#2gether episode 11

[jeonghanurl]

oops my hand slipped

[absolutebl]

This Week in BL - It's 2024 & I'm talking about TayNew... really?

(They pretty much told us all to sit down and shut tf up, 'cause they got this. AND THEY DO.)

Organized, in each category, with ones I'm enjoying most at the top.

Feb 2024 Wk 3

Ongoing Series - Thai

Cherry Magic (Sat YouTube grey) ep 9 of 12 - I broke. In my defense, it was Monday, I needed comfort, and TayNew were right tf there. Ya know what? They are great in this show. It's a great adaptation. I might like it more than the JBL live action. You know why? Really, honestly WHY...?

That was a PHENOMENAL KISS. Those boys did Thailand fucking proud. They did fandom a solid. Thank you OGs for reminding us how it's done. I was getting used to SloppyHot. And SloppyHot has its place, but that TayNew rooftop kiss was a top tear class act. It was tender and sweet and respectful and joyful. It was eye work and breath work and years of practice. How very far BL has come while still staying so much the same. TayNew - I salute you!

(Read all about distribution issues here.)

The Sign (Sat YT) ep 12fin - we waiting, I guess? Bah.

Cooking Crush (Sun YT) ep 11 of 12 - The recipe book thing was so damn cute and I love a claiming. YOU KNOW I LOVE A CLAIMING!

In fact, I love OffGun.

I love food based BL.

I adored seeing a reboot of "the infamous dragging". 

But I don’t love anything else about this show. Sigh.

1000 Years Old ep 1 of 12 - Finally we get our gay vampire BL from Feel Good Bangkok. Stars Shane (My Engineer) and fresh face Opal, directed by Champ (2gether). It’s kind of odd but enjoyable. A group of teen UFO seekers find a vampire instead. Opal looks a bit like a mix between Newnu + Leo (VIXX) - so cute + edge. Also, nice to see Shane again on our screens after so long. 

Finally, I like the subtle (and sometimes not subtle) presence of ghosts permeating this show. Do the friends know she's there? Do they know she's dead? Is the existence of paranormal accepted but not that of aliens? Or are the two combined? Is this lazy writing or just fun world building? Who cares! It's enjoyable.

For Him (Thurs iQIYI) ep 12fin - the nail painting bit was very cutie queers and I've not seen it done in BL before, so that was nice. For some reason captions never dropped for me on this last episode, but it didn’t really matter. Not much happened and I understood everything anyway.

Quick pitch?

From the people who brought us Unforgotten Night based on a y-novel, about a young man nursing a heartbreak who has a one-night stand, but the other boy didn't want it to end. This turned out to be a pulp that wasn’t half as good as it should have been and even less memorable, but not terrible. 5/10 DON'T BOTHER unless you're v bored

City of Stars (Fri iQIYI) ep 3 of 12 - Oh it is such a pulp: the acting is not good and the script is terrible. Of course, I’m mildly enjoying it. Very good dream kissing. There's something appealing about these main characters - I think it's the moot crushes. We rarely get to see that. These days everything feels very one sided, this... isn't.

A Secretly Love (Thai WeTV) - Khonprot, a third-year hazer of the engineering faculty, has a secret crush on Pluem, a tsundere fourth-year head hazer. Over the years, he's seen Pluem cycle through girlfriends. Recently, after a public breakup, however, Khonprot thinks maybe a boy has a chance.

I tried but I can't get into my WeTV account anymore and I'm way too lazy to figure it out. I'll catch it grey if I can, since I've rebooted the bootlegging side of my BL life for Cherry Magic anyway.

So this show may stay in this section, or I may bump it down to "it's airing but..."

If anyone is watching it, let me know if it's good?

Ongoing Series - Not Thai

Love For Love's Sake (Korea Weds iQIYI) 7-8fin - Ugh it was GREAT, despite some pretty telling flaws. I ended up feeling like some of the filming was amateurish (very overworked low angles - director's first feature, I assume), and the narrative is a little disjoined and on the nose, AND the subs are clumsy (which I don't expect from KBL) BUT I still loved it. (FYI - I wouldn't be so harsh on a BL for this kinda thing except one from Korea.)

Quick pitch:

This isekai-based KBL is about a man who must win a game by convincing a reserved teen outcast to fall in love with him. Of course, that teen represents himself and his own unhappiness. Like many queer narratives, this show is actually about self worth, trust, and found family, and it is VERY on the nose. But I don’t expect subtlety from my BL and I enjoyed it's truly lovely redemption arc and earnest performances. While I found the narrative a touch disjointed with overworked filming angles and poorer than average captions, this is certainly much better than early KBL in terms of consistency of tone, script, and immersion. Highly rewatchable and charming, which counts for a lot. 9/10

Trigger warning for suicide depicted.

Perfect Propose (Japan Fri Gaga) ep 4 of 6 - Gosh, it’s so lovely. But I do just constantly want to give them both hugs. 

AntiReset (Taiwan Fri Viki/Gaga) ep 4 of 10 - Oh look, Taiwan has created yet another BL where I spend most of the time watching it grinning like an idiot. Surprise surprise. The pet name thing was fucking adorable. Also Taiwan once more proving they come by their "kings of kissing" title honestly. I mean to say. In a week of good kisses this one was just... WOW.

On the other hand, some of the underpinning themes are starting to v worry me (ownership, consent, age), and we only just got started, and I don't trust this production company so... I have concerns.

But also... YAY KISSES!

(I'm made of weak moral fiber.)

Although I Love You and You AKA Sukiyanen Kedo Do Yaro ka (Japan Thurs Gaga) ep 6 of 10 - Like many other shows on this list. I just enjoy it the most when the two leads are on screen together. So this episode was kind of lacking because they were apart for most of it. I also am starting to agree with the tone of the plot, that maybe they ARE better off as friends not lovers. (And I'm sure I'm not supposed to want that.) Oh Japan, must you?

My Strawberry Film (Japan Gaga) ep 1 of 8 - Oh it’s good. In the arthouse lane so don’t expect sweetness & light or an HEA. If there’s no cartoon aspect to a JBL, there’s usually no joy. But it is certainly good. Teens uncover some old film and a mystery around a pretty girl. The background music is wildly annoying (and rarely in the background). 

It's Done

What Did You Eat Yesterday Season 2 AKA Kinou Nani Tabeta? Season 2 (Japan Gaga) 10 eps - will binge when I have any spare time. 2024 is crazy busy for me so far.

The Servant and the Young Master - from Vietnam, it's on YouTube. I will give it a try when I have a window of time.

Began Beginning (Myanmar YouTube) - A Burmese BL? @heretherebedork vouched for it, so I will give it a watch.

7 Days Before Valentine (Weds WeTV) - Gave me Luminous Solution vibes have decided not to watch.

It's Airing But...

Dead Friend Forever (Thai iQIYI) - rumors are it's interesting. I'm waiting to know how it ends.

Ossans Love Season 2 (Japan Gaga) - 5 years later, will anything have changed? This is Japan so… probubly not. I won't be watching this. I disliked Season one and actively hated the follow ups. No thank you.

Playboyy (Thurs Gaga) 14 eps - Dear Playboyy, it's not you, it’s me… I hate you. You’re about as deep (and as palatable) as a shot glass of cum. While I'm sure you’re someone’s kink, you're my weakest link. Goodbye. I DNFed this at ep 5. Frankly I'm impressed with myself for getting that far.

Time the series (Tue Gaga/YT) 10 eps - dropped it at ep 4.

Next Week Looks Like This:

2/24 Unknown (Taiwan Youku) 12 eps - Older brother tough guy breadwinner looks after his sister and defacto adopted little brother. Little bother falls in love with him and is sent away after a stolen kiss. But when he comes back…

Sam Lin has a cameo so even if I wasn't already excited, I'm in. We should be on our guard though, Taiwan will occasionally go edgy, dark, and sad... this could go there.

One assumes GMMTV is filling in the BL time slot with something queer on their YT Channel after Cooking Crush ends, they gonna lose subs if they don't. But I've not been paying attention to the chatter so I don't know which of their line-up it will be. I think G4 are filming/off radar now, and Earth is in that het noona thing? Plus they gotta sort out the IP for MIx-Up and Ossen. So it won't be one of the announced adaptations. They'll hold My Golden Blood for the high season, so I think it'll be one of the lesser known lead-outs. Wandee or Only Boo maybe? But they only just started filming those. Are we getting our long awaited GL? Anything else left from 2023 that I forgot about?

Upcoming BLs for 2024 are listed here. This list is not kept updated, so please leave a comment if you know something new or RP with additions.

THIS WEEK’S BEST MOMENTS

Two crawling kisses from Thailand this week. Now this is a fetish I didn't know I had. Turns out, we love this one! (*waves hand in air* I speak for all of us now.)

Cooking Crush

City of Stars

Possibly the best tsundere to cinnamon roll pivot we've had in a long time.

Also the best asshole to KING pivot. Could we have a whole drama staring this character now? Please?

And finally our sunshine learning to love himself.

SIGH. what a lovely show.

And a good SMILEY kiss from a KBL.

And then some cute cuddles? Korea is spoiling me these days. I'm catching expectations now. What's next? Japan learns to kiss in their light BLs? Ha! I kill me.

(All Love for Love's Sake).

