#abaab zo

[randomjreader]

Ah yes my favourite trope: unhinged and non toxic (masculinity) friend groups:

[hummingbirdsinjune]

A day in the life of Thub

Bonus +

[cryingatships]

I wrote something?? A finished a fic??!!

Abaab got a fic out of me. I failed to resist ThreeZo cuteness and finally succumbed. You can give it a read here

Pls read tags ahaha

[gunsatthaphan]

🥺💚.

[chinzhilla-edits]

a boss and a babe; desktop wallpaper

like/reblog | @spearbinsung

don't repost or claim as yours!

[gennianydots]

Everyone moved on I stayed here.

[ginnymoonbeam]

Okay so I will ADMIT that A Boss and a Babe was kind of a mess in the back half, plot-wise. What's most frustrating is that with a few fairly minor changes it could have all flowed together fine and not required this sad little disclaimer in front of what's about to be a post full of praise.

BECAUSE

I don't know what to tell y'all, I still love this show very very much. Looking back at my notes from the GMMTV 2023 showcase, this is one I wasn't even planning to watch, because it looked super cutesy and I'm bored by the "cold-hearted boss meets sunshine employee, learns how to smile" trope. I don't remember what got me to try it after all, but I can tell you the exact moment I really sat up and took notice: it was near the end of ep 1, when they do a classic "bump into you at the door and you half-fall into my arms" bit. Cher's eyes in that moment are doing SO much - there's the comic shock you expect, but underneath there's this startled vulnerability and a bit of awareness that falls just shy of arousal. I was intrigued.

Book as Cher was giving a layered performance from the beginning, making it clear that there's a lot more going on than just a chipper intern, and as the series progresses we get to see how much darkness he's covering with that upbeat energy. The script wobbles but his performance, and the full sense of Cher as a person, stays on point and rock-solid throughout. He's one of my favorite characters to come out of this year so far, and that's a highly competitive field.

Gun balances Cher perfectly. He was never cold-hearted, just sad and lonely and resigned to staying that way. It's Cher's relentless optimism that wakes him up to the possibility of happiness, but once he's awake it's his steady certainty that becomes an anchor against all Cher's anxieties. He's older, he's experienced, he knows himself and what he wants, and that enables him to make space for Cher to run in circles until he can finally settle down by Gun's side. I've talked before about how their dynamic feels like dancing, and I stand by that, even if the writing of the final third took them through some unnecessarily convoluted steps.

Some BLs are just romances that happen to be about two boys, and some feel distinctly queer, and ABAAB is the latter. Gun and Cher are both recognizable types: the older sadder gay man who holds himself back from life because he's learned to expect loss, and the staunch "ally" who hasn't yet clocked his own bisexuality. And then there are the side characters: Three and Zo, a longterm happy couple who act as a model for what Gun and Cher can hope for, and Porsche, the ex-turned-best-friend. When I talk about recognizable types... the ex to bestie pipeline is SO REAL in queer circles and you never see it in dramas. Porsche's whole introductory scene had me crowing with delight. (I also loved the implication that Porsche and his new boyfriend have some kind of open situation, and that his and Gun's different feelings on exclusivity were one reason they broke up. Again, SUCH a real dynamic.)

What can I say? My love for the characters and relationships is big enough to overshadow most of the plot problems: I really loved this show. It made me happy (almost) every week, and it's going on my rewatch rotation for any time I want to smile.

[quodekash]

ITS ABAAB EP 7 TIME and i am sorry 

warning: lots of happiness, too much happiness. take a shot of water every time i say any variation of ‘HAPPY’. stay hydrated, folks. 

wait what happened to cher? did i miss something? 

