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BoysLove: Until We Meet Again, an epic story of love that transcends death [1]

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Date: 2025-03-18

The first time that I watched Until We Meet Again, I sat stunned and overwhelmed for nearly ten minutes after it finished. When I was finally able to compose myself a bit, I wrote the above when the system requested my comment and rating (10/10 stars, because I couldn’t give it 100).

I still stand by that statement, even after multiple viewings of this sprawling 17-episode series. It is a masterpiece of cinematic storytelling.

What makes it so outstanding in a field of hundreds and hundreds of BL series? We could talk about its execution, an almost flawless presentation by cast and crew. But, really, that’s getting ahead of ourselves: we have to begin at the beginning, even before the script was written.

Lazysheep, an online author of whom little is known, came up with a concept: the story of a love that transcends death itself and spans three generations and more than thirty years. It’s hard to get more epic than that.

The novel on which UWMA is based, The Red Thread, takes its central theme from a traditional belief widespread in East Asia: two lovers whose bond is tragically broken in life will remain bound together after death, to be born again and linked by a metaphorical red thread so that they will always find each other in order to fulfill their joint destiny.

Until We Meet Again Series name Until We Meet Again Release Year 2019 Country Thailand Studio Studio Wabi Sabi Number of Episodes 17 Links to View Viki or Youtube playlists

Dramatis Personae Character Actor Pharm Fluke Natouch Dean Ohm Thitiwat Intouch (In) Earth Katsamonnat Korn Kao Noppakao Manaow Samantha Melanie Coates Team Prem Warut Win Boun Noppanut

The beginning of the story

If you haven’t already seen the series, please watch at least the first six minutes right now (links to view are shown above). The opening scene is shocking and violent but it’s crucial because it is the event that shapes the lives of almost everyone in the story over the following three decades.

It’s a major spoiler but happens right at the beginning so buckle up your nerve and go ahead and watch. We’ll wait right here.

Brutal, wasn’t it? That double tragedy resulted in the two boys, Intouch (or In, for short) and Korn being bound together, life after life, until their souls can someday “get things right” and allow them to find peace.

Reincarnation may seem like an exotic belief to many Westerners but angels, and heaven, and appearances of a virgin mother of god might seem just as unlikely to many in Asian countries. For much of the world, reincarnation is simply accepted as a fact so the legend of the red thread makes perfect sense.

As we learn fairly early in the tale, In and Korn have been reborn in the personas of Pharm and Dean. Normally, according to Asian traditions, the new personas aren’t aware of the past lives of their souls … but this is a special “red thread” case. The experiences and emotions of In and Korn were so powerful that they gradually start intruding into the present-day awareness of Pharm and Dean.

Rivers of tears

The road to Boys’ Love hell is littered with the desiccated corpses of those who claimed they were tough guys/gals who never cry at movies. We try to warn them but they never believe and end up shedding every drop of moisture in their bodies.

Until We Meet Again viewing kit

Be prepared and be smart when watching UWMA. Although it has a lot of fun, funny, charming, and sweet screen-time, it will rip your heart out again and again and again throughout the series (I can barely get through episodes 9-11 every time).

By showing us upfront the tragic finale for In and Korn, the flashbacks to their time become bittersweet. We slowly learn the timeline of events so that we see them sharing a loving and happy moment … but, by now, we know that no, they will never again do that thing they are vowing to do together next year because they have only weeks, days, or hours left to live. We’re crying because their brief happiness is so touching and because we see that figurative freight train of destruction bearing down on them.

So drink plenty of fluids. Forget about having a box of tissues at hand, it won’t be enough. Set a bucket next to your chair and grab a beach towel. Every so often, hit the pause button, wring the towel out into the bucket, then hit play and keep going.

And don’t think it’s over after the last episode. Days or weeks later, you’ll think of a scene and again your tears will flow.

Musical interlude I

UWMA has an awesome original soundtrack. Most of the songs were written and performed by Boy Sompob, the legendary king of OSTs for BL series. Boy has been composing BL soundtracks since the very beginning with his songs for Love Sick: The Series.

