#manner of death ep 9

[absolutebl]

This Week in BL - Actually a pretty fab line up right now

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

NOV 2024 Week 5

Ongoing Series - Thai

Love Sick 2024 (Sun iQIYI) ep 11 of 15 - This is where the teen awkward comes to grab me by the throat. No other Thai BL does this better than Love Sick (except maybe Make it Right). And it’s always a challenge to watch because Phun is so ready to come out and Noh is so not. I love what cramming 3 eps into one, (and better side BL couples), did for the tension and pacing in this particular part of  this story. The new version really is excellent. I'm chronicling my experience with 2024 as compared to 2014 here. 

Your Sky (Sun iQIYI) ep 2 of 12 - They are so awkward and I love them so much for it. They are terrible at faking romance, yet Fah want’s Rak so bad. This is moving so slowly but that’s part of it’s charm. i’m getting Oxygen vibes from this. Or perhaps it’s is more just I feel the way I felt when I was first watching Oxygen. Which is to say, I’m totally addicted and I keep re-watching new episodes. 

Spare Me Your Mercy (Thurs iQIYI) ep 1 of 8 - Gah! JJ grew up so pretty. I love these leads. (No one is shocked.) I love the lawful good paired against (we’re not sure yet but possibly) neutral evil. I love our very sus very flirty very gay doctor. A lot happened in this first episode. I’m getting Manner of Death flashbacks but there’s nothing wrong with that. Bring on the chili. 

Incidentally, if you're interested in true crime, here's the IRL version of this story. How a Nuclear Lab Helped Catch a Serial Killer from the Science Vs podcast.

Jack & Joker (Mon IQIYI) ep 10-12 end - I got the go ahead on a safe ending, and thus I watched the last 3 eps all as one. I love how defiantly verse these two were. I also really enjoyed the final episode. I do like a finale that ends on a bang (yes, both kinds). 

Final thoughts

I enjoyed this show a lot. A caper BL starring two of Thailand's best and focusing on class struggles, corruption, and poverty, was always gonna appeal to me. But I’m not sure, ultimately, whether I liked it because it was good in it’s own right, or because YinWar were so good in it. I do wish it had been a little more Leverage and little less chaos, Dr Evils, and "watch War cry." It was a great vehicle for YinWar, and for them to prove that BL can defy its own tropes. To that end, this goes comfortably into the Manner of Death category more than anything else I’ve encountered before or since (although slightly less unhinged). It's good, but it loses the plot, the side couples, and it's own mind a couple of time, and YinWar were definitely greater than the sum of its parts. Thus I feel an 8/10 is fair, especially considering I'm unlikely to rewatch.

The Heart Killers (Weds Gaga) ep 2 of 12 - Dunk is illegally pretty in this show. I gotta say I covet his skin care routine. (I love YinWar as much as the next person, but THIS boy should be the spokes-BL-rep for Laneige.)

Manwhile..... FirstKhao might be GMMTV’s best flirters. It’s a pleasure to watch them just inhabit these characters and bounce off each other. I do keep saying “what tf are they doing?!“ with this show. In this instance, it was the dancing in the bowling alley. What is going on? is it meant to be a Pulp Fiction reference?

Also this gd soundtrack is bonkers. I *can’t!* with the 70s orgy porn music and the very bad not quite metal intro music. And then, I remember, brain must be turned off! (That’s really hard for me OK?)

All that said, both the sauna and the jerk-off scenes were much appreciated. It’s nice to see this kind of visceral physical attraction depicted in a BL, we get it so rarely.  

On a side note, I entirely support Thailand’s one country agenda to put all the cute boys in crop tops. Keep it up. And up. And up. 

Fourever You (Thurs YT) ep 9 of 16 - I just don’t get the (new) main couple. They don’t work for me. I like the surprise gamer boys side crumbs though. They are v cute.

Side quest: Genius move anytime Hill comes on screen to basically have Pond make love to the camera. He v good at it. Break everyone’s fourth wall, baby. Take no prisoners. 

Caged Again (Fri Gaga) ep 3 of 10 - That exchange! “Are you worried about me” (attempted flirtation) vrs Junior’s response “yes I am.” Just utter frankness. It’s very sweet. All in all this show is very sweet. Somewhat incomprehensible world building, but sweet. And the head lift into the lap was next level adorable. Sun’s shy smile is everything. 

Perfect 10 Liners (Sun YT?) ep 5 of 24 - This show is very silly. I love the sides so much I can’t EVEN. And I think it was a big mistake putting Tay into this show. Never let an OG out of the bottle like that. He gets all our attention because we thing he’s granting all our wishes. By which I mean, all I could think the whole time he was on screen was WHY IS HE SO FINE?

I’m not joking, I had to watch his scenes 3x because I kept getting distracted and losing the plot. Not that there is much plot to lose. Just Tay’s mouth. I’ll stop now, but seriously tho LOOK AT HIM!!! 

Every You Every Me (Mon Gaga) ep 8 end - Honestly I’d like to see this pair handed something much more meaty. Like a Japanese adaptation? Tokyo in April is… for example. I think they do a great job with something like that.

Conclusion

This was supposed to be a linked series about reincarnated soulmates, but ended up being more like a Y-Destiny grab bag BL with no rebirth through line, just the same acting pair. The leads were excellent. And I must praise this show for representing things I always want in my BL (and rarely get), switch, verse, communication, and safe sex. It’s just that this format with the same actors but no unifying theme (despite the pitch/packaging) made for a disappointing viewing experience. Some of the installments I enjoyed, and the visuals are on point, but I was ultimately let down by style and execution, if not acting. 6/10 

Ongoing Series - Not Thai

Our Youth AKA Miseinen: Mijukuna Oretachi wa Bukiyo ni Shinkochu (Japan Tues Gaga) ep 4 of 11 - “I won’t fall in love with you” is an easy promise to make if you’ve already fallen. I just love this show SO MUCH. “Infect me just a little.” Holy fuck. This BOY. Also, so much for “not kissing.” This BL is fantastic. And I’m so worried about where it’s going. Japan could very much hurt me with this. I didn’t expect to fall in love so hard.

Man, JBL, when it gets you it really gets you (then it locks you in a basement and gets kinky). We are not safe but we may still enjoy it. I hate this. I love this. What a rush. 

See Your Love (Taiwan Weds Gaga) ep 7 of 13 - i think this show has a “crash into me” trope in every single ep. This ep alone had 3, plus a flash back to the first one. Still, their damn date was so flipping adorbs!!!

Teenager Judge (Vietnam Sat YT) ep 10 of ? - I couldn’t be less interested in the stuff with the mean girls. And I’m annoyed we spent so much of this episode on them.

Love in the Air: Koi no Yokan (Japan Sat Gaga) ep 5 of 10 - Arashi as the doting bf was cute if sudden, also holy musical montage BLman.  Kai is my favorite character (as was Sky) but I'm still not wild about the blackmail sex start to this relationship. It does seem a little bit more like Kai went after a one night stand, also bit more switchy feeling, which is better...... I guess. But not by much because the chemistry with these two isn't as good as the original. I remain suspicious.

It's airing but......

Love is Like a Poison AKA Doku Koi: Doku mo Sugireba Koi to Naru (Japan Tues ????) 11 of 12 eps - My source hasn’t yet uploaded 11. So…… I wait. 

Secret Love (? YT?) 13-?? of 81 eps - I don't know what's going on either.

Blue Canvas of Youthful Days (China Sun Viki) paused at eps 9-10 of 12 - I got the "stop" on this one as it's gone (no surprise) dark. Being China can not be relied upon to HEA. So I'm on pause until I'm told it's safe. If it ends sad/bad I will dnf. But for now I wait......

Winter Is Not The Death of Summer (Thai Weds YT) ?? eps - Criminals who meet in prison fall in love. I did find it on YouTube, initially unsubbed, then subs happened by which time I got distracted. The first episode seems to be only six minutes long. It is very pulp. But it is intriguing. For now its to the wayside until someone tells me what it whats to be and if it's headed in a safe direction. Occasionally Thai pulps want to be edgy and it's not a good look on them.

Bad Guy My Boss (Thai Sun Gaga) 10 eps - I DNF'd at ep 7, I couldn't make it. I'm weak. Life is hard enough right now, this show made it harder. It’s not what I want from my entertainment. Ends tomorrow.

Bad to Bed (Taiwan Sat YT) 10 eps - This is a little too low production value even for me + just very very odd. DNF

In Case You Missed it - GMMTV 2025 Line Up

There have been a ton of hot takes already, including mine.

Here are the titles and links to MDL for you (confirmed full BLs only), these are organized in order of the ones I'm anticipating the most at the top.

Dare You to Death - trailer

Boys in Love - trailer

Memoir of Rati - trailer

My Magic Prophecy - trailer

Me and Thee - trailer

A Dog and A Plane - trailer

Cat for Cash - trailer

That Summer - trailer

My Romance Scammer - trailer

Head 2 Head - trailer

Ticket To Heaven - trailer

Burnout Syndrome - trailer

Melody of Secrets - trailer

Only Friends Dream On - trailer

Love You Teacher - trailer

Next Week Looks Like This:

End of year drops:

12/4 0.5D (Japan ????) 10 eps - Sales ace, Sada, has a secret that only his junior, Daiki, knows. He has pretended to have a gf for years, resulting in him being a virgin. But now Sada has fallen in love. Confused, Sada seeks advice from his junior. I sense another queer Cyrano De Bergerac. Info here.

12/6 Be Moon - Falling for my enemy's son (China ????) movie from HBD Studio - Not much on this one just a trailer, looks intriguing...... if it's from/through Taiwan, but if it's all China, I'm wary.

12/13 ThamePo Heart that Skips a Beat (Fri YT) 12eps - A boy band member and his documentarian start a forbidden relationship. I LOVE Est and am delighted to see him at GMMTV. This was my #1 pick for 2024. I've been waiting for a Blinding Lights style idol romance and this looks like it might be it (Korea and Japan have systemically disappointed me). Bring it, boys.

12/14 & 12/21 The Renovation (Thai mini One31) 2 eps - Writer turns his blossoming romance with holiday resort owner into a novel.

12/29 Sangmin Dinneaw (Thai ????) ??eps - trailer Childhood friends (Thai & Korean) reunite after being apart for ten years. As the boys reconnect, their bond matures and feelings of romance begin to develop, in Thai.

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

THIS WEEK’S BEST MOMENTS

His smile. (Caged Again)

Look at them!

Look, I don't mean to tell you your business, but THIS? This is peak Thai BL. This is it. This is What They Do Best. Sure they dabble with silly kinky crimey-whiney fashizzal, but Thailand's true BL power is right here, in the sweet awkward school-set first love arghhhhh. Yes I said, school. Bite me. (Love Sick... damn it, 10 years later and it still has me in a choke hold.)

Hey all you idiots who thought (or think) there is ever a green flag in any Mame ever, this character if for you. This boy, THIS ONE. This is what a walking talking ACTING green flag energy actually looks like. You wanna date a dude? Find you one like him. Okay, peaches? sheesh

Meanwhile, this, this is not a green flag. This is GMMTV thinking they are being clever by calling out Thai BLs' worst behavior to make a character who has 'slightly less than worst behavior' look better. Sigh. When meta is used for ill gotten gains.

This, on the other hand is meta being cleverly deployed.

And this is language play. P'ABL's favorite.

So endeth this lesson.

(last week)

The tag BLigade: @doorajar @solitaryandwandering @my-rose-tinted-glasses @babymbbatinygirl @babymbbatinygirl @isisanna-blog @mmastertheone @pickletrip @aliceisathome @urikawa-miyuki @tokillamonger @sunflower-positiiivity @rocketturtle4 @blglplus @anythinggoesintheshire @everlightly @renafire @mestizashinrin @bl-bam-beyond @small-dark-and-delicious @saezurumurmurs

[chuplayswithfire]

Izzy Arc Thoughts, the post!

Having now watched the three episodes three times over (some of them more than that shhhhh), I still have a BUNCH of thoughts about the rest of the crew I want to percolate on, but I had some thoughts on Izzy that I finally feel confident in, as to what's going on in with his character since the end of season 1, and especially the arc he has between Impossible Birds and The Innkeeper.

Being upfront: I wasn't sure what kind of arc the show would do with Izzy and we still obviously don't know the full scope of it, as we have five more episodes to go, but it's definitely been intriguing in a way I didn't anticipate. I figured Izzy would continue on with his antagonistic role, and he still might, but it seems like D Jenks is having fun letting Con have a role with more emotional nuance than in season one, and seeing as that role has an impact on everyone else, I wanted to share my thoughts on what I think is going on with him in the episodes that we've seen so far. I also wanted to start my in depth analysis with a character I don't care about nearly as much (being honest!) as I do the rest of the crew, but who also has a huge impact on two characters I do care very much about, Ed and Stede. I'm planning to analyze Ed and Stede in each episode before we get eps 4 and 5!

