Burnout Syndrome

It had a huge potential but the end was rushed

Honestly I really liked the series's diversity. P'Nuchy is one of the very few directors who make original projects and don't copy what's already been here just with different cast and characters. I loved that the series brought awareness about AI and it's bad impact on the global environment and also how artist can hardly survive on selling their paintings no matter how talented they are because less and less people are willing to spend more money on such paintings and with AI it's killing this business completely. The acting was phenomenal here. I had no problem with that. The story was going well too but I was still disappointed at the end. I know gmmtv series hardly do sad/open endings at the end but since the story was rushed between Koh and Jira and such serious conflict wasn't properly resolved between them, it'd be far better if they just left it open. That time skip is kinda useless when we don't see how the characters put up with it and if they changed something about themselves during that time. They usually use time skips to make sense of the characters getting together at the end after break-up like in Last Twilight or ATOTS for example but it feels like something's missing there.
I also hoped that Jira wouldn't be spineless when it came to his art. He kept defending it the whole time and it mattered more to him than his own body so seeing him selling his art to Koh at the end after Koh betrayed him by giving it to AI made me lose the remaining respect I had for him. I get he sold his AI which was actually developed by the employees whom he fired but he was still cocky about it even after he saw how much it hurt Jira as an artist... if Jira stood by his harsh words and didn't go back on it after some time passed, I'd have more respect for him.

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A good mess and a good trio

It’s clearly one of the most well-crafted BLs in GMMTV’s lineup. The story focuses on three characters Jira, Koh, and Pheem who really stand out, with strong personalities that are well written and genuinely enjoyable to watch.

What I particularly love about the series is the way the characters interact with one another. None of them are idealized or flawless, which is a refreshing change from the usual portrayals, especially in GMMTV productions. They all have imperfections, making them feel more human and believable.

I also appreciated how the series approaches the topic of artificial intelligence. The critique remains somewhat surface-level, but it’s still engaging, especially in how technology and art are discussed, with an underlying commentary on capitalist society.

Another highlight for me is the styling. The way the characters are dressed really adds to the show’s identity and gives it an almost timeless feel. It’s a subtle detail, but it strongly contributes to the overall atmosphere.

The supporting characters are also very memorable, which is quite unusual for a GMMTV series. Ing and Mawin play an essential role in grounding Jira and Pheem and keeping them in check.

And special mention to Dew and Gun honestly, they deserve their own series. I absolutely loved their chemistry.

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The ending...

The fact that Jira (a struggling artist) ended up with Koh (the rich owner of an AI company) is crazy work. Especially when Koh fed Jira's art (without his consent) to his AI softwear. Their morals are diametrically opposed and Jira rightfully left Koh because of it. I would have been happy if the show just ended with them broken up. But they just HAD to get back together without actually resolving any of their previous conflict. Like don't piss me off. I think this show really could have delivered a powerful message on the challenges artists are facing because of the rise of AI. Instead it tells artists to succumb to the whims of the AI CEOs. Like actually wtf.

Overall a very well produced show but I can't get over it's confused messaging.

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amazing first half just to get dissapointed later

I am genuinely so mad. This show had an amazing start, captivating story, beautiful cinematography, overall was just something completely fresh and new. The first episodes made me so invested, with amazing acting, beautiful scenery and interesting characters - not a single character in this show was a “good character” or so called a “green flag”. A lot of lies, toxicity, while also talking and showing how beautiful and meaningful art is, and talking about a bond between art and an artist. Things started ti get worse in the 2nd half - Jira being a two timer, choosing Koh but still not letting go of Pheem, Pheem needing theraphy, and Koh being an asshole. Later we found out that Koh has been using Jira’s art to train ai - if you find any value in art, you would be disgusted seeing it, as Jira and I were. I thought that the story would end with them parting ways, as they broke up at the end, with everyone going their way. no. Jira went crying to Pheem (again giving him false hope, give this man a break) to help him delete his art feeded to ai, Pheem was unable to do that. At the end, Jira and Koh didn’t talk, didn’t resolve anything, Koh still being a shit person, a capitalist who doesn’t really value art, while Jira despise being a shit person, being the exact opposite - a recipe for a disaster. The show hust ended with them nit resolving anything after a long time of not seeing each other after a breakup, but just having sex. Horrible way to end a show. I know that this show was not the sweetest healthiest show, and was not supposed to be, but I still can’t believe that Jira later just decided to not care about being with someone who doesn’t value art and instead values ai, while being an artist.

