Welcome to my Saturday blog post, where I give thoughts on dramas I’m watching, whether at the beginning, middle, or end. Whatever I want, because I’m petty that way.
This week, I finished Nour with episodes 9-10, and I LOVED IT. A new favorite. Check out my detailed thoughts on the ending or read below for my mostly spoiler-free series review.
I also recapped episodes 5-6 of The Last Oath, where even kidnapping can’t get in the way of chemistry.
In this week’s Mid-Week Update on my Patreon, I had thoughts about School Trip Season 2, You Should Be The One To Kiss Me, Fool in Love, Boys in Love, Good Boy, and more. Join my Patreon to get a Mid-Week drama report, as well as advance notes and rough drafts of the shows I’m recapping.
Today’s theme is Tailai Entertainment. Sexy, right? We’ll start with an initial review of:
Fool In Love – คนโง่รักเข(ล)า – 2026
Currently airing Rich People Being Toxic Thai BL, I’ve watched 5 of 20 episodes.
A Poor Rich Guy falls in instant lust with another rich heir and pursues him relentlessly. Everyone is horrible and toxic.
This one comes with a HUGE warning sign: It’s VERY VERY VERY TOXIC
Problematic. Triggering. Red Flag. Whatever words the youth are using, it’s that. To put it lightly, our Poor Rich Guys tactics for pursuing the object of his obsession are illegal. And then His Obsession retaliates.
As a result, episodes 3-4 may make Sorn from My Stubborn look innocent by comparison. I can’t quite say it’s the MOST toxic I’ve ever seen in something labeled a romance, but it’s up there.
It was enough that I was unsure if I wanted to go on, but then episode 5 came. Suddenly these two horrible people start acting cute together, and I wanted to keep watching.
But I can’t tell you just to skip those two episodes, because I’m 99.9999999999999999% certain that we’re far from done with toxic horrible stuff. This is very much an “everyone is terrible, including our leads” kind of show. Characters scheme, lust after people they shouldn’t, do whatever it takes to get what they want, and we’re only 25% in. There are 15 episodes left.
From what I understand, this show is based on a Chinese web novel by an author known for this kind of stuff.
I’m on board as long as it balances the toxic with the cute
Yeah, I felt a little wrong writing that, but it is what it is.
I wouldn’t want this show to suddenly go 100% cute because I want to see screaming, crying, throwing things, betrayals, all that good stuff. On the other hand, if it were all like episode 3-4, I’d bail. I need my romantic leads to like each other, even if they behave… really badly.
With soapy, toxic shows like this, it’s all about the acting. This is no slice of life school JBL with warm tones, long silences, and complicated looks. Here we get to see the actors do ALL the emotions, sometimes in the same episode.
And in this case, Bank Artit Tangwiboonpanit, playing our Poor Rich Guy, gets most of the credit for selling this show. From what little I’ve learned, he’s an established actor who has never done a BL, and he’s GREAT. He’s toxic, traumatized, funny, horrible, confident, pathetic, and so, so, so much fun to watch. Even if sometimes his character deserves to be arrested.
His partner, Copter Nuntapong Wongsakulyong, has less to do as the grim, quiet, stern one balancing out his partner’s flamboyance. Still, I was super impressed when the switch flipped in episode 5, and they BOTH became fun to watch together.
So, you’ve been warned and encouraged
And if you are up for it, you’ll get to enjoy some GREAT fashion on Bank.
Now to the next show from Tailai Entertainment. Hot! And also, I love it. Here’s my final review for:
Nour – นูร์ – 2026
Recently aired supernatural thriller Thai BL with 10 episodes.
An investigator who is secretly a Nour is looking for a way to end his life when he meets a young investigator who may change his mind.
The only warning I have for this one is it’s heavy and complicated
And CW for depictions of suicide.
This isn’t a spoiler because the first episode starts with our main Nour going through a whole “who wants to live forever” spiel. Nour are basically vampires who have no issues with sunlight and can’t die even by a stake through the heart.
But our main Nour isn’t enjoying this carefree existence. He’s tired, old, lonely, done, and more that’s revealed later. And he thinks he’s found a way to die.
Then, he meets a daring young investigator whose own search for justice is annoying and intrusive. This puts them at odds from their first meeting. Our Young Investigator does everything he can to get on our tired Nour’s good side. Our Nour wants him to go back to Bangkok.
In the process, feelings. Strong feelings.
There are also two side couples. One is a coroner and a quiet, traumatized younger man who works at the hospital. Another is a pair of college students who are good friends. Except one of them maybe wants more.
As the show goes on, we learn our tired old Nour isn’t the only one suffering. All of these characters have been through it. ‘Cause life.
Which leads to what I felt was the show’s central question: Is love enough?
Can it overcome everything, even our main character’s desire to finally, finally, finally die?
And this isn’t the type of show that’s going to give us a montage of people eating sandwiches over nice music with VO explaining that THIS makes it all worth it. Our Nour doesn’t catch feels for a hot guy and change the goal he’s had for over a hundred years.
It drags all the characters, and us, through it and forces them to make REALLY hard decisions.
I’ll be honest, I spent a certain amount of time watching this show in anxious fear of where it was going.
In the end, I was rewarded by the kind of deep, meaningful feelings that only a show willing to go so dark can bring about. I’m not a crier, and I didn’t cry at the end of this show, but I got a haunted, emotional hangover from something that moved me deeply.
Don’t get me wrong, there were light moments to keep things from being unrelentingly dark. Our leads go through a whole thing over dividing their office with tape like they’re, er, petty siblings sharing a room. One of them gets drunk. There’s a fujoshi.
But on a scale, this is one of the darker-but-not-toxic ones I’ve seen.
I’m not pretending I understood everything or that everything made sense
There was a whole theme about rainbows and color that I’m not sure even a rewatch will help me understand. Hopefully someone on the internet has written an essay about it I can read.
The Nour mythology and some of the characters’ backstories can be confusing and unclear. To some extent, I liked this, because I find a LOT of life confusing and unclear, so it feels realistic. When stories make their fantastical aspects too rule-driven, it can take me out.
On the other hand, I know some people like those rules. Also, there were places where I think having more information would have strengthened the story. I gave a few specifics in my recap review of the final episode.
And the production quality matched the story quality
Besides a script with great scenes and moments, there were great locations, key music pieces, interesting shots, and neat makeup. Enough to forgive the occasionally wonky AI, not-really-70s-but-trying costumes, and usual issues with computer-generated fire.
ON TOP OF ALL THAT, we’ve got Tongtong. He’s already a favorite of mine, having chewed the scenery excellently in the otherwise not-for-me The Wicked Game AND been a favorite part of another favorite show, To Sir, With Love. This is his first BL lead. He’s great AGAIN here, and if you want to see him cry, you will get your wish many times over.
He’s got good chemistry with his slightly-greener-but-puts-in-a-good-effort-with-a-complicated-character co-star. The other actors, which include one other established-but-not-BL actor, all put in excellent performances.
I could go on and on about this show, and I might on my Patreon at some point. But for now, I’ll finish by saying: Yeah, unless the CW is a hard no or you’re not in the mood for something heavier, you should try this.
If you’re worried it’ll be too much, check out my recap reviews to decide/prepare yourself.
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