#ryanjane

[heretherebedork]

I love that Jane gets to be communicative and open and just generally an adult about this. He specifically feeds Ryan, makes sure he's good and then asks questions. Yaaay.

And Ryan doesn't try to hide it all or ignore what happened! That's why he can be such a good support person. Because he knows how to communicate... under the right circumstances. Just because he's not good on the spot doesn't mean he's not good in general.

Okay, now they're just flirting. @absolutebl Linguistics!

Sulky baby boy Ryan is adorable. And it's very obvious that Jane has no resistance to his sad puppy eyes or sad little face.

I laughed. Of course he had the cookies on him to take home and gave the client different cookies. This man is a hero.

This man is going to forcibly teach Ryan how to ask questions no matter what it takes and I appreciate that as someone who spends a lot of my working day teaching children how to ask for help/assistance.

Adorable.

Both of them.

The flirting continues.

This boy is hopelessly in love.

[ayansukkhaphisit]

are you okay? how can anyone understand what you're saying? translate it among yourselves. "thank you. i love you the most."

[doublel27]

I have to say, I really love the balance and parallels The Trainee is pulling off with their interns. Specifically though, the focus on BaMhee and Ryan as our central leads, because they directly parallel each other in this story.

Of our interns, BaMhee and Ryan are the ones that didn’t really mean to be there. BaMhee is there following Tae with no real aspirations of her own outside of being close to him. Ryan is there because his only friend encouraged him to try it and he got pulled into the wrong interview. They both show up relatively aimless and without a real objective which is contrasted by Tae and Pie who are so focused on their dreams/objectives they have a hard time seeing around their own plans. Pah has a dream, like Pie and Tae, but he lacks confidence in his ability to complete his dream, in the way that Ryan struggles with his confidence.

And throughout the story, they’ve allowed Ryan and BaMhee to start finding themselves within the story. Both have become more involved and valuable to production as time has gone on. In the early episodes, BaMhee was usually texting Tae and Ryan was often silent and confused. Now BaMhee takes initiative and makes her own decisions. Ryan has taken to coming up with his own ideas and sharing them, as well as getting involved in scene set up and being better at handling extras.

Both had very significant revelations in today’s episode about who they actually want to be or might be that were explored in 4/4.

BaMhee realized she was still in love with Tae and while she likes Judy, she doesn’t like her enough to want to have a full relationship. I was always worried that BaMhee liked the attention and the confidence of Judy because we didn’t get to see much of Judy beyond her work persona (unlike Jane who we saw behind the curtain much earlier). I actually loved BaMhee’s speech to Judy about how no one person is an exact fit (which is why you cannot survive on one relationship alone - romantic, familial, friend - a person needs multiple people) and how both Tae and Judy have things that fit her and things that don’t. But it’s the love and feelings that she has for Tae that make her want to try.

And I find this evolved for BaMhee because it often felt, in the early eps, that she just wanted to be with Tae to be with Tae and not for her relationship with Tae. Like it didn’t feel like a thing she was choosing so much as clinging to. I know she knows that because she told Tae flat out what she wants, which BaMhee never did before. She laid out she doesn’t want grand gestures or big surprises; she just wants time.

Directly paralleled with Ryan, who has now had Jane in his home, and is finding his footing. We saw it some the last two episodes, but this episode had Ryan contemplating his dreams, and who he is, and what persona he might wear, or not. I loved the throwback to the interview and him explaining while he didn’t want to be porridge with side dishes then, just a person in the background supporting, now he does want to be porridge with side dishes because he wants to figure out what fits him best. Who he wants to be as a grown up.

I love that Jane pointed out earlier in the episode that no “adult” has it all together and even asked if people need big dreams. His own contemplation of his dreams and where he is over where he thought he might be was a lovely reflection in the conversation with Ryan. It’s beautiful how they talk about these things.

