Big Dragon (2022)

A Mediocre Mess

Everything about this show is meh. It was promoted as a steamy BL but does not live up to that promise whatsoever. The plot is completely lost after the first like 3 episodes and scrambles to add another drama which is obviously just added in to give an excuse to have more episodes. The chemistry between the two leads is the best part of the show. Mos and Bank do have a great off screen relationship with each other that does transfer into the show’s more romantic scenes. However it is not enough to make up for the shortcomings of most other parts. So while I don’t view it as the absolute dumpster fire that other reviewers think it is, it is definitely lacking in many ways that I hope the next season can improve upon.

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It was like watching two different series

Where to even begin? The trailer looked extremely promising. It was messy, but it looked like the good kind of messy, you know? I love a good enemies to lovers story, the chemistry was amazing in the trailer already, so I was really looking forward to it.

To start with the good, I am absolutely in love with the OST. I think it fits the series really nicely, I absolutely love the rhythm of it too. I only later learned that Jeff Satur was the composer of it. And to be honest, Jeff never misses when it comes to music. Plus, Isbanky’s voice is absolutely amazing!

Another thing that I really liked were the colors of the series. I really like how they used red in many scenes. Red is the color of anger, hate, love and lust. All of those do fit the relationship between Mangkorn and Yai. The two of them start with hating each other, which soon reaches the peak in lust before developing into love. We often see Mangkorn (and later Yai) wearing red in the scenes that portray any of those emotions, lighting tends to be red in those scenes as well. I think it was a really nice touch.

The chemistry between MosBank is out of this world! I swear you can see the sparks fly whenever the two of them look at each other. They are also incredibly good at showing emotions through their looks and touches.

I found the two bodyguards, Phong and Park, absolutely adorable. They can appear a bit clueless and easy to be talked into doing silly things, but they are just trying their best. I also think that giving the two pink and blue as their colors was super cute.

Now, to the not so good parts. The whole storyline was a mess. It started really promising, but I feel like I was watching two different stories. The first 2-3 episodes seemed quite intense, there was a BDSM aspect to their relationship, a lot of pent-up emotions, angst… it appeared like the series will be messy in the way I like it. And then suddenly, the two are together, being all lovey-dovey, throwing a bunch of extra love-interests into the picture. I feel like they tried to cram in too much for a series that only had 8 episodes. It made things seem rushed and not making much sense.

But what I hated the most was their first time together and everything that followed. There was absolutely nothing consensual about it. First off, Yai drugging Mangkorn and planning to sleep with him for revenge and filming it? That is wrong on so many levels. But Mangkorn apparently saw through that and switched their drinks, so now it was Yai that was drugged and Mangkorn the one that took things to another level. Also, the whole sex tape thing… no, just no. That’s not something you do. Like film yourself if that’s what gets you off, but it’s meant for your eyes only and not as a way to control or blackmail the other person. And later saying that it was all done in the name of love. That’s a toxic image of love right there. You do not hurt the person you love, and you do not take advantage of them in such way.

The ending was a bit disappointing. It teased the second season and some more complications for Mangkorn and Yai. I hate the fact I will probably end up watching it too because I want to know what happens next. I really hope the plot part improves going forward.

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Not the best pairing

This is going to sound bad. I shipped nine and yai more than than the main ship. Nine and Yai made more of a forbidden couple because Nine seems alot wiser and older. Overall i didnt have any emotions attached to this drama i was like who cares if the mains date. This is a very bad thing especially in boy love. Normally you want the main together in this case i didnt. The story is okay not the best. Its just dry with the family drama and marriage stuufff. However the actors were good . The only reason why i watched until the end was to see if it was a happy or sad ending.

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Great start, the chemistry didn't last...

I knew from the start that it was going to be a bit toxic so I won't comment on that, I don't mind a toxic plot sometimes if you are going to have a story that explains why the characters behave in a certain way, but from episode one I could see that there is a problem with the character's personality. I had a problem with Yai's character the most, he started off being really mean and afterwards he is suddenly very cute and kind?? Mangkorn was more stable but he was doing some questionable stuff.

In general, it started with a sexy, enemies to lovers plot, and the intimate scenes were really good, but afterwards the characters started to act cutely with each other, it was like seeing two different stories in one series. They could keep going with the enemies to lovers plot for much longer, in that way it wouldn't feel that weird. They threw many cliche scenes and plot twists so they could add some drama, like, rain while they were fighting, love triangle and one of them having to go abroad.

It was difficult for me to finish it even though I was hooked on the first three episodes.The best thing from this series was the OST for me. I definitely recommend you to listen to this song and watch the MV too, it was really beautifully shot with great cinematography. I wished all the drama had this aesthetic.

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Not as bad or as good as it could have been!

