We meet our two leads in the first episode. Talay, is a colorist who has just secured a position in his dream job. Before he starts, he has a lucky encounter with Puen, a celebrity actor, to hand him a gift that his friend prepared for him. The encounter is basic, but we know that a romantic story is to be unfolded. So, Talay meets with an accident and drowns just before he is to start his job. When he wakes up he finds himself in the body of another person named Tess. Whats baffling is that this is a parallel universe, which seems like his world but has its own unique quirks with different cuisines, peculiar traditions etc. Confused and baffled, he has to adjust himself to being Tess. Luckily he meets a nurse in hospital who understands his predicament and introduces him to a secret association of people who deal with cases like this where people die and find themselves transported to the parallel universe. Talay learns that he needs to find his "portkey", which comes with its own set of rules to go back home. Talay learns that Tess has a best friend Tun, who could be his portkey. It turns out that Tun is also a traveler form his original world. The audience knows he is Puen , the famous actor, but Puen never reveals his true identity or background to Talay/Tess. They work together to find their respective "portrays" without success slowly getting adjusted to their new life, friends, work, working on a film script and slowly budding romance. Their romance builds up for almost 8-10 episodes till the moment they realize they could be each other's 'portkeys'. After some more drama, they indeed manage to travel back to their original work albeit separately. Its takes them time to reconnect again since Talay never knew the real identity of Puen in this original world. They meet eventually and after some more drama (given Puen's career and reputation), are finally able to accept their love for one another and be true to themselves and the world.
On paper, this seems like a fantastic idea and a surest winner. I have to hand it to Thai writers who have recently been coming up with some novel ideas (triage, KinnPorsche etc). But the problem still remains in execution. They all can't seem to let go of the standard formula of making the lead pair meet, make them fall in love over 8-10 long stretched episodes which are full of BL cliches and clearly aimed to make teenage girls happy, and then add some drama, so that the couple has disagreements or confusion or misunderstanding and then eventually they reconcile back. Pick any of the 12-14 episodic Thai BL shows and you will find this format, which, if I am being honest, has started to annoy me a little. I know I am digressing, so lets get back to this show now.
I wanted to like this show a lot, but I dunno if its just me, my stress in general, but I just wasn't able to connect with the leads as a romantic couple. They look good together but they hardly have chemistry. We are not really introduced to their characters before they switch, so their gradual romance buildup seems a bit fake to me, despite the show spending some good 8 episodes to show that. Luckily, we have a lot of kisses between them in this show, like full on (and not just peck on cheek or lips), but even those feel so mechanical and rehearsed. I did like, how the makers came with tiny twists on how things are different in this parallel world, like paper, or cakes and it was funny to see some creative overflowing, but the blatant product placement in the series went to another level. Shamelss placement of KFC or the toothpaste was just too much for me. Back to the plot, the starting and ending and the concept is very good, but why get back to basics and waste our time on an insipid and charmless romance that stretches beyond anything. Add some side characters who add just a comic relief and together they write a movie, produce it and make it as if its a child's play? We, as viewers, are treated to a mundane, cliché college story about a group of guys trying to make it as scriptwriters in the movie industry. To lose your whole life and be forced to live someone else's is stressful, even scary, but after the initial confusion, Talay and Puen seem to have forgotten that they have family, friends, and careers back home.
