Multilicus

Once more unto the breach, dear friends, once more

A continuation of the main series more than a standalone show or even a bonus, this “special episode” offers more of the same good stuff the series did, inviting us to enjoy another crazy roller-coaster ride.

Most of the cast returns with a bang as familiar characters to deliver one more chapter of the Jack & Joker saga; the performances are on par with what we’ve seen in the main series. YinWar chemistry again provides the main selling point of the show, with Yin deserving particular praise for his performance in the second half of the special.

All the beats are there and mostly the same: some goofiness, some joy and love, but also sadness and a slowly creeping feeling of dread, trying to overshadow the happiness. There’s also some teasing of the audience – particularly with Aran’s and Tattoo’s situationship. The special includes one more important aspect the show did not explore to such extent: personal loss and how we deal with it – this is the emotional core of the episode.

A love untainted, a loss unimaginable, a pain only a heartless person wouldn’t feel and sorrow that lasts till the post-credits scene – that’s the special in a nutshell. I cried, I enjoyed it, I already rewatched it.

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Lukewarm and mundane, lacks heart

1/ The basic premise – the titular love mix-up – is not new, but it is okay; it applies only to the main couple, as there is no mix-up leading to the formation of the secondary/support couple. Also: the mix-up relates only to the first 2-3 episodes, after which the series is a standard BL. This reminded me of “Hidden Agenda” – the titular agenda was of some importance for several episodes, but it was not something show-defining (which caused some complaining from the audience).
2/ The plot and script are weak, uninspired and unimaginative. Problems do not end there: pacing, story progression, characters (immature, often dumb – but not in a cute way – and annoying) – all of that felt subpar.
3/ This is not a bad nor boring show, but it is not particularly interesting nor captivating either. There are very few actually emotional scenes and a handful of genuinely funny ones – the rest of the content just is there. It all felt lukewarm, especially compared to previous two projects of Gem4th: “Moonlight Chicken” and “My School President”. “My Love Mix-Up!” does not have the sweaty and gritty real-life feel of the first one nor the emotional power of the latter; it is an average BL with two of GMMTV’s biggest stars, who deserved a better show.
4/ Gemini and Fourth work with weak material and – at least for me – their efforts are the only reason to watch this show. Fourth in particular uses his talent for comedy to make the show entertaining – which also makes his character less annoying. BTW: Aungpao is in this series – and he’s criminally underused. After what he displayed in “Cooking Crush” (the guy can actually act and has a knack for comedy similar to Fourth’s) GMMTV should trust him with much more than what he got here. Instead we got Chokun (cute but bland) and Pahn in supporting roles, as a pointless secondary couple. The actual support for Gem4th came with a cameo of Chinzilla in ep. 11 – and for less than a minute we could see what this show could have been, but is not.
5/ This is a minor complaint, but still: there are too many adds and product placements in this show. Clearly GMMTV wanted to capitalize on Gem4th’s magic, but went too far. Properly done product placements in a BL – see “Bad Buddy”, GMMTV’s best BL.
6/ The soundtrack is good and – as is GMMTV standard by now – performed entirely by the cast. The opening theme song “ลบยัง” is the best example of how clever, interesting and amusing GMMTV creations can be.

Most of this show’s problems might be coming from it being an adaptation. The source material may be hot and interesting for Japanese standards, but it did not translate into a hot and interesting Thai show – my guess is because of how conservative Japan is compared to Thailand (at least when it comes to BL shows). With other words: it might be a too faithful adaptation. For Thai BL it would be good in 2016, but in 2024 it feels outdated.

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Solid BL with good BounPrem performances

The title of this review sums up my thoughts about "Revamp The Undead Story": I watched and reviewed this show as a BL and appreciated what both actors cast as main characters brought to the table – individually and cooperatively as a ship. At the same time I was not that much interested in the show’s vampire setting (something I learned from "My Golden Blood") nor was I wishing/expecting it to be important from a BL point of view (to a degree it was, regardless of my expectations).

