Century of Love (2024)

fantastically tight and entertaining lakorn bl

This is my first 10 star review on MDL and I really can't say enough good things about this show. Century of Love is the perfect example of working within your means to create a really solid, moving and memorable story. Between the charismatic cast, wonderfully witty script, and production that lived within it's means, this series is a definite hit. I almost wish it hadn't been on a twice-weekly release schedule so I would have gotten to enjoy it even longer. I'm new to both DaouOffroad and this production team, so I'm very happy to have a backlog to look and more to come in the future. Highly, highly recommend.

-The Full Review-
STORY:
I'm a certified lakorn enjoyer, so the I absolutely loved the tone of this show. Despite being highly entertaining and largely unserious, Century of Love always picked the perfect moments to ramp up the emotional connection to the story and provide a truly touching and beautiful scene. My favorite episode, episode 7, had me on the absolute edge of my seat and cycling through emotions the entire hour. It was very well balanced to provide joy and laughs without feeling empty or surface level.
In terms of the themes and execution of the reincarnation plot--I was so pleased. This is probably my favorite handling of this particular trope since Until We Meet Again. I've seen some anger at the primary concept (that the female love interest has reincarnated into a man, to the initial discomfort of her former lover) as well as some annoyance at the (in my opinon, minor) mysteries left unsolved at the end... but I don't think these criticisms hold much weight. The writers are careful to give weight to San's struggles and decisions, and his narrative arc is satisfying.
The true jewel in this show's storytelling is the connection to family. It's pretty rare, these days, for a BL to have such a strong ensemble cast (unless that ensemble is same-aged friends). San's and Vee's connections outside of their relationship really elevate the concept of a mature BL and cement their adulthood. It's a rare treat for this genre and one I very much would like to see more of in the future.

ACTING:
I don't have any prior experience with Daou or Offroad, but they both won me over almost immediately. It's a very fun genre for acting-- giving melodramatic, comedic scenes as well as much more realistic and emotional scenes. The balance here and the slide from one moment into the other was very well done.
For Daou, I really enjoyed his handling of the age of his character. While San is over 100 years old, his body and (in many cases) his mind have been static. The contrast between his graceful and wise stature when comforting Juu and his childish and petulant fights with Vee sold the premise well and were quite funny. There was a subtlety to his performance that shouldn't have paired as well with the lakorn styling of the show as it did, but it truly made him feel otherworldly when necessary.
Offroad has a more traditional lakorn acting style, but one that was very suited to his character. Young, passionate, and easily upset by the events of the story, his open-book expressions contrasted Daou's restrained performance perfectly. Their chemistry is quite obvious and exciting. While I sometimes felt like his acting was verging on the overly melodramatic, it never quite reached point. When the scenes truly did hit their most emotional, Offroad delivered a very sincere and affecting performance.
In the ensemble, there were no weak performances. In particular, I was delighted by Cookie and Xiang--both of whom added so much to the humor and heart of the show. I especially enjoyed the moments where Juu and San's age difference became very apparent. I also have to give props to young San who gives a positively hilarious performance. It's probably the most laughter a series has gotten out of me in a singular episode.

PRODUCTION:
I'm infinitely charmed lakorns god-awful SFX, so I found the production of this series to just fine. While the restrictions of the budget were definitely visible in the effects, I think they successfully leaned into a style that allowed the story to move past it. Beyond this, the production was really quite something.
I loved the locations chosen for this show, especially San's house and the Temple. Vibrant, visually interesting, and filled with set dressing that bridges the century gap quite well. Likewise, I thought the costuming was so fun. The cut of San's suits (and the style of clothing Vee began to dress in) was such a fun modernization of his original timeline. I loved the attention to detail there.

INTIMACY:
I really, really like this pair. The intimate scenes are not particularly spicy in this show, but I don't think that fits the tone most of the time anyway. What I found most effective was the way these characters orbited each other. Vee moving with and to San immediately, whenever he was injured was so well done. Likewise, both characters had such a natural way of slotting into one another--my personal favorite being how tightly Vee snuggles up to San after their first time. You could really feel the connection between these characters and their desire to simply be close. Really well done.

