2 Moons 2 (2019)

This isn't as good as it could have been

If you've read the comment section for this drama's listing here on MDL, you probably know that this a soft reboot of the earlier 2 Moons, with the first four episodes of this being basically a rehash of the original series.

That is the start of the problems. It would have been better if they had dispensed with that and just devoted the whole twelve episodes of the series to telling the second story.

Another problem is, of course, the change of actors. I have no issue with the changes of the actors who played Forth, Beam, Wayo, Ming and Phana, but I really missed the actor who played Kit. To his credit, Nine is actually one of the better actors in this series, but he's not Copter and that doesn't work for me.

It's clear this was made on a lower budget than the original, which affects some things. The decor in Wayo's bedroom is loathsome, the 'club' they go to drink at looks like a badly decorated studio and the cafeteria looks cheaper than an actual school cafeteria.

General gripes out of the way, let's get to it.

STORY: Rehash of the first series happens over the first four episodes - Wayo getting into the same university as the love of his life, Phana, in the science faculty. His best friend Ming getting into the same uni, only into the engineering faculty (yeah, they went there again), moving into the dorm and being snubbed by Phana, Wayo being chosen as the 'moon' of his faculty and practicing for the competition. Phana not recognising Wayo as the love of his life because Wayo pulled a Clark Kent and ditched his glasses. Phana and Wayo getting together. Ming starting to court Kit. Ming winning the contest and becoming the 'Moon' of the university etc, etc, etc.

The next eight episodes are dedicated to Phana and Wayo's relationship troubles (jealousy, angst and declarations of love), Ming's attempts to court Kit (which don't go well because Ming has trouble saying 'no' to his ex-girlfriend) and Beam drunkenly sleeping with Forth and Forth's attempts to court Beam afterwards.

The series culminates on a cliffhanger where a rival for Wayo's affections, Park, breaks into Wayo's room and molests him in his sleep. He then takes pictures of the resulting hickey and Wayo, devastated, runs home. Phana is justifiably pissed off at Park , and heads off after Wayo thus setting up the third series.

THE GOOD: For the most part, the acting wasn't horrible. Though I miss the original cast, especially Copter, I think changing the actor who played Forth was actually a good thing. Tae was 27 when he played Forth, and he was just too grown up for the kind of juvenile shenanigans that go on in this kind of BL. Pavel (Forth) and Dome (Beam) are only a year apart in age and it works better to make them a more believable couple and more believable as Uni students.

Having Samantha as Cake was also a huge plus. I loved her in Love By Chance and Until We Meet Again. Please, somebody, give this wonderful actress a lead role.

Mello, who produced the series, also put it out on YouTube with English subtitles already in place and that was very awesome of them. If they do the same with 2 Moons 3, they'll be my favourite production company.

THE BAD: I'm trying not to be too harsh here, because a lot of the problems I have are just personal preference. I don't like the fact that Phana is such a hypocrite. He gets jealous over nothing, but then has a go at Wayo for feeling the same way. He treats Wayo like a child, then chastises him for acting like one. He took Wayo to a club, then forbade him from drinking because he had an exam the next day, then gave him his phone and told Wayo to play games on it. I mean, all it was missing was a pat on the head. Is Wayo a grown man, as Phana tells him in a later episode, or a child? Make up your mind, Pha.

I had high hopes that Forth would be the more mature one of the group and he mostly was. Until we got to the field trip episodes where he basically manipulated Beam into apologising for something the poor young man hadn't even done. Not cool, Forth. Not cool. I don't know whether Beam actually had feelings for Kit, but I couldn't tell that Forth had *any* kind of feelings for Beam until they slept together and Forth just seemed to decide he wanted a serious relationship. There was no build up, no foreshadowing, not even a vague hint.

Ming and Kit's relationship did come along at a decent pace, not too rushed or too slow, and I liked a lot of their scenes, but what happened to Kit's personality? Where's all his confidence and sass and anger gone? We caught a few glimpses of it, but his character was toned down considerably from the first series and I was not happy about it. Can we have the real Kit back for series 3, please?

I realise that what I'm going to complain about next is practically a requirement of BL, especially Thai BL, but I am honestly fed up with the 'scheming girl wants to break the couple up because she thinks she should be with one of them because of her image'. No. Just no. Pring is an attractive, talented, intelligent young woman. Why would she waste her time going after a man already taken and who's already rejected her? Does she have no self-respect? Why are these female characters written to have no self-respect or sense of self=worth? Stop it, please. Just.....stop doing it.

REWATCH VALUE?: Yeah, it has some. I mean, perhaps not all the episodes, but there are some great moments despite the problems and it's an enjoyable series to watch.

I gave this three stars because I honestly think, if the writing had been tweaked a little and some of the set design improved, this could have been a brilliant series, instead of just a good one. It's worth a watch, just keep your expectations low.

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