Completed
Pinoy Ares
22 people found this review helpful
Jun 21, 2024
12 of 12 episodes seen
Completed 0
Overall 8.5
Story 9.0
Acting/Cast 9.0
Music 8.0
Rewatch Value 8.5
This review may contain spoilers

A GOOD 1000 YEARS LOVE STORY

I have to admit I initially got discouraged from watching this drama just because of the low rating, but once i started it, i just binged all episodes non-stop in one night. IT IS THAT ENJOYABLE! If you liked "I will Knock You", chances are you will like this too. Pun may be the greenest flag character in almost all of BL.

BL genre has fast evolved in the last few years - and so are the viewers. Nowadays, a lot of series without real substance gets good and high ratings even when the show isnt really deserving of it just by putting cutie cutie famous couples/stars in it or by putting a lot of shocking NSFW scenes . I will not put this one as one of the the best BL ever, but it certainly doesnt deserve to be in the low 6.

Just a quick recap. Yo is a university student who is fascinated by the extraordinary - thats why he became part of a gang of friends who are devoted UFO seekers, but deep inside his heart he knows something un-normal is happening in the world and he will discover that its not extraterrestrial in nature but something mystical. He was instantly drawn to Pun when he met him at a local eatery - was it love at first sight? Was it his mysterious demeanor? Then he adorably stalked him until Pun revealed to him what he is - a vampire! And you guessed it- this is how their love story began, and together with their friends and family they will prove that their love will conquer all odds. This just sounds about right, the end.

Eventhough the title of the series is '1000 Years Old' which pretty obviously tells us that one of the chracters is indeed an almost immortal, still the series managed to keep us guessing for the first half of the show if Pun is really what he says he is or just a weirdo who thinks he is something that he's not - after all he is not the familiar vampire we see from the lores - First, he is a poor vampire who lives in an old building. Second, he keeps saying he is burned by sunlight (SPOILER ALERT HE DOESNT) and always covers himself up fully and uses an umbrella . He is also not afraid of crucifixes, and he doesnt get burned by Holy Water. He aslo sleeps at night( not before the sun rises and in a coffin-like bed in a messy living room because the bedroom is his cat's room) Lastly and most importantly, he is not afraid of garlic and he also doesnt eat anything besides cooked Pork Blood Soup. He is weird but you just cant hate this guy!

One of the funny highlights for me was when he was trying to prove to Yo that he is a vampire and jumped off the building's rooftop!

Also, even if early in the series they showed a few flashback scenes from Pun's past, and even with the presence of another mysterious and scary character SoomChai - just like Yo, we as viewers still end up questioning whether he is really a true blooded bloodsucking immortal or was he just delusional?

While trying to hide the reality of Pun's true identity, the first half of the show felt like we were watching a Thai version of the Korean series "Start-up" when Pun and Yo and their newly formed gang were so focused on trying to make their food business succeed. The antics are so corny but you also cant help root for them!

It was around the later episodes when the truth was confirmed - that Pun is an alien.

Ok, he isnt an alien, but a real Vampire. The limited screentime of SoomChai is both annoying and effective - I would have loved to be bitten by that actor just like Shin. And as much as i hate it and just like a lot of other BL shows that create an annoying female character to be a villain, Janja's (she does look like a vampire seductress even without the fangs) presence is important in establishing the connection between Pun and Yo and the truth about their long history and past lives to make their love story seem more epic in scale and not just spur of the moment.

Let me also say that despite the many things that I enjoyed about the series it is not without shortcomings. First, for almost the entirety of the series nothing physical happens between the Pun and Yo (only a mild hint of a kiss) which is almost unbelievable. Second, I hate that the YOU.F.O and the gang were sidelined as if they never existed entirely when they were the group that opened the show. Third, the cluelessness of Pun's character to the current technologies is just unbearable and incredibly stupid (even if it was intentional to misdirect us about his true identity) like walking to mall, no idea how to get to point 1 to point 2, really? Fourth, Yo's contninuous denial about his feelings and Pun's intention to him is eyerolling.

Id like to end by saying that the final scene of Pun and Yo is genius but also both tragic and conflicting. While it was implied that they had a happy ending and they get to at least spend a really long time together in this lifetime, Yo's passing under the sunset is just so heartbreaking and it made me cry.

