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bengiyo · 1 year

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Bed Friend Ep 4 Stray Thoughts

Last week, King accidentally triggered Uea when he tried to kiss the back of his neck, and we, the viewers, were made privy to the knowledge that Uea was sexually abused by his stepdad. King apologized, even though he didn't exactly know what was going on, and assured Uea that he would never do anything to make him uncomfortable again. King is getting jealous of his coworkers flirting with Uea. Pock showed back up, and Jade was the only correct person to get security, followed by King insisting Uea report the incident to the police. We left with Pock assaulting Uea in the parking garage.

Trigger Warnings: sexual assault (0:40 to 0:56, 14:20 to 15:20), rape mention (2:58 to 3:08, 15:50 to 16:40), child abuse (15:56 to 17:40, 25:51 to 26:02), post assault bruising treatment (6:40 to 7:25), sexual abuse flashback (14:14 to 15:20)

Alright. I need to pause immediately. James's voice was far too convincing when he played Uea's panic. (0:48 to 0:56).

So relieved King was still around. We should note that in the heated moment he declared himself Uea's boyfriend. Yes, he said it for Pock's benefit, but we know it's what he wants them to be.

I like how King, when he really wants to take care of Uea, frames the request as a favor Uea is granting him.

Props to this show for focusing on the physical aftermath of punching something. You will hurt your hand.

Man, these two do lust really well. It feels comfortable?

They're even showing the bruises Pick gave Uea. Love that King waited until Uea was asleep to apply something to them. Also, Uea's secret smiles are going to destroy me.

Absolutely vile to use Tonkao to force Uea to come back to the house. Did they make James take off his shirt to soften the blow for us?

Oh, gay boys and their sisters.

This is so gross to watch. This man is still trying to abuse Uea.

Though it is super uncomfortable, I'm relieved that if they're going to explore the specifics of what Uea experienced, the more physical work was given to James and not a child actor. Still, James's voice during these scenes is chilling. I keep holding my breath.

Did she really beat this boy with a wire hanger and then lock him in the fucking bathroom again?? That's your response to your son saying he's being raped in his own bedroom?

Man, I wish he'd just gotten Shabu with Jade.

I can't help but wonder what horrors the sister has suffered, too.

Bangkok streets look so dangerous.

Am very relieved that we are consistently showing boys who give head now.

I love King. He may be horny, but he knows something's wrong.

This boy had to celebrate his birthdays alone as a child goddamn.

Oh, Uea finally gave King a smile.

Alright, I know he's been through a lot but biting the cake that way is unhinged.

King's bed is huge, and yet he basically sleeps in the middle because he's trying to be as close to Uea as possible.

Oh, Uea. I get you wanting your life to be private, but I'm so glad someone seems to listen to you.

OUTING. Drone shots!

I feel like King conspired with Gun on this fall so he could stay with Uea.

Love Uea enjoying King letting him take charge all the time.

Uea drunk flirting with some white boy is sending me.

This final shot with the sunset is gorgeous.

Oh, hm, I don't know about the danger hovering around this new character next week.

So, this was a difficult episode, but I'm impressed with James's portrayal of the things Uea has suffered. I'm hoping we get some translated interviews with him and the cast about the preparation and filming for those scenes. I sincerely hope this show doesn't take us down some sort of parent forgiveness arc because I really don't want to dig for that with Uea's mom or stepdad.

#bed friend #bed friend meta #Ben watches

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wen-kexing-apologist · 1 year

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Bed Friend and Reflections: Part 1

Well, if you thought that I was going to let Bed Friends pass by without creating a compilation of all the reflections in the show, you were wrong.

If you thought I was merely going to post the pictures and let us all get on with our lives rather than spend way way…way too much time overanalyzing every single reflection…whose blog did you think this was?

So without further ado, I give you….Bed Friend Reflections Analysis Part 1

Episode 1

We get our first reflection in the series within the first minute, with Uea looking at himself in the mirror over his monologue about being an ordinary salaryman. This sets up some of the recurring trends of the show in terms of its visual metaphors/in the subtle way they happen to be foreshadowing some of Uea’s history: Uea in a bathroom, Uea reflected in the mirror of a bathroom, Uea being alone in his reflections, even Uea in a gray robe which, moving forward in the show, we will only ever see him in when he is with King. Uea spends quite a lot of time, especially in Episode 1 and 3 studying himself, facing himself in the mirror. I like to think that is indicative of this idea that he truly believes that no one else is on his side.

And that continues to be evidenced in the second reflection we see in Episode 1, when he interacts with King in the hallway at work. King is at his side physically, but who is being reflected back at the audience in the doorway?

