K-Drama 
This review may contain spoilers
DEEPLY flawed, but unique social commentary
1. There is no such thing as telepathy, including between absolute twin clones.2. Identical twin separation is not a thing, unless it is a historical case, which is not the series
3. Why diplomats are retiring at a young age?
4. Identical tweens can not fool each other’s friends for more than a short time: not even because of the slight differences in looks and mannerisms, but because of the whole context of their friendship that twins can not know
5. Shaky camera work
6. Why did not White simply checked the GPS coordinates where Black was attacked?
7. Diplomats study law, so White should not have issues with Black’s law course
8. The most of money of politicians and other criminals are usually in offshore bank accounts, not in mansions. And the wealth in the mansions is not in the mansions themselves but in the land they are put on. So burning a mansion does not do much damage financially.
9. Getting yo the second floor from within a mansion that is nearly fully ablaze would not work as nearly all oxygen is already burnt, and hot CO is raising to the second floor. You can go within the first floor because this is where new oxygen is sucked in. Wetting your clothes or filters will not help, you need oxygen tanks with you.
10. You can not really wake a person who has fainted from CO and toxins asphyxiation by slapping his cheeks. The only think you need to do ASAP is to drag the person to a place with oxygen.
11. You would not be able to handle a motorcycle, if your palm is burnt, and no gloves can help it. Your skin will never regrow with that pressure and friction.
12. Never date a person who is violent. There will be endless excuses every time you will be attacked. Too bad this series makes it fine.
13. This series unique among all BL dramas for raising economic injustice issues.
14. How come a protest against a corrupt oligarch has randomly turned into a LGBT campaign?
15. Why the crime boss is walking around without a guard?
16. Why Off’ character has exposed his identity and attitude to the crime boss?
17. Why he did not just shoot the crime boss from the very beginning, right after his father was killed?
18. Why did not Gun’s character confess that he is a twin brother after the bed scene? No point in hiding it at that point.
19. Actor Fluke is in shape for this series, unlike the 2019 series Dark Blue Kiss. I am glad for the lad.
20. The narrator’s voiceover in this series is not justified, unlike Theory of Love series from 2019
21. Sleep-talking is not an elegant scenario vehicle
22. The advertisement integrations are really funny in this series because they are all around and between the gore and characters get shot and barely surviving at times
23. Gun’s character did not confess to Off’s about his twin lie after the shooting incident, too, which makes no sense
24. No need for White to breakup with Sean for real, a pause until the danger is gone would have been enough
25. No need for the whole gang to go to hospital with the wounded big smile lad. In fact, just dropping him by would have been enough.
26. The real life ending would have been a certain death of all cast.
27. The actors are cute and they did a great job.
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LOTS of nonsense, but the actors are cute
SOME people say the series has turned to worse since the identity of “Enchante” was revealed, but it was not great to begin with. except for actors.* * *
THERE are dozens of series that depict “brothers” while casting actors that are not even remotely similar to each other, which is pretty annoying.
But here we have a few actors who could be bothers, but they are not in the scenario.
WHAT? Book’s character is written as a lass, so he is not interested in intimate fun? As almost always in BL series. Not believable at all. Also, the idea that they first become boyfriends and only then way later start to become intimate is completely backwards to how things happen in real life.
This tampers with the submerging into the story when you have to suspend disbelief in very basic truths of human life and relationships.
Other issues are covered in a spoilers tagged comment below.
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NOTHING almost makes sense, but worth it
THE FIRST THING to remember about this series is that this is a complete farce and fantasy.Nearly nothing at all is remotely close to how things happen in organised crime and security service in real life.
So just watch it for the lads and passion between them. The series provides that a hundred percent (this is the opposite to what you see in eunuch bromances that pretend to be BL series like 2gether).
The only truly bad thing about the series is the endless propaganda of tobacco and alcohol, which are not only disgusting and detrimental for looks and general health, but are banned for high performance workers like bodyguard everywhere, including gangs. The speed and accuracy of reaction and endurance, tenacity degrade drastically.
Reality check is in a big comment with spoiler tag below.
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MOST of this story is believable
EARTH PLAYING a character that is meant to be like 40 is not believable. Not because of the performance, it is a 100% believable, but simply because he is way too young.Any BL series that is not about high school or university already gets bonus points. Even when one of the characters is still in a high school, it is not shown, but his life outside school is depicted, which is great.
Unheard of in BL that they show a former couple, and unique thst they even shown verbal fights between them, as well as cover some other real life circumstances.
It is also important that the series raises human rights issues, which is rare for such a vapid format as BL.
All in all, this is more like a real drama, instead, which is commendable. Especially for GMMTV, which almost never does things like this.
DETAILS of what is believable and not are in a comment with a spoiler tags below.
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WRONG in nearly everything, but the actors are great and it is not boring
The details are in a reply comment with a spoilers tag.The good things are the issue of disability is covered, however faulty, and that the leads are not hardcore straights that all of the sudden become gay, it is better than that.