In all, I am so pleased with this show. I pick the best of the shows I watch and rewatch them with some friends, and Century of Love has LEAPED to the top of that list of possibilities. I'm so excited to rewatch already and hope this brings nothing but new opportunities to everyone involved. I can't wait to see them again.

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An Epic Lakorn Love Story

A show I found myself waiting in anticipation for each week. With a strong traditional start, an action packed middle and finishing off with a deeply emotional ending… this series is one of my highest ranking series ever. I only wish that the episodes were longer and more of.

The story is different to anything I have seen before, its both fresh and interesting. The pacing and directing of the story is very well done for a 10 episode show. It very much keeps to the traditional buildup of a Thai Lakorn just with two males leads, and I appreciate that.

The acting of all the actors are believable, emotional and translates through the screen. They’re managing the drama, the comdic relief parts and the action scenes amazingly. Offroad and Daou has great chemistry and their scenes together feels natural and warm.

I greatly recommend giving this series a chance and maybe you’ll find one of your favourite series of 2024 too.

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don't dwell on the past when you have the future ahead

If you don't want spoilers it was an okay drama, nothing that special besides the chemistry, but even that couldn't save this. Okay, spoiler time. I gave it a 7.85 out of 10, rounded down to a 7.5 out of 10. Okay, so I am writing this on Grammarly, because I have been doing everything on Grammarly recently, first and copying and pasting it over. I finished this in a 24-hour time frame which I haven’t done since Kinn and fucking Porsche which is INSANE, so let's get it I guess.

Starting with my Instagram stories because they are still here because it hasn't been 24 hours and I was just bitching about how I would be mad if I waited 100 years for my beautiful wife and she was now a man. I am very woke but I would be so fucking mad I’d just accept my fate. I was also doing international relations homework. And then I made a joke about Seven Universe and that's it for that.

Okay, let’s do this by episode now. it was 2 in the fucking morning and I started this shit because I thought that Offroad was genuinely such a goofy name. The whole reason is started this show is because I am a fucking hater, insane. They had good chemistry and I am obsessed with Destiny/fate love stories, so they are cute. The first episode was the right pace until the end of the episode and that started the downward spiral of this show, but hey, then I continued my rant about waiting so long and it being a man.

Uh, I just talk about them not getting the stone, which made no sense but mostly the second episode was back and forth and filer shit, because they needed to drag stuff out instead of dragging the actual plot out to fit in the time frame so it doesn't cave on itself at the end, but that just my suggestion.

A lot was happening and a little at the same time, very confusing. it was just like what the fuck is happening? And of course, I was getting emotional with the grandma scene because I have a soft spot for grandmas and I can’t when old people are sick, it makes me sad. Save your grandma but at what cost? was the deepest shit I have ever typed in my 17 years on this sad earth. and then I said something just blatantly wrong about the drama because I was confused and like to lie when I am confused apparently no.

I was very confused because they were running circles around each other and I don't need that in my life. wait I am gonna sleep and finish this in the morning. It is now the morning. I also didn't know they were the main couple in love in translation so I am also going to watch that next. The show is good, it's just a little confusing because of the amount of cop-outs they do for plots. They tried to put too much stuff into one show and now are facing the consequences of their actions.

I have been complaining a lot and I am sorry but the memory change to Wee instead of Wad was the best thing this show has ever seen. It was really to show how much the characters have changed and it was nice to see that. And the transition was very smooth as well, it wasn't an over-the-top thing and that was very much needed. Also, peak San getting really aggressively possessive because Third showed up. Because that was so random, I feel like they should have developed that more. Because it felt very random and abrupt and I was a little confused. It was also finally getting interesting and there is some actual love in there but Wee's alternative plans were gonna fuck up everything and I was right. I mentioned that I wanted to see if they have other shows because they have good on and off-screen chemistry and now I am gonna watch Love in translation. Every time San does the screaming thing when he transforms I think of that one Lil Mabu song and I genuinely cringe so much. San had his slow redemption and Third was so sexy, like he was slowly growing on me. The way he was looking to the side at Wee, holy freak, he is bad as fuck.

