Flower Boy – Series Review

Scent has just been appointed vice president of Kusuma, a popular perfume company. He's taking over for his dad, who recently had a stroke. His father can no longer move or speak, so Scent is stepping up to keep the family business alive. At his first press conference, Scent puts on a brave face. He promises the public that he'll honour his father's legacy and run the company successfully. In fact, there's gonna be a new perfume line!

Despite Scent's confident speech, things are looking rough. Behind the scenes, Kusuma is in financial trouble. The product development side is a mess. Scent's father had been working on a new perfume formula for years without getting it right. The stress of that failure is actually what triggered his stroke. Now, Scent's uncle Wittaya is running the show. The uncle delivers the hard truth. Either they launch a successful new perfume, or the whole company goes under. Scent is under a lot of pressure to succeed, even though he just started this job.

Scent's uncle brings up an urban legend. Deep in the mountains, there's a tribe called the Mudan people who have lived completely cut off from the rest of the world. They never come down from the mountain or mingle with city folks. What makes them special? Every member of the tribe is born with a natural sweet aroma coming from their body. The uncle thinks they can extract this scent and turn it into a bestselling perfume. Nobody knows how to find these people. Still, Scent decides this is worth pursuing. It might be his only shot at saving his father's company.

Scent goes into the mountains. He hires a tour guide who swears he knows where the tribe lives, but they still get lost. To make things worse, the tour guide bails on him once the weather turns bad. Scent continues on his journey alone. After getting into an accident, he wakes up to find a stranger crouched over him, checking his injuries.

That stranger is Gaysorn. He's a member of the Mudan tribe, born and raised in the mountains. His name is the same as the flower. Gaysorn has never left the village. He's also the future heir, which means everyone in the community is extremely protective of him. His aunt Mata and brother Tawan are especially on guard. They warn him to stay away from the city people, who had caused trouble for their tribe in the past. But the young and sheltered Gaysorn has a different opinion.

Gaysorn has always been curious about the outside world. Ten years ago, his mother left the village to visit the city and never returned. Mata and Tawan have basically written her off as dead, but Gaysorn isn't ready to give up on her. When this stranger named Scent shows up out of nowhere, Gaysorn's curiosity gets the better of him. Meanwhile, Scent catches a whiff of that famous sweet aroma and immediately starts thinking about perfume. He sees an opportunity and tries to convince Gaysorn to leave the village. Let's explore the rest of the world!

Flower Boy has a delightfully strange concept. Our main character, Gaysorn, can produce a sweet aroma from his body. Even his armpit sweat smells like a rose garden. His superpower is seemingly harmless, but those corporate bastards are gonna steal his scent and sell it. They treat him like a natural resource that can be harvested. It's not every day we see a BL drama about Mother Nature versus Human Nature. This plot is creative AND meaningful. Oh, I'm intrigued! I wanna find out what happens next!

The first two episodes are the most enchanting. We're introduced to Gaysorn's simple lifestyle, where he spends all his time in nature. He plays with butterflies and goes stargazing like a Disney protagonist. His world is so far removed from civilization that you'll find him utterly fascinating. And then, Scent shows up. Boy from the City meets Boy from the Mountains. Their interactions are really compelling. The flirting! The intimate conversations! Sneaking around behind everyone's backs! Early on, I'm getting A Tale of Thousand Stars vibes from this series. Except it's like the fantasy version with flower power and magical aroma.

Flower Boy feels ethereal, like it exists in a fairytale world. Gaysorn & Scent's scenes together have a dreamy quality. Surrounded by forests and flower fields, they fall in love in a gorgeous location. However, I'm not a fan of the CGI butterflies. Too fake! I also dislike the weird speckle effect when Gaysorn releases his pheromones. Too distracting! Post-production got carried away. Nonetheless, the visuals look amazing. Even after the story moves away from the mountains, the series keeps its romantic atmosphere. That beach sequence in Episode 5? So wonderful!

I'm swooning over Scent's actor (Pearl), who's a total dreamboat. He's suave and charming, just like the role requires. His best look is him strutting around in that black dress shirt with a few buttons undone. And yes, we get plenty of shirtless scenes to admire his muscular body. His co-star (Peak) is basically a forefather of the BL genre. Like, he threw the first brick at Stonewall! Peak shows his experience by capturing Gaysorn's sweetness and sensitivity. I haven't watched PearlPeak's first series yet, but Flower Boy is solid proof of their chemistry. I like them together!

After a strong start, Flower Boy loses its magic. In Episode 3, Scent discusses extracting Gaysorn's aroma. "How can we make perfume out of him?" OMG. That line gave me chills. It was such an evil thing to say, completely shattering the romantic fantasy. The couple still flirted and kissed in beautiful locations, but I was side-eyeing Scent the whole time. He's manipulative! He's lying to his love interest and taking advantage of him. Instead of enjoying the intimate moments, I'm too busy screaming at the screen. Gaysorn, you sweet naive child! That conman is playing you!!!

The series loves its over-the-top antics and convenient coincidences too much. So yeah, the writing can be iffy here and there. The later episodes also get really dark and traumatic. Romance is the last thing on my mind! Scent and his family do so many awful things that I don't want Gaysorn to end up with this guy. Even though there's a happy ending, it feels forced. This couple doesn't get my stamp of approval. Overall, I still have positive feelings about Flower Boy. I find the story interesting. There are enough enchanting moments and strong performances to justify a decent score.