Boy Meets Boy
Episode 1 of I Told Sunset About You opens with Teh auditioning for the role in a Chinese opera drama. After receiving a lot of praise for his singing and put himself in a fix by mentioning his friend. After leaving the audition hall, Teh gets on a call with his mother, and just as the call ends he spots someone he knows.
Teh ignores him and changes his costume to dress back into his school uniform. His brother Hoon picks him up on his way home and asks Teh to rest since the next day would be his last day in school.
The episode moves back in time to when Teh was in 7th-grade he first found his “best friend” Oh-aew. Teh, who was accompanied by his parents was greeted by Oh-aew, a young boy with a staple red jacket, who had come alone to the high school.
A sudden burst of firecrackers in a distance left Oh-aew and Teh scared and Teh huddled up near his family joined by a lone, Oh-aew and the two eventually become friends. The two were later joined by three other boys.
Since Teh’s mother runs a restaurant, the group would often gather at his house to eat Hokkien Mee – a stir-fried noodle dish. The boys ate the noodles as they watched Chinese period dramas that Teh especially enjoyed.
As a child, Teh dreamed of someday becoming an actor like the main lead of the drama and his friends did not take him seriously, everyone but Oh-aew. Oh-aew told Teh that he would be rooting for him until the day Teh makes it big.
Rich boy problems
Unlike Teh, Oh-aew’s life was simple. He did not have any dreams or goals for his future. Since he was the only one who believed in Teh, the two used to practice scenes from the show together and eventually became the closest of the lot so much so that it was only Teh who understood Oh-aew’s facial gestures and what exactly he meant without saying a word.
One time, when Teh’s school decided to stage a part of a Chinese drama on the occasion of Chinese New Year, Oh-aew inadvertently bags the main lead role. Knowing that his friend adored the character he was going to play, Oh-aew only agrees after Teh’s nod of approval.
Since Teh was passionate about acting, he helps his friend throughout the rehearsals and ends up learning the lines from the drama. An excited Teh stated that seeing Oh-aew in the costume makes him want to play the role.
The cast for the drama starts to get on stage and Oh-aew seems like he is underprepared but Teh cheers him on, encouraging him to get on stage as the play starts. All of a sudden a live wire causes a commotion and Oh-aew, who is already afraid of firecrackers, forgets his lines.
Teh saves the day
Teh, who remembers the next line by heart, writes the dialogue on a large placard for his friend to see, and once Oh-aew is back on track, Teh starts to perform the fight scenes backstage for his personal satisfaction.
After the stage play comes to an end, Oh-aew rushes to greet and thank Teh. Oh-aew mentions to Teh that the professor wanted him to play the same role again and states that he would like to do it again since his first acting attempt went so well.
Teh is shocked by this revelation as acting was something Teh was passionate about. Oh-aew mentions that since his first gig was a huge success, he would love to do it again only because he had fun.
Best Friends Fore…
Oh-aew casually mentions that he would like to become an actor but realizes Teh’s not really pleased. Oh-aew mentions that he was not sure about becoming an actor at first but the thrill of being on stage made him feel like he was going to be able to do it well.
Teh misunderstands Oh-aew and states that he is doing so only to be able to steal the role from him. Teh confuses Oh-aew as the latter mentions that it was Teh who pushed him to take on the role. Teh responds by saying that he only did so because he was a friend of Oh-aew but did not want to become a rival to his best friend.
The two friends end up fighting when Teh states that Oh-aew would quit anyway and the duo ends up splitting and eventually never talking to one another going forward. Teh then transfers to a different school and the two never spoke to each other after that.
Teh’s present life
Five years later and back to the present day, Teh is finally home after a long journey and his mother offers free food to her customers. She mentions to them that Teh had completed his interview at University successfully and was waiting for his results which would take another two weeks to come out.
The next day, Teh is back to school as a 12th grader and is late to class. Teh is conversing with his new best friend, Tan. She is just as dedicated as Teh and is interested to become an artist.
Teh jokes around with Tan and asks if she wanted to have him as her “cute” boyfriend. Teh mentions that she was still to respond to the proposal that he had been making for the last two years.
Tan states that she would only respond to his confession after exams as she wanted to focus on her studies for now. Tan also tells Teh that since she would be needing some time to respond to his proposal, she was okay if he found another partner to date in the meantime.
