Manner of Death (2020)

PERFECT!

Manner of Death is my comfort show, I love it to pieces and I’m going to rewatch it regularly for the rest of my life. It is absolutely amazing, unique and I have never been that invested in a fictional story and characters before. It’s exceptional on many levels, but for me there are two major ground-breaking elements in this show – the story and the relationship of the main couple.

Story

This isn’t another college/university drama, this is a full-fledged mystery, suspense and crime story with brilliant, mature characters, which is extremely refreshing. There is so much metaphorical space in the story, so many things to notice and consider, various secondary characters, locations and subplots. I wouldn’t even say it is exactly a BL drama, rather a thriller where the lead couple just happens to be gay.

The plot is really complex and well-thought, there are twists and turns, nothing is obvious, nothing is what it seems and if you think that you have guessed the culprit correctly, you are in for a few surprises. The plot has some flaws, but give me a show without them. The characters make some unreasonable decisions, but who doesn’t, especially in such dire circumstances? I am willing to forgive that because of the overall impression.

The show touches upon many difficult and very important social issues, such as sexual abuse, human trafficking, underage sex work, government corruption. They are treated the way they should be – as a crime. I never felt that they are disregarded or swept under the rug (I have recently watched TharnType and yep, still triggered). Not going to spoil anything, but Jane’s story will break your heart.

Main couple

Another ground-breaking element is that the show leaves the overused BL tropes behind and moves to more mature, realistic relationships. There is no gay panic, no toxicity, no homophobia, no evil girlfriend, no coming out issues, no mean friends, no school/uni problems which are obviously valid but have been repeated so many times that MoD is like a breath of fresh air.

TanBun’s relationship is based on attraction at first sight which gradually transforms into true love and devotion. There is an obvious level of mistrust at the beginning but they both treat their developing relationship as something precious and valuable, not like a hot potato the fate has suddenly thrown at them. There is no stupid miscommunication leading to major heartbreak, they actually talk, care about each other and express it in meaningful ways, they do not play games or toy with each other’s feelings.

This is exactly what I want to see and what makes this show unique and outstanding. I want healthy relationships. I want the BL couples to put their loved ones first. To give them the benefit of the doubt. To ask questions, listen to answers and trust the person they have chosen. TanBun’s love is inspiring and beautiful because it is so unwavering. And if you think that their relationship is boring because of that, you have never been more wrong.

I must admit that when Tan cuffed Bun to the staircase and left, I was really distressed. Considering other shows I have seen, I braced for an inevitable fight, I expected Bun to break up with Tan, stop talking to him, hate him forever etc. And then my heart melted after seeing Bun’s reaction and I thought THIS. THIS IS HOW IT SHOULD BE. I CAN DIE HAPPY NOW.

Some minor complaints: I have never understood the popularity of protective lover/mean brat couples, this trope is present in MoD as well, it is not overused (ok, maybe the fish scene was too much lol) but I wouldn’t mind getting rid of it entirely (I guess it's just me). There were also a few weird moments when Tan leaned in for a kiss and Bun backed off like a blushing bride. Guess those are remnants of the wifey trope and while it works for teenagers struggling with their sexuality, it was kinda bizarre for two adult men in an actual relationship.

Characters and acting

I would say that there are no distinctive differences in acting and the overall level is very good. If I was supposed to decide on the best actor, I would probably choose Max because he displayed various emotions perfectly, effortlessly switching from dark, brooding, sexy Dam to smitten Tan with his little happy smiles and genuine care towards Bun.

Plus MaxTul’s chemistry is seriously out of this world. They could literally sit and read a phone book to each other and they would still take your breath away. It makes TanBun relationship even more believable because there is not a shade of doubt that this is it for both of them. Hurried or unhurried, this is their love of a lifetime. And it makes all the intimate moments insanely hot, too!

