#is Phupha the bad guy??

[27vampyresinhermind]

Ok I’m still watching Two Worlds and I am confusion.

[jjsanguine]

Pat, sniffing a tree: Pran!

Pat, sniffing a different tree: Teacher Tian!

Phupha: what are you doing?

Pat: Pran smells like really good, so if he's been nearby I'll know

Phupha: ...

Pat: you're telling me you aren't intimately familiar with Teacher Tian's smell?

Phupha: not all of us are perverts.

Pat: It's a shame, he smells good too :)

Phupha: :/... >:/

[lurkingshan]

I’m thinking a lot about the scene between Pran and Tian where they discuss the fight Tian and Phupha are having. Not the fake one about who liked who first, but the real one about Phupha refusing to travel home with Tian or change anything about his life to meet Tian’s needs. It’s a funhouse mirror image of the conflict Pat and Pran are having about how much Pran should let Pat help him, and their long-term dynamic of Pat letting Pran win every disagreement and always being the one to compromise or give in when their needs are in tension.

What I love about it is that Tian doesn’t know anything about their relationship, he’s just (drunkenly) talking about his own experience, and how frustrating and exhausting it is to be with someone like Phupha who never meets him halfway. And Pran is sitting across from this guy who looks like his twin, whose story he has already memorized and connected to, who he now thinks of as a sort-of friend, and he is self-aware enough to see the parallels instantly, and to feel a little embarrassed and ashamed that he is essentially the Phupha in his relationship. And you see him react, just a little, and maybe start to think for the first time about what it must feel like for Pat to yield to him on everything, and never have that reciprocated by Pran.

Reading this wonderful post from @waitmyturtles earlier where she mentioned how she empathizes with Pran, I was also reflecting a bit about where I see myself in this story, and let me tell you, I am such a Phupha. When it comes to how I want to live my life, where I want to be, and how I want to spend my time and with whom, I am uncompromising to a fault. I completely get where Phupha is coming from - I told you who I am, and now you’re telling me it’s not enough. He is frustrated by the idea that he has to change himself for Tian, and I get that, I really do. It’s something I am personally not willing to do. The key difference between me and Phupha, however, is that I am not in love and I do not desire to be in a romantic partnership. He very much is, and very much does.

So what might a guy like Phupha think, as he is struggling so much with the idea of yielding to Tian, when he is met with someone like Pat? Someone who is so like him in some ways - in his strength, his masculinity, his physicality, his confidence, his loyalty, his desire to help others - and yet so unlike him in other ways - his emotional openness, his vulnerability, his comfort with compromise, his absolute willingness to put his pride aside for his lover. Where Phupha is rigid, Pat is versatile, in every sense of the word. There is a lot Phupha might learn from talking to someone like Pat about how he sees his relationship, why he is always willing to bend to Pran’s needs, and why he ultimately feels it’s worth it, even if he sometimes feels some of the frustration that Tian does. Might Phupha have his own epiphany next week, opening up a path for him to finally compromise on something important to Tian?  

@dribs-and-drabbles, I’m not sure how this might fit into your theory about the patterns playing out in these episodes, but I really hope we get to see this happen next week, and watch both of these couples learn from each other’s experiences and find a way to meet their partners in the middle. Because as @waitmyturtles said, this is the work of being in a long term relationship.

In the server with @bengiyo @shortpplfedup @kyr-kun-chan @wen-kexing-apologist we talk often about how amazing it is when romances address what happens to couples after they get together, and how exciting it is that we are starting to see more bl shows about the work of staying together, and I’m so glad that the genius minds behind Bad Buddy and A Tale of Thousand Stars took the opportunity of this special to dig into that so authentically. And to have done it in such a brilliant way, by mixing and matching these characters from beloved shows, putting them side by side and demonstrating how they are similar and also how they can learn from each other, creating a sense of community in this shared universe, and making it all so damn fun along the way, is just an unbelievable treat for us as an audience. Can't wait to see how it all comes together next week.

[waitmyturtles]

HYPERBOLIC SPOILERS FOR THE PHENOMENAL SECOND EPISODE OF OS2 x BBS x ATOTS

Can I feel so much in just one sitting?! Besides the UTTER giddiness of yesterday’s episode, at least for today, I think I have some actual, sensible, legible analysis to offer. I’m really moved, almost to tears.

I mean, as I blogged just a few minutes ago, part 4/4 of this second episode WILL go down in history in my heart as OBVIOUSLY some of the BEST, most STUNNING content in the HISTORY of anatomical and muscular analysis filmmaking. Yes. 

I’m seeing on Twitter some grumpiness for the comedy of this all (the girlies want more woop woop?! I mean?!), but I seriously think this whole crossover set up and the way it’s been written is brilliant. And I don’t think this is just for fun. 

But first, regarding the comedy and some other one-off points -- I mean, I knew that all four of these guys would be great, but their comedic TIMING, with the writing, is spectacular. They clearly had a FANTASTIC time filming this, and you can see it -- while they didn’t have much time to actually film it, it’s so well done.

I really want to call it, I really want to see it, I wanna see more subverting of the ships, and I wanna see these guys do more with each other separately -- I’m excited to see the implications of OhmEarth and NanonMix next week, and I think that Aof might be making a huge point by separating these guys, pairing them up together with others, and mixing shit up, because that’s what he does (especially while I have He’s Coming to Me on the mind soon on my OGMMTVC watchlist). 

Another one-off point: like I wrote yesterday, we’re getting a double-dose of nostalgia, and I also wrote that I haven’t had to wait NEARLY as long as most of y’all for the return of BBS and ATOTS. But that being said, even though I only watched ATOTS last fall, I actually literally nearly cried when I saw the ATOTS flashbacks and heard the music. Because the way that show was designed in 2021 (I got so much OGMMTVC on my mind) -- those motifs WERE designed to imprint themselves in our memories as remarkable for a kind of cinematic, bildungsroman BL that we weren’t used to seeing back then. That show was nostalgic not JUST for the damn ship, but for Pha Pun Dao, for Chiang Mai, for the Thailand that Aof celebrates vis à vis EarthMix in ATOTS and Moonlight Chicken. 

It’s gorgeous, and he knows what he’s doing by putting PatPran in that mix -- another couple at a different stage of their relationship, with a background and shared struggles that are different than TianPhupha’s, but that still offer both freshness AND nostalgia to the backbone story of ATOTS.

What’s moving me about these first two episodes reflects on what I just wrote -- this is no longer a story about Bad Buddy or ATOTS. This is a story about two couples going through their shit. Pat and Pran have ALWAYS been about going through their shit. We went through a A LOT of SHIT with them, including forward flashes after they graduated and seeing how they were faring in their long-distance relationship. 

Remember: we haven’t spent ANY time with Tian and Phupha in their relationship yet, ABSOLUTELY NONE. They smooched once on the hill, we saw them cuddle, and Oishii sent us off. So we’re JUST finding out, NOW, how they’re faring, and we get thrown in a fight.

A fight that’s similar to the kinds of struggles that Pat and Pran have already shown us and are showing us now. Tian wants Phupha to see a slice of HIS life in Bangkok. Tian wants Phupha to yield a little, to stop being so stubborn. 

Pat wants Pran to open up more. Pat KNOWS why Pran keeps everything so close to the chest. Pat is SO USED to being the balancing effect of their relationship, to push forward, to pull back, but to ALWAYS HOLD PRAN DOWN AND REMAIN AS PRAN’S ROCK, because Pran has not had the same kind of large family structure as Pat could rely on in his childhood and doesn’t know how to take emotional risks. Pat knows this and works hard on balancing it out.

But Pat can go overboard, right, and that’s partly why Pran drove away to Pha Pun Dao -- to prove to himself that he could complete this project on his own, but also, flirtingly, knowing that Pat would ultimately be by his side, and to play the competitive games that these guys always play with each other, because they’re still college dudes with bones to pick. 

What we’re seeing is BOTH COUPLES FINDING THEMSELVES IN THEIR MATURING GROWTH STAGES OF THEIR RELATIONSHIPS. 

Hello, mic check, there’s something happening here in Our Skyy 2. WHAT HAPPENED IN THE ECLIPSE EPISODES?

Same damn thing, the same damn thing that pissed the girlies off before. WE’RE SEEING AWLLLLLL THESE GUYS IN THE GROWTH STAGES OF THEIR RELATIONSHIPS. Akk was frustrated by all the expressions of care that Ayan is overabundant with. Ayan WANTS Akk to RECEIVE the care, because the RECEPTION OF CARE IS the signal, the trigger, the MEANING of the relationship for Ayan -- it tells Ayan, when I care for you, Akk, I AM SHOWING YOU MY LOVE FOR YOU, and that’s how *I* DEMONSTRATE IT.

Tian: Phupha, come with me to Bangkok.

Pran: Pat, let me do this by myself.

Akk: Ayan, I don’t need as much care as you’re giving me, it’s too much.

Phupha: You’re making only about me being madly in love with you.

Pat: I want to help you, my boyfriend.

Ayan: This is how I show my love for you, Akk. 

Y’all. Aof, Golf, these filmmakers. QUEER RELATIONSHIPS ARE RELATIONSHIPS THAT DESERVE THE INVESTMENT AND RESPECT OF EMOTION AND GROWTH IN ART. Not all queer art/BLs need to be about the thrills and frills of the first kiss, of the first sex, of the first whatever. We’re expecting these guys to live together forever in fiction, right? Aof and Golf and the other homies are saying -- kk, girlies, we’ll give you the fan service, alright, but we’re going to show you HOW WE, AS THE QUEER COMMUNITY, DURING PRIDE, GET THERE IN OUR OWN RELATIONSHIPS, TOO, messy details and all. Shit.

Here’s something from reality. I’m the youngest girl of my Indian family -- I was not equal to my older siblings at all, expected to fail, treated as if I didn’t know how to function in society. Y’all can predict what happened. Your gal got a great career, a great family, a husband, the whole thing.

So when I first met my husband, I’m riding my life on my own -- paying my own rent, my own bills, everything. I had already proved I didn’t need my birth family for anything.

But what I didn’t consider during those first years of the relationship was the following: my future husband’s love language was dependence. He was certainly IMPRESSED by dating a woman who had her shit together. BUT. He WANTED me to DEPEND on him, AT LEAST emotionally, if not for other things. I wasn’t going to like, quit my job for a relationship, but -- I was ALSO having REAL trouble DEPENDING on him emotionally.

Like Pran, maybe. I didn’t trust trusting anyone emotionally, because that was a paradigm already created by my family in my upbringing. I had TRAINED myself to NOT need emotional feedback from ANYONE romantically, because I learned to survive in other ways.

Of course, with great communication AND TIME (TIME), I came around and learned to lean on him and trust him.

Aof and Golf are giving their couples the benefits of growth and time to make the relationships better, and stronger, and working, and functioning, and I can’t emphasize enough how REAL THIS IS. 

That’s what these episodes are giving me. I WANT TO SEE MORE BLs with established relationships (@bengiyo, @lurkingshan, @wen-kexing-apologist: WHAT DID YOU EAT YESTERDAY FTW). I want to see contextual heartache. I want to see fights. I want to see tears. I want to see snottiness and shittiness and passive aggression, because all of that is worth examining in human emotional art. 

That’s real, that’s worth reflecting in art, and I see Aof and Golf doing this on purpose to give RESPECT to the emotional structures that they’ve created in their work. 

