Khun Chaai (2022)

Spell-binding

This is a story about women.

Parents having to deal with and overcome cultural homophobia is at its core, and there's a beautiful romance between men, but these complicated, determined women using whatever resources they can find to negotiate life within the constraints of cultural sexism carry the lakorn. Li is ferociously strong, Jia's knowledge of herbs is magic, Chan is whatever the moment needs, and sometimes that's a touch of comic relief, Bua's strength is in her gentleness, Pin is plucky and resourceful, Cai is always paying attention.

It's melodrama so everything is exaggerated. Settle into its rhythms, it's a wild ride and well worth it.

Leia Mais

one word - amazing

When I started to watch this series, after 10 min. I wanted to drop it, but this would be mistake, because "To sir, with love" is amazing. I like the plot, the cast and almost everything. It was so interesting and also painful to watch.
Everything starts with Zhang, whose secret was exposed to everyone - the secret was that Zhang was homosexual. Later he commited suicide in front of "his close people" and cursed them. He told Mr. Song that he wanted Song to feel the same pain some day. It was painful to watch and lets add the fact that Song's children saw this scene. They were small kids, who don't know what "homosexual" means. After years, we see Tian and Yang (Song's children from different mothers) grown up. Because of the Karma and maybe this curse, Tian is also homosexual. When he was younger, his mother accidentally understood his secret, scolded him and even slapped him because of that. Yang also knew, but he was an understanding boy and always supported his half brother, even though their mothers hated each other. Madame Li, who is Tian mother, is very powerful woman who can do everything to keep Tian's secret. In these times, to be gay is like deathful sin. First, she and Jia killed a worker for Song's family who knew this secret. Jia, a woman who is always by Li's side, made a poison to kill Dong and there was such a drama later on. Chan, who is the second wife of Mr. Song, wanted to expose who the real murder was and knew from the beginning that Li and Jia killed Dong. Later, Mr. Ma, who is also powerful and evil, thanks to Chan, wanted to know what happened to Dong and what is this secret that Tian and his mother hide. Before this drama started, Tian was lucky enough to meet Jiu - a poor guy, who unfortunately worked for Mr. Ma. They became close, even though Jiu begged Tian to stay away from him. Tian didn't listen to him, he already felt in love. Madam Li, on the other hand, became even more paranoid and started to kill more people. Everyone who knew the secret, was poisoned. Mr. Song became suspicious and brought a family doctor Qi to help them. Before that Yang and the third wife of Mr. Song (Bua), also searched for doctor Qi, because they also wanted to know if Jia and Madam Li killed Dong. Later, Tian's mother attempted to kill Qi, but he was already prepared and her plan wasn't succesful. He made an antidote and thanks to this, he also saved Jiu's life later on.
Mr. Ma manipulated Jiu and sent him to work for Tian and his father. He wanted to know the secret so bad and to become the head of The five dragons association. For Tian this was perfect and also dangerous. He taught Jiu to read and write, but didn't know that this is a mission for him to save his sick sister, exposing the secret. Jiu also fell in love and protect Tian despite Mr. Ma's order.
Madam Li never stopped making bad things to her son and other people. She also wanted to arrange a marriage between lady Pin (a woman who first met Yang and fell in love with him, also her family had to pay a debt to Song family) Tian, Yang and Pin together started to make a plan, which helped them to fall apart this marriage. Madame Li, who already killed people, had another plan. She and Jia drugged Tian and hoped that he would sleep with Pin. For me, the best moment was when Li saw Tian and Jiu together and understood that her plan wasn't succesful and Tian slept with Jiu instead. Everything messed up, Mr. Song became more and more curious about this secret and more suspicious. Chan betrayed her family and told everything to Mr. Ma. Later, the truth about Mr. Ma subordinate was told, but Tian didn't know about it. He already left the house with Jiu and they had some days together. Mr. Song searched for his child, he was sure that Jiu killed him, but didn't know the secret yet. When Tian understood that Jiu betrayed him and heard when he told Mr. Ma his secret, he returned to his family house and didn't want to hear anything about Jiu. Tian loved and also hated him at the same time. Madame Li, on the other hand, attempted to kill Yang (thanks to Tian he was saved) and Jiu. Her wish was to kill everyone who knew that Tian is gay. Tian, who already had nothing to lose, agreed to marry Mud, worker from their house, and to announce the marriage. Because of the fact that Mr. Ma knew everything, Jia and Li tried to kill him, but their plan got messed. At the moment, when Mr. Song wanted to announce the marriage, Chan, thanks to Tian who plan everything, exposed his secret in front of everyone in the house. Everything became a huge mess, Mr. Song was shocked and annoyed, Mr. Ma came and wanted to kill everyone because of Li and to seek revenge. Now, everyone knew the secret, but their wish was to protect the Song family from Mr. Ma. Jiu and Qi also came in the picture, Jia and Madame Li was surprised to see them, because they thought that they were dead. They understood that Tian's happiness was more important than becoming a killer to hide his secret, but it was too late for them. Jia and Li paid for the crimes and that was ok, because I didn't like them and because of them Tian suffered a lot, he even was ready to pay for his mother's crimes. Tian always loved Li, even though she forced him to do things he didn't like and to hide himself. Mr. Song also understood that Tian was different, but also deserved happiness.
My all time favorite characters are Bua and Yang. The two of them protect and love Tian no matter what. Thanks to God, this series had a happy end. It was such a rollercoaster, so interesting and intensive. I really like Tian and Jiu as a couple. Before this series, I also watched Laws of attraction and fell in love with two of them.
Of course, "To sir, with love" deserves a total of 10 stars and this is my longest rewiew of a series, with spoilers and all.

