Send Your Pain To The Wind (Vietnamese Series)
Thirty years after the past he tried to leave behind, Tommy returns to Vietnam carrying a box of colored pencils and looking for Huy. The story’s pieces eventually connect—but while watching, I couldn’t see how they were meant to fit together.
In Thailand, Tommy works with his business partner, Top. When he discovers that Top’s parents divorced after Top’s mother found secret love letters between his father, Hoang Loc, and Huy, Tommy realizes his own past is bound up with Top’s family. He goes back to Vietnam to find Huy, only to see Huy and Hoang Loc together again. Once more, Tommy leaves without saying anything.
The pattern began in high school, when Cao Dat fell for his classmate Huy but was too afraid to tell him. Hoang Loc, another classmate, bullied them. Cao Dat eventually confronted Hoang Loc, telling him to stop harassing them and be honest about whom he really liked. Hoang Loc took that advice and quietly confessed his feelings to Huy. Cao Dat saw them, assumed his chance was gone, and moved away. Huy and Hoang Loc kept in touch through love letters; Cao Dat grew bitter and distant.
In his twenties, Cao Dat—now going by Khai Duong—fell in love again. Someone secretly filmed him kissing his boyfriend, and Khai Duong lost his college scholarship because of it. Hurt and angry, he shut down emotionally and built a guarded persona called Tommy.
Back in Thailand after his return to Vietnam, Tommy tries to open up to Top. Instead, Top introduces him to his fiancée. Tommy had mistaken friendship for romance, and heartbroken, he retreats to the lonely, quiet life he has lived after a lifetime of hiding his feelings.
The series is only five episodes, each around 20 to 25 minutes. I could follow its three parallel stories after three episodes, but not understand how they belonged together. I went online to read a summary just to work out what the story was about; without it, I don’t think I would have understood. When an audience can’t make sense of what’s happening, that’s a real problem.
With the plot laid out, there seems to be real depth here: a man repeatedly failing to find the love he wants, whether because he lacks the courage to confess or lets an opportunity slip away. I understood that Tommy was slowly falling for his Thai colleague Top, but the other two stories kept appearing without a clear connection to the present. I couldn’t tell how they related or what I was supposed to be watching. The editing and screenplay are where I place the blame; the result was frustrating, and a potentially interesting idea never came together.
I can’t recommend it unless you’re a lot smarter than me and can make sense of it all. It’s a confusing mess that buries a decent idea under bad editing and writing. (3/10)