I’m having so much fucking fun with these episodes, but I should have expected this, I SHOULD HAVE KNOWN, that Aof would already render me an emotional mess as well. It always happens. That it’s happening to our BELOVED COUPLES, AT THE START OF PRIDE, I’m just like. We’re just so blessed to have this art to enjoy.

[bengiyo]

Our Skyy 2 x Bad Buddy x A Tale of Thousand Stars Ep 3 Stray Thoughts

Last week, we returned to the world of Bad Buddy to find Pat and Pran in their closeted era during the later part of college. They've maintained the façade that they're enemies for years, with only four of their friends being let in. Currently, their faculties are competing for access to an auditorium for a play. Pran's team won out but he needs to get permission from the story owners to continue, who just so happen to be Tian and Phupha of A Tale of Thousand Stars.

So, they decide to go to Pha Pun Dao to find them but Pran is determined to prove he doesn't need Pat's help, despite the fact that they are both clearly better together. There, they realize that Tian and Phupha are experiencing similar struggles that they faced before.

Many hijinks ensued. I thought Tian was going to kill Pran before they bonded. Phupha and Pat definitely messed around. Now Tian, Pran, and a precocious child are lost in the woods trying to recover Torfun's diary.

Just Pran and his tote bag against the world.

Oh, interesting. Pat likely went through the draft?

Of course Phupha taught Tian how to find help if he gets lost and Tian was just being stubborn.

I'm okay with this split on the pairs.

Ah, yes. The reminder that Tian is a heart patient.

And now Pat is covered in leeches. My goodness.

This man really thinks he can sniff Pran out in the forest.

I'm such a sucker for the ATOTS theme. It starts playing during the reunion rescue and I'm instantly simping.

Looking at Pat, rescuers also get injured when looking for lost people.

Of course Pat and Pran start bickering for real over credit.

I suspected Phupha brought Tian's medicine in the first place. Glad to be right.

I like seeing Phupha and Tian care for each other while they thought the other was sleeping. Gotta remind us that they still care for each other.

Yes, Pran. Please give Pat his love score. Absolutely unsurprised that these two released some of the tension after all that stress and worry.

Oh good. We've paired the two most unbending guys together to search for Kampung.

Now Tian is lost again. So stubborn.

Pran projecting hard onto Phupha: "Why do I feel like you're just insecure and not sure if you're good enough to tell anyone that story?'

Gosh, Pran may have fallen first, but Pat fell so hard.

Yod is all of us.

Holy shit Ohm and Nanon are so good together. I will be thinking about this "I can't live without you" scene for the rest of my week at least, and probably my life.

Phupha finally finished reading the diary. I wonder if the play even matters anymore.

Tomorrow we see Phupha and Tian reconcile and wave goodbye to Pat and Pran.

I have a lot of feelings to sort out. I feel like this weekend will call for intense blogging about both of these couples.

[dribs-and-drabbles]

Colours in Our Skyy 2 Bad Buddy x A Tale of Thousand Stars ep 2

With this first crossover ep and the whole thing set in Chiang Mai/Pha Pun Dao, I was interested to see whether the colours I had interpreted in Bad Buddy would continue. @respectthepetty has written a great post on the use of lighting in atots, but I didn't pay as much attention to the lighting in this crossover to be able to say whether it's been consistent here too (maybe they will!).

I did notice, however, that the villagers wore a lot of blue and red (although a quick scan of atots reminded me that they wore a lot of those colours in that series too...although weighted more on the blue side).

Hello Toto and sound-booth-guy! (I think he had a name but I couldn't find it again). Also, I think they raided the wardrobe for Aou in Vice Versa for Pat's Chiang Mai clothes - why has he gone from sleeveless shirts in BBS to pocketed vests in OS2?!

Beyond all the blue and red, the other colours featured as well...starting with Pran in an orange shirt, which I said I would talk about in my ep 1 post. I love the idea that the orange might be a reference to Ink and how she entered Pat and Pran's story as a potential faen fatale in ep 4 of BBS. Initially, Pran regarded her cautiously as a love interest for Pat and similarly in Our Skyy 2 Pran is first looked upon warily by Tian as someone suspiciously close to Phupha (the children don't help by saying Pran is Phupha's boyfriend). This leads me back the tent in ep 1, and the orange there could also have been a nod to the faen fatale character - of Wai coming between the couple by being mistaken by Pat for Pran. Anyway, note Pran's yellow socks below! He might have left Pat behind but his love for him is still with him.

Pran's orange could also have been a choice for Aof to create the wonderful parallel with Moonlight Chicken, of Mix's character being witness to the 'baby-gays', alongside Pat's blue striped top. But Tian's olive-green top (and Phupha's camouflage), suggests the conflict and hostility between both couples.

The next day, despite sabotaging Pran's attempts to get Phupha and Tian to make up, Pat is wearing a yellow top, perhaps proclaiming his love for Pran out loud. Pran, despite telling Pat he wanted to come alone and get the signatures without his help, is wearing Pat's colour - a loud proclamation itself. And we soon see that they have exchanged colours again, with Pat wearing Pran's colour close to his under his shorts (@dimplesandfierceeyes pointed out a great little parallel with this to BBS ep 7 here). Note also Pran's yellow socks again - maybe this is the start of them matching their tops and socks 🤭

Jumping back to the night before and the dark green and brown of their tops could symbolise their fight - their stubbornness to not give in to the other becomes an obstacle to their happiness and they go to sleep disgruntled with each other.

But then the next night is a different matter, when they *ahem* test the structural integrity of the hut... Pat's love for Pran makes him always want to help Pran, seen in the yellow of his top, and they end up unified again (shaking the hut) as symbolised by all the teal and mint green (do we include the Nong Nao mask in this? 😄).

The next day, Pran is in his own red, perhaps feeling back to himself again after pulling away from Pat...and Pat is confusedly in the strange 'Aou from Vice Versa' outfit above 🤷🏽‍♀️ (sometimes clothes are just clothes 😏) Later, Pran wears yellow stripes (in front of a yellow lantern) whilst singing about his and Pat's love. Pat's also in stripes and the blue could add to his confidence as the 'engineering top-notch'. The green, however, is quite neutral - a 'primary' green, neither good (lime, mint, or teal) nor bad (forest/olive), and maybe this alludes to the draw he eventually has with Phupha and that the outcome of their drinking was neither good nor bad.

Incidentally, I liked that Pat woke up on a bed of red, initially thinking he was with Pran, and on top of another mat that looks yellow and blue, and was covered by a blanket in his own blue. With the amount he loves Pran, it's not hard to see that he wouldn't have cheated on him, even blind drunk (the same maybe could be said for Phupha with Tian).

It was interesting that Phupha and Tian also wore teal whilst Pat and Pran were trying to get them back together...and they might have succeeded if it hadn't have been for the letter - perhaps Tian's olive green pants and Phupha's camouflage allude to this...or, going back to @respectthepetty's interpretation of lighting, the fact that the lighting is quite cold here could show that the night would not end well for them.

And so on to the brown on Yod and Kampung - perhaps showing Phupha yielding to Pat's challenge, and Pran yielding to Tian's desire to walk to Pha Pun Dao. It's a nice touch that it looks like Yod has a dark blue shirt over the top of his brown (whilst with Pat) and Kampung has the red jersey (whilst with Pran).

And lastly, we end on olive/brown and camouflage - symbolising the trouble ahead for both couples (and for our sanity) and the sacrifice that they might have to make. (Or, you know, it just makes sense for them to be wearing this because they're forest rangers 🤷🏽‍♀️).

[ep 1] [ep 2] [ep 3] [ep 4] (<- I'm being hopeful)

[respectthepetty]

Since I decided the best way to make it through Our Skyy 2 with minimal damage was to drink my way through it, welcome to the FINAL round of

CockTails in the Skyy!

This week's drink is Par-tea-g Ways because once I knew we were ending Our Skyy 2 with A Tale of Thousand Stars, I had to bring out all my favorites to celebrate that the best was saved for last:

tequila because my favorite liquor is meant for my favorite series in this lineup

black tea for those tea sachets that saved the village

chimoy and Tajín on the rim for that tiny 🔥🔥🔥 the Grinch and his husband bring with their eye stares

I love tequila. I love tea. I love a simple cocktail, which is why I made a big glass of it. I love the Grinch and his husband. I love that they have jobs, so I know I'm going to love these episodes because I have everything I love in one sitting. It's already a 9.5/10 for me no matter what happens, and I'm going to love every single thing about this.

Bottoms up!

Tian is not Pat. Pran needs to stop yelling at him like that.

The ways Phupha cares for Tian are very practical. He is a good man who would buy his guy tools and jumper cables for Christmas. A GOOD MAN!

Pran is not someone I would want to be lost in the forest with. Negative Nelly is pouting over here while the kid and the man with the heart problem are walking. You're better than this, Pran!

Even though they are fighting, Tian knows Phupha will do his job and rescue them because he is A GOOD MAN!

I feel bad for Phupha too. Pat is already having issues, so now he has to rescue FOUR people. Say it with me - A GOOD MAN!

Phupha is in full Chief mode, yet Pat is sniffing trees and making jokes to lighten the mood. Pran and Pat are extreme opposites out here, yet both are very unhelpful in this forest situation. They are made for each other.

Kampung does have a lot of energy like most tiny hustlers.

Tian to Phupha - What took you so long?!

WHY IS PRAN SNITCHING?!

Okay, I forgive him since Pat and Pran started fighting.

Kampung is just back there chillin' being the real adult in this situation.

Phupha gives Tian flower tea for good sleep. Kampung was trying to find ginger for Tian. My rural folks may not be outwardly affectionate, but they are givers of practical care. My people.

Phupha gets no rest and NO PEACE with these people.

Pat, being practical now. He is a GOOD MAN! He can stay.

No, literally, babe. Someone needs to stay at the camp! Was nobody a scout?! Stay where you are! What if that child comes back and nobody is there?!

I feel so bad for Phupha this episode. This man earned his paycheck over these past few days.

Pran coming in with the self awareness. He can stay too!

Pat's positivity is good here. Don't sniff trees. Instead give people words of encouragement. This is where he excels.

Kampung and Tian both being stubborn and worrying about the other one is cute!

The color exchange.

Am I hearing a rooster during this touching scene between Tian and Phupha or is that the tequila? Well, I'm about to make another drink anyway, so no importa!

I made a pitcher of Par-tea-g Ways, so I don't even have to take a break to refill. ONWARD!

"He only sits like that because his back hurts." - Yeah, from carrying the weight of EVERYONE'S LIVES ON HIS SHOULDERS. Put some respect on Phupha's name!

I had to pause for the cellphone cover being the same as the doorknob hanger, and now I'm wondering if I really do remember Bad Buddy or not. Is this going to be like 2gether where I only vaguely remember the story? "There was . . . singing." That's all I got.

Pat and Pran got tea sachets and ginger! And Tian got the eye mask. Que cute.

If Pat asked Phupha to rate him after sex, Phupha would give Pat a list of critiques. Pat could not handle Phupha. Phupha would even have timestamps: "A minute and thirty-two seconds in, you did that thing with your mouth. It wasn't good. Minus half a point." Phupha is me.

The colors.

Last week, I wrote only Tian and Phupha got a warm waterfall, yet here they are, freezing.

The sound I just made when Phupha popped up from behind.

This scene is hitting just right with the tequila.

I like that Mix does not take off his shirt. There is no need when we all can get lost in his beautiful eyes.

