Water Boyy The Series (2017)

the movie was better

I didn't have high expectations going into this, having read a lot of the comments and the reviews about it. I was mostly watching it for New, as i really liked his performances in Kiss Me Again and Dark Blue Kiss. He was as good in this as he has been in everything else I've seen in him. His emotional range is excellent, especially in the later episodes.

My problem is that this series goes for too long. They could have cut the episode number down to 10, or even 8, and still told the same story. Most of the scenes feel like filler. And tedious filler at that. So much of it is unnecessary.

I thought the conflict between Waii and his father was very well done. It was something I could relate to. I liked the portrayal of Coach Tee and Kan's relationship. Despite their 20 year age difference, there were no hints of abuse or manipulation (unlike the godawful relationship between Bright and Farm in Together With Me) and their relationship seemed more focused on supporting each other and honest communication, which was refreshing to see.

I liked the slow build of Waii and Apo's relationship, and how Apo always supported Waii whilst not hesitating to tell him the truth and giving him solid and well thought out advice.

I also liked the relationships between Kluay and Achi, and Wan and Min.

If the show had just stuck to the relationships between these characters and left the swimming club as more of a backdrop, it would have improved things considerably.

As it is, we get a terrible lesbian-meets-the-right-guy-and-turns-straight-for-him storyline (which wouldn't nominally be problem, but the show never says she's bi or pan, and we get so little of the 'L' representation in LBGTQ+ stories, especially in Thailand, that it really annoys me when this happens) that's made worse by the bullying she subjects the poor young man to. We get a half-assed plot about a play to raise money to save the club, which goes nowhere; a plot involving Min and his ex which also goes nowhere; and a lot of scenes of fit young men lounging around in tiny swim shorts - lovely eye-candy, but pretty much pointless.

And, of course, the ever-present love triangle, because a male character with a girlfriend can't fall for another man and then just do the right thing and break it off with her, because where's the drama in that? Maybe if this had been the first BL-ish series I'd ever watched, I might have let it go. Unfortunately, I've watched quite a few now and it's really, really over-used. I'm bored by it.

And here it's not even done right, because it's made clear that Waii wants Apo (he literally asks him to stay forever) and then, when his girlfriend tries to break up with him because she knows something is going on, he refuses to let her go and promises to stop being with Apo.

Refusing to break up before you're sure of your own feelings for another person is one thing. Refusing to break up after you've already kissed another person and told them you want to be with them forever? An entirely different thing altogether. It's just another plot device to up the melodrama and drag the story out some more.

I've heard the movie is better, so that's what I'm going to go watch next.

Leia Mais

Dissapointing

This series was sadly so disappointing. I loved the concept of it mainly revolving around the swim team and them going through their trial and tribulations. It was new, it was different, but, the execution of the characters and the story fell short.

I was 100% behind Waii and Apo, and I don't even like enemies to lovers, but New and Earth are incredible actors and they played the tension off so well. I immediately lost interest after the s*xual as*ult happened. It was uncalled for, it was purposeless, and ruined any hope that I had for them. BLs have to learn that consent is sexy and romanticizing anything outside of consent is ugly as fuck. After those events, I was so close to dropping this series, but I then came Kluay and Achi and I stayed. I loved the dynamic of these two, but sadly we barely got to see anything go on between them. I would've much rather watched these two than anything else that happened in this series.

I guess this is more of a side BL in a regular drama since we had to deal with the drama of the actual main couples. Quite frankly, the leading females were dramatic and unbearable. I would like these shows to stop treating their female characters with basic stereotypes and actually give them real traits. Also didn't like how they played out Pan to be a lesbian and then just do a 180 and end up with Fah. Would've loved to see her story with her female love interest.

There was also some weird stuff that went on between the coach and one of the players. Kind of awkward, and felt forced.

Overall, this show had good acting and a good production team. I loved the friendships that we saw and the new concept that was tried out. I love New and Earth, but this was not it. I don't think they had good chemistry, especially after the unfortunate events. So glad they found other partners to work with that they can create good on-screen chemistry with.