And @lurkingshan has a beautiful post on BaMhee’s relationships with Judy and Tae respectively, and how Ryan and Jane are slower, but Ryan and Jane are also deeper. Judy didn’t really listen to BaMhee, not really, or ask probing questions. Judy and BaMhee both operated separately, sometimes in concert and sometimes in opposition, whereas Jane and Ryan communicate about ideas and feelings and dreams. Another contrast I’ve enjoyed was Jane let Ryan in first, with the feeding and bringing him home, before he crossed into Ryan’s world in episode 10. Which is a contrast to Judy showing up at BaMhee’s family restaurant (entering her space first) and having BaMhee feed her while we still know very little about Judy. Yes she talks BaMhee out, later, but she doesn’t ask first. Jane always asks. It’s a very cool contrast of how both of their relationships with their mentors have helped clarify things for BaMhee and Ryan in multiple ways, while being very different.

Anyway, while I am sad my sapphic plans didn’t pan out, I still love this show dearly and it’s so well written and beautifully shot.

[themundanedumpling]

WASTING PAPER TO FLIRT WITH YOUR COWORKER IN THE OFFICE?!?!! IN THIS ECONOMY?!?

[waitmyturtles]

Final Thoughts on The Trainee! (TL;DR That Last 4/4 Quarter Was a Major Fumble, But It Didn't Ruin the Whole Show For Me)

I had promised my friends @lurkingshan and @shortpplfedup that I honestly wouldn't write too much about The Trainee while it was airing, because I was mad sus about the crew of this show. Many of the crew of The Trainee had worked on an ill-fated GMMTV het drama called UMG, which aired last year, and which starred Nanon Korapat, Namtan Tipnaree, and Milk Pansa in an unfortunate, chemistry-devoid love triangle. It was a flop and I never finished it.

I had thought to think about where this crew came from about four episodes into The Trainee, when I realized that the MO of this series was to center not Ryan's and Jane's budding romance, but the inner workings of an office, and the infrastructures of making filmed content instead.

UMG was framed in a similar way. While the show struggled to contextualize romance among its characters, the center of each episode was actually about describing concepts regarding extraterrestrial life -- things like crop circles and whatever. (There were aliens in this show.) (Dammit, I can't find a gif of the aliens!) (Here's Milk with some boogie eyes instead, whatever.)

As @lurkingshan wrote often during her watch of the series, The Trainee was ultimately a workplace BL, and I'd add to that that it was meant to serve as an educational series to GMMTV's unique audience. I wondered, early on in The Trainee, if I was just too damn old, as a working professional, to be an audience to this show. GMMTV's audience, of course, skews Gen Z and maybe very-late millennial -- GMMTV's shows are equivalent to shows airing on MTV or The CW by way of its majority audience market.

I certainly had a lot of experience by way of how interpersonal relationships mostly played out in this series (although I reeeeeally needed Judy to acknowledge her kissing Ba-Mhee and to talk about it, the way Jane acknowledged the power gap between him and Ryan after they started dating).

But, honestly? I ended up LOVING the breakdowns of how creating filmed content works, especially in regards to how viscerally and intensely these concepts were depicted.

And The Trainee stepped into some other territory, y'all! Many of us had intense discussions regarding bisexual inclusion and erasure once Tae and Ba-Mhee got back together. These concepts are sophisticated and important to ruminate on -- again, especially for a younger audience being fed most binary male-male and female-female queer media and concepts by a giant like GMMTV, which makes a ton of money on branding same-sex actors together. Queerness has a lot of spectrums, and bi inclusion was something I was glad this series unexpectedly took on.

So, against all this good stuff, that last 4/4 quarter sucked. I felt terrible for Ryan's 20-something hormones. Jane went to get a masters', and didn't even *call* his.... his boo? (Ryan wasn't Jane's boyfriend, obviously, maybe we could call Ryan his crush, his boo-boo, whatever.) Like. Jane didn't even come back to Thailand to visit, ever? Come awn now. If a show is feeding realism to a young audience by way of how corporate workplaces work, and how the art of an industry is made, at least please make the final romance a little more realistic!

(All y'all 20-somethings who were watching this show and wondering if you should wait five years for a potential boo to come back from overseas, please listen to your auntie here, GO DATE OTHER PEOPLE. Don't be like Ryan. Focus on *YOUR* NEEDS. This has been your reality-based PSA.)