I tell ya that seeing Earth's tattoo is my favorite I Spy game. FAVORITE!

Phupha, a practical man, is putting in the effort to be more affectionate. He is A GOOD MAN, I say!

I'm going to start using "mosquito net" as code for sex.

I LOVE THIS EPISODE! The mosquito net scene gives me the EarthMix-don't-kiss-until-the-last-episode kiss, and this feels right!

We are going down Memory Lane, but everything is better. So much better!

Give him a 9.5 Tian, just like I'm giving this episode. Nothing is perfect. There is always room for improvement, but give Phupha top honors. He gave him 11!

Phupha is hugging his man goodbye for the whole world to see. I love him so much.

NOW HE SHOWED UP!

Phupha taking pictures of his man taking pictures of his food is my dessert.

This whole date is giving me everything I never thought I'd get from them. Aof, I love you.

It's not a competition, but . . . the high schoolers

The Wai x Korn agenda is alive and strong.

I feel that "we barely got this episode to happen" comment is from Aof about how GMMTV probably wasn't for the crossover, but GOTCHA SUCKERS!

The flowers are even red and blue.

For all y'all hair haters out there, you don't deserve this ponytail.

WHITE! I don't get you enough on my screen. Tell me when I'll see you again. Please!

I feel like the parents proposed to Phupha, and that's the way it should be.

For a person who does not believe in marriage, I'm a sucker for this proposal because I have always considered them the Grinch and his husband.

Oh no! Now we really are going down Memory Lane! I NEED ANOTHER DRINK!

AND NOW THIS?! (Yod is their Pa)

This was EVERYTHING to me. I got color coding. I got Pat's hair in a ponytail. I got Wai x Korn. I got InkPha. I got White! I got my Grinch and his (actual) husband for four episodes. I GOT THE THOUSANDTH STAR! And I got drunk.

But I didn't get Longtae, so . . .

9.5/10 CockTails for giving me everything, but one tiny cutie.

I'm so happy I got to revisit all of these shows to appreciate some in ways I didn't the first time around and have the chance to see the characters I love after their happy-ever-afters.

Until next time

*plays that intro song that annoys all of y'all*

[orangemocharaktajino]

For a show that was bad pretty much from the beginning, Beyond the Star really outdid themselves by making the final episode so much worse than the rest. This was probably the worst final episode I've ever seen (other than MODC) and that's kinda impressive.

My toxic trait is if the NC scenes are good enough, I can forgive plot holes big enough to drive a bus through.

I loved Tonnam and Phupha, especially in episodes 6 and 7. And unfortunately that's where the fun ends because this bus is just too big.

I have been known to obsess over objectively bad shows before because my main goal as a viewer is entertainment. Sometimes bad writing and ridiculousness can be their own type of fun, imo.

I initially started watching Beyond the Star only because of Willi (Kita) who I loved in another high heat show with very questionable writing, Till the World Ends.

From the initial trailer of Beyond the Star, it seemed like the main storyline would be about twins Tin and Tul (played by actual twins and not simply one actor!) fighting over a man. Now, when I say man, I mean it because another thing that I was excited about initially was this cast's ages. The average age of the main cast is just shy of thirty years old which is something I would frankly love to see more of. Kind of weird for this to happen with a story about a new boyband, but hey.

The main characters and the ages of the actors who play them:

Kita - 34

Nathee - 27

Kengkla - 27

Namo - 26

Tonnam - 27

Phupha - 29

Trin - 30

Tul - 30 (obviously)

Copper - 30

Dance instructor Kawi - 30

CEO Araya - 33

CEO Kiat - 35

I didn't include the babies of the group Mawin (20) and Mangkorn (20) in this because I feel like we got more scenes of other characters explaining away their absence than we got scenes of them. They weren't even in the last two episodes at all so their story had absolutely no resolution.

Unfortunately that's kind of the case for most of the plot lines in this show. We had way too many characters with simultaneously too much going on and not enough going on. Way too much of the CEOs plotting only for them to inexplicably team up at the end. And way too much dance rehearsal footage that apparently needed to be shown instead. The last episode was chock full of loose threads.

I have so many questions

Why so many scenes of Nathee talking about how hot Kita's dad was when he was younger?

Why did they do Willi like this with this wig?

What happened with Kita and Nathee's relationship? Why did they have zero scenes in the finale?

What happened with Film's blackmail plot?

Why wasn't Nathee in the group at the end yet and previously disgraced Kita was?

What happened with Kita and Kawi being pissed about Kita's song being stolen?

Narrator: He did not deal with anything

Why wait until the very last episode to do anything with Tul and Tin and Copper? Okay, so Tul told Tin early on that he liked Copper. Tin agreed not to pursue Copper only to then immediately fuck him the very first chance he got? They decided to have a quickie in the bathtub while Tul was running a simple errand that he would be back from very soon? Not only did they not hurry, they didn't even close the fucking bathroom door????? Tul and Tin almost immediately made up after this even though apparently they already fought over a guy in the past?

Why did Kengkla even like Namo? Bro straight up told him his religious beliefs were stupid and they never really addressed this?

Did they break Namo's glasses during their sex scene? They showed Kengkla taking off Namo's glasses and putting them on the bed beside them and then a few seconds later they seemingly rolled over on them?

What was with Kengkla's pained expressions during their NC scene in the finale? Between that and Namo's unhinged smiling paired with the throat grabbing I couldn't tell what was supposed to be happening there. Kinky shit? Does Namo use cosmopolitan magazine's 2004 indian burn handie technique? Too much teeth? The possibilities are endless

Tell me this man isn't Bajoran though with his religious devotion, nose bridge wrinkles, and dangly earrings

Why even include the suicide attempt plot line? The whole thing was infuriating but especially them patting themselves on the back for solving Tonnam's suicidal tendencies by comforting him in the hospital?

You don't have to be sad buddy, you've improved as a dancer!

Narrator: It was not resolved

Also, here's where I have to admit I gave the writing team too much credit. I repeatedly thought that scenes were surely included for a bigger narrative purpose but that was overwhelmingly not the case.

In earlier episodes they showed a hidden camera in one of the rehearsal rooms at the agency that was, unbeknownst to the boys, streaming online. When they showed Phupha and Tonnam about to get it on at the agency and Tonnam specifically said he was worried about being seen, I thought that they were maybe going to be unknowingly exposed online and cause a huge scandal. When I saw the promo for the finale where it showed Tonnam on the ground with pills all around him, I thought for sure that was where they were going. I thought it was a little late for a big plot point like that but oh, how little I knew.

Why have Kengkla asking repeatedly why they're focusing so much on singing and dancing when he wants to be an actor only to have him turn down the acting job so he can be in a different boyband at the end?

Bad writing, bad directing, bad editing, bad pacing, bad dancing (perplexingly shown in slow motion which only exacerbated the lack of sync), bad singing, no character development, way too much focus on the two rival CEOs who are the producers of the show which explains so much.

The workshops must have been good though because the chemistry was the rare positive. Kita and Nathee had a few good scenes and I loved Tonnam and Phupha (except in the finale which I'm going to forget I ever watched). The kissing in the NC scenes was good all around but the lack of direction was pretty apparent. Lots of up and down and back up kind of aimlessness with too much position switching. It seemed like the actors were giving it their best but weren't given any specific instructions and were just kind of stalling until they heard cut.

The intro was catchy but I can't say the actual group they apparently built this show around promoting (in the most roundabout weird way) doesn't leave a bad taste in my mouth because of this mess.

Don't watch this unless you want to try your hand at the world's least efficient way to learn the numbers 1-8 in Thai

Or you know, maybe you could just skip around to the good parts

May these guys find better writing in their next projects

Sadhu

[absolutebl]

BL for Feb 2023 

2.14 Moments Of Love (Thai - Foremorfilm Production) cinemas Was originally Golf (Director of 609 Bedtime Story & The Eclipse) to direct stars SmartJames (LeonPhob from Don't Say No) in a series. Is now something totally different and a movie. We are all confused.

02.16 Boyband the series (Thai - World Star) YouTube - Thai idol boy band BL.

02.18 Bed Friend (Thai - Domundi) Viki, YouTube, iQIYI? Adapted from a Y-novel (same setting as Middleman’s Love) about Uea (reserved and shy and hates players) and King (a big time flirt) who work in the same office and share a best friend. Despite the fact that they don’t really like each other they end up in bed together. This pair was originally supposed to be just side dishes for Middle Love, but it seems they got their own series. Not sure if this is a lesson learned from Why R U?, a lockdown necessity, a shifting to an En of Love model, or if NetJames did so well in rehearsal they earned their own series. They are crazy beautiful together. Domundi will use these two to bring higher heat, just like they did with FighterTutor. This series could be good, especially as it is based on a book, so hopefully it has PLOT. James was Gui’s best friend in Oxygen and one of my top picks at the time to get his own BL. Net was an established actor prior to BL. I am VERY excited about this pair.

02.18 Chains of Heart (Thai - Gaga) trailer Suspense thriller about a forest ranger, smugglers, memory loss, and lost love. Stars Haii (Cirrus in TT2) + ?, with Poppy as a side character. Adapted from a Y-novel of the same name by TJ Tommy.

02.28 Tin Tam Jai (Thai - MFlow Entertainment) Gaga also iQIYI  Adorable Tin has a life-long dream to marry an older boy in his neighborhood, Park. Adaptation of y-novel of the same name, from same production co as Coffee Melody & Ai Long Nhai. I'll likely binge it.

Supposedly releasing in Feb, no fixed date 

The Promise (Thai) YouTube - Follow up to a pulp that I didn't see and never even heard about, Phupha | Nanfah.

Heart by Heart (Thai - Half Toast Production) YouTube  trailer. From the y-novel of the same name, the trailers are GOOD. I’m more excited for this one then I thought I'd be. Has a bit of Tasty Florida, bad boy/good boy, high drama going on. Stars all unknowns but they look like decent actors.

Jack Frost (Japan) After saying goodbye to his friend, Ritsu has an accident and looses his memory. His roommate, Ikuya, struggles to rebuild their relationship. In the process, Ritsu falls in love with Ikuya, unaware that they were already in a relationship.

Egoist (Japan) cinema - One of my absolute favorite Japanese actors Hio Miyazawa (from His the movie) has the lead in this movie adaptation of Makoto Takayama’s autobiographical novel Egoist. He’ll be opposite super famous actor Ryohei Suzuki. This is about an openly gay but vein and superficial man (Hio) who falls in love with a personal trainer (Ryohei) who is stuck taking care of his sick mother. It’s not BL, it’s gay coming of age and we can’t expect it to end happily. Still, I’ll probubly try to watch it. Japanese movies are notoriously difficult to get ahold of, tho.

Marry My Dead Body AKA Ghost and I Becoming Family (Taiwan) - police officer forced to marry a ghost. 

More on many of these from BL Express. And here. 

(source)

READ THIS BIT: 

This information is to the best of my knowledge as of 02.02.2023, will NOT be kept updated after that date. Leave and read comments for updates! Crowd source that shizz. 

