#my stand in spoilers

[clairedaring]

UP POOMPAT as MING and POOM PHURIPAN as JOE

MY STAND-IN (2024) | 1.05

[syrena-del-mar]

Navigating the Conflict in My Stand In: Surrender and Softening in Love

(Disclaimer: Ming/Joe is an incredibly toxic relationship; I fully realize and acknowledge that, but Poom makes a critical distinction in Joe's reasoning, and I think it's interesting to dissect. Also, this is fiction.)

It's been some time since I've written any meta, but I can't stop thinking about the video @poomphuripan shared of Poom making the distinction that Joe isn't giving in to Ming, but rather, his heart is melting for him.

It makes so much sense that Joe would melt at the littlest semblance of 'love.' He was so alone for so long. His parents have been dead for longer than he had them, he has no siblings, and his extended relatives don't care about him. I forget if it's mentioned in the show, but in the novel, Joe had a pretty big crush on Sol, and Sol rejected him quite brutally. Even without meaning to be, Joe is always alone at the end of the day.

Yes, Joe has friends, and yes, Joe made his own found family. But at the end of the day, Joe would return to an unlit, empty home. Everyone else would return to their wives or families, while Joe could only return to the pictures of his parents. Meanwhile, for all of Ming's bs and frightening behavior, he was the only one that made his dream come true.

For the first time, with Ming around, Joe would come home and be greeted by the warmth of another living, breathing person. Joe craved to have a human bond, and Ming was the one who was willing (albeit for his own interest) to give it to him. And he cooked for him. He took up space in his home! He remembered the very things Joe had told him he longed for. They had a lot of good times, a lot of good memories, and a pretty set routine that really integrated Ming into Joe's life. But then they fight, his blissful reality breaks, and Joe dies.

But Joe wakes up from what feels like a day's nap when, in actuality, two years have passed. And what does he find? Ming has cared for his apartment since his death and is unwilling to change anything just in case Joe returns. Ming continues to fulfill Joe's dream of returning to a warm home. So he turns on the lights, and he cooks the same dinner that they used to share for two years. And even in his rightful anger of wanting Ming to leave him alone, he's still seeing that. In the two years since his disappearance, someone still thought about him and hadn't fully grieved him. Ming's brother only confirms that.

Giving in would mean that Joe wanted to end the fight with Ming, when no feelings had changed. It'd be him emotionally surrendering himself, compromising his feelings of being just a double for Tong, and fully conceding himself when he still thought that Ming only saw him as a replacement. While Joe might have given Ming access to his body to pay his new mom's debts, he was still blocking Ming out as much as he could. But that's not why Joe forgives Ming; it's not for a superficial reason to stop the feud. There's a visible shift in how he perceives Ming, the guy who waited two years for him, who protected and filled his home with warmth, just in case he wasn't really gone. His motivation was rooted in the slivers of positive feelings he had for Ming, which allowed him to move past the anger that he held for him.

A quote that I've seen floating around the internet for years comes to mind. "And when nobody wakes you up in the morning and when nobody waits for you at night and when you do whatever you want. What do you call it? Freedom or loneliness?" Joe has had that freedom for the majority of his whole life. It's no longer freedom for him. But even his found family isn't fully aware of the loneliness that would wash over him when he would return to an empty home.

After all is said and done, he sees that only one person knows him intimately enough to understand and learn even the most mundane of his desires. Ming, even with all the toxic shit he has pulled, stood by his word of not letting Joe return to an empty home. For Joe, that was enough. It changes how he sees and understands Ming.

It's also why Sol and Joe would have never worked out.

As Poom said, ultimately, it's not that he gives in to Ming but rather he lets his heart melt when he sees exactly what Ming has done for him in his absence.

Even after everything, Joe still loves him.

[thisautistic]

The boy so pretty when he cries (over me)

[poetry-protest-pornography]

Not to get emotional about safer sex, but I'm pretty sure this was the first time they've used a condom, and Ming giving it to Joe to put on him, giving him that power of consent, and the way they both looked wrecked already, and how even after the "you know you can't stop me" tease (another callback to their past being used to build forward), he's still literally putting the power to stop this in Joe's hands...

And how they just keep reaching out to each other and holding on so tightly and finding ways to make themselves fit together and how they're so desperate for each other even when they're calm?

Well, there's me getting emotional about condoms I guess.

(also it was hot AF, consent is sexy y'all)

[poomphuripan]

endless poom phuripan gifs [35/?]

↳ Poom Phuripan and Up Poompat in My Stand-In: Behind the Scenes Episode 11 (2024)

[miss0atae]

Tong wanted to make Ming yield to get what he wants so he used his master card...

His mom-in law!

Only to have Ming pull a Uno reverse card on him and use his Dad (even if I'm not sure it wasn't a master stroke).

