A 2022 Thai drama about a powerful family suffering from internal power struggles now facing an even greater secret threat, the oldest son and heir is gay.

Country: Thailand 
Local Title: คุณชาย
Year Released: 2022
Number of Episodes: 17
Genre: Historical drama, Romance

Main Actors:

Film Thanapat Kawila as Tian
Jam Rachata Hampanont as Jiu
Tongtong Kitsakorn Kanogtorn as Yang
Saksit Tangthong as Song
Pock Piyathida Mittiraroch as Li
Panward Hemmanee as Chan
Milly Camilla Kittivat Kirn as Pin

Pre-Recap Thoughts:

One of my favorite shows of last year. It’s not a BL, it doesn’t have the tropes of the genre, it is a ridiculous, dramatic, absurd soap opera with a gay main character. I think it’s what’s called a lakorn, which I understand to be a Thai soap opera, but I don’t know enough to be confident in talking about it that way.

Our lead is the heir to a family business with a secret that you will hear mentioned many, many times. His family is full of strong women willing to go to wild lengths to protect their power and take care of their sons. They drive the story while the main patriarch wanders around wondering what is going on in his house.

There are corpses and mushrooms and poisons and magic. There are cicadas.

There’s a really sweet brotherly love and a charming secondary romance.

There’s a very good-looking, poor assassin.

What I’m saying is, it’s full of big conflicts and struggles and hardship, and it’s also a lot of fun.

Definitely, I think people who like BL/romance and or soap operas should give it a try.

Final note, I really enjoyed the historic setting. As to how accurate it is, I know nothing about the history of Thailand so I won’t comment about it. I am also guessing I could be missing a lot of nuance due to my ignorance. But this is all just motivation to learn more.

Recaps and Thoughts:

Final Mostly Non-Spoilery Thoughts:

This is a fantastic drama that manages to be the best of soap-y storytelling without falling into the frustrating pitfalls that can make those stories repetitive and annoying. Our characters are well-written, the patriarchy is brutal and impotent, the women are strong and complex, the morality is questionable and it’s fun while being optimistic and meaningful.

On this rewatch one of the things I most appreciated is the depiction of smothering parental love as toxic and repressive. Asian dramas skew towards affirming the value of loving parents, this can be positive or negative depending on the show but frequently goes too far for my tastes. 

This show takes my side, in that parents can be loving and devoted to their children, and also take it to unacceptable places. Here there’s a pure-evil villain who wants money and power, but the one who hurts our main character the most is his well-intentioned mom.

But never mind all these meaningful depictions of family, feminism, and patriarchy. If you’re a die-hard romantic who wants to believe that love can overcome everything, even erotic cicada poisons, then I suggest you give this drama a try.