Only Uea. Uea hates King, Uea wants nothing to do with King, Uea is alone and will remain alone because everyone he knows that shows an interest in him is an asshole who wants things from him, and who doesn’t actually care about him. And he has no reason not to believe that because we establish pretty early on in the show that the people in Uea’s life (with the exception of Jade and Tonkao) are terrible and abusive people. @respectthepetty has ruined all casual viewing experiences of television for me forever and always at this point, so it is worth noting here too that the doorway Uea is reflected in has a solid metal bar that runs along it that provides a physical barrier between Uea’s reflection and King’s person, even as Uea and King’s actual bodies are standing next to each other. It’s a great way to indicate Uea’s internal feelings as being blocked and closed off from King. Uea’s reflection is looking in King’s direction but he has not let his walls down yet and therefore Uea’s emotions will remain behind walls.

We as an audience get the evidence for why Uea might close himself off and isolate from the people around him in the next reflection

Young Uea being shown in the mirror banging against the bathroom door, crying, apologizing, and begging to be let out. At no point in the flashbacks does baby Uea ever look at himself in the mirror, but it still serves as a really intriguing call back to the first time we see Uea in the mirror. That sense of lingering trauma, the weight that can suddenly be applied to something as innocuous as looking in the bathroom mirror. I know we never see Uea look at himself in the mirror of his mother’s bathroom but I do like to think the habit of him looking at himself as an adult does stem from young Uea trying to process his own existence, his own emotional state by looking at himself. Also, from a much less “analysis brain” perspective, people just…look at themselves in the mirror sometimes and there doesn’t have to be any ulterior motivation behind that.

That said, literally the next reflection we are given in Episode 1 is Uea looking at himself in yet another bathroom mirror after his mother texts him asking for money to pay his sister’s tuition

This reflection is the perfect one to present the argument that the reflections are indicative of the character’s genuine emotional states, because while Uea’s head is turned away from the camera and we cannot see his physical face, we are able to see the storm of emotions being reflected back at us in the mirror. Uea is being hit with a wave of emotions he isn’t really sure how to handle (and therefore he turns to alcohol, which we will get to in a second). But in this moment he is watching himself, he is trying to get a handle on his own emotional state and to steel himself for the remainder of the party.

But he isn’t capable of managing his own emotions so he drinks instead

And here we get a change in the reflections. We get our first reflection of King. This the first in a beautiful trend of King’s where his reflection is often showing that King is physically looking directly at Uea. I can talk all day about mirrors being a reflection of their true feelings, and this is further proof in my mind because it puts King in the scene with Uea when Uea is navigating his emotional turmoil. And while it is almost certainly more likely that King is blurry here because the camera is focused on Uea’s face and therefore blurs the background, it is fun to put the “analysis brain” on and extrapolate it out even further and say that King is blurry because we don’t know the shape of King’s interest in Uea yet.

We have seen King flirt openly with Uea throughout the episode so far, but we can’t know for sure if King is flirting because he wants to get with Uea or because he knows Uea hates him and he thinks it’s fun to mess with him. At this point in the show, we have not been given an idea of how much King cares for Uea and so he is blurry because we don’t know what to expect from the attention King is giving to Uea when Uea isn’t aware.

But King comes in to focus once Uea collapses on top of him

And we get our first reflection in the show that has both King and Uea present in it. There are no lines dividing them, there is no separation. It is King holding Uea and Uea finding subunconscious comfort in King’s arms. Uea, unable to cope with his emotions, has gotten drunk and passed out, and so we don’t see Uea’s face in the reflection only the back of his head, but we do see King, looking up at the sky, thinking desperately about what he needs to do to ensure he does not to make the wrong next move.

When he helps Uea to the car, Uea is very drunk and feeling sick, and we get another moment of only seeing Uea’s reflection rather than both him and King’s because he is fighting not to vomit right now. Now, one of the biggest back and forths we've had on this website about Bed Friend really has to do with the color coding of King, whether his color is blue or black or both. What I like about the reflection here is that Uea is physically wearing blue, being supported by King who is also wearing blue, and is in a solidly blue room. But his reflection also has blue lights running across his head. He has blue on his mind in the reflection.

And so King takes Uea back to his place and tries to be respectful, but Uea wants to fuck away his feelings.

And fuck away the feelings they do. Our second reflection of King and Uea together, and we can’t see either of their faces, but we actually get a double reflection here. The one in the mirror and the one on the window. Two minds, two different sets of emotions, Uea grappling with his trauma, King acting on his feelings for Uea.