Tong didn't see that coming (neither was mom) !

What a very functional and healthy family. 😅

[vegaseatsass]

My Stand-In Episode 10

Just a few scattered notes of things I have on my mind.

I have been very very very obsessed with the moment where Joe breaks up with Ming after Ming's mom went in on them. See, originally I took Joe at his word: He's tired. He's tired of the constant melodrama, the neverending battle just to exist. Ming and his family already killed Joe once, he just wants some quiet contentment and to not feel like he's fighting for his life every time he holds his boyfriend's hand. Honestly, I really loved that, that their breakup this episode wasn't a contrived fight full of blame and accusation, but was simply Joe realizing he's too exhausted and walking away.

But then it hit me like a load of bricks, that no, actually. Joe didn't end things in that moment because he wants peace and quiet. He left before Ming could hurt him again. He left because he didn't believe Ming would stand up to his mother or his family - or more like, he didn't want to let himself start hoping he could, and get disappointed. Since the funeral, Ming has been giving Joe everything he ever wanted Ming to give him and more (I mean if you don't count "respecting his boundaries" as something Joe wants but 1. Ming is kiiiinda starting to get there by the end of this ep lmao? 2. I'm talking about everything Joe wants to feel from Ming on a visceral level, more than what would make his relationship safe and sane). Ming has been telling Joe over and over again that he loves him, showing Joe over and over that he chooses him, showing Joe at every turn that Tong is nothing to him. No matter how much Joe or Ing push Ming or test Ming, Ming just keeps coming back and reaffirming his commitment to Joe, adapting to who Joe is now and offering him anything and everything he can give, sincerely, determinedly vowing to put him first. Joe has been trying so hard not to let himself want it or believe in it, but by the time they're in that meeting room with Ming's mom, he is back in honeymoon mode with Ming, truly starting to believe he gets to have the kind of relationship (two-sided. equal. where Joe is taken care of and spoiled and chased, not just the caretaker and spoiler and chaser) it used to feel too greedy to dare hope for.

And then Ming's mom reminds him of how easy (Joe thinks) it will be for Ming to pull the rug out from under him again, and send it all crashing down. Just like in his first life in honeymoon mode, when he realized Ming was here for Tong and not him, that this relationship that was making him feel so whole and safe was all a lie.

Like with something as big as breaking with a family that will never accept his sexuality, Joe has no instinct to "test" Ming or give him an ultimatum. I don't actually think it's with real disappointment in Ming himself that Joe gives up on Ming choosing him before Ming even gets the chance to try. I think Joe is probably completely sympathetic to the choice he expects Ming to make, and intellectually, doesn't begrudge it of him, the way he would (or should) begrudge so many of the actual terrible things Ming has done to him. But it still hurts so much to have reality force its way into their bubble, and remind Joe that even Ming trying his absolute hardest can't protect Joe from feeling that crushing loss again. So he takes himself away from the situation before it has the opportunity to hurt him again.

Idk if I'm getting at why I'm so obsessed with this, but there's just something to me about how happy Joe must have been feeling at Ming's side, to need to proactively remove himself from the situation to avoid getting his heart shattered like those mugs. Like "I'm tired" means "I can't do these high-lows anymore. I can't feel this good and have it taken away again." This is exactly why he's been trying so so so hard to freeze his heart around Ming: So he's not vulnerable to the particular kind of hurt he never recovered from in his first life.

And I just find it very moving that the source of that hurt this time isn't Ming making disastrous choices. It's something neither Ming nor Joe has control over. And Joe knows that! But it still hurts too much to hope and want things.

Meanwhile, Ming is like: Hope and want whatever you want, beloved. I am now Mr. Makes Shit Happen. I can do anything as long as you're alive in this world.

Which is another thing I've been thinking a lot about. Sol and Ming both trying to make themselves into these superperson supershields so things will be Different This Time, and smacking up against some natural end limits to their abilities. For Sol, no matter how hard he turns himself upside down trying to make himself into someone Joe can pick instead of Ming, the attraction will never be there, and Ming always WILL be there, reminding Joe of his feelings for him. For Ming, the limit on his absolutely determined devotion to Joe is his family. And Sol and Ming, both trying so hard to be bigger and more than they are, when they come face to face with their limit still refuse to back down. No matter how laughably futile it is.

To me, Ming standing there looking all tiny at the bottom of the stairs with his dad looming at the top is the equivalent of how manically out of his element trying to do the impossible Sol was in episode 9. But just like Sol, Ming can't stop now. No matter what happens in episode 11, Ming has to try to fight this impossible fight. Neither of them is willing to leave anything on the table after losing Joe once before.

Idk I wonder if they will have to work together before the end hahaha... we'll see.

