Chains of Heart (2023)

Good story but editting

The acting is goood, but editting makes audience confused for the stroy line. Those information combine past and present, but not complete makes audience hard to understand the situation.
Hope they could re editting agin.
The acting is goood, but editting makes audience confused for the stroy line. Those information combine past and present, but not complete makes audience hard to understand the situation.
Hope they could re editting agin.
The acting is goood, but editting makes audience confused for the stroy line. Those information combine past and present, but not complete makes audience hard to understand the situation.
Hope they could re editting agin.

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I don't get the hate

I genuinely don't understand why people are saying this drama is confusing. They leave things in the dark on purpose to build suspense, but otherwise it's pretty straightforward. That doesn't mean that it's a great show, but I thoroughly enjoyed it.

There were some really....odd choices made here. The first half of the show was super awesome to watch and the cinematography is surprisingly good, with really interesting lighting/color choices throughout. The plot falls off a little bit with some unrealistic twists (but honestly, how many BLs are realistic?). It honestly reminded me a bit of manner of death, with hidden identities and secrets, while the leads also attempt to take down some corrupt individuals. An enjoyable watch with some lackluster fight scenes and oddly timed music, but overall a good time. Plus, with only 10 episodes, this one was a shorter watch that kept my attention the whole time.

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Don't Chain Yourself To This One

My, oh my was that a trainwreck of epic proportions. I have to wonder with some of the BLs that have been coming out lately if they're written by adolescents because the number of questions that remain unanswered, the plot holes, basically everything about the story is just a complete mess. I mean, does anyone read through the script before they start filming or do they just take it and run with it, no questions asked? Anyway, this drama came off as yet another KinnPorsche knock off. But unlike KinnPorsche which had its charms and was gritty and dark, Chains of Heart was just a confusing mess that didn't seem to know what it wanted be. That's not to say it wasn't entertaining at times, but as a whole, it really didn't work.

The story had potential, it could have been interesting and great. If it had imitated KinnPorsche more and leaned into the dark and gritty, I think it could have worked. But unlike KinnPorsche which overall did a good job of blending that dark and gritty with romance and comedy, Chains of Heart never really found its footing. The comedy fell flat, the romance also fell flat because nearly every part of it was in flashbacks and the mystery of who Lue was kept going far too long preventing the pair from being reunited until almost the very end, and, again, it just failed to really commit to being dark and gritty. It kept adding in new information without answering the questions that had already been asked. And the fact that so much was left unexplained left me feeling frustrated and wanting answers. I mean, first and foremost, how the heck did Ken and Din even survive falling from that cliff? Looking at it, I don't see how they could have possibly survived, especially relatively unscathed. Besides that main question, there were a multitude of others like: What was with Lue's wardrobe? Considering the climate, it made zero sense. Why didn't Din ever attempt to contact Ken until 2 years after the accident? What changed that suddenly he was back? We knew Chief Inpha was involved in drug trafficking and selling wood illegally, but then in the last episode we have organ trafficking and prostitution thrown in as well. What was really the point of that and why was it never addressed before? We already knew he was a bad guy, they didn't need to tack on to that for shock value. And then there are the characters. Din's boss is revealed to be dirty and then he's never seen or mentioned again? How did Inspector Don get involved with Din? He seemed to be loyal to Chief Inpha and then suddenly, nope, he's actually a good guy (?) and is on Din's side? Who exactly was the shady doctor and how did he know Din/get involved in his exploits? There are many more questions and holes, but honestly, this review would be the length of a short novel if I listed them all.

This drama did what a lot of dramas do and revealed events from the past in flashbacks. I am rarely a fan of this technique because it is generally very poorly done and leaves more questions than answers. This was no exception. It was unclear at times how the events shown fell linearly, where they were, and how long ago it actually was. I honestly would have preferred if they had shown the story linearly, starting from when Din and Ken met which wasn't explained well, jumping to the more relevant and important parts of their relationship up until they fall from the cliff and then jumping forward two years. I think it would have been much smoother, would have allowed for more questions to be answered, and generally just made more sense. Even in the present though, it was not clear where events were taking place. For example, there at the beginning, it took me a bit to realize that Ken was not in Thailand but rather in China or maybe Taiwan. I don't think it's ever explicitly stated where he was. And then when he does go back to Thailand, it's never clear where events are taking place other than Bangkok because it's the only city featured.