[quodekash]

EPISODE 2 BAD BUDDY OS2 LETS GOOOOO im so freaking excited holy hell 

i still cant believe that patpran and earthmix are going to INTERACT WITH EACH OTHER??? AND EXIST IN THE SAME SPACE???? HOLY HELLLLLL 

wait hang on 

will we get longtae?? pls give us longtae i need to see my boy 

WAIT hang on how does this work. how do bad buddy and 1000stars exist in the same space if drake plays korn and also rang. i need to make some kind of murder board of the connections between shows holy hell 

tut tut, phu, you need to take care of yourself for goodness sake 

pran is too autistic for this, he doesnt know how to Social Situation and communicate what he was actually trying to say and now they think he wants to be a teacher 

also im gonna slide past the phutian relationship problems bc i dont want to think about it. my dads are not getting a divorce, and thats final 

hang on. there’s new kids now??? where the hell did they come from? 

tian’s teacher frustration is so real 

autism 

HEY 

LOOK AT THAT 

ACTUAL REPRESENTATION OF SOME KIND 

THATS AWESOME 

I KNEW HE WASNT NEUROTYPICAL 

FJEHSBGKVJREB 

i know ocd is an anxiety disorder but there’s a lot of overlapping symptoms and apparently autistic people are more likely to experience ocd 

and even if its just ocd, im still allowed to hc him as autistic 

but either way HELL YEAH REPRESENTATION AND ITS CANONICAL AND ITS NOT JUST IN HIS HABITS ITS AN ACTUAL CANONICAL DIAGNOSIS GJERBDHBDRT 

MY BOY! 

(definitely didnt completely forget about him) 

his gaydar is going off so much he can smell it (i made the screenshot too big and now phupha in the foreground is making me laugh so hard omg- i swear its the funniest thing ever. im probably tired. its 1:30am) 

THE LOOKS PATPRAN GAVE EACH OTHER WHILE PHUTIAN WERE INTERACTING- THE GAYDARS THE GAYDARS 

(yes, i know they already know about phutian bc of tian’s online diary thingy, but it still counts) 

i wanna read this diary so bad but i cant read thai. and also idk where i would find it. its probably online somewhere. it might be a merch thing. who knows man 

GEHRKDBGV THE FLASHBACKS WHILE HES READING 

IM CRYING 

“why would a good guy come to watch me take a shower?” THE LOOKS PATPRAN JUST GAVE EACH OTHER- OMG I LOVE THIS SO MUCH 

THE LOOKS THROUGHOUT THIS WHOLE EXCHANGE 

ITS SO FUNNY 

I LOVE THIS 

iconic 

i love everything about this so so so much 

the amount of joy that just this one image brings me? help 

ive been wondering why they keep making those movies 

wait hang on 

guys i think we might actually be onto something 

on another but related note: what do you guys spend 25 minutes doing at 2 in the morning when you should be sleeping? cos apparently i make beautiful atrocities like that. 

anyway. 

theyre like little kids, “he liked me first” “NO HE LIKED ME FIRST” 

this is starting to sound very familiar 

pran screaming at the waterfall reminds me of patpran screaming off the top of the hill at the beach 

THEY ARE PLAYING IN THE WATERRRR I LOVE THEMMMMMM 

“i think they kissed” “agreed” “they certainly did” “i agree” okay they didnt but they absolutely should have and we all wanted them to 

they so in loveeee i love themmmmm 

IM SCREAMING AS QUIETLY AS I POSSIBLY CAN, HOLY HELL THE FREAKING PARALLELS 

hah, you bloody americans, they probably had to google what 18ºC is in fahrenheit, but i, a superior australian, know that that is... warmer than it has been recently. its currently 13º. its really weird, im not used to it getting this cold, even in winter, and winter only technically started two days ago. anyway, enough about abnormal australian weather, back to patpran 

i love them so much 

pat, i- 

HELL YES 

OISHIIIII 

FINALLY 

the kid demanding payment through sips of oishi tea? thats my kinda style 

id adopt that kid if i had to. 

i hate kids 

but ice tea? it bonds people. 

lucky kid 

i rly like this karaoke idea, i was wondering how they were gonna incorporate the ost but i guess pat’s gonna sing it 

P’AUUUU 

I THOUGHT I RECOGNISED HIM IN THE BACKGROUND EARLIER AND I WAS RIGHT 

HELLO P’AU HOW ARE YOU 

“actually, my boyfriend and i also fought about who fell for the other first. but in the end, it isnt important. what matters more is that we love each other” AWWWWBHFGHBR 

OH 

ITS THE SONG 

ITS THAT SONG 

GEIURHGUKERJBGHJK 

YAYYYY PHUTIAN ARE SNUGGLINGGGG 

IM SMILING SO HARD ITS DIFFICULT TO SEE 

i love him 

THE SIGNATURE FISTBUMP RJDGBJR 

i love them 

NOOOOO THEY STILL HAVENT MADE UP, GOSH FREAKING DARNNIT 

ooooo phu vs pat drinking challenge, this’ll be fun 

i really like how the young ones are giving advice to the older ones for a change, its very nice. and also just goes to show how powerful patpran are 

omg this kid is everywhere, i love him 

the pure RELIEF when they both see that they are, in fact, wearing pants. 

BRO THAT WAS STRESSFUL 

PRAN NEARLY DIED 

its so funny to me how intense the music is rn 

OF FREAKING COURSE 

well at least we know that means we’ll get more patpran next week, we dont have to say goodbye to them today 

anyway that was wonderful, its 3am and i feel fine currently, cant wait to feel like a dead banana peel tomorrow, goodnight folks, see you next time! 

[rosemary1315]

My Ship in 5 minutes Meme: Nop x Teal

Okay, I want to do this meme for a long time.

I do this meme about my SU OC couple, Noppadon Sangarun [Nop] and Teal Pearl [Tina].

---

Tropes Goofy Guy x Smart Girl (Gem) Nop is funny and silly in his way. But, he's lovely. While, Teal is smart and quick-learner.

Single parent meet second love. Nop is single father, he has only son is Patiphan (Phupha). Later, He fall in love with Teal. While, Nop is Teal's first love.

---

Noppadon Sangarun [Nop] Height: 173 cm. Age: 42

Teal Pearl [Tina] Height: 165 cm. (In my headcanon about Pearls height. I'm sorry about this) Age: More than thousands years

---

How it Happens Nop fall in love with Teal the first time he saw her, which is his second love After he lost his wife, Mali (Duangkamon), which was his first love years ago. Which, he tried to approach her.

While, Nop is first love for Teal. Because, Nop is the first human in her life, after she move to Earth with her friends. At first, She didn't expect to fall in love with him. But after she talked and got to know him better, little by little she began to fall in love with him. Handling Conflict Nop is very laid-back and optimistic. He's who doesn't get angry easily. Because, he always thought that anger or argue to something could cause bad things. He only gets angry when it's something very serious, but he forgives easily and quickly. If that matter is reasonable enough. So, he tried not to argue with anyone much, especially his son, Phupha (Patiphan) and his girlfriend, Teal.

Teal is polite, she's not the type to start arguments much. She doesn't get very angry at anyone, especially Nop, she tries to understand anything She will only start arguing about something when it is serious, or something she really doesn't understand, especially about some earth culture. Then, she started talking to understand him again. Which she felt bad after arguing with him, while he was trying to understand her as gem. Reltionship Attitude Nop is quite devoted in his love to Teal, which he takes good care of her. He often acts affectionate towards her in front of his son, Phupha or public in sometimes. But mostly, he just holding hand, hug, kisses the cheek or sweet kiss. Which, he prefer to do that his apartment or place where no one see them

Unlike Nop, Teal isn't shy about showing her affection in public. Mostly, she just holding hand, kiss on the cheek or sweet kiss as her boyfriend, Nop.  Showing Affection Nop love and care about Teal much. He attends to her needs or spends time with her every chance he gets, especially when he gets off work, like relaxing at home, cooking, watching TV, going out to the supermarket to buy things, going on a date together, or going on a trip with his son.

Teal loves and cares for Nop no different from Nop. Although, she's gem who didn't know or really understand about human much. But, she tried to understand him as best she could. Like he was trying to understand her as gem. Deal with Jealousy, Nop handles his jealousy well. In truth, he didn't envy anyone much. ฺRarely would he be jealous of someone who came to talk to Teal. Because. he's an optimistic, so he trusts her that she still loves him, and respect her rights without interfering too much in her life.

Teal was a little jealous, but not too much. She was able to control her temper, she's a reasonable enough to understands him and respects his rights as he respects her rights. Attachment Nop is laid-back, and isn't overprotective Teal much. Because, he knew that his girlfriend is smart and quick learner. Plus she's gem, which she have gem powers are powerful (at least, in Nop and Phupha thought). Although, she's gem and just moved to Earth. He sure, she could take care of herself. But sometimes, he couldn't help but worry about her. Because in the past, he had lost his wife many years ago. Plus, he had to move to America to work alone with his son, which makes him dislike being alone.

Teal is independent, she take care of herself and can live on earth without any problems. But she's bit overprotective to her gem and human friends, especially her boyfriend, Nop. She don't like when some rude gems insult him, she gets very angry if someone insults him. She would immediately go to protect him, when the situation is dangerous about gems things to him. ---

First to confess their feelings to other: Nop Nop fell in love with Teal the first time he saw her, and he was the first person to confess his feelings to her.

First to kiss: Teal *[From part 2] Teal isn't shy as Nop. She's the first to kiss him.

First to apologize after a fight: Nop He's usually the one who apologizes to Teal first. Because, he always felt guilty anytime when he argued with her, and he didn't like arguments.

Initiates contact: Nop *[From part 2] Technically, Nop would be Teal first contact, if she had a mobile phone. But before Teal live with Nop, Teal is gem and just moved to earth. Which, she still didn't know how to use earth technology, especially mobile phone. At that time, He would take time off from work or on his days off to visit her.

Spoils the other: Nop *[From part 2] Nop always pampered Teal to make her happy. Teal didn't expect that someone would pamper her, Especially when she's just Pearl. But at the same time, she felt good that someone had done something to her like that.

Wake up first: Teal *[From part 2] Technically, Teal is a gem, she don't need sleep. But if she sleep, She always wakes up before Nop.

The more popular/charismatic: Teal Although, Teal is pearl. But, she's smart, independent and charming in her way. Her gem friends and human friends like her personality difference from other Pearls. 

The best caregiver when the other is sick: Teal Because Teal is a gem, so she wasn't sick. But, she know how to take care of sick people very well. Mostly, she knows how to care for people with common illnesses. She learned this skill on her own from the library and received advice from her boyfriend, Nop who is human and know about illnesses.

Does the cook: Both Nop is good at cooking, especially thai foods. Because before he met Teal, he will be the one who cooks the food himself to care for his son, Phupha after he moved to America. But after he met Teal, he and his girlfriend sometimes cook together. But mostly, he's the one who cooks for her and his son.

Teal like cooking, after she moved to earth and met Nop. She learn cooking from cookbooks at library or Nop's cookbooks and from her boyfriend, Nop teach how to cooking (mostly, Thai foods). She will be the cook, If he returns home late. But if he comes home early, she and Nop will cook together.

Does the housework: Both Before Nop met Teal, Nop will do most of the housework himself and his son, Phupha together, after he moved to America. He knows how to do housework to a certain extent. Because his mother taught him to do housework since he was a kid. But after he met Teal, They will help each other do housework by dividing housework.

Teal learn to do housework from his boyfriend, Nop after she met and know Nop. But, she does housework a little more thoroughly than her boyfriend.

Does most of the speaking: Nop Nop a person who likes to talk. When he has any problems that happen to him, he vents them Teal.

The overprotective one: Teal Teal is overprotective than her boyfriend, Nop. Especially if some gems insult her boyfriend who is human, or dangerous situation about gems things to him.

