YYY – Episodes 0 – 3

First off let me say this. I am super excited to be doing a joint review of this series with my good friend Red from Psycho Milk. I have long been a fan of the site, of Red’s reviews and news for many years. The insights, honesty, praise and criticism makes his reviews a must read for me. I really can’t wait to read his take on this series as well.

Psycho Milk – Boys Love Around the World

What is YYY? It’s a Thai yaoi sitcom cooked up by director Shewin Thanamin Wongskulphat. I honestly went into this mostly blind. I love WHYRU by P’Shewin as well as appreciate his other works such as Make it Right, Make It Right 2, and the continuation of a classic Lovesick 2. I knew the premise is about a crazy apartment and features a few actors I know, like Talay Sanguandikun, who is also in My Engineer and Poppy Domundi, who was in WHYRU and is a Domundi TV personality.

Disclaimer: If you haven’t watched YYY, do so before you read this review. I’ll post the links below.

YYY International Links

YYY Episode 0

Everyone in bl knows, loves and can almost recite by heart Raikantopini, the warning about contents that may not be appropriate for minors. Well YYY makes their own version of this and it sets the tone for the series.

Be warned though. TV shows here in the US have to feature warnings before showing something like this intro in case the viewers have Epilepsy. It could trigger a seizure. And I am really not joking. If you have that, I hope you will skip this intro.

Right away you know this show doesn’t aim to take itself seriously. It’s going to be a wild and wacky ride, so buckle up folks.

The scene begins with a video camera recording three trans women, who are clearly unaware that filming has begun. They are sitting in very unfeminine poses, until a voice tells them that the are on, then they straighten up, posing coquettishly. The birds eye view is from that of the cameraman, at least for this episode. The intro credits roll while a song with a distinct Latin American vibe plays. It had a fast drum beat that makes you want to sway along with the music. After the credits are over, we go back to the three women.

We start of meeting Porpla, a trans woman played by Poppy Domundi, and her two minions, Mocha and Latte, who are also trans women. The three women are trying to come up with a name for the segment of the show that is being taped about them. The clothing is very over the top, and of course Poppy doesn’t have a subtle bone in his body. Honestly the placement of the elephant made me snicker just a little.

To be honest, I really am not sure what I think about Poppy playing a trans woman. I don’t know if the other two are trans actors, but it feels very caricature of a masculine trans woman. But I say this based on the actual trans women I know in real life, and I think, honestly they wouldn’t know what to make of this either. I don’t think they are making fun of trans women, I just feel they are making fun of every stereotype as you will come to see. I’d be interested in what you guys think about this.

Back to the story. Porpla owns an apartment complex and runs it with the help of her minions Mocha and Latte. We get to meet each of the apartments residents as they get asked questions by the director of this documentary style film.

The first person we meet is Nott. He is the resident mechanic and inventor. He is sincere, but a bit of a mad scientist, always trying to make something new.

Then we meet Pun, the newest resident and roommate/fake boyfriend of Nott. As he says, there is a lot going on at this apartment complex.

Next we meet Ohm, oldest friend of Nott’s and resident pervert.

Then we have Arm who is from a rich family, that’s the secret he’s trying to hide from everyone else. He doesn’t need to live there but does because of his secret crush on Nott.

We also have the pretend couple Pao and Pun, who make a living off playing up bromance on Instagram.

There are the Chinese brothers, Wang Chao and Mahan who want to be Thai actors. Of course when we meet them they are dressed like they stepped out of a Chinese period drama. Sigh. Another trans woman named Chino who is a human coffee shop and a motorcycle taxi driver Grab. And we have Yuri/Yuki who is Yuri pretending to be a guy so she can come into the apartment because she has a crush on Nott, but women aren’t allowed into the complex. Worth noting is that Yuri shares the same trait as Yuri in Lovesick by pretending that Noh/Nott are their boyfriend they are destined to loose out to guys because their love is both a) not interested in them and b) gay.

Basically that’s episode 0 in a nutshell. An introduction to some seriously wacky characters, all of whom seem to be hiding something from each other.

YYY Episode 1

We start off with Nott tinkering around, soldering something in his room. Of course, a lovely nod to Lovesick we had to have a goldfish in a bowl. It made me smile. Honestly i do love the winks and nod at other classic bl. Nott introduced himself and says someone came into his life and changed it for the better. In rushes his current roommate Om, and you find out quickly that this is not who he’s talking about. Om is his oldest friend and resident pervert.

