Artsy, dark vibes, oozing toxicity and bad decisions...And frustrating!
This Thai BL features a trio of characters that meet in a bar and are trapped into ultra toxic relationships (professional and romantic) inspite of themselves. The series can feel highly frustrating because of the waste of potential, however, there are also quite a lot I appreciated. Do I regret spending time on it ? No, certainly not because it made me think a lot. Unfortunately the attempt at social commentary regarding Art and AI fell apart with the conclusion, which was truly disappointing.Cast is one of the strong point of this series but also one of the downside. Indeed Gun, Off and Dew are doing a very good job at acting out those broken human beings. The tension scenes with the intimate moments or the painful moments were also very well acted. However, the way couple pairing are working in Thailand clearly removed part of the interest / turmoil of the series as the ending seemed predictable because of the CP but was not convincing because of the plot itself.
I would recommend this drama to people looking for an artsy BL featuring a fare share of angst and pain. It is for sure not without flaws because of its odd and too slow pacing, unconvincing ending and frustrating because of the waste of potential. But it is also a very different kind of story, truly thoughts provoking, with a captivating muse-artist relationship. Even if it unfortunately does not hold its promises, the actors and the very good production value with some truly impactful and memorable scenes, make it worth the watch.
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Sizzling
This series is surely fresh, electric, overwhelming with chemistry, and incredibly sensual. OffGun is the perfect couple to execute the story. The overall dark theme of Burnout Syndrome mirror the reality of people who've lost their spark and through emotion they gain it back.The story is well-written up until the final two episodes where they faltered which is unfortunately common to a lot of BLs that I've watched. Episode 1 was a great set up for the rest of the episodes, its a slow burn but once you get to settle in, the rest of the episodes pull you like magnet. While the plot is sensual, mirrors reality, and gets you invested, there are a few details that missed. Overall, you have got to sit and be patient to let the story establish itself.
The acting in this cast is perfection. OffGun is already an established couple and they've proven their versatility time and time again. Mew surprisingly has a great chemistry with Gun and he definitely did a phenomenal job. The supporting casts also did a very good job.
I don't have anything to say about the music. It's perfect. The song choices matches every scene, the tone, the theme, it's cohesive.
While I don't necessarily recommend the series as an introduction to OffGun, I would definitely rewatch this series.
Overall, this is another great series from OffGun. Their chemistry is beyond perfection yet they still have a lot of room to explore in terms of their acting prowess.
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This review may contain spoilers
In this drama, I mainly see two different friends getting caught in a situation involving a money-hungry, feminine boy. That feels like the core conflict of the story. Personally, I’m not blaming Koh for what happens. For me, the worst person in this drama is Jira. I feel like he is playing with the feelings of both boys, and he’s actually very good at manipulating people’s emotions.Even though Koh comes off as rude and emotionally distant, he is actually the most sensitive person in the entire drama.🥹 And yes, I am sad for Pheem too 🥺 I really felt bad for him. He’s such an innocent guy—honestly, truly innocent. A big part of this drama revolves around emotions and art, which gives it some depth.
One of the funniest parts is when Jira paints on a shirt using wine and calls it “art,” a so-called wine-stain shirt. Honestly, if anyone else did that, it would just look like a mess. But when a boyfriend does it, suddenly it’s art. I guess love really is blind.
Overall, this is not a boring drama. It has a storyline that keeps you watching continuously. The actors are also very talented—they express emotions incredibly well, especially through their eyes and facial expressions. However, I do get irritated when Koh is always wearing sunglasses because I can’t read his eyes properly. Other than that, the drama is decent
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Gritty, Raw, Emotional & Real.
This series covers so many emotions and shared experiences from just being human. There is a darkness coupled with bright and light themes. Some of it feels raw, gritty and dirty bordering on forbidden. While some of it comes across as sweet, gentle, loving and fragile. All of this is reflected in the at pieces used.Dew, Gun and Off did such an incredible job delivering their roles and putting exactly right emotion into each scene. It was powerful when needed and it was delicate in the appropriate places. Emi & AJ's characters also fit into the story perfectly. They added extra flavor and allowed the main characters to express so many more feelings without coming across as "extra", superfluous or repetitive.
