This is my 2nd review of ATOTS; I posted the 1st one after ep. 1 aired (see below) and gave the series an overall rating of 7.0 (story 7.0, acting/cast 6.0, music 8.5, rewatch value 7.0) – I also made 2 “awful predictions”, none of which came true (for which I’m very grateful). Rating the series now, after watching all episodes (and rewatching ep. 10 multiple times) I gave it a higher score – the story is still lacking, but turned out to be okay (see more detailed remarks below for what I didn’t like about the script), the music is less diverse than I thought it’ll be and the whole show rests firmly on shoulders of Mix and Earth – hence I increased the score for acting and rewatch value.
WHAT I LIKED
1/ Most of the script is good. Setting the show out of Bangkok – great. I enjoyed everything connected with Tian finding his way in a new surrounding – as a volunteer teacher, a fish out of water character, someone who needs to learn the basics of life. I liked even more that the script didn’t stop there: Tian learns how to gain the trust of villagers, reacts to injustice, helps the village and makes enemies in the process. Becoming responsible for others – first the children, later the village – suits him well (I wish we’d see Tian acting in this capacity towards Phupha, even briefly – just to reverse what we got in the show for a moment).
2/ EarthMix. They shaped the dynamic of Tian and Phupha, making both characters very likeable and their story – our story. Their chemistry is insane – probably due to the fact that Mix and Earth have known each other for 7 years. Where the script is lacking – EarthMix carry the story. Countless tears I shed watching ep. 8, 9 and especially 10 are not the only proof of how good EarthMix works – they generated tension, emotion and drama lifting a slightly underwritten story to the much desired tearjerker master level. “The feels are real” and even their argument in ep. 9 was handled in a great way. But Earth and Mix were even better at creating joy and satisfaction, teasing each other and banter – which was showing throughout the whole series and was highlighted by the last 10 minutes of ep. 10.
3/ Earth. Didn’t like his acting initially (truth be told ep. 1 was his weakest), but now I think he did a good job of portraying an ex-soldier who hides behind an image of a reserved, strong, armed man in a uniform, believing in discipline, obedience, duty, rank and hierarchy. Seeing Phupha turn into a cute cuddly hunk madly in love with the volunteer teacher was a delight.
4/ Mix. Tian is mostly Mix, right? All the quirks, humor, mischievousness, frolics and banter – that’s Mix and I loved every bit of that. At times he’s frightened, unsure, vulnerable and fragile, but also brave, defiant, committed, stubborn and jealous. He’s a complete, 3D character. I enjoyed his self-confidence, especially in the last episode; it wasn’t vanity nor arrogance, but true strength. I commented elsewhere how much I liked the hilltop scene when Phupha embraces Tian’s waist; this wasn’t a sign of taking possession – Tian was actually in control, beaming with confidence, casually leaning on Phupha. Our young adult displayed more maturity later – the whole sleeping together scene was written the way it should have been, with request for consent from Phupha and Tian giving consent. Very well done, even if it’s partly played for laughs, to lighten the tone of the finale. Mix shined in ATOTS and I hope to see more of that in future projects of his.
MY COMPLAINTS
1/ Unnecessary Torfun and heart transplant. What was the point of all that? Was that a plot device to get Tian to the village? If so – it’s not relatable nor believable. We got (despite one of my “ugly predictions”) an explicit confirmation that Tian was gay and his feelings for Phupha were his own – they did not stem from him receiving Torfun’s heart. The metaphysics (like Torfun appearing in Tian’s dream and replacing his reflection in a window pane) ended before it really started. Tian feeling guilty for Torfun’s death – even Phupha and the villagers forgot about that within one episode, which says something about our main character’s motivation. I get that Torfun and the transplant were in the novel, but I’m not reviewing the novel; the series is an independent piece of art and needs to stand on its own. And in the series a lot of things would make much more sense than the whole Torfun and her heart bit. What made me even more displeased with that aspect of the story was how it was revealed – one piece at a time, leading some (me included) to assume (in ep. 1) and to believe (in later episodes) that Tian was the one who killed Torfun (in that case his desire to replace Torfun, complete her work etc. would make much more sense). Nothing came out of that, no dark secret (hinted for several episodes) was revealed, Tian was innocent and plagued by (in my opinion) baseless guilt.
