#atots rewatch 2022

[waitmyturtles]

Turtles Catches Up With Old GMMTV: A Tale of Thousand Stars Loving Rewatch Edition

[What’s going on here? After joining Tumblr and discovering Thai BLs through KinnPorsche in 2022, I began watching GMMTV’s new offerings -- and realized that I had a lot of history to catch up on, to appreciate the more recent works that I was delving into. From tropes to BL frameworks, what we’re watching now hails from somewhere, and I’m learning about Thai BL's history through what I’m calling the Old GMMTV Challenge (OGMMTVC). Starting with recommendations from @absolutebl on their post regarding how GMMTV is correcting for its mistakes with its shows today, I’ve made an expansive list to get me through a condensed history of essential/classic/significant Thai BLs produced by GMMTV and many other BL studios. My watchlist, pasted below, lists what I’ve watched and what’s upcoming, along with the reviews I’ve written so far. Today, I write about my LOVING rewatch of one of the best BLs out there, ever, in A Tale of Thousand Stars.]

While I’ve been in the midst of a plethora of awesome new shows (Only Friends, Dangerous Romance), I’ve also been treating myself with some oldies. I just wrapped up a rewatch of Until We Meet Again, to prep for New Siwaj’s Absolute Zero that’s coming out this fall. And one of the joys that I set for myself in the course of structuring the Old GMMTV Challenge was to allow myself some loving rewatches of shows that I originally first consumed out of any chronological order, and/or out of total curiosity for the amount of space they generally take up on a daily basis on Tumblr, and/or for the amount of times that I had seen these particular shows listed as top examples of genre-defining or genre-transcending BLs. Those shows include Bad Buddy (of course), and A Tale of Thousand Stars.

Way, WAY back in the day -- November 2022, to be exact -- just a couple months into my joining Tumblr and actively blogging, I realized that this show called Moonlight Chicken was being bandied about excitedly, mostly in part because EarthMix and FirstKhao were going to be in it. I was intrigued, excited to participate in my first active Tumblr fandom from beginning to end, and I asked the Tumblr gods -- oh hey, should I watch A Tale of Thousand Stars first, to get to know Earth Pirapat and Mix Sahaphap first? And the answer was YES, so I did, and I totally loved it.

And of course, I look back at that review from almost a year ago, and I giggle, because while I picked up on a lot of the raw elements that make ATOTS great, I didn't have ANY context for why the show was transcendent vis à vis pre-existing BL tropes in the Thai BL genre, what it meant to be watching a classic Backaof Noppharnach show, what it meant for the show to be set in Northern Thailand, etc. I even wrote -- oh wow, I see why some of the elders on Tumblr are saying that there are shows way better than KinnPorsche out there (LOL, oh, hindsight). I didn't have any of that context.

Now, I do. And during my recent ATOTS rewatch, I just ATE, ATE, ATE, oh my god, I just sat and fucking ENJOYED this FABULOUS drama. I was yelling and gesturing to the screen -- oh god, WHY are you SO GOOD, YOU SHOW, YOU?! Man, oh man. It was a shit-ton of fun to start rewatching dramas that I already have nostalgia for, even if I only saw them for the first time last year.

Besides rewatching some of these important dramas back in chronological order through the OGMMTVC, I also have a mission in mind: to properly rewatch ATOTS and Bad Buddy before rewatching Our Skyy 2, which I've been wanting to do for a while. That rewatch will take place after I rewatch Bad Buddy in a couple of weeks. And I'm glad I waited until I could consume Aof's entire oeuvre, because I think his whole slate of shows -- not just ATOTS and BBS -- give us clues as to what was happening by way of Pat and Pran's relationship in OS2 before their physical separation in BBS that further explain the ATOTS and BBS universes. But more on this in a few weeks, when I get to my BBS and OS2 reviews.

Back to ATOTS. As I rewatched it -- in the context of the OGMMTVC, and what I've learned about the Thai television BL genre NOW, what were the elements of this show that stood out the most for me?

1) The striking use of flashbacks to tell a story. I know NOW shows that haven't used flashbacks as well to tell a compelling narrative -- for me, most recently, the biggest example is Double Savage (and maybe even KinnPorsche goes up there, too). Before ATOTS premiered, I think the BL that used flashbacks the BEST in its narrative was Until We Meet Again, which *needed* flashbacks to tell the entire scope of its intricate story, from past to present.

