Pluto was a fun series to follow week by week, not just for the plot twists, but for the excitement of watching a creative team walk a dizzying tightrope. I haven’t read the novel by Chao Planoy, but her work tends to be controversial to say the least, and Pluto seems like an especially tricky work to adapt. It’s a more complex story than your average GL, too, mixing romance, mystery, and social commentary. And with two popular actors in the lead roles, Pluto promised to be one of the most ambitious Thai GL productions yet. Every week I found myself asking: Can they pull it off? Can Snap25 make this adaptation work?

And hey, in the end, they almost did it! I don’t want to be too hard on them—by all accounts, they managed to improve on the novel quite a bit, and many of the flaws in the series are only glaring in hindsight. This is also probably the best-looking Thai GL; the cinematography and set design have an artsy flair that is often striking. The performances are excellent, not just from Namtan and Film but from the whole ensemble. Pluto can be a bumpy ride, but it’s always an entertaining and sometimes a beautiful one.

About those bumps, though. It’s tempting to blame any issues on the source material, but considering the liberties that were taken in adapting the book, I don’t think all of Pluto’s faults can be laid at the feet of Ms. Planoy. What I think Pluto might be lacking, more than anything, is a director. Technically the “Snap25 Team” is credited as director of the series, and they seem to have a very collaborative style, working closely with the actors to develop the story. That’s super cool, on one hand, and I like the egalitarian approach of crediting the whole crew. On the other hand, Pluto is a series that could really have benefited from a stronger unifying vision. Because baby the tone of this series is all OVER the place. Sometimes the drama is naturalistic and down-to-earth, and sometimes the soap opera dial is cranked up to 11. (Like in Episode 11, during the miscalculated sobfest, when May should react to being abandoned with cold fury, but instead acts like her only child was just brutally murdered in front of her eyes.) Sometimes the writing is subtle, and sometimes a character will turn to the camera and say, “That’s emotional abuse!” in a scene about emotional abuse. Sometimes there will be a musical number/dream sequence with like seven costume changes in the middle of an otherwise realistic episode. The whiplash is intense.

That lack of focus extends to the story, too. Pluto tries to be about a lot of things—disability, childhood trauma, forgiveness, atonement, justice, why you should never date a cop no matter how good she looks in that uniform—but can never really decide what matters most. As a result the themes and subplots all feel underdeveloped. Why is the Pang/Jan/Phim love triangle part of the story? Don’t get me wrong, I adore Kapook, Ciize, and Earn (especially Earn!), and honestly “lesbian polycule revolving around potted plants” sounds right up my alley, but the whole thing feels weightless. May’s lectures on disability rights and universal design are well-intentioned, but sound like the screenwriter is quoting from something they read on wikipedia, rather than like the genuine sentiments of a blind person. The script insists that blindness is not a limitation, but then awkwardly wants viewers to rejoice at the restoration of May’s sight, and even implies that her blindness was a punishment she had to endure. So many interesting contrasts and parallels between how May and Ai-oon were raised are ignored by the story, and of course the class difference between them is completely glossed over. And the Pluto metaphor!! Whatever Pluto was meant to represent in this series is beyond me.

I’m really just scratching the surface in terms of weird narrative choices: There’s the hilarious “May helps edit Ai-oon’s bad erotica” subplot which sadly gets dropped right away. There’s the dreaded redemption for May’s evil dad which comes out of nowhere. There are some confusing lines toward the end that suggest Phim may have originally had a larger role that got whittled down. And, off topic, but while I’m listing random complaints, why are all the visual effects so godawful? The opening credits are an actual travesty—whoever is responsible should never be allowed near Adobe Protools again—and the car crash scene looks like it was done by an unpaid intern.

Um, so Pluto is kind of a mess, in other words, but at least it’s a glorious one! Mostly. Everyone involved (except for the aforementioned vfx department) is amazingly talented and frankly deserves a better story, although they do their best with it. I would love to see what this cast and crew could do with a good director to guide them. And maybe with some source material untainted by the pen of Chao Planoy.