Reviews

A must-watch masterpiece

When I first saw the trailer, it already seemed like it was going to be a great drama, I didn't expect it to be THIS good!!

This drama is hauntingly beautiful. There are many shows about romance between a human and a supernatural being, but this one is unique because the female lead is the super powerful being who dominates the male lead. In fact, there are many instances of gender role reversals in this period drama. And besides the usual fight between good and evil, the show also tells a very human and healing story -- the two trade the 5 senses, discover the beauty of their respective worlds through each other, and find out what it means to really be "alive".

The sense exchange is depicted very creatively and intelligently, because you can imagine it'd be quite a challenge to convey the sense of smell, taste and touch to audiences through the screen. This is often done through clever use of CGI, colour grading and a focus on ordinary things in life that we may overlook, like the taste and smell of raindrops, texture of skin etc. The overall story is very unconventional and heartfelt, and gives you alot to think about.

I was skeptical about the main pairing initially, but I was surprised how Dilraba and Chen Feiyu have sizzling chemistry both on and off screen. Their acting skills are also equally matched, there were several scenes where I got goosebumps watching them act. In fact, the entire cast gave incredible performances. Although 90% of the story is centered on the two leads, it helped that the writers did not neglect in giving interesting character development for the side characters too.

Overall, the drama showed consistently high quality in terms of storytelling, directing, pacing, cinematography and OST. Almost every episode had a standout scene. Episode 8 especially was absolute cinema that blew my mind. Except for a couple of episodes in the middle where the drama seemed to lose its steam a little, it quickly picked up the pace and tension again. This drama constantly left me on the edge of my seat, squealing with joy and moved me to tears. Unfortunately, I feel my words don't do justice to just how good this drama is. I do love this drama very much and I hope more people will appreciate this gem too.

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The cast and storyline is perfection ?

Usually I don’t like involving myself in ongoing drama series because the waiting time every week for an episode to drop is very stressful. With this drama I could not hold myself back. DWY drama series has a way of pulling you in not only by the main characters (Duang and Qin) but also the cast behind these characters, Teetee and Por. They embodied everything. Trust me I just finish the final episode and I don’t regret watching this ongoing series from beginning to the end. Teeter and Por really delivered!!!!! I highly recommend watching. The songs featured in this drama are all chef kiss too ☺️ Thank me later

Side note: Don’t forget to support Teetee and Por boy band called Dexx. They are very good 😘

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I've kept this drama on my pocket for almost a year and damn, i blame myself, WHY DID I NOT WATCH IT EARLYY!!! I was never and never got bored watching, each episode was super entertaining. All my life, I've always skippped episodes, sped up to 2x and would keep forwarding. But this series, i never did any of those, and thats how entertaining the drama is. I had a good laugh in the first episodes (even the later episodes, but not really since it has become more serious, and i love the balance.) And I'm the type of person that likes a historical drama that doesn't have a heavy romance, so this drama was extremely tea for me

Overall, definitely worth it to watch and rewatch. Will never get bored watching this over and over again (except for the last episodes, too traumatized of the angst >,<)

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The Last Duel - "[A] masterpiece of cultural reconciliation"

The Last Duel serves as a loose sequel following up the massive success of One31's last historical drama 'The Empress of Ayodhaya', where One31 attempts to use the same fill-in-the-blank approach and a "what if" premise to shed light on various different historical records of the Burmese–Siamese War (1584–1593).

STORY:
The Last Duel follows almost every bit and pieces of major events you can find on the wikipedia pages of all these real life historical figures. What makes this series such an outstanding one is the ability to develop the fictional scenarios to rationalize and logicalize every actions of the characters (whether "good" or "bad") recorded in history, stemming from the premise that Mingyi Swa doesn't actually want to fight Nares but is torn between his duty as the Crown Prince and a sworn blood brother to Prince Nares of Phitsanulok. I will not spoil much but one of my favorite aspects of this show so far is its rationalization for actions of characters from the Hongsawadi side (Bayinnaung, Nanda Bayin, Natshin Medaw, Minye Kyawswa...).

