Manner of Death (2020)

Terrible crime story

If you are watching this for the BL part only, it's going to be really boring for you. I didn't like the criminal part of this at all. I'm sorry Thailand - you need to learn how to do this kind of shows because there were so many preposterous mistakes. How can a journalist get to the crime scene sooner than a doctor? How can he be allowed to take pictures and not delete them after if nothing else? Watching it i was shaking my head in disbelief.
Stupid mistakes like this made me skip so many parts in the show. It felt so unprofessional and unbelievable.

The romantic part of this drama however is beautiful. The pair has good chemistry, they are lovers, enemies, friends and strangers at the same time. There is no "be my wifey" part or overly emphasized "I'm gay" part - which I appreciated. The characters just fall in love and thats it (as it should be). Also - we finally get to see grown men! Not more engineering students! :D

The story had a very big potential but the execution was very poor. Thailand needs to learn how to pull up a different genre and make it look believable. (Look up Taiwans HIStory 3: Trapped - that's how you make a good crime oriented BL love story!)

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GO WATCH THIS SERIES RIGHT NOW! YOU WON'T REGRET IT!

I really don't know how to explain how I feel.
I already watched it two times and I want to watch it again and again. It's like a story that never ends for me.
it is a mix of romance and crime, but there is absolutely no lack of that pinch of comedy necessary to make everything lighter.
Max (Tan) and Tul (Bun) proved to be the perfect actors for this series, managing to enact the chemistry that binds them in real life and the one that binds them in front of the cameras.
They also proved to have great mastery of their acting skills, allowing their harmony to bring lightness even in the most raw and violent scenes.
Saying this I just want to encourage everyone to watch this masterpiece.
Thanks for the attention.
L.S.

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Everything you could ask for in a mature, crime-themed BL

Max and Tul are back and they have more than delivered. I want to describe this series as a BL romance dressed in noir, but that would be overly reductive. In fact, an important point to note is that the series still holds its own even if Tan and Bun weren’t romantically involved – I’m glad they were, though, because their palpable sexual chemistry just made it all the better.

The series starts off with a murdered girl. A whodunnit premise drives the narrative, but this soon evolves to something far more complex.

As the story unfolds, it becomes clear that the characters inhabit a sinister reality where nobody can be trusted fully. Sometimes, they are also forced to straddle legally and ethically grey boundaries. All these factors, plus cliff-hangers and twists, provide for surprisingly propulsive episodes that keep you wanting more.

Read my full review here: https://asianblreviews.wordpress.com/2021/11/29/manner-of-death-2020%ef%bf%bc/

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Another MaxTul banger (all puns intended lolol)

Before I go on about the drama itself I'd just like to say that I don't really consider Manner of Death a BL....sure, it does have a BL couple in it, but their relationship isn't the focus of the show. I understand the appeal of categorizing it as a BL because of the cast and, maybe, because of Thailand's censorship. But oh well...I digress.

MaxTul gave us an great drama, once again! The show begins with the story of a new doctor, Dr. Bun (Tul), moving into this small town. He was clearly tired of the big city and wanted to go back to his childhood town. Upon arriving there he meets up with high school friends and that's when things take a turn for the worse.

One night out the Doc kisses a complete stranger - I'd like to say it was def love at first sight hehe - Tan (Max). They soon meet again in a bday party filled with the most important and powerful people in town. Dr Bun realizes the men he kissed is somehow involved with his childhood bestie after seeing them "together". GASP!

At that same night Dr. Bun's best friend, Jane, dies and the Doc decides to do everything in his power to solve her case after realizing something fishy is going on. The police are shady (surprising, no? lololol) and so is a lot of the people in power in town. That's where the drama plot begins....everything goes downhill after that party and a few other people die.

Dr Bun and Tan get together to solve the string of crimes/murders and start to get more involved with each other and with the whole mess. And there's a LOT OF IT! Drugs, sexual assault, human trafficking, murder, betrayal, and much more!

MaxTul definitely have a lot of weight when it comes to acting....they really stand out from the rest of the cast. Well, actually Inspector M (Great) is also great, loved his character. If you like murder-mysteries with a touch of gay, this is the show for you. I liked it.

