Relying heavily on the reincarnation trope, this Thai BL features all the standard elements: a love story spanning multiple lifetimes, a scheming female villain, and a sprawling mansion that feels like a set I have seen in at least ten other shows. As a viewer, the direction of the story is quite predictable. However, the execution remains solid, the leads possess genuine chemistry, and the mystery is sufficient to maintain interest. My main complaint is that the plot drags through far too many segments. Given that it consists of twelve episodes, each lasting over fifty minutes, it requires a significant time investment.
The narrative jumps between two timelines, set in the early 1900s and the mid 1900s, where nearly the entire cast from a past life is reborn into comparable roles and relationships in the present. In the current day, Kaewta is living with his mom and struggling with financial issues when two men unexpectedly arrive, claiming he is a distant relative of Khun Yai and has inherited a massive house. He moves in, feeling confused but willing to go along with the situation, only to slowly sense a presence in the house—something he can feel and occasionally glimpse, even if he can’t be certain it is real. This presence is revealed to be Khun Yai’s ghost. Through various conversations and scattered flashbacks, we discover that Kaewta and Khun Yai were lovers in a past life, but Kaewta has zero memory of those events, and an unresolved issue from that era is preventing Khun Yai’s spirit from moving on. Everyone in this circle is tied to that past life, including Kaewta’s best friend Ruedee, who lives in terror of her older cousin Sophie. While the reason Khun Yai is still lingering in the house remains a mystery for a time, Kaewta eventually gains the ability to actually see him. By following the guidance of a monk they have been making offerings to, Kaewta slowly pieces together their history. In the past, Khun Yai belonged to a high status, noble family, whereas Kaewta worked as a traditional dancer; Khun Yai fell for him deeply, creating a love that was forbidden due to both the massive class gap and the fact that they are both men. Sophie, who has always been into Khun Yai, becomes convinced that he actually had feelings for Ruedee in that past life and attempts to have her killed, which explains why the present day Ruedee is so terrified of her cousin. There is much more woven into the plot, but it essentially boils down to Sophie being unable to accept that the man she loves is in love with someone else—a man, no less—so she has Kaewta killed. In response, Khun Yai vows to wait for him forever and stops eating entirely, eventually dying as well, but his soul is unable to move on, which ultimately sets up the two of them finally finding their way back to each other in the present.
The story feels scattered and difficult to follow because the constant back and forth between timelines fails to build tension or provide any actual depth. Rather than creating mystery, the narrative often feels like it is just circling the same ground; it wasn’t so much confusing as it was just repetitive. Everything they were trying to convey could’ve been told in way less runtime, especially that whole subplot about a conspiracy to kill the king in the past life, which felt completely pointless and added nothing to the bigger picture. What bugged me most was how Kaewta’s character was handled. He spends what feels like four full episodes just being confused with barely any real development, and the same emotional moments keep getting repeated without moving anything forward. The pacing is also dragged down by a bunch of scenes that are basically recycled, shown once in full and then again later shortened or from a slightly different angle, which just fails to give us anything new. While the opening episodes actually did a good job building suspense and tension, the show takes a full six episodes to lay out the past life details after it hits around episode six—a process that could’ve been tightened into just one. You basically need to watch this at double speed to stay engaged. One character I did enjoy was Khun Yai’s loyal servant, who is always quietly there for him and secretly carrying feelings for Ruedee; his son, now older in real time, calls him dad, which added a nice touch. Both lead actors do a solid job and fit their roles well, though the actress playing Sophie was almost comically dramatic in both timelines as your classic over the top female villain. However, the romantic and sex scenes between Khun Yai and Kaewta were genuinely sensual, with no holding back there.
Ultimately, it is a decent watch if you have the time, but I am becoming more and more convinced that these Asian BLs require fan made cuts; otherwise, people like me end up wasting twelve hours on a story that could have been told in just two hours. (6/10)
