Dark Blue Kiss (2019)

Aquele Chernobyl que a gente ama

Bora lá, vou ser um pouco advogada do diabo aqui... existem muitas críticas negativas contra essa série, eu assisti toda a franquia, desde Kiss e confesso que os dois casais são o mais puro suco de Chernobyl, não dá pra desmentir isso. Mas apesar de não gostar dessa dinâmica de relacionamento, eu gostei da série, com algumas ressalvas.

Já comecei me apaixonando pela abertura, bem estilo novela mexicana, e além da estética, não traz aquele monte de spoiler que normalmente as aberturas trazem.

Os personagens tem uma química incrível, gosto da atuação deles. A amizade realmente se fortaleceu, as personagens femininas não tem defeito, um grande salve pra rainha Sandee, linda e sensata sempre. As famílias são tudo que há de bom, e lembrem-se que é uma série de 2018, onde muitaaaaa coisa não era minimamente normalizada. O pai do Pete é maravilhoso, rachei de rir quando ele foi falar das camisinhas. O casal secundário, apesar de muito aclamado, não me emocionou tanto... achei que Mork demorou uma eternidade pra se situar no relacionamento, até pra aceitar o namoro fez cu doce até a última cena, enquanto o Sun estava lá todo emocionado. E além de tudo, tinha a coisa de não querer dormir junto, isso me passa uma vibe muito homofóbica, pelo menos da forma que foi posto na série.

Como já disse, acho os casais bem tóxicos. O Pete é ciumento, controlador, possessivo, chato pra crl. Senti coisas positivas sobre ele, ele via a família sendo super bem sucedida e queria crescer por seu próprio mérito. O Pete de Kiss das séries anteriores, que não suportava a ideia de namorar um cara, agora é a cadelinha do Kao, que infelizmente não sabe usar isso a seu favor pq é um grande paspalho. A questão de não assumir, eu posso até entender, mas meu Deus, ele achava que ia esconder até quando??? O ideal é que ele tentasse conversar com a mãe, inclusive a mãe era super gente boa, não consegui entender a relutância dele. O Pete, diante do conflito, apesar do Kao ter mentido, foi super incompreensivo, típico garoto rico e mimado, amei quando a Sandee jogou a real na cara dele.

E o capítulo à parte é o Non, meu Deus que ódio desse moleque do inferno. Depois até entendi, ele buscava desesperadamente o amor e atenção do pai, e definitivamente ser gay não o ajudaria, mas isso não justifica a atitude criminosa dele, sem falar que ele tramou o tempo todo pra ficar com Kao. Uma das coisas que me deixou bem chateada, foi ele não ter sido punido legalmente.

Sobre os aspectos técnicos, o que me incomodou foi a continuidade de algumas cenas, como se pulasse de uma cena para outra sem ligação nenhuma, dando a impressão que uma parte tinha sido cortada. Além disso, nada a reclamar.

Apesar dos defeitos, amo essa série e com certeza recomendo a todos.

Ps: pra quem amou o casal como eu, no mesmo ano (2018) a série "Our skyy" em sua primeira temporada, levou ao ar um episódio especial de Dark blue Kiss.

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Left me feeling anything but blue

This one is an underappreciated gem of a show!
Let me start of by saying I did not watch Kiss, nor did I watch Kiss Me Again.
What I did instead was watch a fan-made cut of Kiss Me Again (edited and linked here on MDL by the lovely Claudeville) which provided me with a solid grasp of all the characters' backgrounds and relationships and was more than sufficient for me to be able to fully appreciate DBKs continuation of the story.
Production quality wise, the series is excellent. The visuals are lovely, the music is fantastic (I am an absolute sucker for dramatic strings, so the intro is right up my alley), and script and performances are incredible.
I've seen some people take issue with the continuity errors between DBK and its predecessors, but personally I think the changes made were for the best.