Overall its a 8.5 for me. Great leads and support with good direction , very rewatchable too.

Read More

Was this review helpful to you?
Completed
Just a Fanpage
8 people found this review helpful
May 1, 2024
12 of 12 episodes seen
Completed 1
Overall 5.0
Story 5.0
Acting/Cast 6.5
Music 8.5
Rewatch Value 2.0
This review may contain spoilers

Very Conflicted

I don't know how to feel about this series, On one hand, I enjoyed it, but on the other, I can't stand it.

I liked the beginning few episodes a lot, I thought it was very cute, sweet and wholesome. I loved the style choices; Yo always wore beaded jewelry was my favorite. Yo and Pun are super cute, separately. I don't know if it's the series, but this is the first time in a long time I haven't liked the main leads together. Ultimately, I would like to see them in another drama before I count them out. I like the Pork Blood group and would love to see them in another drama.

I kind of compared the show's wholesomeness to "Light On Me" and " My School President," and it doesn't compare. These shows don't have any spice to them, but the content in them was much more complex and better, in my opinion.

The beginning started with Yo being obsessed with Aliens, but after the show went on and we were introduced to Pun, we slowly forgot the whole alien premise. I know it's a vampire series, but I wish they kept the alien aspect there. Maybe they made Shin an alien since he was often goofy and in "outer space". ." so, I could've had a little more vampire drama, if that's what we were going with here, like maybe make Pun have a little more substance to him, all he did was walk around confessing his love to Yo and eating Pork blood, he didn't do much. I liked that they put a meaning to Opal's actual birthmark but I didn't get it, I wish they would've put in earlier episodes so we could've gotten a little more from it.

As for the BL aspect, it was fine. There was no spice, and there was one small kiss. They had Pun follow Yo around, telling him that he was in love with him, and Yo didn't accept or reciprocate any feelings until the last episode. We also didn't have any side couples. I think we kind of needed them to make the series move. They could've had a GL storyline with Janga and that girl whom she drank from; they had something going on.

I didn't understand the ending after Yo confessed his love to Pun; it was all confusing and honestly unnecessary. They could've just ended it with a hug.

Read More

Was this review helpful to you?
Ongoing 12/12
SpiritanimalCat
8 people found this review helpful
Mar 19, 2024
12 of 12 episodes seen
Ongoing 0
Overall 4.5
Story 5.0
Acting/Cast 4.0
Music 2.5
Rewatch Value 2.0

Badly staged, could be better (good and sad ending in the same time)

Conclusion after the end:
If you take out the whole, in my opinion, unnecessary vampire story, the series is a story about the love of your life and the luck of finding it. It's a story about soul mates who find each other again and again and finally grow old happily in one of their lives. Just as many of us humans wish we could have a marriage with someone we love with every fibre of our being until they both find their way back into the cycle of the earth.
The series should have either left the vampire theme alone or done it better (the vampires here are toothless, kind of like Toothless from How to Train Your Dragon, the Disney film). But the version here is really bad, unfortunately, and greatly reduces the rating of the series. I will therefore only give it one star more than my provisional rating. A wasted opportunity.

Review after 5ep:
The first two episodes were hard to take, my thoughts were "bad acting, weird main characters, a story that barely fits together". Even now after 5 episodes the story is still opaque but with the appearance of the "bad boy" it becomes more exciting, he brings in dynamism.
Overall, I'm only staying tuned because I want to know whether pun will bite yoh. Unfortunately, the vampire himself is also very badly staged, I've seen it done better in other East Asian productions like the Kdrama Blood for example.

Random thoughts on the series, may contain spoilers:
What the hell is going on with Somchai anyway? He may be a well-written character, but the actor is rubbish. He only has one laugh and the exact same sentence structure. There's no variance, you can't just hear if he's amused or pissed off about something or whatever. And his constant clapping...just super annoying.
It's a shame that Pun's story wasn't told more about how he became a vampire and why his father made a deal. This storyline would help a lot with understanding.