Leia Mais

Mind blowing drama ever green drama best drama ever

Where was this series all this time ? Omg what a series I enjoyed all the episodes it was mind blowing we have bl story , male lead and female lead love story, mother sentiment , brothers love , family love , villain story and more characters were involved, action, dramatic , love , mystery and suspense on top of that beautiful ending and I like the themes of old style the building roads and dressing style was like mid 80’s I guess not sure but it was like ancient drama I really enjoyed this thanks to the law of attraction I got to know this series I enjoyed the acting of all the members and lead actors were good they had great chemistry and tian has huge character difference in law of attraction ? opposite acting but any way all the best to the team in the bl world this drama is the best I hope other dramas can capture different themes like this rather than normal college love story we need different stories as they do for boy girl love story anyway all the best to the team well done great script and acting and execution of series even the songs

Leia Mais

A very underrated roller-coaster!

I was a little hesitant about starting this series, because I don't get along too well with historical settings, and I'm also not familiar with Thai History. I was afraid I would not be able to understand this story as well as I wished to, but in the end everything turned out well from that aspect and I was able to enjoy the story without much trouble.

The story mainly revolves around family rivalries and the fight for power in the Song family. Most of the characters fight to either protect Tian from ill-intentioned people, or to steal Tian's money or power for themselves. Tian's sexuality is a dangerous secret that fuels the motives of the people around him, contributing to making the life in the Song household even messier. This is absolutely NOT a light series to watch (I've read somewhere that its specific genre is lakorn), every major action of the characters leads to more problems that need to be solved with other great actions. It was a lively plot that kept me engaged from the beginning to the end, definitely recommended if you like drama! I also liked how the negative feelings and actions of the characters often led to more negativity and problems, while positive feelings and deeds led to better outcomes. The Karmic energy is not always mentioned but it's a recurring element of the story and I really appreciated it.
I also appreciated the fact that, rather than a BL, this is actual gay representation: there are actual problems and struggles of gay people that are shown on the screen and they were all tackled very well.