This is a long post! It features many quotes directly , transcribed by me and taken from the captions by Max. I used a read more because the whole thing is over 6k in length and analyzes the dynamic presented between Izzy and Ed and Izzy and Stede presented in episodes 1-3 of season 2 of Our Flag Means Death. If the read more doesn't work, that is not on me, sorry.

Alright, so recap: when we left Izzy, he had lashed out at Ed for the person he was choosing to become and the manner in which he was expressing himself and his feelings - the blanket fort, the binging sweets, the singing for the crew, the sharing his feelings and asking to be called Edward, the encouraging a talent show, and then, the cleaning up and comfortably wearing a colorful printed robe of nice, soft fabric. (Quotes: "I should have let the English kill you. This, whatever it is that you've become... is a fate worse than death." "(growled) No. This, this is Blackbeard. Not some (breath) namby-pamby in a silk gown, pining for his boyfriend.”) When these insults get the aggressive reaction from Ed that Izzy associates with the version of Ed he prefers, he encourages him with a smile, hand cupping Ed's cheek, and choking out "There he is." Ed shoves his hand away, backing away with a closed off expression, and Izzy's smile dies and he closes the distance between them. He states what he wants from Ed, makes a threat, and walks away without waiting for a response. (Quote: "Blackbeard is my captain. I serve Blackbeard. Not Edward. Edward better watch his fuckin' step.”)

The next time we see Izzy, Ed has donned his leathers, made his face up with dark make up to look more fierce, and is cutting off Izzy's pink toe and feeding it to him. We know from episode 9 that cutting off toes and feeding it to people was a classic Blackbeard move. For Izzy, this is several things: 1) confirmation that Blackbeard is back, the one who would never let a threat stand and does a good maim 2) a punishment for said threat (Quote: "Threaten me again, ever... I'll feed you the rest. Understand?" "Y-Yes, Blackbeard.") 3) a confirmation that he has his boss back, that whatever Stede has done to his boss' brain is over.

We get confirmation of that third point when Izzy speaks with the crew as they're getting rid of Stede's books and possessions - "Blackbeard is himself again," with a broad smile. Later, we see Izzy abandon the crew on a small island, presumably on Ed's direct orders, as he waves goodbye to Bonnet's playthings - them - as they depart. Izzy has a gun as he stands beside Ed, and they're watching as Frenchie finishes the new flag and hoists it.

That's where we left Izzy in Season 1: standing besides Ed as Blackbird returns to being Blackbeard for a brand new era of being Blackbeard, greatest pirate who ever lived, terror of the seas.

And when we return to the show, that's kind of what we get. Edward is being Blackbeard and Blackbeard is the terror of the seas, a Wanted Poster with so many crimes they're covering both sides of the poster (and yeah some of them are very silly, what midwifery was Ed up to, exactly-), and yet, Izzy is not happy when we see him.

What I think the show works to establish in episode 1 is that what Izzy wanted back was the man he saw as the old Blackbeard, who wasn't afflicted by these feelings of love or softness or "weakness", which he views as something that Stede Bonnet inflicted upon Edward. We know that, because it's how he phrased it to Chauncey - that "[Stede] had done something to [his] boss's brain". He seemed to view these feelings as something akin to an infection from Stede, that was corrupting the Blackbeard he knew and respected to something less than. Izzy wanted the old Blackbeard back and he thought that when Ed took his toe and fed it to him, said he'd killed Lucius, all that I recapped, that he'd gotten just that. A return to his preferred normal, where everything makes sense exactly as he thinks it should. Ed back to normal, it's Blackbeard time, getting rid of the dead weight and all that.

Except that's not what he's gotten at all, and I don't think Izzy had fully grasped why prior to episode 1. He has suspicions, of course, but it takes him a while to build to a confrontation about it.

Because see, Ed switched from healthier coping mechanisms like crying, eating sweets, creative outlets, and talking to people about his feelings to much more acceptably pirate means of coping with his feelings - violence in the form of raids and drugs (rhino horn, which thought people joke about it being an aphrodisiac, has a variety of believed medical uses in Vietnamese medicine, treating ailments including hangovers, fever, gout and potentially terminal illnesses, like cancer or stroke). Raids and drug use should be totally acceptable means of managing your feelings as a pirate, except that Ed is going too far with them, pushing the crew to the breaking point and beyond. They're raiding every day, they're not taking breaks, they're not having days off, they're chasing down ships as fast as they can take them down and now they're going to be throwing away loot. Izzy is realizing that actually he has not gotten the Blackbeard he wanted and things are not great. He's also lost at least two more toes.

He and Ed have an early exchange - Izzy looking sickly, skin sallow, what appears to be hair dye or make up trickling from his hairline, Ed prepping and snorting rhino horn like it's cocaine:

Izzy: "The crew are lookin' a tad worse for wear.” Ed: "Did everyone get cake?" Izzy: "Yeah, they got cake." Ed: "Well they're, they're welcome to have some rhino horn. Just ground up a fresh batch." (snorts rhino horn) "Oh fuck! You want some?" Izzy: "No, not right now, no." Ed: "Well then, get back to work ya fuckin' lightweight!" [cut to Izzy among the crew] Ed voiceover: "Can't do the job, someone else will."

Throughout this scene, Izzy looks increasingly distressed as Ed does drugs - he looks his most distressed during the voice over however, his jaw flexing, his eyes watery.

This is what appears to have shaken him the most - the idea that he's replaceable, that Ed can and would get rid of him in favor of someone else. It's obviously incredibly distressing to Izzy, in a way that I genuinely don't think the loss of his toes was. Izzy clearly values his relationship with Edward - while in season 1 he definitely wanted a promotion and liked the idea of authority, of being captain, the fact that he was swiftly mutinied and nearly murdered seemed to put a kabosh on his ambitions, and reoriented him to staying at Ed's side. We know that Izzy at least believes that loyalty is important - we know that he thinks he's acting from loyalty when he tries to make Ed watch as his boyfriend (in Izzy's words) is murdered.

Izzy values his position with Blackbeard. He serves Blackbeard, respects him, was honored to work for a legend. And while this is supposition, he seems to have considered himself and Edward as having a close, intimate relationship that did not require words or confessions or honest expression of feeling, this kind of bond where words aren't necessary, because they're tough, manly men who don't need to express their feelings.

But.

Then we get this line. Then we get, "can't do the job, someone else will." Seven words, and they shake Izzy to his core, make him finally start questioning his until then unquestioned belief in the ways of the world and his relationship with Edward. It shakes him enough that he actually breaks in front of the crew, in a scene that's incredibly funny, but also leads to them extending him some genuinely unearned compassion, as they question the healthiness of his relationship with Blackbeard - even as Izzy is finally questioning if he has a relationship with Blackbeard.

Following his breakdown, Izzy has the crew bring the treasure above deck, but doesn't go through with making them throw it overboard. Instead, he takes those new doubts and brings them to Ed, pushing for a conversation where he is clearly for the first time in their working relationship expressing his thoughts on said relationship in word form.

Izzy: "The crew are refusing to part with any treasure." Ed: "Why?" Izzy: "Because it's fuckin' treasure." Ed: "Not good enough. (stops toying with knife, slides it in Izzy's direction.) And that's another toe. Take your boot off." (stands from seated position, walks over to Izzy.) Izzy: (starts by looking down at the ground, then slowly raises gaze to Ed's face as he speaks.) "Who am I to you?" Ed: “...What?” Izzy: “We’ve worked together for years. (sniff) You know me better than anyone has ever known me, and I daresay the same is true for me about you.” (a musical beat plays. Izzy lowers his eyes from Ed’s face, looking in the middle distance.) Izzy: I have (several second long pause) love for you, Edward.” Ed: (starting as Izzy is speaking, right after the word love) “Oh, come on.” (walks away from Izzy, circling around him.) Izzy: I’m worried about you. We all are. The atmosphere on this ship is completely poisoned.” (pause) “But if we could all just maybe (pause, swallow, visibly struggling with words) talk it through.” (musical beat) Ed: (slowly looks up) “As a crew?” Izzy: (face falls subtly, taking on a starker look of upset)

The scene transitions away, but let’s really dig into all of this for a second, because this is crucial. This is Izzy going from matters between us are unspoken but profound to I have doubts and I am verbalizing my thoughts in the hope that they will be assuaged. Izzy is expressing aloud his thoughts on their relationship for the first time, because as Izzy puts it, he thought he knew Edward better than anyone. He thought he understood him better than anyone else alive. Now, we know that Izzy doesn’t understand Edward already - we’ve known that he doesn’t actually see the person Edward all along, but this was made especially clear in episode 6, where his voiceover notes that he is “starting to suspect that Edward has no intention of ending Stede Bonnet’s life”, at a point in time when Ivan and Fang are confident the plan is off and everyone else seems pretty clear there’s a co-captaining effect going on.

The point is that all this time, Izzy has been acting from a place of assuming he knows Edward best of anyone in the world, that he understands him, that he can follow what’s going on with him and that they are intimately bound together, in this deep and unspoken love for each other that doesn’t have to be said allowed, but only has to exist, unacknowledged but deeply felt. 

But then Ed said that he could be replaced. Then Ed said that he could find someone else to do Izzy’s job. 

And this introduced doubt into Izzy’s mind, for the first time. This is what made Izzy verbalize all these things - what made him ask who he is to Ed, what made him state that he has love for Ed, that he worries for Ed, that he and Ed understand each other better than anyone else… because now he has to say them aloud, because he has to be reassured that these things are true. 

That he is someone important to Ed. That Ed has love for Izzy and knows that Izzy has love for Ed. That Ed understands Izzy, that Ed knows that Izzy understands Ed. For years, he has thought that he and Ed understood each other in this profound way, that they alone truly knew the other, and he has to question if that’s true. 

He’s being vulnerable, in a way vaguely akin to the vulnerability Ed offered in episode 10, and it clearly doesn’t land. He wants reassurance that this deep and profound love and intimacy he was so sure was there, is real, and Ed can’t give him that reassurance because it’s not true. Not in the way Izzy was so sure it was. Not in the way he ruined Ed’s life to believe. 

Izzy finally decides to put himself out there, and all that Ed gets out of it is the echo of Stede Bonnet, and it makes Izzy’s face fall like a rock. There’s the answer he didn’t want: the relationship he believed he had with Ed is not there, and Ed is still, utterly, truly, fixed in his feelings for Stede Bonnet. 

(and like just to clarify, I really don’t feel bad for Izzy here - he doesn’t have the relationship he wants with Ed because he’s never tried to really understand Ed, or listen to him, and he isn’t what Ed wants in a partner, but, objectively, Izzy does make himself vulnerable here, and he’s shot down, because Ed just doesn’t return his feelings)

Which leads us into the continuing scene. Ed goes to confront the crew about the atmosphere of the ship being poisoned, which everyone denies at gun point, leading Ed to shoving the gun under his chin and having a little conversation with himself, unsettling everyone around. 

Ed: “I know who we should ask, ol’ Blackbeard. Hello mate. You think the vibe on the ship is poisoned? I don’t know, Blackbeard. Maybe a little toxic sometimes. Maybe it’s a bit uncomfortable sometimes. You do make the crew a little bit uncomfortable sometimes. They think you’re crazy. Well, I’m not crazy. I don’t feel crazy. I feel pretty fucking good actually.” (the camera is focusing on the faces of all the crew as he gives this monologue, gun still cocked under his chin.) Izzy: “Fucking End!” (Screamed at Ed’s back) Ed: (slowly turns to Izzy.) Crew: (Fang looking shocked and saddened. Frenchie shakes his head very minutely, looking at Izzy.) Izzy: “The atmosphere on this ship is (word drawn out) fucked.” (working his jaw, looking down and to the side as he says this.) “Everyone knows why.” Ed: (nods once, sets his chin, walks forward.) “Well I don’t. Enlighten me.” Izzy: (smiling with mouth shut, suppressing a laugh. Shrugs.) Your feelings for Stede fuckin’ Bonnet.” Ed: (Nods as soon as Izzy says Stede’s name. Shoots him in the leg.) Izzy: (cries out in pain drops, clutching his knee.) Ed: “Frenchie.” Frenchie: “Yes?” Ed: “Congratulations, you are now first mate.” Frenchie: “Oh, no. I don’t, I don’t  think I’m qualified.” Ed: “‘course you are mate. You can start by cleaning up that mess.” (tilts head towards Izzy. Turns to rest of crew, onlooking.) “And the rest of you, you throw this shit overboard and get suited up.” (claps twice, turns away.) “We’ve got a record to break.” Izzy: (still groaning in pain.)

So that was a lot. 

Izzy has realized, over the course of this episode, that his relationship with Ed is not what he thought it was, is not what he wants it to be, and that Ed is still and probably always will be, in love with Stede fuckin’ Bonnet. This is why Izzy decides to say what he believes to be true - that the atmosphere is fucked because of Ed’s feelings for Stede. It’s important that we know this is not actually true - while Ed being ghosted by Stede did start his spiral, Ed was able to stop that spiral with the help of community and reaching for healthy coping mechanisms. Ed spiraled again after Izzy intervened, insulting, threatening, and demeaning him as discussed in the recap, and the spiral isn’t about his romantic feelings - it’s about, as s2e3 The Innkeeper firmly establishes, his feeling fundamentally unloveable and monstrous. Throughout s2e1, Ed is clearly denying the crew days off and meaningful rest out of pursuit of as many raids as possible. He’s trying not to touch the ground, flying high both via drugs and adrenaline, and his exchange with Frenchie at the end of the impossible makes it clear he doesn’t want to stop. 

