#botkawee

[blmynewobsession]

Be My Favorite ep 3 thoughts

So,  I wrote up a whole thing in a chat message, and then decided to post it here because apparently I have thoughts on this show (which, well, I already knew)

I liked so, so many things about yesterday's BMF, but most especially that Kawi is starting to show moments of awareness of the others around him. He's been so focused on himself, what he wants, in the first two eps, that he has appeared almost completely oblivious to those around him, even Pear, beyond what he wants from them. He's also been, in many ways, oblivious to his own reactions to the things around him, or if he is/becomes aware of them, he brushes them off if they don't match what he expects.

While I can understand and empathize with his disappointment that Pear calls a friend (or... more than 1?) to their dinner, you can see that it does become more than just disappointment. He does recognize that friendship is likely going to be all that he gets, and he doesn't push it by taking Pear up on her polite offer of a ride home. Is he disappointed? Yes. But, when he and Pear end up having lunch together, again he doesn't really push for anything more, which sets him up neatly as a contrast to incel-in-training Not.

And while he was visibly unhappy about Not showing up wanting to talk to Pisaeng, and he may have misinterpreted what Pisaeng would have prefered, I don't disagree with him removing himself from a third-wheel situation. He may not know their full history, but he does know that there is something there that isn't for him, and as a fellow introvert, I would likely also remove myself from their interaction, though probably not as pissy as Kawi does it. And later, when Pear tells him about how Pisaeng is lonely, and that there had been some sort of fight between Pisaeng and Not and maybe the others as well, even though she doesn't know (or at least, share) the details, Kawi does see an opportunity to maybe help. Is it selfish, because getting Pisaeng his friends back would make Kawi's life easier by allowing himself more space after the kiss? Sure. But, Kawi also knows loneliness. And even as he is trying to reduce his own loneliness, he does take the opportunity to try to do the same for Pisaeng. He just completely lacked the context for WHY they were no longer friends, and so this effort backfired spectacularly. 

One of the things that really jumped out at me in their confrontation at the end was how quickly Kawi responded with "and unsafe" when Pisaeng asked him if he made Kawi uncomfortable. I feel like that was probably the most absolutely honest moment on Kawi's part, and also the most likely response to be misinterpreted. It's been all of what, a day? for Kawi since Pisaeng out of nowhere kissed him. We don't know anything really about Kawi's history before uni, or what has happened between uni and the wedding, but from what we've seen... he's likely never even thought about being gay, or bi, or anything. He's been so focused on Pear, for better or worse for like a decade, and his complete lack of social skills and social life probably means that if anyone else was ever possibly interested in him....... he didn't notice? Or never interacted with the person in any way where it might eventually become obvious, just like we see that Pisaeng already saw him and liked him before they ever really interacted, but it is clear that Kawi had less than no idea before the kiss. So, Kawi has just been kissed, and he reacts badly and runs away, and then decides that that is too much for him to think about and he needs to withdraw himself from Pisaeng's presence instead of (but also, accidentally, giving himself time to) dealing with it in the immediate (to him) aftermath. And he sees a chance to do that with Pisaeng and Not. If he can help patch things up with the two of them, *he* can get the space he desperately needs. Misguided, yes. Selfish, yes. Necessary, yes.

Misinterpreted?  Abso-fucking-lutely.  Pisaeng takes it the way anyone not in Kawi’s brain would take it - Pisaeng is a queer man who has spent the last few days deliberately inserting himself in Kawi’s life because he sees their interactions through his own, infatuated, rose-colored glasses when Kawi starts responding to him.  He has interpreted all of their interactions up to the moment at the lunch table as some form of flirting, not realizing until Kawi flat out tells him that Pisaeng’s “messing with you” isn’t funny, isn’t nice, is hurtful.  That I think is really the moment he starts to second guess himself, but even then, especially at the moment Kawi invites him for drinks, he doesn’t let himself see it as anything more than awkward flirting.  Kawi has gone from this quiet, loner person Pisaeng liked from afar to someone who has inserted himself into Pisaeng’s life, how else is he supposed to interpret it?  But... then Kawi says that he feels unsafe around Pisaeng.  And, well...  it’s not like there are a lot of positive outcomes for the gay community when the straights feel “unsafe” around them.  Maybe that isn’t what goes through Pisaeng’s mind, but that is DEFINITELY something that hit me hard.  Pisaeng doesn’t know that Kawi doesn’t really mean that he feels physically unsafe around him (and, well, maybe Kawi doesn’t quite realize this either?  Who knows), and is really more referring to emotional and mental safety.