Great Sapol was a discovery for me and not only because oh boy, that man is uhmm... very aesthetically pleasing xD He is also a brilliant actor, his character is very interesting, torn between his official duties, obligations towards his superiors and just doing the right thing. It was fascinating to observe how he changed depending on whether he was wearing a uniform or not.

There is a number of vivid, colourful characters, plus most of them do something morally ambiguous sooner or later, there is no black and white only, which adds to the complexity of the entire story. I particularly liked Pued because he is so “unobvious”.

I could go on like this for hours but the simple truth is that this show captured my heart in a way nothing else ever had. An absolute must watch.

Leggi di Più

Nothing like you'd expect

I really enjoyed this show. I feel it's original and I've completely immersed myself in the atmosphere.
I normally don't watch many crime series and don't like action scenes, but this show had a little bit of everything in a perfect combination so that nothing was too much and at the same time was justified to be there (i. e. no unnecessary sub-plots). The only thing I can complain about is that at times it was a little bit predictable, but the main plot (i. e. finding the murderer) was never too obvious.

The cast was perfect, especially the ultimate killer who perfectly embodied the killer mind. The romantic scenes between the two main leads were absolutely gorgeous, at times funny in a good way. I also liked the fact that the romantic plot wasn't too prominent and over the top, but everything developed naturally with the main crime plot as the ultimate protagonist.

It was a really beautiful journey. The only thing I would have changed is the relationship between Bun and Janejira: I had the impression they had a very strong bond, but this wasn't portrayed too clearly in the series. Apart from this, I really have nothing to say. I suggest it to everyone who is trying to look for a surprising and sudden plot development.

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It was good but....

MOD is based on a story so it is what it is, which is a story that I didn't care for. I liked that they both were professionals. Tul did a much better job of acting the part of a coroner than Max as a teacher. (Sorry Max. ) I know they are trying to act and not be to much into sex but there could have been a bit more and more intensity for sure. I love them both and enjoyed seeing them each week, but next time I would like a story with more suspense and intrigue in figuring out the death and less quantity of deaths. Sometimes book stories don't translate well to the screen. I think this was partly true here. I was pleasantly shocked with the ending proposal of marriage, etc. Good Luck next time...I'm sure there will be a next time for you both!

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Exceptional, Max and Tul Outdid themselves

This drama is one I have been waiting for, because I prefer binge watching so I had to wait for this one and as expected,I wasn't disappointed. Firstly, this isn't the usual college/uni bl which is a relief. The chemistry between the leads and those kisses made me go crazy. Everything about this dramas was phenomenal, except acting of some side characters. The main actors were good, but some characters seemed really robotic to me, I couldn't see any emotion or action in their speech, it was like they were reading directly from the script. That aside and the drama was really a work of art that I appreciate.

Story : amazing and consistent ( I finished it in less than 12 hours)
Music: soothing
Leads: perfect chemistry (as expected from Max and Tul)
Acting: could have been better
Rewatch: I’m not one to rewatch a drama, but I will totally watch this again

Drama lords, actors and writer, good job with this one

Absolutely amazing.

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BEST.BL DRAMA.EVER.

I literally made an account just a few minutes ago to talk about how amazing this drama is

Holy, this drama had really left me regretting that I finished it in a day. The plot is AMAZING like holy you'll never know what happens next until it tells you. The relationships between all of the characters are very well established and it really shows how much details they put into the scripts and production. I'm a big fan of thriller, mystery, crime, and also love BL dramas and this one- It just enhances all of that juicy element into this 14 episode drama that I'll forever remember and cherish in my heart. The thing is, it's not only entertaining, it's also some how educational lol, there are scenes where these meanings of these certain words pop up on the side of the screen and I actually learned some stuff with those. It's also the first ever drama that actually made me cry in tears of happiness... like usually I joke about these things 'Omg its so beautiful i cried' BUT NOT FOR THIS DRAMA LIKE HECK IM DEAD SERIOUS I CRIED.

