O Smoking (2022)

I believe this is definitely a 9!

Let's talk about why I believe it's a 9! The acting/cast was totally perfect! As for me, all 5 main characters got the acting skills, and are very charming, this includes Chap Suppacheep, Green Phongsathorn, Ping Guntapat, Tape Worrachai, and Pond Khunnapat. There was also one support character that had amazed me a lot, that actor is Garto Pannawit, who played as Art. He had perfect facial expressions and had a perfect acting throughout the entire series. And because all of those, I'm giving the acting/cast a 10/10. The music was also on point, and which is why I'm also giving it a 10/10.

Now there's also some minor problems in the series as well. As for me, the story didn't have much of a good plot. There wasn't many interesting scenes in the series compared to other series. But I'd also like to shout out to Chap Suppacheep, and Green Phongsathorn for all those amazing kissing scenes and those romantic scenes which were amazing! So for the story, I've decided to give this an 8/10. And for the overall rewatch value, it's an 8/10 as well. So overall, it's a 9/10!

Leia Mais

An interesting premise but a disjointed plot.

“The Tuxedo” has an interesting premise, one of the best OST’s to come out of the Thai BL genre, and the appealing Green Phongsathorn Padungktiwong who plays the lead character. The director is Mike Phontharis Chotkijsadarsopon, whose previous stint at the helm of a BL was the mafia crim series “Golden Blood”. All up, “The Tuxedo” looks like a stylish movie but feels like a romantic soap.

For all its good aspects, it has a long list of bad ones, most notable of which is its co-lead Chap Suppacheep Chanapai, who, despite his extensive list of acting credits, turns in quite a mediocre performance as the illegitimate scion of a wealthy industrialist and who suffers from a chronic syndrome stemming from childhood trauma (I”m guessing agoraphobia, although no doctor or therapist appears in the show to confirm this). Chap plays Nawee, an arrogant young man who somehow manages for three years to be the CEO of production in his father’s business while maintaining a reclusive existence in a sumptuous modern architect designed house & enclave in an obscure part of the country. Chap plays his scenes of panic attacks as if he were drugged; perhaps Director Mike & Chap preferred that Narwee appear to act more like he had a chemically-induced condition than a psychologically disturbed one. In any event, he is ultimately saved from his predicament by the love of Aioun, a fastidious high-end tailor, who runs an exclusive bespoke business from idiosyncratically designed premises in another obscure location.

The developing love story of these two men from different backgrounds who meet by strange circumstance is told with engaging sincerity; and the chemistry between the two leads is warm and convincing. The problem with the series is that instead of the plot concentrating on this, it meanders to include characters who are of little interest and omits other characters and situations that could have added to the drama. In this respect, unfortunately, the series shows the inexperience of newbie screenwriter Pacharawan Chaipuwarat.

Elsewhere, the writer has written of her script writing that she creates “the story based on public or client interests and conduct(s) research to obtain accurate factual background information authentic details.” This admirable work formula reveals itself in the detailed scenes of Aioun’s design work and pattern-cutting and suit-making (similar scenes to “Behind cut”). But attention to client (aka producer and/or director) interests can mean an inexperienced writer who is either not confident in how to put together a cohesive plot or who is reluctant to stand up for it in the often combative pre-production meetings. Whichever is the case, “The Tuxedo” includes Aioun’s two younger “brothers”, two elderly staff, Aioun’s fiancee, Narwee’s father & step-mother and step-brother, who all play minor roles in a very haphazard flow of sequences. The only additional character who is melded well into the story is Sichol, played by Tape Worrachai Sirikongsuwan. Tape has been acting for almost ten years and, though his character is largely comic in nature, he has enough scenes to show his capabilities and to draw Sichol as equally bumbling and caring.

Sichol is the character who connects the two leads together when he goes to the rescue of Aioun’s young brother, Oab, mugged at night by three ruffians. By way of thanks for helping Oab, Aioun offers Sichol a new suit to replace the one damaged in the brawl so that Sichol can still look presentable at his job interview the next day with Narwee. At that interview, the curt & dismissive Narwee likes nothing about Sichol but is attracted to the quality of the suit and offers Sichol the job if he can fulfil the task of getting the tailor who made that suit to make one for Narwee also.

