The saying that ‘imitation is the sincerest form of flattery’ is not always true. This series proved that. I shall come right out and say it. This is one of the worst BLs I have ever seen and one of the worst supposed remakes I have ever seen as well. To put it bluntly, this version was fatuous. Everything about it is. The production. The acting. The story. The plot. Hardly any of it even resembles the originality of the Japanese version. That had humanity. It had heart. Most importantly, it had authenticity sprinkled with humor, grace, and tons of human emotions. I can categorically tell you that the original Japanese version of Ossan’s Love was a masterpiece. This is simply a farce. Before you start clutching your pearls and calling me names, let me explain my reasons.

The original story of “Ossan’s Love” is when an older guy, namely a boss, falls in love with a younger employee of his. He goes through a mid-life crisis, which is very intense. But Haruta does not know how to say no to him until he must, and he does. Meanwhile, even though Haruta never thought of himself as gay, when he meets his new coworker, Maki, the two of them fall in love. THAT is the story. It is funny, warm, sincere, poignant, and quite moving. Their characterizations were real. The setups were relatable. While the surrounding people were quirky, they were all believable and relatable. And the outcomes were genuine, honest, and logical, even if they were comically gotten to. In that version, we could see and connect to those characters.

I am not sure what this version was supposed to be. These characters were buffoons, caricatures, oafs, and in some cases, creepy. I did not find it funny, although I am guessing it was supposed to be. I found it mostly pathetic, astonishing cringey, and insulting and demeaning to the intent of the original series. Let me list what is pathetically wrong with this series in perspective for you:

1. The overall acting was unconvincing. Both protagonists were caricatures and not individuals. They were clownish, boorish, and could not convey in depth who they were supposed to be. Some of that was due to the lousy script but a lot of it was due to the poor direction and the lack of discipline on their parts. These two actors have worked together extensively. And herein lies the problem. I should not ‘see them’ but their characters; quit making comparisons to their previous works! They were completely and totally miscast for these roles. They should have stood out and brought something unique. Sure, this was not their typical roles, but neither one showed any growth to their characters at all. There were moments but those got lost in the silliness and banality of the pedestrian plot and the repetitiveness of the storyline. And that is all there was.

2. Heng (Earth Pirapat) was immature, clueless, dumb, indecisive, and simply could not learn from past mistakes. And essentially, he never changed nor grew. Earth is charming in the role but lacked a complete understanding of who Heng really was. He was more interested in showing us what Heng is. All we saw were superficialities; Heng never matured. Honestly, I never, but never, bought he was in ‘love’ with Mo. If he did, he would have been able to show some outward signs that he did when it counted, such as telling his mother. That never happened. The artificiality of all of that is simply maddening and is a trite and cliché storyline in almost all Thai BLs. This inane inability to not tell anyone how you feel. I saw no growth in him outside of impulsive actions. A few awkward & uncomfortable kisses do not constitute a deeper love association. Earth simply tried too hard to be Haruta but could not.

3. Mo (Mix Sahaphap) was equally exasperating. He too never changed. His lack of conviction and forthrightness was disconcerting. His ‘break-up’ with Heng lasting over a year made no sense whatsoever. He suddenly does not want to ‘love’ Heng anymore because of some stigma if he continued to do so. Perhaps if you talked with each other and COMMUNICATED to one another as couples should do, this would not have been the case. (Watch the Japanese version to see what I mean)! This was again one of those artificially trite cliché storylines in Thai BLs that does not happen in real life, if there is honesty in a relationship. It is infuriating that the same nonsensical plot twists are used over and over. Mo never grew either. I also never honestly bought he was in love with Heng. How did he show it? What deep connection did he have? None. It was all so superficial and always transient. Mix’s interpretation of Mo seemed so desultory in a number of ways.

4. The Boss (Krit Shahkrit) came across creepy rather than anything resembling sincere. In the original series, we ‘understood’ his motivation. The boss’s motivation made no sense in this series. Loneliness? Midlife crisis? Physical attraction? Emotional association? Sexual lust? The part came across as immature, more like a stalker, and just plain weird. At the wedding, he seemed to have come to his senses and understood that Heng did not love him. Then at the end of the story he suddenly shows up trying to help Mo get Heng back. Yet childishly. Why would he follow him? It just made no logical or storytelling sense for him to be there except for purely theatrical purposes. It was insidious and stalky behavior! And of course, written in the script.

