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maybe-boys-do-love · 1 day ago

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My Hopeful Little Queer Shows 🌈

Finally someone tagged me! Thank you @williamrikers I've been dying to participate in this one.

You'll notice I'm as ever long-winded and for some of these, I've spliced in some of my previous writing. But hope's a perennial interest for me as a viewer. I hope you don't mind.

Boys In Love

Hope...that I'm understood and supported

I've made it no secret that I share many similarities with Shane, and I'm lucky to have had partners like Kit twice in my life. Kit and the writing in the series treated Shane's autistic behaviors with delicacy, accuracy, and kindness far beyond what I've seen for an autistic character most anywhere else (coded or explicit), even opening my eyes to some overgeneralized social logics I had instilled. Mick played it's nuances beautifully, too. A spiky profile, as they say.

It balanced the support for his character with demonstrations of Shane supporting others' challenges. The ending made no promises for his future or the other boys, except that they could cherish being truly cared about for now as they took one step at a time forward. People like me and Shane are just people who exist in the world and make our way through life, and it fills me with hope to see creators and characters who understand and appreciate that.

The Trainee

Hope...that the world doesn't ask or require perfection from us

This was my first BL introduction to plot de-escalation. I'm trained to expect a mounting of conflict in my stories (fiction as well as nonfiction stories like the one's told on the news or by friends), culminating in an explosion of sorts, with a cause or person to blame and a few heroes who overcome that mess. Shows like The Trainee revealed how cynical and stress-inducing that line of thought was.

There was no 'gotcha!' moment here. The series brought us so many situations that could've sparked drama or set off a firing process for one of the employees. Maybe you felt some of the problems should've been dealt with that way. The point of the series wasn't the consequences of actions, though. Each week, instead, the episodes restored the dignity of its characters so they could learn and grow and let others inspire them to move forward.

The director's speech to the interns at their farewell party highlighted the central theme perfectly. "I remember the first day we met. I heard none of you were any good. I couldn't tell if three months later, you'd be any better. I just wanted you to find your own path and see your own worth." What kinds of grace and patience are we willing to give ourselves in order to seek out and work toward meaningful lives? And once we can offer this to ourselves how do we offer it to others? if you're feeling lost on your path in life and need a kind hand to comfort and guide you, I can't recommend a better internship than the one offered at Good Pick on The Trainee.

The On1y One

Hope...in hope, itself

I'll ask you to forgive me as I splice from my old posts because, while it was airing, I gushed about how The On1y One's open ending was all about the ability of us and the characters to hope. For me, with its thorough investment in the themes of ephemeral pain and beauty, The On1y One is a rare instance where the intangible hope for a future story we can't see lies at the very foundation of the series itself. It chooses to look at the moon instead of the coin. We have to believe in potentials and futures that didn't necessarily arrive for these characters. Author Marilynne Robinson writes in What Are We Doing Here, "We may all live in anticipation more than in present time, worry and dread pulling us out of the moment, too, but hope giving us better purpose, the imagination of what might fall into place, to our benefit or satisfaction. Hope shapes intention. It leaves improbable possibilities open." This series did not seal itself with a kiss the way many viewers seemed to want, but for me it artfully opened a door of possibility.

The last image we get in the series is that ellipsis of belief, moving us toward something we cannot see. After Jiang Tian symbolically reties the circle of his bracelet finally committing to a bond with someone after his years of abandonment, we return to the image of the glass pitcher filled with mint lemon water, whole again, at least for now.So it is with these two We hear a nondiegetic promise from Sheng Wang that he'll come back. It's ostensibly a promise to return to Class A for Jiang Tian. Things broken are rendered whole again, not exactly as they were, maybe not even in reality, but in hope.

Only Friends

Hope...that you're not alone in this mess

"We're selfish and vain creatures of beauty, and isn't it bizarre how we make the best friends in the world?" said a queen on drag race once. The queen who said the above quote, Sharon Needles, has since been widely disowned by fans for her offensive comments and other queens for her rude behavior and disruptive drug habits. The honest truth of queer friendship was at the heart of Only Friends, which more than any other BL attempted to capture queers in all their petty contradictions--it's not a coincidence that many of the emerging gay male podcast pairs start with this series.

