#absolute zero meta

[bengiyo]

Absolute Zero Ep 1 Stray Thoughts

I’ve been waiting for this for so long. I have listened to the moody playlists and gotten into my headspace for this. Time for Sad Gay Boy hours!!

2008? Peak sad boy era for me!

Incredible selection of films in this rental store. Railway Man, Star Trek: First Contact, The Patriot, The Chronicles of Narnia, The Perks of Being a Wallflower, and LOVE OF SIAM.

We just started and our boy is already sad. We are so fucking back.

“If math doesn’t define zero, then I’ll be the answer.”

He rented Kill Bill and two other films. He is definitely a boy.

Looks like one of our future people is already here.

A grave for his parents? Is he Catholic? I’m home.

You can’t be in a Studio Wabi Sabi joint if you can’t cry.

I’m gonna need a Thai-speaking fan (maybe @lurkingteapot or @recentadultburnout) to give insight about the book he’s reading at 8:00

I’m so into the mysterious vibes of this foreboding conversation.

Meeting a boy because of selected seats at a movie theater because you both went alone? Honestly, the dream.

Boy Sompob singing over two boys having a meet cute? Now this is BL.

They’re here to see the same romcom again!!

New Siwaj has a type. These boys kinda resemble Tee and Fuse.

The boys have hair on their legs.

Suansoon understands the fundamentally communal nature of watching a film in a theater of other people even if you go alone. I am already in love.

Ongsa is definitely flirting, but now why is he crying?

Ongsa is classy for bringing a blanket to sit on for the outdoor film.

THEY ARE WATCHING THE LOVE OF SIAM AT THIS OUTDOOR THEATER!!!

Now they’re bonding over sad wishes to a meteor. Incredible.

I can’t believe the cut to the future at “Will you be my boyfriend?”

Welcome back, Nat!!!

OMG the meteor shower yes was so fucking cute I’m going to melt.

These two grew up to have a big TV that doesn’t look sloppy on the wall. I’m so proud of them.

Aw, the video store owner passed away, and they’re asked to take all the DVDs.

They have a projector in their bedroom because of course they do. Obsessed with them.

Oh, and there’s the tragedy.

Next week, the time travel perspective begins.

Friends, mutuals, and beloved BL fans, abandon all hope of me being normal about this show. We have sad gay cinephiles who found each other at a movie theater and then stayed together for ten years. If you write about this show or make anything please tag me. I want to discuss every aspect of this show. This was gorgeous and felt so intentional.

[neuroticbookworm]

I'm a tad late to the Absolute Zero party, but before I start screaming about how good episode 1 was, a little background:

I've not watched a single show directed by New Siwaj. I've watched one (1) show written by him -- Double Savage, and if I never think about that show ever again, it will still be too soon. I have zero minimal New Siwaj baggage and will therefore be the control subject of the Absolute Zero watch experience.

Now that that's out of the way, Y'ALL. THIS EPISODE. WAS SO GOOD. I LOVE sad stories that make me feel like my heart is being punched out of my chest, and this show is already so goddamn sad. Suansoon's parents have been dead for SIX years, and he's lonely and grieving and depressed, and @twig-tea made the incredible observation that he also seems stuck in time, unable to move on from his loss. He meets Ongsa in an adorable movie theatre meet-cute that spoke so deeply to my sucker-for-classic-romance-tropes heart.

And it seems like Ongsa might already be aware of the time loop shenanigans, from him pursuing Suansoon so quickly -- "I wished Suansoon to be my boyfriend", to the unexplained tears he shed after watching Suansoon just smile and enjoy his company (and an icecream, yum!). Which adds to the intrigue, and to the overall melancholia of the show -- Ongsa wanting a relationship with Suansoon, just being present in Soon's life and making memories, even though he (potentially) knows in advance that it's gonna end in tragedy is some Arrival levels of sadness I was not expecting.

And most importantly, it's not all grey and gloom. The overall tone of the episode was definitely melancholic, yet the lighter moments of laughter, domesticity (cc @troubled-mind), and just.. contentment that Soon experiences in Ongsa's presence did not feel out of place. It was seamless and flowed well with the undercurrent of sorrow. And when I shared this with @bengiyo, he said, and I quote "Exactly, that's why I knew (the show) was gonna fuck us up". And he is absolutely correct. And I cannot wait to go fetal on the floor and just sob over these characters when the show finally decides to ruin us.

P.S: There are two sad gay shows currently on air (I Feel You Linger In The Air, my beloved) involving 1. time shenanigans and 2. smoking hot men that @lurkingshan, @waitmyturtles and I can't stop ogling (though @waitmyturtles is currently alone in the "simping for Pastry Nat" camp) which is all a long-winded way of saying that we're having the time of our goddamn lives!

[twig-tea]

Absolute Zero Making Zero Sense: Ep 4

This is going to be a bit messy because I have a lot of emotions lol I held back on ep 3 because I really wasn't sure how to express everything, and I wanted to give myself and the show time to get it right. But this week I feel too much to hold back.

Unlike most folks last week, I was actually expecting the pace slow-down, because, if we're in a linear timeline, I knew there wasn't that much time before SuanSoon was going to disappear again, so we were going to have to spend more time with Time Traveller!SuanSoon (TT!SS) and young Ongsah to fill the time. I was assuming that TT!SS had remembered his time as a kid and realized the weird things that had happened around now were himself so maybe we were going to see more of that, but now I'm not so sure he's being that intentional; things like the phone call (which I was assuming was TT!SS because who else would have SuanSoon's number--which was it's own depressing realization) but we clearly saw in this episode that it wasn't him. And now I'm thinking maybe he didn't remember his stuff getting taken in from the rain or the exact day he moved in next door. Maybe I've been giving him too much credit this whole time.

Similarly, I have been struggling with what the relationship between TT!SS and Ongsah was accomplishing, for TT!SS or for the plot. At first I thought maybe TT!SS was thinking that the only reason why Ongsah paid attention to him was because he'd met TT!SS and he was going to have to play matchmaker, which would have been a heartbreaking statement about his own self-worth as a kid. But when he didn't say anything about Ongsah using those tickets alone, I figured oh, TT!SS was thinking of maybe preventing Ongsah and SuanSoon from meeting in the current present (especially after a couple other things he said last episode). And like @bengiyo and @lurkingshan I was wondering what the heck he was doing, then, spending time with young Ongsah?

