The Miracle of Teddy Bear (2022)

It's a masterpiece!

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First of all, let's all agree that the title of this series is terrible. There are many series to watch, and I skipped this one simply because of the feeling of "another way too cheesy drama" the title gave me. I was wrong.

The plot twists and turns until the very end, the acting is excellent, and the production is superb!

Most importantly, we've finally got a series that talks about many LGBTQ+ issues openly and explicitly. No more this "I don't like men, I just like him" BS! I couldn't bear to watch another series where being gay is something to be ashamed of and, therefore, protagonists are wiggling out of confirming their sexuality. Contrary to that, this series probably has the highest number of times the word "gay" is pronounced in the history of the Thai BL industry. And it definitely has the highest number of moments where "gay" is used as a self-description.



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Here are some thoughts and my opinion about the ending. A lot of people didn't like it, and I get that. But what other options were there? Let's say Tarn gets out of the coma, and Nut remains human. Now what? Tarn, whose love literally gave life to Tofu and saved Nut and his dysfunctional family, remains alone, watching Nut and Tofu living happily ever after from a sideline??? Is that fair? And how would Tofu live knowing that about Tarn and not being able to talk about it to Nut ever? Do you think Tofu could possibly be happy??? I don't think so. Therefore, IMHO, the ending IS the best possible outcome.

Now, here's a message to those heterosexual ladies who love watching BL and are very disappointed in this one. I understand that this entire industry was created for you, but gays are not inflatable dolls that exist solely for your entertainment. Thailand is a pretty homophobic country, if you haven't noticed. And when you are "sinking" such a series, sending a message to the Thai BL industry to say that you are only interested in fluffy fairy tales, you are stealing voice from people who are suffering. This series was supposed to be an unrealistic fairy tale but somehow ended up portraying an actual real-life gay and his life in the most realistic way. If you don't like how the series ends, make sure that the described abuse and violence don't happen in your family and society.

Leia Mais

“But the eyes are blind. One must look with the heart.” (The Little Prince)

I must confess, my love for this series was not love at first sight. The first episode made me rather skeptical. Too slow, too overdramatic, the intro seemed to be taken directly from the 90s and then also the talking furniture.....
Nevertheless, I gave this series a chance and experienced an unexpected masterpiece and a journey full of joy and tears because layer by layer the story as well as characters became deeper and more complex, showing this drama incredibly many facets and faces, be it a beautiful miracle, a deeply sad potrait about a dysfunctional family or a mystery story about an accident and deeply hidden secrets.
But most of all, it is the story of Nut, a struggling gay man in his late twenties. Punished with a homophobic and aggressive father, as well as a mentally ill mother who means well but doesn't have the strength in the past to support her son, it is his story that moves you deep inside like rarely before.
I have never been so close to a character, laughed with him, cried with him, been disgusted by him and then again wished him all the happiness in the world.
The story is not always nice and sweet and I can understand everyone who finds this drama too heavy and also the ending is more bitter sweet than happy.
But who finds the access to this story, will recognize behind all this suffering and pain true joy and beauty that makes you smile and believe in the good in humans.
All in all, Miracle of the Teddy bear is a milestone of an LGBT drama and shows without regret the heights and depths of a human life, with a power and an intimacy that I have never seen before and that will probably accompany me even longer

Leia Mais

A Teddy Bear’s Purpose

What is the purpose of a teddy bear? In many cases, a teddy bear is given as a toy to a child for companionship. What does a child who receives a teddy bear do with it? The child will play with the teddy bear, hug the teddy bear when happy or sad, and tell the teddy bear their innermost thoughts and feelings. If the child is angry, mad, or scared, the teddy bear may become the object to punch, hit or scream after. But no matter what happens, the teddy bear is always by the child’s side again as a source of comfort.
While others may not agree with me, Tofu was exactly that for Nut – his source of comfort and stability when all else seemed doomed. Imagine living a life in sheer terror and disdain for a physically and verbally abusive father and a meek mother. Imagine not being able to be yourself and conform to the idea of what your father and society want. Imagine loving someone you are not supposed to because it is 'abnormal'. Imagine fighting all these outer and inner demons but with the one familiar thing constantly by your side – the teddy bear.
Tofu’s existence came at a time when Nut needed him the most. Even when Tofu became the object of Nut’s unhealthy actions and stood idly by when Nut was horrible to him, the only purpose he knew was to be Nut's source of comfort and understanding. Tofu became the physical and emotional warmth Nut needed even if Nut was terrible to him. Eventually, Tofu became the connection bringing communication, respect, and love to a strained mother-son relationship.
I will admit that I cried because it was painful to see Tofu sacrifice himself for Tarn. However, I also understand why he did it as well. He fulfilled his purpose and eventually returned to being a teddy bear. Although he is not with Nut in a human form, he is still there! He is still Nut's source of comfort and peace!