How could that ugliness fill me with hope? Well, I've known these people, experienced these kinds of broken friendships, watched self-righteous discourse roll across my screen about who should be canceled, excluded, punished, and barred from our concern. Even a doctor's diagnosis that offers no cure can still be a comfort. You're not imagining it! A diet of narratives about everything only getting better has the side-effect of making the world a disappointment compared to the ideal insisted upon.

For a more literary perspective than drag race, writer Wendy Smith wrote about Chekhov that he "invites us to be tolerant and accepting, to see the inevitability of change, but to understand that it brings loss as well as gain. His characters can be foolish, selfish, oblivious, wrongheaded, even hurtful, but their longings and loneliness are so evident." The Realism of Only Friends comforts me. I am not a lone perpetrator of or witness to the mess of life. 'Shit happens' is a compassionate, hopeful message for a series to offer if you've felt alone amongst the shit. Gays, like any other group, don't deserve civil rights because they're morally pure--no one is. It's because they're human.

Cherry Magic Thailand

Hope...that people want to care for others

Achi, played by Newwie, is not unkind or inconsiderate, but Cherry Magic's gently-offered observation that his insecurity (like our own) derives and reproduces itself through negative assumptions about others' thoughts is profound. He doesn't realize it and would never do it intentionally. In fact, he admires most everyone and their capability. He just hast has a hard time seeing his own worth, and projects that blind spot onto others instead of seeking out their alternative perspectives. When we truly engage with others face-to-face, Cherry Magic believes we'll start to see how others admire the light we bring to the world, too.

Cherry Magic Thailand is overflowing with kindness and love. And it matters so much that it's a queer narrative at the center. Presuming others won't see your worth is so much more ingrained when there's such a prevalent history of it. This series insisted upon pushing past that history to create a new present in which we can appreciate that most people are genuinely seeking ways to care for other people. Maybe not to the sparkly-eyed level of Tay Tawan as Karan, but people will be thankful you see them as a person to trust and ask for support.

Let Free the Curse of Taekwondo

Hope...that the cycles of abuse and neglect can be broken

For all the hope that people genuinely want to care, I'm no stranger to the crueler realities of the world. Without diving into my personal history, I'll just say I'm fast to spot a dangerous glint in someone's eyes, and for a portion of my life, like Do Hoe, lived in fear and restraint at the thought of enacting some things I'd experienced.

LFTCOT in its Realism is an intense watch, but every moment depicts the two leads attempting to break out from the cruelty. The leads stumble and, without realizing it, stubbornly mirror the psychology of their families as they grow older, but always in a drive to move beyond those painful pasts. Particularly, I felt understood by the draw they both have to work with children, overseeing their growth, care, and protection in contrast to how they experienced adolescence. To watch them in the last episode soft and free from the entanglement of their shame and past miseries changed me.

Peaceful Property

Hope...that the current state of the world is not permanent

I won't even claim to be a strict Marxist, or anything, but hear me out. Marx wrote (and has been widely misunderstood for writing), "The theory of the Communists may be summed up in the single sentence: Abolition of private property." In Peaceful Property, we watch a landlord release his properties to tenants one by one, until he finally smashes a model of his own family's first home, releasing all their accumulated savings. It's one of many political threads sewn into a series that at the heart of the issue is more concerned about the spiritual alienation and loneliness everyone is made to feel from their work, from themselves, and from each other under this system.

It's not that I think a QL series or a whole slew of them will end capitalism, but I'm moved by the depth and the emotional sensitivity with which screenwriter P'Dome showed these theories (meta incoming on that front). There is a celebration of explicit and subtextual political density in the writing of Thai QLs that thrills me. American writers especially have as of late leaned into irony and tragedy to convey political messaging, but in Thailand, despite a more restrictive regime, they have found a means to transform their frustrations and knowledge into heartwarming broad-appealing entertainment brimming with commentary and hope.

What Did You Eat Yesterday?

