Khemjira

afraid that my standards will be so high after this

let’s be honest , one of the best BL series out there. very well done and such great quality, i’m so impressed:

-Interesting story, mystery, and a bit of horror (mostly ep 1 about jumpscares, later not much ), gorgeous mls.
-both the first and second couples got a good amount of screen time.
-a satisfying ending.
-i love how they focused on the characters as people, not just their romances. each character got their own time and space to be explored.
-CharnJet :i love their vibe together so much, so fun and adorable together.
-Ramphueng, I can never hate her. i really appreciate how they portrayed her as more than just a ‘villain.’ you can see her as a person, understand her pain and reasons, she almost made me cry two times.

i truly hope they make more bls with this level of quality , it feels so refreshing.

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Episode 8 Made Me Write This Review

I don’t usually write reviews, but Episode 9 of Khemjira (the double episode / 2-hour special) left me no choice — it was that good.

This episode contained everything a BL watcher hopes for and more. Even though Khemjira is technically a horror BL, it hasn’t relied on jump scares up to now. Instead, Episode 9 was a perfect mix of funny, emotional, lovable, exciting and genuinely scary moments. It gave us progress in both the main leads and the second couple, revealed important backstory, showcased amazing chemistry, and still managed to end on a heart-stopping cliffhanger.

This is the episode that truly made the show. It reminded me why we all tuned into Khemjira in the first place — and why we’re proud to call ourselves Khemjira fans. 10/10.

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It's not that good.

This is the most overrated series of the moment.

Khemjira is a Thai BL series that promised to combine a horror story with romance (boys’ love). The premise was very interesting a character, Khem, who suffers from a family curse.

The problem is that they decided to make the story too long, and at times it’s quite tedious to watch. The romance part was the weakest, in my opinion. At the beginning, the character Keng the shaman in the story treated the main character badly because he had promised not to get involved with curses and wanted to dissuade Khem from being around him. After that, there wasn’t much progress in their romantic relationship. In the middle of the story, we suddenly find out they’re going to end up together “just because,” due to some past-life connection a very lazy type of writing.

The character Khem is probably the least developed. He feels like one of those 1950s female characters who exist only to be saved by “the stronger man, the virile hero who will rescue him.” That kind of trope should have been left behind long ago. The character lacks personality and is simply pushed along by the plot.

The character Peem didn’t appeal to me either he’s that stoic, without much expression who’s only there to save the damsel in distress, even if at first he doesn’t want to.

The main couple has no chemistry, and worse, they fall into the same type of pairing we’ve seen in other BLs: one tries to give a passionate performance (Keng), while the other feels lifeless, cold, and dull like a puppet without emotion.

The secondary couple seems to exist only to make up for the lack of romance in the main one. The main couple could be considered a “slow burn,” but there’s a difference between a well-developed slow burn and complete stagnation.

The acting was very poor, as is common with this production company. Especially Namping there are about three more demanding scenes that required stronger acting, and he didn’t deliver in any of them.
I also found the dialogue uninspired and sleepy, and the episodes overly long and boring.

The good part of the series is the special effects, the music, and the performance of the actress who plays Ramphueng. You can see there was at least some effort and investment in this BL series.

As for the ending, I found it anticlimactic. I didn’t like it much, to be honest.

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Ambitious but lengthy and with disappointing male leads

They say that writing a good short story takes more skill than coming up with a sprawling epic. I don’t know how much I agree with that. What I know for sure is that this series’ runtime should have been cut by a third. As it is, some parts of the show are barely watchable even at 1.75x speed. It’s a shame that the plot drags so badly, because many conditions for success are met: We've got stunning sets, convincing horror elements and spiritual rituals, as well as a talented cast of side characters with captivating past lives. I mean, the lovable Khemmika? JinDa and their present-day reincarnations? Ramphueng as a sympathetic but reasonably frightening karmic enemy?

Would a tight story on top of that make me forgive Domundi for pairing a block of tofu with a slab of marble (both giving middling performances), though? I’m just glad Khem is a man and not a woman, otherwise this character would be a parody of meek femininity. And don’t get me started on Thong and Ake or Grandma Si. My dislike for child companions and sick elders is more of a personal failing than a storytelling flaw. But it sure didn’t help whenever I almost dropped this show. Apropos nothing: Did I mention the series’ imperfect handling of domestic abuse and infidelity? I guess the pacing was just one of several issues after all. And yet, there’s no denying Khemjira its strengths, which drew me back in every time I was about to give up.