Tofu understood the assignment, and so did I!

Leia Mais

Tragic yet lovely story (idk what headline is more suitable for TMOTB :((

First of all, have to thank the whole cast and crew for expressing each and every emotion deeply. They did an amazing work.

Tofu. He is one of the characters that I will never forget in their life, the character I love the most and will always love, it's true EVERYONE NEEDED THEIR OWN TOFU IN THEIR LIFE, EVERYONE SHOULD BE TOFU IN OTHER'S LIFE TOO!!
I do know how it will end expected the ending but still just can't accept it. when this series aired it was obvious that the ending of this series will be happy but still will be not happy just by the title of the drama THE MIRACLE OF TEDDY BEAR. ISN'T IT OBVIOUS but still I prepared to watch.. yes Miracle happens but it won't last forever as that Tofu is a miracle who came into Nut's life and made everything so better and left his place and again became a comfort bear of Nut. I swear I will never forget this series mainly Tofu, he will always be the best character I love and treasure forever :) I'm so happy that Nut's life changed and he started to live happy all thanks to Tofu, that guy suffered a lot, lost his childhood, I'm happy for him. as he said Tatarn made him see the world but Tofu made him see the beauty of the world.. I'm not sad because Tarn and Nut again started their journey because they both deserve happiness and all the side couples were really nice. I like the way they added the GL couple, at last, I could definitely recommend this series to be watched by everyone, the current social problems are boldly spoken. THIS IS ONE OF THE BEST BL I'VE SEEN. I will miss this series
I will miss Tofu a lot I really wanna a person like him in my life.
JUST HAPPY AND I'M HONEST I STILL CAN'T STOP CRYING, THIS SERIES REALLY MADE ME SO WEAK :((

Leia Mais

conflicted on this series

Overall: I'm fairly conflicted on the series as there are parts I really liked and parts I really did not like. Just know going in that this isn't a light and fluffy series (although it does have some of those moments) I'll bump it up to 7.5 if it gets an official international release.

Content Warnings: physical and emotional abuse, punches, manhandling, homophobia, attempted murder, murder, trauma, grief, mental illness, past character deaths, manipulation, body shaming, bullying, stalking, drugging, violence, voyeurism

What I Liked
- addressing serious issues like homophobia, there are some truly excellent conversations that occur
- I think the series is almost a cautionary tale of what happens when you don't accept your children for who they are, Nut was such a sweetie but then continued the cycle of abuse that he endured
- I was into the soap opera feel, I actually wanted more twists (Nueng isn't actually dead dun dun dun, Sib and his brother switched spots dun dun dun)
- I think the actors did a good job
- the cute/fluffy moments
- Gen's parents were great
- although the furniture animation was creepy, the talking furniture grew on me (and finally we found the Mrs. Left Slipper!!!)
- Song's dad character growth/apology
- the GL at the very end, though I wish it would have started sooner

Room For Improvement
- no amount of past trauma excuses Nut's behavior and few apologies don't make everything alright. Nut does the following: screams at his mom and Tofu several times, runs Tofu down, punches Tofu on more than 1 occasion, pulls both his mom and Tofu by the arm, kicks Tofu, kicks Tofu out of the house, treats Tofu like a servant, embarrasses Tofu in front of Nut's friend and friend's parents, drives like a maniac and makes Tofu throw up, uses Tofu to get back at his mom. Nut needs to go to therapy and anger management classes asap and not be in any romantic relationship. Oh, and Nut also sabotages his friend Gen's kind of relationship - because Nut wasn't a big enough a**hole already. In the final episode it says he is seeing a doctor for "emotional fatigue" is that a code word for "anger management problems", he was still yelling to the end and I didn't see character growth from him in this area.
- the side couple also annoyed me. It took Gen waaaayyyy too long to open up to Song.
- I was confused when they switched to the other plot line with Tarn in the beginning, I thought it was the script that Nut had written
- multiple cliche evil women who refuse to leave men alone who clearly don't love them
- several characters making truly dumb decisions
- it was odd that Nut and Tofu didn't actually have much physical affection shown once they were together, there were countless near kisses, I'd have been fine with occasional pecks on the cheek
- sudden/odd teacher redemption arc (did her son come out as gay and she changed her opinion from a few weeks/months ago?? ) This was too sudden/unexplained for me
- the mom made it sound like she caused her own mental illness and was blaming herself
- lack of consequences for several characters who did terrible things
- I don't know that I liked Nut's mom telling him everything, it felt like she was doing it to ease her guilty conscious instead of being helpful for Nut
- the whole ending with Tofu feels icky, I wasn't blindsided like another well known series, but he can see/hear everything and Nut doesn't know that...
- I was bored sometimes and mostly watched it at a faster speed