(Last week)

[jojotichakorn]

archer's DRAMAtic list

releasing a new list of dramas that i have seen with six different categories in terms of recommendation. the series are placed in order from most to least liked in each category. each series is linked to its mydramalist page.

must-watch

1. my school president

2. the eighth sense

3. never let me go

4. semantic error

5. only friends

6. light on me

7. enchanté

8. manner of death

9. cherry magic

10. like in the movies

recommend

11. pit babe

12. dangerous romance

13. a boss and a babe

14. vice versa

15. kieta hatsukoi

16. our dating sim

17. to my star 1 & 2

18. a breeze of love

19. love for love's sake

20. dark blue kiss (+ petekao cut)

21. 2moons2

22. gameboys

23. color rush

24. a tale of thousand stars

25. long time no see

26. my engineer

27. we best love: no 1 for you (JUST season 1)

28. love tractor

29. you make me dance

30. cutie pie

31. our skyy (+ our skyy 2)

recommend but dislike something about it (in brackets: what i dislike)

32. guardian (the last 10-ish episodes / the ending)

33. kinnporsche (basically everything connected to the minor family)

34. bad buddy (the parents arc / the ending)

35. the eclipse (political metaphor)

36. not me (political conclusion)

37. lovely writer (explained in this post)

38. he’s coming to me (thun’s backstory)

39. history 3: trapped (cops)

40. 2gether (+ still2gether) (the last two episodes of 2gether / the central separation plot of still2gether)

don’t feel strongly about it either way

41. until we meet again

42. i told sunset about you

43. my pistachio

44. ingredients

45. hidden agenda

46. where your eyes linger

47. step by step

48. YYY

49. hello stranger

50. red balloon

51. en of love: tossara

52. gen y

53. oxygen

do NOT recommend but like something about it (in brackets: what i like)

54. moonlight chicken (heart and li ming)

55. love by chance (ae and pete)

56. why r u? (saifah and zon)

57. 2moons (ming and kit)

58. star and sky: star in my mind (khluen)

59. great men academy (tangmo)

60. together with me (+ preq. bad romance, seq. together with me the next chapter) (max and tul origins)

61. en of love: love mechanics (+ alt. version: love mechanics) (some parts of the romance)

62. bed friend (some parts of the romance)

63. history 2: crossing the line (qui zi xuan and hsia yu hao)

do NOT recommend AT ALL

64. my gear and your gown

65. theory of love

66. the best story

67. advance bravely

68. sotus (+ sotus s)

69. tonhon chonlatee

70. we best love: fighting mr. 2nd

71. history 1: stay away from me

72. history 3: make our days count

73. water boyy

74. tharntype

[mommyzhilla]

Bad Buddy and its aftereffects

Disclaimer: this is just going to be a word vomit. Something I had been meaning to do since ages but being down with flu finally gave me the time and mindspace to do it.

My first tryst with Thai BLs started with Love By Chance and I tried.. I really tried.. but the script.. the acting were just not clicking with me.

Then came the wave of 2gether the series and that was much better.. I was at least able to complete watching the first season even though I didnt get the hype around it.. It was my second time giving up..

My third effort was ITSAY and gosh what a show that was.. I was recommending it to anyone who would listen to me gush about Billkin and PP and the director. The show was heavy on my heart.. I needed to brace myself every time I wanted to rewatch it.. I guess I have rewatched it 3 or 4 times in all these years.. It just is that emotionally heavy show for me.

But the music.. Gosh the music.. the songs.. Billkin's voice.. When I tell u Skyline and untold answer were on repeat.. Specially untold answer.. I still listen to it..

Despite my love for ITSAY and my tolerance for IPYTM.. I again took a break from Thai BLs.. and BLs in general..

Throwback to exactly 1 year back.. When I rediscovered thai BLs... let me be specific.. I discovered Bad Buddy..

My first watch.. awesome.. loved it.. listened to the songs a bit..

my bestie then suggested me Not me.. kinnporsche.. eclipse.. liked them all.. and I thought thats it..

But then I rewatched Bad Buddy.. and rewatched it the next time.. and the next.. I was literally rewatching those 12 episodes almost till April and May of this year.. for almost 6 months.. I didnt consume bad buddy.. bad buddy consumed me..

I was watching MSP and never let me go and other BLs too.. but an episode of bad buddy everyday became a need.. and this perplexed me.. I kept on having conversations with my bestie about my obsession with Bad Buddy. This level of obsession.. where I was crying listening to the BGM.. crying over a 3 min trailer.. after watching the show multiple times.. had never happened to me ever..

And apart from all this.. bad buddy was responsible for a couple of firsts for me.. first time joined tumblr.. for bad buddy.. explored ao3 and read way too many pat pran fanfics.. and also made me explore Thai music.. and my spotify wrapped is the proof.. its full of thai songs.. Bad buddy instrumental BGM.. is in my top songs..

I guess the obsession was a consequence of my failed past relationship.. which finally ended right around the time I discovered Bad buddy.. where things were very similar.. I used to call him soulmate.. but family issues made us break up after 10 yrs.. Every time I rewatch ep 11.. where Pat says to Pran that you dont leave me and fight alongside me.. I cry buckets over this one scene.. coz I didnt have anyone to fight alongside me.. may be its that.. may be it was the characters.. may be it was the magic created by p'aof.. but somewhere.. something struck such a cord that the show still has the ability to bring out emotions that I didn't know existed.. I always describe it as emotions bubbling and trying hard to break the wall and spill all over.. thats what I feel.. and sometimes they spill over.. and m left a crying mess.. No other show has made me feel this way.. No other form of media has made me feel this way.

Is the obsession still there? Not as much.. I still love a good patpran fanfic.. My top song is Just friends by Nanon which I listen to this day.. I still cry over the instrumental BGM.. But I no longer have to watch bad buddy every single day..

I dont know how much bad buddy has helped me overcome my past.. but I know its still a safe space I can visit when things get tough.. Funny how a random piece of media can have such an important share in your life.. A random show on the internet can heal you more than the living people around you.

Now that I have talked about it so much.. I may as well watch ep 6 (3/4).. fyi.. that beach scene is my fav..

P.S.. I know there would be typos and errors but I am not going to read it all back else I will not have the courage to post this.

[waitmyturtles]

Couple of quick updates on the Old GMMTV Challenge!

1) I’m writing up my analysis of Together With Me, and I have WAY more thoughts than I expected. Review dropping Monday!

2) I made a chronological boo-boo in my watchlist, which I’ll explain on Monday -- I switched TwM and Make It Right 2 unintentionally. So I’m catching up on MIR2 as much as I can this weekend to get as much comparative material as possible for my TwM review.

But that being said, one thing I’d like to fact-check is the following:

I’m trying to figure out exactly where the PeteKao scenes from Kiss The Series and Kiss Me Again fall. I’m going to be watching the three PeteKao cuts from the GMMTV YT channel, but.... should I watch them altogether as one package? Or should I try to piece them together chronologically, from 2016 (Kiss The Series) through 2018 (Kiss Me Again)? I feel like I’m making this too complicated, and should just watch them all in one go -- but wondering if fam has opinions on this.

3) Speaking of opinions...

Part of my review of TwM talks about the context of what else was airing and had aired at the time of TwM’s airing. That’s kind of why I wanted to construct the watchlist (pasted below) the way that it is -- to get context from what I previously watched.

So I was digging through MDL to see what else was airing in 2017, and.... SOTUS S came up.

I had previously vowed to NOT watched SOTUS S because I feel like I’m still recovering from Krist’s acting in SOTUS. BUT:

I’m wondering if I need to a) get over myself, and b) watch SOTUS S specifically for the point of watching an early-ish BL that deals with an ongoing relationship, as opposed to a new relationship blossoming. 

MIR2, at least in the early episodes, does NOT go there (yet), because of dang Jean and Fuse. Was SOTUS S the first big Thai BL that dealt with an ongoing, maturing relationship?

I’m having an ongoing conversation with @bengiyo and friends about the popularity of shows that depict growing relationships vs. brand-new love, and -- I think/wonder if including this theme on my list might be important. (Especially because I love this theme so damn much in What Did You Eat Yesterday?/Kinou Nani Tabeta.)

Thoughts on SOTUS S -- would love them if you have ‘em, family!

AS ALWAYS: THANKS FOR YOUR INPUT!

--

Watchlist!

1) Love Sick and Love Sick 2 (2014 and 2015) (review here) 2) SOTUS (2016) (review here) 3) Make It Right (2016) (review here) 4) Make It Right 2 (2017) 5) Together With Me (2017) 6) Love By Chance (2018) 7) Kiss Me Again: PeteKao cuts (2018) 8) He’s Coming To Me (2019) 9) Dark Blue Kiss (2019) 10) TharnType (2019) 11) Theory of Love (2019) 12) Dew the Movie (2019) (not an official part of the OGMMTVC watchlist, but I want to watch this in chronological order with everything else) 13) Until We Meet Again (2019-2020) 14) 2gether (2020) 15) Still 2gether (2020) 16) I Told Sunset About You (2020) 17) A Tale of Thousand Stars (2021) (review here) 18) I Promised You the Moon (2021) 19) Not Me (2021-2022) 20) Bad Buddy (2021-2022) (thesis here) 21) KinnPorsche (2022) (tag here) 22) The Eclipse (2022) (tag here) 23) My School President (2022-2023)

[hughungrybear]

Me watching Dangerous Romance Ep. 6

1. Why do I get a feeling that Pimfah is only saying she likes Sailom to push Kang into action? Am I wishful thinking? 😭

2. I mean, we all know it's coming, but ouch! Welcome to the Friendzone, Kang 😅. Anyway, I feel like the only reason why he likes Pimfah is because their fathers are friends and Kang doesn't know any better.

3. Well, this is going to be awkward — Sailom silently supporting Kang's crush on Pimfah, Kang thinking he needs to fire Sailom as a tutor and give him away to Pimfah (as if Sailom is a toy), and Pimfah, well I still don't know what Pimfah's real deal is 😅

4. Perth playing football reminds me of Pete from Love by Chance. ☺️

5. I'm been thinking about this since the 2gether series, but why is the cheer routine for these schools basically just hand gestures? I used to to do competitive cheerdance from the age of 11 to 16 (Years 6 to 10 equiv. in Australia). Let me tell you, at the end of each practice right until the competition, my body is aching in places I never knew can feel pain lol 😅😅😅

6. So, Nava isn't a complete asshole. I guess this is the start of my GuyNava ship lol. I am really rooting for Marc and Pawin since My Gear and Your Gown did them dirty.

7. Wait, so Pimfah does like Sailom? Why? How? You two barely interacted throughout the previous episodes. WTH 😭

8. Yeah, I don't think Pimfah is talking about her bandaged ankle 😭😭😭

9. Kang, dude. I don't know how your thought process works but Sailom can reject whoever he wants to reject just because. Sailom doesn't need to list his reasons why he doesn't romantically likes Pimfah. Also, get an effing clue lol (but then again, Sailom confessed so...🤭🤭🤭)

10. Oh my lords, Sailom is eating noodles silently. In the dark. So K-Drama protagonist of him. 😅

11. After getting beaten up by loan sharks in earlier episode in their own living room, you would think Sailom (and Saifah) would learn to lock their front door 😅😅😅

12. I really, really hope Kang does not mistake his apparent genuine care for Sailom as guilt. Athough, I'm still triggered he let Sailom sleep on that sofa without a blanket.

