I'm the Most Beautiful Count

I really wanted to like it

Overall: I was super excited when the series was first announced to have a lead in a m/m romance series love to wear high heels, be confident, etc; however, the mediocre writing let the actors down. This is based on a webtoon that I haven't read and I am reviewing the series on its own merits. 13 episodes about 50 minutes each. Aired on iQIYI https://www.iq.com/play/i-m-the-most-beautiful-count-episode-1-1hwby7xm14c?lang=en_us and YouTube (initially georestricted) https://youtu.be/JW3Sni7GJK0?si=Rn-vf6SAfAvJ1lRe and later released the uncut version on YouTube https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLc3B9DM2kKP4EegqnIzsaSDs6QYjvE7cs

Content Warnings: slaps/hits, attempted murder, multiple murders/deaths, blood, drugging, queerphobia, violence, manipulation, past bullying

What I Liked
- that the lead wore stilettos, had long nails and was sassy
- historical setting
- styling
- talking about queerphobia, inequality
- sweet moments

Room For Improvement
- the switches between slapstick comedy and massacre of innocent people was jarring
- a common stereotype of effeminate men/trans women in media is hypersexualized/handsy and comic relief but in the 'laugh at you' and not 'laugh with you' kind of way. Unfortunately, the writers reinforced both of these with their lead character. Even more jarring is that the series is trying to call out inequality and queerphobia yet engages in writing stereotypical characters. I do not blame the actors at all. 
- the writers were maybe trying to portray Kosol as stoic but he came across as abusive and violent especially in the first few episodes
- it was supposed to be a comedy but I rarely laughed, it has many comedy sound effects that didn't enhance the humor
- love triangles/love rivals/jealousy (the main one took 10 of 13 episodes to resolve)
- I liked the side couple a bit but not how the one with more power commanded the other guy to do things on several occasions
- no one told 1 character a plan in episode 11
- the fake out in episode 13
- note: at 7m 30s in episode 6 when the character said 'kathoey' it was translated as trans woman. They should have left it as 'kathoey' or maybe used 'ladyboys or him say "I am a queen" because trans woman was not an accurate translation.

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When politics meets romance? Queer!

An over-the-top performance from Supanut Lourhaphanich headlines this comedic period piece that mixes standard BL rom-com with some rather unsubtle political messaging—expectedly, about gay rights; less expectedly, about structural inequality in society. The story presupposes a culture where anti-gay bias has hardened into tradition enforced by law. Dominant rom-com tropes include a body swap, a love triangle, and a second couple. As a bonus, the series also concocts a plot seldom associated with rom-com at all: a literal plot to overthrow a king. Steeped in the political principles that fueled the great liberal revolutions of the 18th and 19th centuries—equality before the law, abolition of hereditary titles, and the rights of a people to determine their own rulers—the plotting of the would-be revolutionaries fuels the sub-plots underlying the body swap, the love triangle, and the second couple. Without doubt, this mélange of story ideas unspooled by I’m the Most Beautiful Count counts as unusual for a BL series.

The end result is a series that sometimes sparkles, sometimes meanders, and sometimes plugs political ideals. The action commences in the present day, in a country that resembles Thailand—but decidedly is not. (One suspects a plot about abolishing the monarchy in Thailand would have encountered legal challenges; hence, the invention of a fictional country.) For centuries, this country has criminalized those who "act in a manner inconsistent with their birth gender." The main character is Prince, a 21st century pop idol played to flamboyant perfection by Suppanut. Nut doesn’t so much chew the scenery as flounce his way through it. Poisoned at a nightclub for the temerity of public non-conformity to gender norms, Prince falls unconscious. His soul then travels into the country's distant past, where it inhabits the body of the recently deceased Woradet, son of a nobleman. The two souls converge in some netherworld, where Woradet challenges Prince to complete his life’s unfinished goals. These goals include achieving true love and inciting his country to revolution. So, you know, nothing too difficult. Prince quickly deduces that the anti-gay laws that constrain his own life originated in Woradet’s era. Can his actions prevent their enactment in the first place? This particular body swap therefore has the potential to change history if Prince can complete the tasks set to him by the late Woradet.

