Deep Night (2024)

I liked it more than I expected to

I liked it more than I expected to.

Now, that’s not to say I was expecting to dislike it, but I also wasn’t preparing for anything more than a light snack. Instead, Deep Night served up a decent helping of entertainment, even if some of it was a bit undercooked.

Acting

For a series led by a newcomer like Shogun, I have to say, the chemistry between him and First—along with what I imagine was the director gently nudging him in the right direction—helped cover up the rougher edges of his performance. There were definitely moments where Shogun looked like a deer caught in the headlights of some particularly challenging scenes, but for his first time, he did a solid job. His chemistry with First was especially strong, which worked wonders in carrying the story through its more questionable moments. It was like watching someone perform a complicated dance while occasionally tripping over their shoelaces but still managing to look graceful.

Story

Ah, the story. Let’s just say I have a love-hate relationship with it. On one hand, the premise is full of potential, with all the makings of a great drama—mystery, intrigue, romance, jealousy! But on the other hand, there are so many moments where the logic seems to have taken an extended vacation.

So, here’s the setup: Khen is a university student whose mother runs a nightclub/host club. One fateful day, Khen visits the club and sees his fellow university student, Wela, performing as a host. And just like that—bam!—he falls in love. The twist? These two have apparently been attending the same lectures for who knows how long, but it took Wela taking off his glasses and standing under a dim nightclub light for Khen to notice he exists. If that isn’t a lesson in how important good lighting is, I don’t know what is.

Once they become a couple, the plot shifts into what I like to call the Jealousy Carousel. Khen gets jealous because, you know, Wela’s job as a host involves interacting with other people. They make up, only for Khen to get jealous all over again. Rinse, repeat. After a few cycles, you start wondering if maybe Khen should have picked a less emotionally turbulent career path—like professional sandcastle building.

What I Would Change

If I had the power to make some tweaks (and let’s be honest, someone should hand me that power), the first thing I’d do is scrap the university setting entirely and make the characters a little older. Wela being the number one host would make far more sense if he had, say, five or six years of experience under his belt rather than being a student who’s just squeezed a couple of part-time shifts between classes. It would give his character a bit more depth, too—because let's face it, being a top host at 20 is impressive, but also feels like something out of a fantasy.

I’d also throw in a female hostess, someone with acrobatic skills. This would allow for some more dynamic scenes in the nightclub and provide a bit more balance in the customer interactions. Not to mention, a comparison between how male and female hosts handle their clients could add an extra layer of interest. Plus, who wouldn’t want to see a few flips while someone’s pouring champagne?

As for Khen (played by Shogun), I’d rework how he meets Wela. Instead of them being university classmates who’ve never noticed each other until one fateful nightclub encounter, it would be far more engaging if Khen first met Wela as a customer at the club. That way, their relationship could develop more naturally—from customer and host, to the son of the nightclub owner falling for the star employee. It would also spare us the whole "love at second glance" thing, which is harder to buy than a discount wand at Ollivanders.

In conclusion

Deep Night had potential, and I genuinely enjoyed watching it more than I expected to. But with a few tweaks here and there (and maybe a little more logic), it could have been so much more. It’s like ordering a meal at a restaurant and realizing it would be perfect if only the chef had added just a bit more seasoning—or, in this case, a bit more plot coherence.

Leia Mais

Is the storyline worth watching..

At first as soon as I saw the the noisy irritating actors being loud and acting ridiculously stupid which shows up in a lot of BLs. If a series is full of drama its very off putting. The bl series was watchable and I did enjoy some of the scenes. The 4 male Leads played their parts very well and were very easy on the eye. I find Thai males are extremely good looking. There were a few hiccups like the delay between verbal conversations which gave the idea they had forgot their lines. I think they need to drop the scene where one falls and lands on top of the other nearly kissing and then mortified it actually happened. It's been done that many times its
boring. I enjoy the drunk scenes because I enjoy men kissing. Don't ask me why but I do. I've shocked myself.
It is I think Asian men (Korean.. Chinese.. Thai...) they look after themselves.. Dress stylish and have so many talents to their name. I did enjoy the series. The male leads were charismatic.. They jelled.. and l just love BLS.
I haven't watched anything western for at least 2years.
Sending love from the UK... ❤️

Leia Mais

So, about that throuple...

