Dangerous Romance (2023)

Une belle surprise

Une belle surprise. Bons acteurs, belle alchimie, une relation top/bottom assez rare, pas de dominant du tout, bien au contraire, ils se complètent admirablement. Les acteurs, principaux et secondaires, sont supers. La réalisation est tout à fait honnête et même sérieuse, j'ai été assez étonnée par certains choix de plans qui montrent une volonté de mise en scène à laquelle je ne m'attendais pas. Je me suis néanmoins demandé si j'allais continuer le drama après le premier épisode, puisque cela parle de harcèlement scolaire et que c'est assez violemment mis en scène (ce qui est parfait cela dit car il n'y a aucune volonté d'arrondir les angles), mais PerthChimon et MarcPawin m'ont convaincu de continuer.

Le drama aborde deux grosses problématiques : le harcèlement scolaire et la division de la société entre riches et pauvres, et ce que cela engendre dans les relations humaines et dans l'avancement d'une société (l'attitude des professeurs, les lycéens obéissants, la réaction du père de Kang face à Saifah...), Kang et Sailom étant finalement une représentation plus large d'une division sociétale. Il est néanmoins un peu facile d'avoir fait le choix manichéen de diviser riches et pauvres en méchants et gentils, surtout que, et c'est la critique la plus importante que je pourrais faire au drama, l'évolution de Kang, Nawa et Max est trop abrupte, incompréhensible et incohérente, ils passent quasiment du jour au lendemain de "super bullies" à on est tous amis (ou presque). Après certains personnages secondaires viennent remettre en question ce manichéisme (la grand-mère, Pimfah, les chasseurs de dettes...)

J'ai par ailleurs, et c'est vraiment un détail, bien aimé la manipulation scénaristique autour du père, qui peut décevoir sur le moment (tout ça pour ça), mais qui correspond finalement à la perception de Kang tout au long du drama.
Un petit regret sur le personnage de Name qui aurait pu être plus prégnant, que ce soit en terme de présence, d'antagonisme ou de relationnel avec Saifah. J'aime bien l'idée d'un ship PepperPapang.
Et un gros regret concernant le titre du drama, que je trouve au mieux mauvais au pire ridicule. Ça m'a fait penser à un titre de film Hallmark et la série vaut vraiment mieux que ça (sans vouloir critiquer les films Hallmark).

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Was it Dangerous though?

Dangerous Romance is a promising series, but it lacks that specific "hook" or unique element that would set it apart and truly capture its audience. When placed in the context of other concurrent GMMTV series airing during its time, it ranks itself between Only Friends and Hidden Agenda. While it may not be the peak of Perth and Chimon's acting potential, their brilliance as actors still shines through despite occasional awkward moments in their on-screen interactions. The series has its fun moments. Still, there are instances when the chemistry between Chimon and Perth seems to waver, leading to a sense of uncertainty in portraying their relationship. The inconsistencies between a BL and a bromance potentially cause a disconnect for some viewers seeking a more focused romantic narrative. Overall, Dangerous Romance is a straightforward yet intriguing series, though it's not without its storytelling flaws. The missing compelling hook or unique selling point affects its overall impact.
Nevertheless, despite its shortcomings, it's a series worth recommending to viewers interested in the genre. It receives a slightly above average rating, in this case, a 7.5, as it offers a pleasant viewing experience and showcases the talents of its lead actors. However, I believe if it had further character development and a more defined romantic narrative, it could become a noteworthy addition to the BL genre, especially for fans of Perth and Chimon.

"A windmill (Kanghan) needs wind (Sailom) to generate electricity." - Sailom.
"That means wind (Sailom) is super important to windmills (Kanghan), right?" - Kanghan.

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Wasted Potential

The trailer promised too much and the series didn’t deliver. I love Perth and I love Chimon, but them together was not it. We have seen both actors deliver amazing acting previously this year (Home School and Double Savage as examples) so the subpar delivery of the feelings the characters were supposed to feel is weird. The romance is not believable, however the enemies part of the show is really great. Wasted potential to drive up the tension and drama, but it never delivered. Also, the danger felt sprinkled in without direction.

The side characters are charicatures with no fleshed out story line or personality. Their actions confusing and strange at times because we do not get enough time to get to know them which made them boring. There were so much potential here to make great side stories but we never got it.

The plot was not plotting in my opinion and the chemistry couldn’t carry a series without drivers in the story. It started off strong, but then bellyflopped from the 4th episode and became meh. It wasn’t so bad that I dropped it, but it definitivly will never be rewatched.

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Nonsense romance (with a bit of illegal romance mixed in it)

So... As most people already said it: it started real good but it went down the drain real quick!