This series also touched on AI art and how human artists often feel about AI generated art. They also presented the programmer's view regarding AI generated pieces, which was interesting. I was able to see both sides with a little more understanding, though I admit I am still firmly in favor of the live artist's side as it's portrayed here.
In terms of who I would recommend this to -- if you are a big fan of the actors then it's a "must watch" for them. But, I also believe that anyone who enjoys looking a bit deeper into character motivations, people who enjoy art and deciphering what an artist is trying to convey and those who want series where the meaning is much more than how it appears on the surface then this will be the perfect series.
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Acting Chops!!!
It truly was the acting and tje complex wanna-be artsy story, showing extremely intricate characters, that reeled me in. I wanted to watch their acting as I love Gun's acting beyond anything. He is a marvellous actor and super cute to look at too. That cutie really did play some truly antagonising characters, but his character, Jira, in this show, was so complex and so less understood. The show becomes one of the more mature storylines for me. Not as reckoning as Shine but still, not a fluffy cute drama, and actual story. Dew's acting was too good as well. Plus, I was constantly rooting for PheemJira because Dew's chemistry with Gun was on fire. Shows how great actors they are! I think it deserves a watch.Was this review helpful to you?
A Work of Art
A very well-made series, with a lot of care put in it and attention to detail. It stands out for its unique aesthetic and beautiful direction, surrounded by music pieces that make it feel earthy, yet so atmospherical — like it's otherworldly. The story itself is mature and complex, addressing the very fresh concept of the AI and its impact to art, through the lives and decisions of its characters, while cleverly drawing parallels to represent each side. Every scene and line has meaning and purpose to the story.Regarding the characters, they are neither pretty nor act the way they should. They are very flawed, with weaknesses and their own distinct way of thinking, which makes them frustrating, but also real. Their development was quite good overall, but at times I felt that pieces were missing, disrupting the natural flow of that development, particularly when it came to Off's character, Koh.
As for the acting, it was really good. Everyone gave their best, but the one who stood out for me the most in this series was Dew. It's the first time I saw him in such a challenging role, and it was a real pleasure to see him showcasing more range in his acting and doing such a good job.
Overall, this series is certainly not for everyone. It's one of a kind, it's different, but it's not made in a way to be pleasant or appealing and it doesn't attempt to do so either. It's a story that is meant to be viewed for what it is. It doesn't try to teach, to satisfy or embrace the idea of conventional beauty, but rather shows the beauty in imperfection.
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What I thought of the series:Okay… OffGun proving AGAIN why they are one of the strongest BL pairings ever. 10 years together and they STILL have insane chemistry. Like… how is that even possible?! 😭💚
I was honestly not disappointed at all. The mix of love, friendship, and that messy love triangle drama kept me hooked. You can really feel how comfortable Off and Gun are with each other, and it makes every emotional and cute moment hit harder.
Watching them feels like coming home to something familiar but still exciting. OffGun really know how to make fans smile and suffer at the same time… and I’m totally okay with that. 😌✨
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This review may contain spoilers
Lost me after 7th episode
I am confused and a little speechless. I was incredibly invested and fully enjoying the show up to it’s 8th episode. When Koh manipulated the three of them into meeting each other in his hotel room was the highlight for me. The moment with Pheem and Jira in the rage room was great, and the moment of Koh interrupting Jira’s painting process of Pheem was very well done as well.But what the hell happened afterwards? The next morning Koh was suddenly all lovey dovey which felt a bit out of pocket after what happened and Jira just went along with it. I felt like I’ve missed a whole episode or two in between. Suddenly Koh was in love with Jira and Jira was also in love with Koh but it felt a little too sudden imo. Their relationship started at a super slow burn pace and there should’ve been at least one or two more episodes of complex emotional buildup between them before their feelings reached the level of ‘love’.
An intense love triangle story should’ve been more than enough to concentrate on in only ten episodes, added to the mess that Jira is a broke artists who has to work for a rich IT guy who has no qualms about using him to lie to people to get his way. We already have enough of a moral dilemma here to go in depth with: Jira’s artistic integrity vs doing what he feels he has to do to survive in this world plus his complicated feelings towards his boss and Pheem.