Hope...that even the smallest gestures matter

The signing of a paper in someone's kitchen, a grocery errand for a bag of onions, flexibility in the household budget for a cuter cafe: these are some of the reasons I sobbed--often for more than half an hour--while watching this series. WDYEY is a slice-of-life comedy in nearly the purest sense. It focuses on such intimately mundane aspects of an older gay couple's life together. I could've included this for the hope it brought me as simply a rare model of older gay men, but it's more than that.

Shiro and Kenji's ages place them in a position to appreciate how the small gestures we perform make up our life, offering a balm when the world is chaotic or harsh and a blessing to existence when we could so easily take it's gifts for granted. Childhood's are spent, and parents' pass. Our own lives and those of the people closest to us are so much more precarious than we can bear to acknowledge all the time. In the face of these existential facts, the cooking instructions slipped into each episode become a ritual. We boil the water, mince the garlic, sear the salmon (it was on sale!), and someone will be home from work soon who will look at us and see the daily efforts we've put in to be in this world the best we can.

He's Coming to Me

Hope...that the people we've lost still matter

Remembering those we've lost in our art, in ceremony, and in even just in our hearts, HCTM insists, helps us to carry a part of them with us. Much of my adolescent awareness of gay men was shaded by the HIV/AIDS pandemic and its unfairness. It's a painful moment in history to recall, but how cruel it would be to move beyond the people who's lives were stigmatized and cut short by it.

HCTM found a profoundly uplifting queer metaphor to commemorate the passing of the torch from a lost generation to those who grew up unconsciously grieving their mentors' absence. Some felt cheated by the ending's refusal to fully bring P'Med back to life, but for me it affirmed that hope is never extinguished, not even by death.

A Tale of Thousand Stars

Hope...that I matter

There's a fine edge to deep-seated shame, which for many of us doesn't ever quite touch suicidality. Without breaking the skin, it merely presses down on our hearts with a sharp doubt about our worthiness, whether someone else might live our lives better than we are living them. With no way to restrain the blade, we put our effort into living our lives as an apology for who we are and what we can't forgive ourselves for. We live for others, and even if we can't find solace at least we try to be kind. The slow build-up of the depths of Tian's shame over the course of the series culminating in the cathartic star-counting scene, where Phupha grabs him by the shoulders on the mountain urging him, "No one should use their their whole life to repay someone else's," freed me from a weight years of therapy couldn't manage alone.

It was paired by a theme and a performance by Mix that highlighted the complex internal sense of femininity for many gay men that, due to social persecution and ridicule, can make them feel wrong and unworthy of life even under the most privileged circumstances. By the end, A Tale of Thousand Stars offered hope that I could accept myself--the dreams I have, the intuitions I feel, the paths I choose, the ways I express myself, even the mistakes I make--and at least a few people who mattered to me could love me compassionately without feeling affronted or abandoned when I choose to follow my heart where it needs to go. They'll still be there for me no matter what I do.

My School President

Hope...that it's getting better

Not in a utopic fashion, mind you, but watching MSP had me reflecting on how different my life might've been if a show like this been on The Disney Channel or ABC Family growing up. If it had been allowed there, it would've meant the broader culture was accepting of boys falling in love. I would've had feelings far less compartmentalized, conversations far more celebratory, crushes I could've fully realized, for which I'd roll off my bed in giggles and pouts like Tinn.

This series seems to be the most accurate reflection of what the (chaster-side of) adolescent beginnings for gay attraction can look like in the current culture. It's not entirely devoid of homophobia, but it's no longer so beholden to it. There is glee in the experiences and the media where struggle and tragedy once predominated. For all the awful things happening in the world, it's because of series like this I can see ways it's getting better. At least I hope so, and that's the point.

For anyone who read through all of this self-indulgence, bless you! Consider yourself tagged just for that feat.

