#dbk pete

[malepresentingleg]

God Pete is annoying me so much how is it framed like Kao is doing something wrong here? 😭😭

Of course he has to lie about teaching Non, Pete reacted like an entitled selfish bratty asshole about it, literally not giving a shit about what it means for Kao and his mom!!! And for no good reason, Non is just a bratty kid jesus, CHILL.

If I was Kao I would lie too. He tried explaining to Pete what it means for him and why he has to teach Non and Pete just said "I don't care" >:(

[petekaos]

haven’t kept up with any dramas including cherry magic th bc i’ve been so terribly busy these past few months so imagine my surprise when i innocently look it up and see that there was a PROPOSAL? if you told user petekaos in 2020 that 4 years later he would be once again watching a taynew proposal he would have gone into cardiac arrest

[firefliesintheskyline]

Dark Blue Kiss : I came for PeteKao and I stayed for SunM...nope. I adored every. Single. Second. Of SunMork. Every. Single. Interaction. And yes, I really wish GMM had given Podd and Gawin another chance to act together.

But.

I came for PeteKao. And I absolutely stayed for them. They own my entire heart and soul. I enjoyed every scene, every moment, every painful conversation, every time they didn't understand each other, every time they supported each other, every time Pete used words of affirmation, every time Kao used acts of service.

[ahysopae]

Fly Home

รักไม่ระบุสถานะ Dark Blue Kiss (TV) | Canon Divergence & Fluff | Pete/Kao | 1,7k

"Oh shit." He utters. "Pete?"

The man, Pete, blinks before nodding. It's maybe because of how, in his surprise, Kao stopped using any sort of politeness, reverting to the way he used to speak to the man in their youth.

"I'm Kao!"

He can see the realization on Pete's face. His mouth forms a perfect "O", and Kao holds back a chuckle.

Kao's seatmate is an old acquaintance.

Read it on AO3

[waitmyturtles]

Turtles Catches Up With Old GMMTV: Dark Blue Kiss and Our Skyy x Kiss Me Again Edition

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

Let me say this: 2019 was an insane year for BLs, right? To have He’s Coming To Me, Dark Blue Kiss, AND TharnType coming out in the same year seems almost overwhelming to me (even though I know that HCTM was mostly buried for years). 

My very good luck over the last three (THREE!) weeks has been in just enjoying an INDULGENCE of past and current work by Aof Noppharnach. Studying his work is a major goal of this Old GMMTV Challenge project, as I’ve been seriously destroyed, personally, by the layers and implications of his work as an Asian director and screenwriter, with me as an Asian-American viewer watching his shows that I can relate to on basically almost every level of my existence, while not being queer. 

But, hilariously: an INITIAL goal of this project -- I cannot believe I’m saying this now that I’ve already gone through so many shows -- was that, before deciding to get to know Thai BLs historically, I had long intended to watch Dark Blue Kiss as a means of getting to know Tay and New. BECAUSE (cough cough): I am an absolute digging, sniffling, barking golden retriever for Cherry Magic. I LIVE FOR CHERRY MAGIC. I stan so stupid hard for Machida Keita and Akaso Eiji. I own their dumb mugs! I have DVDs, magazines, so much CM shit in my house. LIKE, I LIVE FOR THAT SHOW AND LOVE IT SO MUCH. 

So Tay as Kurosawa and New as Adachi? I needed to know who these dudes were before I watched them in Cherry Magic. (I’m totally giggling about this now.)

OBVIOUSLY, I’ve gotten MUCH WISER, much more HIP to the SCENE, if y’all will, and I understand much better how important Tay and New are as an OG GMMTV ship. And for them to appear in Dark Blue Kiss, after originating PeteKao in Kiss and Kiss Me Again -- I understand the meaning and importance of that in 2019, now, through my watchlist project.

There are a few themes that come to mind as I think about how I’ll review this show:

1) Watching the birth of the singular BL tropes that P’Aof created in Dark Blue Kiss -- t-shirts, picture boards, etc., 2) How he balances and integrates Big Themes in his storytelling, and 3) How he chooses particular actors to buck certain assumptions in Thai society regarding appearance.

I’ve now seen almost all of P’Aof’s major works, save for Still 2gether. And I’ve watched these out of order, although I have chronological rewatches of A Tale of Thousand Stars and Bad Buddy (and their respective Our Skyy 2 episodes) coming up on the watchlist.