Something that I forgot about ATOTS until my rewatch was how very PACED the show was. I think I had it in my head that it was a slow-ish story, because -- again, it bucked a lot of BL trends and tropes, just like He's Coming To Me also did. No side couples. No university setting. No warring faculties and uniforms. When I first wrote about ATOTS in December 2022 -- after having watched The Eclipse as my first GMMTV BL -- I marveled at the singular storyline of Tian's life change and journey. There was a LOT we needed to know about Tian to GET where he was going, and where he wanted to go. What I didn't appreciate back then was how Aof TOLD the story.

Sure -- it could have frustrated some folks that we didn't get the truth of who was driving the car until much later in the series. But that would be missing the point of that piece of truth. Tian had blamed himself for Torfun's death the second he learned about it. It didn't *quite* matter who was driving the car -- what mattered was the self-blame he assigned himself to, and the journey he thought he needed to take to absolve himself of the guilt that he carried.

The structure was beyond sharp, and just INCREDIBLY compelling. Between UWMA and ATOTS, we have two tremendous dramas that flirted with VERY risky past-to-future infrastructures, and both succeeded exceedingly well.

2) Phupha and Tian's TERRIBLE communication. I'm serious! Oh my god, y'all. Did we appreciate back then how AWFUL they are at communicating? HA! Our Skyy 2 obviously emphasized this even more -- Tian himself accuses Phupha of not being open enough to tell Tian why Phupha won't meet Tian's parents.

But, holy shit, these two guys are such drama bastards. By episode 9, I had to write in my notes, in all caps: THESE ASSHOLES ARE SUCH AWFUL COMMUNICATORS. If one person wasn't angry at the other, and avoiding the other person, then something was off in their world. Tian's titchyness, Phupha's avoidance, played against each other like opposing magnets.

And yet: of course, we know WHY they are bad communicators. We know that Phupha grew up in a traditional, rural household -- one that likely wasn't welcoming to his inner truth as a queer man.

Tian grew up in a privileged and patriarchal household that disguised itself as a matriarchal household. Now THAT shit's confusing. What Tian was to do with his life, as assigned by his parents, supposedly came from his mom -- but it was his dad that enforced those rules. Who could Tian go to to talk about his own growing inner truth as well? Not to either of his parents, who both had designs on who *exactly* Tian should be by way of their own demands and outward-facing lives.

So these two men -- both of whom barely had any practice in expressing their inner truths, their raw feelings about themselves, their life situations, and each other -- are figuring out their emotional shit vis à vis each other, for the first time in their lives. And what we get, gloriously, is a whole bunch of damn hilarious drama that left me shaking my head and laughing a bunch. They were SO passive-aggressive with each other, I had to applaud EarthMix.

And through their bad communication came so many resolutions to each storyline -- the illegal merchants, the revelation of Torfun's death and the story behind it -- that what we ultimately got to see were life-defining moments for both Tian and Phupha of utter growth. The trade-off between those dramatic anguishes and the TRUE drama of the show itself -- was well worth it, and brilliantly done.

3) The metaphor of freedom. We know, now, that Bad Buddy was existing in the same world as ATOTS.

God, I LOVE what Aof pulled in Our Skyy 2 by way of the Nong Nao eye mask (Tian even wears the Nong Nao eye mask!) -- because in rewatching ATOTS, I would have NEVER clocked that Tian was talking about his own freedom through his OWN eye mask.

We know now that Tian and Pran, in their respective shows, were on their own paths to freedom -- both from demanding families that demanded that each of them comport to absolute idealistic images of what perfect sons DID in those family structures. Both Tian and Pran have overbearing mothers with complicit fathers who demand exacting obedience. And both Tian and Pran ultimately sought freedom from that pressure.

In episode 9, I clocked a message on Tian's tote bag -- I can't get a clear-enough screenshot of it (it's in the 3/4 segment), but the tote bag says, "what is the meaning of free?" All of ATOTS is based on Tian's journey to emotional freedom -- freedom from his parents' expectations, freedom from the guilt he carries from Torfun's death.

An interesting comparison to UWMA happens in episode 5, when Tian asks about his growing feelings towards Phupha: "I don't know if these feelings are mine or Torfun's." And, of course -- combine that with what Tian needs to reckon with at the cliff in episode 9, when Tian is struggling with figuring how who's life he's truly living. As Tian separates himself from his parents -- as Tian understands his needs vs. Torfun's needs -- what Tian's struggle ultimately comes down to is, who is he really living his life for? Torfun saved him, his parents bought him the transplant -- but what does that actually mean for the meaning that Tian brings to his own life, and to the lives of others, including Phupha?

