Different narratives resonate with different people and Moonlight Chicken has quite a distinct flavour. It is a dose of realism. It tries to pack a mighty punch in these eight hour episodes which span a period of around six months. It tackles many issues that a person could face in today's Thai economy through the lives of the people at a chicken rice diner. Does it work though?

Jim, known as Uncle Jim to most, runs a semi-popular rice diner at chinatown in Pattaya city. It's the moon festival and on this fateful night, Jim meets Wen who has drunk and passed out at his shop. Out of a sense a responsibility, he decides to take Wen home and ends up having a one night stand with him. The next day however all it seems is that Jim want to pretend it never happened.

Jim is portrayed as a man who is nearly in his forties. He is not a closeted gay man but his previous relationship has burnt him and he still grapples with his past. Wen is an art director is in his early thirties. His youthful charm and shamelessness in pursuing Jim is a sharp contrast to Jim’s stoic behavior. We soon learn that it's not just Jim who has baggage, Wen has an ex whom he cannot cut off.

Then there's the budding romance of Li Ming (Fourth), Jim’s nephew who lives with him, and Heart, the boy of an influential, rich Thai officer. Heart is Li Ming's opposite in more ways than one, already a slightly introverted individual, Heart is further repressed by the fact that he is deaf. His disability makes him lonely, a loneliness in which he has doesn't have the support of his parents, and Li Ming is a sudden brightness in his life. Gemini and Fourth bring all their adorable sweetness here.

While Jim, Wen and their love quadrilateral represent a more complex, or rather dumb but extremely fraught relationship, Heart and Li Ming are simple. “I like it when I am with you.” They bring the liveliness of young love to the screen. Another couple is Saleng (Mark) and his girlfriend Praew (View) who get themselves into a mess. Through them a very important topic is discussed: unwanted pregnancy and the brunt of raising a baby in this economy (with a small talk on abortion).

The series is directed by my favorite director, P'Aof. While Moonlight Chicken is thematically very different from Bad Buddy, there is still P'Aof’s charm. His charm to portray a story naturally and to bring out the best in the actors. While I do appreciate that the side characters add a lot of goodness to the story, I feel that it was at the cost of the main romance.

The struggles of Jim with his past and Wen with his present were intriguing, but after episode 3 their relationship development became completely stagnant. The story does not resort to using cheap jealousy to keep it spicy, which I thought would be a big issue. The main couple shone the least here. I never really felt Jim reciprocate Wen’s feelings. It is attributed to the fact that Wen is younger and his personality is livelier whereas Jim (at his alleged age of "nearly 40" I hope i look as good at 40 as he does!) but I did not feel a significant shift in their relationship even when there was supposedly a huge shift in their relationship.

Perhaps it is the casting choice which held them back. While Mix did quite well, and Earth does do better than before, I just could not feel their acting. Whatever tension was there in episode 1 is effectively lost by episode 2 (this might seem harsh but it's true, at least for me). I needed Jim to want Wen more than he needs to breathe (okay, maybe that's a bit too much), but all he does is keep pushing him away and wow I honestly cannot imagine sticking around for an emotionally unavailable man for that long, Wen. I, as an audience, failed to see what Wen and Jim saw in each other.

Do not mistake this for a "fast paced romance" because this is absolutely not one, despite the one night stand it started out with. The only reason why I rate it as highly as I have (7/10) is because I love them as a family, all of them including Jim and Wen. They are a huge wholesome family and that is >>>>> 100 times than Jim and Wen's romance. But this may be more of a personal gripe.

Moonlight Chicken does touch on a lot of issues and not just "first world problems" as in most bls and it is mostly successful at doing justice to its characters. A point I found quite significant is when issues are raised, there are quite a few discussions on money, because lets not pretend, money is an important deciding factor in our lives. However in this Moonlight Chicken is not relentless, it does allow our characters to achieve happiness too.

In terms of production value, this is a very aesthetic show. With charming shots it explores the vibrancy of Pattaya’s beaches and temples and festivals. It offers a brief but colourful look into Thai culture. Each episode roughly spans over a month and there is a certain link to the festival being celebrated in each episode that may be a little hard for viewers to follow (at least for me :). The sound quality was okay, the background music doesn't take over the speech, then again it's P'Aof, we really don't need to worry about the production. I wish they had made a different decision about translating Heart though. I understand they wanted to portray the struggle of understanding a deaf-mute man, but even in the final episode there are so many things Heart says which were left unsaid :(

My final takeaway is that I wish Jim and Wen as characters had been more dynamic, they fell rather flat in comparison to the others. Re-watch value? Not that high. Only for Heart and Li Ming! If you are wondering whether to watch this, I'd suggest giving it a go because from what I've already seen, most viewers have very different opinions on this because Moonlight Chicken hits a different tone with different people. And it's short too :) 7/10