Boy meets boy, boy antagonizes the said boy to get his attention in ways the audiences can relate to and that draws the viewer in; creating the desire to know why boy one is teasing boy two in ways that can either be violent or cute. It’s a simple formula, one that Thailand web series or television shows seems to treat like a tradition with the recent crop of series that have been coming out every month since “Love By Chance” elevated the genre to worldwide popularity. It’s a simple enough situation which makes the 2024 release “Deep Night The Series” iteration of the situation very foreboding.

One of the first scenes for the series is more of an information dump on the nature of the bar and club businesses in Thailand, than the two boys taking potshots at each other. The script itself doesn’t provide enough tongue in cheek or even emotion as the camera cuts from one speaker to the other to set a tone of argument. But the words spoken versus the actors placid faces doesn’t find a home in the music. When the show takes a left turn to showcase the two boys? Men?(the show doesn’t define their ages in the same way “Playboyy The Series” didn’t). Instead, as if to distract from the lackluster first interactions of the main couple, shirtless hosts are paraded. It felt like entirely unnecessary. A feeling that came and went based around which characters were on the screen.

The show based off the novel of the same name by Guy Suwannaroj, tells the story of Khemtid played by newcomer Shogun Paramee. An immature young man who has eyes for the bookish nerd, Wela (First Piyangkul). Enemies to lovers, rich boy sets his eyes on the less fortunate man, secret lovers: there are many overused troupes that were tapped by the first two episodes. But by the end of the second episode it was very clear this would be another dramedy. Not as silly as “YYY” but with the lack of bare asses and forehead kisses it was clear sex appeal wasn’t the horse they wanted hitch the show to.

The fact that Khemtid is the son of Madame Freya, who runs an exotic club where attractive hosts are the main attraction and has five beautiful men dancing in alluring scenes that felt like snippets to a montage speaks to this point of view. Hosts Seiji (Seagames Teerapat), Ken (Chalarm Siam), Great (Sun Tananat) and James (Nathan Dan Aaron) are the hilarious and at times silly side characters the two are surrounded by. While Khemtid’s friend, Pan (Neptune Bhurichon), and Khemtid’s mother Freya (Tanya Tanyares) round out the supporting cast.

The cast makes a valiant effort to breathe life into a script that honestly felt like it was going down the history of BL checklists as opposed to something truly new or interesting. Instead, it lightly touches on the fact that hosts and the entire profession of higher classed hookers is very frowned upon in Thai society, through a series of translated texts that a member of Khemtid’s extended family sends him. He is fully aware of that since his mother is a club owner and what he himself is expected to do in the future. So he decides to venture to the club named “Deep Night” to see for himself what there is to look forward to…I guess?

At this point I was scratching my head how he was allowed to sit along the women, at whatever age he is? But the MC Lucy does let it happen and that is how he was able to see the montage that leads to Wela taking up the center stage. At this point, the script hasn’t created any emotional attachments for me as a viewer to be shocked over the fact that the school nerd was the BL Superman Wela (his glasses come off, and he becomes a hot dude). Also, side tone, he is supposed to be the crown jewel of the five men, but he wore the most clothing and did the least sexy dance, so I do not know how that works.

As the show moves through the “You can’t tell anyone I’m a Host” line from Wela to the “Employees can not be in sexual relationships”, Wela and Khemtid end up having sex in Episode Two. It’s clear this series picks and chooses when something makes sense or is said for resonating shock value. (Examples of the BL checklist are basically lit up in neon) so, the show felt superfluous to me as Wela himself set the mandate that the two should not know each other outside off Deep Night; as Khemtid now under his mother’s suggestion works as parking attendant (to be close to Wela) only to first go out to dinner with him, and by the next episode he is meeting Wela’s mother. Making the long held pauses, over dramatic music, and the loudest jealousy (Khemtid is a typical man who commands Wela like he is his partner and not coworker, and he seems to not know what Hosts do- sleep with people who pay for them). All of which culminated in Freya finding the two together in Khemtid’s bedroom, of which she didn’t seem to care at all (she made the “No hooking up rule”), so I was at a loss as to what the point of 70 percent of the first two episodes was for.

But the show does have a strong second couple appeal in the clueless Pan, and seasoned host Seji. The two have amazing chemistry and an interesting series of comedic, almost kisses made me focus on these two scene stealers. I had say that because a lot of the script relied heavily on the suspending disbelief over much of the first two episodes.

-Wela’s cold demeanor in Ep.1 being turned to a sensitive insecure man in Ep.2.

-Khemtid’s disapproval over his mother’s profession, changing to working there for Wela’s attention

—Khemtid recognizing the no sex rule, and sleeping with Wela in Ep.2

-Wela’s stance on not pursuing Khemtid lasting one episode; Pan getting a job merely because he said he wanted to work there, without Freeya even getting his name.

-Pan , all of the character makes no sense, but he has a chemistry with Seji that outshines everything he does.

It’s a BL Checklist kind of show, where it’s clear that a book was chosen to be adapted. But I felt no real love for the material in the series so far. It felt to me as if the show was trying hard to be a comedy but a lot of the dialogue seems to be just for shock value. It’s like they chose important scenes from the book and wrote the dialogue wrapped around it. But the show is inconsistent in how it presents the scenes leading up to the important moments in the show.

Rating- 2 out of 5

Streaming on- IQIYI