BLISS RATING: ★★★
“The memories between you and me, they never disappear. But the scars you left on me, they never disappeared either.” – Quote from Goddess Bless You From Death
Visually, this series certainly has its selling points. And it sure starts out with a fascinating and dynamic introduction. Certainly, one cannot argue with the dynamics of the storyline; they are intriguing and entertaining. Oh, by the way, there is also a love story, actually two, thrown in as a ruse to throw you off guard from the gruesomeness. I simply do not consider the focus primarily a BL, however.
This is a very involved murder-mystery involving occult, supernatural spiritualism, ancient sorcery and utterly inept police work in order to stretch the story out to 13 episodes. So much of this story was so contrived that after a while, I was getting rather bored with the incompetence of the police and the dumbness of the leadership from the police echelon. In today’s world, it would be understandably hard to accept the abilities and trust the reliance of spiritualists who claim to see ‘ghosts’ as the basis for solving crimes. While I am not questioning such practices or beliefs, this story frankly carried it to an extreme, bordering on all kinds of creatures, both human and spirits, acting completely irrational. That I had a hard time wrapping my head around as a person who tries to see the world through some sort of logical lens in a world right now that is not showing much signs of being very logical.
Of course, all that is irrelevant. Is this series entertaining? Sure, to some degree. But it got lost in its own complexities. It frankly delved into so much more than an occult murder mystery. It veered into past love breakups, families abandoning their children, personal pains of insurmountable guilt for the loss of others, parent-child unresolved issues, as well as certain individuals being controlled by negative spirits.
The murder mystery itself is centered around a complex interwoven story of serial killings for sacrificial reasons to enhance the continuation of life for a father and son in highly ritualistic manners. The complexities of arranging these murders are conducted right under the noses of a gaggle of top-notch police with forensic experts and a spiritual advisor who can see, hear and talk to ghosts.
Singha (Pavel Naret) has been assigned to investigate this gruesome murder scene when he inadvertently discovers someone at the scene that may be a suspect in the ritualistic murders. Singha is a handsome, well-built, serious police investigator who takes his job with solemnity and integrity. During his investigation, he rescues Thup (Pooh Kritten) from nearly falling from the second story crime scene. Initially, Thup seems to be acting strange, like he is almost possessed by spirits. Through extensive questioning, Thup reveals that he has a spiritual connection to the occult and can see and hear spirits of the dead. Having been raised by a Shaman when his mother abandoned him, he is versed on the rituals and incantations to ward off and thwart the more aggressive spiritual entities. Early on, Thup is ruled out as a suspect in this murder case and Singha begins to see him as a valuable asset, if used as a spiritual advisor for this case. With Thup being alone and isolated, Singha invites him to stay with him. Singha also seems to have a natural ability to ward off from Thup, the negative spirits that want to harm and/or destroy Thup.
Slowly, their relationship does begin to develop and intensifies into a physical one. However, true to formulaic BL requirements, there must be a roadblock to their happiness, which of course is pertinent to the story in some tangential fashion. Singha’s old relationship, Police Inspector King (Otto Phachara) comes into the pictures to gum up the works and try and create a wedge, which he is unable to do (yea!). Of course, many episodes are devoted to this back and forth. King was Singha’s old police partner and former lover but betrayed his loyalty and devotion. Although King comes back into the picture to help speed-up the solving of these ritualistic murders (which in essence means controlling the narrative), in essence, it seems to have had the opposite effect.
There is a more realistic and honest redevelopment of a failed relationship between the forensic doctors that is so much better advanced than the one between Singha and Thup. Both Sey (Michael Kiettisak) and Darin (Top Ten Supakorn) are forensic doctors who are instrumental in this murder mystery. The revitalization of their relationship is both honest, sincere, and nicely done with a good deal of genuine unfeigned human interactions between the two of them that made their reconnection seem undistorted. While their relationship was based on previous ups and downs that went unresolved, now a genuine willingness to work on bettering their communications with one another and seeing issues through the eyes of the other becomes front and center. Their new relationship just felt connected with seriousness and authenticity.
