Sotus (2016)

At first I was not expecting to enjoy this from the couples perspective, but more from the university/ hazing angle. I mean another BL (when I did realise it was BL). Nothing wrong with a good BL story, but it's getting kinda long in the tooth.

That being said, I did not read any spoilers before (hence not knowing it was BL). The upbeat music score (Soh Sut Soh Say performed by Keng Thachaya) was just so powerful it had to be attached to something, at lease, exciting. Boy was I in for a surprise!

The actual hazing was a bit far fetched for reality, but added to the premise and story quite well. The SOTUS acronym was really fully thought out. (Could someone Thai say if it is real?) Not starting as the typical love story was, again, another plus. Trying to cipher out where it was going was like being a detective. Would it be more about the hazing and the relationships formed because of a fear of the seniors? Would it force the juniors into relationships? The development of the characters was not predictable at all.

The magnificent performance of N' Krist (Sangpotirat Perawat) and the facial expressions of N' Sinto (Ruangroj Prachaya) really added to tension and emotion. Not in any way putting down the pool of amazing Thai actors, and having watched quite a few Thai Dramas, I don't think anyone else was more worthy to play those parts. These two played well of each other and even the rest of the cast, bringing a feeling of realness to the episodes.

The ending. Wow. It is just the perfect circles of circles. Karma, faith and such. Everything just falling together for a reason!

The only one critique I could find was the secondary characters could get a little more development. They do take a backseat to the main. By backseat I mean all the way in the back of an articulated bus! A little more time about them would have been just perfect! This, in no way, takes away from the realness or storytelling. It's just a very, very tiny gripe.

All in all a worthy story, impeccable acting and amazing music score. Well worth the watch! Has to be the best for it's year and possibly one of the best Thai Dramas of all times! Hormones set a bar, but SOTUS has raised it!

Read More

A lot of people has been suggesting this drama so i thought id watched it and see wha the fuzz is about. There was so much shouting in the first 2 episodes that my housemates complained about the noise.

The title says it all - Its an entire series about the SOTUS tradition, if you are looking for romance/love story, i feel like there was too little of it here. Kudos, at least for trying to show something a little bit different.

The strength of this series is the cast. Krist and Singto, and even all the support did a good job.

However, 20 episodes for the whole series is just way too much and I think they could squeeze the entire show into 10 episodes and it will still convey the same message. It feels like there were so many over extended scenes to fill up the time.

Lastly, the actual love relationship between the 2 main cast didnt really develop until the last few episodes leaving them with little time to actually portray the love story - there was almost no intimate scenes. Its like the characters stayed in the closet for too long and didnt want to ever go out. Even when they were alone there was almost no intimacy, leaving me to question if its really love or just bromance.

Read More