#hopefully I get gmmtv to pick it up

[ryansjane]

I need to see off in a villain role, I mean like a totally insane, loser, pathetic villain. I need it so bad and I need it now!

YESSSSS!!! this is getting me excited bc the bl series' script I'm currently writing with offgun in mind as the leads has sort of off as a villain LOL, well he's also the main character but he's a very bad guy 😏 I'd say though that I want him as a truly powerful crazy hot villain bc him being a pathetic loser villain already happened in girl 2k haha, and also every off role is hella pathetic so I wish he'd just... not for at least one role LMAO

xxx

[bengiyo]

My Love Mix Up Ep 1 Stray Thoughts

Before we begin, a disclaimer: I watched Kieta Hatsukoi in 2021, and I read the source material for this project last year. I will be reacting to this project as an adaptation and my commentary will carry elements of comparative analysis. There will most certainly be spoilers. Read at your own risk.

With that out of the way, let’s see if GMMTV can adapt another TV Asahi project with a branded pair.

Chokun has decent resemblance to Suzuki Jin, they both resemble Aida, and it feels like he got that character pretty easily. Casting directors ate twice.

I am glad the costuming and hair departments understood that adapted manga characters requires you to pay attention to some of their key physical characteristics, especially when there will be jokes around changing them.

I’m glad they kept Atom’s overdramatic imaginary fantasies.

I feel bad for the boys having to film on the rooftop. Rooftop scenes are important in a lot of the J-BL, so they have to mimic that part of the experience. Unfortunately, it’s so hot in Thailand.

I like Kongthap/Ida every time. He’s very considerate of others, and I like the setup encouraging Atom to understand why someone might like Kongthap.

Weak extension on that arm, Atom!!

Goddamn there are a lot of sponsors on this show.

I’m okay with them swapping volleyball for basketball. It’s still a team sport.

Aungpao spotted! His skin looks great.

He’s not wrong. Kongthap does look sick.

Okay, I really hope we get to meet the Thai version of Half’s family. That would be a real treat.

I do like when they make athletic boys pretend they’re bad at sports.

I feel like this veggies joke was written about Fourth and Gemini specifically.

I hope the teacher is aware of the crushes and actively trolling. I know I would assign students together when I knew about their crushes.

I guess Kongthap won’t have a dog in this version.

Okay, but Atom really did look like he was about to fling himself off the roof.

Kieta Hatsukoi really feels like the beginning of the “let me think about it” era.

I don’t remember a cat being involve originally in the manga, so someone else can comment on that. I was surprised by how little of the base plot they got through this episode, and that they already added in the whole PE bit. I don’t know that making Fourth and Gemini fight their instincts was necessarily the right call. Aoki is a high-energy, over-expressive character, and I think Gemini would have been more suited to Atom than Fourth. Fourth showed real drama chops in Moonlight Chicken, and would have been better suited to the seriousness that Kongthap/Ida has to carry. It’s tough, because it meant that this episode felt a little flat, which is not a feeling I associate with this series. Hopefully it picks up speed next week.

[waitmyturtles]

Last Twilight, episode 1: reflections

TW: suicide

ALLLLLLLLRIGHT! Aof Noppharnach began our year with Moonlight Chicken; interjected it with Our Skyy 2 x Bad Buddy x A Tale of Thousand Stars, and bookends it with Last Twilight. I've got my cha yen ready (not too sweet), here we go, Last Twilight, episode 1.

Some quick notes on random stuff first, then themes I'm picking up on:

1) Yes, we had to have Doc Jimmy start a new series with a new fight, huh (and always in these bowling shirt/jackets, too)

2) Ajahn Pichai with the gold chain, sheeeet! (Listen. It's my OGMMTVC Bad Buddy Meta Month. Just about everyone working on this show on the screenwriting and directing team are BBS alums. The comparisons will be unavoidable!)

3) Why do I know Sea Tawinan? It’s not because I watched Vice Versa (I stayed away), but because he was great in a small role in 55:15 Never Too Late, AND, more importantly, homeboy wore an off-shoulder Fendi sweater WITH a blazer (CLAP EMOJIS) to some GMMTV event, which warmed my couture cockles. Much respect for the taste! (Poor @lurkingshan has had to literally hear about my fashion obsession with this get-up MULTIPLE TIMES, sorry Shan, palms together!)

4) Of the few episodes of Midnight Museum and UMG that I watched earlier this year, I was not impressed with Namtan Tipnaree, but I appreciate that she's starting off quite strong and moodily here. (Also, UMG's script did literally no human being any justice.)

@twig-tea has gathered the ragged and burnt out (oh, is that just me, lmao) Ephemerality Squad from the Only Friends meta circle to join them in a Last Twilight Liminality.... what should we call ourselves, the Liminality League? The Liminality Legion? Someone choose! Anyway, I am super down, and ready to start chewing on some themes. Twig captured the big theme of liminality, of time purgatory, and I totally agree with what you've gotten down in your post, Twig.

In the preview episode for this series, Before Last Twilight, we learn that Day has 180 days -- six months -- of vision left. At the same time, Mhok has 180 days -- six months -- to earn enough money to buy back his late sister's car.

In addition to liminality/time purgatory (this is only my coinage, btw, a way in which I can understand the moment in life this show is capturing), we clearly have a theme of cars and movement. Mhok is a mechanic. He wants to keep his late sister's car. The Bimmer that Night is driving is Day's car. Mhok has to get Day home on the back of a motorcycle as Night had to drive away while Day was wandering in the middle of the road. A car can move backwards only very temporarily, and will HAVE to move forwards at any point in time in order to get to another location (..... unless you're a driver from New Jersey, ayooo!). The car belonging to the late Rung is very much in purgatory at the moment.

We have a theme of sibling rivalry between Day and Night. Day was the success of the family, knows it, and hangs it over Night's head. And we have a theme of opposites. Day, Night, blind, seeing. I can play badminton, I cannot play badminton.

(BY THE WAY! We know we'll be reading more into badminton, AND in the rivalry of Day and Night, AND in the rivalry of Sea and Mark in this series, yes? Mark Pakin and Sea Tawinan are both national-level Thai badminton players who chose acting as their careers. They're facing off in some GMMTV BL sports tournament at the end of the year. I hope it's slightly aggressive! In Before Last Twilight, Sea actually made reference to his rivalry with Mark. Ooooh, TESTY!)

While I'm watching closely the tension between Day and Night, I'm also watching for the stress and pressure that caring for Day will put on Mhok, as well as Night and his and Day's mother. As many of us are watching Last Twilight very closely for accuracy and authenticity in reflecting the experience of a disabled person in an unaccommodating environment; I'm also looking to this show to hopefully capture stories of caregiver stress, which is an incredibly real and important phenomenon (relevant articles here and here).

As I always, always harken to in my posts: behavioral change is very real, and very difficult -- especially when behavioral change is forced upon an individual AND/OR a group, all of which contain very different emotional constructions. Day and Night's forced behavioral change, based on Day's vision condition, has very naturally and automatically caused stress in the group dynamic of Day's family system, as we saw in the outburst in Day's car. I wonder how Mhok will deal with that stress, and how he'll manage his own stress vis à vis caring for Day.

