This is NOT Manner of Death. This isn’t a thriller that has queer relationships in it. This isn’t a suspenseful drama with two leading male characters who are attracted to each other (at least we are supposed to buy the one sided attraction despite early indications that it’s mutual). This is very much your old school typical “we have queer characters but they don’t get to be with who they want in the end, only the straight characters do” (uh well sort of, she’s not that enthusiastic about her consolation prize tbh).

I’m not sure how Shadow winds up in the BL circles. Yes, there is a confirmed gay supporting character. There is another more periphery character who is definitely queer (gay vs bi vs etc not confirmed). But there are zero queer relationships unless you’re counting the teacher and the now dead kid (which you shouldn’t) or Dan and the Shadow (referred to in the masculine).

Does the show feel a little queerbait-y? Yes, a touch. The early episodes feel very much like they are setting up a relationship between Nai and Dan. Then it’s almost like they realized what they were doing, didn’t want to actually be gay and pivot hard toward Dan and Cha-aim. Then there’s that “someone wants to be your date” which doesn’t feel like a friend date but is treated as such once it’s happening. However Dan also consistently protects and stands up for Nai to an extent that suggests it’s not just bros having their bro’s back (you never see Josh do this for Nai nor is Dan ever put in a position for us to see if he’d go to these lengths for others).

The myster/thriller/horror elements are well done and the story is really interesting. However, as I’ve seen someone else mention, there’s a lot of loose ends and loose connections. Perhaps that’s intentional. Everything seems to connect for a bit until they pivot to the full reveal and then you have these disparate events. Maybe it’s supposed to be a commentary on how you can link unrelated events together if you try hard enough.

The actual Thai history with Red October was intriguing but dangled like a carrot for too long.

I feel like sometimes the story was just stretched longer than it needed to be. This could have been a 12 episode series with a narrower focus that delved more richly and deeply into that focus instead of a 14 episode series that was spread a bit too thin.

I loved the ending. Not sure why it’s labeled as an open ending, there’s nothing open about it imo and it’s not the first time I’ve seen an ending like this in horror. Personally, I’d really love a second season that is more focused to see what someone does with their new lease on life. But I’m not expecting it.

This review may seem very critical but I did genuinely enjoy the series and binge watched it in two days. I think it’s worth watching but not if you’re expecting it to be a BL.