#the old gmmtv challenge

[waitmyturtles]

Turtles Catches Up With Old GMMTV: Just a Literal Mash Note To The Greatest Medical Thai BL EVER -- Triage Edition

[What’s going on here? After joining Tumblr and discovering Thai BLs through KinnPorsche in 2022, I began watching GMMTV’s new offerings -- and realized that I had a lot of history to catch up on, to appreciate the more recent works that I was delving into. From tropes to BL frameworks, what we’re watching now hails from somewhere, and I’m learning about Thai BL's history through what I’m calling the Old GMMTV Challenge (OGMMTVC). Starting with recommendations from @absolutebl on their post regarding how GMMTV is correcting for its mistakes with its shows today, I’ve made an expansive list to get me through a condensed history of essential/classic/significant Thai BLs produced by GMMTV and many other BL studios. My watchlist, pasted below, lists what I’ve watched and what’s upcoming, along with the reviews I’ve written so far. Today, I'm here to simply gush squealingly about the incredible Sammon drama, Triage.]

Happy Monday, y'all! I am taking a quick break from my OGMMTVC sub-series, The Lakorn Corner, to pen, in airing chronology, a very loud, very reverent, very gushy homage to

The Best Thai Medical BL EVER (EVER EVER), Triage.

Like, seriously. No hyperbole here! I absolutely loved the first medical drama on the Old GMMTV Challenge list, Manner of Death -- the mystery of MoD was written tightly, it had almost-great acting all around, and its pace was great. The best thing about Manner of Death, at the time of its airing in 2020? It very much pushed the boundaries of previous Thai BLs, which were set mostly in high school or college environments, to welcome a central story about adults attempting to solve a murder, while making space for a queer romance to bloom in the specter of a haunting mystery.

And, like Triage, Manner of Death was adapted from a novel by the well-known Thai Y novel writer, Sammon, who is a medical doctor herself. Triage is the second in a trilogy of hospital-based BLs that were adapted from her novels, the first being Manner of Death, and the last being 2024's Spare Me Your Mercy.

My good and amazing friend @lurkingshan has actually done a lot of heavy lifting in breaking down why Triage is AMAZING. I want to add on to this gush sesh, especially within the context of the OGMMTVC, to talk a little about what we had seen on these Thai BL streets prior to Triage's airing.

I haven't talked yet in my OGMMTVC pieces, collectively as a whole, about shows that aired in 2022 (like Bad Buddy, Secret Crush on You, KinnPorsche, The Eclipse, GAP, and more).

2022 was seriously AN INSANE YEAR for Thai BLs/Series Y shows. Like, INSANE.

2023 was also a mostly great year -- Moonlight Chicken, La Pluie, My School President, and I Feel You Linger in the Air all aired. But the narrative collapse of GMMTV's Only Friends in 2023 seemed to serve as a warning alarm for at least most of GMMTV's shows giving up on consistently striving for excellent scriptwriting since then, for the sake of its current decision to prioritize branded paired actors.

2022, however -- not just with "traditional" genre Thai BLs like the ones I listed above, but also with the entrée of queer storylines in mainstream lakorns like The Miracle of Teddy Bear and Khun Chai (To Sir, With Love) -- captured a moment of really broad, experimental, and successful screenwriting across many shows. Y'all know what I think about how remarkable Bad Buddy was. KinnPorsche was referential, risk-taking, hot, and just FUN, without the show asking its audience to dumb themselves down for the sake of the story. Secret Crush On You asked its audience to question its assumptions about rich and popular people, for the sake of exploring a story about finding happiness and mutual love as opposites attract. Khun Chai, which I'm watching now (I LOVE IT I LOVE IT I LOVE IT), takes the traditional, soapy, usually-very-heteronormative lakorn format, and uses every one of its improbably wild genre tropes to lift and support a storyline of a closeted young man finding love in a homophobic environment. And, GAP, the first genre-abiding QL starring two women, airs during this year as well.

So, Triage comes into 2022's pack with a wonderful association with the genre- and groundbreaking Manner of Death, and starts off with a wild premise: this guy, Dr. Tin, is living in his own Groundhog Day. We're not in college -- we're in a hospital, and Tin keeps repeating an evening of work where a specific young man keeps dying on Tin's looping shift.

When Triage kicked off its premise in the first episode and got me immediately hooked, I was reminded of '80s movies like Groundhog Day or Back To The Future -- movies that started immediately with absurd premises, but with no apologies to their audiences for their absurdity, because their actual central stories were so tight (and the comedy was so good). I'd posit, very generally, that global art nowadays doesn't take as many of these absurdist premise risks, and/or if pieces do so, there are either a lot of explanations of the absurdity that takes away the fun and comedy of the art; or the risks are presented in such a high-art way so as to feel somewhat disconnected to an audience that might want a more direct and less-explained experience.

Triage kicks off the way the Philadelphia Eagles handed the Kansas City Chiefs their asses in the last Super Bowl -- it gets right into the story, with Tin living out the same night, over and over again. The explanations that occur happen firmly in the context of the story, without delaying the action. Tin increasingly seethes in disbelief that he'll have to save the life of this young man, who repeatedly comes into his emergency room smelling of alcohol, which reminds Tin of his deceased sister, who was killed by a drunk driver.

[By the way, two big SHOUT-OUTS are in order to @gabrielokun and @dragonsareawesome123, whose gifs are peppering this post. Dragons has put together a graphic of all the television tropes that Triage used to fantastic effect, which, when combined, contributed to this classically excellent medical mystery/romance. Thank you, Dragons and Gabriel, for your fandom and all your gifs!]

@lurkingshan, in her Triage tribute post, celebrates the angel Jinta, who hips Tin into his destiny that the only way he'll get out of his Groundhog Day loop is to save the life of the young man, a college student named Tol. Tin figures out over the course of the series the ways in which he'll have to save Tol -- which will eventually include Tin's quest to get Tol to fall in love with him. In the process, Tin must also, indirectly, save the lives of two other people. And to rush to the end of the series -- Tol is then thrown into time loops after he loses Tin, and Tin and Tol must meet together, in one final loop, to remember each other, and to remind each other that they need to survive for each other, in order to move forward in their lives.

There's a ton of themes in the framework I outline above that need to be celebrated. Like Manner of Death, Triage breaks Thai BL boundaries by centering a character that's not in school, while also pairing him with a partner that is in college, a confluence that I just love. Shan notes in her post that Tol is not necessarily the most honorable character; he's a sharp, snobby student, starting off the series wary of getting to know Tin. It's only through the subsequent loops of time in which he spends with Tin that he begins to have an effervescent sense of attraction to Tin.

And Tin doesn't start off perfect, either. He's scolded by his superior for potentially not taking the initial death of Tol seriously, as Tol was assumed to have been a drunk driver, which Tin is biased against. But Tin quickly learns that in his first loops with Tol -- Tin would not have been able to save Tol anyway, as Tol had an underlying health condition that Tin needs to solve for.

I love that this show centers two very imperfect characters at the start, calls them out immediately on their imperfections, and structures the show completely around how they need to change themselves to save each other's life.

As well, this show shows that Tin needs healing, even saving -- but the show makes Tin WORK for that healing and saving, as it needs to come from within him, making changes to himself to become more giving and empathic to the people around him. The brilliant episode six of this series encapsulates this, as Tin meditates on his time-traveling journeys while contemplating Tol's death one countless time more; and the equally brilliant episode 11, when Tol begins his own time travels to save Tin's life, also emphasizes this, as Tol addresses, through his love for Tin, how Tin needs a little help to find happiness as much as Tol does.

While my writing of this plot may sound a touch confusing, please rest assured: the show does NOT leave you confused about where the time travels are taking the characters.

This is not the case in a future Sammon-affiliated show, 2024's 4 Minutes, for which Sammon was a screenwriter. 4 Minutes also told a story about multiple existences and timelines between its main characters. But the timelines within 4 Minutes were murky, unclear, and undefined, and at the end of the series, it seemed like those perspectives weren't really supposed to be taken seriously or followed anyway -- which is kind of frustrating for an audience that might have been tracking character perspectives from the start of the show.

Triage is the total opposite of this. Before Tin takes his final journey back in time, he literally looks at a calendar and decides to give himself a week to change his and Tol's life. And the show helps the audience keep track of how time passes in order for Tin and Tol to get out of their respective loops. And in the process, we see love grow between Tin and Tol, as they vaguely remember each other each time that time jumps. It all comes together to create this lovely and INNOVATIVE sense of growth between these two characters that becomes just ADDICTIVE storytelling.

(And I haven't even fucking celebrated SingGap yet! SINGGAP! The way these two guys are at each other's throats, and then.... tee-hee, flirting and in bed together by the end of the series, and also needing to save their own lives. So well done!)

There's so much more to say about the STORY of this show -- it is so intricate and layered. (Shout-out to any of my homies who came into my Triage comments demanding the airing of Sammon's Transplant as the original expected ending of this trilogy of Sammon's medical BLs. WE NEED MAXTUL AND TAETEE BACK IN TRANSPLANT!!!!) But this mash note has gotten long, and I need to wrap this up on a few shout-outs.

Triage is stacked with BL stars. Besides being adapted from Sammon's original story, Triage was screenwritten and directed by Ma-Deaw Chookiat, a total Series Y legend, the original director and writer of the seminal movies The Love of Siam and Dew, director for Manner of Death and Dead Friend Forever, and much, much more. If a producer has ground to break in Thai BL territory, that producer would do VERY WELL by having Ma-Deaw Chookiat at the project's helm. Triage also shares a few actors from the incredible The Miracle of Teddy Bear, including the WONDERFUL Tee Thanapon as Tol. And Triage's lead actor, Tae Darvid, plays a deeply complicated grown-up, going through so much, from a queer revelation to an internal grappling with grief, that he just acted beautifully.

I have a shortlist of BLs from my OGMMTVC project that I consider automatic rewatches, shows I can have on in the background while I'm folding laundry, because I can check into an episode and know not only what's happening, but how I should feel about that moment when I glance up. This list includes Bad Buddy, Until We Meet Again, and now Triage. I may have watched it twice, HUNGRILY, before writing this piece. And I HIGHLY recommend that you do so as well. This show flows from its first minute, and you'll have consumed it before you know what hit you. It's simply the best Sammon show, and the best medical BL drama, on the OGMMTVC list by a mile, and it's a must-watch if you consider yourself an expert in this genre.

(@benkaben, this one’s for you!)

[Alright, next up! I'm SCREAMING ABOUT KHUN CHAI RIGHT NOW. Feels soooo good to be watching a top-notch drama again, even though Khun Chai is. INSANE. But I'm having a great time with it, and the Khun Chai community is screaming with me in my liveblogs -- so much fun!

So because I have gotten TOOOOTALLY obsessed with JamFilm and Khun Chai, I'll be watching Laws of Attraction after that, and will be filing part three of the Lakorn Corner sub-series in considering that Khun Chai is probably the most popular queer drama to have ever aired in Thailand -- for very good reason, as I'll talk about in my upcoming post.

After that, as previously promised, I'll do a quick overview of the history of Thai GLs, with thoughts on Love Songs Love Stories: Pai Jai, the movie Yes or No, and the premiere of the first genre-abiding GL in GAP the Series.

And then. Finally. My School President. And I'll fuck it up immediately with a fast-watch of My Love Mix-Up Thailand. Third-generation BL idols, let's boogie!

Here's the status of the OGMMTVC list for yer pleasure!