I'll start by saying I haven't read the original, I've only read what was mentioned about it in the comments here, so my judgement is based solely on the show. Here we go;

THE GOOD:
MAIN ACTORS:
YAI - I noticed there's a lot of commentary against Yai, but I actually think he was the best actor in this show. He wasn't too over the top when he was happy or when he was crying, in general, his range of emotion didn't seem too extra. I also liked that when he was hot, he was hot, and when he was cold, he was cold, and when he decided with finality to be with Mangkorn, he didn't waver. He wasn't wishy washy or moon eyed or overly confused, and he wasn't annoying to me at all. He didn't even second guess himself about Nine, he was like 'Yo, no.' and that was that. I personally think that was great. Additionally, he is actually pretty adorable looks-wise. The rest of the cast was likeable too, I have no hard objection to anyone. Some of the casual interactions felt a bit stiff but nothing so bad it made the show unwatchable.
MANGKORN - He was fine. I didn't get any 'Big Dragon' vibes from him, but he was fine.

VISUALLY - It was nice. Easy on the eyes. But Asian dramas generally go in for that 'perfect' look on their actors all the time. I've accepted that, even if it's very unrealistic and looks silly sometimes. I'm also not a fan of the disjointed cuts during the sex scenes, because scenes that go from a bedroom to a bar to a bedroom again, or a table to a window to the floor and back to the table, it doesn't flow too well, but it also didn't particularly hurt the visual aesthetic they were going for.

THE BAD:
STORY: It's only a little bad, insofar as there are too many unnecessary dialogue scenes dragged out waaaaay too long, too many silences and a time lapse that smacks you in the face out of nowhere at one point. The last episode dealt far better with the time lapse, not sure what happened before that with the writers. Also, because of the short amount of episodes, I also think they could have skipped things like Yai's BDSM kink (because ultimately it didn't make much of an appearance anyway), and also the skateboarding thing was, well, why? Relevance? I dunno, for all that it had a use in the story, it could have a mentioned in a conversation and it would have been the same imo. And showing Yai and Mangkorn as seemingly womanizing, bad boys, and then Mangkorn breaking out a Dom vibe on Yai randomly, only to make it turn out to have no place in the story over all. Just, basically, there was a lot of 'but why did you include that' moments. I can only assume that it had something to do with the source material? I actually have no idea, it just seemed pointless.
But I didn't dislike the overall story. Yai and MangKorn communicate quite well (albeit very slowly), especially after they get over their initial speed bumps, and I think that was enjoyable.

THE UGLY:
DUH, the opening rapey vibe. Ugh. It's never gonna' be sexy to try to drug and then rape and/or assault and blackmail someone, and then write that they end up together. If they were changing the story (according to what comments suggested) they should have just gone ahead and changed that too. Like they did in 'Together with Me', they avoided all the 'ugh' from the original. Something less vile would have been for Yai to maybe get Mangkorn drunk and then set him up in an embarrassing situation. It's still a hostile start to a relationship, but at least it's nothing gross or illegal. This trope, for me, is never gonna' fly. Also the hitting each other for no really good reason, could skip that.

HIGHLIGHT:
I loved the scene in ep 5 when Mangkorn's mother walks in on them eating the snack together. That was probably my fave moment in this show. Sometimes writers miss the fact that the small intimate or cute touches and moments between pairings can carry a lot of weight in making a couple seem 'in love'.

Over all looking forward to Season 2. Hoping for less tropes and a smoother flow and much more established relationship vibes and scenes from Mangkorn and Yai.

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Started off really weird, got better, but still didn't hit the mark

Big Dragon starts off with a wild, wild night. It’s ratchet, ridiculous and actually makes no sense, and in fact, the first two episodes are extremely problematic.

At the beginning, Yai and Mangkorn's behaviour is insufferable and unlikeable. Let’s be honest, eye candy aside, there’s really no excuse for their toxic behaviour. But it does get better. Somewhat. (You'll be glad to know that there is some character development for Yai, who becomes significantly less bratty towards the end.)

Compared to many other BLs, this entire series is only 8-episodes long. You’ll have to excuse the lack of depth behind each character’s backstory because there really wasn't much they could do with the time they had.  In general, the story arc felt a little rushed – it’s unrealistic how their animosity turned into friendship (and something more) so quickly, and any affection towards each other felt unexplained. 

But at the end of it all, I’m not sure what I’m supposed to feel about this show or its main characters.

Cramming all the backstories and a foe-turned-friends-turned-lovers romance into 8 episodes is surely a bad idea.

Full review on asianblreviews.wordpress.com

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Not what I was expecting

I started this show because of the insane hype around it, I’ve been binging a ton of BL series over the past few months and this is one of the series that everyone recommended to watch. So let’s start with this review.

The Plot (too many things thrown around in 8 ep)
It starts out with Yai and Mangkorn being rivals or so thought Yai in the beginning somehow they end up spending the night together and their story starts there where he finds out that Mangkorn is interning at the place that is renovating the bar his father owns.
Anywho … this drama doesn’t explore any aspect of these points, they were rivals for an ep and a half. The intern situation was not clear TBH, like they barely showed the work and the process to creat depth but oh well, the whole family situation (step mother in the picture, mother passing away and the whole arraigned marriage) went by in a flash and didn’t help at all in giving more depth.

