Kiss: The Series (2016)

Short Review: The synopsis showed lots of potential that unfortunately the series didn't live up to it. I enjoyed watching parts of this series but I found that a good amount of it was confusing and frustrating skipping over parts became necessary if I didn't want to drop it.

Longer Review: It became frustrating to watch after awhile mainly due to the character Sanrak. At first she seems naive and innocent but that naivety fast becomes what feels like stupidity which I personally did not enjoy watching. In the beginning she seems like a protective older sister but that doesn't last long. Now this is only my second Thai drama so I'm not familiar with the culture which probably didn't help but understanding who's related to who and how when it comes to Sanrak & Sandee's family was confusing. They mention an older sister named Sansuay but she never makes an appearance and her relationship with Na is never really explained so that too added to my confusion.

Sandee & Thada were probably the reason I didn't drop this drama after the first few episodes. Although it became cliche at times and somewhat frustrating, it was the enjoyable kind of frustration. Also their group of friends also made it fun to watch. There are a few twists that happen within the friend group that help the show along and they all seem to genuinely care about each other and their friendship. The issues acknowledged within the group were handled pretty well so that helped a lot.

One thing that bothered me after I finished the series was that they didn't address a few of the conflicts that had happened. I'm not sure I can really go into more detail without spoilers or sounding so vague it's confusing but I'll try. Some minor characters conspired and did some things to the main characters that caused harm either mentally or physically and they were never really resolved. There was one incident that was somewhat concluded but it was done so quickly it felt like an after thought and I was left annoyed because I wanted to see this person be punished for what they had done, not just get called out with an implied possible punishment.

Also the product placement was intense in this drama. At the end of an episode they would have a segment called "Beside the Scene" which for the most part wasn't important or necessary.

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The reviewers before me did not mention how AWESOME this lakhorn was. In Kiss: the series you got your love triangle, your family drama, your friendship issues, school drama and comedy all in one. This lakhorn feels like a cross between fated to love you, Kiss Me and Dear sister with a bunch of other layers.
Although the ending seems premature and leaves a ton of loose ends; the series, the story and the acting were all done beautifully.
Notes: This is not my first lakhorn so I have a little understanding on the really bad ones and some good ones. Additionally, after Tao (the actor who plays Khun Na) epically lost the girl in Kiss Me, I think he deserved a chance at getting the girl in this lakhorn; or that could be my SLS talking (second lead syndrome).
The Good: Unlike other Thai dramas I have watched, Kiss was full of drama but more “realistic” drama.
I liked how the characters are constantly growing and evolving even if they are annoying. The story line seems to pressure and challenge the characters into being honest with themselves and others about how they feel.
Although this is a dramatic lakhorn there are a lot of funny moments in it, and a lot of comedic relief. To my surprise at least 40% of the supporting characters were gay men, plus the cute guys were plentiful, gay or not. However, do not get your hopes up for fan service.
There were no evil stepmothers and the crazy ex-girlfriends were somewhat understandable. The second male lead (Thew) was a bad actor so no SLS!!

The Bad: I didn’t like the long dramatic lakhorn pauses, but I feel like its part of the deal. There were a ton of flashbacks scenes that did not progress the story. The writers often left the ends of side stories inconclusive, but the annoying “beside the scene” promo segments help to clear up loose endings. Speaking of the behind the scenes…. I have never in my life seen such aggressive in-show ads and ad placements. In addition to the ad placements the placement of music did not match what was going on in some scenes… that was strange. They blurred out a bunch of things including wine in a glass…. I mean really?
In the story Sanrak is super annoying at first but she gets better, they never show the other sisters, and they never explained who the brother/cousin/shop owner was.
Although there weren’t a whole lot of answers given, I still loved this lakhorn. The story shows how beneficial it can be to be true and honest to yourself and others. I recommend this story to drama lovers who like romance and family dramas.

P.S. In the last episode in the last “beside the scene”, there is a book clip holding Sanrak’s skirt up…. Smh

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POINTLESSLY STRESSFUL FROM START TO END.