But the rest of the finale was lovely for me. Jo, to me, was a realistic boss. He had a priority in keeping on Jane as an assistant director, because Jane was a great assistant director, and served well in that role, which served well for Jo's company. When Jane expressed an interest in growing, Jo knew that Jane couldn't do it in Jo's shadow -- and Jo said so. Jane taking a risk to LEAVE is a kind of risk I've had to confront time and time again in my own career, as I grew out of a workplace, and grew out of what that workplace was demanding of me. It's a wonderful notion for young people to contemplate on -- that movement in one's career must be first and foremost driven by the individual themself, for the sake of their own accountability to their growth.

I was thrilled to see Sea Tawinan in them white pants Ba-Mhee and Tae's engagement, Tae setting guardrails for himself to focus more on Ba-Mhee, and omg Pie's and Ba-Mhee's breakdown had me howling. Poon's a new fave as well. The Trainee confirmed my continued deep love and appreciation for Piploy, I think she's cute and great-great.

I truly enjoyed this show. The crew ultimately de-centralized romance for most of the show to focus on how work lives and personal lives realistically intertwine. We are the same people at work as we are at home, with all of the messiness we bring to those tables, including unrecommended romances that may traverse age and power gaps. Things can get messy, but I think, other than the whole Judy thing and Jane ghosting Ryan for years (wtf man), The Trainee handled that messiness with empathy for the young people who did a lot of growing up during the course of this series.

[porschethemermaid]

The AUDACITY OF THIS BITCH-

[bucolicbook]

The Most Relaxing Video Games by Ryan Janes

UK pub date - 3/30/24 US pub date - 6/6/24

You might see this and be tempted to write it off as little better than a list of relaxing games you could find online, but this title goes deeper into games than most lists I’ve personally come across and I have looked - growing up, I remember the high stress I’d get just trying to play Super Mario Brothers, I still get mildly stressed when trying to catch a scorpion or tarantula in Animal Crossing New Horizons so the idea of relaxing video games is definitely appealing. Actiony fighty games are definitely not for me. 

I personally appreciated this - I found a number of new games that I’m interested in trying and feel that this title would make a great gift (along with some preferred gaming platform giftcards) for the gamer in your life who prefers laid back games. 

Thank you to White Owl / Pen & Sword Books and NetGalley for the DRC

[amie-25]

So this might be a controversial take but I just saw the 9th episode of the trainee and the progression of Judy and Ba Mhee's relation isn't sitting well with me.

Granted, BM cheated on Tae due to her feeling lost and unloved and Judy just happened to be there to fill the void. However, it is obvious that Judy is crossing the line too often with BM, making it increasingly inappropriate (the scene in the window nook was too weird imo). That's not to say that Ryan and Jane are doing any better but atleast there is open communication from both ends, while Judy is just....there.

Idk, I've lost my train of thought but I'd love yalls thoughts on Judy-BM and RyanJane

[watchingblsnowandforever]

The Trainee

Heyy =D

Okay, firstly, this post does not sing high praises, so please scroll past if that's not your thing. Don't come at me later, please, I'm too exhausted to write proper comebacks the tumblr way. Oh, and there will be spoilers-

I had high expectations from this show, ngl. I mean it's OffGun, so it's a natural reaction. Did I like Cooking Crush very much? Not really. Did I enjoy it? Yeah, sure. It was nice and the comedy was impeccable, I have to admit. But I was actually really looking forward to The Trainee. It was a new concept, OffGun were finally graduating (!!!).

All of those expectations aside, I would just like to point out that this is a BL and was advertised as such. So why, pray tell, did it feel like (I paraphrase @desi-yearning cause she got the sentiment down pat) a het show with a side of BL??

I mean look, I do mind het shows a bit (personal. opinion.), but I don't usually mind het sides in a BL. This was not that.