So I couldn’t help but see A LOT of proto-BBS in Dark Blue Kiss, which I really enjoyed seeing, as a slavish BBS girlie. I loved seeing P’Aof’s tropes in historical form. The picture posterboard above Pete’s bed. Mork’s and Sun’s matching t-shirts. The birth of the engineering trope in P’Aof’s own oeuvre, with the first appearance of the architecture red shirt on Rain. Finger promises in HCTM and DBK becoming fist bumps in BBS. I love teasing these out and seeing what P’Aof was DOING by creating his OWN platter of tropes that he’d come to leverage and rely on in his future works -- all for creating a lovely sense of universe and intimacy among his beloved couples. (Pat wearing the forest ranger shirt in Our Skyy 2... I’m still laughing and shaking my head at that.)

I understand what P’Aof was doing by teasing out the PeteKao story and kind of slipping it away from the Kiss franchise -- not only do I understand it, I love the subversion of it. And I love that, while he was doing that, he was creating his OWN flavor of BL, complete with HIS own tropes and themes, while leveraging an already-existing property, to draw attention to the show vis à vis Kiss and TayNew. I think, by playing around with the bones of something that already existed, that he could begin to take risks to create an oeuvre that we know, now, in 2023, is utterly unique, and in my opinion, brilliant and important. (And I think it’s important to note this in particular because of how buried He’s Coming To Me was, and I think Dark Blue Kiss was an important move for P’Aof to make post-HCTM for GMMTV and for his career.)

(Tangentially, I think He’s Coming To Me and Moonlight Chicken stand alone as defiers of the BL genre, only minimally influenced by the stereotypical BL tropes, while featuring ONLY P’Aof’s own style of BL in their foundations. And as I’ve said previously -- I believe HCTM was way ahead of its time in 2019. I’ll talk a little more about this in my TharnType review later this week.)

But not only was P’Aof creating his own flavor of BL in DBK, as INFLUENCED by previous BL tropes, I also see that he was beginning to really burst out in establishing his own language of analysis of the macrosystemic issues that face the queer community -- issues that we see repeated and analyzed in his future works, particularly in ATOTS and BBS. In DBK, the major issues he tackles are socioeconomic inequality and internalized homophobia, and how these issues play out, internally and externally, among couples, their families, and their social worlds. 

These two issues crash headlong in the form of Non (played by the cutest-wutest AJ, who was SO! EVIL! but I wub him). Kao has to teach Non -- he must, because Kao needs the money to support his family, and his mom’s job would be at risk if she kept Kao, her son, from teaching her director’s son in Non.

Pete hates Non. Pete KNOWS Non is up to no good, and is after Pete’s man. Pete’s jealous of Non.

The simple equation here is: if Pete and Kao were out, then Pete wouldn’t have to feel jealous, because Kao could tell Non that Kao has a boyfriend. Pete is out to his dad. (BTW: PETE’S DAD IS THE BEST DAD IN BL, BAR NONE. PETE’S DAD NEEDS TO DAP UP WITH THUN’S MOM IN HCTM. P’Aof writes SUCH amazing parents. Gaipa’s mom FTW also.) 

I want to make quick reference to a meditation I wrote last week on pain and suffering in Asian BLs that notes this phenomenon -- what pain could have been either avoided or mitigated if a couple is able to be out. I’m of the belief that in Our Skyy 2 x Bad Buddy x A Tale of Thousand Stars, that Pat and Pran could have possibly avoided their tiff before the trip to Pha Pun Dao if they had been out. If they had been out -- Pat would not have had to fib about their relationship to his engineering bros, and Pran would not have overheard Pat saying that Pran always needed Pat. They could have avoided the confusion all together.  

Pete and Kao fall into the exact same boat -- this is where P’Aof births a concept that will repeat itself in OS2 x BBS. Pete wants Kao to be out to Kao’s mother, so that they can be out together, to everyone. And: Pete has financial stability and security.

Pete’s boxes are checked. Kao has much more tangled issues. Kao THINKS his mom will not be happy to find out her son is gay. AND: HE’S the breadwinner. (I actually thought this was a touch confusing in the show, as Kao’s mom is clearly a teacher -- but relies on Kao as if he’s the breadwinner.) In any case, it’s clear that Kao adopts the role as the male head of the family, while still depending on his mother for emotional fulfillment. 

In other words: Kao has a much more TRADITIONAL background to contend with. To me, that’s à la Pat, à la Uncle Jim, à la Phupha, even à la Ming. All of these men have their backgrounds, their roles, all laid out for them by family and society, through culture and expectation. 

That’s a lot for Kao to break from. Because Pete has confidence through the reality that his life’s needs are squared away, Pete HAS the emotional room and ability to push Kao to be out. And I think that’s why it takes Kao so long in the show to move forward and to meet Pete where Pete was at. 