And we do see Kawi... maybe not backtrack, exactly, but he doesn’t understand at all why Pisaeng reacted to his response the way he did.  This is what made me interpret the “and unsafe” as NOT meaning that Kawi felt physically unsafe around Pisaeng, but instead being more of the “he just doesn’t know how to deal with all the emotions and thoughts and reactions he had to kiss and it’s all so far outside his wheelhouse that he doesn’t even know where to BEGIN to process it so the best thing he can do is just... distance himself mentally AND physically from Pisaeng”.  He doesn’t understand what a supposedly completely heterosexual man telling a gay man that he feels unsafe around him could lead to in other circumstances.  I don’t see any of Kawi’s reactions in this episode (yes, even the pushing Pisaeng away hard enough that he hits his head) as homophobic or unreasonable.  He was just kissed against his will by a drunk man he has only ever interacted with over the course of... two days?  The drunk man isn’t really responding to him, and he’s so overwhelmed by it all and the time travel and everything that, like...  he just needs to get away.  

These two communicate in very different ways, and there have been a lot of assumptions on both sides, and a large lack of awareness on Kawi’s part.  But he is starting to realize that the others around him, Pear, Pisaeng, Max, Not, his father, are not NPCs in a video game that just do what he wants them to because he has a goal in mind.  He has spent so much time not realizing that he does, in fact, have an effect on the world and the people around him, that of course he isn’t going to be great at it when he finally starts to look away from himself.  He’s socially awkward, very aware of his standing among his peers, and overwhelmed.  He’s not a perfect, completely empathetic lead.  He’s an asshole, in a lot of ways, but an asshole who has potential to be better, if he can start paying more attention to the impact he has on the world and the people around him.  We see flashes of it, already, in ep 3, that we did not see in eps 1 and 2.    

I really like this show, a lot.  

[athousandbyeol]

are you sure?

[respectthepetty]

Because Christmas came early (or two years late depending on how we think about it), Be My Favorite's trailer just dropped!

CONS

I don't trust the writer, JittiRain, AT ALL! Not one atom in my body believes this person will do me right, so I will be hesitant the entire time because the angst will most likely be unnecessary and due to the dumbest miscommunication.

Also, there will be singing

Lots of it! My eyes spot a guitar on that beach.

Next, I noticed this with one of the BTS pictures, but I feel this show will have a lot of "the writing's on the wall" moments, literally.

The writing reads "Extending our friendship" on the panel behind Fluke (Pisaeng)

The posters read "We keep moving forward, opening new doors, and doing new things, because we're curious and curiosity keeps leading us down new paths. ~Walt Disney." and "The roots of education are bitter, but the fruit is sweet. ~Aristotle."

This isn't really bad, but it means it'll be deeper than I was expecting, so I'll have to pay attention instead of just casually watching.

PROS

If there was anyone who NEEDED to play Botkawee, it's Krist. Casting him as the man with no friends and an awful life was a smart choice since most of us actively want that for him, so seeing Botkawee come out of his shell as he falls in love with a man and embrace life each time he travels back will be a redemption for Krist as well.

Fluke playing the handsome guy who Botkawee hates because he thinks Pisaeng changed his entire life by stealing the girl (when he changed it by actually helping out Botkawee) is also good casting because, well, look at Fluke!

It will be satisfying to see Krist Botkawee realize that he is the reason for his life being shit while Fluke Pisaeng stands there and looks pretty

Because if anything, Fluke is never not pretty

Although, the waking-up-in-bed together part that was in the initial trailer seems to have disappeared, it's nice to see Pisaeng is still committed to liking Botkawee from the beginning

Which means he will likely be the one to always seek out Botkawee (on his wedding day, JittiRain really?!) and give him affection

But at least we will get some level of softness from Botkawee

TWO WEEKS!

