Manner of Death (2020)

not your cliché bl series

before watching this i had no idea who maxtul were, even though i was a part of the bl community for quite some time. man their chemistry is NO JOKE. it all felt so genuine, not a single scene where it felt like they were acting. i am a hardcore maxtul fan now!

coming to the series, I LOVE IT period
i really wanted them to make a bl which is not based on the clichéd university romcom, but one with a serious plot. honestly, i have NO complaints for this series. ZERO. ITS ALL SO PERFECT. That and Sorawit were the cutest out there, i couldn't handle how fluffy their couple was aghhhh. sorawit was an adorable little baby. i am not going to write about the other charaters here because i dont want to add the 'spoilers' tag

in conclusion, JUST WATCH THIS DRAMA TRUST ME YOU WILL NOT REGRET IT

Citeste mai mult

A Bit Disappointed

Ah, when I saw the trailer for the drama, I was super excited to get started because so many have dubbed it as a 'serious' drama that is the best out there in terms of Thai Dramas.

However, I was a bit disappointed with things. - It was a good drama, but I was far from impressed.

The plot was amazing, very interesting and very intriguing. However, they were full of holes that even the blind could see. And that was why I was so disappointed because for once I found a Thai drama that wasn't so bad in terms of the casts' acting and voila, I was presented with many hard-to-dismiss plotholes.




[[[[[ SPOILER TIME, AVOID READING PASS THIS SENTENCE IF YOU HATE SPOILERS ]]]]]

Here's the plotholes that I couldn't digest blindly:

1. When Jane's body was found, Tan was said to be her boyfriend when he was not. He found her body and they simply assumed that he was her boyfriend. (Seriously?! I don't how the police do their job in Thailand, but they sure wouldn't have just 'assumed' instead of investigating right?)

2. When it was revealed that Jane was actually killed and didn't actually commit a suicide, we were never presented with the events where people close to her were investigated. (Seriously?! I thought the first course of action would be to question people?!)

3. When Bun was attacked by an unknown guy at his home, his first thought was to go stay with the most suspicious guy within his reach simply because he helped fend off the attacker. (Seriously?! No suspicion, simply letting yourself enter an unknown territory when you haven't even figured out what's happening. For God sake, the guy even owned a gun at home!)

4. Rung and Jane. Rung said that she loved her sister but she sacrificed her for the sake of her business, saying that she had had to do it as well before this so Jane should do it as well for the same reason. And Jane agreed. And why, even for the sake of the said business, Rung was willing to kill her own sister. (I have nothing to say about this, that is just too fucked up, beyond saving.)

5. The falling at the cliff? (or was it into a river?) event? The police conducted a search and couldn't find both Tan and Bun when they were just there at the bank. (Unrealistic level: Out of The World)

AND THERE WERE SO MANY OTHER SCENES AND EVENTS THAT I COULDN'T BE BOTHERED TO NOTE DOWN. AS WELL.

Citeste mai mult

ENJOYED THE PLOT!!!

I have realised for some time now that Max is very adaptable and will always perform very well [especially under a director who knows what they are doing] and he did not disappointed in MOD. He stole the show. Period! Episode after episode.

I'm happy he and Tul got the opportunity to do a serious drama that addresses serious matters. I can honestly say, for myself and others alike, Manner of Death is a fresh offering in a BL. The plot was so good! While it gave fan service… it does not dwell on it, which doesn’t seem to please many people who were clearly hoping each episode would contain R-rated stuff. Too bad! Too sad! There lost!

ENDING: The way Tan expresses his love for Bun... literally the purest, most sincere declaration of love I have seen in BL ❤❤❤


Salute to MAX and TUL ✌✌

Citeste mai mult

A Dry, Tone Deaf & Disrespectful attempt at Mystery/Thriller with BL mixed in

First of all, Jane is the MVP of this show and she is the REAL main character in this story.

