Sneha Jaiswal (Twitter | Instagram)
From its trailer, Thai series ‘ThamePo Heart That Skips a Beat’ looked like a fluffy romance about a top Thai-pop star falling in love with a director hired to shoot a documentary about his band, but is a lot more about the band’s troubles. The romance is thin, even though the lead actors are cute, their interactions are limited, so the eventual intensity of short term love story isn’t very convincing.
Directed by Mui Aticha Tanthanawigrai, GMMTV series ‘ThamePo: Heart That Skips a Beat’ spans 13 episodes and stars singer William Jakrapatr Kaewpanpong as Thame, the lead singer of the popular boy band Mars. Competitive swimmer-turned-actor Est Supha Sangaworawong plays Po, who is tasked with documenting the band’s final moments before their breakup. How these two fall in love and fight to stay together forms the heart of the story.
Interestingly, William Jakrapatr Kaewpanpong, the lead vocalist of the real-life Thai boy band LYKN (ไลแคน), gets to co-star alongside his actual bandmates in the series. So the fictional band Mars is composed of LYKN’s real members: Nut Thanat Danjesda portrays Junn, a singer aspiring to be an actor; Lego Rapeepong Supatineekitdecha plays Nano, the main dancer; Hong Pichetpong Chiradatesakunvong takes on the role of Dylan, the band’s rapper; and Tui Chayatorn Trairattanapradit plays Pepper, a singer-songwriter. Since the band is part of GMMTV’s label, several LYKN songs are featured in the soundtrack, including William’s soulful solo track, which he originally recorded for the Last Twilight series.
Episode one follows Po, a heartbroken young man working under a tailor while freelancing as a video editor for his close friend Baifern (Ciize Rutricha Phapakithi). After being dumped by his boyfriend for being a “failure,” Po is desperate to prove himself, so he seizes the opportunity to film a documentary on Mars, the boy band. William Jakrapatr Kaewpanpong’s Thame is first introduced as a moody, short-tempered lead singer who despises paparazzi and mistakes Po for a stalker, unaware that he has been newly hired to document the band’s journey. However, as the series progresses, Thame reveals his true nature – a soft-spoken, friendly, and hardworking singer who cherishes his bandmates like family.
Namfon Kullanat Kulpreeyawat plays Pemika, the CEO of Oner Entertainment, who often serves as the antagonist of the story. She leads the decision to disband Mars, citing financial losses – a reasoning that, quite frankly, is fair enough. However, Po and Thame team up to find ways to save the group from breaking up, forming the central conflict of the series. The series of-course explore the classic “idols cannot date” rule, so when a Mars member is caught in a relationship with a young woman, it sparks massive media backlash and controversy.
Nut Thanat Danjesda’s Junn is the most entertaining character in the show, he is a charming problem child, who develops a close bond with Po, adding a potential love triangle to the tale. In-fact, at some point in the series, it feels like Po and Junn have more scenes together, and to top it off, the actors have a good onscreen chemistry. The other three members of the band fail to make a mark with their acting, but their dancing skills are watch-worthy. They completely outshine the ‘Only Boo!’ dancing crew, another series from GMMTV that focused on Thai-pop and dancing. In-fact, the actors from ‘Only Boo!’ even make a small cameo in ‘ThamePo: Heart That Skips a Beat’ in the second part of the show.
But well, at its core, this series is supposed to be a forbidden romance between a lead singer and his documentary director, and despite some cutesy moments between Thame and Po, their love story is underwhelming. And even the whole ‘save the band from breaking up’ sub-plot is childishly executed, packing in several convenient twists. Also, it’s low-key funny how Po simply uses one hand-held camera to shoot the documentary (one would expect a more elaborate set-up for the project). While one would expect some serious industry insights into how artists are treated in big companies, viewers are served only generic glimpses into the world of Thai pop. And with several ad placements throughout the series, it sometimes feels like the entire show might just be one big promotional campaign for LYKN.
Overall, ‘ThamePo Heart That Skips a Beat’ is prolonged series, with some great music, fun dance sequences, and a familiarly underwhelming story. It could’ve been wrapped up in eight episodes.
Rating: 2.5 on 5 stars. The series is on YouTube.
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