I Promised You the Moon (2021)

Leave it to Teh to make Oh-Aew cry

If the first season wasn't realistic enough, the second season goes a notch deeper. With Teh and Oh-Aew starting their university lives, 'I promised you the moon' showed us a part of a couple's life who are already committed. It made us feel that falling in love is easy. It's the staying in love that's the hard part.

Teh was a jerk in a number of instances.

No matter how confused one can be about their feelings, it was frustrating to watch Teh. He deliberately went and hurt Oh-Aew by kissing his own senior and also sneaking glances at Jai when he was with Aew. Did he really think Aew won't notice? Or was it perfectly okay to kiss another guy as long as Aew was all his? Not for a single second did he stop and think what he would have felt if Aew did the same to him.

While having a spurt of feelings for a new person is not wrong, lying to your partner about it is. The reason he hid his log book from Aew goes to show that part of him understood what he was doing was not right. All along he was painfully aware of his situation. And like a classic Teh moment, he managed to hurt Oh-Aew all over again. By the time he felt guilty and said sorry, it was to late for him. In his daze to discover his own feelings and where his love stood, he managed to hurt not one but two persons.

Also for some reason I didn't believe Jai when he said it was all part of his ploy to kiss Teh. Under the facade of his so called directing style, I think at some point the senior did harbor feelings for his junior. Their intimate moments didn't feel all that fake. And this just goes to show how deep a person gets as they mature. Not all of us wear out emotions on our faces, our hearts are complicated and even if we do like another person, we cannot always have them. If Jai wanted, he could have driven the two apart and have Teh for himself but the fact that he didn't made me appreciate the series even more.

In the end, I guess I have to give it up to Billikin for doing justice with his character.


I stan Oh-Aew for rejecting Teh and breaking up!

Being the more girly counterpart of the series, Oh-Aew might look fragile from a distance but the guy is capable of showing restraint where needed. On one hand, he broke down sobbing when he felt homesick. On the other hand, the very same guy had the guts to change his major after one casting. I have seen many of my friends contemplating their future after entering uni's. And I for one can say that the decision is never easy. Oh Aew is way better than Teh in this aspect. He is capable of making life decisions and sticking to it. Same goes for his promises. When he said he will only love Teh, he really did it. In spite of getting eyed by other guys, he never gave them any attention.

So it made it all the more heartbreaking when Oh-Aew asked Teh to take pity on him and never show his face again. I think I understand why ITSAY and IPYTM is so popular and why I like them so much. Because it doesn't matters whether you are straight, bi or anything else, all of us can relate to the fragile concepts shown throughout the series. We understand life is a bitch but we have to figure our own ways to make peace with it.

"If we meant to be together, why will we have been set apart"

This line kept hitting me when both the main cast started their relationship anew. It was so fulfilling to see them realize what they have lost in the time they were apart. And part of me was glad to see Teh mature and finally realize that sometimes he have to fight to keep what belongs to him, no matter how hard it gets.

If I have to add one point to this series as compared to the previous one, then I will say I was looking forward to the visual effects. What caught my heart in the first season was that in addition to the cast, story and overall portrayal of emotions, the cinematography was top notch. The aesthetic effect in the current series was a bit toned down. Don't know if it was intentional but if I am ever asked which season I will go back to, then I will say it is the first season. And just for the sake of seeing more of BBKPP, second season afterwards. Let's not forget twilight in phuket too. I think it was an excellent addition after the first season.

Thanks Nadao for the cute series and the awesome OST's!!

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This show has such a good story, I was so into it. Season 1 was amazing!! I really enjoyed watching them grow and build their relationship.
It was so beautiful to watch and I really felt their emotions.

Then season 2 came, I hated Teh here!! Like really. Oh aew deserved so much better.
How can you say you love someone and do such a thing to them??
He was watching this fucking director and even confessed his feelings to him while he was with Oh and he dared to come cry when Oh defended himself and protected his feelings and broke up with him? It was the best decision Oh could have made.
He said he never thought about breaking up?? It's even WORSE because it minimizes the betrayals!
Sorry but I'm so mad at him and he clearly doesn't deserve Oh.
Maybe I'm too into the story, but that's how I am. ? And I think Oh shouldn't have given him another chance.
I don't even understand myself usually, I'm all for giving a second chance but Teh disappointed me so much that I don't find them cute anymore.