This is what I wrote in my draft last week that I never posted:

What I'm suck on is what SuanSoon is meant to take away from this journey to the past if it is an unchangeable timeline. It's clear that this relationship between SuanSoon and Ongsah is pivotal to SuanSoon's life. I'm guessing, based on what we've seen, that this opacity about what the heck SuanSoon is doing is intentional because his plan is fucked. I'm going to put down a clown checkpoint and say SuanSoon might be thinking if he as an adult has captured young Ongsah's attention then maybe he won't be interested in his younger self and that will save adult Ongsah? If that's the case, it's a fucked up plan and so cruel to himself and to Ongsah, and such a heartbreaking statement about his own self-worth. With Ongsah finding out about the time travel (I'm assuming he's seeing dates somewhere on that phone), if SuanSoon tells him, there's no way Ongsah could stay away. If Ongsah fights him on it, maybe he can convince him that SuanSoon has value. After going back to ep1, I'm now thinking that speech older SuanSoon gave to younger SuanSoon was possibly as much meant for himself as an adult as it was for himself as a child. "Make yourself stronger. Respect yourself. And believe in love. Don't be alone".

But now I think even that was giving TT!SS too much credit. It hit me watching today's episode: I think he's just spending as much time with Ongsah as he can, because he thinks he's going to have erased him from his life in the future. That's why he's not in any urgency to get back, and why he keeps vacillating between pushing Ongsah away and holding him closer; he's in tension between wanting to be with Ongsah and wanting to let Ongsah go. The grief we saw him feel towards Ongsah to date is (I'm guessing) not about Future!Ongsah potentially dying, it's about TT!SS erasing their relationship and losing the only family he has, as well as his relationship with the person he loves most, from the life he's going back to.

Now, that being said, if that's what this show is doing, it's not doing it very well. We didn't get any indication from our time in the hospital to indicate that anything is permanently wrong with Ongsah, nothing to indicate that the accident was in any way SuanSoon's fault, and it's just basic time travel logic (which SuanSoon as a consumer of media should know) that changing one bad thing that happened doesn't mean things will go better; if he didn't meet SuanSoon maybe he would have died from a different car crash years ago! A random car crash during a commute is a ridiculous thing to try to avoid via throwing out a ten-year relationship. I dislike "I'm leaving you for your own protection" plotlines most of the time, but this one makes even less sense than usual, and there are not very many reasons for it (not even bad reasons) in the show to give it any legibility.

Even putting that aside, this is so, so cruel to Ongsah. TT!SS is giving him a taste of the love he could have had in this other timeline of just about a month and a bit before presumably disappearing, and then his plan was to prevent Ongsah from having the happiness of their relationship for the next ten years at least? But also he has not been upfront with Ongsah, it seemed like he didn't actually have a plan to tell him who he was or where he came from, and he's made it clear he was missing someone else, so poor teenage Ongsah has been left grappling with the confusing mixed signals of someone ten years older than him who should be emotionally mature enough to not be yanking him around this whole time.

And it's frankly even more cruel to SuanSoon, who is the same age, but has no friends, no family, and at the moment, no belief he can have or deserves either. To take away Ongsah from SuanSoon's life is the cruelest thing TT!SS can do to himelf. There's a self-hatred in this that is just--devastating.

I would guess that all of this stems from TT!SS undervaluing his presence in Ongsah's life, both before and after time travel. I can understand how someone would be that way after losing their family and being a loner for several years, and then only having one other person, who was their everything but who had other friends, family, etc. always surrounding him. I'm just....mad that he was not adult enough to make his own emotional baggage young Ongsah's problem. (@waitmyturtles you basically made this point last week and I was internally waffling but I'm now with you; dude needs to Adult a little more). And I think that I'm filling in a LOT of blanks and making guesses to try to give the show the benefit of the doubt, but I don't know for sure I'm right.

And due to the pacing, we understand just how much time he's had to think this through, and this is the best plan he's come up with? Sir, I am unimpressed.

I'm also confused about where this show is going to go from here. I still think that if I were Ongsah, no way in hell would I stay away from young SuanSoon, even not knowing the details of how knowing him would result in my death in a decade. Especially at 17-18, a decade sounds like forever! We've only got a bit more time with TT!SS in the past, since we know from ep 1 that he first moves in to the apartment a couple of weeks before the film where Ongsah and SuanSoon meet (because the video store guy tells SuanSoon about the film opening 'in a couple of weeks' around when he hears from the landlady that she's rented the apartment next door), and he's disappeared by that day (because SuanSoon goes to look for him and the landlady tells him he's already disappeared). So TT!SS and Ongsah only have a little more time together, and then TT!SS will go back to the future....and there's no way Ongsah actually stays away, right? So will the rest of the show be the two of them as adults talking through this decision SuanSoon made that Ongsah has had to carry with him for the last ten years? How will that possibly fill 8 more episodes???

I'm also still unsure why TT!SS had not met Ongsah's friends and boss. Was he just like, suddenly good at remembering to be a time traveller, or does Ongsah keep SuanSoon from them, out of fear they'd put it together somehow that Ongsah's new boyfriend SuanSoon is an awful lot like TT!SS who used to tutor them but younger? It would be kind of weird, but also quite the leap.... and if so how the heck does he manage that??? Does Ongsah kick these people out of his life? Did TT!SS rob Ongsah of these important relationships (unintentionally) with his selfishness?

Also, why does Ongsah cry when SuanSoon eats ice cream??? (When they were going to get ice cream this episode I was like ahA! Here it is! But nope Ongsah wasn't even there for that conversation and it didn't explain anything).

If it isn't a linear, immutable timeline after all, then why put so much effort into establishing it as one?

And what was with that phone call???? (if it was just about SuanSoon not hearing TT!SS talk to him, he could have just left his headphones in). Who was calling and why?

If these butterflies are about love, why are they only appearing in EP4????? (to be fair I think they did appear in ep1 briefly).

