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 recapped episodes 5-6 of Pit Babe Season 2. Babe, Charlie, and Tony are on repeat, but it’s fun to watch Babe suffer and our other couples progress.
I also caught up with The Next Prince by recapping episodes 5-6. We learned more about Charan’s trauma, but I think (hope) there’s still more to find out. And more kissing. I know there will be more kissing.
I’m still in Japan, but somehow I made time this week to finish:
My Golden Blood – เลือดนายลมหายใจฉัน – 2025
Recently aired Thai Vampire BL with 12 episodes.
An innocent young man raised to believe he has hemophilia discovers the truth: his blood is irresistible to vampires.
In my initial review, I talked about the show’s old-fashioned romance tropes and how I hoped it would lean into them. Did it? Nope.
The show was mainly about where Tonkla was sleeping
I kid. Kinda.
We started with our young innocent at the orphanage. Then he left for college and moved in with his friend Tonkla. But his vampire protector, Mark, worried about his safety, so Tong reluctantly moved in with Mark.
That didn’t work out, so he moved back in with Tonkla. But then his feelings for Mark grew, plus the whole “life in danger” thing, so back to Mark’s. Then Tonkla started feeling neglected, and Tong didn’t want to hurt his feelings, so he returned to Tonkla’s.
And I think there were two more moves after that.
No, this isn’t really what the show was about, but it’s a small example of the larger plot problems that hurt this show. Characters reacted to conflict by changing their minds. Because of this, they didn’t learn and evolve, and felt all over the place.
I don’t need a strong plot
I need interesting characters responding to the things that happen to them so that I can enjoy watching them suffer and triumph. That’s not what I got here.
At the beginning, Tong learns he has “golden blood” and is at risk of being murdered by vampires because it is somehow useful to them, or an aphrodisiac, or something. His life in danger, he attends class and joins the basketball team. Mark also goes to college and joins the basketball team to watch over Tong.
The plan seems to be to just… do that… until he turns 21 and his golden blood goes away.
Mark protects Tong from vampires by keeping everything secret from Tong’s best friend Tonkla while acting shady. Meanwhile, the vampire who wants to kill Tong the most is also a teacher at the college. Tong keeps attending class and worries a lot about Tonkla’s feelings. Tonkla behaves however he can to create the most conflict at any given time.
It’s hard to care about the main conflict when your characters don’t
I never really understood “golden blood” because I never saw any reason to care. All it meant was that vampires wanted Tong dead. Otherwise, the characters studied for finals, went to the beach, and did whatever this creepy vampire lady told them to do.
Because of this, I had trouble relating to or caring about them.
Then, towards the end, the school stuff vanished, and it became a back-and-forth about Tong living or dying, with crying and melodramatic music. But like Tong’s living situation, what they did because of the threat to his life felt like spur-of-the-moment decisions. They’d never tried things and learned anything to use to their advantage.
That left them with the choice of blindly hoping continuing to do nothing would fix everything, or giving up. Not a thrilling decision to watch people make several times over.
I didn’t find the nonsense fun
For me, it was pretty boring. I know there’s an audience for every drama. Someone loves this drama despite its flaws, but I’m not sure who I can recommend it to.
Our leads are exceptionally good-looking, and there is a crucial beach scene with a blue Speedo. Some people like any story with vampires, and this show has vampires. It was fun to watch Gawin Caskey, who usually plays tougher guys, play the young innocent. Maybe one of these is the reason it’ll work for you.
But in general, I’d recommend you give it a pass.
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