Designated driver: Nop Normally, Nop likes to party with friends at his apartment more than anywhere else. But, he doesn't have a problem if he has to party somewhere else. Because, he likes to help others. Plus, he doesn't like to drink (Fact, he prefer soft drink). Always volunteer to drive.

The Planner: Nop *[From part 2] Nop is a good planner. Especially, about traveling. He always checks the days and times to see when it is suitable to go anywhere. But because he's a flexible. So, he wasn't too serious about it if something didn't go as planned.

"Excuse me, they asked for no pickles.": Teal *[From part 2] Although, Nop and Teal are okay with pickles in hamburger (Nop like to eat hamburber with pickles in sometimes. While, Teal has no problem with pickles much). But if in case she or Nop doesn't order), Teal is braver than Nop, she isn't afraid to say and do the right thing. Even the smallest things, like pickles in hamburger she wouldn't let them pass. While Nop is flexible and compromise.

Has good penmanship: Teal Teal learn about earth language, especially English and Thai (she learn Thai from Nop and some detail books about Thai language), after she live on earth and live with Nop. Because she's a quick learner, so she has good language skills. Especially, she has exceptional writing skills. Her handwriting is more beautiful than her boyfriend's. 

Has more experience with relationship: Nop Because, Nop was married and had a wife, Mali (Duangkamon) before. It gave him previous experience in love and relationships.

Sensitive to subtle change in their partner: Nop Nop always cares for Teal like he cares his family. He always noticed her moode could tell that something was wrong with her, like her gesture and mood were as strange as she used to be.

The one who proposes: Nop Although, Nop hasn't remarried with Teal yet. But if he wants to get married, he will be the one to propose to her when he's ready.

The one who dies protecting the other *I didn't this*

---

From Part 2

Big Spoon and Little Spoon - Nop is big spoon more than his girlfriend, Teal. He loves cuddling with her almost every night. - Teal is little spoon, but she's big spoon in sometimes. It depends on, whether her boyfriend fell asleep first or not.

Early Bird and Revenge Procrastination - Teal is a gem, she don't need to sleep. But if in case she sleep, she's early bird. Because, she usually wakes up early. - Nop He sleeps quite late sometimes, which he wasn't much of a morning person as Teal, unless it's his work day or something really important.

Tidy and Chaotic - Because Teal used to be Servant as Pearl when she lived on Homeworld, she will be tidy a sometimes according to the situation. - Nop is bit chaotic in his way. Although, he's clumsy. But, he will try the best he can with caution.

Sceam over bug and Remove bug Nop and Teal knows how to deal with bug well. - Nop doesn't like to harm bug anyway. So, he chose to remove the insects from his apartment, although he isn't okay with some insects. - Teal isn't afraid of bug. She doesn't hurt bug, she chose to remove the insects from apartment like her boyfriend.

Leads clothes and Borrow clothes - Nop always brought his shirts for her to wear if Teal wanted. - Teal likes to borrow Nop's clothes.

Romantic and Casual - Teal is quite romantic, she knows how to please her boyfriend, and she isn't shy about showing her affection in public. - Nop is romantic and not shy about showing her affection in sometimes. But, he will show his romance in a simple and more private way.

Decisive and Indecisive - Teal is decisive. When she decides to do anything, she will do it immediately without hesitation. Especially, she immediately decided to move to Earth after Era 3 is begin. - Nop is indecisive, when it comes to making some difficult decisions. Which, he always consults with his parents, younger sister, or girlfriend to ensure certainty and reduce mistakes.

Take hint and Clueless - Because Teal is a smart and learns quickly, she understood immediately. - Nop is bit clueless in sometimes, he isn't good at guessing thing. But, he always tries his best to make as few mistakes as possible. When he does something that is an assigned job.

Mature and Playful - Teal is mature than Nop. Plus she's pearl, So she knows the right time for certain situations. But she's playful, she love making everyone smile and feel better, especially her boyfriend, Nop. Sometimes, she's bit flirty. She like to flirt to Nop, because she like to see his dorky face. - Nop is playful and funny than his girlfriend, Teal. He always love everyone smile and laugh, especially Teal. Plus his silliness, it made Teal love him.

Straightforward and Vague - Nop is straightforward. When someone asks him or even if he sees the expressions and emotions of his friends, family, or girlfriend change from before. He will speak honestly, without hiding anything, which he tells them with good intentions. - Teal is who doesn't lie much. But, as she lived with strict Caste System rules on Homeworld for thousand years as Servant and Pearl, mostly gems didn't care about her much (except her gem friends). It made her uncomfortable to tell and hide her true feelings to Nop, when she had just moved to Earth at that time. But after she live with Nop, she opened up to talking to him more.

Confident and Shy - Teal is confident than Nop. Plus she's brave, she isn't shy about saying or doing anything based on her true feelings. - Nop isn't shy much, especially when he's working in front of a lot of people or talk with friends. But he becomes shy and dork, when he's with his girlfriend, Teal.

Ray of sunshine and Done - Nop is cheerful guy, he always smiles Plus he's an optimist it made him not feel bad very often. - Teal isn't pessimistic much. Mostly, she's good-natured. But sometimes, she gets tired when some gems insults her as pearl and her human boyfriend, Nop.

Realistic and Idealistic - Teal is realistic and reasonable. She knows how to adapt well to change after Era 3 is begin. She will not take negative thoughts and keep them to make herself suffer. Sometimes, she don't like some rude gems insult her or her human boyfriend, Nop. But, She tried to control her emotions and not criticize them (Unless she really can't stand it.), or sometimes she chooses to just say nice things or joke with them to get through the situation. - Nop is idealistic. Because he's optimistic, so he didn't give up easily, although he went through the worst thing in his life. He chose to fight for a good future for himself, his family, and the people he loves, which makes him an incredibly strong.

Would die for attention and Independent - Nop is often a person who likes to please, especially with his girlfriend, Teal (after he met and live with Teal). But, he respects her personal space. He will wait for his girlfriend to calm down, if at that time his girlfriend is in a bad mood. - Teal is independent, She's who can take care of herself without relying on anyone too much. But sometimes, she loves her Nop's caring nature.

Tense and Easy-going - Teal can be overthinking sometimes. Especially, after she accidentally makes a mistake or gets mad at Nop. Because she used to be a Servant as pearl before, she was expected to be perfect pearl in everything that gem society expects, when she lived on Homeworld in before Era 3, it made her worry about everything she did sometimes. But after she live with Nop, she was less worried and didn't overthinking as much as before. She felt more comfortable and relaxed with him. Sometimes she is supportive and beside him when he feels discouraged  - Nop is very easy-going than Teal, he's who gets stressed out easily. He knows how to relax and not stress himself. Because he always thought that, if he thought too much it's not good for yourself and others. Plus he's optimistic, so he went through some bad things in his life. So, he keeps teaching Teal how to relieve stress.

Head and Heart - Teal is smart as gem and pearl. Mostly, she uses her thoughts and reason to do whatever she does. But, she's gentle and considerate of others. - Nop is big-hearted guy. He often uses his kindness to approach people and try to understand them.

[pondphuwin]

bl characters i desire carnally

(in no particular order)

nobody tagged me i just kept seeing it on my dashboard and i want another excuse to say pond is hot.

palm (never let me go)

*unintelligible screeching* there are probably numerous messages in the depths of me and b's live watching sessions that are proof of me getting constantly distracted by palm while watching this show that i missed half the plot the first time around. anyway. it's about the devotion and the protection and the care. and pond. have i mentioned how hot pond is?

mork (fish upon the sky)

coming out as a mork defender. i'm sorry that confidence and being kind of an asshole looks really good on him. it's not my fault! the cheesy pick up lines make it better actually. and pond. again.

phupha (enchante)

yes out of all the aou characters i chose phupha. he is so angry and pathetic and i am deeply insane about him in every way. i need to step on him. take that as you will.

nuer (cutie pie)

guy who is so incredibly horny about the one guy who is least likely to be horny back and yet still SUCCEEDS! look at his little smirk. this should not be allowed.

king (bed friend)

obviously for obvious reasons. bed friend is the sexiest show in the world, kinguea is the sexiest dynamic ever, king is the sexiest character to ever exist. i love his open and honest gaze and how that translates into the most beautiful bedroom eyes ever put to screen.

night (last twilight)

where are my fellow night fans! there is something about mark in this role man...... me and porjai are one in the same. also i'm in love with porjai. do you guys have room in your soon-to-be relationship?

segasaki mizuki (my personal weatherman)

i hate this man....... most of the experience of watching this show was me going HOW ARE YOU SO BEAUTIFUL at my screen. perfect elegant handsome face, perfectly ridiculous and selfish and slightly unhinged and in love <3

hyeong daun (blueming)

just. when you care for and love someone so deeply it leads you to doing questionable things. guy who is so cool and popular seemingly effortlessly who would go to the ends of the earth just for the boy in front of him to even look at him. GOD!

kim junho (kissable lips)

is this show good? it's fine. is the ending satisfying? not at all. is jiwoong a hot beautiful vampire in it and therefore it cancels out anything else bad i could say about the show? of course.

if you got this far, thanks for indulging in my ridiculousness. i love to look at pretty men. tagging @petrichoraline @sparklyeyedhimbo @tenprem (i'm dragging you into this too b), and anyone else who wants to do it!!

[relativelydimensional]

A List of BL for Connie (P2)

we're back baybeyyyy @ceieon has watched most of her first list so the time has come again for me and @bansheeeeeeeeeee to rec some stuff. As always you can watch these in (almost) any order connie so enjoy <3

After the introductory list we're going for a more specific criteria:

shows for the post-Bad Buddy blues

more mature pairings, found family vibes, acts of service, and pouty rich boys

and shows for your interview with a vampire comedown (aka messy and possibly supernatural shows).

1. A Tale of 1000 Stars (2021 , Thailand)

Okay so you loved bad buddy which means you NEED to watch 1000 stars because it's made my the same guy, P'Aof, who we love and cherish. This show is about Tian, a spoilt rich boy who lives life on the edge until he learns he has heart disease and gets a heart transplant. His donor is a lovely volunteer teacher called Torfun, who is a literal angel and died in a car accident (rip torfun). Overcome with survivors guilt, Tian moves out to the rural village Torfun was working in to continue her work. The village is on the border of Thailand and thus is vulnerable to danger from militia/criminals/arms traders/generally not nice people, and is under the care of the forest guard headed by Chief Phupha, who is ridiculously hot for no reason. This is all very hallmark movie tbh, with Tian escaping the pressure of the city to find himself in the countryside and also he and the chief are the only two hot people so obviously they have to get together. Their dynamic starts out as very antagonistic and banter-y, but it quickly shifts into soft territory. It's just a really lovely story about two people who have gone through a lot, and find a home in each other. The pairing, phutian, is more mature than patpran, and the chemistry between Earth and Mix is sooooo palpable it kinda hurts to witness it. FUCK ME this show is JUST SO GOOD. Also drake is here <3

If you want: rural escapism, hot men in uniform, the MOST steadfast and romantic love story ever told, love at first fight, mature MCs who like each other and are assured and confident in their relationship, shirtless product placement, the perfect amount of angst, knightley and emma vibes, and there was only one mosquito net, this is the show for you.

Number of Episodes: 10. Length of Episodes: 1 hour. Watch on YouTube or Viki (but it's less fun :(((( ) .