Ok that was a rant. In summary, I'm mad that TT!SS as a character is being cruel to two teenagers (his future boyfriend and his younger self) and is too busy illogically taking accountability for his boyfriend's car accident to take accountability for his actual behaviour. And it's not clear to me right now that the show knows just how cruel he's been. This part I won't pass judgment on yet, because there's more show to come, but I am side-eyeing it. Hard.

I'm also, less fairly, mad that TT!SS is less competent than I hoped he was being as a time traveller. (This is a personal failing of mine; I have a competency kink and when a character is incompetent I find it harder to like them, and sometimes I'll read competency where it doesn't exist just because I want it to have been there).

I'm more fairly mad at this show for setting up so many cool timey-wimey things and then not following through, or not setting them up in a cool way. Like, we could have had more unexplained moments in ep 1 that we see TT!SS make happen in 3/4, but why show us TT!SS sneaking into SuanSoon's apartment just to move laundry that we didn't know had been moved until afterwards?

That phone call better be important later. And I better get a scene in which Ongsah watches SuanSoon eat ice cream and something meaningful happens!!

Well, I feel a little better.

Thinking about what's to come, we still need to set up that speech from TT!SS to SuanSoon in ep1 so that it makes any sense at all; as it stands if TT!SS is going to give up on his younger self meeting and falling in love with Ongsah, then what was that speech about to SuanSoon right before the Once theatre showing where SuanSoon and Ongsah meet? "Make yourself stronger. Respect yourself. And believe in love. Don't be alone". Is TT!SS hoping SuanSoon will open his heart to...someone else? How DARE he tell SuanSoon not to be alone when he is by his actions trying to make him more alone?? Maybe Ongsah will convince TT!SS over the next episode or two that actually he's worth risking his life for, and that speech is really meant for TT!SS as much as it's meant for SuanSoon? Is that again giving TT!SS too much credit?

it would potentially be cool if Ongsah also gets to time travel back to the past (we didn't get hints that this would be the case because the cast didn't talk about adult Ongsah's chemistry with the kids the way they did with adult SuanSoon, but maybe they've been hiding it) and undermine some of what TT!SS has been doing, to keep the timeline linear and maybe explain a few open threads (like the phonecall!!!!!), and to make things a bit more equal (I'm thinking about all of those great conversations around Be My Favorite, and the inequality of time travel in a relationship). I would also be into a really heavy reckoning for adult SuanSoon when he gets back to the present by adult Ongsah, because in theory Ongsah has had to live with the knowledge that SuanSoon was willing to sabotage their relationship for the past decade, and that's got to mess up a person (and a relationship), and TT!SS deserves to be yelled at a lot. But that wouldn't be a very timey-wimey back half, so would be a weird thing to take up the remainder of the show. Maybe we get an It's A Wonderful Life situation, where SuanSoon gets to see what their lives would be like if his attempt had worked, so that he can understand his value in Ongsah's life, ideally before he gives that speech to his younger self?

I don't know. I'm just so mad at SuanSoon for his calmly and carefully setting out to break Ongsah's heart and ruin his own younger self's happiness with barely any justification, and I am feeling disappointed that the show doesn't feel as tight as it did in eps 1 and 2. What could potentially bring this show back for me is if it becomes about TT!SS realizing how bad the decisions he's making are, and being brought around to young Ongsah and SuanSoon getting together after all, and apologizing to Ongsah for the (intentional or not) mindgames, maybe. I'm also wondering about pacing and whether they were just given too much time in a 12-episode series to tell this particular story (though it's definitely too soon to make a call like that).

[Also shout-out to @nothingsbetterthancoffee for chatting with me about this show in the DMs and helping me with my sense of the timeline by sharing dates!]

[waitmyturtles]

Absolute Zero, episode 1 RANDOM THOUGHTS (more like FEELS and SQUEALS and HAPPY PIPS, here we go):

1) New Siwaj's latest prestige BL. Man, we've had some dips from him lately. I FAST-fast-forwarded through Between Us to get to the DeanPharm bits, and listen, I shoulda just listened to my friends (insert the Bugs Bunny "NO" gif here). And I have a pathetic love for Double Savage, a show that New Siwaj screenwrote and that aired earlier this year, for its POTENTIAL to tell an intergenerational familial trauma story headed by OhmPerth, but lord, it was a mess. At the same time, I have been impaled with a thirsty obsession over my watch and rewatch of New's Until We Meet Again, so with New going high for this latest show -- I have BIG expectations.

2) @bengiyo and @twig-tea (here and here) covered a TON of what I am thinking (and apologies to friends if you wrote AZ things yesterday and I missed them -- like @bengiyo, I would love to be tagged in your meta to track thoughts on this show!) (I think @troubled-mind is getting into this one, maybe we already have a little AZ squad going!). Further apologies and big ups to Ben and Twig if I repeat anything you say! Which I will, right now, repeating Ben's words:

3) FUCK if I didn't feel some nostalgia hearing Boy Sompob's voice again. I really do feel like this means that New is THROWING. DOWN. The music in this show is already fantastic. The music was SO IMPORTANT to the storytelling in UWMA, and I'm glad we're leading with it again here.

4) I am VERY PLEASED to see Mix Wanut (young Suansoon) holding down as a lead. We didn't see him too much as Don in UWMA, but: I thought his timing and comedy was particularly notable in UWMA (when Don was able to lighten up a bit near Dean, I thought it was really great).

5) Speaking of the actors. I'd like everyone to know (poor @neuroticbookworm and @lurkingshan have already heard me yelp on this). Teng Kanist, who plays the older Suansoon. He was fabulous as Nat in Gay OK Bangkok. Nat was a contradictory character, but let me be honest -- I felt a little symp for Nat because I like Teng's face. I admit it, I'm weak and transparent for dudes.

BUT: we all need to know that Teng Kanist IS ALSO A REAL-LIFE PASTRY CHEF who also GOES TO THE GYM. Therefore, we have a perfect man (for me lol) in our midst. Just need everyone to know! Croissants and abs and sets. SOLD!