The characters, for the most part, are very well written and with multiple facets that make them very intriguing. I'm not just talking about the main characters (Tian, Jiu, and Yang specifically), but also the secondary roles, especially the female characters: I've rarely seen so many female characters being so active, with a good characterization and not too stereotyped, especially in a BL, where female characters are usually barely there in the first place. The relationships are also very well explored, especially the family bonds: Tian and Yang's brotherly love is displayed in all its beauty and it was amazing, and the relationship between Tian and his parents was very well explored as well.

In "To Sir With Love", while Tian and his sexuality are the main fuel for everyone's decisions and actions, his moments with Jiu are very few and short. Jiu doesn't even show up before the second episode, and their moments together only last a few minutes until a few episodes in (episodes 6-7 or so, I believe?). Their lack of screen time surprised me since I was expecting them to be on the screen more than anything else, but in the end things worked out fine regardless: they have very good chemistry with each other and they were able to deliver very intense and powerful moments anyway. All I want to add is a little warning for anyone who is looking for passionate kissing scenes or anything like that: I suggest looking somewhere else for that.

My only complaints about this lakorn would be these:
- some of the actors were acting with too much intensity. I don't know how else to describe it: at some points they really felt like caricatures of their own characters, with exaggerated expressions and movements that didn't feel natural in the least.
- sometimes the events and the elements of the plot were changed and flexed based on convenience: characters being there to eavesdrop or spy on others just in time, wounds getting better or magically disappearing depending on what did that character need to do, and certain tasks being completed without enough care and precision. I felt like I could see where the writers wanted the plot to go a little too easily because of this.
- the ending was not very satisfying to me. I felt like some of the conflicts of the story didn't get resolved properly.

I feel like I didn't describe how much I liked this series as well as I wished to, so I really want to stress it: I LOVED IT. I especially recommend it to anyone who likes soap-operas, and even anyone who would like to watch a BL for the first time and isn't looking for something too romance-focused.

Leia Mais

If you love super dramatic story, this is for you

I'm not a big fan of family drama, so I pretty much skipped the entire family drama especially all scenes involving the 2 crazy women lol...I only watched some part of the drama towards the ending, and i can tell you, its super thrilling, so if you love this kind of show, this lakorn is for ya

Althou I'm here for different reason. I am here to mainly watch Film Jam lol..I also love Yang over here. I only watched scenes where it involves them

I love the chemistry, sparks and the love between the gay couple. It's also beautiful watching the how Thian and Yang, really love each other despite the family feud. It's very rare scene to watch and I appreciate this healthy brotherhood

Overall, happy ending. Its a super tense thrilling dramatic drama.

Not my kind, but might be yours.

Leia Mais

Enjoyed it though some parts are unintentionally hilarious

There is a lot to love about this series.

First of all, I was surprised by how prominently the gay theme is foregrounded from the start. The story isn't entirely focused on the gay romance, the issue of homosexuality is central to the plot. I was thinking that the subject would be a minor issue, but it seems that the production has decided to take a risk by focusing on it throughout even when the story isn't dwelling on the romance. For a show that doesn't pander much to a BL fanbase, this is quite amazing.

Secondly, the bromance is wonderful. The close bond between Tian and his brother, Yang, was what made the series, which involves a lot of characters scheming and plotting against one another, more palatable. And while a lot of series featuring "bromance" make it borderline romance, in this case, the Tian and Yang are biological brothers, and there is no hint of possible romance at all. The sibling bond between them is pure and moving. I really love the scene in which Yang realises that Tian is gay and runs to him to hug him, half chiding himself for not understanding what Tian has been going through, half wanting to comfort Tian without revealing that he knows his secret.

As a bonus, the straight couple, Yang and Pin, is also cute.

Yet, some of the scenes and turns in the plot may leave one incredulous. A case in point is the scene in which Jiu was attacked by a group of people sent by Tian's father. The attackers (some of them anyway) had guns, but nonetheless fought with knives until they were about to lose. So far it is simply not very logical, but the next part is truly absurd. Another group of people do not want Jiu to be killed but do not want to clash with the attackers. So guess what? They spotted a couple of birds on a tree and somehow manage to catch the birds and send them flying into the hut to create chaos, so Jiu has a chance to escape.

