#mhee

[2005glenn]

octubre/noviembre del año pasado koooool m acuerdo

[babyangelsky]

I really loved this scene. Ba-Mhee and Pah are fundamentally sweet, decent people and I'm glad the show let them have this conversation and apologize to each other and reconcile and I'm glad the reason they had to reconcile at all is something very human.

I don't fault Pah for holding grudges for his best friend. I can and will hold grudges for my best friend at the drop of a hat. I also don't fault Ba-Mhee for biting back at him because she's hurting and tender about her relationship ending.

No one here is a horrible, evil person. They're just people who've got shit going on and they're reacting to situations in very human ways. And at the end of the day, they do care about each other a lot.

[maybe-boys-do-love]

The Trainee, Episode 10: Direction

Take a break from the discourse around the couples to appreciate the references to directing in this episode! From the literal meanings to directions in life.

We open on Ryan's dad directing Jane's photoshoot. lol. You fix those clothes, Ryan ;) And Jane, give us a smile like your falling head over heels for someone.

2. Then we get Pah (making friends with every single person at the office, as usual) directing the front desk assistant (I haven't caught her name and she's not on the mydramalist or imdb cast and crew list) to a spot for lunch. Then we have the accounting manager come in and show us how her and Pah's relationship has grown. The scene reminds us that Pah, since early on in the show, has demonstrated incredible relationship building skills--a necessity for any director. And these relationships come to a beautiful fruition in this episode.

3. Tae, on the other hand, emerges as a directionless ghost, jump-scare appearance and all! Heartbroken and provided with downtime by his department for the first time during his internship, he has no idea what to do with himself.

4. Pi and Ryan are seemingly talking about the controversial Todd Haynes film, Joker, from 2019. If you're either knowledgeable about the Batman franchises or interested like me in trying to figure out why the writers chose this film to include as a conversation point, you'll realize that Harvey Dent was not in Joker. He was, however, in The Dark Knight in 2008, directed by Christopher Nolan. This mix-up between the movies seems intentional when we look at the theories of directing and humanity the show is exploring, which I'll expand on in number 5! In Joker, we get a depiction of a single misunderstood victim genius who takes out his suffering and any failures of his art on others and inspires other people who feel hurt and misunderstood to do the same. In Dark Knight, we have the day saved thanks to a collective group of people's refusal to harm others despite threats that others will be forced to harm them, and, as far as Harvey Dent, his reputation is preserved despite his failings because of the hope it can bring others. The comparison sets up a comparison between the individual heroes and villains versus the collective, which is a really important comparison to ideas the show explores about directors (and is just really important in general theories of direction like conversations about auteur theory, etc.). Note that Jane says in this ep that he doesn't like hero movies...

5. We then see Judy directing Ba Mhee on how to correct her typo on a document. She's checking over a draft before it goes out, like a good director ought to, but Judy's direction of Ba Mhee, of course, gets taken up as a motif and major sticking point for their dynamic in this episode as it encroaches into personal time rather than just work. We have witnessed that outside of work, Ba Mhee is actually quite capable and eager to play the directing role.

I want to point to the specific typo mistake that read "God Pick" instead of the company's name of "Good Pick," though, because it seems to refer to one view of a director's role. Alfred Hitchcock explained, "...in fiction film the director is god; he must create life. And in the process of that creation, there are lots of feelings, forms of expression, and viewpoints that have to be juxtaposed. We should have total freedom to do as we like." So this moment of direction gives us two references, for the price of one!

Even more, it presents us with the theory of auteur Directors, that the show has been actively engaging with through the whole series. Does the director have a god-like power to pick and choose what they want their work to be without any input from others? Do individuals, as directors of our lives, get to pick and choose what we create out of them without others' input? To both answers, the show has emphatically replied, no! The studio is not called God Pick, it's 'Good Pick.' The director, just like each of us, is working on communicating with a whole massive team of people to bring a certain vision of theirs' to life within quite constrained limits. From budgets to time, from client desires to our own insecurities, we do our best to be good knowing that mistakes will be made and we can pick up and keep on going.