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Visuals and Vibe Deliver

This series was honestly pretty fun to watch. It kicked off really strong — the first few episodes had me hooked with the vibe, the colors, and just the overall uniqueness of the presentation. But I have to say, the last two episodes felt a bit rushed and didn’t quite match the energy of the earlier ones. It’s like they were trying to wrap things up quickly, and it lost some of the rhythm that made the beginning so good. That said, I appreciate that the show was clearly aiming to give fans something different. The aesthetic alone — the way they played with visuals and atmosphere — really set it apart from the usual BL series we’ve been seeing lately. And the cast? They carried it. Gun was, as always, consistently brilliant, and Dew really stood out too. The directing deserves credit as well; it kept things simple plot‑wise but leaned into character development, which worked for the most part, even if a few areas felt a little bland or underdeveloped. Overall, I’d call this series a refreshing change of pace. It might not have been perfect, but it was definitely enjoyable and worth the watch, a 4.5 out of 5 stars.

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Selfish Desires

This is EXACTLY the kind of show I needed from OffGun. Dramatic, sexy, thrilling, and MESSY! Throughout the entire show I was upset with both of their characters, as well as Dew's, and that's what made this show so fun. Truly, this is a story of three people motivated almost entirely by their own selfish desires, and the conflicts that they end up in because of it.

Jira (Gun) is a struggling artist, currently unemployed and unwilling to take jobs that involve AI because of his moral aversion to generated art. Even art isn't motivating him anymore, so his friend suggests he head to Burn Out Bar to meet other people in similar situations. There he meets Pheem (Dew) and the two hit it off - Jira listens to Pheem's stories of his overbearing boss, and Pheem is happy to have someone to listen and flirt with. Soon, Jira is offered a job working for Koh (Off), but the details are a bit murky. Eventually, Jira learns that Koh is one of the biggest names in tech right now, with an AI model in development that will blow the others away - but since Koh hates dealing with people, he hires Jira as his stand-in for in person events. As much as Jira hates AI, he loves the rush of inspiration he gets around Koh, and finally his love of painting is back and sexier than ever. Jira is torn between his feelings for Pheem and Koh, and the two men both struggle for Jira's attention, but it's unclear whether they're fighting for him because they love him, or because they want something from him.

I loved the way that this love triangle played out. Yes, one of the downsides of watching a GMM love triangle is that you always know who they plan on having together at the end, but the way the relationships developed over the course of the show as so fun. Koh is motivated by his desire to use Jira for his own gain; Pheem by his need to win Jira's attention; and Jira by his sexual fantasies of Koh and entertainment from Pheem. All of these characters seem to disregard the other characters' feelings for their own gain, and boy does that make this fun to watch!! And even as an OffGun fan, I absolutely cannot deny the chemistry between Dew and Gun - frankly, the show is worth watching just for that! Not to mention, the directing/cinematography of this show is GORGEOUS! I'm not gonna lie, I feel like it's rare that I say that about GMM shows nowadays, but WOW this show blew me away with how beautiful it was. My biggest complaints about the show are just that it could have used a little more time on the final conflict, since the ending felt a bit rushed, and I wish they committed more to the messaging around the harm of AI since it was a central theme of the show. Still, this show was VERY good and definitely worth watching if you're into messy and dramatic plots with very flawed characters.