It’s also very important, that throughout this entire thing, the only crew member Ed actually hurts is Izzy, who doesn’t actually object to losing his toes. Now, I’m on record for being one of the many people who think Izzy is actually glad that the toe scene happens - I don’t think he actually especially wanted to lose his toes, but, he was glad to get back the Blackbeard who would cut off toes, and I do think he felt there was a certain intimacy in being the only one experiencing violence. Izzy is a masochist and has previously expressed delight in being the subject of violence - was very happy to be choked by Ed in s1ep10 - so while this is not safe or sane, I do think it’s consensual, in the sense that Izzy thinks this is part of their mutual love, their unspoken but deep and crucially intimate togetherness that leads them to know each other on the deepest level. 

And then Ed says he can be replaced. And then Ed makes it clear that even when Izzy is emotionally vulnerable, Ed’s heart is with Stede. And Izzy realizes, he doesn’t have that place with Edward that he thought he did. He doesn’t have that special relationship. This is not intimacy, for Ed. And Ed shooting him and turning away isn’t even the final nail in that door. 

Because, in s2e2, Izzy is still alive. The crew has hidden him in the walls and are trying to preserve his life, even as Izzy screams for them to kill him and calls them cowards for not doing so. The crew is gathering medicine, preparing an amputation, figuring out what to do with Izzy to try and keep him alive, and Izzy wants them to kill him. (Quote: “Kill me you fucking cowards! Kill me -”)

I would say it’s because he’s realized the relationship he devoted his life too and considered sacred, the relationship he considers most valuable… is not that to the man he loves. Ed replaced him and pirate code says the first mate should kill him. The first mate (Frenchie) refuses to kill him. Frenchie is not much for that, and neither is JIm. Both of them, having experienced a better life and place of work when Stede was captain and Ed was their co-captain, are trying to preserve Izzy’s life the best they can. Jim especially clings to the memory of when life meant something on this ship, even Izzy’s life. 

Which - this makes sense coming from Jim, and I think it’s why they chose Jim, because Jim wasn’t present for Izzy being captain or the mutiny. Jim has the least complicated relationship with Izzy aside from Fang, who is notably not present in any of the scenes to do with rescuing Izzy, despite having been clearly shocked and appalled that Izzy was shot. 

Izzy, is not thrilled to be being kept alive, but the fact that Izzy is kept alive, means that Izzy has to process his feelings - and face Ed again, who, having shot Izzy, mourned and sobbed, has woken up, cleaned himself up, cleaned his space out, and decided to seek death. 

From Izzy. 

This, I think, is the second most crucial moment in Izzy’s arc and transition, because Izzy thought he was someone of incredible importance to Ed, and he also thought that he knew and understood Ed better than anyone, and that Ed crucially, understood him just as well. He thought that even without any emotional honesty or vulnerability, they knew each other more than anyone else possibly could. 

He thinks that Ed knows him. 

And Ed comes to him, and they have the following exchange:

Ed: “Morning.” Izzy: “My leg?” (looking down his body.) Ed: (laughing) “Yeah. Oh, no, that’s gone now. Up in Leg Heaven.” (sets the smelling salts down, turns to look down at Izzy.) Izzy: (looks up at Ed.) “Have you come to take the other one?” Ed: “I think one’s quite enough. I just popped down to say a proper goodbye.” (reaches behind him, draws gun. Izzy: (watches the gun, looks down from Ed’s face to gun and back as Ed cocks and loads it.) Ed: (looking at the gun, not Izzy.) “Had a dream about you last night.” (flips gun to offer the handle to Izzy.) “Take it.” Izzy: “Oh, fuck off. Fuck off. Fuck off.” (slaps at Ed’s hand, looking away from Ed.) Ed: “Hold it! Hold it.” (they are speaking over each other. Gets the gun in Izzy’s hand, directs it at Ed’s head. Looking at Izzy.) “I dreamt that ya killed me. Shot me right through the skull.” (moving the gun and Izzy’s hand, drawing it to his forehead, leaning closer. The camera moves between Ed’s face and Izzy’s.) Izzy: (smiles slowly then sneers.) “Good for you.” Ed: (blinks and nods slowly.) “It was good for me. It’s just what the doctor ordered.” (The camera moves from Ed’s face to Izzy’s showing him with that frown as Ed stands over him, leaving the gun in Izzy’s hand.) “Anyway, it wasn’t even like that.” (walks away from Izzy.) Izzy: (eyes tracking Ed as he walks away.) Ed: “Not in my dream.” (moves to stand at the foot of Izzy’s bed, back to Izzy.) “I was standing.” (inhales). “Just like this.” (Closes eyes. Spreads arms.) Izzy: (from his view, Ed is standing against the light, back open, arms spread. He blinks and raises the gun audibly.) Ed: (Swallows, holding his arms out.) Izzy: (smiles, sniffs audibly, dropping the smile as he clenches his teeth. Laughs harshly, mockingly, gun raised.) “Ohhhhh, ah, you scared, Eddie? Too scared - too scared to do it yourself? Ay.” (laughs) “Go on, clean up your own fucking mess. I’m not doin’ it. I’ve been doin’ it all my fucking life.” Ed: (looks down, disappointed. blinks.) Izzy: Fuck off. Ed: (nods, swallows.) “Farewell, old chum.” (whispered. He walks up the stairs and away from Izzy.) Izzy: (watches, shaking, nodding slowly himself, breath hitching.) Ed: (reaches the top of the stairs. A gunshot sounds. A creak. Ed lowers his eyes, looking down at something off camera. Nods. Exhales.) “I loved you” (a pause) “best I could.” The scene transitions from there, and the next we see of Ed, he is initiating plan two of suicide attempts: steering the ship into a storm and goading the ship to kill him or die with him.

But Ed’s deal is so many more posts from here. No, we’re focused on Izzy for the moment, so what did this whole exchange mean for him?

First, the thought that Ed had come to do more damage. That Ed was there for Izzy, that this was about Izzy. But it’s not. Ed has had enough of that. He notably does not apologize. Izzy notably does not seem to expect one. There is history here, and the last time they were in positions like this, the camera angle was flipped - Ed at Izzy’s right, a hand covering Izzy’s mouth, making him eat his toe and the idea that things could go as they had been, that the Blackbeard Izzy had schemed and tried to have a man killed over was back. This time, Ed is at Izzy’s left, with a gun, and he doesn’t touch Izzy except to hand over the gun.

This is where it’s so important that Izzy believed he and Ed knew each other best of all. Because in episode one, Izzy was getting worried for Ed, but it’s in episode 2, in this moment, as Ed hands him a gun, that he realizes Ed wants to die. And it’s in this moment that he realizes that Ed fully believes Izzy could. That Ed has taken these actions believing that they would lead Izzy to kill him. That Ed wants to commit suicide via Izzy, that he thinks killing Ed is something that Izzy wants, could want, could do. 

This is Izzy, realizing that he and Ed don’t understand each other nearly as well as he thought. This is Izzy, realizing that Ed looks at him and sees a man who could and would kill him, when Izzy thinks that he couldn’t ever do that. This is Izzy, having the true final death knell on that relationship he believed they had, the intimacy he believed they had, the lack of a need for words. He thought all this time that he knew Ed best and that Ed knew him, and he doesn’t want to kill Ed - and he’s also hurt and angry and upset to know Ed genuinely thought he would. That Ed would come to him for this, because Izzy doesn’t think he could kill Ed, but Ed thinks he could. 

In his mind, Ed should know that Izzy could never kill him, should trust him, should know without having to be told that it would never happen, but here’s Ed in the flesh, asking him to kill him. 

It’s over, everything he thought was there. 

And Ed? Ed did care about Izzy, in his own way, but every overture he made was denied, shot down, Izzy not interested in the bird guy, the ship, the clouds and how they contribute to a plan, the drugs, and like, Izzy is allowed to not be interested in any of those things - but these are the things Ed was interested in. These are the ways Ed tried to connect most recently, and Izzy shot them all down. To Izzy, there was a deep and intimate connection in spite of all of that. To Ed, every way he could connect with Izzy was shot down. He loved him the best he could, which wasn’t a way that could provide either of them what they wanted. Izzy had love for Ed, but that love could not be fruitful or nurturing to either of them, because it was unspoken and therefore ripe for misunderstanding. 

Izzy stews down there in the ship, in his own thoughts, while Ed steers the ship into a storm and makes his last effort to die, to have it all end - to push the crew to killing him, or dying with him. And then he ties his leg up, makes his way above deck, shoots Ed in the arm to keep him from killing them all, and tries to kill himself instead, staring at Ed as he tries to shoot himself with the gun Ed wanted Izzy to kill him with. Despite the gun being aimed for the temple, he fails and falls back, leaving himself staring up as it rains on him, hiding any tears. Fang brings Ed down, and the crew gather together, Fang supporting Izzy’s weight, as Jim lifts a cannonball with a scream and prepares to bring it down on Ed’s head. Izzy watches without interfering.

EDIT: ADDED THIS SECTION:

A quick addendum: even though I watched episode 2 so many times, I didn't realize that Izzy tried to kill himself after Ed left the room! The gunshot that Ed hears is in fact Izzy trying and failing to shoot himself right then and there, in that moment that Ed departs. Izzy's forehead was so wet and the background of him falling back and water splashing was such that I truly thought that took place in the rain, and that he tried to shoot himself after shooting Ed. Thanks to @glamaphonic for letting me know. This does leave me even more certain that Izzy is motivated to do this because he has finally understood both that Edward wants to die, and that he and Edward never understood each other as well as he thought, which brings the last years of his life into question. He tried to kill himself, failed, and came up to stop Ed from bringing down the ship. It's not just that Izzy stews down there - as Ed departs, leaving Izzy behind, Izzy takes the shot. He tries and fails to kill himself, and wakes and climbs the steps to take the shot at Ed he couldn't before.

The next time we see Izzy is s1e3, The Innkeeper, when Stede crosses over to the Revenge and finds the crew amidst the wreckage. He’s eating a raw bird with the rest of the crew, and then is brought aboard the Red Flag. As Stede asks the crew about Ed’s location, Izzy watches him. He’s the only one not eating soup, hands tucked over his chest. 

As Stede starts asking questions - dangerous questions for Izzy and the former crew of the Revenge - he walks over with a crutch. 

Izzy: “Bonnet. Good to see you.” Stede: “Piss off, Izzy. I don’t wanna hear from you.”

Stede talks to the rest of the crew, as Izzy grimaces. Stede pays him no attention. The next time Izzy speaks up: Stede: “What about my painting? Why is it all stabbed up?” Izzy: (looking up through his hair, smiling.) “That was me.” Stede: (sighs and walks away without response.) Izzy: (blinks slowly, looking dismayed. We see him start to turn his head in Stede’s direction.)

Well, that seemed like someone trying to pick a fight, and disappointed he didn’t get one, too me. In Izzy’s mind, Stede is his romantic rival, the man Ed loves where he didn’t love Izzy, and, currently, also a threat, because if he keeps asking questions and reveals the mutiny, they’ll all be killed. 

But Stede is one more thing. Stede is another dagger in Izzy’s heart, as we continue transcribing:

Izzy: “Don’t cry Bonnet. We just redecorated.” (has clearly been following Stede.) Stede: “I don’t mind, actually. I think the knives really help bring the place together.” (calmly stated before he walks away to look at the rest of the furniture.) Izzy: (drops his head, looking away as though trying to gather words.) Stede: (turns to look at Izzy.) “What’d you do with him? I know he wouldn’t have left by choice.” Izzy: (sniffles) I know you think you understand him. Stede: (interrupting) “He was either gonna watch the world burn or die trying, so which was it?” (leaning forward despite the considerable distance, still calm.) Izzy: (swallows, dips head. Starts moving forward, gritting teeth through words.) “Alright Bonnet. Have it your own way.” (stalking forward to Stede on his crutch.) “He went mad. He tortured the crew. He took my fuckin’ leg ‘cause I dared to mention your fuckin’ name.” (emphasis on the curses, slams fist when he says your name.) Stede: (in drawn breath, turns away) Izzy: “He was a wild dog, and we dealt with him like one.” Stede: “You sent him to Doggy Heaven.” Izzy: (stares in silence, head shaking. Flashes back to Ed laying in the rain, breathing out “Finally,” and laughing as Jim brings a cannonball down on him as Izzy watches. Stares. Turns to look away from Stede, face twisting. Shakes his head. Shuts his eyes. Breathes the word:) “No.” Stede: (turns to look back at him.) Izzy: “I could never do that.” (looks away, still not looking Stede in the face). “We deserved him on a beach (sniffles) left nature to do the rest. More than he would have done for us.” Stede: (turns away, breathing out.) Izzy: (continuing) “You and me did this to him. And we cannot let this crew suffer anymore for our mistakes.” Stede: (turns to look at Izzy) “Why would they suffer?” Izzy: “If your captain senses mutiny, she’ll kill us all. That’s pirate code.” Stede: (camera lingers on his face as he swallows.)