The series is so stressful from start to end. There were cute moments but up until the end, the stories’ progression is too compacted. Too many pointless twists, irritating character, no character development, and the happy ending only last for few minutes at the end of the series. Sanrak is too dumb, Sandee and Thada story of hiding feelings lasted throughout the series like wtf. Give them time to have their own sweet moments and not just fighting, shouting and more fighting. The freaky cousin is unnecessary for the story. Too many good plots but it was too much and it was all over the place.

The couples’s story were less than ‘ok’ and were overshadowed by Sandee’s friends esp Pete and Kao even if they only have limited screentime.

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I watched Kiss me Again before this as I wanted to watch the series in order. I thought it was interesting to see how this series would be considering the wacky plot. I wasn't disappointed. I usually prefer BL dramas and this one features a very small one but I am open to straight dramas as well and I like the leads together regardless.
Pros: The lead actors have great chemistry and they are excellent performers. Sandee and Thada's story was great. Had it been the only one this would have been a perfect drama.
Cons: The sister and her love story were AWFUL almost enough to make me hate the series. I did not care for her at all and felt like it detracted from the story.
Overall: I enjoyed the series for Sandee and Thada and the crazy plot twists that their story had. As a hispanic person used to spanish soaps, this felt so familiar and that was the best.

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(Please take the spoiler warning seriously, as there will definitely be major spoilers in this review. tldr: I hated almost every part of this show until halfway through episode fourteen when I finally enjoyed it for all of five minutes. Feel free to watch if you - like me - have an addiction to watching trash and ranting about said trash or if you just have a ton of patience.)

I have never in my life been more relieved to finish a show. There are so many things wrong with this it’s not even funny. I won’t go into all of them because if I did this review would take an hour to read, but basically my problems are as follows:

- at the beginning of the show thada was the biggest asshole on the planet. like holy shit he acted like sandee was his property and, um, that’s not okay??

- literally the only characters i liked the entire time were chacha, noina, pete, kao, june, and tew. everyone else i wanted to punch multiple times. except maybe sandee, who i can kinda forgive for being irrational due to the pregnancy scare. also, i know good characters should be flawed , but it shouldn’t be to the point where they’re unlikable. sandee was a good way to have a flawed character, but even she bordered completely unlikable sometimes due to how much they dragged it out. so yeah, I’m not mad the characters had flaws, i just think it should’ve been done better.

- i literally couldn’t care less about sanrak’s story. i hated her as a character. i hated the sudden shift she did in the last few episodes, which didn’t make any sense (yes, ik the cheating is bound to have an effect, but i think it could and should have been done better), and i hated her even more in the beginning episodes. the only thing that kept me even semi-sympathetic to her plight was the fact that first absolutely emotionally abused her, and i understand that sufferers of abuse aren’t always able to make the most rational choices due to whatever reason. also i was entirely neutral (leaning towards dislike tho) with na. he treated sanrak like a child and while she was extremely childish it was still gross. also, though i don’t like ella, i hate the way he treated her. it was shitty, and he wasn’t clear with her at all until he finally said outright that he didn’t like her. but then he led her on anyway??? what the fuck? everyone insisted that he was so much better than first, and yes, first was a grade a asshole, but na wasn’t that much better. this section is long af, but ugh, i hated this entire storyline so much and had to forcefully stop myself from skipping their parts just so i could give an in depth review.

- the entire time i wanted tew and sandee to break up. this is less of a criticism and more of a personal thing, but ugh, he deserves someone who genuinely likes him. and i felt like sandee was really selfish in letting him fall for her all while knowing she still wasn’t sure of her feelings. yes, he pressured her, which isn’t okay, but also, he had a right to know how she was feeling; if he hadn’t pressured her, she likely never would’ve answered. so yeah. glad he broke up with her at the end, not because i cared all that much about sandee and thada (they were alright, nothing spectacular), but because i really want him to be with someone who a.) can tell him he needs to slow his roll instead of falling so hard so fast and b.) actually likes him. so yeah.

- the pete thing. i’ll be honest. unlike most of the other comments, i actually wasn’t all that mad with pete. this is probably because he’s my favorite character and i adore both him and tay. but i just didn’t get furious. barring the fact that literally no real person would ever do that, pete is so stupid that i can’t be mad at it. for me, it’s was “look, i forgive you, but you deserve to have your ass kicked a few times before we’re even” sort of thing, and i thoroughly enjoyed thada looking like he was gonna beat the shit out of pete. mildly disappointed they didn’t follow through with that :’). i know that whole part of the episode probably wasn’t supposed to be comical, but i found it hilarious. and i’m glad they didn’t drag out the drama with pete.

