#Gay Ok Bangkok

[ql-of-all-time-bracket]

QL of All Time - Round 1: Our Dating Sim (2023) vs Gay OK Bangkok (2016-2017)

[waitmyturtles]

Only Friends and More: Watching Asian Queer Shows About Asian Queer Male Sex As a Cishet Woman

Hello! It's Turtles here, your resident cisgender female, heterosexual, South-and-Southeast-Asian-American mama.

I'm joining in partnership with my fellow cishet female elder and very dear friend, @lurkingshan, in taking a minute today to talk to our fellow cishet girlies about the world we are being exposed to via a show that we're holding near and dear to our hearts: Only Friends.

As my friend Shan has written today, Only Friends is presenting a number of paradigms regarding queer sex -- specifically what I will call from here on out, Asian queer male sex -- and how us as cishet women understand, digest, and possibly even judge this sex.

Shan referred to a phenomenon this week that some of us drama clowns saw percolating across our dashes: that Boston's encounter with Top in episode 2 of Only Friends was being described in some circles as an assault.

Shan does a great job to explain a very important point: the interpretation of that scene is dependent on the lens from which that scene is viewed. For instance, a non-Asian cishet female gaze on that scene might very well interpret that scene as a potential assault. A non-Asian cishet female might be using her social understanding of the rules and boundaries of sexual engagement that she embodies and has been raised with throughout her life to come to that interpretation.

What Shan delves into is the importance of identifying what your specific lens is before passing judgment on that scene and other scenes of Asian queer male sex in Only Friends. And, Shan suggests -- hey, try stepping out of that lens for a hot second, and give another interpretation a shot.

In other words: if you are a white, American, cisgender heterosexual female -- and you are watching a show about an Asian queer male community -- by checking your lens in watching this show, you can begin to understand that you may not have the familiarity, the comfort level, and the coded language (verbal and non-verbal) fluency to fully interpret what is being communicated and depicted in totality in this show.

Asian queer male sex looks and behaves vastly differently than sex for cishet females. The language used to engage in Asian queer male sex, the assumptions made about how sex comes about between two or more people, the way sex is approached, the way sex is talked about among friends -- is wildly, vastly different from the way cishet women engage in and about sex.

You know who knows a lot about this? The 100% Asian queer male writing and directing team behind Only Friends. Jojo Tichakorn, Ninew Pinya, Den Panuwat, and Best Kittisak are all Asian queer males. They are the team -- the artists, the darlings, the ASIAN QUEER MEN -- who are giving us this show.

If you a regular reader around here, you'll know that I gave y'all a little homework before Only Friends premiered.

I asked y'all to watch Gay OK Bangkok.

Jojo Tichakorn and Backaof Noppharnach's Gay OK Bangkok, to be exact.

Just like Only Friends: Gay OK Bangkok was about Asian queer men. It was about Asian queer men having sex. Asian queer men having relationships. Having throuples. Dealing with relationship problems. Dealing with HIV. Dealing with dating. Getting tested. Dealing with their jobs and salaries. Dealing with heartache. Experiencing joys of first love. Being there for their heartbroken friends.

Gay OK Bangkok showed us life's joys and life's ugliness -- through the eyes and experiences of out, gay, Asian queer males.

Gay OK Bangkok was VERY GAY AND VERY ASIAN.

We are so lucky to have Gay OK Bangkok as a reference for understanding how sex comes about in Only Friends. Gay OK Bangkok gave us insight into the language that Asian queer males use -- again, verbal and non-verbal -- to engage in sex. It showed friends taking men away from each other for the purposes of romance and sex. It showed hook-ups, drinking, partying, dating. It showed Asian queer males waking up in bed with multiple men. It showed Asian queer males waking up with a man next to them, and maybe not knowing that guy's name. It depicted only Asian queer males doing this.

What Shan asks us to do, when we're watching Only Friends -- or other shows about Asian queer males having love and sex, which are all of our BLs from Asia -- is to understand that if we are cishet women watching these shows, that we are NOT Asian queer males, and we have to check ourselves to not bring our own judgments of how we ourselves engage with sex and love, because we do that differently than Asian queer males.

