Ossan’s Love (Thai BL) – Season 1 Episode 1 Recap & Review

Episode 1

Episode 1 of Ossan’s Love begins with Heng, a thirty-year-old man, dreaming about being the top salesman at his workplace — Okaeri real estate agency. His mother then wakes him up and berates him for being an overgrown child, who needs to be looked after by his mother.

Heng heads to work where the reality is that he hasn’t been performing well and constantly shows up late to work. Heng has a crush on a co-worker named Irene but just as he’s thinking about this, she gets engaged to another co-worker.

Heng meets his friends Thua-ngok and Chicha, drowning his sorrows about Irene’s engagement in alcohol as his friends comfort him. The next day, Heng heads out early, determined to reach work on time. He comes across his boss, Kongdech, on the train. A jolt pushes them together and makes Kongdech’s phone fall down. Heng picks it up and notices that the lock screen has a photo of him. He hurriedly gives the phone back to Kongdech.

At work, Kongdech calls Heng into his office and asks if he “saw it.” Heng is insisting he didn’t see it when a man enters the office and bumps into Heng. His name is Mo and he’s just transferred from another branch. Heng recognises him from their probation period which they had spent together. Mo is now replacing Irene.  

Heng shows him the ropes at work. Afterwards, Heng and Mo have one bag of snacks left, which Heng gives to one of the cleaning ladies. Mo comments that he’s as kind as he was before. Heng asks what he means by “before” but Mo brushes it off.

Unexpectedly, the two of them have to go back to the office and work late on a presentation. While doing so, Mo finds a folder full of photos of Heng on Kongdech’s computer. Kongdech arrives then and tells Mo to go home while he helps Heng with the presentation. Mo has no choice but to leave. Kongdech tries to speak to Heng but Heng runs away and meets Mo in the lift and they head down together.

Heng goes home to find his mother isn’t home. She’s left a note saying that she’s left the house and will come back when Heng can take care of himself. Heng is forced to reckon with the fact that this is not a joke and she’s really gone. He meets his friends Thua-ngok and Chicha. Thua-ngok reminds Heng of the promise he made in second grade to marry Chicha if he was still single at thirty. They laugh it off.

Heng goes home to find Mo waiting outside with some food, to help with the presentation. Mo then admits he’s looking for an affordable condo to rent. Heng asks Mo if he wants to be his housemate. We then see a montage of Mo cooking and cleaning for Heng. Heng makes a big deal about it at work and teases Mo, telling him to marry him. Watching this, Kongdech literally shakes with anger.

Later, Heng looks for Kongdech to give him a file but another employee, Meow, says Kongdech has taken leave to go be with his wife. Hearing that Kongdech is married makes Heng assume this was all a misunderstanding but in reality, we see that Kongdech is visiting his wife’s grave with his young daughter.

Just then, a senior employee named Ten points out that the wrong QR code has been put on some flyers. Heng and Mo head out to fix the flyers. Mo recalls how Heng had helped him eight years ago during their probation. Mo needed to replace the phone number on a billboard and Heng helped him do so.

They had later shared some beers and Heng had realised that Mo doesn’t mingle a lot because of his distinct accent, which led to him being teased when he was young. They had chatted and bonded and Heng decided not to open the last can of beer until they both passed their probation and got to work together again.

The morning after fixing the QR codes, the agency has a big event. Heng and the others get in a pickle when they learn their mascot actor isn’t going to show up. Kongdech arrives and says he’ll do it, making a speech about how they’re not just selling homes but homeliness. This inspires Heng to don the costume himself.

He’s having a great time until one of the metal stands falls over. Heng pushes Kongdech out of the way and gets hit instead. The team takes Heng to a hospital but he is fine and soon discharged. Kongdech then asks Mo to leave and speaks with Heng privately. He hugs Heng and warns him not to pull a stunt like this again.

Mo goes home and goes down memory lane again. He and Heng had gone out drinking with the rest of their team during the probation period. Mo had received a call saying he passed the probation and was offered a position in Chiang Mai. Mo saw Heng being friendly with Chicha (whose restaurant they were at) and, disheartened, accepted the position.

At present, Kongdech drops Heng home and finally confesses that he likes Heng. When Heng asks, he says his wife passed away ten years ago. Kongdech then asks Heng to wait for him and takes his shocked silence to mean assent. Heng is still shocked as he goes inside the house and Mo quickly picks up on it. Later, we learn that Mo actually overheard them.

Mo later walks in on Heng having a shower in the bathroom. Mo begins to brush his teeth and chats with Heng. He asks Heng if something happened and Heng confesses the whole conversation with Kongdech. Heng admits he’s single right now but points out that Kongdech is a guy.

This gets Mo worked up and he walks right up to Heng in the shower area, demanding to know what’s wrong with two men dating. He then tells Heng he has a crush on him and boldly claims that he won’t lose him to someone else this time. Mo then kisses Heng square on the lips, leaving Heng shocked at receiving two confessions in one night at the end of Ossan’s Love Episode 1.

The Episode Review

Right off the bat, Ossan’s Love distinguishes itself as a very specific type of drama — a silly, high-on-the-slapstick comedy drama. Episode 1 starts off with chaos. Exposition is thrown at us, Heng’s life and situation are quickly established in a fast and jumpy manner as if hopping from scene to scene. There’s a lot of goofiness here and the acting is loud, in fact, everything is exaggerated to the extreme.

The story is over the top, already giving us a hospital scene and a kiss in just the first episode! Emotions are high and the dialogues are dramatic as well. The soundtrack is as jumpy as the storyline but maybe this is part of the Thai BL’s general aesthetic — a quirky, hammy, not to be taken seriously vibe. Mix’s portrayal of Mo is ever so slightly more grounded and his chemistry with Earth definitely pulls things together. Not everyone’s cup of tea for sure but a decent start nonetheless.