Short review:

What I liked:
❣️ No heteronormativity!
❣️ No coming out scenes or dramatically figuring out your sexuality bc the same gender kissed you.
❣️ Barely any toxic masculinity. Men cried together without it being awkward or seen as weak.
❣️ The chemistry of the actors and the acting generally!
❣️ The cinematography. Some really nice shots there, especially the slow-mo scenes during fights.
❣️ Tankhun. He’s my number #1 favorite character!

What I disliked:
? The imbalance of the couples (top/bottom).
? KinnPorsche’s first times. Porsche basically always being drunk/high.
? The 2nd half of the series. Too many lies.
? PeteVegas ship. Basically Stockholm syndrome. Was very uncomfortable to watch, especially Pete, not able to let go of Vegas.
? Certain characters, who deserved to die, but didn’t.
? The whole thing with Porsche’s mother. Not just the lies, but also the way she was treated. Like a doll.
? Porsche’s extreme stupidity at the beginning. It was mostly for comedic relief, but at some point not funny anymore.

~

Long review:

? First of all, the ending.
Nope, nope, nope. Don't like it. Dude gets to walk after having lied to literally everyone, while so many other pople die. Fair, no one's really good in Mafia and everyone of them deserved it, but the one who get to live, was literally the worst of them all. Even worse is that he got forgiven by everyone he lied to at the end. Lies that stretched throughout multiple episodes and created lots of drama.

? Imbalance:
I also really really didn’t like the imbalance of Porsche and Kinn.
It was fine at the beginning, Porsche was his bodyguard, so of course he wouldn’t be treated like an equal. But when Porsche said, at the end, “my life is yours”? Which, yes, was a parallel to the first episode, but, really? If Kinn at least had said it back, okay, that would’ve been great. But he didn’t. He just replied “I’ll treasure it the most”. Even after both being heads of the family and basically announcing they’re gonna marry, Porsche is still a level below him.
I just hate that in relationships. I’m all about balance and equality.

? 2nd half
— Honestly, the first half was really good. I had so many butterflies watching this. But the second half... when it was all about the lies, over and over again; and typical jealousy drama with the couples... ugh, no. It stretched so long, always going in cycles, and not really that enjoyable to watch anymore.
— Especially the new ship, PeteVegas. Literally Stockholm syndrome. Pete was tortured so many times by Vegas, bled so much. And Vegas was just doing it for fun and emotional projection. Because his dad doesn’t respect him, blah blah. Sure, they had their emotional moments where they just talked, got to know each other, and that’s what trigged the Stockholm syndrome in Pete, probably. Him feeling sympathetic for Vegas, but knowing he didn’t enjoy the sex. He wants to leave, but also feels bad for Vegas. Really got uncomfortable.
— It did get emotional pretty often, though, and I often had to pause and reflect on things that were said. Mostly because it fits in my current life and simply made me think about certain things. That’s one thing I do love of the 2nd half tho. The slowness. The reflecting and thought-provoking dialogues/monologues.
— But that, of course, wasn’t the main goal of the series. It’s a BL, and while the actors were really great, the 2nd half just annoyed me in that regards. So much imbalance, and injustice, and deadly cycles... too much of it.

? Non-consensual
— KinnPorsche reminds a bit of TharnType. While KP is healthier than TT, the characters are similar tho, especially Kinn and Tharn. Both tops, of course.
— I really hate these words. Top and bottom. I hate it so much. When can we finally get a BL series with a couples who are both switches??
“Bros”, the Movie, did that. It was beautiful.
Why do people like the “top and bottom” roles so much?? That’s so disgustingly hetero.
— They’re also, kind of, based on rape. Porsche was drunk the first time they kissed and didn’t remember until like 2 days afterwards. He didn’t push him back and also wasn’t confused or angry about it, but yk, drunks can’t really give consent. But, okay, it was just a kiss anyway.
When they had their first time though, Porsche was drugged. Really drugged. He was totally high.
Well... it’s not like Kinn forced himself on Porsche or anything. Quite the opposite. Porsche initiated all and Kinn was the one who hesitated. But, again, he was totally high and it was his first time with a guy.
So, yea, not rape but also not fully consent. And kinda sad that both their first times were when he was drunk/high.
And the first time they did it (while Porsche wasn’t on the verge of passing out), it was also after he has drunk a lot. (There was consent tho, but not much.)

? Apologies/consent
While their first times did start non-consensual, Kinn did apologize for it. Even said if he could turn back time, he wouldn’t do it a 2nd time.
— Which TharnType for example never did. Not once was it acknowledged in the other series that Tharn half-raped Type.
— And, when KP did each other the first time (although Porsche was half-drunk, but awake enough to give consent), Kinn did ask, kind of, before opening his trousers. It was more of a nod but clear enough for anyone.
So, yea, that was great.
— After that, there was always consent present. And a lot of apologies for other things.

? No homophobia
— What was really great though, is that there was no single mention of homophobia and no coming out scenes. Everyone in the business knows Kinn is gay, and no one makes a comment regarding that. It’s simply normal. It’s not treated as special and no one even looks differently when two guys kiss.
— Even though Porsche had only fucked girls so far, he didn’t freak out when he noticed his feelings towards Kinn. He just let it happen. That was refreshing. No 5 episodes wasted for the main character to dramatically figure out his sexuality.
He was just like, “oh he kissed me... Damn... Well, anyway. I’ve never done it with a guy, but I like it, so let’s just continue”, basically. So, so refreshing!
— But also the side couples. There was never heteronormativity present. When a guy confessed to another guy, they weren’t like “uh? What’re you doing? I’m not gay”, but simply reciprocated it. Or kissed back, without pushing them away. (Well, unless they generally weren’t in the mood for kissing, but not because of the gender.)
— Only once a sexuality of a character was mentioned, and that was Kinn, being openly gay. You don’t know the sexuality of any other character.
And that’s beautiful. I’m not a fan of labels anyway, so living in a non-heteronormative and unlabeled world, that’s the goal.

? Actors/acting:
— And the actors were great. The chemistry between the couples was intense and fire, but also the chemistry to other people. They all looked like they had fun shooting this.
— It also felt really natural. Not acted. Awkward scenes felt awkward, not because of the acting level, but because it could’ve been a scene from real life, not scripted at all. Like when you dwell in memories and then there’s this random awkward conversation you once had, and you get second-hand embarrassing of yourself.

? humor/stupidity:
Another, rather minor thing, I didn’t like or it was just really annoying: Porsche’s stupidity at the beginning. Dude really got no brain, only muscles. Really wondered how tf he’s still alive. Must be his charming aura, otherwise he’d be dead by now.
I get that this was mostly for comedic relief, but at some point it really wasn’t funny anymore. Just stupid. In an annoying way.
— And then they call Tankhun crazy and dumb for being different? That brother may be different, but certainly smarter than Porsche. Which especially got to show around the ending when Tankhun was the only one to notice Pete’s absence being unusual.
— Porsche did have his smart moments tho and by the end also grew some brain cells. Probably from experience in the job. But yea. Empty head mostly. Talks and smiles a little too much.