Here’s my criticism of DBK. I think DBK is a lighter show than P’Aof’s other works (again, without having seen Still 2gether). I think that’s because P’Aof knew that he still had to hew to some of what Kiss and Kiss Me Again had given him by way of cinematography (a lighter and fluffier filmmaking style than his usual serious lighting and camera work) and by tone (much more soapy and a touch more dramatic than I’m used to seeing in his oeuvre). (Oh, but, but: THAT OPENING THEME, YES, FRIENDS, WAS A BANGER. SHEEEEET. THAT THEME SONG! THOSE CURTAINS! THE WIND! THE STARES. KAO’S TEAR. So good!)

And I’m not entirely sure that P’Aof was able to get as DEEP, internally, with Kao as maybe he could have if he himself had been able to write Kao from Kao’s very existent start in fiction. P’Aof was taking this already-established character through an emotional reckoning that still needed to stick with a kind of Kao that had been born in the previous Kiss versions.

It’s a minor quibble, but I think the Non storyline ran for too long. I think it could have wrapped up much more quickly. I think we got a lot more time with Sun and Mork than I could have expected because P’Aof kind of drew out Non to keep the 12-episode bundle together.

Again, minor criticism. However, I *did* happen to appreciate how much TIME Pete and Kao spent fighting towards the end of series. That lengthy disagreement allowed Kao to really begin processing his own internal change to recognize his love for Pete, and to play around with what he’d be willing to risk by way of his family to be with Pete. It allowed Kao to consider that he NEEDED to demonstrate personal responsibility to Pete, and even to his family. I really thought that was in-depth and brilliant, and despite minor quibbles about New’s acting, I thought New carried it very well.

What’s amazing to me, though, is that Kao CLEARLY MISSED that his mom TOTALLY KNEW that he was gay, ha. Kao was SO CONSUMED with concern for what his mother WOULD THINK, that he didn’t see -- with his own two eyes! with Pete at the dinner table! -- that his mom CLEARLY KNEW. Kao’s mom side-eyed that basically from the start of the series, honey.

Despite that, what took my heart out a number of times in this show is that P’Aof showed empathy to Kao, and maybe even to the viewers that may have missed Kao’s mom’s silent acknowledgement before Kao’s coming out at the end. P’Aof was telling all of us this in the end quotes at the end of his episodes -- another unique P’Aof trope that was birthed in HCTM, and that I absolutely loved seeing in DBK and ATOTS.

(As a mom, that first slide makes me LOL so much, because it’s so true.)

Even while I felt that some DBK episodes were a little too long, a little too drawn out, these end quotes brought me back to what P’Aof was working on achieving in regards to revelation: that our human existence is so much more enriched if we’re able to transcend our worldly bullshit, even a little bit.

We see that in Kao with his mom. We see that in PETE, with his willingness to calm the eff down, bruv, and focus on his studies, and focus on managing his anger, for the sake of Kao, and for the sake of his own future. We see that in Sun, as he reorganizes himself and his insecurities to become an even better barista (I LOVE COFFEE IN BLs). We see that in Mork, as he ALSO demonstrates a willingness to calm the eff down, to promise to stop fighting to Sun, and to work on his own internalized homophobia to meet Sun as a partner. 

(I’m not going to spend too much time on Sun and Mork, but I absolutely LOVED PODD AND GAWIN, and I REALLY liked Podd’s portrayal of Sun’s very strong forwardness in his attraction to Mork. I loved his CONFIDENCE. I thought it was sexy, it was rooted in queer love and attraction, and I thought it struck a different and OPEN tone of movement in relationship-building that I haven’t seen in the previous watchlist BLs. Sun reminded me a bit of our fabulous guys in Make It Right -- that kind of almost earnestly honest openness.)

I want to note, in conversations with the wonderful @lurkingshan​, that we realized that in HCTM and DBK, we saw the start of P’Aof making a few other subversive choices in his shows. I wish I were more of an expert on the impact of colorism in Thai media and society, but I can extrapolate enough as an Indian (unfortunately). I couldn’t even SEE that Tay was a shade or two darker than New, but so be it. @lurkingshan​ noted for me (thank you, Shan!) that it was a subversive choice for P’Aof to center Pete’s story of change, from a bruiser to a carer, within a character that was slightly more melanated than his co-lead. I note that P’Aof shows no concern over casting other melanated actors -- Ohm Pawat and Earth Pirapat, multiple times -- in major lead roles with lighter-skinned co-leads. I love these choices and that he’s pushing boundaries across fiction and non-fiction. (And that P’Aof focuses on the quality of the ACTING of these dudes, as well as their looks -- that they should not be overlooked for being melanated.)