1) The Love of Siam (2007) (movie) (review here) 2) Yes or No (2010) (movie) (to be reviewed with GAP the Series) 3) My Bromance (2014) (movie) (review here) 4) Love Sick and Love Sick 2 (2014 and 2015) (review here) 5) Love Songs Love Stories: Pae Jai (2015) (Thailand’s first serialized GL) (to be reviewed with GAP the Series) 6) Gay OK Bangkok Season 1 (2016) (a non-BL queer series directed by Jojo Tichakorn and written by Aof Noppharnach) (review here) 7) Make It Right (2016) (review here) 8) SOTUS (2016-2017) (review here) 9) Gay OK Bangkok Season 2 (2017) (a non-BL queer series directed by Jojo Tichakorn and written by Aof Noppharnach) (review here) 10) Make It Right 2 (2017) (review here) 11) Together With Me (2017) (review here)

12) SOTUS S/Our Skyy x SOTUS (2017-2018) (review here) 13) Love By Chance (2018) (review here) 14) Kiss Me Again: PeteKao cuts (2018) (no review) 15) He’s Coming To Me (2019) (review here) 16) The Fallen Leaf (2019) (not a BL; adjacent to the project as Thailand’s first lakorn featuring a queer/transgender main character) (review here) 17) Dark Blue Kiss (2019) and Our Skyy x Kiss Me Again (2018) (review here) 18) TharnType (2019-2020) (review here) 19) Senior Secret Love: Puppy Honey (OffGun BL cuts) (2016 and 2017) (no review) 20) Theory of Love (2019) (review here) 21) 3 Will Be Free (2019) (a non-BL and an important harbinger of things to come in 2019 and beyond re: Jojo Tichakorn pushing queer content at GMMTV) (review here)

22) Dew the Movie (2019) (review here) 23) Until We Meet Again (2019-2020) (review here) (and notes on my UWMA rewatch here) 24) 2gether (2020) and Still 2gether (2020) (review here) 25) I Told Sunset About You (2020) (review here) 26) YYY (2020, out of chronological order) (review here) 27) Manner of Death (2020-2021) (review here) 28) A Tale of Thousand Stars (2021) (review here) 29) A Tale of Thousand Stars (2021) OGMMTVC Fastest Rewatch Known To Humankind For The Sake Of Rewatching Our Skyy 2 x BBS x ATOTS (re-review here) 30) Lovely Writer (2021) (review here) 31) Last Twilight in Phuket (2021) (the mini-special before IPYTM) (review here)

32) I Promised You the Moon (2021) (review here) 33) Not Me (2021-2022) (review here) 34) Bad Buddy (2021-2022) (thesis here) 35) 55:15 Never Too Late (2021-2022) (not a BL, but a GMMTV drama that features a macro BL storyline about shipper culture and the BL industry) (review here) 36) Bad Buddy (2021-2022) and Our Skyy 2 x BBS x ATOTS (2023) OGMMTVC Rewatch (Links to the BBS OGMMTVC Meta Series are here: preamble here, part 1, part 2, part 3a, part 3b, and part 4) 37) Secret Crush On You (2022) (review here) 38) The Miracle of Teddy Bear (2022) (review here) 39) KinnPorsche (2022) (tag here)  40) KinnPorsche (2022) OGMMTVC Fastest Rewatch Known To Humankind For the Sake of Re-Analyzing the KP Cultural Zeitgeist (part 1 and part 2) 41) Triage (2022)

42) Honorable Mention: War of Y (2022) (for the sake of an attempt to provide meta BL commentary within a BL in the modern BL era), with a complementary watch of Aam Anusorn’s documentary, BL: Broken Fantasy (2020) (thoughts here) 43) The Eclipse (2022) (tag here) 44) The Eclipse OGMMTVC Rewatch to Reexamine "Genre BLs," Along With a Critical Take on Branded Ships (review here) 45) Khun Chai/To Sir, With Love (2022) (watching) 46) Love of Secret (2022) (a GL that preceded GAP) (I will not be watching this, but it's on the list to precede GAP) 47) GAP (2022-2023) (Thailand’s first GL with a branded pair and ship) (review coming) 48) My School President (2022-2023) and Our Skyy 2 x My School President (2023), Coupled with a Speed-Watch of My Love Mix-Up Thailand (2024) to Comment on GMMTV Trying to Make Magic Happen Twice  49) Moonlight Chicken (2023) (tag here) 50) Bed Friend (2023) (tag here) 51) La Pluie (2023) (review coming)

52) Be My Favorite (2023) (tag here) (I’m including this for BMF’s sophisticated commentary on Krist’s career past as a BL icon) 53) Wedding Plan (2023) (Recommended as an important trajectory in the course of MAME’s work and influence from TharnType) 54) Only Friends (2023) (tag here) (not technically a BL, but it certainly became one in the end) 55) Last Twilight (2023-24) (tag here) (on the list as Thailand’s first major BL to center disability, successfully or otherwise) 56) Cherry Magic Thailand (2023-24) (tag here) (on the list as the first major Japanese-to-Thai drama adaptation, featuring the comeback of TayNew) 57) Ossan’s Love Returns (Japan, 2024) (adding for the EarthMix cameo and the eventual Thai remake) 58) 23.5 (2024) (GMMTV’s first GL) (thoughts here) (I am not finished with this show; I will finish it when I get to it on this list) 59) Spare Me Your Mercy (2024) (thoughts here) (added as the finale of Sammon's medical trilogy in Manner of Death and Triage, and as a major lakorn starring two of Thailand's biggest actors in Tor Thanapob and Jaylerr)]

[thebroccolination]

THE DIRECTORS OF “THAMEPO” AND “BE MY FAVORITE”

After “ThamePo” ended, I was perusing the Instagram stories of the cast, and I decided to check out the director’s page too since “ThamePo” was her baby that she apparently held onto for five years (!) until she had the right cast to do it justice, and I have an enormous amount of respect for her.

And look who she posted about:

Waa, the other director I have an immense amount of respect for! And I immediately thought, “Ohhhh, these two having mutual respect for each other makes sense.”

I don’t want to trust auto-translate but I think the gist of her caption is that she always knew he’d do great things, and she’s proud of the work he did on a certain movie called “Love You to Debt.”

Which is the movie that Thame and Po can’t get around to finishing because they have to make out instead.

But y’know what she also included in “ThamePo” that’s directed by Waa?

“Good Old Days”! The series Thame and Po watch that first time they spend all night talking on the phone.

It’s fairly common for GMMTV series to sneak snippets of other series into the narrative, but I love that Mui chose two of Waa’s to feature.

It gave me a little spark of joy to see this overlap of directors, because of all the Thai series I’ve seen, I think “ThamePo” and “Be My Favorite” are the all-rounder best in overall quality thanks in large part to the dedication of their directors who also worked on the scripts. And in both instances, they truly brought the best out of their actors.

Mui knew Est was the lead she was waiting for, and Waa wanted to work with Krist again after working with him on “Good Old Days.” As protagonists, Est and Krist brought a lot of pathos to Po and Kawi, and both roles asked a lot of them in different ways. Po’s character grows in such a quiet way that Est didn’t have a ton of emotional range to work with, so he really had to knuckle down and find small ways to show it. Meanwhile Kawi runs the gamut of extremes and it took an enormous amount of physical energy from Krist to convey it all. Mui had to make sure Po was still visually interesting, and Waa had to keep all of Kawi’s extremes balanced so he still came across as realistic.

But Waa and Mui also knew how to get the best performance from their less experienced actors, too.

“Be My Favorite” was Gawin’s first lead performance after a slew of side characters and cameos. He was cast as Pisaeng after 1) Singto turned down the role to go freelance and 2) Mike left the production, but Gawin really made that role his. In behind the scenes interviews, Gawin said that Waa both expected and asked a lot from him, and his acting saw sharp improvement as a result. Gawin was always good at playing outwardly sassy characters, but Waa helped him prioritize portraying Pisaeng’s interiority. Pisaeng has that same sass Gawin is known for portraying, but there’s also got a lot going on that Pisaeng can’t and won’t express in words or actions, and that was a real challenge Gawin pulled off beautifully under Waa’s meticulous direction.

Meanwhile, “ThamePo” is William’s first series ever and bro, what a powerhouse this kid is already. But a lot of what makes his performance really shine are the guidance given and choices made by Mui. His unbroken soft-spoken delivery as Thame, the long holds on his face to give him space to emote, etc. I think it was a genius decision to have Thame never raise his voice in anger or fear or anything, not even once, and that definitely came from the director. Having Thame express his strongest emotions quietly made a profound impact and gave real nuance to his character.

When I heard that Mui had been holding onto this script for years because she hadn’t found the right fit yet, it immediately made me think of “Be My Favorite.” In a podcast interview in 2023, Waa said he told GMMTV at some point early on that he needed more time to work on the script for “Be My Favorite,” that he wanted all the major characters to have their own separate arcs, and that he didn’t care how much the fans complained about the wait, because he wasn’t doing it for them. “Be My Favorite” became his favorite child of all his productions even though he knew before it aired that it wasn’t going to be a massive hit for him in large part because of ~fandom politics~ (the atypical casting meant both sets of fandoms loudly planned to boycott it—and did). His only concern was making a series he was proud of, and in the long run, the pettiness of the fandoms won’t be remembered, but the quality of the series will.

Directors like Mui and Waa are the kinds of champions I always hope for with queer series. Because of course they want people to watch their work, but they’re creators before they’re anything else, and you can see their passion and devotion to craft in every frame of their work.

Sometimes a series is just a vessel to launch an actor to popularity so they can sell things and make money for the company who signed them.

Sometimes—if you have the right people—it’s art.

[burnoutsyndrometheseries]

off's BD gathering 2025

hi hi! so I thought I'd gather my personal thoughts as well as the important talking points off talked about during the gathering!

first of all, I was super surprised to be able to get a seat to the gathering this year. last year I didn't get a seat at all & I was super sad so this year felt unreal, hence why I didn't talk about it online until it happened by fear of jinxing it (I tend to have random bad luck sometimes so now I keept cards close to my chest lol).

I didn't know at all how the gathering would go since it was my first one, but it was pretty casual & quite short which was good bc I was there on 4 hours of sleep due to the excitement for this event (I can never sleep before any off/offgun event I go to lol)

I ended up sat next to a quite famous twitter account & she was super nice, she first talked to me in english but by the end she saw that I was laughing at the jokes, etc. and asked me if I spoke thai so I said yes and it led to a funny moment lol. her & the woman on my left both complimented my thai so that's always pleasant 🥹

now the man of the hour, p'off! I loved his denim look today with the eyes all over his shirt, and obviously I won't bore you by repeating how amazing he is & how much I love him. he offered every fan a red enveloppe after the gathering which was so fucking sweet, imagine doing that for the 700 people who came!

his mom, sibling & niece and nephew niring & akin came to support him and it was super sweet! of course his ride or dies, gun, tay, new and arm came to celebrate his birthday as well! now onto the contents of the gathering:

burnout syndrome:

p'off revealed that burnout syndrome has started its workshops already!!! that's so exciting!!! I really didn't have hope to get this show in 2025 but maybe there's hope this time around!!!

he talked about dewgun's chemistry and when asked about offdew, he seemed to not want to push it further. I didn'tg understand 100% of what he said so let's wait for other translations but he DID mention the idea of a offgundew three-way ship!!! soooooo... let's see 👀

off talked in length about him getting fit, and mentionned again that p'nuchie kinda bullies him ngl 😭 like she legit called him and said "if you don't get a six pack for this project, you better quit. you're old, people are gonna get bored if you don't change" which... idk how to feel about ngl hahaha

not really burnout syndrome related but off talked briefly about not me & how challenging the workshops for it were, mentioning the workshops for burnout that are apparently also difficult. he says he will bring something new & better to his acting for this role.

break up service:

sadly off said that he has no idea when the show will air but it should be soonish? I feel like the show is gonna get pushed by gmmtv giving priorities to other shows first :((((( me who was thinking we'd get the show in 2 to 3 weeks lol... I need off on my screen asap!

fans:

speaking of break up service & his ship with jorin, off said he is very glad that babiis never harass or treat his female co-stars badly. he mentioned mild, pat and jorin, and how all three were glad to not be bullied by the fandom lol... thank goodness babiis are healthy & supportive for the most part 💚

before that, out of nowhere, off went on a tangent talking about certain toxic fans and how much he doesn't like them and is glad babiis are kind & supportive. he said he used to be more aggressive with fans in the past if they crossed a line, but babiis have behaved better since then so he's appreciative for his healthy fandom. (this was really out of nowhere & I LOVED off mentioning that. I love how straight forward & how unwilling to walk on eggshells he is. a KING.)

offtay:

before tay even showed up, off mentioned tay at least 4 times in random convos lol. you can tell he LOVES and is obsessed with his bestie, it's so cute!

