Follow us on Twitter | Instagram
Creators of the Thai series “Summer Night” want us to believe that the good-looking Phuwin Tangsakyuen, who’s already played primary leads in a bunch of other shows (Never Let Me Go/We Are), is an invisible ‘nobody’ in high school, so ordinary that even his classmates don’t know of his existence. C’mon, that’s just taking it too far, and the makeup team doesn’t even make any effort to make him look like a regular kid—no acne, great skin; he just looks like he walked out to model, maybe with a not-so-great hairstyle. But fine, let’s just play along, even if it’s not believable!
Directed by Captain Rawiphon Hong-ngam, the 10-part series is based on the webtoon “Summer Night ความลับในคืนฤดูร้อน” by Boran and Jormungan. It follows teenager Lune (Phuwin Tangsakyuen), who has just moved to a new school where everybody ignores his existence. Lune doesn’t mind being a nobody and has a massive crush on the school’s most popular girl, Star (Parn Nachcha Chuedang). So when Lune is befriended by the equally popular White (Dunk Natachai Boonprasert) and inducted into the popular clique, he has a real shot with Star. But in a twist, White also likes Star. “Summer Night” follows the love, friendships, and complications Lune faces when he decides to pursue Star.
Also Read: Wandee Goodday Review: Inn Sarin, Great Sapol Spice Up RomCom
The first episode is narrated from Lune’s point of view, who introduces himself and his ‘nobody’ status at school, which of course is comically exaggerated. He sits inches away from the popular kids: the handsome all-rounder White, the beautiful all-rounder Star, tomboy Ivy (Lookjun Bhasidi Petchsutee), and playboy Jewel (Ryu Phudtripart Bhudthonamochai). Each of them gets quick intro scenes before we see Lune’s growing friendship with White and some potential sparks between Lune and Star.
“Summer Night” episode one has a pleasing, bright, summer-themed palette, so the cinematography is visually very engaging, especially given that this is a high-school romance. Dunk Natachai Boonprasert is still a fairly new actor, but unlike his previous roles, he looks more at ease in front of the camera and was at par with Phuwin Tangsakyuen in the episode. When I first saw Dunk in his debut lead role in Thai series “Star In My Mind”, I had written about how he reminded me of Phuwin, and it soon turned out that the entire GMMTV fandom was saying the same thing. Although, once you see them side by side, their personalities are pretty different.
The first few episodes do a good job of setting the tone for the main themes of “Summer Night.” The friend group is pretty cute, even though the personalities are very stereotypical. Phuwin Tangsakyuen’s character Lune however was a lot more annoying than Dunk’s White. Lune is a people-pleaser, who doesn’t speak his mind and causes problems, White ends up being the better friend in the group. Star’s character too starts off cute, but evolves into a bit of a unreasonable brat, making viewers root for Lookjun Bhasidi’s Ivy, whose character is a lot more likable. Ryu Phudtripart Bhudthonamochai as the entitled Jewel has a secondary romantic plot to himself – he falls for Tan (Java Bhobdhama Hansa), who delivers coffee. Their romance was a funny, silly breather in the show.
Overall, this is the kind of show that’s quite familiar, looks great due to sparkly cinematography and pretty cast. The writing doesn’t go beyond the regular, but for those looking for a cutesy/standard teen romance, “Summer Night” is a decent pick to stream over a few evenings.
You can stream “Summer Night” on GMMTV’s YouTube channel.