Anyways, to put it succinctly, just an amazing drama in general <3

(ALSO THE ENDING IS BEAUTIFUL DONT SPOIL IT FOR YOURSELF LIKE I DID IM THE DUMBEST DUMBASS EVER ;A;)

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A great under mystery romance that’s worth your time.

I cannot say enough good things about this series. If you like modern mysteries/police procedurals, this is a great one. Full of twists & turns, red herrings, & enough gotchas to satisfy the most hardcore fans. The romance is adult, not porn, but hot and fulfilling. It’s sexy, but about how a good relationship is really sexy sometimes & really dorky at other times. Max & Tul’s performance is outstanding. They own the screen when they are on it, & when they are together, they burn it up. The secondary characters are interesting, & you care what happens to them. It’s not a nice story- rather ugly in fact. But, murder & greed & lust are really ugly. The level of violence is appropriate for the subject matter. The score is good without being intrusive. The best part - all of it. This is a keeper. I hope more projects like this come through. I will support them.

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Really Innovative BL

I really enjoyed this series. I loved the innovative storyline. I love crime dramas, and while this series definitely focused on the mystery/suspense aspect, and not so much on the scientific accuracy, or the efficacy of a police investigation, I still loved the original plot! (I’ve seen over 130 BL’s, and it was refreshing that this wasn’t set at a university! Lol!) And. MaxTul. That aspect in and of itself is enough, in my opinion, to watch this! I’ve seen all the drama’s they’ve been in together, and I have loved watching them grow as actors together! It’s awesome how obviously comfortable they are with each other. This series has mystery, suspense, intrigue, a great storyline, and, again, MaxTul making out. I’d love to see more of Inspector M (was it just me, or did anybody else sense something between him and Dr Oat?!) and I personally have been shipping Tat and Sorawit since the beginning of the show... So this series definitely left me wanting more! I loved the ending, although I will say, it did feel a bit rushed. Annnnddd you can never go wrong adding more steamy scenes between Max and Tul.. Just sayin! I definitely recommend this series! It was refreshingly original, and a great show! Go watch it!!!

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Instant Favorite

I have nothing bad to say about "Manner of Death". Seriously, at this point, every new drama I watch gets compared to this one.
I think it was refreshing too, to have a BL with a solid storyline and not littered with plot holes. It's also not a school setting, which... thank you for that. A pretty heavy subject as well the more the plot progresses, actually, but again it's so different to what BLs have us used to that it's insanely enjoyable. I wouldn't even call it a BL, but Tan and Bun get enough attention that it still feels right. The side couple is cute too.
Max and Tul's acting is on point, as always. Their chemistry is off-the-charts, that's why we know and love them. The tension between Tan and Bun between what happens in episode 1 and before they're really friends is so good.
I didn't see the twists coming which is awesome. I love these types of stories where it's fun to do a rewatch to see if you notice anything now you know who did what, and then when it comes to "Manner of Death", you can rewatch it again after that just because it's that good.

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This series deserves to be on Netflix!

So. Firstly; I loved it. Secondly; I love it. Thirdly; I'll love it forever.

There's NoThInG bad to say about this series. Manner of Death was perfectly what I wanted to see. It didn't disappoint me even once, I didn't have any single boring moment. My heart kept running so fast in my chest.

Storyline was something that I haven't seen before. It wasn't basic engineering, bitch girlfriends etc... (even I love them too). It brought something new to the world of Thai BLs. The things were unexpected. It has a good script and things didn't leave without explanation. Only thing that disturbed me, was that nobody hadn't heard abot fingerprints. But anyways, absolutely one of my fav series.

Acting was awesome. Everyone did their job very well. Max's and Tul's chemistry was/is amazing as most of us know already. Characters were unique and it wasn't all about serious faces and matters, they made me laugh maaany times ♡ (also cry xD)

If you:
- don't completely freak out because of some scary scenes
- don't hate mystery/murder series
- love MaxTul
(Even one of them)
This is absolutely for you! Watch it and I promise if you don't LOVE it, you at least like it very much ♡

I just wanna thank all amazing actors, writers and director(s) for making such a wonderful series <3

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Thai BLs CAN be different! Who knew!