I'm seated. I'm ready.

[superwholockian93]

These are two different takes

But I don’t mind

I love seeing

Gawin kiss on screen

[heretherebedork]

Am I weak for any boy with a plushie and someone in stripes? Yes. Yes I am.

But also... fantasies? aka Gawin could be the next Gun, right? (in which he plays three characters in a show and has Vibes with the same guy as all of them.)

[coffeebookslovegt]

-¿Quieres comer algo más?

-Veamos... ¿hay algo delicioso por aquí?

-A mí. Soy delicioso ¿quieres probarme?

[thisautistic]

Kawi ✨Babygirl✨ Botkawee in Be My Favorite

[recentadultburnout]

Be My Favorite's characters' names' meaning

Botkawee บทกวี

Poem

Kawee - Poet

Pisaeng ปีแสง

light years

Phrae Mai แพรไหม

silk

Phongsathorn พงษธร

descendant, the one who maintains the lineage

Thawi ทวี

increase, accrue

Tridao ตรีดาว

Three stars

The series name in Thai is botkawee kong pisaeng(บทกวีของปีแสง) = poems of light years/light years' poem

Index, Thai language and culture on ao3

[ysphcpb]

Be My Favorite: Botkawee ♡

[mushroomjar]

Rules: shuffle your ‘on repeat’ playlist and post the first ten tracks, then tag ten people 🎶

Tagged by: @yukarishoodie

Apple Tree - AURORA

OTONABLUE - ATARASHII GAKKO!

Less Teeth More Tits - Lunachicks

Dog with Sharper Teeth - Daisy Chainsaw

Decadence - sasakure.UK feat. Hatsune Miku

DEADMAN'S BALLAD - cosMo@BouSou-P feat. Hatsune Miku and Otomachi Una

Donut Hole - hachi feat. GUMI

Living ghost is alive - Utsu-P feat. flower

Butch 4 Butch - Rio Romeo

You Keep Me Crawling - AURORA

I don't know if I can think of ten people to tag um @empanadasdehumita @thatqueerweirdo @snailboygirlrat @cistranny @butchkilljoy @beatsyncer @pathos-logical @suricata-uwu @botkawee @bromantically Yay!!

[cloudywhackzero]

A fan art of Be My Favorite, featuring characters Pisaeng ("Fluke" Gawin Caskey) and Botkawee ("Krist" Perawat Sangpotirat) being framed for crimes they didn't do in the first place. Come to think of it, Kawi is too busy laughing in the mugshot, oblivious to the fact that he's being mugged! :P (Yup, this is inspired by the Barbie mugshot meme, created by user kojironanjo on Twitter.)

It's nice to see Krist going back to the BL scene years after the SOTUS era (read: he is best known as someone once paired to Singto Prachaya), and I really hope people would understand that he's not the guy you think he is. :3

Fan art © 2023 Joyce Melegrito. Be My Favorite (TH: บทกวีของปีแสง) © JittiRain.

[athousandbyeol]

Chapters: 1/1 Fandom: บทกวีของปีแสง | Be My Favorite (TV) Rating: General Audiences Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply Relationships: Kawi Botkawee/Pisaeng (Be My Favorite) Characters: Kawi Botkawee (Be My Favorite), Pisaeng (Be My Favorite), Max (Be My Favorite) Additional Tags: Canon Compliant, Angst, Introspection, Heartbreak Series: Part 3 of for pisaengkawi Summary:

kawi fucks up. again. and this time, kawi doesn't know if he can ever fix it— if pisaeng will give him another chance.

[respectthepetty]

At the risk of opening a floodgate, I saw you mention Be My Favorite in a GMMTV post; can you tell me what it's supposed to be about? I haven't heard about it.

@slayerkitty, I have never replied to an ask so quickly. I hope you feel the vibes radiating from my computer screen as you read through this because you have, in fact, opened a HUGE floodgate.

