Playboyy (Thai Series)

After all these years, finally there is a series where I eventually gave up. When you have a show of 14 episodes and each episode is over one hour long, you expect something out of it. Although with a name like this, I did keep my expectations minimum and trust me, I really tried to stay on. I understand the need for sex and explicit scenes and I am all up for it, but I thought that from the main story point of view of a missing person; something more substantial will be offered but sadly, this didn't happen. Looking at some of the other reviews, it feels like people have either loved it or hated it. I definitely fall in the latter category.

There is a group of 5 students who are very close to each other. One of them Nant went missing a year ago and despite repeated attempts by police, he couldn't be found. One day his twin brother Nont comes back from US and joins these friends pretending to be Nant and starts living with them. He is seeking answers and makes up a story of his disappearance. As Nont investigates, he discovers Nant was involved with Playboyy, an escorting service. Then we have these other parallel stories these friends. One of them is an art student. He is a virgin but gets seduced by one of the nude models and eventually starts a relationship. Another guy invites a prostitute and they have all kinds of kinky sex all the time while the escort is confused between his work and his love for this guy. All these folks who this group is friends ia having an affair with all used to be escorts at Playboyy. They quit due to the low pay and now work independent gigs instead. Nont suspects these three may be involved in his brother's disappearance. He seduces Prom, the manager of Playboyy, for information. In addition, Nont recovers a video where Nant has violent sex with a masked partner. Nont believes this anonymous man is the potential killer.

I dont even know where to begin writing about the absurdity of the show. Firstly, there are way too many characters. It becomes really difficult to keep a track of who's who especially when every 5 minutes you have a very elongated sex scene. Normally, that would hav been ok but even these scenes become boring after a while since they are totally simulated. You really dont feel the passion between any couple. It feels more like an innocent boy trying to be bad. The show is like a porn parody. This series tries to be a sexy thriller, yet there are illogical plot holes in the mystery of Nant's disappearance. Constant contradictions and ridiculous events break immersion as the investigation unfolds. The show tries to cover a lot of topics like murder mystery, a commentary on the sex industry, commentary on drug and how that can overlap with said sex industry, the reality of being gay in a society where discrimination for being part of a sexual minority is the norm, power dynamics, grooming and sexual abuse, and normalization/acceptance of different types of sex and sexualities. And in the process, the show completely lost me. I mangled to sit through 10 episodes fast forwarding after a while, but even that couldn't save me. I just couldn't bare to sit through another 4 episodes. The acting of everyone seems outright bad. Thankfully, at least a couple of them were hot. The story also has a tendency to cut away right after the pinnacle of non-sexual, emotional confrontations, which comes across as lazy writing. Clearly the marketing of the show was based on sex, sex and more sex. The sheer amount of physical passion on display makes other series look tame while these many couples almost put on like a show for the audience. From skimpy outfits to steamy kisses, the gutsy actors push the boundaries of physical intimacy. From the stupidly absurd plots to the over-the-top eroticism, Playboyy offers absolutely nothing that could hold my attention. I would give it a rating of 1 just because the makers have tried to push boundaries in Thai BL genre(if you an even call this that). How I wish they focussed a little less on that and a lot more on the actual plot. I didn't finish the whole series, but I read the series doesn't end with all lose ends closed, which means a sequel may come up. I am definitely NOT looking forward to that. I just need to remember not waste my time again. (1/10)