This review may contain spoilers
Main Leads' Chemistry is Great, Romance Itself is Lacking
Right off the bat, Tinn is one of my personal favorite main leads of the series I've watched so far--he didn't frustrate me, which is one of my pet peeves due to the copious amount of angst in BL that could be solved if only they talked. I understood his reluctance teaming up with Charn and was fully on board with how it took a while for him to trust Charn.
One of the things I was most worried about after the first two episodes with how seriously I could take Charn's viewpoints and the actions he takes because of them, but I was pleasantly surprised. I loved seeing a character such as him--selfish, greedy, with a hint of psychopathy and no shame. Now obviously Charn changes throughout the story, which is another point that I really appreciated; it was clear that he changed and adapted because of Tinn.
But can we say the same vice versa? Tinn remained quite static from how he was originally portrayed. He didn't have much of a character arc--which, don't get me wrong, I didn't actually mind in this particular case, but it still stands out.
I do wish we had some more explicitly romantic scenes because I felt like they could match very nicely with the mature atmosphere and older characters. I think they could've made on-screen sex scenes very impactful and beautiful, but sadly, it was only very obviously implied. Which is fine, I just. . . think that it could've sold the romance much better due to the focus on solving the mystery and action. The chemistry was there, but the romance itself lacked. In fact, I truly felt like the series may as well not have included the main leads' romance and nothing much would've been impacted. You know, if they'd ended up being besties, it'd work fine.
Now the side characters. Absolutely adored them all. All the actors in this drama are good, not just the main leads. I didn't expect to end up liking Thaenthai as much as I did, nor the romance between him and Thee ("romance", as I said before, this BL isn't that romantic).
There are a few painfully bad CGI/special effects moments. Let's not even talk about that horrible fire effect. Some fight scenes are a bit overdramatic and simply not very well-acted--the main leads clearly shine in scenes that require emotions and focus on character, not so much action or high-stakes moving about.
The story fell a little flat in the end. I might've missed why Charn couldn't tell Tinn his plan--it felt to me like Charn still didn't actually trust Tinn that much--but him leaving the way he did with Nawin felt dramatic for the sake of being dramatic and angsty. The plot twist also wasn't that surprising, however, the murder-mystery vibes did keep me hooked until the very end. It's pretty good for a BL.
CONCLUSION/TL;DR: The main leads had good chemistry, the side characters were great, the acting was mostly on point, lack of satisfying romance/sex scenes, a surprisingly cute secondary couple, quite horrible CGI/special effects, emotional scenes were very good and realistic, mystery vibes are solid enough, OST didn't stand out.
One of the things I was most worried about after the first two episodes with how seriously I could take Charn's viewpoints and the actions he takes because of them, but I was pleasantly surprised. I loved seeing a character such as him--selfish, greedy, with a hint of psychopathy and no shame. Now obviously Charn changes throughout the story, which is another point that I really appreciated; it was clear that he changed and adapted because of Tinn.
But can we say the same vice versa? Tinn remained quite static from how he was originally portrayed. He didn't have much of a character arc--which, don't get me wrong, I didn't actually mind in this particular case, but it still stands out.
I do wish we had some more explicitly romantic scenes because I felt like they could match very nicely with the mature atmosphere and older characters. I think they could've made on-screen sex scenes very impactful and beautiful, but sadly, it was only very obviously implied. Which is fine, I just. . . think that it could've sold the romance much better due to the focus on solving the mystery and action. The chemistry was there, but the romance itself lacked. In fact, I truly felt like the series may as well not have included the main leads' romance and nothing much would've been impacted. You know, if they'd ended up being besties, it'd work fine.
Now the side characters. Absolutely adored them all. All the actors in this drama are good, not just the main leads. I didn't expect to end up liking Thaenthai as much as I did, nor the romance between him and Thee ("romance", as I said before, this BL isn't that romantic).
There are a few painfully bad CGI/special effects moments. Let's not even talk about that horrible fire effect. Some fight scenes are a bit overdramatic and simply not very well-acted--the main leads clearly shine in scenes that require emotions and focus on character, not so much action or high-stakes moving about.
The story fell a little flat in the end. I might've missed why Charn couldn't tell Tinn his plan--it felt to me like Charn still didn't actually trust Tinn that much--but him leaving the way he did with Nawin felt dramatic for the sake of being dramatic and angsty. The plot twist also wasn't that surprising, however, the murder-mystery vibes did keep me hooked until the very end. It's pretty good for a BL.
CONCLUSION/TL;DR: The main leads had good chemistry, the side characters were great, the acting was mostly on point, lack of satisfying romance/sex scenes, a surprisingly cute secondary couple, quite horrible CGI/special effects, emotional scenes were very good and realistic, mystery vibes are solid enough, OST didn't stand out.
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