KinnPorsche (2022)

10000% worth it

surprisingly enough, i didn't quite have a great start with kinnporsche as it didn’t convince me the first episode. nevertheless, i later decided to give it another go and i became addicted that very moment. it was an incredible rollercoaster of emotions with all the drama, tension, and funny/light scenes. this is without a doubt one of the best bls i have ever seen. i loved every second of it and it left me speechless. one of my favourite things about it has to be porsche. he is undoubtedly one of the best characters EVER. please, do not hold yourself back from watching it. you won't regret it!

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So bad, yet (sometimes) so good

[Revised review as of ep. 7]
KP is an action-comedy-BL drama. But above all else, it is an unexpectedly compelling train-wreck of a romance, with some grey-area dubcon scenes thrown in to boot. Porsche is a college student who works as a bartender to make ends meet. After rescuing repressed mafia scion Kinn in a chance encounter, extenuating circumstances force Porsche to seek employment as Kinn’s personal bodyguard. What lies ahead for Porsche? (Bodily injury. Severe workplace bullying and harassment that obviously violates multiple labour laws. And a lot of sex.) Much of the praise for this show has focussed on the production values and performances from Mile and Apo in the lead roles, which I think are very good-to-fantastic compared to most TV shows in any genre or language. Bible, Build, and Jeff have also put in excellent supporting role performances as Vegas, Pete and Kim respectively. So I can ignore the fact that virtually every other aspect of the script is terrible, and watch KP religiously every Sunday morning.

I’ll start with the bad stuff.

Plot: An actual plot is almost non-existent, even 7 episodes in. What we know so far is that Kinn’s immediate and extended family, the Theerapayakuls, are involved in “underworld activity”.** We also know Korn’s (Kinn’s dad) motivations for hiring Porsche— who only becomes a competent employee in ep 7— are unclear and are being investigated sub rosa by Kinn’s estranged youngest brother Kim. Lastly, Kinn’s uncle and his sons (the so-called “secondary family” in the English translation) are the “bad guys” trying to weaken Korn’s grip on the family business. All that would be fine if viewers were given some idea of the plot’s trajectory by ep 7. Sadly, there is almost none. As of ep 7, which has the Theerapanyakuls finishing off an old enemy, we still don’t have a clear idea of what the overarching plot is, much less where it is heading. Like okay, Italian dude died... what now? That doesn’t bode well for the remaining 7 episodes— we’re either going to get an anemic main plot where the gangsters are really just there for show, or left with a giant cliffhanger for a S2 which may or may not happen. Also, while it is plausible that there are no women in the show except cafeteria and spa aunties (since hey, mafia organisation) and Yok, nearly everyone plot-relevant is gay or bi. I know that’s in the novel too, but it’s just not realistic.

** Save for what is probably unlicensed moneylending/loansharking, I am still not sure what business Kinn & Co engage in that is illegal. Their revenue streams in the PowerPoint presentation appear to be from legitimate businesses. Though in ep 7, we do see some drugs turning up in a truck and generic "dealings with other gangs"…

Script: If you have 14 episodes, you have no time to waste. In The Long Night (C-drama), the scriptwriter managed to cram in a slow build-up, fairly complex plot, and multiple narrative perspectives into a measly 12 episodes. You won’t find anything like that in KP, which is paced as if it’s 40 episodes long. What is clear is that the script is structured around the romance (more on that later), even though it also tries (unsuccessfully) to focus on other things, like having a credible storyline and being funny. Problem is, it’s not funny. At all. Other MDL reviewers have griped about the show’s miserable attempts at humour; I’ll just say that I completely agree with those comments. Because the romance is the focal point of the first half of the show, everything else is done in a half-baked way. The stuff about the family conflict and Porsche’s mysterious childhood lingers in the background like dull scenery. The humour, which mostly involves Tankhun (Kinn’s oddball and fabulous older brother) has no punchline and goes on for way too long. You could probably cut out 75% of the scenes with Tankhun and the show would not be missing anything. The role of Tankhun doesn’t do justice to Tong, who is a good actor doing his level best with a silly script. Also, I thought ep 6 was too long. There were important emotional high points in that episode, but there was no need to devote a large block of time to showing our bros in love stumbling about, playing rock-paper-scissors, and spear-fishing in the woods.