We can learn about how Asian queer males have sex through our shows. Through Gay OK Bangkok, through Jojo's magnificent The Warp Effect, and through another show that I highly recommend -- that many people thought was problematic, and which I thought was one of the best BLs I have ever seen: Make It Right and Make It Right 2.

Let me tell you about my experience watching Make It Right. Again: cishet Asian female mama here. I knew, going into 2016's Make It Right, that it was known infamously for starting with what a majority of the BL audience called a "problematic" start. The two main protagonist couples, Tee/Fuse, and Frame/Book, start out their sexual experiences in a way that cishet females may call "dubious." Tee first sleeps with Fuse when Fuse is drunk. Frame sleeps with Book after Book messages Frame on a chat app -- Frame goes into Book's room and jumps on Book's body.

Make It Right was written and directed by two Asian queer males: New Siwaj (Until We Meet Again, A Boss and a Babe, etc.) and Cheewin Thanamin (Bed Friend, Why R U, Secret Crush On You, etc.)

When I was watching Make It Right, I messaged my dear friend @bengiyo in a kind of wonderment. I wrote to him, literally, "Sooooo -- I am REALLY LIKING Make It Right so far." Almost as if I wasn't supposed to like it, for all the times I had read about its infamous reputation.

Ben wrote back to me, and he wrote such a compelling, gorgeous message, that I had to center my review of Make It Right around that message. He wrote:

"[New and Cheewin] understand that many early sexual experiences [for boys] are with other boys. And Make It Right asks what life could be if they just didn't turn against each other for it."

Let me tell you something. I would not have ever gotten that on my own as a cishet female. I needed to talk to a queer elder to understand the entire depth of what I was watching in MIR and MIR2.

I wrote in my review of Make It Right that the "problematic" nature of how TeeFuse and FrameBook needed to be contextualized from the perspective of Asian queer males. The word "problematic" here is a judgment. In fact -- for MANY Asian queer males -- drunken hook-ups might be a common way in which one is first exposed to sex. And through Make It Right, New and Cheewin showed us how young Asian queer males -- who are coming to terms with themselves, their minds, their bodies, and their attraction to others -- manage these exposures for the first time.

It was gorgeous to watch. And to learn. And to be exposed to a new-to-me culture of sex and love that I was wholly unfamiliar with as an Asian-American cishet woman.

I want my fellow cishet women who are watching Only Friends to understand that you are in the very BEST hands in Jojo Tichakorn and Ninew Pinya to watch some parts of a culture of Asian queer male sex unfold before your eyes. Like I said before, Jojo has a track record of creating shows about sex that we can trust, in Gay OK Bangkok, in The Warp Effect, and more. Only Friends is going to get into tough, very tough territory -- territory that will include Asian queer men having sex with other Asian queer men, often in scenarios that one might want to jump to judge negatively. I trust Jojo implicitly and explicitly in his storytelling -- in this instance, in stories rooted in toxic behavior -- because he's earned my trust in his past shows.

Before you pass judgment about the sex that you will see in Only Friends, no matter the context: understand that what you're watching comes first and foremost from the perspective of Asian queer males, as written and presented for a majority Asian audience. There are going to be nuances you will miss. (I'll miss them, too.) There will be verbal and body language you will not understand. That is okay. But before you pass any negative judgment: check yourself, check your lenses, check your privileges, and hold yourself accountable before you pass judgment on anything you see.

This got long, but let me suggest -- no, let me exhort you -- to please do your homework while Only Friends is still airing.

1 ) Read @bengiyo's incredible post about Loving Queer Men. Listen and THINK when Ben asks you: do you love queer men when queer men are ugly, or catty, or -- in Boston's case -- horny, or maybe even "cheating"? And ask yourself: from what place/lens/perspective would you call Boston's actions "assault" and/or "cheating"?

2) Read @williamrikers's incredible post about consent among queer men in shows about Asian queer men having sex. This is SUCH an important read, from a queer male perspective, on the sheer joy and delight of watching queer men on screen have sex and depicting queer joy in having queer sex. Root yourself in this lovingness!

3) Watch Gay OK Bangkok.

4) Watch Make It Right and Make It Right 2.