When we are introduced to him, he spins around in space with the word sex all around him. He is in a towel clutching a centerfold wanting to share his latest obsession with Nott, who is not interested at all because he’s in the middle of repairing Porpla’s phone.

This is leads to a weird chain of events that feel like a fever dream. It’s such a bizarre sequence of events I’m just going to insert the clip. I also find it oddly amusing they feel they need to place a warning in case anyone tries to recreate this scene at home with their own goldfish, lol.

Meanwhile Porpla, Mocha and Latte are in Porpla’s apartment watching WHYRU with Saifah and Zon about to kiss. Apparently Porpla is a huge Y fan. The room is decorated with pictures and images of various bl shows. See if you can spot them all and tell me in the comments section.

Right as the Saifah Zon slip kiss begins, we switch back to Nott and Om’s room where the soldering gun starts sparking and leads to a power surge/outage. This causes a fire in Porpla’s room that destroys her precious bl DVD’s, so in a rage she calls for an emergency tenant meeting. I love this raging Porpla with Maleficent costume channel her inner bad bitch. 😁 The WHYRU poster is a nice touch, don’t you think?

During the meeting of all the residents on the roof of the building, she takes it in turn to accuse each one of them. I did snicker just a bit about the Chinese brother who kept up the bad word play until Porpla gave in.

until she reaches Om, who is holding his breath. Rather than letting his friend suffer, Nott confesses and Porpla decides to throw him out. Enter Pun, wheeling a suitcase behind him.

Pun wants to know about a room, but Nott rushes up, throwing his arm around Pun, announcing to Porpla they are boyfriends. Pun, obviously confused, still agrees to tell Porpla they are dating. As expected of a true Y girl, she is happy to have him move in with Nott, forcing Om to go live with Arm. They start to pack Om up, and I say this is one of the funniest moments in the show so far. I’ll just leave it here. And no, it’s not a portable battery….in English it’s called a fleshlight or pocket p**sy. Sorry, it’s what they are called. I still can’t believe that this made it into the show. 😳🤣🤣

We are back with Nott and Pun. While Nott tinkers around on a robotic dog, they begin to ask question of each other. Nott tells Pun that he wants to open his own shop and help people fix things. Pun replies with skepticism, tells Nott that he doesn’t believe it. This leads Nott to ask Pun what his dream is. Pun replies he’s done everything his dad had ever wanted, so he never had a chance to find out what he likes or what his dreams are, so he moved out. Nott asks if his parents will worry and Pun claims they don’t care and they want him to fail and come back begging. Pun claims he can’t let them win, that he will live there and have his own dream. This is a very sweet scene. I like how open they are to each other in this moment.

After talking, Pun goes to bed first, uneasy about sharing his space with someone. Nott looks over to check on him, with concern. It’s sweet. Once Nott heads to sleep, he begins to snore like crazy, thus making Pun unable to sleep. Nott wakes up as Porpla is at the door the next morning. Pictures say everything, so I’m just going to drop this here. 😁

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When Porpla opens the door, I can’t help but crack up so much at how over the top they go for this scene. I mean really over the top. So much that Porpla covers her crotch as she leaves. 🤣🤣🤣

YYY Episode 2

Pun is finally asleep and Nott wakes up refreshed, cranks up the music, opens the blinds and starts stirring coffee which makes Pun super cranky. Pun tells Nott that he has a photo shoot that day and needs rest to look his best. This surprises Nott, who asks Pun whether he’s famous or not. Pun shows Nott his IG account with Pao which has 100K followers selling their bromance. Pun rolls over to sleep and a moment later hears a notification bell from Instagram letting him know that Nott is now following him, which makes Pun smile.

It’s laundry day for Nott, sho is on his way to the washer in the complex, when Om drags him back to Om’s room in order to coerce Nott into doing his laundry as he is broke.

Ok, after gathering the clothes, he and Arm leave to do the washing, leaving this behind. Om really is a pervert.

Meanwhile Yuri tries to sneak in but gets caught by Porpla who delights in telling Yuri that Nott has a lover who has moved in with him, and they spent the night in each other’s arms. Yuri runs off and is super jealous.

Next scene we see Pao and Pun get caught by a suspicious Porpla who wants to know their relationship. Pun explains they are the imaginary couple and shows her their Instagram page as proof. This makes Porpla fan girl so hard, since this will mean she has a real life couple and a imaginary couple in her building.

Back at the laundry area the twins put in too many coins and short circuited the machine. Nott and Arm come in and Nott offers to fix it, leading to the next scene to honestly make me laugh.

