Quintessential BL done perfectly!

My School President is my favorite BL because it is quintessential BL, it's BL done right. It's as if they took all the great parts we already loved and made them even better, and eliminated all flaws that bothered me in other shows before. When they included clichés they were aware of it and portrayed it with a wink, making it feel humorous and self aware. It doesn't have a groundbreaking plot and BLs with more outstanding unique storylines or cinematography will come along but I don't think anything will manage to make me feel like this show did for a long long time. It plays in a high school setting and I know so many people didn't even want to give it a chance because of that but then ended up falling for it after all. I never really minded high school settings beside them being repetitive but I also didn't have high expectations, this stole my heart though. It's a warm comforting blanket around my heart and has amazing rewatch potential. I've watched it so often already I know scenes and dialogues by heart. I'm truly amazed how they were able to take a premise that seems so "basic" and turn it into the most exciting show that I've seen in a while. It's proof you don't need to reinvent the wheel and be all out there to create something valuable and progressive.

This show shines in so many aspects. First of all it's kind of giving High School Musical and Glee but done right. Usually singing in BLs can be very cringy but the actors here are all so talented, they practiced well to be able to sing and play their istruments for real. All the songs are amazing, both the covers and OSTs, every single one either makes me automatically dance along and do karaoke by myself or makes me emotional. Genuinely does not include a single bad song, I looked forward to the music every episode. Fourth has such a beautiful voice, so do Gemini, Satang and Ford. I also love how they changed up the intros and outros, it reminded me of how anime do the same when a different arch starts and every single one was well edited, cute and creative.

My gosh this show was fun. The editing is, well, typical thai humor. Definitely something one has to get used to if you're new to bl but I personally found it amazing. The way sounds were used really added to the show by making you catch exactly what they want you to catch and setting the mood well. Even the background soundtracks you grew fond of over the course of the show. You can tell from the editing, to the acting, to the writing, directing, every tiny thing that this is a show everyone on the team felt passionate about. It certainly wasn't a project that was created carelessly just because it makes easy money. You can even tell looking at the concept trailer compared to the final result that they changed so so much in the story within that year. They didn't just follow the novel and called it a day, they really thought about what would be best and at the end the show honestly can't be compared to the novel anymore at all because its two different entities, which i'm grateful for. The actors... wow wow wow. Usually I really don't expect much from gmmtv newbies. Most of them still have a lot of room to grow. But GemFourth astounded me, admittedly this wasn't their first project, they had already worked on moonlight chicken before filming MSP, but still these 18 year olds knocked it out of the park. Both absolutely amazing but especially Fourth with his voice acting, comedic timing and microexpressions was so amazing. I honestly see both of them up with the best GMMTV actors already and lovingly title fourth my little Gun, he only has to learn how to actually cry real tears now. Their chemistry is amazing, it makes total sense they were matched up. The scenes they imrovised were always the cutest!

Lets get to the actual show/plot itself. I love how it served us a lot of different things, honestly at the beginning it was positively overwhelming how much happened in just one episode because I wasn't used to that. They managed to make a lot of things fit into 12 episodes without making it feel as if it was paced too quickly. MSP offers some short enemies to lovers which was very fun, it gives you butterflies during the stage in which they develop feelings, friends to lovers, theres secret dating, established relationship, i mean truly giving us everything we want here. The vibe it has is mostly very lighthearted but they also managed to include depth and some very touching moments, but without dragging out angst. There were no forced misunderstandings, no unneccessary pain, they showed reality but in a really hopeful way. It said, "no matter what you're going through someone is there". I think big part of that was not just focussing on romantic love but love in general. At the end of the day that is what this show is about, relationships. The one between tinn and gun which is so sweet and heartwarming but also friendship and family. They did it so well. It's also a show about dreams, about not giving up, about coming of age/having to face the future. If you want something mature, this isn't it, its all very innocent and pure, but I think even adults can enjoy it a lot. Its like a comfort place for people who have already been through those stages of life and also a great show for children/teens to watch that will hopefully inspire them in many different ways. It was so funny sometimes, almost camp, made me laugh, cry, squeal. God my cheeks hurt a lot, i lost my breath too. I don't think I've ever felt this passionately about a show. It was just so much fun, its still fun. I can rewatch this so many times and never grow tired. The show is a complete package, wrapped up with a bow. Its very satisfying and comforting to watch because the don't have open endings. There are some bigger themes that play a role throughout the entire show and slowly develop, but mostly every episode has it's own conflict that is resolved by the end. Every episode is wrapped up in itself. Only the penultimate and finale, episode 11 and 12 I feel have to be watched together because they flow into each other. They also took care to give every character an end to their story. They didn't just introduce characters and forgot them by the end, their finale was honestly perfect. It let us fully appreciate everything we loved about it, say goodbye to all characters and get to know where they are at, even getting some final redemptions.

