Reviews

What is the last image you want to see?

Thai Boy Love drama has amassed a sizeable local and international fanbase, built largely on a repertoire of fluffy storylines and served by a coterie of good looking male actors.

However, a main critique is that many Thai BLs have weak plots and are full of loopholes. They often require viewers to suspend disbelief.

Over time, BL fans are exposed to quality international entertainment such as "Dear Ex (2014)", "Call Me By Your Name (2017)", "Night Flight (2018)", and "Your Heart Engraved Herein (2022)". So it is understandable that fans' expectations for Thai Bus have also increased.

Thankfully, once in a blue moon, a gem emerges from the Thai BL industry.

"I Told Sunset About You (2020) ", "Bad Buddy (2021)" & "KinnPorsche (2022)" are widely regarded memorable works in recent years.

Amongst the creative teams behind some of these titles are independent screenwriter Bee Pongsate Lucksameepong and GMMTV's senior director / producer / screenwriter Aof Noppharnach Chaiyahwimhon.

Last Twilight (2023) is their most recent collab, and has garnered an impressive 8.5 on MDL. It is a showdown with iQiYi's "I Feel You Linger In The Air (2023)" which as 8.4 on MDL.

1. Main character Mhok is a 20 plus year old mechanic. He was recently released from prison for battery and assault charges. His only remaining relative (elder sister Rung) took her own life after a failed nail salon business, mounting debt and depression. Mhok has had several ex-es (whom we assume were all female) and his most recent ex is Porjai, a waitress who is now single and pregnant by a philandering guy. Mhok is a rough and tough bad boy who smokes, drinks, gambles and fights. The kind your mother warned you about. But Mhok has a gentle soul and can be the sweetest, most caring and self-sacrificing person.

2. Day is a college sophomore (around 19 years old) and a rising national badminton doubles player. He is spoilt by his doting single mom who is a successful chef. She buys him a BMW! Day self-professes he is vain, foul mouthed and arrogant. Hence he does not have that many friends in the badminton club. His best friend is a female badminton player called Gee. Day is a closeted straight acting gay and he has had a long time secret crush on his badminton doubles partner August. We assume he has never dated before. Day got into a car accident when he had to fetch his drunk older brother Night home from a club. This caused Day to lose 80% of his vision and he blamed Night for this accident.

Due to twists of fate, Mhok ended up working as caretaker for Day. The pair starts their platonic employer-employee relationship addressing each other with the distant and polite Khun.

Mhok is grateful for having a much higher income as caretaker compared to his car mechanic income, and takes his job seriously. During this employment, Mhok encourages Day to stop staying inside his room and go out and reintegrate with society. Slowly but surely, Mhok realises his feelings for Day is more than that of a caretaker. Mhok confesses to his ex Porjai he likes Day. Porjai is not surprised because Mhok has unconsciously been talking about Day all the time.

However, this is one of the biggest loopholes in the series. If Mhok has always dated females in the past, then his acceptance of his bisexuality seems too simple / unrealistic. However, if Mhok has always been bisexual, then the show should have made this more apparent. As such this was never fully or properly addressed.

Jimmy plays Mhok. He has a really handsome side profile, with rich black eye lashes, sharp nose and wonderful skin.

Sea plays Day. He has full thick eyebrows and a very beautiful advertisement worthy smile. Both of them take care of their physiques well by frequent exercise.

I am very very glad they did not use excessive makeup or hair product for both main characters, allowing them to celebrate their natural beauty. I am quite upset why this poster is selected for the MDL library. It does not do them any justice.

Jimmy and Sea are relatively new actors. Prior to Last Twilight, they were cast for the 1st time as main roles in "Vice Versa". They have both improved tremendously in Last Twilight. Both are serious actors who give 10003%.

My favourite episode is Ep6. This is such a heart wrenching yet full of love scene with twists and turns. You will fall so deep in love with characters Mhok and Day, and Jimmy and Sea.

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This deserves more recognition tbh

I loved this, the story, the acting, the OSTs, the visuals, everything about this drama was giving what it should, the story was unique, enjoyable and not boring at all the only flaw in the story is it needs more interaction between the male leads (by interaction I mean kisses, hugs, cuddles, etc,) I felt like we didn’t get enough but it was still cute enough to feel those aspects without seeing them often. (but then again “Love is like a cat” and cats are not very affectionate right?)

