My stand-in (2024)
YAOI / BL
Country: Thailand
Episodes: 12 (60’ minutes each)
Genres: Romance, Drama, Fantasy
My Rating: 9/10

Hello everyone! I’m so excited to talk to you about this series today!
If you’re looking for something peaceful with a smoothly flowing plot to watch, this series is not for you. BUT, if you’re in the mood to lose your sleep over angst and plot twists, I have the perfect proposal for you. “My stand in”, is a Thai BL series that ended recently and as much as I hated it, that much I loved it! Prepare yourself for sleepless nights, because this series doesn’t hold back!

Cast
Poom Phuripan Sapsangsawat as Joe
Up Poompat Iam-samang as Ming

Plot

Joe works as a stand-in of a famous actor, Tong. He starts a relationship with Ming, which deepens over time, only to find out that Ming is using him as a “stand-in” for Tong, the man he is truly in love with. Driven by his anger, he decided to accept an extremely dangerous work, that costed his life.

After two years of his body being missing, Joe wakes up in the body of another young man, named also Joe. As he tries to figure out what’s happening, he ends up living pretty much like in his previous life and be close to the same people. Until, one day, he finally meets Ming again and nothing seems to be as he remembered. Ming, has kept all the memories from Joe and he’s still waiting for him. He hopes to see him again one day and finally give him the explanation that he never could.

Joe is clearly confused with this “new body new life” situation and as much as he’s trying to keep himself away from Ming, Ming is constantly trying to bring him closer. But why? Is his purpose to use him again as a “stand-in” for his true love?

Personal opinion

Although it’s a fantasy series, the plot may seem simple. However, the reality is quite the opposite. Every time you say “OK, I know what happens next” or “I’ve seen that one before, I know where it leads”, you’re 99% mistaken, unless you are the extremely smart screenwriter of this series. At the end of every episode, I couldn’t believe what I just watched. I always had a possible plot in my mind, that every time turned upside down.

Like many other things in the series, the title too, is very misleading. As I watched the series, I changed my opinion at least 3 times about what “stand-in” stands for. And the conclusion totally blew my mind.

The characters are well-written and the actors did a really great job. The chemistry between them was insane. I was able to understand their feelings and emotions just by looking at their eyes.

The whole journey of the series is a rollercoaster of emotions. You are constantly filled with questions, but I believe that by the end of the series, all of them are eventually answered.

Spoiler alert

The only question which maybe we didn’t get a clear answer, is why the “other Joe”, never got a chance in life, and that’s another thing that makes the series quite different in comparison with other “body switching series”. In my opinion, the protagonist died accidentally, whereas the “other Joe” seemed to have made a conscious choice to die. I don’t know if I’m right or if I agree with that, but it makes sense to me.

I hope you’ll find this series as interesting as I found it. I would love to read your opinions and please like and subscribe if you want to read more from us.

Also, this is a fanmade video I made for the main couple. I hope you like it!

Thanks for reading this,

Utaku.