6. Baimon, the director of the studio, instructs Pie on some of the grunt work of directing. He's been presented as so flighty in the series, so it was nice to see him getting down to business in this fashion. That business, however, was printed upon the backs of some big emotions, which I think, in addition to being a funny little gag about Jane and Ryan's hidden relationship, is a beautiful metaphor about the combination of emotional and logistic work that directors, especially, are tasked with performing. A vulnerability lies under each shot and camera angle.

7. Idk if this was intentional, but the choice to show sticky-notes as the art department's current medium for this scene reminded me of directors story-boarding with sticky notes. It's also the moment Tae is encouraged to make an attempt at directing himself and providing his direction to his relationship with BaMhee in a way that's considerate of her desires.

8. Baimon directs Jane and Ryan in another intimate scene lol. He's staging them, referencing the storyboard, checking the camera, doing all the director jobs! And, of course, instead of a perfect god, he makes a mistake with the very basics of left and right that his intern corrects for him, and this mistake is not used by the show to signal to us as the audience that he's incompetent. It's to show that the people with 'big' dreams, visions, careers, or awards are not more special than those who choose to do the small tasks in life. Directors are the first job Ryan lists to Jane when talking about adults with special talents that he feels like he's supposed to aspire towards. Jane asks Ryan "Why must people want to become something big?"

There's also a development in Ryan and Jane's performance here. They're playing and improvising in the scene. It's a nice development for them as character and a sweet commentary on directors allowing actors to perform with some flexibility. Based on what I've read about Gun and Off's development as actors and a pair, their characters' development in their different stand-in moments almost seems like a commentary on Gun and Off's growth as a performing pairing, but that's just a fun stretch. Really, I'd say it's more representative of the growing comfort of actors in film work.

9. How could I not discuss one of my favorite sequences in the show (right up there with BaMhee's chase scene)?! Pah has been amassing a crew of comrades at the studio throughout the series, and I knew it was building towards something. I stated during the first shoot when he was a part of Unit B that I could see his arc leading him to becoming a director because he was just so good at befriending and organizing people. And here's where he becomes the director! Not through his personal auteur vision, but through his communication with others!

I had been imagining this plot development in some fashion for a while. Getting it would've satisfied me. Great comedy for me, however, is about seeing a well-constructed set-up pay off for a better value than you could've expected. The Alfred Hitchcock quote above comes from a portion of an interview about plausibility in fiction and his films. He ends the quote by saying, "A critic who talks to me about plausibility is a dull fellow." The moment Pah slid off his sling, The Trainee leapt out of the realm of plausibility it had meticulously built to give us a stratospheric pay-off to the joke it had been building for 9 episodes. And it was a joke grounded in the deepest themes of the show, praising every creator and assistant working in the background of this show and all the shows we love. It made my heart so full. It presented a democratic vision of a director's role (in a country where people continue to need to fight for their democratic values). And, it did it all while making me laugh.

10. Despite all the people running this scene and Judy giving Ba Mhee so much direction in the workplace, it's Ba Mhee who finally gets to realize her direction in life here. Notably, she's let go of the big overly romantic dreams and visions. She's come to appreciate and understand the importance of the seemingly mundane aspects of her relationships, the day-to-day jobs of directing one's life, and she's directing Tae to commit to this direction, too. Directing involves paying attention to the small things, the communication, and the people who help make them meaningful.

There's a beautiful transition between Judy's conversation with BaMhee and Tae's where they fade into one another exactly, letting us know in some ways that Judy and BaMhee could've had a conversation and started growing and finding a direction together, too. The problem as BaMhee points out is not finding an exact right fit. She just still has feelings for Tae, which would make developing a relationship with Judy more challenging. It was mature and honest, and that precious little fade let us know the show saw the possibilities for BaMhee to love them both. Has a film cutting choice ever been so bisexually coded???

10. It's a cute little reversal that our final scene is one of the first steps in directing: the concept stage. We also get Jane's appreciation, not only for Ryan's ideas here, but for all the things Ryan does at his family's business that align with the same kind of work happening in a production house. It sets the two of them on equal footing, disrupting this fantasy of the film industry and the class systems that could divide them. And Ryan's other insecurity about feeling too immature and un-adult to compare to the people at the office, which is a another division that might separate Jane and Ryan (HOW OLD IS JANE!?!?!?!) also got a dressing down ;) during this episode. We're getting ever closer to Ryan feeling ready to direct his own life!!!

