A Brilliant Drama...Not Really a BL Though

In preparation for the anthological Our Skyy 2 series, as I had already seen several of the included BL stories (Bad Buddy, Vice Versa, and Star in My Mind), I decided to watch A Tale of a Thousand Stars (ATOTS) with a friend. Going into this, I have to say that there was a lot I liked about the series, but both my friend and I thought that, despite it being good as a drama, as a BL, it left a lot to be desired.

If you are looking for a drama, and are not overly interested in the romance, ATOTS is great! The main storyline is a story of Tian, a wild rich boy who likes to party. With a failing heart, his parents use their wealth and influence to jump the transplant queue and get him a new one. With his heart transplant a success, Tian's personality changes: he lets go of his party tendencies, and searches for information about the person whose heart now beats in his chest: a volunteer teacher named Torfun Chareonpon. Ultimately he decides to take her place as a volunteer teacher at Pha Pun Dao Village out of guilt. There he meets the villagers of Pha Pun Dao Village, including the love interest (played by Earth Pirapat Watthanasetsiri) who I will get to in a moment, and are one of the selling points of this. You will laugh, go "Aww!", and cry with these characters. The villagers serve as a contrast to his controlling parents, who, as well as being very rich, are very conscious of not just their own images, but the image of Tian as well.

Before my friend and I watched this series, I had been told by another friend that they knew people who had seen the show and thought it was the best BL they had seen, so I went into this with very high hopes. Sadly, apart from the fact that the lead couple was a same sex couple, for my friend and I, this was not the best BL we had seen -- it didn't feel like a BL at all. For me, a what makes a BL different from other dramas is that in successful BLs (At least ones I've enjoyed) the romance underpins and guides the entire plotline of the show. Now I'm not talking about every episode having a kissing scene, or a spicy scene. I knew the age rating was 13 and up, so there would be a lack of spicy scenes, if any were included at all. This was fine: a good BL story doesn't need those kind of scenes to be good -- and spicy scenes do not make up for poor storytelling, cinematography, or acting. I have not read the source material for ATOTS, though I know it was an adaptation, so I don't know how much the show deviates or remains faithful to the source material -- but for the series at least, it feels as though the story was written around Tian and his travels to the Pha Pun Dao Village, and then they realised the romance had to be added after.

Now I'm not saying the actors didn't have chemistry, because they did -- in general, I was particularly impressed by Mix's performance, and was surprised this was his first on-screen drama role -- but the chemistry was not strangers to lovers. If the story was rewritten and the ultimate relationship was a platonic one, little would change in the overarching narrative. That is how insignificant the romance felt to my friend and I as we watched. Even the 'most romantic' (and I say that loosely) moments in the final episode felt tacked on -- as though the writers had forgotten that there was supposed to be a romance in this story at all. The constant hugging in the final episode, and even the 'BIG KISS' did not warrant the build up the received: they were episode 4 kisses and hugs, not final episode, 'THIS IS IT' kisses. Worse than that though, we felt that there was more potential romantic chemistry between Mix's character, Tian, and Khaotung's character, Longtae.

As an objective non-BL drama, A Tale of a Thousand Stars is a brilliant story: it successfully explores the contrast between urban and village life, and the importance not just of camaraderie, but of finding one's self and who someone wants to be. But the series' BL elements feel added on to capitalise on the success of the genre. Again, having not read the source material, I do not know how successful the original work was at writing the romance into the narrative, but going into this expecting a BL series, my friend and I were very disappointed. As my friend said "it's not even a bad show like I liked it but?? there's barely any romance??" At first, the 'cute' scenes and scenes with potential romantic displays of affection were exactly that: cute and endearing -- and in the beginning made sense in the context of the characters' relationships with one another. But then as each episode passed, it kept happening, but went nowhere. It was almost like the writers were being comical at the expense of the audience: there was one scene in a later episode, where we are presented with an establishing shot of Phupha's living quarters, over which there is a very intentionally 'spicy' sounding Phupha voice over. Again, the age rating is 13 -- any spicy scene would have to rely heavily on implication. But the scene feels like a joke at the audience's expense because we know that there cannot be scenes of that nature in a show age rated like it is.

Overall if you temper your expectations of the series as a BL, and simply enjoy it as a pure drama with romantic/BL elements, you will enjoy this show. As I previously stated: the cinematography, acting (particularly Mix's), and non-romantic story elements are this show's strength. Remember that, and you will be golden.

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