I would recommend it to anyone, don’t get discouraged from watching this just because of hate comments, reviews or lower ratings, everyone has their own standards and in my opinion this should be at least 7.5/10⭐️overall.

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disappointing special, mostly recap

Overall: I was hoping to see some progression of the relationships, sweetness and spice, but it was mostly recap and insurance product placements (only 17% or 8 minutes was new footage not related to product placements). Aired on iQIYI https://www.iq.com/play/deep-night-2399g3ygk5o?lang=en_us

"Special" Breakdown (47 minutes total)
first 2 minutes was the same scene as the ending scene of episode 8
1.5 minutes of intro credits
1 minute of new footage which looked like it was from the real world/was not scripted
30 seconds of new footage
22 minute recap with Wela doing a voice over (happy Wela clarified something, but didn't like that he basically did a relationship game)
2 minutes of mostly new/extended footage with 1 relationship (this was cute)
6 minutes of insurance ad product placement (new footage, this was okay but wish they hadn't done the product placements back to back)
4 minutes of new footage starting with the mom and then Wela and Khem, some kisses and beginning of something with a very abrupt end to the scene
2 minutes of ending credits
4 minutes of the same aerial silk performance in episode 8 but slightly longer and without cuts to other characters (they could have released this as a special clip separately)
1 minute of more credits
(adds up to 46 minutes but close enough)

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Disappointing by the end

That was a weird drama. They lost half of the characters in the middle and even the direction of the plot. While Song Lin becomes more and more warm and generous, Zhou Feng gets to be self-centred to the point where she chooses to turn a blind eye to the fact that Su keeps using her to get at Song and stays loyal to Su even when Song needs her, and even when her own career would benefit from helping Song. The only moment she thinks of going back to working with her boyfriend is when she's jealous of another woman helping him. If the genders were reversed viewers would never let the character get away with it. That totally put me off from the main couple and I just skipped the last episode, not caring for the ending anymore. 6/10

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A completely perfect movie about love!

Past Lives is a rare love film, touching with its adorably simple visual language and accurate, but few-worded dialogue. The silence in this drama is more telling than spoken words could ever be.

Love theme on film is about as worn out as a book on the bookshelf. Most varieties of complications and other entanglements, we have already seen unfold from various different angles. What is happening here is not really an exception. We've seen it before, but rarely has it been this wonderful and poignant. Playwright Celine Song, making her feature film debut, has both written and directed this subtle, and constantly vibrating masterpiece.

Past Lives is about Na Young and Hae Sung. We meet them as young kids at home in Seoul, when they are an innocently blushing couple, a boyfriend and a girlfriend. When she moves with her family to Canada, they lose touch. Many years later, they look each other up on Facebook and begin an intimate digital relationship. They are close despite the distance and can and do talk about anything. After a while, Nora (as Na Young is now called), to Hae Sung's great sadness, wants to take a break. Real life soon resurfaces, and they both begin new relationships. The feelings still remain and when they see each other many years later, their friendship is tested, but also their loyalty to their partners.

In a way, this is a classic triangle drama. The story revolves around two people, and mainly affects a third. The focus is on Nora and Hae Sung, and it is their lives and longings that we get to share, and it is them that we care about. At the same time, no drama happens in a vacuum, and their actions and choices will cast a shadow over others as well. This is a film about feelings, and about love then and now. It is also about past lives and about fate, but also about accepting what has become, and not chasing what could have been.

Song has written a story that creates shockwaves of emotion in us viewers. The film lies in wait with its seemingly unassuming style, and shoots emotional arrows at us when we least expect it. The experience is heartbreakingly sweet, honest and at the same time so painful that it tears me up inside.

At first glance, the photo is not very remarkable, but still everything is so incredibly beautiful and the color tone is pleasant. The camera makes interesting horizontal runs, as if in a circular movement, which envelops the drama, but which also carefully highlights what pulsates at its core.

The dialogue is sparse, with many, long gaps of silence. However, it is never long-winded or uneventful in these, because it is often in the silence that the drama takes place. What is not expressed in words is expressed in everything else we see, in the looks, in the awkward smiles and the intensely contradictory longing for what never was. Song relies on the power of stillness, but also on her tight acting trio of Greta Lee as Nora, Teo Yoo as Hae Sung and John Magaro as Nora's husband Arthur. They are all convincing and do everything exactly right. It's hard to explain what makes their acting so good in this, because it's really about the fact that it's not an acting we watch. They don't play, they just are. It is their presence in the situation and their trust in the story, which radiates such obviousness that it rubs off on us.

