#GOODBYE NAN AND PHU

[waitmyturtles]

Well. Okay. The Promise, episode 10 (finale), gave us… stuff to think about. Lots of mismatched, incongruous, random, unconnected, any other synonym — stuff.

I’m in mourning, not for the show ending (I’m so glad it’s over), but for the damn potential of the show. It could have been SO. MUCH. BETTER. Would it have been better if it weren’t a commercial? Likely. Would it have been better if the show cared for its characters? VERY LIKELY.

I was hooked originally for the nostalgia aspect of the show, the reflections on Nan and Phu’s childhood, how Phu stayed in Chiang Mai during those 10 years away, the connection to village life, how that reminded me of my childhood while visiting SE Asia. I was hooked to learn about a slice of Thai food culture in coffee cultivation and how beautifully it was depicted.

The show was filmed gorgeously! Khom Kongkiat, my otherwise dear Uncle Tong, clearly has respect and awe for this slice of Thai rural life.

But, fuck, man. The characters and their stories were clearly secondary to the priority of selling the damn skincare, but ALSO — I’d argue that any sensible journey of emotional growth was rendered secondary to this seeming NEED for these UNNECESSARY spikes of INCONGRUENT DRAMA that, I don’t know, maybe Uncle Tong thought he needed to juice up the show, to mix it up from the commercial aspect?

SO MUCH of the finale was unnecessary. Khunkhao in a knife fight?! Nan’s plane inexplicably disappearing?! And then, PHU (should we be surprised?) having the SHEER. AUDACITY. to scold Nan for trying to surprise Phu on his birthday, and like, LITERALLY getting himself ACCIDENTALLY (not on purpose, PHU) in a disappearing plane situation? Phu — are you my mother? Even in times of utter relief and joy, you’re still gonna be a titchy, whiny B? Get TFOH, PLEASE, MAN.

Mayyyybe I can understand how things reconciled between Phu and Khunkhao, but even that played out inconsistently fast. I mean — they were fighting over the same guy. And then you’re huggin’ it out. Now, I get that finding your missing brother, and finding FAMILY, would be important. That could have been a key point that the show could have leveraged — that, if Nan were to decide to go to China, that Phu would not be alone, as Khunkhao himself said.

But then — the show sends Khunkhao away? And gets him into a knife fight? Only to meet another guy named Nan Fah? Good lord, OKAY.

And then? Nan is throwing ALL THE BONES to Phu for Phu to declare his committed love to Nan, awlll of them. How can Phu POSSIBLY MISS? TELL NAN YOU WANT NAN TO STAY! You two can have a reasonable conversation about careers and whatnot! But, Phu! Nan — FOR ONCE, OMG — wants to hear that YOU, PHU, DO NOT WANT TO BE SEPARATED FROM NAN. Just tell the homeboy, one time!

Phu can’t even pull that off. (As @respectthepetty rightly noted, all of this bullshit is not the actors’ fault — they did fantastically for the crap writing they got.)

And finally, FINALLY (IT TOOK YOU 10 EPISODES!!!), Phu can tell Nan that he promises to wait for Nan, to NOT LEAVE, that he will support Nan in Nan’s career. My gawd. Listen — if the writing was truly meant to indicate that Phu was a whiny, selfish B, at least THAT came off accurately and successfully. GAH.

And then Nan tries to do something sweet for Phu, coming back to surprise Phu — then gets himself lost in the air (???) (with no explanation as to how that all happened!), and Phu SCOLDS him — and then they bonk. OH. KAY.

Jeezus. It’s making me madder as I’m writing about it, ha. (And unfortunately, due to being in public places at the time of this writing, I haven’t even enjoyed the sessy parts — DOUBLE GAH!)

Listen, I LOVED the actors in this show. Take this show with Step By Step, and we’ve had some candy for those of us who really want to see more actors in their 30s and 40s in BLs. I really loved having a show with two fabulous-looking dudes working in work lives, and figuring out their shit in that context.

But The Promise undermined real emotional growth here. Unless Phu, this entire time, was MEANT to be, say, an Arthit-like character from SOTUS — all brick wall, not a single emotional point to give, totally self-absorbed — I mean. Now that I write that, I realize it’s true. He WAS intentionally written like that. I don’t want to believe it, but it has to be that way — for a character to scold his partner after the partner got into a near-death (we assume) plane situation. I’m shaking my damn head.

This show has so much potential. I am absolutely throwing my cup of kopi at the screen. I haven’t felt this negative about a show in a while — and I’m watching SOTUS S. I’m really bummed, because this show could have done so, so much more about internalized fear, maybe even internalized homophobia, and ran with it. It ran away from it.

[pharawee]

It sure feels great giving The Promise a 10 star rating on mdl and then making the mistake (again! I do it to myself...) of wading through some of the comment section.

I mean, yeah, the last-minute plane crash plot was a bit over the top (and if I was Phu I'd now need therapy - but at least it wasn't a cruel joke to get back at him) but to hate every single thing about this show? Why even watch it at this point? That sounds exhausting...

For one giant skincare commercial (and it worked for me since I love skincare lmao) I found it beautifully filmed and acted, and I thought the script was well done as well. I'm not-so lowkey hopeful they'll give Phu's brother and his own Nanfah their own show. We need more Thai BL with Muay Thai elements (and why isn't there Muay Thai BL yet? Long, Victor, Boss & Great are all right there!!*).

As for Phupha, I love him so much. I know that's an unpopular opinion to have and I don't begrudge anyone theirs. It's just that I can relate to him so well. I used to be so much like him. I know exactly what it's like to be so insecure, so selfless, and so scared that you end up hurting the people around you - even though it's the exact opposite of what you wanted. The script showed this so well. How hurtful (to yourself and others) and how isolating it can be to never put yourself first. To always withdraw because surely that's the way it HAS to be. Surely it's the way people EXPECT you to be (and surely it's the only way to protect yourself).

Because it's exactly how Phu said in the finale when he told Nan to go abroad. He didn't want to send him away. He wanted to be selfish. But he couldn't. Because putting himself first and saying what he really wants couldn't possibly be the right thing to do. And so he ended up hurting Nan deeply - and only then did he panic and tell the truth.

And when Nan and he said their goodbyes, he only broke down once Nan was gone. Because he couldn't possibly burden Nan with his sadness.

But, like I said, I also love how this show showed the other side of this: how it hurt Nan and how it made him second-guess and wonder for years. How he had to be strong and decisive and angry for both of them. That had to be really exhausting.

So, yeah, I see no one to blame here. It just be that way sometimes. It wasn't intentional. Plus, the moment Phu took the courage to confess to Nan (and it really HAD to be him to confess - otherwise I'd agree with some of the other criticism: that Phu would run away again sooner or later) the cycle of selflessness was broken and they both could move forward together (with a few twists and turns along the way).

Uhm, anyway, this ended up being deeply personal (but I also think it's a really important thing to talk about openly - that being selfless isn't always good, and being selfish isn't always bad) but it's why this show means so much to me (and why I was selfish enough to give it 10 stars on mdl lmao).

(* yeah, I know we had side stories in Y-Destiny and Even Sun and Second Chance (?) but it's not the same)