KinnPorsche (2022)

Trashy guilty pleasure with a side of good smut

Kinn is the second son of a mafia boss who meets the barfly, Porsche. With no parents and a younger brother to care for, Porsche is willing to do just about anything for money. Following an excellent first episode, he gets recruited to be a bodyguard for Kinn's gangster family. As the two fall in love, they find themselves mired in generic gangster shootouts and a complex family scandal that involves the mystery of Porsche's dead parents.

Which is to say, that on paper KinnPorsche sounds like fun. In reality, it's A-grade, rolled-gold trash full of Makjang twists, inconsistent characterisation and a whole lot of sexy boys doing sexy things - most of it non-consensual or involving incest.

KinnPorsche is essentially a fetish drama, with the various fetishes interspersed with something that resembles a plot only in passing: it doesn't stand up to scrutiny, doesn't make much sense and isn't important anyway, frankly.

The show is also a tonal mess, with different direction and production styles clashing (the first episode is surprisingly good, the next two are confusing and contradictory, and the tones clash regularly from there).

But once you get past the idea that this show should be taken in any way seriously - and if you're in the right mood - it could be your latest guilty pleasure watch as it quickly descends into a morass of hot guys boning; sometimes drugged, sometimes drunk, sometimes underage, and sometimes as a result of chained-up basement torture. And nearly always when they're related in some way.

There's a lot of gratuitous sex and mindless violence and the odd, weird, fluffy date episode, which doesn't fit at all. But, I guess, for some people fluffy dating is their fetish so that's here for you as well.

The acting is actually pretty good, especially for a Thai BL, and the sex scenes are genuinely steamy as long as you handwave the rape, incest, torture, murder and creepy borderline paedophilia.

Kinn rapes Porsche, gaslights him, abuses him, manipulates him and yet the relationship somehow seems the most healthy when compared to the other ones in the show. Especially Vegas/Pete ["Nobody can hurt you but me!"] and the super creepy Kim/Porschay ["You're my underage cousin but I'm going to manipulate you into kissing me anyway"].

Anyway, put your brain on hold and enjoy the abuse trainwreck. Otherwise, steer clear.

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The Mafia Never Looked So Good

This was a drama that almost literally left my head spinning and not necessarily in a good way. It had so much potential and at first, it seemed like it was going to live up to all the hype, but that last episode just killed it for me. I can never understand why so many dramas struggle with this issue of saving everything for the last episode. Its incredibly frustrating and it rarely works out well. That being said, I didn't hate it.

The one saving grace of this drama is its actors. Every single one of them owns their character. While they were all superb, I really have to comment on Bible and Build as Vegas and Pete, respectively. Their acting and chemistry quite literally blew me away. The intensity of their scenes together, the way they played off of each other and their individual performances too, the nuance of it all just, wow. Literally left me speechless at times. But truly the whole cast was phenomenal. Mile and Apo's chemistry was absolute fire and those eyebrows! They were both just so good. And I can't forget Tong who absolutely stole the show as Tankhun. I can only imagine how much fun he had in that role.