The fact that the main character was sitting on a goldmine - a cornucopia of evidence, you can say - and didn't know about it, until the very. Last. Episode.
Infuriating.
This drama was more amusing to watch then it's original purpose of being dramatic/well written/properly portrayed or respectfully represented. Either will do.
The overhead shots of the town (city? village? countryside? no idea! there's only two police officers in that whole police station! *shrugs*) showing the misty forest mountains is the prettiest this drama will get.
The women carried this drama (specifically Jane and Rung - mostly Jane). Even if Jane was a like the other females in this drama - victims of plot devices - Jane's secret sleuthing solved everything. All she needed was for someone to expose the truth to the public with the evidence she painstakingly collected!
But no.
Those who want to help her in her just cause, spends majority of the drama asking the wrong questions and turning their backs on the wrong people. Again.
(Seriously! The trope of being 'stabbed in the back' was overkill and annoying. Too many people in this drama were caught by surprise by someone sneaking up on them. It's old, stop it!)
Nam had the most character development out of everyone surrounding her and she spends most of her screen time on drugs. The acting is questionable and the scene of Jane's death was the best scene with the best amount of talent. The music was appropriate for once in that scene but anytime else... I just watched some moments on mute.

The couple....
I think I had an issue of liking this relationship because of Tan's gaslighting and deceitful habits towards Bun and Bun's general habit of saying one thing about who is he, and then acting in a contradicting way.
He's not a likeable person (to me at least) and he's quick to anger and relies on pettiness so much that it's not helpful at all to the mystery of his supposed-friend's death.
Both lovers need to work on their communication and conversation skills because following along in their 'flirtatious banter', made me pick up my phone to play a game until more of Jane's story was on screen. (Poor Jane, for being surrounded by average brain, spineless criminals.) Inspector M and Sorn were the only redeemable male characters in this drama.
I'm of course bias, so take my review for a grain of salt but the show was tone deaf and disrespectful about such a heavy topics like the sex trade/underage sex/r*pe/prostitiution and human trafficking that endangers soooooo many people (men too) and the drama brings it up in between 'the honeymoon phase' for the main couple: causally and irreverent. Same for the medical and professional practice of Forensics, Physicians/Surgeons and the Police.
Yes, the law is corruptible but before the show so obviously told us law enforcement wasn't to be trusted, the breach of confidentiality and conduct was repeated too many times to be intentional.
The drama had a small budget probably, but it doesn't excuse the production quality and lack of character depth in the show.
The BL exists, I'll admit that but this show could have been better if the mystery/thriller aspect was separate from the BL love story. In this particular instance, the two genres I was so looking forward to, did not mesh together well.

I felt like I brought my scuba, deep sea, diving gear to a kiddie pool at five-years old birthday party. Not impressed.

Citeste mai mult

Novateur dans les BL Thais, mais loin d'être parfait

J'ai du mal à comprendre pourquoi ce drama a obtenu une note aussi élevée (du moins au moment où je rédige ce commentaire, car le dernier épisode a été diffusé il y a quelques heures, donc les critiques seront peut-être plus nuancées avec le temps). Quoi qu'il en soit objectivement, si on le compare à d'autres dramas thaïlandais classiques, il n'atteint pas leur niveau. A mon avis, ce qui justifie un enthousiasme aussi grand de la part du public à l'heure où j'écris ces lignes, c'est surtout la nouveauté que Manner Of Death apporte dans le paysage des BL Thaï. On a l'habitude de productions traditionnellement centrées sur des intrigues simplistes en milieu universitaire et remplies de clichés, hormis quelques exceptions : par exemple He's coming to me, ou encore A Tale of Thousand Stars, prouvent que les choses sont en train de changer et pour ça je le reconnais, Manner of Death mérite qu'on lui donne une chance.

