The Heart Killers

One of my faves

As a longtime fan of FirstKhao (from Not Me, The Eclipse, etc.), I went into this with high expectations—and it didn’t disappoint. While they were my initial draw, I ended up completely enamored by JoongDunk as well. The FadelStyle dynamic, in particular, felt fresh and unlike anything I’d seen before in the genre.

One of the standout aspects is the storyline. It breaks away from the typical school-based BL formula, opting for something more mature and slightly riskier, which really pays off. It’s great to see GMMTV take that kind of step. The performances across the board are strong, not just from the four leads but also the supporting cast.

Dunk, as Style, was a highlight for me—easily one of my favourite characters. He brought a lot of personality to the role and made it incredibly engaging to watch.

Overall, this is a series I’d absolutely rewatch

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Wasted potential

I've never thought I would be dropping a Jojo bl, nevermind one starring First and Khao, but here we are. Such good to great performances (First, I see you sir) wasted on an undercooked series.

The plot makes little to no sense, there's no rhyme or reason to it. Scenes happen one after another because the director wanted them to, logic and continuity be damned.
How did Fadel dragged an unconcious person (and stripped them) to a convienient empty swimming pool nearby, with one hand? Don't ask.
How did police missed two people dressed as giant teddy bears? Who knows.
Why did Kant wait to be tied up before he made his escape attempt instead of walking away with the boat guy? Because he just did, okay?

And our killer duo, oh boy. I think Jojo wanted the aesthetics of them being hitmen, without the actual weight of what it means. As a result, the whole morality is wacked. One second we are supposed to believe they're cinanamon rolls looking for love, the next they're shooting at random innocent people after breaking into their house.

And no, despite this series insistance on this point, stealing cars is not as bad as killing people, wtf?

I'm morbidly curious how this mess is going to end, but I'll probably read a summary instead of wasting another 4+h of my time.

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Jojo's heartless shlock

Whenever I see "Jojo" Tichakorn Phukhaotong’s name attached to a project as a director or screenwriter – I worry. When it was announced that Jojo will both write and direct "The Heart Killers" I was worried sick – not just because I sensed a repeat of the worst aspects of "Only Friends" but also because I really like First, Khaotung, Joong and Dunk. Initially I thought that – when it comes to acting – FirstKhao will eclipse (pun intended) the much weaker JoongDunk. Apparently I did not learn my lesson from the abovementioned "Only Friends".

THK has a very interesting plot: two actual killers become romantically involved with people who need or want to bring them down, but later fall for them – and the aftermath of all that. On paper – it’s dynamite with great dramatic potential. Such a plot can be developed into a script for a fiery romance or a heartbreaking story about love, betrayal and (possibly) redemption or a morality play about crime, love and punishment or a tragic tale of desire, passion, anger and jealousy with no happy end. So many options to choose from. Shame Jojo didn’t go for any of them.

The script we got was little more than a pretext for stuffing the show with as much nudity and pretended sex scenes as possible. No wonder the writing is weak, characters are shallow, unrelatable and at times unlikeable, emotions are mostly absent, stakes are non-existent (THK has the least intimidating villains I’ve seen in any show) and the script generally makes little sense (two multiple killers get only 5 years in prison instead of spending the rest of their lives on death row; their boyfriends visit them regularly to have sex; Bison singlehandedly beats up 3 inmates etc. etc.). On the other hand we get plenty of eye candy, as Jojo’s mission – since at least "Only Friends" – seems to be "spicing up" BLs. I even had a theory about that; it went like this: Jojo – an openly gay creator – was fed up with the often sterile and non-sexual BLs and decided to offer audiences a more realistic view of male intimacy. This coincided with GMMTV facing stronger competition from Domundi and other companies, which recognized that at least part of the audience will be in for "mature" content – even if it’s pure clickbait and no substance (like "Bed Friend"). Jojo got his opportunity and used it – that’s how "Only Friends" got made. To be clear: I’m not blaming Jojo for wanting to get BLs more realistic and adding some of what they were missing (male intimacy and sex). However, Jojo overdid it – not just focusing almost exclusively on that one aspect, but also reducing all depicted relationships to it. As a result "Only Friends" had no likeable characters – everyone was either whiny and slutty, cold and slutty or weird and slutty. Nothing against including slutty characters, but – like with everything – overdoing it was a bad idea.

Similar thing happened with THK: almost all of the emotional scenes and moments fall flat, action scenes are unrealistic and used as filler, while the only scenes that seem important are those where the main characters are kissing, shirtless or almost completely nude. Even those scenes, however, suffer from the mostly tacky, phony aesthetic and frequent lack of emotion or tension. There are some exceptions, but the majority of what this show offers is either uninteresting, banal or outright boring.

This may seem unrelated, but the setting of most of the series weirdly matched the above: the show’s world seemed empty, with hardly anyone there – save for the characters. The most populated area – the bowling alley – was nearly deserted in every scene, with a few people other than the main cast present. Other locations were almost devoid of extras – empty stores, hotels, office spaces, restaurants etc.; even Fadel’s and Bison’s burger joint was usually empty. The few self-help group scenes were a good example of that: a huge sports hall, empty and dark, with a handful of people sitting in a circle. No idea if this was a creative choice or an attempt to limit production costs, but it looked very strange; where is everybody – I kept asking myself.

