Khemjira Will Survive and so will my hopes in Domundi from now on
Khemjira is easily a must watch show, even if you haven't had exposure to BL stories before. I wanted to be critical so bad but I couldn't help but just enjoy the show for it was. It has a lot of deservingly viral moments. Production is top notch and by far the best in the genre and there are a lot of locations the drama is shot in so no scene feels like the production team was limiting themselves in any way.This show rightfully caught people's attention the moment its pilot trailer aired. It immediately stood out in the crowd of BLs for its unique setting and genre. While many BL production companies acted fast and try out the themes this series does before it aired, they just couldn't deliver it in a way this show did.
I'll say it out right. I disliked every Domundi show before this. The production for their shows always seemed extravagant but the actual content was just slop. To see Domundi come up with a show that has both the budget and actually good content is a huge miracle itself.
Here's what I liked about this show. This BL is the ultimate representation of what one can expect from other Thai BLs. I'd usually be unimpressed that the show is doing familiar tropes but why it actually works here is because it actually takes the best Thai BL drama tropes and puts them together in this one beautiful mixture that somehow just works wonder. So if this is one's first experience with Thai BLs, I can imagine them being extremely impressed with everything.
The cast is really likeable. All of it and that's something I haven't felt from this genre in ages. The ladies of the cast entirely carried the acting department despite having just supporting roles and they deserve far more recognition for the work they did to make this show what it was.
However, the biggest selling point was Keng Harit's role in this drama no doubt. He's one handsome man that has crazy amount of swoon worthy looks and characters in the show. I know it's crazy but this alone becomes 50% of the reason why you become so engaged to the show. I felt his character and his acting skills were best explored throughout the entire show. It's hard to not fall in love with his character's depth and range. The mysterious hot guy trope always wins. And I'd argue even if they had any another handsome guy over Keng Harit in this role, the show would most likely not take off the way it did. This role needed him.
The overall storyline was well thought but what stood out to me was the amount of scenarios each episode had. I know people hated the length but I feel like there was a very valid reason for this show to be this lengthy. Unlike I Feel You Linger in Air and many other BLs, each episode had back to back memorable scenes being thrown at you nonstop. It didn't feel like it was stalling anywhere or had filler moments. Everything just kept going on and I really admire that.
I still had some issues with the show which I think could easily make this show a 10/10 if they had handled them better. First, my biggest issue has to be the romantic development. There were a lot of really good slow burn moments where its implied that the leads are attracted to each other but it just should've been far more explict. There clearly aren't enough moments where they clearly just fall in love with each other together at the same time so it just feels like the confession is a bit out of place. My favorite scene by far is when the Master first asks Khem to call him by his name in Ep 8. That scene just stood out to me a lot despite its simplicity and I really wished we just got more of such full fledged romance before they got together.
I also somewhat dislike how they set aside only episodes 5-8 for the BL elements but then they simply move back to the plot progression which leads to their romantic development being sidelined again until the end of Ep 10. I would've loved them to keep up with both the plot and romance at the same time rather than focusing on one more than the other.
Second, Rampheung as a villian was a bit weaker than I hoped. Her backstory and conclusion was amazing but I dislike how quick they take away her mysterious and powerful image. I feel like they should've kept her as mysterious and strong as possible until the very end. It always should've been the characters barely escaping her wrath rather than the characters somehow managing to stall her efforts.
Lastly, Khem was a bit too much of a damsel in distress. I would've loved to see him being more bratty in some instances. Now I don't think Khem should've been someone exact opposite but I feel like if they somehow managed to integrate a bit more of enemies to lovers trope into this show too, it would've been everything.
Overall, I had a very fun time watching this. I've seen many great BLs and truthfully, I'm genuinely surprised by how much I ended up liking this. I just think it goes to show that a good BL needs two things: a good plot and execution backed up by high budget. (and also a super handsome guy like Keng to play the lead)
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