I'm not going to dive into the show as a whole, plenty of people have already done that. Instead, I want to talk about the throuple in particular, in case anyone is debating to watch the show because of it.

First of all, I want to say that I applaud the show for actually including something that isn't your standard monogamous relationship. Throuples are a real thing, and they are in desperate need of representation. This show is a first step in a long journey, and I'm very glad of it. I've seen my fair share of Thai BLs at this point, and I've never seen this done before, so props to Deep Night for trying (No, I'm not counting Unforgotten Night because that was basically just a threesome without any build up or follow up, so let's not talk about that trash fire of a show).

That being said, I don't think the throuple in this show was done very well. There were interesting ideas, but the execution just wasn't it. Granted, they were the side characters of an 8 episode show, so it's not like there really was much room to explore this relationship to begin with. I think that was the first mistake. If they were going to tackle this right, the show needed to be longer with more room for development of this romance.

Let's dive into the different dynamics of these three guys, shall we?

So, first you have Seiji, who is basically the focal point. He's been best friends with Ken since they were kids and Ken has a major crush on Seiji. I think Seiji is also supposed to have feelings for Ken, but I honestly couldn't tell until he agreed to the whole throuple idea - but I think that's just because the actor was doing a poor job at depicting any semblance of chemistry. Which was part of the downfall, but anyway... So, Seiji and Ken are best friends and everything's great until Japan shows up. Seiji and Japan have a strong case of insta-love - meaning that they like each other for no discernible reason at all right from the get-go. However, Seiji plays hard to get (Assumably because he has feelings for Ken too, but I only know that now in hindsight. While watching the show, I was confused why he didn't just go for Japan, but again, bad acting paired with unclear writing). With Japan coming into the picture, Ken suddenly decides that it's now or never, and the two of them begin to compete for Seiji's love. Which ultimately results in Seiji kissing Japan, thusly making his choice, and them beginning to date. Ken is heartbroken and walking around all sad and dejected. Japan is feeling guilty over the whole thing and Seiji feels bad about it all too. Again, I assumed Seiji was feeling bad because he hurt his best friend, not because he actually likes Ken, but I digress. Japan talks about feeling guilty, leading to his friend joking about how they could always have a threesome. Japan then fantasies about said threesome which came completely out of the blue. And funnily enough, in his imagination, both other guys are basically focused entirely on him, rather than Japan and Ken focusing on Seiji, who's the one they both have feelings for. This left me confused once again, because I assume this was the writers' attempt at showing that Japan kinda has the hots for Ken or likes him or something, but it was done so poorly that it just left me feeling very wtf-ish. Anyway, after his little fantasy, Japan proposes to Seiji and Ken that Seiji could date them both. Which he definitely should've discussed with Seiji first, before mentioning anything to Ken but oh well... Japan says that Seiji having two boyfriends means double the care and double the happiness (It would also mean double the issues, but I won't ruin their fun). Ken agrees to this, and Seiji - with all the enthusiasm and emotion of a depressed piece of toast - does too. Alas, the throuple is formed. They have a group hug, and a few cute montage scenes. The end. No kissing, not actual threesome, nada. Just a lot of unanswered questions and frustrations.

Basically, during that scene of Japan proposing the throuple idea, we were led to believe that it's going to be both him and Ken dating Seiji. There is no talking about Japan and Ken also being romantically involved. Which was the biggest point of confusion for me, because of his threesome fantasy and because in one of the final scenes, Japan and Seiji both offer Ken some food - a nudge to a past scene where it was Ken and Japan fighting over whose food Seiji picks, a very unsubtle allegory for having him choose one of the two. So, maybe over time Japan and Ken developed a romantic bond too? Or maybe they didn't. I guess we'll never know. We'll never know at what point Seiji started to like Ken either. They had some moments, but it always seemed like Ken was the only one interested out of the two. Again, a mix of bad acting and bad writing I assume...

None of this is great, but it's not the worst thing I've ever seen. The biggest problem is how frustrating it all is, because this could've been SO good. They had all the ingredients, but somehow managed to bake it into something that is confusing at best and nonsensical at worst. Now, allow me to tell you how I think the entire thing should've gone.