What Tian ultimately realizes is that needs freedom from the influence of everyone and everything around him to gain clarity as to who HE truly is. That, to me, is the ultimate core message of ATOTS -- it is Tian's defining journey towards the freedom that only he himself can find, vis à vis Torfun, Phupha, and Pha Pun Dao.

But because Aof is so good at wrenching our hearts with every last bit of energy he’s got: he showed us that Tian was able to come to this conclusion, ultimately, through Phupha, and Phupha's love for Tian.

ATOTS is a wonderful coming-of-age story, but without the typical cheesiness that that structure can often bring. It's a story of individual and internal change that we know gets echoed, expanded, and transformed in Bad Buddy through Pran. I see now that ATOTS and Bad Buddy are Aof's deep studies of internal maturing, both told through queer revelations, through empathic love with a rock-solid partner, and through fights against oppressive societal and familial resistances to living one's full truth.

Way, way back when -- and thank goodness for the OGMMTVC for allowing me to dive into this -- Aof depicted queer men living their very robust truths in Gay OK Bangkok. As I wrote in my GOKB review, what happened after the premiere of GOKB is that Aof went to the BL genre to begin slowly changing it, to make the genre a true home for real queer revelation and introspection. Did he ever nail it in ATOTS. Did he ever expand it in BBS. Watching ATOTS felt like coming home, because once again (as in HCTM) -- Aof defied typical expectations of the genre to get honest about what an internal reality of being queer could really be like. And to do that in Thai television BL, with all the tropes and expectations the genre had created by the time of ATOTS's airing in 2021, was remarkable.

Hearing the theme song, seeing Pha Pun Dao and the villagers (AND THE CHILDREN! I LOVE THOSE CHILDREN!), seeing the schoolhouse, seeing Earth in his forest ranger uniform, hearing the original source of the forest ranger t-shirt joke, seeing Rang and Yod again -- man, was it ever nostalgic to rewatch ATOTS, even after having seen the guys in Our Skyy 2. This show is SUCH a classic, SUCH a must-watch of the very highest order, and the fact that it does NOT shy away from a very real and difficult emotional journey is only just a part of what makes it one of the enduring diamonds of Thai BL.

[We'll return to Pha Pun Dao in a couple weeks once I get through my Bad Buddy and Our Skyy 2 rewatches -- stay tuned!

In the meantime, my review of Lovely Writer is on deck for next week. By far this is my favorite Tee Bundit drama. For the sake of my fellow drama clowns, I am giving I Feel You Linger in the Air a shot, but the editing choices are giving me slight Step By Step-PTSD. I'm gonna keep a close eye on this one.

But Lovely Writer is Tee's anomaly, and what a fabulously genius anomaly it is. I can't wait to get into it, and if you loved it, too, and you have NOT watched the Lovely Writer special episode, PLEASE watch the special ep, as I'll be referring to it -- it has a super important conclusion that wraps up the entire series beautifully.

A heads-up that I may need to take a week's break or so in early September.... hopefully I won't, but I am moving, so while I'm ahead on a few dramas, getting pen to paper has proven difficult by way of time. Hopefully this project won't be delayed too much -- but send me your best big ups nonetheless as I move domiciles!

In the meantime, here's the list -- as always, I welcome your feedback! (Tumblr's new web editor is jacking with the list below and not allowing me to strikethrough the shows I've watched. For the very latest updated list, please click here!)