I had more thoughts but this is once again a monster post so I will end by simply reiterating how amazing and hilarious I think it is that Tong tried to get Ming to pay him HUNDREDS OF MILLIONS OF BAHT for the privilege of removing the only source of happiness from his life. Like come to the meeting room, Ming! Let's make a deal where you go back to being depressed and alone, and give me all the money I want! Surely this will work out in a way where we can both walk out satisfied! The lion the witch and the audacity of this bitch <3 <3 <3 <3

[ppeonppeonhan]

Ep. 8 My Stand-In spoilers

[Joe 2.0 still trying to fool Ming]

The fandom: 👀

Ming: Just admit you're him.

Joe 2.0: He's dead!

The fandom: 👀

Ming: [passionately kisses Joe 2.0]

Joe 2.0: [immediately rips his clothes off and submits to Ming]

Ming: [puts in work]

Joe 2.0: [sneezes]

Ming: 😎

The fandom: 🤦🏾‍♀️

[hotasfahrenheit]

Joe being on the verge of tears asking to go in and see his body but Jim also looking like he's on the verge of tears telling him no and he didn't even know Joe uggghhhhh all of this

and Ming just on the floor slowly crumpling over to the side looking just empty

my heart

broken Ming holding a silent vigil for Joe the entire day just to have his worst fears confirmed, and Joe unable to find out until that momemt that there's no going back, there's never going to be a magical switch back to his old self and his old life and that's his body under that sheet

this show is devastating basically

[apparently-i-am-an-adult]

So I can watched episode 7 of My Stand in yesterday and I’m having some feelings.

I know we’re all loving Ming’s realization and what that means for him and Joe, but I’ve been thinking about what it says about Tong.

Think about what the audience knows about him initially: he’s a huge action star with a big fan base. From behind, his stand-in is identical to him. His girlfriend is the daughter of a rich family and her brother is desperate for his attention.

The first time we see him, he’s late for the shooting. He walks in with food without a care and says he would have come in later if he’d known they were going to have to move locations. The next bit I remember is the pool rescue scene, and he ditches that and has Joe do it. He’s so uninterested in his job he doesn’t even want to go to a press conference for a movie he’s starring in.

This is the biggest action star in the film industry and we don’t see him act once.

For me, I’m getting the implication that after Tong became famous, he got bored with the actual process of acting, but still uses his notoriety to do basically whatever he wants. So what if he shows up late? What are they going to do, fire him?

Even when the director threatens to kick him out of the movie if he doesn’t go to the press conference, he doesn’t even flinch. To him, it’s an empty threat. It’d be like kicking Tom Cruise out of the Top Gun franchise or Mission: Impossible.

Another crewmember even says the movie will be a disaster if they replace Tong with someone else, let alone a stand-in.

We the audience know that Joe has been Tong’s stand in for a while. He’s clearly been picking up a lot of the slack that Tong has been dropping, and he’s good at what he does, and Tong knows it. He knows it better than anyone.

Episode 7 shows us the scene that made Tong famous, and then reveals that he didn’t even do it. Joe did. And nobody knows because Joe was new and didn’t get credited. All the fame, all the notoriety, it should be Joe’s. And I think Tong is aware of it. Not that he thinks Joe deserves it, not at all. But he is 100% aware of what Joe does for him. Joe does all the work, and he gets to slap his name on there and take the credit.

The episode 7 reveal is fantastic because it adds so much more depth to what we have in episode 4: Tong isn’t just enraged at the audacity his stand-in has to try and replace him, he’s terrified because he knows he could.

TL;DR: Tong is a hack and he sits on a throne of lies. I can’t wait for this bitch to get his comeuppance.

[clairedaring]

Aside from the soul, I guess there are still some feelings that have passed onto this body as well.

MY STAND-IN (2024) | 1.05

[pigglepiephi]

I need to see Ming go full psycho and take down this bitch now!!

You may be responsible for the death and psychological torment of your boyfriend, in not one but two different lives, but all will be forgiven though not really if you destroyed your brother-in-law’s life.

I need to watch Tong suffer these last three episodes!

[thisautistic]

[poetry-protest-pornography]

As satisfying as it was to get the reverse "mistaken from behind" (I literally said "are we getting a... omg it's happening!" to myself) this is painful.

Ming rushing because he's late picking up his boyfriend, and calling out to Joe, smile on his face, and the slow devastation taking over his expression as he sees it's Tong, as he processes Tong's expression -- shocking and very overdue guilt -- and what Tong's presence here means.

Just ouch.

So here's an edit for maximum damage.

[poomphuripan]

endless poom phuripan gifs [26/?]

↳ Question: How do you feel about all the NC scenes in the drama? in Let's Chat: EP 1-3

[miss0atae]

I'm not crying... you are!

It was the apology I was waiting for.