A shy young man bumps into a complete stranger who experiences love at first sight. The object of his affection is someone experiencing years of pain and disappointment of the most callous kind. Maybe it’s time for a Seme (who seems like a dinosaur) to step in and shake things up. That’s the premise for “Dinosaur Love”, a BL based on the novel of the same name by Scriper; created by Ultimate Troop as Part One of their compilation stories in “Buddy Line Y Animal”.

The series centers around Rak (Kong Montree), a timid, shy man who is dating Mek (Peak Natchanon) who is mostly inattentive to Rak’s efforts. Mek is starring in a web series with Rak’s best friend Kram (Sun Worrachid). Mek has been very attentive to Kram in every aspect, while Rak tries to be understanding of their relationship. But because of his accidental meeting with Dino (Pepper Pongpat), it becomes harder for Rak to ignore the red flags in his relationship with Mek.

The series is honestly like a live action Yaoi manga without the sex (yet) as this is a two episode review. The show mostly focuses on Rak’s perception, so I was expecting a quiet and submissive character but Rak actually blew me away with the way he composes himself. Being respectful and understanding in a relationship only goes so far, as it seems none of the characters who are hurting him emotionally seem to care about his feelings at all. Something he isn’t afraid to say.

Complementing his dilemma is Dino’s presence, who from the moment he bumps into Rak seems to be intent on pursuing the man. I haven’t read the novel, so I don’t know if it’s intended to be a stereotypical seme to a T but Dino is dominating and gentle with a dark side. He has no problem making it clear his patience with Rak’s indecision over him will only last so long with him before he forces himself on Rak.

The writing of the series seems to oscillate from smart and clever to outdated ideologies based on whoever is talking. Something that had me (a Yaoi fan grinning at), but it might not be for everyone. This felt like a series that wasn’t trying to be westernized but instead was like “here is a Thai show where we do and say what we would inside a college dorm”. It was very fresh and interesting to watch the characters exist together and see them ignore most stereotypes and act unique. Unfortunately, the sound editing in episode two was a little off. The voice dubbing didn’t match the emotions on the screen, which was surprising to me because everyone acted very well. The dubbing in the follow up scenes after the first twenty minutes seems to have been fixed, but the episode is forty-five minutes long, so it makes a significant difference to the quality.

Overall, the series is vibrantly colorful and very whip smart in delivering a unique BL experience. At times it did feel unpolished and like I was watching something filmed at two different time periods; but overall, the chemistry between Pepper and Kong is very irresistible and had me overlooking some portions. Like Dino’s announcement that he would patiently wait for Rak, which lasted a week. The details that are supposed to be significant to the story (Kram’s dubious nature, the involvement with Mek) could have had more screen time. If they were included more, it would have made the ending of the second episode carry a lot more weight. But Mek as a character wasn’t depicted properly, so it’s a lost cause.

I’m giving a solid rating for getting to the finish line of the second episode almost perfectly, but with a few edges that need to be polished and smoothed out.

Rating- 4 out of 5

Streaming on- IQIYI