Rák Màt-nàk

The show name is Hook and you may think it is about boxing, but this is really a family drama and Bromance story. If you are not familiar with Thai TV this may not mean much to you but here it goes anyway: this show not only feature two prominent BL stars in Mean (Love by Chance) as Saifah and Peak (Make it Right) as Man but it is directed by P'Andy who was behind the groundbreaking show Love Sick The Series. Thus you get what you expect from P'Andy, lots of good bromance moments, good friendship banter, and endearing male leads.

The first 3/4 of the show are great but the last 1/4 was a bit problematic with things resolved in the typical Thai drama fashion, and with little to no consequence for the character whose evil actions drive the main plot.

Both Man and Saifah are conflicted about the same things: careers, love interest, and loyalty to family. Ultimately this is a coming of age story, and both characters are faced with situations that test their loyalty to their family, their loved ones, and to each other. Peak Peamabol (Man) has what it takes when he has to cry on cue and he delivers here with aplomb. Mean may not have Peak's dramatic range but he is equally convincing in his role. Things do not happen as you might expect if you are used to watching American dramas so be prepared to be surprised!

Overall, this is a great watch, especially if you are a fan of BL or bromance.

Overall this show was pretty enjoyable to watch. It did start out a bit rough but by the second episode I was hooked despite there being some issues. It is a pretty stereotypical coming of age/High School (though they were in college) with a bit of some soap opera plot twists. The issues were plenty but still somehow managed to like this show. I think the main reason being that the actor that plays Man's character did such a good job in getting his emotions across. I genuinely loved that character. The actress playing Hongyok also had a charm to her. She was super annoying but you could not help but like her. Parents on this show were the worst except for Dao's Mom.

The acting was really good but the directing of this was horrible. People were always awkwardly standing around areas or there would be these weird uncomfortable pauses. The script would also just introduce characters and then completely get rid of them make you wonder why this person was even introduced to you in the first place. It also almost completely drops the going to school part of the show at some point and just focuses on the boxing. But I think of the most annoying things was the fight scenes which you could clearly tell no one was getting hit. For a show that's about boxing and fights I would think they would do a better job of making sure that the fight scenes were good.

Well, thai dramas are not as perfectionist as korean ones. And often they are full of product placement like a long comercial. The sound engineering seems like in the school project group and sometimes the cameras show things, which are not meant to be part of the series. So why 8 points? This sports / family drama is interesting from the beginning until the end. Especially the male main characters of Man, Saifah and Kawin have a strong and good acting. Not the love stories are the interesting part, more the underdog story of the Thai Boxers and the family dramas. I liked it much. And because it's not so perfectionist, the authentic amateur sport scenery seems nearer and you get deeper into the feelings of those nice people. There is no false smile in the whole series, you see how much fun they had to produce it for you. And... Thanks the finance of Netflix without the product placement overkill of other thai dramas. Recommended!