To achieve Woradet’s mission, Prince must untangle the baggage of Woradet’s abandoned life. First up, sort out a love triangle between himself and two other noblemen. That this pair are the masterminds behind a plot to depose the country’s king and establish a republic only complicates the messiness of the romance since all three must work together to achieve their shared political aims. On the personal side, Prince must come to terms with the antagonism of Woradet’s father, who resents the disgrace of his son’s unmanly ways, and with the devotion of a personal slave, whose constant attention suffocates our transplanted 21st century hero. (Heroine. Hero. Either works.) The would-be revolutionaries soon gain a most unlikely ally: the very king they seek to dethrone. He has sought refuge in the countryside to escape the clutches of a nobleman who wants to use the youthful monarch as a puppet. This twist rather muddles the political intrigue since Woradet and his noble suitors end up simultaneously trying to preserve the king’s throne (against usurpation by the pretender) and to unseat the king from the throne (to bring about a republic founded on ideals of equality for all). The king soon establishes a rapport with Woradet’s slave that explains his sympathy for those seeking to abolish the monarchy. Though stunted in the telling, that relationship supplies the second couple.

I am the Most Beautiful Count amounted to a fun watch, but it will not go down as an all-timer. Mixing serious political theory with light romantic comedy yields a strange brew. While the series provides a level of escapist entertainment, neither the romance nor the political aspects of the series mount any great degree of sophistication. The viewer’s best approach is to enjoy the ride and not sweat the finer details. The actors seemed to have a ball making the show, and regarding it as a lark is likely the best way to enjoy it.

Two final notes, one theoretical and one cultural. The series does some adventurous things in the way it conceptualizes gender and sexuality. Obviously, we have the fictional country that criminalizes behavior that goes against the person’s birth gender. That very contemporary phrasing would have had no currency in the past, but it nevertheless sets up Prince’s mission to complete Woradet’s life. Original-flavor Woradet may have been obviously gay (and therefore a gender traitor), but Prince-as-Woradet minces and prances through life with such reckless flamboyance that Woradet’s near-and-dear notice the difference. So, while not rooted in any "real" historical place or culture, the series nevertheless demonstrates the fluidity between masculine and feminine. More substantively, it speaks to very real ways in which state power was used to marginalize queer people in the past. On the cultural side, the series highlights the difficulty in translating the Thai term khatoey. Various subtitles resorted to “trans woman,” “transgender,” “transvestite,” and “gay,” not to mention a couple instances where “khatoey” manifested in the subtitles as itself. Strictly speaking, these are discrete concepts. Only "transvestite" and "khatoey" actually predate the 20th century (in the meaning implied here). That khatoey works for any of the equivalents the subtitle writer resorted to (depending on context) illustrates how foreign notions of gender become when translating between cultures.

ADDENDUM
For several years, your author has maintained three lists of BL series on MDL. One highlights series that blur the boundary between BL and LGBT; one highlights series that implicate history in their telling; one keeps track of series that incorporate a body swap theme. Over the years, a handful of series have landed on two of the three lists. I am the Most Beautiful Count becomes the first to warrant inclusion on all three. Not because the series is brilliant. Rather, because it happens to feature themes that merit inclusion on each list.

For what it’s worth:
LGBT Vibes: https://kisskh.at/list/3Dg6K6JL
Historical Settings: https://kisskh.at/list/3bgDRkJ4
Body Swap: https://kisskh.at/list/389KOMq4

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Too Much Silly Slapstick for My Taste

Here’s my take on the series: It had an interesting concept, but it just didn’t land for me. This is a story about a successful LGBTQIA+ superstar who, after coming out and rising to fame, suddenly wakes up in the body of Khun Woradet, a nobleman in the 18th-century Thonburi Kingdom.

It really wasn’t a show in my taste. I honestly don’t even know why I finished it, I should have dropped it after two episodes, it just didn’t get better. This is a slapstick comedy but the characters are so exaggerated, far too silly in my opinion, not my type of humour. The storyline is messy and it often felt like the same thing was being repeated over and over during the series. I had totally different expectations for this show. It was dull, I fast-forwarded through several parts. There are so many BL series now from Thailand now and this is not one I can recommend.