13. Wait, Kang-Sailom-Guy is another love triangle that I do not wished for. 😭😭😭 Make it right, GMMTV.

14. There it is. Tbf, he does a lot of good things for Sailom right after he did something bad that caused trouble for Sailom in the first place.

15. Well then, ouch. Sailom, baby, let me hug you.😔😔😔

16. Uhm, Guy, now is not the time to antagonize Kang. I mean, you are teammates. Also, look at that, Sailom cannot help but to cheer for Kang.

17. Yeah, why are the teammates only cheering for Guy when Kang passed the ball? Wtf.

18. I don't know how to feel about the kiss. On one hand, it is non-consentual. On the other, this is a BL and Sailom has been pining for so long. 😐

Next episode, Kang will try to win over Sailom's friends (even Guy). I can already see Kang's jealousy from here. Oi vey.

[pharawee]

🎥, 🚫, 🔮, 🏳️‍🌈! (～￣▽￣)～ (Feel free to ignore, if you already have too many.) I hope you're having a good week!! 🌼

I'd never ignore you (not on purpose anyway - sometimes tumblr is wonky and I'm sorry 🥲). I hope you're having a good week too, and thank you so much for your ask! 💜💜

🎥 favorite trope

Aw yis, I get to talk more about tropes! Another trope I really love is master/servant with a generous helping of mutual pining and angst. Thai BL does this so well!

🚫 what trope do you hate and why?

Sometimes the Episode 11 curse is well done because it ups the stakes and adds in some tension and angst, leading to a more satisfying conclusion and ending. Sometimes it's a really stupid lapse in judgement that makes no sense and feels so inorganic that it ruins any kind of character development up to that point. Case in point: Be Mine, Superstar! Episode 11. That, and tamed brats. NO! I need them to remain little shits forever!

🔮 show you wish had a second season

Not really a second season but I need that remake of Tossara with Jeff and Got (and This is Love Story with Prom and Mark too).

🏳️‍🌈 something you wish wasn’t so common in BLs

I wish femmes and kathoey weren't so ridiculed in BL. I'd love to have BL with a femme main character who is valued and cherished and doesn't have to conform/hide. I absolutely loved Green in 2Gether and the way he was treated was incredibly disappointing and jarring to me. And I loved Daisy (Secret Crush on You), Chot (Step by Step) and Nan, Nian and Nong (The Eclipse), and I'd have loved to see more of them in the spotlight because queer stories with happy endings should be their stories too (I mean, all of them got their well-deserved happy ending but I'm greedy and unreasonable and want them as main characters!).

BL ask box meme 📬

[dragonsareawesome123]

Thai QL Favorites Tag Game

Tagged by @incandescentflower. Thanks for tagging me!

Credit: this game was created by @thatgirl4815 as Thai BL Favorites Tag Game.

Favorite Thai QL: Hmmm, if you asked me last year, I would've said Bad Buddy. However, I've really thought about it these past few months if it is still truly my favorite and with all the other QLs I've seen since and the way that my tastes in media have kind of changed, I've realized that I don't feel as attached to it the way I used to. It's still one of my all time favs and an incredible and amazing BL but I don't think I can really say it's my number one fav anymore. So my number one fav now is A Tale of Thousand Stars with Triage and Never Let Me Go following closely behind.

Favorite Pairing: Palmnueng my beloveds <3 These two are always on my mind.

Most underrated actor: Um, I don't really know. Most of the actors in the Thai QL shows I've seen are pretty well known and have pretty sizable fandoms.

Favorite Character: Palm from Never Let Me Go. I love this love struck boy so much!

Favorite Side Character: Ink from Bad Buddy. She is an icon, she is the moment!

Favorite scene in a QL: Palmnueng dance scene in Never Let Me Go episode 11. That scene rewired my brain chemistry.

Favorite line in a QL: "We might not be able to change people around us, but they couldn't change the two of us either." -from Bad Buddy Episode 12

Most Anticipated QL (& why): 23.5 Degrees by a long shot. I'm so so so so so so SO SO SO SO EXCITED FOR IT!!!!! LET'S GO LESBIANS LET'S GOOOOOO!!!!! I hope it will start airing soon!

Healthiest relationship in a QL: Patpran from Bad Buddy.

Most toxic relationship in a QL: Ummm, idk about this one either.

Guilty pleasure series: My Tee. The show is a hot mess with shoddy audio (seriously tf happened to the audio in this show???) and a shoddy script especially towards the end of the show but I still really enjoyed watching it because the actors are all great in it and Frankdrake's amazing chemistry CARRIES this hot mess of a show (2gether really wasted their chemistry!). Also the side couple played by Neophuwin are so adorable too. I wish Frankdrake got a better BL to star in. At least their Our Skyy ep was genuinely really good.

Most underrated series: Triage. This show is incredible and amazing and deserves a huge international fandom that it wasn't able to get bc AISPlay gatekeeped this show from international fans. I was hoping that they'd make this show more accessible to international audiences by the time Transplant started airing bc this show is essentially a prologue to Transplant but that doesn't look like it's happening anymore since Tul retired from acting. Still hope they eventually do make Triage legally accessible to an international audience because it's genuinely such a great fantasy BL.

Tagging: @morathicain, @benkaaoi, @yourstormthlaylirahh, @cangse-sanren, @feralmuskyscentedhoepran, @fiddlepickdouglas, @illbeyourreasonwhy, @cankersoregirl

[nthngtoseehere-blog]

Dramas/movies I've finished (or 'finished')

I've watched enough east Asian dramas/movies that I've tripped my brain’s "must make a list" switch. Updated 3/28

Blue = favorites

Also:

Dramas I'm watching / want to watch

Dramas I dropped

Dramas:

2gether the Series (Thai)

I guess a lot of people hate this and don't think the leads have any chemistry at all? But I actually loved them. It's not a hot-and-heavy kind of chemistry; it's very sweet and kind of innocent, but not facile. On the other hand, they were all I liked about the drama.

Ai Long Nhai (Thai)

This is the most ridiculous drama, and it brings me so much joy. Nothing hurts, everything is beautiful. Nhai is a precious scatterbrained bean, and Ai falls in love at first sight. All of the things about Nhai that drive other people crazy just make Ai go all fond and soft. I smiled so much watching this that my face hurt.

A League of Nobleman (Chinese)

Good but definitely felt like it was missing scenes. OT3 Lan Jue/Zhang Ping/Wang Yan!

Bad Buddy (Thai)

Wow this is good! It's Romeo and Juliet with some West Side Story thrown in. The actors are fantastic, and watching how they progress from sort-of-enemies to committed boyfriends is wonderful.

Bed Friend (Thai)

OMG Uea the sharp-edged traumatized bean, and King green-flagging all over except for that one moment where he needed to have his head flushed in a toilet for reacting in the absolute worst way. I love this show A LOT. It's not a perfect rendition of a young man who has suffered a lot of abuse in his life, but it handles that element really well (therapy and medication FTW), and the romance is sweet and sexy.

Between Us (Thai)

I liked the first half a lot, but didn't like Team very much after they got together. His personality/behavior changed; he was, IDK, tougher? earlier, which I liked a lot more. However, I LOVE Win so much I can't even.

Bad Guys (Korean)

There were several moments when certain things almost made me nope out (Oh Gu Tak’s entire self; my overwhelming desire to cut Jung Moon’s hair so that his one eye wouldn’t be perpetually covered up; the detective lady whose name I never bothered to catch), but I was so glad I finished it. Park Hae Jin in eps 9 – 11 blew me away; and the ending was kinda dark but in a way that was so satisfying.

Be Loved In House: I Do (Taiwanese)

Not my favorite Taiwanese bl, but not bad.

Beyond Evil (Korean)

Wow, so much going on. The characters developed beautifully, even though Juwon went through a bit of a bratty phase. I loved the mystery.

The Blood of Youth (Chinese)

I loved this so much. THE FOUR WAY BROMANCE omg. And the way the ML slowly but surely dismantled the villains' plans! He met every set-back with a “well, that’s unfortunate, but I can fix it.” It was great, even though the romance they shoe-horned in for the ML was annoying.

Dangerous Drugs of Sex (Japanese)

I watched this because I was curious. It was... Hmm. Well, all I can say is, if you too become curious, make sure you pay attention to the reasons it's 18+, and then assume it's going to be even more f*cked up than it sounds.

Dr. Romantic 2 (Korean)

Honestly I watched this for the Seo Woo Jin whump (Ahn Hyo Seop does suffering so attractively), but since doctor shows otherwise make me nauseous I didn’t watch the last couple of episodes. But I really liked the various relationships among the different characters.

Duoluo Continent (Chinese)

Watched this for Xiao Zhan. I’ve never watched anything like this outside of having caught a glimpse of the Pokemon and Yu Gi Oh cartoons my kid watched, and it was...different. The FL was so irritating, but I wasn’t burned out on this kind of FL yet when I watched this so it was fine.

En of Love: Love Mechanics (Thai)

Too short! The fact that is was remade with most of the same cast and an expanded story makes this one feel almost like a pilot. It was definitely good enough to make me track down the longer version (which I'm currently watching). YinWar are really engaging actors.

Fish Upon the Sky (Thai)

Same actors as in Never Let Me Go, but this one is a comedy. The main character is a high maintenance nerd who goes through a glow-up that almost no one really notices (because he's STILL a high maintenance nerd) except the guy who has had a crush on him forever. Of course it's a guy he thinks is terrible. I loved it. Which is weird because I generally hate comedies.

Handsome Siblings (Chinese)

I enjoyed it mainly because it’s ridiculous.

He is Psychometric (Korean)

Super cute, comfort show. The twists and turns were great. I loved the characters. Side note: the actor who played young Kang Sung Mo did an amazing job. I actually had to stop at one point and Google the cast to make sure the show hadn’t somehow managed to make the older actor look like a teenager because the younger actor absolutely nailed the older actor’s take on the character. (Turns out the younger actor is the ML in The Uncanny Counter! In which I also love him.)

Healer (Korean)

OMG I love this show. So much. I even loved the romance. I wrote a post about it. (Did I go looking for Ji Chang Wook’s filmography after watching this? Yes, yes I did.)