Past Lives is a fantastically fine and multifaceted film, as beautiful as it is painful and as low-key as it is explosive. As the film moves towards its inevitable end, there are questions left unexplained, but there's no rush in me to get any answers. The magic is in the enigmatic and unspoken, and when the film ends, I end so with tears in my eyes, but with a wide smile in my heart.

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So confused and so many unanswered questions

Idk, episodes 1-4 I liked the series. I love the Parallel Universe troupe, also Songjam and Aksorn were really cute together, I considered it 10/10

Then episode 5 hit and It got extremely confusing to the point my head was hurting because I was trying to figure out what was going on. I enjoyed the plot twist though and finding out who Kyo was but I had a lot of unanswered questions. I then dropped my rating to 9.5/10

Now episode 6 (ending) was rushed, I feel like. We didn't get to see much of Kyo and Aksorn's relationship together, We didn't get to see Aksorn's dad talking to Kyo after finding out they were dating, and we also didn't get to see them actually writing the book, it just went straight to Aksorn passing them out and having a book signing

I'm just leaving this series so confused and with so many unanswered questions, The series had so much potential but it was rushed into episodes 5 & 6 because they tried to fit this complex storyline within 6 episodes when it needed to be at least 12 to get the full story across, I don't think people understand that Parallel Universe is so complex that stories and series can't be rushed with this topic because there's so much room for confusion if it not explain properly. Take 'Two Worlds' with Max and Nat, for example, that is a parallel universe but they explained everything thoroughly so it's not confusing and you aren't left with so many questions. I really wish they made this series a 12-episode so we can see everything. It sucks we only got to see like 20 minutes of Kyo and Aksorn's relationship.

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What a beautifully written and well-depicted drama!

Byun Hye Yeong is hands down my favorite female character in all of the Korean drama's I have ever seen. She is such a role model to all the women out there. Love her character to pieces! Her values are so developed and progressive it is so hard to see female lead characters like her. Kudos to the writer and the muse the character was based on! Jung Hwan complimented her so well. He looked after her even when she pretended to be strong enough to do things alone and was supportive of her regardless of how foolish his mom was. He didn't enable his mother but actually called her out on her shit.

Joon Yeong was a bit dislikable at times but once he found out that the got his girlfriend pregnant he sure grew up a lot. NGL hate characters like Yoo Joo but she also grew up even though she took her sweet time doing it.

All of the couples in the drama were so good to each other. They took little missteps a time or two but always made sure to get things right. Well worth the time spent. I would highly recommend it to anyone who asks in future.

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A Total Green Flag Male Lead

Not having watched the other related lakorn series like the Suparburoot Juthathep ones or the first Devaphrom one, I decided to jump straight into this one, hoping that I would be able to make sense of the show without knowing the characters' backgrounds. Fortunately, it was easy to understand the connections and relationships based on the references dropped in the show.

Dhevaprom: Kwanruetai, the second part of the Devaphrom series, featured a young FL, Kwanruetai, who was plucky and street smart but sometimes quite rash. Kwan was also a natural beauty but was forced by her mother to hide all her loveliness under boyish clothes and caps. Her mother was the link to the Juthathep family, as she was M.L. Maratee Dhevaprom, the Nang'ek who was crazy about the ML's father and was totally in her own world, with her misconceptions about the Juthathep family betraying her, more specifically the ML's father jilting her.

Despite her rough and tough appearance, Kwanruetai managed to steal Khun Chat, our ML's heart. Khun Chat was an idealistic doctor known to his family as being disinterested in relationships and love. I enjoyed watching Khun Chat slowly fall for Kwanruetai's charms without her even trying. She was different from the other ladies that he had met, and one could tell that he was attracted to her after they butted heads a few times.

I like watching their relationship progress and Khun Chat was really such a green flag. He never wavered once he had his heart set on the FL and was determined to overcome all obstacles to be with her. His consistency and steadfast love for Kwanruetai from the start to the end showed his stability and commitment to her despite the trouble her mother gave him. Even though Kwanruetai wasn’t sure about her feelings at times and found it difficult to deal with the challenges, Khun Chat was still there for her.