The characters were another win for this drama. I have rarely seen a drama where characters left me with so many conflicting emotions. On the one hand, I appreciate that, it makes the story more interesting and keeps you glued to the screen. On the other hand, it also left some things feeling unfinished.
- Kinn was interesting right from the start. I appreciated the fact that, although he had bodyguards, it was obvious from the first that he was also perfectly capable of defending himself. That was refreshing. And watching him fall in love with Porsche was adorable. I really enjoyed the nuance of his character, the severe exterior but more sensitive, caring interior. His character development was well done, I thought. There's clear growth as he relaxes and becomes more comfortable being himself but he's still absolutely deadly. Beautifully done. My biggest qualm was his reaction, or lack of reaction, to Big's death as well as his lack of insight regarding Pete's disappearance. Honestly, the fact that Big's death was so completely ignored really pissed me off, but Kinn's complete dismissal of the person who had been his personal bodyguard at one point and was so completely loyal to him was off-putting and felt out of character. I wasn't expecting him to break down crying, but some kind of acknowledgement of the man who died to save his lover's life would have been nice. Same with Pete's disappearance. It was obvious he thought something was off and that he so easily dismissed it and that he even forgot that Pete had gone undercover seemed uncharacteristic.
- Porsche left me cringing the first couple of episodes. The level of second hand embarrassment was intense. I wasn't sure if I was going to like his character at first, because he frankly seemed like a bit of an idiot. I mean, he's offered this gig with the understanding that, in accepting it, his brother will be cared for. And yet he acts like a complete ass and makes it clear he doesn't care. He was obviously not an idiot so the fact that he acted with such disregard seemed weird to me. That being said, I also enjoyed seeing his character growth. One of the things I loved about this drama is that despite the character growth that all the characters undergo, they still remain fundamentally themselves. So while Porsche is softened and becomes less cocky and more serious, he's still Porsche. His tug of war for power with Kinn was fun to watch as was watching him slowly fall for him. As with Kinn, my biggest issue with Porsche was his complete lack of acknowledgement of Big's death. The man literally died to save your life and you can't take two seconds to mourn him? Again, it felt out of character. And while I liked his character development overall, there were aspects of it that did feel abrupt. It was like after he and Kinn were kidnapped and what they went through, he was suddenly more okay with what the family did. I would have liked to see a little more development with that.
- Tankhun was one of the highlights of the drama. He was just so much fun to watch with his dramatic outbursts and his fabulous fashion. While I wouldn't say that he had a huge amount of character growth, there was definitely some. I really liked that he was one of the most insightful characters. Everyone thought he was crazy, but there were times when he was actually the voice of reason. He knew Tawan was not to be trusted, but Porsche could be and that Pete was in danger. It added additional depth to his character that I really enjoyed.
- Pete came completely out of left field for me. I really liked his character from the get go, he's just so darn cute and funny. And yet, after being captured by Vegas, we see a whole other side to him. He's not the kind of character that you would typically think would hold up under torture, but he shows a resilience that's frankly astounding. On top of that, he is a genuinely good person. Despite the abuse he suffers at Vegas' hands, he reaches out to him and offers him comfort and friendship. His whole relationship with Vegas, though, I found very conflicting. I don't think it was a case of Stockholm Syndrome, but it was certainly not a particularly healthy relationship given it was initially born out of abuse and violence though at the end it seems to have taken a turn for the better. My only issue with Pete's character was in the last episode. Earlier in the drama, there's a scene where he tells Vegas that he's not a pet, he's a human but in the final episode, he tells Vegas that he's his pet and he had to go find his owner. I feel like there's an element of he's just trying to keep Vegas from killing himself and/or walking away, but there's also a note of truth to his tone that made me think he was willing to keep being Vegas' pet just so he wouldn't be left alone. That scene felt like a bit of regression for Pete's character and I didn't love it.
- Vegas was one of the most interesting, conflicting characters of the series. He was absolutely riveting to watch. I loved that I never knew what he was thinking or what the true purpose of his actions were. The way he vacillated between good guy and bad guy was fascinating to watch and I really liked that there were reasons for why he did what he did, namely because of his father. His developing relationship with Pete was very well done as was the change in that relationship from owner/pet to more equals. There's a certain twisted beauty to their relationship and while it left me feeling conflicted as to whether I should actually be rooting for them, I did enjoy watching it. I also appreciated how the drama illustrated that people handle abuse in different ways. While his father's abuse turned Vegas into a volatile, sadistic person, the abuse Pete endured from his father gave him insight into his father's actions and made him realize he was not the one at fault. I really appreciated that at the end of the last episode, Vegas tells Pete that he's not going to treat him like a pet anymore. It showed that their relationship was on a healthier track and at that point, I wished their little family all the best.
- I'm going to group Porchay and Kim together here. While I found Kim to be a somewhat interesting character, I found his relationship with Porchay to be unnecessary, distracting, and underdeveloped. To be honest though, I found his entire character to be lacking. While his focus on gathering information for his crime board was an intriguing concept, I never got a good idea of what exactly he was hoping to accomplish with it since it seemed like something he'd been working on for some time. What exactly was he looking for? I just would have liked to see him utilized as more than just a love interest. Porchay was, well, boring. Similarly to Kim, his sole purpose seemed to be acting as a love interest. He just wasn't well-developed. We knew he loved his brother and loved Kim, wanted to play music and that's about it. He cropped up when it was convenient and was pushed to the side the rest of the time. I also didn't get a good sense of why Kim even fell in love with him. They spent, a few days together tutoring, Porchay wrote a love song for him and that was it, he was in love? I don't buy it. And Porchay's feelings seemed more fanboy than in love especially since he didn't actually know Kim. The status of their relationship being left uncertain at the end of the drama was also frustrating. If you're going to make them a couple, at least give a satisfying conclusion. My only thought for why they left it that way is they're hoping for a spin-off with those two.
- Korn and Gun were honestly the most problematic characters for me in this drama just because there were so many questions left unanswered with both of them. I didn't feel like there was ever a clear resolution on who actually killed Porsche's father, though I lean towards believing Korn did the deed. And then there's the mystery of what Gun was going to say before he was killed. I found Korn's character to be more interesting than Gun, mostly because he was more nuanced. Gun was obviously meant to be seen as the bad guy, while Korn was supposed to be the more benevolent one though at the end he's revealed to be just as ruthless and cunning as his brother. And I'm sorry, but I cannot forgive Gun for wearing those shorts to a shoot out. I wasn't sure if I should laugh or just shake my head in embarrassment for him. In any case, I feel like this one of the areas that the series failed. It was so busy adding in minor scenes that didn't really accomplish anything that it failed to focus on the relationship between the two brothers and their history. A whole host of important information regarding the two of them was left until the last episode and there just wasn't enough time to do it justice.

