I was thunderstruck by the theme of this series. It is a story in an anthology labeled “Club Friday”. Its content is one I have never seen before and certainly involves a very controversial topic. If they had been more adult about its fruition and handled it like a ruminative production, this would and could have been up there as the Best BL for 2024. However, in my opinion, they lacked the courage to push the envelope here to make it more consequential.

Guy (Aon Kasama) lives with his mother, Rin (Yuyee Alissa Intusmith). Guy, a handsome young college student, had a flirtation with a friend of his named Kem (Tae Chayapat). He had been fearful of telling his mother that he is gay. His mother has become a successful businesswoman and developed an advantageous working relationship with a small company whose president is Got (Lift Supoj). One look at him and Guy seems to be smitten by him. Got, an older distinguished looking man, senses that Guy is attracted to him. While Got has never seriously acted on his gay impulses before, he seems to be drawn to Guy as well and uses Rin to get closer to Guy. He manipulates both Rin and Guy into believing that he is in love with both.

However, the intensity of a sexual relationship manifested with Guy makes it easier for Got to manipulate them both. So much so that he beguiles Rin into marrying him. Thus, you have a stepfather having a sexual relationship with his stepson and with the mother completely in the dark about the sordid affair.

Naturally in these types of situations there is a lot of energy expended to keep this whole liaison from unraveling, but something almost always begins to unravel it. Guy’s friend, Kem begins to warn him what kind of character Got is and also tries to gently tell Guy’s mother of his suspicions about Got ‘seeing’ another person without actually naming Guy. However, Got has also played his secretary, Prim (Meen Pimchanok). As in any workplace intrigue, she turns the tables on Got and gets Rin to at least investigate the possibility of Got having an affair with her son. She tells Rin that she has seen them together in rather compromising positions.

To her credit, Rin does follow through and finds out, shockingly, that indeed Got and Guy are having an affair. What follows is nothing short of poetic justice, but a bit too neatly tied up to fit into a script.

Overall, this is a well-acted series with superficially realistic portrayals of characters. Yet, it did not reach the depth it should have or needed to be. The story is rushed and therefore deeper emotions were hard to display convincingly. Who, however, does a fantastic job of showing a range of emotions was Yuyee Alissa Intusmith as Rin. She was the complete victim here yet kept her wits about her. Given the shortness of this series, she did a commendable job of going from innocent victim to sleuth. Her decision to leave rather than asking Guy and Got to leave, despite the fact it was her house, was a magnanimous gesture of love for her son. Even though she was deeply wounded and perhaps irreparably damaged by her son, she thought first of him; not herself. I am not so sure I would or could have been so noble. Her first instinct was love for her son. That was evident loud and clear. I cannot imagine the depth of pain and betrayal she must have felt not only from her new ‘husband’ but also from her own son. To be able to show even glimpses of these emotions with some strong reactions is worth watching. This whole series is a horror story of unimaginable pain.

One could write volumes about the dynamics of the amour between the protagonists who then morphed into the antagonists. Got is a con artist clear and simply. As close to a complete narcissist I have ever seen, bordering on sociopathic behaviors. To have no remorse for the pain he caused both Rin and Guy, and the manipulation of his secretary Prim, is miscreant. It is ethically and morally reprehensible behavior and worthy of a walk down the road of shame. He is such a dangerous man as he can make you feel righteous about engaging in despicable behaviors because he has played on your most vulnerable and weakest parts of who you are yet made you feel ‘good’ about yourself.

There are also no excuses for Guy either. While young and perhaps naïve and obviously vulnerable, none of that forgives his behavior towards his mother or from straying against basic moral principles. He knows ‘right’ from ‘wrong’. And to lust and have an affair with a man your own mother is serious about and married to is the height of arrogance and feeling of entitlement. He did not want to see, even though he knew that what he was doing was wrong and if his mother were to find out, would be heartbreaking. He did not care; all that mattered was his pleasure. Until, he got caught. His sole source of support evaporated. To make matters worse, his own mother stepped aside for what he thought was ‘love’. Only for Guy to find out that Got was having sex with another man behind his back, and he was, after all, only using him. He never wanted to be his boyfriend or exclusive with him. It was only then, did Guy finally realize the depth of Got’s betrayal.

What this series lacked was a commitment to telling a full story, deeply and profoundly. It sanitized it too much. It should not have. For example, Guy and Got did nothing more than peck at each other’s necks and jumped on each other fully clothed. How ridiculous. If you are going to be impactful, then do so. Quit sanitizing something that should not be. Not that I want to see anything distasteful, but if you are going to make a statement about a topic such as this, let the audience feel its impact. Let them see the cheating is real. Got cheats with the son and the mother. As salacious as that is, it is important for that to be seen in its rawness. And its disgust.

The series also required something more impactful between mother and son. There was an irreparable betrayal of the son against his mother and while Rin is a forgiving and noble lady, maybe, just maybe she should not have been. To teach someone a lesson, then let them learn it. Painfully at times and with realism. Guy is a despicable son and as a gay person I offer no excuses for his dastardly behavior. He deserves no pity. He is old enough, mature enough, and had all his facilities to think with his brain; not with his other head. Inexcusable and unforgivable. He should have been made to pay for his consequences.

Harsh? Perhaps so. But sometimes life lessons are bitter and what Guy did is something that even in the darkest realm could I ever think of a greater betrayal of trust and love.

While the story is of great significance, I just wish it would have gone deeper, uglier, rawer, darker, and more profoundly emotional – as real life would have been.

Nonetheless, I applaud this series for telling and bringing to the forefront a unique story. Kudos for a subject matter rarely if ever posited.

Rating- 4 out of 5

Streaming on- Viu and CHANGE2561 YouTube Channel