Unbeknownst to both Sichol and Narwee, Aioun’s father had had his business ruined by the sharp business practices of Narwee’s father; not surprisingly therefore, Aioun turns down the suit request. We learn the reason Narwee is insistent on the best suit to be found hereabouts is because he is relying on it to impress his father at an upcoming birthday lunch Narwee is planning. We find out later that Narwee is his father’s bastard son who has been raised and elevated to a senior position in the father’s business but is now to be replaced by Narwee’s younger half-brother.

Given how important Dad is to both of the leads, it is a question worth asking why he appears in only episodes 5 & 6 (there are only 8 episodes). Unlike their Korean counterparts, a repeating habit of Thai BL creators is to put minor characters into set scenes in block fashion. I suspect this is for scheduling & budgeting reasons. What this means is that, unlike in real life where the people around us feature in many incidental ways, characters in Thai BL series appear to play a major scene and then disappear.

And this does not only apply to the Dad in “The Tuxedo”. (Aioun turns out to have a GF - we don’t learn of her existence till episode 6.) The show itself begins with neither Aioun or Narwee but with two minor characters, an elderly lady, one of Aioun’s employees, and Oab, Aioun’s young brother. Oab is an annoying fellow, whose main dramatic purpose is to so annoy his brother Art that Art revenges himself by concealing from Oab the client measurement book on which Aioun’s business depends. This irresponsible act is forgiven by Aioun (showing us his sympathetic considerate nature), even though it compels Aioun to make the trek to Narwee’s house to remeasure for the suit, hence another interaction in the developing love story.

The measurement book appears more often than some of the minor characters; it is a substantial soft leather cover journal; it is believable as a work item. But when Art conceals it in a pile of discarded fabric cut-offs, we are asked to believe that the elderly lady who cleans out the cut-offs, can’t feel the odd shape and weight of the journal concealed within the fabrics. Anyone who’s worked in the rag trade would know what a pile of fabric cut-offs weighs; cutting fabric is a skill - the less fabric cut from the roll, the lower the cost; and as another poster has pointed out, the wool fabrics suited to the Thai climate would be lightweight.

This “now you see them/now you don’t” approach to character appearances is at its worst in relation to Aioun’s GF, Chanjoa. She appears in only episodes 6, 7 & 8. She turns up at Aioun’s Birthday dinner celebration where she is aggressively spoken to by Narwee, angry at the discovery his love interest has a woman in his life. Aioun pacifies Narwee later by declaring his love, although Narwee will - after several more panic attacks - break off the relationship in childish jilted-lover fashion. Before this, however, Chanjoa is dispensed as a character in a remarkable scene where Aioun, tongue-tied, can’t find the words to explain why he is breaking off their relationship. Chanjoa departs the series (just in time for the final reconciliation of our lovers), walking out the door more of an adult than either of the two male leads.

As if Director Mike realises this disjointed story line has not created sufficient romantic atmosphere & tension, the scene at the end of the two lovers firmly committed into each others’ arms is played out against a five minute recap of their main scenes together from earlier in the series. Most avid BL fans know by now from the increasing flow of quality BL series out of Korea that the final scene is critical to the credibility of the love story and how well, for the most part, Korean creatives handle this aspect. “The Tuxedo” scores low in this regard.

Rewatch value is low. But on the plus side, Jeff Satur’s compositions on the music track are very good; the theme from his song “Because of you” is of sufficient quality that it works as a stand-alone orchestral piece.

A final word about Green’s performance. He succeeded in making Aioun the emotional centre of this show with his sympathetic performance. Aioun is both a creative artisan and a firm and successful businessman, but he is also the central axis of love and leadership around which his brothers and employees revolve and to whom Narwee gravitates. Green achieves this combination balancing act in a nicely sustained performance; hopefully we will see more of his talents in future series.

Leia Mais

sometimes chemistry can save bad drama

I am giving 5 star because of chemistry of the main actor. otherwise the way they execute the story I would have given 0 stars.