Key relationship: There’s actually a lot to be said about the main relationship, but I’ll try to keep this short. The Kinn/Porsche relationship is interesting for BL, which seldom depicts romantic relationships between guys who also have a conventional and overtly masculine friendship. It reminds me a bit of Brokeback Mountain. Here, we have a romance between needy bros who love and hurt each other in equal measure. They get along swimmingly, yet don’t get along, when all they both need is a heart-to-heart talk with a hug and fist-bump to end it off. I love it. Kinn and Porsche need each other because they are many different things to each other - bros, employer/employee, and lovers - but this is a problem when they’re completely different people. Kinn is shackled by his “professional” responsibilities and the trauma from an old relationship. However, his stiff upper lip prevents him from talking things over with Porsche until shit hits the fan. On the other hand, Porsche is uninhibited, effusive and more than happy to give and receive the affection he craves to just about anyone. He loves Kinn, but also chafes against his authoritarian streak. Worse still, Kinn’s reticence hurts Porsche and makes him susceptible to creepy stalker Vegas (Kinn’s cousin), who promises to fulfill Porsche's unmet need for attention and freedom. After making it out of the forest alive in ep 6, Kinn and Porsche (re)start their relationship in the “real world” in ep 7 being very apart even when they are together. The closing scene is very explicit, but also a total gut-wrencher in the context of the episode— there’s an understandable breakdown of trust (both ways), another heartfelt apology, followed by the need to make up for things with… more sex. Sweet? Yes. Tragic? Definitely. While I don’t have much faith that the main plot will go anywhere, I'm quite sure there’s plenty of realistic and nuanced relationship development lying ahead, because that seems to be the one thing this show is good at. As a final note, it’s also impressive how the scriptwriters “reformed” Kinn from the novel (where I understand he is unapologetically rapey) in a way that feels natural. In a rare moment of emotional candour in ep 6, Kinn acknowledges and apologises for having sex with Porsche when his consent was impaired. It was in-character and authentic, as opposed to a token politically-correct whitewashing that was thrown in so that the viewership wouldn’t brick the scriptwriters.

Acting: I can’t say enough good things about Apo’s incredible performance in KP. Because of him and Mile, the show's most emotionally tortured scenes are also the show's best. However, there's no doubt in my mind that Apo is the linchpin of this show. Apo said in an interview that he had shed blood and tears doing the show, and that shows in the seeming effortlessness with which he captures the nuances of Porsche’s character through sidelong glances, head tilts and other small gestures. He has an uncanny sense of how to present himself before the camera, and it’s almost as if he rehearsed in front of a mirror to make sure he got the gestures and angles just right. In one scene in ep 3, Porsche says he’s started taking his job seriously because he wanted to make Kinn regret sending him to work for Tankhun. At that point, there is no sign that Porsche has any romantic feelings for Kinn. But Apo does the scene with a coy head tilt and almost-but-not-quite batting of eyelashes that adds a whole layer of suggestiveness to that exchange. The episode 4 bathroom scene was even more impressive. Porsche is drugged and nearly raped by Vegas; Kinn rescues in him the nick of time while he’s high as a kite. After Porsche teases Kinn about his sexuality and throws himself at Kinn while in a questionable mental state, they have sex. This is one of the most intense, ambiguous and emotionally challenging moments in any show I’ve watched. It’s also my favourite sequence by far. How aware was Porsche? Did he make a pass at Kinn to get the attempted assault out of his mind? How does he really feel about Kinn? It’s obviously meant to be problematic, and the actors did a fantastic job of fleshing out the grey areas of this scene without giving the audience an easy answer in both eps 4 and 5. Serious props to Mile for his pitch-perfect depiction of Kinn’s inner turmoil as the pendulum swings between being a good bro to his drugged-out friend and making Something happen (never a good idea, and which it turns out, he regretted! And apologised for!).

Not being a watcher of BL shows in general, I came for what seemed like decent gunfights and action. That part didn’t work out, but the bro-romance makes it worthwhile.

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Gritty Mature SEXIEST BL ROMANCE

Coming in I was looking forward to romance, gritty mature sex, with strong male protagonists. I am not disappointed. But if you expect to see in-depth of the mafia world, STOP and go watch series like Peaky Blinders, Ozark, Breaking Bad or even Queen of the South (which has romance).

KinnPorsche is mainly a BL romance drama with the mafia just as a backdrop. This is the weakness of KP, it’s lacking in substance. But it’s fun to witness the obstacles Porsche went through as a reluctant bodyguard, and Kinn’s patience and exasperation on the shenanigans of his new guard… Then their relationship started progressing, the sizzling chemistry of Mile and Apo as Kinn and Porsche almost blew my screen with the hotness and all those EXPOSED skin! But Porsche and Kinn’s story started losing its edge when the pair fell head over heels in love, I find their scenes overly sweet, with Kinn declaring to everyone how much he loves Porsche.. The relationship is taking too much center stage that it affected the image of Kinn and his mafia family - the main family lacked teeth.