Alors c'est vrai, c'est novateur par rapport aux productions passées. Je suis d'accord, c'est enfin un BL Thaï adulte, qui se déroule dans le monde professionnel, nous offre une intrigue pleine de mystères, avec des meurtres, de l'action, et bien sûr une belle romance en prime entre nos deux héros. Et certes, avec Manner Of Death ils ont pris un risque, mais n'oublions pas que leurs voisins à commencer par les Taïwanais, ont déjà innové dans le genre BL adulte / action / polar, notamment avec History3: Trapped. Les Coréens ont commencé également à produire des BL plus adultes, avec le récent "To My Star"... Bref, je ne vais pas faire une longue liste comparative mais en gros, tout ça pour dire que le risque n'était pas si grand que ça au final, et que le public est demandeur de toute façon. Ils avaient donc tout intérêt à ne pas se laisser distancer. Manner of Death était donc une bonne idée, mais ça n'empêche pas qu'il était loin d'être parfait.

Attention, j'ai bien aimé l'histoire. Tous les lundis soirs, j'étais au rendez-vous pour voir l'épisode de la semaine, et j'attendais avec impatience le prochain. Il est même tout à fait possible que d'ici quelques mois, je ressente l'envie de me faire un marathon et que je me retape les 14 épisodes d'affilée. Mais ce qui me pose principalement problème dans ce genre de dramas, et que je retrouve souvent dans les productions thaïlandaises, c'est d'une part le jeu d'acteur, et d'autre part le fouillis et les longueurs du scénario.

Commençons par le sujet qui fâche : tout le monde parle sans arrêt de l'alchimie entre deux acteurs dès lors qu'ils sont capables de produire des dialogues romantiques et des bisous à peu près corrects ("oooh, there's so much chemistry !"). "Chemistry" par-ci, "chemistry" par-là... Désolée, mais c'est un peu le minimum syndical, et si deux acteurs payés pour jouer dans une romance (qu'elle soit hétéro ou BL) sont incapables de faire passer un peu d'émotion et d'attirance l'un envers l'autre, c'est qu'ils jouent mal, point barre. Et le problème avec les dramas Thaï en général, et c'est encore plus flagrant dans les BL, c'est que les acteurs surjouent (il n'y a qu'à comparer avec la spontanéité et le naturel des voisins taïwanais, on n'est pas du tout sur le même registre). J'aime bien Max et Tul que j'ai eu le plaisir de découvrir dans Together with Me, mais ça ne veut pas dire qu'ils jouent bien. Ils sont corrects, pour ne pas dire passables. Et non, je ne vois pas de "chemistry" entre eux. Je ne cache pas que je guettais leurs moments d'intimité, comme toute fan de BL qui se respecte, mais concernant l'aspect romance j'ai eu beaucoup plus de papillons dans le ventre devant 10 minutes de la 1ère saison de We Best Love même quand ils se tournaient le dos, que devant les 14 épisodes de Manner Of Death (en parlant de WBL d'ailleurs, c'est bien la première fois que j'ai VRAIMENT constaté une alchimie entre les acteurs... pour toutes les autres productions, on repassera.... Et pour enfoncer le clou, c'est quand même un comble de penser que l'acteur secondaire qui joue le flic est le seul à crever l'écran ! ). Alors bien sûr, c'est un truc qu'on n'a pas le droit de dire, parce que les fans du couple MaxTul nous tombent sur le paletot dès lors qu'on n'aime pas leur façon de jouer, mais je m'en fous parce que mon but en rédigeant une critique n'est pas d'obtenir des likes, c'est d'être sincère avec mon ressenti. J'ai trouvé que Max en faisait trop dans le genre "je plisse les yeux parce que je suis un mec trop intense et mystérieux" mais à aucun moment il ne m'a fait sentir que son personnage pouvait être véritablement dangereux, quant à Tul, parfois ses réactions étaient disproportionnées, d'autres fois on avait l'impression qu'il était constipé et qu'il était forcé d'endosser un rôle d'adulte qu'il maîtrisait mal. Ça ne change rien à leur capital sympathie, je continue à les apprécier et c'est certain que je regarderai d'autres BL s'ils sont dedans, surtout que tous deux sont quand même jolis garçons, c'est indéniable. Simplement, je sais que ce n'est pas pour leur jeu d'acteurs que je visionnerai.