Leia Mais

First of all, this drama is a remake of the movie, and so far, I have never been this impressed. The drama sorts of giving the same vibe as the movie's. I love the casts, even the straight couple like Min and Wan, Pan and Fah. Newwie has brought the best acting out of all, and the chemistry of his with Earthe totally livens up the mood of the story. The plot is different than the movie's except for some raw facts regarding Earthe's character as Wai, and also Newwie's as Apo. I'm hoping that they will produce a second season because I'm hyped for their moments at the university. The movie left us hanging, and I was hoping too much that they will make a sequel for it, but it really didn't happen. I hope the series will not disappoint me in that way. LOL

Leia Mais

I watched this drama and fell in love with Earth (the guy who plays Waii) like he is such a cuttie I cannot *mega heart eyes*. But besides the fact that the lead is hot as hell, I also liked the story especially Waii and Apo's story, they were very cute and how they got together was probably what I liked most about their story, and Waii having a girlfriend already made it all the more fun to watch how he overcame that obstacle and how they finally ended up together. I liked Fah and Pan's story too it was pretty cute with Fah especially how Fah had a crush on her but she wanted him to help her get with somebody else, that was kind of sad but I still liked it and Pan's character in a way she reminds me of myself in way with her improper and tomboyish self. And lastly Wan and Min, if the story was based on these two I probably would have not given this show such a high rating they were honestly the least enjoyable couple to watch even compared to the side couples this couple was pretty annoying. Even though this drama is not full BL, which I don't mind I still will forever consider this one of the best BL dramas ever and will watch again (skipping through Min and Wan's parts of course).

Leia Mais

Not a must watch in my opinion.

I am honestly not sure what to think of this one.
Let me first say I absolutely loved all of the actors and bought everything they were trying to convey. I also loved and shipped all of the couples and their chemistry, the “main” one as well as the “side” couples. Now the reason I put these in parenthesis is one of the problems I and probably others had with this Drama.

If you had not known who the main couple is from the get go, you probably would not have guessed it either, until maybe the the last few episodes. Because they got a maximum of maybe 10 minutes screen time per episode. However I do understand that they could probably not have had any more screen time since their story development would not have allowed it.

And this is part of the second problem I had with this drama, which was the main reason I’m giving this such a low rating and is merely a personal preference thing: the development of all of the couples was extremely slow and extremely frustrating at times. I am someone who needs a good mixture of happiness, cuteness and sadness, frustration, otherwise I lose interest.

The other major problem for me was the character portrayed by Earth: Waii, so one of the leads, who in my opinion was just a major douche most of the time and basically the only source of conflict for the main couple, and other couples for that matter. I do not like Dramas where the entire problem lies with one character and his behaviour. We have had similar storylines before, If you’ve seen “together with me” it’s kind of similar. However for some reason Waii just pissed me off a hell of a lot more, probably because I really really liked Apo’s character (the other lead). For me to really love a story there needs to be Mutual conflict, both characters need to be flawed, make mistakes and grow accordingly. This was not only missing for the main couple but for most side couples too, there was an over all theme of one person being the “bad guy”.

That being said, if you want to watch it sure do! The happy scenes that we do get are definitely worth it. And considering the plot is based off a novel (that I haven’t read) it is probably the best they could have made out of it (if I ever do read the novel of course that opinion may change). For me it’s not a must watch, and I would probably only rewatch it for the sake of the actors...

Leia Mais

After watching many BL series, I can say that Waterboyy The Series is among my favorite ones. The story focuses on important values in life, such as real friendship, forgiveness, patience, and perseverance. Apo's love for Waii is sublime and deep to the point of changing Waii's life and making him a better person. That's true love!!! I hope we can watch season 2 because Apo-waii and other couples stories (Wan-Min, Kluay-Achi, and Put-Sung) can be better explored and detailed. In regards to Pan and Fah, I do not believe they forced her to be straight. Sexual orientation has many nuances. In my opinion, both of them sound bisexual, and  they can totally match. I truly believe what happened to Pan can definitely happen in real life. Not accepting this fact is having an inverse prejudice concerning sexual orientation.