i dont remember how the last episode ended so its very possible that i missed something 

awh 🥺

thE BED IS STILL ON AN ANGLE WHY IS THE BED ON AN ANGLE SOMEONE FIX THIS IM BEGGING YOU, ITS GOTTA BE A SAFETY HAZARD 

pls they look so comfy 

it looks like theyve been married for a thousand lifetimes 

so comfyyyyy

rIGHT, THEIR GROUP HAD A FIGHT, THAT’S WHAT HAPPENED TO CHER, I REMEMBER NOW 

YEYEYEYEYEYEYEYEYEYEAH BEACH EPISODE = PURE HAPPINESS AND DOPAMINE 

THREEZO AT THE BEACH 

WE’RE GONNA GET THREEZO AT THE BEACH 

IM LITERALLY ABOUT TO CRY IN ANTICIPATION OF BEACH

i know i already said it like four times BUT THIS LOOKS SO FREAKING COMFY WHAT THE HELL 

THREEZO THREEZO THREEZO

HELLO MY LOVELIES HOW ARE YOU TODAY 

theyre literally in the middle of the frame omg 

little babby 

i love him 

he’s tall but he’s smol 

his HAIR 

LOOK AT IT 

THE HAIR IS SO FLUFFY 

i think my favourite things about this series are jack’s hair and threezo

and theyre both tied for first place 

three’s apology to jack is so freaking sweet omg 

i love him too much 

he struggles with words and communicating but he wants everyone to be happy and he doesnt want conflict and he feels responsible for everything and he is perfection and also he’s either adhd or asd or both, i dont make the rules 

HAPPY

omg his awkward laugh is so cute why was that so cute 

his sweet little ‘hah hah’ 

HIS FACE MAKES ME HAPPY 

HAPPYYYYY 

(damn i did gun/force dirty on that screenshot) 

his freaking face

its making me happy 

this is a happiness overload 

im not used to this much joy in my system 

what do i do with it 

HAPPYYYYYYYYY

dads. 

everyone can see you btw. just letting you know. you’re just standing there, holding hands 

i mean that’s great, good job, not being scared is funky (but its also funky to be scared), it’s just that. you know. if your friends ask questions later and you dont want them to suspect anything then like. it’s your fault. 

altho maybe they dont care if their friends find out, idk at this point 

ignore me

HAPPY

everyone ganging up to push gun in the water. that’s what friendship truly is 

HAPPY

they teleported 

three was next to zo, jack was between cher and zo. they switched. 

hOW?

HAPPYYYYY

THE HAIR

LOOK AT THE HAIR 

they always figure out a way to squeeze it in 

OMG

SOBBING

IM SOBBING

THATS SO CUTE 

HELP

DAMN RIGHT 

his hair is a mess lmao

bRO

HE SAID IT

HE SAID THE THING 

ZOGUN FRIENDSHIP BONDING SCENE OMG HAPPINESS 

he’s known from the very freaking beginning 

before cher even knew 

the gaydar is strong bro 

HIS FREAKING FACE 

HAPPY

HE HAPPY 

PFFFFFFT

i love their friendship so much omg 

(that screenshot looks like hes about to punch him lmao) 

“zo, what is love?” i can feel it, im about to punch a wall or smth bc something threezo is coming 

“what is love for you?” “three.” yUP I KNEW IT OMG IM GONNA FREAKING CRY 

HAIR

FLUFFY FLUFFY FLUFFY ITS SO FLUFFY 

i think i love this man (and his hair) a little too much but its fine 

GJK3BERKJGBVRKEBGR

GUN WHAT THE HELL 

AGAIN, THEY LOOK SO FREAKING COMFY 

well shoot. thoop is mad at cher for being involved with gun. 

good news is: i dont think its homophobia 

it’s just that he doesnt want cher to move on from tian (thoop himself cant move on from tian) and he doesnt want cher to find a relationship because that means, in thoop’s eyes, he’s letting tian go, and thoop cant really deal with that because he’s ✨mentally ill✨

get some sleep my man 

I LOVE HOW MUCH HE LOVES HIS FRIENDS 

HES SO FREAKING CARING 

HE WOULD DO ANYTHING FOR HIS FRIENDS 

HED PROBABLY NEVER ADMIT IT BUT HE’S A REAL FREAKING SOFTY ON THE INSIDE 

1. ive never seen more serious finger guns 

2. you’re not bi, sir, why are you doing finger guns 

3. finger GUNs 

that is all 

FINAL THOUGHTS: 

if they dont give us a threezo kiss by the end of this show i will scream. 