The OST was awesome. I really loved the opening song, it fit the drama and mafia theme very well. I am also in love with the song Jeff Satur sings. Not only can he act, but he has an amazing voice. And the song is just beautiful. The visuals and cinematography were also quite good. The way they used the lighting in some scenes was very well done and worked to enhance the overall mood. The vast majority of the action scenes were well choreographed and were entertaining to watch.

Now for the parts that ended up killing this drama.
- For a drama about the mafia, there was very little information given about it and that whole concept took a backseat which was disappointing. It felt like it should be more central and play more of a role in the character's lives. Instead it felt like a prop piece that was only used when convenient. The world building in general left a lot to be desired.
- The pacing was also off. There just wasn't a good balance of important scenes and filler scenes. The last two episodes in particular were very rushed with a huge amount of information packed in and felt very half-assed. There's also the lack of a consistent plot. The first half or so of the drama was pretty good aside from the pacing. It seemed to generally know where it was headed and then it suddenly lost itself and it just went downhill from there. The ending left a fair number of unanswered or half answered questions. It didn't work for me.
-The attempts at comedy often fell flat. The jokes just weren't that funny and made me cringe. Don't get me wrong, there are some genuinely funny moments, but there are others that just don't work.
-I know I mentioned it before but the third couple of Porchay and Kim was just unnecessary.
- The ending was creepy to me. Porsche and Porchay's mother has brain damage and has no idea who they are, but they proceed to crowd this poor woman and touch and hug her without making sure she's okay with them doing so. I think it was meant to be a sweet, hopeful moment, they're together as a family again, but she just looked confused and uncomfortable and it made me uncomfortable watching it.
- There's an element of romanticizing abuse. The first time Kinn and Porsche have sex, Porsche is still under the influence of the drug Vegas gave him. Despite Porsche goading him and touching him, Kinn should have realized his actions were due to the drugs and he was in no shape to give consent. Yes, he does apologize, but that doesn't take away from the fact that the damage was done. The second time, in Vegas' bathroom, Porsche is drunk and again, Kinn engages in sexual activities with him. Even the first time they kiss, Porsche is drunk and high. And then there's Pete and Vegas' relationship which starts out in an incredibly toxic and unhealthy way. And like I said before, I won't go so far as to say it's an example of Stockholm Syndrome because I think Pete is made of sterner stuff than that and its hinted that there's attraction on both sides before he's kidnapped, it is obviously not an ideal way to start a relationship and it does perpetuate that kind of toxicity is hot which is dangerous. Vegas in particular is a complicated, conflicting character and their relationship is equally complicated and conflicting but ultimately, its not healthy and they both desperately need therapy.
- Finally, the number and explicitness of the sex scenes frankly surprised me. This is the only BL I've seen to this point that's featured actual sex scenes and this level of nudity. No full frontal, but a fair number of bare asses are scene throughout. There's also a scene where several characters watch porn. Though nothing is explicitly seen, it is heard.

I really wanted to love this drama especially since I kept hearing people talk about how amazing it was, but while I enjoyed it, I don't feel like its the best drama I've ever seen, not even close. There were a lot of issues in terms of plot and pacing and in the end it just couldn't realize the story that was attempting to be told. It is a nice break from the typical BL college setting, I just wish more time had been spent making sure there was a story that made sense.

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Rate 10/10 for fun and 1/10 for storyline

All the rave reviews, mad fans in love on comments, all the hype - I am weak willed, I succumbed to KP mania and ended up binge watching it!
First and foremost this series is a COMEDY, to be more precise, it is a spoof of all mafia movies! It takes place in a country called BL-land where they speak thai and sometimes english for no apparent reason but to sound cool! Parents in this country are all straight and they only have boys who are ALL gay! The main economy of this country is managed by the elegantly dressed mobsters! The police and the hospital do not exist: mobsters kill each other with impunity and the doctors and nurses treat the patients at their own homes in their king sized beds!
It took me about 8 episodes of incredulity to finally understand that this series SHOULD NOT in any case be taken seriously! I was so frustrated until it dawned on me that I am supposed to be laughing at the unbelievably ridiculous plot! After I did that, what a ride, what a rollercoaster ride it became!

What I liked:
- the comedy: Tankhun is the King
- Porsche's smile
- buttonless shirts
- cinematography (those love scenes were hooooot!)
- Pete (who looks uncannily like Job who played "Nut" in TMOTB so every time I saw his crooked smile I thought of teddybears!)
- Jeff Satur (how can he possibly be be so handsome and so talented?)

What I did not like:
- the eyebrows and the actor who came with them
- plot full of toxic behaviours (Kinn making out with drugged Porsche, Stockholm syndrome Pete & Vegas)
- Kinn & Porsche being so lovey dovey in ep. 11, I was seriously getting diabetes and expecting to see flowers popping around them like in a manga!
- final plot twists worthy of the best US soaps (like Dallas or Dynasty-the classics are still the best!)
- italian mob ripped from Vincenzo together with wine and classical music!