5) Ask yourself what "sex-positive," "accepting," and "accountable" mean to you as a cishet female, especially if you watch shows about Asian queer males, and Asian queer males having sex (and especially Asian queer males having sex outside of relationship settings, and when Asian queer males are having sex with multiple partners, as we are seeing in Only Friends).

6) And finally: if you are a cishet female fan of the shipped pairings of Only Friends, ask yourself if you are truly comfortable watching your favorite Asian actors have fictional sex with other men who are not in their pairings. Ask yourself: "what makes me uncomfortable about this?"

The growth that I have gained from watching Asian BLs -- shows about Asian queer men in love and sex -- has had such a positive impact on my life, that I cannot wait to share this joy and acceptance with my children as they grow up. I will show my children Bad Buddy and The Eclipse. I will show my kids Gay OK Bangkok, so that they may know that there are thriving communities of queer people around the world that we can be allies with. I'm going to teach my kids about acceptance, perspective, and relativity. And to my fellow cishet girlies, I say: it's never too late. I came to BLs when I was already a mom. It's never too late to grow up and into loving and standing up for our queer brothers, sisters, and non-binary siblings -- and to afford all communities that are not our own the joy of living their lives freely, without the auspices of judgment and discrimination.

(Special thank yous and shout-outs are in order for @bengiyo, @neuroticbookworm, and @wen-kexing-apologist for reading this through and offering insight. Thank you, dear friends.)

[deliriousblue]

Gay OK Bangkok | Episode 2 "Truth"

- Do I have a chance? A chance to what? Be my boyfriend? - Didn't our kiss make it obvious? Arm...if you really want to be my boyfriend, I have something to tell you.

[lurkingshan]

Gay OK Bangkok

Well, holy shit. I had been planning to watch this ahead of Only Friends because @shortpplfedup named it as one of the Jojo shows that would serve as a good primer for the types of themes we could expect. I didn’t know much about it except it was an Aof/Jojo collab and had openly queer cast members. I expected something like a short Thai Queer as Folk. 

And it kind of is like QaF, in the sense that it’s very much a show about a group of queer friends and their romantic (mis)adventures that features frank discussion of gay sex and sexual health practices, but it’s not really like it at all in terms of its tone. Where QaF is known for its explicit sex, trippy drug sequences, and heavy doses of camp, GOBK is much less smutty and has a thread of deep melancholy running through it (oh hi Aof), and it is primarily interested in doing some serious character work alongside delivering its messages about safe sex. And these characters got their hooks in me much more than I expected.  

I think what I appreciate most about this show is how real the characters feel. They’re wonderfully flawed, fully realized human beings—beautiful and ugly in equal measure, wrong as often as they’re right, and just doing their best to balance their needs and desires with how they want to show up for the people they love. Even the characters I didn’t like much, I still understood and felt some empathy for, and I think that’s a credit to the compassion and care with which this series is written (not a surprise given Aof and Jojo are the ones who wrote it). Everyone gets the benefit of nuance and grace, including the side characters. And to be clear, I wouldn’t consider this a bl. I’d call it a queer slice of life drama that includes romance, but is not about romance—there is no primary romantic relationship that acts as the plot driver and it’s not at all interested in happily ever afters or even firm endings for its relationships.

My only real complaint about this show is I wanted (a lot) more of it. But still, for a show that only had eight hours total runtime over two seasons, it managed to do a lot with it. I am going to avoid getting into spoilers because as usual, I want y’all to watch this! But I really loved seeing a few years in the life of Arm, Pom, Aof, Big, Sathang, and their various friends, family, and lovers. And, crucially, it’s all so very queer. There is so much to unpack here about the nature of loneliness and desire and the guilt and shame that often comes along with them. The show is interested in exploring lots of ways to be in love and in relationship with each other, and it lets the characters fight, fuck up, break up, make up, and express their own confusion and discomfort and dissonance along the way. The only thing it’s interested in being preachy about are safe sex practices; everything else is presented in shades of gray. And it doesn’t limit itself to romance; we see the characters at work and with their families and out living their daily lives in a society that is often actively hostile to them. This show sits squarely at the center of @wen-kexing-apologist’s by/for/about Venn diagram (can’t wait for you to watch this, friend).