Last theme for now, and then some concluding thoughts. Mhok's emotional distance from his sister's suicide. He can't bring himself to connect with it directly.

I'm eating this up. It's certainly Mhok's way of grieving at the moment. He's also talking with his ex-girlfriend in both of these scenes. There's emotional space between him and Rung, between him and Porjai. And certainly there's simmering and unresolved anger as well -- honestly, the whole emotional circle. But Mhok, at this point, is not toeing the line of getting close to those emotions, and is engaging with the memory of his sister with distance, which is bound to be addressed vis à vis his connection with Day.

There's a lot of anger, a lot of regret, a lot of avoidance, a lot of dancing around the honest truth. Mhok and Day are likely conduits of emotional openness and steadiness to each other; we will see how it plays out.

What do I think of JimmySea? I'm not you're average Wai hater -- I really liked Jimmy as Wai in Bad Buddy. Because I didn't watch Vice Versa, I honestly don't know what I think about him in a lead role. So I am going in REAL fresh, knowing nothing about JimmySea's chemistry, and I like what I'm seeing so far, particularly with Jimmy's emotional control. I appreciate having seen a bit of the work they did together in Before Last Twilight to get to this series premiere.

Aof has done this before: he's recognized potential in pairings (specifically in Dark Blue Kiss with TayNew and Still 2gether with BrightWin) to come up with fabulous shows. So I have trust that he knows what he's doing with JimmySea. Let's see. I really like this so far, but Only Friends did indeed burn me out to a crisp, so I'm allowing myself the slightest touch of hesitancy as I get into a new and big GMMTV show.

[italianpersonwithashippersheart]

Thai QL Favorites Tag game

Got tagged by @plantsarepeopletoo

Favorite Thai QL: I would have to say Until We Meet Again. Simply because it was my first BL (Disclaimer: I don't actually remember if I watched Love By Chance first or UWMA first, either way they were close together and I had both options at the same time, I think I started with UWMA) and I fell in love with it so hard. I still rewatch it all the time. I know it has some issues but it is unquestionably why I fell for BL.

Favorite Pairing: Now first I want to start with: I do not like real life shipping and I think pair branding can be amazing only if done responsably and with minimal or no fanservice. That said I do find it quite amazing that I can just enjoy the same pair of actors acting together in different shows. I think the true test of pairing is if they manage to not get typecasted, at least for me. That means that I think OffGun is best BL pairing. FirstKhao is a close second but I have not seen them in enough roles together yet. [Side note: I love OffGun, but if they don't give me even a temporary non endgame relationship between Gun and Sing in a BL soon I will fucking riot]

Most underrated actor: I am not sure, I don't know which metric to pick one for this category. Underrated by who? The people in charge that never give them main roles? The fans? Because apart from the people I follow I don't really see what fans think. So I am not really sure how to pick someone.

Favorite Character: This one is hard, but I would have to say Amagi from Takara-kun to Amagi-kun. I love characters where the happiest person on the cast is allowed to both be actually a happy kind person and be extremely sad and insecure. And I think this show does it really well.

Favorite Side Character: Todd from Not Me. He is my poor little mew mew ok. I liked Vegas fine but I never went super crazy gaga over him. But Todd. Todd was my Vegas. We were robbed!!! Robbed I TELL YOU!!!! I will never forgive them for not giving me ToddBlack!!! NEVER!!!

Favorite scene in a QL: Either the rooftop kiss in bad buddy or the scene in UWMA with the friends talking about reincarnation and Pharm and Dean "answearing" how it felt to meet again. Or just the official first meet in UWMA.

Favorite line in a QL: My memory is very bad and I do not remember this kind of stuff at all.

Most Anticipated QL (& why): Only Friends for both Jojo reason, and because I love the fact that GMMTV is doing it and mixing up some pairs and being messy and I am so happy we get to see it. Also Shadow the Series because I want to see Fluke Natouch in a darker series and an hopefully darker role, because he deserves it and he can do it and I want the power that be to stop making a sweet innocent character, one of his first roles was super dark, let him play darker meaner roles!!!!!

Healthiest relationship in a QL: PatPran --- This one was hard to pick because I have seen so many BLs and there are now many realationship that I would call healthy. But if I have to go with healtiest overall, I would say PatPran.

Most toxic relationship in a QL: Everything MAME, no contest most toxic ships in the QL sphere. It's worse with them because you can just tell it wasn't intentional.

Guilty pleasure series: I don't think I have one. I guess despite me seeing how toxic they are I do enjoy some (key word some) MAME series and I am a bit ocassionaly put annyoed by it. But that is it.

Most Underrated Series: Again same as above I don't really know which metric to use. Most of the ones I would consider underrated don't really feel like that because a lot of the people I follow also like them. So I am not sure I can judge when a series is underrated.

That's it. Thanks for tagging me <3.

I am going to tag two mutuals that I think haven't done this yet <3 @benkaaoi and @callipigio

[fourthofgemini]

I’m back at catching up with gmmtv series for a while now, been watching LT, CC and CM.

I was kind of disappointed with VV last time despite the cinematic universe but these days, the chemistry and performance of jimmysea is improving substantially; it must also be something to do with p’aof’s storytelling of real life people. I can’t even rewatch VV without cringing. The lowkey couple is getting well-deserved recognition, love and support, so I’m really glad and grateful for them for coming this far!

Somehow, no matter how much we are paying more attention to new actors, we can never disregard the power of veterans, offgun and taynew. It’s like they are on another level in acting. Warm and fuzzy feelings, giggles and squeals, punching air and screaming, all is there!

Funnily enough, on the rewatch of VV ep2, I started marathoning FUTS for second time, although I dislike pond’s character and plot (I could bear to some extent as NLMG palm is saving mork’s face), neo and phuwin won me over. What’s more, mix’s presence gave me comfort and peace (unlike MLC sexy wen). Still, I’m looking forward to seeing WA, pondphuwin, winnysatang and more.

I must confess, I still daren’t watch OF as the images I had previously on the casts weren’t that strong; forcebook ECTé and TBATB (paused on ep 9) were fluffy, firstkhaotung TE were highschoolers, neomark; their previous work were as comedic roles (excluding night from LT). I don’t want to pick the series without finishing their previous works so I’ll be taking my sweet time (or else, I would be unable to unsee their characters from OF).

Don’t get me started with MSP! Still streaming the playlist till today! Hopefully MLMU isn’t going through the same way as CM otherwise I would kms… speaking of adaptation, OL is also one of those shows I’m excited about; I’m curious how earthmix will play the roles.

Enough with bl, gmmtv, it’s time for gl, our girls, milklove! I hope 23.5 doesn’t mean that it would take 23.5 years to air the show (an exaggeration of how much I have been yielding for them!!!) I expect Pluto would broadcast at the end of 2024 (I’m willing to wait namtanfilm as long as the show is beautifully written and created.)

P.S. I tended to drop DR by perthchimon on ep 9, which is like a curse for me, although I love them as individuals but couldn’t continue watching it as the plot is way too awkward and messed up. I have no idea why they flipped the narratives completely. Maybe I should have seen it till the end to find out??? Anyway… that’s it for now.