6) Ahem, where was I. As an #old, seeing middle-aged dudes in a drama is what I need. I like that Absolute Zero is going to do this for us: to juxtapose the expected BL school scenes with two real adults in real adult settings. I love this. And I love that I know we are going to get more elders next week in What Did You Eat Yesterday?, and elder-ishes very soon in Cherry Magic Thailand and Cooking Crush. We need to age-diversify this field, and New is leading this season.

7) I love how fast we needed to get to young Suansoon and young Ongsa getting together. From the MDL description of the show, it looks like Absolute Zero may have a similar structure to UWMA. UWMA was like a three-part series: the first part being Dean and Pharm getting together; the second being their discovering their spiritual pasts through their shared inherited memories and meeting their families; and the third being the conclusion with their resolving Korn and Intouch's forced separation at death.

If Absolute Zero follows a similar structure in a shorter episode span (right now, MDL shows AZ having 12 episodes, as compared to UWMA's 17 episodes), then I understand AZ needing to be a bit chop-chop about the romance. But I felt that this episode was still perfectly paced, and yes -- dropping the faen in the first episode could seem a touch fast, but I felt that we had convincingly spent intentional time with Suansoon's loneliness to understand why he would have said yes to Ongsa. (And, anyway -- of course, we needed to know that they got together, because we time-jumped to their loving adult relationship.)

And I loved young Ongsa's approach. A guy looking and chasing after his crush. The romance of buying tickets to a movie, hoping the guy he likes will show up. Giving Suansoon a birthday bracelet at the movie. Holding Suansoon's hand and asking him the big question.

Man.... ahhhh. What I loved about that bracelet scene is that -- the gift of that bracelet did a lot of the communicating from Ongsa to Suansoon without words. Suansoon was clearly touched and moved. The loss of his parents shakes him, but he clearly got a lovely moment of connection from that gift. Mix acted that part beautifully.

8) The Love of Siam. What can I fucking say. I haven't seen My Only 12%, where I know New makes another significant reference to LoS there. But, just. I'm very glad @bengiyo insisted on LoS being the start of the Old GMMTV Challenge, in part because of the references to LoS in other Thai BLs over the course of the genre's short history, but also -- the tragedy of that movie communicates SO MUCH when it is present as a reference in another piece. Just like the bracelet communicates so much by way of love. I love that we got to see the pre-ending credits quote. I love that New's communicating to us through this brilliant movie.

I am sure I can find more to gush on, but let me stop here, because this got longer than I expected. I can't manage a full load of dramas, so I'll likely be dropping my thirst-watch of Dangerous Romance to accommodate AZ and WDYEY. Just like I am praying for Tee Bundit to not drop the ball on I Feel You Linger in the Air -- let us hope New can also keep the juggle up on AZ. He started this out STRONG. I HAVE HIGH HOPES.

[starleska]

Here to talk about the little cricket (?) dude you've been talking about, Lux I think his name is? Anyway I haven't seen such a accurate rubber hose character since cuphead and little fella is really cute! (Since he's from Dr Who I assume he's malignant in some way? Idk I don't really plan on watching it, I just wanted to comment.) Anyways, he's super charming and expressive, I like having him all over my dash :]

hahaha YESSSS gosh i am so happy that folks are so excited about Mr. Ring-A-Ding | Lux Imperator, even if they aren't fans of the show!! i'm biased as a long-time Whovian, but the episode Lux really is the best one we've had in ages, so i'd recommend it wholeheartedly 😉 let me give you a little bit of lore re: our new toony cricket fellow!! massive spoilers for the episode Lux and an ongoing plot in Doctor Who, so only read if you're interested 🥰 i hope this'll be useful for any newcomers who are interested in starting Doctor Who as well!!

HUGE LORE DUMP BELOW:

so!!! the basic premise of Doctor Who is: the Doctor is an alien called a Time Lord from the planet Gallifrey. he travels the universe through time and space in his 'spaceship', the TARDIS (stands for Time and Relative Dimension in Space), and his almost always looks like a battered-up police box. he often travels with 'companions': usually human (though sometimes alien!) sidekicks who help him solve space/historical-related mysteries. when the Doctor dies, he can 'regenerate': his body changes, saving him from death and giving him an entirely new appearance. currently, we are on the Fifteenth Doctor, played by the brilliant Ncuti Gatwa 🥰

now back in 2023, we received three episodes for the show's 60th anniversary, and things changed hugely. as the Doctor regenerated into his Fourteenth version, he somehow came back with a familiar face: that of David Tennant's Tenth Doctor (perhaps one of the best-known iterations of the Doctor). this is because of the return of a character who hadn't been seen since the 60s: the Toymaker, a godlike entity who rules over games 👀

The Toymaker's introduction started a shift for the show, which was almost always strict sci-fi, into a more fantastical, rule-bending realm. the Toymaker turned out to be a member of The Pantheon of Discord: a collective of gods whose powers are beyond the laws of physics and nature. normally, The Doctor faces off against sci-fi monsters and antagonists, but the Pantheon are far more powerful, and not bound to typical rules (though they do have their own). there are a few members we know are in the Pantheon (The Toymaker, his child Maestro, the God of Death Sutekh) and some we speculate are in the Pantheon (the fourth-wall breaking Mrs. Flood), but the episode Lux finally confirmed our newest Pantheon member: Mr. Ring-A-Ding, AKA Lux Imperator, the God of Light 😱 in-universe, Mr. Ring-A-Ding is a character from a 1930s-era cartoon inspired by Fleischer Studios, Disney's then-competitor (and the inspiration for games like Cuphead!). however, Lux Imperator possessed and brought to life Mr. Ring-A-Ding's form by travelling on moonlight into a movie theatre set in 1950s Miami, where he climbed out of the screen and sealed the movie-watchers into celluloid film. when the Doctor and his current companion, Belinda Chandra, end up at the theatre, Mr. Ring-A-Ding (as he is calling himself) shows up as a smaller, physical manifestation of a living cartoon, and pretends to be innocent...but he quickly reveals his true form as Lux Imperator 🙈💖

after some completely crazy fourth-wall-breaking shenanigans wherein Mr. Ring-A-Ding | Lux animates the Doctor and Belinda, trapping them inside of celluloid film, he reveals his new desire: to use the Doctor's regeneration energy and build himself a body. this is because Lux craves light, but has always been trapped in the dark. having seen it on a film in the movie theatre, Lux wants to use the power of the atom bomb to unleash the most devastating light of all. it's pretty insane 😂

and the end of the episode is...the Doctor exposes Lux to sunlight, which causes him to grow infinitely large and...dissipate, into space? along with light itself? we have no idea. it's utterly mad, but SUCH a great watch!!! so to answer your question: yes, he definitely was malignant at first, but he kind of gets one of the nicest endings i've seen for a Doctor Who baddie in a while? he's just chilling up there in space now, twinkling along with the stars. that's wonderful 🙈💖 tldr; Mr. Ring-a-Ding is both the name of a 1930s Fleischer-esque cartoon-character in-universe, and the name adopted by Lux Imperator, the God of Light. if you're confused, don't worry: that's all part of the Doctor Who experience 😂💖