DBK is still a soap opera, but it focuses heavily on the real issues many queer men have to deal with. The characters' overlapping relationships are complex and there is plenty of drama, but there is a sense of realism and authenticity to the story that is rare in this genre.
One thing the show does particularly well is the way it explores the many difficulties and issues surrounding a coming-out.
It shows the heavy relationship strain of one partner being closeted, the insecurities this can cause to arise, the resentment constant secrecy can breed. It highlights the painfully real social and financial concerns closeted people have to reckon with when they are considering coming out.
Where other shows main concern lies in whether or not their characters can find the courage to openly be themselves, DBK forces its characters to consider whether they even have the luxury to make that choice in the first place. Another user, Moonbyulie, elaborates further on this in their review, which makes for very interesting reading and I highly recommend having a look at that as well should you be interested.

Another strong point of the series are its characters. They are all (deeply) flawed, yet highly likeable individuals whose conflicting backgrounds and ideals lead to many painful clashes and whose individual journeys of character growth are both gut-wrenching and an absolute joy to watch.
They may at times make frustratingly poor choices, but they never stop calling each other out on their problematic behaviour and they never stop supporting and caring for one another.
Even Non, the show's ostensible "villain", is an incredibly complex character who walks the line between hateful and sympathetic perfectly.

In short, I highly recommend giving this show a shot. It's not perfect - some plot points certainly fall a bit short and some writing choices are questionable - but it also offers some of the most compelling and layered characterisations to be found in this genre.
If you enjoy well-written romance dramas that tackle real-world issues with skill and a good dash of humour, then this one is for you.
If you're in the market for a more serious and mature slice-of-life story which provides a well-balanced mix of romance and character study, then you will enjoy this series as well.

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Story is uniqe but that good as I expected.
Too watch this drama I had first watched kiss me againg petekao. Even that the relation between main lead dissapoint me a little. The main leads are good compatable as both good friends(among everyone) and compatable couple(in no one around).First they were a secret lovey-doveky couple and their relationship was only known by Pete fatherand he has no objection with it. This was all good. But when the reivel of Pete arieved(Non) the things gone a little upside down(it is hard to explain with words). Pete and Kao were in relationship for almost 2.5 /3 years. They should have some metual understanding among them. Pete should have understand Kao's stuation and Kao also should have told and explain to him without lieing. If this I ignore this part as they had no choice, but I can't the part of not to beleiveing in kao's words. Even knowing that Non is a spoil kid and a brat. Pete is insecure for Kao with him because of Non's charecter but he should not have separeted with Kao by beleiving in Non' words.
Other supported lead role Sun & Mork.. What I should I say about them. I litterary continued the drama because of them. They are both manly nothing like one is weak anfd other is not. Their chemistry was good. I wished they could have a sapareted drama. In my opinion they shine more than the main lead couples.

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Binged it and remembered why I like watching BL

So freaking good.
I just finished watching this a couple minutes ago and I am still riding the high however I just truly loved this show. I even got sad that I had to part ways with these characters I had fallen for and their stories.
First of all I felt it handle so many aspects that are under talked about in Thai BL and in a very realistic manner like coming out and sexuality.
Then the Chemistry!! I honestly didn’t expect to like them this much, they seemed very comfortable with each other and PeteKao felt very genuine, just young guys still in the process of finding themselves together.
The acting was very very solid as well I never felt it lacking from any of the cast, actually I might’ve shred a tear or two and gotten so mad that I wanted to break something.
SunMork were really amazing too, I liked their dynamic and PoddGawin serve the visuals really good.
Finally, I just had a very freaking good time watching this show, I had been some month not being able to watch any bl and dropping some of the new ones so I decided to watch this old gem and it did not disappoint, very recommended!!

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The cast is cute, but the acting and characterization is weak

Overall, I liked this title. Cute cast and the story was alright. However, not sure if it was me, but I donʻt think I felt any chemistry between any of the couples. The acting was subpar for certain cast-members. But also it almost felt like there was no romance between the main couple. They had really romantic moments, but the story centralized on their conflict, which I know is the point of telling the story, but it seemed like majority of the show showed them butting heads. And the romance between Sun and Mork didnʻt really make sense. It was never understood why they were infatuated with each other in the first place, there didnʻt seem to be any legitimate reason for them to be drawn to each other, other than that they hated each other, and for some reason love always seems to be born out of hate. Honestly, I would rewatch this just to see the cast together.