[stuffnonsenseandotherthings]

Ba-Mhee learning to communicate her own wants and needs within (and out with of) her relationship makes me so darn happy. Out of all of them she's matured and grown the most and I can't help but feel proud of her.

[elliewilliamsun]

can y'all just stop playing the police of HR representation etc.......like...

JudyBamhee is endgame so stop wasting your energy !!!

[whatisgodtoanonbeliever]

I'M NOT JOKING TAKE ME TO THE 24-HOUR TONKATSU PLACE

[mephistopheleswasrobbed]

BL or no BL, is that the question?

I've been wanting to talk about this for a while now but I came across a post in the tags that made me finally do so because I mostly agree.

I make a post every week accumulating all the "proof" I found that Home and Peach are actually gay for each other despite the "not a BL" label of the show. And I used to say in the tags that I don't intend for this to be taken entirely seriously but I kind of stopped doing that because I felt like I was repeating myself but now I think maybe I shouldn't have (I might go back to add those disclaimers back in).

But I would actually be completely fine if the show never has them kiss or plainly state "we are dating" or any other irrefutable "proof" that they are in a romantic relationship. I don't think not doing so would make it queerbaiting and I don't think it would diminish Home and Peach's relationship in any way. (Just to clarify, I would also be fine with it if they do say explicitly that they're in a romantic relationship.)

Personally I don't like the idea of strictly separating romanitic/sexual relationships from platonic ones. In my opinion/experience there can often be overlap between the two or rather many relationships just don't fit neetly into one of those categories.

I'm not an anthopologist and I haven't really done any reading into this so take what I say here with a grain of salt but my impression is that our current understanding of love and relationships is not universal across human history and cultures. Maybe, when we changed the intent of marriage from an economical union between to families, to a proof of love, we went too far in the oposite direction, maybe capitalism has an influence here through its concept of the nuclear family, I honesty don't know. (If you come across this post and do know, feel free to recommend me some resources because I'm genuinely curious about this). Anyway what we have currently is this idea of a strict differentiation and hirarchy with romantic(+sexual) monogamous partnership at the top, familial relationships beneath that and platonic relationships of varying degrees beneath that. And I fundamentally disagree with that idea. I think you can love your friends romanically but still see them as friends and not someone you want to date. I think you can be in a commited partnership with someone you love platonically but not romantically. I think you can love the same person both romantically and platonically to different or varying degrees. And sexual attraction is another factor that varies (imo, and to varying degees for different people) relatively independently from the other two. (I am personally also not a huge supporter of the idea that monogamy is somehow superior to other relationship constellations and I'm convinced that if monogamy wasn't so ingrained into our culture, fewer people would choose that relationship model. Does this have something to do with men wanting to ensure that their offsping is "actually theirs" before the invention of dna testing? Who knows, not me, but I could see that being a factor)

All of that to say, I think the show has so far made it very clear that Home and Peach have grown to love each other and want to form a family together. A family that also includes Pangpang who is Peach's sister by blood and Home's sister by choice going by her contact name in Home's phone. If we compare Home's relationships with Peach and Pangpang it is also clear that Home doesn't view Peach as a brother. I think if one were to ask Home who's more important to him, Peach or any of his numbered ex-girlfriends, the answer would be pretty clear. Even if Home doesn't want to have sex with Peach (but if he does, all the power to him), he clearly views him as more than just a friend (again not that I agree with the idea that frienships are somehow lesser that romanic relationships, in the first place). He views him as someone he wants to be a family with. And imo that's pretty queer.

A lot of discussion of queerbaiting comes from a time and place where studios put little hints of queerness into their shows to hook the queer and shipping viewers but always kept it subtle in a way where the stock standard straight viewer didn't pick up on it because they wanted to have their cake and eat it, too. A lot of frustraition around this comes from the fact that we, as viewers who picked up on those hints, were constantly ridiculed by other fans who didn't want any 'icky homo shit' in their media. And because those "fans" would have never accepted anything but the caracters saying "we are homosexuals in a homosexual relationship" before making out on screen for 10 minutes as "proof" that anything queer might be happening between them, they could always feel like they were "right" and we were "wrong". (It hurt especially when the creators of those shows, who themselves put out the bait, participated in making fun of us.) And a lot of frustraition came from the fact that there wasn't a lot of explicitly queer media easily available to us at that time. So the subtle bait we got made fun of for noticing, was kind of all we had. Obviously we wanted them to make it more explicit, to make it "real".