Teh mentions to Tan that he would be going back to his old school for some extra Chinese classes later that day. Tan mentions that Teh would finally meet the old friend that he told her about.
Boy meets boy, again
Later that day, Teh drives to his old school and is greeted by three of his older friends all grown up with the absence of Oh-aew. The group chats up and then goes inside the class. Teh and red-jacket boy, Oh-aew see each other for the first time in five years and tension builds.
Kai (one of the three) introduces Teh to Bas, a boy who joined the group two years ago. The teacher walks in and Teh and Oh-aew are not able to have a chat due to the awkwardness. Oh-aew rushes to the seat next to Bas just as Teh was going to have a seat.
Teh eventually moves two seats down, to the right of Oh-aew. Teh keeps gazing at his former best friend throughout the lecture. The teacher asks which students were interested in taking up Communication Arts, Teh and Oh-aew are the only two students to raise their hands.
The teacher then hands out a basic Chinese test in which Teh scores 29 on 30 points. Teh is the last to leave the class and just as he walks out, he notices Oh-aew’s score which is a staggeringly low 9 on 30. Oh-aew catches Teh peeping onto his grade card but Teh walks back to his seat. Oh-aew walks out without saying a word.
Jealousy, jealousy
Later that day, Teh is hanging out with Tan as he casually mentions that scoring better than Oh-aew will be more than enough for him and Tan mentions that he was still holding a grudge from years ago. Teh retorts that he only wanted to win against his former friend.
Tan mentions that she would now be starting her drawing practices early in the morning and asks Teh to accompany her by walking up at 4 am in order to have time to talk to her. Teh gives in and states that he would always be there for her.
Teh drops Tan off at her house and the two video chat for a while before setting their alarms to wake up early the next morning. Teh looks up Oh-aew on Instagram and is shocked to see that he has 90k followers.
One of Bas’ comments on Oh-aew’s post catches Teh off-guard when Bas compares Oh-aew to the same actor that Teh and Oh-aew fought over. The next morning, Teh uses his brother’s hair gel to style his hair and mimics the same pose as Oh-aew with his bowl of noodles.
Teh is late to his Chinese class and as the teacher instructs, he contemplates posting the photo online as he continues to gaze at Oh-aew from his set. When he looks up at Oh-aew another time, he is met with Oh-aew’s angry eyes which leads to Teh immediately looking ahead.
The teacher jokes that Teh looked handsome because he wore the same hairstyle as Oh-aew and the entire class begins to snicker, including Oh-aew.
Teh’s pettiness
After the class, all six friends gather at a dessert shop when Oh-aew casually mentions that Bas scored a 30 on the pre-test which shocks Teh. Teh’s friends brag about his achievements when Bas unknowingly asks Teh to join Oh-aew’s drama club for a Chinese play.
A betrayed Teh looks at Oh-aew amused that the latter was still keeping acting up after all these years. The older friends who are aware of the fight try to distract the two but Teh provokes Oh-aew.
Oh-aew converses with Teh for the first time in years and asks him what his problem was. The two break into a war of words just as Teh mocks Oh-aew’s low score in front of the group. Oh-aew walks away and Bas and Kai run after him.
An angry Oh-aew lashes out at his friends calling Teh an asshole even when he tried to avoid him for years. Kai states that both he and Teh were old enough to let bygones be bygones and forget about the fight.
Bas consoles Oh-aew and asks him to calm down as tells Kai that he would be taking Oh-aew back home. Back in Bas’ car, Oh-aew mentions that he did not want to go home so the two just sit in the car in silence as Bas and Oh-aew take turns sneaking gazes at each other.
Oh-aew finally gets back home, to his parents’ resort as they quiz him about his studies. Oh-aew’s father asks him what his plans were if he failed to make it as an actor and a disheartened Oh-aew just gazes at his father.
The results are out!
The next day, Teh’s family prays together as he leaves for school. Since it is finally the day of his University admission results, Teh is very worried and his mother tries to calm his worries by asking him to stay positive.
In the Chinese class, the entire group is worried about the results, and Teh, as usual, arrives late. After sitting in an empty seat, Teh keeps gazing at Oh-aew making him uncomfortable. Oh-aew informs the group that he will be checking the results all by himself.
