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Manner of Death thai drama review
Completed
Manner of Death
0 people found this review helpful
by 07222023
Sep 3, 2023
14 of 14 episodes seen
Completed
Overall 6.5
Story 6.0
Acting/Cast 8.0
Music 7.0
Rewatch Value 1.0
This review may contain spoilers

Manner of Death bored me to death

The beginning was promising and as a crime/thriller fan, I was truly looking forward to this series. I tried not to set my standards too high as it's a Thai series, however, it still fell short. Nothing against Thai series, I just don't believe crime/thriller is their strong suit though it could be because I've been watching meh-tier projects. Or I'm dumb and can't comprehend what they're trying to convey to their audience.
Their surface ideas are always fascinating but deliveries never live up to said ideas. After episode 3, I watched the rest on 2x out of obligation and to see who the murderer(s) is/are. Can't say I was surprised. Thai series tend to lean towards shock value and that's usually when everything falls apart. And I'm not even going to discuss the romance between our leads Bun and Tan because wtf. Halfway through the series, I found myself saying 'huh?' and 'what?' a lot. A lot of it made little to no sense. The timeline was unclear and why was everything 10 years ago?? The acting was decent, I don't remember much of the music... I thought Bun scoffed too much, it was almost every other two lines, or at least felt like it. Tan was alright, kind of unmemorable, he wasn't my favorite character so I didn't give him much thought. I liked That and Sorawit but only as friends, brothers, or partners in crime. My favorite character has to be the hacker guy.

Some of the more glaring parts that didn't make sense:
- Inspector M believes Tan killed Tan's relative-close-like brother Pued out of pure jealousy. I mean, possible so whatever, but then he went on to accuse Tan of and these are his words "cruelly locked him [Pued] up." I'm sorry, Inspector M, but what clean place with nice big open windows suggests that he was 'cruelly' locked up? Not only that, Pued was wearing nice, ordinary clothes. In what galaxy is a kidnapped hostage given clean clothes and good, normal living conditions with no locks or bars? And then Bun went on to say that the place was in the middle of the woods so how could anyone hear anything? Bro, did you not see all the open windows and other houses that were within 20 steps of it? It's not like the shack was in the middle of nowhere, it had an open view with walkways and houses around it??
- So Por sent his men to kill Tan but when Inspector M confronted him on the same day (hours later) he explained it as his men possibly having an issue with Tan that he wasn't aware of. In what genres do minions ever go out of their way to try to kill their boss' sibling and aren't punished for it? Not only was this a horrible excuse, but when Inspector M asked to talk to Tan, Por essentially said 'You can't, I sent him on a work trip and he won't be back for a month' and Inspector M bought his story??? So you're telling me, Big Boss' minions tried to kill Boss' brother between 1-2 AM and say 7-10 AM that same day Big Boss sends the same little bro on a business trip? Huh? Make it make sense.
- The police claimed to have shot Tan because he shot the 'hostage Dr. Bun' and resisted arrest. Crime fanatics know if there aren't bodies, there are usually no deaths. Still, the police ignorantly settled on 'Oh the two bodies must have been carried off within minutes/hours' but if you looked at the body of water, it appeared to be more of a large lake or at least the water was still for the most part...? Next thing we know the police show up at the hospital, a very public place, to arrest Dr. Bun - the man they referred to as the 'dead hostage' to the media. What on earth, why? I mean, we know why, but why in public? Anyway, putting their dumb plan aside, what crime were they going to arrest him for exactly? Surviving? Deceiving??
- The part where Pued and Rung were discussing the 'plan' for Bun was a little murky. As far as we know Rung had no real plan for Bun? Unless we're talking about the threatening, blackmailing, and scaring Bun into dropping Jane's case as Rung was also the one who told Pued where to hide?
- Tan cuffing Bun to the staircase and then leaving him with no food, water, or even his phone to take care of a risky situation was not only dopey but shortsighted. What if he never came back? Bun would have died as he never bothered to find a way to free himself. I literally screamed 'kick/break the wooden stick' every time he was on screen lol. What's dopier is Bun was not a little bit angry or annoyed about getting cuffed for hours. I mean, even the nicest man would have something to say about it? Also what person who isn't a cop goes around carrying and has cuffs on the go? Are we supposed to believe it was premeditated? Tan's shortsightedness?

I liked that this series tackled dark and real themes such as human trafficking, drugs, offenses against minors, and murder (reason #1 I'm giving it more than 5 stars) but when people started dropping like flies and no one really gave af, it became silly and absurd. Initially, Bun would be surprised and shocked to see his acquaintances' lifeless bodies but at one point he seemed numbed and emotionless. Out of sight, out of mind, I suppose. The way he thought of Pued as a close friend but still made a ludicrous comment about Pued being a ghost was odd. And I don't understand why Tan turns serious junctures into flirty, obnoxious moments. The sex scene came out of nowhere and it wasn't a pleasant surprise (seriously skipped it). I wasn't sure if it was the adrenaline rush from them breaking into Inspector M's truck and stealing the laptop or what but I was not expecting sex after committing a crime when I thought discovering the content inside the laptop was first priority.

Speaking of priority, I believe that's what's killed the series for me. The characters' priorities were inconsistent and all over the place. Bad guys suddenly became good and good guys are hidden bad guys. Call it twists if you will but Idunno I didn't feel that our protagonists were desperate enough to get to the bottom of all the murders and mysteries happening around them.

And this is just me nitpicking but why do whenever these characters drive, they can never keep the steering wheel straight? All those little weavings aren't good for your car sir!

On a positive note, I highly enjoyed the last two episodes where they showed us what Rung really did to Jane. Not sure how I feel about Pued's first reaction being to film it but at least it counted as evidence in the long run. Rung and Jane had a nice sisterly-loving relationship; Jane having her sister's birthday as her password was sadly beautiful so when Rung threw their sisterhood away for her greed it was very heartbreaking. I feel horrible for Jane. I don't think she truly got her justice but at least some of her offenders were charged for multiple crimes against multiple victims.

All in all, it wasn't the worst but wasn't the best series. I would recommend it to those who are into shows with multiple villains and plot twists but I myself wouldn't re-watch the entire serie.
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