Then in a plot twist that isn't exactly unexpected, a man who has been "killed" by poison turns up alive . . . because he has the antidote. Okaaaaay, but he was rendered unconscious by the poison and couldn't have taken the antidote--especially when the one who wants him dead dumps him in a body of water to drown him. No proper explanation is given for how he manages to stay alive apart from the fact that he has the antidote.

And the main villain in the show is ridiculously hard to kill. It's perhaps another soap opera thing, but it's quite funny how he could survive having a couple of fingers cut off, having a sharp object stabbed into his eye, being hit viciously with a stick several times (including on the head, I think) and getting knocked about by some drug that caused him to lose consciousness--all at the same time! I thought that the loss of blood while he's unconscious would kill him. But not. Not only does he survive the attack that takes place in the wilderness, but he also soon turns up at Tian's house (with his injuries already bandaged) with a few soldiers and go on a rampage despite all the injuries he has sustained.

Additionally, the portrayal of homosexuality may be somewhat controversial. It seems ridiculously easy for characters to guess that Tian is gay. Yang sees Tian helping Jiu, whose sleeve is stuck somewhere, by cutting Jiu's sleeve, and Yang can suddenly, with a few recollections of events in the past (like Tian pretending to be a female protagonist of the opera, Madam White Snake), surmise that Tian is gay. Is anyone suggesting that it's a sign of homosexuality if a kid who is into opera and pretends to be the female protagonist in an opera? By all appearances, Tian merely loves opera and isn't into crossdressing.

Although the series is flawed, I did find myself quite invested in the bromance and romance. Tian, Yang, Jiu and Pin are characters that one will care about enough to keep watching. However, do make sure that you can take soap opera plots and their levels of exaggeration.

Leia Mais

The entire show is pretty much about hiding Tian's Big Gay Secret and along with that comes lots suspense, intrigue, and um...murder. Why? Because no one can know Tian's secret! You know, the secret that we talk about very loudly, all the time. But that's beside the point. The point is people can't know and if they know? Well, they gotta die. Because obviously that's the only solution. But how do we kill them? With glitter of course! Lots and lots of murderous glitter! Yes it's every bit as ridiculous as it sounds, but I absolutely did not care. Literally nothing stopped me from devouring this series. (Except the wait time between subbed eps but I digress)

When we're not doing arts and crafts, our good guys get to fall in love. Sweet sweet Yang gets sweet Lady Pin. And sweet sweet Tian finds himself falling for secret assassin turned secret sort-of-spy, Jiu. This loveline has one of my favorite tropes-I tricked you and then I fell in love, so of course there's angsting but Tian and Jiu's love story is also one of the corniest, cheesiest things ever, and yes I ate up every bit of it. Could have used a little more screen time, but that's the tiniest of complaints. Now, the best love story here is the one between half brothers, Tian and Yang. Nothing could stand in the way of these two. The love, the friendship, the loyalty between these brothers is brilliant and worth a watch even if you don't want to watch anything else.

I don't normally watch a lot of lakorns. I've tried multiple lakorns and I usually watch a few episodes before I ultimately give up. They're just not typically my style. From what I've seen they're usually over the top, ridiculous, the acting is all over the place, the villians are cartoons, they're full of cliches, problematic tropes, redemptive arcs for people who dont necessarily deserve them, and plus everything and everyone in a lakorn is just so incredibly dramatic. This would normally be ther part where I'd say "except this lakorn is none of those things, it's so refreshing" or whatever, but that would be an abosolute lie. This lakorn was all of those things and then some, but regardless it was ridiculously entertaining, and ridiculously addictive. Who do I have to beg for another lakorn like this one?

Leia Mais

Mother’s Love Against The World

This actually my first time watching this kind of lakhorn & I absolutely love it!