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Acting was great even with horrible script and pacing

Hear me out, don't come at me without reading the whole thing.

I have likes and dislikes. First I ll say what I disliked and then go to likes.

DISLIKE

1) Script:

Frankly speaking, I have often found Thai bl to have this issue. The scripts are just too bad. There is no meaningful dialogue between any of the couples or characters for that matter. Mostly, the dialogues are just too corny and cringy and hard to sit through. It was same here. Pete and Kao seem to be so cheesy that I was cringing half the time. Instead of being romantic, a little naughty and playful that we saw in Kiss me again, here they were excessively sweet and corny. Come on, who speaks like that in real life??!! I found Sun and Mork to have better conversation and at least it felt more grounded

2) Pete's attitude:

This was a major issue to me. I already knew that Pete is short tempered and pampered. So, being previleged as he was n his father being the most accepting n understanding father ever, he couldn't see Kao's side of the problem and acts very immaturely and unreasonably at times. I was hoping to see some growth in Pete's character in this show. After being in relationship for a year, you would expect him to be more trusting and understanding towards his other half. However, I was sorely disappointed. It took just one lie from Kao to make Pete lose all trust and fly off the handle. But I would have understood, if he was angry but he refused to listen to Kao at all and understand what led to him lying to Pete. Infact, when he did decided to have a conversation, he easily led himself be misled by Non when he (of all people) already knew what kinda asshole he was. I was so angry when Kao was sexually harassed by Non and after the horrid experience, he needed Pete, he wanted to apologise for not heeding his words before and tell him what happened, so Kao called him again and again but not only Pete ignored it but went on to switch off the phone, and delete all their pictures together. (What if Kao was in a serious trouble? What if Kao had gotten raped that night?) Pete's selfish attitude made me so mad. Being angry is fine but Pete acted as if Kao has murdered his family or something!!! I was so unhappy and angry by his attitude. Finally, they did show some growth of Pete but that happened in a matter of 1 ep...yeah you heard me right, 1 damn ep.... Instead of a gradual growth over the entire series. This was very disappointing.

3) Pacing (esp in Mork and Sun's relationship)

How do I explain this?! The beginning was so strong, it was going so well, with the establishing of Non as antagonist, Mork and Sun's relationship, Kao and Pete's relationship etc but then like in a matter of 3-4 eps in the end of the series all the hell broke loose and got repaired too. For eg: Mork and Sun 's relationship started off slow from Sun mistrusting Mork to finding his honest and kind side, then slowly developing trust on him, starting to share their troubles and forming an unlikely bond. But almost all at once, the relationship went from 2 to 200. They went on a city wide drive, confessed, kissed, had sex, became couple and had couple's fight as well in a matter of like 3-4 eps Wtf??!! Because it accelerated so much, that the slow developing relationship and the forming chemistry suddenly evaporated. I was expecting so much from this couple that I was left very sour and annoyed. Same for Kao and Pete, they were all lovey dovey and in a relationship, having sweet romantic moments and then BAM, all at once, Pete got to know Kao's lie, he almost broke up, Non showed his true colors, attacked Kao, destroyed his reputation, Kao confessed to his mother, Pete helped Kao restore his reputation and they made up. I cannot help but feel it to be so hurried. I couldn't get the feeling of crisis at all. Even it was just 1 ep where Pete was shown to have grown a bit, and having calm discussion with Kao. Done!! If the directors worked on the pacing the story would have came out so good!!

4) Non

Godddd!! Where do I begin?? In the beginning I was truly impressed to see that the directors were trying to make a complicated or layered character but I was very badly led down. He was plain annoying. I was waiting to see a guy neglected, deprived of love from his only parent and trying to fill that emptiness through Kao. I wanted to see an antagonist who was 3 dimensional and relatable instead we got an asshole, who used his past as an excuse to mess up the life of the only person who showed him affection ???

