AbsoluteBL
chronic traveller
This review may contain spoilers
PNR, grim reaper, enemies to lovers
Adapted from a y-novel by HUNGRYBIRD of the same name, Wabi Sabi picked up this defunked project and brought it back for iQIYI (with Director New acting as producer) staring Grey Rainbow (trigger warnings & sad ending) couple Nut & Karn. They are pretty great together and certainly mature and capable leads. Also featured Yacht (Paint with Love) and Pat (My Ride) as side characters.
This is a romance between a doctor trying to save his patients and a reaper who is both his enemy and (eventually) lover. Basically it’s the genius premise of a gay Doom at Your Service. High concept looks good on you, Thailand. I enjoyed it more than it’s ending deserved, and the best I can say is that it’s not strictly HEA but if you’re okay with Life: Love on the Line, you’ll probubly be okay with this BL. It’s set up well, there’s no surprise unpleasantness like HIStory 3: The BL that shall not be named.
The reaper mythos was pleasingly bureaucratic in an almsot Terry Gilliam absurdist kind of way. I wish we’d got a bit more of it, and how the underworld worked. And I also wish it had just really leaned into the “mistakes are just the frustration of the DMV” style. But this is Thailand, and high concept + absurdist really isn’t their thing, so I’m disposed to be happy with the silliness we did get.
The slow burn romance and the laying out of the intertwined past was really well done. Not to mention all of the external tension with the doctors in competition and their various cases, and the conflict between the leads and their roles in life. It’s much better storytelling than we usually get from Thai B - a solid little show, especially at the start. Now the driving conflict of a doctor who will not accept death was a little too drawn out and one note (I was over it by ep 6), but no worse than we usually get from Thai BL.
The side dishes were hit or miss for me, their drunken hook almost too relatable, but their insta-love tendencies felt conflictingly unrealistic. Also one of New’s OLD SCHOOL “around the back of head not at all a kiss” kisses. I haven’t seen that from Thailand since Make it Right! Retro “we not gay” camera action used because the actors aren’t comfortable with each other? Why here? Why now? Tut tut. I was mixed over them but the side couple was, in the end, cute enough (weird kisses notwithstanding).
The chemistry between the leads was MUCH more consistent than the side couple, and very well executed. KarnNut give GREAT KISS. Honestly, I can’t remember if their kissing in Grey Rainbow was this good, but in 2022 AKA the year of great gay kisses, this was one of the best I’ve seen - we are talking MewGulf or MaxTul level. Very impressive.
Are KarnNat the best Thai origin couple at domesticity? Seems like. And I LOVE domesticity in my BL. So they get extra points for this.
THE ENDING
This show had a very Korean style unnecessary-separation in the last ep. But I guess I’m used to that now? The show’s ending reminded me A LOT of Love: Life on the Line (Director’s Cut) so if you like that you’ll, like this one, but it’s not strictly HEA, there’s a lot more pathos. I thought it suited the narrative, so I’m not mad.
Want it spoiled? They get a lifetime together; the reaper goes back to being invisible to everyone but the doctor, so no one notices that he doesn’t age; he pulls the doctor’s card when the doctor is old; and then meets him again in his next reincarnation. So this is not exactly a happy ending, but it’s not really sad either. Just pathos.
Did I cry? Of course, I’m a sap. But for someone normally SET on HEA, I actually I liked it.
I’m not quite sure how to rate this show tho, as a result. And I’m not sure I’ll ever rewatch it either. Still, like Peach of Time, everything was set up for us, so the end wasn’t surprising and it managed to be substantially happier than Peach or, of course Grey Rainbow (shudder).
So maybe I rate it higher than I should because it could have been a lot worse? ARGH. Decisions. I went with 7/10
RECOMMENDED WITH RESERVATIONS
This is a romance between a doctor trying to save his patients and a reaper who is both his enemy and (eventually) lover. Basically it’s the genius premise of a gay Doom at Your Service. High concept looks good on you, Thailand. I enjoyed it more than it’s ending deserved, and the best I can say is that it’s not strictly HEA but if you’re okay with Life: Love on the Line, you’ll probubly be okay with this BL. It’s set up well, there’s no surprise unpleasantness like HIStory 3: The BL that shall not be named.
The reaper mythos was pleasingly bureaucratic in an almsot Terry Gilliam absurdist kind of way. I wish we’d got a bit more of it, and how the underworld worked. And I also wish it had just really leaned into the “mistakes are just the frustration of the DMV” style. But this is Thailand, and high concept + absurdist really isn’t their thing, so I’m disposed to be happy with the silliness we did get.
The slow burn romance and the laying out of the intertwined past was really well done. Not to mention all of the external tension with the doctors in competition and their various cases, and the conflict between the leads and their roles in life. It’s much better storytelling than we usually get from Thai B - a solid little show, especially at the start. Now the driving conflict of a doctor who will not accept death was a little too drawn out and one note (I was over it by ep 6), but no worse than we usually get from Thai BL.
The side dishes were hit or miss for me, their drunken hook almost too relatable, but their insta-love tendencies felt conflictingly unrealistic. Also one of New’s OLD SCHOOL “around the back of head not at all a kiss” kisses. I haven’t seen that from Thailand since Make it Right! Retro “we not gay” camera action used because the actors aren’t comfortable with each other? Why here? Why now? Tut tut. I was mixed over them but the side couple was, in the end, cute enough (weird kisses notwithstanding).
The chemistry between the leads was MUCH more consistent than the side couple, and very well executed. KarnNut give GREAT KISS. Honestly, I can’t remember if their kissing in Grey Rainbow was this good, but in 2022 AKA the year of great gay kisses, this was one of the best I’ve seen - we are talking MewGulf or MaxTul level. Very impressive.
Are KarnNat the best Thai origin couple at domesticity? Seems like. And I LOVE domesticity in my BL. So they get extra points for this.
THE ENDING
This show had a very Korean style unnecessary-separation in the last ep. But I guess I’m used to that now? The show’s ending reminded me A LOT of Love: Life on the Line (Director’s Cut) so if you like that you’ll, like this one, but it’s not strictly HEA, there’s a lot more pathos. I thought it suited the narrative, so I’m not mad.
Want it spoiled? They get a lifetime together; the reaper goes back to being invisible to everyone but the doctor, so no one notices that he doesn’t age; he pulls the doctor’s card when the doctor is old; and then meets him again in his next reincarnation. So this is not exactly a happy ending, but it’s not really sad either. Just pathos.
Did I cry? Of course, I’m a sap. But for someone normally SET on HEA, I actually I liked it.
I’m not quite sure how to rate this show tho, as a result. And I’m not sure I’ll ever rewatch it either. Still, like Peach of Time, everything was set up for us, so the end wasn’t surprising and it managed to be substantially happier than Peach or, of course Grey Rainbow (shudder).
So maybe I rate it higher than I should because it could have been a lot worse? ARGH. Decisions. I went with 7/10
RECOMMENDED WITH RESERVATIONS
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