[galedekarios]

so. tara was supposed to be at camp at one point and have idle banter with gale:

edited to clarify: this appears to be cut content

[bengiyo]

I think what's interesting to me by us revisiting Young Soon's moments is that this seems to be a time travel story with a single timeline. I think Future Soon is going to play a key role in building the romance he hopes to maintain eventually.

What does it mean when your future self is your wingman or maybe even a parent?

The vibes of Absolute Zero are just immaculate, and I am loving its slower pace (it’s very similar to I Feel You Linger in the Air in this way, another time travel drama that lets you feel the passage of time move more naturally). This episode showed us our first instance of time travel after Suansoon wished on a shooting star for a way to save Ongsa, sending him back to meet Teen Ongsa in the earlier timeline.

I found Adult Soon’s whole demeanor in this episode very interesting. He seems like he’s not exactly sure what’s happening and he’s engaging with it almost like he’s in a dream state. He’s just kind of vibing and enjoying seeing Teen Ongsa again and letting himself soak in his presence. But then he sees his teenage self and Teen Ongsa invites him to the movie he is supposed to go see alone so he can meet Teen Soon and he seems to finally realize the implications of his presence here, and how he may alter the trajectory of their relationship. And now he’ll decide what to do with that power, and how it might affect the future.

Meanwhile, Adult Ongsa is waking up in the future (side bar for me to gush about the decision to give Ongsa good parents who support their relationship and treat Soon like another son, we love to see it), but his partner has traveled back in time and is already in the process of altering their lives. Will Soon succeed, and will that change things for the worse? I suspect we’re headed for a constant loop where both Soon and Ongsa travel back trying to save each other over and over again. I am so ready for this ride.

[serpentface]

Do psychotropic drugs and/or ritual play a role in any of the blightseed cultures? A pretty broad question, lol

Yeah that’s a very broad question, the answer is about as much as it tends to play roles in real history. Alcohol is pretty ubiquitous (outside of cultures that abstain from intoxicants) and used for a variety of purposes, opioids are commonly used in some parts for pain relief or recreational purposes, stimulants (usually in mild, natural forms) are used to provide extra energy, and hallucinogens are most commonly used as part of a larger religious framework (rather than for recreational purposes). Any more elaborate answer kinda has to be case by case in a certain culture or part of the setting.

I'll just take this as an opportunity to talk about the one established sect that pretty much REVOLVES around psychoactive use. This is the Scholarly Order of the Root, which is a sort of mystery religion + elite community of scholars who currently occupy the Ur-Tree and its forest in the far southern Lowlands (southeast of Imperial Wardin, on the same land mass).

The Ur-Tree is the obligatory Huge Fucking Fantasy Tree (and its surrounding forest). It’s a mass of vegetation about a mile tall and almost as old as Plant Life Itself, its upper branches are primeval plants, which become more modern the nearer they get to the ground (and each 'level' holds tiny ecosystems, some containing descendants of LONG-extinct arthropods/other small animals). Its lowest branches and the surrounding forest are contemporary plant life, and all is connected and protected by an incomparably MASSIVE fungal mycelium network (which is itself a living god).

A lot of the Scholars' more secretive practices revolve around experimentation with substance use with the goal of expanding the Mind and transcending the body to fully connect to the Dreamlands, and they have a supply chain of traders and mercenaries called Rootrunners who traffic substances into the Lowlands. Most of their psychoactive use is in a very intentional capacity and not just like, for fun, but a LOT of them are just straight up addicted to cocaine (in the form of alchemically refined bruljenum, which is used for practical purposes of its stimulant effect during long hours of work).

All known psychoactives are desirable for experimentation (particularly hallucinogens), with each having properties that either allow expansion of the Mind, transcendence of the body, or outright divine communion. Their effects are logged in great detail and interpreted to form the basis of the Scholars' understanding of the natural world and reality itself.

The most important substance is Ur-Root, which is root matter from subterranean levels of the Ur-Tree that have both their own intrinsic psychoactive substances and a very, very high concentration of living god mycelium. The tree root contains DMT and the mycelium has its own wholly unique effects (being an actual living god). They alchemically refine it into a purer, more potent form, and use it to expand beyond the body and directly commune with the Giants, a group of entities they have identified as the only true gods.

An Ur-Root trip starts off with minor visual distortion, which turns into shifting fractals that slowly obscure the vision. Eventually the senses are entirely taken over by a 'tunnel' of rapidly shifting fractals and geometries. In a complete trip, the experiencer gets a sense that they have been pushed through a membrane and entered another realm, finding themselves in a distinct experiential Space.

At this point they may encounter entities which communicate to them in a language impossible to describe but wholly understood. These beings are understood to be the Giants, or at least aspects of the Giants that mortals are capable of comprehending (they often take familiar tutelary forms of the Mantis or the Snake, or appear resembling the same type of sophont that the experiencer is, all composed of ever-shifting geometries). The experiencer often feels a sense of unconditional and endless love from these beings, though the Giants may be more hostile and may appear in the form of the Trickster (usually a cultural figure regarded as malicious, be it an animal or otherwise) in a bad trip.

(^Up until this point, this has mostly just been a DMT 'breakthrough' experience ft. 'machine elves' and the like).