And even though I know some have already done it and some won't participate, I'm specifically tagging @doublel27 @emotionallychargedtowel @williamrikers @mephistopheleswasrobbed @imminentinertia @firstkanaphans @scarefox @ginnymoonbeam @arminthada @hashtagiwannakissyou and @ohnomalora for talking about some of these shows with me and/or to enjoy the thrill of being thought of :)

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absolutebl · 4 months ago

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hi abl! I'm a huge fan of korean and japanese bl dramas and have devoured a bunch of them, but then I decided I wanted to try a thai drama and started lovely writer on a friend's recommendation. I only made it halfway through the first episode! it felt so overacted and oh my god the SOUND EFFECTS. they were driving me CRAZY. I know that's a common problem with thai bl, but I don't want to give up yet. any recs of more "toned down" shows for me to try? happy endings only, please! my favorite k/jbl series are semantic error, cherry magic, and love mate, if that helps! thanks so much!!!

Oh for sure, happy to help. I thought I already answered this one somewhere. Lemme check spreadsheet of doom...

Looks like not, so here we go.

10 Great Thai BLs with no (or few) BAD Sound Effects

Additional criteria: toned down, HEA, comps = Semantic Error, Cherry Magic, Love Mate (so you don't need high heat, slow burn is okay, and a little aggressive seme is fine too, got it!)

NOTE: If the GMMTV show is no long on YouTube it is likely on Viki or iQIYI.

1 A Tale of Thousand Stars

2021 GMMTV

With great casting and cinematography this drama nods at BL tropes but manages to elevate them (and itself) with a strong mature story concept about a spoiled rich kid who gets a heart transplant and becomes a teacher it order to pay out survivor’s guilt. On the way he falls in love with a local park ranger and contends with his own classism and escapist tendencies. Everyone seemed to perfectly suit their roles and GMMTV made the most out of its stable. Combined with excellent production (and post production) values, 1000 Stars is without question GMMTV’s most mature, charming, and smart BL series. I think it should go down as one of the top BLs of all time. I feel safe recommending this one to friends and non BL watchers.

I chose this first for you because it has no sound effects and a mature concept, it's very very classy. But it is a SLOW burn.

2 Cherry Magic

2024 GMMTV grey (sadly, with any luck Viki will eventually pick this up, but...)

A soft charming warm hug of a show about crushes and mind reading and self worth that really worked for me. With no-fuss execution from a consummate team (at GMMTV) and an OG lead pair (proving why they remain eternal and deserve to grow up).

Look, here’s the thing, Cherry Magic is a great Thai BL in its own right - not comparing it to any other iteration. But even when I do compare (and I've seen all the Cherries and read the manga) it stands strong. I, personally, like the Thai BL slightly better than the Japanese live action yaoi, but I think that’s because I just really enjoy Thai BL's style and I LOVE TayNew. Also all the kissing was both present and better in this version. As it should be from Thailand.

Now, even if your heart is lost to the original live action yaoi, this is a good way to understand what Thailand can do, and why it is the undisputed king of BL. But you do need to understand that is is a different take, an adaptation, if you will.

3 Bad Buddy

2022 GMMTV

This was GMMTV’s flagship BL and it started 2022 on a BANG (okay no actual banging but you know what I mean), starring heavy hitters Ohm & Nanon in a pitch perfect university Romeo & Romeo masterpiece that will give you domesticity meets pain whiplash throughout and jet lag at the end. Some of the friendship and family dynamics are overworked, but it has great production values, killer acting, and some conscious effort to correct for half a decade of Thai BL’s anti-queer mistakes.

This is the enemies to lovers BL to end all BLs. I chose it for you because of your love for Semantic Error, this is in a similar vein.

4 My Ride

2022 Gaga

Thai BL grew up with this pulp (the first ever to make my end of year top 10). It’s a truly lovely and special little show featuring the extremely rare pairing of sunshine/sunshine (AKA a cinnamon roll couple) plus mature explorations of relationships using one of the softest, sweetest and most innocent friends to lovers vehicles. Kindly, overworked doctor meets broken-hearted motorcycle taxi driver in an “other side of the tracks” slow burn romance. The support cast is excellent, making for great friendship groups and family dynamics. With honest queer rep that adds to, but doesn’t impede, the story, and genuine conversation about the nature of class, wealth, and classism, not to mention communication, honesty, and respect for boundaries, you can’t go wrong with this show. In other news, I am a sucker for a single dimple.

