short enough to not get boring & quite nice in the BL category
THAI dramas have a thing for BL, and anyone can't but praise the excellent school they built over years.STILL this drama falls short from epic stories like KinnPorsche... It starts really daring, with a lot of sexual tension and power struggle, even implied BDSM, but after the first time together the ML's become some softies and the series turns into some boring romance. Too bad the initial vibe was lost!
I also came to hate with a passion this tropey obsession of lovers that met during childhood! Are we people so stuck into the past?
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Dark but Sweet Storyline
I have to say that I did very much enjoy the actors and their amazing chemistry. The actors known as Yai and Mangkorn are great together, everyone can see the chemistry they have. I also loved the bodyguards and how they really care for one another but wish they showed them getting together. It was a nice touch to add the girl's love story as well with their friends. I wish they stayed a bit more in the dark S & M story, wanted to know what got Yai into that in the beginning and was lost later on. Wish they had more of those hot hardcore sex scenes than just the two, they are so beautiful and well done together. The down parts for me were that there were too many story plots going on at one time. I feel like none of the stories had a full chance to shine and be told in enough time as there are only 8 episodes. I liked that they showed strong character emotion and growth in their playing their characters. You have so much going on with many different characters does not help. Was not a fan at all of the endings, I am a sucker for happy endings but this ending had little to be desired. I am happy they move in together, but not a fan of leaving it on a cliffhanger, which was not needed as there are still storylines that need finishing. I do hope they come back fast to do season 2. I do have to say I LOVE the theme song and that the actor who plays Yai sings, an amazing song and video.Was this review helpful to you?
What's the Motive?
OK. That's the main thing about this drama. It's just "okay".Mos had good acting skills in my opinion, he was trying HARD to create some chemistry that lacked from Isbanky's end. I don't know how to explain it, but it felt hollow to me. I mean, if you're going to act, ACT. There were some great moments though. I feel like the first two episodes had Isbanky's best acting chops. Then, the 7th episode did. But, that's about it. He looked like a sullen baby throughout the rest of the time. I honestly hope they pick up a new storyline other than the same thing over and over and over again of them getting jealous, splitting up, and then getting back together again.
I think some dramas of recent past have shown us that there can be SO much more depth. KP and MOD come to mind with regard to this. But the most disappointing part was, it took less than two episodes for the so called rivalry to end.
If you want to watch it, please go ahead. But, don't expect anything different from the other college+friends dramas that you've seen after episode two. That's truly where the best parts of the show are. It's so sad to see a show with so much potential devolve so quickly.
Another highlight is Isbanky's song. But, that's it for me. I'm still going to watch season 2, praying that they do something truly special. If they don't, I'll be back to praying that a certain show I love does actually end up with a season 2. :)
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Weak execution yet fire chemistry
It started out really strong, the story was interesting and the actors were captivating.But then...there was too many events all happening at once and none of them fully developped.
What annoyed me the most in the first half is the fact :
- There are more conversation between the side/leads characters rather than the leads.
- They didn't give much context or depth to their relationship minus "the two big events"
On the second half they worked on these points but forgot the plot...
In conclusion and it's my own personal opinion : I really enjoyed watching this series in a one shot that way i had more context and didn't give up on it, the actors did an amazing job and would truly want to see them in another series, it was worth watching.
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Land the plane babe
To start off, I love the acting and the music for this show, but my god was I falling asleep. I watched this with one of my best friends and she absolutely loved it. For me, the scenes were drawn out way too much and conflicts were reconciled way too fast. They would have a conflict in one scene, leave, and in the next scene, the other person follows them and have a 30-minute boring conversation. One of my biggest pet peeves is misunderstandings that could be solved with one conversation, but this is somehow worse. You don't get to see them process the conflict or react to it. It just jumps straight into the crying heartfelt scenes that I could not stay awake for. I know there was a plot amongst it somewhere but I cannot tell it to you. They did have some cute scenes and really good side characters so there is hope for a good season two on my end.Listen to Dancing With The Devil by Isbanky
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The Best Harry/Draco Thai AU Fanfic You Will Ever Watch**
Enemies to Friends to Lovers:Hollywood romcom meets lighthearted blackmail with a side of drama, in a secret relationship between two college playboys. #nsfw (though the fluff outnumbers the nsfw)
Yai=Draco Malfoy
Mangkorn=Harry Potter
I’m not kidding. If you read Drarry fanfic, this series is for you!
The dynamic is there and ripe. The lead, Yai is so much Malfoy it’s not even funny: spoiled, entitled and scheming idiot who’s obsessed with “hating” a guy. Mangkorn is a devious Harry, teasing Yai every chance he gets, but also genuinely intrigued by him.
