Burnout Syndrome

amazing first half just to get dissapointed later

I am genuinely so mad. This show had an amazing start, captivating story, beautiful cinematography, overall was just something completely fresh and new. The first episodes made me so invested, with amazing acting, beautiful scenery and interesting characters - not a single character in this show was a “good character” or so called a “green flag”. A lot of lies, toxicity, while also talking and showing how beautiful and meaningful art is, and talking about a bond between art and an artist. Things started ti get worse in the 2nd half - Jira being a two timer, choosing Koh but still not letting go of Pheem, Pheem needing theraphy, and Koh being an asshole. Later we found out that Koh has been using Jira’s art to train ai - if you find any value in art, you would be disgusted seeing it, as Jira and I were. I thought that the story would end with them parting ways, as they broke up at the end, with everyone going their way. no. Jira went crying to Pheem (again giving him false hope, give this man a break) to help him delete his art feeded to ai, Pheem was unable to do that. At the end, Jira and Koh didn’t talk, didn’t resolve anything, Koh still being a shit person, a capitalist who doesn’t really value art, while Jira despise being a shit person, being the exact opposite - a recipe for a disaster. The show hust ended with them nit resolving anything after a long time of not seeing each other after a breakup, but just having sex. Horrible way to end a show. I know that this show was not the sweetest healthiest show, and was not supposed to be, but I still can’t believe that Jira later just decided to not care about being with someone who doesn’t value art and instead values ai, while being an artist.

Read More

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.

Read More

.

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. 😌✨

.. ... ... .... .... .... .... .. .. ... ... .... .... .... .... .. .. ... ..

🌸✨🌈 Hiii~ Welcome to my kawaii corner~ ♡(≧▽≦)ﾉ✨🌸

You can find more of my reviews on Instagram~ 🌟💖

Check my homepage for my account~ (｡♥‿♥｡) 🌷

Some reviews are under 500 words, so I can’t post them here~ (≧ω≦)ﾉ💫

Thank you sooo much~ ☆:.｡.o(≧▽≦)o.｡.:☆ 💕🌸

Read More

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.

Read More

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.

Read More

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.

Read More

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.

Read More

it's always a pleasure to see offgun working together. gun is, hands down, one of my favourite thai actors and i truly enjoy to see how he reshapes himself for every character that he embodies.
burnout syndrome was promised to be messy and it was, kind off. i really liked the series and the elements they portray, but at the end i think they rushed a lot of things so it became even messier and tangled. ten whole episodes weren't enough to convey what the story could possibly mean (i'll probably try to read the full novel later). think koh, for example. his whole character and feelings for jira turned a full 180º in such few minutes i still think he's faking it.

acting wise, the whole cast is one of the best ever put out by a gmmtv show. not a single miss in any scene of any of them. it helped me to get really hooked on the series.

Read More

New Shape of Masterpiece

As a BL enjoyer, witnessing Burnout Syndrome is like watching a masterpiece breathe. This series transcends the boundaries of the genre, weaving the raw ache of modern exhaustion into a cinematic work of art. The way Director Nuchy captures the heavy fog of a tired soul through moody, neo-noir visuals is nothing short of poetic.
Off and Gun’s mature, electrifying chemistry—now beautifully complicated by Dew Jirawat’s soulful presence—creates a vibrant canvas of healing and rediscovery. Every frame feels intentional, every silence feels charged, and every performance feels like a heartbeat. It isn't just a drama; it’s a breathtaking exploration of how we lose ourselves and, more importantly, how we find the courage to begin again

Read More

A Mature and Addictive Love Triangle that Stands Out from GMMTV this Year

So many GMMTV BL series are airing right now, but Burnout Syndrome truly feels different. This is not the usual university BL. It is a more mature story built around a captivating love triangle between Off, Gun and Dew. I already love OffGun from Not Me and the addition of Dew brings a fresh dynamic that fits perfectly into the plot.

I absolutely love height differences in this BL! Gun being 168 cm, the shortest artist in GMMTV, paired with Drew at 190 cm, the tallest artist, is already giving me butterflies. This love triangle with Off is going to be so much fun to watch! I’m so happy it’s airing on Wednesday nights because my Fridays and Saturdays are already packed with BLs.

The few first episode delivered a strong start. The plot is engaging, all three characters have presence and the dark bar atmosphere with its sensual music pulled me in instantly. Burnout Syndrome is shaping up to be one of the standout GMMTV BLs of the year and I cannot wait for the next episode.

Read More

Red Flags and Green Flags

I really love the style of this show—the cinematography, the characters, the complex chemistry, and the darker themes. I enjoy a wide range of dramas, from cute and funny to realistic and dark. To me, a good story isn't defined by its genre, but by its ability to make you feel something and draw you in completely. This show does exactly that.

If you like cinematography that tells a story and characters that have layers of psychological gray areas, watch this. It’s not just a romance, it’s a story about what it means to be "true" versus being "perfect" and so much more.


Spoiler:



It starts with what seems "obvious" but quickly begins to flip your emotions (at least for me). At first, I could totally see what Jira sees in Pheem. Pheem appears to be the perfect person to "heal" Jira’s burnout and low self-esteem. Jira feels like he is on a chaotic, stormy ocean, and Pheem looks like a stable rescue ship, someone who is calm, logical, and reliable. He seems like the "good guy" opposing the "bad guy."

However there was something that did not feel quite right, upon re-watching some scenes, I clearly noticed the actual "fake green flag". Pheem is essentially a persona with no real personality. He goes to the Burnout Bar to "heal" people at their lowest point, but in reality he just wants to sleep with them, masking his selfish desires and ego behind a "noble healer" costume. Pheem doesn't actually want Jira to get better he wants Jira to stay in a bad state, so that Jira needs him. To Pheem, Jira is just a challenge to his own superficiality.

On the other hand, Koh is an obvious "red flag," but he is (mostly) honest. He is transparent about his flaws, which gives people the choice to "take it or leave it". For me, one big point is, Koh sees actual value in Jira’s art. This gives Jira the perspective and self-esteem he was lacking. While Koh is toxic, he doesn't pretend to be someone he’s not. He shows moments of true vulnerability and slow growth. His "bad personality" feels more like a defense mechanism that softens over time.

In my eyes, that is the biggest difference: Pheem is a (superficial) finished drawing who wants to keeps Jira in his position, while Koh is like an unfinished sketch (imperfect and raw) that gives Jira the desire to grow and create something real.

Read More