Love sick Season 1 Episode 1

Synopsis and notes

Oh, the infamous first episode of Love Sick! I remember when I first watched this episode I almost dropped the show. Rumor has it that the feedback from this first episode was so bad that the producers changed the script for the second episode but alas that is untrue. The reality is that the show wanted to introduce the characters and the director didn’t know how to do it. With so many characters added that were not in the original novel, they decided to write their own introduction, which became the party scene in this episode. As we will see in future episodes, this show is much weaker when it deviates from the novel. So yes folks, Aims party was never shown in the novel at all.

There is no cold intro here. First thing we see is the credits, which are set to Boy Sompob’s Shake. As the story turns a bit somber, the intro song will change in later episodes to Gunsmile’s Passed. For now, it is the upbeat Shake, song by Boy Sompob himself. Boy Sompob will also go on to do the OSTs for many other BLs including Love By Chance.

We begin with two girls going to what appears to be a big party. Is the entire school here? They have money no doubt. Look at how they are dressed. Soon we learn this is Aim’s, Phuns girlfriend, birthday party. If this is your first time watching this episode you may miss this, but we see Noh and Yuri very briefly. Yuri whispers something to Noh’s ear and he reacts rather excited by making a gesture that looks like a “yesss!” as though he is super excited. This is never explained. Is he excited that they are finally going to get the cake out? In the book, Noh is almost always thinking about food.  When I first saw this, I thought maybe he was going to have sex that night LOL. After re-viewing I am inclined to think it is just Noh getting excited because he finally will get to eat cake. Seriously, this boy is beyond obsessed with food.

I found it interesting from a cultural perspective that before Aim blows the candles, she performs a wai (presses her hands like in prayer then touches her forehead with them and bows slightly).  That is a random note about culture. I will often insert these throughout my reviews.

We are introduced to Nan, who is at least part-White European or American. She calls Aim a princess and Phun a Prince. She treat Aim and Phun as a married couple, and talks about them having children in the future. I think this is how the production team wanted us to meet Aim and Phun: we should know they are a couple and that people expect them to be married and have kids.

I wrote this on my notes and I will share it with you: WHITE LOOKS SO GOOD WITH THAT SHIRT. LOL I became a fan of White, who plays Phun, pretty much the first moment I saw him. His eyes are to die for and he has a beautiful smile, gorgeous skin tone and he is so cool all the time. Anyway, enough of me salivating over White. I think the other reason I found him attractive is because he is in fact one of the oldest actors in the cast. The rest of the cast is mostly in the 15-16 range, with perhaps some of them even younger than that when this first episode was filmed.

Who are the musician and why don’t we see them again? The song they play here is “This is Love” and it is part of the OST of Love sick. I believe the cast of Love sick sings this song but I am not sure who sings what part. One of the singers sounds like White, who has a very raspy voice. In any event, we don’t see the singers who are on stage again, unless maybe they act as extras in the rest of the show.

The cast is so cute dancing, especially Sing and Captain. Sing is so goofy. If you don’t know who Sing is, he is in The Gifted (2018). If you look closely during the song part, you will also see Gunsmile and Toptap. Both actors became very popular on Instagram and Twitter after they started along Bright and Win in the 2020 super hit BL 2Gether: The Series.

Now we cut to the outside as we are introduced to Mo. She is pissed because her man, Moan, is with a woman in a car. She comes out like a lioness. I love Mo. She became one of my favorite female characters in this show. After she pulls the woman out of the car, and tries to confront her (why not confront him? He is the cheater!) Moan tries to stop her from burring her nails on this girl’s face but before it looks like he is fighting a losing battle, he turns her around and SLAPS her in the face. BTW Where did the girl go? We never see her again. But let’s take a step back here… THERE IS NO CONSEQUENCE to him slapping her. Ok, watching this I get the impression that if a woman goes crazy like that all I have to do is hit her and she will quiet down. Yes, Mo reacts to the slap on her face with, “are you a pimp? Are you a liar? Who is she?” There is ZERO acknowledgment that what just transpired was violent and wrong. Let that sink in. “We will talk when we get home” is the last thing she says to him and then she goes back to the party because “she came here to have fun”. I will talk more about this in the analysis section below.