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Gorgeous but Drifting

This series kicked off with a lot of promise. Visually, it was stunning—right from the first few episodes, you could tell the production team put serious thought into the aesthetics. The cinematography was gorgeous, the color grading was rich, and the locations were just beautiful, not to mention the lovely face of actor Keng . It felt fresh, like they were really trying to offer something different this time around, and I was totally on board. But somewhere along the way, the pacing started to drag. Unfortunately, the storytelling didn’t quite keep up with the visuals. It stretched out longer than it needed to, and there were moments where I found myself checking how much time was left in the episode. That said, there was one clear standout: the character of Ramphueng. Her arc was hands down the most compelling part of the series. The way her journey of revenge and eventual forgiveness unfolded was powerful. It had the potential of becoming a memorable BL series, but it didn’t quite hit that mark. Still, it’s a good watch overall. The visuals alone make it worth checking out. I’d give it 3.5 out of 5 stars.

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rating pity

At the beginning of the story, we learn that the protagonist, Khem, is cursed and, at 21 years old, he will die because a vengeful ghost, Ramphueng, will come to take him and send him to the afterlife. The premise was even good, and I've always liked horror movies, so this isn't an excuse. As the story progresses, Khem asks for help from Master Peen, who soon creates several annoying and irritating obstacles to avoid helping him. So you wonder if the master isn't going to help the khen why does he spend several episodes in the master's hut doing absolutely nothing? Not even the screenwriter must know that.The DMD company tortured the viewer with a boring, irritating, and pointless BL, with episodes almost two hours long, not to mention the terrible acting and lack of chemistry between the main couple. And up until now, I'm still looking for the romance and horror in this story. some dialogues are completely irrelevant, lasting around 10 minutes. I found myself checking the clock multiple times. By the way, this is already the second mistake of the year from the DMD company for me.

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It could be much better but..

It took me a while to collect my courage since horror is definitely not my forte, and if you can relate this, then let me tell you that ep 1, 2 & 9 is the only scary part. So, you don't have to worry too much about it.

Tbh, horror genre is quite new in BL entertainment, so I might put a lil bit of high hope in this one, and I have to say that I feel a lot of disappointment in this one..

1. There's too much side character storyline that I wish they could prolong. Cutting them short just to fit everything in 12 eps were kinda leaving the audience hanging and confuse. (You can clearly see this at the end when one of the character ask the questions to the other people)

2. The storyline itself.. is too slow. I know that this series is mainly focuses in Ramphueng and Khem but the romance is also a genre of the series and it started to get bloom around ep 7 which is more than half of the series. The ghost itself also rarely appeared in the early eps, and started to get heavy at the end, makes me thinking that you can easily skipped the whole series in half (started on ep 7) and still be able to understand the whole series.

3. The ending of Ramphueng.. killed my mood. I don't know if the others would love that kind of ending but not me. The fact that she have hurt a lot of people during her existence as a ghost, I feel like it should be more than that. This part really makes me wanna drop the series right away, making me rethinking my whole life decision in starting the series.

I know it can be much better as it's basically not about the cast skill or series production, but more towards the plot itself.. Due to their beautiful location and settings choice, the ost is quite pleasant to hear (ofc, casting the singer couple as the 2nd lead) and the acting of Namping is soo good, the way he switched between a few roles, and also Keng, the way he express his emotion, when he cried and feel too much of his emotion.. I must say, both of them just debut but it makes me wondering if it is just a lil white lies?

But still, for me, it's totally not worth to rewatch (unless you want to see the certain scenes), and I wish the company can give another series that's much better than this storyline to the couple. They have so much potential and it's definitely shouldn't be wasted.

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The chemistry was chemistrying, but the romance wasn’t romancing for the main couple

As someone who's been dipping my toes into the Thai BL dramas for a few years, I have been expecting a lot more from Khemjira. Let me tell you, this series had me feeling some pretty mixed emotions.

On one hand, I truly enjoyed watching the rich cultural and supernatural elements woven throughout the story. The show's deep dive into Thai mythology, shamanism, and the paranormal was a refreshing change of pace from the typical BL fare.

It was like a crash course in fascinating local folklore, and I ate it up. The production quality was also top-notch, with the longer episode runtime allowing the narrative to unfold at a more leisurely pace. As someone who appreciates a slow burn, I definitely liked that we had a lot of fleshed out scenes.

However, despite all these enticing aspects, I have to admit that Khemjira didn't quite live up to the hype for me. When I saw that rating here was 8.8, I was really expecting something extra extraordinary, especially in the romance department.