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BETTER than Not Me or Theory of Love, but still flawed

Theory of Love has lots of realism to it, but it has a big Off’s character redemption arc that it not believable for multiple reasons, so this makes the series way less realistic that it could have been for the sake of fairy tale happy ending typical of the BL genre.

Not Me (2021) is unique and outstanding conceptually for many reasons, but the details of what and how it happens are not believable, they demand lots of “suspend disbelief”.

This series, being also faulty, is not even a BL:
1. No multiple couples
2. No stupid sound effects
3. A love triangle.

And it is way more real than nearly everything out there.

In regards to the question of the “AI”, which is actually just neural networks (JNN), versus art.

I call it all JNN because they can not reason, derive causality, understand anything. There are attempts to combine them with algorithmic logic to imitate thinking, but this is a rigid thing that comes from the 1980s and it is nothing alike to what an actual person can do.

In the future alive human artists will still have a niche as performers who can draw quick sketches or even bigger works in real time in clubs and galleries. Of, at the very least, have their works in expositions with certified multi-angle video shoots of the whole painting process. Maybe even some analogue or provably simplistic digital cameras will be certified and offered for rent to artists to prove the authenticity of their work as being done by their own hands.

The “AI”, as described above, can not think, it is just an aping of parroting tool that can rehash what it was trained on. It can produce works that can be perceived as made by a human, but it is not different from e.g. stones in nature randomly situated in a way that can be read as meaningful.

So if we define art is an act of an artist that includes thoughtful consideration, the neural networks can not do it. But if we define art is some object itself, then it does not matter if a human or nature or a neural network has made it.

* * *

Details and drawbacks are noted in a comment with spoilers below.

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Moody, Sensual, Messy & Thought-Provoking

When this story starts, it presents itself as social commentary with a side of romance. 10 episodes later, and this is, in fact, romance with a side of social commentary. It is a slower type of romance as a large part of the story is spent on Jira trying to pick between the two men, Pheem and Koh.

The Characters
🎨Jira - He's indecisive in the romance department, stringing two men along for far longer than it was necessary IMO. On one hand, there's Pheem. The seemingly good guy, who, according to the synopsis, is physically Jira's type to a T. On the other hand, lies Koh. An unapologetically capitalistic arsehole, who, if you listen to Ing, is Jira's type, personality-wise.

Jira is also an artist down on his luck and broke. He wants to keep doing art in a world that is slowly being taken over by AI. And worse, he now works for a tech bro whose world is AI. He hates the tech bro for his values, which clash with his own. He's also attracted to tech bro but tries to deny it

💻Pheem - The seemingly good guy. While he may look like the better option at first, he wasn't the right choice for multiple reasons, the biggest being that he's fake AF. He only pays attention to what Jira likes because it'll increase the likelihood that Jira will sleep with him. He's also in a one-sided beef with Koh, which didn't do him any favours, if we're being honest.

💼Koh - The unapologetic asshole with debilitating social anxiety. He's unlikable, and I think that's the point. I don't quite think that we, as the audience, are meant to really like him. Only Jira is, and so we like him or give him a chance because Jira likes him. And because, as the story progresses, he changes parts of his life to make space for Jira. Does he become the perfect man? No. But parts of him are softer because of Jira.

Ing & Mawin also made rather interesting side characters and friends to both Jira and Pheem

The Relationships, Specifically the Romances
🌹🥀PheemJira - The chemistry between the characters was undeniable, but they'd have never worked for multiple reasons. Noteably,
1. As previously stated, he's fake - From changing his taste in music to getting that new tattoo on him. He never fell inlove with the things Jira liked enough to make them his own. He simply co-opted them to make himself look good in front of his conquest.

2. He's very pushy, especially in the sex department - All he knew how to do was flirt and insinuate that the two should sleep together. A note I wrote in ep 5 stated as follows 'Almost all their interactions end with him suggesting that they go home together. Jira is sometimes willing n other times doesn't seem into it. Like in ep 5, I feel like he took him home coz Pheem asked. Had he not, I don't think he'd have brought it up.'