The AI discourse here felt very performative and bare bones, unfortunately. It’s an important topic to discuss and as an artists I do feel for Jira and the overall need to include the debate into the show but it felt like a half-formed thought. The short exchange of arguments between Koh and Jira felt like they were parroted from the internet with only the barest understanding of the subject. I in no way doubt that Nuchy is much more knowledgeable about the subject than the show would make me believe based on the superficial argument exchange between Koh and Jira, so why so tame?
The subject needed a more in depth discussion than what the show gave us.
The show made a bold move by making Koh use Jira’s art to feed into AI but never fully committed to the consequences. I personally wanted a more intense fall out between Koh and Jira, their confrontation felt too quick, too parroted without many layers such an argument could and probably would believably have.
I called it a bold move bc considering it’s a BL and OffGun it is expected by the average viewer to end in a happy OffGun ending (which it did, poorly) but how would a show make the both of them get back together without compromising it’s integrity? Not to mention in only one episode.
Well, the answer is it doesn’t. The ending was an expected disappointment bc they didn’t even try to make Koh apologize or understand Jira. One could say Koh learned to be less selfish by respecting Jira’s wish to stop pursuing him (and respecting the sleeping boundary to a degree) but what about the AI situation? That was never mentioned again and that was their biggest fallout. What happened? Idk, nothing I guess.
Jira moved on with creating his art but not really bc he still kept painting Koh and then suddenly realized that he wanted to see him still and sell him this new painting of them that he painted bc it was special. That’s nice and all but where is his character growth? What changed? Did he not care anymore about what Koh did? Did he suddenly not care that his and Koh’s ideologies did not correlate at all? It felt like a forced happy ending.
Overall I’d consider the show to have a strong start, strong middle but a very weak ending. Truthfully, I expected better from Nuchy knowing how much I loved Not Me but it is what it is. Maybe it’s bc it’s a Jittirain novel, I never liked any of her previous works so that could be a potential reason for me not liking it despite Nuchy but still.
Also, this show absolutely needed to have more episodes to dive deeper into these complex societal and relationship problems. Ten episodes were not enough, things felt rushed. There was a part where Ing pointed out that a muse does not have to be synonymous with a lover and I thought the show would do something with that idea, like make Jira realize that Pheem could become his muse after Koh’s AI betrayed but no, his muse and lover has always been and continued to be Koh, which was a bit boring.
I’m still giving it a pretty high rating bc it had a lot of good things going on for it as well and I would like for BLs to have more of these mature, complex storylines, just done better.
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Fixed pairings will be the end of good stories
The dark/toxic/burnout vibes of this show was perfect. The art, the music (not the osts) all were perfect. The sensual vibes with every character, even Ing was great (they really were whoring out everyone for this show). The story was also interesting.I did not like the ending at all. I know this is gmmtv and their fixed pairs HAVE to end up together but they are losing the greatness of their work by sticking to this format. Khol is toxic, a greedy person who takes and takes and does not see anything beyond his needs. Making Jira and him end up together without any proper explanation kinda ruined the story. They had to increase the number of episodes or do something else to tell this story properly.
Another complaint I might have is the lack of Khol's side of his emotions for Jira, we never really get the feel to when he falls for Jira, we don't see him in his thoughts much. Compared to this we see Pheem's feelings and his battles with it which gave more depth to his relationship with Jira.
The acting was great, this would be Dew's best performance and the only decent one he had after homeschool. Off and Gun are great but Off was slightly weak here. The side characters also did their jobs well
I'm excited to see more shows like this but with proper length to develop the story and a readiness to step out of fixed pair setting.
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This review may contain spoilers
I really wanted to like this more.
When I first saw the trailer, I was so excited to watch this drama. Not Me was an awesome drama and one of my favorites, and I love OffGun and their chemistry when they star together. That being said, I was initially ready to give this series a much higher rating. The adult story line, acting, and drama felt refreshing, especially after Cooking Crush and The Intern. I was thinking this would finally put the Not Me curse for OffGun to rest.Unfortunately, I felt like it was close but no cigar. Dew, Off, and Gun are all very good, but I felt the character of Jira was a little toxic for me and strung both guys along. Koh is cold and a major a**h*le at numerous times and I found that hard to look past. Pheem is the only character that I felt had some redeeming qualities and deserved a lot of sympathy. The scene in the rage room was very heartbreaking and Jira just kind of disgusted me because he didn't seem to grasp both what he had done to Pheem or even care to grasp it, he just wanted to paint and cared about his art.