I highly recommend this show to anyone who plans to watch Only Friends (which, by my count, is just about everyone I know on here)—homework is of course not required before enjoying a new drama, but I do think familiarity with this work will enhance your experience, and it’s such a quick watch! If you’re interested, the show is available on YouTube here and here. It also has a great and surprising soundtrack which has also been compiled into two playlists. 

Tagging friends @neuroticbookworm, @waitmyturtles, @chickenstrangers, and @lurkingteapot who are all in the midst of their own watches or planning to start soon, and @bengiyo, @so-much-yet-to-learn, and @imminentinertia who saw this awhile back and shared some interesting reflections about it during my watch. 

[maggiecheungs]

as we're a week out from the only friends finale, i thought it would be interesting to see which of jojo's previous works people like the most.

i'll redo this poll next week, once only friends has finished airing, and see how much the results have changed!

[neuroticbookworm]

9 People You’d Like to Know More

Tagged by @blmpff and @lurkingshan, thanks besties! ^^

Last song: Bhoomi Bhoomi from the OST of Chekka Chivantha Vaanam

The YT lyric video has English translation in the subtitles, if y'all want to check it out. I'm just gonna quote my favorite line from the song here:

கடலில் மீன் ஒன்னு அழுதால் கரைக்கு சேதி வந்து சேருமா If a fish weeps in the ocean Will the news of its sorrow reach the shores?

Currently watching: Gay OK Bangkok 2 (highly, HIGHLY recommend before Only Friends) and Hidden Agenda

Next in line on my watchlist: Mama Gogo, 3 Will Be Free, The Warp Effect, Last Twilight in Phuket, I Promised You The Moon

Starting soon: Only Friends, Dangerous Romance, I Feel You Linger in The Air. My Tumblr header is soon gonna become wayyyyyyy more relatable to me than it already is.

Currently reading: The Blood of Olympus by Rick Riordan (The Heroes of Olympus #5)

Current obsession: The inability of one (1) Joong Archen to button up his shirts (thanks for the compilation, @blmpff, *air kisses*). My personal favorite:

Tagging @wen-kexing-apologist, @telomeke, @alan-apologist, @so-much-yet-to-learn, @thegalwhorants, @waitmyturtles, @chicademartinica, @miscellar, @ueasking. No presh!

[kattahj]

More Asian QL reviews! Mostly Thai boys as usual, but a Japanese GL at the end!

KinnPorsche

What's it about? Kinn is the son of a mafia boss. Porsche is a bartender who happens to help him out once, and is then coerced into becoming his bodyguard.

Genre: Mafia action, possibly comedy?

Watch if you enjoy: Mafia tropes. High heat. Belligerent sexual tension that turns increasingly playful with time. Having a very hard time deciding what is or what is not meant to be funny. (I have a feeling some of the stuff I found funny wasn't meant to be.) Emotionally repressed vs emotionally oversharing teenage side couple, with love songs. Kinky dom/sub human pet sidecouple #2. Flamboyant drama queen with mental health issues who may be the most sensible of the bunch. Plot that is all over the place even when it isn't twisty (which it is quite often).

Gayer version of: your local kink club's Bugsy Malone theme night

Recommended? Hm. Yes for its influence, no for actual quality, but yes again if you just want some fun mafia hijinks without having to think or feel too much. And it never gets QUITE as bad again as the first five minutes. In some ways it's the worst of the QLs I've watched so far, but it's more entertaining and memorable than several of them. And ironically, it's one of the shows I've found myself writing fic for.

Watched on: Dailymotion

Trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dZvpNreGVOc

Laws of Attraction

What's it about? Tinn's beloved niece is hit by a car belonging to the son of senator Thatthep. Opportunistic lawyer Chan first works for Thatthep, but soon finds himself asking questions that puts him at odds with the senator. Despite their different outlooks on life, Tinn and Chan may have a common goal.

Genre: lakorn (Thai soap opera), action, drama

Watch if you enjoy: High suspense. Morally grey protagonist. Warm and righteous other protagonist. Changing your mind completely about at least one character. Having your heart broken and then laughing your ass off within a span of ten minutes. Lots of gay side characters, including a pair of badass lesbians. Best grandma currently on TV. Great emotional content. A few laughably bad action scenes and VFX.

