A good show, but overhyped nonetheless
When it comes to the BL as a genre, there are very few if none, actually good supernatural BL's. So it is undeniable that so far the best supernatural BL drama is Khemjira.
But that doesnt mean this show is without flaws and issues.
The most important part: ENDING IS SATISFYING. So if not for anything else, I will recommend it just so you can also get a satisfactory ending.
The good of the show is: the whole supernatural aspect and entity haunting bit. The main antagonist is a genuinely bittersweet character, you might hate her, you might love her. But no one can say she was out of place - her revenge is meaningful and has little to do with the romance. She was one of my fav characters for the show even if really scary af. The thai practices are represented well, and I think people should always respect local practices if it doesn't infringe on you. Otherwise its better not to go to a place that has strong preferences for their practice, because while you may not believe it, their believes originate from something and you can't just deny that for them.
The bad of the show is the character Khemjira himself. And I won't blame the actor for it entirely. Its the character itself which is written so poorly. Khemjira is the cursed one, but he can't get his priorities in order (and suddenly switches goals to chasing love). Instead of getting stronger for himself, all he does is cook, stitch, cry, get targeted, mope, pout and such things. It shocks me that the character is originally written this way. A person who has lived their entire life seeing ghosts and a majority of it living alone, with impending death at 21, cannot be so careless and stupid even. But he is. I don't get how, but thats how he is. So its easy to note that the character is a very difficult one to play, not because its complicated but because its actually lacks substance. I won't say the actor was particularly bad at playing this character, but the actor definitely didn't bring any additional value to this character. From what I know, this character was even less developed in the novel in terms of standing up for himself or taking action, so the fact that despite being buffed (in terms of personality) for the show, he is still such a weak main character is just sad.
This bad is balanced by other characters, specially Paran. I won't say the shaman is the most fleshed out character either, but at least his behaviour is understandable. He makes sense as a person. Whether its moments where you disagree with his behaviour or moments where you are attracted to his hot bod, he is a character that has an identify of his own. He doesn't go around offering platitudes without offering any actual results.
Which brings me to the next bad: which is the romance being forced in. Originally Khemjira's feelings for Paran do overlap due to their past relation, but at no point do you see the character question it. Although he tells others these are feelings from past life, in the end there is no genuine introspection to be seen on his end. He is already asking Paran to help him meddle with his karma and now he also wants his feelings to be reciprocated. The way its shown situation after situation, makes it seem like the show wants you to blame Paran for not returning his feelings, which is just messed up because no one owes anyone else this kind of reciprocation. Again this can all be blamed on Khemjira's own character being a hollow one.
This review is seemingly full of issues with the show, but the thing is you can already read 20 reviews with praises, so I wanna write something which focuses on the not-so-praiseworthy aspects. This show is so worth watching for the plot, you feel invested, you want to know what happened and why. But the romance aspect of it is....not as good as the plot itself. That doesn't mean you won't be getting faceful of romance and even NC scenes, there is a lot of that too. But that part feels more disjointed and glued on.
All I wanna say is: Whatever Paran couldn't do, he can do now.
But that doesnt mean this show is without flaws and issues.
The most important part: ENDING IS SATISFYING. So if not for anything else, I will recommend it just so you can also get a satisfactory ending.
The good of the show is: the whole supernatural aspect and entity haunting bit. The main antagonist is a genuinely bittersweet character, you might hate her, you might love her. But no one can say she was out of place - her revenge is meaningful and has little to do with the romance. She was one of my fav characters for the show even if really scary af. The thai practices are represented well, and I think people should always respect local practices if it doesn't infringe on you. Otherwise its better not to go to a place that has strong preferences for their practice, because while you may not believe it, their believes originate from something and you can't just deny that for them.
The bad of the show is the character Khemjira himself. And I won't blame the actor for it entirely. Its the character itself which is written so poorly. Khemjira is the cursed one, but he can't get his priorities in order (and suddenly switches goals to chasing love). Instead of getting stronger for himself, all he does is cook, stitch, cry, get targeted, mope, pout and such things. It shocks me that the character is originally written this way. A person who has lived their entire life seeing ghosts and a majority of it living alone, with impending death at 21, cannot be so careless and stupid even. But he is. I don't get how, but thats how he is. So its easy to note that the character is a very difficult one to play, not because its complicated but because its actually lacks substance. I won't say the actor was particularly bad at playing this character, but the actor definitely didn't bring any additional value to this character. From what I know, this character was even less developed in the novel in terms of standing up for himself or taking action, so the fact that despite being buffed (in terms of personality) for the show, he is still such a weak main character is just sad.
This bad is balanced by other characters, specially Paran. I won't say the shaman is the most fleshed out character either, but at least his behaviour is understandable. He makes sense as a person. Whether its moments where you disagree with his behaviour or moments where you are attracted to his hot bod, he is a character that has an identify of his own. He doesn't go around offering platitudes without offering any actual results.
Which brings me to the next bad: which is the romance being forced in. Originally Khemjira's feelings for Paran do overlap due to their past relation, but at no point do you see the character question it. Although he tells others these are feelings from past life, in the end there is no genuine introspection to be seen on his end. He is already asking Paran to help him meddle with his karma and now he also wants his feelings to be reciprocated. The way its shown situation after situation, makes it seem like the show wants you to blame Paran for not returning his feelings, which is just messed up because no one owes anyone else this kind of reciprocation. Again this can all be blamed on Khemjira's own character being a hollow one.
This review is seemingly full of issues with the show, but the thing is you can already read 20 reviews with praises, so I wanna write something which focuses on the not-so-praiseworthy aspects. This show is so worth watching for the plot, you feel invested, you want to know what happened and why. But the romance aspect of it is....not as good as the plot itself. That doesn't mean you won't be getting faceful of romance and even NC scenes, there is a lot of that too. But that part feels more disjointed and glued on.
All I wanna say is: Whatever Paran couldn't do, he can do now.
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