First, I think that the fact that Kang's behaviour makes a complete u-turn without really good reasons was one of the reasons the series started to get bad from episode 3. But the thing that really upset me was when Kang was suddenly in love with his childhood friend, Pimfah. There were no previous signs of him liking her and it was so sudden that it felt so out of place. Contrary to some people, I wasn't really surprised that Pimfah was interested in Sailom because she's kind of shown signs a bit before (even though, those signs can easily be understood as just her being nice), but Kang's feelings for Pimfah were out of nowhere. Especially when he already showed signs of jealousy towards Sailom (but I was apparently wrong...). Then, Sailom confesses he likes Kang and Kang suddenly likes him? That was so freaking weird (also, I don't really like the fact that Sailom liked him before and just because he gave him an umbrella... I know he's young but still).

Second, I don't have anything against Chimon, I thought he played his part good in all the dramas I've watched with him but we can all agree that he's not good with romance. Everytime Kang and Sailom kissed, I was silently (or not) cringing in front of my screen and I pitied Perth for doing his best at carrying the romance scenes. Perth did all the job and he's one of the best thing that saved this drama from falling further down (even though his role was not the best - I mean, Kang that rejects Sailom for something that HIS BROTHER has supposedly done was pretty sh*tty of him).

Third, and I'll finish with that, GMMTV needs to stop romantising teachers with students!! It's the second time that happens in less than a year (last time was in The Eclipse). I sensed romance between Pimfah and Napdao as soon as Napdao appeared in the story and I really hoped I was wrong but no... they definitely made Pimfah having a crush on Napdao, which is not bad because I'm sure we all had a crush on one of our teachers when we were at school (I did) but what is bad is that Napdao is accepting those feelings and kind of reciprocating. And they tried to cover the whole thing at the end by making her say that she's not their teacher anymore but, I'm sorry, it's still very bad. And of course, like in The Eclipse, the teacher joins the student's trip. I hate that...

Anyway, watch if you want to watch, you're the only judge of what you like.

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A BL Where It's Obvious It Was Filmed With Only Half of the Script Complete

To start off, the pilot trailer did not interest me AT ALL last year and the official trailer interested me even less. I only watched the first episode because 1) I was missing watching Be My Favorite on Fridays and 2) ViewJune had become an official GL pair in the time between the pilot and the first episode that I was interested in if they would have a GL romance in the show (spoiler: They do not until the last episode as it's a student-teacher relationship). I dropped it after the first episode and re-picked it up halfway through the show. About half of the show is montages!!! It annoyed the hell out of me that Sailom's confession was intercut with montages of KangSai, considering we had only 4-5 episodes of their interactions anyway up to that point!! The show even resorted to showing us flashbacks of stuff that the audience had JUST SEEN. The constant montages and flashbacks made the first half of the show feel very empty. However, the second half of the show does pick up with shining performances from the side couples GuyNawa and SaifahName. I would do anything for a mini-series following Saifah and Name which were the real dangerous romance of this show. The last thing that truly saved this show for me was Perth and Chimon's performance, they truly are Actors.

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Windmill and his wind!!

It started great but I can not say the same about the last few episodes. However it's still worth a try. Enemies to Lovers!! Quite a common trope I know but that's not a problem because if executed right, it's worth it. However, Dangerous romance failed to do that. The amount of plot jumps and time skips it has shown makes it feel almost rushed. Like from when Sailom started tutoring Kanghan to the semester mid term, I really feel there's a significant amount that got skipped and it made it feel almost rushed to the point that it looked like Sailom got along with his (ex)bully Kanghan almost instantly. Also, Pimfah catching and expressing her feelings to Sailom didn't have any impact on me because nothing was really shown. Although, I am glad it didn't drag but it felt so out of place and it just felt like some random plot drive thrown in between to raise the tension between the leads for some few minutes (but apparently it's few weeks in the series). The time jump execution was just bad. So execution wise it failed.

Moreover there was nothing truly dangerous not until the last few episode and even in the last few episode the danger element felt forced but the Thai title of the series is "Heart in the wind". I don't know if that can be considered a redeeming factor but hear me out it's really worth a try. I won't lie the plot sometimes felt so out of place but I still just enjoyed seeing Kang and Sailom. They are cute and in the starting Sailom , he was sassy and relentless. His sassy attitude did tone down in the later half but he stood his grounds and no he wasn't weak. Sure, he had a poor financial background and that was just the starting of his problems but that didn't stop him. He worked hard instead of making excuses. His sassy remarks and his strike backs were so worth it. Contrast to Sailom, Kanghan in the very start was really a jerk. Sure, he had his own story but that still didn't give him the right to bully others. He was downright harsh. I knew what I was getting myself into but still the bullying agitated me so much. After witnessing Sailom being beaten up, he instantly softened up to Sailom. A jerk in the starting became a sweetheart. From hating each other to softening up to each other to liking each other, they both came a long way. Their chemistry is good, sometimes lacking but I think they were adorable.