We go back inside and now get introduced to our least favorite student, Jeed. She will be a character you will hate. For now, we will feel bad for her. She is the “new student”. NOTE: What is SHE wearing? A cowgirl outfit? If you follow the glances around the room, you will also get a hint of who she will hook up with later in the series.

Here we also get what I think is the most famous scene in this episode but if you blink you will miss it: As Phun is talking to Aim, we cut to see Noh looking away at something. There is no direct line of sight but the way it is edited you realize that both Noh and Yuri are looking at Aim and Phun. Now watch what happens when Phun puts his hand over Aim: Noh looks away! It is very subtle but it is there. I got excited because I had heard about this but had never been able to catch this until now, my 10^th time or so watching this episode.

Now we get the first look at Yuri’s and Noh relationship. She is trying to stop a girl from contacting Noh because according to her, Noh has a girlfriend. Later on in the series, you will realize how wrong this is and how toxic this relationship is.

I just also noticed something rather interesting. Look at where Earn is sitting! If this is your first time watching, never mind this comment as I don’t want to spoil anything for you.

The party also has a couple of katoey. We will see that the katoey play an important role in this show as both a “chorus” who pretty much voices some of our own thoughts and musings as viewers and as a contrast to the masculine gays of the show such as Noh and Phun.  

Cut now to more random music. I think they wanted to be a blend of Hormones with Glee. Gunsmile and Sing had too much fun. Captain is super cute anytime he is having fun. He looked so happy back then, what happened to him?

After this we see what is the first humiliation of Jeed. Grace is rotten and spoiled bad. This is obviously meant for us to feel bad for Jeed. Don’t feel bad for her. Jeed is an evil character. You will see. Kudos to the actress who did a wonderful job with Jeed. She is very credible. Trivia: She is the only professional actress in the show. She was actually a college graduate at the time they filmed Lovesick. I believe she had worked with the director in a previous film or show.

Now we get to see drunk Mo embarrass herself. Who is that assisting Mo? It is Golf 1.0 (he gets recast in Season 2, sorry to spoil that for you). This Golf is very handsome, though Golf 2.0 is even better looking. I have to say, I always liked this Golf just a bit better in the sense that his innocent looks go better with Golf’s personality. Anyway, can I give you a small spoiler? Golf is Mo’s neighbor and he likes Mo. Moan either knows or suspects this. I think Golf is also a childhood friend of Mo.

Oh, I forgot to mention this but all the girls go to a convent school which is an all-girls school. All the boys go to Friday College, an all-boys school.  

The music club seem like such a happy bunch. Sing is having too much fun.  If you can’t tell yet, I love Sing. He is awkward looking in Love Sick Season 1 and is not very attractive here but he is a bundle of fun. Watch him, he is always having a blast. You can also tell (so early on in the show!) that him and Gunsmile are close. They will later go on to play together in a band that they formed after Love Sick season 1. Both actors also went on to sign contracts with GMMTV studios and are, as of this writing, among the most popular BL actors on Instagram.

We now cut to the outside and Noh and Yuri are talking about leaving, with Noh trying to be a gentleman and make sure she gets home safe. Noh is super cute when he is trying to be a gentleman towards Yuri. You can tell he is slightly annoyed by her but wants to do the right thing. The acting here is raw and effective: Captain just seemed out of place but it really fits the situation as Noh would feel a bit out of place when Yuri is pressing him to play boyfriend. Remember deep down, Noh doesn’t really want to be Yuri’s boyfriend.

Father Earn shows up to bless the couple as they leave in Noh’s bike. Seriously, what is he wearing? He is dressed like a priest. I have tried to look at that outfite from all the angle they gave us and I still think it looks like he is dressed as a priest.

Did Noh’s moped break down? In any event, we get to see Noh be a gentleman once more and literally carry Yuri around on his bike. Does Yuri think Noh is a horse? Is she a princess? This type of situation annoys me but I know it is culturally expected of Noh to do this. I so want Yuri to get up and help him push that bike. Ok, she is probably wearing heels but still, she could at least get up and try to walk? Anyway, my other lingering question is how did he get the bike home?

We are now introduced to FRIDAY COLLEGE. Now, you will only learn this in season 2 because in season 1 everything is hinted but not directly revealed, but I will tell you that many of us wish we went to Friday College. The gay is strong in this school.

