Don’t be fooled by the title or the light-hearted music in the opening credits. The Miracle of Teddy Bear may at first seem to be BL fluff. But while it does give us all the BL fluff we want, it gives us so much more. There is a lot of cuteness, but there is suspense that is deftly sustained, there are touching subplots (beyond just the romance but quite seamlessly integrated with the BL story) and there is even a critique of the BL industry and the state of LGBTQ+ rights in Thailand. It ventures where most Thai BL series avoid–the fact that the LGBTQ+ community is not respected and its rights not formalized in what is arguably the BL capital of the world where drama series are concerned.

To be sure, the series has its imperfections. It is so ambitious that it is bound to fall short in some aspects at some points. I could comment on how the social critique is a little lacking in subtlety in some scenes (such as one in which many of the characters are seated together, with one blatantly showing her homophobia). But I won't say there are serious flaws.

Despite the minor flaws here and there, the series is first and foremost seriously engaging. It starts with the fantastical – an already sentient teddy, Tofu, is suddenly transformed into a human being (and he himself doesn’t know how he gained sentience or transformed). He ends up being taken in by Nut, the owner of the teddy bear who knows nothing about the transformation. There is, however, a sense of mystery and suspense that is sustained — and it is not just about Tofu’s transformation. The plot is actually rather complex, with several different threads gradually and cleverly woven together.

We may notice quite early on that Tofu’s sentience and transformation is linked to Tatarn, who is in a coma after being viciously attacked. However, the connection between Tatarn and the other characters is unclear at first. What I find pretty amazing is that the multiple narrative threads do not feel out of place even before they become clearly intertwined. The story moves from one narrative thread to another (Tofu’s transformation, the assault on Tatarn, the college days of Nut, Nut’s scriptwriting work (he’s writing the script for a BL series based on his own experiences), and the past of Nut’s mother) naturally before weaving them together. Without a good production team, the different narrative threads would be a disaster even before they come together.

The characterization is also strikingly complex. Many viewers are appalled by Nut’s behavior towards Tofu and his mother, but this is not a weakness of the series as it does not make Nut’s behavior seem acceptable. It is just that Nut is ultimately a good person by nature and his past experiences have caused him to behave badly. His experience with homophobia and bullying have made him distrustful of Tofu and resentful towards his mother – we see the destructiveness of homophobia in the character, and he is not romanticized as a perfect boyfriend or son. (His best friend, Gen, services as a nice foil to him. Unlike Nut, who has a homophobic father, Gen’s parents accept him for who he is and they are eager to see him getting a boyfriend–Gen has turned out to be a pretty much well adjusted person.)

We do have to give the characters and the relationships between them time to be developed, however. Don’t assume or pass judgment too quickly. Initially, it may seem that the female characters are one-dimensional. Prib may seem to be no more than one of those typical BL female characters who are in love with the male leads, but there is more to her. The most impressively complex female character (maybe we can take out the word ‘female) is Nut’s mother. The nuances in the portrayal of Song’s (one half of the side couple) relationship with his father is also impressively done. The acting is generally excellent, with the actors and actresses playing different points in the characters’ lives impressively well.

(Personally, I really like the pairing of the actors for Tofu and Nut. It’s not often the case that I find both the actors playing a couple cute, and this is one of those instances.)

With many BL series nowadays, the ending is predictable–the leads end up together happily, we want them to, and we more or less know they will. But with The Miracle of Teddy Bear, we are kept wondering from the start–will Tofu turn back into a teddy bear or lose consciousness? This has kept me watching the series, and I hope the miracle includes a happy ending.

Update -- A note on the ending:

It's not a sad ending, it's not an open-ended ambiguous ending either, and yet I won't consider it a happy ending. I can accept an ending with Tofu dying/disappearing and Tatarn waking up with Tofu's death--this has been hinted at early in the series. But the ending, which is a bit of a compromised happy ending, ends up with quite depressing.

It seems for a while that Nut loves Tofu too much to get back with his ex, Tatarn, even after Tofu "dies". And perhaps this was intended at first except that perhaps there was pressure to make the ending a little happier. But it becomes more depressing because Nut ends up going back to Tatarn, admitting that he does miss his ex after all. And the "happy" side of the ending is that Tofu doesn't die but is transformed back into a sentient teddy bear. But this is actually seriously depressing. Everyone thinks that Tofu has died, but he is transformed into a teddy bear and is taken back to Nut's house. So we have this sentient teddy bear, who is still very much in love with Nut, but is unable to say anything to Nut ever again. And this poor teddy bear has to witness Nut going back to his ex. He is supposedly able to accept all of this, but it's a situation that is very depressing and disturbing too. It's a well written story, but I this is one of the times when I wish the ending had been a more conventionally sad one.