We get two versions of King’s laser focus on Uea and his pleasure, both in reality and in the reflection, and we only get to see Uea’s face physically because he is trying to suppress his actual emotional needs through physical pleasure. Thus his face in the reflection is covered by his own hand.

Episode 1 ends with one of my favorite reflections, the double split. We see Uea reflected in his main mirror as well as his secondary handheld circular mirror. A fractured self. My lovely little cognitive dissonance image.

Uea is grappling with the one night stand he had with King, and he’s grappling hard. It is clear from flashbacks that Uea enjoyed himself in that one night stand, but he is struggling in the aftermath, realizing that he engaged in sex with someone that not only does he not love but that he considers a player. And we know that Uea has a complicated relationship to his own queerness due to his mother’s homophobia. There are two parts of Uea: one that enjoyed the one night stand and one that is trying to punish himself for the one night stand, for being a “slut”.

Episode 2

Episode 2 uses reflections far more sparingly than almost any other episode, with the first reflection being after King drops Uea off after their blood test. We see King through the sliding glass door on one side, and on the other side we have Uea’s reflection, looking at King.

Once again there is a barrier between them. But, in a genius move, this barrier comes in the form of automatic sliding doors. Why is this relevant? Unlike other commonly used barriers like pillars, this is something that can open when you get close enough. And again we get the reflection as true emotional insight, with Uea looking at King and genuinely pausing to consider his proposal. Why did Uea agree to friends with benefits? It’s a question King will ask in the next episode, but it isn’t something Uea answers honestly. At least, I don’t think it is. I think Uea started the FWB with King because it felt good.

So he agrees to try.

The next reflection has Uea’s reflection eclipsing King’s face through the glass door. Do I have brilliant things to say about it? No. Do I think it is a brilliant use of reflection? Absolutely. King is constantly thinking about Uea. When Uea suggests they try, the reflection has him and King joining together, forecasting what they will mean to each other in the way that Uea is on King’s mind.

I have nothing to say about the final reflection we get in Episode 2 except mmmm. Juicy. Tasty. Succulent. King’s reflection once again is showing us where King’s attentions lie…with Uea.

It just!!! It just shows us SO MUCH about how good King will be for Uea. To know how strongly King is focused on Uea at all times. King presents himself as someone who cares about Uea’s feelings, and does not want to overstep boundaries, but we know that behavior is genuine because of moments like this one where we see King’s reflection looking at Uea with disgustingly rapt attention. And it is important that we see this and Uea doesn’t. Uea can’t see the reflection, he has no idea that King is looking at him like this, and that helps reinforce the narrative when it comes to the future conflict. Because Uea can’t trust that King can change, and it’s because he hasn’t seen what we have seen. He hasn’t seen how early on in their relationship to one another King started focusing on him. It is additionally important to establish this theme of King’s reflections looking at Uea because it helps to lift King’s character as a good person when it comes time to compare him to Pock and Krit.

It has been mentioned before that Pock, King, and Krit do employ similar tactics when it comes to pursuing Uea. In that they pester him, trap him, and continue to push him even after a rejection. We’ve talked about how King differs in this regard because unlike the other two he never touches Uea during this phase. He is exhibiting respectful physical boundaries so we know Uea is generally safe with King. But we have not talked as much about how shots like the one above, with King’s face in his car mirror also serve to reinforce the fact that King isn’t like Krit and Pock, because unlike Pock and Krit, King actually cares about Uea’s feelings.

Episode 3

We open Episode 3 with an abundance of reflections. Uea, once again in the bathroom mirror, emotionally preparing himself to begin this FWB with King.

Notably, the first image and the image below show two mirrors, one for Uea and one for King. Uea’s relationship to and with King is open ended, we don’t know Uea’s true feelings, so we get an absence of King instead of the presence of him.

Until Uea starts touching himself, when the reflection pushes in on Uea and his pleasure. Personally, I like to read this moment as Uea imagining what might happen and getting himself comfortable with the idea of being intimate.

And as I mentioned, this first scene is taking place in bathroom mirrors, a very emotionally complex space for Uea. I haven’t read the book but I have been seeing the posts going around comparing the book to the show and there was pretty strong discussion about how the bathroom was both a safe place for Uea (locked away from his stepfather) and a place of fear for Uea (being trapped in the darkness). He’s taking the time here to reckon with the internalized homophobia he has around engaging in casual sex with King (honestly which is why I think Uea does ask to be exclusive with King).

But I don’t think Uea is fully able to get over his hang ups when he’s by himself, so we get another moment of Uea trying to get a handle on his emotions as seen by the reflection in King’s apartment window.

