Project S The Series: SPIKE!
Thai 2016 series Project S The Series: SPIKE! was recommended online as one of the top 60 (!) Asian BL dramas, so I thought I'd give it a look. Being a volleyball-focused series, I was hopeful it could have similarities to HIStory: Crossing the Line, which would have made it a fantastic find, but unfortunately high-school volleyball is their only point of likeness.
Summary: A group of four friends in a successful Under 18 boys volleyball team at Thappanya School in Bangkok make a pact after losing a finals match: they will all play again the following year and get their revenge on the winning team San Sebastian. When one of the boys Singha betrays his friends and transfers to San Sebastian, the team is devastated and must start from scratch to build a new team. The 'spiker' captain Puen must work closely with the new 'setter' Than, and they take an instant and violent dislike to each other. When the team coach falls ill, team manager Best takes a gamble and engages as coach an old flame Win, who was banned from volleyball in disgrace five years earlier after a violent on-court incident. We follow the progress of the boys over the next twelve months as they gain confidence and skills under Win's tutelage, all with their eyes on the upcoming Under 18 Boys championship trophy. Puen and Than learn to work well together without animosity, and eventually they become close friends. Just as the team reaches a very comfortable stage and looks certain to do well in the finals, Win makes a catastrophic mistake that almost rips the team apart and leaves them exposed. To add to the difficulties, Puen turns away from the team in total despair when a car accident almost kills one of the key characters.
I realised after about episode five that I'd been deceived into watching SPIKE! as a BL drama. While there are elements that point towards it becoming BL - hate that turns to love, the lack of interest in very forward girls, sensitivity to feelings, revealing flashbacks - it's in fact a bromance. There's a strong suggestion throughout the series that Puen in particular is gay, and he possibly had a secret relationship with Singha, but that's about it. There's a scene involving a broken down car that almost gets us the answers we crave with some nicely written dialogue (keep an ear out for Puen's friend Jern asking him "What's your type?"), but the question is dropped at the last moment before we get any certainty. I'm not a fan of any bromance drama that engages in gay-baiting - which SPIKE! certainly does, especially in this scene - so it hasn't won a friend in me on that score. Hopefully I'll one day come across a bromance that's worth watching and also refrains from gay-baiting. I won't hold my breath though.
In any case, I stuck with SPIKE! to the end, with the idea of seeing where it went. I'm glad I did, because it wasn't as predictable as I thought it was going to be, and parts of the narrative are original and interesting. One of its most effective elements is the way it shows how humiliating inconsiderate comments can be, especially when said thoughtlessly or carelessly. There's a distinctly unusual preference for characterisation over plot in SPIKE! which results in a clear division of the characters on the basis of their personality. Than, Win and Jern are the prime examples of characters who always speak what's on their minds without any consideration for how their words might cause pain and confusion. Puen and Best are the other side of the coin - reserved and introspective, they would rather say nothing than risk conflict, and they end up absorbing their pain. The screenplay comes down much more harshly on the former group than the latter, the implication being that to speak out of turn or unthinkingly is immature and poor manners. I loved that the screenplay took this direction, and it was more than enough reason to continue watching the whole series, but it didn't really flesh these ideas out enough for them to be really noteworthy.
But the true standout element in SPIKE! is the exceptionally good actor playing Puen, Oabnithi "Oab" Wiwattanawarang. He gives a tremendous performance of fire and ice that's beautifully measured, and one of the best I've seen so far in a BL drama. After initially seeming like just one of the boys on the volleyball team (except for his demonstration of scorching contempt for Singha when he quits the team), his growing closeness to Than gives the audience a glimpse of a deeply passionate, loving nature that's writhing in the pain of loneliness and abandonment. When he at lasts opens up and relates details of his awful upbringing, his tearful plaintive wail "Nobody wants me!" will claw at your heart and bring tears to your eyes. There's no screaming or hysterics, just a boy in tears in profound distress. Oab brings so much stillness to his on-screen presence, leaving just about everything important that needs to be said to be conveyed by his very expressive face and eyes instead. It's a powerful memorable performance, and it fits in perfectly with a series that, at times, communicates so beautifully through what's left unsaid and, equally, through the ill-considered javelins of speech that are hurled at other people in the heat of anger and disdain or just out of plain thoughtlessness.
When you set aside these fine aspects of the show, there's not much else to it that's worth any attention. Be prepared to watch a lot of volleyball practice and a few mildly exciting matches, with plenty of team camaraderie highs and lows in between. Than's conflict with his father about his future is well done at times, and there's a series of interesting flashbacks in episode seven that show Singha's time at Thappanya School and the basis of his friendship with Puen. But without having any effective BL elements to recommend it as a truly BL drama rather than a bromance, SPIKE! is only recommended for diehard BL completists and fans of high-school volleyball movies.
Rating: 9 out of 20
Ending: irrelevant, there's no BL. It's more of a bromance with a few elements that are suggestive of some unseen boys love.