Read More

Was this review helpful to you?
Completed
Eliot_Rulez
6 people found this review helpful
May 2, 2024
12 of 12 episodes seen
Completed 0
Overall 4.0
Story 4.0
Acting/Cast 8.0
Music 7.0
Rewatch Value 1.0
This review may contain spoilers

As usual it gets weaker with every episode

While I enjoyed the first two episodes even with its weired story, it goes down the hill from there. The blood pork soup song was really entertaining and funny for me. But overall the story lacked substance and depth. Why drop the alien aspect of it? Why can they be only be 1000 years old which is against common "knowledge" and also why can't it be in the established realm that vampires can convert a human into a vampire?
That this is low budget production is evident, because most scenes are either on the rooftop or in the two rooms or Yohs home, with some scenes outside. Only the wardrobe was a bit fancy. As usual all the comedy slices in thai series have very silly soundeffects which are just annoying.

The show is not bad per se, but it left sooooo much to be desired. The supporting cast (especially the girls) are great imho because the main leads together don't have the chemistry you expect from a BL. Other low budget shows try to compensate with more mature scenes but here they are completly absent. Just one kissing scene is disappointing for a BL. Overall a mixed bag which could have been skipped alltogether.

Read More

Was this review helpful to you?
Completed
winmyheart
6 people found this review helpful
Jun 11, 2024
12 of 12 episodes seen
Completed 0
Overall 3.0
Story 5.5
Acting/Cast 4.5
Music 3.0
Rewatch Value 1.5

Pork blood soup with no flavor

Great recipe, they just forgot to follow it.

There wasn't a clear path with this story. I kept waiting for something to happen, just to be offered pork blood soup until they had to force-feed it down my throat. I get it, the first few episodes- no, actually; More like the first few minutes of the first episode were funny and entertaining, but did they really forget what this was about? It was almost as if they didn't know how to get out of the premise and started forming the plot around an insignificant thing that wasn't even worth being a plot point, much less the whole plot. It almost seems like this was a collection of advertisement videos for an actual pork blood soup business disguised as a drama. I wouldn't be surprised if the actors were also just workers of the business, because there was no depth in what they were expressing.

This was the most shallow drama I've ever completed. In the beginning, it seemed interesting. The setting had its perks and would've had potential to make a great story- however, the writers really gave up on this. I liked the idea of a modern day vampire and the creativity with their problems to adapt, especially in Thailand where the sun hardly ever sets completely- But overall I can't name anything else I liked other than these struggles they showcased. This became awkward very quickly.

Shortly:
The pacing was awfully slow, the story went nowhere even though we were introduced to our "antagonists" pretty early on, it seems that they just started focusing more on them building their pork blood soup business even though in the end I couldn't grasp what was so important about it anyways. It didn't bring anything to the plot and most of the episodes felt like fillers.

To note:
I watched the last 6 episodes or so while pressing the 10 second skip button continuously, so it might be that I've missed some details that would contradict something I've said but it's highly unlikely. This drama lacked depth, and honestly nearly everything a good drama should have. There wasn't really anything that particularly irritated me about this show, and there are plenty of worse out there, but I still wouldn't exactly recommend this.

Read More

Was this review helpful to you?
Completed
Blue Phantom
5 people found this review helpful
Jun 22, 2024
12 of 12 episodes seen
Completed 0
Overall 3.5
Story 3.5
Acting/Cast 5.5
Music 7.5
Rewatch Value 1.0
I was pretty bored watching this series. The two main characters never really say anything to each other. They are almost always speculating what the other person is thinking. The series only started making any sense to me in the last episode, I watched this series because I thought it would be different from other vampire movies, And it was but in a terrible way. There was no character development and I think there was comedy but the funny parts were lost to me. This is the first series that I watched that was a complete waste of my time. I only watched it to the end because I thought it would get better, it really didn't. The actors were OK. And I loved the op song so I guess that's a plus. Overall I was disappointed and I would never re-watch this trash. Thank you.

Read More

Was this review helpful to you?
Completed
BL Compilations
7 people found this review helpful
Feb 14, 2024
12 of 12 episodes seen
Completed 2
Overall 6.0
Story 6.0
Acting/Cast 7.5
Music 7.0
Rewatch Value 3.0

quirky series that felt like it took me 1000 years to watch

Overall: I was excited for this quirky romcom but it was extremely slow at times and had odd tonal shifts. It's from the same director/screenwriter as I Will Knock You and they had similar aesthetics. 12 episodes about 40 minutes each. Aired on GagaOOLala (not in Thailand, Brunei, Cambodia, Laos, Indonesia, Malaysia, Myanmar, South Korea, Japan, Hong Kong, Macau) & WeTV (vpn to Thailand).