Have Seiji and Ken be childhood friends. That was all well and good. So was Ken being secretly in love with Seiji. None of that needs to change (other than swapping the actor of Seiji because that guy had no chemistry with either of his romantic partners and no emotional range). Then, Japan comes into the picture. But instead of him being completely new to Seiji's life, have them know each other from the start. Maybe they've been friends for a while, but Japan went to study abroad and now he's back and they reunite. That way, it won't feel as insta-lovey, because they already have a bond. So, Japan comes back into Seiji's life after a while. They both have changed, grown, and matured. They catch up, notice how the other has changed, and they begin to fall for those new sides of each other. Ken realises that Seiji is spending more time with Japan and starts worrying. Things get tense when Seiji brings Japan home for dinner and the three of them have a meal. Seiji goes to the bathroom and Japan and Ken basically tell each other they're in love with him. Thus, the competition for Seiji's heart begins. Seiji is kinda enjoying this, because he obviously likes Japan and seeing him fight for him is something he finds cute But also, seeing Ken be this serious about winning him over is kinda stirring something within Seiji. Something that wasn't there before.
While competing for Seiji's love, Ken and Japan somehow get forced to spend more time together. Maybe when they go on their little getaway trip with their friends, they fight over who gets to share a room with Seiji. Eventually, their friends get fed up and put them in a room together while Seiji rooms with someone else. During that time, Ken and Japan get to know each other better, and would you believe, they somehow start realising the other isn't so bad. In fact, they start finding each other kind of cute and suddenly... What is that?... Oh, they start falling for each other too! Of course, they don't know that about the other person, so it's angsty and a lot of silent pining. Ken realises that now, he wants both Japan and Seiji to be happy, so he backs out willingly and gives them his blessing to be together. So, they kiss and are now dating.
But something feels off. They get all weird as soon as Ken is around which leads the two to have a talk. Seiji admits that despite being head over heels for Japan, he also has feelings for Ken. In what is the plot twist of the century for Seiji, Japan admits to also having feelings for Ken. Suddenly, things start clicking in Seiji's head and we get a slide show of moments between Japan and Ken that Seiji hadn't really noticed before, and he blurts out "I think he likes you too!" And thus, they decide why all the heavy hearts if there's a simple solution to the issue. They sit down Ken and Seiji is basically like "I like you. Japan likes you. I know you like me. And I know you well enough to know you like Japan too. So... What are we doing? We should all just be together." They have their little group hug and then they make things awkward when they want to kiss but aren't sure who should go first and all that jazz. It's cute and embarrassing and eventually, they get the hang of it. Throw in that threesome scene if you must. Have a cute montage of them bonding and being all happy together. Then add a special episode where they figure out their different dynamics and boundaries and all. And so, they live happily ever after. (It would be even greater if they explored the difficulties a throuple brings as well, but I don't trust these writers to handle that well, so I think it's best not to go there at all...)

If they would've done it this way, I would've easily rated this an 8 or a 9. However, with the clunky writing and the poor acting/chemistry, this storyline is only a 6. And even that is kind of generous, but I gotta praise the attempt at least. I think out of everyone, the guys playing Japan and Ken had better chemistry than either of them did with Seiji's actor, which wasn't really helping the narrative... Maybe if Seiji had better chemistry with Ken, things would've been a little less confusing, but I guess casting attractive people over actors with actual skills is a growing issue...

Despite its flaws, would I still suggest you watch this? Absolutely. Not because it's great, but because if people are rooting for this throuple, there's a greater likelihood of us seeing more throuple storylines in the future. Hopefully ones with better writing and chemistry. And one day, we'll get an actually great one. I'll be here, waiting.

Leia Mais

Comfort zone story with insane amount of kiss scenes .

I am mesmerized by this series. My first thought after watching: The amount of kiss scenes in this series is INSANE!! I am not complaining.

The most I love about this series is that:
- it has perfect story without too much overhelming drama
- reactions are reasonable
- characters are reasonable
- parents are supportive and reasonable
- development of the characters

Characters:
- Khem is so trying to be great boyfriend. He goes through a lot to understand and support Wela. He is so real to overcome his jealosy, which is reasonable, to support Wela in his job. I like how there is no need to add extra drama, break up because of something. Just pure development of the relationship.
- Seiji-Ken-Japan: They have very unexpected ending for me and I really love it! Now I want to watch more about three people in relationship, thanks a lot :D. Please give them side story, I am really curious.
- Freya is such a great parent, I adore her!