Gayer version of: The Pelican Brief

Recommended? Yes! I watched it as it aired and could barely stand waiting for a week between episodes! Just make sure you can cope with dead child, dead dog, dead mom, and parental abuse.

Watched on: bilibili.tv, but it is also up on youtube. (It just didn't add subtitles fast enough for me.)

Trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-Wo7IKw9dWY

La Pluie

What's it about? A world in which, during the rain, certain people can hear the voice of their soulmate – and ONLY that. But is the soulmate thing really real, or just a way to explain an inexplicable phenomenon?

Genre: Romcom/drama

Watch if you enjoy: Nice people solving their problems nicely and with very little unnecessary drama. Subversion of both soulmate and BL tropes (though ultimately bending to the foregone conclusion). Loving families. Understanding exes. Sometimes a cat.

Gayer version of: I want to say TiMER (2009), but that film was a whole lot messier. This is sweet.

Recommended? Kind of? I think it's well done for what it is, but that twelve hours of low-stakes relationship drama, where every crisis is averted, was a bit long for me personally. Plus, it turns out that I don't like soulmates even when they're being turned upside down and shaken around. But if the premise seems like something up your alley, I thoroughly recommend it!

Watched on: Dailymotion

Trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Tz9HG8MGF8M

To Sir, With Love / Khun Chai

What's it about? It's the 1940s, and Thailand is at war. Mr. Song, the wealthy but elderly leader of the Five Dragons association, has two sons with two different wives. Yang is the cheeky rascal, Tian is the obedient and hardworking one. Tian, as the eldest, is set to take over business, and all would be well if not for one little secret: he is gay. If this becomes publicly known, it could ruin the reputation of the whole family.

Genre: soap opera

Watch if you enjoy: More JamFilm after Laws of Attraction, with Film in a radically different role. Brothers supporting each other. Overcoming homophobic surroundings. Rivalling soap queens who will literally walk over corpses for power – and supposedly for their sons, who want none of it. Magic murder mushrooms and other glittery potions. Obedient business heir vs. taciturn assassin gay romance. Feisty het side romance with a lady love who is so sweet and soft spoken that you underestimate what an absolute MVP she is. Acting that ranges from fantastic to terrible. (Looking at you, Nuan!) Absolutely stunning costumes.

Gayer version of: Dynasty, but also I Claudius (what with all the murder).

Recommended? Ye-es? It's more soap opera than BL, so keep that in mind. And there's a lot of Rich People Bullshit. But if you're okay with that, I do recommend it! It ate my brain for several weeks, after all. And if you liked Laws of Attraction, you absolutely MUST see at least a couple of episodes, to experience the whiplash of the difference between Film's roles in those two shows.

Watched on: YouTube

Trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B3goS7DVeto

Gay OK Bangkok (Seasons 1 and 2)

What's it about? A bunch of friends, boyfriends, hookups and acquaintances, and how they handle their relationships and life's other issues.

Genre: slice of life

Watch if you enjoy: People who feel like actual people. Down to earth relationship drama that doesn't necessarily end well for everyone. Compassion towards the characters even if they're sometimes being dicks. Multiple PSAs about HIV prevention. A relatively short run. (Season 1 is 5x30 minutes, season 2 7x45.)

Gayer version of: Oddly enough, I want to say 90s Degrassi. (The fact that Degrassi was the first show I ever saw that handled HIV may have something to do with it.)

Recommended? Yes! Season 1 is absolutely brilliant, and only some technical issues (soundmix, lack of subtitles for written info) kept me from putting it among my absolute favourites. Season 2 has more and longer episodes but less of a red thread, which means that while all the individual scenes are still well written and well acting, the first half in particular feels a little aimless. But it comes back swinging in the last few eps, and I have also seen viewers who preferred season 2 over season 1!

Watched on: YouTube

Trailer (sorry about the double subtitles): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M3CJ9PiSSR0

Tsukuritai Onna to Tabetai Onna / She loves to cook, she loves to eat

What's it about? Nomoto's hobby is cooking, but she lives alone and always ends up making too much food. One day, she notices how much food her neighbour Kasuga brings home and gets an idea: maybe Kasuga would like to eat some of what she cooks!

