After two years I have returned to watch this series again! I’m excited to hang out with my university friends and be jealous of all the delicious desserts they are eating. Also, go to some swim meets!

But first.

Let’s talk about this dark opening

We start with our tragic lovers, In and Korn, discovered by their fathers and both dying by suicide. In is crying before the scene even opens. Korn shoots himself first, and then a heart broken In sobs over his body before following. 

While the scene isn’t visually graphic, it’s upsetting, bewildering, and relatively long. We don’t know In or Korn or their backstory and are not emotionally invested in them yet. For me, it feels like someone opening a conversation by telling me terrible news about strangers. The fact that it’s horrible and sad is undeniable, but I don’t know why I’m being told this story.

I can guess why they started here (besides that this is probably where the novel starts): This incident leads to everything that happens in our main story. That said, I feel like they could have shortened it or even just alluded to it without it playing out in full. They could have given us a mystery to build up, so by the time we see what happens we feel the full tragedy.

Also, the cinematography is literally very dark.

I also feel that starting this way makes people think the entire show will be dark and tragic. It isn’t. In fact, in general it is more light and upbeat, with plenty of annoying “this is a funny moment” background score.

And Now For Something Completely Different

Because after that we meet Pharm, Manow and Team. They are all freshmen at college who meet in line and become best friends forever. They’re all nice, friendly people so while it’s abrupt, I can kind of believe it. I want to be friends with all three of them too.

Not long after that we see Dean and Win, two intense looking upper-classmen who are on the swim team. Pharm is immediately transfixed by the tall, serious looking Dean.

Pharm is a shy, soft spoken guy who joins the cooking club on the first day of school. Sudden loud noises give him panic attacks and strange dreams leave him in tears when he wakes up. 

Dean isn’t shy so much as reserved and stern, even with his own siblings at the breakfast table. He’s also transfixed by Pharm from the moment he sees him.

So how are these two very different stories related?

After seeing the end of In and Korns lives the next time we travel back to earlier in their relationship. They want to be together forever. In makes Korn pinky promise to always find each other. Even after death. 

I try not to spoil things we don’t know yet but chances are you read the synopsis or already figured it out: Our tragic lovers In and Korn have been reincarnated into Pharm and Dean.

These two episodes focus on In and Pharm, who are not exactly the same person. In is more outgoing and a terrible cook. At one point he burns an omelet and gives it to Korn.

By comparison, the shy Pharm makes amazing Thai desserts that I’ll talk about later.

Pharm admits to best buddies Manow and Team that he’s felt like he’s been looking for someone his entire life. When he first saw Dean his heart started to pound, but for some reason he’s also scared of meeting him. He doesn’t know why.

For that reason, Pharm tries to avoid Dean. Even when he accidentally ends up with some of Deans papers. He sees Dean napping in the library and starts crying, then leaves the papers without waking him. It’s not until Dean helps him reach something at the supermarket that they really meet. Pharm starts crying, Dean is distracted by his friend Win, and Pharm flees. 

We don’t see Dean’s side of things as much, but he’s pissed at Win for ruining his chance to talk to Pharm. Clearly, he’s drawn to Pharm as well.

Best Actor Award goes to…

I want to give this award to Fluke Natouch Siripongthon, for selling his character so well. It’s hard to relate to a character who is having deep, emotional moments relating to a tragic past life. At least for me, it’s nothing close to anything I’ve experienced.

His Pharm is a nicely layered and complex character. Most of the time he’s smiling, if quiet, and enjoying his life. He feels like a real college kid. But when it comes to his interactions with Dean you see sudden feelings overwhelming him. Pharm himself doesn’t understand what’s going on, and his reactions show a mix of deep feeling and confusion.

I can believe that he’s someone grappling with a truly strange experience.

I mentioned the desserts, right?

I love when shows use food as an important part of the story. Here, we’ve got the food doing several duties for the story.

First, as mentioned already, it differentiates In and Pharm. But while In couldn’t cook, his mother could.

Second, it ties together In/Touch with Pharm/Dean. Several foods that we see in the past show up in the present. In burns an omelet he gives to Korn, and both Dean and Pharm want omelets on the same day. Dean seems to be nostalgic for Pharm’s dessert, though it seems unlikely he’d have eaten it before.

Third, it’s a good indication of the quiet Pharm’s affections for others. He makes meals for his friends and these desserts to get shared with the swim team. 

Finally, it’s a great advertisement for delicious looking Thai desserts. In fact, if you go looking for them on the internet, have fun scrolling down to the comments section. You’ll find a lot of people talking about this show.

In fact, you can see someone make Leum Kleun here and someone make Look Choop here.

Back to the story and final thoughts on these two Episodes

Rewatching these episodes, I was surprised Pharm and Dean interacted so little. They only meet once at the end of episode 2, just barely.

I compare that to the quick-intimacy, skinship and teasing more typical of Thai BLs. Currently I’m recapping The Sign, another show with a past life set-up. The Sign is a lot of fun and our leads are fall-kissing and getting drunk together in the first two episodes.

By comparison this show is slow and serious. Manow and Team and college antics keep things from getting too dark, but Dean and Pharm’s situation is treated seriously. A yearning anticipation but also a little dread gets built up. We know they have to meet. We also know what happened to In and Korn, even if we don’t know the whole story. So we’re also worried about them meeting and how it’ll end. 

Well, kinda. I’ve already seen this show so I know the ending. And I’m excited to get to the next episodes!