[bookishforce]

only friends has broken me pls let it become a blip in history and give forcebook a new series with writers and directors that respect them enough to do justice and not cut their goddamn scenes 😭 i just want abaab season 2 or enchanté s2 let's be real i love three and zo and jack and tub and aoi SO MUCH as characters too my favourite cast of all time but also i love enchanté cast and would love a cute reunion give me phupha x wayo toooo i just want the wholesome no more edgy angst kthx bye

[cornyonmains]

I love ABAAB, and so appreciate ForceBook for being able to get through a simple kiss without forcing the director to use the take with the least open disgust. As a queer woman, that means everything to me with BL and GL. But like, the conflict in these last few episodes is way too contrived, it's happening all at once, and I'd honestly trade those vanilla NC scenes for just more believable non-sexual intimacy between all the characters. Three and Zo are over the top, and in an effort to make sure Gun and Cher's NC scenes are tasteful, the director has stripped too much intimacy from the characters, which makes the passion harder to buy.

This series started off so strong, but they're running it into the ground because, as usual, these BL directors drag the relationship build-up out for so long to avoid filming intimate scenes, that the story suffers because they have to shove all the intimacy, all the conflict, all the rising action, and the climax into like two episodes. ABAAB is such a great example of how fucked this homophobic formula is. It's so disappointing too, because this show did such a great job of conveying and speaking about genuine queer experiences, but dropped the ball telling a good story because it was trying to be too tasteful. Tasteful doesn't work for smutty soaps. This director needs to be gone tomorrow. He's not emotionally mature enough to be handling romantic dramas. Or he's so arrogant and he thinks the strength of his scripts has more appeal than the chemistry of the main couple, and they don't.

[randomjreader]

Ah yes, just Zo being an angry kitten and having Three entirely wrapped around his little finger

(This whole sequence of events below did not make sense to me btw, but oh well)

[hummingbirdsinjune]

I can't break formula now. No matter how sleepy I am. ABAAB Ep 10

- it's nice to see more emotions out of Cher

- Gun dropping a large sum of bail money on his future brother in law. Talk about being well off.

- not 😂😂 everyone babying Zo 😂😂 man has his life made

- is this accurate to the Thai jail system because. Culture shock

- 😂😂 so touchy about getting old, tsk, poor Gun

- oooh Gun didn't get over it he just learned the truth

- Thoop's step dad's dramatics are NOT cute 😠

- I connected the dots about two seconds ago

- Cher is 😂 so dumb but is it on purpose

- 😒 put Gun's mom on the irritating mom list

- supportive! Friend group! Circle!

- That shot of Force should be illegal. I'm calling the cops.

- remember when Cher was like "to prove how much of an ally I am in going to KISS you on your MOUTH." Look at him now 🥲

- why does the teaser for next week feel like "I'm sorry for all the drama here's just fluff"

[gillianthecat]

A Boss and A Babe - episode 2

Cher continues to endear himself to me despite all my expectations of finding him incredibly annoying. My darling ADHD baby. "Please pause before going on to the next thought." Uh no, sorry Boss that's not how our minds work.

But I love his irrepressible spirit, his absolute refusal to be intimidated by anyone, especially not this picky boss.

Right on the tail of watching SOTUS, I'm seeing a lot of overlap between the main couples' dynamics—the man with the power and the one who's like, Aw I know you think you're all tough and in charge, but I'm going to find you adorable anyway. Obviously Boss is not power tripping bully, just a tsundere rich man, so I don't have to hate him, but I love Cher and Kong for many of the same reasons.

(I'm just going to quietly ignore all the workers' rights violations of making your employee stay up late to ASMR you to sleep on the phone now escalated to video calls. We've gotta create situations of intimacy somehow to get the ball rolling on this romance.)

Others have talked about "straight ally" Cher's attack on homophobia and defense of marriage equality, and I nod my head along with them.

Mike as Jack continues to be beautiful.

Cher continues to appeal to me more than the story around him, but I'll survive.

