This review may contain spoilers
There's something genuine about Dangerous Romance and its main pair
The main hook of the story was definitely the main couple, whose chemistry was off the charts. The emotional connection they form is believable and well set up, but most of all I appreciate the chemistry they emanate during physical scenes. They very beautifully portray teenagers in love, from Kang's teasing, to Sailom's cute and dorky squeels of excitement and desperate movements to get away, because their relationship is a struggle for power taken to a romantic peak.
Halfway though watching the series I've been informed that Chimon received harsh criticism for this show specifically, and I truly do not understand why.
Many people refer to the stiff and uncomfortable stance he takes when he has to be intimate with Perth, but I see that as a purposeful choice for Sailom, the character, who WAS uncomfortable around Kang at first, and seemed overall new to romance. As episodes went on he became more open and Chimon portrayed that change pretty nicely.
To me, it is baffling to see people say that any other couple/duo stole the show or overshined Kang and Sailom in any way.
Nava and Guy were pretty cute, and towards the end I found myself cheering for their relationship to be developed further, but the set up for them was clumsy. The concept of an idiotic, comedic take on enemies to lovers is a winning combo in my book, SoundWin are to this day WinnySatang's most memorable ship for me, but they were not given enough time, which dragged down their potential significantly.
Saifah and Name were in an even more desperate need of screentime. The show tries to sell the viewer the idea that these two had a close bond ever since they were young, but how is the viewer meant to buy that when they only see one brief mention of their past in the first episode, after which Name dissapears entirely for many episodes in a row? When he finally returns to relevancy, all of a sudden he becomes Saifah's ride or die ally, even though we have not seen them share a truly positive interaction until that point, nor a flashback to their time in highschool.
The music was fitting, and accompanied beautifully every scene it was meant to, though the opening song particularly was a tad overused alongside cheesy montages of their most romantic moments together. Not the first time GMMTV had an issue with these, and not the last time, either.
The story does, admitedly, stumble a couple of times.
I believe DR suffers from what I like to call the GMMTV curse, that is, being unable to stay on course and become a tightly-written narrative. GMMTV trailers promise one thing, and then the plot becomes derailed very quickly. When watching GMMTV BLs, one must keep in mind that they are always love stories first and narrative pieces second. Something like The Heartkillers will promise you a badass assasin story, but it will mostly use that as a mere backdrop for FirstKhao's love story without dwelving deeper into the premise of what it means to be an assasin and live a complicated life.
The same goes for DR. The titular danger comes in bits and pieces, and is executed kind of poorly, which overall erases the tension the show could have. To add on top of that, the story could also be described as all over the place. The tutoring doesn't last that long before we are thrust into Sailom's desperate acts for money, Kang's risky snooker match, Name's murder attempt, Guy's career ending injury etc. The main messege of social class disparity gets diluted by all the added drama.
However, I've kept my score high because, unlike many other BL's, the events that take place within this chaotic universe were interesting and kept my interest throughout the entire thing. Perhaps a more focused version of the show wouldn't quite grab me the same way and keep me glued to the screen like this one did. I was constantly wondering where will the show go next, and I was always surprised to see how wrong I was in my predictions.
Halfway though watching the series I've been informed that Chimon received harsh criticism for this show specifically, and I truly do not understand why.
Many people refer to the stiff and uncomfortable stance he takes when he has to be intimate with Perth, but I see that as a purposeful choice for Sailom, the character, who WAS uncomfortable around Kang at first, and seemed overall new to romance. As episodes went on he became more open and Chimon portrayed that change pretty nicely.
To me, it is baffling to see people say that any other couple/duo stole the show or overshined Kang and Sailom in any way.
Nava and Guy were pretty cute, and towards the end I found myself cheering for their relationship to be developed further, but the set up for them was clumsy. The concept of an idiotic, comedic take on enemies to lovers is a winning combo in my book, SoundWin are to this day WinnySatang's most memorable ship for me, but they were not given enough time, which dragged down their potential significantly.
Saifah and Name were in an even more desperate need of screentime. The show tries to sell the viewer the idea that these two had a close bond ever since they were young, but how is the viewer meant to buy that when they only see one brief mention of their past in the first episode, after which Name dissapears entirely for many episodes in a row? When he finally returns to relevancy, all of a sudden he becomes Saifah's ride or die ally, even though we have not seen them share a truly positive interaction until that point, nor a flashback to their time in highschool.
The music was fitting, and accompanied beautifully every scene it was meant to, though the opening song particularly was a tad overused alongside cheesy montages of their most romantic moments together. Not the first time GMMTV had an issue with these, and not the last time, either.
The story does, admitedly, stumble a couple of times.
I believe DR suffers from what I like to call the GMMTV curse, that is, being unable to stay on course and become a tightly-written narrative. GMMTV trailers promise one thing, and then the plot becomes derailed very quickly. When watching GMMTV BLs, one must keep in mind that they are always love stories first and narrative pieces second. Something like The Heartkillers will promise you a badass assasin story, but it will mostly use that as a mere backdrop for FirstKhao's love story without dwelving deeper into the premise of what it means to be an assasin and live a complicated life.
The same goes for DR. The titular danger comes in bits and pieces, and is executed kind of poorly, which overall erases the tension the show could have. To add on top of that, the story could also be described as all over the place. The tutoring doesn't last that long before we are thrust into Sailom's desperate acts for money, Kang's risky snooker match, Name's murder attempt, Guy's career ending injury etc. The main messege of social class disparity gets diluted by all the added drama.
However, I've kept my score high because, unlike many other BL's, the events that take place within this chaotic universe were interesting and kept my interest throughout the entire thing. Perhaps a more focused version of the show wouldn't quite grab me the same way and keep me glued to the screen like this one did. I was constantly wondering where will the show go next, and I was always surprised to see how wrong I was in my predictions.
Was this review helpful to you?