Good Side : Chemistry, chemistry, chemistry, I have never seen chemistry like this in gay series, perfect chemistry, romance, kisses and good enough acting

Bad side : Badly execute story, that's how we overcome trauma and depression??, they tried to say so many things but left on half, according to story this drama could be next manner of death or Triage but the way they ended story is like fucking irritating. this could be perfect desert with great revenge, overcoming trauma, romance, chemistry. we they have all elements like : story, chemistry, romance, they make series like this and when they don't have story they try to make series like big dragon. plus according to story this drama is fucking short. This drama so badly badly execute.

Leia Mais

Terrible

I was excited to watch this for 2 reasons: Jeff Satur (OST) and Chap (handsome). Dude, it was such a bad experience to watch this. How can I start... First, the couple has 0 chemistry and they're kisses are terrible to witness. I didn't like anyone in this series, none of the characters were interesting enough (actually my favorite character was Nawee's brother who is an asshole but was the only one who made me feel alive when I watched it lol). There are TOO MANY accidental kisses and I hated every single one of them. It's too cheesy and unrealistic, plus they added a backstory for Chap's character and it was way too dramatic the way they handled everything. I'm so sad that Jeff was envolved in this, his songs turned out to feel like a mess too :(

Leia Mais

What? And also, why?

I won't be holding back on spoilers, because I need to specify why I feel this way.
I'll start by saying I was excited for this series because of Chap. I've liked him in his other works (Y-Destiny and Lovely Writer) but didn't like his love interests at all. So I had hope! That he'd finally get a good love story and have a role where he could shine.
And for awhile, it seemed that was happening and that Aioun would be a good love interest. I explicitly noted that Aioun was the only decent person amongst the central characters, but then his girlfriend showed up.
Jumping back, my biggest "Why?" in this is "Why did they fall in love?" Or maybe "when?" It wasn't clear to me at all where their feelings developed, and the unnecessary flashback in the final episode just showed more concisely the complete lack of development in their relationship. They went from being entirely hostile to saying that they really care for one another. What? Why?
Sichol sucked. I'm sorry, but he sucked. I was annoyed by him most of the time. Who lies to their boss on the first day? Not that Nawee was a good boss, considering he physically abused his employees, but Sichol deserved to be fired. Oh on the topic of violence, Sichol then knocks Nawee unconscious to essentially kidnap him despite knowing he has horrible agoraphobia. Said phobia was another thing handled poorly! Aioun says "you have to face your fears." to Nawee in regards to his debilitating mental illness. What? You suck! Not how that works!
Oab sucks. Who hides their brothers pet turtle and then gets mad when said brother gets upset?
This was why I initially thought Aioun was the only good person: he didn't lie to and manipulate others, physically abuse his employees, or lose his brothers beloved pet. But he did cheat on his girlfriend. And then refuse to be honest with her despite her giving him every chance to be upfront about his feelings.
Chanjao is great! She's mature and kind, and I feel horrible for her that she got stuck with someone who wouldn't just be honest. I'm glad to see a good female character, at least.
He did eventually break up with her, though he mostly just stood there and let her do the talking. What a jerk!

Nawee could have been a great character, because I felt a lot of sympathy for him with his trauma and familial issues. But you can't treat people like that! You can't throw things at your employees or punch them with an hourglass! He's entitled and rude, and his awful family doesn't give him an excuse for that behavior.
But really, when he wasn't being horrible I could almost forget what he did because he was a sympathetic and sweet boy. Chap did a good job with what he was given, which wasn't much unfortunately.
Aioun was kind, mature, and calm. Until he wasn't.
Most of the characters had their moments, but it wasn't in a profound "humans are complicated and no one is fully good or fully bad" kind of way but in a "this is a different character now" kind of way. Aside from Nawee's family, who were consistently awful, evil people.
There were good moments, but not nearly enough. It had a rather short run time, but that's no excuse for a complete lack of development in your principal relationship. It's at least some consolation that I didn't waste much time on this.
I couldn't fully enjoy the sweet scenes, because they felt undeserved. Especially after finding out Aioun was a shithead with a girlfriend he was cheating on.
Also! for the love of god stop putting the damned "trip into a kiss" nonsense. Twice they did that, and both times I rolled my eyes so hard I probably saw my optic nerve.
Contrary to my scathing review I didn't completely hate the show. I definitely can't say I liked it, but there were parts I enjoyed. Chap did a good job in my opinion, and hopefully he'll be able to get a main role again, but with good writing and a good love interest this time. Please.