Once again the memories now being Wee very cute and well done. They could have developed their love a lot more because it felt very empty and was a serious cop-out. Also was praying that San wasn't so shallow that he would leave Wee for some random girl who looks like a girl he was in love with 100 years ago. They wrote that part very well, and how she came in, was genuinely really good writing on their part now that I think about it.

I say that I think the girl is not actually who she says she is, got that straight on. Also, San dying for Wee was lowkey really deep because he is so willing to sacrifice his immortal life for Wee, that was very well done.

They had so many cop out plots in this it was insane, and there was more plot than romance and I was hoping they would do that in the final episode, side note they did not. And why didn't the uncle die, oh my god, him coming back like be fucking for real, just die.

Uh, a lot of stuff happened and then it started to slow down plot-wise. and I was like where did the girl go? but it was all part of the plot plan for greatness. Good job on their part, very nice to see. Other than that cop-out-ass episode, I was watching this shit on Daily Motion because the company refuses to put subtitiles on youtube videos. The part where San knew he was gonna die but still decided to give up his life for Wee was very sweet and I would fall flat on my face for a man like that. And the basic villian arc dying scene could have been finished earlier.

The ending was a cop-out but not the cop-out ending I was expecting. I wrote this part as I went so enjoy I guess. I really wanted them to fuck to fuse the crystals but I guess not. The crying was really good throughout the show but the end they were doing to much with the crying. It's not that deep. No, but if my man was dying right in front of me I would be jumping in his grave saying take me with you so me and Wee are synced in that way. Let's see this final part and hope they don’t cop out more. Whoever was in charge of outfits (no Chu's though, some of her outfits were so fucking ugly it was stressing me out more than the plot) and camera work needs a fat raise because that was really well done. And then we had a cop-out ass ending with the crystal gem shit. But did we ever find out who is the real Ms. Wa? Good overall message throughout though. don't dwell on the past when you have the future ahead. Banger line by me I guess. That's the new headline. r.i.p Have I run out of fate. For love being in the title, they didn't have enough love. Like they needed to do more with this love thing. I respect this cop out ending and this one only. The other cop-outs in this got on my nerves and were annoying. They trying to fuck on the balcony. He has been waiting 100 years for that I guess. Face cards don't decline with these two. The scene where Third is looking at San and Wee is giving Star in my mind with Typhoon and Dao and Kluen. Full circle moment I guess. So is Wee now immortal or what? How does any of this work? They have gotten married like 3 times, insane. and it's over.

Uh, that was definitely something and I have so many questions it is insane. I also have to average it now because I haven’t done that yet. And yeah. Well, it was nice getting back into dramas, I guess. This was an okay drama and it could’ve been done better. I wouldn’t recommend but do what you want it's your life, not mine. Okay bye!

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I just finished watching the last episode. It was an interesting series, somehow different to the typical high-school/college/university dramas BL dramas, of which especially the Thai industry has produced a ton. Overall the series is watchable, and rather enjoyable. The acting of both lead characters is really very good, with a very good chemistry between them. The secondary cast leaves some skill to be desired, but then again this might be due to director's demands, hard to say. having said this, keep in mind that the acting mainly revolves around whining of one's bad luck, saying how much people love each other, or how greedy people become greedier by the minute. The second kind of acting is simply bad here... I guess, what I'm trying to say, that although I liked it a lot, the versatility of acting skills is quite low, so yeah, very good but sort of boring.