I like Boss in this dark green suit w/ matching tie and shirt. Is that bottle green? I call that color bottle green in my head at least. Does this mean he's a Green Guy? Has @respectthepetty done the colors for ABAAB? I can't remember. (Absolutely no pressure! The opposite of pressure! I'm just musing cause I like the suit on him.)

Ok I'm trying not to focus on the office part of this office romance, but shouldn't the legal department be heavily involved in this decision? Shouldn't there be contracts in place saying what's Boss's and what's the smarmy ex-co-founder's? Or like, intellectual property law precedent or something? Not that I'm a lawyer. Or an entrepreneur. But I feel like this business is running off vibes and feelings, and that's not an effective strategy. </end uninformed yet oddly strong opinions>

Omg Zo and Three 😂🤣 I feel a toothache coming on from this🍬🍡🍭 overdose. They pull off these ridiculous lines though 😂

Force is doing just fine, don't get me wrong, but I still think a lot of things in this story would be better served by an actor who's visibly at least a decade older than the young employees in the cast. Like 40, 35 at the youngest. I don't know how old the character is supposed to be or where exactly the story is going, and perhaps his youth is a point, but I do find everyone's reactions to him as this intimidating authority kinda jarring in the context of Force's extremely youthful face.

Sometimes I love a big group meal (especially with upbeat acoustic guitar on the soundtrack) where the lonely uptight character starts to thaw a little bit, and maybe gets a taste of what belonging feels like. (I feel like the template in my head for this kind of moment is Gwyneth Paltrow in Sliding Doors.) Plus bonus Cher feeding Boss! (I eventually remembered his name is Gun but I still prefer calling him Boss.) In a very clear imitation of Zo feeding Three!

Yeah, everyone is noticing the vibes between these two. Interrogation time! Cher, what is going on between you and the boss, hmm? Aw, mon cher Cher doesn't know yet, sweet thing.

This and Bed Friend are very different shows, but I keep getting the casts of coworkers mixed up in my head.

The imaginings of them in bed together are grudgingly winning me over, I guess. Just because they're so cute like this. (But who is imagining it? Cher? Gun? The audience? It's all too vague as a storytelling device.)

Okaaay revealing your friend's private medical information to his coworker! Like, I'm guessing the show's intent is to de-stigmatized mental illness. But in universe it's a, ah, pretty fucked-up thing to do 😬

I kinda love Aoi's blatantly transparent "manipulation." Oh man, but Cher stayed quite late for her document. What a sweetheart.

Uh-oh. I was worried he was going to lock himself out of the office building, but it looks like there will be other trouble caused by the front door. My guess, Thyme the ex-co-founder will try to sneak in to steal company secrets. Am I right? We shall see.

Aw and his knight in shining armor is here to save him from the rain 😍

"Fasting for seven days is easier than stopping bad-mouthing for seven hours." Oh yeah this man has ADHD for sure. I don't know if the writers know this, but I know this.

"Though I have lots of responsibilities, I'm actually not that older than you." Well I guess that answer one of my questions. Still, I think this would be much richer as an age gap romance. I'm not even a major age gap fan, I just feel like it's what the story is wanting to be and Thai BL casting conventions held it back. (Again, no shade to Force who's doing great.)

But also these two are so cute together, and there are other advantages having them be near age peers, so who's to say.

Aww, my poor baby capitalist, carrying around all this guilt and self-loathing. (This sounds sarcastic, and it is a little, but I also genuinely love and feel for baby capitalist Gun.)

That man was about to kiss his intern right then and there. And I for one cannot blame him; who could resist after Cher's speech. (I am glad he resisted though, none of us (neither Cher, Gun, nor me) are ready for that yet.)

Cher what are you saying? "More than a hug"?! Are you teasing him on purpose? Did you realize you almost got kissed?

Um maybe? I can't figure out exactly how oblivious Cher is about his own sexuality and his attraction to Boss. But he's definitely asking for a kiss now.

However! The tension in the air is electric! The whisper in Cher's ear! (The kiss itself... eh... pretty dead fish tbh, but we won't dwell and at least that makes sense in context.)

