The ghosts didn't horrify me as much as the writing.
There is a difference between an idea and the execution of that idea.
The idea of a supernatural horror cop BL is good. Great, even!
The execution leaves so much to be desired.
One major problem is maintaining the Thai BL World logic, which tends to be soapy and contrived. I assume they have to keep that logic, because it's just ever so hard to imagine how or why two dudes would hook up if it weren't for the world setting up those bowling gutter bumpers forcing them into it. It's fine when they all work at a cafe, or a vague office where you can bend the rules of professionalism without much consequence in the name of two men rolling around shirtless.
...Unfortunately, there is consequence in police procedurals. There are laws. If you blow the case, the worst case scenario is not a customer with a bad latte, it's letting a murderer roam free to kill again. Or dying.
In the first episode we watch stunning levels of dumbassery when Singha takes the twitchy guy covered in blood they found at the crime scene home with him and goes to shower immediately. Oh, don't worry, the 3 hour DNA test they did proved twitchy guy (who claimed to see ghosts) wasn't covered in the victim's blood, just his own. Why did we take him home? He was just soooo scared. Of the ghosts. Did we do a drug test on him? No. Did anyone seriously interview him? No. He's still a suspect. WHY is he in your living room?!
But you see? the BL world logic is invalidating the Real World logic, which in turn hamstrings the capacity to take the whole police part seriously- and that's if it weren't written so badly. It also signals to me that no one here cares enough to do the bare minimum to integrate the two story styles. That first episode- your first impression- is rife with lazy writing and forced attempts to smush the characters together because that's how BL works and that's all they think the audience cares about.
Everything about this show feels incredibly forced and awkward because of that core of laziness. Everything. From the supernatural stuff (telegraphed and bereft of actual eeriness), to the police work (laughably idiotic), to the nascent romance (the cringe-ass dialogue haunts me) and the acting. I personally don't get the coupling thing, where we like these two performers together, because it always seems like they're shackling one decent performer to an absolute sinkhole. Because of the 'chemistry', which I, personally, could not detect here. That might have something to do with my take that Pavel is doing a pretty decent job with some gravitas and Pooh is behaving like a mentally arrested toddler. Pooh is absolutely in BL World performance style of simpering petulance. Maybe that's part of the reason the ghosts don't seem scary, Pooh is unable to perform plausible fear. Pavel, at least, understands that this wants to be bigger.
Key words: Wants to be.
It's a shame, because the special effects make-up looks great. The cinematography is pretty decent. There is a good idea here, but they just can't get out of BL World to make it work, and don't respect the audience's intelligence to put in the effort, and from the number of solid 10s this gets reviewed with....they're right.
The idea of a supernatural horror cop BL is good. Great, even!
The execution leaves so much to be desired.
One major problem is maintaining the Thai BL World logic, which tends to be soapy and contrived. I assume they have to keep that logic, because it's just ever so hard to imagine how or why two dudes would hook up if it weren't for the world setting up those bowling gutter bumpers forcing them into it. It's fine when they all work at a cafe, or a vague office where you can bend the rules of professionalism without much consequence in the name of two men rolling around shirtless.
...Unfortunately, there is consequence in police procedurals. There are laws. If you blow the case, the worst case scenario is not a customer with a bad latte, it's letting a murderer roam free to kill again. Or dying.
In the first episode we watch stunning levels of dumbassery when Singha takes the twitchy guy covered in blood they found at the crime scene home with him and goes to shower immediately. Oh, don't worry, the 3 hour DNA test they did proved twitchy guy (who claimed to see ghosts) wasn't covered in the victim's blood, just his own. Why did we take him home? He was just soooo scared. Of the ghosts. Did we do a drug test on him? No. Did anyone seriously interview him? No. He's still a suspect. WHY is he in your living room?!
But you see? the BL world logic is invalidating the Real World logic, which in turn hamstrings the capacity to take the whole police part seriously- and that's if it weren't written so badly. It also signals to me that no one here cares enough to do the bare minimum to integrate the two story styles. That first episode- your first impression- is rife with lazy writing and forced attempts to smush the characters together because that's how BL works and that's all they think the audience cares about.
Everything about this show feels incredibly forced and awkward because of that core of laziness. Everything. From the supernatural stuff (telegraphed and bereft of actual eeriness), to the police work (laughably idiotic), to the nascent romance (the cringe-ass dialogue haunts me) and the acting. I personally don't get the coupling thing, where we like these two performers together, because it always seems like they're shackling one decent performer to an absolute sinkhole. Because of the 'chemistry', which I, personally, could not detect here. That might have something to do with my take that Pavel is doing a pretty decent job with some gravitas and Pooh is behaving like a mentally arrested toddler. Pooh is absolutely in BL World performance style of simpering petulance. Maybe that's part of the reason the ghosts don't seem scary, Pooh is unable to perform plausible fear. Pavel, at least, understands that this wants to be bigger.
Key words: Wants to be.
It's a shame, because the special effects make-up looks great. The cinematography is pretty decent. There is a good idea here, but they just can't get out of BL World to make it work, and don't respect the audience's intelligence to put in the effort, and from the number of solid 10s this gets reviewed with....they're right.
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