It’s been too long, blog. I have missed you. And you, whoever reads this. 😁 I’ve been concentrating on our LoveWithoutGender site. I love it, but I’ve missed this little corner of the Web. Glad you are here and hope you stick around.❤️
I’m back to review this show. By review, we know it means in depth analyzation.😋 I can’t help myself. I love to dive in.
Secret Crush on You is directed by Cheewin Thanamin Wongskulphat & Co-Produced by Saint Suppapong Udomkaewkanjana. It’s adapted from the novel Stalker: The Secret Crush by Darin.
Warning: If you haven’t seen it, go watch it. Then come back and read this. I hope some of you will tell me your thoughts.
Cast List
Opening Scene
We open on a colorful scene, very typical Shewin style. I love that he is so drawn to color. It shows in all his works. The color palettes are bold. But rather than drawing attention away from the scene, it enhances the mood.
I love the high flying cheerleaders and the tumblers. They immediate infuse the scene with movement and enthusiasm.
The camera pans to two girls, KongKwan and Fon. As they sit side by side, we have our first product placement in a cute and playful way. Fon is eating a brand of Japanese seaweed snacks, with the logo clearly showing. Quickly KongKwan reaches over and bites the other end of the snack that is hanging out of Fon’s mouth. There is our GL couple. I’m unsure of whether they are a couple already, really good friends or at the flirting friends to lead to relationship stage. Hopefully this will be cleared up for us as the story progresses.
In walks Jao, Daisy, Som and Toh, the communication arts gang. Jao is shy, doesn’t like the crowd & wants to leave. Som and Daisy herd everyone to sit down and immediately begin fawning over the cute guys. I love that Daisy is very open about liking boys. It’s not treated as cringy or mocked by others, just accepted as part of his personality.
Why R U broke so many stereotypes by turning the tropes around and this series is set to do the same. Saint has been very vocal about normalizing BL as a love story. It just happens to be with the same sex couples. He also hired trans actress Paper Perrada Namwong to star in the series. We see her as a cheerleader in the first scene. She also starred in WhyRU. Saint strongly supports marriage equality & LGBTQ+ rights. He believes that love is love, regardless of gender. Its a sentiment I agree with wholeheartedly. Now back to the show. 😁
The basketball game begins. Our communication squad is drawn to Sky, with Som calling him Oppa (a Korean term for older brother..and a hottie). When Som asks where Neua is, of course Daisy replies that he’s the one who has the most people cheering for him. 😁
So cute and dramatic, Som and Daisy are comic relief. But not because Daisy is gay do we laugh, but because they clearly have such a zest for life and major crushes on boys. It makes me remember doing the same thing with my group of friends a long time ago.
During the basketball game there are a few hidden Easter eggs for Saint fans. The opposing basketball teams jerseys are all based on Saint’s former characters. I’ll leave them in pictures below. See if you can figure out which film or series they are from.
Apparently it’s harder to hit a shot when the pressure is on, lol. I have to laugh here. It looks so hot, but the boys powered through here. I won’t call dear Billy on his traveling….I’ve had to watch way too much basketball growing up.
For the final basket, we have Toh taking a picture of Neua. He has stars in his eyes as he glances at his crush. So sweet. After the team wins the game, the confetti is launched and everyone is celebrating on the court. It’s at this very moment you realize what kind of person Toh is after he carefully swipes a piece of confetti from the gym floor then tucks it away into his breast pocket. He’s a collector.
The credits roll with the lovely catchy song by Ice Sarunyu. It’s catchy. You will quickly find yourself humming along.
Credits
Watch this next scene with a careful eye. Jao spots the architecture gang & calls the communications crew to come check them out.
I watched a video once where someone pointed out about the empty coffee cup can be seen in most shows and movies. When a cup is empty, it is weightless. When it has liquid inside the movement is different. Simply put, when moving the cup to the mouth it goes much faster if it’s empty. Once you know this, you can’t unsee it when you watch a show. Your welcome. Now I’m not the only one aggravated by this little inconsistency. 😜
Nuea’s gang plays around, showing us their personality. Sky is a boaster, always teasing he’s more talented than his friends. Tor seems the peacekeeper. KongKwan is the flirt, asking if she could kiss the cheeks of all Nuea’s admirers. Fon pouts at KongKwon’s behavior. Nuea’s gang leaves for class, the comm. arts peeps hide behind the pillar in a panic….but are so obvious that it makes Nuea smile.