- the characterization was pretty inconsistent. mostly with ms. jane and sanrak. both of them changed tunes out of nowhere, especially ms. jane, and i hated how they kept excusing sanrak’s huuuge mistakes because she’s a main character. in reality, she would’ve gotten fired immediately and rightfully so for making such a careless mistake that literally impacted everything else that happened with the company throughout the show. there’s genuine accidents, and then there’s employees being incompetent. sanrak’s whole bs was the latter. also, i hated how the ceo, na, made basically every decision with his emotions. how am i supposed to believe he runs this successful company when he has just as much trouble as sanrak does controlling his emotions? yeah, likely story. but whatever, that’s just a personal gripe.

Overall, I think this show was extremely long and stressful. Parts the didn’t need to be dragged out were extremely long, and parts the should’ve been solved within seconds were dragged out beyond belief. Most of the characters were unlikable, and I was way more invested in the side characters than anyone else. Noina and Chacha are my spirit animals btw. The only reason i watched it all the way through is because I wanted to know what Pete did (actually pretty predictable as well if you’re familiar with storylines like these, so i guessed it in three seconds, but their reactions made it entirely worth watching his confession) and also, I wanted to be able to review it thoroughly. I also think I held out some hope that it’d get better. It didn’t. It was extremely annoying start to finish, with only a few good things sprinkled in in the form of the side characters.

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On the surface, this Lakorn had a promising premise: Sandee gets drunk one night and sleeps with friend, Thada. Sandee is a female engineering student surrounded by men and the two are friends in a close-knit group of four guys and one girl. The idea of exploring how a drunken mistake could change the dynamic of a friendship and of the group was interesting enough to put my qualms about Lakorns aside and press play.

Honestly, I should have listened to my initial instincts.

Any sense of outward progressiveness on the part of this show is a total sham. It's the same misogynistic drivel that Thai Lakorns have been feeding to women forever. Even above the endless grinding sexism of the show's messages - nun/whore dichotomies, women being pitted against women, men being let off the hook for their cheating and lying while women end up taking the blame - the show deals with every point of conflict by somebody realising the conflict never existed in the first place. That's just bad writing.

What started off as a show with a strong, independent female lead trying to make it in a male field while navigating double standards around sex and sexuality became yet another morality tale in Thailand's virginity cult. As usual, my life is worse for having watched a Thai Lakorn. I won't make the same mistake again.

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The heteros were toxic, but the BL was nice

I only watched this bc of TayNew.

Tbh in the middle of it I got pretty hooked, tho it really bugs me how this is kinda like TharnType, except it’s hetero and without sexual assault. Just the jealousy and possessiveness is the same. So toxic! Idk if that’s a thing in Thailand but the guys keep treating the girls as if they’re gonna be raped, if they don’t have a bodyguard. Seriously, it’s so annoying.

I’m wondering how Pete & Kao fell in love tho? It was a bit implied by Sandee that they liked each other since the freshmen year, but still... I hope we get more of their story in “Kiss Me Again”.

-16.11.21

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Well, from the series called 'Kiss', I would expect maybe... A better kiss? LOL

Okay... We have 2 pretty girls and 2 hot guys here, they're all "friends". But make no mistake, there's only one possible pairing. Because the main cast includes both Thawornwong brother & sister. Obviously the producers weren't "cruel" to make the siblings portray a couple. Even though they might actually look less wooden than most onscreen couples, thanks to that:-p

First look: Girl with looks of Mild Lapassalan is supposed to be strictly buddy-like kind, whom no one wishes to treat as female. Younger looking girl with more dependent character is supposed to be her big sister. Pop Khamgasem, who was so sexy in 'Love Lie Hide Fake', acts like buffoon in this. There will be no shortage of WTF in this show, no doubt.

First episode is like cramped with nosy parkers who can't mind their own bussiness. It's positively annoying. I instantly recalled Mek Jirakit's previous role in 'Part-Time Lover', where his character didn't wish to have any friends for exactly this reason, lol.