2. Where Your Eyes Linger (2020, Korea)

(Imagine me in an alleyway with a long trench coat beckoning you towards me). Hey kid,,,, i heard you like bodyguard AUs and power dynamics,,,,maybe a little codependency on the side? I've got a few for you but how about this one to start? Its short, its korean and goddamn does it hit.

Tae-Joo is a pouty rich boy with a knack for getting into trouble, Kang Gook is his stoic and repressed bodyguard who protects him from everything. They're codependant; they go to the same school, both do judo together, hell they sleep in the same bed! Don't question it, the tropes are truely tropeing in this show and thats all we care about. This show is truely a BL speedrun. All together the runtime is less than 90 minutes, we know hardly anything about these central characters but who cares they're compelling. Small warning for ear stuff.

If you want: repression, power dynamics, forced proximity, INSANE chemistry, codependency at its finest, jealousy, and a nice low commitment watch, this is the show for you.

Number of Episodes: 8. Episode Length: 10-15 min. Watch on Viki

3. Moonlight chicken (2023, Thailand)

Note: please watch 1000 stars before this (and give yourself a good amount of time/shows between them).

Moonlight Chicken was P'Aof's next show after bad buddy and BOY was it a good one. Departing from adapting pre-existing novels, this is an original story written specifically for the actors Earth and Mix (as well as for specific side actors too!). Set in post-covid tourist town Pataya, Moonlight Chicken is about Jim, the owner of a struggling diner which is famous for selling hainanese chicken rice. One night he meets Wen and they spend the night together. I know you're not a prude like me but just a warning these two fuck in part 1 of ep 1 and after 1000 stars it can be a shock to the system (also more ear stuff so a warning for that). As their relationship progresses we learn more about both of their messy past relationships and how those relationships have shaped them. It's predominantly character driven so it makes for really interesting drama and nuanced critiques of queer identity in thailand.

ALSO there's a lovely side love story between Li Ming (Jim's nephew) and Heart, a lonely kid who has recently become hard of hearing and isn't supported by his rich/able-bodied parents. These two are honestly the highlight for me, it's a really sweet and understated friendship turned romance. It's also quite nuanced in its exploration of disability and the lack of services for disabled people. I was so suprised by the actors Fourth and Gemini who are so young but literally carry this whole show on their backs?? Sensational. I also wanna give a special mention of First and Khaotung who both look so pretty when they cry <3 Also mark pakin is here.

If you want: sexy one night stand which turns into something more, a more mature couple who work through their past relationship baggage, found family, a MC who is the guardian (but not parent) of an angsty teen, a VERY WHOLESOME and soft side couple, good disability representation, yummy commentary on the experiences of queer people in Thailand, and the single most hysterical line in BL history "isn't it difficult enough being poor? and now you're gay?", this is the show for you.

Number of eps: 8. Episode length: 1 hour. Watch on YouTube

4. We Best Love: No. 1 For You (2021, Taiwan)

TAIWAN IS IN THE HOUSE BABY! I can't believe we haven't recced you a Taiwanese show yet....although no I can believe it because these guys don't mess around and their shows can be kinda full on. This is a nice starter though, nice and short with only 6 episodes, great tropes and chemistry that'll knock your socks off. The premise is simple – Zhao Shu Yi is another pouty rich boy who has been in a hearted one-sided rivalry with Gao Shi De who he HATES because he's always ranking second to him in school/sports. Gao Shi De on the other hand is in a one-sided unrequited situation with Shu Yi, and is only #1 in anything so his crush will notice him. When Shu Yi is heartbroken bc his two besties just got together and he had a crush on the girl, Shi De uses it as a prime opportunity to get closer with him....by blackmailing him into being his little servant around uni..... Because this show is Taiwanese it goes kinda hard with the manipulation and toxicity hahahah but trust its way less toxic than a lot of other BLs. Delicious tropes are everywhere in this one, and the rivalry aspect will certainly help heal the wounds left by bad buddy. Small warning for someone singing in ep 4.

If you want: academic rivals to lovers, power dynamics, forced proximity, jealousy, there was only one bed (actually it was two singles but they pushed them together), acts of service, a tsundere MC and a pining but confident love interest, silly fun times with a side order of toxicity, and a second season I deleted from my mind bc i hated it so much, this is the show for you.

Number of Episodes: 6. Length of Episodes: 23 min. Watch on kisskh

5. Our Dining Table (2023, Japan)

There has been a distinct lack of cosy japanese shows on this list so far and for that I am sorry. But let me offer you this soft domestic treat as a reward for your patience. Yutaka is a lonely introvert who has some family trauma. One day he's minding his own business eating his lunch in the park when a ridiculously cute child accosts him and eats his lunch. The kid's older brother/guardian is very apologetic but asks Yutaka to come back to teach him how to cook rice balls. Truely this concept could only happen in Japan where its apparently not dangerous to invite random dudes who give your kids rice balls in public parks over for dinner. Anyway this show is found family at its finest, soft and low stakes with cute characters and a nice slow burn. It's very reminiscent of other japanese shows, specifically cherry magic, where the introverted MC connects with his love interest but is also forced to connect with the lovely other people around him. Also idk where they found the little kid playing Tane because he just so chaotic and cute it makes me wanna scream.

If you want: found family, acts of service, domesticity, a shy MC coming out of their shell to their partner, a rough around the edges but fond love interest who is the guardian of a young child, youngest child trauma rep, a hot older dad, and the universal japanese BL love language of rice porridge, scarves, and tamagoyaki (japanese omelettes) this is the show for you.

Number of episodes: 10 + a special. Length of episodes: 23 min. Watch on KissKH or Billibilli.

6. Midnight Museum shut up its BL (2023, Thailand)

Between March and April of 2023 I was INSANE about this show, it was all i thought about, it was all i talked about, it was all i read about. It OWNED ME. The show is about Khatha, an immortal loser who literally can't use facetime bc he's such a grandpa, who runs a museum for cursed artefacts. He meets Dome, who mysteriously looks like Khatha's "brother"/lover/little bud from many centuries ago. Also every ep we're looking at a new artefact and also there's an evil cult that may or may not be related to Dome's lookalike. GOD, how do I even explain the plot to you? Half of this show is set in the eponymous museum but the other half is set on an asteroid??? Some of it is a period romance, and some of it is a detective show. THE christian god figures as a semi-major character? Everyone is hot but absolutely NOBODY is fucking its insane.

I'm going to be clear with you, this show is not good. Does the plot make sense? no. Is it well paced/written? Debatable. Is it acted out by some of gmmtv's best to such a sensational level you can't look away? YES. Give this one four eps and i promise you'll be as crazy as me, as soon as the monster of the week format dies down gmmtv pulls out all the stops. Nanon and Tay are personal faves throughout but Tor and Gun are also sensational in their acting and commitment to the queerbait. I think this could be a good one for the IWAV comedown because it's steeped in gothic homoeroticism and its supernatural too.

If you want: hot people, queerbait at its finest, supernatural lore that barely makes any sense, monster of the week turned conspiracy theory, proof that god himself wants to fuck Gun Attaphan, all your problematic faves, and evil Nanon Korapat tag teaming it with Gun in the olympic sport that is serving cunt, this is the show for you.

Number of episodes: 10. Episode Length: 46 min. Watch on YouTube

7. Only Friends (2023, Thailand)

You were there when we were watching this so I know you remember how insane we were when it was on. This show also covers the interview with a vampire comedown criteria in that it's full of sad and toxic gay people. This show is truely just a big old slutty mess and i enjoyed every second of it. plenty of yummy pairings, hot people and depending on what order you watch this list in some familiar faces too. Plot? It barely has one. But why is this some of the best written character focused tv ive watched?? Everyone has a fatal flaw and acts according to that. Mew is a virgin. Top is a manwhore. Boston is a sociopath. Nick is a literal criminal. Ray is a slutty alcoholic. Sand is into indie music. They may make bad choices but we understand why so it's not annoying. It's sensational and you simply cannot look away but for the love of god you will need to wear earphones. There's also some delightfully racy Drake based sex scenes and also a lesbian side couple who are the least problematic people here.

If you want: MESS, that one friend group where everyone's fucking, a demi MC that makes me feel so seen, a slutty sociopath manipulating everyone, the most wet and pathetic mark pakin you'll ever witness, more mess, serious breeches of privacy laws, ships that are so toxic you feel you shouldn't be rooting for them but the chemistry is too good, and lesbians that don't get indie films, this is the show for you.

Number of episodes: 12. Episode Length: 40 min. Watch on Youtube.

Bonus: Our Skyy 2: Bad Buddy x 1000 stars (2023)

If you're considering watching this rn I am assuming you watched 1000 stars (and loved it). I know you're gonna watch this anyway so I just want to make sure you're going in with enough context. So this is the second season of Our Skyy (the first of which came out in 2018). Our Skyy is an anthology series which is a collection of specials for preexisting GMMTV shows. It's essentially pure fanfic.....except it's made by the same people who made the original shows. It's fanfic-y because it never makes any sense, it routinely features silly plot points like body swaps, time travel, curses, magic babies, etc. The great thing about ourskyy is we get to see more of our faves, the other great thing is because it has such crack fanfic energy you can take it or leave it canon wise. Anyway you're in for a damn treat with this one because it's a crossover ep between patpran and phutian and i am FERAL.

If you want: pure fanfiction of our two fave p'aof pairings hanging out, fanservice upon fanservice, more secret dating and chaotic horniness from patpran, domestic disputes and petty banter from phutian, fix-it fic levels of CLOSURE for both couples, heaps of recreations of different scenes, fanboy patpran having gay crisises about meeting both Tian and Phu, and another rooftop scene which makes me SOB this is the show for you!

Number of Episodes: 4. Length of Episodes: 1 hour. Watch on YouTube.

[waitmyturtles]

Turtles Catches Up With Old GMMTV: The Bad Buddy Rewatch Edition, Part 3b -- More on BBS and Asian Cultural Touchpoints

[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 offer the second half of the third (ha!) of five posts on Bad Buddy. I'll look today at themes that myself and fellow Asian fans of Bad Buddy have caught and related to in this wonderful show.]

Here are links to part 1, part 2, and part 3a of the BBS OGMMTVC Meta Series. Today's post is a continuation of part 3a. Part 4 is here.

Yesterday, I began an unwinding about what I am calling the "Asian Cultural Touchpoints" of Bad Buddy -- the Asianness of Bad Buddy that is rooted and coded in the way people interact with each other.

As a quick recap from yesterday: I have been insanely lucky to engage in conversation with a number of legendary Asian BBS stans about the Asianness within Bad Buddy: huge shout-outs and thanks go to @grapejuicegay, @recentadultburnout, @telomeke, @neuroticbookworm, and @lurkingshan (who is not Asian, but has Asian relatives and is well-versed in the nuances of our cultures!). We captured a lengthy list of Asian cultural signposts in Bad Buddy and we've been having great discussion around them, including:

1) saving face, 2) intergenerational/inherited trauma, 3) the unique nature of secret-keeping in Asian cultures/societies, 4) enmeshed family boundaries, 5) setting up children to compete against each other for the sake of familial pride, 6) patriarchy, sexism, and the reversal of sexism among next generations, 7) the inset/assumed roles of family members based on patriarchy and elder respect, 8) assumed community within and external to one's family, usually based on where you live and where you go to school, 9) how one's identity is defined based on patriarchy and individualist vs. collectivist cultures, 10) how various cultures within an Asian nation live peacefully (or not) together (for example, what makes Pat and Pran different by way of Pat's Thai-Chinese heritage vs. Pran's ethnic Thai heritage),

and many more.