But KP has not given up its edge. While Kinn and Porsche are in their blissful romance, KP balances the sweetness with the darker VegasPete tandem. This pair is for the hardcore BL watchers and has caught my attention once again. VegasPete is for our wicked fantasies, twisted love/sex served hot… Admittedly, their first lovemaking was a little bit of a let down. After all the previous sadism that Vegas showed, their sex was a bit vanilla. And I think Pete can take more pain, afterall, he grew up with a father like Vegas’. I am expecting more spice from these two in the future. (Hoping to see back the whip!)… But the sex aside, their story with their similar warped childhood is just as interesting as Kinn and Porsche’.

If you cannot stomach the Vegas-Pete offering, KP will not disappoint coz the Kim and Chay is for those who like their BL sweet and innocent. But I’m watching KP for palpable sex scenes. I am sorry to say that after watching their story once, I skim this pair whenever I rewatch KP.

If the viewer has accepted that the usual boys meet boys - boys love boys, has now evolved into men meet men - men love men, with the bonus of men fuck men, then KinnPorsche, with the very mature R rating, will blow your senses. Additionally, despite the lack of depth in the story, this series is favored with great actors (everyone seemed to enjoy themselves and threw themselves 100% into their characters). The high production value is a delight and the setting makes viewers fantasize of an unreachable billionaire’s world. KinnPorsche is my guilty pleasure every weekend, counting the days til Saturday comes again. Since this is indeed a romance drama, I find myself humming the soundtrack.

.… And even though I would like to rate KinnPorsche a bit lower, I admittedly cannot. Plain and simple, I AM HOOKED and I will definitely be watching this over and over and over and over…

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High Expectations but too high expectations:/

I will be 100% honest here my expectations for this show were really high and the expectations just weren't met...
After a long wait and hype, I was expecting some real Mafia crime, especially because of the ratings.
However the show was just not it. I stopped watching the show after the 7th episode (Great episode) cause i just didn't want to watch it anymore. It didn't keep me on my toes every week the way MoD did.

VegasPete's storyline was kinda rushed and meh. Honestly they should've had their storyline going in the earlier episodes and allowed for a better buildup. But at least theirs was more interesting then the main couple, KinnPorsche. They just deserve more buildup, more tension, more of breaking down Vegas's psychological and family issues. No but i love that line Vegas said to Pete before their kiss. Pete needed to give in to his crazy but with more tension and time for thier development, Pete finally giving in to Vegas would've been so much better.

Porchay and Kim were alright. Kim didnt really have much depth to him. He was just that nosy sibling who wanted to be up in his family's business (mostly Kinn and Porsche's business) but there was no real point to him. He used Porchay then left him at the curb. Then kept following him to protect him. like huh?! I love his last fight scene in the bar tho. it was great. Porchay is alright. I dont really got much to say about him, but that's fine. He is an average teen boy just doing his music and got mixed in with the wrong family. They were done dirty but they were cute.

Love Tankhun. He's great. No complaints at all. In fact, he was the only one to notice Pete's absence And is hilarious too.

NOW THE MAIN COUPLE, KINN AND PORSCHE!!

Ugh just say yall are horny and stop hyping them up. Kinn is a bad boyfriend and Porsche deserves better. They got nice scenes together but they were alright. The first few episodes with them were good , but They were one of those cases of 'after they became a couple, it wasn't interesting to look at them anymore.' Also, how tf did Kinn not notice Pete being missing.

What was that whole thing with Porsche's mom and Kinn's dad? Like, what's going. Still confused about it to this day.

Overall, it was alright. the first half of the show was good, but then the second half was meh, only thing good about the second half was Vegas Pete but like i said they needed more development as a couple.

I wish there was more Mafia, crime, type story like i thought it was going to be. It felt like the whole Mafia thing was an accessory instead of actually incorporating it into the story and really diving into it. But oh well. I was disappointed on that end.

Great production, great acting, great music. The story is just lacking. Too much comedy too.

Im sure others will love this show but as a fan of crime, mafia, type dramas, it was alright. As a BL fan, the show was good. It gave fans what they wanted it terms of chemistry. The characters are a bit lacking.

However, i do think everyone should watch the show cuz it is one of the better higher quality BLs however it is not my fave.

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Don't get the hype... it's still toxic.

7.0 Overall; entertaining, I enjoyed it, and the acting is really well done, but in the end, it has serious flaws that I can't look past.