A PSA: if possible, avoid running both as a recreational/cardio exercise and a sport. The issue is that even if with the most advanced footwear this activity irreversibly destroys your spine and knees. Health scientists did not find any benefits of it in comparison to other activities that do not cause this much harm. The issue is that evolutionary humans are long distance walkers and, rarely, short distance runners, but never long distance runners, hence the body is not accommodated for the latter at all, so it always ends up being destructive.
ANOTHER PSA: never become a couple before trying intimate fun because it can completely and fundamentally destroy all prospects of your relationship no matter how much the purely platonic/romantic part goes. You absolutely need to establish that you are compatible first.
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MASSIVE believability issues, but worth it for the lads
Being a Wabi Sabi production, technical merits of the production are poor: it was filmed on cheap cameras, the sound quality is bad.Directing is also awkward, including poor music score choices with some pieces annoyingly in endless loops, over dramatic music from the UWMA series not fitting the narrative, different music pieces overlapping each other.
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I WISH THEY would drop DeanPharm from this series altogether.
Their story was already told exhaustively in the UWMA series, and it is so overdramatised that it can not properly work as a side story.
The novel/production is beating a dead horse with it for griefpron at this point as there is nothing to tell any more.
It is a totally different mood even. Besides, the UWMA was a magical fantasy, but the main couple here is not.
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I ALSO wish all kinds of series would stop glorying motorcycles and how “cool” they are.
The issue is that you are 24 times (!) more likely to die per travelled kilometre than using a normal car.
And this has nothing to do with how genius you think you are as a driver or if you are not ever breaking speed limits. The very nature of this transportation type is deadly.
Never buy or ride motorcycles, period. Though using a bus is further 15 times safer than using a car. The problem, however, is that in some cases you have no choice due to bad public transport.
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Some of both crucial and minor beliavility issues as well as a major good thing about the series are all described in a spoilers tagged comment below.
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NOT believable, but worth watching for lads
Cahoot’s most prominent use in series is crying, but scenarists are overdoing it.And yes, this is mostly “nothing happens” type of series that was made for people who like the lads. SantaEarth was a big couple back in the day before the agencies switching has split them, so people have watched this just for the sake of the couple as there is not much else to the series.
I am not a turbo fan of anyone in any series, but I am watching BL for the lads in general (for stories we can go to Breaking Bad, Sopranos, Wired, Rome), so I got through this series anyway. Just seeing Santa here is bringing me pleasure.
The scenario, however, is the tired trope about, by all accounts, a straight lad that has all of a sudden turned gay (or bi) at the age that it too late for such discovery, so it is not that believable for the situation that this series has been showing.
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THE CASTING IS NOT fair, faulty scenario, but still great
THE CASTING IS NOT fair to Inn because his partner is too chiselled (it is not even about the huge age difference, even though they should have been of the same age).Inn himself is still good but if he was paired to a comparable lad it would better for them as a couple.
But I see that the production team was trying to show that the prince is more refined than a pleb, so I understand their choice.
Also, the story NEEDS some years of the lads being apart before it starts because otherwise it is not believable in sense that they would have started their relationship many years earlier as soon as they matured. Males do not work the way it is shown in the story as is, it just can not happen that they would only progress to fun all of the sudden only many years after their hormones would already make them crazy about this.
OR, they should have casted way younger actors.
Additionally, the royal sibling character is made to be a psychotic caricature. This is not how people were taught to behave themselves in those circumstances. NOBODY from the mobility class would be even raising the voice and yet this series shows endless scandals in the family like never happened in Thai high society.
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There is a difference between just someone’s random expectations and the historical knowledge about how things have worked at a certain time and period.
Additionally, for a production there is so-called believability test (as per the Stanislavsky system, the Method), where actors are supposed to believe and to be believable in what and how they do and react in the suggested circumstances.
But when the role is written in a way that completely contradicts to the setting it means that you either should rewrite the role or the setting.
If left as is, it fails the believability test, distracts viewers, removes them from being submerged into the story.
It still could be fun, but would have been even way better if the script would undergone amendments to mitigate the issues that the production being a fiction does not excuse at all.
To be honest, it is always surprising to see just how many series that are very watchable have scenarists that do not practice the very basic craft that they are taught in college. They dissect many scenarios with faults like this and are made to offer fixes.
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THE GREAT parts of the project:
1. attention to detail in historic setting and props is very good, super impressive, actually.
2. The music and the song are very strong, match very well, performed impeccably.
3. The actors are all great, and the main couple is acted a 100% believable. The GL couple, too. Even the two roles that did not match the setting, the father prince and the evil sibling are actually perfectly capable actors that had fully believable performance when they were not instructed by the director to turn on a hysterical fit.
4. The dialogues are written very well, it was a pleasure to follow them. This is where the scenarists held a high bar in their craft impressively.
5. The script is flawed in many ways, but the pacing is great, there is no filler, it is never boring. This is not a BL series, but rather a drama series with a BL aspect.