Overall, the series was pretty good, but just didn't finish in a way that made sense. The writers set up the perfect path for the drama to break the BL drama mold and have Jira realize he was the issue and was burnt out and dealing with complex emotions and a life that was chaotic and needed two failed romances to see that he needed to focus on himself, his art, and his life. However, the series stopped just short of that and leaned back into the typical BL trope of a clean reconciliation between the leads and having the relationship rekindle. This was much, much, MUCH better than many of the other GMMTV BLs that are getting released lately, plot wise, I just wish it had gone the full way and broke the mold of a stereotypical BL pattern.
Side bar, the themes about expression, art, emotion, creativity, and passion were AMAZING, as well as how the scene tied that part of Jira's life together with him and his relationship with each man, and his interpretation of them differently in his work. I loved the idea of expressing the emotions of the artists and the subject of the art so differently. The rage room scene and finished work was AMAZING. I just wish GMMTV had been a little less....GMMTV.....and this would have been a solid 8.5 or higher. Still, the drama is worth a watch and the actors are great.
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Burnout Syndrome is incredibly well-balanced and thoughtfully executed
I loved the story — it feels fresh and genuinely unique.The acting was superb. Every actor delivered a powerful performance, and you can really feel the intensity in each scene. It’s sexy, dangerous, and smart all at the same time.
You can tell the production knew exactly where to invest their budget, and it paid off. The direction especially stands out — everything feels intentional and well-crafted.
Standing ovation to the cast, the director, and everyone who made this possible.
So far, this is the best series I’ve seen this year.
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This review may contain spoilers
Huge spoilers. Read after watching. Adults Playing Adults Being Stupid and Messy, Like Adults.
This is quite possibly the first time I’ve seen plausible, gritty, uncomfortable relationships done really well in a Thai BL. For that messy, uncomfortable, and very human reason this is now my favourite Thai drama. For now.I honestly don’t like the system of set pairings. I can see how it might make an inexperienced young actor produce better performances if they have a trusted acting partner, but once they reach the point these two have it seems counter-productive. I thought by having Dew play such a sweet suitor we might actually get a different outcome, but sadly not.
I consider Pheem, Ing, and Mawin to have been the heroes of this story. The worst thing Pheem did was throw his toys out of the play-pen, which is much more healthy than Koh’s coping strategies. Rage room violence and bad-mouthing Koh were probably very cathartic, honest, and relatively harmless. Ing and Mawin both exemplify kind, honest support without pandering. I kind of hoped Mawin and Pheem were going to fall in love, but that’s just a trope, and the way things played out supported the feeling of naturalism that made me love this show. The cast is stellar, but these three kept me from getting too caught up in the toxins Jira and Koh were putting out, because I fell in love with all three of them.
AJ (Mawin) is quite possibly my favourite Thai actor. He’s able to keep me watching, even when everyone else is annoying me. I’m getting incredibly fed up with him being relegated to second friend and similar. Someone give this boy a f#@king lead! He’s got what it takes, and it’s frustrating that he’s never front and centre.
I really respect the work of Off and Gun, but as mentioned, they need to change things up, and work with other love interests. They’re veterans. I really enjoyed Gun’s chemistry with Dew. Think what he could do with him as primary love interest, or one of the other really talented, leading men out there. The same goes for Off. They completely nailed these two extremely believable, incompatible characters though. Bravo.
If you’re like me, and hate suspense and stupid decisions, stories like this are quite hard to watch, but the believable characterisations, warts and all, were so well rendered that this is a rewarding watch. For those wondering if that reunion is realistic, I think so. Jira and Koh were never going to be a wholesome, peaceful, or even a happy couple, but they’re passionately in love, in a gritty, slightly selfish way, that better reflects real life than any other TBL I’ve seen. It actually made uncomfortable sense to me. At my age you get pretty cynical, though…and let’s face it, love tdoesnt turn arseholes into nice people.
As a final touch, I love the little morality discussion about AI being trained on scrapings and the work of creatives without consent. It’s an important discussion to have, so I’m glad it’s being turned over in series like this.
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