Like I said earlier, DBK was a lighter show than others of his that I watched. It was the first show of his that I watched that had a pre-established universe in the Kiss series. But I still fell in love with it -- I couldn’t help myself. I mean, come awn, Tay Tawan. Holy noodles. 

Could Pete and Kao have had a touch more feral chemistry, à la Pat and Pran and Jim and Wen? Sure, but I’m not complaining. I think, as compared to the PeteKao Kiss BL cuts, that P’Aof got a TREMENDOUS amount more out of Tay and New (especially Tay -- Tay’s Pete in DBK and his process of change was FABULOUS).

And I noted one last connection from Kiss/DBK to BBS, as I closed out my watch with the non-P’Aof Kiss Me Again edition of Our Skyy. I noted that Pete and Kao planted a tree together. 

And then I remembered that P’Aof had beloved Pat and Pran do just the same in Our Skyy 2 x BBS x ATOTS.

Pete and Kao, Pat and Pran, plant a plant together that will grow and grow. The plant lives out in the open, growing tall, towards the sun.

It gives me the chills, a warm and fuzzy happiness, to see these patterns being born, and P’Aof paying attention to them (even if the plant idea wasn’t his originally) -- because these artistic, dramatic tropes end up communicating so much to me about the depth of love that P’Aof is able to render, through his and our beloved couples, in his utterly fabulous shows.

[Welp -- if you’ve been reading my late-night liveblogs, you’ll know that my brain has been IMPALED by TharnType. I finished the series this past weekend in the heat of angst, and I’ll do the rare thing of releasing two reviews in one week -- I’m planning right now to drop the TharnType review on Thursday. If you’re a TT fan, then trigger warning: I have lots of things to say about this show that are the most critical I’ve ever written about any drama. 

On another, MUCH HAPPIER note, after a FABULOUS conversation with the WONDERFUL @so-much-yet-to-learn​, I’ve added GAP the Series to this list. With Saint investing in it, after his whole deal with the PerthSaint and ZeeSaint mishaps, I’m just really impressed that an important figure in the BL world has taken active steps to invest directly in more directly queer content. I think GAP is a must on this watchlist to understand the direction that Thai QL in general is going -- especially with 23.5 on the way later this year. (EEEEEEE!)

With that, here’s the latest version of the list. As ever, I’ll take comments, recs, etc.!

1) Love Sick and Love Sick 2 (2014 and 2015) (review here) 2) Make It Right (2016) (review here) 3) SOTUS (2016-2017) (review here) 4) Make It Right 2 (2017) (review here) 5) Together With Me (2017) (review here) 6) SOTUS S/Our Skyy x SOTUS (2017-2018) (review here) 7) Love By Chance (2018) (review here) 8) Kiss Me Again: PeteKao cuts (2018) (no review) 9) He’s Coming To Me (2019) (review here) 10) Dark Blue Kiss (2019) and Our Skyy x Kiss Me Again (2018)  11) TharnType (2019) (review coming) 12) Senior Secret Love: Puppy Honey (BL cuts) (2016 and 2017) (I’m watching this out of order just to get familiar with OffGun before Theory of Love -- will likely not review) (watching) 13) Theory of Love (2019) 14) Dew the Movie (2019) (not an official part of the OGMMTVC watchlist, but I want to watch this in chronological order with everything else) 15) Until We Meet Again (2019-2020) 16) 2gether (2020) 17) Still 2gether (2020) 18) I Told Sunset About You (2020) 19) Manner of Death (2020-2021) (not a true BL, but a MaxTul queer/gay romance set within a genre-based show that likely influenced Not Me and KinnPorsche) 20) A Tale of Thousand Stars (2021) (review here) 21) A Tale of Thousand Stars (2021) OGMMTVC Fastest Rewatch Known To Humankind For The Sake Of Rewatching Our Skyy 2 x BBS x ATOTS 22) Lovely Writer (2021) 23) I Promised You the Moon (2021) 24) Not Me (2021-2022) 25) Bad Buddy (2021-2022) (thesis here) 26) Bad Buddy (2021-2022) and Our Skyy 2 x BBS x ATOTS (2023) OGMMTVC Rewatch 27) Secret Crush On You (2022) [watching for Cheewin’s trajectory of studying queer joy from Make It Right (high school), to SCOY (college), to Bed Friend (working adults)] 28) KinnPorsche (2022) (tag here) 29) The Eclipse (2022) (tag here) 30) GAP the Series (2022-2023) (Thailand’s first GL) 31) My School President (2022-2023) and Our Skyy 2 x My School President (2023) 32) Moonlight Chicken (2023) (tag here) 33) Bed Friend (2023) (tag here) (Cheewin’s latest show, depicting a queer joy journey among working adults)]

[gunsatthaphan]

Tay has improved his acting a lot since DBK, Pete about a boy could nevaaaaa

Pete about a boy omg thanks for the war flashbacks jkshfd it's been 84 years.