As for the soundtrack, I did not notice anything special about it.

This series reminds me in a way of TharnType with it toxic silly plot and great chemistry between the leads. Would I watch it again? Probably ! When I need something silly and hot to take my mind off of the daily life struggles, this along with TT is what the doctor prescribed! Mindless fun, just entertainment!

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Not up to my standards softcore fetish porn disguised unsuccessfully as mafia drama

This drama could be used as proof that the Halo effect is very real and powerful (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Halo_effect). The plot was full of holes, every relationship was utterly toxic and the mafia element existed for the coolness factor without actually being utilized.


What carried the entire show was the careful selection of handsome men as the main cast. NOTHING ELSE. If the same things were done or said by ugly men, the show would have flopped 100%. Kinn exploits Porsche knowing his desperate financial position, rapes him, has zero trust towards him and becomes abusive even under suspicion that Porsche has been unfaithful (bathroom scene with Vegas is a good example). Kinn-Chay are a textbook grooming case, where an idol manipulates their fan who happens to be a minor (disturbing and disgusting). I won't even start with serial rapist, bipolar, psychopath Vegas who ''changes'' under the magical influence of his kidnapped/raped/tortured victim Pete (who has Stockholm syndrome). It is clear that the people writing such nonsense have zero understanding of psychiatry because they romanticize rape and abuse and no, psychopaths don't change and you can't ''save'' them with your love.

As if all that mess wasn't enough, towards the end, there is an incest element added with Porsche's mother being the adoptive sister of Kinn's father. This reminds me a lot of a third rate heterosexual lakorn plot and not of the pioneering, ground breaking BL that they claim to be. It was also extremely unecessary.

There is way too much comedy and fluffy scenes that come semi-randomly and don't match the show's supposedly mafia atmosphere and other cringe moments, for example Vegas speaking English at random times. What's up with that nonsense? I would understand if his character was a foreigner or something, but nothing is explained and it's honestly annoying.

It is clear at this point, that the producers know that the BL market is full of hypocritical people who pretend to want to watch dramas, but in reality just want to watch gay fetish porn, otherwise there would not have been so much emphasizing on sex scenes and so much less on the actual plot. A lot of the couples have nothing in common besides sex (with Kinn-Porsche being the best example of incompatible toxic couple who ends up having sex after every argument that was never properly resolved). Often it felt like different people direct different episodes, with the first one being much better and more serious than the nonsense comedy second one. All over the place production is an understatement.

The acting was decent, the music was decent, the scenery was decent, but the overall result is not up to my standards and it's the fault of the producers and the creepy authors (I have read the book and it's an abomination worship and romanticizing of murder and rape, way worse than the series).

If you don't believe me, go on tumblr and twitter and see how many people are talking about the plot (literally nobody unless they refer to sex scenes) and how many are worshipping the actors similar to kpop stans and other disturbed celebrity cult followings (you will be seeing comments like ''you can torture me anytime Bible, step on my neck Kinn and other products of the sexual frustration of individuals in need of help).

Would not rewatch.

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A refreshing concept with a mediocre outcome

I didn’t have any definite expectations, but atleast I wanted action and badass characters. It’s a mafia themed series after all. However, this series did not know what it wanted to be. It neither ended up as a mafia series nor a rom-com, it ended up being a big mess.

The plot at first starts off fine, but due to most of the comedy and romance, it goes south. The plot lines either were forgotten or anti-climatic. There could be a scene which was serious and afterwards they threw in a slapstick comedy/romantic scene, it easily ruined the mood. In the end this series would’ve been great off without any comedy at all.

Kinn and Porsche’s relationship just wasn’t it. They had okay introductions individually but their relationship’s build-up was questionable. I don't really get why they even had interest in each other in the first place. They had two unnecessary scenes, a questionable consent scene and a no consent scene. Even worse was that this was swept under the rug way too easily. They also had too many comedy scenes, which made them very unserious to me. Also too many intimate scenes, could’ve done less of them too, just less of them in general thanks.

Them as characters are pretty weak. Porsche is very gullible, he trusted Kinn and Vegas way too easily. Kinn is simply not a great boss. I don't feel like he is suitable as the leader of the main family at all, Kim would've fit better, heck even Tankhun would’ve suited better as the leader. If Kinn and Porsche had character development I would've liked them but they didn’t, they stayed the same from the beginning to the end.

Kim and Porschay were just there. They didn’t fit into this series and they didn’t add anything to the story.

The only characters I like in the end are Vegas and Pete. They were honestly the only reason why I finished this series. By having Kinn and Porsche as the main characters they obviously had the most scenes but so many of their scenes could’ve been replaced with more Vegas and Pete scenes. They were such a wasted potential, they were very interesting as individuals and as a couple. Such a shame.