They are then removed from this space and returned to something that feels like the real world, but is nearly unrecognizable. They have a sense of rapidly moving through time, and will usually see 'the spires' towards the beginning, which just so happen to look like this:

(source + some context via Implication- the spires are exactly what this art is depicting)

The experiencer continues to move across an unfathomable amount of time, occasionally 'seeing' other such flashes of unfamiliar landscapes and creatures, and yet also being devoid of all their senses, the 'seeing' is pure, unfiltered experience. There is a sense of interconnectedness with all life, and that one has become the forest (or even Life) itself. The sense of time is wildly distorted, the trip lasts only about 5 minutes but feels like an eternity and is understood as literal hundreds of millions of years.

The experiencer has usually lost any remaining sense of Self and individual consciousness during this phase (in which case this time distortion is usually a neutral or even peaceful experience), but some retain a fraction of their identity, and find themselves trapped and conscious while experiencing what feels like eternity (which can be LIFE-CHANGINGLY distressing, even after the fact).

(^This latter part of the trip is the effects of the Ur-Tree fungus).

The trip ends with a sense of rushing through the ground and back up into one's body, at which point they will abruptly return to their senses and consciousness. The details are then immediately retrieved via interview and recorded in immense detail. The whole experience is understood as having been full comprehension of the Dreamlands, communion with the Giants, and then a tour through the act of creation.

This is done as part of the initiatory practice into the inner mystery-religion of the scholars, and as needed for study by high scholar-priests. It is not taken lightly, both as it is absolute communion with the gods and reality, and in that it can be a very, very difficult experience. People who have gone through this often walk away with a permanently shifted perspective, often in a positive and/or comforting way- a sense of interconnectedness with all life, a peace with the concept of death, seeing less of a point in individual ego and the concept of Self, and comfort in the sense of divine love they (may have) experienced. This heavily influences the philosophy of the Scholars and has had effects by proxy in the religious worldviews of the region.

Details of this experience are closely guarded, and initiates are given absolutely no prior knowledge and expectations for their trip. This is seen as a necessity- their naivety will allow for a true, unfiltered experience, and can be used to gauge whether they should or should not be accepted. Those that have a distinctly bad trip upon initiation may be assumed to have been 'rejected' by the giants and thus denied full priesthood, though this largely depends on How they interpret their distressing trip- those who identify this as a test and harsh lesson in a journey to enlightenment may be accepted (as this is how fully initiated scholar-priests interpret and handle their bad trips).

This inner priesthood is only a small fraction of the Scholarly Order, and its greater function is as a hub of education and repository of knowledge, and Scholar-trained doctors can provide some of the best medical care available in the setting ('best medical care in this setting' only means so much but it's pretty solid, relatively speaking). Only a chosen few Scholars ever get to commune with the Ur-Root, and most of the divine secrets revealed in the process are kept hidden (though they indirectly influence the politics and worldview of the entire order).

[seventhdoctor]

Episode 150 of GX has a lot of my favorite Yubel monologues and not a lot can top the "You never really loved Echo, or you loved her just enough to be able to sacrifice her" speech but this rant about worlds and kings is the Yubel dialogue I think about most.

Like...who hurt you, Yubel? I don't think you're talking about just Amon here. (Even if it also is very much about Amon, and about themself.)

Edit: My friend linkspooky wrote a response to this post here!

Does Yubel have a thing against kings? Like the one that came to them offering to make them a monster for the sake of someone they both wanted to protect?

(And then didn't tell that person, probably his own son, until it was too late to stop what was happening?)

Did something happen with the prince that would become a Supreme King, for whom Yubel did become a monster?

What happened to that prince?

What could have happened in that past life, for Yubel to have such pointed comments about kings? Repeatedly?

What happened?

Why does Yubel keep talking about worlds where you exist without the person you love? Worlds where you achieve your goal but that person isn't there for you to share your victory with?

What happened, that Yubel has such vehement feelings about kings and worlds?

[bengiyo]

I love that we all screamed when we saw Sine.

I'm stuck at home and already in pain so I guess it's time for:

Absolute Zero Wednesday!

Last week's first episode suggested that I would get everything I expect and want from a melancholic story directed by New Siwaj, so I am going into episode 2 pretty confident.

- That little breakfast scene between the teens is adorable! "Where's your boyfriend, being so nice?/ Where is your boyfriend, being so cute?" I am not immune to young love being sappy.

- This is going to be a Hands Show and I am so, SO here for that.

- I am so happy to see that Ongsa's parents have welcomed Suansoon in their family, really. Also I knew the casting was stellar but it's always a pleasure to see Um Apasiri!! (Tom Phollawat too)

- teen!Ongsa is really far too chill with being followed like that by a whole grown man, even if I agree with him that sad adult!Soon does not look very threatening.

- on that subject, Teng Kanist's sad eyes and soft voice are incredible. I always expect excellent criers from any New's production, but I am so taken by adult!Soon and the way he exudes melancholy, it's not even funny

- Sine Inthira!! (*˘︶˘*).｡.:*♡

- Ongsa's friend group seems perfectly darling, even if Ohm is risking his life a few times in there, and I am happy that we'll get to see a bit more of them.

- Ah. None of the softness could make me ignore what was to come, and the come back of the ticket situation to finish the episode was a nice and expected (if painful) thrill.

Overall, that second episode was as beautiful as the first one. The visuals are still a delight and the pacing is still working perfectly for me.

Ongsa's crush on adult!Suansoon is absolutely adorable, baby boy truly likes them soft and sad uh. The way he pretends to need tutoring right after we're being told he's good at physics?? throw me back to my 17th year lol (never had more interest and better grades in physics than the year I had a crush on the research assistant and his pink sweaters xd)

I also like how obviously Suansoon's affection for Ongsa bleeds out of him, in the way he looks at and interacts with the boy he fell in love with and who will become the man he shares his life with. He is in such a tender and painful place when he time travels: he just went through the loss of a major mentor figure in his life, and he is now losing the love of his life. I can see why he would go with the flow when given that strange opportunity to spend some more time with Ongsa, even if it's the one from ten years ago (after all, it is the same person, the same smiling and caring person he loves in his present, the one he will love in his past).