Leia Mais

Fantastic Change of Pace

I really enjoyed this show for the fantasy and dealing with the real topic of mental illness. It's different and a great change of pace from the traditional Thai BLs that are out there. It was great to get away from the typical University love story. Warning, though, it isn't lighthearted. There's a mystery revolving around a crime. There's physical and emotional abuse.
The ending is both sad and happy.
After reading some reviews, I think I may be the only one wanted the ending that occurred. I loved Tofu with Nut, but I still wanted Tofu to go back to being a teddy bear so that Nut could get back together with Tarn. I felt they were true soulmates and deserved to be together again.
I also wish that Nut had started going to therapy sooner. It would have been good to start seeing his change before Tofu went back to being a teddy bear. I also wish that the GL that was introduced in the end had started sooner. Prib deserved more time seen being loved.
All of that said, the show does have some minor things that people won't like or understand and some things will be resolved a little too easily, but overall, I give this show a 10 for being so different and telling a hard story. My rating is more than just an A for effort. This show truly deserves top numbers.

Leia Mais

the miracle of Tofu, was itself more meaningful and significant to me than his ending.

This was not just another BL drama on the relationship of a gay couple nor simply a story about a teddy bear who turned into a human. It also touched on first love, Alzheimer’s disease, explored the relationship between parent and child, past love and in them, trust, delusion, acceptance, jealousy, understanding, an encompassment of many complex emotions.

90 minutes each episode was, to be honest, hard to endure at first. Nevertheless, it started off interesting, apart from Nut’s mother getting delusional and Nut’s frequent outbursts of wrath. At episode 5-6, the story picked up and 90 minutes actually flew by with Tofu getting used to being human, Nut getting used to him in the house and gradually liking him. There were also sweet moments between Tofu and Nut and the talking objects and items in the house which only Tofu could communicate with were comical.

After 10 episodes or so, the drama started to feel ‘heavy’ when they explored Nut’s growing-up years with a soldier father who adamantly wanted him to be masculine and saw Nut’s homosexuality as fragile, while his mother seemed passive throughout, but was instead misunderstood as taking sides with his father in the eyes of Nut. This part also gave us flashbacks of Nut’s meeting with Tatarn (Nut’s first love) and them falling in love. It took empathy to understand the emotions of Nut and his mother, what they were going through and why they behaved the way they did. At that point in time, Tofu became a mediator between Nut’s mum and Nut.

At around episode 12 onwards, just after the mother and son saga died down, we were faced with another issue – the cause of Tatarn’s accident and the connection with Tofu’s turning into a human being.

The last 5 or 6 episodes, there were a lot of complex emotions involved and things were not said explicitly, I had to try to understand why the character behaved the way he/she did and I would say there was depth and substance in the entire story where social issues in Thailand were touched on and it was not just a mere fantasy story about a teddy bear who became alive.

However, for me, the execution in these last 5 or 6 episodes was excruciatingly slow. Every movement became slow, even the way the characters talked. There were lots of sitting down (on the bench) talking and the content of the conversations, as far as I saw, did not mean much and did not move the story forward much. I struggled to continue watching at this point in time, bearing in mind that it was 90 minutes per episode, and as I inched forward, I felt unbelievably glad that I was near the end.

One of the reasons I continued watching though was definitely because I was waiting for a revelation about why and how Tofu miraculously became human from a teddy bear and what would become of him in the end.

Not revealing any spoilers, the ending regarding Tofu might not have been the best, but I could accept it and I thought it was befitting of the drama title, ‘The miracle of teddy bear’ and miracle it was indeed.

Though I could not quite accept the ending regarding Nut and Tatarn, this was before I read the comment section of the drama in MDL, after reading comments posted by a viewer on what the scriptwriter or novel-writer said, I could appreciate a little of the ending of Nut and Tatarn better, because I saw Tatarn’s heartfelt intentions. This was also perhaps the best ending for Nut, considering Tofu’s ending. I also understood from the comment page that lots of editing were made to the last episode, so some explanations were never made clearly, but to me this was editing issue and nothing to do with the story, of course it did affect the flow and logic of the ending, but it did not take away the uniqueness of the story for me.