Now let us get into the heart of the story which is the union of Singha and Thup. Honestly, I do not want and I try very, very hard NOT to have my reactions from one series affect how I feel about the same actors in another; after all, these are completely separate stories with utterly different characters. Yet, when it comes to Pooh Kritten as Thup, I just have a strong negative visceral reaction to his acting. While perhaps not as intense as his previous role, I simply find his acting indistinguishable and interchangeable, no matter what his role. He is the SAME persona no matter the part. What I wrote about him in another review simply holds true here. ‘He displayed no personality, no change in expression other than his silly naïve child-like expression and no sense of depth to his character at all. That performance was at best lazy and lame.’ Perhaps not as bad as previously, but that constant smirk on his face and his odd affectations with his head movements were the same. His acting always feels incomplete as if he is holding back to allowing the real character to emerge. Perhaps the nasal quality of his voice makes it sound like he is whining all the time. I just do not believe in his characterizations. He comes across for me as insincere. There just is no depth to his characterizations.
Whereas with Pavel Naret as Singha, he singularly carried this series. He took this rather ridiculous premise along with a partner that in my opinion was not his equal in acting or deliverance and had to carry the weight of the series and make the relationship feel believable. I could not accept that the two of them were a couple, but I did give credence to Pavel assuming the character of Singha while Pooh only asserting in his performance, not his character. If he did, we would have seen, felt, and understood a completely different persona from his persona from his previous series.
Who really S.T.O.L.E. this series? This story gets very convoluted and twisted in demented ways and one of the culprits in the plot to kill victims evolved into such a fascinating entity. Victor Chatchawit as Bom is a completely mesmerizing character. The son of the mastermind behind the killings is a mere pawn yet deadly conniving and manipulative. Able to partially function in society, he was able to lure the victims and then mercilessly kill them as part of the ritual. We see him go from an average young man to one completely possessed by evilness and mental illness. Victor’s acting is so intense, and we see him decompensate before our eyes and kill without consideration or hesitation. Victor captured within his eyes and movements someone who is completely possessed with evilness and mental deterioration. He was ‘scary’ and projected evilness with undiminished conviction. His performance is such that one for which one cannot take your eyes from. He slithers around almost unnoticed and strikes when you least expect it. He made this role completely and totally work for the evilness that it was. Victor honestly outshines everyone else in this series for acting intensity. His range was so felicitous. I never once thought of him as other than a real, authentic deranged character.
The cinematography of this series is special and unique. The murder mystery starts out feeling tangible with the surge of the occult and spiritual demonic characters, adding an extra dimension of anxiety to the story. That murder mystery kept getting more complex and involved when it honestly did not need to be. The police functioned more and more ineptly trying to solve the burgeoning murder mysteries until they finally came across as buffoons.
Regrettably, for me, I never believed in the love connection between Singha and Thup but completely accepted the one between Sey and Darin. The story itself goes off into side tangents that are unnecessary and superfluous. Sure, they are entertaining, but what was the purpose of this story? Was it an occult murder-mystery or a BL? Even the ending became confusing as to how they wanted to tie up all the complex loose ends of the story. As an example, the whole explanation as to Bom having Lupus made zero sense to me. While it is a serious and debilitating condition, it would NOT be a logical reason for his father to use demonic methods to extend his life; Lupus (generally speaking) is very manageable with modern medicine and proper diet. Even if he had it, which they said he did, it would have been highly unlikely Bom would have had the strength he displayed to fight and kill. Lupus is a debilitating condition causing very frequent fatigue. It drives me crazy when simple basic research is not used to create plausible reasons.
Throwing in a few tear-jerking scenes with a dead sister and compassionate temple mother scenes may make for great entertainment but it does not enhance the development of whatever this series is supposed to be. I saw nothing here that gave me pause that said that Singha and Thup were a couple. Kissing is weak, love making nearly non-existent with the typical standard rehearsed moves. No passion, no sense of intensity; the so-called death scene at the end with Singha and Thup was laughably bad and a complete sham. Their whole relationship is like a romp through some sort of a pre-pubescent fantasyland.
Ironically, there was more honesty exchanged between Singha and King than anything I saw between Singha and Thup.
I wish these series would start to grow-up and present straightforward relationship developments without all the fluff and side-shows for a change. I do not want to have to dig to find the BL.
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