HIStory 4: Trapped (Taiwanese)

Getting into bl drama is a lot like getting into bl manga/manhwa: requires accepting that dramas with action/mystery/SFF are few and far between. (I would also add "dramas with adults" but there seem to be more and more of those these days.) This was one of the first bl dramas I found that wasn't just a romance, and I was SO EXCITED. It's a little cheesy, but I loved it. The cop/mafioso romance (which is also a grumpy cat/sunshine puppy romance) between the leads is a lot of fun. And it has what might be my absolute favorite side pairing: the always-smiling assassin and his adorable tiny cop boyfriend (a sunshine velociraptor/sunshine puppy pairing, if you will).

Hotel Del Luna (Korean)

This show is amazing! Jang Man Wol stewing in rage and ennui for a thousand years only to have everything turned upside down by a stubborn, good-hearted puppy-man who she ironically stuck herself with. The slow, heartbreaking, breath-catching reveal of Man Wol’s past. The range of creepy, sad, funny, heart-warming ghost stories. The characters. The production quality! Ah, so good.

If You Wish Upon Me (Korean)

Another OMG I LOVE THIS. Ji Chang Wook is so good at “sweet, tough, vulnerable, and a good guy despite being raised by wolves” characters. I did cry semi-regularly due to the nature of the setting, but while I usually avoid things that make me cry, this was good crying. And so worth it. Also, the FL is a hoot, and a BAMF when she takes on the ML's abusive ex.

The Imperial Coroner (Chinese)

Adorable nerds falling in love over corpses in ancient China WHAT’S NOT TO LOVE.

Jade Dynasty (Chinese)

I get why people don’t like this, but I did. It was a silly, sweet, fun story and it only required a time commitment of an hour and some.

Joseon Attorney: A Morality (Korean)

I wanted to like this more than I did, because Woo Do Hwan. Loved him. Favorite part was when he was imprisoned and being tortured and someone came to visit him in his cell and he was fidgeting and fussing with the filthy straw while he talked with them. Like. Oh honey. WTF are you doing, just have a good cry and take a nap before your next torture session my babie. But I got kind of bored? As soon as we found out what happened to his sister I gave up and fast-forwarded through the rest so I could at least see what happened.

Jun & Jun (Korean)

I had to be in the right mood to watch this (open to a silly office romance with ALL the tropes), but when I did finally watch it I loved it. There is second (and third) lead syndrome, but all three of the men in love with Lee Jun are likeable, and I honestly would have been happy with Lee Jun choosing any of them. Also, Lee Jun is the most precious bean.

Lawless Lawyer (Korean)

I struggled through the middle of this. I’m not a huge fan of how in Korean shows everything always goes to absolute shit for the main character(s) mid-way through. I mean, I don’t mind that element of storytelling in general; it’s the way it’s so devastating in so many of these shows. This one hit me when I was in the wrong frame of mind, I think. But I’m glad I stuck it out because the way the villain was ultimately taken down was fantastic.

Love and Redemption (Chinese)

OMG LOVE. Serious, serious love. I wrote a post about this.

Love by Chance (Thai)

Ehhh. I ended up fast-forwarding through all of it except the Ai/Pete stuff. That is a great relationship, though. Pete has internalized politeness to an adorable degree, and is sweet despite having been badly burned; Ai went from "uninterested in dating anyone at all but assumed straight" to "oh I'm in love with this guy? I must be gay. Cool."

Love for Love’s Sake (Korean)

This was a sweet show. The concept was clever, and the way it held onto its secrets until almost the end worked really well.

Love in the Air (Thai)

I tried watching this about a year ago - first Thai drama, first bl drama - and I got through the first arc and quit, and didn't go back to bl or Thai dramas for literal months. It was mostly due to the production quality, the cheesiness, and all of the pouting Rain does. But I went back to it recently, after watching A LOT of Thai bl, and I actually love it? Still cheesy, still wishing they could have invested in a boom mic, but I can handwave that now I guess. I really, really love the second story arc, about PaiSky. Sky is a great character, and Prapai goes through character growth! Starts out a pushy, cocky playboy who thinks it's cute to stalk the guy he likes, ends up being a compassionate, responsible boyfriend.

Mad Dog (Korean)

MORE LOVE. This was the kdrama that caused me to fall down the rabbit hole of kdramas in general. I’ve watched this three times. The found family element, the character journey that especially Kim Min Joon but also Choi Kang Woo go through – help, so good. And what a great introduction to Woo Do Hwan. I wrote a post.

Maiden Holmes (Chinese)

This is like...if your favorite, heart-warming, Jane Austen-inspired romance drama was a mystery set in ancient China and had cool fight scenes. Comfort food.

Manner of Death (Thai)

This is barely a bl (very few bl tropes); it's more of a mystery with romance between the two leads who are both guys. Very good, if a little cheesy in places. And let's not talk about Tan's marriage proposal because wtf dude.

Memorist (Korean)

I watched this early in my exploration of kdramas and didn’t like it for some reason; I fast-forwarded through a lot of it. But I think I might have just not been in the right mood before, because I tried it again and it was excellent! The twists and turns of the mystery, the way things that seemed unrelated turned out to be all connected, was awesome.

Mr. Unlucky Has No Choice But To Kiss! (Japanese)

This was adorable! The main character had a lot more layers than I expected, and his love interest was so sweet.

My Beautiful Man (Japanese)

Two high school boys with problematic behavioral issues whose issues complement each other. It's unexpectedly charming and touching, and I'm really glad there's a sequel!

My Roommate is a Detective (Chinese)

If you want a bromance where you can easily ship the male leads, and has some whump, and you don’t mind cheesiness: here you go!

My Lascivious Boss (Vietnamese)

There's not a lot of Vietnamese bl out there, and I wanted to try one. This one is good; not the greatest acting, but still good. Also, the episodes are so short, so it's a quick watch.

My Tooth Your Love (Taiwanese)

One of the main characters is a dentist, hence the absurd English title. I'm not good with any dentistry situation so I admit I watched a couple of seconds here and there through my fingers, but it's really just a lovely romance. I can't remember where I read it, but this is a good description (paraphrased): the leads woo each other with plushies and naps.

Never Let Me Go (Thai)

Rich high school student's dad is murdered in front of him, and has another high school student, who has never bodyguarded before ever but his dad makes him do it because his dad is kind of a jerk, assigned as his bodyguard. Weird premise, EXCELLENT delivery. The actors who play the boys have great chemistry, and make the characters feel very real.

The Novelist (Japanese)

I don't even know what to say about this drama? It's a bit like those weird little Indie films from the 90s. Like, it's pretty good, but it's also...something.

Numbers (Korean)

I really liked this until the last episode. It fizzled out. Is there supposed to be a second season or something, maybe? IDK.

Oh No Here Comes Trouble (Taiwanese)

Oh this was GOOD. The title and ML's hair cut (yes I judge) made me think it was going to be silly, and there was silliness but there was also a lot of depth and emotion. ML's family situation is a traumatic running thread. The mysteries are clever and fun but heartfelt and sad too. It was just so good.

Old-Fashioned Cupcake (Japanese)

Oh this is so sweet! It's based on a bl manga I haven't read yet, but definitely will because this is just the sweetest, warmest story.

Our Dating Sim (Korean)

Very good, very sweet. I really felt for Gi Tae, waiting so many years, and then hiding so much anxiety.

Sell Your Haunted House (Korean)

Oh this is so good! A great supernatural show, with a great FL, and the FL and ML become besties rather than romantic yay.

Semantic Error [TV show] (Korean)

I watched this because I’d heard of the manga, though I absolutely wasn’t expecting to actually get sucked in like I did. Excellent show. Another one I wrote about.

The Sign (Thai)

I loved this so much!! Action, crime, reincarnation, mythology, romance, humor - there’s so much going on and I enjoyed all of it. The last two episodes used some hand-waving instead of explaining things, but I’m not mad. Billy and Babe had amazing chemistry, too.

Together with Me (Thai)

I couldn't get Manner of Death at the time, but everyone keeps talking about MaxTul, so I watched this. It's not bad.

The Uncanny Counter 1 (Korean)

The first kdrama I watched! The only reason it didn't cause an instant obsession with kdramas is because i started watching Love and Redemption after and that was 59 episodes of blissful hyperfixation. But I love the supernatural/superhero/semi-religious? aspect, I love the different families that the ML has/finds, I love the whump.

Under the Skin (Chinese)

So far this is the only modern Chinese drama I’ve been able to finish. The mysteries were good, the relationship growth between the two male leads was compelling! Good stuff.

Unforgotten Night (Thai)

This show is really pretty terrible. I'm incapable of not laughing when the soundtrack cuts to a track of ~Italian mafioso music every. single. time that Kamol comes on screen. But it's gone so far past terrible that it's come out the other side, and I kinda like it.

The Untamed (Chinese)

First east Asian drama for me! I watched and rewatched this show multiple times in 2021, and without it I don’t think I would have explored [read: become obsessed with] east Asian dramas. I’m still in the fandom and reading the fic and watching the FMVs and etc. I cannot quit WangXian.

Until We Meet Again (Thai)

This is an amazing drama. Romeo and Juliet, but make it a modern bl college story with reincarnation, and the reincarnated Juliet has PTSD from his past life memories. Excellent storytelling, acting, everything.

Watcher (Korean)

Ooooooh this is so good. All of the characters are so compelling, and the overall story kept me engaged. Also, Seo Kang Joon: yes.

Why R U? (Thai)

This is kind of terrible, except that ZeeSaint as Fighter/Tutor absolutely sizzle. I also loved watching Fighter figure out his sexuality via 50% dialogue and actions and 50% Zee's incredibly expressive face.

Word of Honor (Chinese)

I watched this after watching The Untamed, and was kind of meh about it. But then after I’d poked around cdramas a bit, I watched it again and loved it. IDK what happened, but now it’s a fave.

You’re All Surrounded (Korean)

Ok, the FL in this is terrible. So annoying. Despite that and some of the other things that didn’t quite click with me, I was unable to drop it because I NEEDED to find out how Eun Dae Gu’s story would end (very satisfyingly actually!).

Movies:

Long Time No See (Korean)

I love this so much! Assassins; cool fight scenes; traumatized lead; murder boyfriends! UGH it's so good.

The New Employee (Korean)

Not bad. Not great, but not bad.

Pipeline (Korean)

NGL, I watched this because I wanted some Seo In Guk whump. It definitely delivered! It was a fun, fast-paced story, with very little character development and a very underused villain, and really good action. I turned my brain off and enjoyed it. The only thing I couldn't help mentally griping about was the complete lack of ear protection in most (all?) of the drilling scenes. They should have all been partially deaf, good grief.

