Gap: The Series Season 1 Review – Much awaited GL representation through a relatable drama

Episode Guide

Episode 1 -| Review Score – 3/5
Episode 2 -| Review Score – 3.5/5
Episode 3 -| Review Score – 3/5
Episode 4 -| Review Score – 3.5/5
Episode 5 -| Review Score – 4.5/5
Episode 6 -| Review Score – 4/5
Episode 7 -| Review Score – 4/5
Episode 8 -| Review Score – 3/5
Episode 9 -| Review Score – 4/5
Episode 10 -| Review Score – 3.5/5
Episode 11 -| Review Score – 4/5
Episode 12 -| Review Score – 4/5

With BLs (boy love) being accepted by the rest of the world, we are getting more representation as Gap: The Series marks a monumental step forward as the first mainstream GL (girl love) Asian drama. With a good plot and loveable characters, it is a lighthearted and fun Thai drama, with a budget to give fans an entertaining watch full of theme songs, symbolic outfits and romantic candle-lit scenes.

It is also a reward for fans who have been there from the beginning and know the struggle the Gap project went through from radio silence for months to it almost getting cancelled and finally getting an air date a year later. 

Well, Gap: The Series is a workplace rom-com which starts with Mon following her idol, Sam after the latter saved her from a car when they were kids. After going to the same college, she ends up working in Sam’s company and hopes for a loving reunion only to be disappointed when she doesn’t seem to remember Mon.

On top of that, Sam is considered a cold and harsh boss as she keeps giving Mon unrealistic deadlines. Meanwhile, she has her own problems as she has struck a bargain with her grandmother after her two sisters Neung and Song were disowned when they didn’t listen to the old matriarch. Sam needs to bring 50 million baht in profit or close her company and marry Kirk. 

Freen Sarocha and Becky Armstrong play the female leads, Sam and Mon respectively and their sizzling chemistry is what makes the show work so well. It is interesting to watch that while both are rookie actresses and may have had to get out of their comfort zone, they definitely sell their characters. Sam is the tough boss who on the inside is a softie and awkward little bean who blushes when she gets her crush’s attention.

Mon, on the other hand, wears her emotions on her sleeve, giving her all to her first and only love. Both Freen and Becky show range from their tense interactions to being in love and then breaking their hearts and ours when the manipulative grandmother gets in their way.

Sure, we have the usual archetypes of a rom-com such as Sam being the resident ice princess while Mon is the hopeless romantic. Coupled with the nosey side characters and bumbling friends with sage advice, Gap: The Series could have fallen into a rut, but thankfully it doesn’t.

And we have to give credit where credit is due like Kirk’s character who stops it from becoming an overwhelming melodrama as he doesn’t turn into that stereotype of an obsessed and homophobic fiance. While he loves Sam, he only wants her and Mon to be happy allowing viewers to reserve their anger for the grandmother.

Meanwhile, the fiery Neung becomes our voice as she takes over the penultimate episode and sets everyone straight. By the way, this writer apologizes as they just realised that the names of the three sisters – Neung, Song and Sam translate to ‘one’, ‘two’ and ‘three’ in Thai aka the three sisters (just a fun little fact).

And of course, we have to talk about the NSFW scenes which have now become a prerequisite in most romantic TV shows. But here we have beautifully-shot lovemaking scenes that are sexy but not too uncomfortable. The actresses are not fetishized but not given too prudish scenes like earlier LGBT+ shows which showed one peck on the cheek and called it a day.

We do have a bone to pick with the creators as they cannot give us interesting side couples like Cher and Risa, and Tee and Yuki and then snatch them away. It is also kind of odd to show Sam as an idol and never touch up on that anymore. Did she just stop being an idol one day, or was that concert in the premiere episode just a one-time thing? But what we would have loved was to see a jealous Mon as she tries to keep Sam all to herself while her fans make heart eyes at her.

Well, there we have it – Gap: The Series is a sweet story between two relatable characters, giving us all the things we love of usual rom-coms in a GL show. If you are tired of tragic endings, token representation or the constant feminine rage as lesbian characters are used as catalysts or props for the main plot, Gap: The Series finally breaks away from the established norm and gives us the representation in Asian media that we have been waiting for.

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