The series kept my uninterrupted attention approximately up until the 7th episode, then it started becoming an emotional dragging, I kept watching out of curiosity what happens in the end. Probably the series would be much better if it was kept shorter (perhaps six episodes), it felt like endless scenes with people whining about their fate (well played, but sort of repeating over and over again), and (and least for my personal taste) too much continuous crying. Additionally there are several logical holes in the story (for example the origin of the descendants of someone who has not have been able to .... use his plumbing..., who is the true reincarnation of Wadfad, how did the bad ill guy come about, etc, etc.

As a whole, the series is not very bad, and can be watched. Nonetheless it does not particularly stand out. Chemistry between the lead characters is excellent, the second characters are caricatured and the plot needs polishing.

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Lindo

Uma história diferente que gostei de assistir!
Bom, eu gostei desse bl. Apesar de não ter me cativado tanto, é nítido o quão 'bonita' é essa história.
A série tem um enredo diferente, onde um homem com uma maldição espera por 100 anos pela reencarnação do seu amor (sem envelhecer). Eu gostei da história, mas não é a minha favorita. Porém, é uma história linda demaais, o jeito q tudo foi representado foi lindo.
A atuação foi completamente perfeitaaa, todos os personagens arrasaram nesse quesito.
A produção da série e a cinematografia foram ótimas, ficou tuudo muito lindo e bem feito. A trilha sonora perfeita também, as músicas muuuito lindas e delicadas.
Sobre o casal principal, eles são perfeitos, não tenho nem o que dizer. A química única deles que chega até a incomodar nós solteiros.

É um bl que eu recomendo você dar uma chance!

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Good Story. Good Acting.

Century of Love is a love story between a man who lived almost for 100 years just to find the reincarnation of his lover who died in his arms but things turned complicated when she turned out to be reincarnated as a man. Now, I am excited for this return of Daou and Offroad together because they are a really good couple and we have seen them really spark so much chemistry together from their first show and they were able to show us a much better range in this one. I am surprised with the acting that they were able to show here because I feel like this is a more mature storyline from what they had before and the writing is also much better than the previous one. This had a more serious tone to it but they were still able to put a lot of cute moments in between especially when the characters are enjoying. Daou’s character is San who lived a long life so he is a more traditional character. This is why him being hesitant to believe that his lover turned into a man is understandable. I don’t think that the character is being prejudice since he never said anything that is against being gay but his character is more concerned that things are more complicated than expected or what he is expecting is not what he received. I understand his hesitation with this and they were really able to handle that well. I like it when things like this make sense and that they are not forcing the chemistry of the characters. The way that this relationship progress is somehow instantaneous but there is a pretty much good reason to it as they were lovers and Offroad’s character who is Wee is dating both men and women. His character’s highlight is not even the relationship with San but his best moments are shared with the grandmother of his in the show. I love the moment when his grandmother is like saying his goodbyes to him and he is just there sobbing. It is such an emotional moment from the show and I feel like it is such an underrated moment as well. The story of this show is more of like weird is some places but it is also talking about their culture which I actually love since we are learning more about them. This is something that we do not get often but we should get more off because they were able to relate the BL storyline so well while comparing modern and traditional values without alienating one from the other. I like this concept that they did because it worked and the characters are all really fun to watch. They had sincerely funny moments and scenes that are just crazy how it happened but let’s be honest and admit that we have seen way worse than this and accepted it so I don’t really mind. I think they were able to use all of the elements well while highlighting so many good things about the story. The actors did an incredible job with their roles and I was not expecting them to be this good actors now. They did not force a long triangle here. It was actually funny and logical how they did it. At the end, I was a fan of Doctor Third and how nice he actually is that I want him to end up with someone. Seriously, this is a good show and they were able to handle the story really well without making it a bit too much. They just added the layers that it needed and nothing was unnecessary. I like it when they do this and it resulted to a really good show to watch.

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When the one is back but is not the one who is used to be...

This is the story of a century-old man wating for his long-lost love to return before he dies. The problem arises when the indication of his reincarnated lady-love shows it's not a she but he. Will he die before finding the love for whom he waited for a century? Now it's for you to discover the truth.
 
