Between Us: Final Thoughts

I will preface this by saying though I was reluctant to watch Until We Meet Again, it has since become one of my absolute favorite series. The themes of reincarnation, mixed with the fact that, in the end, true love did conquer all, made it very much like a fairy tale. Albeit a fairytale that started with a double suicide, but a fairytale nonetheless.

So, when Between Us was announced, I like most fans, waited with bated breath. For years, and in that time, I allowed myself to do nothing but build expectations for the series. Expectations that were not fair.

When it was revealed that the timeframe of Between Us would run parallel to Until We Meet Again, those expectations got even higher.

I repeat: That wasn’t fair, but I couldn’t help it. Until We Meet Again was so well written with some truly unforgettable characters – characters that I now know so well I can watch the parent series without subtitles.

Why does this series hold such a special place in my heart? Easy. It’s because of the friendship between Manow, Pharm, and Team. They are the best friend squad of the BL industry. Seriously, these three had such a strong and spectacular bond that I could not wait to see where they would go and how they would deal with some of the significant issues faced in Until We Meet Again that we did not get to see outside of the perspective of Dean and Pharm.

Also, Team and Win thought the official side couple in Until We Meet Again was still prominently featured, and their story was well-worth getting a deeper look at.

The first episode was exactly what I wanted it to be. It showed Team’s reaction to a situation Pharm had after meeting Dean for the first time. He was scared, shaken, and had no idea why. Leaving his responsibilities to rush to Pharm’s side, he reiterated just how strong their bond was.

The only problem was, that was the only time that thing happened. The rest of the series only featured Dean and Pharm to show where the episode was in the timeline of the original series – even though they were billed as the official side couple of Between Us.

I was glad we got a few breadcrumbs of Manow’s life outside the boys, including the relationship between her and Pruek. Though, those, too, were few and far between.

Instead of focusing on these incredible and well-established characters, who had the chance to become even more well-rounded and wonderful, We got a plethora of new characters peppered in here and there. They were sweet (I adore BeePrince), but besides WonTul, they needed more screen time to be someone I was too invested in. Also, Yacht, who played Tul, was featured in Until We Meet Again as Mew – a minor character who wasn’t featured enough for us to know much about his backstory. However, having Yacht play a different character instead of expanding on Mew was an odd choice.

I am also disappointed they changed the events of the rafting trip. In Until We Meet Again episode 13, Win and Team take their relationship to the next step in a very poignant moment where Team takes the reins and pulls Win in for a kiss. I don’t care that they had sex together in the first episode of Between Us. Sex is fine, but this moment in Until We Meet Again proved that Team was in love with Win. In Between Us episode 10, the event happened entirely differently. It was not the worst thing I’ve ever seen; it just took away from the power of the original scene, and that bothered me.

I liked that Between Us was all about consent and ensuring that the audience knew its importance. I like that we got to learn more about Win’s home life, and I love that he had two siblings. Team’s back story was interesting but needed a better resolution.

There was also a conscious decision to remove all of Dean and Pharam’s drama from the last two episodes of Until We Meet Again, including the fact that Pharm had a mental breakdown. It would have been wonderful to see from Team and Manow’s perspective, but it was glossed over like it never happened.

All it all, the series wasn’t terrible, but it wasn’t great, either. It was mediocre, and the characters deserved better than that.

On Sunday, Samantha Melanie Coats, who played Manow, reveled per an instagram post a wedding scene for Win and Team – something not aired in the finale prompting most fans, myself included, to speculate that a special episode was on the way.