That's how good this BL is!!
So good it made me feel like Oh, I really felt his pain.

Bittersweet to me but worth watching.

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Teh made a huge mistake!!!

I am going to ramble here, because I am still on a high from watching "I Promised You The Moon"This sequel was just amazing, even the heartbreaking parts, which were so hard to watch.This cast is so talented. I'm surprised that Billkin and PP haven't been in more tv series, because they are terrific performers. Billkin (IMO), was able to portray the confusion of Teh and how he grew to not understand that both he and Oh-Aew would change. That change is apart of life and growing beyond the interests that you loved previously, doesn't mean that the person's love for you has diminished. Teh was jealous of every new thing and person that came into Oh-Aew's life, during their early years of college. Yet, Oh-Aew never behaved that way towards him. He knew that Teh needed to be apart of the creative world of acting. How Teh immersed himself in his theater group with his mentors Khim, Top, and Jai reminds me of how much of a theater geek, I used to be. Everything that he learned, Teh felt like he could conquer the acting world, as long as he had Oh-Aew by his side. He never kept Teh from that goal. Oh-Aew even tried to believe that Teh's interest in Jai, was purely for him to grow into a better actor. As for the whole Jai situation: I cannot and will not place ALL the blame of the breakup between Teh and Oh-Aew on him. Teh let himself have real feelings for this man, because he thought that they had a true connection over the joy and love of acting. Teh let himself write how he felt about Oh-Aew and the changes he was going through in that journal, which he kept from sharing with his boyfriend. How Teh hurt Oh-Aew was totally on his shoulders and he spent over a year regretting his behavior. PP as Oh-Aew just made me adore him. How Oh-Aew allowed himself to blossom into the wonderful out gay young man, who embraced his feminine side was a relavation. How homesick and lonely he was, even when he had Teh by his side in the early years, shows how even when you have a boyfriend or girlfriend in your life, you definitely need to be secure in who you are and love who you are as an individual.His group of fellow out gay college friends were such the support group that he needed. Ta as Q reminds me of James as Pob from the "Don't Say No" series.How Teh realized, that even though he was starting to achieve everything that he truly believed that he wanted: a thriving career as an working actor, he was miserable without Oh-Aew. His future was nothing without the man, that he loved. I mean, Oh-Aew knew him and his life so well. It was realistic that Oh-Aew threw himself into his career and kept single, because he knew that he truly wasn't over Teh AND that he didn't want to give false hope to another guy, who likes him, after what happened with his first boyfriend Bas all those years ago.I screamed when I saw Bas on the screen.It took me awhile to recognize Tarn.I will rewatch this series, along with I Told The Sunset About You on a yearly basis.

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More of spoiler filled musings than a review

---SPOILERS ALL THE WAY for both seasons ---
(I was about to post this essay under a YT fmv lol but decided to blabber here instead, though it is much longer now than what I started with)


I am saying this as someone who at the end does ship TehAew.

Their relationship trouble is more than just the "cheating" imo.

Teh technically kissed for a workshop and didn't do anything else physical but it's not black and white. He kept ignoring Aew and even in his mind started to replace him with Jai - it was more than a passive falling in love with another guy. Teh knew he was changing, he knew he would hurt his boyfriend but he just went on with his fantasies and actively ignoring Aew for it's sake. He did see how much Aew would be affected when they had that one talk in the car, he had a chance to get himself out of that headspace. If not, the kinder thing would've been just to break up.

And the reason this couple is worrying is not just what he did at this point. In the first season he couldn't just decide who he likes. He is indecisive between the girl he has long time crush on and Aew. He acts impulsively when is comes the admission. And each time he is a bit too hurtful to Aew. All this along with his attitude towards Aew's (Really good) friends and Aew's decision about his future -- everything just adds up to make him one very confused, damaged, angsty, self-destructive character who can be indecisive.