I'm very fond of both of their acting in this tbh, I saw ppl being annoyed by Tay's shallowness and New's resting gay panic face lmao but I think they're doing very well. their acting style fits this story perfectly imo.

xxx

[gmmtv-bl-tournament-but-evil]

i think dbk is honestly overrated, or at least that's how i felt about it. i get why people love it so much, but it left a very sour taste in my mouth. going into 2gether, i had already seen a lot of negativity about it, so i expected it to get bad (it did) but i did expect dbk to be a lot more bearable. i think the show just felt so stagnant in terms of petekao, and while i appreciate what it did with the coming out plot, i feel like petekao as a relationship felt really weak and i didn't really root for them to be together?

i didn't like how we could see how pete's possessive behavior having negative impacts on their relationship, and kao feeling compelled to hide things as a result (like, god. he wanted him to just refuse to tutor the kid cuz hes jealous?) was something that instead of being addressed seemed validated. i like flaws, i loooove when characters have big personality flaws, even. but this felt like it was just being validated. we get the vibe that pete was right, and at the end, kao affirms that he likes that pete is possessive. i feel like this would have landed a lot better if instead of possessiveness that feels detrimental, pete grew into being possessive but also respecting this boyfriend. it just felt. odd.

look. i love established relationship and i also ADORE break ups. i think a good break up -> getting back together can be really interesting. i am an exes to lovers enthusiast. but i also almost had zero care about petekao getting back together (this also happened when i watched kiss me again before dbk. i just did not care that much. as a side note the person who directed 2gether, puppy honey, kiss me again, teenage mom, social death vote, etc is my mortal enemy as a 4 pillars fan who has STRONG opinions on the quality of these???) because the show really just made me feel their relationship was really unstable at its foundation? of course, i know they’re good for each other. for example, pete becomes better because of kao. still? didn’t quite work for me.

then there's non. i have no idea how "18year old with a crush on kao who goes too far" became the main driving force of the entire story, because i think there were a multitude of ways to explore the coming out plot poignantly and non was! not it! and i've never enjoyed how they wrote non in the end. in a show where we sympathize with kao for his fear of coming out, i didn't like how we were pitted against the 18yr old with a shitty parent who was scared of coming out. yeah, he fucked up massively and almost ruined kao's life. i get that. but do i think not addressing the massive "bad parent" motivation elephant in the room felt odd? how is it a happy ending that he's just definitely going to suffer cuz of his goddamn strict dad? do we just not care about non? maybe i'm just overly sensitive about this as someone who sympathizes with people who do things because of the fear of their parents (looking at you, ben from nlmg!) and thought it was insulting to me personally that the show said that "a parent will always know what their children are" (i disagree) also pretty much abandoned non? i get most people just found him annoying, but damn. i felt bad. non is like pete in ways, but even more immature and without the presence of a supportive father

oh our skyy was bizarre to me, by the way. less relevant to my opinions on dbk but the characterization was SO off in it and it just felt unneeded. and i’m a kongart our skyy lover so maybe it’s that i subconsciously compared it (our skyy petekao just feels so markedly Not PeteKao of kiss me again OR dbk!) also this didn’t factor into my voting but the continuity changing between kma our skyy and dbk really annoyed me as someone who watched it in order.

i liked sunmork, but a side couple can never save a show for me. the ost & cinematography was nice as well (i looped the theme song so much!) but unfortunately, the show really didn’t work for me. honestly, dbk vs 2gether was hard for me because, well (i could write a rant of this length on 2gether 😭😭😭 maybe longer actually) yeah. but that’s the fun of the competition!

I agree almost completely with everything you say about DBK. Despite finding Non extremely annoying, it left a terrible taste in my mouth that the reason why he was such a dickhead was never addressed and I agree that he got dealt a terrible hand by the narrative.

As for SunMork, I understand your feelings but I have to say that if it wasn't for them I would have never finished DBK. Although it's also true that I watched Not Me way before DBK which endeared to me Gawin soooo much and was also already extremely in love with Podd. That is to say, I was personally invested.

