Weird title, I know, but this BL left the strangest impression on me. It’s like there were two different writers, with two different agendas, each pulling the show in opposite directions. Apologies, as this is going to be a long one!

Story
Unlike a lot of BLs, that are more “slice of life,” Dark Blue Kiss actually had somewhat of a plotline for both couples, moving their stories forward. Not much, mind you. What got me was the forward-thinking moments juxtaposed by backward-thinking moments. It’s like there was one writer who was really progressive, perhaps a member of the LGBTQ community who wanted to actually address important issues pertaining to sexuality within a BL. And then there was another writer who was nothing but a BL fangirl who wanted to fill the show full of awful tropes. It was confusing. On the one hand, we had the fear of coming out, how being closeted can put pressure and tension on a relationship, a real discussion concerning what it’s like to be a gay man (we’re still allergic to the word “gay” for some reason, though they got pretty close here) in Thai society, the experiences of a young gay man living with a very homophobic father and how that can in turn affect his psyche, and female characters that weren’t there as plot devices—this was all great writing. For all that BLs should be about the LGBTQ community, it’s rare to see a show that actually tackles the above situations without making them contrived for the sake of just getting a couple together. This was evident when Kao finally came out to his mother, and it was “I like men,” not just, “I like Pete.” That’s a mature moment where he’s acknowledging his sexuality, not just his current relationship, as though the two are mutually exclusive. Similarly, with Sun’s ex-girlfriend, we get to see Sun as a gay man. In a genre where “I don’t like men, I just like X” is so common, it was nice to see some real representation.

Unfortunately, we weren’t without downsides. This is where it seemed like some secondary writer came along and just started tossing in all the awful BL stereotypes they could think of, and it really brought the show down. I’ll list just the few that jump out immediately: Intense jealousy that overrode any sense of empathy, a secondary character unrealistically bent on destroying the main couple, a bizarre inability to communicate simple concepts to one another that led to major conflict, the insistence on labeling one part of an mm couple the husband and the other the wife, so much lying for no real reason, and characters acting in an unreasonable manner for nothing but the sake of drama. Pete’s jealousy was so toxic and so over the top, and the worst part was he was never called out on it, making it seem like the show’s saying it’s fine or even loving to act like you possess and control the person you are dating. It was pushed to the point where he had absolutely no empathy for Kao’s living situation, and none for Non, a kid (a minor) with a crappy homelife, clearly suffering psychological abuse. Non was wrong in what he did, but he was so comically wrong at the end it just wasn’t believable, which is too bad because the show at first did a good job building empathy for him, but then ruined it by making him do something so bad I just rolled my eyes and went, “yeah, sure he did.” This was nothing but justification for Pete’s jealousy with a “see, he was right,” moment. Kao was no innocent party. All he needed to do was sit down with Pete and really explain why he needed to tutor Non, and then explain to Non that he wasn’t interested in him. Choosing to lie, deceive, and ignore what was an obvious attraction to him was just ridiculous—nothing in his character suggests that he would act this way, and so it all came across as contrived for the sake of the plot. Sun and Mork were also constantly unable to communicate in an effective manner, leading to so many unnecessary spats. Who runs into a hospital and starts yelling at someone who just got the crap kicked out of them? No one, that’s who. Sure, Sun was uptight, but that just pushed the bounds of believability. Who gets into a punch out outside of a club and then instantly gets over it and has sex because their younger brother scolded them? Again, no one. Sun at least somewhat acknowledges the error of his ways, but before he does that I don’t see why Mork was willing to sit down with him. This was all drama for the sake of drama, instantly resolved drama at that, when their relationship had been building nicely on its own. Fighting a lot is not a sign of loving each other more—that is not a healthy mindset. And, of course, we couldn’t escape the husband/wife label. The obsession this genre has with forcing heteronormativity upon a homosexual couple. At least this seemed to mainly be side characters using these terms, and not the main couples, but I’d love to see a BL where no one uses these terms to refer to two men. Or, where one of the men does not want to be referred to as a wife, since he isn’t a woman. This just fosters the idea that in an mm couple, one of the men is ultimately just a replacement or stand-in for a woman, instead of acknowledging the differences between straight and gay couples. People try to play it off as a joke, but I find it toxic. Sun actually had a nice moment at the end when he asked who wanted to be top and who wanted to be bottom that night—and wouldn’t it have been nice for a show to actually present this as a conversation, and not just each part of the couple instantly getting cast in one role or the other for who knows what reason. Versatility is much more common in relationships, as opposed to simple hook-ups where people state their preferences up front. For BLs to never show this is crazy, and of course, Sun’s words are then taken as a joke. Once again, a tale of two writers.