LIKES:

Even with the flaws above, there were things that you just have to like about the series

1) Acting

The actors no doubt were really great. I esp appreciate Tay. I feel he is one of the better actors I have known in thai bl. He really brings out that previleged ignorant boy who easily loses temper and is possessive and stubborn to the point of absurdity but he still had potential to be a better person thanks to his love for Kao. He fleshed out the character really well. Though, the script was bad and the story's pacing has issues, I still found myself appreciating his acting. Infact, some of the extremely corny lines, he pulled it off amazingly. If not for that fact, I might have just skipped those scenes. New did bring out a good performance. I esp liked his scenes in the end of the series where he was attacked, and then confessed to his mother, then his sorrow on him and Pete almost breaking up but, I felt that in romantic scenes, he was a little stiff. I could see him trying but it was not as natural as it was for Tay. Sun and Mork did a really good job. Though, Mork has room for improvement, just like New, I could see him trying. The romantic scenes looked a little off because of his awkward and stiff performance but Sun was really natural and even with the bad script, he really did a good job. I could see how he was looking all lovey dovey towards Mork and how he was trying to seduce him. It was really cute. The side characters also did a good job, Tay and New's frds, rain, and manow...all were good in their own right. It did not look out of place or exaggerated ??

Music:

I do not care if anyone liked the OST or not. I bloody hell LOVED it. It was new and there was something so beautiful and dark about it. In the beginning, I found the music to be odd but it grew on me. And as more and more the eps progressed, the music seemed very appropriate. The music placement in many of the scenes were very well done esp the music during the romantic moments of Kao and Pete was so good ??

Story:

Yeah I know what your gonna say "dude you just said the story was not good" but no the story was good, the script and the pacing was not. The story of Mork and Sun esp was awesome. I could totally see an older brother mistrusting a troublemaker like Mork who uses more of his hands than brains. I also liked the fact that it was one of the only relationship where both were not college students and it felt mature rather than hormone fuelled teenage love. I esp appreciated the development of the relationship and how Sun slowly came to like the boy as time passed. If not for the terrible pacing where their relationship suddenly spiked, the story of their slow blooming relation was so beautiful. Also Kao and Pete's story was awesome to me. I liked the rivalry of Pete and Non, and how they were as couple, and how they were having disagreements but still found time for bit of naughtiness and romance. Yet again if not for the horrible pacing and Pete's zero to no growth over the series, the story would not have felt so rushed and Pete such an immature, irresponsible, suspicious bastard!!

Well here you have it. I loved the series but it has flaws. Its not perfect but it is definitely worth a try. I recommend anyone who wishes to watch it...to please check out Kiss me again before watching it. Thank you!!

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Hate/Love relationship

With this BL drama I have a hate/love relationship. There are many things that I absolutely ADORE, but there are also MANY things I despise. One of my biggest issues I have is with Kao. I cannot understand Pete's affection for this whimpy little liar. Although Kao starts to redeem himself from ep.8 onwards, I still feel that Pete is wayyy out of his league. Kao and Non kind of deserve each other is all I'm saying.
The relationship between Sun and Mork had me screaming. I have a tendency to like secondary couples more than primaries, but these guys are the GOAT when it comes to slow burn until it blazes. I hate the aggressiveness of both Mork and Sun. And there is no explanation on why especially Mork is so violent. I actually cried when Mork finally decides to not fight (back) and ends up in hospital for it, with Sun being a total dumbass about it.
I loved the parts of both Pete's dad and Kao's mom. They are real understanding and defensive parents towards their sons. I adore them so much.
I will watch Kiss The Series and Our Skyy after this one to complete the PeteKao story.

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Pete is a dick. New is boring. Non is one-dimentional. Sun and Mork, however, pretty much watched it for them.
The female characters add nothing to the story, which doesn't evolve. Even the teenage melodramas are completely predictable, like,,, the peak of the series is an innocent lie, really?
Could have been more creative or even pushed harder on the dramatic archs (not as hard as wtd s2 but, harder). Really, it's not much worth it unless you're extremely idle and want some gay tension in your life but not too much to reach out to pornhub. It does seem like a webseries,


Fluke!!!
Podd!!!!!