The only episode from that season of Our Skyy I watched was the Puppy Honey one which I liked better than the entire show, so I can't really say anything on the matter of PeteKao there.

I had a completely different experience when first coming into contact with 2gether too and in fact, part of the reason I hate it so much is that I saw nothing but praise for it before watching it and it made me so fucking mad. All the people hailing 2gether as this fantastic, incredible, amazing, showstopping, revolutionary show made me extremely suspicious and then I watched it and completely hated it, and the suspicion turned into absolute fury. Especially when I see it compared to other, better shows as something they should aspire to be.

I realise I'm coming off as extremely mean about it but it pulls some visceral reactions out of me so I'll just stop here before I cross a line.

I love your message, Anon, but it's not lost on me that you didn't actually say which one you voted for!!!!

[mikuni14]

It also tells a lot about Jim, that he wanted to prove to his sister that gay love equals straight love. AND HE THINKS HE FAILED because his relationship fell apart. Because to Jim only a perfect relationship could prove this equality. This reminds me of DBK's Pete, who complained that as a gay, he had to meet higher standards than if he were straight, that he had to be perfect all the time because he was judged differently (more harshly). Pete could see it and be angry about it. It's very sad that Jim still sees his failed relationship, which fell apart for the most basic, ordinary reasons that can exist as a failure not only to his sister, but also to, I don't know, the entire gay community :) That he had something important to prove and his boyfriend cheating on him had somehow proven his sister right.  Seriously. The more I learn about Jim, the more I feel sorry for him. Sucks to be him tbh, terrible sister, financial problems, cheating, now problems with angsty teenage nephew, with employees, then there's Wen and another cheating drama coming up. The demolition is just a cherry on top... 😥

[jgyapologism]

1/7/12 for the ask game

Enemies to Lovers

I mean, we gotta go with Pat and Pran Bad Buddy for this one. It's Romeo-and-Juliet, neighbors/childhood friends to enemies to lovers, and it's done WELL. Much more than most BLs who take on the trope. Runner up for this would be Pete and Kao from Kiss Me / Kiss Me Again - but that's not technically a BL, and in DBK they're an established couple, so Pat and Pran from Bad Buddy is the best option and answer.

7. Star-Crossed Lovers

Ah, fuck. Well, I can't very well use Bad Buddy again, now can I? Sooo let's go with Until We Meet Again - Intouch and Korn, specifically. There's something so tragically beautiful and haunting about their story, and it's something that's stuck with me. They deserved better. (Maybe they are also Romeo and Juliet - just the tragic ending part?)

12. Forced Proximity

Honestly I can't name many BLs with this trope from the top of my head. The best I can think of is The Eclipse, since they're both students in the same school - but lbh, nobody FORCES either of them to keep seeking one another out lmao. Not Me is a good one I suppose, especially when Gumpa forces Sean and White-as-Black to share Sean's room. What an OG.

Thanks for the asks and playing the game with me!!

[talkingbl]

which characters from my completed bls are the greenest of flags?

Ultimate Green Flags: Green means GO!

Tian (1000Stars) - an angel

Kao (KMA/DBK) - a good boy that stays caught up in bad situations. the Ashanti to Pete's Ja Rule

Xi Gu (MODC) -

Sean (Not Me) - he's just out here trying to survive

White (Not Me) - we love a supportive twin 😤

Kim (Unforgotten Night) - just trying to get his life right honestly

Pharm (UWMA) - worst thing he ever did was learn his soul mate's name. It's like I can still hear him calling for him to this day... "p'dean! p'dean!!! p'deeeeeaaaaaan~"

Yellow Flags: Not bad but do tread lightly...

Salawat (2gether) - I don't know man he might actually be a red flag now that I think about it...

Tine (2gether) - he pretended to be gay to get rid of his GAY MALE secret admirer. he might not be dangerous but he does lack brain cells

Pat (Bad Buddy) - for no reason at all, he healed from a gunshot wound in 1 episode. never trust a man who can't die

Pran (Bad Buddy) - friends with Wai

Siwon (Blueming) - when he's miserable, so is everyone else around him

Pi (FUTS) - unchecked anger issues

Daon (Blueming) - when he lies through his teeth like it's nothing

Neua (SCOY) - is okay with his boyfriend collecting his trash and bodily fluids

Sangwoo (Semantic Error) - not too bad but maybe a little vindictive and inconsiderate

Khai (TOL) - the first 6 episodes never happened[.]

