Wasted potential. That is what this BL was, which is such a shame as the premise was initially entertaining. Then it slipped into banality and triteness.

It is a story of two neighborhood boys who grow up together. Their tale on how they become connected, to say the least, is a real tearjerker. Ai (Ryu Ingkarat) is the younger of the two. He is in college now but is still rather immature and at times an emotionally fragile individual. Meanwhile, his very best friend, who is slightly older, and an established photographer, is Yu (Putter Phubase). While they advanced together as next door neighbors, their relationship seems more like a blended family, remaining exceptionally close. Yu, an astonishingly handsome young man, is deeply reflective, always eager to help and please, but has a somewhat impassive personality. His affect, however, seems a bit laid-back. Throughout their friendship, he has always been unmerciful in teasing/torturing/pranking Ai. Ai, now that he has gotten older and is beginning to flex his wings, forthrightly expressed his dislike and displeasure for this constant humiliation. From that point, the foundation for a more serious relationship is established. A bit at least.

Suddenly, Ai starts to have dreams centering around Yu. They are prognostications of the future involving Yu, but not all become true. He does also envision a romantic relationship with Yu. Of course, he tells no one about these ‘dreams’ except his college best friend, Ing (Game Orarig). Ing is a handsome young man of the same age as Ai who happens to be in love with Yu’s brother, Yo (Surf Patchara).

Honestly, I never could figure out what the pattern of Ai’s dreams concerning Yu were all about. Some come true, while actions that were supposed to happen to Yu happened to Ai, and still others did not happen at all. We later discover that Ai’s family has had several members have this ability as well. Unfortunately, this aspect of the story became silly and so contrived. Why he did not want to share what these premonitions were with Yu earlier than the second to the last episode staggers any sense of logic. If only this premise had been used to weave the story into something more meaningful, esoteric, or even metaphysical, it would have been a more creative and interesting and probably dynamic story. Instead, it went for the cheap theatrics. The usual immaturity of Ai coupled with the stoicism of Yu not being clear with his messages and the continuance of the unnecessary teasing/pranking of Ai. I am guessing they played this as a light-comedy for a teenage audience rather than considering establishing any serious adult interactions. Overall, it simply was not all that funny. Sure, it had amusing moments, but most candidly this is a significant love story between two men that ended up being serious with a marriage proposal at the conclusion. I wish these childish banal stories would just get serious occasionally.

What is truly sad about this series is that all the main actors are good but who look like they were forced to tone-down their acting abilities to be one-dimensional, with little character growth. These actors were able to showcase some appealing acting skills and occasionally got deep into their characters when they were allowed to. At those points, their characters became interesting and exciting to watch. But it is just so easy to slip into standard formulaic behavioral patterns of the pretense of gay behaviors that never happens in real life and only results in BL scripts. No young gay guys, no matter the country, act like these guys do either in romantic situations or alone with the person they theoretically love. Stop making them look so childish, immature, and sophomoric. About the only one who got a bit deep, or they allowed us to see, was Surf Patchara as Yo. We did get a glimpse of some of his vulnerabilities and frankly the actions he takes towards Ing are well-thought-out and more calculated. Despite his seeming denseness, he really presented an individual who was more in tune with himself than frankly any of the others. Plus, he learned from his mistakes and was cognizant of their effects on individuals. Subtle acting skills, but quite noticeable.

Not that there were no great moments in this series. There were. I significantly liked the build-up and the development of the relationship between Ing and Yo more so than the one between Ai and Yu. Theirs was much more real, adult-like, and to be frank, honest. When Yo could not decide how he felt about Ing, even though he knew exactly how Ing felt about him, Ing had had enough. A good, truthful, and human reaction. When they finally resolved that, Yo admitted that, while he wanted to have sex with Ing, he lacked confidence and experience. Another good honest response with solid adult interactions. Many more reality checks like these are needed in these series for them to be effective and meaningful.

This series did, however, treat the kissing scenes with passion and commitment for both couples. That was deeply refreshing for a change. No slick camera work or hiding kisses behind pillows or stuffed animals. Even though Ai was reticent to tell his parents about his relationship with Yu, because he was drunk, he simply blurted it out in one of the funniest ways of ‘coming out’ I have ever seen. That was refreshing. Yet, it is still unfathomable to me that intimate scenes are still showing men with pants still on. Please stop. No one has sex with pants on! In underwear? Maybe. Under sheets? Ok. Fade to black? Acceptable. Anything is better than showing guys making love with pants on! Ridiculous!!

A word of caution about the heavy reliance on the use of alcohol to get through a scene. I am finding the use of alcohol and protagonists getting drunk as if this needs to be standard behavior and almost required behavior for a series. It is becoming trite, cliché, standard, dangerous, stupid, and sends a wrong message. Stop relying on getting someone overly ‘drunk’ to make something funny or in a situation that only happens when one is drunk. This was used more than a few times in this series. Apparently, there is no problem with young men getting falling-down drunk but there is a problem with showing two guys making love in their underwear? That all seems a bit oxymoronic to me. Also, please, please stop with the guitar playing and singing. Or dub in better singers and guitar stringing. I hate to be so brutally honest, but it was simply awful. And again, that is also becoming a standard trope in BLs anymore. And in most cases, the singing and guitar playing is atrocious.

You might have to fast-forward through a lot of other nonsense to get through this story as well. This series could have been streamlined considerably. All that nonsense with Yu’s former girlfriend was completely unnecessary and the shenanigans of her current acting partner were creepy, and badly done. Attempted murder is never funny to me. I honestly could have whittled this series down to 8 episodes and it would have been way more effective. Sometimes, brevity is better.

While both Ryu Ingkarat as Ai and Putter Phubase as Yu and Surf Patchara as Yo and Game Orarig as Ing have great screen chemistry as couples, they are also fun to watch together. In my opinion, I actually think the chemistry between Surf Patchara and Game Orarig is more dynamic to watch in addition to being the stronger adult-like couple. I wish all the roles, however, were meatier and deeper. I hope to see these pairings in future BLs. But please make them a bit more mature and write a better script that does not rely on the use of alcohol as an excuse for behavioral indiscretions.

Regrettably, this presentation just did not live up to its potential.

Rating- 3 out of 5

Streaming on- WeTV