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Breaks The Cliche Mold!

There is something seriously wrong with you if you do not find this series entertaining at the very least. I thoroughly enjoyed this silly series from the beginning to its end. It is cute, funny, enchanting, and so tongue-in-cheek. It is satirical and yet at times so sincerely poignant. And, to a surprising extent, shatters the stereotypical BL world in a f-a-b-u-l-o-u-s way! It introduces a no-holds-barred flamboyant, over-the-top, out and proud LGBTQIA+ character with an extra emphasis on the plus. A first that I can recall where the protagonist is truly not afraid, ashamed, or inhibited in what he wants to be. Or should I say, ‘she’ wants to be! Does this production have issues? Of course it does! The story itself is ridiculously corny and sanitized. The ending is so saccharine sweet one could die of diabetes. The villains were about as believable as the munchkins from the Wizard of Oz. And the fight scenes were laughable. Yet none of that mattered. I did not care. The whole series is just so funny and entertaining. And I laughed.
You can read my full review of this funny gem at BLBliss.com.

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Set in a fantasy land with a timetravel/body swap trope at the centre, "I'm the most Beautiful Count" balances three (Western) genres: comedy, romance and political intrigue. It starts out as a simple comedy, slowly adds romance and lastly edges into the political plot -- I liked how the script never forgets any of the three and usually manages to combine them nicely.

The romance was maybe too underwhelming for some -- the focus is on the revolution plot for quite some time, and we don't really get the two main characters be lovey-dovey together, which, in my view, wouldn't quite fit them anyway, since they do love to bicker with each other. I liked that they made it clear that even after declarations of love there will be misunderstandings and a continuous re-balancing of boundaries. I also liked how the script acknowledges that you can love one person dearly while still being attracted to another -- it's the decision if you'll want to act that makes or breaks a relationship. (That being said, I think Prince!Worradetch should have just taken all three of the men -- Kosol, Banjong and Jade -- into his harem.)

The comedy was there on-and-off throughout the series, and I liked its use until the start of the last episode. Mainly it was Prince!Worradetch being extra again and again, and their surroundings having to somehow cope with it -- but I felt that it never laughed *at* Worradetch, only with him.

While the plot about the revolution is not ... revolutionary, I found it to be solidly done for the most part. It took over much of the runtime during later episodes, as is only right, and there were some narrative tricks used to make a rather straightforward plot more interesting. For a while there I thought that we might even get an ending that was not a happy one -- but unfortunately they pulled the rug there from under our feet, and not one time, not two, but three times! And while the first one was an almost-clever plot twist, the second just cheapened the emotions they made us go through -- and the third diminished the taste of victory and justice in favour for unhinged comedy. (There is a reason why in old fairy tales the villain *always* gets punished.)

Those two last rug-pulls are tied into how the screenplay flips the mood on its head in the last episode -- we go from light-hearted plot with serious messages to silly comedy that forgets all the hardships and all the bad things that happened before, just to make a happy ending with glitter and rainbows. That was *not* needed at all. A victory that acknowledges the sacrifice that was needed to get there tastes even sweeter, don't you think?

Another great let-down were the female characters. We have our main characters who want equality and justice for *everybody* to live how they want. And the screenplay? Gives us exactly *two* women who even are in more than two scenes or so -- and one of them only appears near the end of the story. The other has exactly one reason to be there: To be the jealous antagonist for Worradech's romance arc. She doesn't contribute in a meaningful way to the revolution other than to look pretty and cook meals with chili paste. Was it really too much to ask to give her at least *one* other character trait or purpose?


On a technical side, this drama was well done. They obviously only had a limited budget -- and clever use of locations and filming angles made the world richer looking than it was. (An advantage of setting this in a fantasy land, no need to be too fussy with historical accuracy.) Fighting scenes and anything that needed a crowd looked slightly empty with only a handful of extras, and that might be the reason why there's no huge battle scene -- but I'd rather the producers and writers look for clever solutions than rely on CGI (or worse, genAI). And I think they did well with their solution, the final takedown fit Worradetch and his companions' characters extremely well, I think.