I would love to say that the plot of Be My Favorite doesn't matter or I have no idea what the plot is, but that would be a big ass lie because the plot makes this wild ride EVEN BETTER! We *should* get a trailer this week, but as of right now:

Log line - After hearing the woman he loves is getting married, a man travels back in time with a magical item to win her heart, only to find himself in bed with her fiancé.

Krist will play Botkawee, the man who travels through time.

Aye will play Prae Mai, the woman Botkawee is in love with.

Singto, Mike, Fluke will play Pisaeng, Prae Mai's fiancé and the guy Botkawee wakes up in bed with.

So why does the plot add to this messy salad?

In the original 2021 pilot trailer for You Are My Favorite (which I can't easily find on GMMTV's official YouTube channel because of the name change, and I'm sure GMMTV is hiding it), Pisaeng, who was being played by Mike, seemed perfectly okay waking up in bed with Botkawee and seems to pursue him after that. There were also rooftops moments, elevator moments, and fights in the street, so the pilot trailer was serving everything we should want from a BL.

Now here is where you can check out - Safe House is GMMTV's reality show where it throws all its actor into one house so people can just watch them do stupid stuff 24/7. Krist, in season 2 which aired in 2021, was asking everyone how they felt working with a friend in a BL. I mean everyone! It was suspicious, mostly for someone who has already been in one of the most popular BLs. And Krist has already been on thin ice with most people because of comments I don't have time to cover here.

So when it was announced he would be paired with Mike, who is his friend, it all became clear. Mike was paired with Toptap and Krist was previously paired with Singto, but both Singto and Toptap are no longer on GMMTV's roster, so it made sense, kind of? Sort of? Not really.

But then, Krist got paired with Fluke. Fluke (Gawin to most) has played the hesitant person being pursued in his previous BL work (Dark Blue Kiss and Not Me) rather than the enthusiastic pursuer, which is what he will be in Be My Favorite if that initial trailer sticks.

Krist has mentioned a few times that the series has been shot in episode order. Usually a show is shot based on availability of locations and convenience, so most (me) think that this was done in order to build chemistry between the two leads. If you have seen We Best Love, the two actors had their amazing bridge kiss on the FIRST DAY OF SHOOTING. The director of Be My Favorite maybe saw what he was up against, and knew that wouldn't happened here, hence the different schedule.

Krist was already worried about making out with his friends. Fluke hasn't played this type of role in a BL before. The director paid money to change the shooting schedule. The plot sits on the implication that at least Krist's character thinks they slept together the first night. But everyone is a paid professional, so they should be okay, right?

Right?

I'm praying for this to be the best damn show I watch in my lifetime.

Amen.

[peraya-clownery]

Krist Perawat as Kawee Botkawee in Be My Favorite. Yup, just shared this bit here, knowing that it's a pleasure seeing him portray once again in a Y drama, years after the SOTUS era.

Before working on this Be My Favorite piece (see this link for the full artwork), I'd been mulling whether I shall include Pisaeng ("Fluke" Gawin Caskey) in this post, considering how open I am with seeing Krist outside of the Peraya ship. In the end, I decided to make a separate Kawi-only post here on the side blog—besides, I'm not the only Peraya who watches Be My Favorite for kicks~! :3 (Did I mention that I had Krist's haters in mind while working on this Botkawee bit? 5555555—Krist may have done something problematic in the past, but he's not really like that~ :P)

Fan art © 2023 Joyce Melegrito. Be My Favorite © JittiRain. And just so we're clear, there are Krist-only stans, also known as ยูยู่ของคุณพี (Khun P's Yuyu).

[heretherebedork]

Ah, so Pisaeng was his secret buddy and he did take care of him by stepping in as Pearmai's buddy very literally taking care of what he didn't... but Pisaeng also didn't play by the rules of the game and I bet Kawi never asked him for anything because that wasn't the point of the game and so he never got anything from him besides that.

(Kawi would never ask for anything because that's not how he works, that's not how he thinks or what he wants but Pisaeng told him to ask so he probably waited for him until that moment when he realized that he was needed and he acted in his stead... it's interesting to see how much is going on right then but also how much very likely didn't happen at all but might now.)