Conclusion: I was entertained but in the end I wouldn’t recommend this at all. If you’re looking for a serious mafia series with badass characters, good character development and decent plot, you better wait a bit more for such a series to be released. If you want an unserious series, with comedy, romance and a few action scenes, then this series is for you.

PS. I have not read any of the original work, so this review is purely based on the series alone.

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Not what i expected

Ok so at the risk of being chastised i have to say i was pretty disappointed in the series it felt like they were making it up as they went along,i was so looking foward to this series but in my opinion soz but it was a flop.
It felt more love story than mafia and thats fine but come on now the trailer was a ruse to be fair,im not even gonna start on the fact that gameplay wasnt casted.
Okay maybe not their fault but wow i just feel like i totally wasted my time i commend their acting and that but the whole storyline was so ridiculous to the point im pretty sure my kids could of done better,i mean wth kinn and porshe spend more time having sex and arguing than anything else.
Cant fault the vegas and pete story coz that weren't bad sad but realistic.
Hmmm kim an porchay well what to say non existent really kim saved him a couple times got a porchay got a kiss on the cheek told kim he loved him,got a bit hurt got a song done thats it lol what was the point ,the way it came about was just all a big let down an on top of all that mums back towards the end....................i mean really apart from the fact she seemed drugged up which no one noticed mind but hello where d the hell he hide her lol so much left unsaid and out in the open i hear they're gonna do a season 2 well good luck to them ? think ive seen enough,again this is only my opinion just feel cheated lol.

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Fucked up people, Fucked up plot and a whole lot of Fucking

Rearly has a drama been so inconsistent in quality, plot, characters... ok more or less everything....As this drama is one of those you will have to turn off your brain to watch and instead turn on your thirst as it is completely flooded with thirst scenes and not so much plot most of the drama. As very little makes sence, untill the end where most of it comes together in an oddly confusing way, but yhe good type of confusing...

The story served (without spoilers) is basically a poor, strong male lead in need who likes to fuck a lot, and gets Stockholm Syndrome from a guy in the mob and now he suddenly only wants to fuck the same guy. They also have a lot of guns (both of the flesh and type you shoot to kill), and well earned trust issues.

This is not the only guy with Stockholm Syndrome as it seems to be part of the theme.

The other theme is an exploration of truth, who needs one that actually goes along with reality when you can twitst your own? Just shoot to kill and hope the people with amnesia don't regain their memory and all will be fine (if they regain their memory just shoot them too).

The music, lighting and all round visuals where breathtaking.

Side characters range from so lovable I cant believe they where not the mains to oh please let me skipp this guy before I drop this drama.

All in all pretty entertaining, but I do not really get the hype.

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Disappointing with a capital D

Before getting mad at this review, lemme just say this is one's opinion just like anyone else's. If you liked it, that's great, my opinion shouldn't be an offence to yours. To reiterate, this is an opinion.
This BL was definitely up there in terms of hype for me. I was looking forward to watching such an action-packed drama, and while it delivered for some, a lot of it fell back for me.

What makes it good?
I enjoyed the use of colours and lighting for some of the scenes to give it more of a mafia aesthetic. The scenery for some episodes worked splendidly and there's so much more than just one simple location. It added a lot more to the overall dark raunchiness of this show. The acting is great overall, Bible and Apo being among my favourite actors of the show. Some of these actors are rookies which amazes me how they took on such a complex role and nailed it super well. Born actors is an understatement. The psychological aspects of the show are also intriguing to me, because of its complex nature in KinnPorsche. I don't know if it was intentional in some parts, but it made the characters a little more lifelike.

What makes it bad?
The subplots are one of the biggest problems I struggled with while watching this. I became so lost due to the nature of the pacing. "Where was the plot going?" was something constantly swirling in my head, because it felt like it was going one way before doing something completely different. The editing was at times cheesy CGI effects that didn't make sense, especially towards the end. Some of the music didn't fit the scenes or takes you out of focus. This next point might be polarized but the whole "morally grey" direction they went with the characters felt like a quick label to add as justification. While yes the rating, the whole mafia notion of the show makes you expect to see the morally grey side, I couldn't find any of that with the relationships, because they started off bad and didn't improve as the episodes went on. It felt more black and white, as in "here is character, this is their backstory, now their actions are justifiable". Yes, this is a fictional show, but some parts of it I can understand will make people very uncomfortable due to the execution of such scenes. Also, yeah this is a BL but the lack of women in this show really felt offside. They were mostly put in the plot as a "here's a woman" and then disappeared like a Thanos snap (the same feeling for a certain pairing was treated as a "side support character"). Give us more badass women in mafia shows, dammit!

I was expecting to jump into this mafia drama and be amazed, stunned, whatever else relates to shock in the dictionary, but a lot of it didn't jump out at me. There were some very interesting parts, don't get me wrong, but the entire plot was messy and didn't make much sense. This has cool action, great acting and a neat psychological dive, but that's really all I found were the best parts of KinnPorsche.

