Previously known as Stalker the series, and you can TELL. Co-produced by and featuring (but NOT staring) Saint and directed by Cheewin (sigh) with mostly fresh faces it was pure pulp and... I hated the plot.

In fact I was ALL OVER THE PLACE with this show.

I ADORED both queer friendship groups, and the language use that resulted, and the main character reads as out gay and a bit femme, which is lovely to see. As @heretherebedork​ pointed out this show is basically giving the characters that usually get punch downed on, mocked, side-lined, and pillorized, their own love stories and happy endings - and I LOVE THAT for them. And for Thailand.

But (and you knew there was a big ol’but coming) the stalker aspect was far too much for me. Toh, the lead, was so cringey I dropped it at ep 3 because it had become my personal hellscape of second hand embarrassment. Like Bridesmaids or The Hangover this is NOT a style of humor or romcom that I enjoy at all.

As is often the case with stories of this type, Toh came off as desperate, needy, and awkward while Nuea had no personality. This meant that I could find no reason for Nuea to fall f\in love with Toh (although sexual attraction seemed to play a BIG role and that, by episode 6 started to save the show for me). Self consciously the narrative seems to recognize its own flaw in this matter and sought to address it by hanging yet another lamplight (or two) on it in the final episode but, I was over it by then.

And while Nuea did grow a bit out of his blandness, Toh never stopped being a complete nightmare (for me). Certainly as we got to know Toh better his disposition was better understood (Austen) BUT I never grew to like him, or entirely understand why Nuea liked him, either.

I DID like how very first love and gay sexual journey of discovery Toh & Nuea’s relationship was.

This was one of those rare (and much coveted) BLs where the characters actually do seem to want to bone. In fact SCOY’s Nuea & Toh are the pinnacle of that awkward first-time super-sexualized relationship in university. Like, I REMEMBER what this was like. Knowing how cool you want to be, but also just craving another human THAT BADLY you totally forget your cool.

And frankly, I like that in a YA drama. Really good, adolescent first love, shown in a positive light with a pro-sex message as well a themes of communication and safe sex? We NEVER get that from Thailand. In fact, we rarely get it in any gay shows, anywhere, BL or not BL. Just ANYWHERE. The fact that this show featured a drunk kiss that was NEGOTIATED ahead of time blew my mind. How clever. What a subtle way to address dub con. In this aspect the actors did a GREAT job, especially Billy (who played Nuea).

There was an awkward raw visceral connection going on that really worked and that previously only Taiwan and Japan have ever really bothered with. The other show that got this DOWN was HIStory 3 the BL that shall not be named.

But otherwise, I spent more time cringing than enjoying the mains. The side couples, however.

THE SIDE COUPLES!

I lost my mind first over Sky & Jao.

A confident king who falls head over heals for the sweet scared boy with self worth issues and makes know bones about his interest. Actually we have seen this trope before, but it was so perfectly done with this show.

But then at the very end they gave us Intouch & Daisy. Daisy & Intouch did not have enough screen time and I could watch a full series all about them. Their language alone was a real pleasure to listen to. I think the show didn’t have quite enough faith in standard Thai BL watchers' willingness to invest in them as a couple, over which I am quite sad. Because i get it. But in this matter, at least, I wish the show had been even more brave and boundary pushing.

In the end, for me, this show was a real doozy. It was a mix of Thai cheer meets creepy, Taiwanese in-your-face queer, and Japanese chaos muffin slapstick (like Kieta Hatsukoi). Was it successful mixing these things? Not for me.

It had a ton of things I really did not like (e.g. the humor was crass and awkward, and the whole thing was extremely CRINGE). It also had things that really worked: (e.g. representation of multiple different kinds of queerness, about which it very Taiwanese - in that there was no doubt that the characters really did want to bone). It was the opposite of sanitized gay. Honestly, if you can make it through the first half, and survive the never ending cringe-factor that IS this show, the second half is entirely unique - content we’ve never seen before in BL.

SCOY must be applauded for giving us, without question, the queerest, most honest, most truly gay Thai BL campfest that I’ve ever seen. It has to be praised for everything that it does accomplish:

beautiful peer groups;
all powerful and encompassing friendship support;
those friend’s giving equally bad advice & gossiping;
discussions of topping versus bottoming and safe sex;
examinations of wife/husband language;
concerns around body image and self-worth;
AND the gross, weird, ugly, hilarious side of all of the above.

Did I love this show?

Absolutely not.

Did I want to love it?

Yes.

Do I admire what it was trying to do and, to a certain extent, did do?

Absolutely.

SCOY drove me nuts and made me bush but had flashes of unparalleled genius.

SCOY was many things (a lot of them annoying af) but it what it was, primarily, was actually quite special.

So, I remain conflicted.

SCOY made me feel whiplash and I hate that sensation. But I love what it was attempting. I loved when it was suddenly very sexy but then I hated SO MUCH when it was suddenly not sexy at all. I certainly fast forwarded more than I watched. But when I paused to take it in, it did get fun and enjoyable.

If you like slapstick and you don’t mind cheese and cringe then you might enjoy this BL quite a bit. In the end, this one really came down to a matter of taste. It’s not to my personal taste, the narrative was hit or miss, but its intention was pure gold. This one waffled from 5-9, so I ended up just going with 7/10.

RECOMMENDED WITH RESERVATIONS, just not the usual ones

Final note, the sub team on this one was AWESOME, gotta give them a shout out.

They did mad good work.