These two above paragraphs combined just made for some confusing messages, which is why it seemed like two different people were pushing the story in two different directions. When you compare the difference between an honest conversation about sexuality to the “I hope you never stop being possessive conversation,” the difference is clear, and it’s not good. I prefer the mature, realistic story in the first paragraph to the BL stereotype-laden story of the second.

Acting/Characterization; Intimacy/Heat Level
The casting of the two main couples was really good. Both sets of men were evenly matched from a physical standpoint, and therefore went really well together. Neither came across looking like the big, strong dominant one with their docile partner. This is a personal preference, where I like characters that are on equal footing with one another. Of course, they don’t always need to be the same size for that to be the case, but I find when there’s a big disparity in looks or size, it’s really easy for writers to fall back on bad stereotypes. Plus, (for a more shallow opinion) these actors just looked aesthetically pleasing together.

I liked both Pete & Kao’s respective parents, though, in liking them, it does make me wonder why Kao ever thought his mother wouldn’t accept him. She was clearly a loving, supportive woman. Moreover, all the female characters had actual personalities, beyond being either an evil roadblock for the couples, or some stupid self-insert fangirl for the couples. That was a refreshing change of pace.

There was one side character in the friend group who’s whole role, character, and acting style was to yell every single line. I muted him.

Until Non’s story unraveled at the end, I thought he was well characterized as a kid suffering the physiological abuse of a homophobic father, who clearly suspects his son is gay. He was meant to be the villain, for sure, but the actor portrayed him so well (until whoever wrote the last part of the plot screwed him over) that it was impossible to dislike him. He seemed like such a real person.

This was a rare show in which I liked both couples, and both felt like they got appropriate screen time. Although, I found Pete & Kao to be the weaker of the two, for all the reasons outlined above. Possessiveness and jealousy are not good character traits, neither is lying—they are things you list as reasons you left your ex. I understood Pete’s obvious frustration with Kao’s inability to come out, but that doesn’t give him the right to control Kao, who seemed unable to stand up for himself. They had a lot of nice moments too, and it was clear they loved one another. Had their story simply been about coming out, it would have been a lot better. Their intimacy/heat level was really low, as it was undermined by a lot of what was happening in their story. For a couple that had been together so long, that seemed odd. At least it was implied that they were intimate, as you’d expect. What kisses were seen were real, although, in my opinion, the actor playing Kao kisses very strangely. Can’t put my finger on why.

Sun & Mork had a different dynamic, as this was the story of them getting together. It was nice to watch them grow together and come to understand one another through shared experiences, and then fall for each other. There was no love at first sight, or anything like that. Again, the intimacy/ heat seen here was quite tame. They had a few closed mouth kisses, but they got progressively better in those scenes. And there was a least one mature moment. I also liked that neither character was rich. It seems to be a thing in BLs, where one half of the couple needs to be rich and the other poor. It came across as very sweet and genuine when Sun wanted to help Mork out financially, even though neither of them had much money. It wasn’t just a rich kid trying to throw money at a poor kid, like Pete & Kao, to make their problems go away. I’d love to see a series with Sun & Mork as the main couple. There was a lot of good material to build from here.

Well, that was a book that I just wrote, but this show gave me all the thoughts! There’s more I could comment on, but I’ll leave it at that and hope the good parts of this show are what stands out to the viewers, and what more production companies aspire to create.