Le scénario en lui-même était intriguant, intéressant et comme je l'ai dit plus haut, même si ce n'était pas si novateur que ça comparé à de nombreux lakhorns, en tout cas dans le genre BL ça l'était. Et je suis consciente que ce type de production est obligé de compter sur un faible budget, donc on ne peut pas leur en tenir rigueur, et c'est pour cette raison que je donne une assez bonne note, parce qu'ils ont réussi à nous pondre un truc pas trop mal avec peu de moyens. N'empêche que l'histoire était un peu fouillis, il y avait des longueurs inutiles, et ce qui m'a fâchée : ils ont quelque peu arrangé l'identité du meurtrier présent dans le livre et c'est un parti pris qui n'est pas forcément dû au hasard, ce qui nous donne quelque chose d'un peu problématique si on réfléchit 2 minutes à ce que ça implique politiquement. Je n'irai pas plus loin sur ce sujet, on parle d'un polar donc ça serait spoiler que d'en dire trop, mais l'image que ça renvoie, à un moment où il est peut-être temps de changer les choses, me déplaît et pose question sur leurs intentions. Pour finir, certaines décisions des héros (et même des flics) qui sont censés mener leur enquête, ou bien des détails auxquels ils omettent de penser, manquent parfois sérieusement de logique et ce n'est pas pour rien que d'autres productions (c'est par exemple le cas sur des séries policières françaises, pour les autres je ne m'avancerai pas) font appel à un expert détaché de la vraie police pour les conseiller sur le scénario. Cela mis à part, je reste satisfaite que l'on nous ait offert un drama policier et adulte, dont la trame et les rebondissements maintiennent l'intérêt jusqu'à la fin, et de toute façon dès qu'il s'agit d'un BL je suis preneuse.

En conclusion j'ai passé un bon moment, l'intrigue était sympathique, elle avait le mérite de nous présenter un scénario qui change un peu du lot et n'est pas uniquement centré sur l'histoire d'amour, avec un contexte assez fouillé qui donne de l'épaisseur au tout, et les moments d'action et de suspense nous poussent à continuer. Et fait à noter, ils ont eu le courage d'aborder des sujets plus graves comme les abus sexuels (on s'en doute dès le début, ce n'est pas comme si je spoilais), ce qu'on ne voit pas souvent dans les lakhorns étiquetés "romance". Cette série vaut donc le coup qu'on s'y intéresse, ne serait-ce que pour les encourager à poursuivre dans cette voie, mais on reste loin du chef d’œuvre en matière de dramas.

Citeste mai mult

Most Action-Packed BL Ever

Manner of Death was such an adventure to get through. I felt like one minute I knew where the story was going, and then the next, I had no clue. This kept me on the edge of my seat throughout my binge-watch, I legit stayed up till 4 in the morning cause each episode would leave off on a cliffhanger, and I just felt like I had to keep going. Manner of Death is definitely one to remember for its crazy adventures and deep-rooted plot.

Let's Dive In.

I want to start off by talking about the plot. When we look back at other BL plots, they're usually not very deep or complicated, but in this series, I felt like each moment was mapped out perfectly. From the first episode to the last, everything fit like a glove. The only thing I had a hard time with was keeping up with the many characters they had, and how each of them impacted the plot. These big revelations would happen, and I would completely be lost because I wasn't sure who they were talking about. Towards the end though, I was able to remember names with faces. Another thing was that they kind of dragged on at times in the first few episodes, so I had to force myself to watch, but I was hooked by about episode 7 or 8. I think that the plot was my favorite part of the series. Very well done.