Honestly, very honestly, I doubted the series. Not a big fan of lakorn but I wanted to give this a try. So I started this on a whim and I wanted to see one more episode of how the story would unfold. AND to my surprise, I was hooked! I'm glad I didn't watch while it was airing because if I had, then I would have lost my mind waiting for next episodes.
 
Not everything is perfect. Things were a little cringey, awkward, and childish, but entertaining AF! There wasn't a second I felt bored. The chemistry of DaoOffroad is just the cherry on top. And I have to confess, Offroad's eye smile has become my weak point. "Having a bad day?" Just look at the picture of Offroad laughing; your worries will fade in the air like *poof*. 
 
What I liked:
-compelling storytelling 
-No bullshit time waste 
- smooth like butter chemistry of the leads
-The suspense it builds from the beginning and the way they had me seated till the last minute is commendable. 
- most importantly, the VFX was top-notch! It wasn't sloppy at all but well balanced and visually appealing. 
 
What I didn't like:
- calling your 1/3rd-aged man great-great grandfather 24 times an episode, was awkward AF. 
- it was cringey at times, so I face palmed myself quite a few times ngl.
- fighting scenes could be better, but as he was a master of martial arts, I expected a clean-cut action scene
 
Overall, it was a great watch. I can see myself rewatching this not because of the thrill but for the leads chemistry, as it was swoonworthy.

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It will break you

Gotta say that Daou's acting really surprised me. He was acting so well during the stone poisoning and at the end he really took my breath away as he was acting as a person who's coming to his end, getting weaker and weaker, experiencing even more pain like it was brilliant and the emotions when he was saying his goodbye to Wee, accepting his farewell and Offroad playing as a person whose soulmate is dying but tries to be happy so his smile is the last memory of him... it was really breathtaking for me.

What I liked: the original interesting story with more depth and great writing, the point telling us that as much as hard it is to let go of our true love, we shouldn't close ourselves to the world and stay unhappy, waste many years in sadness and grief. In 100 years, San hasn't been happy at all until he found Wee and wouldn't be happy if he didn't open his heart and gave a chance to new love which made it up for all the waiting. It was also interesting to see how Wad and Third reincarnated with different personalities. Third wanting his crush to be happy despite letting go of him and accepting his rejection while Wad became selfish, a thief, mischievous, drunker and so on.

What I didn't like: untold explanations like Wee being a reincarnation of a nine tailed fox who tried to steal the stone (isn't there more to that story?), not really saying who the real Wad was tho judging by how Prince Trai changed, Wad should be the naughty girl, the ending was... I'm glad it was happy but it looks like it was changed at the last minute. Wad randomly spilling the stone on the ground and a little of it broke like shouldn't San get the whole half? And why would Wad want to save him at the last minute? She didn't look like someone doing favors for favors and San didn't really save her intentionally but I guess she had some change of heart.
Also what was that with Wee being San's luck but when San fell in love with him fr, the goddess got pissed off? Like Wad existed when Wee broke San's curse of experiencing pain every night so why did the goddess get pissed off later?
I was pretty confused myself about the story of the Five colored stone and the goddess but it was still really interesting
the last thing is that the blood looked way too fake and the CGI wasn't the best but the acting overshadowed it for me. Daou and the child actor were seriously awesome!

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PARA SER GAY TIENES QUE SER RELIGIOSO