We are also introduced to the Katoey Chorus. The katoey chorus voices what we think and gives us extra information about the characters. It is a cool concept that seems to be pretty common in Thai BLs. PD the new Filipino BL, Sakristan, also uses a similar chorus concept. Having watched Thai movies before, I don’t think the Katoey chorus is a Lovesick innovation but they perhaps popularized the concept in Thai BL. In other shows, the chorus of katoey is replaced by a fujoshi chorus (e.g. My Engineer).

Earn is looking for Noh but all he says is hi to him. What did he want with Noh? We will never know.

I believe here is where the book actually starts….

We now see Noh’s group of friends. This scene is meant to depict Noh as popular, which is something that the book continuously refers to. Now, who is that among Noh’s friends? Best Kan! Best Kan is the only BL supporting actor who is more known for a porn video than his acting. Yep, a video was leaked after the second season of Lovesick had ended. In interviews he has acknowledged this video is real and seems to have an “I don’t care” attitude. His video is the most popular BL actor leaked video after Godxx Ithippat’s video. But Best Kan’s video is better 😊

Noh goes to the music club. He is the President of the music club but we are not told this yet. Noh realizes that there is a mistake in the books, can they afford to buy the drums they need?

We now cut to Mo and Mone apartment. Mo asks him if he wants to eat. He suggests she go out and buy him food. She replies “Who wants a husband who will slap his wife?” Touché. However, his answer is that she deserved it. What? ☹  

Mo gets a call from mom. Mom is visiting. Mo has to go downstairs to clean up all the glasses. She drinks that much?

Her mom stops to pee at her daughter’s apartment, really? What an excuse! Couldn’t she just stop because she wanted to see her daughter? Either the writers wanted us to think the mom is trying to be sneaky, or they felt compelled to give her an excuse and this is all they could come up with.

Her mom makes a comment about boyfriends and girlfriends living together being bad. Oh, she is in for a rude awakening sooner than later.

Mo’s mom meets Golf’s mom and apparently they know each other. Mo’s mom is happy to know that Golf is nearby in case her daughter needs something. I am going to interpret that as she is happy that another student is there and not happy because a male student is there and can help her fragile and defenseless daughter. Now, I never got this question answered but what the hell are those envelopes for donation? Donations for what? This was not explained in my subs.

Noh is looking to talk to the student council. Instead of the President, he finds the Student Council’s treasurer, Mr. Phun himself. Phun is hiding under the table. WHY? Maybe Phun couldn’t find a closet?

The budget got cut from 35,000 baht to 5,000 baht thanks to Ngoi. In season 2, we will get to see a bit more of Ngoi. Noh will do anything to get that money back. What can he do? He already ordered the Drum set! Since Noh says he will do anything, including hit the Chancellor’s head, Phun asks Noh if he would indeed hit the chancellor’s head. Really? No, not really, he says. “I want you to be my boyfriend”, replies Phun.

Cut to a video montage of Noh leaving the room while he says “F*** you” to Phun (is that just Chia Phun?) set to the tune of the song Passed…. Guess who sings Passed? Gunsmile! You will hear this song a lot in this show as the director likes to use it anytime he is showing us some kind of despair or longing in any of the characters.

Quote at the end of the episode: “Don’t forget the past”.

Analysis

So this was a very messy introduction to the main characters. The only characters I don’t recall seeing at Aim’s birthday party are Pete (August) and Om. Om is said to not be able to go to the party because he had diarrhea. Toilet humor aside, one has to wonder why he was not there.

Jeed’s introduction is really meant to make us feel bad about her. Grace is rotten but she is so over the top rotten that you feel bad for the actress, yet she does a fine job with the character. I would say that while Grace is my least favorite character in the entire show, she is a good actress. The character of Jeed will play an important role in the show and we will see later how her story gets intermixed with the Phun Noh story in various ways.  

