30
138
6
1
1
4
1
4
3
2
4
1
1
1
1
3
4
5
Raw & mostly well-paced Mafia drama full of plot twists but with a poor romance
We’ve all been burnt by mafia/gang dramas that end up being the watered down version. “The Bangkok Boy” is an exception. It’s gritty and violent, and gave us great fight scenes that usually are rare in Thai dramas. Caution though, this is not a standard BL and don’t go in expecting sweet, cute or a fluffy romance. This is a mafia drama first, and romance is a small part of this. Actually, I felt that the romance is the weakest part of this drama.
There are twists and turns, and you thought you figured everything out for a standard mafia drama about gangs fighting for the turf. But there’s more to “The Bangkok Boy”. Add some revenge, in-gang fighting, drug dealing, questionable alliances and a Romeo-and-Juliet type romance, there’s a lot to handle here. I found the pacing of the drama done pretty well up until the last 2 episodes. In the first 10 episodes, there’s a good balance of everything to keep me interested (though there were minor plot holes here and there). But then, when the drama is coming to an end, all the twists and secrets are revealed, especially in the last episode. Even though certain elements were hinted at, it was a lot of info and revelation dumped on the audience in the last hour. This drama can benefit from another episode of two, so that these plot twists could be better executed. Now, it just feels rushed especially with how the drama ends.
The acting is decent. I was surprised to see that this is many actor’s first serious roles and many are quite new to the industry. This goes for Cho Si Hyeong (Peace), Choi Seung Ho (Jung Ho), Phoom (Tim), Aon (Aim), Phee (Ji Hun), Dom (Nap), and Hwang Jun Su (Seong Hun). Our protagonist, Sun (played by Tape) is more experienced than the other young actors, and it shows. He has the most scenes and is the best of the bunch. Unfortunately, Cho Si Hyeon (Peace) couldn’t act at the same level. As a first-timer, he’s not bad and actually has flashes of good acting in some scenes. He obviously acts better when he’s speaking Korean than Thai. For a drama with so many newbies, “The Bangkok Boy” delivers pretty decent acting from the whole cast (trust me, I’ve seen worse in Thai BLs). None of them really stood out as awful. The only acting performance I dislike is probably from Madame Yao.
Let’s talk about romance. It’s not good and I already knew romance is only a small part of the drama. However, there’s no chemistry between Sun and Peace at all. Viewers have to wait for a couple episodes for them to be on the same screen. I actually thought their initial encounter at the gallery was pretty good. The little date/outing wasn’t bad either. But starting from the near kiss in ep 6 and to them sorta officially being together, that’s when it fails. The drama no doubt gave us a pretty raw and emotional sexy scene. Given what just happened to Peace and Sun, this NC scene isn’t bad. There are other pretty good kisses, but the emotion and chemistry are not there. The secondary romance is just as bad. No sign of affection from Mei at all, and then they just got their sexy on and became a couple??
I do applaud the actors for training hard and fighting. I was very impressed with the action scenes. The fighters don’t look so ‘professional’ that they either win all the time, or get beaten up all the time. The action scenes are hard-hitting and well-choreophraphed, and the actors don’t look like they are thinking about the next move. Most of the actors have good punches and kicks. I am not sure if Choi Seung Ho (Jun Ho) was a taekwondo black belt, but his kicks are high and strong!
Another thing I like about this drama is that it’s a pretty good Korean/Thai collaboration. There have been quite a few of these lately, but aside from the cringey English dialogs in the beginning, the switch between Thai and Korean feels pretty smooth. I don’t speak either language, so I don’t know how good the actors' pronunciation is. To me who is reading subtitles, the switch between languages when talking to different people is done right. Of course, except for English, but I’ll look the other way.
Overall, I had a good time watching “The Bangkok Boy”. It doesn’t shy away from the violence that should be in a mafia drama. The pacing is good but the plot twists get too overwhelming in the end. The romance and the chemistry of both romance storylines are disappointing though. If you are looking for a typical BL or romance, this is not yet. If you don’t like fighting, abuse or violence, then stay away from this drama as well.
Completed: 9/30/2025 Review #628
There are twists and turns, and you thought you figured everything out for a standard mafia drama about gangs fighting for the turf. But there’s more to “The Bangkok Boy”. Add some revenge, in-gang fighting, drug dealing, questionable alliances and a Romeo-and-Juliet type romance, there’s a lot to handle here. I found the pacing of the drama done pretty well up until the last 2 episodes. In the first 10 episodes, there’s a good balance of everything to keep me interested (though there were minor plot holes here and there). But then, when the drama is coming to an end, all the twists and secrets are revealed, especially in the last episode. Even though certain elements were hinted at, it was a lot of info and revelation dumped on the audience in the last hour. This drama can benefit from another episode of two, so that these plot twists could be better executed. Now, it just feels rushed especially with how the drama ends.
The acting is decent. I was surprised to see that this is many actor’s first serious roles and many are quite new to the industry. This goes for Cho Si Hyeong (Peace), Choi Seung Ho (Jung Ho), Phoom (Tim), Aon (Aim), Phee (Ji Hun), Dom (Nap), and Hwang Jun Su (Seong Hun). Our protagonist, Sun (played by Tape) is more experienced than the other young actors, and it shows. He has the most scenes and is the best of the bunch. Unfortunately, Cho Si Hyeon (Peace) couldn’t act at the same level. As a first-timer, he’s not bad and actually has flashes of good acting in some scenes. He obviously acts better when he’s speaking Korean than Thai. For a drama with so many newbies, “The Bangkok Boy” delivers pretty decent acting from the whole cast (trust me, I’ve seen worse in Thai BLs). None of them really stood out as awful. The only acting performance I dislike is probably from Madame Yao.
Let’s talk about romance. It’s not good and I already knew romance is only a small part of the drama. However, there’s no chemistry between Sun and Peace at all. Viewers have to wait for a couple episodes for them to be on the same screen. I actually thought their initial encounter at the gallery was pretty good. The little date/outing wasn’t bad either. But starting from the near kiss in ep 6 and to them sorta officially being together, that’s when it fails. The drama no doubt gave us a pretty raw and emotional sexy scene. Given what just happened to Peace and Sun, this NC scene isn’t bad. There are other pretty good kisses, but the emotion and chemistry are not there. The secondary romance is just as bad. No sign of affection from Mei at all, and then they just got their sexy on and became a couple??
I do applaud the actors for training hard and fighting. I was very impressed with the action scenes. The fighters don’t look so ‘professional’ that they either win all the time, or get beaten up all the time. The action scenes are hard-hitting and well-choreophraphed, and the actors don’t look like they are thinking about the next move. Most of the actors have good punches and kicks. I am not sure if Choi Seung Ho (Jun Ho) was a taekwondo black belt, but his kicks are high and strong!
Another thing I like about this drama is that it’s a pretty good Korean/Thai collaboration. There have been quite a few of these lately, but aside from the cringey English dialogs in the beginning, the switch between Thai and Korean feels pretty smooth. I don’t speak either language, so I don’t know how good the actors' pronunciation is. To me who is reading subtitles, the switch between languages when talking to different people is done right. Of course, except for English, but I’ll look the other way.
Overall, I had a good time watching “The Bangkok Boy”. It doesn’t shy away from the violence that should be in a mafia drama. The pacing is good but the plot twists get too overwhelming in the end. The romance and the chemistry of both romance storylines are disappointing though. If you are looking for a typical BL or romance, this is not yet. If you don’t like fighting, abuse or violence, then stay away from this drama as well.
Completed: 9/30/2025 Review #628
Was this review helpful to you?