1) The Love of Siam (2007) (movie) (review here) 2) My Bromance (2014) (movie) (review here) 3) Love Sick and Love Sick 2 (2014 and 2015) (review here) 4) Gay OK Bangkok Season 1 (2016) (a non-BL queer series directed by Jojo Tichakorn and written by Aof Noppharnach) (review here) 5) Make It Right (2016) (review here) 6) SOTUS (2016-2017) (review here) 7) Gay OK Bangkok Season 2 (2017) (a non-BL queer series directed by Jojo Tichakorn and written by Aof Noppharnach) (review here) 8) Make It Right 2 (2017) (review here) 9) Together With Me (2017) (review here) 10) SOTUS S/Our Skyy x SOTUS (2017-2018) (review here) 11) Love By Chance (2018) (review here) 12) Kiss Me Again: PeteKao cuts (2018) (no review) 13) He’s Coming To Me (2019) (review here) 14) Dark Blue Kiss (2019) and Our Skyy x Kiss Me Again (2018) (review here) 15) TharnType (2019-2020) (review here) 16) Senior Secret Love: Puppy Honey (OffGun BL cuts) (2016 and 2017) (no review) 17) Theory of Love (2019) (review here) 18) 3 Will Be Free (2019) (a non-BL and an important harbinger of things to come in 2019 and beyond re: Jojo Tichakorn pushing queer content in non-BLs) (review here) 19) Dew the Movie (2019) (review here) 20) Until We Meet Again (2019-2020) (review here) 21) 2gether (2020) and Still 2gether (2020) (review here) 22) I Told Sunset About You (2020) (review here) 23) YYY (2020, out of chronological order) (review here) 24) Manner of Death (2020-2021) (not a true BL, but a MaxTul queer/gay romance set within a genre-based show that likely influenced Not Me and KinnPorsche) (review here) 25) A Tale of Thousand Stars (2021) (review here) 26) A Tale of Thousand Stars (2021) OGMMTVC Fastest Rewatch Known To Humankind For The Sake Of Rewatching Our Skyy 2 x BBS x ATOTS  27) Lovely Writer (2021) (review coming) 28) Last Twilight in Phuket (2021) (the mini-special before IPYTM) (review coming) 29) I Promised You the Moon (2021) (review coming) 30) Not Me (2021-2022) (watching) 31) Bad Buddy (2021-2022) (thesis here) 32) 55:15 Never Too Late (2021-2022) (not a BL, but a GMMTV drama that features a macro BL storyline about shipper culture and the BL industry) 33) Bad Buddy (2021-2022) and Our Skyy 2 x BBS x ATOTS (2023) OGMMTVC Rewatch 34) Secret Crush On You (2022) [watching for Cheewin’s trajectory of studying queer joy from Make It Right (high school), to SCOY (college), to Bed Friend (working adults)] 35) KinnPorsche (2022) (tag here) 36) KinnPorsche (2022) OGMMTVC Fastest Rewatch Known To Humankind For The Sake of Re-Analyzing the KP Cultural Zeitgeist 37) The Eclipse (2022) (tag here) 38) GAP (2022-2023) (Thailand’s first GL) 39) My School President (2022-2023) and Our Skyy 2 x My School President (2023) 40) Moonlight Chicken (2023) (tag here) 41) Bed Friend (2023) (tag here) (Cheewin’s latest show, depicting a queer joy journey among working adults) 42) Be My Favorite (2023) (tag here) (I’m including this for BMF’s sophisticated commentary on Krist’s career past as a BL icon) 43) Only Friends (2023)]

[colourme-feral]

I posted 552 times in 2022

That's 552 more posts than 2021!

193 posts created (35%)

359 posts reblogged (65%)

Blogs I reblogged the most:

@respectthepetty

@smittenskitten

@moonlightchicken

@aprilblossomgirl

@kinnporschesource

I tagged 551 of my posts in 2022

#kinnporsche - 240 posts

#kinnporsche the series - 240 posts

#kinnporsche the filming locations - 61 posts

#vice versa - 59 posts

#vice versa the series - 58 posts

#a tale of thousand stars - 49 posts

#atots - 49 posts

#vice versa the locations - 45 posts

#the eclipse - 39 posts

#the eclipse the series - 36 posts

Longest Tag: 123 characters

#am i enjoying the fact that mangkorn currently doesn't have the upper hand? yeaaaaah maybeeeeee a bit too much 🤷🤷‍♀️🤷‍♂️

My Top Posts in 2022:

#5

A little about the scene where Tankhun is burning joss paper for Pete:

This is not a funeral.

They are burning joss paper (also known as hell money) for Pete in the afterlife, whom we realise is still alive shortly after. I don’t know that much about the practice, but from what I do know, this is a form of ancestor worship, but it can also be done for family members or people you know who are dead. You only really do it if you care for the deceased.

The burning of the joss paper is meant to provide for the deceased in their afterlife, as well as to appease King Yama, who is the ruler of Hell. The items burnt are supposed to be replicas of what the living have.

The human effigies on the very right of the table are a replacement for living offerings, which were things like animals, but also humans. Over time, living offerings changed and they became replaced by things, such as grass and terracotta.

(An example of this is Emperor Qin Shi Huang’s unearthed tomb and the terracotta warriors, although evidence of living offerings were actually also found in the tomb. Sorry, I was a little obsessed with this for a while.)

See the full post

154 notes - Posted July 4, 2022

#4

Wild thought: Does Korn allow two of his sons to do whatever they want because from his experience with his own brother, Karn, two members of the same family being in the business will cause problems, like the ones he's currently facing?