Outside, Oh-aew finds opens the result but hears a commotion going on inside the class. Back in the class, the friends congratulate Teh for making it but a worried Oh-aew goes through the list and is disappointed not to see his name under the Top 10 applicants.
Knowing that his former friend would be hurt, Teh goes to visit Oh-aew outside but Oh-aew runs away from him and exits from an unfamiliar location. As soon as Teh catches up to Oh-aew, the latter bursts into tears and calls Teh out for taking away a seat.
Oh-aew mentions that since Teh was already so smart, he could have easily got in by going through the admission system and not by applying for the direct exam. Watching his friend cry gets Teh emotional too and the Oh-aew apologizes for his words and walks away.
Reconciliation in solitude
Later that day, Teh drives to the secluded beach he and Oh-aew often went to as kids knowing full well that Oh-aew was hiding out there to get away after failing to clear the test.
After Teh apologies for his nasty comments from the last few days. As he sobs, Teh also apologizes for the way he treated Oh-aew when they were kids and the two former friends sob and eventually make amends.
A few days after, the entire group hangs out at the beach to celebrate Teh’s admission while Bas drags Oh-aew in, attempting to cheer him up. Teh notices that while everyone is enjoying their swim, Oh-aew is the only one sitting outside.
Teh walks up to Oh-aew shocking Bas, who obviously has feelings for Oh-aew. Teh and Oh-aew chat up and talk about what their lives had been like over the last few years. Oh-aew asks why Teh didn’t ever make amends with him over the years and Oh-aew mentions that it was because he did not know how to apologize back then.
Both Teh and Oh-aew reconcile with each other and finally resolve their issues as Teh invites him over to his place to eat some Hokkien Mee. Oh-aew informs Teh that he was okay being friends with him again but warns Teh that he should not expect the two to be as close as they were back in the day.
Oh-aew points out that they two were not good for each other as Oh-aew only pushed himself to be better because he was challenged by Teh. Oh-aew complains that he feels incompetent to Teh who keeps being the better of the two, making Oh-aew jealous.
Teh agrees to give Oh-aew his time to feel comfortable around Teh again. Teh cheers Oh-aew on by saying he still had three months left to prepare for the main admission exam and that he would still make it.
Teh then thinks about his audition from the beginning of the episode as he recollects how he told the panel what he would say to Oh-aew when he finally met him and thinks how he could not say any of those things to him now that he was seated across from him.
The group goes to Teh’s house to enjoy the noodles just like back in the day. The next day, Teh offers a suitcase full of study notes to Oh-aew and suggests that they would help him prepare better for the upcoming exam.
Teh suggests that he was available to tutor Oh-aew if he wished in the hopes of the two being each other’s best friends again to which Oh-aew reluctantly agrees.
The Episode Review
‘I Told Sunset About You’ is one of the most-loved BL dramas in the history of Thai series and presents a unique storyline unlike any of the other BLs that have been released in the past. The first episode gives us an idea about how the two main characters of the show, Teh and Oh-aew, who are extremely dependent on one another.
When Oh-aew was not sure what he wanted to do with his career, Teh indirectly inspired him to pursue acting. Meanwhile, Teh constantly relied on Oh-aew for his company. The show also presents an interesting take on relationships where Teh is pursuing his female friend, Tan, but Oh-aew seems to be attracted to his male friend Bas.
Not knowing what is in store for him and Oh-aew, Teh uses their friendship as a crutch to stay around him as that makes him feel happier. By the end of the episode, despite Oh-aew’s resignation from him, Teh is adamant to be close to Oh-aew and become his “best friend” again by going out of his way and offering to tutor him.
The implication of “best friend” here could be equated with exclusivity and it will be interesting to see Teh learn the dynamic Oh-aew now shares with Bas after his absence. While Oh-aew mentions that he was only trying to be better than Teh because he was jealous of him, it seems like the red jacket boy was actually hurt by Teh’s dismissal of their friendship all those years ago.
Oh-aew is needy for company and he thinks that he does not need Teh anymore now that he has Bas but once Teh and Oh-aew start hanging around each other a lot more than usual, it is evident that all hell will break loose.
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Episode Rating
(4)