3. He never made a good muse - Remember when Jira finally asked him to sit so he could paint him, and the man couldn't do that. He kept moving around and once again, resorted to flirting with Jira. I don't paint, but that seemed disrespectful AF to me.

I was never quite convinced that Pheem loved Jira. Even in that emotional and very well done scene in ep 7 in the rage room. Pheem only seemed to care that he won Jira and Koh lost him. Eventually, in all his scheming and jealousy, he fell in love, but it was too late.

🌹🖥️KohJira - I like to refer to love stories like theirs as 'the heart wants what it wants.' They shouldn't work. Actually, they'd probably thrive better if they went their separate ways and never crossed paths ever again. Yet, they choose to remain together. To try and forge ahead even when their circumstances and even values show that they likely will not work long-term.

Something keeps pulling them together. Such love stories always scratch a very special itch in my brain. I love them. They are human in such an interesting way. It's like they scream at you 'Hey, humans and love aren't black and white. They are very much shades of grey.'

They fall for each other partly in the bickering and partly in the silence. I think that Koh made a more interesting love interest because

1. Jira actually liked him. - I found it most interesting and hilarious how Jira was always so physically unresponsive to Pheem. However, with Koh, the man just needed to look at him, and bro would be hard. Jira would try to transfer those horny feelings to Pheem, but it never worked.
He looked like a ragdoll every time Pheem kissed him. So stiff with little emotion across his face. However, with Koh... Refer to the bedroom scene in ep 1, the painting scene in, I believe, ep 8 in Koh's house with the flowers, and the kiss scene on the rooftop.

2. Koh willingly changes to better suit Jira - Not fully, of course. But where Pheem's changes felt manipulative and held an ulterior motive, Koh felt genuine. And the changes were never extravagant.
Simple things like going to get him from his house coz he knows his commute is long, getting breakfast in the morning when Jira slept over, even if he himself said he never liked breakfast, or even braving that club environment to go get Jira.
All these were sincere, and I think they speak to romance better than a tattoo.

3. A clash in values vs attraction - Koh has the personality of a lemon. He's also a ruthless capitalist who only cares about the bottom line. Jira thinks that everything should be above board and humans should care for each other. Koh is also a pro AI fellow, and Jira is an artist at heart. Jira cares about human-made art, and his main source of income is being threatened by the very thing Koh is pushing for. Bruh, when I heard 'input Jira preset' in ep 9, I died. I simply passed away.

However, despite all this, they continue to be attracted to each other. Jira fell 1st, although he tried to deny it, but Koh fell harder. But Koh doesn't seem quite interested in changing. How the hell does such a relationship survive? I like that their relationship ended on a 'happy for now' note, because honestly, I wonder how they'd survive long-term.

🎭🧑🏻‍🎨The Social Commentary⚙️👨🏻‍💻
The story posed an interesting question in the AI vs Human debate. I think once on Twitter, I saw Nunchy say that they weren't really looking to answer if AI was good or not. Whether it should be shunned or remain. Rather, they were asking the audience to ask themselves if and how these two things can co-exist side by side. The story doesn't give us a conclusive answer. If you think about Koh as the 'AI' and Jira as the 'Human', you see them work together, clash, diverge, then come together once more.

They end on an uncertain future at the end of the plot. Can the two truly walk and work side-by-side?

I think this is an interesting and real position that reflects where society and technology are today. You cannot escape AI, no matter how much you want to. While people online are loud and angry about AI, the tech bros are still making strides to incorporate it in everything. Job postings are demanding that applicants have the knowledge and willingness to use AI. Many people are also losing jobs to automation. It's maddening, and a lot of fields feel uncertain, especially the creative ones.