Third (TOL) - the way he iced Khai was telling TO ME

Dean (UWMA) - not green enough to be green, not red enough to be red

Phupha (1000Stars) - nah cause the way he just tossed Tian to the side like that and turned the whole village on my mans was slimey af

Haoting (MODC) - relentlessly bullied a guy, then fell in love with him a week later. if that's not the hallmark of a well-adjusted human being, I don't know what is

Absolute RED Flags 🚩🚩🚩🚩

Pete (KMA/DBK) - this grown ass man bullied a teenager lmao

Mork (FUTS) - has no clue what boundaries are

Toh (SCOY) - he steals his crush's trash and makes shrines out of it

Jaeyoung (Semantic Error) - the lengths he went to just to piss Sangwoo off should tell you that this man is capable of some fucked up shit

Kamol - I feel like I don't need to explain why forcing a stranger to LIVE WITH YOU b/c he has a phat ass and looks like a cherub when he cries is red flag behavior

[lurkingshan]

For Husband/ONS/BFF: Karan (CMT), Pete (DBK), Shin (3WBF)

Three Tay Tawans??? Yes please.

Shin can be my bestie, that boy is too sad for me to deal with in a romantic context but I think we’d like a lot of the same books and dramas

Pete gets the ONS, that aggro energy will be useful in the bedroom

Karan is my husband because I enjoy being gifted with ridiculously expensive shirts

[ralbeleren]

Bl (and gl) Tag <33

Tagged by the inimitable @glamgoblin

currently watching: be my favorite, buddy daddies (if you count that...)

favorite bls/gls: manner of death, dark blue kiss, not me, a tale of a thousand stars

currently obsessed with: kawi/pisaeng, petekao always

favorite pairings: petekao, phutian, bun/tan, korn/knock, khai/third, honorable mention to pickrome

favorite actors: tul pakorn, gun attaphan, gawin caskey

favorite characters: bun and tan (mod), longtae (atots), pete and kao (dark blue kiss), pisaeng (be my favorite)

characters that awakened a new part of your sexuality/gender

n/a

characters you need to be besties with: kao he needs a friend, bun... also needs a friend

favorite scenes and/or lines: the bear "i love you" scene in dbk, shower scene in mod, the scene in mod with the laptop post-chase

most anticipated bls/gls: 23.5, my engineer s2 (don't @ me), bitter sweet, cherry magic thailand, trouble maker

favorite green flag couples/characters: phutian, tine/wat, longtae, pisaeng

favorite toxic couples/characters: korn/knock

guilty pleasures: tonhon chonlatee, waterboyy, that one toothpaste scene in monster romance.

tagging; @disaster-j, @xagan, @magicaldreamfox1

[waitmyturtles]

HERE WE GO: Thai QL Favorites Tag Game! Thanks to @telomeke, @lurkingshan, and @kattahj for the tags!

Favorite Thai QL: Bad Buddy, with a close second going to Until We Meet Again. My valuation here is -- what show do I think about the MOST on a daily basis? In every other show I watch, I’m thinking of Bad Buddy, and how BBS did x, y, and z differently. Still to me one of the most brilliant overall dramas I’ve ever watched, so mind-blowingly layered, and to me, BBS serves as a love letter and an honoring to the traumas that Asian children face as their parents grow, painfully, out of their own traumas.

Favorite Pairing: I’m going to assume pairings refers to the fictional ships, so: PatPran, obviously, with DeanPharm, BunTan, TeeFuse, and FrameBook in close running! Honorable mention to ThunMed, but Med is a ghost, sooooo, yeah, is object permanence a requirement in ships?! 

Most underrated actor: I’m adding to @telomeke and @pandasmagorica‘s pitch for Gawin Caskey. I know I have yet to see him in Not Me, but he was fabulous in Dark Blue Kiss.... and he is TEARING IT UP in Be My Favorite. There is not one hiccup with this man’s acting. He and Krist are CARRYING BMF to fabulous results. Honorable mention to my fave, Nammon Krittanai, who held down in SOTUS S and ATOTS, and he’s gonna be in The Rebound with Frank Thanatsaran, so we’ll see how that goes!

Favorite Character: Haaaaaa. OMG. I have so many. Honestly... for this very moment, I’d have to say Pharm from UWMA. I know his blushing maiden approach turned off a lot of folks, but Pharm just gave us EVERYTHING by way of demonstrating ALL of his emotions at his entire situation in holding Intouch’s spirit within him and negotiating his future with Dean. Pharm may have been a blushing maiden, but he also held his own, stood up for himself with the temporary break, and found his true love on his own, independently, in the end. I absolutely loved Pharm’s trajectory. 