I unwound yesterday on the cultural touchpoints of saving face, intergenerational/inherited trauma (partly as a follow-up from my very first thesis on Bad Buddy), and the singular nature of secret-keeping in Asian cultures.

There's no way I can get through this entire list in two posts, but I do want to touch upon competition, enmeshed family (and friend, sometimes) boundaries, and patriarchy and sexism as three other cultural touchpoints that engendered quite a bit of conversation among our BBS mini-village.

Competition: ALL OVER BAD BUDDY. All over it, and we know it, and for the most part, we love Pran's and Pat's little love battles. Pat and Pran are constantly competing. Pat gets Chief Phupha into it in Our Skyy 2, dang it ("I'm Pha Pun Dao's top-notch," Phupha, psh). We don't know if the guys can function without having a competition going between them at any given point.

We know this structure started with their parents. As I talked about yesterday, considering the trauma that Ming and Dissaya faced in their young lives -- the trauma that they passed down to Pat and Pran, the rivalry and almost unbridled hatred that they expected Pat and Pran to embody -- all of that emanated through competition between the guys. Their parents asked them, daily, how the other kid was doing in school, making sure that their son was winning on top. As we know from Pat's rooftop monologue in episode 5, that was baggage he carried with him his entire life.

So many of these cultural touchpoints can be connected to the idea of saving face, as I wrote about yesterday. It is an overarching rule of any Asian child's life that Asian parents demand to be able to brag about their kids. Give me an Asian kid whose parents didn't do that to them, and I'll give that kid a huge hug, a gold medal, and a wish in an envelope that I could have had their childhood. Awards, top grades, top class positions, top university admissions: the need to be the best is neverending, for the sake of a parent not losing face for their child not succeeded at the top level of everything.

@telomeke notes the inherent cultural demands of Pran's and Pat's family in the competition paradigm that Pat outlines above.

[Re: Ming and Dissaya]: [E]very time [the children] do well, the bar often gets pushed a little higher. We actually see Ming doing this to Pat in Ep.1 ... when Pat tells him he was made class president. Ming says something like "get yourself a gold medal for rugby and then I'll let you brag"; Pat's achievement (though not dismissed) is downplayed rather than celebrated, and another goal is set. Anyway, my read is that both the boys had caliber to start with; it's natural to Pran (we don't see Dissaya really pushing him to excel), and I think he pushes himself to excel, to be the virtuous paragon of everything, as a barrier to the outside world, and to protect his vulnerable, secret interior. ... And Pat was pushed by Ming to match Pran's achievements, though not for the usual Asian parent reasons – it was to continue his own efforts to best Dissaya, IMO...

What @telomeke outlines here correlates perfectly with my own experiences of my Asian childhood: that even in the face of successes that my parents demanded, the reward was only a passive comment that I had to be doing more. There was never a moment where a parent's cup of happiness was truly filled from the child's perspective.

However, in the case of Pran and Pat specifically: @grapejuicegay had a further illumination that highlighted the utter pain and sadness of the outcomes and consequences of their lifelong competition. We know they were perfectly paired as a couple in love. But ultimately? Because of the pressures they faced as children vis à vis each other -- they also become the only people who could compete with each other. AND, because of that reality -- a new kind of empathy sprung up between them, what I called in part 1 of this series a radical empathy of a kind we don't always see between enemies to lovers. @grapejuicegay's thoughts:

I'm just thinking about the first family interactions we see for Pat and Pran and how Dissaya is framed as a concerned parent with her main worry being Pran taking on too much on his plate with being the head of the department. But also how that's so far removed from what her influence had made of him - an overachiever to the highest degree. ...[T]he whole point of Pat and Pran is that they're evenly matched in everything (which works so well because they're both such EXTRA little shits with so many lil' interests), and it's been there since the [original] trailer. They both keep competing to see who can get the most achievements to brag about, eventually settling down to a point where they help each other out because they're each other's only worthy competition because they're the only ones who can keep up with each other [emphasis mine]. So.... Dissaya's concern is nice and all, but she created this monster who not only can handle having so many responsibilities, but ENJOYS it. And Pat's help is always pushing him to do all of it, just have some help along the way so he's not doing it all alone. Wai helps, but he has to be manipulated into it. So the only person ACTIVELY helping Pran even when neither of them thinks he needs it is Pat ("I know you can do it, but I want to do it for you").

I was tremendously moved when @grapejuicegay shared her read with me on this, because not only did it land fully with me -- but it served to highlight the sadness and loneliness that existed in the gulf between Pran and Pat prior to their union. In other words, because they knew, so well, HOW to compete with each other -- if they needed help, they were the only ones who knew HOW to help each other. Pat showing up at the dilapidated bus station; Pran showing up at the empty auditorium. They could vibe when each other needed a little push. They knew WHEN and HOW to help each other, with the fluency they had ABOUT each other, even before their relationship began -- because they had been competing all their lives. As Pat said in Our Skyy 2: "we've been neighbors all our lives." They knew each other's ins and outs better than even their families did.

The competition that Pran and Pat engaged in had significant cultural roots. But the long-term impact of that competition? It rendered the guys on their own lonely island, a place where only the two of them could understand each other fully. It's a romantic conclusion -- to know your partner so well like that, it can fill your heart with nostalgic reckoning. But as Pat said above and to his father -- it was a bruising path, for the both of the guys.

There's a lot to enmeshed boundaries in Bad Buddy. The boundaries that SHOULD exist between two people that regularly get crossed. I definitely want to acknowledge, before I unwind on these boundaries, that Western vs. Asian viewers will have different expectations of exactly what enmeshment looks like and what it means. I'll have more on this in a bit.

When I think of enmeshed boundaries in Bad Buddy, I think of Dissaya having almost total control over Pran's physical placement. Of Ming knocking on Pat's dorm door, unannounced. Of Pat's expectation that Pa would do his laundry (which will speak to the sexism I'll talk about in a bit). @neuroticbookworm noted how hilariously Asian it was that Pat and Pa -- older brother and younger sister -- literally shared a dorm room. Pat could scuttle to Pran's solo room, to their love nest, to leave their shared room alone for Pa and Ink. But: what an Asian set-up, to have big bro sleeping on the floor, while little sister got the bed.

But besides what Western viewers might traditionally think of as "unhealthy" enmeshed boundaries, there's also a conversation about how Asian families engage -- or, don't engage -- with expectations of privacy. The biggest and most obvious example of a violation of personal privacy in BBS is that Pran's and Pat's parents forbid their children from having friendship with the kid next door. We know, in the end, that the parents cannot control that behavior of their kids, and yet, the parents try to do so anyway, with traumatic results.

@telomeke talked in our mini-village about the everyday functionality of Asian families crossing borders of assumed privacy. These are crossings that I fully relate to: for instance, I wasn't allowed to lock my bedroom door very often when I was growing up, to allow for complete access to my "private space," even and especially while I was in it.

I remember this as a thing growing up, that it's perfectly fine in [Asian countries] to drop in unannounced when it's family (though I think with widespread cellphone availability, people do check in beforehand now – however it could also be just to make sure there's someone in to receive them when they drop by!). It's a bit of a truism that the more traditional Asian parents will be in every part of your life and may not always know how to give you more distance when you grow older. ... For the more traditionally-minded, I think this phenomenon would be even more pronounced. And we definitely see this with Pat and Pa too.

The stories I heard about parents busting in on their Asian kids in compromising positions because the kids HAD to leave the doors unlocked? Stories about full-grown adults being interrupted in their intimacy because their parents came into the house? Countless stories. Us as Asians -- we might laugh about it, but there's also an unspoken and inherent sense of annoyance, of fear, of "how do I explain this now?" that's like a dull, permanent foreboding.

In thinking about how these boundary-crossings were inherited vis à vis Pat and Pran, into the next generation, of course -- all we have to think about are the many, many times we saw Pat crossing into Pran's threshold at Tinidee. That shot of Pat wrapped in his comforter as he shuffles to Pran's door.

However, @grapejuicegay flagged for me an utterly legendary Bad Buddy meta post written by @transpat now nearly two years ago, describing the Indian concept of haq, a concept I know very dearly well. To quote @transpat on the definition of haq:

in context of relationships, we use it to describe the entitlement ppl we keep close are allowed over us. in our culture, with every bond we form and built, we owe those ppl certain rights over us. like our filial duty to our parents, supporting our siblings and relatives emotionally and/or financially, the loyalty to our friends. lovers and spouses are ppl given all the rights of a family member by choice and obv other stuff like touching u in ways others can't, sharing worries and secrets you wouldn't indulge others w, the permission to carry and lighten ur burdens.

We know so well that Pat didn't just cross the hallway of Tinidee; he climbed through and over windows, over roofs, to get to Pran. And Pran... let him in. We know now what Pran's feelings were all that time, at least from 10th grade to university. Of course, Pran would let Pat in, because he had already let Pat into his heart. Maybe not into his psychological safety zone -- that had to take much longer. But in a much more primal sense, Pran had let Pat in, for so many reasons beautifully illustrated by @transpat in their piece, and for the examples up above, especially by way of the inadvertent closeness they achieved through their never-ending competing with each other.

I want to take a quick moment to highlight the two concepts I bolded above in @transpat's description of haq. I don't know if I have the words to describe this as well as @transpat, but to the point of entitlement and having rights over someone... there's a certain sense in Asian group dynamics, that one's business is everyone's business, if that makes sense. Think about cliques when you were growing up. Those cliques were formed on similar desires and interests -- being rich, beautiful, "cool," etc.

I feel like Asian group dynamics go a bit beyond this. Because you are in a group, it must go that any one single person's business is everyone's business. There is an entitlement to information about other people. In the States, we value individualism, and when these cliques are being formed in our youthful years, there's certainly a clash with people wanting to express themselves as individuals; very often, the group dynamics do not allow for individual expression. I would argue that that's even more strong in Asian circles.

If I could describe what I think was happening when Pat was climbing into Pran's window to, say, make that first deal about getting Wai to apologize -- I do very much believe that Pat felt it was his intimate right to go into Pran's room, as it had been established that they were, once more, schoolmates and neighbors, now that Pran was back in his family home. If Pran filled those roles -- schoolmate, neighbor -- it automatically clicked into Pat's social expectations that Pran was there to be talked to and engaged with, no matter if Pran would try to push him out. We know that Pran would give up on pushing Pat out, because Pran had feelings for Pat. BUT: what I love about @transpat's INCREDIBLE meditation is that Pat also clicked into unspoken social roles that allowed him to seek out a moment of friendly intimacy with Pran. (Besides the fact that it's more theorized now that Pat had unknown attraction for Pran during high school -- but I don't think attraction was what brought Pat into Pran's room to discuss that very first deal.)

I think this meditation on enmeshed boundaries, as I mentioned earlier, feeds nicely into the final points I want to make about the last cultural touchpoint for analysis, that of patriarchy and sexism in Asian families.

The BBS mini-village sliced and diced the incredibly overarching examples of patriarchy in this story, as emanating mostly from Ming: Ming's role as the head of the family and doling out roles; Ming ensuring that Pat would "not forget" Ming's reputation at university; Ming's parents doing nothing to interfere with Pa's role as serving Pat; Pat reinforcing that role to Pa in the family home.