[feuqueerfire]

Midnight Museum Live Blogging

Last week of classes, have a billion things due, am also deep in the GeminiFourth trenches, but why not start this since it just finished

GMMTV YT

Ep 1 (Apr 5)

1-1

is that Aou? I can differentiate between Aou and Boom's faces but I can never remember whose name is which

pls not the moaning heard through the walls that turns to ? whispering and speaking

first the MM card had an animated map at the back and now someone with a glove picks it up?

1-2

oof rip not the answer he wanted to hear whether Dome remembered him. I saw a tiktok edit that was like what if it's like the Howl's Moving Castle thing, which I also haven't watched but know has to do with time travel

"Khun Dome" "You can drop the Khun" "Yes, Khun Dome"

Namtan :>

I wonder if Dome hears these noises at certain times/proemity to certain things like monsters

oh is this Zone 16?

wtf is that red eyed thing possessing Dome?

(Linguistics) Khathai refers to Dome as Nai - reminds me of Nobitinn using that for 2nd person pronoun with Gun as that in the beginning (My School President)

okay it's a bit scary, hopefully I won't get nightmares but it's certainly more supernaturally scary than the thrillers/horrors I've been watching recently, so maybe I'll be afraid rip

1-3

ooh ghosty little typewriter writing a story

pfft please the way the bride in the red dress ran away with Khatha T.T

oh, Lee

1-4

oh, the bride is Namtan's character?

Lee's character was also trapped in being the writer and reveling in the bride's pain? and he just faded away when the typewriter was stopped?

oooh June didn't know either that she was the bride, she just liked the dress and story. so I guess it's not just haunted items that find their way to the museum but without knowing, haunted people do too

also all this commotion seems to be unusual for the museum; Dome's doing?

I thought Khatha was gonna be more capable than he is thus far ngl he keeps getting captured or knocked out lol

That was pretty fun, even if the storytelling is erratic and chaotic so far. Also, very fun that the cameos are credited in the end (Lee and Aou for this ep) as well as Episode Title: The Bride In The Red Wedding Dress

Also, it's my first time watching something with Tor and Khatha looked really good with that gum... Also, I'm guessing he's centuries years old?

Ep 2 (Apr 5)

2-1

the blade cursed with animal sacrifice - Mike's the one who grabbed it right?

lmfao them carrying the corpse skeleton in a bridal carry

Winny wasn't there with them until now right?

ooh non-Petch twin beat up the snake and its blood soaked the dagger

lol I saw the unhinging-jaw monster twins on a tiktok

2-2

ew I do not want Foei and Piploy

Winny with a knife to the skull

snake monsters and frog monsters

2-3

What does Jib mean that Dome is different... was he not a good person before? Can't he remember?

2-4

lol Khatha and Dome moments just... gay

It (Winny) just taking a chunk out of one of the twins

sudden black eyes and commanding monsters from Dome

the healing properties of being in the museum for Khatha

oh there's some after-credits scene with the gathering of corpses and artifacts

Cameos: Mike, Winny, AJ, JJ

Title: The Poisonous-Animal Dagger

Ep 3 (Apr 5)

3-1

Khatha has lived for so long and has also come back from death

not these stalker photos

oh, so Khatha really did die for Dome right then? and came back again?

ah, so Khaha thinks we're dealing with reincarnation

oh the artifacts are gone?

lol this moth

oh, the moth infects Bright's character

Khatha has an immortality curse

Moths of memory kinda cool - so if it bites you, you get previous host's memories and if you eat it, you get previous host's memories

I kinda wish I hadn't seen those tiktoks of Midnight Museum cuz it was just all Bright being a stalker and breaking-and-entering lol - wonder what it would've been like if I hadn't known

lol unblurred knife - almost was like oh? but that's in fact Korean censoring

oof she still keeps polaroids

I was kinda hoping he'd already stab Zen

oh she does see him

3-2

oh moth blood gives him memories of their relationship

lol oh yeah I saw this clip of him looking so around (I thought he was jerking off) but so fun, I hadn't realized it came from moth blood

yaas wasn't expecting police criticism here "can't do anything because nothing serious has happened" "does someone have to die first for you people to do your job?"

oh crying Khatha

nooo don't go to his house D:

3-3

D: bro this is a nightmare, her ex is a creep stalker freak and her current bf is scary too

fuck Rin literally had her ex break into her house and be a freak -> get no help from the cops -> was raped by her bf -> is killed by aforementioned freak ex who then gets her memories by eating the moth

oh he bashed Zen's head in with the door

3-4

don't make me watch them be cute he killed her bro

oh his name is Moth?!

nooo resurrected monster Rin? poor girl :(((

oh I hope she kills him, gets her revenge

Zen's death wasn't painful or gruesome enough actually

why was her death so much brutal than his?

why is this Rin's ending idek what to make of it like yeah ig the moths made Moth that way but he still did in fact kill her, so even if he was a good guy before that (...questionable), Rin doesn't deserve to have to spend her afterlife with him

oh gross Bam gonna have to eat the moth

ohhh interesting, Dome has no memory - so maybe he really was a different person before the way Jib said

a missing corpse - oh Jib is fucking still going, the fucker

AouBoom photo? Boom cameo next ep?

oh lmfao Jib has vaporized and this magic ball has reached someone else

Credits: Bright, Pat, Joss

Title: Moths of Memory

I liked this ep when it focused on Moth being a creep and unstable because I think I just like the genre more than the speedy, shallow fantasy they're doing right now. However, I'm so tired of women just being brutalized by their bfs and ex-bfs in shows where that's not a main focus.

The writing is pretty shallow for Dome and Khatha like we're gonna learn more about their history and such but we still barely spend any time on them and I can't even complain because I do like the side stories more but that's a problem, why should the audience care about random small stories more than the main characters? Also, blagh CGI and visuals

Ep 4 (Apr 5)

4-1

AouBoom phone call 3 months before start of the show

oh, Boom's character was fucked from before

wait... Dome??? Boom is Dome? Dome is Boom's character?

Dome really just woke up as someone else?? and Khatha ran into him that day

oh so the people who live there also know that the old Dome was replaced by this new Dome - but what about Jib? How did he not realize?

Khatha and Dome have such gay vibes

who is the kid with the sphere artifact?

oh I saw Pawin in that preview for 1 second

4-2

the hazing here is so interesting, it really is going hard on the kids but also like appealing to girls

damn, did Auto really kill his friend

4-3

I was expecting Khatha to sneak in to get the artifact, not Dome

but I guess Dome is sort of alien or something or a messenger from a god since some galaxy thing was speaking to him

bruh ofc the artifact was picked up by a gloved hand and rolled to Atom and the people Atom killed are also waking up

4-4

the rock resurrected Jay

oh, Atom came to the museum to speak to them? Edit: on reddit on-air, they said he actually said "person inside the building" and they were saying Atom and Jay were actually part of a cult and we're assuming it's this cult

damn, this rock being passed around like a hot potato

Dome locking himself up since the rock is still in him

oh, we see how Khatha and Dome knew each other back in 1182 (Thai year, so probably a fewhundred years earlier in Gregorian)

Cameros: Indy, Java, Pawin, Boom. fun that we got to see 2 rookies, I don't know if I've seen them in other shows or not - okay according to MDL, this is Indy's first show and I'm not watching ABAAB where Indy has a role

Title: The Terrestrial Rock

Ep 5 (Apr 6)

5-1

Fah, hello :) Tu, hello :)

oh dang, Ing's husband's ex-wife is still haunting the apartment

Is Nisa gonna backstab Ing?

okayyy interesting side story

5-2

the piano teacher lady is Nisa right? maybe disguised? she's a menace fr lol

oh that jumpscare with the blanket got me

the husband is so useless and stupid lmfao

why is Nisa giving the magic salt to Ing and getting the family to be closer hmmm will she ruin it all soon? give her poison instead of magic salt? oh something with the neighbours instead?

