#step by step series

[heretherebedork]

I will always appreciate a good counter lift and an untied apron only enhances the experience. @absolutebl Counter lift!

[takeadeepbreathandexist]

10 BL Boys I Want Carnally

Thanks to @nieves-de-sugui for inspiring a mini freak out because I couldn’t figure out if I wanted to be on them or on each other.

In no particular order

1. HaoTing- sweet golden retriever

My OG himbo. Took my man a minute but when he went in he 110% committed. Put his whole self into loving XiGu. I don’t think anyone but Wayne Song could have made me like him but man did he make it work

2. Porsche-beloved chaos gremlin

I know the series ended being hit or miss for people but like it or not you have to agree Apo is freaking PRETTY. Ok this is less about the character and more about the actor but who cares. Whenever I see a picture of Apo there is a 85% chance my first thought is going to be “holy shit he’s pretty”

3. Jeng-DADDY

No I won’t elaborate or apologize. You know exactly what I’m talking about

4. Gumpa- competence kink for the win

He was the only one with the brain cell and I love him ok? Gumpa gave no shits White randomly showed up pretending to be Black, he just adopted him and taught him how to survive

5. Mhok- bestest green flag bad boy

This one was a total surprise for me. No hate to Jimmy he just doesn’t usually do anything for me. But I love me a damaged bad boy with a heart of gold

6. Mizuki- it’s the dom energy ok?

Boy was somehow the king of communication and miscommunication but he also nailed the domination and I have a kink ok. Though he is also a good example of me wanting him but also wanting him to want Yoh more haha

7. Yai and Sand-the cutest couple to ever couple

I know it’s kind of cheating but I refuse to split them up. Look they shouldn’t have introduced Sand the way they did unless they wanted me to fall in love with her and Yai is the king of whipped a he gets included

8. Yuna-the queen

I don’t care what the list is I will find a way to put her on it ok

9. AiDi- my little feral murder kitten

The love I have for AiDi is unlimited and if any show could get a season two I’d want it to be about him

10. Jeff Satur- king of gender envy

Ok another kind of cheat but this is less about a character and more about the actor. Jeff was the first time I felt true gender envy and he just won’t stop

[grapejuicegay]

I showed this parallel to @dribs-and-drabbles but I can't stop thinking about it now

Pat has yet again found himself in a relationship that doesn't feel Quite Right. That doesn't match up to what he wants, has him feeling wrong. Both moments that have him running away.

Like Put pointed out to Jeng, neither of them can be very open with their relationships. Yet neither is very subtle about their affections in the workplace, leaving Pat to worry about that. They're both older and more established in their careers in a way that gets in the way of their relationship - but with the stress of an imploding career falling on Pat. They both want to avoid the actual problems and skip over to the good parts.

Put and Jeng can fight over Pat all they want, Put can come in and berate Jeng but ultimately both of them have put him in the exact same position.

[mysterygrl20]

CAN THEY STOP

[absolutebl]

Hi there! I've just returned from a two-week holiday (as I'm writing this I'm actually still driving back home, but I want to get on top of it lmao), so I would like to defer to your knowledge:

could you pretty please provide me with an update on what series ended/started while I was away? I have a vague idea, but I don't want to miss out on the things that didn't get as much promo and are therefore not on my mdl.

if you can, my watchlist will be forever thankful!!

July Report: BL that Stopped & Started & Is worth Your time

Ended July 2023

Step By Step

This was Thailand’s answer to The New Employee, and everything I loved about that show I loved about this one.

This was an office romance between stern boss and sweet subordinate that felt more authentic to an office environment than previous Thai BLs of this ilk. And that authenticity added tension to the narrative and character development (how novel). Now that might be because it has western source material, or it might be because it is actually kind of old-fashioned (it’s been years since I worked as an office grunt). I also really enjoyed the brothers’ relationship, and kinda wished they hadn’t attempted (and failed) to give said brother his own side BL. That one flaw made it a 9/10 for me.

HIGHLY RECOMMENDED.

La Pluie

This BL takes to task the fated mates trope and what it means to have love chained intimately to predestination. It’s about how faith in destiny before choice diminishes the authenticity of emotion, relationships, and connection. This is a high concept to examine through the lens of a BL.

By activating + examining the soulmates trope this show is challenging a foundation of romance: the idea that there is one person meant to be your one romantic partner all your life. This means that we, as viewers, spend much of the show worried about it having a happy ending, and that’s the source of both its brilliance and tension: would the narrative have the strength to truly challenge its own romantic core? But, ultimately, all this elevated complexity was executed in a somewhat shaky manner with the narrative derailing into some serious pacing issues and characters manipulated by miscommunication.

However, with good chemistry and decent acting all around, plus some excellent high heat and representation of consent and a few other rare tropes, this one has to (like it’s sibling show My Ride) earn a 9/10. I enjoyed it even as it made me think, so despite its flaws:

HIGHLY RECOMMENDED.