Genre: romcom

Watch if you enjoy: Sweet, understated, tentative romance. Lots and LOTS of cooking/eating scenes. (Don't watch while hungry! Do watch to get kitchen inspiration, if you are so inclined!) Lesbian self-discovery. Lots of serious issues in a fluffy setting: class, misogyny, heteronormativity, fat shaming, family hierarchies, and more.

Gayer version of: Julie and Julia

Recommended? Yes! It's very sympathetic and not very long (10 episodes of 15 minutes). The ending is a little unresolved, but fortunately there's a second season promised for 2024.

Between this and Old Fashion Cupcake, I do wonder if all Japanese QLs double as food porn...

Watched on: Dailymotion

Trailer (no subtitles): https://mubi.com/en/films/she-loves-to-cook-and-she-loves-to-eat/trailer

[formayhem]

I really truly appreciate Gay OK Bangkok's ability to leave endings sort of in the grey, bittersweet, or entirely open-ended. sometimes it's GOOD to just let it be what it is, without all the "happily ever after" bells and whistles and to just let us out somewhere at a station that isn't the beginning or ending and maybe not even a halfway point. it's nice here. I like it.

I sort of forget what queer media is like outside of the BL bubble now that I'm so immersed in said bubble. so, I really appreciate a return to gravity with our little tart slice of life pie that was season 1 & 2. 😌

Pom, Nat, and Sathang, my beloveds 💞

[avorbl]

This send me down a rabbit hole I (checked vimeo purchases and account creation dates) because my record keeping for the series I watched between 2014 and 2018 is a bit spotty.

And its probably Water Boyy The Series , which I watched because of Pete and Kao in Kiss: The Series and Kiss me Again I also watched Beloved Enemy and Gay OK Bangkok around the same time but that was probably a bit later in 2018 when I had discovered some asian fansub sites. Its possible that I watched Long Time No See before all of them but I cannot be sure because I have watched it several times since then.

i think the first ever bl every person watched should be publicly available information about everyone in the fandom. cause that will tell me more about you than any personal information or eventual tier rankings ever could.

[invisiblegarters]

So I just binged S1 of Gay Ok Bangkok and a thought occurred to me.

I enjoy all of these characters. I see their flaws and their strengths and I love them because of both, because these are people I know. I'm friends or have been friends with all of these people - I resonate with some more than most from my own experiences, but I could point to people in my life that remind me of all of them easily. They're real and lived in in a way that I'm frankly unused to seeing from most of the dramas I gravitate towards.

They make mistakes I've made, mistakes the people around me have made, and they break and they fight and they come back together in ways that I've done with people I've loved.

And yeah, I should have watched this before ever starting Only Friends. I could have, but I put it off for whatever reason and now here I am. But at least I'm doing it early in the show, because it's making me feel a lot better about OF - it's like I forget sometimes that I can actually trust Jojo to tell a story with nuance. Oh, don't get me wrong, the theorizing is fun - the wilder the better when I'm in the right mood - but it also gets a little too easy sometimes to lose sight of the fact that more than anything else, this team (aside from Den who I know nothing about) likes to make their people feel real. WIth all the messiness and mistakes and loveliness that comes with it.

Because the guys in OF are these guys, just younger and a bit more dramatic. And maybe a bit less sure about what's in store for them - not just as individuals, but as a society. The Bangkok crew (aside from Big) are all past or starting to get past that point in their lives when the future seems both daunting and very far away, and everything is all immediacy, but they're still searching. Whether it's Pom who just wants to find love (and I don't want spoilers for S2 but I love that season 1 ended with him learning to appreciate himself as an individual more - the facebook posts were a nice touch and a great way to show his state of mind as we went through the show), Aof who is trying to find a person he can take care of (and balance his dwindling interest in sex along with that need - he interests me so much tbh because so much emphasis does tend to get put on sex in relationships and it's a real struggle when it just isn't the thing you're after but everyone assumes that you should be, or wants you to be, or needs it from you (disclaimer: there's nothing wrong with either and I'm not trying to imply that but I want to see the navigation between his needs and Big's needs, or his needs and the needs of whoever he winds up with)), or Arm who is maybe the most aimless of all, wandering between relationships and jobs, staying with Pom when he gets dumped but unable to help foot the bills because he doesn't want to be stifled by a regular job. Arm strikes me as the friend who just doesn't want to grow up, but adulthood comes for us all in the end.

