Moonlight Chicken (2023)

Never seen anything like it befor in Thai BL

I must say I'm still in awe because of the series, I just finished it, and it left me happy and sad at the same time. Happy because I watched a show that will have a special place in my heart, and sad because it is already over.
If you're looking for a mature story that not only revolves around love between two people but also encompasses their daily life, struggles, accomplishments and failures, then this is the show for you. We have a portrayal of at least three different generations, different social status and ways to love or how to show that love. We are shown the beginning and end of relationships, what it means to grow up and to learn from one's mistakes and how to say sorry. It also puts you in the shoes of people who struggle because of the pandemic and its following economic crisis, which makes it even more realistic.
As I am part of the LGBTQIA+ community, I must say that I am beyond joyful with the grand portrayal of our members. It is shown through small details, gestures, and conversations that make me feel like I could sit down with some characters, and we would click automatically because we went through the same struggles or had the same hurtful thoughts.
Everyone involved in this masterpiece did a fantastic job. Every actor delivered their characters perfectly, so believable that I was glued to the screen and never once felt awkward. It was truly a pleasure watching this show. I cannot recommend it enough. I hope there will be more content like this in the future.

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A series with a little bit of something for everyone.

This was absolutely beautiful. Words cannot describe how this series makes me feel. The realism, the characters, the music: everything was just done so perfectly. No character is perfect, but they all learn and grow together.

Every single character had their own traits that made them interesting and engaging. JimWen’s quiet and mundane relationship was so poetic yet messy, and I’m a sucker for their type of relationship (I’m also a massive sucker for EarthMix, they’re my favourite pairing). It was so refreshing to see such a mature storyline. HeartLiMing were adorable and stole my heart. Li Ming made me feel so seen, I relate to him so much. AlanGaipa had me kicking and squealing!

I can understand someone not enjoying this show due the lack of plot and flawed characters… It is a show that is definitely aimed towards more mature viewers, which can make JimWen’s story off putting for younger people but it was absolutely perfect to me and I highly recommend!

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I can’t move on

To begin, i’m a big fan of EarthMix, i’m always falling for their alchemy, their acting and just.. them.

I had big expectations since A Tale Of Thousand Stars is one of my favorite bls and really meaningful to me and oh dear, i wasn’t disappointed at all.

Moonlight Chicken is not a drama that can make you dream with stars in your eyes, instead it tells you how reality can be, how sometimes you can’t find the solution you wanted to your problems, it teaches you a lot.
I enjoyed every seconds of it, all the characters had something to say, a lesson to teach. The acting was incredible for good sake, some scenes between Fourth and Earth were breathtaking. The production, the settings, they were all good and well thought. Everything was perfectly balanced, it’s the first time I can’t find a real flaw to something I watched.

I could talk about it for hours and go deep in details but I will stop here by saying : Moonlight Chicken is a must see, you can’t be disappointed.

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Realistic, Love Heart & Li ming, watched series mainly for them

I had fewer expectations from the series because I find Earth Mix acting to be lacking in whatever I have watched from them. The main reason I watched the series is because I loved Gemini Fourth chemistry & acting in My School President.

I loved the overall story of the series and i liked the job done by the director and hence the good rating & review.
Acting side I loved almost everyone's acting except for the Main Leads. Gemini & Fourth as expected nailed it.

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A fitting tribute to the reality of adult pressures, relationships, and dreams

I truly fell in love with this drama. It possessed a depth and quality that really felt true to life. Serious and emotional, I was swept away in the emotions of these characters. These people. I laughed when they laughed. I giggled when they blushed. I cried when they cried. You could tell it was written by an LGBTQ+ man, writing for the full array of his audience.

Through this story, we got a taste of what it means to be human. How we're all flawed, trying to navigate new and changing relationships in whatever way we think is best. And we're going to make mistakes. Because hindsight is 20/20. Love, whether it be between lovers, family, or friends, is messy. It's filled with joy and pain, all the best intentions that do more harm than good, and questions that may never get the desired closure. And this was a great tribute to that fact.