The Yin Yang Master (Chinese)

Wacky and good!

The Yin Yang Master: Dream of Eternity (Chinese)

Less wacky than the other one, but also good, and the bromance!!!

[mineonmain]

Reveal your Watch and Rewatch List! (BL Edition!!)

Thank you my love @disaster-j for tagging me - This is extremely overdue I know; I had this whole post written out almost 2 weeks ago but then right when I was getting ready to publish this 💖lovely💖 website decided to refresh and my post was lost. I was so mad that I didn't want to re-write it, but here I am anyways.

Currently Watching (I'm extending this to shows that have juuust finished too)

Kinnporsche - It's so fresh in my mind. I have way too many thoughts about this show to put down here, so i'm going to make another post similar to my Not Me Retrospective - all the things that were right and the things that were not. It may not have stuck to the book, and it may not have fully lived up to all the hype and expectations, but it's still unlike any other BL i've seen so far. Gotta commend them for that. Also it's the VegasPete show now, sorry I didn't make the rules. 7/10 (i'm sorry pls don't @me just read my retrospective later)

To My Star 2: Our Untold Stories - talented brilliant incredible amazing show-stopping spectacular...I think she deserves a separate post for herself too. Maybe when i'm not drowning under the guilt of not working on my Dissertation. There wasn't too much angst, the ending wasn't rushed, it was honestly perfect. Imperfect can be perfect too, you know. 11/10

Old Fashion Cupcake - I had low expectations for this so it kind of blew me out of the water. Great acting, incredible chemistry, and that scene in Ep 4 lives rent free in my brain. It's amazing how they (mostly) managed to tell a story in just 5 episodes and still have it feel complete and not unnecessarily rushed. A teensy bit of beef with how the finale went, but there's always something isn't there. 8.5/10

My Secret Love - Pretty mid, like the standard GMMTV sort of fare, featuring My-ponytail-is-my-personality-trait Boy, Walmart Saint Suppapong, Why RU's too-many-couples disease, mildly problematic behavior and a thin excuse of a plot. Still, it's nice to get something banal and light-hearted after all the weekend angst of KP and TMS. The latest ep was surprisingly better and less superficial than all the others so far.

Star and Sky: Sky in my Heart - The sequel to JoongDunk's Star in my Mind, this is typical lighthearted GMMTV stuff ft. P'Mek and debut actor Mark. A series of mini-series' where new couples get to flex their acting muscles a bit and test out their chemistry on the screen. I don't have much to say except it's soft and cute, nothing too groundbreaking.

Looking Forward To

Never Let Me Go (PondPhuwin)

Between Us (BounPrem)

My Only 12% (SantaEarth)

Remember Me (maybe??) (JaFirst)

Happy Ending Outside the Fence

Love in the Air (maybe??)

War of Y (maybe??) (BillySeng and more)

Moonlight Chicken (EarthMix)

Blueming S2 (let's freaking GO)

Rewatch

So. I'm not in the middle of rewatching anything at the moment, frankly I do Not have the time for full rewatches, but when I get in the mood I tend to rewatch specific moments from certain shows instead of full rewatches:

Bad Buddy Ep 5 4/4

Bad Buddy Ep 11

Literally anything from BBS who am I kidding

ATOTS Ep 6 3/4

ATOTS Ep 10 4/4

UWMA EP 2 4/4

Why RU FighterTutor Cut

LBC AePete Cut

WBL Ep 5

WBL 2

Utsukushii Kare Ep 5-6

Semantic Error

Mr. Heart

Light On Me (esp Ep 13)

Tharntype Ep 6/Ep 12

UWMA WinTeam Cut

Blueming Ep 9/Ep 11

TMS 2 Ep 4/Ep 10

OFC Ep 4

Love Is Science? MarkOuwen Cut

2gether Ep 6 3/4-4/4

My Tasty Florida

(Can you guys smell a theme hmmm I wonder🤔) Y'all I'm so sorry about this gotdamn list. It ran away from me. RIP. If anyone actually goes thru this, veterans discount for you. I could probably add more if I stopped to think more but that's where i'm gonna stop for now.

Tagging (I don't rly have friends but): @elevatormusic @whatisgodtoanonbeliever @incandescentflower @liyazaki @onstoryladders @strutforlove @billlkin @7nessasaryevils @excessivelyobssesed @milkpansa @johnnysuhsbathtowel @rythyme @piningbisexuals @ablazenqueen

[fishy-xp]

things i will never get over in dsn

this might be the start of a lot of dsn content from me because i'm rewatching it and it's my first love that's a lie, 2gether is my first love but now dsn and 2gether are in a happy poly relationship

the entire basketball team being in on helping their team member confess to another team member from closing the courts, physically restraining a night guard, rolling a bunch of balls with confessions on them and filming it in peak mood lighting

leo's hands

leo saying he can't separate sex and love he's just so perfect i-

leo buying an entire house just for him and fiat because fiat was uncomfortable after they got caught by our dear holy guacamole auntie, in the wise words of tho - 'what kind of man moves houses because his boyfriend is afraid of the housekeeper?' ahhhh to be rich

aek dresses like a normal son of mafia proper and classy type of beat to shake down an asshole, whilst tho chooses the most tankhun'est patterns to vomit together an outfit and the most kan-esque neck scarf to commit assault causing wounding, i love them I LOVE THEM *rabid noises*

i know people did not like when an slapped leo but i support fictional women's rights but more importantly i support fictional women's wrongs and tbh everyone including leo knew she was the only one who could get him to calm down enough to make things right with fiat. it was also really badass and she's like super fucking hot i'm not okay

SPEAKING OF AN, SHE AND NATSU WERE DEFINITELY DATING RIGHT? LIKE THEY NEVER EXPLICITLY SAID IT BUT NATSU SAID AN LOOKS GREAT TONIGHT AND THAN NAM SAID EVERYONE BUT ME HAS A LOVER AFTERWARDS AND ALSO NAM SAID 'NOT EVERYONE CAN BE LIKE YOUR COUPLE' and they're always talking about each other first and then group the others as a collective SO OBVIOUSLY OUR GIRLBOSSES WERE DATING?????

leo's mum is just perfect. she took in this abandoned child and made him her favourite son and doesn't care about the fact that he's been around as long as he's happy with her actual son now that they're together and she loves to gossip and make fiat feel as comfortable as possible whilst her eldest son is sex-iled and her youngest son is forced to sleep with his brother for the night lmao. and when she was introduced to pobhan, she immediately went make him my son by any means. she is also beautiful, rich and successful triple whammy

leon calls himself 'on'

the fact fiat has to go on his tippy toes to kiss leo *she sobs*, i fully went through dsn and tt:7yol believing fiat was a short king but first is 180+ and ja is just T O L so proportionately first looks like a tater-tot BUT LEO IS THE PERFECT HEIGHT TO GIVE FIAT FOREHEAD KISSES

aek exclusively referring to his baby twin brother as 'little shit'

leo always kissing the back of fiat's hand like the gentleman he is before sex why the fuck am i so single

an during episode 11/12 - mummy? sorry. mummy? sorry. mummy-

the way leo's mum says fiat in the last episode, it's so satisfying to hear

every single time leo says 'ai'fiat' in his glory, deep, sexy, angry, possessive voice ksdjflsdhglsjhfla

this is a tiny thing but i think when leo was shooting the penalty shot (listen basketball was never my sport) for the win, aek and anda were hitting each other's hands and i think they ended up holding hands out of nerves and THAT'S SO CUTE LIKE THIS ENTIRE FRIENDSHIP GROUP IS SO JREOGKERGSDLS

i stand by every fashion choice fiat has made except for the salmon under sweater turtleneck monstronsity from the special ep but it's fine because the red 'show up to a party late and take back your mans' power suit makes me forgive everything

IN CONCLUSION YALL SHOULD WATCH DON'T SAY NO

[tiistirtipii]

Vice versa episode 12 thoughts

Some people might have seen my episode 11 rant post in which I was unhappy with a lot of the episode and I was really worried about how they were going to tie it all together in episode 12. I am surprised to say that I absolutely loved the episode and I think everything was wrapped up nicely and cemented Vice Versa as a show I will continue to love. Without further ado here are my thoughts about the episode. Please note this is a ridiculously long post of every thought I had

-Talay is not the only one who knew you were acting Puen, Gmmtv really baited us with everything they had at the end of the last episode. I was so worried about them switching again and I’m really glad they didn’t

- Sure you two are being cute as hell and such put can you please put your nips away they are staring at me its scary

- Puen has art of finger guns in his room, Bi confirmed

- Talay trying to recreate the bread horns is adorable

- They’re actually too sweet I’m gonna be sick

- The ‘Thank you for taking away my fear of tomorrow’/’Thank you for being born so that I could love you’ scene is the best kiss in the series, I said it. Also ridiculously sweet

- As soon as the director guy said ‘I believe every word you said’ I was like oh shit he’s travelled too

- I’m so glad there is an Association in this universe as well, it being in the equivalent of the Friend Credits tent is a nice touch.

- 👉 ‘Nong’

- Talay being so excited about the job and Puen being so supportive, I’m so happy for him I was so worried Tess was going to irreversibly screw everything up

- Talay loves pink now 🥺🥺🥺🥺

- Puen giggling in the Friend Credits t-shirt he’s such a cutie

- The interviewer guy was being so pushy with the questions about the picture but I guess that’s his job

- Gyo is so based, yes it is his personal business, some people… should try being more like her. Supportive bestie queen

- I know manager Prikyuak is trying to do his job but they kinda have some trauma about not seeing each other dude

- I do like how Talay didn’t just immediately assume the worst or assume Puen didn’t want to see him, he was just worried

- Tup and Tou 🥰🥰🥰, them being so supportive 🥰🥰🥰

- Neo really out here playing three characters at a time and all of them are brilliant. GMMTV please give him a main role please.

- Talay even suggesting going seperate ways after all they’ve been through is absurd

- Supportive bestie is at it again with the video. Using the alpaca to get the message to him awww

- Drunk Talay is such a sweetheart

- Tell me how in the week leading up to episode 12 I literally thought nonstop about a scene where Puen is asked between work and love and I thought about how easy the answer would be for him. My actual ideal scene was for him to state to the paparazzi and people that were harassing him and Talay that if he had to pick between his work and his love he would chose the love with no question and if people were really his fans they would stop harassing them about it because the solution would be for him to stop acting. AND THEN THAT SCENE WAS REAL. I actually couldn’t believe it.