Things are going to become really serious 'time shenanigans' wise next week! Of course I read the synopsis so i have some ideas, but I can't wait to see how Suansoon is going to impact his own future and how this is going to play out for the four of them.

[bengiyo]

Absolute Zero Ep 4 Stray Thoughts

Last week, Future!Soon had essentially started dating Young!Ong-sa. After an ill-advised kiss and some reckoning with the potential futures at stake, Soon decided to move out. We left at Ong-sa discovering Soon’s iPhone. I’m a bit confused at everyone being so chill and hoping we acquire some momentum this week.

“If this world is a movie theater, you’re a romance movie.”

I remain confused at any of Future!Soon’s motives.

Ooo a Thai bike lane!

So curious how we go from Future!Soon introducing Ong-sa to this restaurant to him crying here with Present!Soon later

Hello, unsubtle cgi butterfly effect metaphor. Thank you for putting an exclamation point on the video store owner’s wisdom.

Future!Soon, you really shouldn’t be hugging Ong-sa if you’re trying to end things.

I’m not sure about the persistent butterfly motif this episode considering so much of this feels like a closed loop.

I need Soon to make his intentions clear to us, the viewers, because he has been vibing for three episodes now.

Now he’s going into his younger self’s room to help him out. Bro.

We are only now, in the fourth episode, even beginning to question the mechanics of the time travel. It’s a little late!!

So much of New Siwaj’s work is nostalgic. I need to talk to that man. Until We Meet Again, My Only 12%, this show.

Soon didn’t even think to secure his ID after Ong-sa found the found? Bro, you know he’s nosy.

Hold on, now I want to watch the Lizzie McGuire Movie.

This dynamic is rather messed up, because Ong-sa is going to have to figure out how to transfer his feelings. This makes me wonder how functional they are in the future.

LAWD THIS IS A MESS.

I’m struggling with the show at this point. Suansoon is so reactive, and we have barely spent time with his younger self to understand him either. We’re getting his potential motivation delivered at the end of what maybe feels like the first arc and he looks incompetent. He’s just dating the younger version of his lover again, has no idea how he got here, has no idea how he goes back, or any sense of what the hell is going on. Also, why does he think that meeting him will be the cause of Ong-sa’s death? Car violence is rampant in Thailand! I wanna be here for New, but truly what the shit is this?

[theirwolfbicanthrope]

it is tiring seeing ppl in the vampire rat man fandom on different sides positing their readings and interpretations as Correct, often using language that talks down to and is condescending to others.

and I know this happens in every fandom that possesses more than like, two people in it, but still. that being said, I hope that with the blu-ray release and the movie streaming on peacock does bring some more positivity and maybe even more throuple enjoyers.

[twig-tea]

Absolute Zero Ep2 Hype

A few things about episode 2 that I want to capture (this is all just hype, sorry, I am not normal about this show):

I love so, so much that Suasoon is relatively clever about his time travel. Other than calling Ongsa's name, everything else he does after that is either fixing that mistake or getting himself settled in his new present. He realizes without having to try it that his bank cards won't work, and he doesn't interact directly with his younger self (we know that he will give himself a pep talk soon, but that he'll be careful to do it from the balcony/phone so that young!soon can't really see him.

I love that Suasoon goes back in time before ep 1 started so that we have time for him to get settled, establish relationships, and just spend time with Ongsa before Ongsa meets Young!Suasoon. It makes the emotional impact of this realization in ep2 feel so much more intense, and any knock on emotions eg when/if we're right Suasoon pushes Ongsa to date young! Suasoon more believable, and it also makes Ongsa's beginning with Suasoon so much more interesting!

I love that Suasoon is still clearly dealing with his grief and fears about Onga in the present while in the past; that it doesn't go away just because he's distracted by this other mystery. And I also appreciate that this situation gives a good narrative reason why Suasoon isn't trying harder to get back.

I also appreciate that he's thinking about his past self; there is a kindness to himself that he showed by going to the graveyard (so that he wasn't alone, even if he didn't know it) that I really appreciate.

Relatedly, I've said this elsewhere in tags but I love how this show is showing big emotions in small ways. Suasoon getting the flowers for his mom, crying while accepting the coffee, Ongsa insisting on making the coffee, the subtle smiles and glances between the friends, the way Suasoon's grip tightens on the movie ticket when he sees what seat it is the way Suasoon lights up when he sees the movie rental guy even though he doesn't go inside.

I love the way the show is handling a coma and waking up from a coma realistically; with the slow progress rather than sitting up in bed or whatever else! Just, hell yeah.

I am so excited for a linear timeline, it's my favourite time nonsense approach and it's so hard to do but so far it's going so well, I am so excited!

I also just want to get ahead of anything re: adult!Suasoon and Ongsa. It's pretty obvious that adult Suasoon looks at Ongsa and sees the boy he fell in love with and is reminiscing and enjoying being with any version of the man he loves, knowing there's a risk that will not be possible in the future. Ongsa is definitely developing an obvious crush, which is pretty normal for someone of his age to find a guy 10 years older who likes him, is nice, and is hot, attractive. As a person who dated (and yes had sex with) a 27 year old woman when I was 17 I don't want to hear it lol I am not interested in age gap drama especially while it seems pretty clear adult!Suasoon is not going to pursue anything sexual with teen!Ongsa so it's besides the point. But in any case I'm glad his friends just teased him about it.

I have to hype Teng's performance, too, he's been doing an amazing job with a pretty complicated set of emotions! And the chemistry he has with young Ongsa to match his chemistry with future!Ongsa is so impressive.

My questions at this point:

What does the video store guy know? (I am suspicious)

What does adult Suasoon tell Ongsa that makes him cry watching young Suasoon eat ice cream (ep1)?

How does Ongsa develop his relationship with young Suasoon so that it doesn't feel like transference or replacement of old! Suasoon? [Because I have faith the show will handle this]

How does Suasoon get the money for a month's deposit on the apartment next to young!Suasoon?

Does Suasoon disappear because he goes back to the future, and is that why Ongsa goes to find young Suasoon and tells him he misses him so brokenly?! (I need to rewatch EP 1 to see how that lines up)

So excited for more!