Just like Koh and Jira don't know if they can truly work, neither do we, the general population, know what the future holds

💭Random Thoughts💭
a. Some BL ships work incredibly well in darker, moodier stories, and OffFun are squarely on that list. FirstKhao are another. Both excel in grittier plots that make you think, confront feelings and emotions you'd rather not face, and push the envelope in what human relationships are.

b. I find their (OffGun's) fade-to-black NC scenes rather interesting in the BL landscape. I've watched this ship in 3 stories: Not Me, The Trainee & Burnout Syndrome (I dropped Cooking Crush, so we're not counting that). They always have such good chemistry, and their kissing is so good, but their NC scenes are always so short.

I don't quite follow ships outside of TV shows, so I often wonder if this is something they've chosen for themselves. To always go with fade-to-black scenes. I'm not saying they should adopt the scenes in shows like 'Don't Say No', 'My Stubborn', or the currently airing 'Peach Lover', but I'd like more. Unless they don't want to do it, in which case, I'll respect it

c. I'm glad the show introduced me to Dew both as an artist and an actor. I added 'Mr. Kill' to my 'plan to watchlist' because of him. A show I'd originally ignored since bromance is not my jam

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Gently toxic

One interesting creative choice in this series is that none of the three main characters is likable. They’re all toxic to varying degrees, which gives a certain charm to their interactions. The story strays a bit from the beaten path to explore emotions that are less conventional than usual. The three actors know their craft and deliver strong performances; it’s good casting.

That said, even when the show surprises (in the script, the narrative, etc.), it never really takes risks — as if the viewer always has to stay on familiar ground. That’s somewhat unfortunate, because the series loses depth because of it. The ending is a good example: very conventional, and inevitably a bit disappointing. A little more boldness might have turned this good series into a very good one.

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Artsy, dark vibes, oozing toxicity and bad decisions...And frustrating!

This Thai BL features a trio of characters that meet in a bar and are trapped into ultra toxic relationships (professional and romantic) inspite of themselves. The series can feel highly frustrating because of the waste of potential, however, there are also quite a lot I appreciated. Do I regret spending time on it ? No, certainly not because it made me think a lot. Unfortunately the attempt at social commentary regarding Art and AI fell apart with the conclusion, which was truly disappointing.

Cast is one of the strong point of this series but also one of the downside. Indeed Gun, Off and Dew are doing a very good job at acting out those broken human beings. The tension scenes with the intimate moments or the painful moments were also very well acted. However, the way couple pairing are working in Thailand clearly removed part of the interest / turmoil of the series as the ending seemed predictable because of the CP but was not convincing because of the plot itself.

I would recommend this drama to people looking for an artsy BL featuring a fare share of angst and pain. It is for sure not without flaws because of its odd and too slow pacing, unconvincing ending and frustrating because of the waste of potential. But it is also a very different kind of story, truly thoughts provoking, with a captivating muse-artist relationship. Even if it unfortunately does not hold its promises, the actors and the very good production value with some truly impactful and memorable scenes, make it worth the watch.

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Sizzling

This series is surely fresh, electric, overwhelming with chemistry, and incredibly sensual. OffGun is the perfect couple to execute the story. The overall dark theme of Burnout Syndrome mirror the reality of people who've lost their spark and through emotion they gain it back.

The story is well-written up until the final two episodes where they faltered which is unfortunately common to a lot of BLs that I've watched. Episode 1 was a great set up for the rest of the episodes, its a slow burn but once you get to settle in, the rest of the episodes pull you like magnet. While the plot is sensual, mirrors reality, and gets you invested, there are a few details that missed. Overall, you have got to sit and be patient to let the story establish itself.
The acting in this cast is perfection. OffGun is already an established couple and they've proven their versatility time and time again. Mew surprisingly has a great chemistry with Gun and he definitely did a phenomenal job. The supporting casts also did a very good job.
I don't have anything to say about the music. It's perfect. The song choices matches every scene, the tone, the theme, it's cohesive.
While I don't necessarily recommend the series as an introduction to OffGun, I would definitely rewatch this series.

Overall, this is another great series from OffGun. Their chemistry is beyond perfection yet they still have a lot of room to explore in terms of their acting prowess.

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