Yuri, dressed as a guy sneaks in to the laundromat. Everyone recognizes her as Yuri. She has a hissy fit over Nott having a boyfriend but in the middle of the rant Porpla shows up, leaving everyone to freeze in their tracks. Yuri claims she a Japanese guy named Yuki who is a friend of Notts. Porpla buys it.

Honestly I was so confused here. I kept thinking I must have missed something because where did all the people go when they fell down, how did they magically end up swimming in the washer? I know you should have suspension of disbelief, but it felt like we were in a pseudo realistic if not farcical story, but it turned into fantasy without a Segway and it jarred me enough out of the narrative, I didn’t much care for it. But playing Under the Sea from the Little Mermaid while they swam around was kind of amusing.

We see the imaginary couple do their photo shoot. Then they head to the laundromat to wash something and Pun puts a coin in, and everyone begins to climb out of the washing machine. I feel like I am in another wack dream sequence at that moment. Everyone is back and goes their separate ways, leaving Yuri to hang out with Nott while he fixes the machine. In comes Om who asks Yuri out to dinner. After they leave Nott gets philosophical.

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Back in Nott’s room, he’s busy inventing something that will muffle his snores so Pun can sleep. Nott wants to know the relationship between Pun and Pao and is relieved to know that they are just friends. As the two lay in bed, not facing each other, Nott takes a risk and tells Pun sweet dreams. Pun says that Nott is weird, but says it back to him, but by that time Nott is asleep already.

Also the scene with Chino and Grab get flirty and frisky at the washing machine too. I mean just what can I say about this? 😳

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YYY Episode 3

We start off with Porpla and her minions plucking petals from a rose, saying he loves me, he loves me not. Guess that is universal. Then the two Chinese brothers are sitting there in front of them saying that they are just like Porpla, a virgin.

The Porpla makes them sing and dance to a wacky song. It’s just bizarre.

Then we see Nott and Pun running around the apartment complex, flirting with each other. They end up in the elevator and get trapped there. Pun feels guilty he didn’t make up with his dad and starts to panic. Then Nott pulls out a rug from his back pocket and somehow magically transforms the elevator into a cafe bistro. They sit there having coffee, and Pun asks Nott why he ended up there in the run down apartment.

Nott opens up and tells Pun about being an orphan raised by monks at the temple. He felt lucky he was able to go to vocational school to learn a trade, but ended up in the apartment complex after, but he thinks of the people there as his family. Pun feels guilty for being selfish when he actually had parents. Nott doesn’t blame him, but tells him that everyone has their own problems. Once again they are sharing with each other and it’s sweet. Both of them decide they should be cheering for each other and they give a sweet hug. While a song from WHYRU plays, I associate these songs strongly with WHYRU characters and storylines, so I’m not crazy about its inclusion. It happens many times, playing different WHYRU songs during these episodes.

Meanwhile Yuri called Porpla as Nott and Pun were trapped in the elevator. Porpla decides the Yaoi gods are punishing her, so she decides to have everyone pray to the Yaoi gods in front of the elevator.

Mocha goes to investigate to find that Wang Chao and Mahan have been flipping the switch back and forth, causing the elevator to stall.

Inside the elevator Pun climbs up Nott to try to reach the ceiling. The elevator moves, and thus when the elevator doors open they’ve fallen into a kiss.

This next scene is almost straight from Make It Right, so I appreciate the wink and nod, It was cute.

Last few scenes we have Arm trying to ask Om what to do if he has a crush on someone. Om proceeds to hypnotize Arm into finding a husband, just like the plot in Make It Right where Lukmo hypnotizes Peak into liking a guy. Of course Om is with his love doll when doing this. 🙄

This leads to an odd love triangle between clueless Nott, crushing Arm, and catching feelings Pun.

This leads us to another love is like lesson.

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Overall impression: I think this show has potential. I feel like the first episode they were trying to find their rhythm. The second and third managed a better balance between slapstick comedy and actual heart. I am actually rooting for Nott and Pun. I wasn’t sure in the first bits if I was going to be able to connect with any characters in this show, but they’ve won me over. With that said, I still don’t know if I like the fantasy elements they throw in, but the elevator scene seemed quite like a magician pulling out all the stops to make someone smile, so that was quite cute.

Rating: 3 out of 5

We will continue to review episodes as they come out. So please let me know what you think. I know you guys will check out Psycho-Milk’s review as well.