Dark Blue Kiss (2019)

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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Pete Kao Tay New

Harusnya ini yang pertama aku review.
Sebenarnya kalau dari segi cerita tidak se ngena TOL ataupun SOTUS dan lainnya. Tapi ini series bl ke 2 yang aku tonton, dan membawaku ke dunia Raikantopini hehe.
Suka banget sama aktinganya TayNew, bagus bagus semua sih akting aktornya, pas lah, bisa masuk ke karakter.
Dari segi cerita sebenarnya agak beda dengan versi novel, tapi mungkin lebih baik versi film ya, konfliknya lebih ngena.
Music nya oke banget. Apalagi intronya tereret, nyantol di kuping.
Kalau kalian polca, pasti sering rewacth.
Secara keseluruhan kalau kalian ingin lihat series yang agak santai, konfliknya ga berat berat. Ini rekomended.
Terus support P'Tay P'New.

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Deveria ter assistido antes sério não dava nada no começo mas o drama que teve meu pai até eu senti o ódio kkkk

Os casais são uma belezinha, um cast bom é um cast né, o casal principal tem uma química muitoo boa (me deu vontade de ver "Kiss me again" só pra saber do inicio deles), outra coisa que eu amei é como as meninas dessa serie são tudo, rainhas sensatas né.

Sobre o Kao e o Pete ai gente eu senti todas as dores kkkk ao mesmo tempo que no começo o Pete era possessivo demais, ele tava certo (nem tanto) e o Kao podia ter falado a verdade né, mas dramas tem isso mesmo. Os pais deles são tudo meu Deus do céu compreensivos entendem os filhos ai ai da vontade né .

Sobre o drama, a raiva que eu fiquei , o Non com medo do pai nem pensou que ele podia ferrar com a vida do Kao né, se o Pete batesse nele passaria pano com prazer kkkk.

Nem vou falar da fotografia pq eu sou apaixonada na fotografia dessas séries, a cena da surpresa do Kao me deixou com o coração quentinho, as luzes, o amor, foi tudo. Outra coisa que eu não sei se é coisa da minha cabeça, mas pra mim faz sentido, é quando o Sun e o Mork tão brigados, que a cena tá com as cores bem apagadas ai quando o Sun lembra dele e ele aparece na imaginação do Sun, volta as cores e aparece a luz do sol assim, é tudo!

Série perfeita impossível não gostar e se apaixonar pela história de Dark Blue Kiss <3

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Awalnya sembet bete, tapi ?! loh kok?!

Ini adalah series POLCA pertamaku, dibintangi oleh Tawan dan New ; series ini sempat aku hold bahkan drop karena episode satunya yang agak membosankan, di awal episode saya tidak begitu faham atau bagaimana mereka berdua (si tokoh utama) bisa sedekat itu, dan saya baru sadar ini merupakan series yang merupakan lanjutan dari series kiss me. Namun setelah saya menonton series ini terus menerus saya baru faham dan sadar betapa menarik dan bagusnya series ini, bahkan ; anda tidak perlu menonton series kiss me sebelum menonton series ini, series ini tetap punya cerita sendiri yang independen dan bisa di tonton langsung. Selain Tawan dan New, saya sangat menyukai bahkan lebih menyukai pasangan main couple ke dua yaitu Gawin dan Pod ; Gawin adalah mahasiswa sedangkan Pod adalah seorang barista yang keduanya punya gap perbedaan umur yang cukup jauh dan ini punya chemistry yang lebih bagus menurutku, dibanding mainrole utama Tawan dan Mew yang punya latar belakang dengan perbedaan umur yang tidak terlalu signifikan , karena keduanya masih berkuliah. Dari segi dialog, mudah difahami ya, walaupun di episode awal agak berbelit-belit dan membosankan, dari segi scene sangat memancing emosi ya, saya tidak akan memberitahukan penyebabnya namun anda perlu tau bahwa series yang satu ini pasti akan membuat anda gemes dalam bentuk greget karena emosi dan kesal haha. Beberapa tokoh terlihat menyebalkan. Dari segi konflik menurut saya biasa aja ya, dan tidak terlalu out of the box, resolusinya juga sederhana, series ini menurutku sangat bagus untuk mengisi waktu luang dan enjoyable to watch "aja" - seingetku, tidak ada life meaning yang spesial dari series yang satu ini. rekomended? menurutku sangat ya terutama untuk fans bL veteran.

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