Started July 2023 & Looking GOOD

Jun & Jun

Korea Thurs Viki 8 eps

THANK YOU BL GODS. It is so good. Like everything I want in the world. I’m incandescently happy with this show.

It’s office set,

it’s an ex idol,

everyone is pretty as peaches,

and it’s all about remembering somebody’s smell!

I could not be more delighted.

Laws of Attraction

Thai Sat iQIYI 8 eps

(Icky picked it up but they are serving it in a complicated way that may require a VPN.)

Stars the pair from To Sir With Love with the same production team. IT’S SO GOOD. A morally corrupted trickster lawyer with a tragic past, sad eyes, and a beautiful smile that he uses like a weapon. Meets paladin martial arts instructor from other side of the tracks (who is out, at least to his baby sister).

Corrupt police.

Spoiled rich kid evil.

Ambitious politician.

Tragic death.

Terrible subs.*

This show is very like Manner of Death but so far it is a much better/tighter story (there's a Devil Judge aura happening). It’s NOT BL but it is fucking phenomenal. And you should watch it. Not wait to binge it. WATCH IT.

On a global scale this might be the best thing currently airing featuring gay romantic leads. Its really fucking good. It’s Lawless Lawyer but more complex character motivation and gay af. Fuck yes please and thank you. FINALLY.

Triggers for violence, beatings, death & torture depicted on screen. Like MoD they are not holding back. 

(* A lot of the familial names they are using are not gendered in Thai but translated as such, like “nephew”. This one is gonna go down a lot easier if you know some Thai.)

ALSO:

Stay By My Side - Taiwan Fri Gaga 10 eps

Hidden Agenda that isn’t hidden - Thailand Sun GMMTV YouTube 12 eps

Low Frequency - Thailand Sat iQIYI 8 eps

Started But You Can Probably Wait IMHO

Dinosaur Love (Sun iQIYI)

Be Mine Super Star (Mon Viki)

Wedding Plan (Weds YT & iQIYI) it's mame so A trash watch is happening! 

Minato Shouji Coin Laundry Season 2 (Japan Thu Gaga)

Hope this is what you wanted.

[thefreeblog]

You really have to hand it to Up Poompat, he literally can have chemistry with a wall if he has to.

Kao in Lovely Writer, Ben as well as Man in Step by Step and now Poom.

It's glorious to see, and I like it.

[chicademartinica]

Jeng being the one completely dick drunk,infatuated and daydreaming about marrying this man ?!! My poor lonely BLIND rich boy.

[istanchan]

Are Pat and Kawi “bad characters”?

I usually don’t go on TikTok to read discourse about shows. But I happened to stumble across this while looking for edits and it just made me so frustrated.

So op made a post about how they can’t stand Pat and Kawi from step by step and be my favorite. They went on to talk about how they don’t even understand how Jeng and Pisaeng deal with their respective partners. Honestly I didn’t really feel like talking about it but with the tens of other people agreeing with them I couldn’t stop myself.

There’s a lot to unpack here but starting off with explaining why the two characters act the way they do helps.

With Pat I feel that most people who watch the show forget that there is a 10 year age gap between the characters (and the actors). While that may not seem like a lot, the fact that Jeng is Pat’s superior and his social class plays into their dynamic and Pat’s behavior. I am more convinced now then ever that the purpose of Step By Step was to portray a realistic representation of how it would be to date your boss. It’s messy and hard to work through. Pat’s character at times is an emotional wreck, I’m not going to deny that, but he still manages to be mature even when his boss and his partner (I don’t think it’s appropriate to label jeng as his boyfriend) isn’t. Jeng completely disregards reality in episode 10, he leaves Pat to handle the brunt of the gossip. Pat after trying to talk with Jeng to mediate the situation, ends up doing what he thinks is best. His character is raw and real and messy at times but I enjoy watching it nonetheless.

As for Kawi, I feel that it’s not fair to judge his character right now since only 6 episodes are out and we haven’t really gotten to the climax of the show. His character is still growing and learning. But honestly in my opinion Kawi as a character is easier to comprehend and understand than Pat. I don’t think Kawi acts completely unreasonable. He does makes mistakes but he tries his best to fix them and better himself. Again like in step by step there is the factor of social class that comes in between Pisaeng and Kawi. Pisaeng is rich and is well known around campus. Kawi struggles to see how a guy like Pisaeng could like him.

It seems this is the common denominator for Pat and Kawi—their insecurities. And to me that’s a completely reasonable factor. For us as the audience it’s easy to rule out what behaviors we would want to change or fix with character we watch, but if we were in their shoes would act completely dissimilar? Life isn’t black and white, and making the right choices isn’t alway easy. I feel that many shows and especially these two show this.