Yai even has two idiot lackeys exactly like Malfoy. Once I made the parallel I couldn’t unsee it, and it made the series all the more enjoyable. Drarry was one of my first BL ships ever. It seriously feels like a fanon Harry/Draco story.
(Did tumblr write this? Because sometimes it flows so perfectly, almost too good to be true.)
This series does the best style of situational comedy. The timing is spot on and there’s no over the top Thai comedy for comedy’s sake. Every comedic moment either adds to characterization or advances the plot. This is truly a comedy of errors and miscommunication that unfolds in the best way possible to create suspense.
The occasional slightly absurd element doesn’t feel out of place because they’re not trying to pass it off completely seriously. But just because it’s comedic doesn’t mean it’s without serious moments. The characters react realistically in emotional situations, and you actually feel the tension between characters. The emotional scenes are quite honest and truly hit you in the feels.
The love scenes are done artistically with cinematography, editing and music. I actually suspect the actors might not have the best physical chemistry, but it’s impossible to know for sure because the production elements completely carried the scene.
If this series was an HP fanfic on AO3, I’m sure it would have thousands of kudos. Yet here a diamond in the rough is sitting in the average 7 rating zone on MDL.
Anyone who likes Enemies—>Friends—>Lovers will enjoy this series.
**Though upon finishing it, the end is kind of light slice of life, overdramatic. The series starts making you think it's hardcore like Kinnporsche, but it's not at all after the first conflict.
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Great actors but bad story line
Mos & bank are grate actors no matter what kind of story line they where given they rocked it and isbanky is a great singer the ost was good. The story overall was not that bad just like many good series that could not reach its potential this series was also clamped up too much stuff in one episode. It affected the story line and development of the characters. But the thing i liked is it was a lot like the novel not completely but better i really hope that mosbank get a new series and a new chance to showcase their talentWas this review helpful to you?
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Clickbait in the form of a drama series (what a mess!)
Like someone else mentioned in their review, I also found myself interested in the series based on the trailer(s) which gave me sort of KinnPorsche vibes. The first episode kind of delivered on that, but then the series went all over the place. I personally did not at all care for the acting of nor chemistry between the two main leads. Yai as a character was just way too whiny and dramatic for me and even when he attempted to affirm his feelings for Mangkorn, it didn't really feel natural. Actually, none of the so-called development between them felt natural. It felt mostly one-sided where Mangkorn was the one chasing after Yai, the latter who just kept whining about Mangkorn and how he wanted this or that but then never went past words to action.It kind of felt like they had way bigger plans for the series (which is apparently based on a book which I can only hope is better at least plot-wise) but it all fell flat. Episode 7 was plain painful to watch, because it was essentially just a video log of Yai & Mangkorn's honeymoon phase, where the scenes dragged on for too long and nothing really happened besides them having sex in various places. The plot was all over the place and never really developed like one would've hoped. All in all, a very disappointing watch.
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Good..But it could have been way better!
Let's start with these that stands out.Cinematography was really great,so the Direction.Everything was very pleasant to the eye.They did a really nice job here.
Music was excellent all the way,every scene had its appropriate music theme.And lets be honest,"Dancing with the devil" is a Killer!Hands off!
Now let's talk about all those things weren't that great and practically prevented me from giving a higher score.
This had all the potentials to be a Super Hit,but unfortunately failed.
No is not the best story out there,nothing is remarkable about it.Nothing new,steps on the old good premises of any Bl.
Enemies to Lovers the most common trope,we just love to hate.Yes to me is always an intriguing trope and i do not mind at all when writers use it so much.
By default is more spicy and gives more room for development,if it is used right.
Here was just too plain,too predictable and occasionally boring.
They decided to start this story the most toxic way they could.
Allow me to open a parenthesis here:
Let me clear, i dont mind toxic relationships,iam not shocked,and definitely iam not prude to curse this kind of stories.Iam old enough with real life experiences and iam not hiding behind my finger for the sake of being nice and acceptable.I don't care.Toxicity exists in Real Life,too.I close the parenthesis here.
So back to the story as i said had great potentials if they had spend more time and effort to develop the 2 main characters in more depth.Always is a plus to any story when we can get deeper to each character.Also it could be more episodes if they had done this.
I would prefer the story was more mature,as the outline could give space for this.Instead, almost every reaction to any action was just childish.Considering the main leads are not school boys( Uni students who also runs family bussiness are adults,right?)they should had dealt with all the occurring problems with more responsibility.