Doggy Heaven has a heavy meaning in this series, considering that Ed was supposed to send Stede to Doggy Heaven, and couldn’t because of his love for Stede. Ed couldn’t bring himself to kill Stede, but here is Stede, who Izzy views as a romantic rival, guessing that Izzy could kill Ed. Acknowledging that he, like Ed, believes that Izzy could kill Ed. Izzy, who thinks he couldn’t and wouldn’t and has love for Ed, and sees himself as loyal. 

But Izzy did stand back as Ed was killed, and that’s why he reaches for dehumanizing language to defend the action - he calls Ed a wild dog and that they dealt with him like one. 

(It’s the first time in the show that a white character makes a racist remark without immediate consequences. Before anyway says otherwise, yes it is always racist for white people to dehumanize a man of color. It is always racist to say a person of color is or was an animal or liken them to being an animal. He could have said that Ed was a danger to the crew in any number of ways but he reached for likening him to a creature less than human and yeah that’s a racist thing to do. I believe the show did not follow through with consequences for this action because it’s clear that Izzy is STILL trying to pick a fight with Stede.)

The commonality in all of these scenes with Stede are twofold. One, Izzy is trying to distract Stede from the truth of the mutiny and what the crew did (and the fact that Ed is still aboard the Revenge, left for dead [or as Izzy put it, for nature to do the rest]). The second is that Izzy is trying and failing to pick a fight - failing, because Stede won’t take him up on it. At all. Stede is not engaging with Izzy at this point outside of the practical matter of seeking information, and that’s all he has to spare for Izzy - he’s already told him to piss off once, and that’s as much energy as he spends on it, but Izzy comes at Stede antagonistically more than once - three times, actually, and I think it’s because if he has a fight with Stede, and Stede says all the things he’s thinking, about how awful Izzy is, how he’s a traitor, how could he have hurt Ed, any of those things, then Izzy can fight about it, and he can justify it to himself, and he can ignore the thought from now on, because it’s the same thought that Stede fuckin’ Bonnet is having, and those thoughts are worthless.

But Stede doesn’t give him that. Stede doesn’t give him a fight at all. Stede walks away from Izzy again and again and again and in doing so does not grant Izzy an out, an out that can ONLY come from Stede, because no one else is going to disagree with the mutiny. 

Stede is the only one who could give him that fight, and Stede refuses. And Izzy continues to have to sit with his own thoughts and justifications and they clearly aren’t enough for him, because he’s continuing to push. 

Izzy is also trying to protect himself and the crew, here. It’s very much about that. He is trying to keep himself and them from dying by being caught out for mutiny, but I think it’s interesting that it’s only here that he tries to take accountability for what he said and did to Ed, and it’s in service of avoiding what he’s actually done. Izzy says that he and Stede did this to Ed - this that resulted in, as he says, Ed going mad and torturing the crew and having to be mutinied and abandoned on the beach. Izzy needs Stede to feel equally responsible - so that Stede will help protect the crew, but also because I think Izzy is feeling guilty and has been, because he could watch Ed die, and he could hurt Ed, and he didn’t think of himself as that person, but he is and was, and thinking that he caused all of this himself is too much. Better to give some of it to Stede, and help the crew out as well as himself. 

He had love for Ed, in his own way, and he thought they understood each other and had a partnership, but here’s Stede fuckin’ Bonnet, who only knew Ed for a matter of weeks, and understood him better than Izzy did and wouldn’t do the thing that Izzy did, and this is the final nail for Izzy, the thing he’s struggling with in this whole revelation that Ed didn’t have any romantic love for him, that there was no special intimate romance between them that didn’t need to be said or expressed or acknowledged with words or vulnerability to exist, because Stede takes one look at the situation and can summarize what happened. Stede knew that Ed would want to die, because you can’t actually burn the world down. You can say “burn the world or die trying”, but the only end result is dying trying. 

And Izzy, I genuinely don’t think, understood that Ed wanted to die. Not until Ed offered him the gun. Not until Ed spelled it out. Izzy knew that Ed was fucked up over his feelings, but I don’t think he understood where they were leading. 

But here’s Stede, and he did, and Izzy can’t take that, which is why once the truth is out and the mutineers are locked in the brig awaiting probable execution, Izzy tries to pick a fight one more time, even now that there’s nothing to distract Stede from. 

Izzy: (hears footsteps and turns his head.) Stede: (comes to the brig, staring through the bars at Izzy, then the rest of the crew.) Izzy: (smiles) “Go on Bonnet, give me your worst.” Crew: (looks up at Stede slowly.) Stede: (Looks at all of them, silent and not visibly angry, somber. Tilts his head down, eyes closed. Opens his eyes, shoves against the bars and turns and walks away without a word.) Izzy: (Drops the smile. Stares forward into the distance, eyes visibly wet with tears, blinks several times).

 So, clearly trying for a fight, wanting one, and continually being denied. Izzy is almost certainly grieving Ed, the relationship he thought they had, and also his leg, and Stede is the only other person here who would even possibly mourn Ed too, and Stede refuses to give him any response. Even when goaded, even knowing the truth, he has nothing to say to him. The next time Stede and Izzy are in the same room, Stede has concocted an escape plan, and doesn’t look at or speak to Izzy at all as he gives instructions and organizes the escape.

And when they have made it back to their ship, when they’re getting the wheel and rigging set for escape, they have a final conversation:

Izzy: (walks up behind Stede, who is watching the Red Flag.) “I just wanted to thank you for-” Stede: (walks away without letting him finish.) Izzy: (looks down, is left standing alone as live moves on the ship.)

Over the course of these three episodes, Izzy’s plot is realizing that he was fundamentally wrong about his relationship with Ed, his understanding of Ed as a person, and the depths of Ed’s feelings and despair. I think he’s also realizing that he was wrong about his relationship with Stede - he saw Stede as a romantic rival, and someone who hated him as much as he hates Stede, but given the opportunity to antagonize Izzy again and again, Stede refuses, because he doesn’t care about Izzy nearly enough. 

Izzy has misunderstood the nature of his relationship as it were with both of these men, who are, and always were, predominantly, chiefly, and only, interested in each other.

[spicyvampire]

Hi, just wondering do you have any fav bl couples from shows you watched? If you do, what's your top 10? Thanks.

Hey, yes I sure can

1.TanBunn from Manner of Death (2020-2021)

I don't think anyone is surprised by that pick or the fact that they are #1 in my pick, I've been sucking TanBunn's dicks since 2020

2. GreatTyme from 4MINUTES (2024) NEW!

There's just something about them that makes your heart ache (it's probably the yearning and the regrets and the second chance to do better)

3. KinnPorsche & VegasPete from Kinnporsche (2022)

I'm kinda cheating by putting both here but I simply cannot choose, ep 10 to 14 sure are particularly funny episodes to draw parallels between those 2 couples

4. MingJoe from My Stand-In (2024) NEW!

Ming never runs out of audacity and Joe never runs out of kindness

5. TinnCharn from Laws of Attraction (2023)

Did Charn set fire to Tinn's house? yes, did Tinn like that? no, did they still ended up married? yes

6. PhayaTharn from The Sign (2023-2024)

Gender fuckery comes for free with your action/fantasy show

7. SanWee (or SanVee) from Century of Love (2024) NEW!

There is a goddess out there with infinite powers and she is not afraid to help Wee fuck that old man, her ship WILL be canon, or else

8. DanYok from Not Me (2021)

What if we met while you were doing a political grafitti in the house I was setting on fire and I got you out of there before you got toasted, and then I became absolutely obsessed with you

9. Huaibao from Meet You At The Blossom (2024) NEW!

Xiaobao found the best wife there is

10. Chen Yi x Ai Di from Kiseki:Dear to Me (2023)

Manhandling a feral cat is hard but it's honest work

+ Bonus : Special mention for

BabeCharlie From Pit Babe (2023-2024)

YakDee from Wandee Goodday (2024)

PromNont from Playboyy (2024)

[bl-bracket]

Best Kiss in a BL Bracket

Round One

Pat and Pran First Kiss (Bad Buddy) vs Kochi and Mitsuru Bed Kiss (Eternal Yesterday)

Jaewon and Jihyun Ep 9 Kiss (The Eighth Sense) vs Gavreel and Cairo First Kiss (Gameboys)

Seojoon and Jiwoo Ep 4 Kiss (To My Star 2: Our Untold Stories) vs Gao Shi De and Zhou Shu Yi Drunk Kiss (We Best Love: Fighting For Mr. 2nd)

Tinn and Gun First Kiss (My School President) vs Hira and Kiyoi Hand Kiss (Utsukushii Kare)

Vegas and Pete Hospital Kiss (Kinnporsche: The Series) vs Wan and Kitae First Kiss (Our Dating Sim)

Kan and Thua "Asleep" Kiss (The Eclipse) vs Sean and White Final Kiss (Not Me: The Series)

Siwon and Duan First Kiss (Blueming) vs Phupha and Tian Forehead Kiss (A Tale of a Thousand Stars)

Akk and Ayan Underwater Kiss (The Eclipse) vs Tin and Tol Final Kiss (Triage)

Nozue and Togawa First Kiss (Old Fashion Cupcake) vs Ai and Nhai Cheek Kiss (Ai Long Nhai)

Palm and Nueng Ep 9 Kiss (Never Let Me Go) vs Korn and Intouch Stolen Kiss (Until We Meet Again)

Pat and Pran Ep 7 Kiss (Bad Buddy) vs Ram and King Tent Kiss (My Engineer)

Kinn and Porsche First Kiss (Kinnporsche: The Series) vs King and Uea Morning Kiss (Bed Friend)

Hira and Kiyoi Final Kiss (Utsukushii Kare 2) vs Puen and Talay Forehead Kiss (Vice Versa)

Teh and Oh Aew Underwater Kiss (I Told Sunset About You) vs Gu Hai and Bai Luo Yin Drunk Kiss (Addicted)

Sound and Win First Kiss (My School President) vs Dean and Pharm First Kiss (Until We Meet Again)

Sean and White First Kiss (Not Me: The Series) vs Ye Guang and Xu Qi Zhang First Kiss (About Youth)

Kinn and Porsche Goodbye Kiss (Kinnporsche: The Series) vs Tongfah and Paper Ep 3 Kiss (Second Chance: The Series)

Nuea and Toh Ep 7 Kiss (Secret Crush on You) vs Tin and Tol Bed Kiss (Triage)

Hojoon and Jaeyoon Final Kiss (Roommates of Poongduck 304) vs Zi Xuan and Yu Hao Net Kiss (HIStory 2: Crossing the Line)

Sky and Prapai Final Kiss (Love in the Air) vs Siwon and Daun Dream Kiss (Blueming)

Vegas and Pete First Kiss (Kinnporsche: The Series) vs Palm and Nueng Beach Kiss (Never Let Me Go)

Payu and Rain Victory Kiss (Love in the Air) vs Yi and Kon Diao Sofa Kiss (Cutie Pie: The Series)

Mark and Vee Ep 3 Kiss (Love Mechanics) vs Arthit and Kongpob Ep 14 Kiss (SOTUS: The Series)

Gao Shi De and Zhou Shu Yi Bridge Kiss (We Best Love: No. 1 For You) vs Gun and Cher Ep 10 Kiss (A Boss and a Babe)

Jaeyoung and Sangwoo Ep 7 Kiss (Semantic Error) vs Bai Lang and Jin Xuan First Kiss (My Tooth Your Love)

Seojoon and Jiwoo Final Kiss (To My Star 2: Our Untold Stories) vs Pluem and Kevin First Kiss (Ghost Host Ghost House)

Milk and Uncle Final Kiss (Choco Milk Shake) vs Payu and Rain Ep 5 Kiss (Love in the Air)

Tan and Bun Couch Kiss (Manner of Death) vs Mark and Vee Shower Kiss (Love Mechanics)

Neo, Shin, and Mew Beach Kiss (3 Will Be Free) vs Sound and Win Forehead Kiss (Our Skyy 2 x My School President)

Lian and Kuea Siam Paragon Kiss (Cutie Pie) vs Win and Team Be Brave Kiss (Between Us/Until We Meet Again)

Tinn and Gun Park Kiss (My School President) vs Khai and Third First Kiss (Theory of Love)

Akk and Ayan Dream Kiss (The Eclipse) vs Seriyo and Yuzuru Bedroom Kiss (Seven Days: Friday - Sunday)

[mineonmain]

A concise (and biased) summary of GMMTV 2025 Pt.1 shows (1/2)

In no particular order:

Dare You To Death (Joongdunk, Detectives AU, Enemies to Lovers, Thriller, featuring a solid ensemble including Drake, Prom, Sing Harit, and more. Someone is murdering kids who attended this one party, can Joong and Dunk stop hate-flirting with each other long enough to find the murderer and solve the mystery?) 8/10