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A good story

This drama is very good. I binge watched it in one night (yeah I got addicted… again… oops).
Max and Tul are my favorite ones. I love how they can let you feel their compatibility (always and in every drama they make, love them) through the screen.
If you are in search of: thriller, romance, crime, adventure and a well made story, this drama is definitely for you.

The direction was very good, both the main characters where well delivered (Max did a beautiful job with his character in my opinion) and well written.

Even if the romance is not really the main part, it’s strong and I assure you that it’s nicely managed: it’s realistic and spicy and cute and thrilling and I loved it.

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I was trying to finish this series earlier, but unfortunately too many others shows that attracted me more than this one.

I didn’t say that this series was bad, it just when. it came to the end I felt this series less interesting than before.

Don’t get me wrong, I love the idea and the story itself, it just another aspects of this series didn’t match my criteria. I always believe that Tul’s performance could be better.

But overall, I kinda miss the chemistry between those two. And you know what? I hope I would see more of Tat and Sorawit. Please Thindertv, make their own series 😭😭😭

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Obsessed!

I feel like it's important to reference the show is in heavy needs of trigger warnings for things like sexual violence, murder, miscarriage, abortion, and basically any terrible thing that has happened and can happen to young women in bad situations. I don't think the show necessarily suffers because of these inclusions, but since this show is highly recommended on a lot of different channels, it seems important to reference these trigger warnings somewhere since they're usually not included.

I love this. Max and Tul have, once again, phenomenal chemistry together. This is the second drama of theirs I've seen, and I'm definitely interested in following more from them. They have a natural charisma together that works really well and sells their relationship and comfort with each other.

The actual plot is also fairly interesting, focusing on a mysterious set of murders and death and a medical examiner. The first few episodes lean hard into some educational elements surrounding true crime, a thing that the show later mostly discards. The secondary couple is also very cute together.

Generally, if you can handle crime dramas and the massive trigger warnings, I would recommend seeking out this drama.

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Pleasant BL Thriller

Are you tired of Thai dramas where the bad ones never get punished or they end up being redeemed?
Well, that doesn't happen in this one.

If you are looking for another typical Thai BL, then you should think it twice.
UWMA is an example of an original plot inside the BL world, however it's filled with BL content.
In the case of MOD it also is an original plot for a BL but the BL content is not that strong. I would say it's 75% thriller and 25% BL. The feelings are there all the time, but romantic/steamy interactions aren't shown that often. If you are into BLs mainly for the skinship, then maybe you should skip this one.
With that being said, let's continue with the review.



STORY
This is a BL Thriller, being the thriller the main part of the story. It gives you a premise, a murder, and from there the story starts to develop with new information given in every episode.
I won't explain the plot since the basics is given in the MDL details of the drama, but what's explained in there is just the first few episodes and then it completely changes. The plot is way more complicated than that, with many layers.
At the middle of the series I was worried about how it will go. All the plot twist given until then were pretty obvious from almost the beginning, so although they intended to show them as a twist they actually weren't. Maybe for someone completely new to thrillers, but if you have watched a couple of them... pretty obvious. I wanted a big turn of events. Something unexpected. And oh man, the last 3 or 4 episodes were unexpected plot twist after another unexpected plot twist.
I'm absolutely happy with the way the series have developed towards the end. When everything seemed to make sense, and when all the questions seemed to be answered... BAM! A fresh plot twist delivery.
The plot was well explained and the questions raised through the episodes were answered. As always happens, because there's nothing perfect, the story has a couple plot-holes but nothing important. I think the plot-holes are there in order to be able to progress organically and to have all the secrets out, because the story could have perfectly ended after 7 episodes yet there would still be a couple things in the dark that needed to be exposed. So in some way these plot-holes were necessary and that's why I'm okay with them.


INCOMING SPOILERS (more like my thoughts about the final plot twists)

The fact that Rung did what she did was definitely a shock. I wasn't surprised to know that she was involved with the culprits since I've suspected that she was no good since the beginning, but I didn't even imagine how much she did.
I believe in "an eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth", that's why I support death penalty to those who have killed someone with a purpose. I don't think that someone able to kill another human being, and continues with his/her life as normal, deserves to live in this world. So it's a pity that the congressman got away, but I loved to see Rung's ending. Gun, another one that I've suspected from the beginning, also got his well deserved finale. And the other two... well, I hope they got a strong punishment.
My favorite plot twist is Inspector M and Dr. Oat, and I actually believed that he wouldn't be able to walk again so when I saw him coming to the rescue I freaked out.
I wish they would have shown us more of Tat and Sorn, they were adorable.
The proposal... what the f was that?! Tan didn't fool me a bit, I knew that everything was his plan but I quite kept a little hope that they were actually being ambushed. I don't know if I would accept that type of proposal in the same situation. The poor Dr. Bun has experienced enough already.