Plot and script

The plot – which at first glance seems simple and becomes more complex later – is good. I was generally satisfied with how it was developed into the filmed script, although – even from my point of view, focused mainly on the love story – certain things about the story’s setting could have been done better. For example, while I wasn’t bothered by repeated fighting between Hunters and vampires, I did notice that it resulted in no meaningful casualties and therefore felt like there were no real stakes in that fight. The ep. 6 Hunter attack during Ramil’s ceremony was important, as it allowed the main plot to progress, but everything else in the "war" against vampires felt meaningless. I won’t go into more nitpicking about that and will mention only one thing: the ease with which Hunters were able to kill vampires in hand-to-hand combat, where no advancements in anti-vampire weaponry were available or of use. Apparently vampires were much stronger and faster than humans only sometimes, losing their edge every time Hunters needed to avoid getting obliterated. However, like I said, that didn’t really bug me. I’d also like to address one of many issues I heard and read in the comments – that Ramil is a bad leader, which I don’t agree with. He was unwilling to become a leader, but still did it. He exiled Feratu instead of killing him and spent the next century imprisoned and depowered. His reluctance and restraint against Feratu and later the Hunters were the reason why he was accused of being inactive or passive – and he simply didn’t want to kill or enslave everyone who was against him; he was not that kind of a leader. His power was precisely what stayed his hand; instead of escalating a conflict he looked for ways to end it with minimal losses, to address the root cause of what was going on. Does that really sound like a bad leader?
I enjoyed how the main plot was written, its twists and turns leading to an explanation of how and why Ramil and Punn were in love. I’m not saying I understood all of it, but it was genuine fun to watch it slowly unfold, to guess, try to figure it out. I still don’t get how Ramil’s dive into Punn’s memories allowed him not just to witness the past, but to become a part of it and create the outcome we knew – but it’s okay. Not understanding it did nothing to reduce my enjoyment. I liked that the show’s supernatural setting allowed for a clever departure from the "normal" structure of a BL love story, where A meets B, they get to know each other, slowly falling for each other and confessing their love and/or becoming an item in the series finale. In "Revamp" Ramil and Punn meet "for the first time" twice, Punn – not fully aware of that – already is in love with Ramil when they meet for the first time in the series, Ramil falls for Punn shortly afterwards as he was destined to, Ramil influences the past to make sure (1) events happen the way Punn remembers and (2) that Punn will be in love with him; Punn not only knows about it, but enables it. Pretty crazy, when you think about it, but works like a charm.
Both main characters are written in a way that fits the genre well: older and more mature than most BL couples, disillusioned and disheartened, wounded and lonely, trapped in roles they are weary of and unwilling to perform, craving something they don’t have, but need to survive. We mostly see Punn’s path to recognizing what’s going on with him, as his situation is more difficult than Ramil’s: what started in dreams and visions, led Punn through bringing home an enemy he was supposed to kill, staying close to him, going through an emotional confrontation with that enemy and his own feelings, trying not to give in to those feelings, then trying to set boundaries, even having something like a mini-breakup – only to regret it immediately and running to save Ramil a few hours later. While no elements of that path are new nor original, their combination works very well. What’s also interesting is that both main characters seemed to have expected, desired and awaited a relationship with each other; for both of them it was like a missing piece of their lives, of themselves. Too many love stories don’t address that or do it less clearly and I was glad to see it here.
Once they get together Punn and Ramil are changed, they both feel complete and become inseparable; no longer torn between what they were supposed to do and what they wanted to do, no longer hesitant and uncertain. It’s not that they’ve been blinded by love, as they still correctly perceive the world around them, worry about others etc.; what changes are their priorities – putting their relationship first. Most BLs avoid this approach, as it seems egoistic, and because one has to respect tradition, social norms, family and its expectations etc. – all of which usually forces young BL protagonists to give up at least part of their dreams of being together. Not here. This time there are no authority figures to lecture the main characters and they can do as they want. Sure, like in any love story there are obstacles, but that’s all they are: once Ramil and Punn remove them (solve the conflict, get rid of Feratu, give up vampire leadership), they are free to be together. That’s another thing I liked about "Revamp’s" love story: no compromises, no hiding, no pretending for the sake of "being responsible". Good to see something like that once in a while.
I had two complaints regarding the script: (1) too few scenes with Punn and Ramil getting domestic or bantering or spending time together in a different way and (2) Punn did not atone for all the vampires he slew nor did the show address that issue properly. We got the briefest of apologies from Punn to Ramil and we can safely assume that Ramil was not expecting nor requiring any atonement by Punn; nevertheless this seemed like a missed opportunity to deepen the character further.