Well well... what a pleasant suprise!
Thai BLs can be different? What a discovery! You mean to tell me not all Thai BLs are set in schools/universities and not all Thai BL characters are engineering or medical students? Who knew!

There are several things that make Manner of Death a "must watch":
First, Max and Tul. Enough said...
No, really, the chemistry between them is off the chart, so much so that now that Max is dating Mook, Max's fans started getting angry on social media because of that and Tul showed some support for both in some interviews you can find on Youtube. They have worked together on several series and it shows, they are confident with each other, willing to commit to a sexy scene (unlike Plan and Mean who look like they are suffering instead of kissing, especially Plan), and feed off of each other to improve the scene. Their acting is not flawless but they do complement each other and are a strong couple plus their sexy scenes do not look forced at all.

Second, great support characters.
Great as inspector M, Foei as prosecutor Pued, Mint as Rungtiwa, MD as Oat, Bhu as That, Meiko as Jenjira, Putter as Sorawit, even A as Por, Wantanee as Nam, ChaiTouch as Gun and the other senior actors playing the head of the police department, the judge, and the nurses at the hospital, play a vital role in making this a successful series. They help Max and Tul by building convincing characters that are not just there just to be there. And everyone is connected in the end and each character finds a resolution. This is different from other BL series where you see a character for one or two episodes only to never be seen again without any clear idea of what happened to that character. Or you see a character that is only there for comedic relief or to scream or "ship" the main couple but do not provide anything more than that. Manner of Death was able to integrate the cast more effectively and everyone serves a role and has a purpose in this story.

Third, good writing.
Often times I get annoyed with the poor writing we see in plenty of BLs, with the characters not communicating properly leading to many unnecessary arguments/fights, or plenty of tears and confusion. Or sometimes we get super crazy or completely impossible stories that make absolutely no sense at all but if you take that weird story out, then you have no BL. Here, you have a good story of human trafficking, prostitution, murder, corruption that becomes the thread that Max and Tul's characters have to follow to solve this case. In the process, good writing puts some twists in the story and makes the whole cast shine. I can argue that sometimes Great's character (Inspector M) was better than Max or Tul's characters, but that is what good writing and a credible storyline does to a series. Plus, the author and the director correctly decided when it was time for Max and Tul to have a sexy moment and it was ok given the situation they were going through in the series. The scenes look natural and not like Y-Destiny or WhyRU when you had actors just getting shirtless for no apparent reason.

Of course, the series had some not so good moments like some of the actors, especially A, Mint and the head of the police department, exaggerating their lines or their expressions which made look a bit crazy or fake. Tul's character was a bit naïve sometimes and Max's character was a bit too cocky as well in some situations. Plus, I would have like to see a bit more development with Bhu-Putter and even the hint of Great-MD we got in the final episode as potential side couples but with this being a different BL I don't feel too bad about this. Some of the punishments the bad guys got were a bit disappointing like Rungtiwa being killed by Por felt like an easy solution for her instead of having the real killer of her own sister suffer a bit more in jail.

But, in the end, Manner of Death brought 14 quite entertaining episodes especially because it was not the typical Thai/GMMTV BL (Tonhon Chonlatee, Fish upon the sky, 2gether the series, etc.) or the typical low-budget Thai BLs we've seen lately (Love at 7-11, Love Poison, Hometown's Embrace, I am Your King SS2, etc.), and just because of that, we should appreciate it.

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Good despite the flaws.

Did I like it? Yeah!
Did I love it? No.
It is a good and innovative series for a BL. No romantic rape and no toxic relationship for the main couple. That's good! So good to see Thai series shooting in different locations, specially alfresco. The mysterious atmosphere is amazing! We can see that the production and direction could take advantage of northern Thailand landscape which improved the cinematography.