END OF SPOILERS



CAST
Max and Tul still look comfortable with each other as they always did. They got to play characters that fit with their appearance and I believe that's something that helped with how they delivered Tan and Dr. Bun.
Great as Inspector M ended up being the second male lead without being the second male lead. He was able to win the audience's love although at first it was portrayed as an enemy, so congrats to him.
The rest of the cast did a nice job too. None of them excels in my book, but I enjoyed their acting.


MUSIC
As I always say on my reviews, I give all my attention to the dialogues and the plot. Unless a song catches my attention, I don't even notice when there is one playing. And that's what happened once again. I don't remember a single song from this drama, were there even songs on it besides background music during some scenes? Hence why my rating on this area is low compared to the rest.


REWATCH VALUE
Although I enjoyed the drama, I have a problem with thrillers. Once they are over I don't feel like rewatching them in the future. Maybe because I already know what happens so the excitement to find out what's next has disappeared. But maybe in a couple years I will check it out again. Right now I have no intention to do so but as I've said it's not because I didn't like it, it's just that thrillers are hard to rewatch without that first time emotion.

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Okay, so I finished this, it was not what I was expecting. I loved it, but I still haven't figured out how after producing this great series they downgraded to the annoying and bad Triage, I know most people enjoy it, but I wasn't one of those people.

But MoD is really good. I loved Dr.Bun and Tan together tho I wanted to punch Tan in the face a lot of times throughout the series but I forgive him. Inspector M, my man, I want one of you in my life but dang I wanted to punch you a lot throughout the series too.
Journalist Pat was a man who had no sense of danger but he was good, I actually really enjoyed it.
Pued well, I started liking him later on in the series but two words to describe him is coward and dumb, like come on my man you don't tell a person you saw them killing someone.

I only named Pued as dumb but a lot of characters were quite dumb a lot of times.
But there were was a character that surprised me in the end.. I never suspected Por to be directly involved but always thought he was behind the scenes but did the man surprise me.
The sister, Rung, well that is one two-faced bitch, I enjoyed her death, even tho prison would justify her better.

The two kids That and Sorawit, they are so cute and so important in this story, they aren't just a side couple to fill in the blanks, they are part of the story, without them it would be worse, a lot worse, specially for Nam.

This is not the typical BL and I loved this, no cliches, no annoying character. This is a mature and well done story. Loved it

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ok guys this is one my new favorites

God knows how much I missed some gays in crime or, even better, solving crimes. Dude this is so good!! I missed a BL show that had an actual story besides the romance. The way the plot is not actually about them but they do everything together and have their moments is beautiful. They are older and mature so if there's a fight is not gonna be silly and there's no jealousy, they are just fighting to find out about the truth and help others together. I could cry right now because they don't do BL series like this anymore, I really wanted more shows that are about other things and do not revolve everything around the couple. Like, this one is all about doctors, suspense, investigation and even teaches medical terms to the viewers. I'm on my period but I mean everything I just said lol I'mma cry I love this series so much

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My favourite BL of all time

Before this show, i hadnt watched anything else maxtul so i thought it was just a random show, it being a crime series really drew me towards it though. As soon as i was started i was honestly just so hooked. The plot is simply amazing, thr acting is great and i love the constant suspense and mystery right up until the last episode. I really cant point to another bl series like this honestly, its incredibly unique and this series made me watch maxtuls other projects but i have to say this is their best one yet. This series isnt solely centered around their romance but there bits about it quite regularly and i really like that about it. If you love crime series/ dramas, this is an absolute must watch, but if you dont, please still watch it anyway because this series is unforgettable! Ive already rewatched it 3 times and its just as amazing everytime. I think its going to be a very long time before a bl this good comes out again

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