One of the biggest appeals for me while watching Theory of Love was the nuanced portrayal its two leads. I've noticed a common criticism in many reviews is that they hated Khai in the first half of the show but, personally, I thought he was incredibly likable. He was a little inconsiderate at times, but I still felt that he genuinely cared about his friends. He just had some selfish character traits that he needed to work on, and it was fun seeing a flawed character become a better version of himself as we shift into his perspective.

I love the shift in perspective from Third to Khai as the series progressed. I think that was a very smart storytelling decision to make the friends-to-lovers execution believable. Third's unrequited love arc was heart-wrenching and relatable. Usually, when characters make dumb decisions in dramas, like trusting untrustworthy characters, it's executed in such a cookie-cutter and naive way. But in TOL, Third really internalizes how often he expects more from Khai, only to be disappointed every single time. But Khai is very charming and always seems genuine, so I never really got annoyed with Third's decisions.

Even though the show never dragged for me, I think that objectively, it should have trimmed some fat. It could have easily been 8 to 10 episodes instead of 12. Or, at the very least, we should have gotten a different story arc for the last 3-4 episodes. All 12 episodes should not have been dedicated to the romantic pursuit. The subplots probably could have used more substance too. Two's subplot was fine, I just didn't think that he had that much chemistry with Un. And honestly, I never really knew where or when his feelings for Un started to develop. I actually had no idea that there was even a romance between them until halfway through the show. Whether it was intentional or not, it was poorly executed. Bone's storyline had a great resolution, imo, but the overall plot was meatless. His entire storyline could have easily been told in three episodes. I also didn't care for the cliched last-minute girlfriend. *Because there's no such thing as a happy ending without an unnecessary and shoehorned romance*

My gripes with the side plots aren't dealbreakers. I never actively disliked much at all about the show while watching it. I think Theory of Love is a strong contender for noteworthy BLs and criminally overlooked in the discourse of Thai BLs.