Bite Me (2021)

** SPOILERS BELOW!** I wanted to like this more than I did (seriously so badly) as I can tell that a lot of passion went into how they filmed it, the pure love of Thailand and it's food/culture really can be felt in this drama... but did not focus on the relationship between the two male leads enough and it will be judged and criticized as such. The focus of this drama is food, and if you go in with the expectation of it being a passionate and interesting romance, you will be disappointed. This drama is slower than a slow burn... there is no burn, so you just feel frustrated for most of it. The good part of this drama (I have to hold onto the good to justify why I watched literally all of it), is about how food is a huge meaning of retaining cultural identity, and how it rooted in family history, and in some ways related to poverty and upbringing. Those relationships between Aek and his mother were the most compelling aspect of this drama, and had it been marketed as a family/lifestyle drama with a side of BL it may have been more well received. Especially with the story ark of Aek's internal self-conflict about his attraction to Aue and his confusion about his own sexual identity. Those scenes with him and his mother were the soul of this show, and I would like to see them perform together again sometime. The cinematography of this show was stunning, the long shots, some astounding scenery shots of Thailand, and elegant close ups were all beautifully done. It was very visually interesting to watch, and it helps that Mark Jumlongkul (Aek) is possibly one of the most beautiful people I have ever seen in my life. Especially when he actually gets to act somewhat normal (like in the very final scene of the drama) and doesn't just stare at Aue and not say anything .... looking at the writers for that one That could not save some of the dialogue, side characters that were wholly uninteresting and unnecessary, and I was not invested in the secondary romance at all even if they got more lovely-dovey screen time. This show had so much potential, and could of benefited from a meaner editing floor, some more natural not-at-work interaction between our male leads, trimmed down supporting cast and maybe better dialogue.