But neither of these factors are really at play here. (I can't speak to the TV viwership numbers in Thailand, maybe they will contradict me) I don't think Peaceful Property is more popular than it would have been if they had marketed it as a BL (judging by the apparent spike in engagement for ep 7, it might even be the opposite) so I don't think they left it more vague (if that is the route they're going) in order to not alienate a staright conservative audience. There is also definitely not a dearth of explicitly gay media from gmmtv (and we've even gotten to a point where BL characters are increasingly allowed to call themselves gay/bi and aren't portrayed as straight boys who incidentally fell in love with another boy but are definitely not queer or anything).

With this context I think we can (again, if that is what they're going for) portray queer relationships that don't map neatly onto the predominant idea of a romantic relationship and that maybe don't have a sexual component to them.

Thanks for making it through my unorganised rambling. Have a pic of my beloved Chai-Un as a reward.

TL;DR If Home and Peach kiss, that's cool. If Home and Peach don't kiss, that's also cool. Either way what they've got going on is pretty queer.

[fuck-i-like-too-much-stuff]

One of my first Thoughts on The Trainee (after finally having caught up with it) is that they have really tried to highlight friendships while still maintaining that the plot is about couples.

The dynmic between Pah and Pie (even if they might treat it as a bit too close to a ghostship than a friendship) is based on bickering between people who really enjoy their jobs but for different aspects of it. Pah who is there for the environment and because he enjoys carrying things around and Pie who is there to learn and grow as an AD, they highlight the contrast of the two aspects you can enjoy in a workplace.

Ryan and Pie are a friendship that could not have formed if they had both not compromised a little bit of their personalities for it. Ryan, laid back, lacking in knowledge and will to participate in the work place, had to come forward and contribute while Pie, passionate and aggressively so, had to keep her calm and help Ryan learn. The patience they have developed out of a mutual bond as interns to Jane and Baimon is something that could have never been born if Ryan just let Pie do all the work and Pie did it because she liked it and it would eventually eliminate Ryan from the post entirely.

Pie and Ba Mhee is a classic example of girls having each others back in work place. They sort of remind me of Amy and Rosa (from Brooklyn Nine Nine) and how in an environment where they are the youngest and most inexperienced females, yet they are more than just that. They rely on each other about their personal experiences and lives in general and feel comfortable hanging out with each other, and that's something everyone requires.

Pah and Tae is my favourite dynamic so far because its one that i have been on both sides of. I have been someone who has been so protective over their friends to the point where i would not hesitate to hurt the one who has made them cry, even if i was friends with that person too. I have been someone who has stayed up all night to comfort a friend. At the same time, I have also been someone who, in times where I've been extremely low, relied on a friend to cheer me up and found comfort in them. Their friendship, bringing forth loyalty and mutual fondness (also a small bit of broes before hoes sorta vibe) is what i have come to specially admire about them.

Despite these pairs of dynamics, i think the entire chaos ridden group is an example that speaks loud and clear for itself on how being inexperienced or experienced, familiar or unfamiliar, passionate or laid back or anything on the tray can bring you close with just a little effort to make friends and relying on your 'team'.

[greatyme]

The way things are going rn I honestly hope tae and ba-mhee are able to remain friends as she figures herself out… she’s clearly put so much of her identity into her boyfriend and needs to find herself but at the same time tae isn’t a bad guy/the one at fault here. If the episode goes exactly as the preview looks, ba-mhee would still be cheating technically (or get really close), which no one deserves, but it would be nice if she had tae’s support. Basically I just know ba-mhee is gonna go through a lot emotionally and I love her and tae but I don’t want either of them to suffer more than they have to :')

[porschethemermaid]

Yall The Trainee the series got the ending it desrved 😭😭✋🏼

ITS SO FRICKIN GOOD HAD ME SQUEALING EVERY 30 SECONDS.