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I have not seen any of the other series that Pete/Kao appear in so this was my first taste of them.

I have to admit I was not blown away. I love Pete and Kao as a couple and it was good to see their moments together. I felt that the Non character was utterly ridiculous. They built that whole thing up just to throw in a bit of angst and it just didn’t work.

I did like the Mork/Sun storyline but at the same time I found Sun to be a bit of a creeper. I’d prefer Mork with Non that with Sun - rich boy Non and thuggish (poor?) Mork. I might have to check AO3 for any fanfic of that pairing...

I don’t feel inspired to watch this series again although I did enjoy it, there’s nothing screaming at me to repeat. Perhaps it’s shallow reasons... all such attractive main actors but none of them ‘do it’ for me like Krist or Bright do.

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Too Many Coincidences To Be Believable, But You Get Invested in #PeteKao...

Watched the three-part PeteKao/Kiss Me Again cut on GMMTV's YouTube channel and their Our Skyy episode in preparation for Dark Blue Kiss. Heard about how this series deals with the struggles that gay people have to face in society, which it touched on. I wished that it went deeper into that struggle though. I also like Sun's back story with his father, which is a reality that a lot of LGBTQ+ people face, going against their parents wishes to lead a life that they will be proud of. Disappointing their parents with their career choice and their identity. And the parents shaming their children to try to control their lives. And the pressure to be successful in one's chosen career/being held to a higher standard since they are already disappointing their parents by being gay. The series also deals with cultural issues, such as the distinctly Asian parent characteristic of comparing/showing off their children. And the feeling of incompetence when you are surrounded by family members who are successful in their careers and who know what they want to do in life. All themes that are extremely relatable for me at the moment as someone who was forced to go to dental school by my parents and though I did fight with them, I didn't fight them enough because subconsciously, I knew that I was already disappointing my parents by being gay. I also liked how they mentioned that gay marriage isn't legal in Thailand, which is absolutely ridiculous considering how Thailand is always being promoted by their tourism board to be an LGBT-friendly place.

I found the story to be manipulative. The fact that the Non just so happened to be bad at math and that his father just so happened to be Kao's mother's boss and that he just so happened to be Pete's rival because he just so happened to arrive at the building at the same time as Pete where he just so happened to mistaken Pete, a grown man (not a stereotypical fan girl) for a fan, not just once but twice. Way too many coincidences to be believable. It's just so much bending the story to make it fit a certain mold, a 'cheating' story in this case. The story doesn't flow. It's not natural. It's clearly constructed. Yes, all films and series are fiction and fabricated, but the story still has to flow. If it doesn't like this, it feels fake. But at least, PeteKao's story is compelling though I give it that. You get fully invested in their relationship.

Pete is quite possessive though and quick to anger. He was being unreasonable, always barging in on Kao's tutoring sessions. But Kao did lie to him about stopping tutoring Non. Not sure why he didn't tell him, especially since Non kept on appearing every so often anyways. And if the truth came out, it would have showed that Kao lied, that would be way worse than telling Pete that he was still tutoring Non so like why didn't he? And Kao did know that Non liked him and could reveal their tutoring sessions to Pete at anytime. Yeah, so not telling him didn't make sense. Anyways, if Non's father is so strict and the director of a school, shouldn't Non already have a tutor if he wasn't doing that well in class? And shouldn't Kao know that Non would be too scared of his father to be able to actually make him fire a perfectly good employee (his mother)? I hate that two-faced Non b*tch who tried to out Kao to his mother. Disgusting, especially coming from a gay person himself! I don't get why Kao doesn't want to tell his friends that he is a couple with Pete. Like they already suspect it as PeteKao do act like a couple and coming out to them, it's not like his mother would hear about it anyways. And when Pete decides to go Kao's house to apologize, it just so happened that Non was there for dinner and that he just so happened to get a phone call where he just so happened to take it outside of the house. And how does Non even know the address of Kao? Isn't that illegal to give out addresses like that? And it makes no sense that his father would make him bring dinner to Kao's house. Yes, he could have used that as an excuse to eat with them, but still. And that random phone call from Non's friend, asking Kao to bring Non home. Like what?! A taxi could have brought Non home. His friend could have brought him back to his home. It makes no sense for Kao to not bring up those excuses, especially since Pete is angry that Kao keeps on associating with Non. And why the f*ck is Kao cleaning him instead of just leaving after bringing Non back? And why didn't Kao try to explain what happened to Non's father instead of just saying, "I didn't do it." WTF?! And why didn't do anything to try to clear his name earlier? Cheap writing to create drama. However, you do get invested in PeteKao's relationship and get so f*cking p*ssed at Non, so props to the writer and director for that.