Let's move onto the actors/characters. While I do love Tul and Max together, I will say that I wasn't really pining for them to get together in this. I don't know if it was because they only got so much time with each other outside of the very hectic plot, but most of the time, their moments felt forced. Their intimate moments were good, don't get me wrong on that (epically the handcuffing on the stairwell, idk why but I loved that so much), but everything felt either rushed or without explanation; why did they like each other? The proposal during the last episode was good, except why did Tan ask Bun to marry him when they hadn't even been dating? It felt off and not usual, but the proposal itself was clever and sweet. Let's move on to the somewhat side couple That and Sorawit (It took me a moment to realize his name was That lol) I liked how sentimental and caring Sorawit was towards Nam and That. He served as kind of everyone's helper and kept getting himself into messes that he had no business getting into. The same goes for That. While I liked that he was kind of tough and was there to also help, they were just kids and kept getting themselves in mixed-up situations. While there was no confirmation of this couple ever, they were teased throughout the series and at certain points they were cute, but most of the time they just felt like close friends. Moving onto the third(?) pairing, Dr. Oat, and Inspector M. I really liked Inspector, at first I was so sure that he was going to end up being the bad guy, but I was way off. The actor Great is overly attractive which made me pine for him to be with literally anyone, guy or girl, and they teased that a bit at the very last episode with Dr. Oat, but it was obviously way too late. I'm pretty sure Dr. Oat had a crush on Bun, but it was never said so we'll never know. Both those characters were perfect for this story, and maybe we can get a spin-off with them (????).

Let's move onto the darker parts of this series. While there was an 18+ warning at the beginning of each episode, I still felt like there should've been something else to warn of how gruesome this series was going to be. I'm not a person that gets triggered by stuff, but some of these scenes were hard to sit through. Watching Jane get hung twice was not easy at all, I couldn't even watch the second one. I definitely think there needs to be multiple warnings.

I really liked how this show focused on human trafficking, something that happens all around the world but is not nearly talked about enough. Most of the time it is with people in high places, so seeing the captain, judge, commander, and whoever else all in high place running this human trafficking ring wasn't surprising (sadly). These revelations were incredible though, and I loved the way I was shook after each person was announced to be part of this ring.


Overall, Manner of Death was a fantastic watch, and I highly recommend this. All of the actors put on an amazing performance, but I want to really give Mint and Meiko an extra pat on the back. These women put on a beautiful performance and I really hope to see them in future series. The OST also went perfectly with this drama, and at times really did have me spooked out. This is for sure something people should watch (warning if you're sensitive to gruesome scenes and heavy topics though).

Citeste mai mult

Could've been executed A LOT better.

I was really excited for this series because of MaxTul and it having a different plot from most other Thai Bl dramas, but by the end I was dreading having to put in the energy to watch it.

PROS: Max(Tan), the cool IDEA for the general plot, scenery, and the story didn't make them being gay a central part of the plot.

SPOILERS BELOW???
CONS: Dr. Bun was extremely annoying. Poor execution of plot. Severe lack of communication. Main characters making glaringly dumb decisions just to further the plot. Dr. Bun and Tan being a doctor and a teacher, respectively, but not having the brains to realize an obvious clue that would have saved them a weeks worth of struggle and made the last episode or two unnecessary. Unnecessary flirting during high stress situations (i.e. trying to decide whether or not to reveal evidence, but also finding the time to make suggestive comments). The school not paying enough attention to what's going on with their students. And again, just a whole bunch of idiotic decisions or lack of decisions by multiple characters just to further the plot. And again, Dr. Bun and his attitude.

Citeste mai mult

Good direction for the BL genre but...

I was very much looking forward to this drama as it attempts to take the BL genre into the suspense/mystery genre. However, unfortunately, this series did not live up to (my) expectations. The series did have an interesting beginning, with the introduction of our main characters and the mystery behind the murder of Ms.Jane.
As a BL, the romance elements in this series are just okay. It's not too much where it would overtake the mystery/thriller side of the series, which is great. However, I wish the relationship between our main couple would have been fleshed out a bit more.; there were some awkward moments.

The Mystery/action part.... is underwhelming. The Police force and forensics team in this series are as useful as the stormtroopers in star wars; no help whatsoever...our main characters are made out to essentially solve the entire case on their own. The plot in the second half of this series is just FILLED with plotholes! Each episode had at least 3+ moments where I'd question, "why is this happening?", "why is this character here?", "how did they get there?", "how did they know about this?" etc, etc. The motives behind our antagonist are not well explained either.
Also, the medical aspect is very poorly adaptive in inaccurate.

Overall, this series missed the mark which is upsetting to say. However, I hope this will encourage the BL to continue to venture into the thriller genre!