But the drama also drives home the power of potential. In love. In dreams. In life. That everyone is the same deep down, just trying to make it through life with what they have - both with privileges and burdens. But everyone's journey is inherently unique and independently decided.
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"I chose to sell chicken rice because it's a simple dish. It's consisted of four components: chicken, rice, broth, and sauce... It might only have 4 units, but yet everyone's definition of 'delicious' differs. That's what makes this simple dish stand out. I see people eat chicken rice every day and they all enjoy their chicken rice in their own way."
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On to more specific details, I really loved the commentary about disability and ableism when it came to Heart's storyline. Both in the large scale (being just as capable of living life as hearing individuals) and smaller scales (preferring international films because Thai films never come with subtitles).

Also, the portrayal of Thai culture was brilliantly done. Each episode takes place in a different month as we progress through the year and Thai festivities. By doing so, it presented viewers with a certain degree of Thai pride, showed the passage of time in the story, and in my opinion, really helped establish a fitting pacing for the story (something GMMTV tends to have trouble with).

The story also presented a fresh look at income disparity. Wen is not wealthy. He's still very much having to work his butt off to get by, finding ways to save money in his daily activities, and trying to work his way up the corporate ladder. But, we are still shown that his has more privilege than the residents and workers of the Moonlight Chicken diner. That there are things that he simply can't grasp to the full scale at which they experience. A scale at which he can't resolve, just watch and comfort. We got to see the disillusionment of society that comes with living so low-income, believing things are at a standstill and will never change. The fear associated with being the man at the bottom, easy to stomp out and take advantage of, perceivably without the power to change anything. Without the power to change anything or even to take up more space. The habits you take up in order to distract yourself, or to faintly indulge hope for change. The same habits that struck close to home.

So even while I'm learning about a culture away from home, the portrayal of life still managed to be so wide-reaching that it fed back into the above-mentioned messages. But unlike other GMMTV social commentary dramas, such as "Not Me" or "The Eclipse" (both of which I did love), these messages weren't as explicitly stated to audiences. They fell into the narrative organically with the right amount of emphasize (and quotability) that drove the message home, but without pushing you out of your immersion with the drama.


On a more non-story note, I loved the aesthetic quality of the series. It was full of screen-shot worthy moments and really set the tone. You knew immediately that this wasn't your standard Thai BL. I wasn't particularly fond of the opening theme song, but i loved the rest of the soundtrack. In fact, Ford Arun's "Tomorrow" is playing on a loop while I'm writing this. The PPL was very apparent, but as it was mostly centered around a cat, I found myself not minding it at all. In essence, the cuteness on the screen made up for the abruptness in my eyes.

The drama was immensely different than first presented to us in the pilot and final trailers. The main difference is perhaps the one that I can't mention here because of spoilers, but I ultimately liked this "deception" as it really calls the audience out on seeing everything in black-and-white before they have all the information. The other one, I didn't mind as well, but I know others definitely did: this drama is not spicy. It's just not. There's considerable tension, but it only really comes to a head in that first episode.

I found myself not into Earth's performance here. Not because of age, like so many others have pointed out (but yes, it seemed like the script kept mentioning Jim's age in order to keep reminding us since he did not have the look or give off the vibe that the character was apparently supposed to have), but rather because he didn't draw me in. There's reserved (like what the character is supposed to be), and then there's awkward. And Earth seemed to fluctuate between those two on a regular basis. I wasn't convinced that the character was feeling all the emotions he supposedly was. It wasn't there in his eyes, body language, or demeanor. I mean, the scenes still went off well, but I suspect it was in large part due to the more emotive actors on the screen with him. I was really hoping to see more from him in this drama, as he seemed to have been doing much better at emoting with his eyes and expressions in "Cupid's Last Wish."

Also, I find it rather ironic that, considering the message about Heart preferring international movies because of the lack of subtitles, we didn't have subtitles for the sign language. You can largely get it through context, especially as other characters will often respond verbally along with their sign. But in the latter episodes, as we get more prolonged use of sign language without spoken language, the absence of subtitles was extremely evident.

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Something different coming out of GMMTV

Many series that come out of GMMTV fall into the same tropes, conflicts, and story-telling, so I found Moonlight Chicken to be really refreshing.

To start off I really loved the setting. I was happy to see a story featuring the struggles of low income families. This show highlighted Thai culture and current events. I enjoyed the emphasis on family relationships. The dynamic between Gaipa and his mother was so precious, along with the development between Jim, Li Ming, and Jam. I also loved Leng and Praew. Overall the characters were diverse and interesting.