This is one of my "under appreciated gems" and if you can forgive it some of it's low production roughness I think you'll like the grit that comes with the sweet.

5 Step By Step

2023 Gaga & Viki

This was Thailand’s answer to KBL The New Employee, and everything I loved about that show I loved about this one. This office romance between a stern boss and sweet subordinate felt more authentic to cubical work than previous Thai BLs of this ilk. That authenticity added tension to the narrative and its characters' development (how novel). I also really enjoyed the charming side characters and the brothers' relationship to each other (although I could have done without that brother's side BL).

I chose this one specifically because of your Love Mate call out, although different dynamic.

6 ThamePo

2025 GMMTV YouTube (for now, I think this will move to a pay-to-play platform soon tho)

The boyband idol romance I've been waiting for from Korea, only Thailand did it instead. Quintessentially Thai and very GMMTV with good production values, great chemistry, and a solid support cast. It also was a hung romance mostly driven by external conflict and a found family reunion trope so I didn’t mind (too much) when that romance thread felt secondary. I loved it (except, of course, the singing).

I chose this because the visuals are on point (and your KBL addiction can only be explained in part through shallowness - solidarity) but also it's one of the better more recent BLs to fulfill your criteria. You want to know what Thai Bl is best at right now? This, this is it.

7 Wandee Goodday

2024 GMMTV

A charming modern Thai BL about a doctor and a boxer who start as a one night stand and then fall in love. Great rep for everything from Muay Thai, to safe sex, to FUN sex, to ace, to bisexuality, to smiley kisses, to the first legal gay wedding in a Thai BL. It’s a delight and I enjoyed (almost) every single moment of it. Without question its best traits are active positive representations of green flag boys, communication, and grown-up relationships but the chemistry is on point too.

Highly recommended as one of 2024's best pick-me-ups. Turn off your brain this is just a fun show. In fact, I think it might be time for a rewatch.

8 The Heart Killers

2025 GMMTV (iQIYI & Viki)

Jojo directs this action romcom about assassin brothers meets tattoo artist ex-booster & very flirty mechanic conmen. I dithered over how to rate this. It felt like an 8 show wearing a 9’s britches. There were dropped threads, forgotten characters, and unfinished plot lines even with a particularly long run time. And, for me, it doesn’t have significant rewatch potential. But it was fun (when one applies no expectations or logic) and I enjoyed the wildly unhinged relationships and, weirdly, music.

I mean nobody claimed that we needed Taming of the Shrew only with gay Thai hitman, but we really needed it. And no one asked for Petruchio as the gayest brat ever to strut his perfect skin and copped-top across our screen, and yet we loved him for it. Sure it didn’t make sense, was utterly absurd, but it was terribly earnest and sexy about it. In the end this goes hand-in-hand with all these other absurd crime pieces we’ve been getting since KinnPorsche, and frankly I like this one the best of the lot.

I'm not sure how you'll like this, it's a wildy soapy ride, and a bit EXTRA but the chemistry THE CHEMISTRY. Still, no skin if you drop it for reasons other than sound effects.

9 Your Sky

2025 iQIYI

As pulps go this is right up there with my favorite if all time, My Ride, but for different less complex reasons. This is a relatively simple yet endearingly old school story of a fake relationship between a sunshine sweetie and an older reserved rich kid who slowly fall in love. It's soft gentle low stakes leans on everything I love best about Thai BL. It’s a warm fuzzy robe of a show that will not hurt you.

Because you're used to shorter form BL you may find this slow, but that's okay. Get yourself a tropical drink or a bowl of ice cream and just... relax, enjoy. It'll all be alright in the end.

10 We Are

2024 iQIYI

I loved show, but it's last on this list for... reasons.

It was slow to find its stride (I didn’t get into it until ep 6) but I’m so glad I gave it a chance. It’s a soft ensemble piece with multiple couples (you will be introduced to most of GMMTVs pairs) and very little plot, but I didn’t care because it’s not trying to be anything more substantial. Essentially this was a series of vignettes covering one year of uni for a queer friendship group finding love, new friends, and laughter. Did it blow my mind? No. But it left me smiling and made me belly laugh quite a bit.