I was surprised by how weak the performances were. I’ll repeat myself saying that I really like FirstKhao and JoongDunk. I’m also aware that Dunk has no acting skills – he’s just a pretty face, privately seems to be a nice and good guy, and he has good chemistry with Joong, both on and off-screen. And – as mentioned before – I was having some hopes regarding First (I liked his performance in "The Eclipse" a lot) and Khaotung (loved him in "The Eclipse", but also in "Tonhon Chonlatee" and "Moonlight Chicken"). Unfortunately the entire main cast gave very disappointing performances. Dunk’s was by far the worst in his career, with dreadful delivery, missing every beat he could, often so badly that it wasn’t even funny. I was not "so bad that it’s good" – it was simply very bad. Joong seemed uninspired, sometimes lost and confused, regaining his charisma and spark only few times; some of that might be blamed on the script and direction (or lack of it), but Joong – whom I’ve seen actually acting in other shows – is just not doing his best. As for First and Khaotung, they shared some cute, intimate and even touching moments, but their performances were below average for most part. Khaotung’s over-the-top acting might have been deliberate – to showcase that Bison is a little unhinged – but felt cringy and embarrassing.

No idea if THK was supposed to convey a message, if the audience was meant to learn anything from it, if there was a point to it – for me it was another of Jojo’s attempts to produce a show with attractive young men as main content. An attempt as successful as it is pointless.

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A masterpiece

So alot of people are saying not so cool things about this drama..it either the cast or the story line....i mean this same people complained they don't want high school romance drama...gmmtv is starting to get boring and all...but when they came out with masterpiece like this one...they stilll get bad reviews...

THE HEART KILLERS so far is a great show and am enjoying it so far...for who ever is seeing this...i advice you don't follow what people say and see it for yourself...before doing that though...put in mind it not a cinderella or sleeping beauty kind of show...it was directed by jojo...the same who directed ONLY FRIENDS...if you've seen only friends..then you should have an insight on what you would be seeing.

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dont get me started on this show

oh boi where do i start this show is the definition of me yes i have to watch at least a couple episodes a day to get through the day yes i have the english subtitles memorized for how many times i have watched it fadel style is my everything theyre my favorite bl pairing ever and played my my kings joongdunk this show made me love joongdunk more than ever styles is such a cutie eheheheheheh and kantbison penguin have brought me tears ahhhhh heheheheheuhiofbiooeb i love them so much oh and i love styles dad #weneededmoreofthatdiva lilly lowkey always pmo but thats ok my favorite episode is ep6 ep8 and ep10 OMG AND OLD FART love that guy omg and the soundtrack i listen to every day fast love is my theme song i dont even speak thai and i know it word for word and yes hurt me please and never back down makes me sad and lowkey cry dont read the book though chat it aint that good but i still read it all the time cause i spent a lot of money on it

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So much fun to watch!

I loved this show and personally think its one of the best Thai Bl shows I've seen to date. The acton scenes were good and the stakes were great. I also never knew what would happen next. I though that First and Khaotung were good together and left a good impression for this being my first time seeing them. Their pairing was very sweet and the flirting from First's character was a highlight. That being said Joong and Dunk were really stand outs in this show. Dunk's character was so funny and cute and then Joong's character's serous attitude allowed them to play off each other with is a perfect dynamic for them. There were many time that their interactions would have me laughing and also they had alot of moments that were heartbreaking as well. I will admit I am slightly biased towards them though as I have seen them in other shows. This show is a little more explicit then other Bl drama's I've seen which normally would not be my cup of tea but I loved the actors and the story so it was worth it for me.

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Loved this chaotic show.

I watched this on my BL bestie's recommendation, and it was amazing.

Yes, the plot and characters could be cheesy at times, but in my opinion, that made it even better, and it helped to lighten up the seriousness of the series. The pacing wasn't slow or rushed, and everything developed as it should have without feeling rushed or having filler episodes.

I have two new BL couples I will continue to watch, and that is First/Khaotung and Joong/Dunk. I loved the chemistry between both pairs. I will say, I feel like Joong/Dunk kinda stole the show for me. Watching their relationship blossom was both fun and cute. I mean, I am a sucker for an enemies-to-lovers.

The retro-ness of the series was something I hadn't seen before in a present-day BL. You can really see the retro effect in Kant's style.

The show doesn't just focus on drama, crime, and the relationships between the main pairs; we also see Kant's relationship with his little brother, and that lightness compared to Lily, Bison, and Fadel's strained and toxic relationship made the comparisons both sad and sweet.

I did feel like the ending was a bit rushed. I think it should have been split into 2 episodes. One of Bison and Fadel's time in prison, and that episode end of the cliffhanger of Lily kidnapping Babe and Jay. Then the last episode is the rescue and the continued reunion/ending for our main couples.

Overall, I enjoyed this series so much, and I can't wait to watch more of Joong/Dunk and Khaotung/First.

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