Big Dragon (2022)

Started off really weird, got better, but still didn't hit the mark

Big Dragon starts off with a wild, wild night. It’s ratchet, ridiculous and actually makes no sense, and in fact, the first two episodes are extremely problematic.

At the beginning, Yai and Mangkorn's behaviour is insufferable and unlikeable. Let’s be honest, eye candy aside, there’s really no excuse for their toxic behaviour. But it does get better. Somewhat. (You'll be glad to know that there is some character development for Yai, who becomes significantly less bratty towards the end.)

Compared to many other BLs, this entire series is only 8-episodes long. You’ll have to excuse the lack of depth behind each character’s backstory because there really wasn't much they could do with the time they had.  In general, the story arc felt a little rushed – it’s unrealistic how their animosity turned into friendship (and something more) so quickly, and any affection towards each other felt unexplained. 

But at the end of it all, I’m not sure what I’m supposed to feel about this show or its main characters.

Cramming all the backstories and a foe-turned-friends-turned-lovers romance into 8 episodes is surely a bad idea.

Full review on asianblreviews.wordpress.com

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Not what I was expecting

I started this show because of the insane hype around it, I’ve been binging a ton of BL series over the past few months and this is one of the series that everyone recommended to watch. So let’s start with this review.

The Plot (too many things thrown around in 8 ep)
It starts out with Yai and Mangkorn being rivals or so thought Yai in the beginning somehow they end up spending the night together and their story starts there where he finds out that Mangkorn is interning at the place that is renovating the bar his father owns.
Anywho … this drama doesn’t explore any aspect of these points, they were rivals for an ep and a half. The intern situation was not clear TBH, like they barely showed the work and the process to creat depth but oh well, the whole family situation (step mother in the picture, mother passing away and the whole arraigned marriage) went by in a flash and didn’t help at all in giving more depth.

They could have done a lot with the plot they had but my biggest issue is the fact that the whole tone of the show sifts drastically, I didn’t get how Yai went from very cool and smooth to cute and soft by the end, same goes for Mangkorn, yes I understand they changed and matured but still its a jarring change I guess, maybe I’m picky.

Anyway, I came in thinking this is a very dark vibe and cool style and ended up with cuteness which I do like but yeah. Unexpected, but I liked it anyway.

Great casting and the music is great I will give them that.
Big props for the filming crew because the cinematography is absolutely stunning throughout the whole series.

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All over the place but it's cute

There are just too many plots since ep1 and it seems that every plot was brushed off or it never pushed thru except for the "Childhood crush" plot.

Actors are cute, especially Bank. There are times that they are awkward? Idk but maybe the director tells to T_T. In some episodes acting is a bit too forced(?) and lacking but the way Mos & Bank look at each other~ we can tell they love each other irl.

The OST is such a gem!!! Bank's voice 😍😍😍😍. It's so captivating!! It suits the series at first but as the plot became cutesy it doesn't match the series at all. The song is suited to series like KinnPorche and some other Mafia-esque series. It would have been a hit!!!!

Became bored at the last episode and it's too cliche so I had to speed it up (2x speed) and skip most of the parts.
Last scene tho hahahahahahahhahah ohghad, I read that there wouldn't be season 2 but a movie so idk what'll happen granting Yai said that he'll be living in the US with Mangkorn~

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A relationship with as much depth as you'd get in a music video

After dropping this during the 1st episode out of disgust, I just binged episodes 2-8 and can barely remember what I watched. I only watched it because I've been seeing Mos and Bank all over social media and wondered if this ship was really worth all attention it's getting. It's not.

I'd love to list the strong points but there are only two. Mangkorn's mom is delightful and Bank does a commendable job carrying the entire series on his back once he started having more than 2 facial expressions.

The weak points are endless. There is no story, none of the characters are interesting and scenes often feel completely disconnected from each other. At first, I thought the casting director was the problem for picking amateur actors who weren't able to convincingly do the job. But as the series went on, it became clear that they were doing their best with a truly weak script. The direction is by far the biggest failure. The director seems to have not bothered to prepare the actors for their scenes and didn't explain to them the motivations of the characters. But worse than that, he shot scenes that should only exist in a flashy music video, not a tv series. The shot of Yai and Mangkorn as yin and yang with the red sheet may look cool in a trailer, but it had no place in the episode. But the editing isn't much better. The editor just threw scenes together to fit into 8 boring aimless episodes. So many scenes just exist before or after other scenes and there is little continuity in each episode. I wouldn't be surprised if the editor just forget to include all of the scenes that should have happened in the middle where Yai and Mangkorn slowly stop hating each other and actually start falling in love. Or maybe the writer didn't write those parts. Either way, the crew (director, writer and editor) should take some classes or find other jobs.

Since there have been so many below-average BLs in 2022, I won't call this the worst. But it went out of its way to check every tired, overused and outdated trope that BL fans have seen countless times before and are completely over.
- enemies to lovers
-an extremely rich character whose wealth, sense of victimhood and bratiness are his only character traits
-parents who think arranged marriages are a good idea in the 21st century
-mind numbing background music that is in nearly every second of the series
-useless friends that only exist so the MCs have someone to talk to
-random "BDSM" scenes that show the characters (actually the writers) know nothing about BDSM
-two people who have no reason to even like each other, "fall in love" because ________
-dead fish kisses (Bank looked like he was miserable each time they kissed)
-women who only exist to drive a wedge between the MC
-a man calling another man his wife
-blink and you missed it GL
-people "being in love" after one month of knowing each other
-someone going aboard after I say I'll never leave you

Also, there's a good reason why so many BLs have side couples. It's really hard to keep things interesting for an entire series with only one relationship to focus on. A second couple shakes things up, gives side characters something to do and allows the audience to have a reason to watch even when the relationship or chemistry between the leads stops being interesting. This show REALLY would have benefited from a side couple that got screen time. There were two potential second couples but neither went anywhere which is unfortunate.