They could have done a lot with the plot they had but my biggest issue is the fact that the whole tone of the show sifts drastically, I didn’t get how Yai went from very cool and smooth to cute and soft by the end, same goes for Mangkorn, yes I understand they changed and matured but still its a jarring change I guess, maybe I’m picky.

Anyway, I came in thinking this is a very dark vibe and cool style and ended up with cuteness which I do like but yeah. Unexpected, but I liked it anyway.

Great casting and the music is great I will give them that.
Big props for the filming crew because the cinematography is absolutely stunning throughout the whole series.

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All over the place but it's cute

There are just too many plots since ep1 and it seems that every plot was brushed off or it never pushed thru except for the "Childhood crush" plot.

Actors are cute, especially Bank. There are times that they are awkward? Idk but maybe the director tells to T_T. In some episodes acting is a bit too forced(?) and lacking but the way Mos & Bank look at each other~ we can tell they love each other irl.

The OST is such a gem!!! Bank's voice 😍😍😍😍. It's so captivating!! It suits the series at first but as the plot became cutesy it doesn't match the series at all. The song is suited to series like KinnPorche and some other Mafia-esque series. It would have been a hit!!!!

Became bored at the last episode and it's too cliche so I had to speed it up (2x speed) and skip most of the parts.
Last scene tho hahahahahahahhahah ohghad, I read that there wouldn't be season 2 but a movie so idk what'll happen granting Yai said that he'll be living in the US with Mangkorn~

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A relationship with as much depth as you'd get in a music video

After dropping this during the 1st episode out of disgust, I just binged episodes 2-8 and can barely remember what I watched. I only watched it because I've been seeing Mos and Bank all over social media and wondered if this ship was really worth all attention it's getting. It's not.

I'd love to list the strong points but there are only two. Mangkorn's mom is delightful and Bank does a commendable job carrying the entire series on his back once he started having more than 2 facial expressions.

The weak points are endless. There is no story, none of the characters are interesting and scenes often feel completely disconnected from each other. At first, I thought the casting director was the problem for picking amateur actors who weren't able to convincingly do the job. But as the series went on, it became clear that they were doing their best with a truly weak script. The direction is by far the biggest failure. The director seems to have not bothered to prepare the actors for their scenes and didn't explain to them the motivations of the characters. But worse than that, he shot scenes that should only exist in a flashy music video, not a tv series. The shot of Yai and Mangkorn as yin and yang with the red sheet may look cool in a trailer, but it had no place in the episode. But the editing isn't much better. The editor just threw scenes together to fit into 8 boring aimless episodes. So many scenes just exist before or after other scenes and there is little continuity in each episode. I wouldn't be surprised if the editor just forget to include all of the scenes that should have happened in the middle where Yai and Mangkorn slowly stop hating each other and actually start falling in love. Or maybe the writer didn't write those parts. Either way, the crew (director, writer and editor) should take some classes or find other jobs.

Since there have been so many below-average BLs in 2022, I won't call this the worst. But it went out of its way to check every tired, overused and outdated trope that BL fans have seen countless times before and are completely over.
- enemies to lovers
-an extremely rich character whose wealth, sense of victimhood and bratiness are his only character traits
-parents who think arranged marriages are a good idea in the 21st century
-mind numbing background music that is in nearly every second of the series
-useless friends that only exist so the MCs have someone to talk to
-random "BDSM" scenes that show the characters (actually the writers) know nothing about BDSM
-two people who have no reason to even like each other, "fall in love" because ________
-dead fish kisses (Bank looked like he was miserable each time they kissed)
-women who only exist to drive a wedge between the MC
-a man calling another man his wife
-blink and you missed it GL
-people "being in love" after one month of knowing each other
-someone going aboard after I say I'll never leave you

Also, there's a good reason why so many BLs have side couples. It's really hard to keep things interesting for an entire series with only one relationship to focus on. A second couple shakes things up, gives side characters something to do and allows the audience to have a reason to watch even when the relationship or chemistry between the leads stops being interesting. This show REALLY would have benefited from a side couple that got screen time. There were two potential second couples but neither went anywhere which is unfortunate.

Overall, it felt like the earlier episodes and the later episodes were made by different people. Yai's character changed so drastically that I spent most of the series truly confused about what was going on and why. It gave me some really great laugh-out-loud moments though and those usually happened during the NC scenes. But Mos and Bank tried and it's watchable if you skip parts and use 2x speed, so I couldn't hate it.

Lastly, BL sequels are almost always awful. There's no reason to make a sequel to this one, they were barely able to stretch 30 minutes worth of plot into 8 episodes in season 1. But it's StarHunter Entertainment and they've never made a good series, so I expect more of the same in season 2.

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