The Best Story (2021)

NOSTALGIC EMOTIONS says "hi"

I admit this series has noticeable BL tropes and cliches but I think they worked. I always thought way better series are disappointingly shorter than average and worst ones. The character of War which is Best puts me in his shoe easily. I was really relating all the things I did for my crush. The nostalgic feeling of having butterflies in your stomach everytime you come across your crush. I relived it in the best way possible.

I thought the cinematography for this one has nostalgia and old-school effect attached to it just like The Yearbook and I Told Sunset About You. I love that the setting seemed to happened back in the days were walkmans were everyone's gadgets. I just love the overall feeling of the series. I also want to point out a kinda similar scene of 2gether in some scene in this series: Best playing songs in front of the crowd where Dew watches it just like Sarawat on stage and Tine watches him. I thought the Best's friends who support him to get close to Dew is cute being not homophobic which is a less of a burden. I thought that the actors really played their respective roles very well. The "yearning of attention from your crush" is what really makes me relate to this miniseries.

There are few things I want to talk about that is unsatisfactory: bad bitch trope and homophobic parent. I know these things exist but please for the love of God, I'm begging you to remove bad bitch who always plan to ruin relationship just because they can. One thing about the homophobic mother of Dew who annoys me as the girl. God, I don't even like them.

Apart from those, I commend the OST of this drama, being a chef's kiss. I also thought the plot is rather simple and easy to follow as it is relatable that it made me feel things. In fact, when Dew moved and Best just cried seeing that apparently Dew has feelings for him too which is for me, the reason why this series needs to be longer or have a second season. That cliffhanger made me hope for a season 2. If it plans to have a second one they better deliver.

This one is just one of the best BL that caught my heart strings.

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Astonishingly Good BL Series

This is an astonishingly series that went in a completely different direction than I expected it to. I was convinced that I would perhaps get through one episode and then go, “Eh”. But I was so very wrong. The dynamics of this series is quite profound. This series ends so remarkably that I was deeply and profoundly moved by it. While it is only three episodes, they managed to capture the angst, trauma, and reality of two high school boys floundering trying to figure out what they felt and how to act on that. . It is one of the best coming of age stories I have seen in a long time and frankly brilliantly acted.

You can read my full review at BLBliss.com.

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A heart-warming and emotional series about young love

For a 3-episode series, I went in with little expectation as I knew they would just rush into things and the freedom that a full-length series possess on developing characters will be lost here. But this was surprisingly good. The series gently touched on a lot of topics and I have nothing but appreciation for that successful attempt.

The story dives in to the school life of Best, who is secretly in love with a basketball player named Dew but has no courage to talk to him let alone confess his love. Egged on by his friends, he decides to write a love song for him which he gets a chance to perform during the school festival. Dew is enamoured by the performance and rest is history. Or is it?

What starts as a soft and sweet story about secret love, supportive friends and finding the inner strength to not keep it a secret anymore suddenly takes a different turn. Only when you feel that things are looking bright for the 2 main leads reality hits like a truck. Not everything falls in to place because you made a genuine attempt. We see the characters confronting jealousy, self-acceptance, homophobia and family pressure. Will their young love survive all these?

War and Yin did an exemplary job at playing the characters and their chemistry together was undeniably good. The supporting characters aptly shouldered the responsibility of pushing the narrative forward.

In conclusion, this series plays with your heart-strings and you feel a plethora of emotions. If a series about puppy love and strong emotions is right up your alley give this one a watch

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Not the best ending

I'm not forgiving ya'll for that ending. That was wrong. This was one of the first descriptions I have read in a hot minute. and this was 3 hours, so I was like, whatever, I will knock this out in like 3 hours. Yeah, it didn't take 3 hours. It actually did; never mind, it felt so much longer. I love me some yin and war, and the start was a really good one, and then the end. They were so wrong for that. Unreasonably wrong for that.

The stupid girl whose name I can't be bothered to remember is a little snitch, and I hate her. She's so wrong for that. She's actually just starting shit because Dew doesn't like her. Like what? I know in the end we found out that he did like Best, but at that moment she had no idea; she was literally just going based on Dew staring at Best while he was singing on stage. Now I know why he doesn't like you, girl.

