Fake Family, Real Bonds: Trailer for Thai Series ‘Analog Squad’ Explores What It Truly Means to Be Family

What defines a family? Is it blood relations, shared experiences or simply the presence of strong bonds? These thought-provoking questions are raised in the newly released trailer for the upcoming Thai series Analog Squad.

Set in 1999, a time before the internet became widespread and pagers were the norm, the series centers around Pond (Nopachai “Peter” Jayanama), a middle-aged man with a broken past. When he learns that his estranged father is on his deathbed, he recruits a bunch of strangers to pose as his makeshift family.

Pond’s make-believe family includes ex-girlfriend Lily (Namfon Kullanut), who acts as his wife and the mother of his “children”: Keg (JJ-Krissanapoom Pibulsonggram), a fresh graduate ended up working at a pager company during the Tom Yum Kung financial crisis, and Bung (Prim Patnasiri), a video rental shop owner with a passion for acting.

Inspired by real-life events

The heartwarming series, which premieres on December 7, was directed and co-written by Nithiwat Tharatorn (Teacher’s Diary, Dear Galileo and Seasons Change), who was inspired by a news story from Japan that recounted how a man was hired to be a pretend father in several broken families. In these households, the mothers wanted their children, who were unaware of the arrangement, to grow up in a complete family unit.

As the man spent time with these families, genuine emotional bonds began to form. “The man mentioned that sometimes even he can’t distinguish between which relationships are real and which are fabricated,” says Nithiwat, who found himself pondering over what it means to be a family.

These questions formed the foundation of the story, which he chose to film against the picturesque backdrop of Phang Nga province, one of the few places in Thailand that has retained the charm of the 1990s.

As Analog Squad is Nithiwat’s first series, it challenged him to explore complex storytelling techniques to keep viewers engrossed throughout the season. “When creating a series, each episode needs its own climax, and it can’t just end with a single resolution. We also can’t tell the story in a linear fashion,” he explains.

While the series falls primarily into the drama genre, it also contains elements of comedy and action, all of which work together to tell a moving and compelling tale of the ties that bind.

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