And then there's Nat, who I think is the most settled of the bunch, possibly to do with his HIV + status, or maybe it's just him. Whatever it is, I adore him. He's got his head firmly on his shoulders and he knows what he wants, but that doesn't quite stop him from taking a chance on Arm, who he knows is a risk but who he hopes will be for him anyway. But he has enough strength to walk away when he realizes it won't work. Frankly, Nat is who I want Sand to be, lol, only Sand is a dumb 22 year old punk who probably won't be able to walk away the same way Nat was able to (at least as far as s1).

Am I still kinda rooting for Arm and Nat to work things out? Yes. Will I be upset if they don't? I don't know. If there had never been a season two I think I would have been fine with how it all shook out. Frankly, this is the kind of ending I want from OF - one that feels earned, and logical, and not like they threw a pat, unambiguously happy ending at us for no reason (no, I am never getting over the end of The Warp Effect, don't @ me I don't want to hear it).

But even more than the romance, what I really loved is the friendship. The sense of community. Yes Arm and Pom fight when Arm makes a move on Pom's crush, yes they are petty and mean and say awful, hurtful things to each other in the moment, but in the end they're still friends because they know each other and care about each other and because to be quite honest, in a community as small as theirs (and I can't speak to Thailand because I'm from the West, but I know that where I'm from you see this kind of thing a lot. We have more legal rights here than there, I know that, but our community is still smaller and everyone kinda knows or knows of each other. Granted I am also from a small town so) you don't just drop the only people you know who get you over that kind of thing. You just don't. I was as invested in Arm and Pom making up as I was in any of the romantic couples working out. More, maybe.

I am also extremely glad to see the show address sexual health. Suck, fuck, and get tested! Words to live by, honestly.

Oh, and as an aside, now I'm seeing what people were saying about Jojo's whole glasses wearing dudes pattern. Shin, Pom, Mew. I see you, Jojo. I see you. 😉

Anyway I don't know where I'm going with this really - it's just a rambling way of saying I really enjoyed the first season a ton. 10/10, would recommend.

[martinmynster]

🏳️‍🌈 Attention please! 🏳️‍🌈

i am seeing many post discussing the upcoming Only Friends series and Jojo Tichakorn's past works lately, yet i am still to see anyone mention The Original™ messy ensemble cast queer friend group show that started it all, the heartfelt, smart, funny, dramatic and poignant

✨Gay Ok Bangkok✨

Those who know me understand i cannot shut up about it but i'm genuinely doing this out of the goodness of my heart. It's too good and it's pride month i'd hate it if you missed out !

You like adults stories ?

You enjoy excellent music ?

You want to talk about the humiliating struggles of queer adults ?

You have pent up resentment towards your older gay sibling ?

You want to see what happens when you consistently act like a massive bitch to everyone in your life ?

You like friends who call each other out on their bs ?

You're a partisan of finding love at a funeral ?

You're scared of HIV ?

You're a believer in personal growth ?

Go for it!!!!! This the show for you!!

(Bonus: Backaof Noppharnach co-directed season 2 if you're a fan of his !)

[ql-of-all-time-bracket]

QL of All Time - Round 1 (Loser Bracket): ViAn (2023) vs Gay Ok Bangkok (2016-2017)

[huachengeye]

I absolutely love that I'll have to watch two other BLs to deeply understand this one. It's so fun when media connects and one thing explains another 🥺

Making the case to watch The Warp Effect immediately if you are watching Only Friends and have not seen that piece yet.

So I see much of my tumblr sphere was getting in to Only Friends today as is our God given right. We are only one episode in and I am already deeply in love with this show and also still trying to figure out how to process my emotions about it in to coherent thought.

But because my brain has not finished loading all the details of what occurred this morning, I would instead like to make a case for why I think it is important to watch The Warp Effect immediately if you are planning to watch Only Friends and haven't seen it.

(ps to @waitmyturtles and @rocketturtle4 I am so glad you started this show!)