This was short, but it also felt like the longest three episodes I have ever seen, and I don't really know why. It felt slow-burning, but how can something be slow-burning when it's this short? It can't; that's the thing. Meh, it wasn't bad; just the ending was bad. I like the plot of a secret crush and a big confession because I find those so cute and adorable.

They could have had Dew run after Best and be like, I love you, bro, move to Chiang Mai with me. and he could have been like, But your mom and Dew could have said, Fuck my mom, I love you. and then they share an awkward kiss as the camera pans out to a sunset and all their friends in the back. Sorry, I got a little to excited with this goofy ass ending.

I love yin and war. They are a good pair, and I love them. Ive been obsessing over their partners in crime tralier for their coneert for the past 9 months (since the video has been out), so it's nice to see these two in another show with their sweetness and good vibes. You can disagree with me if you want, but my god, war is gorgeous. His beauty is ethereal; it's unreal. Oh my god, and the way he speaks, it's like he's floating, and he's so cute and handsome, with his skin shining and his eyes shining. Oh my god. Okay uh anyway, thats really it.

I mean, you can watch this. It's short; there's not a whole lot going on and not a lot of brain power. so a light watch I wouldn't recommend it, but I would at the same time. Do what you want; don't let some person on the internet dictate your favorite dramas. Yeah. Okay bye!

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When homophobia wins the game