This one may be too MUCH much Thai BL muchness for you. So deifnately see if any of the others work first, especially Your Sky. This is more in that vein than others.

If those last 2 do end up working for you then you might also try Oxygen (2020 YouTube). Oxygen uses every BL trope in the playbook for one of the gentlest lowest angst BLs ever made. It’s a hyung romance (younger boy courts older boy) but very very earnest about it. Am I biased? Sure. This is probably one of my biggest comfort watches. But no one else ever seems to love it as much as I do.

I Thought About it But...

Okay so I took high concept and genre off the table because you didn't mention anything like that but I tend to rate those kinds of shows highly and it's one of Thailand's strengths in the BL sphere these days. So these are BLs I would ordinarily recommend but they are not JUST BL.

Until We Meet Again (YouTube) - my #1 top favorite Thai BL (the only one to have a 10/10 from me). Occasionally my all time most favorite of them all. May be a big dark for you, but if you could take The 8th Sense than you might like this.

Century of Love (Gaga) - If you don't mind some time travel-esk genre in your BL you might enjoy this one.

He's Coming to Me (YouTube) - this one has a strong paranormal element, but it is great. Boy and ghost boy fall in love, must solve ghost’s murder.

I Feel You Linger in the Air (grey) - an exquisite BL, from filming techniques to narrative framework (much like Until We Meet Again). But the ending is not entirely happy.

La Pluie (Viki ) - This BL takes to task the fated mates trope and what it means to have love chained intimately to predestination.

The Sign (YouTube) - This show is the opposite of toned down, it's literally everything (except straight) all at once. It's BL, queer, band of brothers, romcom, erotica, PNR, fated mates, police procedural, fantasy, mystery, suspense, and slasher. It’s the king of genre mash-up chaos. Sure, it's madness but there is genius in it. Was it a crazy unhinged mess +1 roll for damage? Yes. Yes it was. Did it manage to hold all those tangled threads together? No it did not. Was it also a charming, sexy, engaging, non-stop piece of entertainment? Sure thing. Is it perfect? No. But it was balls to the wall FUN. Emphasis on balls.

Other's that you might like but I'm not confident on because of your comps and "toned down" preferences.

Laws of Attraction (iQIYI)

Triggers for violence, beatings, death and torture depicted on screen. This is a great gay suspense thriller with several solid couples, fun plot, killer characters, queer rep, and a happy ending. It is, however, not at all toned down. Charn may be my favorite lead character in all BL. However, this show is not entirely BL, more on the fringe, like Manner of Death.

My School President (GMMTV)

You didn't name any high school BL and I can't remember but this may have a few sound effects and it gets and little frantic and angsty. GMMTV gave us a classic high school set Thai BL with tropes like messy boys singing their feelings. 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). One of my favourite GMMTV BL offerings of all time. And yes, I've watched them ALL. But you have to like high school angst.

Not Me (GMMTV)

How do you say antidisestablishmentarianism in Thai? + hot boys kissing who probably shouldn't be and convoluted soap opera identical twins plot... someone at GMMTV thought it made sense, we just here for the tattoos and the the Pride scene. GMMTV gave us a dark disestablishment narrative (in a time of civil unrest) with established queer award-winning director Anucha and starring the biggest guns of BL, OffGun and THIS WAS AN AMAZING THING to get to experience at the time - nerve racking but remarkable. But was it ACTUALLY BL? It certainly has a lot of BL elements, but in the end romance was not what this show was about, or even what it was genuinely trying to be as a performance piece. Still a remarkable moment in Thai cinema, certainly worth your time. Don’t worry, it all ends happily.

I gotta say I feel the same way about Lovely Writer. I think I dinged it a whole point because of those sound effects. (And I actually really loved that show.) The bad effects slow (but never stop) in the second half, but it is possibly one of the worst offenders. And there are A LOT of offenders.

Also here's me trying to explain why those sound effects.

(source)

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