The best part of this show was Jeff Satur. It's unfortunate that his beautiful songs weren't put in an equally beautiful series.

Leia Mais

BREATHE OF AIR ♥️

A lot of Thai BL are on the rise and I'm having a hard time to pick one. I saw this with only 8 episodes, and watched it. And it was hella WORTH IT! now I want more of this! 8 episodes are not enough for this masterpiece! The storyline was something unique and refreshment to build that kind of love story between them. Hopefully, they will produce another SEASON cause this masterpiece deserve continuation! 🙌♥️♥️♥️♥️♥️♥️♥️♥️♥️♥️♥️♥️♥️♥️♥️♥️♥️♥️♥️♥️♥️♥️♥️♥️♥️♥️♥️♥️♥️♥️♥️♥️♥️♥️♥️♥️♥️♥️♥️♥️♥️♥️♥️♥️♥️♥️♥️♥️♥️♥️♥️♥️♥️♥️♥️♥️♥️♥️♥️♥️♥️♥️♥️♥️♥️♥️♥️♥️♥️♥️♥️♥️♥️♥️♥️♥️♥️♥️♥️♥️♥️♥️♥️♥️♥️♥️♥️♥️♥️♥️♥️♥️♥️♥️♥️♥️♥️♥️♥️♥️♥️♥️♥️♥️♥️♥️♥️♥️♥️♥️♥️♥️♥️♥️♥️♥️♥️♥️♥️

Leia Mais

It's much better than the ratings here

Ok so when I'm writing this the series has a 7.3 rating. In my opinion, I'm going to add 0.5 because Chap and green really kiss and they appear to like it too. Not sure why BL's have guys kissing who either don't know how or are embarrassed or don't really like kissing guys. I would cut out any kissing scene that seems forced or unnatural. The idea of using a plot line where the main character who is gorgeous having agoraphobia is really a great idea. Add another 0.5. That gets us to 8.3. Tape in my opinions does a great job and is very likeable....add 1.0 and then subtract 0.5 because he could have been used better to expand the episodes to at least 30 minutes. That leaves me at an 8.8. The music is really good and done well. Most BL's use songs that become annoying because they use I too much or they use just bad songs. Add 0.5. As stated before I think the scripting could have developed out more all the characters (especially Chap's agoraphobia) and expanded the series time to at least 30 minutes Subtract 0.5 . Chanjao's character as the fiancé was not evil or annoying. As in most BL's. She was actually quiet good sometimes. Add 0.2 . So there is my 8.5 justifies. (LOL) Honestly I did not have any issues with this series. Yes it could have been better but it is more than just watchable for me. ciao for now!

Leia Mais

A nice, quick watch

Idk why there are so many negative reviews. It's not an amazing, revolutionary series, but it's watchable and you can have a good time with it, especially considering how short it is. I only started being interested in the plot and characters around ep 3 or 4, as the first few episodes are more from the perspective of a secondary character who kinda functions as a matchmaker but for the viewers' sake. Still, considering the later focus on the romance, I didn't mind too much.
The acting is good, the chemistry feels very natural and the progression of the relationship was sweet and interesting, albeit not without genre-typical drama, especially near the end. The cinematography is nice, especially certain shots with reflections.
There's no problematic content, which usually makes or breaks a drama for me. The female character is sympathetic, even though she functions as an obstacle, we feel for her. There's no dubious consent, even though it's becoming more of a standard nowadays, enthusiastic consent still isn't a given. I especially liked the lack of a clear seme/uke dynamic which I find pointless and, more often than not, demeaning. I'd love to see these actors together in a longer drama, they were the best part of this one and made it watchable.

Leia Mais

4/10 stars

I was waiting for this series for months only to be disappointed. There are too much loose ends in the storyline. It's rushed and sometimes it just doesn't make sense. There's not enough material for us as audience to get convinced that they are falling for each other. At the blink of an eye they were already in love with each other. The accidental kissing scenes were a choice. The actor who played thr father of Nawee is a total robot. There are also awkward pauses in between dialogues at many instances.
The only positive thing is the chemistry between the actors. I can feel it and it shows. It's such a shame the story and direction let them down.

Leia Mais