Until We Meet Again - Sammy

Often when discussing BL we forget to mention the female roles - unless it's bashing the character keeping your ship apart- and hopefully that's done in jest and not with any nefarious undertones. That being said anyone who has spent any amount of time watching Thai BL will be familiar with Sammy (Samantha Melanie Coates) she's been a supporting actress in numerous dramas since first starring in the iconic Love Sick The Series. So when I heard she'd be getting a more substantial role in Until We Meet Again, and as part of a straight couple in the series no less; I anticipated the series even more.

However, with the twelfth episode of the series having been released three days ago all I can say is I'm disappointed. Until We Meet Again had one of the biggest promotional campaigns I've seen for a Thai BL drama ever. Online there was over a month of countdowns even after the usual post casting hype, and during this period; including the release of the series official music video, Sammy was used to promote the series as part of the straight couple with BossTon (Bosston Suphadach Wilairat). This gave the illusion that even though they would not feature as the main couple (obviously, it's BL) they would feature in the series in some capacity. Now maybe you're reading this thinking that perhaps I'm too naive, after all this is a BL series after all, but I'm not saying that I expect them to be at the forefront of the series. Not at all, what I am saying is that I would expect them to thus far have had more screen time than they have so far; and to have had their couple's plot been explored a little more by this point too. For example, I've not tested this theory but, I'd hazard a guess that Mean got more screen time in his guest role than Sammy and BossTon have had as a couple (individual screen time not included). I'm not throwing any shade with this statement, I'm just trying to express how underrepresented, this couple is despite the promotions that would have suggested otherwise.

Despite this I am very happy with Sammy's representation in the series. Regardless of her young age Sammy can be considered a veteran of BL series- she's being acting in them since 2014, and more often than not her weight is sometimes mentioned or alluded to in a negative regard in these series. From my Western perspective at least this seems ridiculous, surely even by Asian standards she can't be considered big by any stretch of the imagination. So maybe once again I'm being naive or ignorant and Thai standards are that extreme but even if this is the case why drag that into the series? That being said, thus far at least, I think Until We Meet Again has treated Sammy with the respect she deserves in this regard. Because let's face it she's freaking gorgeous, not to mention funny and charismatic. (did someone say girl crush!)

Unfortunately, in other ways Sammy has been let down by the series. As BL series grow in popularity, funding becomes more readily available, but at a price. Product placement has long been a fixture in Thai programming, this is nothing new. However, most productions are able to deal with their placements a little more gracefully. Among the narrative disrupting product placements in Until We Meet Again, the placement for cosmetic brand MYSS is by far the worst. So being the most predominant female in the series Sammy is tasked with these disruptive placements. At times the product placement for this brand in particular is so bad, that in my opinion, with the lack of external plot for her character Sammy is at times relegated to nothing more than a physical representation of the brand in the series. Not to mention that it's often makeup on top of makeup which does little to actually advertise the products anyway. Surely this type of thing could be more gracefully relegated to a "side story" at the end of each episode.

Thank You for reading, let me know your thoughts in the comments.

PS. No I have not read the novel.