En el manual de todo buen gay hay que ser religioso , sino dime todos los bordadores , vestidores y todos los que miman a una virgen son gays . El colectivo LGTB+ esta mas que presente en las iglesias le guste o no a Diosito y a todos los carcas.
Pongamonos en serio, San yo tambien me querría casar con Wee , vamos desde el capitulo uno llevo enamorada de su sonrisa y su cara y personalidad de golden retriever . Vamos yo tambien dejaría de ser homofoba (no lo soy, arriba mis gays) para liarme y casarme con él.
A ver cosillas, la historia y la moraleja es interesante y me gusta, rollo deja el pasado y vive el presente , en el pasado te gustaba Wad pero ahora te mola Wee y me gusta que al final no quieran desvelar quien es la reencarnación de Wad si la exconvicta o el Wee, no se necesita saber , lo que necesitamos saber es que se quieren ambos y ya.
El tema de lo de la inmortalidad y querer reencarnarte para volver a vivir con tu amor pues bueno, a ver el pavo deberia haber aguantado que la otra se sacrificase por él. Que si que da pena y todo pero es que se aguanta 100 años hasta que se da cuenta que no es homofobo sino que se enamora de un chico de personalidad golden retriever y esta dispuesto a dar su vida cuando con la pava no lo hizo. SOSPECHOSO, con ella queria una reencarnación y con este busca salvarlo, ahi me deja claro a quien ama.
Toda la historia de los malos y todo esto de querer robar la piedra se me hace un poco aburrido, era rollo vamos a meter relleno hasta el cumpleaños de la diosa (la cual quiero hablar ahora mas tarde porque madre mía que risas esos planos ). Esperaba tambien que el ritual hubiera sido algo mejor que meterle la piedra como un si dases de comer a un cerdo. O sea el ritual inicial es mucho mas elaborado, cualquier ritual que han hecho a lo largo de la serie ha sido mas elaborado , que el ultimo . ¿No se había preparado lo suficiente para el ultimo ritual?, eso ha quedado muy apresurado y cutre. Hubiera preferido que mas escenas de ellos rollo pareja que de 'lucha' si es que se puede llamar lucha al paripe que han hecho . Otro drama tailandes donde las escenas de lucha de puto cringe y mal rollo, les diría ir a clases y hablar con los actores de Taxi Driver a ver si vuestras escenas de lucha no dan tanto cringe, que parecen de una pelicula cutrona. Supongo que es la esencia de los dramas tailandeses actuaciones y escenas de pelea cutronas. Son nuestros cutres, hay que quererles. Aunque tambien les mandaría a dar clases de actuación, el actor que interpreta San me lo puedo creer mas con su actuación pero es que el que hace de Wee cariño mio , eres guapisimo y todo lo que quieras pero ve a clases de interpretación que hay escenas que no puedo evitar saltar, es que tu actuación me da vergüenza ajena. Y asi con muchos de los actores secundarios el unico que tiene un actuación pasable y que puedo gracias a él , ver la evolución de su personaje es Pittaya Saechua. Eso no quita que no me vaya a ver el drama anterior de ambos, me parece que hacen una pareja cuquetona.

Todas las escenas de la diosa y la diosa en si me ha hecho gracia y no me lo he tomado en serio, quiero pensar que si fuera budista las cosas me las tomaría de otro rollo pero es que tio , es como si me pones un jesusito o una virgen de corchopan y haces que toda la trama de unos gais gire en torno a ella, la proxima vez ponedme una mejor escultura es que parece de coña. Y todos los sueños premonitorios que decir mas que sacaban las 'mejores' actuaciones de los protagonistas (ironía).

Es una buena historia que podría ser mejorable , eso no quita que no pueda criticar a mis gais y que a la vez les quiera.

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Refreshing BL storyline

A major departure from the usual high school/university romance which is extraordinarily refreshing. I like that the production adopts a more mainstream approach for a gay romance with a touch of fantasy and history. Major improvement in acting for Daou and Offroad in comparison to Love in Translation. I like that there aren't other love stories conflated into the series which would have taken the spotlight off of the main couple and diluted their storylines. Instead, their method of introducing and integrating the side (but significant) secondary characters is superb. Great comedic values from the series especially given that it is meant to be a soapy drama (love the goofy villains). Cinematography is also good. Love the colours. There weren't many iconic songs made popular by the series, but the music/background instrumentals chosen were top notch. They added so much sentimental values to each scene and episode. Overall, a superb drama series. I have already watched it twice. Will definitely watch it again when I need a dose of laughter and Daou+Offroad!

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