This would explain why he likely bought the win in Kinn's singing competition, back when Kinn was presumably still just the spare and Tankhun was still the heir to the mafia empire.

It then makes sense why he isn't pushing present day Tankhun or Kim to be in the business, since there's Kinn, who is his current heir. Korn chooses to let his oldest son be eccentric and youngest be a musician.

By allowing two of his sons to do things that have nothing to do with his empire, Korn is able to throw his support behind Kinn and when Kinn takes over, there won't be anyone supporting his brothers to take over instead, since neither has developed any ties or power in that world.

This completely solidifies Kinn's power and position as heir and also rids Kinn of the future potential power play that might arise amongst the brothers otherwise.

You could also argue that this move will also help the three brothers maintain their relationship, since they won't be fighting, like Korn and Karn are currently doing, but that's for another post.

157 notes - Posted May 15, 2022

#3

Kinnporsche locations IRL

Kinnporsche: The boat which Porsche wakes up on after being kidnapped by Kinn and where Kinn tells him to be his bodyguard, but Porsche says he’d rather die.

IRL: Banyan Tree Bangkok’s dinner cruise boat

See the full post

162 notes - Posted June 17, 2022

#2

Doing a casual SCOY rewatch and I noticed some filming locations that it shares with other Thai BLs (SCOY ep 1-5 so far)

SCOY and Bad Buddy

SCOY and Ghost Host Ghost House

See the full post

184 notes - Posted November 11, 2022

My #1 post of 2022

Visually speaking, there’s so much call back here: They are on the boat that Kinn asked Porsche to be his bodyguard and in the background, is Wat Arun, where Kinn and Porsche first kissed on the pier and then ended their first date.

Of course, there’s also the fact that Tankhun is excited to be going out with his brother and his brother’s friends, which is completely different from the Tankhun in episode 2, who chose to stay away from people and not leave his home.

In the background is the bridge that Kinn and Big were being pursued, in the first episode, which lead him to Hum Bar (Yok’s Bar) and of course, to Porsche.

See the full post

249 notes - Posted July 10, 2022

Get your Tumblr 2022 Year in Review →

[nongnaos]

Ep 2 liveblogging for atots!

It's my first time seeing this show so everything is new to me.

1/4

Getting a job despite being a terrible candidate and the place is closed for the weekend: its the tv drama way!

Chief just bringing him to the school without speaking and then fucking off. I equally hate him and want to be him.

Getting individual intros to each of the kids is so sweet! Tian should maybe have done like a couple days of lesson plans though 😬

Chief taking the time to unbutton his top before looking for a not-quite-drowning Tian... why not take another 5 minutes to take off your army boots, sure Tian can probably breathe underwater don't worry about it bud.

2/4

Why do some of the characters have thai subtitles, are they speaking in a dialect or heavy accent? I need to know.

.... does Chief not know Torfun died 😬😫 is Tian gonna have to tell him at some point??? Noooooooooooo

This guy and his wife really said sorry to the weak ass bitches we only have spicy food here (i would be dead and gone) I really want to know if you're really not allowed to eat spicy food with heart transplant meds? Or is it just the tv drama way? Also the medicines came in a little gift bag, how sweet, ireland would NEVER.

"I'm sure he can eat the spicy food" minus points for you Chief, just straight in with the peer pressure/toxic masculinity vibes (as expected from an army guy 🙄). Tian, buddy, don't do it!!! Tell them you have stomach ulcers or something!!!!

That was almost 30 full seconds of Tian staring straight at Chief, chill out buddy, we're only on ep2.. Very interesting to me that Tian's the one to look away first though.

Chief's definitely gonna find the journal at some point isn't he?

Khlui, the instrument of love. He's playing it thinking of Torfun... and oop a lil bit of Tian. Oh no, the gay thoughts!! Flute solo them away like Lan Xichen taught you!!! Wait.... theres more thoughts of Tian... and a smile. Oh.

3/4

Hdjdjajd CHIEF TOOK TIME OFF TO FUCK WITH TIAN??? AND ENDED THE DAY WITH SMILING WHILE THINKING OF HIM????? You played yourself, Chief, you fooool.

Drake is back! 🙌🙌 "Rang and I believe you can win the hearts of the villagers" Rang is literally speaking to Tian for the first time, but ok.

Ahhh, Chief does know that Torfun died. He's just lying to all the villagers. It seems worse to assume that someone you all thought of as family just left and never returned with no letter or anything since, but sure pretend she's alive Chief, that's definitely not a terrible decision.....