Talking about the other characters, Sailom's friends are likable. Kanghan's friends are somewhere in the middle. But I did end up liking Nawa a lot at that. His and Guy's storyline is honestly so underrated. I personally think the writers should have explored their story more. Also, Pimfah I like her. Moving further, damn the dialogues used especially in the starting half are so well thought and even the character names. 'Kanghan' means windmill and 'Sailom' means wind. "How can windmill spin if there's no wind?" Damn that is so well thought. Also, there are so many other lines that made me go 'OHHHH!!!'. Like the one where Kanghan says "Do you want to be a hero?" and Sailom's like "Care to be my heroine?". Slow claps!!

This series is not the best but it's worth a try.

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Dangerous romance or boring romance?

GMMTV never ceases to amaze me how they can turn a promising story into the most mediocre one. GMMTV has a real talent for creating fantastic teasers for its series, and Dangerous Romance is no different. Once again, I was fooled and decided to watch this presumably action-packed story of dangerous love . Well, as we all already know the final product turned out to be something completely different. What is this series actually about? Good question :) In a way, I felt like I was watching an anthology of three different stories: 1) the transformation of a bully into a good boy through love (ep 1-3) 2) My lovely tutor (ep 3-9) and finally 3) where did this gangster story come from? (10-11). I started having a serious crisis as early as episode 6, as did Khan, who started acting as if he had a split personality. The poor guy couldn't decide who he actually loves - he loves Pimfah, but flirts with Sailom, even though he supposedly feels nothing for him, and then suddenly he's jealous of him? WTF? Then with each episode there was only more of this shit and then I realized that to be able to finish this series you have to turn off your brain and stop analyzing it. I won't even mention that this series is a conglomeration of the most common bl tropes that exist: sponge bath? check. Accidental fall? check. Staring at each other for 30 seconds without saying a word? Check. Love triangle? check. Trip to the beach? check. It's like a recurring nightmare from watching 'Hidden Agenda' but with better actors. I regret watching this series.

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Nothing dangerous about THIS romance

Dangerous Romance has been, for me, the biggest disappointment for BLs this year. Here are my pros and cons:

PROS

FIRST TWO EPISODES. The bullying was brutal, but the drama was intense. Based on the first two episodes, I felt that I might be giving this series a 10. (Sigh.)

GRANDMA. The best character on any series, ever.

PIMFAH. Loved her.

SAILOM. I liked him as a character, especially in the first part of the series.

GUY/NAVA. Hawt and sexy. They could have their own gay porn channel.

MAX/AUTO. They obviously became close friends. I could have shipped them as a couple.

SAIFAH'S BODY. Please pass me a fan.

CONS

STORY. First 2 eps were compelling. Kang did a complete (and inexplicable), 180 starting in Ep 3. He became so sickeningly sweet, we might as well have been watching Barney and Friends. Kang never apologized for his early psycho behavior, and we could have skipped Eps 3 through 9 without missing anything.

KANG/SAILOM. No chemistry. I mean ZERO. Should have become friends and that's it. I can't imagine the two of them having sex, or least being any good at it.

KANG'S DAD. I thought he would at least be some kind of sinister character, but he was just a wimp. That lame ass excuse for not expecting anything from Kang was ridiculous. And then we were supposed to LIKE him? I hope he steps on a pebble every time he's barefoot.

KANG'S GUNSHOT WOUND. So in Ep 11, Kang was shot, although you'd never know it. In his arm? In his back? There was no screaming out in pain, he just hugged Sailom with a smile on his face. And how could the gunman not have killed Kang? He was less than two feet away.

THE WIND/WINDMILL THING. I suppose it was cute, once. But Kang KEPT bringing it up, to the point where we all wanted to barf. (And it's dumb anyway... a windmill does need wind, but wind does not need a windmill.)

Despite my low rating, I did enjoy parts of this series. I gave it a fairly high rewatch value, because I actually did rewatch quite a lot of it. But it did not deliver what was initially advertised. What could have been a brilliant series just fizzled.

it's a 5.0 from me.