It was good and had a more interesting plot than your typical Thai BL. That does not make it worth all the hype; it still has all the same problematic elements that your typical Thai BL has.

I love mafia related/crime stories. One of my favorite BL's is HIStory 3: Trapped. I remember when I first watched it, I wanted more but better-developed stories like that in BL. I thought Kinneporsche would be that, and it's definitely getting closer, but still has so much of the toxic sh** that I just can't stand it anymore. I watched this as it was airing, and could understand at the time that people were excited because we were getting something "different" and with a more developed plot than a typical BL. But that doesn't mean it deserves the hype it's getting— and the amount of unconditional love this series has garnered honestly baffles me. Like, it's good, it's entertaining— but there's still so much of the same toxic and disturbing tropes in it as the usual BL. It's not that different.

HIStory 3 Trapped did the mafia concept way better; cinematically, no BL beats ITSAY. In the end, Kinnporsche was entertaining but certainly does not reach the pedestal people like to put it on.

I want more series with serious, developed plots; Kinnporsche — I'd hoped would come close to that — missed entirely. It had a great premise and setup, but when it came down to it, it devolved into typical BL tropes of power imbalance, fetishized abuse, and "love makes it all okay." It threw the plot to the wind of coincidences, used the mafia as a backdrop more than anything else, and turned two interesting characters to mush once they "fell in love."



- Semi-spoilers ahead-

Honestly, when I watched this as it was airing and the stuff with Pete started going down, I remember searching comments for other people who found it disturbing or saw that it was an obvious case of VERY, VERY disturbing Stockholm syndrome, as Pete is kidnapped, abused physically, mentally, and even sexually— and then falls in love with his abuser. But literally… no one else seemed to have a problem with this, because their romance was… cute? Sexy? Because they liked Vegas? Their plot was so disturbing to me I could barely watch it. I liked Vegas too— was ready for him to be the best part of this drama— and he could have been, if what he did to Pete was framed differently. If it was framed as " Vegas is a very bad person who did some fucked up shit", if he'd consistently been considered the villain, he would have been a villain/character that I could really like. But instead... We got this weird fetishization of Pete/Vegas, this angle that because Vegas has an attitude of "Only I can abuse you" it's cute and romantic... This is exactly why there's so much toxicity in BL plots; because when it happens but fans like what the outcome is, they decide to ignore it.

The plot between the two male leads involved some of the same abuser/power imbalance dynamics, that in a regular show would have been called out but in a BL are seen as just elements used to increase tension and totally acceptable. And definitely when compared to Pete's storyline… it was mild.

While the mafia set-up made it different to other BL series, in the end, the details of it didn't amount to being so different. The best part of this show was Tankhun tbh. The only consistently interesting and redeemable character lmao.




I have long wished that the BL industry could get some better writers— not just in regards to skill, but in, I don't know if this is the right word, morals? I have not read the original book because so many fans have mentioned that it's even more graphic and disturbing than the series, and especially now with everything coming out about the writers and the power they held behind the scenes, things need to change. I wish there were better writers out there so studios don't have to give power, money, and attention to people who are abusive or perverted.

I feel so bad for the cast, to whom this filming period must have become a nightmare.

So many people are still hoping for a season two— I'm begging for there not to be one, for the sake of the actors. Not unless they can do it without the original writers (lol).

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Kind of Fun Trash

I really do appreciate this drama but it's definitely not for the story, which at its most polite could be called meandering. Every head canon you can create for this story is better than what they actually put into this.

But what makes this show engaging and honestly fairly rewatchable is the cast - there's two pretty solid pairings in Milo/Apo and Bible/Build - I'm not sold on Jeff and Barcode, who could maybe play brothers but who I do not buy as romantic partners.

There is almost no fully formed idea in this script, which allows it to go off the rails when it needs to (a sex scene around bread? Tankhun? the healthiest sex scene happening between a couple half-kidnapped?) but also makes it less engaging at times. Generally speaking, I only really recommend this if you know what you're getting into.

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The Best Action BL So Far!

After watching the first ep, I have to say that I'm impressed! The long wait time and anticipation won't let you down- the fighting choreography, cinematography, acting, and locations are all great quality!

The plot/concept is also new and refreshing, especially for a BL. I'm very excited to continue to see new locations and storylines with more fighting, chaos, and exciting moments. And almost all of the characters so far have depth with their own set of motives, so don't worry about seeing zero character development in the rest of the series. If you are looking for a mature, action-packed, spoicy BL, I'd recommend this for you!