2. Head 2 Head (This features the kids from Only Boo. No offence to these kids, love and peace to them only, but I didn't watch Only Boo and I probably won't be watching this. I didn't even see the trailer bc i couldn't be bothered to. I know they have an audience tho and that's all that matters) NA/10

3. Burnout Syndrome (Offgun, Dew on the side. having Dew be paired up with Gun even as the third wheel is SO SO funny. kings of having the largest height difference. ik Dew doesn't usually do BLs but if anyone was gonna get him it would be Gun ATP wouldn't it, little minx. Off is bossman who doesn't want to deal w people and hires boyemployee Gun to act as his proxy. Soundtrack sounds like it'll bang, and w P'Nuchy at the helm it probably will. Can't wait) 8/10

4. Whale Store xoxo (Milklove, it's basically giving Minato's Laundromat GL edition without all the gay suppression. and the age gap. I mean it's about a big city girl who comes back to the small town to handle her small town business, and a local go-for regular who falls for her. looks cute, looks predictable, and maybe that's what we need in the GL market rn. girl don't eat the cat food) 5/10

5. That Summer (Winnysatang, side of Neomint (we love!!!) and MondRyu. Royalty AU, Temporary Amnesia AU, Summer/island/beach AU. very tropey, very fanfiction, but i'm excited to see winnysatang play the leads in a show, it's about time. I've always said they should've played the leads in My Love Mix-Up and FourthGem should've gotten something more substantial, but that's neither here nor there. Mond kissed another man and we all cheered!) 6/10

6. Only Friends 2: Dream On (Earthmix, Ohmleng, Jossgawin. Messy messy messy, and for those of you who liked the first season i'm sure you'll love this one. I didn't so I shall not be watching but I can't wait for my mutuals to enjoy it for me. Nothing else to say) NA/10

7. My Romance Scammer (Ohmfluke (no not that fluke, a different one) Markjunior, and do i need to explain anything here?? it's all in the title. two guys who marry rich people to scam them for money. *gasp* i wonder what will happen next) 3/10

8. Love You Teacher (Perthsanta, Established Relationship, Age Regression AU. Fascinating choice of subject matter, and Santa is adorable no matter what he does. Sir get back in my pocket!!) 7/10

9. Melody of Secrets (Forcebook. I wish I could tell you what this show is about but the trailer is giving me nothing. It feels like someone fed the script of Manner of Death into chatgpt and said 'do that but worse and nonsensical' and chatgpt said 'on it boss' and cranked this out. yay for Boun tho!!) 1/10

10. Mu-Te-Luv (7 different stories with 7 different couples/groups of people. Some straight some queer some unsure. Recognisable names are Dew, Nani, Prem, Prim, Jan, Luke, OhmLeng, Neo, Lego, Yacht, Fluke, Sky, etc. I'm guessing each story will only have a few eps, so i'm sure there's something out there for everyone) 4/10

[fortjester]

Gideon the Ninth Eye Colour/Descriptor Guide (Updated)

(Key: CH stands for Chapter; pg. stands for page; EP stands for Epilogue)

(Harrow the Ninth Guide) (Nona the Ninth Guide)

For more immediate, in-depth reference, the quotes themselves have been transcribed below the cut.

All quoted page numbers are per the paperback copy of the book. Quotes are (mostly) in order of frequency, but some characters are grouped together because I don't want to separate them.

Harrow (24 Entries):

Cytherea (18 Entries):

Ianthe (17 Entries):

(+ BABS) “Because they were in closest proximity, her first gaze after the fight fell on the overgroomed cavalier of the Third, Naberius: his eyes were taut, and his smile was unnerved. His eyes were blue, but this close she could see that they were stained through in places with a light, insipid brown that made Gideon think of oily water.” - Chapter 11, pg. 116 (paperback)

Palamedes (11 Entries):

Jeannemary & Isaac (8 Entries):

Corona (6 Entries):

Gideon (6 Entries):

Camilla (4 Entries):

Colum (4 Entries):

Teacher (4 Entries):

God/John (3 Entries)

“He approached her, and she saw that his sclera were black as space. The irises were dark and leadenly iridescent—a deep rainbow oil slick, ringed with white. The pupils were as glossy black as the sclera.” - Epilogue, pg. 440

“Harrowhark picked herself up off the floor and looked her Emperor dead in his dark and shining eyes.” - Epilogue, pg. 441

“He had a ridiculously ordinary face: long jaw, high forehead, hair a dull and leaden brown. But those eyes.” - Epilogue, pg. 443

Protesliaus (2 Entries):

“Protesilaus the Seventh stared at her with the empty eyes of someone who would watch with equal heavy disinterest if part of the wall were kicked out and she were punted down into the sea, but his adept was looking at her—wistfully.” - Chapter 10, pg. 108

“She had been gravely meeting Protesilaus’s murky stare, as though trying to find something out, and now she settled the head on her lap.” - Chapter 30, pg. 338

Characters With Only 1 Entry Each:

(CRUX) “Crux stared back at her with the hate of an exploding star: the empty hate of pressure pulled inward, a deforming, light-devouring resentment.” - Chapter 2, pg. 31

(ORTUS) “But Ortus said, with his big, sombre eyes and his squashed, disheartened voice: “I do fear death, my Lady Harrowhark.”” - Chapter 3, pg. 41

(MAGNUS) “Up close he had a strong jaw, the expression of the terminally jolly, and nice eyes.” - Chapter 9, pg. 93

(ABIGAIL) “Unlike Magnus, she also had the manner some necromancers and librarians developed when they had been working on dead spells for the last fifteen years and no longer worried too much about the living: her stare was far too intense.” - Chapter 15, pg. 169 & 170

(JUDITH) “The Captain of the Second rose too. Her intensely dark eyes settled on each of them in turn before ending on Teacher.” - Chapter 18, pg. 197

(SILAS) “Silas did not step away, but he turned his head a little from her, as though she were a bad breath. He had very brown eyes, startlingly framed by thick, whitish lashes.” - Chapter 26, pg. 298

[ralibo14]

TPN season I rewatch:

This post will contain many and I mean MANY SPOILERS from season 1. Please if you're new to Promised Neverland do not read this🥺🥰. (There might be multiple parts of this but I don't care😅)

Crazy how many things you can find to the fifth rewatch. Crazy how thrilled and emotional f-ed up I can still get after this. Not my first rodeo, but oh boy... Did I ugly cried. But that's not what we're here for... So let's get into the things what the rewatch made me realise. I paused like in every 3 minutes, there will be many screenshots.

Breaking down the episodes + the fricking foreshadowings:

Crazy how many things first watchers miss. I feel myself stupid just by thinking back that I was also this clueless. (past me would call me crazy if I told her what will happen 🤣🤣🤣)

Episode 1;

Starts idillic, then slowly you start to realise that something is off. What are these overcomplicated tests? Why is there numbers on the kids neck? What is going on? These are most likely the questions first watchers ask themselves (at least I did back then). Now I start to get it how Ray might felt as he began to realise the Houses's secret.

Through this episode you can feel that something is off, then everything goes south once Emma and Norman goes to the Gate.

Now as a rewatcher I saw Little Bunny left on the table and my mind immediately thought of the manga (chapter 180.1), which made it way sadder. Also Ray's reactions makes so much more sense like this.

Not to talk about the test scores.

First picture the older kids and the second is Norman's list about the younger kids. Of course Full Score Trio on the top of the list. Norman most likely never made a mistake, not even in his first test. My personal opinion that Ray had one 'bad' test and Emma had not more than two. I find it so unfair that Gilda and Don are rarely mentioned when we are talking about the scores like... Their scores are pretty good too. But the biggest suprise for me was Phil's archivments (2nd picture). Only spotted now, but damn... Make way for the next genius. No wonder Emma decided that she tells Phil about the escape. She knew what she was doing and who to thrust with the information. After all she was raised by Isabella and just like Norman's and Ray's case, she also developed similar mannerisms as Mom. In Emma's case that would be manipulating others, only difference the she uses it for good.

Episode 2;

Is full of foreshadowing if you know what you're looking for. The tone of the series is not as intense here than it will be around episode 9 or 10, so clues can easily fly under our radar. Take this scene as an example.

Purplish lightning? Isabella and Ray on the screen during that? I wanted to bang my head into the wall when I connected these together. Lots of things hidden in this episode from Ray's and Isabella's relationship to the clues of the season's ending.

Also the Full Score Trio already deserves an Oscar for their acting. Norman and Emma for being able to change their expressions in the matter of seconds and Ray for making them believe that he only discovered the truth now.

Emma being strong enough to hug Mom after discovering the truth and being a total girlboss with the "I wonder what Connie is doing right now" line. It will always be one of the MOST ICONIC lines in this series!

While Ray in this episode being like: “Act fool. Act fool. Act fool” 😂😂😂

Episode 3 - 10;

Why did I separated ep 1 and 2 like this? Because those episodes deserve their own spotlight. They give the base tone of the whole season. I don't say that ep3 to ep10 is not important. Heck no! All episodes deserve the spotlight but I don't want to bore anyone to death😅.

In episode 3 the arrival of Carol and Sister Krone. When I first saw this episode, I just froze into my spot. Now I realise how useful it was to the team. And since Isabella requested a helper, she unintentionally (or maybe intentionally) helped the Trio's plan and helped them, so they make it to the excape.

Sister Krone was a dangerous enemy but also a useful ally. Her motivation was a bit selfish (to become a mom) but I justify them because being a Sister or Mom means that your life is always on the line. [Please check out @fullscoreshenanigans page, her posts and reblogs can explain it better than mines] Also is it just me or does someone else think that Krone had a miscarriage? I don't know why this crossed my mind. Maybe it's the way she shares everything with her old doll somehow made me think of that.

Interesting how the Sister got threatened by both Isabella and Ray in the same episode.

Isabella using the Mom position as a bait for Krone was just perfect. She has years of practice in how to manipulate people's emotions so holding this bait out for the Sister was child play for her.

That Tag where the Trio was against Krone... Oh the memories... The Sister accuratly listing their strengths and weaknesses and also hinting that she knows about their plans. That gave me the thrills when I first watched. Then she lost the game when Ray told her that her time is up (One word; FORESHADOWING!) Actually double foreshadowing at that.

Firstly Ray's pocket watch; That was a gift from Isabella, (like Connie's Little Bunny). He got that gift so he can count the time until his shipment... or at least that's what Mom told him. I think we can all agree that deep down she didn't meant it. Isabella is a good actor but she just pretended to be their enemy.

[Side note: Is it just me or does anyone else thinks, that Ray's pocket watch and Isabella's tracking device looks awfully similar?]

Second foreshadowing? Krone's death. Oh how painful it is to know that it was Ray, who unintentionally, but sentenced her to death.

Why do I think that? Well, in the later episodes, when they have to get Krone out of the picture, Ray writes down something for her. It took me a couple of rewatches to realise that he wrote down his and Isabella's biggest secret... that they are related. Now that the secret got leaked Isabella had to permanently get rid off Krone.

I think Isabella told Grandma in advance that the Sister knows her secret and let Grandma do the dirty work. (But my logic is not flawless, since I only have the tpn artbook and not the mystic code book).

There's many think I could and should talk about... Like how underappreciated Gilda, Don, Anna, Nat and the others are in this season, but I will leave that to the Character Brainrots. However there's one thing which I must talk about regarding to season 1.

Saving Norman!

This two! They only had to exchange one look to let each other know that;

“Yeah, there's no way we let that smart, stupid idiot sacrifice himself”

Oh boy, they were desperate. Emma and Ray are soulmates and right now I don't mean romantical soulmates, because friends and family also can be someone's soulmate.

What I meant to say with this is, that they would try anything in their power to get Norman safely out of the House. They are focusing on the same goal and would do anything to archive it.

So when they plan out loud between the three of them and Emma says that;

“Ray, let's break your leg too”

(Btw, For me this is the third most iconic line from Emma XD. The reactions from the boys is hilarious too🤣)

The black haired boy immediately, without zero hesitation agrees. This is how desperate Ray was. He would have gladly broke his own leg or arm just to make his version of the escape plan succeed. Which plan of course fully crumbles when Norman comes back from the wall, telling them that there's a huge Cliff and it's impossible to go through.

Their last hug in the House is so bittersweet as I rewatcher, because I know it's not the last time they see each other but still... I bawled my eyes out again.

Emma being utterly shocked, refusing to let Norman go. Which causes her to almost ruin their plans at the final goodbye. Trying to deactivate Norman's tracker when Isabella was watching was a really risky idea. But that's what makes Emma, Emma. Just like Krone said, her weakness is caring too much for the others.

Norman on the other hand already accepted the fact that he will die (Spoiler: he won't). Although his calmness is just an act, deep down he wants to escape as desperately as his friends want it. Norman keeps his calm for Emma's and Ray's sake.