This show had some

✨SPLENDID💫 CHARACTER 🤌🏼 DEVELOPMENT 👑

Also TAE AND BA-MHEE GOT ENGAGED KSGDKXHDJXVSUSVDHSBDUDV ADORABLEK DKDBDJDBCHDVGX

Pah is just such a frickin cutie pie. He is the bestie we all want and need. Him developing his confidence was peak.

Pie is just so smart but so dumb at the same time. But she's just, so real. I love that woman.

Jane finally working up the courage to follow his dreams is so good. ALSO THE AUDACITY OF THIS MAN- HE JUST GOT BOLDER OVER THE 5 YEARS.

Ryan finally has a direction to go in. He is a confident man who has built a leader in himself. Mans got sassy af.

Not all 5 of them just being such gossiping besties in the film industry. They would make good mentors but like the goofy scary kind.(pie really takes after Jane in his AD era and we love her for it ✋🏼😭)

And not to mention! Good Pick has such a non toxic work environment, like no hard feelings whatsoever, and just happy to see their old friend visit them. Baimon has my heart i swear. And Jo was someone that Jane needed.

Also, Nine, we dont condone the use of middle fingers in this household. We use all fingers. We give you all fingers, right across your face.

Special mention to the most gorgeous woman, Judy. Woman literally taught everything about being an AE, how to take care of oneself and others, and taught Ba mhee it is okay to be selfish. We also learn that

👏🏼 Treat👏🏼 your👏🏼 girl👏🏼 right👏🏼 or👏🏼 someone👏🏼 else👏🏼 will👏🏼

👏🏼 But👏🏼 that👏🏼 does👏🏼not👏🏼 excuse👏🏼 cheating👏🏼

👏🏼 Sometimes👏🏼 breaks👏🏼 are👏🏼 required👏🏼 to 👏🏼 understand👏🏼 if👏🏼 you👏🏼 really👏🏼 want👏🏼 something.👏🏼

[biherbalwitch]

Don't know how I feel about ba-mhee and tae getting back together...

[starryalpacasstuff]

Judy is colour coded black, and Mhee is colour coded pink. And after last episode, we get Mhee in pink and black???

I'm extremely conflicted over this pair. On one hand, I want all the lesbians. On the other hand, there's tons of glaring issues with this pairing. I'm honestly getting kind of worried.

[doublel27]

Pie deserves some uninterrupted time to romance her cup of coffee rather than manage everyone else’s troubles. Find a room to lock yourself in Pie.

[stuffnonsenseandotherthings]

The Trainee Episodes 1 - 6: And what if we had a little office romance? As a treat 🥺👉👈

The Trainee Episodes 7 onwards (by the looks of it): Don't.

[celestial-sapphicss]

oh the tae - ba mhee - judy "anniversary" build up is so angsty i love it

[apathetic-tortoise]

Autistic traits in ‘The Trainee’ characters: Pt 3

Disclaimer: I am not a medical professional. The below is based on personal experience and my own research

Ba-mhee

Special interest - It is not uncommon for women with autism or adhd to have their special interest be their boyfriend or their relationship, Ba-mhee is a classic example of this

Difficulty with inference - Unless asked something directly, an autistic person may not be able to read the subtext of what someone is saying, for example when Judy says “We’ve run out of drinks” Ba mhee replies “If the support team comes here, I’ll tell them”, but what Judy actually meant was “Can you go and get more drinks” (which I think is what she should have said, allistics make things far to complicated, but whatever)

Empathy - Autistic people tend to be very empathetic. Ba-mhee shows this by often crying when other people do, or being upset on other people’s behalf (something Pah also does, but I don’t have a list for him so I’ll leave that here)

Catastrophising - When Tae is working hard and unable to be as attentive to her, Ba Mhee assumes it’s because he doesn’t love her anymore, then generalises it to the rest of their relationship, coming to believe he may not have ever loved her in the first place, and that because he isn’t reciprocating her affections in the same way, she must be holding him back in life, and therefore she is useless

Queer - As with Ryan, autistic people are more likely to be queer

In conclusion: Ba-mhee is autistic