tay hugged off after saying he loves him, something that they both recognized they never say bc while they know they love each other, off gets shy & doesn't like to say it out loud lol

oh also tay started his birthday wish to off by calling him "nong off" and ngl... that did something to me 🥵

offgun:

gun was, as always, very quiet & shy lol. off did say that he loved him while confessing his love to every friend present there, and... it was giving awkward idiots in a romcom lol (basically off was explaining how he doesn't say I love you to his friends and pointed to each of them while saying "I love you" but stumbled on his words when he got to gun diosuhgzqsijdiezo)

tay called gun off's "thirak" (darling) and tried to get gun to confess his love for off but gun had the definition of a gay panic and kept flailing his hands to refuse the mic, I was dead lmaoooooo

offnew:

offnew's chaotic energy is really slowly becoming my all time fave lmao, new called off old & they kept whispering to each other while tay did his speech, it was so funny!

offarm:

arm literally called off his brother and his family, sooooo... yeah. that's all. I adore them. besties for life ;_;

personal life:

off apologized a lot about not uploading a lot on social media these days. he said he is addicted to staying home and watching cartoons (anime), specifically attack on titans lol. he says he's gonna get back to posting more very soon.

off said his biggest dream as a kid was to have a house with a pool. now that he's building his house, he feels like his dream is coming to life 💚

he said he's not someone who loses sleep over things. he knows that he'll be better to solve a stressful problem the next day after getting some sleep rather than not sleeping & being too tired to solve the problem bc of it (I'm very jealous of him I could NEVER. once again I slept 4 hours bc I was so excited to see him lol.)

he also said his goal for 2025 is to travel to the US, either for a trip or for work. he talked specifically about new york & miami (I was cringing internally bc I'd rather not he goes to the US rn lol, but NYC do be that bitch imo)

alice said off is trying to get better at english for his interfans but he refused to speak on stage bc he was too shy hahaha (but he spoke english to me tho 🥹)

off also said he almost never smiles with teeth (except when a client requests it) bc he thinks he looks weird & is insecure about his smile ;_; (first time I heard this omg I felt so bad his smile with teeth is literally my fave!!!)

off also talked about how straightforward he is, and how that used to cause him problems in the past and how gmmtv crew asked him to tone it down lol. but alice rightfully said that that's what we love about him, he doesn't have a filter & that's why we stan! it's so rare to get an honest celebrity these days lol

events:

off talked about the babii 24/7 concert, and especially the part when he cried. he said it was mostly due to tiredness, bc he was doing so much at the time (and yes at the time of the concert he'd been working & traveling non-stop for over 2 months while grieving his dad's super recent passing...)

he also talked about going to paris for the fashion week, and how big of an achievement it was. he said it was crazy to meet pharrell williams, his idol since he was young, and he was happy to hang out with baifern even if it was short. he also said he was so shocked that the crowd in front of the venue was waiting for him and calling his name 🥹 he said he stayed under the rain to sign the autographs and was soaked, but it was an amazing experience. he also said he wishes tay had been with him so they could explore the city together ;_; (as previously said he mentionned tay a LOT)

he talked about the recent fanmeet in rome, and how certain fans flew from all over the world to meet him there. he compared rome to ayutthaya due to their ancient monuments (which made me chuckle but actually the comparison is not that far off I guess HAHAHA)

he talked about the pebaca concert and said we should all dress up to come to the concert (not sure what that fully entails lol). he also said he can't say too much but there will be some special thing there (which he said is best bc he said he can't carry a show with his poor singing and dancing, and... sir we disagree. at least about the singing lol.)

anyways that's it! it was an amazing experience & I always feel so grateful to be able to partake in fandom experiences here in bkk 🥹 this is the kind of shit I always dreamed about when living in paris & I legit never thought it'd be possible to be this close to my favorite guy ;_; happy birthday to him again & I can't wait for this upcoming year of loving him more & more 💚

[qland]

15 Day BL Challenge (The Quadriquel) - Day 48

If you could switch a BL actor pairing to a different production company, who would you move and to which production company?

EarthMix to TADA Ent. (Nadao Bangkok)

While I’m obviously a fan of EarthMix as a paring the way they are, can you imagine the power they would hold in a series with the production value of say an I Told Sunset About You.

Imagine a version of Moonlight Chicken that didn’t need to fulfill all of the requirements of being another GMMTV project.

Just imagine it.

Everyday I mourn the version of Tada that once existed, but I’m still routinely impressed with the high quality and projects they’ve been putting out. I just wish that they were series again.

Maybe what I’m really saying is that I want EarthMix to work with Boss Kuno. Honestly that’s probably it; why I think they’d work so well with old Nadao.

[boozles]

forcebook challenge

so, apparently melody of secrets starts filming in july?! i cannot wait for this series, seriously.

so! the wonderful @forcebookish has created a wee challenge for the forcebook fans! the original post is here for anyone else who wants to take part! just remember to you the tags #melodyofwaiting & #forcebookedit.

[1] favorite series

i will always have a severe softspot for a boss and a babe because it was the series that more or less brought me to forcebook. i knew of them before, but this was the first show of their's i'd seen and i just fell in love with them. whilst it was airing i also binged enchante, and i fell in love with that series, too.

something that i will never understand is the hate these lads get from 'fans'. i've seen claims from people that they always play they same characters and i just...what? have you ever actually watched their shows? because that could not be further than the truth. i found it absolutely delightful to watch book play outgoing sunshine cher, gentle theo, underdog-you-underestimated mew and confused, silly little arm. each of those characters had so many differences and nuances, and to me there was nothing similar other than the fact it's the same actor. force always kills me with his acting, and it bothers me when people say he's just stony-faced because i just do not get that. he has some of the best facial reactions in the industry, and he always makes me feel what his characters are feeling. top, gun, akk, and arc are nothing alike other than it being force's face.

(it's funny, i always say that taynew and firstkhaotung are my top level number ones when it comes to my favourites, but i spend more time getting defensive over forcebook hate. they're just special to me? like, of course they're in my top five favourites, but there's just always going to be something that makes me want to kill hit people for them)

okay, i was supposed to be talking about my favourite series of fb and got a little sidetracked.

i love a boss and a babe. i think it was pretty well written and the characters all had very relatable qualities in their own ways. i don't know if it's the fact i'm a gamer that i felt so connected to this show, but i just do. no, it's not a very accurate portrayal of the video game industry, but i still felt like you could feel the love the characters had for games. then just the actual characterisations where just. perfect. gun was so guarded and viewed as moody and stern because of his looks, when really he's such a big softy who just needed someone to break down his walls and show him that people want him around. he didn't care about his wealth or what anyone would think when he went out of his way to make sure a rapist got punished. cher was a silly little sweetheart who literally let his whole hometown hate him and blame him for his childhood sweetheart's death to take the heat away from the nasty rumours about her. he literally was supporting his old bestie's little brother financially and emotionally. he was a loyal and loving friend, and always just wanted to make everyone smile, even if he felt like he was dying inside.

i think the fact that this was mike's last series with gmmtv (and fluke's?) also makes this show a little more important to me.

[lurkingshan]

Shan! One of the things that I’ve loved learning during my Old GMMTV Challenge project is discovering filmmakers and watching through their project lists. Do you follow specific directors or screenwriters for Asian dramas? If so, who are they, and why? And which dramas of their do you recommend?

A fun one, and an area where I know we actually differ in our approach. In short, my answer to your first question is yes, but also no. :)

By which I mean, I generally do pay attention to who creates the shows I watch, because when I am impressed or infuriated by a drama I like to know who is behind it so I can look into their other work, either to pursue or avoid it. Sometimes I have to go looking for that information, but there are some creators who have such an obvious style that it sets them apart and makes it near impossible to miss the connections between their shows (Kim Eun Sook in kdrama, Aof Noppharnach and Jojo Tichakorn in tbl, Hwang Da Seul in kbl, Lin Pei Yu in twbl, etc). With those I might start something unknowingly and then be like wait a minute is this X’s work? I do maintain awareness and keep creators’ other works in mind when I watch something new because it's fun to look for themes across a body of work, and frankly, to know where the pitfalls are likely to come in.

That said, I do not feel any need to be a completist about any one auteur's resume, I don’t intentionally sit down to watch a creator's work in an organized way, and I actually prefer not to know that much about their personal lives, because I like to focus on the fictional stories without too much real world gunk getting in the way and clouding my reads. I am a "let the art speak for itself" girlie; I'm less interested in authorial intent than in allowing stories breathing room to be interpreted by the audience. I do believe in the Death of the Author school of thought and I don't think it's great when creators try to do too much to control how their work is perceived. One of my current beefs with the Only Friends watch experience is that there is so much real world gunk (branded pairs, shipping and actor stanning, creators posting on social media with context that is not included in the actual canon) getting in the way and messing with interpretations of the show.

Once you get into a fandom at all you will inevitably be exposed to a ton of this kind of thing whether you like it or not. And it comes up a lot in bl because so many shows are adapted from pre-existing source material and rely on known actor pairs, which inevitably affects discourse because people come to these shows with a lot of baggage even before they begin. But I am always interested in story first. I dove into I Feel You Linger in the Air and Absolute Zero with zero hesitation because timey wimey soulmate shit is my jam, not because these shows were made by Tee Bundit and New Siwaj (in fact that would be more of a deterrent than anything if I let it dictate my viewing choices).

So while I am interested in the undercurrent of melancholy across Aof's works, and Jojo's devotion to messy ensemble pieces where everyone is a little bit of an asshole, and Kim Eun Sook's uncanny ability to tap into the zeitgeist and create banger after banger across a range of genres, I don't need to know too much about why their areas of focus are important to them or how it relates to their personal experiences. I prefer not to use fiction as a means to psychoanalyze the real people who create it; instead I just try to engage with and appreciate their art as art and afford them respect as creative geniuses without making assumptions about how each work is meant to reflect their real experiences. Understanding some basic demographics about creators (as in, do they have the appropriate lived experiences to be telling the stories they choose) is about as far as my curiosity goes.

Question 1 TL;DR: I do like to pay attention to who creates the shows I watch so that I can follow the themes in their work, but I am not interested in following the creators themselves closely.

Question 2: who are the creators I recommend following? I have mentioned a lot of them above, and my overall recommendation is that if you are invested in a show, you should look to see who writes and directs it, not just who stars in it. Actors are of course important but usually it's the creative team behind them that really makes or breaks a drama, because they are the ones ultimately in control of the story. Having that grounding can be really helpful for setting expectations and in interpreting and processing what you watch, and also just for helping you find more of the kind of thing you will probably like. I’m extremely glad, for instance, that I watched Gay OK Bangkok before Only Friends, because it gave me a framework for understanding the themes they were likely to dig into. I also just finished watching Rainless Love in a Godless Land, which I was interested in due in large part to it sharing the same screenwriter as my all time favorite Taiwanese drama, Someday or One Day, and being able to pull out the similar themes and ideas across the two projects made it all the more interesting for me.

[hughungrybear]

Me while watching Last Twilight Ep. 4

At this point, I might as well accept that P'Aof will be making me cry every episode. I guess, that's his new modus operandi 😅

1. Sidenote: I only noticed that the disclaimer part starts out blurry, then eventually becomes clearer at the end. It's a cool (but totally unnecessary) detail.

2. Sorry, as an avid black coffee drinker, that's a lot of coffee. The fvck. I also didn't see Mhok add any sugar in it 😂 Also, Day's way of asking if Mhok is single is just 🤭🤭🤭☺️ It seems, all of Mhok's tenderness are directed towards you, Day.

3. Oh? Mhok is introducing Day to his family's most valuable possession - his dear sister's car. That's the closest Day can get to "meet my family" tradition in a lot of Asian cultures.

4. Ngl, I laughed out loud when the DJ just started to (unknowingly and mercilessly) trigger Mhok's barely hidden feelings towards Day. How apt. 😂 Also, how many times will GMMTV murder their artists' voice just to make them sound like horrible singers in a series? 😅😅😅

5. At least, Porjai knows that her fiancé is a cheating piece of sh*t. Also, Mhok introducing Day to every important person in his life is just 🤭🤭🤭

6. Porjai did say "No return". I kennat 😂😂😂😂 <Aaaagh, Gee is finally heeeere!!!!>

7. Ah, fvck. I knew it. I'm crying again. 😭😭😭 I just feel sad for Day and all that he has lost when he became blind. But then, Gee, spoiled it all by playing wingwoman for Mhok lol 😂

8. This is what I'm talking about - since nobody knows about Day's condition, it will be difficult for him to show his face in public. Why didn't the family just tell everybody? Or at least Day's friends and teammates? 😭

9. That's a roundabout way to hold hands 🫢🫢🫢😳 Also, the fvck, not only is this Keng a cheater, but also a mooch? Why am I not surprised? Mhok, hit him harder!!! 🤬 <after 5 seconds> Oh, my gods. Porjai is pregnant??? By that bastard??? Mhok, go back and murder that fvcking assh*le.