Stalker-Collecting Time
Toh reaches into his bag, retrieving gloves, a grabber and a ziploc bag. He’s prepared to add to his collection. 😁 He successfully gathers a can that Neua threw away. He’s very happy, and his friends are happy that he’s happy. It’s strange but slightly charming.
Lets take a minute to talk stalkers. Real life and fictional characters are not the same, but even still, it can make someone uncomfortable.
Do I have experience with real life stalkers? Yes I do. They can be frightening, terrifying and make you feel helpless. You are in a constant state of dread, wondering what they will do next, where they will appear or what gift they may leave you. This is from someone who has been there, if you experience anything like that go to campus security, if you are in college. Go to the police if you feel you are in danger. Stay in a group of people, and be extra vigilant about locked doors and personal safety.
What Toh is doing is stalking, but it’s in a way that doesn’t appear to cross lines to make Neua uncomfortable. Yet. If he were to see Toh’s room he might be worried. Let’s talk about collecting this item his crush touched. I relate it to how people buy something a celebrity has worn, or people buying things used personal items. That’s kind of gross.
But what about videos and pics saved to phones of your favorite celebrity? How is that different from what Toh is doing? To be honest I have many, many photos and videos of Saint, Zee, ZaintSee saved on my phone. I don’t have them decorating my wall, but I do have magazines collected, and items from them. I tune in and watch the Lives. So does that make me a stalker? (Rhetorical question…I don’t think of myself like this 😁)
Toh takes secret video of his crush. The difference is that he’s really bad at hiding so Nuea see’s him almost every time. He’s amused, not worried or disgusted. With that being said, unless it’s a public event, it’s really not polite to take pics of people you don’t know, especially without their permission. That violates their privacy. But I think since Nuea seems to know about it, I will go with the flow unless Toh crosses a line.
Spotting Magic’s Car
In order to talk about Toh’s crush openly, Toh decided to call Nuea Magic. One afternoon Toh spots Magic’s car. This scene is straight from Saint, a sports car enthusiast. When Toh rattles off all the distinct features of the car signifying the car belongs to Magic, I see Saint’s enthusiasm about sports cars reflected in the shows dialog. I can’t help but smile.
The Gift
Only in fiction is it cool to give a present, especially food to someone you don’t know, in secret. Don’t do this people, unless you are surprising someone you know with something. It can be quite scary.
But it’s still sweet in this show. All of Toh’s friends do the mad scramble to assemble him a gift to place on magic’s car. But of course he’s caught by Neua, who pretends not to see him. He’s amused by this, as we see from his smile. However, he doesn’t keep the gift, placing it in the trash by the Toh’s friends. They are pretending to be statues. They really suck at hiding. 😂
As they attempt to console him, they each recite one of the rules for having a secret crush. They feel what he is feeling. Each one cries because they understand his feelings. His fear of rejection, his longing to confess, his lack of confidence and his one sided love make him a character we can all relate to. This group of friends are the best kind to have. Friends who will laugh with you, cheer you on, have your back and cry with you. 😭😭😭
Dreams
Toh is getting ready for bed after carefully preserving the orange and flowers that Nuea touched for 40 seconds. It’s sad. I pitied Toh for only having mementos to remind him of his crush. He gets an IG alert saying that KongKwan was beginning a live stream. He turns on the projector to display Nuea while he watches the livestream. He actually asked a question that Neua replied to. He is giddy. This is something I can relate too. Not about the crush part, but if Saint or Zee reads or answers a comment I give them, I am giddy for days.
As he drifts off to sleep, we see that his imagination, he is bold with Nuea as the 2-D Nuea morphs into 3D. They stare longing at each other. Toh caresses Nuea’s face. A dream as they share a kiss, both tender and sweet with a little heat behind it, Toh drifts off with a smile on his face.
Prao & Thep
Prao seems to be an important person to Nuea but not his girlfriend. She is a caricature of a mean popular girl. We have to assume she has redeeming qualities or why would Nuea put up with her? She is set up to be Toh’s rival.