The narrative framing within The Last Duel is meticulous. On the one hand, the main journey of Prince Nares is of him working towards freedom for himself and for his kingdom because he's been sent as a royal hostage to Hongsawadi since he was a child. Nares understands the fundamentality of losing freedom and what it means to be a citizen of a vassal state. Parallel to his story is Crown Prince Mingyi Swa, whose journey goes from being a carefree child to becoming a prisoner of his own circumstances, which are his duties as Crown Prince, unable to make any moves or decisions of his own freewill. Their two parallel plotlines are complementary and intricately address major themes of the story: independence, freedom, home.

ACTING/CAST
100000000000/10 ACTING. Not a single weak actors in this cast even for super rookie actors. Everyone understood their assignment, did their homework and has delivered only iconic acting performances. Of course Tre Porapat and Nine Naphat are two spectacular outanding actors as the two main male leads. Their performances are immaculate and you fully feel for the pains these two guys go through of having to destroy the friendship/brotherhood they had, in order to fulfill their respective duties to their nations.

MUSIC
Excellent scoring. It's incredibly cinematic. Both the sound mixing and scoring are incredible and I especially love how the scoring and editing works so well together.

REWATCH VALUE
This is one of those series where I think I'll rewatch every once in a while because some of the dialogues are just top notched. Especially the incorporation of anti-war messages through the characters of Phra Nares, Mingyi Swa and Bayinnaung. There's a scene between Mingyi Swa and Bayinnaung where they talk about how in the future trade and diplomacy will be more important than military powers and I think this message can still seen and felt in the state of today's politics.

PRODUCTION
One31 really spent more on this drama. I'm very grateful that they hired Banana Sound Studio, White Light Post and Foolhouse Editing for this particular series. These three post production service companies together are like a dream combination for any Thai series. The final result is truly high quality.

OVERALL
If you're looking for an intriguing Thai historical drama with compelling narratives and excellent acting from a strong veteran ensemble cast, I believe The Last Duel should definitely be on your watchlist.

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Crazyyy Cast but

I rarely start ongoing dramas , because I have no self-control and it keeps me hooked to the story too. But when I saw Arthur's new drama with Dilraba and Miles was dropping, I couldn't help but start it from the first episode. I devoured the first 20 episodes! But I think something shifted after that; the story felt boring, and I still wasn't able to understand what happened in Nandu and Xu's family dynamics. Dilraba made me her fan with this drama, and the role suited her. This is my second drama with Arthur Chen, and I am grateful to him for introducing me to costume dramas. I would love to explore more of them. The story and plot and visuals could be better but the actors delivered good performance , though I felt arthur's performance less in this drama than in When destiny brings you the demon, but then again, he was a mortal with great courage and strength, and his character shouldn't overshadow Dilraba's He Simu. what happened with chenyang broke me, poor soul :(
Miles's role was as a villain, and i REFUSE to sympathise with him TILL THE END , for what he did. This wasn't love at ALL; no romanticising these typa lunatics.
Was it explained in the end why the powerful sword chose him as an owner? Maybe because of his strength?

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ridiculous plot

The main plot is just nonsense atleast mention genre of fantasy magic something 😂I can't stop laughing when they(sleep) faint ? they suddenly faint when touch eachother? and calling it sleeping? just who came up with this plot 😂 except from this weird plot Everything is good, another ml is suddenly in love with her out of nowhere just seeing her in dress ? just yesterday he was hating and rejecting her and her friend suddenly work up from sleep and realise he likes and and wants to pursue her only when ml comes 😂,how can you even date if you keep sleeping? okay if plot is weird atleast the romance make it normal? they just suddenly like ,confess and kiss already at 6 ? just what is wrong with chinese author? make some drama too slow ,too fast or just no romance? 😂 they just fainted after kiss ?

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A fresh and lovely new "drama" without much drama!!!