The love Li has Thian is so heartfelt. The things she had done with Jia is just the bees knees. Loyalty truly shows in this drama. Until the very end she protected him and approved them. She is the best mother every!

The series duration allows so many characters development, which is one of the thing I always emphasise in a story. The love, the hatred, the envy and the drama of anything and everyone was amazing!

The acting of everyone was on point. Zhang’s soft side is hilarious. The hatred I have towards Chan & the maid is just over the roof; they truly bring it.

As for the Thian & Jiu, their chemistry together is merely astounding. Their skinships, emotions, restrains to one another and khon khun makk makk naaa Li for giving Thian the arousing tea ?

Oh and I tend to almost cry whenever Yang receives the mistreatments he didn’t deserve. The anger boils up inside me & ended up taking it out on others - khot thod naa pheuan 5555.

Annnnddd the OST sang by Nunew really matches with the series. Rak rak rak na.

Leia Mais

One of the best

One of the best bls ever produced. It's not about some cliche plot about college students but it is about real family drama. Greed, secrets and power drive this series.

Currently on episode 7 and can't wait for next episode to air.

Tian has a secret and his mother killed Dong because he found out about Tian's secret. Them the unending plotting starts. To hide the truth about Dong's murder Tian's mother is floating in a vacuum of plots.

I really look forward to seeing how the story between Tian and Jiu will unfold. Even though it seems impossible between them. But I hope they will give them a happy ending ☺️

Leia Mais

Excellent

I had avoided watching this simply due to the title. Reminding me of a 50 year old movie, plus the same name for the theme song from that movie, it just seemed a little silly. But then when I watched it, I realized how wrong I was. Nearly everything about it was excellent. A good story, although it was just a little over the top. The acting was excellent. The cinematography was excellent. The settings and props were excellent. High production values throughout. Still have 7 episodes to go, but if they're as good as the first 10, I have no complaints. Good chemistry between the two male leads, and his brother Yang and the girl that he falls for make a cute couple. Great show.

Leia Mais

Vous reprendrez bien un peu de champis ?

Précision essentielle à tous ceux qui regarderaient ce drama pour la romance gay : cette histoire n'est pas une série BL et n'est donc pas formatée comme telle. C'est un lakhorn pur et dur, avec tout le cahier des charges qui va avec : antagonistes grimaçants qu'on identifie comme des vilains au bout d'une seconde et demie d'apparition à l'écran, des acteurs qui surjouent à fond et dont tous les sentiments apparaissent sur leurs visages au lieu de la jouer profil bas en mode "Nan c'est pas moi j'ai rien fait", des magouilles et des complots à gogo, des serviteurs qui surprennent toujours des conversations qu'il faut pas, des scènes d'action dans à peu près tous les épisodes, des conflits familiaux et des rebondissements incessants, plein de bons sentiments et bien sûr la sympathique romance entre le héros et son crush. Et bien que l'histoire coche tous les codes des lakhorns traditionnels, bah c'est tellement bien orchestré et sans temps morts que ça fonctionne à fond.

Et puis y'a les champis. Au départ, je m'attendais à une intrigue sur des conflits de pouvoir entre les 5 clans de commerçants, mâtinée de romance interdite, et je me retrouve avec une histoire de famille aux allures de "Qui a tué Harry ?" d'Alfred Hitchcock. Tout le drama tourne autour du fameux "secret" (l'homosexualité de l'héritier) que certains personnages tentent de découvrir tandis que d'autres cherchent à le cacher à tout prix, vu que ça s'est mal fini pour le dernier qui est sorti du placard. Du coup on a un maître chanteur assassiné à la poudre d'orchidée qui, mélangée à certains insectes et transformée en jolies paillettes, produit des champignons mortels. Et puis le cadavre est noyé, enterré, volé, il disparaît ou refait surface sans laisser une seconde de répit à ses assassins, qui ne parviennent jamais à se débarrasser complètement des traces. Parce que oui, la poudre de champignons est une arme originale et bien pratique, mais qui n'en fait qu'à sa tête, même quand on l'utilise comme aphrodisiaque et qu'elle produit pile le résultat qu'on voulait éviter. Du coup, il se passe toujours quelque chose, on ne s'ennuie jamais, et même si je ne suis pas sûre que c'était l'effet recherché, le drama parvient à être assez marrant. Un vrai plaisir coupable comme on les aime, avec des acteurs qui se donnent à fond dans leur rôle. Leur jeu est peut-être exagéré, l'intrigue a la naïveté habituelle des lakhorns avec ses rebondissements téléphonés et son lot d'heureuses coïncidences qui permettent aux persos de s'en sortir dans la plupart des situations, mais c'est tellement enthousiaste que ça parvient (presque toujours) à éviter le ridicule.