Tagging the cadre that's started to form for absolute zero (feel free to dm if you don't want to be tagged or if you want to be added to the list!) @bengiyo @neuroticbookworm @lurkingshan @littleragondin @waitmyturtles @wen-kexing-apologist @heretherebedork

[waitmyturtles]

Absolute Zero, episode 3: This show is still gorgeous and sumptuous. I have a quibble, I'm going to work through the quibble, and then celebrate a moment in the show that I loved.

Adult Suansoon is deciding what to do about his appearance in his past. He's separate from young Suansoon -- they are two separate entities. Adult Suansoon is clearly working through if he'll intervene in the past, if he'll direct young Ongsa's attraction to adult Suansoon to another direction.

We see adult Suansoon hovering on the line of making decisions to remove himself entirely from young Ongsa's life, and dancing around that line. We see that that's VERY difficult for him. We see that adult Suansoon just may not be realizing and embodying FULLY that he's the adult version of himself, as clearly, he's transported back into love for Ongsa, no matter if Ongsa is a teenager or an adult, as adult Suansoon keeps a picture of adult Ongsa on his phone, and enjoys his time with young Ongsa in the coffee shop.

What I need from adult Suansoon is a little narrative recognition that he's either 1) the adult in the room, and/or 2) that he IS an adult. I'm not sure I know enough about Suansoon yet, young or old, to understand why he hasn't embodied this fact. He's clearly falling in love, and/or has been in love, with young Ongsa, and just a click, just a little note of -- oh shit, we have age gap here, folks, and we know it -- would help the show a touch.

But also, I think I need to know, as a viewer, if we ARE going to go towards age gap, a bit more, verbally, about adult Suansoon's mindset. I need to know if he's confused, if he's unable to direct himself -- something.

We might get it with the conversation he'll have with the video store uncle next week, or at least, that's how the previews are setting it up.

Anyway -- this being New Siwaj, am I surprised this is happening? Unfortunately, I am not surprised -- but I trust, considering the higher quality of the acting and directing in this work than in his past recent works, that this issue of a lack of narrative communication will hopefully be resolved soon. Fingers crossed.

So, all that being said:

1 ) Teng Krist Kanist and Tor Supakorn, our age-gapped pair, have EXCELLENT chemistry. Are we supposed to be a bit wibbly about it? Maybe?

2) Will I not see more of these two together?!

Now this pair?! I WANNA SEE MORE OF THESE TWO TOGETHER! Teng and Sine?! Didn't know I needed 'em, but I need 'em!

I'm really, REALLY glad to see so much of Teng Krist Kanist -- I loved him in Gay OK Bangkok, and I'm glad to see him make such a huge return as a lead actor in this prominent show. But by episode 3, I need more narrative direction, because we only have 12 episodes to tell what I think is going to be a pretty intricate time travel story, and we gotta move a touch.

[croszukis]

being a complete l**fs rubbernecker these past 48 hours and i don’t feel sorry abt it

[twig-tea]

I think it's even worse than that. In today's episode, Soon says he clued in to how Ongsah must have been through so much, having known and lost time traveller SuanSoon and keeping it from the SuanSoon from this timeline. So SuanSoon canonically has said 'oh yeah that must have been hard, I didn't know you'd been through that' and STILL CONTINUES TO PUT HIM THROUGH IT. To @lurkingshan's point, the show still isn't acknowledging how cruel this is even though the character seems to realize it, though not his own agency in it.

Besides this, SuanSoon is making no sense. Either the past is immutable, and so it makes sense to make plans based on it like calculating what day he's going to disappear, or he can change the past, in which case his memory is no guarantee of events taking place. But he seems to be functioning as though both are possible, which is ridiculous.

And worst of all he's wishy-washy about it! To @my-rose-tinted-glasses 's point, we barely get any insight into what he's thinking, and what he says aloud is so illogical Ongsah sees through it right away. And Soon talks about the decision to stay away from himself as though it's one for him to make--how dare he insist Ongsah stay away from SuanSoon, frankly, when he couldn't keep himself away from Ongsah, and he's the one 10 years more mature, ostensibly.

They talked in the episode about what his purpose was for coming back, and Soon acknowledges (because like I said last week, the man watches movies, he knows tropes!) it would be to either change something or learn something. But he's clearly failing at changing something, and I still don't know what he learned other than that Ongsah went through SuanSoon's unfair and cruel psychological torture and still wanted to be with him, even knowing Soon was this much of a useless douche AND knowing it might kill him.

At this point I'm going to keep watching in the hope that Ongsah wakes up, realizes this is when his boyfriend must have time travelled from, and yells at SuanSoon so very very much.

Because if this entire experience was just for SuanSoon to realize that his boyfriend (who has already been incredible to him for the last 10 years) really ferreal loves him, I....am going to be so unimpressed.

This show has not given us enough of a broken SuanSoon to justify this level of utter shittiness to a man who he claims to love--nevermind to the young adult version of him. SuanSoon as a youth seems so much more mature and together than adult SuanSoon who has been in a stable, loving relationship for ten years and been supported by his partner's parents too.

Best case scenario we spend the next several episodes with Ongsah in the past feeling the weight of what SuanSoon has done to him, seeing why and how he forgives SuanSoon and decides to pursue him anyway, and not holding it against past Soon because he's a fair and kind person but as soon as he wakes up, he better make that man pay for what he did. And then we will get several episodes of SuanSoon making it up to Ongsah in the future/present.

If this isn't a redemption storyline for what SuanSoon has just done in the past, idk how I'm going to cope.

I am actually incandescent with rage at adult Soon. I do not even have words to describe how fucked up this is. Soon really came back to the past, fully romanced a teenager including sleeping with him, then told teen Ongsa he’s going to leave and he’s not allowed to meet the teen Soon because he has an irrational belief that will somehow “fix” something we don’t even know needs fixing. And Soon didn’t even tell him clearly when he will be leaving, he’s planning to just disappear and leave teen Ongsa devastated.

Like @twig-tea said last week, this is just cruel and the worst part is the show doesn’t even seem to be aware of that. They are presenting this romance with no hint that it’s wrong on several levels, instead they seem to want us to be swooning and ignoring the utter selfishness and cruelty of what adult Soon is doing to teen Ongsa. I am aghast.