Duang with you became instantly my favourite Bl Drama and is gonna be it for a very long time!! 🩷
I've been watching dramas for more than half my life, and so far, none of the BL dramas—or dramas in general—come close to *Duang With You*.
It’s a very sweet, romantic love story between two super-cute characters; the actors were also very well casted. There’s not much drama in the drama itself—it’s about everyday problems of normal life, which are then resolved in a very positive way.
Without giving anything away, the story is mainly about how Duang, as a very loving and warm-hearted person, wants to win Qin over in his own way—not through any schemes, but simply by being there for him. He’s always by his side, helping him with his problems, and that’s how he slowly but surely wins Qin’s heart.
I can only say it again. It’s such a sweet story, very well written, and it had me eagerly waiting for Saturday every week so I could watch the new episode. Now the drama is over, which makes me super, super sad, but I’ll definitely watch it over and over again because it’s worth rewatching. I’m really, really sad that it’s over, and I hope the two actors will have something new coming out soon. The chemistry between them is just perfect, and I also hope there will be similar dramas in the future, like *Duang With You*. 🥹🩷🩵

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A suspense drama that isn’t suspenseful.

I feel like this show might be properly made, but it can't catch my attention. The pace is too slow for me. There isn’t a single moment in the story of ep 1 that makes me pause to think, feel startled, get curious or really crave any kind of revelation. It’s not suspenseful at all, even though it’s supposed to be a suspense drama.

What actually made me pause to think instead was the FL’s appearance. The last work of hers I watched was from 2018. Eight years later, her face has noticeably changed, but not in a naturally mature way. It feels a bit strange to me. It’s kind of a pity that her face became the main thing that kept me watching through ep 1, just trying to figure out which part of it gives off that strange vibe. And it also makes me wonder if that’s why she chose to act in this role by not moving her facial muscles much.

By the way, I just finished watching "Beyond Evil" and that is a suspense drama done really well. It kept me constantly craving the truth, the revelations, the answers. So the details for comparison are still very fresh for me and it really puts this show at a big disadvantage.

𓂃 ✦ 𓂃

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A DRAMA THAT'S REFRESHING IN ITS CUTEST FORM

After a long time, I have witnessed such an energetic and refreshing series loaded with cuteness.

The way the script is set up is very different from the usual school BL dramas. At first, I was a little disappointed with the character "Qinn" because he kept pushing "Duang" away. But as the episodes went on, it became clear why Qinn was acting the way he was: his painful past was keeping him from letting anyone into his heart. "It is often in the darkest skies that we see the brightest stars," says the saying. "Duang" also comes into "Qinn's" life as a sun and brings him back to the light, leading them on a happy and beautiful life journey.

When it comes to acting, all of the actors in the series do a good job. TeeTee's natural, happy, and bubbly acting steals the show from beginning to end. I feel like "Duang" is the oxygen of this drama, and it always reminds me that we all need a friend like "Duang" who will always be there for us and be loyal, respectful, and happy. Without a doubt, Por's acting is just as good as TeeTee's. The supporting characters were great, especially the "friend zone" of the main characters. Finally, I want to say a few words about the character "Duang's mother." She is the cutest mother I've seen in any of the BL shows I've watched so far. She does a great job of playing the part!

For me, "Duang with You" isn't a series; it's a tonic that made my Saturdays lively and refreshing for two and a half months. I'm going to miss "Duang" so much! But, I'm looking forward to TeePor's next together.

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In your radiant season

First of all, this drama made me cry a lot because I could relate to both the female and male lead on many levels.
The most painful parts where the two episodes before last, I kept praying for a happy ending because I thought I could have hope again in this world if there was a happy ending.
I am not sure if there is a best scene award for airport romantic interactions but The male lead deserves this award if it ever exists for when he stand tall,looking at the female leading waiting for him and then he went towards her saying he won't be able to stop him self anymore and hugged her. That scene took me to another world because I dream to have someone in my life who loves me that much, to the point they can't stop themselves around me where emotions are too strong to keep under control and where they lose themselves completely for me.

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