-✨✨Without work, I can survive, Without him, I can’t✨✨

- For some reason I thought when Talay and Gyo were in the car they were going to crash and get sent back through universes. I think the end of episode 11 made me super paranoid they would switch at any moment.

- I asked for a scene between Puen and Talay’s mum and they did not disappoint. He’s such a cutie who’s mum wouldn’t love him?

- ‘How old are you, eight?’ She’s such a queen I love her

- ‘Your son is stubborn’ get his ass Puen

- Talay with his glasses up, I repeat, Talay with his glasses up!! Sea looks so good

- Here for the Jimmy in glasses agenda

- An hourglass with sand that doesn’t fall 😭

- Can’t believe 2gether of all shows nearly got the last word

- Sorry it has to be said, they could have really worked on the kissing scenes.

- I love a good montage and a montage of the other universe was a great idea to fit what’s going on into the last episode without leaving too many questions unanswered

- Neo in a suit, 10/10

- Fuse and Aou 💕💕

- Aou’s face after the cheek kiss. Pity we didn’t see more of them

- Friend Credits making a Vice Versa film 🥹

- ALSO!! Tess!! If there’s one thing I want to know its how he reacted to the life he has now, I really hope he went through some quick character development and learnt to appreciate what Talay did for him

- Tun and Tess working on a movie together and falling in love? Sound familiar?

- DOL!!! Please someone write a fic where Talay and Puen get to speak to Dol again, or at least to this universe’s version of them and update them on what’s happening in their original life.

- Friend credits version 2.0 featuring Tup and Tou

- And the pink trumpet tree has been growing there the whole time 🥺

- How cute would it be if Puen’s wish said something along the lines of ‘Ever since I saw you in that airport bathroom, I have fallen head over heels in love with you’ to parallel his earlier wish and Talays wish? Lets go head over heels for each other is cute as well I guess

- Guys please don’t fuck in the Friend Credits caravan, is no place sacred?

- Thank you Lays for supporting gay rights

- Imagine if he put a ring in the Lays bag, I would’ve lost it

- Playing the Not Me trailer right afterwards was a shock to the system

If you have actually managed to read this, congratulations for making it to the end of every thought I had watching this episode. I clearly need someone to talk to about these shows. Vice Versa has been an amazing show to watch, with great acting and a lot of care and detail put into the sets, props and story. Thank you to the Vice Versa team.

[absolutebl]

This Week in BL - I’m Bored & Conflicted

Dec 2022 Wk 2

Being a highly subjective assessment of one tiny corner of the interwebs. Organized by which ones (in each category) I’m enjoying the most.

Ongoing Series - Thai

My School President (Fri YT) 3 of 10 - Honestly Tinn acts and talks like the voice inside of Sarawat’s head (from 2gether), I’ve never seen a bigger simp. The private tutoring was a good idea (Tiew is another one up for best wingman of the year). The way Tinn keeps getting accidentally defeated in his attempts at flirting is fun, and I love how they keep teasing us with tropes and then flipping or subverting them. GMMTV is being clever with audience expectations around the history of Thai BL and I love that. Also finally Gun is starting to feel something back... we enter phase two of a HSBL - moot pining but they both idiots. YES! 

Never Let Me Go (Tues YT) 1 of 12 - GMMTV’s answer to KinnPorsche this is (mafia lite?) spoiled prince + attack dog (whipping boy + bodyguard) suspense BL that’s actually a lot more like Golden Blood. It’s a pleasure to see PondPhuwin in something that’s not FUTS. Jojo (3 Will Be Free) is directing and daddy got himself a bouncing baby drone! We got a very dramatic opening with Paa shot on 18th bday. Puwin’s English is v good. Who knew? And Pond is v good at portraying insta-crush on poor little rich boy and I am not mad about any of it. IT’S GREAT. 

Between Us (Sun iQIYI) 6 of 12 - I still like WinTeam but I’m beginning to get annoyed by how many couples there are (5!) and how many of them were (DeanPharm) or are (BeePrince) in an entirely different show tonally. I understand they needed to pad-out this story, but they shouldn’t have, they should have just given us a shorter show. WATCH ALONG HERE.

609 Bedtime Story (Fri WeTV) 4 of 11 - We are finally getting Dew’s side of the story! And… its kinda dull. 

Remember Me (Sun Gaga) 10 of 12 - So Name is talking now? And they put Ja in a wig too? Did UWMA teach us nothing? Now I’m just annoyed with this show. Some more marriage equality schilling, because Thai BL has an axe to grind these days. Good luck boys! 

I Will Knock You (Fri Gaga) 5 of 12 - Honestly, the costumes in this show are insane and I also kind of like them in an odd way. There’s a Grease thing going on, and thus I keep expecting them to break into song (and being grateful that they don’t). The wardrobe is like the plot and the acting: loud and obvious and not very good but weirdly entertaining. Do I like it? Not really. Am I still watching it? Apparently. 

Ai Long Nhai (Mon iQIYI) 12fin - Yes, Ai did use particles to claim Nhai again. Jealous boy. Honestly, this was kind of an epically boring final ep. 

Ongoing Series - Not Thai

My Tooth Your Love (Taiwan Fri Viki) 11 of 12 - They are so stinking cute together. They also now have all the matching jewelry (not taken by MarkKit). This was a quintessentially them episode 11 of doom, in that they were parted because of communication issues and a maturing relationship occupied by immature characters. Still the leads were apart for most of the episode and that made it a lot less interesting as an episode.

Oh! My Assistant (Korea Thurs Viki) 5-6 of 8 - Kisses and separation! As drama llama episodes go, the reasoning is typically flawed and manufactured, but after watching Why R U? anything goes in an ep 11 (or its equivalent). So I’m still enjoying this show a lot. I don’t need my panicking gay boys and confused bisexuals to behave logically, certainly not in a KBL.

Candy Color Paradox AKA Ameiro Paradox (Japan Fri Gaga) 1 of 8 - A stakeout throws reporter Onoe together with photographer Kaburagi. Kaburagi's haphazard work style and player personality go against Onoe’s ethics. Yet, in joint pursuit of a scandal, these opposites attract move from enemies to lovers. Adapted from manga Ameiro Paradox by Natsume Isaku. Oh no! Our reporter is an unbelievably adorable pouty baby. Also big-ish cast and high production values in a BL, even for Japan. Even though it’s only been a little while since the last JBL, it’s such a pleasure to have one on my watchlist again! And the love interest is a big time flirty player. Very cliché (I still hold that the actor playing him looks like First of JaFirst). This is a lot more serious and a lot less slapstick than I was expecting, and I’m enjoying it because of that. But because it is serious, and this is Japan, we now cannot expect it to end happily. If you or someone who can wait, or likes to binge, and is very invested in an HEA you might want to consider holding off on this one. 

The Director Who Buys Me Dinner (Korea Thurs iQIYI) 1-2 of 10 - A new employee whose director claims to have lived 300 years and insists that they have to date (eat, hug & kiss) if baby doesn't want to die. Office, fated mates, and that’s kinda my jam. I’m always annoyed when I really like a show that’s on iQIYI or WeTV. Sigh. But I really like this show, it has a lot of Japanese elements to it not the least of which is the office setting, but also the personality of the uke character. Hilarious to watch Korea deal with a plot that requires physical contact. It’s weird, but I like it, it’s also extremely short. Like shorter than most KBLs even. Each app is so padded there ultimately less than 10 minutes long (which is why is is 10 esp rather than the usually KBL 8, it’s gonna end up the same length in the end).

Choco Milk Shake (Korea Strongberry Tues YT) 11fin - airs Dec 20th

Happy Ending Romance (Korea Thurs Gaga & Viki) 7-8fin - I actually LOVED the ending, very hinting at poly, and mature. But this show ended up not really being a BL, no tropes and not really a romance either. 

It’s Airing But I’m Not Watching It

War of Y (Thai Gaga) 20 eps - it’s just all too much for me.

2 Moons 3 (Thai) 10 eps - Possibly a future binge watch. Rumor is it’s banal.

Love Bill  (Vietnam Sat YT) - Bah Vinh is back but I’m too distracted. Also there’s a lot of fund raising stuff going on. I’ll wait and binge.

The Star Always Follow You (Vietnam YT) - same Team RL peeps we have seen before (Sunshine, Stupid)

Till the World Ends (Thai YT) 10 eps - ?

Why You... Y Me? (Thai Weds YT) 10 eps - It's not primarily a BL, but another meta show about BL shipping, with side BLs. @heretherebedork is watching it, ask them about it.

Ended This Week

Happy Ending Romance 

In this series, all the gay boys romantically behave like lesbians and professionally like straight dudes. It’s... odd. As a BL it kinda isn’t (sorry to say), there’s no tropes dropped and no real romance beats. This is about ego and dishonesty and pride and there is an elegance to the plot. Which is essentially the idea that possession is not love, and therefore, both men who love the Writer have to prove their love by letting him go. Honestly, I’m not sure how to rate this show. This is a blog about BL and this wasn’t it. 8/10 RECOMMENDED (but not if BL is what you’re after). Full review.

Ai Long Nhai 

Look this show was just a typical Thai BL university pulp about a confident gay and a clueless manic pixie dream boy. It had potential, chemistry, and earnestness going for it, but no plot and not enough side dishes. In the end, it was boring and you know I always rate boring lower than hot messes (because at least the hot mess TRIED). Still, Ai Long Nhai is better than your average Thai BL pulp, nothing happens but at least the nothing mostly shirtless, the gay dads are the BEST, which is about all I can say for it. 6/10 WORTH WATCHING BUT FLAWED

In Case You Missed It

With the help of @isisanna-blog, here’s a cobbled together a Domundi line up (peeps behind Cutie Pie) for 2023 Thai BL. Lots of established pairs and it looks good if they can actually make them all, includes beautiful historicals, paranormal, other high concepts, and a royalty bodyguard romance (knight/prince) with ZeeNew! 

Next Week Looks Like This:

Still coming:

Dec 21 - The New Employee AKA The New Recruit AKA Shinib Sawo from Korea, (prob Gaga or Viki) - From WATCHA (Semantic Error) virginal Seung Hyun scores the office internship of his dreams but on his first day at work he gets into it with his cool reserved boss. As you do. Stars Moon Ji Yong (Once Again). Based on Moscareto's web novel of the same name, directed by openly gay & queer activist Kim Jho Gwang Soo (Just Friends?). 

