My, oh my was that a trainwreck of epic proportions. I have to wonder with some of the BLs that have been coming out lately if they're written by adolescents because the number of questions that remain unanswered, the plot holes, basically everything about the story is just a complete mess. I mean, does anyone read through the script before they start filming or do they just take it and run with it, no questions asked? Anyway, this drama came off as yet another KinnPorsche knock off. But unlike KinnPorsche which had its charms and was gritty and dark, Chains of Heart was just a confusing mess that didn't seem to know what it wanted be. That's not to say it wasn't entertaining at times, but as a whole, it really didn't work.

The story had potential, it could have been interesting and great. If it had imitated KinnPorsche more and leaned into the dark and gritty, I think it could have worked. But unlike KinnPorsche which overall did a good job of blending that dark and gritty with romance and comedy, Chains of Heart never really found its footing. The comedy fell flat, the romance also fell flat because nearly every part of it was in flashbacks and the mystery of who Lue was kept going far too long preventing the pair from being reunited until almost the very end, and, again, it just failed to really commit to being dark and gritty. It kept adding in new information without answering the questions that had already been asked. And the fact that so much was left unexplained left me feeling frustrated and wanting answers. I mean, first and foremost, how the heck did Ken and Din even survive falling from that cliff? Looking at it, I don't see how they could have possibly survived, especially relatively unscathed. Besides that main question, there were a multitude of others like: What was with Lue's wardrobe? Considering the climate, it made zero sense. Why didn't Din ever attempt to contact Ken until 2 years after the accident? What changed that suddenly he was back? We knew Chief Inpha was involved in drug trafficking and selling wood illegally, but then in the last episode we have organ trafficking and prostitution thrown in as well. What was really the point of that and why was it never addressed before? We already knew he was a bad guy, they didn't need to tack on to that for shock value. And then there are the characters. Din's boss is revealed to be dirty and then he's never seen or mentioned again? How did Inspector Don get involved with Din? He seemed to be loyal to Chief Inpha and then suddenly, nope, he's actually a good guy (?) and is on Din's side? Who exactly was the shady doctor and how did he know Din/get involved in his exploits? There are many more questions and holes, but honestly, this review would be the length of a short novel if I listed them all.

This drama did what a lot of dramas do and revealed events from the past in flashbacks. I am rarely a fan of this technique because it is generally very poorly done and leaves more questions than answers. This was no exception. It was unclear at times how the events shown fell linearly, where they were, and how long ago it actually was. I honestly would have preferred if they had shown the story linearly, starting from when Din and Ken met which wasn't explained well, jumping to the more relevant and important parts of their relationship up until they fall from the cliff and then jumping forward two years. I think it would have been much smoother, would have allowed for more questions to be answered, and generally just made more sense. Even in the present though, it was not clear where events were taking place. For example, there at the beginning, it took me a bit to realize that Ken was not in Thailand but rather in China or maybe Taiwan. I don't think it's ever explicitly stated where he was. And then when he does go back to Thailand, it's never clear where events are taking place other than Bangkok because it's the only city featured.

I have to comment on that final episode because it was the cherry on top of an already messy drama. We had Din who somehow became invulnerable. He's getting shot at from all sides and is basically a sitting target for a few of the baddies, yet not a single one of them can hit him. Then we have him playing hide and seek with them in the forest, doing the whole passing right by them without them noticing. And he takes on five of the bad guys and comes out pretty much unscathed without a drop of blood on him despite slitting several throats. This happens again shortly thereafter when he shoots a guy in the head at point blank range and doesn't get any blood on him. Following this, he and Chief Inpha decide to spontaneously have an old fashioned duel and shoot at each other at the same time. All this while Sia is sitting on Inpha's lap and somehow comes out apparently unhurt. I was a little bit surprised at how Din killed Chief Inpha. He'd tried to kill the man before, but there was something about the way he shot him execution style in the head that felt out of character. The man was incapacitated, his cronies all killed, all Din had to do was wait for the authorities to arrive to arrest him. Instead he murdered him. Perhaps the point was to showcase that Din had changed and become Lue. In a way, Din was dead and in his place was Lue who was more ruthless than Din had been. But I may be giving them too much credit for that. And then that ending. I literally sat up and went WTF?! That's it? That's the ending? An arrest warrant was issued for Din's arrest and then he just disappeared? I don't mind open endings when they're done well, but this was not done well. We spent most of the drama with Ken and Din apart until it is finally confirmed in Episode 9 what I think we all knew by that point, that Lue was actually Din. They get one night together and then are separated again. That's not a satisfying ending, it's lazy and it's baiting the viewers. I've since seen that there's supposed to be a special episode, so maybe that will rectify this colossal error to some small degree.

