Our Place

Thada is also a very curious character. As a Deux Ex Machina protagonist, he had no adversaries at his level in the entire show. He could handle all of them swiftly and without much fanfare. Having a lead this fierce and powerful throughout the show felt unique and fun. The few moments we saw him falter were related to his love story with Armin, the only character who kept him on his toes.

Putting like that makes it seem like both characters would be gifts to whoever found them. However, they only work because they got Pond and Peterpan in what are possible career's best, due the nature of the show they have many opportunities to tap into extremes of emotions, and in the downtimes they deliver subtle yet efficient acting that show they are one or two steps above their peers.

If I had to compare Pond's work here it would be with 180 Degrees Latitude Passes Through Us, where he was phenomenal in a very contained performance that contrasts well with what he does in Reset, Armin being a full throttle emotional device in all his incarnations.

Peter, who is a veteran actor of lakorns (he has just one previous BL entry to his quite extensive resume), works in perfect tandem with Pond, being able to bounce and elevate the material alongside his colleague with seemingly ease, you can see all the micro expressions and unsaid words and thoughts going through their faces at any given time, and when they do get unleashed it's masterclass in acting.

It's not all flowers though. The show does have it's short comings, two to be precise: if Armin and Thada are interesting, well-developed characters, the same cannot be said for the rest of the cast. Thiwthit (played by an adorable Bom Tanawat) serves as the main villain of the show, but his motivations come too late in the series, an attempt to hold suspense even thought it would make little sense to no-sense having anyone else as the person behind the machinations happening around the leads. And while he gives his all in the intense moments shared with Peter's Thada, he is too much an adorable presence to read as menacing — he reminded me a lot of the villainous Scrappy-Doo in the Scooby-Doo movie.

Other characters like First's Ren and Winner's Pharit don't get much material to go through, save for a few good moments like Ren's meltdown and whatever was happening on the film within the show Pharit was starring with Armin... Winner in particular seems to have fell victim to editing or at least a script revision, his character initially poised as something other than what we ended seeing on screen.

Players such a Lilly, Achi, Phat and Sam make good impressions on the first few episodes, but are all pushed aside when the show decides to focus squarely on Armin and Thada, and while others like Narin and Charlie are called to the forefront on occasion it becomes clear that they will only work as mere steps for the leads to rise even more. It's not exactly a fatal flaw, but it would've been nice to have developed and incremented the side characters a little bit more, such as the standouts Janine and Weinai, Armin and Thada's retainers respectively.

They get few a moments sprinkled through out and when they do, they make those feels special, mostly due the actors sheer charisma which is something special since these are the first prominent roles for both Alexander Ty and Int Intanont. Unfortunately the show seems uninterested to explore more with them, relegating both to the background and occasional quips here and there.

Another Achilles heel is the time period of the show. Set in the '90s, it quickly becomes apparent that the tasks of characterization and composition were a bit too much for the team to handle. There are a few nice touches spread throughout the show, like polyphonic ringtones and brick-like cell phones, but overall, this show could easily be set in 2025—it wouldn't make much of a difference. Swap Thada's newspaper for a tablet, and one would be none the wiser.

There are clear monetary constraints, not everyone can be a BoC or Mandee to throw money at a show, especially one that lacks the endorsements that come with a branded pair, but the crew here is clever and resourceful, director Nuttapong Wongkaveepairoj squeezing every drop of drama and tension it can from every scene (who would've thought that an advertisement shooting could be so intense?).