And the biggest issue I had with the drama is the lack of properly developed romance between the main leads, Khem and Peem. While their connection was rooted in a past-life narrative, the present-day development of their relationship felt incomplete and almost one-sided. Khem, in particular, came across as a passive and rather uninteresting character, failing to garner my sympathy and investment in his journey.

Khem's character development, or lack thereof was very disappointing. Of course, I did not expect from him to be doing some unnatural acrobatics, but he was reduced to cooking and washing dishes. He didn't seem to have any other interests. I think if the storyline about him being into art was developed a little bit more that would probably make him at least a bit more interesting.

Compared to Knockout," where the physically weaker protagonist actively participates in problem-solving and team efforts, Khem's passivity and reliance on others felt frustrating. As a viewer, I found it challenging to root for a character who seemed to be merely a "damsel in distress" rather than an active participant in his own story. I basically agree with everyone that I have seen said the same thing about the character.

Acting:

Keng’s performance of the shaman was a particular highlight. His Master was way too believable. I also am not going to put down Namping’s acting because I think he had to work with whatever was in the script. And as I have mentioned above, his character was not written very well. So I am not going to compare their acting because I haven't seen them in any other drama before.


In contrast, the secondary couple's storyline felt much more well-rounded and engaging, with a stronger sense of chemistry and emotional investment. This disparity between the main and supporting narratives was a bit jarring. I mean, the writers missed an opportunity to truly capitalize on the potential of the central romance.

NC scenes: they were well done, especially Charn and Jet’s scene. I thought it was the best one of the series. The NC in the final episode for lead couple wasn’t as good as the first scene they had in the earlier episode. But that’s just me.

Let’s put it this way: the chemistry was chemistrying, but the romance wasn’t romancing for the lead couple.


That being said, I did like the series for its bold departure from the traditional BL formula. Its cultural depth and production value is great, but ultimately the drama falls short in the crucial area of the well-developed romance between the main characters. While it may not have lived up to the hype for me, the series still offers a unique and thought-provoking experience. With more attention to the main character development and a stronger central romance it could have been a 15 out of ten for me. It's still worth a watch if you like slow burn.

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Boring

I just found it very boring. Each week before the episode I'd check to see how long the episode was and I'd have to hype myself up to watch it. But I found myself being distracted whilst watching, going on my phone and watching reels or just responding to messages. I can see why a lot of production companies are switching to Reels format because nobody has the attention span for episodes this long. I think if the episode allowance stretched to 14 episodes and could have been watchable. Or if they couldn't do that, they could have cut A LOT of it down with editing to make the episode duration bearable.

I just felt like scenes were dragged out and the director should have shouted "cut". I don't know how anyone can stare at one another for that long and keep eye contact. It also took so long for the characters to get out a sentence. One of my pet peeves is breaking up a sentence. Throughout the series it was very one note. Peem (Master) was very cold through out. He didn't let up or show much expression. Khem was always this fragile/delicate boy. I didn't feel the romance between the too very much. That emotional connection that Peem really had feelings for Khem and would do anything to protect him. And for Khem it just seemed like he had a crush on the Master but had no real reason to fall for him.

The final ep didn't need to be as long as it was. The resolve/plot was completed in the 40/50 mins. The rest of is should have been a separate special episode. The climax of the plot was very mellow dramatic. When Peem was being surrounded by Ramphueng servants Khem wasn't screaming out in worry for Peem. When Khem was getting whipped by Ramphueng he was screaming out in pain as you would expect when getting whipped. And that's also going back to the episode when Ramphueng was getting whipped. I know she was casting a curse but every time she was being whipped she could have screamed out in pain and in-between she could have carrie do with saying her curse. And Peem wasn't really fighting or objecting when Khem was getting strangled by Ramphueng. It was just all very melodramatic for a climax of the plot.

However, despite my complaints, I think it was a well written story just poorly executed. The special effects were immaculate, the best ones I've seen in a BL. The make up of Ramphueng and her servants were astonishing. And for this is the reason why I'm giving this series a 6. If it wasn't for these it would have been a much lower score and I probably would have dropped it much earlier.

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get ready to feel!!

honestly such an amazing show from start to finish. it's an all rounder show and I would absolutely recommend!! the casting was immaculate, the osts throughout the show added to emotion, the storyline was easy to follow throughout. all emotions from each character were portrayed so well. the ending was absolutely satisfying. definitely a rollercoaster ride of emotions, but they're absolutely worth it in the end! trust, you won't be disappointed <3 kengnamping & tlefirstone, thank you and the rest of the cast for your amazing work. thank you for providing comfort and a safe space on Saturdays!

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