Best scene: Oab's very impressive acting 'tour de force' at a hospital emergency room.
The only scene that might possibly be better is his heart-breaking moment of true openness to Singha when he cries "Nobody wants me!"
Summary: A group of four friends in a successful Under 18 boys volleyball team at Thappanya School in Bangkok make a pact after losing a finals match: they will all play again the following year and get their revenge on the winning team San Sebastian. When one of the boys Singha betrays his friends and transfers to San Sebastian, the team is devastated and must start from scratch to build a new team. The 'spiker' captain Puen must work closely with the new 'setter' Than, and they take an instant and violent dislike to each other. When the team coach falls ill, team manager Best takes a gamble and engages as coach an old flame Win, who was banned from volleyball in disgrace five years earlier after a violent on-court incident. We follow the progress of the boys over the next twelve months as they gain confidence and skills under Win's tutelage, all with their eyes on the upcoming Under 18 Boys championship trophy. Puen and Than learn to work well together without animosity, and eventually they become close friends. Just as the team reaches a very comfortable stage and looks certain to do well in the finals, Win makes a catastrophic mistake that almost rips the team apart and leaves them exposed. To add to the difficulties, Puen turns away from the team in total despair when a car accident almost kills one of the key characters.
I realised after about episode five that I'd been deceived into watching SPIKE! as a BL drama. While there are elements that point towards it becoming BL - hate that turns to love, the lack of interest in very forward girls, sensitivity to feelings, revealing flashbacks - it's in fact a bromance. There's a strong suggestion throughout the series that Puen in particular is gay, and he possibly had a secret relationship with Singha, but that's about it. There's a scene involving a broken down car that almost gets us the answers we crave with some nicely written dialogue (keep an ear out for Puen's friend Jern asking him "What's your type?"), but the question is dropped at the last moment before we get any certainty. I'm not a fan of any bromance drama that engages in gay-baiting - which SPIKE! certainly does, especially in this scene - so it hasn't won a friend in me on that score. Hopefully I'll one day come across a bromance that's worth watching and also refrains from gay-baiting. I won't hold my breath though.
In any case, I stuck with SPIKE! to the end, with the idea of seeing where it went. I'm glad I did, because it wasn't as predictable as I thought it was going to be, and parts of the narrative are original and interesting. One of its most effective elements is the way it shows how humiliating inconsiderate comments can be, especially when said thoughtlessly or carelessly. There's a distinctly unusual preference for characterisation over plot in SPIKE! which results in a clear division of the characters on the basis of their personality. Than, Win and Jern are the prime examples of characters who always speak what's on their minds without any consideration for how their words might cause pain and confusion. Puen and Best are the other side of the coin - reserved and introspective, they would rather say nothing than risk conflict, and they end up absorbing their pain. The screenplay comes down much more harshly on the former group than the latter, the implication being that to speak out of turn or unthinkingly is immature and poor manners. I loved that the screenplay took this direction, and it was more than enough reason to continue watching the whole series, but it didn't really flesh these ideas out enough for them to be really noteworthy.
But the true standout element in SPIKE! is the exceptionally good actor playing Puen, Oabnithi "Oab" Wiwattanawarang. He gives a tremendous performance of fire and ice that's beautifully measured, and one of the best I've seen so far in a BL drama. After initially seeming like just one of the boys on the volleyball team (except for his demonstration of scorching contempt for Singha when he quits the team), his growing closeness to Than gives the audience a glimpse of a deeply passionate, loving nature that's writhing in the pain of loneliness and abandonment. When he at lasts opens up and relates details of his awful upbringing, his tearful plaintive wail "Nobody wants me!" will claw at your heart and bring tears to your eyes. There's no screaming or hysterics, just a boy in tears in profound distress. Oab brings so much stillness to his on-screen presence, leaving just about everything important that needs to be said to be conveyed by his very expressive face and eyes instead. It's a powerful memorable performance, and it fits in perfectly with a series that, at times, communicates so beautifully through what's left unsaid and, equally, through the ill-considered javelins of speech that are hurled at other people in the heat of anger and disdain or just out of plain thoughtlessness.
When you set aside these fine aspects of the show, there's not much else to it that's worth any attention. Be prepared to watch a lot of volleyball practice and a few mildly exciting matches, with plenty of team camaraderie highs and lows in between. Than's conflict with his father about his future is well done at times, and there's a series of interesting flashbacks in episode seven that show Singha's time at Thappanya School and the basis of his friendship with Puen. But without having any effective BL elements to recommend it as a truly BL drama rather than a bromance, SPIKE! is only recommended for diehard BL completists and fans of high-school volleyball movies.
Rating: 9 out of 20
Ending: irrelevant, there's no BL. It's more of a bromance with a few elements that are suggestive of some unseen boys love.
Best scene: Oab's very impressive acting 'tour de force' at a hospital emergency room.
The only scene that might possibly be better is his heart-breaking moment of true openness to Singha when he cries "Nobody wants me!"
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