The story continues

Beware, here there be dragons! OK, not dragons, really … but from here on there may be spoilers. I will try to touch very lightly on them and warn if a major spoiler is coming but it’s impossible to discuss UWMA without talking at least a little about what happens.

It actually takes quite a while before Pharm and Dean (current incarnations of the souls of In and Korn) to meet. We get to learn about their individual lives (especially Pharm) before the fateful moment when they first meet.

We see Pharm meeting his new best buds, Team and Manaow, on the first day of university. We find Dean hanging with his best bud, Win, at the pool where they lead the swim team.

But their destiny is foreshadowed; we can tell that there is something absolutely electric the first time that Dean lays eyes on Pharm even though it is at quite a distance.

Pharm and Dean

Eventually we discover that both have felt almost their whole life that something is missing and that they are looking for someone. They don’t know who it is but they know that there is one and only one person for them out of the billions on the planet.

And one day it happens. For the first time, they lock eyes and that’s that: the red thread has snapped them together and their fates are sealed. But what is their fate? It’s not necessarily to repeat the past tragedy experienced by their former personas; it’s to come together and try to make things work this time around.

But can they do it? The pressures begin to build as their visions of Korn and Intouch intrude more and more into their dreams and even into their waking state. There is a real danger, especially for Pharm, of losing his own persona entirely as In becomes more and more dominant in his urgency to resolve things with his beloved Korn.

As the story builds, it seems ever more likely that the direction of the wind is set and will carry them toward destruction. More revelations about the past unfold; more previously unknown relationships are discovered. In’s and Korn’s need for each other is dragging Pharm and Dean toward a fate that may do nothing but ensure that they, too, will be bound again by tragedy in their future incarnations.

They can’t change the wind’s direction but it’s still possible to trim the sails so that the wind takes them to a new destination.

Musical interlude II

Dome Jaruwat, a very popular Thai singer, performs another of the great songs on the UWMA soundtrack. English subtitles are available via the CC and Settings buttons, plus the lyrics are shown in the “...more” section of the description on Youtube.

The lovers

There are many characters in UWMA and, as you will slowly discover while watching, so many of them are related or involved in surprising and important ways we never knew at the beginning. I would need a huge essay to discuss all of these people and their relationships. So I’m going to stick just with the four main people.

In and Korn

They were products of their time, the 1980s, when Thailand was a very different society with lots of homophobia and discrimination (Thailand now enjoys full marriage equality). In their era, it was extremely difficult for gay couples, both due to societal disapproval but also familial demands that men marry and sire families of their own.

Intouch and Korn

Intouch was impulsive, outgoing, and bold. His exuberance and enthusiasm finally broke through Korn’s many layers of reserve, an almost unbelievable achievement. Korn had been indoctrinated by his tyrannical father — a crime boss — to never let anyone get close to him.

As we find out over time, Korn understandably buckled under immense pressures. His dad physically and emotionally abused him because he loved In, demanded that Korn follow him into the “family business” of violence and criminality, cruelly swore to Korn that if he didn’t do it then his younger brother would be forced to take his place, and warned Korn that if he didn’t break up with In then he would have In tortured and killed.

Korn had no simple way out: he loved In and promised that they would be together forever but his father would destroy the lives of In, Korn, and Korn’s brother if he kept his promises to Intouch.

Pharm and Dean

Pharm is quite different than Intouch. Both have that boyish charm but Pharm is quite toned down, as though their soul decided that perhaps the next time it would be wise to be a little more calm and cool-headed. Intouch was a hopeless cook, who could burn water, wanting so badly to please his boyfriend but failing; Pharm learned to become an expert chef, showing patient skills that In never developed and impressing his friends and lover with delicate, complex Thai desserts.

In one scene, in its past and present versions, In burns an omelet he made for Korn and promises that the next omelet he makes for him will be perfect. Of course, there is no next time, for those star-crossed lovers.

Luk Chup. No , they are not veggies, they’re cleverly fashioned desserts designed to fool our eyes

Pharm prepares a perfect omelet for Dean, of course, and it’s a sweet moment, but we’re wrecked as well because we recall Intouch’s sad disappointment in himself.

