‘Big Dragon’ Series Review – Wait… What??

By Sneha Jaiswal (Twitter | Instagram)

Those who made the 2022 Thai show – had the money, roped in a good looking cast, shot it well, but forgot to put a decent story in. Directed by Puwadon Naosopa, ‘Big Dragon’ was marketed like some mafia-themed romance which some hoped would fill the void left by the highly entertaining show ‘KinnPorsche’… But it’s really just a well-budgeted typical college love story, with a bizarre/problematic first episode that doesn’t even fit with the mood or tone with the story unfolding later.

Mos Panuwat Sopradit and Bank Mondop Heamtan play protagonists Mangkorn and Yai respectively. Yai is a bratty wealthy college student who has inherited his father’s pub and thinks the handsome Mangkorn has eyes on his girl-crush. So one evening, Yai gets his men to mix something in Mangkorn’s drink, but due to a mix-up, the two end up spending the night together. Over the next seven episodes, the protagonists hanker for each other’s attention, squabble over petty jealousies and sleep together a bunch of times. Yai’s character goes from being a ‘creepy evil dude who’d drug his opponents’ to a silly confused puppy in heat. Mos and Bank look stunning together, their chemistry is about decent, but the story just doesn’t click

The brand endorsements through the episodes are too awkward. For example, in episode 4 Mangkorn offers Yai a snack and baby-talks with him. At this point of the story, they are still in their ‘rivalry’ phase, they literally beat each other a couple of hours before… so it was just cringe-y. However, the production value of this series is great. Some of the night shots are shot really well, they are colorful, aesthetic and charming. In fact, almost all locations and sets are pretty and pleasing to the eye, especially some of the scenes that are shot at Thai temples.

In Episode 6, there’s a sweet one-on-one accidental meeting between Yai and Mangkorn’s mom at a restaurant and the whole mood during the sequence was nostalgically beautiful. Koy Narumon Phongsupan plays a supportive empathetic mother, too bad her role is very brief. None of the other supporting characters get enough screen time or make much sense in the overall story. Good thing they ended the show in eight episodes, maybe they will hire better writers for season two.

It’s a 5/10 from me. You can stream the series on YouTube.