Moan’s treatment of Mo and their toxic dynamic is meant to be a lesson for teenagers watching this, I think. But the lesson they teach may not be the right one. Mo’s attitude towards Moan is terrible. Why is she mad at the girl who is with him but not AT him? It is his responsibility as her boyfriend to not cheat. Assuming this random girl knew that Moan had a girlfriend, which is a possibility, it is STILL mostly on HIM because this random girl owes nothing to Mo but Moan does. So, again, why be mad at this girl (who she clearly doesn’t know so we can assume that most likely the girl had no idea that Moan had a girlfriend) when she should be mad at HIM? Then we add insult to injury (literally) when Moan hits Mo and Mo just freezes, stops doing what she was doing and turns towards Moan to ask again about who the girl is and why is he lying. To me this is a clear exoneration of Moan: there is no acknowledgment that what he did was wrong, Mo doesn’t cry or act shocked, and he acts like what he did is not wrong and she deserved the slap, as he later informs her. I really wish this was not in the show. It is sad that women are treated like this in Thailand. Watching this I get the impression that most men would not think twice about slapping a woman in the face if she is “hysterical” (note: did you know that the word hysterical comes from the same word as hysterectomy? Hysterectomy is the removal of all the female’s reproductive organs. Hysteria was thought to originate from the woman’s reproductive organs and thought only woman could be hysterical). I think this reflects strongly on the Thai culture. Lakorns are well known for the so-called slap/kiss trope and this is probably an example of that. Thankfully, our lovers, Phun and Noh, never do any of this slap/kiss crap.

I will leave the discussion about Katoey’s for another episode, since they didn’t play an important role here.

I mentioned the existence of a leaked video from Best Kan. Interestingly, he is not the only BL actor with a leaked video. Many people, upon learning that their favorite actor has a leaked video think, as most Western folks do, that the actor will get in trouble and find it hard to get work. While it is true that Best didn’t do much after Lovesick, this is also true for many of the actors involved in Lovesick. Lovesick had a large ensemble cast, and it is hard to think that all of them would become famous. In fact, Captain went on to do a lot of other shows and series after Lovesick and he was actually the first actor with a leaked video! While true that unlike Best, Captain’s video was illegally distributed (he was a minor and unlike Best, he filed a complain with the police), I do think that Thai culture disregards this kind of scandals. Perhaps, it is a culture that values other things that we don’t. Years later, Captain became involved in a huge scandal concerning his girlfriend, who claimed at the time that she was pregnant. This, according to many Thai sources, would have effectively ended his career. Alas, it was not true. Thus, lesson learned: In Thailand you are better off having a porn video than being an unwed parent. 😊 I will probably write an article about all the actors with leaked or allegedly leaked porn videos in another article. Suffice it to say, there are at least 6-8 confirmed videos and a similar number of unconfirmed videos that have circulated in the internet over the last couple of years. Best and God’s are the best known (no pun intended).

The music in this show is very good. I consider Lovesick to have the best OST as almost every single song in the OST is a good song. In this episode you hear two of my favorite songs, Shake (in the opening credits and during the birthday party) and Passed (during the birthday party). I encourage you to google the lyrics or YouTube a video with lyrics. They are great songs. My other favorite song from the OST is the less popular, My heart has only you. I believe there is only two subbed versions of this song: one is in Vietnamese and the other one is in Spanish. Thus, many folks have not heard the song or seen how beautiful the lyrics are… Maybe one of these days I will help sub it in English based on the Spanish sub (which BTW is based on the viet sub).

The quote at the end of this episode is “Don’t forget the past”. Was this the theme of the episode? I don’t know. I feel like there is an antiparallel relationship between Noh and Phun’s story and Mo and Moan’s story. Mo and Moan are coming apart and Noh and Phun are coming together. From the book, we know that Phun likes Noh since they were in grade school. So perhaps, this is an allusion to that. Noh should not forget the past between him and Phun? Or is it a reference to Mo who should not forget how terrible Moan has been as a boyfriend and how sweet Golf is. It could also be an admonition about Jeed’s desire to fit in. She is not from a rich family, as we will learn later. So perhaps, it is about that too? Is it all of these? I don’t know but since this episode is such a strange episode and so different from the rest of the show, I won’t dwell on it too much.

That’s it! I hope I covered everything. Please subscribe to my blog if you like it! If you want to know, it took me about 2 hours to watch the episode while taking notes and it took me about 2 hours to write this article. So yes, it will be a slow process… (I will also be doing Make it Right at the same time). See you on the next blog entry!

Episode rating: 3/5
This was not a strong episode. The editing was weird. Some scenes, like Earn looking for Noh, went nowhere. Other scenes came from nowhere or made no sense. What was wrong with Noh’s bike? Why was Earn dressed as a Priest? Too many unanswered questions.

Iconic moments: Noh’s response to Phun’s proposition.

Important moments: The way Jeed is treated sets the tone for the rest of her interactions in the show.