And at last but not least Ray. He is clearly on the verge of a mental breakdown. First thing I noticed was his eyes. Maybe it was a conscious action, maybe it was just because of the yellowish background, but his eyes look more purple here.

Ray tries to gatekeep his emotions and fake indifference but fails miserably. I think this was the moment he decided to truly give up the whole "I escape with them" part of the plan.

For our luck Emma and Norman didn't let Ray's suicide plan succeed.

[Side note: I totally forgot Ray cried during this hug. Poor boy. I wish I could tell him that everything will turn out just fine]

Okay that's all for now, mostly because I reached the picture and video limit. I hope it was interesting, even for something this long😅😅. See you soon everyone 🥰.

[queersouthasian]

I saw different ver. of this, so here is mine even though a little late,

10 ANXIETY INDUCING BL MOMENTS

1. My dear Gangster Oppa, ep 5:

"You are lucky" moment

The way I held my breath when he started loading the bullets back, then when I realised he filled in half, the anxiety I got

They get it, like, I knew nothing would happen yet I started getting anxious, and then the click indicating an empty coloum and the relief...

2. Pit Babe, ep 8:

"Charlie x Babe in the building" scene

The entire time I wanted them to keep on checking, keep an eye open 'cause ANYONE COULD WALK IN

3. Bed Friend, ep4

"Uea with his assaulter alone"

I actually had a mild panic attack here...

4. My beautiful man, the movie:

"Hira gets stabbed"

This was very unexpected and I genuinely for a moment thought they goona pull a modc on us...

5. Triage, ep6:

"Tol dies from second cardiac arrest"

How dumb of me to even think the loop finally was going to end with so many eps left but I think it was the sudden chaos that caught me off-guard.

6. Manner of Death, ep7:

"Stealing the laptop"

The car's horn went off so did my heart beat...

7. Never Let me Go, ep1:

"Palm taking off the gun's magazine"

DIAO WAS NOT SUPPOSED TO KNOW YOU KNOW HOW TO USE GUN, PALM

8. Love in the air, ep7

"the abduction" scene

The way I was desperately waiting for someone to fucking help them, oof

9. Kiseki: dear to me, ep13

"we all thought he died, didn't we?" moment

Didn't know a bouquet would give me this amount of anxiety but oh well...

10. Laws of attraction, ep7:

"CHARN GOT SHOT" scene

Never knew a police siren would give me so much relief but oh well...

Anyone who wants may do this, also let me tag @kurosawascrowsfeet @forcebook @prapaiwife @benkaaoi @bunnakit

[tumblezwei]

People complaining about the Why+J and Paper pleasers scene are missing that the point of that scene helped them realize that Ruby did not in fact kill herself and its to get to to acknowledge that whatever Ruby comes back as they have to accept her changes and all

Right, like. It's obvious that episode 9 was the show's sacrificial lamb when it comes to screen time. While the rest felt like they were given proper time for build up and pay off, ep 9 (and a bit of ep 8) felt very much like "hit all the major story beats we need to in a timely manner."

So could we have done with a scene of WBY freaking out? Of Yang being distraught? Yeah, and I'm sure CRWBY would agree. But they had 11 minutes and needed to get to the whole "moral of the story" bit, and those scenes ended up in the cutting room floor.

And the scene we got did a perfectly fine job of telling us that. The problem is the tonal whiplash, not the scene itself. And imo even before then the idea that the Tree isn't death was hammered in pretty well. Regardless of Neo or Ruby's intentions, we were told multiple times that the Tree wasn't death, it was change.

And in that same episode the Blacksmith mentions how she wasn't expecting Ruby so soon, and acknowledges again that Ruby doesn't really know who she wants to be or how the Tree can help her. The episode spells out in big bold letters "the Tree is not meant to give you your end, it's meant to help you find yourself. You are intended to go there when you are ready to change, not when you are ready to die."

[qedmirage]

Well, that was a ride. Unmarked spoilers below the cut.

Took me about 5 months to clear episode 8, and three days to clear episode 9. Episode, well, where to begin. I'll admit that I read too many spoilers myself on major plot elements, undercutting some of it. Still, it was neat to see just how hard Deathless Black Snake is into a kind of violent nationalism, possibly even fascist thought?

Favorite moment is without a doubt Alina's death in R8-9 After, and abject refusal to allow Talulah to know her killers. Because Talulah will take revenge if given a chance, will let anger consume her, will fall to Kaschey's arts and hateful manner of thinking - even if the arts weren't there, it would be a path of violence for her.

The white-haired Draco keeps trudging on in the cold, endless snowfield. On her back, the Elafia girl trembles away, pausing only to take in deep breaths now and then. Snow drops down from the Elafia's horns. As Talulah slogs along, the snow-covered trees behind her begin to burn alight in silence. She has unknowingly begun to set her path ablaze.

The final climax of chapter 8 is also some great otaku-ass nonsense as Amiya, our cute soft bunny CEO, has a powerset almost perfectly geared to ruin the Deathless Black Snake's day. And she knows it

The introduction of Priestess, and her vow to Doctor was also really neat:

and I liked the story beat that Kaschey is still inside Talulah, still tempting her. Fuel for my anarchist reading of the story;

It's this urge for control, for power, for violent revenge that undergirds why Reunion goes wrong. The pull towards authoritarianism, towards unchecked violence, is what destroys the liberation movement. as for mechanics, wow. Boy I hate ursus civilians. Ep 8 was probably the high water mark of difficulty in arknights, and I feel like from here I can handle anything. I gotta say Talulah was really a pile of nonsense, but with her Burning Breath mechanic defanged, she's pretty tractable. The basic core of my strategy going into her final fight was to use Gravel and Projekt Red, who have 17 sec redeploy timers, to bait her breath move with its 19 sec cycle time. Absent that mechanic, the rest of her fight is...not easy, but manageable. On the other end of things, ep9.

This one was a much smaller scale story, and I appreciated that! It was shorter too, which in some ways worked against it - the guys Outcast faces off against scream jobber - but it worked. It's also notable as being an episode who's plot almost doesn't feature Rhodes Island - the focus characters are instead Horn (Rita Skamandros), Bagpipe (Fiona Young), and Saileach (Jane Williams), with a little bit of time in Reed (Lougshinny)'s head. Notable is that none of those are part of the feline majority race in Victoria, and the first three all to some degree believe in a pluralistic, welcoming vision of Victoria instead of the oppressive one they have. High points gotta be watching Saileach go from "the nice girl Janie who is nice to everyone and takes care of the flag" to "Me and this entire hospital ward are gonna beat your ass if you harm one hair on a patient's head", and Outcast's whole deal. Like, back in prior chapters we've seen Elite RI ops show up, paradrop without chutes, tear buildings apart with telekinesis, so you know the old lady's gonna be dangerous. And she is and the payoff's great! Great old lady cowboy character. Also, found a bit I liked:

Janie: But it's not… the whole story. After the conversation we had, I remembered some things from ages ago I'd forgotten. My da's a lawyer, and he used to tell me stories about how my grandda's grandda came to Victoria with nothing. He went from rags to riches. The Victoria he described was an advanced, open-minded, prosperous country. Here, technology and capital conquered savagery. The people's hard work and wealth wouldn't be destroyed just like that by Catastrophes or racial conflict. In making it to such a magnificent land, we Vouivre were able to live a "civilized" life, compared to one of barbarism and violence in the old country. Outcast: Victoria was the most advanced industrialized nation in the world, for a very long time.. Janie: But we had to give up a lot, in order to become Victorians… When I was five, I climbed to the top of the tallest tree in our garden. My da caught me having a blast and gave me a good scolding. Then he locked me in my room and gave me dozens of books to read. The next day, he hired a Leithanien piano teacher for me. I missed the view from the top of the tree, but I didn't give it much thought. I knew my da was doing it for my own good. Outcast: He was helping you to get used to the rules. Janie: That's right. Books, piano, the garden… He understood that those were all things we'd need to know, in order to enjoy the life we had.

Janie's family had to work hard to fit in, to not express their racial traits, to shape themselves to the society around them. Similarly, people know and sense that Victoria's glory days are past - but they don't quite grasp just how soon, how fast, the whole thing may end up unraveling. A few characters note that the fire started in County Hillock may destroy the nation, but for people like the Colonel, the magnates who wish to meet Dublinn, it's not understood - these are quite possibly Victoria's last days.

Mechanics and gameplay wise, ep 9...knocked it out of the park! It wasn't too hard, the Dublinn guys had some interesting mechanics that kept any one thing from being stale, there wasn't anything that felt like I was getting smacked with a wall of pain. I will note that 9-14, with all the pre-deployed jerks, I had to use a support Fiametta to funnel all the enemies into her bombardment kill box. The tattered pillars mechanic is kinda tricky sometimes, with how it actively reshapes the map, but it opens the door for a lot more engaging strategies. I kinda hope it comes back now and again. Mandragora's a fun boss. I had Nearl The Radiant tank her phase 1 (shield this, loser!) and then just kinda threw random fast-redeploys and snipers at her in phase 2 including tex alter to drop pillars on her. Part of my line broke and it was nearly a fail but I got the 3* clear! A fun time.

(Edited 11/2 to fix Saileach's legal name and a capitalization error on Victoria)

[khiphop-discussions]

RAP:Public Ep 4 Thoughts

Rap:public ep.4

Block 4 and Block 5 are facing each other. (spoilers as usual)

Khundi Panda saying there no beat he can do well. Oh man, this is not a good place to be in since he's one of the strongest on his team.

They said they think Punchnello can't be beaten by anybody in block 5. I'm glad nello knows their expectations are too high. He can definitely be beat by multiple people on the right instrumental.

Punchnello wants to do the death match but does he not understand the deatatch or some thing. I hope Boi B reels him in and is like "NO"! You'd wanna get rid of the weakest rappers first and protect the strongest. Maybe nello doesn't believe he'll do well, or wants to save one of the smaller, less established rappers? Maybe he already got paid an appearance fee or something and is fine to just risk leaving cause he already got some money.

He says he doesn't have confidence and is scared to let the team down. Minhyuk asks,"Are you struggling to adjust to the show?" Really good question. I don't think nello has as much to worry about as he thinks tbh

I think Boi B did put him up instead of ryul. I feel like a lot of leaders are still to scared to put their foot down. I get that it's early. Eventually, they'll have to start doing it. They probably don't wanna risk alienating the team too early.

The "reusing verses" thing is still in effect? Isn't there people who used up ALL of their verses in Infinite Cypher? I hope this rule ends soon. It seems too restrictive unless they are trying to encourage people to write new verses while they are lounging around rap:public.

First is Cocona. She's good. Khundi comes up. He's good but Cocona is doing a lot of theatrics. Khundis not really the type of guy who likes all of that. He's more om the serious side. So it's probably really annoying to him.

Khundi said "You have the worst manners" with a smile but multiple people said it on block 5 and in the crowd. She asks "Did I lack manners?" Girl,...yes! Lol. Idk how seriously I wanna take this though since it IS a competition. Also, it might've been fine with a different type of rapper. Someone a bit more playful? Idk. She apologized and Khundi won so it obviously will dissipate any beef.

It seems like Since will come out next. I think she'll beat him tbh.

Side note: the guy next to Reddy is handsome. I don't remember his name from the last episode but he says a lot of commentary with Reddy so they've been giving them a lot of screen time. I wonder how he raps? I unfortunately can't remember from other episodes. Maybe we haven't seen him perform yet.

Since can either beat or top that. Khundi Panda looks so happy and is enjoying the performance. That's how I'd look watching Since that close lol

Idk this ones hard. But since won by 9 pts.

Since uses 14. Luci Gang says she'll go out?!?! Battle of probably the BEST two female rappers on the show!!! I wanna be like Since when I grow up LOL

Luci is doing so good! I think I'd choose Since still tbh. (Side note again: The guy is Yang Kyle. The one next to Reddy)

Since won. I think they'll need JP to beat her. And that's exactly who came out.

JP won. Punchnello faces him. Punchnello's rap is more interesting to me. I think he'll win. Punchnello is a fucking...idk. lol he's amazing lol. That's the point I'm getting at. He naturally won.

Hash seems like he'll come next. I think punch WOULD beat him easy but he messed up his rap so Hash should have a (surprisingly) easy win here. But it looks like they chose Mason instead? And HE messes up too. Seems like Punch will win. Punch got SOOOO lucky here! Lol he wins.

I don't think Mck and Hash will do much in a battle like this. We'll see if they can come back.

Ok I think Hash win this one. After awhile, people get kinda tired of the same person. I think the person loses energy and starts going on to the beats they are less good at. I think most people try to rap on their best beats first so after that it's downhill from there. It's better to face them later.

Swan's voice and overall vibe is just really cool. Sky Minhyuk came out. He's improved as I've noted many times over the years. It's still hard to take him seriously even with all the antics. It comes off a bit too comedic. I still think Hash will win...

That sky minhyuk win was bullshit lol. And he beat Swan by A LOT! Are y'all just ready to end the round now and voting off who can at least make you excited? Lol

I know mckdaddy can beat minhyuk. Boi B idk. From this verse he seems like he'd be pretty evenly matched with Boi B. It'd be interesting to see that match up.