Overall, it felt like the earlier episodes and the later episodes were made by different people. Yai's character changed so drastically that I spent most of the series truly confused about what was going on and why. It gave me some really great laugh-out-loud moments though and those usually happened during the NC scenes. But Mos and Bank tried and it's watchable if you skip parts and use 2x speed, so I couldn't hate it.

Lastly, BL sequels are almost always awful. There's no reason to make a sequel to this one, they were barely able to stretch 30 minutes worth of plot into 8 episodes in season 1. But it's StarHunter Entertainment and they've never made a good series, so I expect more of the same in season 2.

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No tan unica

En un principio pintaba como la típica trama fuerte y fantasiosa que la hacía algo unica, del odio al amor de una forma que en lo personal me engancho fácil, pero sentí que después de que sus sentimientos se desarrollarán (algo apresurado a mí parecer) perdió por completo la esencia de lo que presentaba la serie en si, yendo directamente a los típicos problemas que hemos visto en casi todas las series (ya me entienden, muchos terceros, matrimonio arreglado, la pasantía en el extranjero) y fue una pena porque los actores me sorprendieron para bien y la pareja lograba transmitir su amor, pero con tanto conflicto se volvió un poco tóxico y el desarrollo no tan disfrutable, y lo que vimos en un principio finalmente no tenía ningún sentido después de conocer a los personajes. Fuera de eso, la producción fue un lujo, la pareja tuvo su dosis de ternura y calor, por lo que estuvo buena en términos generales y el final fue bastante confortante, pero claramente pudo ser mejor, sentí que se arriesgaron al principio y luego corrieron a la zona de confort jskdj

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Dark but Sweet Storyline

I have to say that I did very much enjoy the actors and their amazing chemistry. The actors known as Yai and Mangkorn are great together, everyone can see the chemistry they have. I also loved the bodyguards and how they really care for one another but wish they showed them getting together. It was a nice touch to add the girl's love story as well with their friends. I wish they stayed a bit more in the dark S & M story, wanted to know what got Yai into that in the beginning and was lost later on. Wish they had more of those hot hardcore sex scenes than just the two, they are so beautiful and well done together. The down parts for me were that there were too many story plots going on at one time. I feel like none of the stories had a full chance to shine and be told in enough time as there are only 8 episodes. I liked that they showed strong character emotion and growth in their playing their characters. You have so much going on with many different characters does not help. Was not a fan at all of the endings, I am a sucker for happy endings but this ending had little to be desired. I am happy they move in together, but not a fan of leaving it on a cliffhanger, which was not needed as there are still storylines that need finishing. I do hope they come back fast to do season 2. I do have to say I LOVE the theme song and that the actor who plays Yai sings, an amazing song and video.

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What's the Motive?

OK. That's the main thing about this drama. It's just "okay".
Mos had good acting skills in my opinion, he was trying HARD to create some chemistry that lacked from Isbanky's end. I don't know how to explain it, but it felt hollow to me. I mean, if you're going to act, ACT. There were some great moments though. I feel like the first two episodes had Isbanky's best acting chops. Then, the 7th episode did. But, that's about it. He looked like a sullen baby throughout the rest of the time. I honestly hope they pick up a new storyline other than the same thing over and over and over again of them getting jealous, splitting up, and then getting back together again.

I think some dramas of recent past have shown us that there can be SO much more depth. KP and MOD come to mind with regard to this. But the most disappointing part was, it took less than two episodes for the so called rivalry to end.

If you want to watch it, please go ahead. But, don't expect anything different from the other college+friends dramas that you've seen after episode two. That's truly where the best parts of the show are. It's so sad to see a show with so much potential devolve so quickly.

Another highlight is Isbanky's song. But, that's it for me. I'm still going to watch season 2, praying that they do something truly special. If they don't, I'll be back to praying that a certain show I love does actually end up with a season 2. :)

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Weak execution yet fire chemistry

It started out really strong, the story was interesting and the actors were captivating.
But then...there was too many events all happening at once and none of them fully developped.
What annoyed me the most in the first half is the fact :
- There are more conversation between the side/leads characters rather than the leads.
- They didn't give much context or depth to their relationship minus "the two big events"

On the second half they worked on these points but forgot the plot...

In conclusion and it's my own personal opinion : I really enjoyed watching this series in a one shot that way i had more context and didn't give up on it, the actors did an amazing job and would truly want to see them in another series, it was worth watching.

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Land the plane babe

To start off, I love the acting and the music for this show, but my god was I falling asleep. I watched this with one of my best friends and she absolutely loved it. For me, the scenes were drawn out way too much and conflicts were reconciled way too fast. They would have a conflict in one scene, leave, and in the next scene, the other person follows them and have a 30-minute boring conversation. One of my biggest pet peeves is misunderstandings that could be solved with one conversation, but this is somehow worse. You don't get to see them process the conflict or react to it. It just jumps straight into the crying heartfelt scenes that I could not stay awake for. I know there was a plot amongst it somewhere but I cannot tell it to you. They did have some cute scenes and really good side characters so there is hope for a good season two on my end.

Listen to Dancing With The Devil by Isbanky

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