I have to comment on that final episode because it was the cherry on top of an already messy drama. We had Din who somehow became invulnerable. He's getting shot at from all sides and is basically a sitting target for a few of the baddies, yet not a single one of them can hit him. Then we have him playing hide and seek with them in the forest, doing the whole passing right by them without them noticing. And he takes on five of the bad guys and comes out pretty much unscathed without a drop of blood on him despite slitting several throats. This happens again shortly thereafter when he shoots a guy in the head at point blank range and doesn't get any blood on him. Following this, he and Chief Inpha decide to spontaneously have an old fashioned duel and shoot at each other at the same time. All this while Sia is sitting on Inpha's lap and somehow comes out apparently unhurt. I was a little bit surprised at how Din killed Chief Inpha. He'd tried to kill the man before, but there was something about the way he shot him execution style in the head that felt out of character. The man was incapacitated, his cronies all killed, all Din had to do was wait for the authorities to arrive to arrest him. Instead he murdered him. Perhaps the point was to showcase that Din had changed and become Lue. In a way, Din was dead and in his place was Lue who was more ruthless than Din had been. But I may be giving them too much credit for that. And then that ending. I literally sat up and went WTF?! That's it? That's the ending? An arrest warrant was issued for Din's arrest and then he just disappeared? I don't mind open endings when they're done well, but this was not done well. We spent most of the drama with Ken and Din apart until it is finally confirmed in Episode 9 what I think we all knew by that point, that Lue was actually Din. They get one night together and then are separated again. That's not a satisfying ending, it's lazy and it's baiting the viewers. I've since seen that there's supposed to be a special episode, so maybe that will rectify this colossal error to some small degree.

And then there was the lack of continuity within the drama. The actor's heights was a big one. Boom and Kut play the same character, but there is a noticeable height difference between the two. That difference is one of the main reasons I questioned whether Lue was actually Din because plastic surgery can change a face, but it doesn't alter your height. And the sad thing is, there are simple ways to address that discrepancy and make them appear to be the same height, but apparently that wasn't worth the effort. Lue was also missing the bullet wound from when he was shot by Chief Inpha on the cliff. That missing detail was another major reason I questioned whether he was Din. There were other instances where characters were injured in one scene and the in the next the injury is gone or is significantly reduced. A lot of it was just really basic stuff that would have been easy to fix. The fact that it wasn't just makes the team seem lazy.

The characters were a mixed bag. Frankly, most of them were completely forgettable. Ken spent the majority of his screen time either crying or being choked. The constant crying got old after a while. Din as Lue spent most of his time making moon eyes at Ken and getting teary eyed that Ken was rejecting him (because he doesn't know who you are, idiot!). Personally, I preferred Din. He seemed to be more level-headed and more of a man of action. Something about his personality and character was just more appealing and interesting to me than Lue. Payu and Hin were supposed to be the second couple and also the comedic relief, but they really didn't work for me. I was initially unsure whether the two of them were actually a couple because they didn't really act like one consistently. They had a few lackluster steamy scenes which answered that question, but I found them to be overall pointless characters and singularly unfunny. There was the psychic who popped up randomly and absolutely no questions were answered about him. Like was he truly able to see visions? The rest of Ken and Din's friend group were not memorable and every time they popped up, I couldn't remember who was who. Inpha was about as subtle as a red flag. You could tell he was the villain from the get go which was disappointing and boring. When a show brands itself as a mystery, I want there to be mystery and there really wasn't any in this show. Making Inpha a more nuanced character where his motives and character could be called into question as to whether he was good or evil would have been far more interesting. Itt was kind of interesting at first, but his insane antics and laugh got old fast. And then again, you had characters like Inspector Don who gave no indication of their motivation and why they were doing what they were doing. With essentially every character, there was not enough background information to really understand them. What were their motivations, their feelings, their reasoning? In most cases, none of that was answered and it made the characters feel shallow. I really didn't have strong feelings for any of them because so much was lacking.

As for the acting, I will give kudos to Haii for two things. First, that he, for the most part, was believable with all his crying. I've seen far too many dramas where the actors are fake crying and it's painful to watch. Second, that he was able to build a rapport with both Kut and Boom as they portrayed Din/Lue. He had good chemistry with both of them and they interacted well. I'm sure that was a challenge so kudos to him. Both Boom and Kut did a good job with portraying the same but also not the same character. They were essentially playing two different characters, but there were small similarities between the two that made it believable that they were also playing the same character, if that makes sense. The others were again pretty forgettable. I was disappointed that Kob was relegated to being nothing more than Ken's father. He's a good actor and I wanted him to have more screen time and a more interesting role. He still performed excellently with what he was given, I just wish there'd been more.

The production was really strong in some areas and very weak in others. The cinematography was really beautiful in parts. But the editing at times was choppy. Some of the camera work was shaky. There were also some weird angles that were just awkward and distracting. For the most part, I liked the music. There were a few cues that were really fantastic and really fit with the mood of the scene. The subtitles were a big issue. There were a number of times where what was being said was not subtitled and that really didn't help matters because information was lost.

Despite the fact that this drama was such a total mess, I did enjoy parts of it. The messiness is part of what was entertaining and I found that once I disengaged my brain and stopped trying to make sense of things and instead just went with the flow, it was much more enjoyable. Honestly, I think that's the only way to really watch this drama. A lot of the comedy came from the absurdity of what was going on, like being shot at from all sides and not taking a single hit. The parts that were meant to be comedic weren't all that funny. The ending is disappointing. Do not go into this expecting a happy ending or a good open ending; it's neither of those. This is not a drama I'll watch again. I think watching it again would just raise more questions and cause more frustration. I prefer dramas with a bit more too them and that actually make sense, but if you're one of those people who can disengage their brain and are looking for something moderately entertaining, I would say give it a shot.