That win was BULLSHIT! Yeah, they're just tired and wanna getnit over with.

Oh shit. I forgot about the elimination.

Block 3 vs Block 7. Yeah this one is gonna be crazy. Both are FULL of stage performance.

Shyboiitobii said "even the girl on that block(7) is tall!" STOP looking at other girls!!!! Oh, it's Moon. She is cute and her body is nice! Guess I can't blame him lol

Goldbuuda vs Marv. In one sentence Marv already won to me. Marv has a lot of style. He reminds me of someone. I can't put my finger on it. Something seems familiar! They compared him to JP but that isn't it. I finally put my finger on it! It reminds me of Nucksal! His voice/pronunciation? The style is different though.

Anyway, Marv won. JP saying he just likes Marv...aww cute.

2 DPR Live references on rap:public so far. One from Fleeky Bang during Infinit Cypher ("Feel like Hong Dabin" or something similar) and one from Marv ("Feel like I'm Dabin *something here I can't remember* giggle). DPR Fans in the house!!!

Marv is really cool. Can't believe I hadn't heard of him until this show.

Idk whi the guy who came out to face Marv but he's a good performer. More raw than than Marv but less precise.

Kang Hyuk was his name. He won. I feel like they vote off performance too much. I don't feel that bad about Kang Hyuk winning cause he's good. But... I'd expect fellow rappers to vote for rap skill pretty high on the list more so than sheer performance.

HBA I think his name is.

Tray B just came out being ratchet and saying "F*ck you over and over* Khan and Shyboiitobii almost fell off the bench laughing.

They even got up and danced a little jig lol. They must really love Tray B haha

Fleeky Bang's on the other team trying to bob his head but you can tell he's like "FUCKKKKK why him?" He knows how good of a performer Tray is.

It's obvious Tray won. And he did.

Tray is so tall omg

I'd HATE to face Tray. He doesn't care about using dramatics and it doesn't come off try hard cause that's how he really is even on his own songs.

Jtong comes out. I think that's fitting. He's so cool that he can barely do anything and he's still lowkey beating Tray. That's crazy lol

He messes up. But goes back to it. Gamma is rapping along to the verse. Cute. So many fanboy moments.

I wanna say Jtong. He was able to so much with half the energy of tray. But tray didnt mess up and was good in his own right. Tray won by 2.

I think Don Mills can beat Tray. Fuck you is getting tired now. Tray's verse is from that song he just released. I forgot the name but I posted it a few days back. This guy came back with some curse words of his own. He's good too.

Isnt this the okashii guy actually? Yeah, Jeffrey White. Tray B won. I hope he doesn't do "Fuck you" again for the next battle.

I think Fleeky or Don is gonna have to just face him. And yeah, that's who they're discussing.

Fleeky comes out. Idk, I think Tray might win again. Fleeky won by 2.

Fleeky vs Polodared. I think Fleeky is better tbh. Between Fleeky, Tray B, and Polodared performance's, Shyboiitobii looks so happy omg. He really loves his friends lol

Polo won. Again, I'd have chosen Fleeky.

"My girlfriend is hotter than Korean rappers" nah that's facts Polo's girl is GORGEOUS!

Don Mills came out. Polo was better nthis round than w/ Fleeky but Don is better rap wise plus he also has the loudness and performance so I think he will win.

Don won. Maybe Chaboom can take him?

*tries not to comment about shyboiitobii again*

Idk who won this one. DoubleDown vs Don. It was a tie. They choose a random beat and have them do it.

Don 1st, Double 2nd. Oh shit they might tie again after seeing Double lol. Oh his hook is fun. "엄마 미안해, I'm trappin'." (Mom, I'm sorry, I'm trappin').

Yeah, double won.

Damini and Zene. Zene can dance he might be able to utilize that. Idk though...

Damini can maybe beat Moon from the other side and that's it.

Double reminds me of Lil Jon. Just "crunk", loud, and raw.

DoubleDown won against Damini. So now it's just Zene.

Zene is the better rapper tbh. He's really cool. He'll win. He did, 43 to 3 or something similar

Seems they'll send Moon. I'm sure Zene will win. She's still relatively new. Idk how she performs. Oh she's not a bad performer. But she gets lost on the beat. He wins 44 to 0.

Zene comes out strong again. I think he could probably go toe to toe with Chaboom and Owen. It seems they'll send out...foggy?

Foggy lost. 42 (zene) vs 2(foggy)

Zene might win tbh. This verse is perfect for the beat. Owen comes out. Zene is likely gonna win. Owen's verse is good but I think Zene is better.

Owen won. I disagree but whatever. (Not cause it's Owen tbh. I just think Zene was better overall)

Next battle is 3 vs 2. Block 3 is talented but Block 2 has a lot of style. Idk

Haon chose Yang Kyle, Reddy, and James? That seems weird? He said he'll put up his strongest rappers so they cant lose? That's not a good decision Haon. I think he believes it's motivation but idk if it will be.

Loopy put up Raf Sandou , yukon, and ga yeon. That makes sense.

That's the end. The next episode is ep.5 which is super long. I'll see you there!

[absolutebl]

This Week in BL - Cameos & Familiar Faces

Entirely subjective yadda yadda. Organized by favs in each category. No numbered lists anymore, tumblr be buggn'.

End of Aug Start Sept 2023

Ongoing Series - Thai

Laws of Attraction (Sat iQIYI) 8fin - Oh the DRAMA. Why does the insane ex (my true love) remind me of the cartel leader from Romancing the Stone? Even the sides got HEA! It was fucking great!!!!! Charn remains a bonkers spoiled evil murderous brat with a cruel smile beloved by his one true paladin. Also: post it love note trope! Been a long while my old friend. NO SINGING!!!!! I do love that wedding jacket frock coat cape thing Charn wore. 

In conclusion: This is a great gay suspense thriller with several solid couples, fun plot, killer characters, queer rep, and a happy ending. Charn may be my favorite lead character of 2023. However, this show is not entirely BL, more on the fringe, like Manner of Death. Add that to several "singing incidents" and pairs being a little weak in the chemistry arena, and this lands safely in 9/10 territory. It’s tons of fun tho: HIGHLY RECOMMENDED. 

I Feel You Linger in the Air (Sat grey) ep 3 of 12 - This show is getting more and more lakorn each ep. Apparently the straights are having a class divide arranged marriage crisis. Who cares? Our boy is ALWAYS in trouble. Crazy that he has to save the people who betrayed him in a previous life - but I guess he chose revenge! That's unexpected.

Had to switch to grey and couldn’t find a working rip. It was frustrating and I wouldn’t have bothered except I like this show so much. Still, it means no screen caps because the rez is naff.

Dangerous Romance (Fri YT) ep 3 of 12 - Uh oh. Kang wants to save Sailom and be his hero. The fact that K’s Pa puts no pressure on him whatsoever, makes me wonder if K's Ma committed suicide or something? It’s definitely the opposite parental dynamic we normally see in BL. I have to say, the pacing is great in the show. And the acting is on point. It’s really great. 

Hidden Agenda (Sun YT) ep 8 of 12 - these two just kiss well. I mean not "rip your clothes off Taiwan-style," but sweet young boyfriends-esk. Joke wants to be claimed so bad. It’s great. I enjoyed this ep, unfortunately it looks like we have a manufactured angst drama drop in the next episode. Is this a 10 episode arc? I thought it was 12. It’s odd to have doom happening next episode already.

Only Friends (Sat YT) ep 4 of 10 - Back story time! Ray and Mew are HARD to watch. Incestuous friend group gay is the worst. Omg I got such QAF vibes from this ep. Nick Boston Sand chats = very throw back 90s gay soaps. 

Location game moment: Top's hotel room is also Chan’s apartment in Laws Of Attraction. 

Naughty Babe (Sat YT) ep 1 of 8 - Ooo. Est is back! Hi handsome. Head of security suits you. Please lead out the new Waterboyy remake? You’re perfect for the role. (If it must happen.) Yi’s Pa is GREAT. Please give daddy a nice boy? Could that be our secondary couple for this series? 

Meanwhile, with the leads (sorry I was distracted by daddy) we got us an arranged marriage, run away bride, and an amnesia trope. Put in a secret baby and it's squarely 1980's Harlequin. Will there be Vikings? Sex herbs? Pirates? Dub con?

Be Mine Super Star (Mon Viki) ep 9 of 12 - Again with lovely sex scenes, it’s just the plot stringing them together is frayed. Also don’t fuck in an onsen. Both yech and ouch.

That goes for all y’all.  

Wedding Plan (Wed YT & iQIYI) ep 7fin - Trash watch here! Honestly this was an okay ending, I’m not mad at it. If you can tolerate Mame and liars (kinda the same thing) you’ll be fine with this show.

Summation: An innocent wedding planner falls haplessly and hopelessly in love with a groom who relentlessly pursued him, even though he’s about to marry someone else. A somewhat lackluster mame offering with less of the usual stellar chemistry, but all of the usual lies and manipulation. 7/10

Love in Translation (Sat iQIYI) ep 3 of 10 - I skip everything to do with Tammy and it’s fine. There’s only about 20 minutes of fine but that’s more than enough. On the bright side. So far. No singing.

My Universe (Sun iQIYI) ep 2 of 24 eps - Cassanova Begins Part 2. Aw. It was sad. Another variation on the “my ghost boyfriend” trope (usually sad). 2/10 I don't do sad BL.

Next up is Merry Go Round featuring the pair from Destiny Seeker (we likey) who want to marry each other, but end up fake engaged to the same woman. Beard squared? Looks silly.

Crazy Handsome Rich (Sun Gaga) ep 1 of 10 - There are 2 things I like about this. I bet you can guess what they are.

Lee Long Shi

The whipping boy trope

There wasn’t enough of either in this first ep. ALSO the captions, sound effects, and voice over are truly next level bad. Utterly atrocious.

The 2 leads fucking around in the end credits was the funniest part of the whole show. 

Ongoing Series - Not Thai

Jun & Jun (Korea Thur Viki) ep 7 of 8 - I am confused and frustrated about what the communication delay is between the two Juns. It feels artificial and narratively manufactured. But since this is a short form KBL and I know it will be resolved quickly, I’m not as annoyed as I would be if this were Thai BL. Still it feels audience manipulative. I also feel sorry for Simon. BUT it looks like it’ll be a sweet boyfriends final episode.

Stay By My Side (Taiwan Fri Gaga) ep 10fin - Omg they’re so cute!!! Taiwan the purveyors of ultimate sappy gay domesticity. I am going to miss having these to nonsencing all over my dash.

This show was an interesting take on the "ghost boyfriend" trope. About a boy who is tormented by hearing the dead, except when he is around one other boy - desperation+proximity = love. Unfortunately, the story was erratic and waffled about. While the leads turned in solid performances and the sappy domesticity was off the charts, it never really had the strength of the narrative convictions such a strong concept should have supplied. Highly rewatchable and enjoyable for that sappy domesticity but not a whole lot more. Still I always give extra credit for the diabetes-inducing sugar content and rewatch capacity. 8/10 

Kisseki: Dear to Me (Taiwan Tues Viki & iQIYI) eps 3 of 13(?) - I love the punching thing - there is a lot of violent flirting in this show. I’m not mad about it. Ugh, poor thing has real abandonment issues. And now trust issues. I see why we’re getting 12-14 eps. This gonna be MESSY.

Meanwhile, does EVERYONE have a guest cameo? Not that I’m complaining. Hi BLIHID boys! Now I need to rewatch that show. 

Love Class Season 2 (Korea Fri Viki) eps 7-8 of 10 - Oh my God the next morning w/ couple 2 was so darn cute. They are all such terrible flirts with each other. Honestly, this show makes me laugh more than any other BL currently airing. I’m not sure it is meant to be as funny as I find it. While couple 3 (the mature characters) is by far my favorite, I actually think they don’t work with the other two pairs, they feel superfluous to the show. I like the show better because they’re in it, but it feels like two different BL‘s stuck together. KBL certainly can’t handle more than two couple threads at the same time. 

Why R U? (Korea Wed iQIYI) eps 3-4 of 8 - Ugh. I am such a sucker for the FighterTutor dynamic. Why so good? Uh oh. Real kiss! KBL you're spoiling us. But, isn’t sad-seme-hyung dating some chick? Argh. Poor Sunwoo. This show is even worse at repping Fighter's character sympathetically. Who knew that was possible?

My Personal Weatherman AKA Taikan Yoho (Japan Sat Gaga) ep 3 of 8 - The date episode! Even Japan is doing it now. And these two who have been living/fucking together for ages still dance around each other like junior high kids. I gotta say, I watch this one twice because Vicki has different subs from Gaga. I feel like it’s easier to understand if I watch two different translations of the same script. But it’s still quite a taciturn piece. 

Minato's Laundromat Season 2 AKA Minato Shouji Coin Laundry Season 2 (Japan Thu Gaga) ep 8 of 12 - Sides are great. It was mostly a cute ep with tiny bits of Progress and a proper Confession. I miss Shin’s siblings. And then… the much loathed amnesia trope. Really?