Dec 28 - H5: Love in the Future from Taiwan (prob Gaga or Viki) - A cheerful and energetic student from 2000 travels to the future (2022), works as a deliveryman, and meets his first customer, an heir with a domineering personality. Directed by Nancy Chen (HIStory 4, Papa & Daddy).

I’m working on my end of year wrap ups, trends lists, and BL stats reported. Let me know in a comment if there is any specifically you want to know of have deep feels about. 

THIS WEEK’S BEST MOMENTS

Beautiful pining work you’re doing there, Palm. Yearn, baby, yearn. (Never Let Me Go)

Fated mates, always a favorite of mine. (The Director who Buys Me Dinner)

GMMTV got itself a drone. Not sure how I feel about this. 

Games is my spirit animal (609 Bedtime Story) 

(last week)

[jojotichakorn]

who told y'all the ep 11 curse is about amazing but frustrating cliffhangers? the penultimate episode curse is literally about the fact that penultimate episodes are often bad. B A D. this has been established since 2gether at the latest. get with the program.

[firstkanaphans]

Sorry but for 2gether it doesn't get that much better after ep6, they are all very frustrating, tho I enjoyed Stay 2gether more than the first "season"

Khao as Fong was amazing, the only character with a sembleance of a brain, tho I liked Mike as Man I might say, but sorry Fong isn't straight to me(no character played by Khao is for me lol I have so many headcanons for his supposed "straight" characters) he is at least Bi and I believe he had a secret crush on Tine that he didn't want to act on so he decided to help those 2 idiots cuz without help ST would NOT be able to do shit

Okay, I finally finished 2gether. (Thank god.) It just wasn’t my jam, but I do agree with the anon that said the second half is better. I genuinely enjoyed the new boyfriends arc in episodes 9-11, but overall I found the plot and the characters very frustrating. I think if they had condensed it into a 2-hour movie, it would have been more palatable, but spreading it out over 13 episodes left a lot of filler. (And honestly, if I was Sarawat, I would have chosen Gigie at the end because they had like 100x more chemistry than him and Tine and damn did she look good.)

Like y’all said, the highlights for me were Khaotung and Mike. The Mike/Toptap side plot especially was wonderful and it made me sad, once again, that we never got a BL with them as the leads. 

Overall, I gave it a 6/10 and I will not be watching the sequel, although I do believe you when you say that it’s better. (I unironically enjoyed TharnType 2 despite hating the first one—don’t cancel me.)

Thank y’all for the warnings. I probably should have just dropped this one, but it’s such a big staple in Thailand, I at least wanted to watch it once all the way through.

[feuqueerfire]

KinnPorsche Finale Episode 14 Live Blogging

Been a while since I waited for an episode since I'm a binger (pretty sure last time was 2gether one of the later episodes lol like ep 11 or smth), so this is fun!

I don't know what I want in this episode... They're gonna explain Porsche's parents' deaths, have the main vs second family shootout, and probably give us more cute Kinn and Porsche. Maybe Kim and Chay will stay broken up, not sure.

Vegas and Pete are what I'm worried about most because I cannot see any satisfying ending for them. If they somehow speed it up real fast so that their arc kinda ends/has a happy ending in the finale, it might cheapen their story and not really hit. If they keep it dangling with nothing resolved, I'll be annoyed because who even knows if season 2 will come to fruition, if it'll be good, if I'll even be into BLs then, agh.

Idk idk, here's to hoping for the best I guess.

Episode 14 (July 9)

dang I was hoping at least an 1.5 hour episode but it’s less than 1.4. hope they can wrap everything up well

lol watching the whole opening credits and Previously for the first time since it's the last time

Bro the Porsche and Korn interaction is so confusing to me. Is this scene of Porsche at this house a flashback? Porsche somehow managed to bypass all guards and hold Korn at gunpoint and was just able to leave (with Vegas no less, was that man and motorcycle just hiding in a bush?) the premises no biggy after finding out Korn’s his uncle?

okay yeah that was a flashback

of course Vegas’ father Gun killed him lol I wish they’d made Korn the murderer, then it’d be like both sides are bad instead of acting as if only Kan is scum and Korn is fine and chill narratively

Aside, will we learn why Korn was telling Porsching that that random old guy killed his parents? He really was gonna let Porsche murder some man thinking he was getting revenge lol

Korn was better as someone who had a slight edge with the possibility of being a terrible person than soft-spoken “I did it all to protect you uwu” even though he kept everything from Porsche and Chay and didn’t look after them well lol.

I hope they somehow turn it around or there's another plot twist and Korn's evil

Is this the first time Kinn and Kim have been in the same frame together? fucking finally I suppose

Tankhun for real the only one I even semi-care about. His crying :(

What was that gaze Kim and Chan shared?

btw no dead body was seen lol

oh, Korn was poisoned?

I missed Kinn the ruthless killer. Seems like wherever episode 1 Kinn ran off to finally came back, though ep 14 is too late

lol Vegas using a bodyguard, one of his own no less, as a human shield is uhhh so good. terrible motherfucker, truly

did they still not give their bodyguards bulletproof vests? At least Chan should’ve had one, mans went to go greet Gun and Vegas

Chan choosing his last breaths to be cigarette smoke

fuckkkk okay Pete and Vegas actively shooting at the other’s side right now. I’m so anxious to know how it’s gonna go down

hello Porsche

I read a spoiler kind of where someone said they wish Vegas and Pete had a little more of a buildup, so I’m assuming they actually get together here?

oh hello, random lady with guns

girl random-ass scene of Kinn and Porsche pointing guns at each other where it doesn't mean anything and has no tension. It's still cute though "I'm not on the main family's side. I'm not on the minor family's side. But I'm on your side." with the last sentence being slightly softer, aw.

Also, I don't even know if I believe Korn lol mans was a liar

Vegas really kicked Porsche's face lol aw my motorcycle besties frenemies :(

:O Vegas really went @ Kinn "Should I shoot first your Head. Chest. Or Heart [points gun at Porsche]" that's romantic lol

selfish, selfish Vegas keeps using his guards as shields <- compliment, by the way, I like that he's still literally terrible and dishonourable

love Tankhun and Arm and their funny little destructive gadgets

yaaas Erika

There's like no tension in this fight anymore since they decided even this needed to be comedic but like it's cute I guess. The show can continue to disappoint in the same way even in the last episode

they really got Chay playing video games while people shooting and fighting in the bg

ooh okay Gun flipping the narrative. I don't trust that man but I'm slightly more likely to believe him maybe because he has no reason to make himself look good lol, he's literally storming the main family and killing people without remorse

Oops, read another spoiler that apparently Korn shoots Gun. So guessing the no body really did mean not dead

did Gun have a romantic interest in Nampheung or something?

lmfao okay that actually made me laugh when Tankhun accidentally made the gadget go off and Arm and Tankhun just stared at each other

oh wow, Pete actually shot Vegas, wasn't expecting that tbh O.O

Damn, Pete for real just going ham punching Vegas face as he should. I'm glad they're showing Pete actually fuck Vegas up

60% of what Vegas has said in this episode has been in English so far wtf

aklsdjfkalsd;fj BITCH "If I die today, could it be you who kills me?" Vegas asking Pete alsjdfksdf it reminds me of Vegas' "If Kinn asks you to kill me, could you make me not suffer?" @ Porsche but this is even more askldfjsdklf romantic and dizzying. Although, is the manipulation level less or more or equal?

Kissing after Vegas asks Pete to kill him kind of and says "I love you" (which: hmmmmmmmm) and with blood in Vegas' mouth due to Pete punching the shit out of him ummmm <3

Vegas pushing Pete off and running away (with a gun), so true. His survival instincts are not drying up just because he's in love or whatever

Pete my love wiping his mouth on his arm before running after Vegas with the gun

I was thinking that maybe Vegas would have to sacrifice himself somehow (jump in front of a bullet for Pete or something) but lowering his gun in front of Pete and also letting himself get punched are like smaller sacrifices that still align with his character, so I'm not mad

lol Korn

omg I was like no body for Korn means he's not dead but that applies to Nampheung too ?!

Dang Vegas sexual assaulter, his father Gun sexual assaulter

how come they showed so many versions of the flashback to Porsche's house on that day but now that apparently the real truth is coming out, they're just describing it with words

no way Gun got shot in the head just as he said "The truth is Nampheung is..."

Anyway, they really had this woman come, be timid for 3 seconds, then faint lol Even in the flashbacks, it was her fainting

I... guess I can't be mad at Kinn for stepping in front of his father so that Porsche doesn't kill him? Even though I'm team Porsche-should-kill-Korn (but only after finding out all info). The reveal that his mom has been alive and hidden away all this time is so... anger-inducing? to me at least lol Porsche hardly has any rage

Ew, Korn called Porsche his nephew

Damn girl they all really just waiting and staring as Vegas tries to process that his father's dead and aims at Korn

Oh I see more bodyguards came

Pete's confession, resignation, taking off his uniform...

Sorry, why is Vegas covered in his own blood and sweat and contemplating killing himself so... I really don't know the word here and the words I'd usually use (endearing/attractive) don't apply here. It is wild and captivating

they keep talking about Pete being hungry

Everything Pete says is killing me by the way. "Why do you keep saying there's nothing left, I'm right here." "You dare to push me away!?" "I'm your pet, aren't I?" "So I had to come find my owner" :) Dead ha ha

Here's the thing: I needed Pete to be the one who pursues the relationship, who explicitly tells Vegas he wants him. But also, Pete was doing so much of the heavy lifting that it's like bruh, Vegas, after all you've done, how dare you push Pete away (in his own words)?