10. I don't know why, but it looks like Day doesn't want his old partner, August, to know about his condition yet. The way his face looked relieved when Gee said the names of those who attended their coach's farewell party says a lot. 🤔

11. The way that Mhok knows where to exactly find Day 😅😅😅 Also, Day shouldn't have challenged Mhok like that. Now, it is solidly established that Mhok is indeed "hot" while singing Day's song. I kennat 😂😂😂

12. Gee just doing a wingwoman's work. Again, I kennat 😂😂😂

13. Day getting properly curious of Mhok's face after that waist holding photo op? 😲 and the way he smiled when he confirmed what everyone was telling him. Also, even when blurry, Mhok's face is just <chef's kiss>.

Yes, Porjai, be very suspicious of perfume-wearing Mhok 😂😂 But also, ugh. I guess it is only a matter of time before they introduce us to August. I wonder what kind of chaos he will bring to Mhok and Day's relationship?

[gennianydots]

Genni Screeches about GMMTV Part 2

Here’s my take away from yesterday’s hullabaloo. I reserve the right to change my mind if cast changes or shows are cancelled or inconvenient to watch.

Hell Yes! I will be watching:

Us (give me lesbians or give me death☠️)

ReVamp (YES YES HELL YES (I miss BounPrem!) GIVE ME THE GAY VAMPIRES NOW!���🏼🏳️‍🌈)

The Heart Killers (It’s the mafia, high heat, shakespearian-esque be-gay-do-crimes series FirstKhao has been begging for, I am all in for JoongDunk in roles that challenge them as well and I love that Joong and Khao will be brothers in this)

Sweet Tooth, Good Dentist (MARKOHM?! IN THIS ECONOMY? GIVE IT TO ME!! These are both TERRIFIC actors who deserve main roles 🙏🏼 amen amen)

Heart That Skips A Beat (watching with Abby @abstractelysium! An Idol BL?! New couple? Looks cute!)

Perfect 10 Liners (to borrow from @respectthepetty, I am a ForceBook fan first and a human second, the college engineer plotline is old but JuniorMark is ALSO THERE and PerthChimon!!!)

Ossan’s Love (I will be watching for Earth Shenanigans™️ and Earth Shenanigans™️ Only. But Mix is also here and he’s just So Pretty to look at…)

Scarlet Heart Thailand (Tell me More about this GMMTV?! My MAN Nanon AND Fourth AND Force AND Tay, Perth, Phuwin, Win and Tu? Holy moly this is HUGE but I DON’T KNOW ANYTHING ABOUT THIS EXCEPT ITS HISTORICAL ALSO WHY IS TU THERE? Is this a Harem? TELL ME MORE NOW😫😫😫 I’M IN YOUR WALLS GMMTV)

Meh? I will (probably) check it out:

The Ex-Morning (I didn’t hate Be My Favorite though this feels very meta for gmmtv with a second chance romcom with literally a second chance couple)

Break Up Service (I might pass on this one? I’m a sucker for Godji tho)

Leap Day (neurodivergent Gun interests me)

The Dark Dice (I’d like to see Gemini and Prom acting in different roles where they get to be a little rougher around the edges)

Pass:

Hide and Sis (as much as I’d love to see Jan covered in blood again, I can catch this through my dash)

Friendshit Forever (no thanks, seems like a straight telenovela and it’s just not my speed.)

[invisiblegarters]

Hidden Agenda Ep 7

Word on the street (lol) is that this is actually going to be 12 eps, which I am thankful for because Only Friends is going to start bringing that promised messiness beginning next week (I hope) and I will need more time with a palate cleanser.

Oh don't get me wrong I'm going to love every second of OF, but also I know me and I know I am going to be very frustrated so it'll be good to have this cute tropefest to look forward to after the mess.

Would a promotion to win headphones get me? Yes it would, because I am one, cheap, and two, always up for a challenge. Also I like rollercoasters so it wouldn't be too much of a hardship for me. Unless I had to get on the swings. *shudders* We don't do the swings here.

Is this the same theme park they go to in every drama? It's just making me want to ride rollercoasters.

Lol there's always the one who can't handle them.

Ah, my old friend product placement. It's weird to miss you but there you go.

These rides are not that challenging! Boo. I was hoping the fourth one was a free fall ride - I love those and it would be hilarious to see the faces Joke would make - bet he would scream too - but alas.

Pfft Joke definitely has Zo's number. He totally liked that line.

Wait is that a wild Title? Yes, yes it is. Pfft, now that GMMTV has him in their stable they're just gonna put him in all the things, huh? Not complaining. Although he's again playing an ass, lol. Are we gonna typecast him already?

Aw, heartbreak at a theme park. I am sure that there are worse places to have that happen, but still. Yeesh.

I find it interesting that Zo's hesitance with Joke wasn't due to freaking out about these new bi feelings though. That's nifty.

Sometimes, I just love me an uncomplicated, cozy romance, and honestly I feel like these two deliver on that front. They did it in SIMM too.

I love how they're always alone in mazes like this. In reality it's a freaking crush, and there's always the two or three girls in front of you who scream at literally everything so they cast all jumps at them and you're just kind of behind them feeling a little bored and checking out the decorations. I still love 'em, though.

If he doesn't go for the photo cheek kiss...

Huh. Literally every other trope but not that one, show?

AOU AND BOOM! I almost forgot they were in this show. I want to care about this hiding plot. I do. But the problem is we get so little of them that I just...don't. I don't know if there was supposed to be more of them and then they cut it out or couldn't film it for whatever reason or what, but I just don't feel like I've been given enough to care. And that makes me sad because I was especially looking forward to Aou.

Okay so is grandma homophobic or just not impressed that Joke didn't tell her that Zo is his boyfriend? My guess is the former since the whole thing with Jeng but who knows, really. At this point it could swing either way, really. I would guess it's the latter because this show is fairly straightforward romance but! But. Sometimes the straightforward romances will hit you with that kind of serious thing out of nowhere.

Aw go Zo. I like his optimism.

HEH. Nope we're going simple. That is not a complaint. Grandma is fun. Also what do you mean you're not dating, Zo? You literally just went out on an amusement park date! There was a headphones winning montage and everything!

Yes you know what I agree. Competence is hot.

Hahaha okay I love Joke. Literally any chance to get his shirt off around Zo. And his pathetic attempts to clean himself like he's never done it before. Oh Joke you transparent fool.

Oh yes the academic scholarship. I forgot all about that too. Why is he so devastated? Does he think that he surely won't get the Finland trip if Nita is also competing for it?

Joke dude. Chill out he probably just passed out after studying all night. Good lord. You are embarrassing.

Pottery date!

I am Old but all this paying by QR code freaks me out.

Oh hey Title's back. I guess I knew that would happen.

Okay NO. No, it is not your place to go off on the asshole former friend, Joke. Come on. What he did was wrong but it's been ages and if Zo wants to know what happened then it's on him to find out, not you. I do not like his high handedness sometimes. He really really needs to quit it with that.

Yeah I'd have blocked him too. I am super petty and I have blocked people for less.

JOKE.

"You could have been honest without being cruel." No but for real. This should be printed on a card and distributed because I swear sometimes people just don't get that memo.

Oh just make out already.

Thank you.

Hahaha all right, point to Zo. That was a good one. And since it ain't OF, I'm pretty sure Joke's not gonna turn around and sleep with someone else lol. So you know, it's a win. :D :D

Look, I make fun but like I said, sometimes you just need something sweet and uncomplicated and fun. And i firmly believe that there's room for both this and stuff like OF or even Dangerous Romance. We can have gritty and realistic, mean and fraught, and sweet and simple! They can coexist. In the same weekend even!

[waitmyturtles]

I’ll write about this more down the road for the conclusion of my Old GMMTV Challenge, but: when I was recently in Bangkok, I made my fangirl pilgrimage to the GMMTV building. The famed columns and elevators were, as usual, plastered with fan photo homages to their faves — KristSingto and Gemini were in front of the building, ViewJune had a small staircase panel, and elevator panels included single collages for PerthChimon (before their temporary split) and GreatInn. (Poor FirstKhao had a mural on the second basement level.)

Fully three-quarters of the famed elevator panels were OhmNanon. Like, in the summer of 2024, when we already haven’t seen them for a year since Our Skyy 2. I’m a BBS girlie, no doubt, but seeing those panels gave me serious jeebles.

GMMTV lets fans buy these — this announcement could be their own milquetoast way to curb bullying before Kidnap premieres, but there’s way more endemic economic behavior that the network needs to manage as well. GMMTV literally accepts money that’s invested in the delusion, and that’s a kind of behavior that needs to be managed/stopped.

please this is the funniest thing ive seen all year 😭😩

[waitmyturtles]

Turtles Catches Up With Old GMMTV, and When Queer Media Goes Mainstream in Thailand: The Lakorn Corner, Part 1 -- The Fallen Leaf Edition

[What’s going on here? After joining Tumblr and discovering Thai BLs through KinnPorsche in 2022, I began watching GMMTV’s new offerings -- and realized that I had a lot of history to catch up on, to appreciate the more recent works that I was delving into. From tropes to BL frameworks, what we’re watching now hails from somewhere, and I’m learning about Thai BL's history through what I’m calling the Old GMMTV Challenge (OGMMTVC). Starting with recommendations from @absolutebl on their post regarding how GMMTV is correcting for its mistakes with its shows today, I’ve made an expansive list to get me through a condensed history of essential/classic/significant Thai BLs produced by GMMTV and many other BL studios. My watchlist, pasted below, lists what I’ve watched and what’s upcoming, along with the reviews I’ve written so far. Today, I'm starting a three-part sub-series on queer primetime lakorns in Thailand, starting first with 2019's The Fallen Leaf.]

TW: major spoilers, suicide attempt

WELL. I don't know if anyone's around anymore whose been tracking this project! I haven't written an entry for this project since (scary!) August of 2024. But I have good reasons (!!!), and I attribute this, in part, to Thailand's predilection of broadcasting very, very long primetime dramas. (Besides, of course, the usual craziness of life that happens in-between my watching of shows.)

The last time I updated my Old GMMTV Challenge project, I was just about to tune into (for the first timmmmeeeee omg), My School President, after offering a rewatch analysis of The Eclipse, along with commentary on my perspective of the current impact of branded paired actors in the dramas of GMMTV and other studios. I was really enjoying ploughing through 2022's slate of Thailand's BL and GL dramas, and during the fall of 2024, I watched The Miracle of Teddy Bear, which was ridiculously amazing, and for which I will pen my next review in this series.

The Miracle of Teddy Bear is often cited as Thailand's first queer lakorn, or primetime drama, and is thus on the OGMMTVC list as an important milestone of the extensions of queer media's reach within Thailand's mainstream media. However, the comment that Miracle is Thailand's first queer lakorn is not accurate.

More accurately, The Miracle of Teddy Bear is Thailand's first lakorn to center a male queer character in a same-sex relationship.

In conversation with the FABULOUS @flowerbeasblog (who helms an incomparable blog about ratings and social media performance of our fave shows and actors in Thailand!), I learned that Thailand had an earlier primetime lakorn that featured a queer main character -- a transgender woman who suffered an abusive childhood.

This lakorn, 2019's The Fallen Leaf (aka The Leaves), stars a cisgender female actress, the hugely popular Baifern Pimchanok. The Fallen Leaf was one of Baifern's first shows that put her on Thailand's and Asia's maps as a huge continental star, particularly in China.

I was on the fence as to whether or not I was going to watch this show and list it. The idea of watching a show about a transgender female character, acted by a cisgender actress, gave me the jibbles, as was highlighted during a recent controversy involved a cisgender male actor playing a transgender female in the second season of Squid Game.

