GMMTV is really upping the game this year. While they’re still ruling the kingdom of cute and cuddly BL series, they’re becoming major players in the supernatural / thriller genre.
Case in point, Enigma (คน มนตร์ เวท).
Lead by Chanikarn Tangkabodee (Prim) and Metawin Opas-iamkajorn (Win), this series is a wild and well-written ride through a rollercoaster of weird.
Fa (Prim) is a top-student at at a high school completely devoted to what students learn. There are no clubs, or after-school programs and it’s recommended that the students have no outside hobbies beyond studying. While it’s a great way to get top scores, it leaves the students woefully unprepared for the world outside the gates of their high school. Something new biology teacher Ajin Nakharittha (Win makes sure to mention on his first day as the schools new biology teacher. A job he was given because their primary teacher was stabbed in the neck by a student Wan (Sasipa Tinboonchote) whom (everyone thought) was having a mental breakdown.
But the truth is much more sinister.
Soon after Ajin’s arrival the school is rocked when another student, Matt (Manatsanan Wanichsataporn, drowns in the school pool. Again, her bizarre behavior is credited to mental-illness or recreational drugs. But Fa isn’t buying it and she believes somehow, her teacher is a part of it.
On the surface, Ajin is cute but clumsy. He’s always tripping over things, or knocking into people, or forgetting to zip-up his fly. Unthreatening and unassuming, he’s not someone any one would really look twice at or think about as once they were out of sight.
Which is exactly, what he wants. Being invisible allows him to do his real job. Something Fa becomes privy too one night after she breaks into the school to find out the truth. She’s confronted by a security guard who is possessed by a child-like demon who starts to attack her. She only survives because in truth, the clumsy Ajin is a skilled fighter.
Waking up in her dormitory, she’s lead to believe that the guard, Ajin, and the fact that his very defined body is covered in tribal tattoos, was nothing more than a dream brought on by exhaustion and an over-active imagination. She would’ve bought the explanation hook, line, and sinker if it weren’t for the fact that she’d set up cameras all over the school and recorded everything.
Confronting Ajin he has no choice but to tell her the truth. Magic is real and he himself is part of an underground world that only exists in our nightmares. Wan, Matt, and her self have all been the targets of someone at the school who is practicing dark magic. While he was able to save her and reverse the curse, the only way to ensure she remains unharmed is for her to stay with him and help him find out who is the culprit behind the curses.
Quick Take: The first episode is strong. The board is set and the players have begun their journey to the finish line. While I am already certain I know who the practitioner of dark magic is, the episode really held my attention. I have been a fan of Prim’s since The Gifted while I got to know Win through 2gether – and the couple had great chemistry as Kavin and the chipmunk in F4 Thailand: Boys over Flowers.
Written by Jarinee Thanomyat (who also wrote F4) and Director Thachai Komolphet (who directed both The Gifted and F4 ) the series is well-produced and very very interesting. It’s also a lot scarier than I initially thought it would be – which was a great surprise.
10/10 – no notes.
More Enigma soon so…
Stay Tuned!
Enigma can be watched on the official GMMTV YouTube page and in some territories on Amazon Prime.
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