After that, I waited many episodes for something romantically enjoyable. After 10 episodes filled with vague mixture of this and that, there is a first Mook & Tao kiss, which is fake so obviously that we as the audience are reminded the two of the cast have a problem. Maybe she would really be better off with her brother, lol. After all, we don't have to care about the private lives of the cast, just as long as we do get to see good result. By the way, the kiss didn't feel right even from the characters perspective. Like, he kisses her as her boss on a bussiness trip? Where she got drunk, heartbroken from her fresh break-up with somebody else?

I must say I probably expected something else from this series. Perhaps some lipstick company sponsored this and it's the reason for the name. The actual content? One "romantic couple" spends most of the time in office. He is her direct supervisor so I found the relationship very uncomfortable. The other "romantic couple" spends most of the time at school. It's all very group kind of thing with many meddlers. He is supposed to be her friend, but he slept with her at a party (which "happened" offscreen) and since that their whatever relationship is strained. She starts dating a complete stranger just to avoid him (or so it seems). It's someone who started hitting on her out of the blue. I don't know what was the purpose the writer aimed for, but the other guy gives the impression like he was just paid to court her. Or perhaps he made a bet with someone. Because of how much he insists that she dates him RIGHT NOW and as soon as she does, he brings her to meet his mother (another WTF scene).

Needless to say I didn't enjoy either of the two lines. There's large load of side characters (never a good sign) who try to add to it by being funny, which is more or less annoying. Or maybe if we just had the group-camaraderie and focus on their friendships which at least might be real rather than the artificial romance, it would be better? (There's a also weird psycho side-character who attempts to strangle the main girl at one point, but not much importance is given to THAT.) Tay Tawan looks hot in this, perhaps he should have a third line... Which he actually does. It soon turns out the "group of friends" actually consists of 2 bickering couples + 1 odd guy out. Hence the constant tension. Whatever it is, it's not enjoyable, though. I know there's also 'Kiss Me Again' and 'Dark Blue Kiss' as other related series attempts, but after watching 'Kiss', I am not excited...

As I haven't seen anything much exciting here. That part got skipped or perhaps happened off screen. Any kind of fun seemed to left town and I wasn't interested in solemn conversations about possible unexpected pregnancy, the only thing I kept thinking of during such scenes was, why the hell couldn't they cut Mek Jirakit's hair into SIMPLE, SHORT haircut? Would that be so hard to do? Did they HAVE TO let him look like a moron OR spend hours styling it? (With not much difference as a result, I might add.) I grew to hate what they do to male hair on tv. And I had enough time to dwell on it here because I was colossally bored. I was a HAIR close to dropping this series in episode 12 out of 16. Enuff said.

The office "romance" reaches its highest point of "drama" when some rumors spread across the office. It's the first time the girl starts acting more than just a wooden doll but she chooses the moment when for the first time I agreed with what was happening. She should quit that job. (And had she done that long time ago, she could have at least spared the audience.) So, she ends her lame internship in which even fotocopying was beyond her capability level but leaves carrying a big box like she did work there for years. Tao Sattaphong's character looks wistfully out of the window like she is ending their marriage or smth. I at least smirked about how this looked ridiculous, first time after long boredom. Not that the other couple was better...

Watching them sitting on a bench having a serious talk going nowhere (but accompanied by serious, classic piano music) because the girl would rather ponder this or that but couldn't simply lift her a** and go at doctor's. So far we haven't yet seen if this "pregnancy" was even confirmed. I don't know why, but somehow I doubted they even slept together. What if they remembered wrong? I mean, NOTHING in this show really convinces the audience there is (ever was) anything between these two. It all felt colder than the fridge to me.

The girl who is not capable to do a simple urine test, is nevertheless ready to quit school immediatelly & ruin her future in a flash. All the hysterical side-characters seem more invested in the main story than the main ones... The supposedly pregnant girl meets the psycho girl on the top of the stairs in very obvious scene just to end up in the hospital at last... Big, big drama scene occurs in the hospital, where everyone yells on the top of their lungs (even after a nurse came to ask them to be quiet) about the big secret, which after FOURTEEN episodes is about as exciting as a party in a nursery home. And the "big" sister who is unable to survive 1 day at work throws the main guy out and says dramatically that she'll take care about her sister and nephew by herself... One would laugh if not bored to death by then. It appears making a (functioning) simple romance drama was just beyond this series makers' skill. Now, did they leave the industry or made 2 more side-dramas? Then, who am I to complain things make no sense in drama world, if the don't in real one?