5-3

lol did he mean to challenge the high priestess or whoever?

lol this auction... Idk how auctions work but these prices and the jumps seem so ??

I feel like Khatha is so bad at this like he kept getting his ass handed to him in fights even though I'd assume he'd be better and now he keeps fumbling repeatedly at the auction like ?? why did you buy that painting for 300M USD dumbass and not listen to Triphob at all

Dome looks like Katha's nong shai?

damn bruh why does priestess want the destruction and darkness

5-4

she's eating raw fish just like that?

oof so Nisa and the piano teacher are related to each other but not the same but are working together

surprise cannibalism

yes kill the father stab stab stab and then fuck each other up

ooh the evil ones are having fun with their protege

wtf where are they flying away? oh... the priestess? she's fucked in the head oh interesting okay so we're getting bit by bit more of the cult they that was mentioned in the end of the last ep

Khatha kneeling in front of Dome and putting the anklet on him - I don't think they're actual brothers but Triphob did say nong shai

ooh Nanon cameo next ep lmfao pls why are all these GMMTV male lead darlings playing such perverts

Cameos: Fah, Tu, Mook (oh, that's the piano teacher), Dao, Aon

Title: Salt

Dome being so meek sometimes is so boring like White was also new to things and not great at pretending to be Black but he was never so bland

Ep 6 (Apr 6)

6-1

Why are we learning about Christian creationism theology rn oof I should've suspected it after people said something about Christianity on the ep 10 on=air thread

oh i see Nanon's character is gonna be weird with the mannequins out of loneliness due to ableism

oh cult recruitment

oh, Antika thinks Dome is God and there's a guy in a cell?? or something who has met God?

oof, Nanon's character's monoloque is

oh, View

6-2

damn not us getting romance between Ton and Anne

bro Khatha and Dome aren't in love? fr?

oof Dome really not telling Khatha about Antika

6-3

Ton's gonna do something to the prostitute? D: omg Anne and Ton gonna take her leg or something?

Ton's lines about not allowing even God to do anything to Anne go so hard though

oh are they gonna try to get June's leg too omg

What's up with Ton's like game-like illusion on his face? What mystical being is he?

6-4

oh, is Ton talking to God when he says "even though I have to hurt your man" about Dome

oh, Ton's an artifact brought to life

oof, Ton became a mannequin again

Cameos: Nanon, View

Title: The Mannequin

Ep 7 (Apr 7)

7-1

oh a different non-Dome character who looks like Gun because "The Creator" likes the mold?

oh, his name's One

oh old Khatha met Dome-like person who was a witch?

7-2

old-Dome was named Chan?

Tay Tawan

I'm so bored, can they hurry up

would they actually kill of both Bam and Triphob in the span of 2 minutes, I doubt it

agh time travel back to the past why is this annoying

7-3

oh? Chan in that grey hoodie like the people in Antika's building - I wonder if that guy who said he'd met God was a follower of this Magician and was indeed talking about Chan

why do they keep stressing phi-nong so bad I'm rolling my eyes

so that's why Khatha has the staff, it's like the branch he used to use

7-4

old Khatha was the dumbest bitch alive and he's not gotten much smarter in the centuries since tbh

oh, this is the flames that Khatha saw in ep 2 or something in his visions

I can hardly feel a thing despite the tragedy and tears because it's due to such braindead stupid actions

Chan had cursed Khatha to immortality

as expected, Bam and Triphob aren't dead

oh, Nanon again? but he's not the mannequin anymore, he's The One?

no after-credits this time

Cameos: Tay Tawan, Guy (lmfao I didn't even recognize him)

Title: The Witch's Game

Ep 8 (Apr 7)

8-1

is that Tay's voice as God?

Eternity cult

December 20, 2012

I don't know these guys, though one of them looks kinda like Sky In Your Heart Mark

oh yeah 2012 end of the world

April 4 2023 calling Dec 21 2012 same guy. but current time in MM is March 2023

8-2

ah he's doing everything to bring this guy back and just witnessing him dying over and over again

yknow what is that gum that Khatha always eats

8-3

has Triphob been body-snatched orsomething

ah parallel universes

8-4

3 universes

bruh's in a mirror now? agh also why does he keep just bashing at the glass, can't he see June look back at him?

as expected, Triphob has been fucked with and he took away Dome's body

Cameos: Junior, Mark - oh yeah so it is Mark and also I think MarkJunior are a side ship in Cherry Magic or whatever

Title: The Payphone

Ep 9 (Apr 7)

9-1

oof missing teens

oh Tu's character isn't as brainwashed

lol Triphob telling Bam to give dating a shot to prove that he's the real Phob

oh so this is the devil and not god?

Bam's not dead lol too little fanfare

oof is miss girl Tu actually dead or will she be resurrected - lol as expected

9-3

oh Antika is Tay's granddaughter

9-4

oh all the children went to the moon? lol

no like what is the demon thing that materializes up every time she plays the piano?

oh, they're trying to bring back Chan but Dome isn't quite Chan

oh no way... Chan's body is actually that dark corpse thing

after-credits Dome's body wakes up

Title: The Hymns from Church

Ep 10 (Apr 7)

10-1

oh is the gum to not smoke?

so did destroying the corpse bring Chan back to life fr?

The One Nanon

10-2

why is there a moon-saving plot

it's just so weird how there's suchhh a romantic undercurrent to Katha and Dome's relationship like it doesn't feel sibling-like or platonic at all but with certain words they keep emphasizing phi-nong like what

whose voice is in the galaxy star thing? sounds like Tay somewhat but idk

oh Dome has taken over Nanon's The One body

10-3

feels like an easy fight to defeat Chan in the end

bro this death scene is so fucking gay

10-4

oh yeah I do feel the "they say we have choices but we actually have no choices" hard

girl 1943?

i don't get what Nanon The One's whole thing was but tbh he's fun so whatever ig

Bam forgot everything?

how tf did Tum go to a diff universe with 3 moons like 2 decades ago okay hold on let me not think about it

Boon Tay Tawan still alive and they're setting up a 2nd season but will it even happen/would I watch it

Title: The Magician's Embodiment

Overall:

I liked the first half with the artifacts and side stories more than the second half where they tried to do too much for a short runtime, not too much budget, and mediocre writing skills. I couldn't make myself care about Khatha or Dome and also it was funny how they kept emphasizing phi-nong with words but so romantic in action. I wish the fantasy and magic and parallel universes and time travel and cult and God and whatever else made more sense together.