We have another cafeteria scene with the two gangs that were reminiscent of Why R U, with slight variations. We have one group looking to hide in plain site, which is Toh’s group. Then we have the confident students who are sure of their place, which is Neua’s group. They don’t fight though.
People come to ask Nuea to take photos and wish a boy’s sister happy birthday in a clip. It seems strange to me that someone who doesn’t know you asks to take your picture. But with the parallel between campus star and actual celebrity, I understand the scene. And when Prao walks in, it’s just like when Hwa walked in. Everyone stops, stares and takes photos. She’s gorgeous and she knows it. You can see that she feels like she owns Nuea too, but that’s for another day.
Saint appears as charismatic Thep, who is friendly & cute while the comm. arts group fawns all over him. Apparently they are very close to him, but not sure how yet. It’s so cute. Not much to say but it’s both cringey and funny the way Toh clutches Thep’s arms, and nuzzles him like a deer.
The scene involving Nuea calling Toh begins a running gag between the characters where Toh always says “Shit” when speaking to Nuea, so Neua believes that Toh is calling him names. 😂😂
I chuckled when Nuea told Toh to send him a picture to add him to contacts. Toh sent a picture of a table, because Toh means table in Thai. 😁
Acting/Overall Impressions
If you don’t like cheese and camp, this story really isn’t for you. Cheewin has a style which is overly dramatic and filled with exaggerations but somehow manage to be filled with heart. No matter the character, you can understand them. They face the same problems that we face. Even the “villains” of the story have their own issues. I eagerly follow Cheewin’s works. No matter the story, I tend to fall for the characters. But what about in SCOY? Did he pull it off? I will leave it for you to decide.
Toh is very different from Seng’s previous role in Why R U as Tanthai. Thai was cute, charismatic and not afraid to go after what he wanted, which was Japan. Toh is timid in love, but comfortable being behind the scenes, the one behind the camera, not in front of it. He turned Toh into someone who is both cringey and lovable. So far, even the cringey moments fit with the character. Great job at portraying Toh as someone who has many sides to him. I look forward to watching you grow.
From the first moment Nuea strides onto the court, he has presence. You can see that he’s confident, used to being adored in the spotlight. He is a team player too. He will pass the ball, and let his friends shine. This sets up his character well. Billy has charisma in spades, but I wanted to see his acting in a lead role. This first episode he does a good job at introducing his character. Nuea is popular, handsome, athletic and also kind. But I would like to know more about the character behind the cool mask. What is he really like? Who is this man who is so amused with Toh? I need to see more from Billy. The scene from Toh’s dream was lovely to watch. Billy did a great job there portraying the emotions of love and tenderness. Look forward to more sweet scenes.
Heng and Pprise stole my heart as the adorable Jao and charming Sky. I’m impressed by both men for their interactions with each other and with their respective gangs. You definitely get a feel for their personality in this first episode. I look forward to seeing more from their pairing. Good job.
Becky and Freen didn’t get much screen time this first episode, as a pair. While some interactions seemed natural, like the snatched snack moments, others seemed a little forced. The scene where they run around the boys trying to play fight, felt too scripted to me. I know it’s only the first episode. I’m sure that with more time and interactions, I will see their characters fleshed out well. I’ve seen them together. They have established a nice rapport. Freen and Becky are cute together.
Nam and Nutt are fantastic as Som and Daisy. I smiled so much when they were on the screen. Other people might complain they were too dramatic, but I found it adorable and charming. Keep up the good work guys. I already adore your characters.
Opp, Dew and Prao, I didn’t see enough of you guys to fully form an opinion. I am looking forward to seeing how each of your characters evolve from the first impression.
Saint as Thep is charming, affable and seems to be the senior that everyone knows and likes. I know it’s only a minor role, but looking forward to our matchmaking Thep to push our couples in the right direction.
All in all, it was a solid first episode. I enjoyed it. I’ll keep going with my reviews, but I’ll try to keep it a bit shorter. 😁
Leave me some comments and feedback please 🙏❤️
Thanks for the honest review.
You’re welcome. I hope you enjoyed it. I’m looking forward to writing about the series. There are a lot of good talking points in the show. 💕-Jen