Bien sûr, vu qu'il se passe plein de trucs autour du fameux secret et que ça bouffe les 3/4 des épisodes, on peut regretter que les 2 couples ne bénéficient pas de davantage de temps d'écran. La romance principale entre notre doux et gentil héritier & le bad boy badass des bas quartiers est vraiment sympathique, celle entre le frère & la fiancée du héros est mignonne comme tout, on aurait franchement apprécié de les voir plus souvent échanger des papouilles. Mais bon, c'est un lakhorn, faut pas trop choquer l'audience et quand on y pense, aborder pour la première fois une histoire tout public avec comme paire principale un couple gay, ça exigeait retenue et sobriété au moins sur cet aspect-là. Ce qu'ils sont parvenus à gérer en nous occupant le reste du temps avec les magouilles visant à cacher ou découvrir le secret de Tian - d'où ces damnées paillettes de champignons qui finissent toujours sur la tronche ou dans le gosier de quelqu'un.

Quant aux personnages secondaires, ils sont tous sympathiques même ceux qu'on aurait bien envie d'étrangler (sauf le maître chanteur qui est un gros trouduc mais bon, même si la morale le réprouve, on ne va pas faire semblant que sa mort nous désole) et bien que bon nombre de leurs choix soient répréhensibles et empirent la situation au lieu de l'arranger, leurs motivations sont toujours explicables dans l'histoire, de ce fait elles produisent des rebondissements logiques assez bien fichus. Je me répète, mais on ne s'ennuie jamais, et c'est plutôt rare dans un lakhorn. Les femmes sont souvent à l'honneur, aussi caricaturales soient-elles, elles se battent pour les valeurs dans lesquelles elles croient, et la mère du héros est finalement assez badass dans son genre (il faut la voir balancer des paillettes en costume de ninja pour comprendre ce qu'est le vrai amour maternel, elle me ferait presque oublier qu'elle finit bouffée par les crocodiles dans Nakark Kaew, une "vieille" production de 2018 où le héros était déjà interprété par le même acteur principal). Et je ne peux pas conclure ce paragraphe sans une mention spéciale à la seconde épouse grimaçante à souhait, dont le rouge à lèvres criard passe subitement au rose pâle pour bien nous faire comprendre qu'elle est devenue gentille. C'est un lakhorn, on vous dit.

Bref, tout ça pour dire qu'on avait tous les éléments pour se taper un véritable navet aux recettes éculées, et qu'on nous offre à la place une intrigue efficace et rythmée, deux romances aussi mignonnes qu'agréables, des méchants sympathiques aux exagérations assumées, des rebondissements à foison, une superbe bromance entre le héros et son frère, et tout plein de bons sentiments et de messages de tolérance qui font un bien fou - sans oublier la morale, sinon ça ne serait pas un vrai drama thaï. J'ai l'air de me moquer, mais j'ai passé un super moment devant ce lakhorn qui m'a réconciliée avec le genre, et que j'ai regardé avec beaucoup de tendresse. Y'a même de fortes chances que je le revisionne d'ici quelques mois. En conclusion, un divertissement génial qui m'aura bien fait marrer, et qu'importe si c'est parfois malgré lui. Sans doute la faute aux champis.