This series will be my comfort zone when I am too much overhelmed with the negative drama. Then I will come here and let me relax.

Please give S-K-J their own story series, thank you!!

Leia Mais

**My Review (Episode 8/8)**

My opinion is unlikely to change.

This is a drama made to pass the time, meaning it lacks great depth. It's pleasant, but that's all.

**Characters:**

**K:** Honestly... aside from being apparently "handsome" and having his teeth redone like three-quarters of the actors in the country, he doesn't really have a personality. In fact, I would say none of the characters have well-developed personalities. He's there to look good... he doesn't contribute anything to the story... well, I wouldn't even call it a plot because there isn't one.

**W:** It's the same... he has no personality, but again, I don't think this drama was made with the goal of character development but just to pass the time, so that's fine with me. Number 1, even though he's 1.70m tall and 19 years old... I doubt it... he's cute, but that's it.

**S:** He's the most interesting character... but again, he's not very deep... he has a bit of a personality that shows when he's with Ken...

**K:** He's one of the more complex characters, which isn't saying much... I don't understand how he doesn't have more importance.

**J:** Did you ask for a useless and truly uninteresting character? Here he is... honestly, he annoyed me. At what point do you dare to come between two men when you know that one of them has been in love with the other since childhood... it's not like he's been madly in love with S for months... he doesn't even know him. He should have stayed in his place and made sure that K's feelings weren't reciprocated before trying anything with S.

The two women are cute together...

I lament the fact that this is a typical drama. By that, I mean a drama where none of the characters are not gay even though there are about ten of them... and we have to endure seeing people dressed as women, degrading the image of drag and other forms of expression...

Well, I gave it a 6 for the acting, which isn't bad, and for the originality of the host theme.

In short, a drama to pass the time but one that won't be remembered, and I would add that including NC scenes every 5 minutes doesn't make it a mature drama.

Leia Mais

The bare bones of a good show

There's the foundation of a genuinely good story in here somewhere, but unfortunately you have to dig through a lot of meaningless-at-best, annoying-at-worst filler to get to it.
But let's focus on the positives first. This show genuinely has a lot going for it, the cinematography is good, the pole and aerial silk performances are surprisingly great, and most of the characters are genuinely likeable, realistically flawed human beings.
My personal favourite being Wela, who honestly could have been milestone for the genre on top of being incredibly charming, if only the script had been, well... better.
There are also middle aged lesbians in a thriving relationship as well as polyamory representation which we love to see. Yes, the latter could have been handled a bit more smoothly and I think that plot line would have benefited from more of a romantic buildup between Pan and Ken as well, rather than just between Seji and the other two individually, but all in all it still works surprisingly well and I am hopeful that this casual inclusion will open the door for more series and films to showcase healthy, loving polyamorous relationships.
Finally, and arguably most importantly, the show focuses on sex work and sex worker's daily lives which is an incredibly mis- and under-represented group of people, so I was understandably excited for this story.

Unfortunately, however, this is where the series really crashes and burns.
It does treat its characters with the respect they deserve and even tries to address certain topics like social and systemic discrimination of sex workers, or the fact that sex work is a paying job like any other which pays the bills and puts food on the table (which is quite an important point to highlight seeing as, statistically speaking, quite a high percentage of Thai sex workers actively use their income to support family in their home towns). But any deeper exploration of these topics is hindered by bad writing, a meandering, unfocused plot, and So. Much. Product. Placement.
There is a certain point in the series at which I thought the story was going to address the vicious cycle of repeat criminalization which allows corrupt government forces to profit off the sex work industry endlessly while publicly condemning it, but no. To my great disappointment it's just another opportunity for the almost offensively cartoonish female villain to do her thing.
The series also spends way too much time on people making out with one another and while yes, the portrayals of physical intimacy are very good and yes, I understand this can be a draw for some viewers, these scenes take up vital screen time that could have been much better spent on more important things like fleshing out the plot and weaving more cohesive storylines.
Personally I also really dislike the ending of Wela's character arc, it feels completely contrary to his previous actions and kind of devalues most of the show's core messages.