'The Best Story' (Thai: ครั้งหนึ่งที่รัก) is a Thai BL and LGBT-themed television series broadcast between July 9 and 23, 2021. Played in its lead roles by Wanarat Ratsameerat (War) as Best, and Anan Wong (Yin) as Dew, the series depicts a romance between two young high school students.
Directed by Ratthapon Keawmeesri (Heavy), the central thread of the three-episode series is the way in which both boys begin to forge an emotional relationship and the obstacles they must face. Four other teenagers also appear: Brigght (Prat Itthichaicharoen) and Ray (Thanakom Minthananan (Win), Best's best friends; and Dave (Nadol Lamprasert - Bonz) and Tar (Patsapon Jansuppakitkun - Bever), Dew's inseparable comrades.
From the Line TV network, 'The Best Story' addresses topics such as romance, homosexuality, emotional diversity, secondary education, friendship, homophobia, youth and its way of relating, or personal evolution.
I don't intend to give much spoilers beyond what I have to say due to the focus of the review.
We are faced with a sweet, tender and brief love story, both for the length of time it lasts and for the brevity of the series, which follows the code of the best Thai BL: the main character, usually a high school or university student, He secretly falls in love with a fellow student, but does not dare to confess his feelings. Both boys will deepen their friendly relationship in the hope of declaring their love for each other. But this moment, expected by everyone, never comes.
While the shy Best does not confess because he believes that Dew loves a girl and, therefore, his feelings are not reciprocated, Dew does not confess his feelings for Best either, first also due to his shyness, and then to passivity, hopelessness and the fear of his mother's homophobia.
This light but realistic teenage romantic drama stands out for its evocative music and the good acting of the two protagonists, whose on-screen chemistry shows emotional physical interactions full of naturalness, warmth and positivity.
The romance is palpable in the small everyday moments that manage to convey the affectionate relationship of the characters played by War and Yin, whom we have previously seen starring in the 2020 Thai BL drama 'En of Love: Love Mechanics', where they also play a romantic couple. This same series also features the participation of the actors who play Ray, Bright and Tar in supporting roles.
An aside to talk about the magnificent cinematography. Despite having few settings, such as the classrooms, the school hallways and courtyards, Best's bedroom or the kitchen-dining room of Dew's house, the camera work is indisputable to make the viewer feel the emotions of his characters. characters with immense closeness and authenticity, with memorable intimate frontal and side shots with the characters looking into the lens or walking in front of it.
But Heavy's work is not only good in its colorimetry; It is also outstanding in terms of planning and use of the frame, bringing together the vast majority of the attention centers of the shots at the same point to ensure that the subsequent assembly of the series is legible at all times.
But, as I said from the title of the review, this focuses on homophobia and intolerance, and not only for being present in the series, but for coming out victorious over love.
Although everything seemed to indicate that the main couple would have a happy ending, related to the confession of love by one of the two boys, presumably Best because he was the one we knew from the beginning is in love with Dew, the truth is that later We know that this also corresponds to your feelings.
However, the romance is spoiled by the actions of the only two female characters in the series: Fern (Masa Marisa Kittelberger), the girl in love with Dew and not reciprocated by him, and Dew's mother.
Dew nobly rejects Fern, his friend and fellow student, who has been secretly in love with him for some time. Once again, Dew is honest with her, and confesses to being in love with a boy. Everything indicates, after the pleasant and confidential conversation held by the two, that Fern would respect Dew's sexuality and support him in his relationship with Best.
However, Fern betrays the friendship and trust placed in her by Dew by confessing her most intimate feelings, and full of hatred, homophobia, jealousy and meanness, she goes to Dew's homophobic and also intolerant mother to "save her son." of the influence of the homosexual Best". Is he doing it out of spite? So that Dew won't be happy with the person he loves? Why does she think that abruptly outing him will make the boy love her? Did he have the right to reveal Dew's sexuality?
If we do not know the answers to the first questions, it is true that, in relation to the last question, no one would ever act ethically; That is to say, it is not right or fair to violate someone's privacy, to remove them from the drawer, especially when it is motivated by petty and selfish interests.
Why does Dew's mother react so cruelly to the rumor that her son might be gay? Will you listen to your son? Will he also oppose any homosexual relationship of his son in the future, when Dew is of age? Will he continue to throw him out of the house with each new gay relationship? Will he ever accept his son? Will she be willing to prevent his happiness for life?
And Dew? Why don't you defend your love? Why accept your parent's decisions, which lead to the loss of your future and happiness?
If until that moment, the story was tender and cute, from this moment on, already in the final moments, homophobia prevents the two boys, who admit that they love each other, from being able to have their happy ending. The romance between Best and Dew can't even begin.
Dew, practically expelled from his home by his mother, will only be left to write partial sentences on social networks that say: "I like-", but without daring to complete the phrase with a "I like you", much less place the name of who they are addressed to.
What is the intention of the creators in giving this ending to the series? Will it be a denunciation of the reality suffered by the Thai LGBT+ community, and in which society and the family, especially parents, have a great responsibility? Or to promote the viewer's debate and reflection on such cruel and real topics as homophobia and intolerance, or jealousy and betrayal? Only if these were the reasons, the outcome of the series seems good to me.
While it is true that Thai BL series have contributed to the Southeast Asian nation being seen as a welcoming place for homosexuals, it does not mean that its laws are egalitarian or that it is truly respectful of the rights of members of the LGBT+ community. . As a general rule, Thai society in general and parents in particular do not accept the homosexuality of their children, and in some cases they even expel them from home.
The harsh reality is that lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people in Thailand may face legal situations not experienced by non-LGBT residents. Same-sex sexual activity is legal, but such couples and households headed by same-sex couples do not have the same legal protections as heterosexual couples. It is estimated that around eight percent of the Thai population, five million people, are part of the LGBT demographic.
In 2013, the Bangkok Post states that "while Thailand is seen as a tourist haven for same-sex couples, the reality for locals is that the law, and often public sentiment, is not so liberal."
For its part, a 2014 report from the United States Agency for International Development and the United Nations Development Program notes that LGBT people "still face discrimination that affects their social rights and employment opportunities," and "They face difficulties in gaining acceptance of non-traditional sexuality, although the tourism authority has been promoting Thailand as a gay country."
A decade later nothing has changed. There is still constant and systematic discrimination against Thai minorities, including the LGBTI community. Despite the country having a law against discrimination against sexual minorities, there are legal gaps that still allow the stigmatization of said human group.
As I point out in the title, homophobia may have won the game, depending on the series, but it will not win the fight for human rights. Hate may win some battles, but the final victory will be love's.

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