At this point, I think RyanJane had less screentime than TaeMhee. Which- again, why, why, why in the name of all that's good and gay would you make them get back together?! What were you on. The breakup seemed necessary and it felt like the show was building up to it. And the thing with Judy??? You could have had a GL side and you ignored that for a *gestures* whatever that was. Fine, no GL side. Still, you could have had Mhee explore her bisexuality more? She's literally wearing black even after she gets back with Tae?? Sigh.

Tae is... for a lack of a better word, very dependent on Mhee. A little too much. He really should learn to do things himself.

And don't even get me started on the proposal. Pie's "you're the girl. He should be the one proposing" had me losing almost all my respect for her. So much show and jazz. For a het proposal. A het that's supposed to be a side couple. What are you trying to do? Establish a new pairing?? With Sea? I mean yeah sure do that. But do that in a het series. Next time, please save me the trouble with proper advertising.

The characters were well-written, kind of, yes. But there was just so much potential that got wasted. It physically hurts to think of all the big time potential they wasted. Just... down the drain. This could have been the second best GMM BL of the year, now it's a mid series at best.

What are you doing with OffGun. You either stop baiting people with parings, or you start doing things properly. This is the most GMMTV ending I've seen in a while. And here I thought the year was going good sigh.

And what was up with those no-contact 5 years?? You could have at least had a Long Distance Relationship??? You just waltz back and expect him to take you back?

All this is giving me a headache. I need to still finish a paper that's making me go through the 5 stages of grief. It's just 500 words why- ugh nevermind.

Basically, this series was a big example of how you should build up and also a big example of what not to do in the middle and the ending.

GMMTV. You've given me We Are, from a Director I wasn't even expecting it from. You better do the other series I'm hoping for well. Please and thank you. <3

Finally, I just want to say for all that I... criticize this show, I do have good things to say about it. Would I hard rec it? Probably not. Should you watch it? Uh, sure, if you're bored, have time to waste and really like OffGun and don't mind a lot of het PDA. And I mean a lot.

That's all for this series. Hope y'all have a good day/night!

And if you got this far, thank you so much for reading. ☺️

Love,

[susancingari]

#ICYMI Jack Marshman @jackmarshman19 came out on top against #RyanJanes in their #middleweight bout at #UFC #FightNight113, getting the W by unanimous decision. #ufcfightnight #fightnight #ufcfn113 #nelsonvsponzinibbio #mma #mixedmartialart #martialarts #mmanews #mlmma #mustlovemma #susancingari #danawhite #combatsports #boxing #kickboxing #bjj #wrestling #fighter #mmafighter #ultimatefightingchampionship #twitter #ufcglasgow @danawhite @dlockettufc @ufc — view on Instagram http://ift.tt/2uwDExr

[heretherebedork]

Can I lean on you?

[heretherebedork]

They're so cute. Just a little workplace flirting, as a treat.

[heretherebedork]

The most smitten Ryan receiving a gift from Jane.

Bonus: Jane looked back!

[heretherebedork]

Jane gets to be a real, queer adult who has an ex boyfriend he used to work with and has gotten over and he gets to tell Ryan that, yes, that's his ex but he doesn't need to worry and Ryan believes him and this is about an adult gay man falling in love again and not hesitating, not running, neither of them is scared of love or worried about loving a man... they're just falling in love bit by bit and we're joining them on this journey and I truly love it because it's just... part of the story and another part of communication and another way they can open up to each other about their fears and their feelings.

[heretherebedork]

It really is about how Jane takes the time to talk to Ryan each time, to clear the air, to make himself open and clear and it shows how much he really does care about him, both romantically and professionally.

This is basically Jane's mantra and I love that for him. He's so open and honest and he's just... he means it when he says this. This is both good advice and honest advice and a real request for a mature, adult relationship that involves communication!

I love how queer these characters get to be now. Jane has an ex who's a man and he's talking about their break up and the lack of feelings and he says that specifically to Ryan because this is where they're at in their relationship and it's amazing. It's beautiful. To be able to see characters just be gay, be queer, to have queer exes who are part of their history and their lives and to not have this be everyone's first relation ship or first man... it's so refreshing. I love this era of BL. It makes me happy.

[heretherebedork]

What kind of feelings do you have for me? Behave yourself and I'll tell you.