Keter

I think you partly answered yourself. I have a strong suspicion this production team (and main leads) are at least partly a package deal selected for tight budget, low quality projects. It's just perpetual loop of low quality output - budget's tight, they get mid novel to adapt, writers and producers botch the job even more and selected actors get slapped onto low quality product (that would explain how main leads were only so far casted in trashier dramas)

I can hazard a guess that unless the whole framework around them changes, BoatOut won't get any "proper" quality drama.

I'm sorry, but that "it's just a silly show based on silly tropes, so it has to be trashy" defense doesn't hold for me. Silliness is good when it's intended and the show takes itself seriously or not accordingly (Me and Thee for example).

Silliness in Knot is mostly byproduct of bad writing. Desire, despite all its faults (it had plenty), managed to actually tie together serious, streamlined narrative and abo's campiness into something cohesive. Knot just feels like a first wattpad fanfic of a 13 years old girl, who's just learning how to introduce a plot to her story

Thailand produces plenty of slice of life bls and even in this category this show looks bleak. Either nothing happens (slice of life needs to actually have some "life" in it first to build some narrative around it) or we loop the same topics, which characters already talked about, again and again

Both are omegaverse BL shows and that makes overlap between them quite big in this industry - it's fairly easy to compare things like acting, writing, production value or even just how they handle abo themes and Knot loses majority of the time

As of now it also fails as slice of life tbh. Slices are simply no slicing, because they go in circles repeating the same motions. Last 3 episodes were very sameish

There is really no point looking at the score while the show is still running tbh. Once it end and emotions cool off, you will see more reliable score (depending on how this show will turn out)

You can see how Knot (still running) is rated 8.0 right now, despite being painfully mid

Yes, I would say that may be one of the best "heavy themed" BLs out there, although be prepared for it to go into very dark places at times.

That drama really nailed dark romance, by actually letting both characters hit absolute rock bottom - both victim and perpetrator - and grow from it
(and the author had actual concept of balance in mind, introducing just the right amount of toxicity, so to redempiton was still believable - we had a couple of dramas recently which failed miserably at that front)

Honestly, kinda same. This one and To My Shore are probably my favorites right now. It looks like CBL has really found it's footing in serious storylines and deep emotional impacts

I would say last year and a half has been very good for CBLs as a whole

Abo Desire at least had decent acting and production value, despite it's issues (and Pit Babe kinda could have dropped that whole omegaverse thing and barely anything would change tbh). Knot so far has no saving graces and just looks like trashy fanfic of a 13 years old girl from Wattpad

The most glaring issue for me is simple: we get an hour of screentime per episode and maybe 10 minutes of them actually add something to the larger plot. The rest is just filler or repeating things established earlier

Many shows get 20-40 minutes per episode and push it fully with content, meanwhile Knot just burns away it's time on nothing interesting

(that putting aside that the whole thing has very weak writing and direction, but I guess omegaverse bls just suck in general)

Glad you finished it after all!
Like I said in our previous convo around 2 weeks ago, this drama really nailed dark romance, by actually letting both characters grow from it and overcome their demons (and the author had actual concept of balance in mind, introducing just the right amount of toxicity, so to redempiton was still believable - we had a couple of dramas recently which failed miserably at that front).

Have fun! (and expect to be hurt a lot hah)

"I just hope he won't hurt him anymore and make You Shulang miserable"
Oh boy... You're in for a wild ride

I'm sorry, but "more darker , mature, serious BL" isn't really applicable here. While I find this show enjoyable, it leans more into cringe comedic effect blanketing serious themes and pretty weak script so far.

Payback or To my Shore fit "more darker , mature, serious BL" category much better if we're going for recent(ish) Thai BLs

Ngl, it does have a bit of a trashy wattpad fic feel to it, but it is entertaining to a degree (if they start to ramp up the plot long term, because ep3 could have been an email).

I actually checked out BoatOat previous drama page here and if that masterpiece of a review is anything to go by (https://mydramalist.com/profile/sasameyuki1950/review/450672), then they are yet to have proper, serious show together- Knot so far is pretty trashy

You're welcome. It's very much "it gets worse before it gets better" scenerio. What I like the most about this drama is how both main characters genuinely grow and confront their own demons throughout the story

Edit: That said, expect it to get really dark at times

Going by interviews with actors, you can - it's quite often more awkward and mechanical behind the scenes. That's why they have intimacy coaches and directors on set to guide them thorough it.

(and I mentioned them being straight in most cases, because a straight guy suddenly wont develop feelings for another guy after a makeout session)

Yes (he will get even worse for a while) and no (it will make the show better in a long run). On one hand Fan Xiao is a huge red flag, but on the other this series is much better at character developement and redemption arc that Desire and RL

Most of them are straight, so that's not an issue tbh

It certainly feels less dark, considering we got two other (CN) highly rated bls with more pronounced themes of dark romance recently