However, through some lucky connections, I got word from a Thai screenwriter that I should watch The Fallen Leaf if I was interested in the short history of queer lakorns. Later on in this sub-series about lakorns for the OGMMTVC, I'll discuss 2022's Khun Chai (To Sir With Love), which smashed QL ratings records. Comparing The Fallen Leaf to The Miracle of Teddy Bear and Khun Chai, therefore, is an accurate way to tell the story of the primetime centering of queer stories in Thailand's mainstream mediascape, aside from the continued growth of the specific Series Y genre.

And so. When The Fallen Leaf aired in 2019 on the One31 channel, it was massively popular. I want to talk about why I think that's the case.

Firstly, I want to note the importance of the year in which The Fallen Leaf aired. The inimitable @bengiyo has noted that 2019 was the year in which the Thai BL fanbase bifurcated. Thai BLs, also known as Series Y in Thailand, is a far smaller genre than that of the Thai primetime lakorn. However, the BL genre, by 2019, was growing exponentially, offering fans a wide array of content, from the heaty-hot drama TharnType, to the contemplative miniseries He's Coming To Me, to the complicated and rewarding romance of Dark Blue Kiss.

I thought a lot about TharnType while I was watching The Fallen Leaf. Not too many people in the global QL fanbase know about The Fallen Leaf, save for the incredible @so-much-yet-to-learn, who flagged for me that what he knew about it was that the show was rumored to have contained many problematic stereotypes about transgender individuals.

TharnType was notable not just for being one of the steamiest Series Y shows of its time, but for also centering enough problematic stereotypes about queer sexuality that I felt compelled to forever flag it. I noted in my OGMMTVC review of TharnType that I felt, as an Asian myself, that the show's basic framework relied on Asian stereotypes of bigotry against the queer community, a foundational approach that really made me queasy.

However: that approach (along with the heat), I think, allowed a broader Asian audience to tune into the show and relate to it -- a coincidence that's unfortunate, but one that the show's creator, MAME, likely knew would resonate with a growing fanbase that wanted to see men kiss, but that wasn't potentially fully up to speed on advocating for the queer community and for LGBTQ+ causes. (I posit a similar corollary in theorizing about the popularity of 2020's 2gether.)

I'm not fully sure what led to the creation of The Fallen Leaf, as a 2019 primetime, mainstream drama on one of Thailand's biggest channels. But I will posit, twofold, that the growing popularity of Series Y in Thailand -- not a mainstream genre by way of viewership, but a genre that carried tremendous social media clout, even in 2019 -- along with the resulting increase in social conversations and commentary about queer sexuality and queer life, may have made executives at One31 nod their heads in approving a novel script for the lakorn genre, one that very often centers not just romance, but deeply heterosexual and misogynistic approaches to romance (an issue discussed in the Series Y documentary, BL: Broken Fantasy).

And with The Fallen Leaf, in part, centering often controversial commentary about transgender individuals, the show was sure to achieve notoriety, as it certainly did by way of its resulting popularity in Thailand, and particularly in China.

So...

Now that I've said all of that -- that The Fallen Leaf was a hugely popular show, with a cisgender female actress playing a transgender woman, and that the show contains a hell of a lot of problematic takes on the queer and transgender communities -- what exactly is this show about, and was it a successful narrative?

The Fallen Leaf, as with other lakorns (like The Miracle of Teddy Bear), benefits from being a REALLY LONG SHOW. In a REALLY LONG SHOW, 21 episodes-worth (27 if you find them on YouTube), problematic takes can actually be addressed and countered with delicacy. Of course, problematic takes can also create scripted drama, but I'll get to that in a second.

Nira, our main character, is a transgender Thai woman who underwent gender-affirming surgery in London. She is in England with her mother after her mother's divorce from her abusive and cheating husband. Nira's supportive mother dies in a car accident while Nira is recovering from her surgery. Nira is left devastated -- and hellbent on exacting revenge against her abusive father (Chom) and her equally abusive paternal aunt (Rungrong).

Chom rejected his former son from an early age, noting his former son's feminine tendencies, and abusing his wife and son to a great extent out of his frustration of this reality. (Nira's formerly male identity is recollected in flashbacks, and notably, Saint Suppapong plays Nira's teenage male self.) It is indicated to Chom early in the series that his son died along with his ex-wife in the car accident, allowing Nira to come back to Thailand unidentified as related to Chom's family.

Rungrong is married to Chat, an unhappy husband caught in an almost-unconsummated marriage after Rungrong faked a pregnancy to get Chat to marry her. As a young boy, Nira was close with Chat, the only relative besides Nira's mother who was willing to wholly accept the young boy. Upon Nira's arrival in Thailand as a transitioned adult woman, she insinuates herself in the lives of Chom and Rungrong, ostensibly to upend their lives and exact revenge. During that insinuation, she gains the attraction of both her unhappy uncle-in-law, Chat.....and.... her father, Chom.

Yeah, sooooo, let me stop there for a second. Yes, this show is predicated on the premise that TWO of Nira's relatives -- a non-blood-related relative in her uncle, and her very blood-related relative in her father -- are into her. This tension is not ignored, it's very much addressed, and if you have familiarity with American soap operas or (worse), Indian Zee TV dramas, that a primetime Thai lakorn would choose this approach is actually not so surprising.

(That's Uncle Chat down there, played by the incredible Push Puttichai, who NEEDS TO BE IN AN OLDER MAN BL ABSOLUTELY STAT, THIS MAN IS BEAUTIFUL, JUST BEAUTIFUL. PAIR HIM UP WITH PRAN'S DAD!)

In order to exact revenge against the HUGELY bigoted and abusive Rungrong, as well as a new rival in some dumb influencer named Manow, Nira situates herself to become a famous make-up artist, model, and actress, which she actually achieves to an extent.

However, her abusive past, and the traumatic loss of her mother, haunt her throughout the drama. A huge part of the show is centered on her struggles with her mental health and her psychological care with her doctor, Benjang, who.... yeah, falls in love with her too, at some point. (Codes of ethics don't mean a thang in lakorns, I guess!) BUT BESIDES THAT, her needing anxiety medication, along with her regular hormonal therapy, are depicted clearly as a part of her everyday routine.

I'll stop there for now. Much of the show is centered on Nira's power plays with Rungrong and Manow, especially as these two fucking bigots pry into Nira's past, particularly as Rungrong seethes in jealousy while Nira becomes ever closer to Rungrong's husband.

The drama is a lot. It's a lot, and it's crazy and insane, and it's perfect for a primetime drama meant to draw in a mainstream audience accustomed to catfights and inordinate amounts of scripted tension.

However: let me also compliment this complicated show on a couple of fronts regarding depictions of LGBTQ+ themes.

As I said before, 21 hourlong episodes gives a script a lot of time to unwind. The macro-level, core premise of the show is indeed insane -- two of Nira's older relatives falling in love with her. It's a bombastic premise designed for attention and ratings.

But the show, surprisingly, treats almost all of its LGBTQ+ topics with sensitivity. Transgender women abound in the show, including Nira's steadfast and headstrong manager, and a sympathetic club owner who owns the bigoted Rungrong at one point. The FABULOUS James Rusameekae plays an over-the-top make-up artist. While I was afraid that his character, Baitong, would be treated with disrespect by the script (like Green in the original 2gether), the opposite happened: his feminine traits and never-ending support of Nira were celebrated in the show. Rungrong's own make-up artist, a gay man himself who initially helps Rungrong uncover Nira's secret, ends up lashing out at his boss after Rungrong makes bigoted comments about him and his community.

All of these characters, at some point in the series, face discrimination. Notably, Nira leaves an event where she is asked to be a model, when it is revealed to her that the LGBTQ+ community is not welcome at the site where the event takes place. While the resulting public conversations she engages in about her stance are a touch precious, they're also important to note, considering that these frank conversations about discrimination were happening during a primetime hour to a mainstream audience.

Perhaps even more notable as presented to a mainstream audience: there are many instances in which Nira's transition care are depicted and sometimes explained. At the end of the series, pictures of Nira's post-surgical transition are shown. At the start of the series, Nira is shown in the hospital, bandaged. The transition of her feminine hairline is depicted and explained. She is shown using hormonal gels and vaginal dilators, and carries her bag of dilators with her as she moves apartments during the series.

Thailand is certainly known globally for the quality of its gender-affirming care. However, regarding the transitional experience, I myself have never seen a fictional show delve into so much detail about the process, and I found myself learning and researching parts of the process that I wasn't aware of.

I want to also note, with thanks again to the amazing @flowerbeasblog, that the creators of The Fallen Leaf actually addressed the earlier controversy I noted earlier, about the casting of a cisgender woman in the lead role. As what might have been expected in 2019 -- the creators of the show felt that if a transgender person had been cast, that the show might have been categorized within a more specific genre, like Series Y, for instance. In order to widen the show's appeal to a larger audience, the decision was made to cast a cisgender woman (you can use Google Translate to read this Thai wiki entry about the show). With LGBTQ+ actors and actresses gaining more attention and accolades in mainstream Thai media -- James Rusameekae recently winning a major award, and Jennie Panhan gaining the spotlight for playing a mother in another mainstream lakorn -- I hope that soon enough, a transgender actor or actress will indeed lead a primetime lakorn.

[NOTE: SKIP THE NEXT THREE PARAGRAPHS IF YOU DON'T WANT TO KNOW THE ENDING!]

...

...

I found the ending of The Fallen Leaf to be a sensible one, but a tough one. Nira's secret is revealed publicly, and she suffers tremendously for it. The accurate psychological connection is made regarding her mental health and the previous abuse she suffered at the hands of her father. None of the villains are redeemed -- an ending that I'm thankful for, because the show didn't need to jump through any other extraneous and insensible ethical hoops.

The show ended on a reasonable note of hope. Nira admits she is ill, and leaves behind Thailand, and Chat, to recover. She comments on the possibility of being able to go back to Thailand to the community that loves and supports her -- her doctor, her manager, her friend in Baitong.

The show was already too long to establish a narrative that she could triumph, within 21 episodes, over the lifetime of pain and abuse she had suffered. While I found that tough, I also found it a realistic and reasonable approach in a discussion about a lifetime of mental health issues. I think the fictional Nira indeed deserves love, and I hope that another lakorn that centers a transgender character will take up that mantle.

While The Fallen Leaf does not technically fall within the spectrum of the Series Y genre -- which The Old GMMTV Challenge project specifically focuses on -- I am ultimately so thankful that I watched it, because it is a clear precursor to 2022's Khun Chai/To Sir, With Love. Khun Chai, a fellow One31 queer primetime lakorn, turns up the volume on the conversation of discrimination against the gay community from the JUMP of episode one, with (similar to The Fallen Leaf) a suicide attempt after an unintended outing. I'm watching Khun Chai right now, so I can't make full comment at this moment, but I very much feel that with 2019's The Fallen Leaf having aired prior to Khun Chai -- and with the INCREDIBLE growth of Series Y shows from 2019 to 2022 -- that the Thai mainstream audience was really ready for some blunt conversation about gay men, bigotry, and true love, in a Very Big Soapy Show by the time Khun Chai aired. I see the similarities between The Fallen Leaf and Khun Chai already. While tropes abound in shows about young boys finding their feminine tendencies early in their lives, the fact that The Fallen Leaf and Khun Chai (as well as The Miracle of Teddy Bear) all start with young boys receiving physical abuse for their tendencies would not have been lost on the Thai lakorn audience who watched all of these shows.

With that, I close out my thoughts on The Fallen Leaf. Part two of the OGMMTVC's Lakorn Corner will focus on the absolutely OUTSTANDING The Miracle of Teddy Bear -- a Channel 3 lakorn that performed notably worse than The Fallen Leaf and Khun Chai, but that still carried incredibly important messaging about queer sexuality and childhood abuse and discrimination. I cannot wait to start writing about it, and I'll see y'all for part two of this sub-series!

[I wanna note that I am way behind on reviews for a lot of shows I watched last fall and winter. I'll write about Miracle next, then I'll pen a brief tribute to the FUCKING INCREDIBLE Triage, then onto Khun Chai, and then a quick deep-dive into the history of Thai GLs with Love Songs Love Stories: Pae Jai from 2015, Love of Secret from 2022, and then the biggie, GAP.

And then. I will finally watch My School President. Once I'm done with Khun Chai and the quick Love Songs Love Stories. (Yes, I am finally adding a show to the list that I myself am not watching, in Love of Secret. I'll explain more when I get to the GLs era.)