All in all, this show tries, in its own convoluted way, to offer a nuanced and respectful portrayal of sex work and shine a light on the serious issues facing people working in that industry, and for that it is to be commended.
It does, however, mostly fail to achieve what it sets out to do, making it quite difficult for me to wholeheartedly recommend watching it.
Instead I would recommend doing your own research on the issues of sex work in Thailand and around the world before watching the show and forming your own opinion :)


P.S.:
If you don't know where to start you could, for example, read some articles published by EMPOWER, a Thai sex workers' advocacy group and non-profit, or by the NSWP, a global network of human rights organisations advocating for sex workers worldwide, which offer some highly educational material.
Hell, even just reading through the wikipedia entry on sex work in Thailand can offer some reasonably nuanced insights on the topic.
For any visual learners I recommend watching John Oliver's segment on sex work (it's available on youtube for free) - it does strike a fairly satirical tone and focuses mostly on America and other western countries but a lot of the points made are universally applicable and it covers a lot of ground in a relatively short time span, so I feel it could work well as an introduction to the topic.

Leia Mais

It was okay

There’s some good and bad qualities about the show but honestly I’m not even bothered. The main couple got me giggling and feeling all cheesy so I’m hooked *insert blush emoji*.
Genuinely, this show could have the trashiest plot, and I wouldn’t even care because of Wela and Khemthis *blushing emoji*.
I love Seji and Japan but I hate a love triangle (nothing personal for the character Ken).
Honestly I got bored often and felt like some storylines were unnecessary and lack luster.
Overall the drama was okay. It wasn’t terrible but not the best also.

Leia Mais

Is that all?

It's actually a fun ride, I quite like the journey following this series, I really enjoy the chemistry between the characters (especially the main couple who have been together from the start so there are lots of moments to enjoy, I'm a bit tired of the "confused phase" in BL lol) , the plot is also light and easy to follow, it's not long-winded (like some Thai BL where I dropped, usually because the long-windedness to lengthens the duration), but in my opinion overall it's just ordinary. There's no after taste. Not bad, but nothing special either.

In my opinion, the conclusion about the side couple, Japan-Seiji-Ken, is too late. I like it, but it's too late. And it's like, okay, that's it?

But overall I recommend it for people who are looking for something to watch while filling their time. 🤣

Leia Mais

surprisingly enjoyable with loveable characters :)

this series was surprisingly good but ofc it had its pros and cons.

for the cons, I wish there were fewer nc scenes and more scenes with kenseijijapan and freyameiji cause they could've been shown a lot more. like we could've explored the way older lesbians are in a relationship as well as how a polyamorous couple are together. great and james felt very last minute and rushed as well, could've added more scenes about their relationship and dynamic.

as for the pros, the music and cinematography in the show are so good! especially scenes in the nightclub while they're performing and whatnot. khem and wela have my entire heart, I love them so much which was surprising to me as at first, I had doubts about khem but he had so much character development which was amazing. I wanted to see more of their relationship without the nc scenes though. I love wela's character, so hardworking, passionate, and lovely (and adorable ofc). I also love seijijapan's dynamic, japan is such an adorable character. love the poly representation cause I'll take whatever rep we can get and also love older queer rep that shows how different older queers think compared to younger queers. love p'dai, she had an iconic personality matched with iconic outfits. I wish they didn't just use her as a comic relief character to give us more proper trans rep.

overall, it's not exactly a masterpiece, I would say there is something that feels missing from it. Nevertheless, it's a cute show to watch just for fun with cute and complex characters. the chemistry between the actors, especially between the two male leads, was amazing. definitely worth watching if you wanna just binge a cute lil gay show.

IM SUPER EXCITED FOR DEEP LOVE THOUGH HOPEFULLY IT COMES OUT SOON CANT WAIT!

Leia Mais

It was nice

I mean... it did take a while for me to finish this series because I wasn't 100% into it at first but after putting it on hold for more than 5 months I weirdly got the energy to continue it. The actors did a good job and the story was interesting.
I did feel a little rush towards the end but it wasn't too noticeable.
Not trying to sound mean or anything but the whole trouple thing isn't my thing so when Pan, Ken and Seji all became a couple.. I wasn't the biggest fan. I found it useless to add Seji's feelings towards Ken in the end because it felt unrealistic or something? As someone who wants to go to film school, I would have done it where Seji chose Pan and Ken had to realize that his and Seji's friendship was too great to ruin which leads him to moving on. JUST SAYING.
Honestly the series isn't my favorite but at least I have it a shot. Would I reccomend it to others? I don't know.. maybe?

Leia Mais