"A pig has diarrhoea" absolutely standard excuse.

4/4

Oh no Chief looks so betrayed.

Chief's kinda a shithole tbh but I'm glad the doctor was there to say that no one wants a kid to get hurt on their watch.

Tell him not to leave! Orrrrr antagonise him into staying.. aaaah

He's thinking about why he wants to be there and the encouraging words of the volunteer teacher head guy... almost like words of encouragement work better than harsh criticism WHO WOULD HAVE GUESSED.

That was.. a lot of intense eye contact while eating noodles.

(Chief would definitely hatefuck Tian right now, the only thing stopping him is a lack of the necessary hatred. Chief dreams of being the kind of person who could hatefuck someone but sadly he's the kind of person who's smiling while thinking of him, making him eat noodles and staring fondly as he does so.)

[freensrcha]

Must the forest ranger walk the volunteer teacher home ? Who said I was walking you home. This is the way to my base.

ATOTS REWATCH WEEK 2022 EP 3

[lintunen]

ATOTS Rewatch 2022 - Day 1: ❤

With a split second of being close to you, my world is turned upside down

[heretherebedork]

I was rewatching Love by Chance yesterday and I almost had a heart attack when I found Earth (ATOTS) in it. Like my brain did not register that this poor man had been lurking around in BL so long.

There are many actors that have been doing that! It's honestly amazing how many faces you recognize as you watch older BLs or rewatch shows after watching a few more.

I'm not great at it, no denials. but I do occasionally have a 'wait, shit, I know that person!' moment and laugh.

Earth has definitely been around for a while and in the background and only recently found the spotlight and it's good to see that success!

Now if only he'd gotten better shows in the 2022 line up...

[waitmyturtles]

Have you noticed whether or not you are paying more attention to certain technical aspects of the BLs you're watching, and if so, which ones?

WKA, my friend! Thanks for the ask!

If I may overgeneralize your question: I think there are certain technical aspects I look for in any show. I love shows from everywhere in Asia -- Thailand, Japan, Korea, Taiwan, etc. -- and I know that each of these countries has certain filming styles, certain dramatic construction styles (like the Thai lakorns, the Japanese asadoras and taigas, etc.) that they'll stick to for the kind of show they are creating, and certain takes on well-known genres, like South Korea's K-dramatic takes on romance, for instance.

I think for me, the technical aspect that is the most important for me of any show is how sophisticated the screenplay is. I may go so far as to say that while I like a direct story, while I recognize that a successful story has a beginning-middle-end framework -- that I am probably a snob for screenplays that mess with that, and still end up with a successful story and ending. I like when a narrative framework gets successfully messy, if that makes sense.

For instance, I recently rewatched A Tale of Thousand Stars for my Old GMMTV Challenge project. ATOTS was the first drama I watched by Aof Noppharnach. He's my fave showmaker now. But back then, when I had very little familiarity with Thai dramas in particular (I believe my first watch of ATOTS was fall of 2022) -- I wasn't exactly sure what made ATOTS great, comparatively, with other dramas from its same field.

And now I know. ATOTS in particular leaned VERY heavily on flashbacks. We see in a later show like Double Savage, flashbacks being used annoyingly and not at all successfully by way of contributions to a sewn-up narrative. It was like, in Double Savage, the flashbacks were only used to try to create drama, where there didn't need to be artificial drama at all.

The flashbacks never felt artificial in ATOTS. Were there A LOT of flashbacks? Could some of them have been made more linear to the narrative? Definitely. But considering that our two protagonists, Phupha and Tian, were REMARKABLY bad communicators in ATOTS -- to use flashbacks as a means of the characters communicating to US their inner thoughts and feelings ended up being useful. P'Aof was deft in using this device, and used them successfully.

(You know me well, WKA, so let me say that another technical aspect that I look for in BLs is excellent smooching. I'm shallow, what can I say!)

[freensrcha]

ATOTS REWATCH WEEK 2022 - EPISODE 1

[lintunen]

ATOTS Rewatch 2022 - Day 2: ❤

To have you by my side is all I desire

[lintunen]

ATOTS Rewatch 2022 - Day 3: ❤

He doesn't even know how to flirt

[lintunen]

ATOTS Rewatch 2022 - Day 4: ❤

Your feelings come from your freaking brain not from someone else's heart in you.

[lintunen]

ATOTS Rewatch 2022 - Day 2: ❤

Home

[lintunen]

ATOTS Rewatch 2022 - Day 2: ❤

I do not have a reason or anything to justify