This whole discussion takes me to this wonderful post that I think about all the time when I’m watching BL shows now:

By/For/About Queers Part 1 &

By/For/About Queers Part 2

Both be my favorite and step by step have proven to realistically portray queer experiences. While be my favorite still has way to go I’m surprised by how the writers handled Pisaengs road to discovering his identity. Talking about BL shows in the light of which ones are really for queer or and not just about queer people changes the perspective. I think this plays a small role in why these two shows may be hard to understand the characters pov. Many people that watch BL shows aren’t queer and even some who are, don’t watch BLs for to sympathize with a queer perspective. Many just use BLs as a way to escape this heteronormative world, and that’s honestly completely okay. I do it too sometimes. But that doesn’t undermine characters like Pat and Kawi or even Jeng and Pisaeng.

At the end of the day each person is entitled to enjoy media however they wish, that’s the beauty of the internet. So I don’t have any animosity towards op and all the commenters. I’m glad they have a different opinion so I can share mine.

[gg-carboxylase]

I'm super bummed about Step By Step being over because I feel like Man Trisanu is going to bampf off into the aether never to be heard from again. He and Ben have such great chemistry so that would be A Very Large Shame.

[heretherebedork]

Their relationship can be summed up into heart eyes and height difference and that's just fine by me.

[neuroticbookworm]

Step by Step Episode 10 Ramblings

Episode 9 Ramblings, here

Ahhh Chot is beating some sense into Pat, RIGHT OUT OF THE GATE

Why is this boy so excited about Carrot Cake?

Somebody hug Chot, right now, or I'll climb into the screen and do it MYSELF

I'll never not be impressed by Man Trisanu's microexpressions. Put this man in more shows

Remember when Jeng was so nervous to confess it took him an entire day? Now homeboy is confessing at the drop of a hat lmao

"I own this place" I HAVE ASCENDED REALMS Y'ALL

The agenda for this episode is "Jeng speaks English into Pat's ears" and I'm here for it

What is with the weird phone screen talk?

AHHHHHHHH THESE DAMNED PRODUCT PLACEMENTS

Ha, the Instagram request callback. Noice.

I don't like the fact that Jeng answered the question with an Asian head nod

I want to not look at it too closely, but a nepo baby like Jeng, who's in line to a corporate throne, commenting on the food crisis is so funny to me

I'm trying so hard to ignore the assistant, I deserve to have one episode where there are no looming threats to the relationship, please and thank you

Well, I hated this

We got the P'Jeng moment!

*sigh* There are a few different ways to interpret this, and I like none of them

Pat, you've been in this relationship for a laughably short period of time, and you're already asking this man about marriage?!

Jaab has another partner?! My jaw is DROPPED

Ae, why did you interrupt him?! Let the man talk, y'all are in a BL, you guys are terrible at finishing each other's sentences, you always get it wrong

Well, Jeng really offered Pat his position, huh

At least it seems like it's three years away, so

Jaab, you did not wait to hear if Jane chose you or not, you fricking idiot

When did the queen of the gossip clique become such a close supporter of Pat?

JENG, FUCKING TALK TO HIM. He just told you he's not happy, and your first instinct is to kiss him?!

Alright, so Pat jumped the gun and submitted the letter

I want to sleep on this episode to better gather my thoughts, but right now, I'm not loving it. The editing and the story beats were weird, it went from hot to cold abruptly, and many, many characters acted out of their established personalities. None of the writing particularly caught my eye, and feels subpar compared to some scenes we've gotten in previous episodes. Well, it's gonna be an interesting week, I guess.

[grapejuicegay]

@casualavocados you're not WRONG

[mysterygrl20]

i have a list

[whatisgodtoanonbeliever]

Chot really is doing so much helping with emotional labor and I vote he gets a free vacation and lifelong happiness

[asylumwise]

Okay since Step By Step is done and it will not take over my life due to falling flat in the last quarter (tho I did enjoy the finale)…

Man Trisanu in next show WHEN

(I’m not kidding I already fast forwarded through all episodes of The Face Men Thailand)

[thefreeblog]

Some scenes in this episode 10 of Step by step making me feral

Jeng talking in English with Pat to seduce him and clearing his work platform for an impromptu make out sesh with his new bf

The car makeout scene, Pat being horny and Jeng being shy after the honking

Pat throwing the bridal bouquet in Jengs imaginary wedding and catching it in the real wedding

Ae's cute as fuck baby

The piggy back scene ( the camera work here is so good, I need to go and kiss the camera person's forehead for this)

The absolute silence when Pat was watching Jeng take of his shirt

Jeng planning his next 3yrs with Pat and how he is gonna mentor him to become a manager

The safehouse question (are you kidding, I knew he was kinky)

Jeng a skyscraper of a man snuggling into Pat's chest and trying to hold on to the happiness