I love the entiere cast, love all the characters. Chinzhilla is so heartwarming and entertaining. Tiw is the best friend ever who we all deserve in life and should also aspire to be like ourselves! I also really appreciate the parents of our mains in this show. They were present all throughout from beginning to end of the show so we got to know them and were able to build our opinions on them. The parents weren't just shown in context of a conflict they're involved in, but were consistently present in their children's lifes. I found that very well done. The side couples are really adorable and charming in different ways, I was sad that one of them was paid less attention than the other and kind of got the short end of the stick, but I also get why they did it the way they did because I think too much focus could have taken away from the show as a whole. I still enjoyed the moments the side couples has very much. There's something for everyones taste; some people like the side couples more than tinngun, me personally I love all but the main couple TinnGun are definitely my babies. I fell for them hard. I honestly can't think of any couple I've seen in bl that was healthier, and tinngun is carrying that crown only being high school students, how crazy is that. Their support for each other was so good to see. My heart is warming up again thinking about it.

I don't really have any complaints when I look at the show as a complete package but I guess there are some tiny parts I could "criticise"/warn future viewers about. First of all, after the first half of the show between the two main characters there isn't too much development. They do grow but it's really more about them as individual people, their place in the world and their connection to other characters, more than it is about them facing issues between each other. Rather than fighting, they went through outside conflicts hand in hand. I guess for some people this could feel dragged out/boring? Personally I really liked that. I tuned in because I wanted that cuteness and comfort of them and didn't need them to face big obstacles. I was simply satisfied seeing more of them existing. One thing that did feel a little dragged out is that this show teased kisses... a LOT. By the end it felt a bit frustrating. I would have been fine if there was no kiss but the fact that they led up to and teased it over and over made it feel like this big thing that was coming and set the expectations high. It did pay off but those teases are a cause of annoyance you'll have to prepare for, MSP is definitely edging you. Theres also a few moments where actors of side characters could have done a better job at acting but that's honestly fine. I can't think of anything else that is negative I liked it so much.

The show does great at doing callbacks and references to things that have been brought up before. There is always a red string. They were also the first or at least one of the first BLs i can remember to do nonlinear storytelling the way they did and it was so well done and a real catcher to me! I can definitely see more shows following their lead now. I guess in that context I can think of one more thing that might bother some people which is that there's a lot of dreams/fantasies and sometimes you see a scene and aren't immediately sure whether it's actually real or not lol. Personally I thought the signs were there and it was clear but not all people pay attention to hints in sound and filmmaking like that.

One more thing I greatly appreciated about this show was that during the period of time before TinnGun confessed their feelings, they really got to know each other. They didn't just have cute moments and connected over being attracted to each other and flirting, but actually got to know each other as people. They were vulnerable with each other, opened up, shared information about themselves. And the show let us experience these situations with them and it really made sense that they ended up falling for each other. It was a natural development and we were taken on that journey with them. I like that a lot. With the way Tinn treated Gun you really got why Gun would start liking him. Tinn gave Gun a support that he was missing, not that Gun didn't have other great people around him because he does have such an amazing mom and friendgroup, but due to his past and position as band leader he put a lot of pressure on himself to always smile and to be strong for the people relying on and caring for him. That was something he could drop around Tinn, Tinn was there for him and gave him a space where Gun could be "weak". My gosh Tinn... what a boy. What a sweet boy. Without revealing too much of the plot I liked that it never seemed as if he was trying to take advantage of gun and do things just so that gun likes him, but instead you could tell everything he did he did because he genuinely wants Gun happy, no matter if it includes him or not.

Once again I can just repeat its FUN. Its happy vibes. Its exactly what I needed, came at the perfect timing. Its cute, well written, inspiring, and I think they did well at not reducing it to the struggles with ones queer identity while also simultaneously portraying the world realistically. Theres queer joy, not many explicit conversations about queerness but the pride is tangible. The characters are comfortable with themselves but towards the end have to find their footing in a world that isnt always kind. Other than that here you really just have a love story that is relatable to everyone no matter how you identify. It shows the magic of first love/high school romance, the way every tiny thing feels exciting and special, the meaning in ordinary things. You start squealing over things you usually wouldn't care about. It also shows how big and daunting certain things can feel at that age. So yeah its a show enjoyeable for everyone but I also think they did well at making it a show that can educate allies and feels like great representation, as much as fits within a lighthearted high school setting . It filled me with so many positive emotions, it's my treasure. So yeah, thats that. Time passed so quickly following this show but now looking back it feels like its been ages since i discovered it, and as if MSP portrays three different lifetimes. So much content. Thats that, I love MSP, P'Au, P'Aof and my precious babies GemFourth.

Read More