Rating: 5.5/10

[petekaos]

Omg Rahul the recent episode of bad buddy truly blew me away. I’m so glad we’re finally getting more Pat POV. Definitely my fave character and one reason is cos Ohm’s such a great actor. I feel he’s so underrated. Hopefully he gets more love and recognition after this series. Also, I enjoyed the Pat-Pha-Ink scenes this episode. Hoping we get more with this trio. Hope you have a lovely day ahead :)

hiii nonnie! oh 100% agreed! it's so fun how we can automatically tell that this is pat's pov and how strong the dissonance between both of their povs is. seeing pat's view of things (things i already suspected and have been talking about but it's nice to have them explicitly confirmed) just makes it all the more painful because pat doesn't know pran's side of things and pran's entire shtick of 'we're not friends' and 'stay away from me in public' can be really hurtful. but obviously, because WE know pran's side of things and why he's inclined to say things like that (trauma from losing control over his life because his parents randomly ripped him away from his school and from pat), it's all the more painful for US.

i know everyone's been on the pran train from ep 1 and, you know, same, but pat's character has intrigued me since ep 1 and i think he's my favourite character too! although honestly it's pretty much 50/50 with this show. ohm's acting is brilliant and you can really tell how much he's immersed himself in this story and this character! i do think ohm is fairly popular actually for a gmmtv 00s actor. he's done a lot of bls which obviously gives him some semblance of fame but i do think he and nanon are gonna shoot to fame during and after this series bc gmmtv bls just do better than other gmmtv shows (we don't have to get into how unfair that is and how little they promote women for example bc that's a whole other can of worms). both ohm and nanon are pretty well-established actors with other shows under their belt like he's coming to me and the gifted and they're really bringing that experience to the table here!

pat and pha and ink are such a lovely trio, i really adore them. normally i don't expect any sort of wlw rep or well-written women characters from bls bc these shows are just not about them and i'd rather get my fix of strong women from shows ABOUT women and not just WITH women, but i have the inkling that pha and ink could maybe become a thing. especially considering that p'aof has this reaction channel with his friends who also picked up on some potential and p'aof didn't dispute it, so ... we'll see how that goes. but yeah, the pat-pha-ink dynamic is lovely! i also really like the pat-pran-ink dynamic and the pha-ink dynamic too. they're all so cute!

[waitmyturtles]

Be My Favorite: I’m All Caught Up!

So two nights ago, I kind of lost it, HAPPILY, in a binge of Be My Favorite -- I’m here to report that I’m all caught up, I’m VERY SEATED for the ongoing episodes, and hopefully I can get it together to do episodic meta from here on out. 

First off, I’d like to say, publicly, that I had written multiple times in previous posts that I would NOT be watching BMF after having watched SOTUS, SOTUS S, and Our Skyy x SOTUS for my Old GMMTV Challenge. I thought Krist Perawat’s acting in SOTUS, etc., was awful, especially compared to what Singto Prachaya was delivering. While Our Skyy x SOTUS was markedly better than the two full series, Krist wiping his mouth after the airport kiss still gave cringe, and I was like, peace out, cub scout, hope you never do another BL again.

I RECANT. Clearly, much has improved by way of Krist’s acting skill -- and, likely, by way of how GMMTV workshops their actors and scripts before filming a BL. (And I REALLY want to thank @rocketturtle4​ here for going very hard in the paint for Arthit and tagging me in your post, because your SOTUS meta absolutely had me thinking about Krist’s acting again. That piece was part of the inspiration and urge that led me to pick up BMF. Thank you! Good things happen when you clown, friend!)

(As well, I want to note that while Krist’s reputation regarding homophobia has not, by way of general public judgment, been fully redeemed, that I think recent discourse surrounding the early days of the pressures of shipper culture and how his comments were received is very interesting to peruse -- especially for me, as I develop a MUCH sharper eye towards the toxic, negative impacts of shipper culture. This amazing dialogue between @absolutebl​ and @thelblproject​ has been EXTREMELY helpful to me in setting that history and context for me.)

So, with all that said:

Be My Favorite is a FABULOUS SHOW. The writing is SHARP, the acting is GREAT, and the chemistry between Krist and Gawin Caskey is SUPERB. 

Catching up to episode 7, I want to review what I’m seeing as the major themes of the series, ones that I’m seriously enjoying:

1) As I noted in my Monday night liveblogs, this show is structured in part around the inspiration of a few old yt dudes philosophers and physicists regarding time, space, truth, and relative existence. We gots Nietzsche, Einstein, Orwell, and -- gah, the Thai writer of the book that Max was reading early in the series about Thai social hierarchy, and I cannot find the post that explains that book (if someone has the link for that post, please send, and I’ll edit it in here). (EDITED TO ADD: thank you to @grapejuicegay​ for sending me the link! The book Max was reading was The Face of Thai Feudalism, and here’s a wiki link for the book). Otherwise, receipts!

Just to recap what I wrote in underslept franticness on Monday night: the first of the old dudes to enter the ring of this series is Einstein, regarding time travel. I mentioned that I am a huge fan of Jack Finney’s Time and Again -- I loved that book in high school. It’s a fantasy about how the American government uses Einstein’s work on weight and light to understand the dimensional aspects of time, the present, the past, and the future, and how multiple existences may be present -- if you can create a pathway into them. 

I don’t know at all if BMF is talking to Time and Again, per se, but it IS talking to Einstein and relativity, along with Nietzsche and what’s referenced in the slide above -- Nietzsche’s On Truth and Lies in a Nonmoral Sense (and, yooo: here’s the text! Read it! Everyone: READ MORE NIETZSCHE! Let’s meditate on power together when we have the time, eeee!)

I really want someone with a Ph.D to not allow me to say this, but let me offer a blasé summary of the text to say: what’s essentially being said in the dialogue between Einstein and Nietzsche is that truth is relative to the moment in time in which truth is being sought, and to the individual to whom the truth may have meaning. Truth is relative to the beholder of that person that is seeking truth. 

In other words: what, exactly, is the truth that Kawi is seeking? 

2) @respectthepetty​ (here) and @lurkingshan​ (here) are writing excellent meta on the dislikability of Kawi, and how this search for his “truth” is fucking him the hell up. First: I TOTALLY AGREE. This dude wants to spin that damn ball to find out if his life gets “better.”

And what we’re seeing is that he’s slowly relaxing the parameters of what “better” means. What “better” HAD meant to him, early on, was that he’d be in love with Pear, and that his dad would be alive. In episode 7′s rock star world, we see neither of those things happening; in fact, in none of his presumed worlds do we see that happening. 

Besides Kawi’s dislikability, which I’ll get back to in a second, I just want to say:

Him jumping to world after world is SO important to this story, and I really like that this series isn’t trying to hone in on ONE world being THE RIGHT WORLD, because -- Nietzsche, Einstein, and Orwell aren’t necessarily the guys you want on the bench arguing in favor of a ONE RIGHT WORLD perspective. They’re the dudes who are like -- bend some light here (Einstein), throw in a linguistical concept there (Nietzsche), and add some questionable politics and power control issues (Orwell), and, well, you got some messy worlds there, my friends.