When it comes to relationships, I absolutely loved Heart and Li Ming. Fourth and Gemini did really well in their respective roles, and I was happy to have a Deaf character. They put lots of attention towards Deaf culture, and though it wasn’t perfect, it was 1000x better than most of the stuff I’ve seen. Fourth played the perfect moody teenager while also keeping the sweetness of youth. Heart was also interesting, and their relationship definitely was the perfect coupling to go with the rest of the story.

I thought Earth and Mix did really well with their roles. This show has shown how much they have both grown as actors. I could tell what they were thinking just through their expressions and actions, though this is also due to having a solid script and good director.
I don’t have many complaints with the casting for Jim. Despite Earth not being able to pull off being any older than 35, he was able to communicate the character well. Maybe Jim has just applied daily sunscreen since a young age. Wen was the perfect foil for Jim, and I liked how Wen was able to be the bridge between Jim and Li Ming.
Wen and Jim’s relationship didn’t strike me as anything special, and the pacing of their relationship felt a beat off. I think that Wen really carried the interest in their relationship, and Jim was a little on the boring side. I hardly care because their chemistry was through the roof.

There are some aspects that I feel could have been improved. After watching the trailer, I was fully expecting a cheating story and relationships full of adult problems. Though personally I don’t care that this plot was likely cut out to appeal to a larger audience, my main problem with it was that it sidelined First and Khaotung’s characters. Khaotung’s character suffered lesser consequences from this, and I absolutely loved him as Gaipa. I liked Alan, but I was a little underwhelmed at times. He had good moments towards the end of the series, but he was brought in too late.
The pacing was slightly off as some tensions were resolved too early, and some conflicts were brought in too late.

The production was better than your average GMMTV series, and I appreciated how they put effort into making the show look good and have an atmosphere. I thought the first episode was lovely, but the quality started to falter at times throughout the rest of the series. Some scenes looked amazing, but some were too dark. I thought the soundtrack was much better than usual, and far less repetitive than some other shows. Now GMMTV has a tendency to have really crappy mics and sound-mixing (looking at you The Eclipse..). This show was better than usual, but not perfect. Also I wish they had subtitles for the signing.

Overall a good watch, and I wouldn’t hesitate to recommend it.

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Not a BL; Thai best slice of life gay series

Before you start watching Moonlight Chicken, I would recommend you to not watch this series as a companion while you do something else: be it eating, chores, dishes, or working. This could be counted as a short/mini one with total only 8 episodes, so the pace is a bit fast, and not everything is pictured in actual scenes. You have to take a proper look on the background to understand the time, you need to listen to every dialogues to catch up of things that didn't show between scenes to connect the dots. Doing this might make you overthink and overanalyze, but believe me, that would be much better than questioning everything as every frame and every lines are too beautiful and important to be missed.

I would not count Moonlight Chicken as a BL, but this series is an actual realistic matured gay drama. A very human drama.
This series brings us a real struggle of life: connection between family, insecurities, grief, coming of age, society, acceptance and how to let go.

I personally love at how this series show how hard your surrounding to accept you being gay; unlike other BL series where people would ignore it is a same-sex relationships and treat it the same way like hetero couples. Reality doesn't like that. I also love, really really love at how this series portray the generation gap between Jim and Wen through their talk: of how they see how the society would treat them, gay community.

You would also find everyone here are here for a reason. BL series tend to have everyone in the story like boys for the sake of fan-service despite how unrealistic it is to have everyone around you are gay (the famous BL logic), yet here, all the characters are just happened to be there to complete the story.

This series is also very subtle with everything.
Like what I mentioned above, not everything is pictured in actual scenes. And yet, everthing hold much more meanings behind it. There are lines that actually implied of other things and if you remember the lines the said character mentioned couple episodes ago, it is all would had more meaning—deeper meaning. This subtleness is my favorite, because somehow show how Asia this is.

Everything in this series is perfect, but if I need to list things GMMTV could improve, it is their sound/voice recording. There are some parts where the sound is annoying, even so I still find them acceptable since all other components that make this story is beyond my expectations.

