SOTUS the Series: Thai Drama Review

The Gist: When Kongpob (Prachaya Ruangroj) enters college in the faculty of engineering, he also has to undergo the hazing system at the school: SOTUS. The system is run by a group of third year students, lead by head-hazer Arthit (Perawat Sangpotirat). Kongpob immediately clashes with Arthit in defense of fellow freshman and the two start a longterm stand-off during their hazing session. Yet, Kongpob becomes attached to and concerned for Arthit, despite Arthit’s constant berating, as he begins to see that Arthit does have a good heart and has good intentions towards his cohort. Yet, does Kongpob have any hope that Arthit will return his feelings?

Love:

1. Kongpob

I am in awe of Kongpob as a character and of Prachaya Ruangroj as an actor. I was so excited to watch a drama with a queer romance. When every drama heroine is the same (poor, plucky, you know), Kongpob was a constant surprise and delight for me. He looked at Arthit with persistent longing that it was actually almost painful to watch, which is important for a show with rather low levels of skinship. The piece that really set him apart for me was the way he would come out and say the most outrageous things to Arthit with so much confidence, while clearly being so unsure of his relationship with him. The whole thing had me thinking, Kongpob is smooth as freaking silk!

Scene - Arthit gets a haircut
Arthit: How does it look?
Kong: You look perfect.
Arthit: You don't have to sweet talk me. This is serious.
Kong: It's so bad.
Arthit: What? Really?
Kong: Me. I'm so badly stunned.

Me: O.O I am also badly stunned.

I want to talk about the confession scenes because I think that Prachaya Ruangroj really shone in all of them with small but extremely effective choices.

Spoilers from this point on…

The first, when Arthit is staying in Kongpob’s room, Kongpob waits until he thinks Arthit is asleep and just pours his heart out to him. Prachaya Ruangroj does a great job of imbuing all of the pain, confusion, and hope when Kongpob is trying to explain this. This scene felt exactly like every first love confession, with just the raw emotion of fear but not being able to hide it all inside.

The second, when he’s on the balcony and Arthit finally calls him, Kongpob is squeezing his fist so tight, that you can tell it is actually physically paining him to get the words out. It was expertly done and when Arthit panics and hangs up the call, and all Kongpob’s worst fears come true, I was just broken inside.

Finally, when we get that long awaited kiss, Kongpob smiles so hard mid-kiss. The chemistry between these two just pops. Arthit does this little pleased, pensive v-shaped smile when he gets embarrassed around Kongpob. It’s all a great treat, but very relatable.

2. The Side Characters

I'm going to take a moment to love on Prae (Ployshompoo Supasap). She's a gorgeous, strong woman and as Kongpob is going through his whole love situation, she has the great courage to come out to her friends. I really think the nuance of this show's treatment of Prae allows this to normalize queer people for Kongpob. Not every girl within eyesight of Kong wants him. Prae has her own goals and is confident in herself and who she is. I have mad love for Prae.

M (Thitipoom Techaapaikhun) and May's (Neen Suwanamas) romance is also skillfully portrayed. May pining after Kong and M pining after May is just a circle of pain waiting to happen. Still Kong gives her a respectful if but firm no and M handles it perfectly. He is there to comfort her, let her know he's interested, but gives her the space to make her own decisions. It's all very healthy and still sweet. My only complaint about this pairing is that we don't really get to see them together. In fact, most of the girls are written off the end of the show. Still, it was great to see M overcome his shy side to make an effort for May.

Waad(Teerapat Lohanan)/Prem(Chanagun Arpornsutinan). After getting off on the wrong foot, Prem comes to Waad's rescue. They are so sweet to each other afterwords. I love the way their interactions change, however, it seemed to me a bit like they were flirting and the show never fully explores that. That really is the great thing about watching a queer romance: anything is possible. This is another thing that never gets explored much beyond surface-level, but was still a delight.

Knot (Ittikorn Kraicharoen) is the mature one of the group. He is a little underwritten early on, but is just a rock for Arthit while he figures out his romance. Knot doesn't let Arthit stew and in multiple scenes lets him know that he can talk to him about anything. And he means it! When Arthit finally takes him up on it, he is supportive and serious. He takes Arthit's problem sincerely and gives him excellent advice, the same way he would about a girl problem. Representation is so important in media and as it is in important for the gay teens specifically to see themselves represented, it is also so important to have representation on how to be an ally. People can't sort through life alone and it was great to see Arthit have someone he can lean on while he sorts out what loving Kongpob truly means for him.

3. Healthy Handling of Rejection

I will continue to sing Konpob's praises. As an avid drama watcher (obviously), I am used to the characters undergoing rejection to stop eating, fainting, making themselves sick, not taking no for an answer, and a whole other lineup of very unhealthy behaviors. When Arthit pulls back from Kong, he takes some time to cry it out and be depressed, before deciding that he needs to find a way to move on and respect Arthit's decision. But he also takes the time to respect himself. When Arthit comes back to him, Kong sets the boundary that they can't just be casual friends without giving Kong too much hope. I was so proud of him because handling heartache at that age is almost impossible (or you know, any age) and he was able to be respectful of his needs and Arthit's.

So...

I only have on real complaint about this show. It's that in the ending episodes when M tells Kong he didn't know that Kong liked men, he says he doesn't, he only likes Arthit. I feel a little like this is doing the characters a disservice. Bi characters don't really get the visibility they should and it seems that both Kong and Arthit are likely bi and I would have liked to see that more fully embraced. With that said, I bet this is a very real experience for some bisexual people, when they have their first realization that they are interested in someone in particular.

In short, I simply adored this show. It was somehow short and also a bit of a slow-burn romance. This is the type of show you can easily watch in one sitting. The chemistry between Arthit and Kongpob was beautiful, sweet, and relatable and Kongpob was the best kind of protagonist. Looking forward to re-watching this and diving into the second season soon!

Final Grade: A++