In other worlds: this show is set, per episode, in the world in which Kawi is existing at that moment. It has relativity to his other worlds -- because he’s an anchor in all these worlds -- but not one specific present moment is his absolute truth. YOW.

3) Sooooo, where does that get us? It gets us to episode 7, an episode that really moved us...“forward” (??) (ha) in this series. In that, Kawi changed enough in his initial state at the start of the series to create a new future for himself that was vastly different than the ones in which Pisaeng was going to marry Pear.

What I am loving about this series is that by being anchored by the influence of the philosophers, in part, that we get to see a lot more light into Kawi and Pisaeng. Pisaeng, as we now know, was pressured by his mother to stay in the closet at a young age (cc @brazilian-whalien52 and @respectthepetty on the linked post!). 

What is your truth if you’re in the closet for so long?

In episode 7, Pisaeng has disappeared from the lives of his friends and Kawi for months. We don’t exactly know why at this point. But we get a hint at the very end of the episode -- that he is ultimately spending his time, possibly in multiple worlds, being patient for Kawi to come around to Pisaeng’s love. 

Early in the series, as well, Kawi notes to Pisaeng that Pisaeng wasn’t being honest to Pear about not having feelings for Pear. I think this extrapolation has already happened in previous posts, but I’m not finding them at the moment, so let me give flowers to everyone who has said: that Pisaeng’s internal reality is also a world, a present, that Kawi doesn’t necessarily share by way of absolute reality -- in that, what Kawi demands of Pisaeng early on is relative revelation for the sake of the people around him. And how will Pisaeng’s truth affect others? How will it affect Kawi, how will it affect his mom? How does it affect Pear?

All of that is relative truth that each individual, involved in these circles, must translate AND accept and digest in their own individual, micro-level perceptions. Pisaeng’s own truth BECOMES a kind of truth that is slightly different for each person that’s receiving it. 

4) And the same for Kawi. Except, we’re seeing it develop differently for Kawi. I think we have known, up until the end of episode 7, what “better” meant for Kawi, as I wrote previously -- Pear, his dad’s health, etc.

But I think we’re going to see a change in Kawi now (hopefully). We’re seeing that Pisaeng keeps returning to Kawi, in almost all the worlds, as Kawi improves himself and checks himself against his “present.” Surely, what we want to see in a BL is Kawi warming up to Pisaeng’s affections. The fact that time travel is the modality by which Kawi will experience that change -- vis à vis some VERY fascinating perspectives on what “truth” really means -- is FABULOUS.

It’s unique, because -- I think -- in the story of Pisaeng, do we see a macro commentary on the reality of being queer in majority cishet societies that may view queerness as dangerous or something to be kept secret, as Pisaeng’s mom indicates. 

To keep one’s queerness in the closet -- FOR THE SAKE OF SOMEONE ELSE, damn it -- isn’t that a violation of one’s own truth? And one’s own reality?

5) And, final point (for now) (ha) is: a theme that’s been running through my head on this series is how both Kawi and Pisaeng CHALLENGE EACH OTHER TO CHANGE themselves. Maybe even... for “the better.”

Previously to all of this time travel stuff -- neither of them experienced external pressure to change their worldviews. Pisaeng was going to marry Pear as a closeted queer individual. Kawi was going to live out his life friendless and companion-less.

Instead, THROUGH the time travel, and through their growth in all of these different worlds -- BOTH of them have been forced to change.

I really like this lesson. One can become complacent. As Theory of Love so deftly demonstrated: behavioral change is really hard. But it might be a little less hard if you have a companion, a friend, maybe even a lover, going through similar changes as well.

Kawi is still dislikable, I think, because he’s not aware of either HOW or WHY he’s changing. But he’s changing, alright. He doesn’t have the context, yet, as to why this might be good for him.

Maybe the crystal ball will tell him that?

OR, MAYBE: he’ll come to realize that contentment in the present is ultimately what will give him the most happiness. As Pear said to Kawi during her wedding in episode 7:

“But as we grew older, lived our lives, and continued to make mistakes, we’d have to accept that this was the farthest that we could achieve.”

What Pear is saying here is: you can stop striving sometimes, Kawi. If you can just -- BE -- and accept that life is not PERFECT -- then your future WILL just BE the result of THAT work THAT YOU DO NOW, THAT WILL CONTAIN MISTAKES.

What I hope to see in the future episodes of this series is Kawi recognizing that that work is what will be his revelation, and his ultimate truth for himself -- the truth that makes him the most happy and fulfilled.

We’ll see. I haven’t even gotten into all the subtle references to Krist’s past that this script holds, but @lurkingshan​​ is holding that down in her meta (yay, Shan!).

I am in LOVE with this show, and am SUPER EXCITED to join y’all in watching it! I am VERY IMPRESSED with GMMTV taking another chance on Krist in a BL, and Gawin was a perfect choice as an onscreen partner.

(CCing a few friends who were holding me down during my Monday liveblog, here ya go, some meta for ya -- THANKS FOR YOUR PREVIOUS FEEDBACK, FRIENDS! @dribs-and-drabbles​​, @grapejuicegay​​, @rocketturtle4​​, @chickenstrangers​​, @lurkingshan​​) 

P.S. I FORGOT TO ADD:

GAWIN. CASKEY. DAMN. CAN THE HOMEY ACT, OR CAN HE ACT? He is SO GOOD IN THIS, MY GAWD! Their CHEMISTRY! MEEP!

[waitmyturtles]

Turtles Catches Up With Old GMMTV: 55:15 Never Too Late, and Integrated Queer Storylines in Thai Het Dramas 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 delve into the queer storyline of 55:15 Never Too Late, an ensemble het drama that featured two phenomenal actors in Kob Songsit and Khaotung Thanawat as older and younger versions of the same person.]

55:15 Never Too Late: this is not a show that I think the majority of the Thai BL fandom is aware of, unless they're particular stans of Nanon Korapat (RAISES HAND) and/or Khaotung Thanawat (RAISES OTHER HAND). In part, let me just say upfront that 55:15 Never Too Late features significant het storylines with middle-aged adults, and -- one's assumed BL audience may not be so into that.

However. I picked this show up for the OGMMTVC after discussions with a few dear mutuals (in particular, the wonderful @chickenstrangers -- thank you for engaging me in conversation on this show!) about queer storylines in GMMTV het dramas. I had a thought early on in this project that I should touch upon this, as I was impressed with my earlier-this-year watch of GMMTV's 10 Years Ticket, and that show's inclusion of a wonderful queer storyline was woven with intergenerational trauma, which is a theme that I appreciate seeing in shows when it's done well.

In considering what might have been seminal for GMMTV regarding queer storylines in het dramas before shows like 10 Years Ticket aired: two shows kept cropping up in conversation, 55:15 Never Too Late being one, and The Shipper being the other.

I wanted to think on this because... man, for me, as an old Asian-American, to think about Asian het shows/dramas/primetime dramas that would have integrated queer storylines -- not even just a passing queer character who's used for cringe/comedy -- strikes me as remarkable. I certainly didn't see these kinds of storylines in the romantic or slice-of-life K-dramas and J-doramas of my youth.

