KinnPorsche – BL Drama (TV) Review

Good changes for the BL genre, but still lots of things to work on.

KinnPorsche is a 14-episode TV Thai Drama from 2022, based on the novel of the same name. It centers around Porsche, a young college student, who unknowingly helps the son (Kinn) of a mafia boss in a life-threatening situation and then gets recruited to be Kinn’s bodyguard. As he has money issues and a little brother to feed, he eventually agrees.
Porsche might be strong physically, but is a total goof-head personality-wise, so it’s no surprise he gets him and Kinn into… situations. Those only lead to them getting closer and closer, eventually forming a bond they’re willing to die for.
Vegas, the son of another mafia boss and Kinn’s cousin, doesn’t appreciate Kinn’s successes and does everything in his power to make Kinn’s life harder, while also trying to make his dad proud. Things start to change, when Pete enters his life.

Ps: The series has a lot of violence. Recommended age is 17+.

Short Review

What I liked:

• No heteronormativity!
• No coming-out scenes or dramatically figuring out your sexuality because the same gender kissed you.
• Barely any toxic masculinity. Men cried together and talked about their feelings without it being awkward or seen as weak. 
• The chemistry of the actors and the acting generally!
• The cinematography. Some really nice shots there, especially the slow-mo scenes during fights.
• Tunkhun. He’s my number #1 favorite character!

What I disliked:

• The imbalance of the couples (top/bottom).
• KinnPorsche’s first times. Porsche basically always being drunk/high.
• The 2nd half of the series. Too many lies.
• PeteVegas ship. Basically Stockholm syndrome. Was very uncomfortable to watch, especially Pete, not being able to let go of Vegas.
• Certain characters, who deserved to die, but didn’t.
• The whole thing with the mother. Not just the lies, but also the way she was treated. Like a doll.
• Porsche’s extreme stupidity at the beginning. It was mostly for comedic relief, but at some point not funny anymore.

Long Review – negative aspects first:

Imbalance

It was fine at the beginning, Porsche was his bodyguard, so of course he wouldn’t be treated like an equal. But even at the end, after both being heads of the family and basically announcing they’re gonna marry, Porsche is still a level below him. (Porsche literally said, “my life is yours”. Which, sure, was a parallel to the first episode, but essentially implies they’re not equal.)

Non-consensual

KinnPorsche reminds a bit of TharnType. While KP is healthier than TT, the characters are quite similar, especially Kinn and Tharn. Both tops, of course.
(I really hate these words, actually. Top and bottom. When can we finally get a BL series with couples who are switches?? (Ps: I’ve watched KinnPorsche before Only Friends and Bad Buddy. OF and BB finally fulfilled that wish for me!)

They’re also, kind of, based on rape. Porsche was drunk the first time they kissed and didn’t remember until like 2 days afterwards. He didn’t push him back and also wasn’t confused or angry about it, but, you know, drunks can’t really give consent. But – okay, it was just a kiss anyway.

When they had their first time though, Porsche was drugged. Really drugged. He was totally high. 

On the other hand, it wasn’t Kinn forcing himself on Porsche or anything. Quite the opposite. Porsche initiated all and Kinn was the one who hesitated. But, again, Porsche was totally high and it was his first time with a guy. And even when Kinn was hesitating, and the end, he was the one having sex with an almost-unconscious man.
So… not entirely rape but also not consent. And kind of sad that both their first times were when he was drunk/high.

And the first time they had another intimate moment (while Porsche wasn’t on the verge of passing out), it was also after he has drunk a lot. (There was consent though, but not much.)

The second half of the series

That’s when it only got worse.

Honestly, the first half was really good. I had so many butterflies watching this. But the 2nd half… when it was all about the lies, over and over again; and typical jealousy drama with the couples… ugh, no. It stretched so long, always going in cycles, and not really that enjoyable to watch anymore.

Especially the new ship, PeteVegas. Literally Stockholm syndrome. Pete was tortured so many times by Vegas, bled so much. And Vegas was just doing it for fun and emotional projection. Because his dad doesn’t respect him, blah blah.
Sure, they had their emotional moments where they just talked, got to know each other, and that’s what triggered the Stockholm syndrome in Pete, probably. Him feeling sympathetic for Vegas, but knowing he didn’t enjoy the sex. He wants to leave, but also feels bad for Vegas.
Really got uncomfortable for me.

It did get emotional pretty often, though, and I had to pause and reflect on things that were said. Mostly because it fit in my current life and simply made me think about certain things.
That’s one thing I do love of the 2nd half though. The slowness. The reflecting and thought-provoking dialogues/monologues. 
But that, of course, wasn’t the main goal of the series. It’s a BL, and while the actors were really great, the 2nd half just annoyed me in that regards. So much imbalance, and injustice, and deadly cycles… too much of it.

The ending

Certain characters (who won’t be named due to spoilers) deserved to die more than others, yet didn’t. Particularly one person – with many plot-twists – was the most cruel character of the whole cast, yet didn’t even get bruised at the end. While many others, who – sure, were bad too and got their Karma –, compared to the main villain, actually deserved a 2nd chance.