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I loved this drama. And the funny thing is that it was low on my radar - literally the only reason I was planning on watching at first was due to First and Khao. That was it. The plot wasn't even really my thing, I figured I'd just be waiting for those two to show up and that would be that. But nope, I loved it. This felt like just the kind of grown up drama I've been aching for, one that was ultimately less BL and more, well, life, with all of its complications and messes. It just so happened that the main characters were gay. More of this, please, Thailand. I promise you that there is an audience for it.

I liked how messy it was, and in such a believable way. From Wen and Alan's extremely slow breakup to Jim's trauma becoming a sort of shield for him against opening up to people to Heart and Li Ming's wholehearted jump into a first relationship, the characters felt real and grounded and i loved it. No one was perfect (well, except Gaipa who is honestly a sweetheart too good for this world - I loved his huge crush on Jim even though I knew it wasn't gonna go anywhere, he was so sweet and unassuming about it, best unrequited love ever).

Jim especially won my heart, because the way his walls worked was so relatable to me. I think that some people don't quite get how easy it is to shut yourself off, and how once you do it it is so much easier to just keep letting past trauma keep you from moving forward, not necessarily in ways that hinder your entire life, just parts of it. Jim's utter reluctance to let Wen in and his worry about Li Ming made so much sense to me. He'd been burned and burned hard, it's only natural that he'd want to protect his beloved nephew from the same pain, even though he went about it in the worst way possible most of the time. :D But that's not how it works for the young, and that's a good thing. Yeah, Li Ming might crash and burn, he and Heart might not be forever, but that's okay. I have heard people complaining that Earth is way too young to play Jim, but I honestly thought he suited the role, actually. It might be my favorite role of his yet.

This was almost my perfect drama and if I could have more of this I would be delighted.

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Where life leads to at the end of the day

If you're looking for a slice of life/relatable series where you can sympathize with everyone despite not agreeing with everything they've done or are doing, you've come to the right place. Moonlight chicken is the perfect portrayal of how we go through each stage of our lives and how vastly different each stage is, how our mindsets change and our outlook on life differs as we grow older, how generation gaps affect our relationships with our families and the people around us, how complicated human relationships are and how sometimes, life just doesn't go the way we expect it to.

The cast did wonderful each in their respective role with the exception of Earth who I feel like was casted as the ML simply because fans wanted to see him and Mix paired up again. Don't get me wrong, I adore his acting and he definitely tried his best, but you cannot tell me this man is anywhere over 30, sorry that's not happening, at best he could be 35. I literally had to ignore Jim's age every time it was mentioned (which happened quite often for some goddamn reason) so as to not take myself out of the story, they did try to age him up a bit with styling and the lighting, but they could only do so much with someone who borderline looks like he'd appear in Forbes magazine for 30 under 30, also, hot take but I low-key high-key didn't want Wen and Jim to get together that quickly, Wen wasn't in the right space of mind for a new relationship, especially not after coming out of one that lasted as long as his and Alan's did and had eventually ended on such note, they could've gone with something similar to ATOTS and had them be separated for a while, cross paths after a couple of years and then start their relationship, but apart from that, I liked their relationship when it actually turned into one, which reminds me, GMMTV, why haven't First and Mix been paired up for a project yet? These two have so much potential to be the next great pairing (no offense to the EarthMix and FirstKhao fans, I love these pairings too, but I really wanna see them shine individually more and be partnered up with others too). Honestly First is such an amazing actor, I'm constantly in awe of this man's talent, same could be said about Khaotung who should've been given a bigger role, such small role is an injustice to such talent, and as someone who hasn't started MSP and didn't really know anything about FourthGemini, I've officially adopted this dou and will be binging every single piece of content they come out with.

These are my two cents on this series for now, I contemplated whether I wanted to write an in depth review like I usually do with series that I enjoy or just write down some of my "clearer" and more prominent thoughts on it like I've been doing recently, but I decided to go with the latter simply because I'm still not too sure about what I feel about certain aspects of this series, I might come back and re-review it later, but for now I'll make do with this much, I advise new viewers to check out other reviews and decide for themselves how they feel about this mini series, hope y'all have a nice time watching it.
Have a good night/day everyone.

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Three ships in one show – and it works!