And then there was the lack of continuity within the drama. The actor's heights was a big one. Boom and Kut play the same character, but there is a noticeable height difference between the two. That difference is one of the main reasons I questioned whether Lue was actually Din because plastic surgery can change a face, but it doesn't alter your height. And the sad thing is, there are simple ways to address that discrepancy and make them appear to be the same height, but apparently that wasn't worth the effort. Lue was also missing the bullet wound from when he was shot by Chief Inpha on the cliff. That missing detail was another major reason I questioned whether he was Din. There were other instances where characters were injured in one scene and the in the next the injury is gone or is significantly reduced. A lot of it was just really basic stuff that would have been easy to fix. The fact that it wasn't just makes the team seem lazy.

The characters were a mixed bag. Frankly, most of them were completely forgettable. Ken spent the majority of his screen time either crying or being choked. The constant crying got old after a while. Din as Lue spent most of his time making moon eyes at Ken and getting teary eyed that Ken was rejecting him (because he doesn't know who you are, idiot!). Personally, I preferred Din. He seemed to be more level-headed and more of a man of action. Something about his personality and character was just more appealing and interesting to me than Lue. Payu and Hin were supposed to be the second couple and also the comedic relief, but they really didn't work for me. I was initially unsure whether the two of them were actually a couple because they didn't really act like one consistently. They had a few lackluster steamy scenes which answered that question, but I found them to be overall pointless characters and singularly unfunny. There was the psychic who popped up randomly and absolutely no questions were answered about him. Like was he truly able to see visions? The rest of Ken and Din's friend group were not memorable and every time they popped up, I couldn't remember who was who. Inpha was about as subtle as a red flag. You could tell he was the villain from the get go which was disappointing and boring. When a show brands itself as a mystery, I want there to be mystery and there really wasn't any in this show. Making Inpha a more nuanced character where his motives and character could be called into question as to whether he was good or evil would have been far more interesting. Itt was kind of interesting at first, but his insane antics and laugh got old fast. And then again, you had characters like Inspector Don who gave no indication of their motivation and why they were doing what they were doing. With essentially every character, there was not enough background information to really understand them. What were their motivations, their feelings, their reasoning? In most cases, none of that was answered and it made the characters feel shallow. I really didn't have strong feelings for any of them because so much was lacking.

As for the acting, I will give kudos to Haii for two things. First, that he, for the most part, was believable with all his crying. I've seen far too many dramas where the actors are fake crying and it's painful to watch. Second, that he was able to build a rapport with both Kut and Boom as they portrayed Din/Lue. He had good chemistry with both of them and they interacted well. I'm sure that was a challenge so kudos to him. Both Boom and Kut did a good job with portraying the same but also not the same character. They were essentially playing two different characters, but there were small similarities between the two that made it believable that they were also playing the same character, if that makes sense. The others were again pretty forgettable. I was disappointed that Kob was relegated to being nothing more than Ken's father. He's a good actor and I wanted him to have more screen time and a more interesting role. He still performed excellently with what he was given, I just wish there'd been more.

The production was really strong in some areas and very weak in others. The cinematography was really beautiful in parts. But the editing at times was choppy. Some of the camera work was shaky. There were also some weird angles that were just awkward and distracting. For the most part, I liked the music. There were a few cues that were really fantastic and really fit with the mood of the scene. The subtitles were a big issue. There were a number of times where what was being said was not subtitled and that really didn't help matters because information was lost.

Despite the fact that this drama was such a total mess, I did enjoy parts of it. The messiness is part of what was entertaining and I found that once I disengaged my brain and stopped trying to make sense of things and instead just went with the flow, it was much more enjoyable. Honestly, I think that's the only way to really watch this drama. A lot of the comedy came from the absurdity of what was going on, like being shot at from all sides and not taking a single hit. The parts that were meant to be comedic weren't all that funny. The ending is disappointing. Do not go into this expecting a happy ending or a good open ending; it's neither of those. This is not a drama I'll watch again. I think watching it again would just raise more questions and cause more frustration. I prefer dramas with a bit more too them and that actually make sense, but if you're one of those people who can disengage their brain and are looking for something moderately entertaining, I would say give it a shot.