Ok, the second kiss is significantly better, so fair. The first one was merely a challenge, this one is The Kiss. (I mean, it's not going to make my top kisses of BL list, but it adequately conveys their attraction to each other.)

So I guess Cher and Gun were ready for a kiss after all. I will just have to catch myself up.

And that's a wrap! Second episode and we've already had their first kiss, this is moving faster than I expected. I'm still not really sure what either of them are thinking about the other, but I find o don't mind, for now.

A Boss and A Babe continues to way outperform my (admittedly low) expectations. It's gentle, but with enough bite to keep it interesting to me, and Cher and Boss have a chemistry that works well for the story. I'm not exactly sure where things are going, especially because I was not expecting a kiss until the last quarter of the show, so my assumptions, such as they were, are all upended. But I find I don't mind.

[gunsatthaphan]

“I can’t breathe.”

[gennianydots]

I think… I think. ThreeZo is my favorite part of A Boss and a Babe.

[inonetoomanyfandoms]

Our skyy 2 overall mini ratings

This is just me giving my unneeded opinions. This is all relatively at face value btw.

NLMG: 7/10

Would never expect anything else from the doomed delusional lovers. I honestly really loved Palm in particular in this. Would’ve loved more context for background characters (aka why the fuck is Marc there) but I liked watching them work together a helping others again. Otherwise was good.

SIMM: 4/10

They dragged it too much for my liking. Cute but highly annoying by the time we reached like the end of ep 1. Would’ve been better with just one ep or if they also did sky in your heart. It would’ve been nice to see Prince and Fah again. Also robbed of Sean and Maitee

The Eclipse: 6/10

I think khaofirst’s chemistry saved this. I loved seeing them all together but AkkAyan’s emotional constipation is showing and isn’t solving idk. I also would like to know why they uncomfortably suggested a relationship between Wat and Teacher Sani. Like I know they’re out of school but still. Neo is still gorgeous as ever and Thua still gets on my nerves.

Vice Versa: 7/10

I think the main reason I liked this a lot was cause the lack of product placement. I thought it was actually super cute and I loved Puen and Talay taking care of a child together. I don’t think that would be legal though but yknow. Also I’d love to understand the thought process of giving your nephew to your friends to solve their marriage problems. But apart from that honestly I actually enjoyed it.

MSP: 8/10

I’m too biased to make a legitimate opinion on this so I’ll save my breath. I thought it was a great a idea to swap and I really think they delivered tbh. I just think though that the original series nailed the casting cause as much as I love fourth playing Tinn he just couldn’t nail it like Gemini. This applies the other way around although I do think Gemini did a slightly better job at playing Gun. Literally only problem I have was that it was little awkward.

That and that fucking bullfrog song getting stuck in my head at worst possible times.

ABAAB: 7/10

I understand the timing of it airing but that was cruel to put it in between MSP and BB like cmon. Because a boss and a babe is great and actually the our skyy was pretty damn good considering everything. Gun needs to chill though this man. Also I don’t think I’ll ever get over how cute Zo is. Like if I was Thi I would also treat him the same way he’s so cute. But it really did feel like a nice little special (two) episode, it was nice.

Bad Buddy and ATOTS: 8/10

I am also too biased here to give a stable opinion. This fed all my dreams and more. I loved the parallels both to themselves and also across shows. I understand how phupha and tian are a lot more emotionally constipated than patpran my gosh. But honestly I really loved it despite its rush. They did however spend way too long lost. Like they could’ve fit a bit more character development in those times but I guess you gotta make up the budget so.

Overall thoughts:

giving many 7/10 but honestly most of these were just simply good. Not mind boggling great but I wasn’t disappointed.

Obviously pretty much all of these were rushed and half baked in some sort of way but that was expected considering it’s only two episodes and they’re trying to cater to headcanons and fan service at the end of the day. The callbacks and domesticity of the shows is pretty evident of that.

Overall it was fine to be honest. It was relatively true the way the characters are and it gave us just that extra bit people would like. I can’t complain about being given exactly what I was expecting.

I can’t wait to see all of the actors again!!!

(especially baby Ohm I love him so much)