The first part of the series is a bit slow, specially the episodes 2 - 7. After that, the series' pace accelerates and the story is quite intriguing.

I need to compliment Bhu and Putter for their cute and adorable relationship as Tat and Sorn. I simply loved them. I want a special movie or something only for them.

Max is very good as Tan, but I didn't like Tul's acting that much. I really like him as a Thai star and celebrity, but I still think he needs to improve.

I believe that the murder plot and the romance were not well connected. Everytime I saw Bun and Tan together I had the feeling that their scenes were a bit off.

I didn't like either that they made Rungtiwa a love-revenger. I would prefer if she did what she did for money. So everything is about a crazy b*tch who was dumped by his lover who decided later to date his younger sister? Too much soap opera drama for me. Being a b*tch because of money would be more appealing and even realistic.

There are some holes in the main plot either. For example: nobody checked the cloud storage before? That ending was clearly a deus ex machina.

Nevertheless, I enjoyed this series very much and I hope we can get more BLs like that in the future!

Please, no engineering students anymore.

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Great acting, lots of SUSPENCE

Okay Max and Tul, as expected, had amazing chemistry and totally carried the gravity of the plot. Every time they do a drama together you can just feel the inevitable, inescapable draw between their characters, and this drama is no different.

That being said, it is very different in other ways. Can we say "Yay!" for actual politics? And murder? And human trafficking? And police corruption? And Max's character still not knowing how to cook? Gah!

It comes off much less as a BL drama and much more a Lite Suspense Thriller with sexy gays. But there is a LOT of gay going around, so technically, yes, it's a BL. It wasn't a college story, so that was nice. Plus, this Drama has the most impressive villains in it I've ever seen in a Thai BL, along with several really effective plot twists.

Most of the other cast members did a really good job as well! Seriously, they accepted a challenging story and made it thrilling to watch. The only exceptions were the actresses who played Nam and Dr Faii. They alternated between overacting and dead-eyed. Especially the actress who played Nam, who seemed to occasionally be playing Ophelia from Hamlet. On Quaaludes. Yikes. But it was worth it to experience the other actors. As a Max and Tul vehicle, I'd count it as a win.

On the issue of production value: Oh, it's a good thing MyDramaList doesn't have a star rating for that. It would have tanked the overall score. The main problems with production were probably the result of budgetary constraints. I think there were exactly three set buildings used in the whole show. And they all get used for multiple plot locations, without redressing the sets in some cases. So a couple of times I had to re-watch scenes just to resolve confusion created by lack of unique sets. There is a scene involving a surgery and wow, I actually giggled during that. The absurdly low quality of the set and implausibly inadequate props shredded the 4th wall. Seriously guys, it needs to look at least a little bit realistic for a surgical theater.

Film angles and steadiness at times had issues. Though that may have been an artistic choice. It looked like they had a shoulder camera and ants in their pants.

Numerous scenes were shot as 1/3 static side shots on interlocuting actors. It's not something you generally see in film because it's DEAD boring. The storyboard artists and the director needed to have actually had lunch with each other to discuss dynamic alternatives.

The one setting that consistently delivered was the wild jungle scenes. The natural setting was astoundingly beautiful. The entire, overall feel of nature was wonderful.

My major plot complaints?
1) All I'll say is no one survives falling that far. Newp. Not even into water.
2) Surgery doesn't work like that.
3) And lastly, if my boyfriend ever set up a marriage proposal under the circumstances that appeared at the end of the drama, I'd feed him the engagement ring. It was the single most tone deaf marriage proposal EVER!

But it was a romp of a story to bring out Max and Tul in, and to give their fans a something very different than the usual fare. I've watched it all the way through twice and there are moments I absolutely loved. Most of them are the cloak and dagger stuff, but the fragile moments of love trying to bloom in patently hostile circumstances was really well done too,

Max and Tul have incredibly believable on screen attraction. You can just feel it. So, Overall the series had some really breathtakingly good moments, just because of Max/Tul. This will take you on a wild ride.

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