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Disappointment <\3

I swear I can’t be the only one who was disappointed with this bl, like please tell me someone out there agrees with me when I say that storyline with Vegas and Pete was completely unnecessary

So essentially, I really loved everything about this bl except the story. The acting, cinematography, and music was all fenomenal and you can really tell the amount of effort and how high of a budget was put into this bl which I really do appreciate, it’s just that for me the story went down hill after the end of episode 7.

I really fell in love with the first 6 episodes of the series, it felt so refreshing and I could really see the great potential of the series. Episode 7 was good as well, except for the ending which felt extremely out of placed and like it was forced into the episode when it really didn’t need to be there. From there, the episodes started getting worse and worse. Like they really had to throw in the ex boyfriend arc lmfao that whole arc just felt like filler, but I mean it was still bearable for me so I still continued watching

I started growing disappointed in Kinnporsche when that whole Vegas and Pete torture chamber thing was going on which honestly disgusted me, and it angers me even more that when Pete had a very good opportunity to escape after Vegas’ pet died and he gave it up to go comfort him. Literally the same person who whipped him, stripped him and abused him for a whole week, and he still decided to help him because he felt bad. Bro name one mentally stable person who would give up the opportunity from escaping from his abuser to go comfort them after their pet died. It’s not even like the show tries painting the picture that their relationship is not okay, it honestly feels like fetishizing. And in case you continue to argue that there was artistic reasoning behind their relationship or smth like that, the creators of the book and show have been called out for grooming the actors while filming so obviously it’s not too far fetched to say that they were romanticizing the Stockholm syndrome sort of relationship Vegas and Pete had

I haven’t watched the last 2 episodes and I don’t plan to, so I can’t say anything abt the ending but tbh I rlly doubt it was actually good with the way episodes 8-12 were, but like you never know lol. This is really up to personal taste, and maybe it didn’t help that I’m not a huge fan of mafia bls mostly because I don’t rlly like the action genre that much, but still I loved HIStory 3 trapped (highly recommended if you haven’t watched it) and this bl still managed to disappoint me. I gotta give it to this series tho Porsche has gotta be one of the best characters I’ve ever seen in the bl universe so like maybe it wasn’t all that bad lmao

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first one!

I just wanted to write a review, so don't mind the scores yet. I have been waiting for KinnPorsche to air, and it's finally out. The first episode is so good and already told us a lot about Porsche's personality, a bit more than Kinn's for now since Porsche is the central protagonist. I also liked the changes the directors made, it suited the story well. The fight scenes were amazing, the cinematography is beautiful and the main leads are doing a great job (not to mention the budget ?? shocked). I read most part of the novel and I'm looking forward to the amazing chemistry I know they will deliver throughout the series. I have been following the cast's social medias since the beginning, so I already know some of the actors' skills. It was worth the wait, I can see they worked a lot for this. Sending my support for the cast and crew, I hope we all have fun with the rest of the episodes!

edit: I was hoping they would cut AT LEAST the s.a scene between Kinn and Porsche, because, honestly, it's pointless when you realize the dynamic they deliver has so much potential to be something light compared to other pairings in the show. However, I'll salve this take of mine for my review regarding the entire show!

edit 2: I finished the series but i don't have even one bit of energy to write my thoughts... Just know that I don't like plots with sexual assault between a potential couple, kinda ruined it for me. However, it's clear that Kinn and Porsche care for each other very much, so I admit I find them really cute in general. I'm all for Porsche and Porchay's happiness!! Kisses for Tankhun as well, lovely guy <3

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Pretty decent BL

Overall, it was a pretty good show. It really gets you on your feet, wanting more each time you finish an episode. I found the show pretty enjoyable on a Saturday night. The show does contain a lot of triggering materials, so make sure you read those so you don't have any surprises (?) when watching.

The plot was pretty messy to put it into simple words. Always having plot twists, LOL. I found the plot twist pretty fun and exciting since I'm pretty into those kinds of shows. The plot could have been better. I haven't read the novel, so I'm not exactly sure how the real story goes, but in the show I feel like some of the characters could have been more "close" to each other in like a friendship way. I want to see them interact and grow with each other more. The plot didn't really seem to go anywhere except for people just fighting all the time. Also, the ending was not really the best. It felt incomplete. I really do hope for a season 2 to clear up some misunderstandings and give more information to viewers.

With the cast and acting they did great! I really liked the cast. They did a great job portraying the characters. But the acting could have been a little better. Like with the stunts they could have been a little more realistic in a way (?)They did do great on the fighting scenes that was fun to watch. But overall it was really good acting. I would maybe say one of the best acting I've seen in a BL.

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