ANYWAY. Here's the current list as you see fit!

1) The Love of Siam (2007) (movie) (review here) 2) My Bromance (2014) (movie) (review here) 3) Love Sick and Love Sick 2 (2014 and 2015) (review here) 4) Love Songs Love Stories: Pae Jai (2015) (Thailand’s first serialized GL) (to be reviewed with GAP the Series) 5) Gay OK Bangkok Season 1 (2016) (a non-BL queer series directed by Jojo Tichakorn and written by Aof Noppharnach) (review here) 6) Make It Right (2016) (review here) 7) SOTUS (2016-2017) (review here) 8) Gay OK Bangkok Season 2 (2017) (a non-BL queer series directed by Jojo Tichakorn and written by Aof Noppharnach) (review here) 9) Make It Right 2 (2017) (review here) 10) Together With Me (2017) (review here)

11) SOTUS S/Our Skyy x SOTUS (2017-2018) (review here) 12) Love By Chance (2018) (review here) 13) Kiss Me Again: PeteKao cuts (2018) (no review) 14) He’s Coming To Me (2019) (review here) 15) The Fallen Leaf (2019) (not a BL; adjacent to the project as Thailand’s first lakorn featuring a queer/transgender main character) (review coming) 16) Dark Blue Kiss (2019) and Our Skyy x Kiss Me Again (2018) (review here) 17) TharnType (2019-2020) (review here) 18) Senior Secret Love: Puppy Honey (OffGun BL cuts) (2016 and 2017) (no review) 19) Theory of Love (2019) (review here) 20) 3 Will Be Free (2019) (a non-BL and an important harbinger of things to come in 2019 and beyond re: Jojo Tichakorn pushing queer content at GMMTV) (review here)

21) Dew the Movie (2019) (review here) 22) Until We Meet Again (2019-2020) (review here) (and notes on my UWMA rewatch here) 23) 2gether (2020) and Still 2gether (2020) (review here) 24) I Told Sunset About You (2020) (review here) 25) YYY (2020, out of chronological order) (review here) 26) Manner of Death (2020-2021) (review here) 27) A Tale of Thousand Stars (2021) (review here) 28) A Tale of Thousand Stars (2021) OGMMTVC Fastest Rewatch Known To Humankind For The Sake Of Rewatching Our Skyy 2 x BBS x ATOTS (re-review here) 29) Lovely Writer (2021) (review here) 30) Last Twilight in Phuket (2021) (the mini-special before IPYTM) (review here)

31) I Promised You the Moon (2021) (review here) 32) Not Me (2021-2022) (review here) 33) Bad Buddy (2021-2022) (thesis here) 34) 55:15 Never Too Late (2021-2022) (not a BL, but a GMMTV drama that features a macro BL storyline about shipper culture and the BL industry) (review here) 35) Bad Buddy (2021-2022) and Our Skyy 2 x BBS x ATOTS (2023) OGMMTVC Rewatch (Links to the BBS OGMMTVC Meta Series are here: preamble here, part 1, part 2, part 3a, part 3b, and part 4) 36) Secret Crush On You (2022) (review here) 37) The Miracle of Teddy Bear (2022) (review coming) 38) KinnPorsche (2022) (tag here)  39) KinnPorsche (2022) OGMMTVC Fastest Rewatch Known To Humankind For the Sake of Re-Analyzing the KP Cultural Zeitgeist (part 1 and part 2) 40) Triage (2022) (review coming)

41) Honorable Mention: War of Y (2022) (for the sake of an attempt to provide meta BL commentary within a BL in the modern BL era), with a complementary watch of Aam Anusorn’s documentary, BL: Broken Fantasy (2020) (thoughts here) 42) The Eclipse (2022) (tag here) 43) The Eclipse OGMMTVC Rewatch to Reexamine "Genre BLs," Along With a Critical Take on Branded Ships (review here) 44) Khun Chai/To Sir, With Love (2022) (watching) 45) Love of Secret (2022) (a GL that preceded GAP) (I will not be watching this, but it's on the list to precede GAP) 46) GAP (2022-2023) (Thailand’s first GL with a branded pair and ship) (review coming) 47) My School President (2022-2023) and Our Skyy 2 x My School President (2023), Coupled with a Speed-Watch of My Love Mix-Up Thailand (2024) to Comment on GMMTV Trying to Make Magic Happen Twice  48) Moonlight Chicken (2023) (tag here) 49) Bed Friend (2023) (tag here) 50) La Pluie (2023) (review coming)

51) Be My Favorite (2023) (tag here) (I’m including this for BMF’s sophisticated commentary on Krist’s career past as a BL icon) 52) Wedding Plan (2023) (Recommended as an important trajectory in the course of MAME’s work and influence from TharnType) 53) Only Friends (2023) (tag here) (not technically a BL, but it certainly became one in the end) 54) Last Twilight (2023-24) (tag here) (on the list as Thailand’s first major BL to center disability, successfully or otherwise) 55) Cherry Magic Thailand (2023-24) (tag here) (on the list as the first major Japanese-to-Thai drama adaptation, featuring the comeback of TayNew) 56) Ossan’s Love Returns (Japan, 2024) (adding for the EarthMix cameo and the eventual Thai remake) 57) 23.5 (2024) (GMMTV’s first GL) (thoughts here) (I am not finished with this show; I will finish it when I get to it on this list) 58) Spare Me Your Mercy (2024) (thoughts here) (added as the finale of Sammon's medical trilogy in Manner of Death and Triage, and as a major lakorn starring two of Thailand's biggest actors in Tor Thanapob and Jaylerr)]

[thebroccolination]

OFFICIAL SYNOPSIS FOR THE EX-MORNING

On GMMTV’s official site—which I’ve never had reason to visit until now—they’ve posted the official summary of “The Ex-Morning”! They also included some very interesting language about their performances. 👀

“GMMTV” Delivers Power Couple “Krist-Singto” in Game-Changing Roles for New Series “The Ex-Morning”, Premiering May 22 on GMM25 to Make Fans Swoon

Fans are in for a heart-melting on-screen reunion of popular couple Krist Perawat Sangpotirat and Singto Prachaya Ruangroj in game-changing roles for the new series The Ex-Morning, from Thailand’s leading content provider GMMTV. The story follows two former lovers whose romance ended on a bitter note as they are brought to work together as “exes.” They portray a wide range of emotions and deliver challenging performances alongside a talented cast of both seasoned actors and rising stars, including Jamie Juthapich Indrajundra, Earn Preeyaphat Lawsuwansiri, Pai Partith Pisitkul, Aou Thanaboon Kiatniran, Pod Suphakorn Sriphotong, Godji Tachakorn Boonlupyanun, Ngek Kanlaya Lerdkasemsub, Kwan Kwanruedee Klomklom, etc. with special guest appearances by Ohm Thitiwat Ritprasert and Ployphach Phatchatorn Thanawat. Brought to life by the accomplished director Phadung Samajarn, the show promises full entertainment and a comeback that will make fans fall in love with the pair all over again.

When Padtaphi (Krist Perawat), a top-tier reporter famously known as “Forecast Prince”, loses his temper and throws hot coffee in the face of his junior reporter Tae (Aou Thanaboon), whom he doesn't get along with, Padtaphi is severely condemned by the public. His life turns upside down, going from rising star to fallen reporter, and his company immediately suspends Padtaphi and ends his role as a weather reporter to cool things down.

Yong (Pai Partith), a big producer who’s Padtaphi’s senior, gives him a chance to develop a fresh news program on the condition that he must work with a new producer, Tamtawan (Singto Prachaya), who holds a degree from abroad and turns out to be Padtaphi’s ex!

The two of them face many obstacles while working on the show together, from earning the trust of the crew that hates Padtaphi, to capturing the public’s affection, and most importantly, winning each other’s hearts. Can old flames reignite? Will this return to working together change them, or will they learn from this change together? Stay tuned to find out.

Watch “The Ex-Morning” every Thursday at 8:30 p.m. on GMM25 and stream it on Viu at 10:30 p.m. The first episode premiers on May 22. Be sure to follow GMMTV on www.facebook.com/gmmtvofficial, Instagram, X, TikTok, YouTube, and Weibo for updates.

#TheExMorning

[Official Trailer] “เพราะแฟนเก่าเปลี่ยนแปลงบ่อย The Ex-Morning”

[waitmyturtles]

Turtles Catches Up With Old GMMTV: The Eclipse OGMMTVC Rewatch to Reexamine "Genre BLs," Along With a Critical Take on Branded Ships

[What’s going on here? After joining Tumblr and discovering Thai BLs through KinnPorsche in 2022, I began watching GMMTV’s new offerings -- and realized that I had a lot of history to catch up on, to appreciate the more recent works that I was delving into. From tropes to BL frameworks, what we’re watching now hails from somewhere, and I’m learning about Thai BL's history through what I’m calling the Old GMMTV Challenge (OGMMTVC). Starting with recommendations from @absolutebl on their post regarding how GMMTV is correcting for its mistakes with its shows today, I’ve made an expansive list to get me through a condensed history of essential/classic/significant Thai BLs produced by GMMTV and many other BL studios. My watchlist, pasted below, lists what I’ve watched and what’s upcoming, along with the reviews I’ve written so far. Today, I take a look at my very first GMMTV series that I ever watched, The Eclipse, to examine its prowess as a "genre" BL, and to take a critical stab at the branded ship model vis à vis a successful narrative.]

HELLO. Due to BIG SUMMER LIFE (!!!) (WOW -- work trips, work changes, new projects, the regular family stuff, so much travel!), I've been a couple months delayed on getting some words down on my recent rewatch of The Eclipse for my Old GMMTV Challenge project, but I'm glad to take some time now to talk about this show.

I'm at a point in the project where my syllabus (pasted at the bottom of this post) will take me into the territory of many shows that I've already watched since starting my Thai BL journey in the fall of 2022, shows that I watched while they were airing, such as Moonlight Chicken, Bed Friend, Be My Favorite, and others. (I will be offering short, non-rewatch notes on some of these shows as I go along in the chronology.) The Eclipse is one of these.

I wanted to specifically give The Eclipse a full rewatch for a couple of reasons, the biggest one being very personal, in that The Eclipse was my very first ever-EVER GMMTV series (!!!). And, the only Thai BL I had watched, in the late summer and fall of 2022, prior to The Eclipse was KinnPorsche.

So! At the time of my watching The Eclipse in 2022, I had nooooo idea who First Kanaphan or Khaotung Thanawat were; I didn't know about the existence of branded ships in Thai BLs yet; I didn't know about the prevalence and regularity of side couples in Thai BLs, as VegasPete had been my first exposure to that; I didn't effing know about the fabulousity that is Neo Trai, none of it.

I simply just watched the show on the recommendation of a dear mutual. And, fuck, man, I totally had expected WAY more salacious material in The Eclipse coming off of KinnPorsche! At first, I was like, Thailand is WILDIN', and then it was just the GMMTV-PG FirstKhao smooches, which was fine, they were great, ha! I wasn't disappointed, but lmao, that was my mindset and understanding of my very brief introduction to Thai BLs at that very moment -- I thought it was all guns and butts and mafiosos and pool sex.

Besides rewatching The Eclipse with my now-very-experienced Thai BL glasses on to fix ALL of those past assumptions, I also wanted to rewatch the show in the understanding that filmmaker and former politician, Golf Tanwarin (the first transgender member of parliament in Thailand's House of Representatives) was addressing homophobia and leveraging their screenplay to talk about themes of stifling conformation in Thai society vis à vis the fictional environment of the Suppalo boys school. I want to demarcate this moment as an important one: at this point of my syllabus, the late summer and fall of 2022, the Thai BL landscape exists still mostly within the no-homophobia bubble, with only a handful of shows (He's Coming To Me, Secret Crush On You, etc.) stepping out of that bubble to grab the theme of homophobia and really wrangle with it frontally by way of familial and social acceptance.

However, I have to admit something as I write this review. During this recent rewatch, I had the benefit not just of my past historical chronological viewing of old shows behind me to judge The Eclipse's success as a show and as a messenger of deeper themes past straightforward romance; but I also had the benefit of foresight into the future, seeing how First and Khao served as a branded couple again in Only Friends, a series that, I believe, flopped in its narrative end due to the show prioritizing happy endings for its branded couples, rather than taking the time and the risks to break the branded ships up (or, at least, rock their foundations) to offer sophisticated social commentary on casual sex, as the initial marketing for Only Friends had initially promised.