And it's almost ironic that he keeps calling out Aew as someone who changes his mind too often and cannot make a firm decision, but when it comes to feelings Teh is exactly the same. Aew on the other hand never shows doubts, since before they got together and even after they stopped being together. A man with that kind of conviction ideally deserves someone who loves him back the same way.

And that being said, these stories are not ideal. It is not being someone ending up with the person who they 100% deserves, who deserves them 100%. It believe is about an optimum point. In the end if the bad and good sides of a person and a relationship and everything it encompasses can form a good balance, if the people in it make up fro their mistakes so that the person who was wronged (not everyone around) feels easy again, if in a relationship in spite of not ALWAYS being happy they are at the end and on an average day happy and content, maybe it is not too bad after all.

Teh is someone who I feel needs to do a lot, really lot, to make it up to Aew but their relationship can be salvageable. To me, even after the series end, he will need to repent and spoil and love the guy so much more so that maybe finally, one day, he'll once again be worth Aew.

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Was IPYTM as memorable as ITSAY? Definitely not.

I’m usually not a fan of sequels but decided to give IPYTM a go because 1) I loved ITSAY so much and 2) I was looking forward to some visually aesthetic and emotionally intense sequences.

If I Told Sunset About You (ITSAY) is about desire, I Promised You The Moon is the heartbreaking sequel about decay.

The series title hints at how people will fall short of expectations and fail to live up to promises, because, well, such is life. The series starts off with an innocent sappiness reminiscent of ITSAY and Last Twilight In Phuket, but it’s all downhill from there in a gradual but inevitable death of their relationship.

I had a different expectation of Teh in the IPYTM timeline, which takes place some years later. I was hoping to see character development within the context of a maturing relationship, but instead, Teh remained disappointingly unlikeable in his older years.

Read my full review here: https://asianblreviews.wordpress.com/2021/12/18/i-promised-you-the-moon-2021/

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Relationships doesn't come from love only, it takes effort and time

I love how realistic ipytm is. I was getting tired of watching so many fairytales in a lot of dramas to the point of it being unhealthy. I love Teh and all his perfections and imperfections. Humans have feelings like love and attraction. Attraction doesn't mean love, and less attracted doesn't mean less in love. Just because we don't feel the butterflies anymore, doesn't mean we love them lesser. And I love that Teh goes through a new relationship or two after breaking up with oh-aew. That lets him know that the love he feels for oh-aew is still there as strong as ever and never changed like how he thought. I also love Jai when he talked about how he got to date his idol but after thinking about being with that one person for a long time, he got unsure, nervous(?) even and ended up breaking up. That is the most realistic thing ever to play out in a show for me. For me, I don't have the privilege of witnessing a healthy relationship growing up. So I really can't relate to when people feel so sure to spend their lives with someone after just a few years of being together. Watching other series, I'll be like "is this for real? is this normal? does that mean what I'm witnessing all these years is not normal?" to the point that I doubt it. Ipytm is so good and so realistic like relationships are not all fun and rainbows. Good feelings and long-term relationships don't prevail from just being in the moment, it's about effort and giving your all like what oh-aew did. And so did Teh (he tried to reconnect and all) at the beginning of this series but he got swayed for a moment, slipped up. What makes this series stand out from the normal A-cheat-but-B-forgives-anyways is that Teh genuinely felt sorry for hurting oh-aew and oh-aew didn't give in just because teh was pleading and begging, he gave in because he knows he still loves and cares for teh. That is enough for me. Oh-aew is doing this for himself, and not because of their memories and nostalgic feelings. Teh also, in a way, proved that the place in his heart where oh-aew resided before is still empty.

Extra note (because I don't know where to fit this in): I love love love how the reason for their break-up is not from a dumb misunderstanding which some communication and simple comprehension couldn't fix. Oh-aew let out what he felt first with his friends and not letting it cloud his judgment, come to confirm it himself whether it's true or not, confronted with (what he thought) was the problem (but turns out the problem is teh himself), talk it out with teh how he didn't like teh with Jai, give teh a few more chances before he couldn't take it anymore. Oh-aew did try to save this relationship, he did. And I love him.