While the actors all delivered a solid performance, let me point out that I loved Nut here: He was able to switch easily between the effusive Prince and the more reserved original!Worradech. The other actor who impressed me was Lee Asre, who played the slave "Jade", who was often seen just kneeling in the background and still never fell out of his role. He showed his character's development well through his body language which relaxed incrementally with Jade's growth of confidence.

Overall, I loved this production despite its flaws. I found it engaging, never boring; and it delivered a thinly-veiled political message with its comedy, which is my favourite style of story.

Before I come to my concluding three questions, let me makes two quick detours:

Detour 1:
Prince / Worradetch calls themselves กะเทิย "kathoey". Now, I'm not Thai, so this is all from my observations from a distance, but from what I've seen and understood, กะเทิย is a concept that doesn't fit into our neat Western boxes for identity, it is something quite different. A gay man can be กะเทิย, as well as an effeminate man -- it's a spectrum that reaches up to what we call "trans woman" in the West. So, while Prince says "ฉันเป็นกะเทิยค่ะ" "I am Katheoy" they are using ฉัน, which is usually a "female"-associated pronoun, but can also be used by men. So, it doesn't mean that they say "I am a (trans) woman" (in the narrow Western sense).
They are simply กะเทิย -- that's why I prefer the term to use as it is, and not try to translate it to a Western term that will not fit in most cases.

Detour 2:
To have a drama with a katheoy character in a main role is rare. To have them be shown not as the butt of the joke but as a competent, complex human being who succeeds outside of the "assigned" careers of fashion, entertainment or beauty, but in politics of all things, is even rarer.

Actually, I only know of one other drama like this, and that is "ผู้ใหญ่ลีศรีบานเย็น" ("Headman Lee of Sri Baan Yen").

So, while I know that webtoon fans were upset that the screenwriter decided to tone down the political side and set the adaptation in a fantasy land, for me it is already a feat that "I'm the most Beautiful Count" was adapted as a drama at all. It's one thing to be a webtoon with a (relatively) small readership, it is quite another to be a drama made by an established production company and published on a major streaming platform.

This is why I am not at all disappointed -- it's much less risky to have the main characters (the good guys) push for the abolishment of the monarchy that way. For those who don't know, Thailand has one of the most restrictive lèse-majesté laws in the world. In 2023, the party who won the most votes in the election was even dissolved by the courts because they had campaigned for a less restrictive law. So, I cannot blame the production company and their writer at all for erring on the side of caution, even if that made Thai fans of the webtoon upset.

(iirc, they were upset by more than that, but I can't remember the specifics.)


Was it good?
It was well-acted, the romance and the revolution plot line were nicely balanced, and the crew used their budget well to tell a story that should have been much grander in scale. However, the drama also had a few major flaws.

Did I like it?
I thoroughly enjoyed all of it! Even the two rug-pulls and the ridiculousness of the last episode couldn't detract from that. I might even rewatch the series.

Who would I recommend it to?
To those who like to see a kathoey character in a major role. To those who don't mind over-the-top ridiculousness and are able to see the political messages behind the comedy.

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“I’m the Most Beautiful Count” – A Historical BL Full of Charm, Power & Tension ??

Dive into this series — when I first saw it, I immediately started because I saw Woradet in it. I was like, okay, this looks interesting. But then I found out there’s actually a manga version too, which I didn’t even know about!

Woradet and Kosol’s story and dynamic were just so sweet and powerful at the same time. I could literally feel the energy between them — the way Woradet carried himself in every scene was too good, honestly amazing.

Now let’s talk about Banjong. I don’t even know what to call him because that man with his glasses? Too good 😭🔥 The way his part blended into the whole story — especially the historical part and the century switch — was just amazing.

And Jet and King Chaiyachet… can I call it a friendship? 😭 I don’t think many people are shipping them, but I loved their scenes together. Jet always fits with anyone, but this dynamic? It hit differently.

Everything about this story just had me hooked. The history, the emotions, the characters — all perfect. For me, it’s a 10/10. If you love historical BLs with strong, smart, and sassy male leads, this one’s for you. 💅✨

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