Content Warnings: attempted suicide, murders, blood, violence, self harm, stalking, trespassing

What I Liked
- cute moments
- supportive friend group and sister
- eclectic wardrobe (sweaters/shirts) and accessories (umbrellas)
- the cat
- ep 5, good he didn't kiss Yoh when sleeping
- ep 9 around 31 minutes
- Shin
- (neutral), the comedy sound effects are there but not as egregious as in other series

Room For Improvement
- very slow pacing for most of the series, I was frequently bored with the eating, dancing, talking about pork blood soup, etc
- Yoh did all that terrible stuff to Pun and even though Pun said he was fine it made me really dislike Yoh, Yoh was too dumb/mean for me to like him and Pun was also unbelievable stupid/unaware for someone who has lived for that long (Pun is explained in episode 12)
- the tonal shifts from fluffy/campy to violent/serious (such as the beginning of episode 2 which I did not find funny) did not work for me
- inconsistent/convenient world building, information in episode 8/9 did not mesh with the exposition dump in episode 2 (some of it made sense in episode 12 but that was too long)
- not sure why they tried to do the tease at the beginning as the title, summary and trailer all gave a plot point away
- there were some fast cuts in the beginning and I wasn't sure if there was a time jump or not until the scene went on
- exposition dump in most of episode 12 and revealed information much too late
- one dimensional villain character
- felt like a middle school romance

Read More

Was this review helpful to you?
Completed
Fondueforkharpoon
3 people found this review helpful
May 12, 2024
12 of 12 episodes seen
Completed 0
Overall 7.0
Story 6.5
Acting/Cast 6.0
Music 10
Rewatch Value 5.0
This review may contain spoilers

Incredibly torn about this one

It's been difficult to sort out my exact feelings about this show but if I had to pick out the most prevalent one it'd be "visceral disappointment".
I went into watching the series fully aware that it's a satire (which I'm generally quite a big fan of) and absolutely loved it in the beginning. I mean the setup is absolutely fantastic, there's just no two ways about it.
A Buddhist vampire with recessive genes? Excellent.
He's got a cat he takes everywhere, a coffin with no lid, and a vast collection of umbrellas he colour coordinates with his outfits? Showstopping, absolutely spectacular.
Add a cast of charming weirdos, a blood pork soup cart, and a very self-aware type of humour, and you've got a clear recipe for success in my book. Hell, I kind of thought this was going to be Thailand's answer to What We Do In The Shadows.
Whoever was responsible for sets and wardrobe absolutely went above and beyond and there are so many fun little unexplained oddities sprinkled through the story (looking at you, Yoh's haunted room) that clearly show a lot of love and effort was put into this production.

But unfortunately, that's where the good ends and the problems begin. For this type of story and style to work you need solid performances, precise comedic timing, and tight editing, none of which the show delivers.
A lot of the acting is quite stiff (I feel very mean coming after someone's performance like this but it really is a big issue here), the dialogue can be incredibly awkward, and the pacing is painfully slow. I don't mind a lack of plot and generally enjoy little more than watching a bunch of interesting characters just existing and living their lives, but I truly cannot overstate just how much time the show wastes with needless filler scenes, it genuinely put me in a sort of bored fugue state.
Towards the end the plot does pick up a bit but the show completely wastes the potential there too.
The concept of Pun being an unreliable narrator (or, more accurately, a lying liar who lies) could have worked so well if the writing had been slightly more consistent and if the whole "dramatic, blood-drinking vampires" part of his backstory had been woven into the plot from the beginning.
If we, as the audience, had had some indication of how limited Pun's time with his friends was supposed to be, if we'd seen him struggle with breaking away from his responsibilities to his "vampire family", how much more impactful would the sweet and emotional moments have been? A lot, in my opinion.
Even the "find each other in every life-time" cliche could have worked here if, once again, it had been woven into the story a bit more and if the romantic connection between Yoh and Pun had been given a bigger focus. I don't even mean NC scenes, hell just having them hold hands occasionally, or cuddle, or display any other type of non-sexual intimacy would have been enough. Or having Yoh engage with Pun's clear adoration of him more openly and acknowledging his own feelings earlier.
There are so many ways in which this show could have been great and so many ways in which it isn't.

