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Ai Long Nhai thai drama review
Completed
Ai Long Nhai
2 people found this review helpful
by gela
May 7, 2024
12 of 12 episodes seen
Completed
Overall 7.5
Story 7.0
Acting/Cast 7.0
Music 7.0
Rewatch Value 8.0

Not Amazing but better than a lot of other Thai BLs

Let's start with getting all the bad stuff out of the way first:
1. A lot of plot points are not well fleshed out. There are tons of conflicts that should be discussed and resolved better but most of them either gets resolved hastily or are just not talked about anymore. To be fair though, I'd rather have this compared to hugely prolonged conflicts.
2. Acting is subpar. But then honestly that's the case for a lot of Thai BLs except for the very exceptional few.
3. They are still clinging on to a lot of heteronormative gender roles and tropes. Especially with Nai taking on the "wife" role and having that typical reluctance to sex, naggy, and needing to be saved type of character. This is supposed to be an LGBT drama guys, we can do better than this. Although I have to say, Nai getting lost and being forgetful isn't that farfetched, he might just need an ADHD assessment.
4. No real character development. But again the characters started out more emotionally developed and less annoying than most main male characters at the end of shows so I didn't really mind.
5. Ai being attracted to Nai because he reminded him of his stepdad is kinda weird BUT it's literally just Freud's theory in action. And Freud is a psychologist (a weird one but a psychologist nonetheless) so who am i to question his theories.

Now onto the good stuff:
1. Both boys are so proud of their relationship. It's so refreshing to have a drama where both parties are not so deeply entrenched in internalized homophobia. Both Ai and Nan are actually so proud that they bagged each other and that is absolutely adorable. Love it when Ai's dad told Nan that he knew about him because Ai kept bragging about how amazing his boyfriend is to his dad. Seriously, we need more of this in BLs.

2. Friendship group is adorable. I know some people find the friends underutilized and had no real development, but I honestly just love seeing BL leads have actual friends man. I find a lot of Thai BL friendships very stilted in picture (this one is a lil stilted too but better than most).

3. Older gay couples!!!!!! Love seeing Ai having two dads who are still so in love. I also love seeing how supportive and adoring households lead to kids who are generally well adjusted (for the most part).

4. Generally an enthusiastic consent on a lot of aspects of the relationship. I am not only talking about sex in this. I am talking about how Nai, although has not ever considered liking men before, was so open to the idea of "trial dating". The moment he acknowledges his feelings for Ai, he was instantly all in. Yes, Nai gets that "more reluctant to sex" character but he does initiate a lot of intimacy. He also tells Ai that he IS flirting with him and wants Ai to get his hints. In an ideal world, we will have a BL couple who actually displays enthusiastic consent to things but honestly this is a step up compared to other Thai BLs.

5. The other love interest does not get villainized!!!! Sometimes a girl gets infatuated and let's go when she realises that it's not gonna happen. This drama gets the memo. We need to stop turning girls into villain just because of a man!

6. Skinship feels more natural than most other Thai BLs I see. I love how there's a lot of non-sexualized skinship happening in this relationship. The cuddling, hand holding, and the casual side hugs!!! Those things are better to me than sex.

7. Ai's actor is hot. I'm a sucker for that hairstyle man.


Anyways I like this, not enough to recommend to my family and friends, but enough to recommend it on this site.
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