Of course, this was territory that had already been crossed in pre-Thai-BL ensemble shows like Love Sick and Kiss/Kiss Me Again (which preceded Dark Blue Kiss). While The Shipper (I think -- I haven't watched it) was more of a coalesced storyline, 55:15 Never Too Late had a little bit of that ensemble feel to it -- but all the characters of this show were affected by the same supernatural phenomenon, which ended up bringing all their individual storylines together as one in the end. And after 55:15 Never Too Late, we have 10 Years Ticket, and hopefully more het dramas will follow suit in including impactful queer storylines as well.

I was encouraged VERY strongly to NOT watch The Shipper for the ways in which it treated issues of transgender identity (big ups to @so-much-yet-to-learn, @bengiyo, @shortpplfedup and more for helping me to avoid that disaster). And 55:15 Never Too Late was described to me as having a BL storyline that featured a cameo with Earth Pirapat and Mix Sahaphap, and that offered critical feedback about the wider BL industry.

All of that is true, and I deeply appreciated the feedback and direction. What I didn't expect was to receive a storyline that also treated elder queerness and coming out at a later age with empathy and tenderness.

Before I get there, let me set up the show and describe all the different storylines, and then I'll focus on Khao's turn, as he played the younger version of our main queer protagonist in Songpol.

55:15 Never Too Late starts off with five middle-aged individuals: San, a washed-up voice actor who is drunkenly robbed by two women; Jaya, a washed-up former teen idol; Amonthep, a washed-up former boxer whose boxing academy is about to default in debt; Jarunee, a despised high school teacher who receives a devastating cancer diagnosis, and Songpol, a restaurant owner who harbors a long-lived love for the pianist in his restaurant, a man named Mathee.

All five of these 55-year-old adults wake up one morning -- after all having visited the same photocopying shop -- as their 15-year-old selves, with their adult minds still in tact. All five of them use their newfound youth to address longstanding issues in their lives, and to hopefully find clarity on the problems they face as adults.

Where our queer storyline lives is with Songpol, and shit if I did not yelp when I saw who was playing the adult Songpol: none other than one of the best and most-seen dads in BL, Kob Songsit -- Kinn's dad! Dean's dad! Kawi's dad! And he's also a dad of a gay son in the movie Love of Siam as well. (Khun Kob is also a legendary Thai actor and singer in his own right -- cc @wen-kexing-apologist for the heads-up!). I squealed because this was the first time that I'd see Khun Kob play a queer man himself. I'm almost positive that he's likely taken on other queer roles, but -- Khun Kob's characters are usually the accepting dads! This time around, we get to see him embody a queer role holistically.

The adult Songpol was closeted his whole life. Upon his mother's approaching passing, he whispers in his mother's ear, as she lays in her hospital bed -- "I'm gay." The line on the monitor goes flat. We can surmise as much, that her household would not have welcomed such an admission in Songpol's earlier years.

Songpol is also a fan of the aging teen idol, Jaya. After his mother's passing, he takes it upon himself to decorate his room fully with all the fan memorabilia he collected over his teen and adult years.

Before his transformation into his teenage self, he meets with his fellow queer friend at a gay club -- likely Songpol's only outlet to be out in private (and his friend is played by the FABULOUS Shaowanasai Michael, who just OWNED the time he had on screen as a fully-out, decked-out older gay man. WE NEED MORE ELDER QUEER UNCLES IN OUR SHOWS!). Songpol's friend encourages Songpol to finally admit his love to Mathee, the pianist. As Songpol finally screws up his courage to make his admission -- Mathee reveals that he's getting married.

And Songpol goes to bed, devastated. And he wakes up as his 15-year-old self, played by Khao.

Of the times that we see the adult Songpol on screen, we see Kob Songsit do the most amazing delicate balance of a kind of presence struggle that older queer men VERY often have to do, by way of tamping down a peeking-out, a shimmering of femme characteristics, that often needs to be traded for a carriage of more masculine characteristics in everyday life (what movie better captured this than The Birdcage?) (cc @wen-kexing-apologist). Throughout the show, when Khun Kob was on screen, he carried himself like... like a het Thai uncle, slightly worn in his years. But when he was able to flourish in recognition of his queerness -- we saw that slight shimmer, the little twist in his shoulders, a little gleam and sly smile in which he knew he was safe to be out and gay.

Dudes, if you're a completist nerd like me, taking a moment to watch Kob Songsit embody a queer role ALONE made this show worthwhile for me to watch.

But! And! What did Songpol learn about himself as his younger version in modern times?

That's where Khao steps in, and of course -- Khao is Khao, right? One of GMMTV's best actors, Khao as the young Songpol (in body, not in mind) takes himself on a journey of recognizing that the world (at least the world that the younger generations live in) has long moved past the prejudices of his mother's generation.

Young Songpol looks on in wonder as two boys hold hands at the high school that he's returned to. He listens in wonder as his niece -- who is now the same age as him, LOL -- tells him about BL series. And he's agape when a school project on BL shows is proposed to him by a fellow classmate.

That classmate (played by Win Pawin Kulkaranyawich) is none other than the son of Mathee -- the pianist that the adult Songpol is in love with. [NOTE: this post was published before domestic violence accusations were levied against Win Pawin in early 2024.]

I was talking with @chickenstrangers a bit about this -- that the one wrinkle (no pun intended, HA) (listen, I get to make that joke because I'm an old mom) that 55:15 Never Too Late faces is that we have actors playing 15-year-olds who are all tackling adult problems... often with the other age-appropriate adults of their past lives. Meaning: age gaps, both externally and internally.

(Very namely, Nanon's character, the young San, interacts with his former high school love interest. Now, Nanon can pull off almost anything, and I'd argue that he was fabulous in this role -- as long as you were comfortable watching a 20-year-old Nanon express a long-lost love for a 55-year-old woman. He did it exquisitely, but the age gap could give some folks the jibbles. This also happened with the young Jarunee, played by the AWESOME AS USUAL View Benyapa, who confirms her love for a 30-year-old man, who was actually in love with the original 55-year-old Jarunee, so we're dealing with TWO age gaps there, okay, confused yet? ANYWAY.)

In this age gap case, Pawin's character, Phiphu, begins crushing on the young Songpol. The young-bodied and old-minded Songpol is like, wut. You're Mathee's son. Phiphu even goes in for an acted kiss as he and Songpol audition (AUDITION! LOL) for a BL series.

It's Khao and Pawin kissing -- but it's an older character that Khao is embodying. Khao did not lean into the kiss, and made it seem plenty awkward, which -- good job, Khao/Songpol. But I'd say the show overall didn't quite address the age gap issues frontally, which I do think was a miss.

(KhaoPawin, btw? Yet another reason why I want to ban branded ships. Pawin's never been better than when he was paired with Khao! Pawin was great! They were great together! Pair more randoms together!)

I think the show did a responsible job at indirectly addressing the age gap issue at least between the old/young Songpol and the only young Phiphu, when Phiphu finally admits his attraction to the young Songpol. And remember! They're living in an age -- an age that the adult Songpol isn't familiar with -- where Phiphu can feel comfortable making a queer admission to another teenager.

