I swear Be On Cloud has been hyping the series 4 Minutes for a few years now and the wait is finally over! Although I showed restraint and waited until almost all of the eight episodes aired before tuning in. I just knew I was going to want to binge this if the quality was even remotely similar to that of KinnPorsche.
From a production standpoint, it totally was! The coloring and shot selection were excellent conduits of the mood the story was trying to convey at any given time. For a lot of the Thai BL series that come out, there’s not much finesse with them, but it gets the job done. It’s clear with the several Be On Cloud projects I’ve checked out, they really favor the quality of the shot. It sure makes it seem more high-end. As for the story, it was certainly unique, if not a bit confusing. I thank a detailed Reddit thread for helping me make sense of what the hell happened in the sixth episode.
For the first five episodes, we meet rich boy, Great, who seems to suddenly take on the ability to see four minutes into the future. This helps him avoid some really sticky situations like hitting and killing a woman with his car, helping his evil friend kill another classmate, and helping a really cure doctor exact revenge on the people that murdered his parents. Too bad those people happen to be Great’s parents. From a spoiler standpoint, it turns out that all of those messy situations actually did happen and that Great was only able to right those wrongs in his mind in the four minutes he’s bleeding out in an elevator after being shot. It sucks to learn that he wasn’t a good person, and honestly even his love story didn’t really redeem him for me.
That brings me to his lover, Tyme. He’s a doctor whose ultimate goal is to take down Great’s parents for killing his own when he was younger. In order to speed things along he seduces Great and then blackmails him, but Great is shamelessly in love I guess, because he goes running back to him anyway. Tyme also endures his own four minutes when he gets shot at the end of the seventh episode. His alternate life is much more briefly seen, but it shows how he could have had a carefree love life with Great if he’d never learned about his parents murder. Another spoiler is that they both survive and decide to try again with each other, vowing to be there for each other as they face the consequences of their actions.
In perhaps a more interesting side plot, Great’s brother, Korn, has recently been put in charge of the family business’ illegal gambling operations. I’m not saying he was straight-laced before, but his demeanor and actions seemed to change almost instantly after taking on that role. It also really impacted his personal life with his secret longtime lover, Tonkla. Tonkla is really at the center of the whole avalanche of drama we see unfold over the course of the series. His brother is who gets murdered by Great’s friend, so when a police officer he is using doesn’t offer the quick and just help he desires, he takes matters into his own hands. I feel like his and Korn’s story is really a star-crossed lovers type tale. I found it really interesting.
Like I said before, the story itself was interesting and quite intricate, but it wasn’t as obvious what was going on. I’m sure if I sat around and stewed on it long enough I could have come up with the same thing the Reddit thread summarized for me, but I’m grateful for their assistance regardless. The series was amped up for me with all of the steamy scenes between our main pairs. A+! As much as I like Bible, I find him a bit awkward at times, but his scenes with Jes as Tyme were still great. If you liked KinnPorsche, I promise you’ll enjoy this series, too. I’m interested to see what’s next for the remaining Be On Cloud actors.