BLISS RATING: ★★★★
“It takes a lot of time to make a bad person better. But for a good person to turn bad; it only takes a moment.” – Quote from Laws of Attraction
Surprisingly, this series works well as a mystery story and a good ‘who done it’ chronicle, but as a BL it foundered. The above quote literally summed up this series. For it is all about an unprincipled attorney’s futility in trying to be good but has fallen so far down the rabbit hole of evil that it is impossible for him to dig himself back up to the sunlight.
Tinn (Jam Rachata) is a hard-working young man who has taken on the parenting role of his young niece after an accident left her parents dead. He is an astonishingly handsome man who is driven by ethical principles and hard work. Along with his grandmother who operates a small restaurant, eek out an existence.
One day tragedy strikes, and his young niece is killed by a careless driver. Everything points to it being the son of a ‘wolf in sheep’s clothing’ senator’s son named, Thanthai (See Parattakorn), who is a spoiled, overindulgent, young man protected by a bodyguard, Thee (Pearl Satjakorn), who is obviously deeply in love with Thanthai. Yet, not all is as it seems. The story twists and turns until it cannot anymore, and it finally reveals who the actual culprit is.
Honestly, it was not difficult to figure out who committed the crime, but it sure is a vibrant story to get there.
Yet the center of attention is a rather sinister looking, evil grinning, tightly-wound-up, nearly sociopathic, incredibly handsome attorney named Charn (Film Thanaput).
He plays this part so deliciously evil and with such an untethered ethical twist that, forgive the comparison, like Hannibal Lector – simply eating anyone (figurately) who gets in his way. His mind is sharp, focused, and always directed towards the goal of money and power. His reasoning, as the story unfolds, is quite logical, but sad and empty. Yet, frankly, it is understandable. Although he worked for Senator Thatthep (Not Vorarit), Charn begins to have doubts as to the Senator’s son’s guilt and suspects there is more to the story of Tinn’s niece’s accident. Because of a series of misfortunes, Charn is removed from the case which further lends credence to something seems very off with the explanation that the son hit the little girl in a drunk driving incident as the cause. Therefore, Charn decides to take the case of Tinn against Senator Thattihep, not because it is the right thing to do but because he does not like to lose, and he is attracted to Tinn.
I cannot say that the story is disinteresting; it is not. However, it does get overplayed and after a while, too many characters and too many scenarios convolute the story, and it almost becomes a farce. That whole story needed to be tightened up quite a bit. But Charn never really loses his sinister persona. He remains an enigma between doing good for evil reason and then turning around with no hesitation doing evil for good. It is doubtful that he will ever change and the best that could be hoped for is that Tinn can maintain a sort of checks and balance for his ‘good and evil’ conflict.
If you are expecting romance, there is little here. It barely reached the qualifications for being a BL. The problem is that the development of both characters was so focused on who they were that there was no room for compromise or development of a relationship. Charn was pure evil. Tinn was pure principle They barely saw eye to eye. Perhaps they loved each other but this series chose not for us to see that. They barely kissed, did not have sex, and had zero chemistry. Either as a couple or as actors. I never thought that they were a couple, ever. Even their ‘wedding’ was rather lame, although I deeply appreciated the sentiment behind what the message was and truly hope that Thailand will soon recognize same-sex marriages. Kudos for getting that message across loud and clear.
Who really S.T.O.L.E. this series? This is easy to determine and frankly I do not think I have ever done this before. But everyone else in this series EXCEPT the two main actors stole this series, honestly. Each of them showed so much more complexity in their characters and their development that they were way more interesting to watch. Kudos to Grandma (Duangdao Jarujinda) who went from a grieving grandmother to a stalwart of strength of understanding; Rose (Organ Rasee) and Maya (Silvy Pavida) friends of Chan who understood him the best and unconditionally supported him; Nawin (Nat Thewphaingam), former ex of Chan, for being so weirdly over the top (even though I did not particularly like the part); to even Not as the Senator who was just evil enough to be believable without being a caricature. There were others also who could be mentioned here that added so much dimension to this series as well. They all deserve kudos.
There are a lot of hidden quintessence in this series that are dealt with only superficially, however. The most interesting one is the odd relationship between Thanthai and his bodyguard, Thee. Thee has such a deep unrequited love for him that it is almost painful to watch. And Thanthai, although presented as a villain, is one of the biggest victims in this series. He is abused emotionally and physically by his father to the point it is a wonder he was not reduced to a simple gelatinous mass by the poisonous treatment from his father. Thee has kept him together and alive and his love has given him hope. What I did not like about this series is that it could not make up its mind about their relationship.
It seemed like a bromance, then something more but never quite clear. They waited until almost the end of the series until they finally kissed but when they did, I could feel the passion and eros coming from the screen. Way more than anything coming from Tinn and Charn. I do wish they had developed and made that relationship more intense and sensual. They really displayed an underlying connection between them more so than anything I saw or felt than between Tinn and Charn.
It was all wasted.
I had wished their story had been told instead. Thanthai is a profoundly sad figure and is a product of years of abuse and neglect. What a story to be told!
One could write a book on the complexities of Charn’s lack of ethical behavior as an attorney and a human being. That eerie smile of his haunts me and is almost nightmarish and when he is in that mode, he is literally not human. I hesitate to think of what he is capable of doing or rationalizing. His behavior, if he were a real person, at the very least is very disturbing, and, if I were trying to be postulatory, I would recommend no one even remotely develop any type of serious relationship with him. He is scary to the core.
Overall, this is a pleasurable series from the point of being entertaining. However, as a BL, I would have to rank it as one of the lowest. It only went through the motions. It got so locked up into telling a good story that it forgot to show us what was behind the good story. That would have even been forgivable if they had developed more intense love stories, especially emphasizing Thanthai and Thee. If they had, there would not have been a dry eye in the audience, including mine.
I missed the romance in this one.
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