The young Songpol knew he was kinda in the shit when Phiphu confessed to him. Between the time that the young Songpol received this confession and the end of the series -- the young Songpol had transitioned back to his present elder self. In that elder self, played by Khun Kob, the young Songpol left a letter for Phiphu to explain his departure -- and to urge Phiphu, a loner, to be hopeful for a more loving future. A kind of future that, prior to his trip to his younger self, that the older Songpol may not have ever imagined for himself.

All while this is happening: the elder Songpol's love interest, Mathee, is getting married. And: Mathee confesses to the adult Songpol that Mathee knows that Songpol was in love with him. Mathee addresses it head-on, and explains how important Songpol is in Mathee's life as an elder uncle, a familial presence. It was empathetic as anything, wonderful to watch.

Again, repeating myself from the top: these topics are extremely adult topics. Not by way of explicitness, but by way of maturity and and growth. The way this show touched me as an adult -- there aren't a lot of BLs that do that, simply because I'm much older than your average BL audience member. This show really gut-punched me, simply because it was a drama (it just so happened to be a het drama) about reckoning with the highs and the disappointments of adult life, ones that, especially as a parent of young children, I am learning far too fast and all too well. To see an adult Songpol's mind -- channeled through Khao's brilliant acting -- coming to terms with a new generation for which queerness is far more accepted, was utterly moving. Even for myself, a het woman who was raised with a culturally embedded sense of bigotry for anyone "different," watching young people just accept queerness, as an everyday part of life -- and watching an elder mind try to process that, and realize that he could live safely and publicly, as he finally did, as an adult, at the end of the show, totally got me.

Most of the storylines of the rest of the characters ended beautifully, with a little tragedy mixed in. If you're a fan of dramas that feature the GMMTV stable outside of our beloved group of BL actors, I would definitely say to give this one a shot. (If you're a BBS girlie like me, keep in mind that this was airing at the same time as BBS, so Nanon had two shows airing at the same time -- and I do be believing that there was a little BBS reference in 55:15 because of that timing.) Sea Tawinan in particular, who I have no familiarity with (I didn't watch Vice Versa) was fantastic as a devoted and thoughtful son to one of the time jumpers. View, Kay, Arm, Piploy, Marc Pahun, and ESPECIALLY PRIGKHING (WHAT A DELIGHT!) were all fantastic.

Some of the latest het dramas out of GMMTV -- UMG, The Jungle, etc. -- seem to me to be post-pandemic leftovers featuring cute dudes in weak storylines that not a lot of folks really got excited about. 55:15 Never Too Late was a pandemic-era drama that was very much rooted not only in nostalgia, but also rooted in addressing regrets -- the exact kind of mental exercise that a lot of folks had time to work on during the pandemic. 55:15 held a queer storyline in its hands with tenderness, it featured two phenomenal actors in Kob Songsit and Khao Thanawat to treat it with compassion, and the result was eye-opening and fulfilling. This was a wonderful show, and it makes me very glad that there are GMMTV shows, outside of the Jojo Tichakorn universe, that consider queerness as inclusionary of storytelling. If this theme can continue at GMMTV, I will be ever more glad about it.

[So! WITH THIS! I'm going to be doing a slow rewatch of Bad Buddy and Our Skyy 2 x Bad Buddy x A Tale of Thousand Stars, along with a robust, if not heavy, slate of currently airing shows, including Absolute Zero and What Did You Eat Yesterday?, all of which will be taking a chunk of time of meta writing away from my generally middling level of sanity.

That being said, I'll be doing plenty of liveblogging of BBS, and I have at least two OGMMTVC posts planned for the show, so stay tuned in the next few weeks, as I sharpen my pencils and take notes on Aof Noppharnach's very best drama.

There is a future after my BBS rewatch, namely Cheewin Thanamin's Secret Crush On You, which I'm really looking forward to watching later this fall.

Here's the latest info drop on the OGMMTVC watchlist. For a more clear picture of what I've watched, please click this link!

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 (re-review here) 27) Lovely Writer (2021) (review here) 28) Last Twilight in Phuket (2021) (the mini-special before IPYTM) (review here) 29) I Promised You the Moon (2021) (review here) 30) Not Me (2021-2022) (review here) 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 (watching) 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) The Eclipse OGMMTVC Rewatch For the Sake of Re-Analyzing an Politics-Focused Show After Not Me 39) GAP (2022-2023) (Thailand’s first GL) 40) My School President (2022-2023) and Our Skyy 2 x My School President (2023) 41) Moonlight Chicken (2023) (tag here) 42) Bed Friend (2023) (tag here) (Cheewin’s latest show, depicting a queer joy journey among working adults) 43) Be My Favorite (2023) (tag here) (I’m including this for BMF’s sophisticated commentary on Krist’s career past as a BL icon) 44) Wedding Plan (2023) (Recommended as an important trajectory in the course of MAME’s work and influence from TharnType) 45) Only Friends (2023)]

[ryansjane]

I’m so glad you made a post about Sam being toxic. Gap has been a huge disappointment to me because of Sam. I felt like I couldn’t or shouldn’t say anything because it’s our first Thai gl and we should feel grateful but toxic representation does us so much harm. Sam is manipulative and downright cruel to everyone especially Mon. The power dynamic between rich and poor, younger and older, and boss and employee are also a problem. They didn’t they pick just one? There is a lot of coercion in their relationship too - from Sam using her boss status to make Mon stay over her house and in her bed to the bathtub scene in the last episode. Mon was clearly uncomfortable both times (a lot more times) but Sam coerced Mon to get her way. “I’m your boss so do as I say” and “We’re dating now it’s okay.” Also, the last episode really showed how much Sam gaslights Mon and treats her like shit. Firing her publicly and then changing her mind the next day because that was yesterday and she’s the boss so she can do what she wants. Gross. If Sam was a guy, I think more people would be taking about the toxicity between the two but queer women get so few things that we’re just dealing with it because when will we get this again? There’s a MilkLove gl coming but that’s it. Netflix, Amazon Prime, Hulu, etc will probably cancel the next wlw show they put out. We deserve more.

Sorry for ranting :(

agreed, it's so sad that the series is written that way bc otherwise it could be really good, and also freen & becky have excellent chemistry :( honestly the first few eps of the show really had my heart but lately I spend most of the show wanting to skip scenes bc sam's treatment of mon makes me hella uncomfortable... but to be fair, this is not bc this is a gl, though people overlook it bc it's 2 girls, just like they overlook abuse in bl bc it's 2 guys. but sadly it's more thai drama culture that influenced this choice by the screenwriters, bc thai dramas LOVE their misunderstood, mean & abusive love interests who are actually such good lovers once you get through to them. trust me, I've seen it happen more times than I can count. I'm still happy to see this show consistently get over 1M views in less than 24 hours for each of its episode's part, and I'm happy people are showing up for it, bc I know there is more thai gl to come. you don't have to worry anon, even though western media cancels every wlw content, gl is DEFINITELY on the rise. if the milklove gl is successful, which it most likely will, gmmtv will produce more. also I'm very glad to announce it's NOT the only thai gl coming in 2023! the shows that have been announced so far on top of 23.5 are show me love, reverse 4 you & be my baby! hopefully more will be announced as the year progresses :)

xxx