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Decent story, many story holes but MARVELOUS ACTING ???

Did it live up to the hype that it got before airing? The answer is Yes and No, for obvious reasons.
The story itself was decent. It had several questioning moments that didn't make sense but overall it was alright.
The actors and their acting skills are what made this show shine. From the main couple to the side characters, the side couples everything was terrific. Even though there were obvious story holes for particular couples( VegasPete, KimChay), at the end of the day it was somewhat easy to understand what was going on.
The character development was done perfectly and I really liked that. For certain parts, it felt like they rushed some things but overall it was interesting and intense. The soundtrack was amazing.

There are moments where the characters( the couples) enjoy the abuse, the violence, the torture, and the toxicity of the other partner. Speaking of which, the love between the couples is toxic af. I totally understand where that is coming from (from past trauma), but promoting it is not good. It fits the story but it's not something that is healthy. Keep it in mind because it's a story after all, but some will find it disturbing.

Is it the best BL out there? No, but it's not the worst. Many BLs these days are coming strong and this one was no exception, but is definitely not the best. Give it a try, it is definitely worth a watch if you enjoy these kinds of topics.

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A good enough drama if you're looking for pointless angst

Honestly, this show is entirely overhyped and absolutely not the "best bl" out there. In fact, it's extremely far from it.

I'll start off with what this show does well. Firstly, the camera work, editing, tensions between characters, and props are all very good. The acting was good, but arguably not where it mattered most. It definitely pulls you out of the scenes sometimes, but it's nothing too harsh. Generally speaking, the visuals of this show are sure to not disappoint, however, that's all that this show did flawlessly.

If you think about your favorite "classic", you may notice that quality-wise, they don't typically hold up to today's standards. So what brings you back to them? Why, even after possible decades, do you still enjoy it? Most reasons would be something like a good plot, good acting, sensibility, relatability, etc. Those exact elements are exactly what Kinnporche heavily lacks. Without its budget and time to be made, the show would honestly have nothing worth your while.

As for the plot, it has a good enough start. It's interesting and definitely grabs your attention in a time where most queer stories revolve around a cute, innocent, school love story. But the more you watch, the less sense anything makes until it finally unravels itself entirely. The way this plot is written, you'd honestly be baffled at which characters were born into the mafia and which weren't seeing as they all have the same morals. Yes, this show is dark, but absolutely not within reason, given that most of the messed-up scenes could be cut out entirely and the show would still work just fine. And to make the characters' terrible actions worse, no one learns from anything. The entire series is one long loop of making a mistake, suffering the consequences, learning nothing at all, and repeating it over and over until the show ends about 60x more messy than necessary.

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welcome to vegas baby

I will start out by saying that I Really truly wish i could have enjoyed this show! it has a lot of potential and a never before seen budget for a bl. most of the actors are good/ok which is truly a miracle and i was actually interested in some parts of the plot. all that being said it is also impossible to ignore that this is so clearly taken from an absolutely worthless source material that got really messy as they tried to adapt everything into something that actually made sense for a live action tv show. i was so excited to watch a mafia bl series because this trope is usually so poorly explored and going into this i didnt even think that it would be done in a completely ideal way in the first place but i really just thought that they would at least have the smallest amount of respect for the themes and topics addressed in the show. so let's get into this.

(EDIT: please when reading this keep in mind that i watched this series in a vacuum. i'm not a part of the kinnporsche fandom nor do i care for fandom fights. i simply wanted a good show that was promised but not delivered <3 this is 100% the opinions of a casual viewer so keep me out your crazy talk ok thanks lol)

kinn
my biggest issue. something that made it nearly impossible to keep watching this show. is that kinn is one of the worst characters that i’ve ever had the displeasure of knowing. theres nothing sexy about seeing a man being extremely unpleasant to everyone around him at all times and at about the third episode i already couldn’t stand to look at his face anymore. not only is he not nearly a decent person he’s also a horrible leader. i dont know why anyone in the show acts as if he’s in any way competent..? towards the end of the show half of his bodyguards had died of extremely preventable causes if only had kinn stopped to think for 2 seconds but all he knows is how to have sex and throw tantrums. he’s at his worst in those moments where he pretends to have a plan to solve everything and then he turns around and spends the entire episode doing nothing like in the whole mess with tawan. “ok so i will pretend that i believe tawan and arrest porsche!! and im absolutely not telling him about the plan ahead of time!! im very smart and intelligent” like WHAT IS YOUR PLAN HERE?? because i still dont even know??? this man sent thoughts and prayers to a life or death situation that involved his destitute ex and psychotic cousin. terrible person terrible man terrible leader. it actually physically pains me that no one made the slightest effort to give any depth to this character and make him more of a likeable anti hero with questionable morality. he can do bad things and still have qualities that would make me, as a viewer, interested in the character. i was expecting a smart mastermind mafia leader. but his character development was essentially going from “horrible person” to “dumb as rocks”. at the end of the show he was kind of useless for anything that didnt include showing up like a jumpscare every time porsche needed help with anything or just standing next to big windows while making childish dirty jokes. but you know how it is.

