I truly fell in love with this drama. It possessed a depth and quality that really felt true to life. Serious and emotional, I was swept away in the emotions of these characters. These people. I laughed when they laughed. I giggled when they blushed. I cried when they cried. You could tell it was written by an LGBTQ+ man, writing for the full array of his audience.

Through this story, we got a taste of what it means to be human. How we're all flawed, trying to navigate new and changing relationships in whatever way we think is best. And we're going to make mistakes. Because hindsight is 20/20. Love, whether it be between lovers, family, or friends, is messy. It's filled with joy and pain, all the best intentions that do more harm than good, and questions that may never get the desired closure. And this was a great tribute to that fact.

But the drama also drives home the power of potential. In love. In dreams. In life. That everyone is the same deep down, just trying to make it through life with what they have - both with privileges and burdens. But everyone's journey is inherently unique and independently decided.
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"I chose to sell chicken rice because it's a simple dish. It's consisted of four components: chicken, rice, broth, and sauce... It might only have 4 units, but yet everyone's definition of 'delicious' differs. That's what makes this simple dish stand out. I see people eat chicken rice every day and they all enjoy their chicken rice in their own way."
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On to more specific details, I really loved the commentary about disability and ableism when it came to Heart's storyline. Both in the large scale (being just as capable of living life as hearing individuals) and smaller scales (preferring international films because Thai films never come with subtitles).

Also, the portrayal of Thai culture was brilliantly done. Each episode takes place in a different month as we progress through the year and Thai festivities. By doing so, it presented viewers with a certain degree of Thai pride, showed the passage of time in the story, and in my opinion, really helped establish a fitting pacing for the story (something GMMTV tends to have trouble with).

The story also presented a fresh look at income disparity. Wen is not wealthy. He's still very much having to work his butt off to get by, finding ways to save money in his daily activities, and trying to work his way up the corporate ladder. But, we are still shown that his has more privilege than the residents and workers of the Moonlight Chicken diner. That there are things that he simply can't grasp to the full scale at which they experience. A scale at which he can't resolve, just watch and comfort. We got to see the disillusionment of society that comes with living so low-income, believing things are at a standstill and will never change. The fear associated with being the man at the bottom, easy to stomp out and take advantage of, perceivably without the power to change anything. Without the power to change anything or even to take up more space. The habits you take up in order to distract yourself, or to faintly indulge hope for change. The same habits that struck close to home.

So even while I'm learning about a culture away from home, the portrayal of life still managed to be so wide-reaching that it fed back into the above-mentioned messages. But unlike other GMMTV social commentary dramas, such as "Not Me" or "The Eclipse" (both of which I did love), these messages weren't as explicitly stated to audiences. They fell into the narrative organically with the right amount of emphasize (and quotability) that drove the message home, but without pushing you out of your immersion with the drama.


On a more non-story note, I loved the aesthetic quality of the series. It was full of screen-shot worthy moments and really set the tone. You knew immediately that this wasn't your standard Thai BL. I wasn't particularly fond of the opening theme song, but i loved the rest of the soundtrack. In fact, Ford Arun's "Tomorrow" is playing on a loop while I'm writing this. The PPL was very apparent, but as it was mostly centered around a cat, I found myself not minding it at all. In essence, the cuteness on the screen made up for the abruptness in my eyes.

The drama was immensely different than first presented to us in the pilot and final trailers. The main difference is perhaps the one that I can't mention here because of spoilers, but I ultimately liked this "deception" as it really calls the audience out on seeing everything in black-and-white before they have all the information. The other one, I didn't mind as well, but I know others definitely did: this drama is not spicy. It's just not. There's considerable tension, but it only really comes to a head in that first episode.

I found myself not into Earth's performance here. Not because of age, like so many others have pointed out (but yes, it seemed like the script kept mentioning Jim's age in order to keep reminding us since he did not have the look or give off the vibe that the character was apparently supposed to have), but rather because he didn't draw me in. There's reserved (like what the character is supposed to be), and then there's awkward. And Earth seemed to fluctuate between those two on a regular basis. I wasn't convinced that the character was feeling all the emotions he supposedly was. It wasn't there in his eyes, body language, or demeanor. I mean, the scenes still went off well, but I suspect it was in large part due to the more emotive actors on the screen with him. I was really hoping to see more from him in this drama, as he seemed to have been doing much better at emoting with his eyes and expressions in "Cupid's Last Wish."

Also, I find it rather ironic that, considering the message about Heart preferring international movies because of the lack of subtitles, we didn't have subtitles for the sign language. You can largely get it through context, especially as other characters will often respond verbally along with their sign. But in the latter episodes, as we get more prolonged use of sign language without spoken language, the absence of subtitles was extremely evident.