In other words, I had critical glasses on for FirstKhao's performance, not necessarily for the actors themselves (well, kinda, lemme be for real), but I also wanted to understand better how The Eclipse centered THEM as an IT, a tangible IT, the branded ship, either against and/or vis à vis Golf's underlying critical messaging on social conformity and homophobia.

Unfortunately, through that critical lens, what I gained out of this rewatch of The Eclipse is a confirmed judgement that the common Thai BL structure of very much CENTERING a branded ship, especially emanating out of GMMTV, the central home for branded ships in Thailand, will almost CERTAINLY render a show attempting to make higher messages a weaker one in the end.

I found myself FULLY enjoying The Eclipse out of the FirstKhao sequences. When I first watched The Eclipse in 2022, I was a Thua hater, and I engaged for the very first time with @respectthepetty and others on subsequent defenses of Thua's outing of Akk and Ayan in the context of Akk and Ayan acting like loose-cannon-dillholes themselves. (This was a fabulous intro to my engaging with others on Tumblr, by the way, and I remember this discourse fondly!)

This time around, with the blessing of hindsight, I fully appreciated Louis Thanawin's FANTASTIC performance at the end of the series, as an overly frustrated and overwhelmed student wrangling with his sexuality, his attraction to Kan, and watching Kan's own struggles with his own sexuality, along with dealing with an overbearing stepfather -- and all of that happening while he was watching the hypocrisy of Akk slowly warming to Ayan, while Akk simultaneously punished The World Remembers gang. Louis, as Thua, fucking nailed it, and was an utter cutie at the end with Kan (including in Our Skyy 2, swoon). And forget about Neo Trai: Neo as Kan was one of the best performances I've seen of Neo's, as a student struggling literally to the second to manage his outward displays of automatic attraction to Thua for the sake of maintaining a façade of "order" for the Suppalo environment.

How does all of this impact my thoughts on FirstKhao as a branded ship, and AkkAyan as a fictional couple in The Eclipse?

There was so much great commentary on mental health, on social pressures and conformity, and on the reliance of history to contextualize and engage in suppression, in this show. The show hit hard and impactfully on these themes. As I just mentioned, the story of Thua was a welcome inclusion of the various ways in which homophobia impacted the Suppalo environment on micro- and macro-levels. The story of Dika is also gutting, and I appreciated The Eclipse for never turning an eye away from Ayan's continued suffering at losing his uncle so traumatically. (I also understand that there was quite a lot of conservative protest against The Eclipse in Thailand, and that the show being shortened by two episodes may have been related to this, along with the show airing during ongoing student protests.)

Unfortunately, I believe The Eclipse tripped on itself when it stepped away from these themes to move to more lighthearted moments with AkkAyan. I think the centering of this ship led to a number of key unfulfilled narrative moments, including a key factual skip later in the series, when Ayan indicates to Akk that Akk had made a promise to reveal his work against The World Remembers, a promise that did not have prior reference in earlier episodes.

This isn't to say that a budding couple can't have sweet moments. And we saw a tremendous amount of trauma coming from both Akk and Ayan, with Ayan's ongoing anger at Suppalo, and Akk's fear of rejection for his and his family's financial state, leading him to embody Suppalo's culture of suppression for the sake of his own survival at the school. These very-deeply messed-up fictional boys absolutely deserved and needed love.

But I found myself taking the most notes on this show when I felt the tones of previous scenes of protest, trauma, or attack were juxtaposed against getting Akk and Ayan together for a subsequent scene, especially later in the series, when their flirtation continued to grow. I felt this particularly during the outdoor Twitter scene in the bleachers, when Akk and Ayan were using tweets as a means of finding out who was running the counterprotest Twitter account, which was placed right after a particularly brutal attack against The World Remembers. I needed to flip my emotional attention back to a practiced GMMTV routine of watching a ship continue to warm up to each other for memorable and meme-able moments, and I found that juxtaposition jarring.

As opposed to Not Me, GMMTV's first "genre" BL that played with a sandbox outside of romance, The Eclipse was on steadier feet. While Not Me really tried to play around de-centering a shipped pair in OffGun, it truly stumbled in rushing back to inject romance throughout the storyline, particularly with DanYok taking up unexpected and discordant room (ACAB, YOK). And outside of GMMTV, we've seen many "genre" BLs actually work really well, most notably to that point in 2022, the crime-driven Manner of Death (MaxTul, my beloved), which balanced a developing romance with a legitimately interesting and unwinding mystery, all with a sharp and solid screenplay that didn't stray from its intended purpose. (Maybe I'm getting my hopes up too soon, but we're seeing "genre" BL doing well right now with 4 Minutes, and GMMTV has another, riskier, "genre" BL coming up in its crime-driven series, Kidnap.)

GMMTV, however, demands something economically from its shows, a sellable final product that can be transmogrified into fan meetings, branded items, and most of all, enduring and memorable legacies for the branded ships that center most of its BLs. At the time of The Eclipse's airing, both First and Khao had been previously paired with others (First with Gawin Caskey in Not Me; Khao with Podd Suphakorn in Tonhon Chonlotee), and the sao wais had been eagerly awaiting the debut of FirstKhao, and were fed nicely.

I can't say, quantifiably, if the majority of the global Thai BL fandom, or even the majority of the GMMTV fandom, are sao wais who only watch GMMTV shows for branded ships and guaranteed happy endings between shipped actors that only partner with the same person over and over again. I also believe that at this moment in time (in 2024), that we may be seeing differences in preferences emanating from fandoms based in Thailand, China, elsewhere in Asia, and globally, particularly in Europe and North and South America, between fans that will willingly support branded ships through very bad narrative shows, versus fans that prefer well-scripted shows above all else.

I think, after the economic earthquake that was the airing of 2gether in 2020, that GMMTV made a hard-turn decision to prioritize series that centered repeating branded ships above all other kinds of investment in other shows, including excellent screenplays.

I say this not to bemoan the opportunity for Thai filmmakers to have economic success. If these shows are making coin for Thai creatives -- maybe even the kind of coin that will allow these creatives to have more artistic freedom in their futures -- then I cannot begrudge that at all, and I wish these artists economic success.

But from a critical viewpoint of artistically narrative success, I'd argue that the last truly great narrative show of GMMTV's portfolio is 2021-22's Bad Buddy, featuring a branded ship in OhmNanon that I'm sure the network wanted to use again, one that both Nanon Korapat and Ohm Pawat knew they didn't want to repeat. Since then, while we've had a small amount of storytelling gems out of GMMTV like Moonlight Chicken, Cherry Magic Thailand, and Cooking Crush, most of what's come out of that studio has been mediocre for the past few years, with some aching stumbles having been had in shows like 23.5, Wandee Goodday, and My Love Mix-Up Thailand, which is airing now.

A major complaint across social media right now about My Love Mix-Up Thailand, centering Gemini Norawit and Fourth Nattawat, is that the show rushes to create meme-able moments between them, which is more in line with GMMTV's bottom line of engagement first. My Love Mix-Up/Kieta Hatsukoi is an utterly beloved Japanese manga and dorama. While G4 fans are drumming up the level of social media engagement that GMMTV judges "success" on, many other general BL fans have been left disappointed by the show's pulling back from honoring certain moments of hilarity and connection with the original Japanese source material (how could Fourth NOT go into the trash can?!).

I posit that it was 2gether's 2020 airing that encouraged GMMTV to make the pivot from investing in well-crafted screenplays, and taking risks to split ships up -- as the network did with Tay Tawan in 2019's 3 Will Be Free -- to center the branded ships.

And I think 2022's The Eclipse is an excellent example of the result of this decision-making: that while The Eclipse's core ideas within its screenplay were admirable, and much of the acting and romance outside of the branded ship were great to watch, that the show's needing to leave the central path of the narrative central story to spotlight the FirstKhao ship to create engagement-worthy moments ultimately took power away from the show and its message.

Only Friends -- a late-2023 show that initially marketed itself on breaking up ships and celebrating casual sex -- came back around in the end to scold any of us fans that wanted to see the ships sink. The dynamic between First and Khao in Only Friends was incredibly similar to their dynamic in The Eclipse: First acting as a tough-guy character who couldn't help being simp-ly swept away by an overpowering character played by Khao. I'm afraid the same will be repeated again in Jojo Tichakorn's next show, The Heart Killers, and I'd like to be proven wrong there, but.

It's incredible for me to reflect on what I know now about The Eclipse, and how this otherwise-excellent show was, in my eyes, economically impacted by the casting decision to prioritize a branded ship over the narrative cohesiveness of a screenplay. GMMTV has only committed even more to this path since The Eclipse's airing.

For the sake of excellent actors like First, and especially Khao: I hope they can have the future opportunity to spread their wings and act with other actors (as the very extreme majority of actors in entertainment get to enjoy), to shake off the economic prioritizing of branded ships in order to access better screenplays and stories. They deserve it, as hard-working creatives, and I'll certainly support them outside of the branded ship model, one that I believe is showing artistic wear and tear as more branded ship shows keep narratively sinking.

[Alright! So, where am I on the OGMMTV list? I've actually already finished the next show on my list, GAP The Series, this summer, and I hope I can pen that review in short order to get this series back on some kind of timely track.

HOWEVER, HEH HEH, that's actually going to be a bit difficult for me as, per the recommendation of a couple of BL elders, I am backtracking chronologically and tackling 2022's The Miracle of Teddy Bear, Thailand's first queer primetime, broadcast channel-level lakorn, which consists of 16 90-minute episodes, which, woof. Despite its hefty length, I am terribly excited to watch a show (a lakorn, EEEE!) out of the usual Thai BL bubble, one that I understand has been potentially misunderstood and/or mis-marketed to BL fandoms over the years. For the sake of its primetime airing alone, it holds an important place on the OGMMTVC syllabus. And I can't wait to take a crack at a Thai major channel's first attempt to make queer content and BL-genre-influenced content a primetime offering.

This means that, once again, My School President has been held at a delay, but I will get to MSP soon, I SWEAR! (And....oops. I'm thiiiiiinking that I might watch My Love Mix-Up after MSP at literal warp speed, literally 1.5x, to do another piece on branded ships vis à vis G4 and Au Kornprom in 2022 vs. 2024. We'll see. I may not wanna do that to myself, but... but! For science?!?! Maybe.)

Here's the updated OGMMTVC syllabus for your perusal. ONWARDS!