2/ Little to no character arcs. Phupha’s “character arc”: starts as someone who hides feelings, falls in love with a city boy, admits his feelings with greatest difficulty and changes into a living human being for the last 5 minutes of the show. Tian’s “character arc”: starts as a bored rich kid, goes to village where we find out he’s actually resourceful, kind, fair, strong-willed, caring and gay, goes back home after his boyfriend tells him to and becomes a bored rich kid again. Obviously I’m exaggerating for dramatic effect, but what struck me was that no one who knew the “old”, pre-transplant Tian, noticed any difference once he returned home. Not Tul, not his parents, not anyone else (I’m not including the audience here – we saw this version of Tian for mere minutes). But maybe I got it all wrong, maybe this wasn’t about Tian having a character arc (=changing), but about him discovering what he’s capable of – a voyage of self-discovery which pushed him to drop out of engineering school (wonder if it was the same that Tonhon attended) and pursue a career in teaching.
3/ Tian’s parents and the 2 years in the US. Remember ep. 1 and Tian running away from home? Back then his parents didn’t seem to be an obstacle for him doing what he wanted. How come they became an obstacle in ep. 9? It was solely due to their insistence that Tian had to return home and later to go to America. 2 years passed and Tian – again – was free to do what he wanted, including returning to the village? Seriously? Was there no other and more convincing way of splitting Tian and Phupha to generate drama, to have the audience sob and weep during the airport scene? What did Tian’s stay in the US change, what did it solve? What was the point of creating a no-problem issue, making it an issue, blowing it out of proportion and then “solving” it off-screen by skipping 2 years? That’s some very lazy writing from beginning to finish. You either make the parents a genuine threat to Tian’s freedom (like making him dependent on them, having to obey them) or forget about the parents and introduce a real problem our mains would have to solve (on-screen – this is a TV series, you need to show us stuff) to be/stay together.
4/ Friends underused. Tul and Longtae could have played a more important role in the story. My idea: cut the Torfun stuff entirely and give her screen time to Tul and Longtae, who could do what Nam, Rang and Yod did for Phupha. Make Tian a truly arrogant and obnoxious spoiled rich kid (Tul would be the one to notice Tian’s change) who goes to the village for a compulsory internship and discovers there’s more to life and to himself than he thought. The series would still be 10 episodes long and would still focus on Tian and Phupha becoming a couple, but without the whole guilt thing.
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1st review (which most if not all comments are about):
What I like about episode 1? That it partly takes place in a new setting. We still see a lot of big city scenery (as well as an exterior shot of a nice modern house used as Tonhon’s parent’s house in “Tonhon Chonlatee”), but the action seems to be slowly moving away from the city and into the country. Oh, seeing Drake was also nice (no Khaotung in episode 1? too bad). The rest… Well, Mix and White were okay, but Earth has the acting range of a wooden board. Also let me make some awful predictions – basing on what I could guess from both trailers (including the first one, released on 15.10.2019 and still available on GMMTV’s YouTube channel, which used completely different takes, shots, scenes and even costumes than the second one, released on 07.01.2021; I assume they produced the 1st trailer prior to filming the series), foreshadowing as well as gaps in the story presented so far:
1/ Tian will fall in love with Phupha because Torfun’s heart is now beating in his chest, which is a new take on the heavily criticized “I’m not gay, I just love you” approach (Dear writers, please do at least this bit right and make the two main characters fall for each other without any convoluted "explanations" and "reasons"),
2/ we’ll find out that Tian did race after he left the casino (in episode 1 we are led to believe he was hospitalised after collapsing at the casino) and that Torfun was killed during that race (why do I think so? cause Phupha already declared that he will never forgive the person who hit Torfun – that’s ideal for some drama which will become necessary around, let’s say, episode 7 or 8, when Tian’s and Phupha’s relationship will become unbearably blissful).
At least we should see more of Thailand’s beauty in future episodes (instead of Bangkok and some more of Bangkok) - that always good.