Everyone say it with me: Must you, Japan? 

Stay Still (Hong Kong Tues YouTube) ep 5fin - It ended happier than I was expecting. Optimistic for one couple, and most likely optimistic for the other.

Summation: What to say about this offering from Hong Kong? It’s different, a mix of early CBL, Taiwanese shorts, and Pinoy visuals. It felt like the story was 2 independent shorts that had been lengthen and then stuck together, and I wish they'd been approached as separate and tighter entities. Nevertheless, this was a complex little piece,  interesting in a sweaty grungy way, with a certain aura of queer authenticity that made it simultaneously tense, unpredictable, and refreshing. I’m not sure I would necessarily call it BL, but any county’s early foray into the genre usually starts out this way, so perhaps nascent BL? Worth watching, especially if you enjoy stuff from the Philippines and Taiwan. 7/10

In case you missed it

Dinosaur Love ended its run but the final 2 eps are behind a paywall. Word on the street is they aren't good anyway (shocker) so I'm marking it as DNF and moving on with my life. If I can find em grey I'll watch 'em merely so I can give it a rating, but I can't imagine it will get more than 5/10. Seriously, do not bother.

Next Week Looks Like This:

Coming September

9/15 You Are Mine (Taiwan Gaga) Secretary has to deal with grumpy boss.

9/15 Bump Up Business AKA Bump Up Project (Korea movie) suspected cinema release? I don't know much about what's going on. Last status update. Love story between a trainee who is about to debut and a celebrity from the same agency. Kpop boy group OnlyOneOf has signed up to star in this idol-based BL (based on a webtoon). They’ve been auditioning for this since Libido IMHO. You can watch me chronicle their BL MV series in this post. It’s from Idol Romance who will do sad but can do good kisses (Wish You, Nobleman Ryu, Once Again, Kissable Lips, Poongduck 304, Tasty Florida, Tinted With You).

9/26 I Cannot Reach You AKA I Can't Reach You AKA Kimi ni wa Todokanai (Japan ????) - Adapted from the manga, childhood best friends: The cool, smart one who’s good at everything, and his average, dorky friend who struggles. Always by the other’s side, but not together in the way they truly want to be. No matter how hard they try, their hearts cannot reach each other.

9/27 Absolute Zero (Thai iQIYI) - from 2021, Studio Wabi Sabi and New Siwaj finally bring us this “time loop to prevent tragedy” romance. We don’t always get HEAs from them, so I'm on my guard.

9/? Venus in the Sky (Thai iQIYI) 10 eps

9/? Mr Cinderella 2 (Vietnam YouTube?)

2023 forthcoming BL master post (see comments, some are inaccurate, NOT KEPT UPDATED).

THIS WEEK’S BEST MOMENTS

Hidden Agenda hitting us up with a hug + lap + kiss. Very nice.

I think these two might be GMMTV's best cuddlers.

Boys, I think your JoongDunk is showing.

(Last week) 

[bunnakit]

15 people 15 questions

thank you so much for the tag @writerwithoutsound and @callipigio !

1. are you named after anyone?

my government name? no, my mom just likes unisex names like taylor. my chosen name? yeah, oat the cute lil guy in manner of death lmao

2. when was the last time you cried?

i think 2 days ago when i was watching a reaction video to ep 3 of the last of us

3. do you have kids?

no thank you (:

4. what sports do you play/have you played?

i did swimming competitions when i was a kid, thats about it

5. do you use sarcasm?

constantly

6. what’s the first thing you notice about people?

their vibes

7. what’s your eye color?

brown

8. scary movies or happy endings?

happy ending, i can't watch many scary movies because am baby

9. any talents?

zero (: i feel like someone will come for me if i don't answer this honestly so i guess writing? and maybe art?

10. where were you born?

ive never left the state i was born in

11. what are your hobbies

writing, watching BL obviously, video games, reading

12. do you have any pets?

4 cats 1 dog 1 ferret

13. how tall are you?

5'2" or 157cm (sorry to anyone that thought i had tall energy, this is a common misconception)

14. favorite subject in school?

art and english, i took every single art class ever offered to me

15. dream job

i don't dream of labor but if i had to i'd pick the job i'm currently at

i'm way too lazy to tag a full 15 people im sorry but here are some no pressure tags and if you've already been tagged ignore me: @timetoboldlygo @sparklyeyedhimbo @aikinn @kinnbig @porschesbabydaddy @first-kanaphan @clairedaring

[spicyvampire]

MANNER OF DEATH (2020) EP.9

[gillianthecat]

Reverse Engineering the Best Kiss 💋 Bracket Seeding

I am very impressed by how accurate the BL brackets organizer's seeding has been so far! I reverse engineered the two seeded brackets ('cause i'm a procrastinating dork), and in both the first seed won, the semifinals was between 1 and 2, and the bottom 16 lost in the first round. Otherwise it wasn't perfect (because that would be no fun) but it was pretty close!

I was inspired by their answer to this ask about how they did the seeding, and extrapolated the order from these brackets.

Below the cut is the seeding for Best Kiss, so you can see what it looks like! (Assuming I ordered them correctly!) The Gender Envy seeding (as reverse engineered by me) is in this post.

(@bl-bracket I can delete these posts if they ruin the magic of it all.)

Of the 64 candidates, 10 did better than expected and 10 did worse, so 69% of candidates performed exactly as predicted by their position, and in 84% of match-ups the higher seed won.

The final 4 were the top 4 seeds, the semifinalists the top 2, the winner, 1st seed. The top 16 seeds almost exactly matched the final 16; Hojoon & Jaeyoon (Roommates) snuck up in there from 18th seed, and 15th seed Sky & Prapai (LITA) fell in the 2nd round instead of the 3rd. The bottom 16 all went out in the first round. The biggest shakeup was because of 7 of the candidates in the 2nd quartile who in the 1st round defeated 7 slightly higher seeded candidates in the 3rd quartile. The biggest upset was 48th seed Shi De & Shu Yi’s drunk kiss (We Best Love 2) winning over 17th seed Seojoon & Jiwoo kiss on the dirt road (To My Star 2), overcoming a difference of 31 positions.

purple = lost in 1st round. blue = lost in 2nd round. green = lost in 3rd round. orange = lost in 4th round. red = lost in semi-finals. pink= lost in finals. 👑=winner. 🔼= beat a higher seeded opponent. 🔽=lost to a lower seeded opponent. (No candidates made it more than 1 round against a higher seed.) * = my submissions.

Best Kiss Bracket Seed Order

1. 👑Pat & Pran - 1st kiss (Bad Buddy) * 👑 2. Kinn & Porsche - goodbye kiss (Kinnporsche)

🟥🟥🟥 semifinals loss predicted 🟥🟥🟥

3. Jaeyoung & Sangwoo – ep 7 (bar) kiss (Semantic Error) * 4. Nozue & Togawa - 1st kiss (Old Fashion Cupcake) *

🟧🟧🟧 4th round loss predicted 🟧🟧🟧

5. Sean & White - 1st kiss (Not Me) * 6. Akk & Ayan - dream kiss (The Eclipse) 7. 🔽Gao Shi De & Zhou Shu Yi - bridge kiss (We Best Love 1) * 8. 🔽Akk & Ayan - underwater kiss (The Eclipse) *

🟩🟩🟩 3rd round loss predicted 🟩🟩🟩

9. 🔼Vegas & Pete - hospital kiss (Kinnporsche) 10. 🔼Vegas & Pete - 1st kiss (Kinnporsche) * 11. Neo & Shin & Mew - beach kiss (3 Will Be Free) 12. Hira & Kiyoi - final kiss (My Beautiful Man 2) 13. Kinn & Porsche - 1st kiss (Kinnporsche) 14. Tan & Bun - couch kiss (Manner of Death) 15. 🔽Sky & Prapai - final kiss (Love In The Air) 16. Tinn & Gunn - 1st kiss (My School President)

🟦🟦🟦 2nd round loss predicted 🟦🟦🟦

17. 🔽Seojoon & Jiwoo ep 4 kiss (in the dirt) (To My Star 2) * 18. 🔼Hojoon & Jaeyoon final kiss (Roommates of Poongduck 304) 19. 🔽Milk & Uncle - final kiss (Choco Milk Shake) * 20. Pat & Pran - ep 7 kiss (Bad Buddy) 21. Teh & Oh Aew - underwater kiss (I Told Sunset About You) 22. 🔽Lian & Kuea - Siam Paragon kiss (Cutie Pie) 23. Payu & Rain - victory kiss (Love In The Air) 24. 🔽Kan & Thua - asleep kiss (The Eclipse) 25. 🔽Daun & Siwon - 1st kiss (Blueming) * 26. Vee & Mark - ep 3 rain kiss (Love Mechanics) 27. Tinn & Gun - park kiss (My School President) 28. Sound & Win - 1st kiss (My School President) 29. Palm & Nueng - ep 9 kiss (Never Let Me Go) 30. 🔽Seojoon & Jiwoo final kiss (To My Star 2) 31. 🔽Nuea & Toh - ep 7 kiss (Secret Crush On You) 32. Jaewon & Jihyun - ep 9 kiss (The Eighth Sense)

🟪🟪🟪 1st round loss predicted 🟪🟪🟪

33. Gavreel & Cairo - 1st kiss (Gameboys) 34. 🔼Tin & Tol - bed kiss (Triage) 35. 🔼Pluem & Kevin - 1st kiss (Ghost Host Ghost House) 36. Korn & Intouch - stolen kiss (Until We Meet Again) 37. Dean & Pharm - 1st kiss (Until We Meet Again) 38. Khai & Third - 1st kiss (Theory of Love) 39. Arthit & Kongpob - ep 14 kiss (SOTUS) 40. 🔼Phupa & Tian - forehead kiss (A Tale of 1000 Stars) 41. 🔼Sean & White - final kiss (Not Me) 42. Yi & Kon Diao - sofa kiss (Cutie Pie) 43. 🔼Win & Team - be brave kiss (Between Us) 44. Gu Hai & Bai Luo Yin drunk kiss (Addicted) 45. Ram & King tent kiss (My Engineer) 46. 🔼Payu & Rain ep 5 kiss (Love In The Air) 47. Zi Xuan & Yu Hao net kiss (History 2: Crossing the Line) 48. 🔼Gao Shi De & Zhou Shu Yi drunk kiss (We Best Love 2)

49. Hira & Kiyoi hand kiss (My Beautiful Man 1) 50. Da-un & Si-won dream kiss (Blueming) 51. Mark & Vee shower kiss (Love Mechanics) * 52. King & Uea morning kiss (Bed Friend) 53. Puen & Talay - forehead kiss (Vice Versa) 54. Sound & Win - forehead kiss (My School President) 55. Palm & Nueng - beach kiss (Never Let Me Go) 56. Wan & Gi Tae - first kiss (Our Dating Sim) 57. Tin & Tol - final kiss (Triage) 58. Cher & Gun - ep 10 kiss (A Boss And A Babe) 59. Seryou & Yuzuru - bedroom kiss (Seven Days) * 60. Guang Ye & Xu Qi Zhang - 1st kiss (About Youth) * 61. Ai & Nhai - cheek kiss (Ai Long Nhai) 62. Bai Lang & Jin Xuan - 1st kiss (My Tooth Your Love) 63. Tongfah & Paper - ep 3 kiss (Second Chance: the Series) 64. Koichi & Mitsuru - bed kiss (Eternal Yesterday) *

[danepopfrippery]

Ppl bein dramatic predicting the finale so ill try a go (history is not on our side see freddie):

1) history says itll most likely be a dramatic cliff hanger

2) 9 and 10 air on the same night and we dont know if that was requested or fxx (they do it for starts but its unusual for a season finale).

3) ep 8 dark secrets come out according to teasers, ep 9 the vampires are summoned to a mysterious manner named after a goddess of war, ep 10 is called exit interview and plot is guillermo is missing (feels implied involuntarily by wording) and the vamps must search for him.

So with all the info my prediction is Nandor reacts badly to finding out Guillermo was turned and what science laszlo has learned. Nandor has 2 wishes left but currently the show is acting like that doesnt exist. A lot of ppl are guessing Laszlo/Nandor/Guillermo turned by a wish but if Laszlo turned human i think itd be by his research. I feel we’ll know more w the hybrid ep. We know Laszlo has invented vampire sunscreen already.

Theres a lot of guesses on ep 9 but it feels heavily implied nandor related as morrigan is a goddess of war who uses death and destruction to cause bravery for love. We know he has a prince charming outfit we havent seen yet. Tie with Guillermo missing and i truly believe hes either captured or stede convinced (someone tells him hes too good/too bad and should leave his vamp fam and he believes it).

So i think the last ep we’ll see them searching and realizing how much they care, and nandor will have to work through his feelings esp if he thinks Guillermo is in trouble.

Looook i think they were bullied enough not to faux nandermo us. But i could see them leaving off right before a kiss or after a kiss. Im pretty sure the cliffhanger will be what happens now?