#both perth and chimon do more with their faces than a lot of people manage with a full script and five camera angles

[chalkrevelations]

Well, I'm sure I'll have a lot more to say when I have more time, but here's my immediate takeaway from DR Ep 4:

WOW, Kanghan. That failure to protect Sailom cut deep. Not even Pimfah is allowed to be the one who rescues him, it's not just a matter of keeping him safe - no, it has to be you, personally.

I'm surprised you didn't tell Grandma, "Listen. You can hire him back as my tutor, or I can go hang around his house with a gun."

[waitmyturtles]

Well -- I think a lot of us on the internet were and are concerned about PerthChimon's chemistry. But there's a lot going on for Dangerous Romance, episode 1, that has gotten me HOOKED besides and beyond that chemistry issue, and I think what I saw today has got me at least less worried, if not intrigued, for reasons down below.

Firstly: we smell SOTUS on this show's breath, right? In a lot of ways, which I'll talk about below. I like the sinister turn that bullying and hazing has taken here -- weird to say that I like it, not by what's actually depicted, but by how it's been updated by its source inspiration in SOTUS and how the bullying is being leveraged so far as a storyline. As I'm always looking at teams behind shows for the Old GMMTV Challenge, I am noting that one of the directors of this show is Lit Phadung -- the screenwriter and director of SOTUS and SOTUS S. Despite the KristSingto chemistry issues of that franchise, Lit actually told a decent story in SOTUS, and an actually kind-of-compelling story of growth in SOTUS S and Our Skyy x SOTUS. So what we have in Lit is: a director who knows how to balance titchy issues of hazing along with actors with developing chemistry. Dangerous Romance is starting out FAR stronger than SOTUS, which is good for him, and which I'll get into more in a second.

One more note about the show's team. We got two of my favorite writers on the screenplay in Bee Pongsate and Pratchaya Thavornthummarut -- Bad Buddy, A Tale of Thousand Stars, etc. Big shit shows. I've talked with @chickenstrangers about this before, particularly in the context of when Bee and Pratchaya co-wrote 2gether -- when Bee and Pratchaya write together WITHOUT Backaof Noppharnach and Au Kornprom on their squad, the stories can get a little looser and messier. So I'm keeping my eye out for this. (Bee and Pratchaya wrote Vice Versa without P'Aof and Au, and... I know people have feelings about VV.) Anyway! Let's keep sharp eyes out for the writing.

I like where the screenplay is headed -- a battle of wits, enemies-to-lovers (ETL). I agree with @lurkingshan when she shared with me that ETL will need sexual tension.

Alright, so. On this. First off, this is my first show where I'm seeing Chimon in a starring role. I wrote to @neuroticbookworm and @lurkingshan as I was watching this: I WAS SURPRISED BY THE SASS LEVEL. Chimon's sashaying into this.

(Sailom: "Do you want to be my heroin(e)?" Welcome back, kinda, Kongpob, WITH SASS, SMARTS, and a hella survival streak.)

Secondly: these dudes are so young that they could be my children, but let me note that both Perth and Chimon are now YEARS-LONG veterans at GMMTV. Sure, they're wearing those damn high school uniforms again, but when they workshop, they have that many more years behind them to know what they're doing and what they need to achieve. I know there were some quibbles about Gawin Caskey's and Krist Perawat's chemistry in Be My Favorite, and I wonder if we might run into a similar issue here with DR. But that being said: what I appreciated about Gawin and Krist is that they had clearly workshopped the hell out of their partnership, with Krist really making strides beyond his early days with Singto in SOTUS (oh, the cringe). I ended up really loving GawinKrist together, and I think they managed Krist's character's slight aversion to sexual tension well within their pairing.

I don't smell cringe here with Dangerous Romance. I smell risk-taking. Perth = leather daddy? I'll fucking take it. And Chimon is grabbing faces and playing with fire against the big boy of school. I can't find the post (darn it! I will cite it when I find it!), but someone wrote that Sailom KNOWS he's smarter than Kang, and is willing to take risks to exploit that against Kang, and I am here for it. A battle of wits and wills.

I have my hopes seriously up that Perth and Chimon know what they need to do to make this GOOD. I think both of them have it in them to know what to do to make this ship not just successful, but dramatically compelling. I hope the screenplay can hold up to not eff it up. (I should have said this earlier, but I have NOT seen Never Let Me Go, and I understand that NLMG left folks feeling underwhelmed about PerthChimon. I am not tainted, so I will hold optimism for myself and anyone else who wants me to hold it for them!)

Other passing thoughts: I LOVE VIEW. I CANNOT WAIT FOR VIEW TO HAVE A STARRING ROLE! Her and Perth on screen together?! STRENGTH.

Euro is excellent -- I understand his turn in My Precious was great, too. Good to see you again, Marc Pahun. Let's see if Pawin can get a role that's not just being a high school side-buddy. I'm interested in Kang's daddy issues. I want to know what happened to Kang's mom. Papang as a potentially unethical doctor? Oh yeeeaaah.

HOPES ARE HIGH, FRIENDS! This was a banger of a first episode. I'm hanging a lot on PerthChimon succeeding -- I REALLY like what GMMTV is doing to mix ships up. More, more, more!