porsche
not much to say about this guy other than the fact that he’s just stupid. and he doesn’t have any values like he says he does. it made me go insane that kinn could do literally any terrible thing to him and everything would be automatically solved as soon as they kissed. i genuinely could not take a guess at anything that he was thinking at any moment and i was never convinced as to why he ended up liking kinn. extremely one dimensional character with no depth at all.

kinn AND porsche
i DO NOT understand how can they put together the main couple of the show with this absolutely hateable man and expect me to root for them. the amount of times that i was yelling at my computer screen for porsche to RUN AWAY from that place because i could not in any way support this couple. porsche is an ok guy! i like him alright! but sometimes it really seemed like his character motivation was just…"the script said so!" "we all know the main couple has to end up together!!" nothing he did seemed like it was a result of rational thoughts going through his head!! very frustrating and exhausting. i realized that this show did not take itself seriously right after kinn had done appalling horrible things to porsche while being completely sick and deranged to him and everything gets solved because… one day they get stuck in the middle of the woods…? and im supposed to be ok with this just because kinn had a few seconds where it seemed like he might have cared for porsche in the slightest even though it doesn’t make up for anything that he has done in any way shape or form?? towards the end of the show i had an undying urge to skip every kp scene because i simply was not interested. every interaction was cringy and had no chemistry and i was left there wondering why i was still watching this show if i could not stomach the main couple. but listen up! this is 100% the writers fault because how are you going to put together a couple composed of an insufferable man and a victim in a completely unbalanced bizarre dynamic. they either have scenes that are completely toxic or moments where the mood completely changes into a light-comedy, sugar-water tv show and at this point the mafia theme isn't even the main plot, it's mostly just a suggestion. i wouldnt even have a problem with a bit of comedy in this if it wasn't portrayed in the absolute most inconsistent and absurd way with the rest of the show.

unseriousness
i think >the< worst sin committed by this show is that it absolutely does not know how to identify the tone of each scene. sometimes the experience of watching an episode is so surreal that i really started to think that i was losing my mind at one point. i’ve been high before and i think the experience of being high makes more sense than the plot progression of most episodes. i know this because i watched one of the episodes with a hangover on a saturday right after coming back from a party on friday and i started to get genuinely worried that the effects of the weed might have been strong enough to carry over to the next day. but no. it really was just the plot of the episode that made absolutely no sense and i really thought i was losing my mind. unironically. the jokes being told at completely inappropriate moments about extremely disturbing topics. or scenes that didn’t even feel like they fit into the same show. and i wont even go into all of the actually serious topics that were dealt with in completely cheap and honestly OFFENSIVE ways because i dont want the word count of this review to go up to 200k.

welcome to vegas baby
so lets get into what really matters. vegas. what a great antagonist. every week he was the only thing that actually made me want to sit my ass down on a chair to watch this infernal show. he’s by far the most interesting character in this and all i wanted was to get more of him!!! we love an extremely corrupt unhinged manipulative character that does anything to get what he wants with absolutely no shame. and i like this so much because for the first time the writers were actually treating all the bad things he did as ACTUAL BAD THINGS! he’s an evil guy. he does evil things. and i was only rooting for him because this is a fucking MAFIA SHOW. if i wanted to watch kinnporsche’s horrible dates with absolutely no chemistry i would just put on any other random humdrum bl. but NO!! vegas and his plotlines actually made me consider the potential that this show had if it simply committed to a more serious mature dark tone thats actually worthy of the bloody mafia show that was promised. there’s something so special about these guards’ boss making sure that he fights alongside them. the episode that vegas goes out to do his little missions with porsche were my favorite parts because it was just A LITTLE TASTE of what could be an actually well executed mafia show… vegas killing people in cold blood negotiating with dealers setting up all his little plots and then going out to drink and celebrate!! its so good to see!! i feel like they lost so many opportunities in what they could have done with vegas. there were so many directions that they could have taken the plot in that would have been SO much better than what we got. even if we got it just as an exploration of what could happen. like if for one episode vegas took over. and we would be able to see a bit of what it would be like if vegas was in charge and how things would change. it would even be good for kinn’s character because we would be able to see him at his lowest which would end up humanizing him. and if they wanted to get a “happy ending” (HAPPY FOR WHO ?!) they could just make kinn taking back his family’s power and that would make him a more respectable leader. but as far as i know vegas has to fight for all that he has while kinn just sits on his throne and has never worked a day in his life. anyways! just one of many examples of something that i think could have fixed the mess of this plot. we’ll get there. i also love how they managed to make vegas the big bad villain crazy psychopath be someone thats actually so vulnerable. its in the small details like the fact that he is the big bad villain of the show but he genuinely really cares about his pet hedgehog. i love the trope of "evil guy is really close to a very small animal" to insinuate that he’s not as bad as we think. and oh my god bible absolutely gave his entire life to this performance you could see the vulnerability in his eyes in the scene that the hedgehog dies and in a bunch of scenes of him with pete or with his dad. and even the fact that we can see again that this big bad villain actually has all these deep messed up daddy issues that really hurt him on a very personal level and that actually a lot of the bad stuff he does are actually rooted back in the complex relationship that he has with his father. congratulations you’ve just perfectly humanized a corrupt character with questionable morals its really not that hard i dont know why they couldnt do it with kinn who’s just a completely perverse and evil guy for absolutely no reason. and i'm not saying any of this excuses anything that he did because it obviously doesn't, but it's just a further analysis on why i think vegas is the best written character in the show.