So, on the whole, would I recommend watching this show? I honestly don't know. On the one hand I personally would rather watch a weird, off-beat, low-budget story with unique ideas than some milque-toast, cookie-cutter show with high production value that brings nothing new to the table any day. On the other hand, does it really matter how good a story's ideas are if the execution is this poor?
Since I can't figure out a clear answer to that for the life of me, you'll probably just have to decide for yourself.

Read More

Was this review helpful to you?
Completed
LightHouse74
3 people found this review helpful
May 1, 2024
12 of 12 episodes seen
Completed 0
Overall 6.0
Story 6.5
Acting/Cast 8.0
Music 7.0
Rewatch Value 3.0
This review may contain spoilers

Cutely bizarre which just became bizarre at the end.

I placed spoilers at the end of this review.

I enjoyed most of this series despite its flaws, but I am a pushover for supernatural storylines. That being said, you should probably skip this series if that does not interest you. This was an interesting and bizarrely cute series with some cool story ideas. The script was light, fluffy (most of the time), and quirky. Unfortunately, the implementation of the ideas was not the greatest at times. My main problem was the end of episode 11 and episode 12. This is when it just became bizarre. Some of the comedy aspect didn’t really hit the mark and there were sections/things that didn’t make sense. Although I liked it, the mystery/suspense aspect was not incorporated very well and seemed out of place. The overall story pacing was good, but there was a lot of wasted screentime. The acting is ok (not horrible or great) considering many of the actors were new.

Random Notes:

Maybe I enjoyed this because I already went into this with low expectations. I was not a fan of the screenwriter/director’s last series (I Will Knock You) which I dropped.

The subtitles are ok. Sometimes the lines get mixed up with the words of the song that is playing in the background which was confusing.


******Spoiler Alert******

I would have loved to see more of the ghost story element. You do see the girl ghost a few times, but nothing about her backstory.

Read More

Was this review helpful to you?
Completed
zyxsln
3 people found this review helpful
May 16, 2024
12 of 12 episodes seen
Completed 0
Overall 7.0
Story 6.5
Acting/Cast 6.5
Music 9.0
Rewatch Value 5.0
This review may contain spoilers

Not the best yet not the worst

Okay so I have HUGE expectation when people been hyping this series before it even started. Especially when it is Vampire au! so I thought it could compete with Vampire project but well.. nah. 1000 Years old is a different kind of vampire au genre than Vampire Project. I feel like it somehow has soft fluff chill kind of series. The conflict is not really heavy, just to let the others know that Vampire does exist which is very cute. The character is not that threatening to be honest like Somchai. Yes, he was supposed to be the villain in this series but he is not that tense and bad and is it just me or he looks like Dunk? LMAO. Anyway, at first, I feel like this series are boring but soon, after ep 6, it started to become interesting especially that we found out Somchai is Pun's older brother which makes me think that it should be the other way round instead lol.

Side pairing not much since the series mainly focus on main pairing. BUT I DO SHIP SOMCHAI X SHIN LOOLLLL. SHIN IS SO SILLY I LOVE HIM ⁠♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ Anyway, i think they could shorten the series to be 6 - 8 episodes. 12 episodes are way too long and they include unecessary scenes in it too much and also I think what makes it slightly boring is because of there is not much fluff scenes and mind you, there is only ONE kiss scene. Yup. you heard me. ONE KISS SCENE. NC ? NAHHHHHHHH WAY GONE LOLOLOLOL. But its cute tho. I somehow like it lol. I must applaud Opal's acting. I WOULD NEVER believe it if anyone told me that its his first time on screen like he look so fucking natural???? AND UM HELLLOOOO YourMood is so cool too! HE IS 30 but he looks so adorable!!! ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ his acting is way too natural that I am impressed.

Anyway, im gonna give it 7/10 :)

Read More

Was this review helpful to you?
Ongoing 9/12
Th3spian
4 people found this review helpful
Feb 17, 2024
9 of 12 episodes seen
Ongoing 0
Overall 6.5
Story 6.5
Acting/Cast 6.5
Music 7.0
Rewatch Value 5.5

Honestly, it’s not that good

What more could we ask for other than a handsome vampire and a cute curious boy? That’s something I would say if the plot was good. Look I’m not angry just disappointed. Visually the show is appealing. Yes the scenery is pretty and so is the entire cast however, production wise, the shooting is done okay but there are some weird cuts and odd sound effects here and there. I did find myself giggling and cringing at the same time so I guess you can call that a healthy balance in a BL drama lol. Both MC are equally weird and I’m here for it but the show is slower in terms of pace and cringy which are never a good thing to have simultaneously.