Actually the story was a bit of everything,a mix and match.Wanted to be spicy and..kinky(!!!)but ended up soft and awkward.Lol!There is not a clear path,like in the midway the script was "censored"somehow and the writer had to change the main concept.Or he was confused and not so sure if this was a soft or a hardcore story!At least this was my notion all the way from first to the last episode.
And now i will talk about the main problems this series has.
The Acting is one of them.
If iam not mistaken the main leads are both rookies and Big Dragon was their first project.
It is always great to give opportunities to new actors and having the main roles i guess is big enough but also can be too stressful.But this is the only way they could gain experience,too.
So iam not blaming those 2 kids as they did their best.But yet i suppose they both have a big road ahead,to improve their acting skills and iam wishing them the best.
Stiff,awkward,unnatural,embarrassing,are the words i can use to describe the acting here.
(and if you think is me being a bitch here,i assure you iam not,as i was highly impressed by Bible's acting in KinnPorsche and i praised him a lot even if he was a rookie too)
The second issue was chemistry among the Mls.Or better say the lack of it.Zero,none,nothing.They didnt convince me not for a second that they were inlove,no passion even in the sex scenes.Clearly both were too embarrassed not only to kiss each other but to just touch each other's hand!Yeah for a BL that was a bummer.
So my final words about Big Dragon.
It could be so much more.It could be FIRE and one of the most hot Bls of 2022.
A more bold script,a little more depth in characters and maybe different actors as main leads could have give the right push to be a Hit.
Still it was enjoyable and got a 7,5 from me,passing the average and be in the good "league"
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Toxic beginning, fairly inoffensive and sweet series as a whole
Based on the plot description and first couple episodes, really thought this was going to be a low budget pulp with a toxic relationship. Surprisingly though, it turned into more of a romcom lolThe way the characters get together is super brutal and there is literally no hero. Attempted drugging/sexual assault turns into reverse sex tape blackmail? Wow, did MAME write this? Jk lol. This is somewhat resolved by the fact that it turns out the sex tape was deleted long ago on Mangkorn’s part and partly by Yai’s character development. They do have Yai admit that he was a bad person, so at least they aren’t excusing his actions. But seriously, wtf. Crazier is knowing that the source material has a literal mpreg scare, so it could have gotten even messier that that lol.
Anyway, if you get passed the beginning they actually have a very sweet romance with decent chemistry. The acting was also surprisingly pretty good. I didn’t feel any awkwardness from the leads and they were able to match the mood of more emotional aspects of the script. I think with more polish the actors are probably going to be pretty solid.
The remaining plot lines are pretty standard BL, nothing outstanding.
I’ll be honest though, I was more entertained by the show when it was kind of trashy at the beginning. Let’s face it, I’m a slut for drama.
Anyway, if you don’t have anything else to watch and aren’t scared off by the first episode it isn’t a bad watch. Probably wouldn’t rewatch though
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Not what I thought it was going to be...
I can't lie I was initially disappointed with this show but ended up enjoying it.From the poster/trailer etc it seemed like it would be a mafia show like KinnPorsche - clearly that show's success influenced the advertising of this one. But to be honest, it's just another university romance drama with a bit more sex and toxicity.
The way their relationship started was iffy - both intoxicated to differing levels, it was filmed and then used to blackmail? Bit concerning (but I guess things like this do happen in real life - it is good to see some different stories instead of all sunshine and rainbows). I love an enemies to lovers but this happened at a confusing pace. One minute they despise each other but are clearly physically attracted, then bam they love each other?
However, Mos and Bank are both incredible actors and despite the iffy storyline, they both did do a fab job so I have to give them credit for that. The production was also very good, a lot of the scenes are lovely to look at. No matter how much I can criticise the show, I was more or less hooked to the end. Plus the two bodyguards/hinted side couple were awesome and a good dose of humour, I'm obsessed with them.
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Could've been so much better
I went into watching this show with high expectations because of all the good reviews only to find out it was pretty mid. This show had a lot of wasted potential. If some of the scenes were more well-developed the show would have been much better. Like, I feel the way Yai and Mangkorns relationship developed was super rushed and went from them hating each other one second to wanting to be friends the next. Also, why did they even hate each other? Only to find out Mangkorn had a crush on Yai the whole time. Most of their fights were so pointless as well like when will BLs start having proper communication istg. And why was the whole date rape thing not really acknowledged throughout the whole show??? The only thing I can say I liked about the show was the cinematography but other than that it felt like a waste of my time. And the acting? Mid. Dialogues? Mid.Was this review helpful to you?
