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Hidden Love thai drama review
Completed
Hidden Love
2 people found this review helpful
by labcat
Jun 21, 2021
14 of 14 episodes seen
Completed
Overall 7.0
Story 7.0
Acting/Cast 7.5
Music 7.5
Rewatch Value 7.0
This review may contain spoilers

Wish it had paid more attention to the details

At first, this series seems to be just a B-grade horror comedy with some BL thrown in. The ghost carrying a head and scaring people is just one of the things that give this impression.

However, as the story progresses, it becomes more intriguing. As a group of students is quarantined in a dorm and frightened by ghosts there, they gradually find out more about the deaths of two students there ten years ago. The mystery of what causes the deaths of the two students, a same-sex couple, does get interesting as the revelations of the past lead more more mysteries that to be solved.

Unfortunately, while the general trajectory of the story is rather good, the devil is in the details. Sometimes the details are contradictory. At one point, one of the ghosts seems to have regained a physical body and is surprised by it. Yet, this is not really explained and he still seems to have no physical body anyway. At one point, one of the students (ten years ago) is two-timing, dating his boyfriend while also flirting with their female best friend. But when the boyfriend finds out that they are meeting secretly, it is as though he has misunderstood the both of them when they are planning a birthday surprise for him. (Hey, the boyfriend isn't wrong. Later, it seems that the two-timer realizes that the one he truly loves is his boyfriend, but these revelations aren't entirely satisfactory,) The relationships amongst the side characters are also poorly developed. In one episode, Pao Pao has a crush on Met. In another episode, it's Joker having a crush on Met.

Another loophole in the plot is how people can suddenly appear in the dorm under quarantine. The caretaker, Auntie Ann, is suddenly revealed to be there, providing food for the students from the start of the quarantined. (It's like she is there out of good will, and the students could have been left there to starve to death during the quarantine.) Then several episodes later, the female best friend (human) of the gay couple (now ghosts) from ten years ago turns up. I don't think this is how quarantine works.

The flashbacks revealing the past bit by bit with additional revelations giving a twist to what one might assume from earlier revelations is conceptually good but ends up being poorly executed. This is such a pity because, if it had been done properly, this series could well be elevated a few notches.

It is commendable, nevertheless, that the series manages to integrate the BL storyline with the other elements like the mystery and ghost elements. It could simply have been a horror comedy with some BL romance thrown in as a selling point (like Ghost Runner, a lackluster horror series with BL romance thrown in). Admittedly, the series exaggerates the contrasts between the attitude towards gay couples ten years ago and contemporary attitudes. Even in the most open societies today, there is still quite a bit of homophobia, and Thai society is likely no exception. (Of course, the attitudes of young, college-age students may have changed more significantly.) Nevertheless, it conveys a clear message now how toxic homophobia can be.
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