Performances

Boun definitely looked the part and brought it to life thanks to his talent. No longer portraying a blond, tattooed senior student, he retained and used some of the coolness he displayed in previous shows. Ramil can therefore be aristocratic, lofty, effortlessly and eternally attractive and elegant (when I saw him enter the room at the end of ep. 5, I screamed "sprezzatura!"), but also cold, distant, untouchable, with everyone and everything below him – like a ruler or master often is. That’s the official face of the vampire leader, but not the only one. The unserious ones, like the cute and goofy and clingy boyfriend, are my favorites, but we got more: a gentle lover, a manipulating gaslighter (or so I thought for several episodes), "the most pathetic vampire", a haunted monster, a gore mouth losing control over the beast inside – Boun bends over backwards to pull it all off and he does, with flying colors. One of my favorite Ramil moments was when he erased Pokpong’s memory of catching a vase. Boun instantly shifted from being playful to hesitant, for like two seconds when he looked at Prem; there were tension and sadness in his eyes in that moment – and then he turned cold and struck. There was something predatory in Boun’s move, his whole body was involved in that – like a viper attacking its prey.
Still, it’s Prem I appreciated most of the whole cast – as a silent killer, patient infiltrator and provocateur, living a double life and hiding behind facades and pretenses of "the strong, silent type", scared and worried nearly the whole time, a vulnerable dreamer smiling furtively whenever he thinks of his love, a boyfriend and partner willing to sacrifice everything for Ramil. Prem shines the brightest in those quiet moments when he’s calm, collected, confident, particularly in the latter half of the series. He’s the grounded one in the couple. That’s a completely different Prem than in "Between Us" – better, more experienced, upgraded.
When those two are on screen together, everything can happen. Punn’s confrontation with Ramil was and probably will remain my most rewatched scene from "Revamp" because of the shear emotional charge it carried; a charge generated by Prem and Boun colliding. It’s just as good when they’re on a bed or couch talking things through, listening to each other, confessing, planning, explaining – just two boyfriends on a couch. They can dance or cook or clean – all those moments, starkly contrasting the supernatural, the conflict etc. – were the show’s best. It was as if the show was trying to tell us that this was the good, really important stuff – and not the fantastic craziness outside.
As for other cast members, I liked Stamp in his first bigger role as Pokpong – with him even Aun seemed better than usual. Ploy was cool as Lilith and Ciize slayed as Mariah – their roles were small, but I appreciate the contribution nevertheless. Lastly, there was Dunk. Not that his acting got better – since "The Heart Killers" that was a hopeless case – but the show made a valiant effort to hide this and generally succeeded. As Feratu Dunk had only a handful of lines and managed to portray Ramil’s brother as sexy but genuinely evil. I’d say the visuals did more than the lines; the flashback of Feratu/Dunk biting Jett/Paul – with both of their faces visible – is actually disturbing.

Score

The show’s OST consists of just three songs: "ลิขิต (Under The Moonlight)" by Boun and Prem – which was also used to score the opening credits, "ค่ำคืนที่รอแสงสว่าง (Midnight Light)" by Boun and "ชั่วนิรันดร์ตลอดกาล (Lunar Vow)" by Prem. And while "คนคนนั้น (It's Always You)" from "Between Us" soundtrack remains my favorite song performed by Prem, I did enjoy his parts of "Revamp’s" OST. What I didn’t like was the overuse of "ลิขิต (Under The Moonlight)" in the show. This song should have been reserved for particularly important moments only – instead it was heard over and over again, which quickly became tedious. The remaining score – all the "background music" – was mostly well chosen and applied; my single complaint here (as in most Thai shows) was the use of "dramatic" music during combat and some other scenes. Also, I was surprised that Barcode didn’t get to sing a song for this show; after he did one for "Boys in Love" I was sure he’ll do it here.

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