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My best Thai BL

one of the few series that successfully portrayed the reality or fate of longed lived romantic relationship, especially between partners that are soulmates(meant to end up together or reach the peak of the societal hierarchy of romantic relationships (marriage). The reality of romantic relationships has been distorted by overwhelming fantasies, finding your soulmate early on in life is a lot, it comes with the ups and downs especially when you're not emotionally, or mentally ready, and neither do you have the experience and stability to handle a serious relationship. I love their love story, which accurately portrays the effects of intentional and unintentional distance, the absence of communication, and many other keys that build a healthy romantic relationship.

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A story that feels so real that it hits you in the feelings at each dialogue and dynamic

I'll start by saying that i never write reviews, but this series has left me such a sense of void that i wanted to share my feelings and opinions for everyone else in here.

The strenght of both I told sunset about you and I promised you the moon is, among everything else, the story itself, so simple yet so powerful. I feel like this is the first BL that i've watched that truly coveys what it means to be gay and in a relationship with someone in the most realist way; it feels so real that it hurts. As a gay guy myself I've always felt like the majority of BL's are just one trope after the other, one cringey and emotionless scene between 2 random good looking guys that are not even trying to convey what it means to be in a gay relationship because they are basically aimed to entertain young girls that have no idea of what are the deepest and scariest parts of these relationships. I've watched both season 1 and 2 in just 24 hours basically, and I've found myself bawling my eyes out countless times because of the connection I've felt with both of the characters in many occasions. I'll touch briefly my top 3 highlights of both season:

1. The fear of coming out with your family.
So of course this is not he first series to touch this theme, but none has touched it in such an intimate way as in here; the dialogue between Teh and his brother as pure perfection, the fear in his eyes when he was trying to admit his nature is something so familiar that my stomach was hurting. Same goes with the scene where his mother tells him she knows about Oh, it was so simple, without great words, just the simple love and understanding of a mother towards her son.

2. The realisation that the feelings of your boyfriend have changed and the decision to pretend to not see what's going on.
My god I can' stress enough how painfully good was this portrayal, I've seen myself in Oh during the karaoke scene, trying to pretend not to see Teh looking and Jay, trying to pretend that his reassurances and kind words were the true because the reality would have been to cruel to handle. Also all the moments prior to that one, those moments when you know that there's something wrong, you can feel that something is off, that something has changed but you try to convince yourself that it's all in your head, that you're just being paranoid; and that's the beginning of a loophole of internal suffering where you would like to scream and destroy everything every minute of every day.

3. The idea that a new company of friends will change who you are.
It was only touched briefly by Teh in one episode and still was definitely on point as it is something that happend way too often.
When you move into a big city and you surround yourself with new friends it's easy to be sucked in and to lose yourself because you want desperately to fit in, you want to fit in so much that you embrace the personality, the hobbys and the lifestyle of the people you see around you. I thinks it's one of the most painful things to experience when you are in a relationship, as you see your partner gradually change in someone else, up to the point where you don't even recognize the person you are in love with.

There are many many other moments that made this series feel like a slice of life, the perfect example of a relationship any of us could have, and that's what makes his series so simple yet amazing.

The acting was, for the most part, fantastic, i can definitely see that both of them were into the characters they were playing so much that certain moments were a reflexion of reality and not a fiction anymore. There were also a couple of scenes were Teh was over dramatic, i can't remember the exact episode of season one but there was this scene were he was screaming and crying in sch a way that i was laughing, but hey, that's just to be picky and find negative points.

In conclusion I've felt seen, I've felt naked, I've felt a void inside of me because this series made me remember and realize how much I've suffered in my past relationship and how difficult it was to handle all those emotions because it's too hard to talk about your boyfriend with your family that is watching you suffer. An absolute masterpiece, a must see but be aware that you might be a wreck after, i've felt blue all day.

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