ACTING

Overall, teddy bear-turned-human, Tofu acted by In Sarin, was adorable and goofy. He was convincing enough to make us believe he was a teddy bear-turned-human: new to the human world, innocent and naïve. I personally liked his narration to the viewers as well. It definitely brought viewers closer to him as a result.

As for the other male lead, Nut (Tofu’s love interest and ‘owner’ when he was a teddy bear) acted by Job, I was a little disturbed by his behavior at first – constant shouting at his mother, always getting sensitive and agitated easily, but as I watched on, I began to understand the reasons behind his behavior, it was a realistic portrayal as a result of the trauma he had gone through during his youth, though to be honest, I still found his acting a little awkward at times, not sure if this was what his character required him to be or his acting was not natural enough, I needed to see more of him in other dramas before I could decide.

The chemistry between Tofu and Nut was well, not particularly exceptional and off the charts to me, but natural enough as both friends and lovers.

If I were to nitpick, I would say that I did find the acting of some (definitely not all, most of the support leads are good) of the support leads a little lacking or unnatural sometimes especially in their immediate reactions to something that happened and I was quite sure it had nothing to do with the Thai culture after watching quite a few Thai dramas.

OST

I liked the opening song of the drama. It was melodious, cheerful and bright. The ending song was just so-so, in fact it sounded quite similar to many BL OSTs. My all-time favourite, however, was the song played during the sad scenes, Tee Thanapon - Waiting For You.

MY VERDICT

Basically, my only gripe of this drama was the slow execution in the last 5 or 6 episodes. I personally found the story unique because I have never watched a drama in which a teddy bear could turn miraculously into such an absolutely lovable human and I really liked In Sarin’s portrayal of Tofu. It was very natural and believable.

Yes, the ending was not the most ideal, but I looked at it from a different perspective, considering the analogy, ‘the journey is as important if not more important than the destination itself’, the miracle of Tofu, the teddy bear-turned-human – the fact that he had once existed and the impact he made on the people around him - was itself more meaningful and significant to me than his ending.

I would recommend this drama if you are looking for something not just focused on BL, but also touched on family, relationships and a little on fantasy, but do take note that the ending may not be the most ideal for you.

Leia Mais

Original take, needs a better title!

Wow. This is one of the most refreshing and engaging bl's I've seen. It's built up from multiple themes, from fluffy romance to mystical fantasy to political engagement and it manages to integrate it all into a comprehensive compelling story. It moves, thrills and excites. It could have used a better title though, as this was not what I expected from it at all. If you are looking for just fluff and romance, this one's not for you. If you like more elaborate storytelling (without the plot holes!) you should definitely give this a go. I did not like the lively furniture though, thought that a bit cringey. The ending reminded me of epic stories in opera's for example. Standing ovation here. Well done!

Leia Mais

A brand new and wholesome experience on BL universe

It's weird, I have to many things to say about this series, but words can express how good this series was... If I just say that it's a masterpiece, it would be enough? I think that's fair enough, but I even say more: this is the best BL story I have ever watched 🤯🐻 I you are looking for a BL story with a good and deep plot, because you are bored of those cliché stories filled with shallowness, this is your series... It's hell entertaining, but its purpose it's not only to get you entertained 💁🏻‍♂️

«A love story might be an illness without any miracle» 🤔

Leia Mais

The one i really looked forward too watching each week!

I have watched a butt load of Thai BL dramas and this one really sticks out for me. The storyline itself is so unique that i fell in love with it from the first episode. Each actor/actress was picked perfectly imo, a very talented bunch of people. None of the crying scenes seemed forced or edited (eye drops city) the emotions of each character were very well acted, especially In, Job and Um
As someone that works in a care home with people who suffer with dementia, this story really hit home. The confusion, seeing things that arent there and the strain that this illness has on the patient and the family were really captured well. The scene where Na wandered off and suddenly realised she was lost and scared, really does depict the vulnerable side of this illness. And as someone that sees this everyday, my heart sank for her.
The only part of this series that i am a little disappointed with (and its only a tiny bit of disappointment i might add) is that Nut and Tofu didn't end up happy & human together, even though i knew it would end up this way it still hurt alot. I am however greatful to the director/writer that they brought Tofu back as a bear and even made Nut aware of that.
Like i said i have watched a lot of BL dramas over the years and this one really has stuck out for me.
All in all i give this 9/10...i loved it!

Leia Mais