With a bit of an effort, this series would have been phenomenal and nothing short of a masterpiece. But it honestly did not believe in itself enough to make it memorable. Instead, it relied too heavily on the tried-and-true tropes of the day. Believe it or not, this WAS a good premise. As the expression goes, they snatched defeat from the jaws of victory.

Fifa (Ton Tonhon) is an unlikable character. Spoiled, pampered and feeling a bit entitled, has his eyes set on going to Japan to study. Cute as a button with a boyish charm about him, Grandma (Rudkloa Amratisha), the matriarch of the family, puts a kibosh to his high-handedness and says, bluntly, that if he wants and obviously needs, the family money, he must work at the Pokpa Nature Park which she operates and manages. Reluctantly, he agrees to stay at the Park for three months, simply to prove to her that he will not fall in love with it nor will it be as meaningful to him as it is to her.

Mrs. Pat [Grandma] runs a tight ship and is a no-nonsense individual. She asks Hem (Arm Varot) to monitor and supervise her grandson. Hem, a rather reserved and quiet man with a drinking problem, is ruggedly handsome, passionate and dedicated to the work he is doing. A loner and to some degree an individualist who has escaped from the world but into the bottle. With a slightly checkered past, he has made this park not only his home but his passion.

The cinematography of this series is nothing short of stunning. It is beautifully filmed at an obvious elephant park sanctuary with all its rich and varied background. They used that to the advantage of this series.

Unfortunately, the script was just a so-so one. It was so full of cliché setups, it was hard to get fully vested into the characters. Not that the acting was bad. It really was not. They did the best they could with the underwhelming script. The issue, as always and typical with Thai BLs, is the very, very slow burn to any romance. Even the elephants could not help move this along. It got trite and repetitive.

What I absolutely did like about this series was the ending. It is an exceptionally rare one. Fifa, even though he has developed feelings for Hem, has decided to pursue his lifelong dream of going to Japan to study. He is going to follow his dream and for that, this series does need to be commended. They could have gone down the romantic path, but they took the road less traveled. A wise and smart decision on the part of Fifa and supported completely by Hem. In a very subdued way, Hem’s feelings are even intenser for Fifa, but he is neither strong enough nor wants to admit that at this point in his life.

The setting is the real star of this series. It is beautifully filmed and produced. One has to be completely absorbed by the setting and perhaps even a bit envious of the continuous naturally beautiful surroundings. A surprisingly shout-out must also go to Rudkloa Amratisha as Mrs. Pat [Grandma]. While quite brief in the series, she manages to provide just the right amount of moral guidance her grandson needs and the correct influence that Hem needs to tone down both their uncontrolled impulses. She not only is a guiding light but is also in a sense a motherly figure, giving, if you will, tough love to two guys who need to be reined in. I simply liked her performance.

What intrigued me the most about this series is the intensity of the development of the characters despite the mediocre screenplay. We can see and more importantly feel both Hem and Fifa grow. Fifa’s story was a coming-of-age saga where he began to realize that there are way bigger things than himself that are important. And that he could expand what he loved to include other things besides himself and that did include Pokpa. He was also taught more importantly the graveness of being responsible at your job no matter what you are assigned. It was a pure joy to watch him take baby steps to becoming an adult and seeing the world through the eyes now without the rose-colored glasses on. Meanwhile, Hem finally closed a painful chapter in his life that he had to and what Fifa helped him do was to expand his horizon of what love is. His journey perhaps opened the door out of his closet.

To be honest, I am happy that they did not end up together as I was not convinced that they are in love with each other. Sure, they were obviously attracted to each other. Perhaps even deeply. Where I think the series did make a mistake was that the two did not consummate their obvious lust for one another. They were adults and ought to have explored their sexuality. I would love to have seen a night of wild passionate love making. Then Fifa would have known Hem and Hem would have known Fifa. On that, they could have developed something later perhaps after Fifa graduates. If it was not meant to be, then the saying “We’ll always have Paris” will forever be burned into their memories. That unfortunately, made the series feel empty. At least, there would not have been this feeling that something was missing from these characters’ lives.

If this series had taken that final step which would have been a logical one, I might have given this series a much higher rating despite the trite story and cliché screenplay. It almost got there but did not.

Rating- 4 out of 5

Streaming on- Gagaoolala