In regards to Sun and Mork, like Rain could've easily said that it wasn't Mork's fault, but he decided to say, "Let me explain." Like what?! He could have easily said, "It's not his fault." Same number of words but more effective.

Anyways, TayNew do have great chemistry. Their acting isn't as strong as other BL actors, but it is perfectly fine for this series. I felt so attracted to Pete and Tay Tawan watching this series. He's HOT! On an unrelated note, the cafe is way too understaffed! Like what?! Anyways, Pete's father is literally the best! Accepting his son's sexuality and supporting his son's desire to pursue whatever he wants without pressuring him. Ugh. How I wish my parents were like that...

The story is pretty predictable. About to finished episodes 2, I can predict where 5e story is going to go: Non is going to come on to Kao. Kao won’t like it but he will relent because he doesn’t want to turn down Non for fear of his mother getting fired and possibly feeling bad for him because of his strict father. Pete will get pissed and avoid Kao. Kao will try to explain to Pete. The truth will come out and Non will get in trouble with his father for abusing his connection. PeteKao will reconcile with a happy ending. I’m placing my bet that this will be the story. --> So my prediction was partially correct.

The story does also feel a bit aimless at times. Don't really care for the other couples in the show. Only interested in PeteKao to be honest. I felt bored watching Mork & Sun and Manaow & Rain.

On a side note, can sequel season not use cheating as a cheap way to generate drama and tension for couples? Together With Me also employed this cheap tactic. That is why SOTUS S is the superior sequel.

On a side note, I'm surprised seeing Sun and Non be so tall compared to the people around them. On another note, why do all these BL couples have fan pages/fan clubs/hashtags in their shows: PeteKao in Dark Blue Kiss, KornKnock in Together With Me and Sarawat & Tine in 2gether.

Not sure how the titles or poster relates to the series to be honest. The title, poster and opening credits make this series seem like a sophisticated, serious drama, which it isn't really. It's more light-hearted.

A touching write-up on Youtube about the portrayal of PeteKao which I wholeheartedly agree with: "i can't express enough how important it is what this series is doing with petekao. some people complain about there not being many kisses and consider it boring, but they're giving us something so much better and significant than just a bunch of kisses. apart from the purely dramatic aspect of the show, which is the whole non storyline, they're showing a relationship that is maturing and evolving and thinking ahead of just their attraction towards each other. they're talking about mutual love, trust and support, and everything they have to face as a couple.

they're having them talk about their sexualities and their love for each other as something normal and not exceptional (they didn't go with the "i don't like men, i only like you" trope but instead they talked about how it's something they both know since they were kids: "if we had talked about this with our parents when we were kids then we wouldn't be stressing about it now"); they're having them criticize what people expect from them ("why do we have more to prove than others? it's not fair. you and me are just like other people" "i'm good because i want to be, not 'i have to be a better person than everyone else because i like men'"); they're showing parent's acceptance and support through pete and his dad, and then the struggles of coming out through kao. they're talking about safe sex and how important it is for parents to allow their children to be open about their lives and feelings with them. and then in this chapter, they're having them talk about their futures and same sex marriage. that's HUGE. all of those things are huge and so important, yet still rarely talked about. not just in bl series, but in general, western shows included.

as a member of the lgbt community this kind of depiction is so so refreshing and great, it makes me feel understood and hopeful and i wish more people would appreciate it as it deserves."

On a final note, I hope that we get another season of #PeteKao. I truly do. Maybe in a similar vein to SOTUS S where they are in the work environment. That would be awesome!

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