It is also great that both leads were capable in their own ways. Despite his sweet baby face, the ML had a fine muscular physique and, being in the military, could fight. So can the FL, and she protected her loved ones quite well.

This lead couple was cute! Yada was cast well - she pulled off the tomboy tough act but is really quite lovely. Mikey is gorgeous and a good fit for Yada. There was chemistry between them, and they were adorable together. Being fairly new, both actors can certainly improve in their facial expressions, and sometimes, when Yada cried, I cringed. As for Mikey, he often had the same frozen look on his face, but when he smiled, he melted hearts, including mine. In general, both did a decent job and did not drag the drama down for me.

The second couple was sweet as well. Additionally, it was nice to see the strong family bonds among the Juthathep family, especially the siblings and their cousins. Many interesting characters showed up in the show, which piqued my interest. Now, I am intrigued by the stories of the older generation, so hopefully, I can find the shows from the 2013 series.

One drawback was that the villains felt one-dimensional. Of course, there was a female character who was always scantily clad and convinced that the ML was hers. Luckily, she did not appear in every episode, so she did not become too annoying. There was no second male lead; instead, there were heartwarming and supportive half-brothers.

What I disliked the most was how the FL always chose to give up everything and sacrifice her happiness for her mother, who clearly was mentally abusive towards her. I know in many Thai dramas, there is a strong emphasis on filial piety toward parents, but in this show, the mother was just too much. At first, I didn't even want to see her get any redemption. I only wanted the gratification of seeing her being punished for her ignorance and vileness.

However, the ending wrapped things up well and I don’t even mind the mother having found her way. There were even a 3rd, 4th, and 5th couple with their own sweet moments.

Overall, this was an enjoyable show, fun to watch, and worth the time. Now, I look forward to catching up with the first drama in the series and following the third one, which is airing right after. I would love to see Kwanruetai and Khun Chat again.

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LOVED IT !

Finally we have a BL with more than 30min eps after so long !
This one is really good. You might think it’s some fluffy romance but no ! It isn’t !
It deals with grieving, suicide attempt (at the beginning), being rich, poor and their disadvantages. I love the idea and the concept of series, they are sooo good and I love how it’s giving and not giving love alarm at the same time lol !

Btw lying about knowing a dead person like myung ha did is actually crazy but we gonna ignore it bruh… 💀

To get back to my review on this series, the cast in itself and the cinematography are really so good !
Episode 7 is my fav so far ! I had my eyes bawling the whole episode and its ending ugh 🥹

About the characters, I loved them ALL. The quatuor of boys : myung ha, yeo woon, sang won and the other friend, AND the side characters, like the girls !

Now to end this, shoutout to sang won. He is my fav character so far, he has an actual lore (with his mother abandonning him kinda, to pursue money instead), him having a crush on myung ha and trying to get his attention, although the other litteraly continously ignored him 😭💀.
I mean my second lead syndrome might be playing a part in this BUT still ! Myung ha never actually care about him in my opinion and that was always clear. Like okay maybe at the beginning he was being ´weird ´ (not really) but even after, when he was genuinely nice to him, myung ha never ever took the time to get to know him at least 😭. Like bro it won’t mean you reciprocate his feelings or whatsoever just because you are talking to him ! 💀

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Part 1 and the hope of a season 2 carries my rating...

The good:
-The story has good bones. Continuing from part 1, the story is interesting, has bits that I love to see in a drama, but also bits that make this story unique, excellent graphics and visuals, and cool ML and FL with a budding romance.
-Cast was excellent 👋

The bad:
-The flowww. I noticed it in the first part, but it was really noticeable here.
-The fact that it was a part 2? I watched them seamlessly, so to me it was like one season with 12 episodes, but if I watched it live I would've been pissed lul.
-Weird ending.

Overall, I want to really like this drama because the story is so good. But the weird pacing, and what felt like a rushed ending, is really holding me back. Our ML is "dead", so in season 2 we could bring our ML back, rekindle the romantic flame, fight a new villain and...? I just feel like we could've done it all in one full season. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ BUT I'm still holding out, because we never got a kiss scene and that feels wrong for k-drama 😅

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