Leia Mais

I wasn't expecting to be wowed by this lakorn (especially since it's the end of the year) but To Sir, With Love proved me wrong. It's probably the best I've seen this year and exceeded my expectations. I got into it because I saw that Film, who only starred in boy/girl dramas before, was actually going to be in a BL and was curious to see how it would go. I'm very glad I took that chance, otherwise I would've missed out on a very well acted and well produced show.

1. Story
The story was complex, engaging, and had great pacing. It was very obvious that a lot of care went into how it was edited and delivered. Having this sort of LGBT+ plotline set in a historical time could've easily gone wrong, but it wasn't the case here. The historical aspect greatly enriched the story and provided much of the character's justification for their actions. It was also quite unpredictable, and major actions actually had major consequences. I think what really made this stand out was how it was really a lakorn made for a modern audience; even though this is set in an older time, there are modern ideals that are cleverly interwoven where it didn't feel out of place and greatly appealed to me as a viewer of today. 

2. Leads 
Before I get into Tian and Yang, I just want to say that I consider Li (T's mom), Jao Sua Song (T's dad) and Chan (Y's mom) to also be the main leads, and would actually put Jiu and Ying Pin as 2ndary leads. Because without them, there would be no richness in this drama and no believable way to move the plot forward. When I saw that P'Pok would play Li, I knew she would kill it and boy she didn't disappoint. She is an amazing actress, able to pull off so many emotions and make me simultaneously empathize and hate her. Her look when she found Tian and Jiu together made me laugh for days. I adore her and she looked so fab in her Chinese outfits. Jao Sua Song was a surprise since I didn't expect much but his voice is so enchanting and he is surprisingly level-headed, intelligent and can admit he's wrong (can we pleaseee have more dads like this in Thai dramaland). I didn't like Chan as much as the first two but she was a convincing antagonist and it was enough for me.

I thought that this was Film's finest acting to date; previous dramas I've seen him in were just okay. Here he conveyed Tian's sensitive and gentlemanly manner so flawlessly and pretty much acted his pants off as Tian. Yang's actor was also good, although his role was written so well that it would've been hard for him to mess up. The brotherly relationship between Yang and Tian was a major highlight and mood booster for me while watching this, and I'm glad they both stayed loyal to each other till the end.

3. Secondary Cast
I don't have any complaints about the 2ndary cast; all acted well and added to the plot. I liked that Ying Pin wasn't your typical flower girl, but was sassy and intelligent. I also like that Jiu wasn't just a cold assassin, but was willing to open his heart and be desperate in his love for Tian. The rest of the cast, from the house servants to the members of the Five Dragons Association were fun to watch and really lit up the world inside the lakorn.

4. Romance
I wasn't sure if the drama could carry out a convincing BL love story, but I was wrong and the romance hit me in all the feels. This is the kind of love story I love where the two leads meet and there's a spark, but it's not until they get to know each other that the spark becomes a firework. Although this was a love story between two men, I liked how the focus was more on how they were just two people who fell in love, irrespective of their gender. This couldn't have gone so well without the two actor's commitment to the roles, from how you could see Tian light up when Jiu was around, to Jiu doing things for Tian that suggested that his love for Tian was deeper than we thought. I think my only gripe with this is that I felt like there was some missing info for how Jiu accepted being with Tian despite both being men; there wasn't an internal struggle shown that I'd expect men of this time to have, especially when being gay was unheard of.  Regardless, well done to Film and Jam for maturely and beautifully carry out a convincing love story. 

5. Overall
This was a visually appealing drama, from the vibrant colours and patterns in the background, to the clothes that everyone was wearing. The music was amazing (I have Ice and NuNew's songs on my playlist) and played appropriately. This was a wonderful watch with great storytelling, acting, romance and much more. I highly recommend you give it a go and I will certainly re-watch this on my own time.

Leia Mais