Leia Mais

I was confused at first because I thought it'd be the same characters as the movie and pretty much follow the same storyline, however, it was pretty much completely different characters -- save the coach and Karn -- with a similar but still very different storyline. Personally, I really did love the show a lot, the characters where pretty likable except for Namkang (if I remember her name correctly, although I might not have) and Waii's girlfriend. Those two I could not stand, although Namkang may just be preference.  Apo and Waii had pretty good relationship development and good chemistry (their kissing scene was pretty damn amazing too, like chill). I really loved that they got more into Karn's character and he had more involvement than in the movie that was great. There was a part where I was super confused on why Min made a choice to do something -- I shall not spoil what -- in his pursuit of Wan, I just found it really weird and just incredibly stupid of him like boy that is not how you get a girl. A little disappointed in the relationship between Achi and Kluay (he's my favorite); I know they're just a side couple but I thought they were really cute and it didn't bloom into a relationship as much as I wished it did. I will say one thing I was really surprised about and loved because personally, I haven't seen it yet -- doesn't mean it hasn't been done before just personally I haven't seen it happen -- is that they had a female who was lesbian but ended up falling for a boy. I thought that was pretty unique and fun. I'm so used to seeing straight guys falling for other guys that seeing an already gay girl fall in love with a guy was pretty cool. Their relationship was so cute too, although she was a bit of a bitch for a while.

Leia Mais

Emotions are a messy thing, much like this series.

This may be set at a university, but with the execution of this series the location might as well been at a high school with the characters being a bunch of childish freshman.

Cast:

Victor Chatchawit Techarukpong (Min) and New Thitipoom Tacha-apaikun (Apo) definitely carried this series both in their characters and their acting abilities. I think this would have extended to Tytan Teepprasan (Achi) as well if his character was more developed and given more screen time. These three all showed their ability to convey their emotions through their facial expressions, body language, etc. much more than any of the other actors did.

Story:

This is one of those series that just simply tries to do too much and in the process loses much of the quality and potential it could have had. It's important to remember when you're working with source material that sometimes you have to pick and chose what parts of that source material you're going to use and what's best to leave.

OVERALL:

In many ways I think the movie version actually handled a lot of the situations better. The performances from a couple of the actors is what really saved this from having a lower score. There was just too much that was glossed over and too much that was added in that shouldn't have been so they could have focused more on the really important things.

Leia Mais

This was sooooooo good! I hope they make a second season but I don't think it's 1000% necessary because it was wrapped pretty nicely.
The chemistry between the actors was the best part of the show. The actors who played Apo (New) and Waii (Earth) were obviously close friends. There were some scenes in which I could not hep but wonder if they felt awkward (maybe because they look very straight to me haha) but they did not look awkward at all. Everyone was professional and the characters were believable. I wish we got to see more of Achi and Kluai too but that's okay.
The soundtrack was stunning and appropriate. I couldn't help but (try to) sing along.
Waii grew up so much during the show (as well as other characters, of course) and it made my heart soft.
I'm glad I decided to watch it. But if you're looking for a super complicated plot this is not the series for you. It's more about the characters. That's why I wish there was a second season. They could come up with a really cool plot now that the characters are settled.
And am I the only one who thought about the anime Free! ? I couldn't help myself haha
Here I go follow the actors on Instagram ;)

Leia Mais

The good: There's GL themes as well as BL themes and I really like most of the actors in this, and so will you, since you've definitely seen them other places if you've watched any other Thai series. The performances are really good for the most part, and I really enjoy how they play these characters.

The bad: The main character is a jerk to everybody, really, and I found myself only really having positive feelings about the creepiest couple of them all, the coach and his lover. Everybody else, I kind of got the feeling they shouldn't be together anyways. So to have the one couple that probably shouldn't be together be the only one I really rooted for was very disheartening. The ending is not satisfactory, either. You don't see them get together, really, they just aren't together and then suddenly they're together.

The WORST: The GL takes a really, really stupid turn and I hated it so much I would have rage-quit the series if it didn't wait until the very end to do it.

Leia Mais

While there are good themes about young love being explored in the series, there are just too many stories to keep track of that some are left undeveloped or rushed towards the end. Maybe if it had more episodes then these stories would have “matured” better.

The acting is good — the artists gave their best with the material that they got. I sensed though that many struggled playing the more intimate or emotional scenes, regardless of whether they’re playing as one half of a hetero or a homo pair. I guess it is something that they can improve on over time.

Leia Mais