I've always had kind of a love hate relationship with Chinese historical BLs. Some are genuinely excellent, but then there are others that cram in so much plot that keeping track of all the layers of betrayal and scheming gets exhausting, and I end up checking out mentally. Part of the issue is also just how much content is out there in this space, so something really has to stand out to keep me hooked. In this case, the production value is genuinely impressive, top tier stuff, but story wise, I just couldn't bring myself to actually care about these characters. There's a ton of political scheming and backstage manipulation running throughout. Somewhere in the middle of all that chaos, a hostage ends up falling for his own Prince Charming. The show runs eight episodes, each around 50 to 60 minutes long. After spending three years guarding the border, Fifth Prince Yin Qi gets called back to the capital because of a secret letter, only to end up walking straight into a deadly...
Teh and Oh-Aew were best friends and completely inseparable as kids but their same dream of becoming an actor tears them apart. They meet again 5 years later in their final year in school preparing for university entrance exams. Their animosity stays but slowly they forgive each other and mend their relationship. Teh gets into university in an early exam which leaves him free time. He decides to tutor Oh-Aew and in the process they both discover hidden feeling of love and confusion for each other. Even though Teh has a girlfriend, he feels a strange attraction towards Oh-Aew , including jealousy when he sees Aew getting close to another boy in the class. When Oh-Aew expresses his feelings to Teh, he feels the same but is way to scared to do something about his feelings. He feels 2 boys together is wrong personally for him. How their relationship dissolves and they eventual fight their inner fears of love, rejection, expectation form the beautiful crux of the story.
With 5 episodes and each almost 75-90 minute long, this took sometime to watch. But shot in beautiful Phuket, we see beautiful tale of teen love, confusion and angst. Teh is the type of guy who is full of feelings but is not quite sure how to put in into words, while Oh Aew is straight forward with his feelings, is quite sensitive, and he knows who he is and what he wants in life. The series portrays the development of their relationship step by step, diverting from foes to friends to being a special someone. And in the process there is lot of crying, I mean a LOT of it. Coming of age dramas, especially in Thai BL series, often nuances are lost but this series does a very good job of it. There is not much about life and love that you know when you are just 17-18 and the show beautifully explores the emotions that bot the leads go through. They are both struggling with feelings and don't know what to do with it. The depth of their characterization offered its storyline the opportunity to effortlessly create a connection to its audiences. It allowed many to see themselves in Teh and Oh-Aew as their characters are written to be as alive and relatable. The script was so good that it made us understood the characters and their decisions (which are stupid at times or very impulsive). We were reminded how young people can be confused, impulsive and give their all when they fall in love. There is so much I want to write, but I am in loss of words. Besides beautiful direction and great acting, you cannot take away the beautiful cinematography of the show. The gorgeously shot kissing scene is underwater is something to remember. I have heard so much about Phuket and now its added as a must visit place in my list. Teh's girlfriend and Bas, the boy who falls for Oh-Aew also have an interesting graph and are shown lot more mature. The director has deftly displays how youngsters tend to make rash, reckless life changing decisions while in a relationship that can have a lasting impact on their future.Besides the excessive crying, the only other complaint I have of the show is Teh's mother. I just found her way over the top which struck out like a sore thumb when everything else in the series was almost perfect. No unnecessary product placements, no side stories to distract you from the main storyline.
A teenage love is indeed special. Unlike the managed emotions of an adult who has learned to protect oneself, it is desperate and total. Such intricacies are rarely portrayed in dramas. It realistically portrays male friendships, the pangs of sexual confusion and the despair of a first heart-break. It's definitely one of the higher rated love story that I would recommend people to watch. (8.5/10)
Comments
1) It was written based on Billkin(Teh) and PP(OhAew) real life stories with some twist. Both actors are best friends since highschool in real life and there's a lot of rumors among Thai fans that they're indeed a couple.
2) There's a documentary about behind the scenes of each episodes in LINE TV and NadaoBangkok youtube channel. If you watch it, you'll appreciate the series more as they showed how great the effort and the production goes into the series.
3) There's gonna be season 2 of this series which will air on 11 March 2021 and it's gonna be about their university life in Bangkok.
4) This series is their (Billkin and PP) first act as lead actors in tv shows.
5) I Told Sunset About You is the greatest BL series so far. Period. haha
I do like the series but I hope there is a bit less melodrama in season 2.
All the tidbits that you mention abougt thhe 2 actors is indeed pretty interesting. Such news make viewers want to watchh the series more.
Any other series / movie recommendations are always welcome?
Hello Stranger (Filipino) and 30-sai made Dotei Da to Mahotsukai ni Nareru rashii (Japanese). The latter is still airing.
There's so much to say about this show that the best thing to do is to let everyone make his own opinion about it.
It will stay with me because of Teh's sad puppy face and the beautiful scenery and music.
At first it felt weird, I had started watching two days ago but the first half hour did not hook me up per say. I binge watched another BL and came back, read the review again, and gave it another shot.
Despite the obvious flaws everyone underlined, (please M.Director reshoot episode 4, WTF), I am very happy I did because I gave myself a chance to watch something different, very powerful and overall very pleasant.
The acting was quite good, one of the best connections we've seen in a BL, but it takes time and even some effort to feel for the characters.
Sadly, I fell in love with them only at the very end and now I hope season 2 will give us more.
It's a very good watch, but I can understand why some people will be left with a mild impression. Not a favorite, although it's one of the highest ranked ever, no rewatch value for me, could have been better with a slightly faster pace, but at the same time it feels perfect as it is because the producers wanted it this way.
Now let's see what they have in store for the next series of épisodes.
The first 3 1/2 episodes were sooo good. The chemistry, the characters development (even if Teh going back and forth starded to get annoying), beautiful and touching Oh aew, the production value. And of course the incredible photography... Many times it just left me in awe (that kissing scene omg!!).
Then we have end of episode 4 and episode 5 that were such a pain to watch for me. Teh incessant horrible crying (my, I thought no one could beat Pharm on the non stop crying, now he appears as such a novice lol). Oh aew being, as one of their friends said, insulting towards Teh's sacrifice, not even trying to thank him, politely decline or making an apology. So instead of getting moved, I got pissed and couldn't care less about them until the end. The last scene was nice though and left me on a happy note.
Still looking forward to watching season 2, when it eventually comes out.