Imagine this: someone confesses they killed your Dad, then kills their bother in front of your eyes, and tells you they’ve locked your mom up. In the same house, you’ve worked and lived all these years, while you thought your parents died in an accident.
And that same person gets to walk afterwards, even becoming your family.
While another person, who may have been annoying and also may have killed some people, which, however, is nothing compared to the above, yet looses everything they’ve fought for.
Truly the best example of “life isn’t fair”.

Apart from that, the ending after that dramatic conclusion, also wasn’t entirely right. A few episodes before, Kinn and Porsche talked about having dreams – dreams that would involve leaving the Mafia behind and starting life as a normal person. Dreams that actually give you a purpose, instead of just killing for pleasure.
And for some reason the writers totally forgot about that conversation.

Of course, leaving the Mafia isn’t easy, but the way it was portrayed made it seem like the conversation never happened and they actually like being in that business. As if all that drama a few days ago hadn’t happened and they’re just living their happy days like everyone else.

Women & misogyny

I’ve mentioned it in my review of Only Friends already, but: women in BL are always/usually treated badly. It’s almost impossible to find a BL that isn’t misogynistic – not only to ex-girlfriends, but even mothers and every other female character. (Which is strange, considering the target audience is women.)

While this series at least didn’t have the “jealous ex-girlfriend won’t give up” trope, they awfully treated one particular character: a mother. (Won’t be named due to spoilers.)
She was like a doll, barely had any voice lines and was just “there”. She looked liked she did not want to be there, not knowing what was even happening.
When two boys talked to her, one asked the other, “what do you want to say to her?” and “do you want to hug her?”, without even acknowledging her. They hugged her and smiled, while she was just confused.
And it was supposed to be a happy ending. I’m not sure what’s happy about it, especially not the way it was portrayed.

Comedy

Particularly Porsche’s stupidity at the beginning. Dude really got no brain, only muscles. Really wondered how he’s still alive. Must be his charming aura, that for some reason none of the characters can’t resist. 

I get that this was mostly for comedic relief, and there were a few scenes I did like, but at some point it wasn’t funny anymore. Just stupid. In an annoying way.

And then they called Tankhun crazy and dumb for being different? That brother may be different, but certainly smarter than Porsche. Which especially got to show around the ending, when Tankhun was the only one to notice Pete’s absence.

Porsche did have his smart moments, and by the end also grew some brain cells. Probably from experience in the job. But… empty head mostly. Talks and smiles a little too much.

Positive aspects:

No homophobia & coming-outs

No single mention of homophobia and no coming-out scenes. Everyone in the business knows Kinn is gay, and no one makes a comment regarding that. It’s simply normal. It’s not treated as special and no one even looks differently when two guys kiss. 

Even though Porsche had only mingled with women so far, he didn’t freak out when he noticed his feelings towards Kinn. He just let it happen.
That was refreshing. No 5 episodes wasted for the main character to dramatically figure out his sexuality. He was just like, “oh he kissed me… Damn… Well, anyway. I’ve never done it with a guy, but I like it, so let’s just continue”, basically. So, so refreshing! ((Yes, I’m looking at you, Heartstopper.))

But also the side couples. There was never heteronormativity present. When a guy confessed to another guy, they weren’t like, “uh? What’re you doing? I’m not gay” – but simply reciprocated it. Or kissed back, without pushing them away. (Well, unless they generally weren’t in the mood for kissing, but not because of the gender.)

Only once a sexuality of a character was mentioned, and that was Kinn, being openly gay. You don’t know the sexuality of any other character. 
And that’s beautiful. I’m not a fan of labels anyway, so living in a non-heteronormative and unlabeled world, that’s the goal. 

Apologies/consent

While their first times did start non-consensual, Kinn did apologize for it. Even said if he could turn back time, he wouldn’t do it a 2nd time.
(Which TharnType for example never did. Not once was it acknowledged in the other series that Tharn half-raped Type.)
And when KP did each other the first time (although Porsche was half-drunk, but awake enough to give consent), Kinn did ask, kind of, before opening his trousers. It was more of a nod but clear enough for anyone. 
So… that was great.
After that, there was always consent present. And a lot of apologies for other things.

Acting

The actors were great. The chemistry between the couples was intense and fire, or sweet and friendly. They all looked like they had fun shooting this.

It also felt really natural. Not acted. Awkward scenes felt awkward, not because of the acting level, but because it could’ve been a scene from real life, not scripted at all. Like when you dwell in memories and then there’s this random awkward conversation you once had, and you get second-hand-embarrassment of yourself.

Well… that was a lot. As said, there were some great changes, which makes this series stand out from others. If the BL industry uses this as an example to push further into the right direction, we’re headed into a great future. (Like Only Friends proved!)

Except for a few scenes, it’s not a re-watch worthy series, but recommended if you like action-heavy stories and don’t want the same old school-BLs.

Finished the series: 26th June 2023
~Arden Skye

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