Citeste mai mult

Un petit BL qui change du contexte habituel =)

« Manner of Death » est un drama qui a beaucoup fait parlé de lui dans le monde du BL. Pourquoi ? Sans doute car nous quittons les bancs de l’école et vivons une histoire plus mature mais également car la romance n’est pas le centre de ce drama puisque l’enquête ainsi que la corruption (bon j’avoue les deux sont liés x’D !) font partie intégrante de l’histoire.

Courte introduction à ce drama : « Manner of Death » prend place dans une petite ville où tout le monde se connait. Cependant, les secrets sont légions et compromettent l’équilibre instauré… (Oui, nous sommes d’accord, l’équilibre de cette ville est des plus malsain ^^’)
Nous commençons l’histoire sur l’arrivée de Bun dans cette ville qu’il a quittée plusieurs années avant. Le voilà devenu légiste et avec un cadavre sur les bras dés sont arrivées ! (Les réjouissances commencent =D) Lors d’une soirée, il rencontre Tan qui prendra beaucoup de place dans sa vie et dans l’enquête.

Alors dans le fond, que dire sur ce drama ?
• Une intrigue bien menée avec le suspense maintenu tout du long. (Je n’avais pas vu venir la tournure des évènements ^^)
• Nous nous retrouvons encore dans une ville corrompue où les puissants ont les pleins pouvoirs… (Situation récurrente dans les drama, donc rien de bien innovant…)
• La relation amoureuse entre Bun & Tan est à mon sens assez malsaine au début… Pourquoi ? Car ils commencent sur des bases de méfiance… Et ils continuent à s’enfoncer dans des semi-vérités. Cependant, au fur & à mesure que l’histoire avance, ils se découvrent réellement et peuvent donc avoir une relation plus saine… (D’ailleurs, je dois avouer ne pas comprendre comment on peut commencer une relation en se méfiant de la personne avec qui on vit…)
Cette relation est parfois tendue, douce mais également gag… (Je m’explique ! Bun a souvent des réactions des plus « timorées » qui ne collent pas vraiment au contexte ^^)

Je me dois tout de même de relever un point qui m’a dérangé tout le long de mon visionnage… Comment est-ce possible de faire des scènes d’autopsies aussi mauvaise ? =O Et depuis quand un légiste est également médecin généraliste et chirurgien ? Je pense qu’ils n’ont pas pris en compte le nombre d’années pour chaque spécialisation x’D !

Pour finir mon avis, je parlerai du fait que ce drama m’a parfois fait penser au drama coréen « The Village : Achiara’s Secret » de par l’ambiance du « village » où tout le monde se connait… Et la présence d’innombrables secrets qui pourraient remettre en cause le statut de chacun.

Citeste mai mult

A Good Change of Pace

It's really nice to see another crime series with a gay couple, or couples, as part of the story.
There is a great sense of flow throughout, that leaves you room for thought after each episode over who's the culprit, who's involved, who's innocent, etc. This is a type of series that focuses on the journey rather than the destination. The ending does make it all worth it for sure, but I found myself enjoying episode after episode, and that's a rarity.
Of course, acting gets a high rating - all of the actors and actresses do a tremendous job at portraying their character. The story has great twists and turns woven in that keep you on the edge of your seat.
It's a very deep and dark story that exposes a lot of underground secrets. Once again, the execution is well done. Only minor hiccups throughout.
There's a nice amount of suspense, sprinkled in with some spice, and a dash of sweetness. A real treat to watch.

Citeste mai mult

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

Citeste mai mult

It is bad, very, very, bad

I wasn't going to watch this drama but silly me decided to listen to the reviews which somehow are mostly positive. I am 11 episodes in and each episode just gets worse and worse, it is so unrealistic, full of plot holes and very badly written.
Most of the reviews said they were happy that the story had moved away from the university setting and that the writers were trying something new and exciting, this would be true if the writers knew anything about crime, doctors, police, coroners and autopsies.
This drama seems to have been written by a child after watching a few episodes of Scooby Doo and thought that a BL murder mystery would be a good idea.

Citeste mai mult