Last two episodes finally start focusing on the couples without all the bullsh*t, which could work if it was episode 2, not 2 from the end. Even so, these were just not very enjoyable. The first girl got a choice in between a complete stranger who, without ANY relationship development, relentlessly pursued her. And still he was (sadly) more likeable than the main guy, who acted like an a** the whole time (if you tell the girl that you don't care if she'd date someone else, then you do deserve that she'll date someone else, lol) and never really talked straight to anyone except of his roommate or colleague or who that person was (a minor support character that is not even listed here). As for the second girl, by the time her guy was finally ready to openly pursue her, she was too tired from all the cr*p she went through with the secondary guy. And the viewers with her. As this is a spoiler-free review, I won't reveal wether both the couples, in their last scene - where the guy grabs girl's hand, apologizes for his behavior during the whole series and asks her for one more chance - kiss, or not.

I have more romantic life than these characters. Which is about the most unflattering thing I can say about this LOL.

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Before I get into it, like most of the comments and reviews, if you are only watching this series for Pete and Kao and the BL part, I don't really recommend this series for you. Only watch this if you are interested in Sandee and Thada's story!

I decided to rewatch the series because I love Mild and Mek's chemistry. I'm glad I did. I am kind of obsessed with Sandee and Thada. The story itself isn't too crazy and complicated in my opinion. It's not too dramatic either. In my opinion it has the right amount of everything. It's as the synopsis says, Sandee and Thada both wake up naked in bed together not remembering the night before and they slowly figure out their true feelings for each other.

The other main couple Sanrak and Na, I wasn't that interested in their story. Even the second time around, I don't care for their story. No offense to Mook and Tao, I still love you guys. But their story line though, just felt a bit off. It couldn't keep my attention as much as Sandee and Thada's story.

I will say I think higher of this series more than how other people feel. Maybe because this movie is right up my ally. I love a good and simple romance series. There's a charm to this series that I love and I think that's why I decided to rewatched it and watch clips of the series.

I tried not to be biased when rating it. I think the series itself is a 9/10, but I did have to keep in mind that there are people that might not like it that much , so I gave it a overall of 8.5/10.

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I watched this drama pretty much the way I watched Love Sick: I stuck with one storyline and ignored everything else. In this case, I watched Sandee and Thada and their gang because their story was actually interesting - and it had Pete and Kao. The arc with Sandee’s older sister I skipped, it really didn’t grab me.

But, gosh, the gang, their friendship, the way they bickered, fought and made up, I loved it. It was funny and touching and there was so much going on in the background, especially with Pete and Kao, which was revealed very late in the game only for us to realize how much that impacted the whole story.

Another thing I found interesting was the arc with Thada and the girl he saw as his sister and who had mental problems and became fixated on him. That was very intriguing and I was glad that the girl’s parents didn’t actually blame Thada for the girl’s obsession.

So yeah, Sandee, Thada, Pete, Kao and June? Great. Everything else? Pass.

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Looked for the second time, And what a disappointment it was. I really enjoyed it the first time, but to see it again was just disappointing. I thought the sister was a terrible girl who didn't want to see anything. The fl was not sure about anything and only caused a lot of fuss in the group. The mail lead was someone who was also not clear about anything, yes at the end. All in all I should never have looked at it again.This was one off my first series i ever watched in my memory it was a great serie but after watching many others ,this was a terrible storyline.

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I watched this for PeteKao moments because I thought there would be more at first (which I was horrendously wrong, my dudes), and I gotta say: it's kind of a mess, isn't it? There's so many storylines going on that I don't care about, and Sandee and Thada need to just... talk to each other? Like, why were they like that? I wanted to pull my hair out, tbh. If they would've been honest from the beginning, taking out Pete and Kao, and talked like adults, most of their issues near the end wouldn't have happened at ALL.

Also, yet ANOTHER jealous girl being the villain. Someone spare me.

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