The Warp Effect and Only Friends are co-directed by Ninew and Jojo and written by Jojo (+ the rest of the writing team obviously). If you are at all curious about what the style of Only Friends is going to potentially end up looking like, or you want to compare the structure of Only Friends to other paired works, I think it is worth it to watch The Warp Effect.

The Warp Effect and Only Friends heavily feature sex. It is my personal opinion that Jojo used The Warp Effect and its depicted sex scenes as a way to get his foot in the door for what he wanted to/planned to do in Only Friends. When I heard about Only Friends being sex heavy, I automatically placed my expectations for the types of sex and the depictions of sex in OF at the level we got in TWE. Only Friends in the first episode has already exceeded my expectations of what I thought we would get, but if you are at all curious about how the depictions of sex in Only Friends compare in terms how much of a sex scene is depicted on screen, the types of sex people are having, and the overall tone of the sex scenes (aka comedic or serious), I would recommend checking out TWE.

The Warp Effect and Only Friends are ensemble works with a lot of messy, moving parts. If you have been on tumblr and in the BL sphere in the last couple months, you may have seen a number of flow charts circulating, of how each of the Only Friends characters is connected to one another. As we have seen from the first episode, the relationships are already getting messy and complicated, and it stands to reason they may get even more so. The Warp Effect is another show that has a lot going on with all of it's characters that need to be kept track of. In other words, if you are curious about Jojo (+ crews) ability to successfully pull off a 12 episode story of complete and utter chaos.

The Warp Effect and Only Friends cover heavy themes. I must say I had nothing but unrestrained summer winter fun watching TWE, even as conversations around abortion, sexual assault, religious trauma, and homophobia came up throughout the show. I don't think we know the full extent to which Jojo (+ crew) will be covering heavy or difficult subjects, but we already know OF involves: substance use, sex work, and cheating. I have no doubt we are going to get even more sociopolitical commentary from Jojo and co. for this show. So if you haven't seen Jojo's work outside of things like Never Let Me Go I think it would actually be really beneficial for you to get better acquainted with Jojo's domain and how he navigates giving the audience a good time while also making political statements.

Vibes. The Warp Effect and Only Friends have a lot of similarities in terms of it's structure (messy, complicated; ensemble cast; political commentary; sex heavy) but tonally they are already shaping up to be very different. As @waitmyturtles said in a conversation with me and @lurkingshan after watching the first episode "[TWE] is so smart, it knows what it's doing from the very first episode". Similarly, Jojo has a clear vision for Only Friends and knows exactly what he wants to say. And with those surieties comes a distinct difference in the style of the shows. The Warp Effect is very frequently played for comedy. The sex scenes are often intentionally over the top. That is decidedly not the case for Only Friends, and I for one, think that is fascinating.

All of this to say, that I am not sure that we would have been able to get Only Friends without Jojo leveraging his power at GMMTV to first make The Warp Effect, testing out the concept of both feasibility and viewer engagement of non-sponsored, more overtly sexual shows. Or if we did I think it would have come at the cost of a lot of the physical intimacy/fucking moments we are going to get in this show. Which makes TWE worth watching as we start the Only Friends journey.

And while you are at it, you should watch Gay OK Bangkok, which is a partnership between Jojo and Aof as directors, which is incredibly well done, and which Jojo himself says he has drawn inspiration from for what is going to happen in Only Friends. Which is why I'm not writing a whole post about it, because it doesn't need one. Jojo himself has said OF draws from his GOBK days, which makes it required viewing before we get to deep in to Only Friends territory from where I stand.

(and if you do end up watching one or both of these, I would love to hear your thoughts!)

[maggiecheungs]

now that only friends has finished airing, i'm redoing my best completed jojo tichakorn series poll with ofts as an option. let's see how much that changes the results 👀

[kattahj]

Five minutes into Only Friends: Jojo, we need to talk about this. ALL guys with glasses aren't too sweet for their own good!

[formayhem]

I have two episodes of Gay OK Bangkok left and I'm saving them for tomorrow because I don't want to say goodbye to anyone yet 😩

will this be a mistake? who can say! (says the person who has come to fear every second to last episode 🤣)