Talay and Puen are both good actors, but they really need to work on their facial expressions. Talay is clearly the winner with a very cute smile and those sexy glasses, but I just couldn't get over the fact that Puen kept reminding me of Michael Jackson for some reason with his long upper lips and weird eye expressions. Their chemistry is just plain boring. They act more like friends who care for each other than as young men who are in love with each other. And what is the whole point of Puen not revealing his true identity to Talay after supposedly being in love for such a long time in this parallel universe. This and many such things were so disappointing. The series redeems itself in the last two episodes where the lovebirds get together eventually after some melodrama. Vice Versa doesn’t dig deeply into the complexities of switching lives with a stranger. It acknowledges some oddities and inconveniences, but the hardships won’t go beyond a superficial level. Having read some amazing stuff about this show, I feel that I maybe in minority here with my views about the show, but my disappointment is with the fact that the makers had a killer of an idea and could have made for one of the most amazing series out there, but the story never explores its full potential and gets trapped in the usual regular fluffy BL tropes. Thailand has cracked coming up with killer ideas, but they need to up their game when it comes to execution. 5.5/10)
Comments
At first I didn't really fall the couple either. Their romance builds up in a weird way (and Puen definitely makes me think of Mickael Jackson too, I think it's the nose...). But it was more the group of friends energy and dynamics that made me smile and laugh and cheer up all the time. Then characters got more development and the couple grew on me until the "hey dang" when they reunite. Which had me shed a tear, showing this couple may have touched me more than I thought! (and brings back memories of my my youth when I would surprise my husband and he would cry, yes we both live in a carebear world). And finally if you're a thai BL fan, the incredible number of cameos, references, and guest stars from other BL is just insane. It's an orgy that got me thrilled constantly. Of course the worlds differences were quite fun to watch too.
Doesn't mean they couldn't do better with the story and its consequences but I really loved it like that!!
I totally get it why you and most people would love the series. Besides the usual BL romance it does add a lot on terms of storytelling and romance buildup. My biggest problem was that this romance buildup just goes on and on forever and could easily be cut short. (Also nothing wrong with being sappy and very romantic with your husband. I am sure he appreciates)
I did miss mentioning Friends Credit in my review and I have to agree that those interactions and chemistry were definitely charming, for sure.
But please, don't let this difference in our opinions stop you from recommending me more shows to watch. I definitely can use filtering and help.
I had read the plot on IMDB and was kinda hesitant. I was afraid that the storyline gets tangled and messy as usual. Or there will be trope overload as usual. Or that every next turn would be predictable as usual. Luckily no such things :)
I liked the coherence that many Thai series seem to lose. The main storyline didn't get tangled or lost among other things, that was the main "yes!"-moment for me. The color names as titles for every episode kept me guessing what the next one will be, somehow I knew the last one is going to be "crystal clear". Somehow the whole series managed to sort of give life to my own thoughts when I fist watched SKAM. When Isak tells Even about his vision of multiverse theory - that there's a large quantity of parallel universes that are slightly different from each other. Like somewhere in a parallel world there's another Isak and another Even, in the same room, but their curtains are of different color. Those slight differences took me to a really pleasant rabbit hole :)
The Friend Credits teamwork was also well written and performed, something nice I've been missing for a long time. Showing a true and caring friendship on screen has been sort of out of fashion lately.
There were more rabbit holes for me - looking for each other in the maze took me to a vacation trip to Vienna in 2004, episode 8 mirroring scene (38.30-42.10) took me to 1992 when I went to see (probably) the most memorable play "Love for three oranges" (commedia dell'arte by Carlo Gozzi). Tell me it's not similar at all: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3OABKUc48fU (6.40-9.20) :D Hope the video is not geoblocked or anything. But the best was the pink hourglass as a gift. First it brought me to tears without crying - twice! - and then it took me to Prague where someone was attentive enough to stop time for me. Long enough to break a negative linkage to one particular song. Had bothered me for 12 years and all it took was a bridge, a street musician and that person to stop time. Magic!
Oh and the "hey dang"... dammit. That was amazing. Although I still remember flinching every time the Full Moon appeared, the whole series was way above average and gave me a lot.
P.S! My whole face still hurts of all that involuntary smiling.
and the color names as titles for every episode was a master stroke for sure. How the hell could you guess what's gonna be the last episode name? Freaky !! lol
Speaking of Skam - have you seen all remakes? The US (Austin), Spain and Netherlands didn't include the "Isak" season. Italy, France, Germany and Belgium did, the latter is probably equally as amazing as the Norwegian original. France, Germany and Italy have added a few new seasons - the German 7th is really deep and French 5th is deep AND intense. There will be a few Latin American remakes, mostly indie or even fan-made versions. Happy to see that Skam never dies :)
need some time to travel around the world too.
P.S! If winning the lottery is too much to ask, I would be really happy for 48-hour days. A few such days a couple of times a year would solve a lot. Why are those scientists wasting time on inventing stuff that already exists while they should be creating something useful?!