Read More

Was this review helpful to you?
Completed
Saeng
5 people found this review helpful
May 4, 2024
12 of 12 episodes seen
Completed 6
Overall 10
Story 9.5
Acting/Cast 9.5
Music 10
Rewatch Value 10

Weird, remarkably consistent -- and can make you think if you look beyond the Pork Blood Soup

For vampire Pun, only meeting Yo makes his own life meaningful. Only when they are together, during the all too short span of a human life, there can be happiness. Pun will enjoy every single second with Yo, it doesn't matter if these seconds are good, bad, or deeply absurd.

For those who seek help in deciding if they should watch this series, this might be important to know:
* Take all of your ideas what a vampire story should be like, and put them away, because this story either discards them or at least subverts all the vampire tropes.
* Almost all of the characters are weird in some way. If you can't handle "cringe" (whatever that is, because I still don't understand the word), then this might not be for you.
* Blood Pork Soup sometimes feels like the main character of the show. This is what brings the group together.
* This is not a fast-paced romance. At times, it seems as if this show is not about the romance, but about the absurdity of life. Which also means that sometimes it seems that nothing is happening at all. Relax, follow the flow of the drama, enjoy every scene on its own, without expecting it to advance the story -- and you'll enjoy this show.
* Pun is, and that is important to notice, usually at least an unreliable narrator -- inconsistencies in what he says are not plot holes. Take everything Pun says about himself or other vampires with a grain of salt, he has his reasons.
* You *will* get a common trope used in stories about humans and immortals at the end.
* And last, watch the trailer https://youtu.be/5ekNPUazAmA. For a trailer, this one is pretty much accurate. If you like what you see there, you might like the series.

_________________________________
Now, the things I love about the series:
1. The series tries to do something different.
While I can love a tropey rom-com, I don't want only that. I love when somebody does something new; when tropes are discarded or subverted. Actually, I was deeply sceptical before I started watching this serie, because I DON'T like vampire stories and their tropes. Dark and brooding, cruel and mysterious, erotic blood-sucking included? No, thank you. But this one is different. This is colourful, and bright, and everybody enjoys the absurdity life can bring.
"Different" always gets bonus points, even if other aspects might not be good.

2. The characters are weird, and so, so loveable.
Pun, of course, the good vampire who loves Yo and Pork Blood Soup, who once wore braces as an accessory, whose assortment of colourful umbrellas shade us from the harsh sun of reality.
Yo, who is obsessed with aliens and fascinated by the weird, who likes wearing his beaded bracelets and, of course, loves eating Pork Blood Soup.
Kamsai, whose main goal in life is to have a Pork Blood Soup stall, and who is the most pragmatic of them all at the age of 16.
Yam, Yo's little sister, who seems to be a no-nonsense kind of person but ultimately gives in to the weird obsession of Yo's, and who is the one who has a good sense for people and is the first to point out the attraction between Yo and Pun.
Shin, of course, who is hard-working, always full of energy, and who seems to have a slight humiliation kink.
And then there are the side characters; the alien-obsessed Pak and her mute girlfriend, the nosy but courageous auntie, Gyoza and her elderly grandma, the small and cheeky landlady.

3. The series is consistent:
When I watched the series for the first time, I waited for the plot to fall apart very episode. It didn't. Actually, after rewatching, I can say, the plot and the worldbuilding is remarkably consistent -- there are no glaring inconsistencies, no obvious plot holes. I do wish the writer had put more obvious clues about Pun's backstory in earlier episodes. As it is, the last episodes reveals *two* crucial pieces of information about the past and has to resolve all of it in half an episode -- this might be one of the reasons some people find the ending rushed.

I also have to mention that this is one of the few Thai BLs that actually give us dates! The main story starts shortly before Valentine (episode 1, the couple's discount at the food stall) and ends shortly after Songkran, then there's a time-skip of a year, after which follows a montage over the next fifty-four years (this can be easily calculated). So, and I think that's something a lot of people haven't noticed, the main part only takes just over two months -- that's actually not that long.