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The two main leads were killing it and I love them

But the story tho? It felt half-cooked. I was seriously confused as hell most of the time. It was such a good idea but they should have done it better. A lot of things didn't make sense. The subtitles I had (English) sucked so much that I stop reading them pretty often. But honestly, the acting of Boom and Hai was excellent. They were the reason why I kept watching. Boom’s eyes… They scream suffering every time he looked at Ken. You could breath the sorrow and despair from the screen. Also, in the shower scene when Ken begs him to make him forget Din. Ah, that was perfect. It wasn't the worst thing I have seen but it's sad cause it really could have been better. Especially with such a great actors.

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What a mess!

This will be short and sweet(well, not so sweet) While this had potential; beautiful cinematography, 2 male leads with nice chemistry it all went to hell in a hand basket as we progressed. This story was just bad and the editing/choppiness of it all did not help. As mentioned, the 2 mains faired well, but the rest of the cast did not. I like Marc, but he was awful here(not to mention his kissing scene was just bad). Toward the end, absolutely nothing was making any sense. And the character of Ken should have died multiple times, I mean he was strangled twice and beaten to a pulp almost every episode! It seems they had the budget to work with, but did not bother using it on a coherent script.

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Impossible but still interesting.

Basically, the show is very interesting. It has an overall plot that you can follow and makes sense, but the premise is totally impossible. Still, the acting is superb. The characters felt real and I really enjoyed it. However, trying to make the pieces fit when the premise is so unbelievably ridiculous is a little hard to do. OST was whatever, I didnt love or hate, but it didn't distract, so it's good. Would watch again, but must suspend my disbelief in order to enjoy it.

With spoilers: The premise of the show is that the ML of the show was somehow able to have surgery that altered his physical appearance so he now looks like a foreign man who had passed away in the hospital where the ML was recovering. He and his lover (2nd ML) having been nearly killed by a criminal group and his lover now believing he is dead, the ML wants to go back to right wrongs and uses surgery to further this end. The plastic surgery isn't impossible, but this level of plastic surgery is improbable if not impossible. For example, the ML went from being taller and having more narrow shoulders to shorter with wider shoulders (based on my perception, since they were never actually in the same scene together). Also skin color over his whole body changed from darker to lighter. His teeth, jaw shape, and eyes changed. His hair changed. His tone of voice changed. His body type and his face changed. He was unrecognizable, not just from a face point of view but even the way he walked and held himself. So the premise that he was able to get plastic surgery and return to stop the criminal group and see his lover again is just too ridiculous. If they had wanted it to be more believable, they should have at least picked actors who had some overall similarities. Because you start out watching the ML looking so completely different from his original self, it's hard to imagine that he is the same person. The 2nd ML somehow was able to figure it out though, which makes no sense, but they based it on other things besides physical appearance. An emotional connection, i guess. Once you have figured out that the ML is supposed to be the same man as the 2nd ML was dating before, you might feel a little cheated. Like they just thought I was so stupid that I would accept all of these changes as being not only possible but easy to accomplish? It's kind of insulting the intelligence of their audience. If you can live through that annoyance, and as I said before, suspend your disbelief with the amount of physical change that had to be done to make this even possible, you will probably enjoy the show. I rated it fairly well, because I think it was interesting, even if it was pretty much impossible outside of a fantasy series.

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Script.

This series was Ok and was watchable I did stay the
full 10 episodes because of the actor who played Ken.
He was a cutie.The script was ok but confusing.There were moments when between conversations there were long gaps but that could have been the camera crew keeping the camera focused to long on a scene.
The three main actors Ken..Din..Mr lue at times the acting didn't flow.I preferred the chemistry between Ken and Din they were made for each other.The tender moments between them were beautiful and you felt the connection to each other. The pairing between Mr Lue and Ken just didn't sit well. The actor looked older..different body shape..more muscular. They didn't gel well. Nevertheless other viewers might have a different opinion to me and find it fab. Everyone's different.

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AT LEAST IT'S WATCHABLE

I'm probably the most lenient reviewer and I'll get straight to the point, Chains of heart is a GOOD but SENSELESS BL drama.

Firstly there's the fact that none of the story makes sense and I also don't understand why it felt like DIN was very terrible at being undercover, besides I think I am not the only one who noticed but on top of the fact that KEN is terrible at fighting and his action scenes tell it all, that guy is good at fainting every time they attempt to strangle him in almost every episode.

There was also that annoying guy that was recurring in every plot whose laughter made the series annoying.

However for some reason CHAINS OF HEART kept me captivated to the point that regardless of how BAD its writers and producers were I'm surprised that I didn't get to drop the title but succeeded in watching it till the end when for some Reason BED FRIEND which was supposed to be much better and was well produced bored me on its forth episode because it feels like a SEX STORY with hardly any steamy scenes and all we get to see is a couple of actors doing much kissing and fastforwarding in their boxers.

But I give chains Of the Heart an overall 8/10 because trust me by the time you can keep watching all episodes of a BAD SERIES to the end for some reason then at least it deserves some credit.

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