“The Yearbook” is more of a psychological love mystery tale; it lives in the minds of its protagonists and their actions only obliquely reflect their thoughts and feelings. It’s neither a great success nor a great failure but it is different in ways which might challenge some viewers. It deserves a look and especially for the discovery of Title Teshin Anusananan in the lead role. (He looks even more handsome with his own hair style, btw; his hair was cut short for the role.)

It’s almost impossible to know if this series was a great idea poorly executed or an amateur effort from the beginning. So many people associated with this series (director, writers, lead actors) were newbies (Man admitted that on his first day on set he didn’t even know the different instructions for slate/action/cut) that the story feels like it went into production half-baked and with seemingly no-one in control with the experience to know how to fix it.

So what is the problem with this series? It aspires to be a tear-jerker and creates a foundation story in the early episodes similar to other BL’s where the two male lead characters have known each other since childhood and who realise as they approach young adulthood that their closeness is more than friendship. The story uses flashbacks to regularly reference events in their recent and more distant past; some viewers have found this device to be repetitive and obstructive to the story’s trajectory. But I think the flashbacks suit “The Yearbook” as a mood piece; I didn’t feel to me like the usual BL situational drama.

The title “The Yearbook” is the key to what I believe the writers might have had in mind in creating this show. References to time are the clue; ostensibly, the time frame spans the lives of Nut and Phob from childhood to their early 20’s, but this is not the primary concern. “The Yearbook” is more concerned with time as it manifests itself in their minds, and in our minds we continually think over the events of yesterday as much as we do the events of last year or earlier. The young men are constantly referring back to the small moments as well as the big incidents between them, and we, the viewers, see this in the flashbacks. And the revelations via flashback are not chronological as to what each character is thinking or feeling.
Just as in real life, the boys in their minds relive the same moments again and again; this appears to have confused some viewers who can’t grasp why the same scene is being shown more than once.

(Spoiler ahead) If I’m right interpreting “The Yearbook” in this way, then the uncertain ending is also part of this approach; the future facing the young men is far from rosy or clear. Neither Nut nor Phob are secure in their futures to be pledging themselves to each other and the expectation that Nut, still a medical undergraduate, could take on by himself the medical, emotional and financial burden of Phob’s care & rehabilitation is taking Thai BL fantasies into new stratospheres of separation from reality.

Some have commented that almost nothing happens in the last episodes; this misunderstands the story. The entire series depicts the gradual realisation of love and then from that realisation, on to their commitments to each other, forged out of a crisis neither was prepared to face at first. Emotional journeys in my view are not the same as plots which are based on action and “The Yearbook” is thin on plot, thick on emotion.

The upshot of this is that big demands are made of the young actors for performances to reflect what is happening internally to their characters. Title is amazingly good but Man struggles in places. (Personally, I can’t get past the amateur if not outright cruel scheduling of putting Man’s most emotionally difficult & demanding scene on Day 1 of the shooting schedule. A newbie especially would benefit from the chance of growing into the demands of the role for a week or two before the heavy stuff is shot.)

Mean’s freshman directing effort is adequate but someone surely has to take the blame for the incessant music which is relied upon to excess IMO for emotional impact to bolster the drama.

Finally, ignore the MDL description of 8 x 50minute episodes. I suspect the show was created to achieve a friendly rating and to fit a one hour time-slot on afternoon tv. But not a single episode manages the 50 minutes minus the credits. The script is underdeveloped and has been stretched; this is clear from the fact that every episode has “fill” of interviews and similar that follow afterwards, culminating in the final episode, No. 8, being only 28 minutes in length, following which there is a further 25 minutes of interviews and behind the scenes. (Viewed on Riki Vakuten.)