I also feel that the characters are consistent in their actions. There wasn't a scene when I thought that someone was out of character. Even the side characters had, well, *character*.
Look at Chalui / Luis for example. He's part of "UFO and the gang" (Yo's college friend group) -- if you observe him, he's obviously not as into alien hunting as Yo and Pak. He rolls his eyes continuously, he doesn't want to get involved with that vampire nonsense. He points out that their thesis in the next semester will be a solo project -- and consequently, disappears from the moment the break starts and doesn't appear again. (And, let's be honest, friend groups at college form and disband all the time.)

4. Something that also impressed me were the props and sets.
Seeing the Pun and Yo's rooms, they fit their characters. None of those soulless condos and houses for the super-rich that look as if they were just rented spaces for a series. I can see Yo and Pun *living* there, surrounded by all the things that are important to them. The roof-top restaurant, too, evolves over time, from a neglected space to a place where our group regularly meets and eats their pork blood soup -- props were added over the course of the series, changed places, were *used*. That shows what you can do with a small budget, if you know what you want.

5. The music.
Most of the songs are sung by Boy YourMOOD, who also plays Shin in this show, they are as up-beat and colourful as the whole series. And I encourage you to pay attention to the songs at the opening and closing credits!

6. The plot, in all its consistency, leaves some questions unanswered. (Yes, I'm still at "things I love")
I don't mean the important questions -- the main plot itself is resolved in the end; we get to hear the reasons for the main obstacle, we know why Pun acts the way he does. But there are some minor plot points that are left open -- I won't talk about them here, I try to keep this spoiler-free.
The thing is, I like it when I can think and theorize more after a show has ended. When I can have my little fantasies about what happened before and why, about what someone did or said between scenes, about what will happen after the last scene. Bonus points for that!

7. Below all of the quirky weirdness, there lie unexplored depths of existential questions.
Throughout the series, it feels as if the mood is just one turn away from shifting into the dark.
The drama asks: What to do when everything falls apart and the thing / the person that gave meaning to your life is gone? What will you do when you are the one who will outlive them all?
And: How much do you let yourself be defined by what you are? Can you go against your very own nature? Against what everybody else says how you should be? How long will you be able to defy expectations?
And: What makes a good life? Can happiness be a bowl of Pork Blood Soup?

________________________
The acting by all of the actors was not something exceptional, but we've all seen much worse in Thai BLs. Both main actors did a good job -- especially Pun's besotted stares and Yo's laugh whenever he was embarrassed or confused were very well done. The comedic timing was usually spot-on for me, and where it wasn't. it seems mainly be a strange editing choice. Somchai could have had more range -- the clapping and laughing got samey after a while, but in other scenes the actor was good enough to make everybody hate his character. Special mention goes to Mild who played Kaemsai, what a remarkable scene in episode 11! And she was only 16 when they filmed; I'm looking forward to following her acting career.

__________________
And, at last, the not-so-good.
Because everything cannot be perfect, and we can love something while also be aware of the flaws.
I already pointed it out earlier: There are two crucial plot points that answer questions that are central to the whole plot; and we don't even get real hints before that. While rewatching, I noticed that, at least for one of those plot points, there are actions that make much more sense now that I know what I know -- during the first time, I felt that there was something ... not quite off, but strange about them, but I couldn't put my finger on it.
In my opinion, it would have been possible to place more and stronger hints in earlier episodes, without revealing everything. It might also have made the series more palatable for the people who felt that it was "too slow" or that "nothing is happening".

To everyone who made it to the end of this review, I say:
โบกมือลา ... แล้ววันหน้าพบกันใหม่ --- Wave goodbye ... and meet you again in the future.

Read More

Was this review helpful to you?
1000 Years Old (2024) poster

Details

Statistics

  • Score: 6.3 (scored by 2,277 users)
  • Ranked: #10839
  • Popularity: #2213
  • Watchers: 7,649

Top Contributors

126 edits
17 edits
7 edits
6 edits

Popular Lists

Related lists from users
Thai BL Master List
721 titles 1738 loves 13
gay/bl (Thailand)
573 titles 499 loves 2
Every LGBTQ+ title
1997 titles 264 loves 16

Recently Watched By