And we continue the lovely trend of hinting at King’s ability to emotionally support Uea because he does not let Uea stay in his head alone. Their reflections join together as King starts to talk about how hot Uea is.

The second sex scene starts with Uea once again psyching himself up beforehand.

And ends with Uea’s reflection looking at King. I hold that episode 3 is where Uea starts realizing he has feelings for King (and I specifically pinpoint that as when King suggests Uea spend the evening at his apartment after Pock harasses him the first time). But Uea won’t admit that so we get another barrier between Uea (and his emotions) and King in the form of Kings door. But we also get a line connecting Uea and King in the form of the balcony railing. If Uea and King are honest with their emotions they can find that connection to one another, but if they continue to hide their feelings the barrier will prevent them from progressing in their relationship.

King triggers Uea on accident while drying his hair for him and we get a flashback to baby Uea getting put in the bathroom again.

And we get a reminder that Uea is really having to grapple with a lot of negative feelings around his queerness and engaging in any form of sexual relationship with King. He was punished for his sexuality as a child, and he will carry that with him. He doesn’t get to shed that.

And though I don’t know if the cinematographer is trying to say anything with the next reflection, it is one that intrigues me.

Uea, huddled against the tile wall of the bathroom, casting a reflection on the wall. With the grout lines from the tile splitting his reflection up into little pieces. I just want him to know that he will be okay eventually. I just want him to know that he will be happier and be loved eventually. I want to interpret this reflection as Uea not being able to keep himself together.

And when we cut back to reality and Uea retreats to the hallway, we get our last reflection of Episode 3

King’s reflection looking, once again, in Uea’s direction. Because he unintentionally upset Uea, because he is worried about Uea, because King is always paying attention to Uea.

Episode 4

The first reflection of Episode 4 comes in the form of Uea’s bedroom mirror, with Uea asleep, covered in King’s colors. For me, this reflection really highlights the absence of King. King who would be reflected in the mirror right around where that pink blanket is if he were with Uea in the morning.

Uea is sleeping alone, but the focal point of that reflection is not Uea, it’s the space beside him.

Our next reflection parallels the ones we get of baby Uea in the bathroom, with older Uea still experiencing the same type of abuse he did when he was younger.

RTP has mentioned the t-shirt before, but his shirt saying Timing Is Everything here is an excellent choice. I like it because in general “Timing is Everything” is considered a positive statement. But the mirror flips the words, and we are literally witnessing the reverse sentiment. Sure, timing is everything and that can mean that the stars aligned so Uea and King could get together. But it can also mean that the lights can go out and Uea can flash right back to his childhood abuse. Or in the real timing of this flashback, Uea can wake up with enough time to fight back, but without the ability to convince his mother that he was assaulted, so he ends up right where he always does.

Uea has a fight with his family and goes back to King’s to blow off steam. But King has been increasingly tuned in to Uea and his emotions so Uea gets something better than sex, a bubble bath and a birthday cake hand delivered to him by King.

With the reflection off the bathroom windows being Uea’s face illuminated by a candle, and King’s arms holding the cake with the candle lit. Unfortunately but unsurprisingly for our boy Uea this is one of the nicer things anyone has done for him for his birthday. And we can see how important this moment is for him in the reflection because we know Uea finds safety in the light. The reflection in the window gives us a flame between King and Uea, with King being the one to extend that flame towards Uea, and bask him in the light of it.

LISTEN OKAY, I KNOW THAT I KEEP SAYING THE MIRRORS ARE REFLECTIONS OF KING AND UEA’S EMOTIONAL STATE BUT IT IS NOT MY FAULT WE GET A SERIES OF BEAUTIFUL EXAMPLES OF THAT VERY THEORY WITH THE BIRTHDAY CAKE SCENE.

We get King’s completely enamored attention on Uea

We get Uea’s peaceful, content, and happy face as he and King embrace, and we get a double reflection of King’s face in the window.

And we get their sweet kiss at the end, also shown to be in the mirror.

The next morning, we have King once again looking at Uea with those stupid brown baby cow eyes absolutely full of reverence. If there is one thing we know about our sweet cheese, good time boy, it is that he will maintain the thematic consistency of always looking at Uea whenever there is a mirror even remotely nearby.

part 2 // part 3

#bed friend #bed friend the series #bed friend analysis #kinguea #king x uea #uea x king #ueaking #netjames #domundi #mandee channel #bed friend ep 1 #bed friend ep 2 #bed friend ep 3 #bed friend ep 4 #im about to be unhinged and i will not apologize #bed friend meta

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