5. The plot was awful. The same nonsensical theme droned on and on which added nothing creatively to their relationship. It just got bizarre, repetitive, and boring. If you are going to do a remake of a classic, then do it justice. Do it as an homage or make it uniquely Thai. It went cheap, inauthentic, and risible. I had no idea what the ending was all about. Were you trying to be Bollywood? Cute? Or did you run out of ideas!? Could you not have had something that showed us a greater connection between Heng and Mo!? Was that not the story? What will be their future besides some sentimental non sequitur dance number.

6. The supporting roles were mostly caricatures and appeared to be awkward, embarrassing and uncomfortable. They added nothing to the story except for diversion. Some of them were downright degrading and appeared to be buffoons or muppets. Still, others were infantile and acted like adolescents even though they were adults. Both sets of parents were utter parodies. I was thunderstruck as to how bad those portrayals were. Not acting wise (they did their part) but who they were. They were silly, stupid, and immature. If they were supposed to be funny, they were not.

7. This failed as a BL. While we see a desire for Mo and Heng to be together, most of this series was spent not being in a relationship and not even working towards one. Plus, the complete lack of passion or even a strong sense of connection between the two was so glaring. Even the ending. Neither one seemed interested in a sexual relationship. I found no sexual tension or screen chemistry between them even though I know their on-screen relationship is supposedly legendary.

8. The cliché subplots lines were ridiculous. One could figure out the punch lines long before they were coming. There are so many examples of this – the acting couple trying to buy condos next to each other, the gay couple, the ‘good-bad’ parents of Mo, the flighty mother of Heng, Ten and Boss not being a couple, etc.

9. The ridiculous last minute red herring of Heng getting amnesia was the breaking point. Unbelievably lame and smacks of desperation for holes in the plots. The last two episodes seem completely aimless.

10. Overall, the story lacked warmth, a sense of purpose, and above all, any sense of sincerity. I understand this was a comedy (I think although I rarely laughed), it lacked a human quality to it that should have told a story of close interactions with a sense of ‘alla famigilia’ as its outcome. It had none of that. It lacked relatability. There were a few times when we did get to feel something between these characters, but there were not enough of them to sustain or make this series even remotely enjoyable. Instead, the series aim seemed to be more interested in the chase rather than the catch, as the expression goes.

There are essentially two individuals who do stand out somewhat in this series. Kapook Ploynira as Chicha who (for whatever reason had a crush on Heng) provided some level of growth in her character and the story allowed her to become a more nurturing and caring individual. She did manage to have a few more outstanding moments of bonding both with Mo and Heng that made her role come to life in a more animated way. She gave this series compassion which it sorely lacked. One more sympathizable as well. When given the opportunity to, she did it in a soft and gentle way that made it more believable. She would not allow herself to become a caricature. The other one was NewYear (Ryu Phudtripart) simply because he was so adorably cute, and he was obviously there to provide some comic relief. Always offering to resign every time he made a mistake was one of the few captivating funny moments. And his pursuit of Chicha was so much fun to watch. The cat and mouse game they played with one another was entertaining. I wish that had been more intense in its development as I found their pairing to have some real chemistry.

What disturbed me the most about this series was the lack of focus and direction. It tried to mimic the original version and ended up not being funny and more like a mockery. Then relying heavily on the strength and reputation of the relationship between Earth/Mix to carry out a weak plot which they could not. With the final outcome being a somewhat repellant feel about the story. It is unfortunate that I have seen comments that some found the story ‘creepy’ because of the ‘older’ man pursuing the younger man and therefore do not want to watch the original. That is sad, as in the Japanese version, all of that is explained rather poignantly and with a much deeper impact, rather than the sanitized version presented here that ironically lacked a basic understanding/concept of why. For those who have not seen the Japanese version, do not deprive yourself of a masterpiece and a true picture of a gay love story told brilliantly and rather profoundly. Not only with humor but with a very clear focus and direction. This series lacks any sense of purpose or direction and feels epigonous and silly, completely encompassed with caricatures not real people, and an ending that is disheartening and underwhelming.

For me, this is one series that should never have been made.

Rating- 2 out of 5

Streaming on- GMMTV YouTube Channel