Why Ming? As @telomeke broke it down for us: Ming is the head of the household of a Thai-Chinese family. It's not to say that patriarchy and sexism don't exist in ethnic Thai families -- but a patriarchal dynamic isn't shown in Pran's house, as Dissaya is the one who holds the emotional control over the Siridechawats. It's in the Jindapat household that we see old-fashioned roles of men and women doled out.

In traditional Chinese society (before the Communists came to power in China), sons had absolute pride of place in Chinese families, and we see Ming giving special treatment to Pat, while Pa was made to clean up after Mr. Jindapat Jr, doing his laundry, having the piece of chicken she wanted stolen by him in Ep.1, etc... Ming invited Pat home for a meal in Ep. 7, but didn't mention Pa, and Pat had to say he'd bring her along. But Pat and Pa, away from home didn't care for any of this, (e.g., when they were kids Pat let Pa win the bicycle race and skip washing up duties, in the Ep.1 flashback), and while Pa would begrudgingly do Pat's laundry, she would give as good as she got as well whenever they tussled (verbally). 

As @telomeke says above, we see Pat, within his generation, to Pa, in their own private space of bicycling outside or moving into his own dorm room, quietly dismantling that patriarchy and sexism of Ming's and Pat's mom -- letting Pa win the bicycle race; talking out of earshot of their parents about Pat protecting, instead of hurting, Pran. [Another great example, a little outside of the patriarchal example but still worth noting, is Wai's role, as a stand-in for Dissaya, sticking to the definitions of the role of Pran's best friend, but showing -- within the cohort of his own generation -- that he CAN change to accept Pat in Pran's life, as opposed to Dissaya's inability to do so (scroll down through the whole liveblog post for the commentary!).]

@telomeke mentioned in our conversation about patriarchy and sexism that he was surprised that he'd see a parent as young as Ming -- a parent to a student of Pat's age, much younger than myself and @telomeke -- keep up with these traditional, old-fashioned values. I think that's a great point, especially in the way that Ming ignores Pa only until the end of the series, when he's instead cut Pat mostly out of his caring reach for disobeying him. We know from the Soonvijarn analysis and reaction videos by Aof Noppharnach and his collegial community of filmmakers, that Aof took inspiration for Ming stealing the scholarship from Dissaya from a real-life occurrence of the same story. I think Aof intentionally had such strong patriarchal structures in Bad Buddy vis à vis the Jindapats in order to highlight what a stronghold old-fashioned notions of life have on generations -- and intended to have a conversation vis à vis Pat, Pran, Pa, and Wai, that the ways in which these old-fashioned notions are updated over time, is through the work of the subsequent generations of children growing up and learning and knowing better.

The coded Asianness of Bad Buddy... god. I could sit with my fellow Asians and talk about the coded Asianness of Bad Buddy for at least weeks, if not maybe even a year or two. We could laugh about the comedy of many of the experiences or traumas we have faced vis à vis the cultural touchpoints that I've listed and analyzed, and we could also share our shared pain, our shared joys, our shared ways in which we express emotion, love, our highs and lows, through our shared Asian cultures. Talking about this makes me tremendously glad that there's national and international fandoms watching Asian shows -- even if, say, Western viewers can't exactly pinpoint what's happening by way of a culturally contextual moment in Bad Buddy, at least there's a community of Asian bloggers out here that can unwind what might be confusing.

Once more, I want to thank @recentadultburnout, @grapejuicegay, @telomeke, @neuroticbookworm, and @lurkingshan for engaging me in such amazing and extensive conversation about the best show ever Bad Buddy. More than education -- the process was INCREDIBLY fun and rewarding.

(Tagging @dribs-and-drabbles, @solitaryandwandering, and @wen-kexing-apologist by request! If you'd like to be tagged in this series, please let me know!)

[WHEW! SEVENTH INNING STRETCH, FRIENDS, stand up and stretch yer arms as I crack my knuckles one more time for this fabulous show! My last post for the BBS OGMMTVC Series -- a breakdown of my theorized reasons and timing regarding Pran leaving for Singapore -- drops next week. Stay tuned!

And after this, I take the tiniest break from the OGMMTVC to review one of the most important shows of 2023: La Pluie. And then I'm back on my tip with Secret Crush On You and an end-of-the-year rewatch of KinnPorsche. So, much more to come!

Here's the status of the Old GMMTV Challenge watchlist. Tumblr's web editor loves to jack with this list, so please head to this link for the very latest updates!

1) The Love of Siam (2007) (movie) (review here) 2) My Bromance (2014) (movie) (review here) 3) Love Sick and Love Sick 2 (2014 and 2015) (review here) 4) Gay OK Bangkok Season 1 (2016) (a non-BL queer series directed by Jojo Tichakorn and written by Aof Noppharnach) (review here) 5) Make It Right (2016) (review here) 6) SOTUS (2016-2017) (review here) 7) Gay OK Bangkok Season 2 (2017) (a non-BL queer series directed by Jojo Tichakorn and written by Aof Noppharnach) (review here) 8) Make It Right 2 (2017) (review here) 9) Together With Me (2017) (review here) 10) SOTUS S/Our Skyy x SOTUS (2017-2018) (review here) 11) Love By Chance (2018) (review here) 12) Kiss Me Again: PeteKao cuts (2018) (no review) 13) He’s Coming To Me (2019) (review here) 14) Dark Blue Kiss (2019) and Our Skyy x Kiss Me Again (2018) (review here) 15) TharnType (2019-2020) (review here) 16) Senior Secret Love: Puppy Honey (OffGun BL cuts) (2016 and 2017) (no review) 17) Theory of Love (2019) (review here) 18) 3 Will Be Free (2019) (a non-BL and an important harbinger of things to come in 2019 and beyond re: Jojo Tichakorn pushing queer content in non-BLs) (review here) 19) Dew the Movie (2019) (review here) 20) Until We Meet Again (2019-2020) (review here) (and notes on my UWMA rewatch here) 21) 2gether (2020) and Still 2gether (2020) (review here) 22) I Told Sunset About You (2020) (review here) 23) YYY (2020, out of chronological order) (review here) 24) 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) (review here) 25) A Tale of Thousand Stars (2021) (review here) 26) A Tale of Thousand Stars (2021) OGMMTVC Fastest Rewatch Known To Humankind For The Sake Of Rewatching Our Skyy 2 x BBS x ATOTS (re-review here) 27) Lovely Writer (2021) (review here) 28) Last Twilight in Phuket (2021) (the mini-special before IPYTM) (review here) 29) I Promised You the Moon (2021) (review here) 30) Not Me (2021-2022) (review here) 31) Bad Buddy (2021-2022) (thesis here) 32) 55:15 Never Too Late (2021-2022) (not a BL, but a GMMTV drama that features a macro BL storyline about shipper culture and the BL industry) (review here) 33) Bad Buddy (2021-2022) and Our Skyy 2 x BBS x ATOTS (2023) OGMMTVC Rewatch (The BBS OGMMTVC Meta Series is ongoing: preamble here, part 1 here, part 2 here, more reviews to come) 34) Secret Crush On You (2022) (on pause for La Pluie) 35) KinnPorsche (2022) (tag here) 36) KinnPorsche (2022) OGMMTVC Fastest Rewatch Known To Humankind For the Sake of Re-Analyzing the KP Cultural Zeitgeist 37) The Eclipse (2022) (tag here) 38) GAP (2022-2023) (Thailand’s first GL) 39) My School President (2022-2023) and Our Skyy 2 x My School President (2023) 40) Moonlight Chicken (2023) (tag here) 41) Bed Friend (2023) (tag here) 42) Be My Favorite (2023) (tag here)  43) Wedding Plan (2023)  44) Only Friends (2023) (tag here)]

[bengiyo]

Two Worlds Ep 2 Stray Thoughts

Last time, we started to meet our major players. Kram and his father are artists who seem to live away from a major city, and are asked to take care of a family friend’s adult son for a bit. I liked the build up of the relationship between Kram and Phupha. When Phupha went back to the city, some gangsters tried to kill him at an art gallery, and he later learned that he’s not the biological son of his father. It seems his dad wanted him dead, and we left at Kram finding Phupha’s body in their hideaway in the woods.

Kram crying over Phupha’s body and also speaking with him was super creepy.

Okay, into the blue water! Thank you, show, for picking up right where I wanted.

Ah, that’s why Kram was so startled when he realized he was drawing Max’s character last episode. That guy killed Kram’s mother.

Damn, he legit tied that man up like a prisoner.

Hopefully I remember that Max’s character is named Tai. I don’t know if it’s going to be helpful that their mirror universe counterparts have the same names and family histories.

Doubt about world hopping is a reasonable response.

Nat sold the fuck out of that fall.

Oh, that hurts. The Phupha on this side doesn’t recognize him. It works as a quick tangible detail, along with the grave marker and abandoned house, to help Kram see that this mirror universe is real.

Interesting. The two worlds are on a time delay as well. Phupha may still die in the next three months.

I was wondering how they’d get Nat to nag Max.

I’m curious how they’ll continue to handle the aura of heteronormativity of these worlds, since Kram and Phupha never defined their relationship, and didn’t seem keen on using terms with baggage. He also held off on explaining it to Tai, who seems to have noticed it. Feeling like Tai and Kram were close in his world and he’s been hoping for signs of potential from this Kram.

Oof, this interview is giving me secondhand embarrassment. However, there’s no problem family connections can’t solve.

I’m glad these guys know they’re not their counterparts. Too bad Tai is catching feelings again.

Mon Taechin kinda reminds me of Nammon Krittanai.

Interesting. I’m curious what possibly bringing Phupha to a world where everyone knows he’s dead will do to both worlds. In one he’s back from the dead. In another he goes missing mysteriously.

I don’t think this one has really grabbed me yet, but I’m willing to be a little patient because it feels like it’s trying to get somewhere.

[tequilaasquared]

I feel people have forgotten that what Pat did in the first bad buddy Our Skyy episode was undeniably shitty and was never actually properly resolved because they were too stressed and preoccupied getting the consent from Phupha for the play.

You cannot tell me Pran wasn’t hurt by the whole situation. Aside from the ‘drunk words speak sober thoughts’ of it all, Pat still left him without proper explanation, spent the night getting drunk with his friends, ignored all his worried calls and texts, and then brought it up AGAIN in the last episode when they fought. Everything about that was so unlike bbs Pat and I was upset it was so quickly brushed past as it clearly drudged up all of Pran’s insecurities.

In fact a lot of Pat’s actions were ooc for me - entertaining the idea that he drunkenly slept with Phupha when he’s the most loyal down bad character ever, cowardly running away and twisting his ankle which almost ruined Phupha’s effort to find the others, being so blasé about finding Pran lost in a dangerous forest in general, and being extra himbo-like when we’re talking about a confident assertive guy who got shot protecting friends and who is super intelligent.

So I’m finding it bizarre that it’s Pran taking the heat when his characterisation was so spot on; he’s grown and changed since we last saw him and he’s more open to talking about his insecurities, he told Pat that he was stressed and that overwhelmed him but admitted all he wanted to do was watch the stars and play in the waterfall with Pat, he recognised that Pat didn’t mean to hurt him but that his feelings were still valid and he allowed him to help even though he was trying to prove to himself that he could do it alone, and he was kind and friendly to Tian and Phupha and empathised with their struggles as individuals and in their relationship.

Overall I wasn’t keen on the Our Skyy episodes but I wasn’t expecting a masterpiece and Pat wasn’t completely ruined as a character for me to love and enjoy him and patpran’s relationship.