Dean has mellowed in this incarnation. Korn was brittle, unused to simple kindness from others; he was often overly critical of In although he dearly loved him. Dean seems like their shared soul spent all of his time in bardo — the transitional state for souls between incarnations — chanting a mantra over and over again for years: find In, love him, nurture him, and protect him, no matter what.

Of course, it’s Dean finding Pharm but the “prime directive” remains the same. Dean gently but firmly cherishes Pharm and is absolutely committed to him. When Dean tells his friend Win that he will never leave Pharm, he’s not expressing his intention but rather stating a fact, like that the sun will rise in the east tomorrow. There is simply no possibility, ever, that Dean will someday abandon Pharm.

Dean has grown far beyond Korn. He’s the perfect boyriend who is drop-dead gorgeous, owns a killer bod, and he has all of the Cs: caring, cool-headed, capable, calm, competent, and confident (but not in a cocky way). Someone described him in a comment as “the boyfriend we all wish for but whom none of us truly deserve.” Yep, Dean is that good.

*** Begin spoiler ***

When Dean’s real test came — as he, too, nearly was lost in the madness of Korn and Intouch dominating the consciousness of their current incarnations — he had the strength and will to fight back and save himself and his beloved Pharm.

*** End spoiler ***

The story concludes

I’m going to avoid telling readers how the tale ends, as much as possible, but I do have some thoughts I want to share that will reveal too much. So skip this section if you haven’t yet seen UWMA (and if so, why are wasting time on this instead of watching it right now?!?).

*** Begin spoilers ***

Two of my very, very, very few complaints about UWMA occur in the dramatic scene where Dean and Pharm battle to redeem the past rather than to repeat it.

I hate that Korn’s dad was allowed to just be silent while all of it was going on, while his son tried to plead away his culpability for In’s and Korn’s deaths. Korn and In, in the persons of Dean and Pharm, were right there in front of him and he knew it. He should have begged their forgiveness instead of it being granted to him by two people who were far, far better than he could ever even imagine.

And Korn, damn. Korn cracked under unbelievable pressures. To blame him for what he did is just wrong. He had no options that would be anything but tragic for himself, for In, for his brothers, or all of the above. He shouldn’t need to ask forgiveness from anyone. Poor Korn, his doom was sealed without him having any choices that wouldn’t be unbearable.

Some people don’t understand why Pharm wanted to take a break and put their relationship on hold. Imagine if you had gone through all of that: another person inside your head, you living his life, his feelings, his fears, his dreams.

Wouldn’t you question yourself? Do I really love Dean or is it just Intouch obsessing about Korn? Does Dean truly love me or — like in Pharm’s nightmare — is the red thread the only thing uniting us and now Dean is free to seek love elsewhere?

Of course Pharm wanted to be sure, to see how things went now that both of them appear free from compulsion. The one and only time he next sees In and Korn, it’s from a different perspective — he’s watching them together, not living the experience as one of them. He sees them talking and laughing, at ease and at peace with each other … and In turns to Pharm and says “Thank you.”

Now he’s truly his own person and so is Dean … and they know their love for each other is real and it’s their own choice. Their past belonged to In and Korn but their future belongs to each other.

*** End spoilers ***

Until we watch again

Until We Meet Again is not like a standard production from Hollywood. There are no exciting chase scenes, no forced dramas, no thrilling explosions. Its pace is deliberate but every moment counts.

It’s a gradual process of character development and plot revelation. By the time the more dramatic events take place, we have come to know and love the characters. We ache with them, we laugh with them, we hope with them, and we fear for their well-being and their future.

You may never again in your life encounter a story that is this compelling and this overwhelming, both in the sadness and in the happiness you will find in it.

This is a series that you will watch again, trust me. Perhaps you will recall a scene and remember how powerfully UWMA affected you and decide to re-watch. Or maybe you’ll want to share this experience with someone you care about, someone with whom you can share both laughter and tears.

How many stars should this be rated? All of ‘em, Katie, all of ‘em.

Don’t forget: bucket, towel. You’re welcome.

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