Well, to be honest, “ship-wise” it’s ‘only’ 2 ships – EarthMix and GeminiFourth – as First and Khaotung, despite of starring in MLC, aren’t a couple in this series. Still, casting so many good performers in one show says a lot about GMMTV’s faith in the story, direction and cast – as well as the company’s ability to take risks (yes, putting so many of your assets – and popular ships clearly are assets – into one show represents a considerable risk). All of that was rewarded with a show which works very well and has some aspects usually not found in a BL. I’ll try to focus on the most important and best elements of MLC.

(1) The show has a perfectly paced and shot introduction, which presents the setting, majority of the cast and their relations in a very effective, almost music video manner.

(2) Characters and story give a very grounded, real life feel – which is often absent in BLs, especially rom-coms. This can, at least partly, be attributed to MLC being an almost classic drama. Humor is used sparingly, there are no scenes played for laughs, no comedic reliefs etc. – there’s no BL “fluff” either. The characters have different backgrounds and life experiences, but all are relatable; it’s also worth noting, that – contrary to many BLs – only two characters are teens, the rest are either young adults or “full adults”. Everyone in the show carries a lot of emotional baggage and faces problems we all understand and/or have experienced: loss of a family member, loss of a loved one, difficult break-up, unresolved past issues, unrequited love, money problems and poverty, job problems, unfair treatment and homophobia, difficult relations with parent and/or guardian, illness and/or disability. Despite of that this is still mostly a story about love – losing it, looking for it and finding it.

(3) The story is presented in a very condensed and clear way; several plots neatly fit into it. A bit surprisingly to me there weren’t too many characters (this is, after all, a series with only 8 episodes and a full cast) – mainly because each character had a specific role to play and did it. There was no drag, no time wasted on exposition or pointless talking and walking around.

(4) The cast is very solid, with GMMTV rolling out not just some of its most popular, but also most talented stars.
(a) Mix does a wonderful job as Wen regardless whether he’s drunk at the diner, passionate in bed with Jim, caring and understanding with Li Ming and Heart, trying to win over Jim or keeping his distance from Alan, while still caring for him. Wen seems the most complete character of the series and a good spirit for Li Ming and Jim – while still having issues of his own. I loved the firm grip Mix had of the character – he portrayed Wen with calm and confidence, which passed over to the character itself. This is by far Mix’s best role so far.
(b) Fourth as Li Ming is great, both as Jim’s nephew, a struggling (but never bratty) teenager, often angry and disappointed with his uncle, but also loving him, as well as Heart’s boyfriend, a teen in love – a love that grew so naturally and quietly that I could only smile and cry watching it. MLC was shot before My School President and the interaction of Fourth and Gemini here explains how we got the great chemistry of those two in MSP: it was there all the time. GemFourth is one of those superior ships like OhmNanon, EarthMix or FirstKhao: GMMTV can bank on and will never lose. Non-verbal communication between Li Ming and Heart was top notch; watch the episode 6 New Year scene to see how two unexperienced amateurs nail it without saying a word – that’s real acting. Most of GMMTV’s “actors” should watch it to realize how ridiculously incompetent they are.

MLC isn’t perfect, but it’s mature and non-fairy tale – it’s a serious BL. I enjoyed it very much.

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A Beautiful Slice-Of-Life Drama

A beautiful slice-of-life drama to watch if you're looking for something emotionally mature and cozy with an excellent cast. It is quiet and subtle; nuanced in feeling and incredibly moving in consequence. It dug deep to me. It tackles so many important subjects with what I felt was very careful thought and insight. Each character has their own journey and inner turmoil to sift through, deepening as relationships get involved, and gently yet ardently taking us along with it. Each story felt honest, relatable, and at times very real (those Wen and Alan scenes hit a little too close to home), causing deep thought and genuine emotion. Every journey closed in what I felt was a beautiful and authentic way, and they will stay in my heart for quite some time.

This is a drama that makes you pause, reflect, and immerse into feelings that we sometimes disregard, push away, or ignore. I can see why some could find it boring, as the pace is slower than most; but that's the beauty of a well-written slice-of-life drama... it finds strength in the quiet moments, shows the ugly as it is, and unveils the beauty behind it all.

Anyways, I loved it. It is now one of my comfort dramas. The cast owns my heart, and this story does, too.

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