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Dangerously Terrible

Dangerous Romance begins with a clever male lead (Sailom) constantly outsmarting the vicious bully (Khang) at school, fostering a growing interest in what is to become of the two characters' dynamic.
Khang traumatizes Sailom's friends and even intends to do the same to Sailom, but it just so happens to be that he saves Sailom from debt collectors. People tend to forget that Khang intended to scare Sailom with an actual gun.
After that, the bully's doings are dismissed because he is just a misunderstood rich boy; we don't get to see any real character development that's fitting.
The danger in Dangerous Romance does not exist until the last few episodes, and it's all over the place.
There is no chemistry between the actors.
There is no need for me to watch the last episode, it will not change my mind on how terrible I think it is.

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I see the Romance, but not the Dangerous

This was.... okay. Let's get into it:

The good:

- I'll say it until I'm blue in the face, Guy and Nawa SAVED this series for me. They were so entertaining, the chemistry was off the charts, and I was invested every time they were on-screen. I loved them. Their kiss??? Are you kidding me??? I think their romance was believable, they never really lost their banter but grew to tolerate, then like each other. I'm sold.
- Sailom and Kanghan have some genuinely adorable moments together. They're at their best when they're hanging out and just having fun.
- The first few episodes were good. Like, actually good. They were so different to other GMMTV series: they were gritty, darker and more bold in showing the reality of bullying. It really got under my skin - which means it was done well. I wanted to punch Kanghan so badly. It felt appropiate for the title 'Dangerous Romance', and even though I don't really like watching people get abused and bullied, it was realistic for the characters and the situations they were in.
- I also loved the (new?) trope of the bully getting his ass handed to him by the person being bullied. It was so funny, and clever, and it made me love Sailom so much. They tell us that he's smart, but those scenes show it as well. It made me see him as a resourceful, cunning and assertive person.
- Honorable mention to my boy Auto, he's made me laugh multiple times - love him as well.

The bad:

- The story just loses its steam after a few episodes - there's no other way to describe it. Once Sailom and Kanghan become friends, it's less about the bullying and more about their romance and secondary plot points. Which I would not mind if they had done it properly - instead, they redeemed Kanghan in, like, the THIRD episode, through a sad montage, and had Sailom forgive him almost immediately. They trusted each other SO FAST. This was the guy who a week ago was forcing you to kiss your friend and recording it!! Why do you trust him?? Why does HE trust you??? Kanghan never really faced the consequences of what he did, which was messed up. He didn't 'make a mistake', he harassed poorer students while being aware of his privilege and accused someone of being a p*dophile so that they would lose their job as a tutor. This is not something that can (nor should) be forgiven that quickly.
- About Kanghan and Sailom's relationship: it's just not giving Romance. They looked like friends with benefits to me. They have such a strong chemistry as friends, but the actors look a little bit uncomfortable when doing physically intimate scenes together. I don't know, maybe I'm just imagining things. Also, it's kind of toxic - Kanghan drops Sailom multiple times throughout the series, and shuts himself off completely without communicating. He fires Sailom knowing that he's financially dependent on him and that he'll have to resort to being an escort. He distances himself immediately after telling him he trusts him. I would be VERY insecure in that relationship.
- Potential? teacher-student romance?? Am I delirious or were they going for it?? Idk, I'm not a fan of this dynamic at all.
- Some plot elements were genuinely ridiculous, and clearly only there to create drama artificially. Why did the brother go to jail? (the boss' fingerprints were on the gun!! He was not wearing gloves!! Did the police not see that they did not match Saifah's???) Why did Name take so long to confess? Why did the boss start shooting at Sailom and Kanghan at the hospital instead of threatening to kill the dad so that they would go away? Why did he go in himself, instead of having someone disposable go in his place?
- The dad was redeemed too fast. I didn't care for him - he was an asshole for 90% of the series, and then I'm supposed to believe that he's a great guy who's turned his life around to be better for his son. I'm sorry, I don't.

Would I recommend this series? Not really. I didn't dislike it, but it wasn't as memorable as I originally thought it was going to be. I'll probably forget 70% of what happened throughout. I do think that the actors should be given more roles together, maybe not as partners, but friends? Their chemistry shouldn't go to waste.

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The earlier episodes were great then it got worse

I don't have a lot to say about this series, but I did really enjoy the early episodes; it was just that it went downhill after that. I don't know what happened to the plot. It just got worse.

For Sailom's (Chimon) character, I didn't feel his chemistry with Kanghan's (Perth) character; it felt like he was too uncomfortable with him doing some of the romantic scenes. 

For the other two characters, MarcPawin (I forgot their name in the series), I really did enjoy their scenes and chemistry, and for me, they carried the show more than the main couple.

This is just my opinion based on what I've seen from the first - last episodes, so I hope you don't get mad at me.

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