The Heart Killers 1×12 Review: Episode 12

While we didn’t get quite the Shakespearean ending I was hoping for (there were a disappointing zero weddings), The Heart Killers still gave a satisfying conclusion for both couples. It also wrapped up something that may have seemed a little too neatly done in last week’s episode.

I’ve gone on the record numerous times about how much I hate time skips. I won’t lie, but there are times when they are used appropriately and done well. But a lot of times, it just seems like an excuse to jump over parts of the narrative that would be too difficult or time-consuming to flesh out. (I complained about this a lot while Merlin was airing. A big traumatic thing would happen in the season finale, and in the season premiere, poof, it’s a year later and we’ve dealt with all those pesky, character-defining emotions.)

However, I am going to give mad props to Jojo Tichakorn and The Heart Killers for handling Bison and Fadel’s time in prison as though they were actually trying to show us what happened. There was no way to cover the entire five years in just one episode. But I appreciate that they tried. Oh, sure, we just dipped in for a bit. And I wish they would have done a little more to show the passage of time. (Is anyone at GMMTV capable of growing stubble?) But this is how you handle a time skip.

You know what I love? I love Kant and Style promising to wait for Bison and Fadel, insisting that they would visit and that they could handle the separation. And then basically immediately after their first visit, both of them almost simultaneously going, “Yeah, this isn’t going to work, guess we need to get arrested.” Things may change, but Style being a crazy son of a gun will never be one of them.

Thankfully, Kant has some brains in his head. Banking on Christ still being a secret romantic, Kant and Style are able to volunteer at the prison so that they can 1) see their boyfriends more often and 2) actually touch them. (Well, more than touch them.) Other BL leads may handle a five-year time skip by just never contacting the person that they love (I’m looking at you, The Trainee), but Kant and Style are built differently.

So the four are able to pass the five years while Bison and Fadel are in prison with very little change to their relationships, other than a minor hiccup between Fadel and Style.

I’ve got to shout out Joong in that scene. His quiet devastation when Style confessed that he was starting to get busy and might not have time to visit as much was heartbreaking. I think it was pretty obvious that he was working up for something big – Style had plans the whole time – but I can understand how it would have looked to Fadel, stuck in prison with no view as to what was going on. The two of them making up was also perfect; they’re so weirdly romantic with each other, even when they’re insulting each other. I love it.

Jojo said before that this is a gay fantasy, and nothing is greater proof of that than the fact that they can pull this off for years with no one suspecting. Thai prisons seem pretty chill. Bison was bothered for a bit, but he beat the crap out of his attackers and that was the end of it. They got to spend apparently a lot of time just hanging out in the kitchen. And no one seemed to think it at all strange that it took the art teacher forever to come back with pencils.

Another thing I loved was seeing how excited they were to see each other when Fadel and Bison were released from prison. Yes, they’ve been seeing each other pretty regularly for the past five years, but now it’s different. Now there are no limitations, no restrictions, no rules. And the way Fadel went right for a kiss? He’s been one of the more restrained of the four when it comes to his emotions and public displays of affection, but he seems to have outgrown that in prison.

The pairs split off. Bison wants to do something and go somewhere, since he hasn’t been able to for years. He and Kant go off on their own and make plans for the future; Bison doesn’t know what he wants to do now that he has his freedom twice over – from prison and from Lilly. He doesn’t even have anywhere to live (even though he should still have his parents’ house?? unsure as to what happened to that). Kant suggests that he move in with him, especially now that Babe has gotten a scholarship to study abroad. (Which means Babe was much younger than I thought he was, if he’s still in university.)

Meanwhile, Style takes Fadel to show off his big surprise. Turns out he’s been working his butt off for the past five years in order to buy back Heart Burger for Fadel. The moment when Style pins the pin back on Fadel felt like the perfect full-circle moment. Their relationship started with Style stealing the pin and making Fadel take it off; then Fadel gave it to Style to keep while he was in prison. Now it’s back with Fadel, as it should be. The two of them walking through the doors of the restaurant together felt like the perfect ending for them.

But it wasn’t the end! Because if you were a little surprised by how quickly and easily Lilly went down after last week’s sting – particularly because we never actually saw her get arrested – then you would not have been shocked to see that she was still around and causing problems. Namely, abducting both Babe and Style’s father.

At a dinner party Hannibal Lecter would have been proud of, Lilly threatens everyone. Everyone tries to reason with her and negotiate for the others. Kant admits to being the mastermind. Fadel offers to help her get back the influence and reputation she lost. Bison tearfully promises to kill for her again. (This may have been the hardest one to witness, because you know how much Bison hated that part of his life and always has.)

Lilly agrees to let Kant and Style live, but only if Bison and Fadel kill Babe and Style’s father. For a moment, it looks like they’re going to do it. But truthfully, the only tension in this scene was wondering how they were going to get out of it. I was half-convinced that Keen was going to show up out of nowhere and save the day, because if Lilly could come back after five years, surely he could, too.

But no, it’s way better and more poetic for Bison and Fadel to act like they’re going to poison Babe and Style’s father only to then throw the drinks in their guards’ faces, beat them up, and steal their weapons. (By the way, I have to ask – when they were going into the room, the guards took their guns. Where did they even get guns? They’ve been in prison for years, and all of their stuff was seized by the police!)

As Bison and Fadel hold Lilly at gunpoint, Kant tries to convince Bison to let her go. After all, they literally just got out of prison. I watched the two of them waver, and I couldn’t help but think that no; getting her arrested didn’t work the first time, there’s no reason why it would work a second time. Then Fadel basically said the same thing I was thinking, and I knew for once I was going to get the vindictive, bloodthirsty ending I was hoping for.

In short, Lilly is forced to drink her own poison, and while that’s not quite the Shakespearean ending I was hoping for, it still felt very apropos and worthy of the bard himself. (Although… I mean… We don’t actually see Lilly die. I’m just saying.)

But that’s still not the end! Now that Lilly is taken care of for good, and apparently no repercussions have come from her death, both couples get to be happy and have futures. And that was honestly the best part of this episode, and maybe the series in general. Bison and Fadel had their lives stolen from them, forced into servitude for a woman who lied to them and had them committing atrocities for her gain. So it was wonderful to get to see them just be normal, having fun with their boyfriends.

It was fake as all get out, but the scene of Bison and Kant in Iceland, finally getting to see the Northern Lights, was so sweet and romantic. I love that they called Fadel and Style to share the experience with them. And then we get to see Fadel and Style being all cute and couple-y together as well, with Fadel talking about proposing soon. It really did feel like the perfect ending.

I do wish the BDSM thing had come back, because in retrospect, having now finished the series, that feels very weird and out of place. I suppose it was meant to show how far Kant was willing to go for the mission, but I still would have liked to have revisited that aspect of their relationship, now that everything is out in the open.

Still, you couldn’t have asked for a better conclusion to this series. I came here for gay assassins and got exactly what I wanted, so you will have virtually no complaints from me. I’m really proud of the cast and the team that put this together, and I love the boundaries they pushed. It gives me hope for future GMMTV series, especially Jojo’s upcoming shows (A Dog and a Plane and That Summer, both of which I am very excited about).

Author: Jamie Sugah

Jamie has a BA in English with a focus in creative writing from The Ohio State University. She self-published her first novel, The Perils of Long Hair on a Windy Day, which is available through Amazon. She is currently an archivist and lives in New York City with her demon ninja vampire cat. She covers television, books, movies, anime, and conventions in the NYC area.

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