Here’s the thing: When the world of wife-chasing, dogblooded crematorium novels meets the Thai BL industry, something absolutely magical happens— and My Stand In is exactly that!

Originally based on a novel called "Professional Substitute" (職業替身) written by Shui Qian Cheng (水千丞), My Stand In definitely takes the crown as one of the most well-made adaptations we’ve seen in a while and is undoubtedly one of THE BEST we’ve seen this year.

Surprisingly, it managed to stay true to its source material for the most part. As for the rest, our director decided to sprinkle in some of their own creative "flair" to the script by tailoring the storyline so that it promotes Thai culture to the greater audience.

My Stand In is definitely a hot take among the lineup of Thai BL released this year. Right off the bat, this drama will not be everyone’s cup of tea— why?
Well, the questionable morals and actions from the characters throughout the series may be the biggest deterrent. One of our characters, Ming, has a doctorate from red-flag academy (graduated from the same class as Vegas from KinnPorsche). As someone who’s seen characters far worse than Ming, my level of tolerance is much higher than the average person— that is, someone who has their morals in the right places in both real life AND fiction. Ultimately, it’s up to how much you can handle. If you’re of the majority described above, stay far away from this series. It’s dog-blooded (a Chinese term referring to a plot that is cliche, drama, contains soap opera-ish elements, gritty, angsty), a dark romance, toys with your moral compass, and relentlessly stomps on your heart left and right.

Adding on to Ming’s characterization: He is, undoubtedly, a rarity in the Thai BL industry as to how much of a red flag he is. It’s not often that we see a character so deep and convincingly in the red. It’s a real treat that’s FUN IN FICTION, of course. Having read the novel (which I heavily encourage you all to do!), I’m already quite familiar as to how exactly Ming develops throughout the story. However, others, especially those who have not read the original work, find it difficult to redeem a character like him, which is rational enough— I mean, if I were Joe, I would’ve already had a restraining order against him and sued him of 10 criminal charges.

Despite its flaws, My Stand In is also one of the more compelling, intricate dramas I found myself enjoying far more than the usual university rom-com ones. The series contains layered characters, keeps you on the edge of your seat with its no-dull moments, and is a real breath of fresh air among all the fluffy shows we’ve seen so far. Objectively speaking, the drama’s strongest points lie in the casting, soundtrack (for the most part), and storyline.

Starting on the meat of the review. Based on the synopsis alone, you can already tell that this drama has something to offer other than your usual romance. For those who are unfamiliar, Shui Qian Cheng, the original author, is quite redound for her '188 series' that share a common theme of angst, morally-ambiguous characters, and falls under the category of wife-chasing crematorium (a genre I advise you looking into for context!). And let me tell you.. wife chasing crematorium novels are NOT for the faint of heart. For me, I’m a sucker for angsty plots and redemption arcs, so crematorium novels are right down my alley. Given that MSI is based on such a novel, expect it to be messy, dramatic, and one that may recycle some of your standard cliches. In the Chinese BL novel community, these terms all fall under the "dogblood" category. Also known as gou xie (狗血), this term describes a novel that contains a lot of soap-opera elements. MSI is 90% pain and 10% fluff. It is a melodrama, deals with sensitive topics like death, non-con, dub-con, kidnapping, alcoholism, and implied suicidal thoughts— just to name a few. Sounds crazy, right?— that’s WCC for you! All these elements, when put into the right hands, weave a compelling tale that manages to keeps your eyes peeled throughout, each episode leaving a cliffhanger that’ll cause your blood pressure to rise. You will feel a lot of emotions as you go through the series. At one moment, you will be like "damn, this is too sweet!" then have your heart, soul, mind, and conscious incinerated. That being said, mind the tags (mentioned above) before you decide to give it a go! Otherwise, it will completely ruin the experience of watching MSI for you if you’re not already aware of it’s contents.

While the premise is in a league of its own, it’s execution fell short. The storyline is divided into arcs, but I can’t brush off the feeling that it’s choppy— think of writing an essay but using no transition sentences. Consequently, flow and pacing were a bit on and off. While the timeline of events is coherent, the transition between them feels like I’m watching a stop motion film. Overall, it definitely could’ve been better.

Character-wise, it differs a lot from the novel. Here, the screenwriters has a knack for making every single character morally grey. While this is good, you also need to have a good balance. In the drama, some characters just can’t be redeemed, and just when you’re content with the fact that the villain is going to stay a villain (rightfully so), the screenwriters suddenly throw in an amateur "redemption arc" to try and justify them. When it comes to redemption arcs, some characters just can’t be saved— and that’s completely fine! If you’re gonna give a seemingly irredeemable character redemption, you'd have to justify it by showing how much they repented and suffered. Just expect to get your moral compass toyed with for a bit throughout the drama. Some characters got their HE, but was it really deserved?

The ending did feel a bit rushed and some things that were added were too dramatic for my liking, even though I assume that the intent was to make it "thought provoking" and symbolic, representing Joe’s feelings and all. However, we’ve seen enough of that. I wish that they could’ve used that opportunity to display more of Ming’s guilt and how exactly he suffered after Joes death (essentially putting all those words into actual perspective, make it more impactful). If those extra elements were added, I believe that that the ending could’ve been more satisfying and "closed," where the bad guys got their punishments and the good guys lived on happily. That would be my interpretation of an impactful ending.

Cinematography was good and expected from a drama of this budget. Soundtrack had a lot to offer but some songs were very overused / misplaced at times (ruined it for me, but each individual song was great). Most importantly, the acting and chemistry were OFF THE ROOFS. As expected from same two people who won the best couple award, UpPoom was an unexpected duo that managed to completely sweep me off my feet and stands as one of the best on-screen chemistry I’ve seen in a BL work!

Also, the experience of watching this as it aired would remain one of the most memorable! For those who are new here or held watching the show until it completely aired, I both commend your patience and are seething in envy. I remember the journey from episode 1-12, one episode a week, after all those cliffhangers— it was rough, but very fun! No dull cliffhangers here!

Acting wise, Poom Phuripan is definitely one of the most beloved, talented new faces of the year. His performance throughout this series is more than enough to showcase what the man can do. If there is one thing I’m certain about, it is that he will have a bright future ahead of him in the acting industry. Up, on the other hand, gave me another impression. This may be quite an unpopular opinion, but I found his acting to be a bit rocky, or maybe it was the characterization that I felt was off. Sometimes, it felt like he lacked that 5% to make Mings character come true. Sure, he most certainly fits the bill for how Ming should look like, but the acting wasn’t too convincing at times. I rationalize with myself that it may be due to the fact that I’m too used to Ming’s egocentric, utterly vile personality in the novel, which was toned down in the adaptation. As such, I will rewatch the series with a fresh mindset and separate Ming from Yan Mingxiu, which I encourage for all you novel readers to do as well! As for the other characters, Wut and Tong’s acting were rather underwhelming. Wut looked like he wanted to laugh even in serious situations and it seemed like Tong didn’t know what emotion to portray.

Since I’m writing this review right after watching the last episode, a part of me feels empty bidding farewell to MSI. Despite its flaws, it really had a chokehold on me for the past few months. Minding the tags, why not give this series a chance? Once you pass the "trauma" aisle of the market, you can’t go back to all that fluff!