1) The Love of Siam (2007) (movie) (review here) 2) My Bromance (2014) (movie) (review here) 3) Love Sick and Love Sick 2 (2014 and 2015) (review here) 4) Gay OK Bangkok Season 1 (2016) (a non-BL queer series directed by Jojo Tichakorn and written by Aof Noppharnach) (review here) 5) Make It Right (2016) (review here) 6) SOTUS (2016-2017) (review here) 7) Gay OK Bangkok Season 2 (2017) (a non-BL queer series directed by Jojo Tichakorn and written by Aof Noppharnach) (review here) 8) Make It Right 2 (2017) (review here) 9) Together With Me (2017) (review here) 10) SOTUS S/Our Skyy x SOTUS (2017-2018) (review here) 11) Love By Chance (2018) (review here) 12) Kiss Me Again: PeteKao cuts (2018) (no review) 13) He’s Coming To Me (2019) (review here) 14) Dark Blue Kiss (2019) and Our Skyy x Kiss Me Again (2018) (review here) 15) TharnType (2019-2020) (review here) 16) Senior Secret Love: Puppy Honey (OffGun BL cuts) (2016 and 2017) (no review) 17) Theory of Love (2019) (review here) 18) 3 Will Be Free (2019) (a non-BL and an important harbinger of things to come in 2019 and beyond re: Jojo Tichakorn pushing queer content in non-BLs) (review here) 19) Dew the Movie (2019) (review here) 20) Until We Meet Again (2019-2020) (review here) (and notes on my UWMA rewatch here)

21) 2gether (2020) and Still 2gether (2020) (review here) 22) I Told Sunset About You (2020) (review here) 23) YYY (2020, out of chronological order) (review here) 24) Manner of Death (2020-2021) (review here) 25) A Tale of Thousand Stars (2021) (review here) 26) A Tale of Thousand Stars (2021) OGMMTVC Fastest Rewatch Known To Humankind For The Sake Of Rewatching Our Skyy 2 x BBS x ATOTS (re-review here) 27) Lovely Writer (2021) (review here) 28) Last Twilight in Phuket (2021) (the mini-special before IPYTM) (review here) 29) I Promised You the Moon (2021) (review here) 30) Not Me (2021-2022) (review here)

31) Bad Buddy (2021-2022) (thesis here) 32) 55:15 Never Too Late (2021-2022) (not a BL, but a GMMTV drama that features a macro BL storyline about shipper culture and the BL industry) (review here) 33) Bad Buddy (2021-2022) and Our Skyy 2 x BBS x ATOTS (2023) OGMMTVC Rewatch (Links to the BBS OGMMTVC Meta Series are here: preamble here, part 1, part 2, part 3a, part 3b, and part 4) 34) Secret Crush On You (2022) (review here) 35) The Miracle of Teddy Bear (2022) (watching) 36) KinnPorsche (2022) (tag here)  37) KinnPorsche (2022) OGMMTVC Fastest Rewatch Known To Humankind For the Sake of Re-Analyzing the KP Cultural Zeitgeist (part 1 and part 2) 38) Honorable Mention: War of Y (2022) (for the sake of an attempt to provide meta BL commentary within a BL in the modern BL era), with a complementary watch of Aam Anusorn’s documentary, BL: Broken Fantasy (2020) (thoughts here) 39) The Eclipse (2022) (tag here) 40) The Eclipse OGMMTVC Rewatch to Reexamine "Genre BLs," Along With a Critical Take on Branded Ships

41) GAP (2022-2023) (Thailand’s first GL) (review coming) 42) My School President (2022-2023) and Our Skyy 2 x My School President (2023) 43) Moonlight Chicken (2023) (tag here) 44) Bed Friend (2023) (tag here) 45) La Pluie (2023) (review coming) 46) Be My Favorite (2023) (tag here) (I’m including this for BMF’s sophisticated commentary on Krist’s career past as a BL icon) 47) Wedding Plan (2023) (Recommended as an important trajectory in the course of MAME’s work and influence from TharnType) 48) Only Friends (2023) (tag here) (not technically a BL, but it certainly became one in the end) 49) Last Twilight (2023-24) (tag here) (on the list as Thailand’s first major BL to center disability, successfully or otherwise) 50) Cherry Magic Thailand (2023-24) (tag here) (on the list as the first major Japanese-to-Thai drama adaptation, featuring the comeback of TayNew)

51) Ossan’s Love Returns (2024) (adding for the EarthMix cameo and the eventual Thai remake) 52) Dead Friend Forever (2024) (thoughts here) 53) 23.5 (2024) (GMMTV’s first GL) (thoughts here)]

[thebroccolination]

Hi OP. :)

I’m just gonna. Casually. Sneak in here and.

SOTUS IS SO GOOD!!!

Without spoiling anything for people who haven’t seen them, the writing in SOTUS and SOTUS S is so strong, they remain two of the strongest series GMMTV has released to this day (along with Be My Favorite, in large part because it had The Gifted powerhouse writer/director Waa at the helm).

And like, SOTUS is what taught me to take Majority Interfandom Opinion with so much salt. Barrels of salt. Oceans of it. Entire salted galaxies. Because I see a lot of interfans ignore it or dismiss it because it’s “old” (2016 was only eight years ago I know it feels like ten times that but it isn’t I promise).

AAAAND I don’t know about now, but when I became a fan in 2020, the general consensus among interfans was that SOTUS S was boring (!!!) and by far the weaker of the two (!!!!!!).

When in reality, SOTUS S was actually more popular than SOTUS and cemented KristSingto’s place in the Cultural Zeitgeist.

[“Boys Love Media in Thailand” by Thomas Baudinette]

SOTUS is so good, and I’m really hoping The Ex-Morning encourages more interfans to take a closer look at it and why it was so influential because I really think it would help contextualize a lot of things about the industry and the culture.

P.S. Ahead of Ex-Morning: if I hear another wave of lazy interfans call Krist homophobic for clout and views when he has quite literally chosen to be a proud part of an historic cultural movement that continually challenges actual systemic homophobia and gender discrimination in his country, I will gnaw out their tibias. ♡

Maybe it’s because it had a lot riding on it as the first of its kind, but the first episode of SOTUS has editing and dialogue tempos that are so much tighter than most of its predecessors tbh.

[absolutebl]

I'd like to specify a request for good Thai shows that just finished. They're my favorite for many reasons, and I also enjoy getting to learn more Thai words.

Good 2023 Thai BL That Recently Finished (to Binge!)

(I actually held off answering this one until a few had ended this week because I didn't have many for 2023. It's not been great year for Thai BL so far IMHO. Now South Korea is KILLING it. So is Japan.. in a different way.)

My School President

9/10

GMMTV gave us a classic high school set Thai BL with tropes like messy boys singing their feelings that made this one Love Sick for the modern age with all the gentle sweetness and pining ache, but none of the dated damaging tropes or issues.

Yes, we’ve seen it all before, but I still ADORED this. And there is a lot to be said for the classics being re-executed perfectly. Who let my BL be this wholesome and funny? This show was fantastic, it’s only flaw was the singing (and that’s my baggage).

My favourite GMMTV BL offering to date. And yes, I've watched them ALL. (YouTube)

Step By Step

9/10

This was Thailand’s answer to The New Employee, and everything I loved about that show I loved about this one.

This was an office romance between stern boss and sweet subordinate that felt more authentic to an office environment than previous Thai BLs of this ilk. And that authenticity added tension to the narrative and character development (how novel). Now that might be because it has western source material, or it might be because it is actually kind of old-fashioned (it’s been years since I worked as an office grunt). I also really enjoyed the brothers’ relationship, and kinda wished they hadn’t attempted (and failed) to give said brother his own side BL.

(Gaga & YouTube & Viki)

La Pluie

9/10

This BL takes to task the fated mates trope and what it means to have love chained intimately to predestination. It’s about how faith in destiny before choice diminishes the authenticity of emotion, relationships, and connection. This is a high concept to examine through the lens of a BL.

By activating + examining the soulmates trope this show is challenging a foundation of romance: the idea that there is one person meant to be your one romantic partner all your life. This means that we, as viewers, spend much of the show worried about it having a happy ending, and that’s the source of both its brilliance and tension: would the narrative have the strength to truly challenge its own romantic core?

But, ultimately, all this elevated complexity was executed in a somewhat shaky manner with the narrative derailing into some serious pacing issues and characters manipulated by miscommunication. However, with good chemistry and decent acting all around, plus some excellent high heat and representation of consent and a few other rare tropes, this one has to (like it’s sibling show My Ride) earn a 9/10.

I enjoyed it even as it made me think. (iQIYI)

Make a Wish

8/10

PNR (from Sammon: Manner of Death & Triage) about a doctor who can see the dead and strikes a bargain with a wish-granting irreverent tree angel - naturally they fall in love.

Stars Fluke Natouch opposite not-Ohm, but who cares bc Fluke has chemistry with everybody. Once again the Thai afterlife is incredibly bureaucratic but I enjoyed the premise and the unfolding of the story (it’s not predictable but still satisfying and with nice little twist). I like that the doctor is just gay af and has a fag hag bestie and everything.

The cast is excellent but the comedic stylings are too overblown and tonally off. It had sad parts and did make me cry but is ultimately happy with a great sex scene, good smiley kisses, and all the agency. (grey)

Moonlight Chicken

8/10

I enjoyed this complicated little show, even though it’s spectacularly messy gay with lots of shrapnel and authentic pain.

I thought EarthMix turned in their most compelling performance to date. But it was GeminiFourth who stole my heart.

That said, the most interesting central relationship was that of Jim & Li Ming, their father-son angst mixed with evident affection made me tear up.

This was more slice of life than it was BL, but it ended happily so I’m not mad at it. (YouTube)

Never Let Me Go

8/10

Bodyguard romance where poor boy must watch over rich boy for family obligation reasons. Simple premise well executed with a few bumps that made it feel like it was trying to tackle too much (when it wasn’t).

Still, an enjoyable show that benefited from being handed to PondPhuwin who did a stellar job with their roles and chemistry. Is it going into permanent rewatch rotation? No, but a solid GMMTV offering. Of GMMTV passing out new series to established pairs this has been the most successful IMHO. PondPhuwin were about 10000x better in this than FUTS (and that's FUTS's fault, not theirs).

It's typically Thai in that its a bit bloated and has a confusing plot, but at least it HAD a plot and the central relationship is solid and loyal. Their Our Skyy 2 follow up is great. And very much adds to the cannon in a fun way rather than feeling superfluous - making this show ultimately 14 eps rather than the usual 12. (YouTube)

Destiny Seeker

8/10

A darn near perfect pulp featuring 3 likable grumpy/sunshine pairings with uncomplicated iterations of enemies to lovers. At least one half of each does a decent amount of pining and there’s good chemistry, classic tropes, and communication rep. It’s fun and full of linguistic jokes.

Sublimely cheesy but a good rainy day offering with tons of rewatch potential. (WeTV)

Bed Friend

8/10 (Triggers include: child abuse, attempted rape, family abuse)

Office frienamies transition a flaming hot one night stand into a f-buddy relationship that is built on a puppy/cat dynamic (and kinks into it at one point). Our puppy is loyal, smitten, and protective with endlessly longing eyes, while our cat is snarky, prickly, and deeply damaged (ALL THE TRIGGERS).

NetJames give lovely high-heat with excellent chemistry and tuned-in performances of surprising depth, unfortunately the story ultimately failed them. Had the show had the strength of its convictions and kept to a tighter, darker, harsher 8 eps it would have been the first high heat to earn a 10/10 from me, but once they fussed with it, it dropped to a solid 8/10.

Could have been great but was overworked. Still if high heat is your thing, this one will not let you down. (YouTube)

Between Us

8/10

Featuring the hugely popular side characters from 2019′s Until We Meet Again, Win Team (played by Studio Wabi Sabi's most popular, and commercially viable, pair BounPrem - Long Khong, You Never Eat Alone, Seven Project, Even Sun), adaptation of the y-novel Hemp Rope.

It’s a serviceable series about hot swimmers flirting and dealing with family drama in a sweetly earnest manner, but ultimately it squanders the talent in play. I would’ve preferred a cleaner narrative arc, less angst and more plot, fewer couples, and a shorter series.

That said, there’s nothing objectively wrong, sub-standard, or off-putting about this show. And it has lots of consent and other good qualities.

It’s fine. Watch along here. (iQIYI)

This list dated July 16 2023, not responsible for anything that came after, that'll probably be in end of year wrap ups.

[melto]

@the-evil-pizza it is such a stupid system and so deeply unfair to normal viewers and the actors. they literally trapped and will never be able to be challenged and grow with other actors. like i understand that sometimes there are just a pair of people who do really really well working across from each other specifically (like yinwar and bbpk. i realize neither of these pairs are gmmtv. nor do they ever have work lol) but its sooo boring and limiting. bl rpf culture i hate you i hate you i hate you!!! get something new for a change. take some risks. sell actual shows and not gaybaiting. let me pair people up based on if i think it would be funny or hot for them to kiss. i can fix you.

and ur sooo right. idt they can do these roles really even if it is based more off the manga. even if i like the idea of seeing tay tawan cute and stupid in love his best role is something that would make him a better fit for adachi. (which is why i think arm wc paired with him for this would he the saving grace bc he could not do adachi. it would be sooo funny and i want him too.) ik some people are like new can do adachi bc he played a weird virgin in the warp effect but like. that character is not the same as adachi they are different breeds. i get he’s 31 (idk how old new is idc enough to google) but it just. idk it feels like a weird fit and like they just wanted taynew back and had to pick their oldest couple pairing since everyone else is so baby. iirc when the director was talking about wanting to do cherry magic tay like listed off like every other person in their damn company and never once said his own name and then the director was like Uhmm what about you (: if u needed to bring taynew back just fucking. make petekao 3 or something. just get OUT of my house.

this place is a fucking nightmare and i will never be able to go back into the cm tag again