Dead Friend Forever - DFF (2023)

The Rating for this should be minimum 8.7 and don't let MDL'S bullsh*t tell you otherwise!

DO NOT SLEEP ON THIS SHOW!
If you like the genre (for the love of common sense remember to READ THE TAGS people) and if you are not 'shipping' obsessed and unable to look beyond actors you like and BL love story tropes...basically, if you like a show that isn't simply a commonplace BL, then this is MUST WATCH. Don't let the rating and the abysmal comment section scare you off either, this show SERVED and THE ENDING HIT JUST FUCKING RIGHT.

When you first watch it, that first ep, you're gonna see the NC scenes and feel like it seems forced and a lot like they're trying too hard to push the BL and sex stuff for the sake of views. RIGHT AND WRONG.
RIGHT about it feeling forced, because they did dump the 'bl sex clickbait' in the first ep for real, but
WRONG because they do it for A GOOD REASON. It's not because they were baiting fans, it's because they wanted to clear up the superfluous romance shipping shit quickly in order to MOVE ON from it. And boy oh boy, did they ever, seeing as how for the rest of the show the shipping stuff gets sidelined and completely trumped and in the end, this show DELIVERED and the ships sinking was all apart of the fun!

THE GOOD/GREAT
- First and foremost, THE ACTING. This is some of the best, if not the absolute best, actual acting I've seen in a Thai BL. I didn't know any of these actors and I honestly don't gaf where they acted before because this is the show from which I will remember their faces. If you watch this and you don't appreciate how well these actors did, this show is WASTED on you.
- The PLOT, from start to finish the amount of intriguing questions and speculation and ideas this show's plot raised was just fantastic. The comment section here quickly turned to a 'mess' because of the conflicting opinions and theories and I'll be honest, if you pay attention to the comments made by non-ship focused users, some of the conversations were really interesting! And yet, even with ALL the speculation, we were all still wrapped up waiting to see what twist was coming next. THAT is good writing, THAT is how you hook your audience.
- NON and TAN/NEW. I mean, these two. The casting of them as brothers??? GOLD. The best part was WE DON'T SEE IT COMING. We pretty much all suspected New was either Tan or White but it still HIT with so much weight when it finally unraveled and the escalation right up until the end was such a sweet, sweet pay off.
- The FLASHBACK scenes and the DRUGGED SCENES revealing their individual guilt, are prime story material in this. Wow. Just. So. On. Point and so well depicted.
- THE HORROR/GORE AESTHETICS AND CINEMATOGRAPHY are all on point!
- The order of DEATH and DOOM. I'ma tell ya'll the truth, for a hot second I was nauseous at the idea of Phi and Jin making it out and ending up together happily, it was so ICK. And I would have deducted a full point if that had been the true ending of this because Jin is trash, like all his friends. Tee appeared to be suffering, well deserved, but Jin walking away when even his internal guilt revealed how shallow he was? I was about to be MAD AF. LOL. But NAH. They didn't do us so dirty! They didn't close this show with some shipping nonsense, they really hinted at it though, just to fuck with us a little more, and then said 'NOPE, IN YOUR DREAMS.' Literally! Because I reckon Jin is the one imagining that sad, pathetic happy ending for himself ?

- MY THEORY: The fake out 'happy ending' is Jin's POV. I think he's likely comatose (possibly induced to stop him from anymore self harm) because Jin's face when Phi ran back into the cabin, did ya'll see that split second expression on his face? Man looked wide eyed and gone! Phi went back in and he took a bottle to the head, and even if he did manage to shoot New, who's to say that what 'happened' next wasn't Phi's injured addled brain trying to sort his shit out, give him hope. I don't think he necessarily got up after shooting New. I don't think he saved Tee before New had strangled him and then New died bleeding out and Jin, Jin is the only survivor, JUST LIKE THE SCRIPT, but he's totally fucked up in the head! And maybe he lost it completely because he went in there and saw everyone dead. SEE what I mean ya'll, the show is done and I'm still over here speculating!!

THE BA...wait, NAH!
- I ain't even mad about that 'unnecessary' sex scene between Phi and Jin, because after that fantastic ending ep it's revealed to us just how wrapped up in the idea of 'love' and 'sex' Jin was. Imo, every scene in this show served a purpose of revealing things about the characters to us, and that sex scene was the only scene I couldn't place until the final ep when I found that that scene explains Jin's level of 'love and sex' focus. First he became romantically invested in Non, who never even showed much interest in him, and then he got mad seeing Non sleeping with someone who wasn't him. That's extreme. Then came along Phi, who did show interest and even slept with him and also said nice words to him and seemed so sincere. I think Jin was really affected by how he felt for Phi, especially after sleeping together. And we've seen that all he needs is a little push to go from 0-100, whether it's for revenge or falling for Phi again. Also, I think that scene was meant to show more insight into Jin's perspective of sex. How he seems himself during sex. Because some of his hallucinations in the final ep matched the viewpoints of the sex scene with Phi. Raises questions. Makes him more layered in a way, a little more interesting. But still very ick.

Okay, now THE BAD:
- The people who watched this for the ships and the actors they 'stan' and could not see beyond it. Yeesh. Just...yeesh.

THE HIGHLIGHT
-The overall QUALITY of a BL slipping so smoothly into a horror/suspense story needs to be appreciated.
- ? THE AMBIGUOUS CONCLUSION ? it wasn't exactly what I expected, but in a way, it was even better!!

People might say 'what about White?' and the old dude who got decapitated, but in reality, irl plenty of people die in bad situations due to being in the wrong place at the wrong time, and this is exactly what happened to them. The situation was bigger than them. New wasn't interested in screwing up his revenge for two people he didn't even know. He is beyond guilt (aside from what he felt about Non) and in the end, he got his revenge, they were collateral and he died 'fairly' in the process.

So, yeah, this show is ABSOLUTELY worth the watch, so long as you like the genre. Props to everyone who put work into this because they did an outstanding thing here and I hope this show gets some more exposure outside of just the BL fandom because it deserves a better and broader audience, people who can really appreciate it. It's a horror/gore/suspense thriller with LGBTQ+ characters if you ask me, and labeling it a BL (as the status of BL currently stands) is not enough.
I would definitely recc this!!

PS: Watch the final ep to the end, post credits, the funny bts they show were somehow just the perfect contrasting cherry on top!

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