“Peach of Time” is as much a kdrama as it is a BL; in fact I suggest it is unique in being a hybrid and a very good one at that. It owes much to first-class performances from two of its leads.

A ghost story might seem an unusual choice for the first Thai-Korean BL production to reach our screens; even more so as the story is not treated as a comedy. Had it done so, BL fans might have been as forgiving and accepting as they were with other ghost BLs such as “Something in my room” (2022), “He’s Coming to Me” (2019), “HiStory 1: My Hero” (2017), “So Much In Love” (2020). Dark subject matter, on the other hand, can generate negative reactions from fans who prefer their BL series to have happy endings.

The bad reviews of “Peach of Time” make me think there must be a lot of BL fans who have studied and read “Basic Behavioural Elements of Ghosts” or who have done courses on “Profiles & Studies of the Psychology of Ghosts in Human Interaction” (School of SE Asian Cultural Studies, 2020-2022). (I’m kidding - there are no such books or courses. But you get my meaning I hope.)

“Peach of Time” is not concerned with ghosts, and neither, I believe, need be the audience. Well, not actual ghosts (if you pardon the oxymoron). The ghost element is both a metaphor and a dramatic device; and the ghosts that feature large in “Peach of Time” are, as Mario describes them in Ep.3, the “ghosts” of resentment, or sadness, the emotional issues in our lives that we don’t address and leave unresolved, between ourselves and those we love, and that linger, like ghosts that hover and surround our lives. Hence, the series' main focus is in its title: time, and whether we make the most of it.

The drama plays out amidst a group of characters whose time together has ended prematurely by an unforeseen event. Each of the main protagonists, Jimmy Karn Kritsanaphan as Peach, Choi Jae Hyun as Yoon Oh (the two nascent lovers), and Jung Ae Yun as Dr Moon, Yoon Oh’s mother, react differently to the shock & suddenness of tragedy. How and whether they each come to terms with this is the real determinant of whether this series can be said to have a happy ending or not.

Cultural differences and similarities feature large in the drama. Peach is Thai and on this, his first trip to Korea, reacts at once with his traditional Thai view of parental regard to what he regards as Yoon Oh’s disrespect towards his mother; Jimmy plays these scenes with the diffidence and reserve familiar to all of us from so many Thai BL’s. Dr Moon, for her part, forgets her duty of care towards her one and only son; Jung Ae Yun gives expression to the high standards of achievement Korean parents expect of their children and the disappointment that her own success is not mirrored in her child. Yoon Oh anticipates his mother’s rejection of his expected repeat failure of the highly competitive Korean CSTAT exams. Choi Jae Hyun’s finely nuanced performance shimmers with the pressure and resentment young Koreans face today towards succeeding throughout their entire youth and early adult lives.

The background story of Yoon Oh’s mother, a practising cardiothoracic surgeon, who knowing the Thai language and has taught it to her son, helps explain Yoon Oh’s choice of Thailand for his holiday/runaway location, where he and Peach meet each other. Peach begins to study Korean to be able to speak with his friend as their relationship progresses. Those who quibble about the actors speaking in one language and being answered in another have, I would suggest, had no experience of how people in multicultural households communicate with each other. It was common, for instance, in my family and migrant community, for people to do the same as the characters in this show, and even to swap from one language to another mid-conversation, if not to do so even mid-sentence. Keep in mind that exchanging basic conversation, does not equate to being fluent; later we see Peach mix up the labels of the cakes in the cafe because he cannot read the Korean script correctly.

Being a kdrama, the plot carries with it a criminal-detective mystery component surrounding the event around which this story revolves. And added, also, is the story of a possible medical malpractice issue against Yoon Oh’s mother. There is a further subplot involving Tommy Sittichok Pueakpoolpol as Mario, a long lingering ghost at the resort owned by the Moon family. As is the way with kdrama, these concurrent plot lines simultaneously prolong the drama’s timelines while also - and this is a feature lacking in early low-budget Thai BLs - broaden the supporting world of characters beyond the immediate love interest leads.

The show loses its focus somewhat towards the end in striving to wrap up all its loose ends, but its conclusion rests in the safe hands of its principal leads, especially Choi Jae Hyun. At one point, Peach searches for the unhappy Yoon Oh; he realises Yoon Oh has voluntarily put himself inside his “naughty cupboard”, a relic of his upbringing, imposed or self-created we do not know. When Peach prises open the cupboard door, he observes that Yoon Oh has decorated the inside walls of the cupboard with photos of himself and his mother from happier childhood days. Peach’s face registers shock, but Choi Jae Hyun, without a word, through his eyes alone, speaks to us in this act of self-punishment, of his sadness and shame at what he perceives as his failure as a son.

Peach seems at first to be a slight character, as slight as his figure; but he is pivotal to the emotional journey of the main characters. Faced at first with learning about the tragic event which happened shortly before his arrival, he is confronted with having to make a decision for which he has no prior experience; but drawing on his own nature, his fondness for Yoon Oh and his Thai cultural background, he stays to do what he can to help Yoon Oh and his mother through their turmoil. Gradually, even Mario recognises in Peach an inner power towards love and reconciliation, which, to Mario’s surprise, aids him also.

Yeu Jeong Seob’s 5-year vigil for his daughter Eun Bin, in a coma, is another relationship under pressure and in distress.

The two investigative police detectives are also at odds with each other over the case; the senior officer feels for Dr Moon and the loss of her only child while the junior officer bristles at the investigation continuing and is content to wrap it up without further effort, even to the point of lying to his senior about obtaining critical video evidence. And at Dr Moon’s hospital, the administrator has been maintaining an approach solely to avoid a lawsuit against them by Yeu Jeong Seob, without any consideration for the father’s loss. Dr Moon, in turn, just as Peach has helped her, helps the grieving father by drawing a parallel between her reluctance to accept her son’s fate. This is a turning point in the Yoon Oh story; in their mutual grief, both parents recognise their mutual humanity. The father, in turn, reports to the police detectives a critical fact he had withheld.

Ignore the negative comments: “Peach of Time” is good and worth watching. But while it presents as a BL, it is more than that and what it sets out to do, it does very well. Audiences should approach it for what it is rather than what they hope it will be but isn’t.