Favorite Side Character: Oh no, also too many to list! I love that @telomeke mentioned Yihwa from Together With Me, but for me, I think tied for my tops in this category, would be Thun’s mom in He’s Coming To Me, and Pete’s dad in Dark Blue Kiss. The very, very best BL parents.

Favorite scene in a QL: Thun’s coming out scene on the rooftop in He’s Coming To Me/episode 5. I float when I think of Ohm Pawat’s acting in that moment.

Favorite line in a QL: This is a good one. For pure sessyness, I like what Ae says to Pete in the thin-walled dorm room in Love By Chance, and what Sarawat says to Tine at the end of Still 2gether. 

But I think I like what Dean says to Pharm in... I think it’s episode 6 in UWMA. “Who taught you to say something like this?” Gives me the shivers.

Most Anticipated QL (& why): Only Friends, of course, with 23.5 and Dangerous Romance in close seconds. (If this were NOT a Thai list, I would say the second season of What Did You Eat Yesterday?, because I’m planning to LOSE MY MIND OVER THAT, lol.)

Healthiest relationship in a QL: Are we talking romantic relationships?! Because Thun and Thun’s mom in HCTM, and Pete and Pete’s dad in DBK definitely count, ha. As far as couplings go? I might actually argue for Uea and King in Bed Friend! They went through SO MUCH to get to where they were at the end of that show. SO MUCH. And King just LED in such a positive and healthy way, listening to every one of Uea’s needs and responding to them. They are a fabulous couple. I’ll give them their flowers for ending in such a healthy and open place! 

Most toxic relationship in a QL: TharnType, and that’s all I’ll say about that.

Guilty pleasure series: Ooooooh. I don’t think I can answer this, because I don’t think I’ve watched enough Thai QLs out of the context of the Old GMMTV Challenge to have watched a series PURELY for pulpy goodness. I think I need more familiarity with the genre by way of quantity to fully answer this!

Most underrated series: I agree with @telomeke. HE’S COMING TO ME. A show that was WAY before its time, and did not get its flowers, publicly, by GMMTV or the 2019 fandoms. The writing and acting on this show was SPECTACULAR. I will beat this drum forever: anyone who calls themselves a QL fan MUST watch this show for the standards it set in acting, in writing, and in message delivery. Utterly stunning.

Gonna tag some of the usual suspects of the OGMMTVC in here, as well as new friends I’ve made through Be My Favorite! @absolutebl, @solitaryandwandering, @nieves-de-sugui, @clairificusrex, @manogirl, @telomeke, @so-much-yet-to-learn, @twig-tea, @crowie, @chickenstrangers, @grapejuicegay, @dribs-and-drabbles, @miscellar, @aliceisathome, @rocketturtle4, and anyone else, feel free to jump in!

[gmmtv-bl-tournament-but-evil]

reasoning behind DBK being better than 2gether (from a bitch that will fight for 2gether) plot went to both, couple went to dbk, ost went to dbk. I have to explain though.

By plot i mean the overall story for both shows. Both were very solid to me. I know people thinking the acting in one or both were very weak and that is fair. But i cried over both shows multiple times, can relate to the both "main" plot threads in ways that rewrote my brain. So solid

Couple vs couple: I know people in relationships like Pete and Kao AND Wat and Win's character (what the fuck was his name?) and i tried to imagine out of both of those couples would stay together and. Look Wat and Tine (?) got married but i do not think it lasted. Im sorry. Pete and Kao would run into problems but they are endgame so to speak.

OST: no brainer DBK's intro F U C K S no skipping it ever. Every song made sense?

Then you have little things like side characters and friend groups which IMO could make or break a show (squints at ToL)

Overall there are moments that i skip to when watching 2gether over while DBK im getting comfortable, grabbing a jug of water, and snacking.

I am constantly humbled by how wide and varied the human experience can be! I cannot fathom feeling moved to tears by either of those shows but it's very sweet to hear how precious they are to you. Don't get me wrong, I'll still hate on them but still! ❤️😆

I will give you that about the OST for DBK though, it goes so incredibly hard and for what reason? If the show was even a quarter as good as that opening I would probably be leaving impassioned asks about it here too!

Also kudos for the subtle ToL burn, I will take that with great sportsmanship.

[konaizumi]

Kao: For the 100th time, Pete and I are just friends.

Sandee: *sneezes*

Sandee: Sorry I'm allergic to bullshit.

[absolutebl]

Hoping that your family is this supportive. 

Stay safe over holidays, my lovely queer babies.