vegas and pete
yes. just yes. up to halfway through the show i was entirely convinced that nothing would be able to save it. and then this happened. like im completely aware of how sick their relationship is at first. i wasnt watching it like “awwwww how cute” because at no point were they trying to portray them in that way (like they did with kp). like for the love of god they kissed and a evil little horror song came on. THIS IS THE TYPE OF CONTENT THAT I’M LOOKING FOR IN A MAFIA SHOW. insane things going down. crazy insane psychotic traumatized people bonding through it all. i dont want ridiculous dates eating little pastries in the middle of the park. it makes me SICK that they weren’t the main couple. in what world does a well written couple with a set of extremely deep and interesting characters gets like THREE episodes to get sorted out. this isnt right. my theory is that there were 2 separate writer teams. one to write kinnporsche and another one to write vegaspete (they gave kimchay for a set of rabid lab rats to write. i wont even go into them because i’ll just waste my time.) the kinnporsche team did all the worst things a set of deranged humans could possibly think of as seen in the plotline of the show and then the vegaspete team got together and went "...okay now that we know all that can go wrong lets try to do this RIGHT." and they made an effort to deliver the only actually well written couple in this show. i honestly dont even know if they’re actually well written or if my brain is just gaslighting itself because i like vegas a lot and want to support anything he’s a part of. but i would say that its at least the only interesting couple that makes even a little bit of sense and it's a waste that it wasn't explored further.

vegas vs kinn
i think the reason as to why vegas works and kinn doesnt is exactly because they don’t try to make vegas look like a good guy with cheap jokes and they actually take anything seriously for the first time in the show when it comes to his character. i loved vegas’ role and the way that they never try to redeem him. and if one day they actually try to i just hope to god that its not like “oh vegas and pete got stuck in a tree house and solved all of their problems in 3 little conversations! now vegas is good and he’s kinn’s bestie. actually now he works at a local flowershop and does volunteer work” because that was kind of the vibe we got for kinn’s redemption and that’s exactly why it didn’t work. i just wanted this character to disappear the whole time. but anyways.

vegas’ dad
i dont have much to say other than the fact that i HATE when a tv show gets a single character to pile all the blame for everything that has even went wrong in the plot. vegas is a bad person? vegas’ dad’s fault! porsche’s mom died? vegas’ dad’s fault! kinn’s dad died? vegas’ dad’s fault! we’re being victims of climate change whose effects will become irreversible in about 10 years? vegas’ dad’s fault! be braver with your won characters. they can do bad things and still be likeable. this is so lazy.

finale
where do i even start with this. if there was a limit to the amount of times that a single person can handle seeing other people pointing guns and staring at each other melancholically for several uninterrupted minutes i would have reached this limit about 20 times already. absolutely unbearable and painful to watch. everyone had the opportunity to kill kinn but didn’t despite having a gun glued to his face. i really dont get it. what a fucking mess. and the worst part is them trying to tie together all the loose plotlines in a single episode like “oh yeah i forgot that we had things to explain lets leave absolutely everything for the last episode it’ll work out” and suddenly porsche’s mom is alive and kinn’s dad is dead but no wait he’s actually alive and no one knows what happened and nothing that we knew matters to begin with and FUCK the ENTIRE plot. it was actually offensive the way they finished off vegas’ arc by having him get shot by a completely random nameless man after having finally grasped some autonomy in his life just so that he would be mentioned later as an after thought to suggest that he’s still alive. and a post credit scene?? that was very cute by the way but i dont see the reason of it being post credit its almost like the writers dont want us to care about vegas so they just throw us a little bone like “go fetch!!!” what kind of disrespect do they have with their own character. which just happens to be the best character of the whole show. this show is full of plot holes also like why was the minor family just suddenly okay with being led by porsche?? they could just do that??? where are vegas and pete in all of this?? and macau?? i know that it looks like they might be setting up for a second season or a spin off but this shit left me so disappointed and now i have a head ache. let's do better next time <3

tl;dr
instead of a respectable mafia show we got a bunch of goofy plotlines with cheesy cheap childish dialogue and poorly tied together scenes. next time try not to make a show for 13 year olds with an 18+ rating just to include sex scenes lmao

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