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The details about the faults in the script are in a comment with a spoilers tag below.
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CORE concept is nonsense, but still very watchable
The visuals and camera work are great, the music is not remarkable, the narrative is tight with nothing watered down.A better title for this drama should say “MANIAC relationships” because the main lad is a sort of masochist with the Stockholm syndrome, but it does happen in real life.
Also, yes, the SK society is classist, and the rich so think of the poor as subhuman, even though it is never said outloud.
It is not believable that the main lad would not know in whose company he is working at.
MORE details are in the spoilers tagged comment below.
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HYPERBOLIC realism executed greatly
This is what can be called the “hyperbolic realism” genre-technique because some events and characters depicted to go overboard and not believable for the sake of delivering the artistic message and leaving a stronger impression on viewers. Often the case with adult manga (yaoi or not).It is also combined with visual symbolism because one of the characters, the horrible violent one from the leading couple, is shown with a patch on his cheek to signify damage, which is funny. Similarly to the illiterate “Enrlish” titles.
For me personally the level of realism is the criteria because the lack of it pulls me out of being submerged into the story, it is distracting.
The same way — no matter how many times watch BL series — the “everyday is all of the sudden gay”concept makes me laugh, the scenes that are overdramatic make me cringe a bit.
But this series has catched and executed the genre accordingly. And it is always commendable when such heavy themes are explored.
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UNNECESSARILY confusing storytelling but still great
This is an interesting series. Great complicated characters inpeccably played.The Torah lad plays a DISGUSTING character. “Hit and run” is one the worst things you could do. And he a tobacco addict, which is repulsive. He is also littering.
Narratively the series is annoying because it does not do any proper exposition about who is who, so viewers can not even understand what is happening sometimes.
Also, scenes from different events are filmed alike so instead of following the story viewers are made to waste time distracted by this.
I know the direction is intentionally meant to be the fesival “art house” style, but it does not serve the purpose well.
Details are in a spoilers tagged comment below.
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STUPID and harmful to the cause, but could be enjoyed still
A GREAT example of lazy script writing because characters are made to behave incredibly stupid to move the story forward.If you are incapable of completely turning your brain off, you are going to be angry while watching the series.
The only supposedly good thing that could come out of tbis series is a push to allow medically justified euthanasia, but even this did not work because the authors conflated the issue with murderers and serial maniac killers.
Details about the series are in a comment veloA GREAT example of lazy script writing because characters are made to behave incredibly stupid to move the story forward.
If you are incapable of completely turning your brain off, you are going to be angry while watching the series.
The only supposedly good thing that could come out of tbis series is a push to allow medically justified euthanasia, but even this did not work because the authors conflated the issue with murderers and serial maniac killers.
Details about the series are in a spoilers tagged comment below.
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NOT lifelike, except for a few moments
The concept is outdated by twenty years or something like that. Back then filming a documentary for a pop band would make sense but since then most bands are forced to do endless streams and promotions on social media, so all of the footage of them being silly on camera is already there, there is nothing new to film.The story line is not believable at all because the band, its name, the songs, the whole things belongs to the studio. It is impossible to go against top management. You can not rebuild the band because it is not your property.
COME ON, just how bad William character is?
He dares to say he, as a person who is leaving hurt like those whom he is leaving behind. But it is flaring false equivalence because he is living for the riches and fame of solo career while those who are being left get their careers and future busted.
That said, a band leader is not a hostage of the rest of the band members, he does not owe them anything other than what they already got while becoming a successful band.
Though there is an important qualifier. Just how much the leader is free to act, how deserving it is, depends on his talents. Most importantly, if he is a composer himself or not.
The most famous example is Michael Jackson. After twenty years in a band he has finally went to fully solo after 1984. Of course, his brothers were not glad about this, but by that time everybody was already a millionaire.
This is different from this Thai series situation because even locally successful band members are not earning crazy millions, so the end of the band most often means a major setback.
MORE details are in a spoilers tagged comment below.
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MORE realic than usual, though not completely
SUCH a rare series.It does not end with the couples' first kiss, it explores what happens afterwards. A teaching story for the youth.
Of course, it is still not as brutal as real life ow, it still keeps some naivity and unrealism.
Another aspect that this time the second and the third couples are also interesting, they are not filler.
Colours and costume design is also rare in mass production series, but it is here.
I can RECOMMEND this series.
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The casting has great finds, the debutants do their jobs well.
The music is good enough, with some interesting tracks even
The duo song performed by the leading couple is not remarkable, but still good.
A few details are in a spoiler tagged comment below.
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ABSURD on many levels but still great
The source material is Korean, and people there are fanatical about killing themselves, so everybody is tobacco addict. It is not as bad in Thailand, so this aspect is not too believable.The stylist has chosen dirty tablecloth patterns for shirts way too much. Those were created for tablecloths and shirts of plumbers and mechanics because they hide dirt better for the day until they can be washed. They do not work too well in other applications.
The details about what is not realistic are below in a comment with spoilers tags.
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