Love Mix-Up!” with Gemini and Fourth? I won’t confirm nor deny.

The plot of the show revolves around Atom (Fourth Nattawat), who has a crush on Mudmee (Pahn Pathitta) and one day when borrowing her eraser, he notices that she has written the name of their classmate Kongthap (Gemini Norawit), implying that she has a crush on him. Kongthap accidentally sees the eraser and in order not to expose Mudmee’s crush, Atom falsely confesses that the eraser is his. The love mix-up happens when Kongthap presumes Atom is the one who likes him.

“My Love Mix-Up!” is one of the most anticipated BL series of the year. The enduring popularity of the Japanese live action meant that expectations were going to be high, and Gemini-Fourth were quite possibly the best choices for this adaptation. Gemini and Fourth have cemented themselves as some of the best actors in recent years. Their chemistry together is insane, and they both hold their own in their individual scenes. They don’t need a lot of dialogues to convey their feelings, a simple glance in each other’s direction speaks volumes. Based on the first two episodes, it seems my trust in their capabilities is not unfounded. They carry the show effortlessly.

Pahn as Mudmee and Chokun Puttipong who plays Half, round off the main characters. They are both newcomers, with these being their first lead roles, but their acting does not leave anything to be desired. They play their parts well.

My only complaint with “My Love Mix-Up!” is that some of the decisions they have taken with regards to the editing have not paid off in the ways that they perhaps intended.

Thai live action BL series are vibrant and saturated with colour, the camerawork focuses more on close ups of the actors. Japanese live action BL series though, are a bit more desaturated, and tend to have more medium shots of the characters. “My Love Mix-Up!” seems a bit confused in what it seems to want to convey.

Maybe the intention was to express a dreamlike state, or visually represent the emotions of the characters as confused teenagers, but it doesn’t translate that way. Many scenes, especially the ones in the classrooms blur out the characters and have an intensely white backlight that overshadows the characters’ outlines. It is hard to make out what Atom or Kongthap are saying when I am too busy squinting just to see their faces.

Another, perhaps the most egregious gripe I have, is about the end credits playing during the last scene. Conventional screenwriting wisdom dictates that you end an episode with a slight cliffhanger, something which keeps audiences hooked and interested in what’s about to come. Since I was already aware of what the scenes were going to be about, I was even more excited to see the love mix up play out.

Both episodes end with different revelations, that serve to both complicate and then untangle the love mix up narrative, but both crucial scenes in the end of the first two episodes are dominated by the end credits and the advertisements. Suffice to say, it frustrated me to no end. I don’t know if this is something they will change now that the show has begun airing, but I really hope that they do.

Other than this one critique I have, I am enjoying “My Love Mix-Up!” as much as I thought I would, which is needless to say, quite a lot. There are high hopes for the show.

Rating: 4 out of 5 stars

Streaming on- GMMTV YouTube Channel