BITCH! No fucking way!!!!! No way some random bodyguard just shot Vegas right now (and then got fucked up by Pete lol)

How much do we believe Korn? Agh, he's a dick fr though

bruh Chay finally realizing lol

Did I read something about Porsche being the head of the minor family in one of the fics I read?

a one-month time skip

Porsche being head of the minor family would hit a lot more if I didn't care more about Vegas than Porsche at this point. Either show me Vegas being head or show me Vegas' anguish at losing the potential title, idc about seeing minor family's guards bow to Porsche

These rings mean nothing to me because I have seen fairly little of the power/influence/dangers of being the head of the minor/major families. These bitches were having fun little polaroid dates in broad daylight and doing very few crime things throughout the series

This show really deprived me of brotherly relationships considering just how many sets of brothers there are. Only Kinn and Tankhun could be counted and I wish Porsche and Chay had more interactions but nah, they really said fuck Feu

rip Chay. So no KimChay endgame for now?

lol speaking of the major and minor family rings meaning nothing to me, they're all just drinking and celebrating now in public like there is no difference to me so this "significant" event is like k, what changed except status perhaps? It's not like y'all do any mafia shit

I don't care about happy cute Kinn and Porsche, give me more VegasPete right nowwwww there are less than 10 minutes left and I'm about to scream

Tay asked about Vegas so I really thought we were going somewhere but it's just more KinnPorsche wtffff

Not Korn looking at Kinn and Porsche's cute photo sent by Tankhun and saying "History is written by the victor" lol yeah I guess we'll never really get the truth about what happened

Okay so Nampheung definitely remembers and hasn't lost her memory for real, right? The expressions she had while meeting Chay and Porsche...

What do you mean end... we get no VegasPete? After credit scene PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE

Okay whew, there's after credits and even though it's only 2 minutes, I'll have to take it I guess

It's actually interesting how night and day my reactions to VegasPete vs KinnPorsche scenes are rip. Like the plot/action/violence scenes are like excitement 4-6 depending on how interesting the plot point is, KinnPorsche are like 3-6 and VegasPete are 8-9, I'm literally smiling wide because I'm about to watch the final VegasPete scene of the season and I just read that it's a cute scene

Vegas saying it's alright if Pete wants to run away now

Vegas, bro, it doesn't matter if you "have nothing" now it's not like Pete's after your minor family title

"From now on, you're not my pet. You're the most important person in my life." Those titles aren't mutually exclusive by the way

lmfao Macau saying "That's pretty fast. You're absolutely something" @ Pete like well buddy you have no idea

Okay, cute, sure. Is it quite what I wanted? Especially after how dark the rest of their story has been? How much depth it had? Not quite but like sure. Fine. Cute. Somewhat unearned and the shift from Vegas getting fucking shot x3 to that was certainly a choice but like still cute. Too cute and like family-friendly fluff, I might say, considering their relationship thus far but sure why not. (EDIT: It's been less than 24 hours but there are a handful of VegasPete post-canon fics already and I'm reading through them. I think the ones that write this hospital scene or a bit after it with an edge are doing really well and delivering what I would've wanted. The ones that are like Pete can be both Vegas' pet and the most important person in his life? Yes. Exactly what I'm looking for right now)

That was a fairly fine finale as long as I think 0 thoughts about it (VegasPete garage shootout scene + pool side scene not included). The shootout was fun enough, I liked getting ruthless Vegas using bodyguards as human shields. The mystery/explanations of what happened to Porsche's parents were... well... The writing's weak but also how can Porsche be so happy and calm about it? Shouldn't they be angrier and more distrustful of Korn? For hiding away their mother, for leaving them to fend for themselves, for lying to Porsche about what happened again and again (no but literally who is that man who Korn was like hm he killed your parents). It's just kinda interesting that the audience is like wtf Korn is evil but they made Porsche so stupid and somehow complacent that he doesn't see/challenge Korn. I didn't give a fuck about the major and minor family stuff (why is Porsche even taking the position? I guess it's in the book?), like they do way too little mafia stuff to care about things like this lol

The two VegasPete scenes were so good because it felt like them and the after-credits VegasPete scene felt too cute for what we've gotten of them so far but it was still good because it was cute and we get a cute little family with Macau there as well.

Also, I went on Twitter and knew that there was of Vegas and Pete in a white room, so I knew Vegas wasn't dead when he was shot because that scene wasn't there yet. I wish I'd just finished watching the episode before going on Twitter lol, I think the pool side scene would've impacted me a lot more if I didn't know 100% that they had a happy ending.

Overall:

Extremely weak plot. Extremely weak character development for Kinn and Porsche. How did they manage to make me not at all care about, and sometimes even dislike, KP when I was literally so ready to love them? I was even reading fic for them from before the show aired. Many side characters are under developed and thus don't hold any emotional weight (ex. Ken and Big). Also, Kim's love life is a dead-end and also his investigation didn't turn up anything, so there was no progress for him lol. Korn's evil, the audience can tell but the characters cannot for some reason. Also, the weak writing meant the pacing was off and we spent a lot of time meandering or watching stuff I hardly cared about. Not to mention the plethora of plot holes or the many story threads they just dropped/forgot about.

Vegas and Pete were freaking great. Unexpectedly great considering how weak other aspects of writing were. If there was just a bit more meat to their story after Vegas is shot in the this episode and before we get cute, adorable, cuddle pile with no problems, they would've given me everything I wanted. I'm just amazed they gave me nearly everything I wanted. Not to mention my ultimate weakness: food as love language.

Great acting from the cast, very impressive considering it's the first acting job for several actors. Would be curious to see them in more.

It looked sleek and like there was money put into the show, which there was.

If there's a next season, please get better writers my gosh.

I think the rating is actually more like a 6.5 on enjoyment scale but I'll give it a 7 because I'm reading so much fic. It may not make sense why that would affect the rating of a show but for me, it does make a difference if I care about the characters enough to go seek out more content about them and for VegasPete, I do. I hope someone writes a good fic about what happens in the 1 month that gets Vegas and Pete to become so comfortable and cute instead of Vegas apparently having just woken up then.

Rating: 7 7.5/10 [Oct 29, 2022 Update: Increased by 0.5 stars when rerating my top BLs]  7/10 [Jan 24, 2023 Update: Decreased by 0.5 stars when rerating my top BLs]

Tiktoks I <3ed:

Before I started watching KP:

Ep 3 Drunk Porsche on the pier being cute and wiggling his feet - I thought this was sooo endearing

Ep 5 "He used to stare at Kinn with longing eyes. 🥺 Now, the spark is gone." of sparkly eyed vs cold eyed Porsche (bg: Ang Wakas)

Ep 6 Porsche watching Kinn struggle before producing a lighter

Ep 4 Behind Apo playing around with the condom and lube Big had Porsche deliver

Ep 7 Vegas' bathroom where Kinn slaps Porsche + Porsche slaps Kinn even harder - this killed me by the way :) Porsche smiling at Kinn then it dimming as he realizes Kinn's serious and Kinn's angry little punishment face slap was a lot lot lot for me personally um I truly considered starting the show right then and there

Ep 6 Kinn letting Porsche go at the end + Porsche coming back for a kiss - this was so touching to me, this also made me consider just starting watching

Ep 9 Chay confessing to Kim and the cheek kiss and hug - I was quite into them from the tiktok clips I'd watched of them lol so it's a little disappointing that I didn't really feel anything in the actual show (bg: Thodi Der - so it worked the magic that hindi/urdu songs work on me for edis lol)

Ep 10 KimChay cuddling

Ep 7? KimChay sitting down edit to Kim: You say how I got your address? Don't even worry bout that bro

Ep 7? KimChay hanging out and it seems like Kim's endeared by Chay (bg: Training Wheels - Love everything you do when you call me fucking dumb for the stupid shit I do"

Ep 7 Kim finding Chay's bedroom filled with WIK merch - I actually didn't know it was WIK merch or that Kim was famous at the time so I was like lol is this a Secret Crush On You Toh situation. I only watched the 1st half of the clip too lol I just got the jist

Chay, Porsche, Pete -> Kim/Porsche, Kinn, Vegas edit (bg: you shouldn't mess with me because if you mess with me, you're messing with my family)

Ep 10 Kim looking at Chay leaving the couch with kind of fondness (bg music says 'are you falling in love? have a feeling you are')

Ep 11 Chay confronting Kim + Kim leaving him

Ep 11 Vegas smiling noodle scene (bg: Khoya Khoya) - also saw a clip on twitter of this but with subs like Pete spitting it all out + Vegas eating it. Or was it the pill mouth-to-mouth scene? I think it's the pill scene actually, that one on Twitter made me willing to watch more spoiler clips on tiktok

Ep 10 Vegas electrocuting Pete precursor

Ep 11 Chay confronting Kim "Have you ever loved me?" and compilation of Chay from Kim's POV

"I wanna be your slave, I wanna be your master" edit including all 3 couples and the lyrics fit quite well

Ep 10 Reaction Barcode literally Gripping his pillow and saying "oi" when shirtless Vegas comes on screen lmfao

"Vegas showing what he's going to torture Pete with" but it's Bible showing his gears? electrical stuff? (bg: Welcome to Vegas baby lol)

Ep 11 full noodle interaction with subs - this is probably what I was thinking of in the abone noodle scene lol

Ep 7? Chay describing his crush + KimChay interactions (bg: Tum Jo Aaye)

Ep 4 Apo hiding behind the curtain + getting exposed while Kinn's tryna have sex

Ep 12 Vegas and Pete's sex preamble

Ep 12 "Why didn't you run away" + talking about Vegas' hedgehogs - I didn't fully watch this clip back then when I liked it

Ep 12 Vegas realizing something's wrong + mourning his hedgehog - also only watched the first part of this clip back then

Bible "jealous" of Build and Tong

Ep 12 Pete reading blood type information from Vegas' book - also only watched the first part of this clip back then

Ep 12 Vegas and Pete's sex preamble but make it kinda sad (bg: Glimpse of Us)

tbh I don't know when I started liking tiktoks after I started already watching the show lol I started watching June 27 and these tiktoks were posted June 25 because that's when ep 12 came out but did I like them later on? Don't know. Everything after this next one is from after I started watching for sure 100%

Ep 12 Porsche backing down from killing the old man after seeing his granddaughter (bg: Unconditionally by Katy Perry x another sad song idk)

Tay edit to "He needed more than me"

Minor Family edit to Punk Tactics

Ep 13 Vegas Pete meeting again in Yok's bar + Pete unable to shoot Vegas

VegasPete and Not Me ToddBlack parallels

some Twitter Space chaos from the cast

Reaction to episode 11 Chay crying "The reason for Kim doing this? Better be good!" "Is this the helicopter scene? How am I supposed to watching this and my baby cryin'? I don't wanna see this man get slopped, I wanna fight Kim!"

Vegas and Pete cute interactions before uh episode 10