#never thought I'd be this excited to see Krist again

[respectthepetty]

Pride Petty Watch (SOTUS) 5/5

I'm finally finishing my second blacklisted shows (Love in the Air was the first and The Untamed is on hold) which means I am on the final episode of rewatching my former sworn enemy SOTUS (these are the previous posts in this rewatch adventure: first, second, third, fourth, fifth).

Without further hesitation (it's already been eight years of me dragging my feet), let me go back to the beginning.

This entire beginning portion would have been better if it was sprinkled throughout the series or came before the ending because it would have made me understand Arthit just a wee bit better. However, I would have HATED seeing this man more because he is the epitome of every power-hungry fraternity and sorority leader who must remind a potential member that they are NOT worthy of their letters, their house, or their membership.

Tum is such a little bitch in the past, and the fact that he gets married in the present pisses me off!

KNOT, FUCK HIM UP!

Arthit stopped him?! Urgh. It's a good parallel to Knot stopping Arthit when he wanted to punch Kong for saying he would make Arthit his wife, but . . . he could've let Knot fuck up Tum just a bit.

And now Tum is talking to his future wife like this, which we knew from the wedding, but it doesn't make him suck less!

GIRL, WHY DID YOU MARRY THIS ASS?!

He tried to excuse his behavior with some bullshit about respect and now he is saying he doesn't need to explain himself.

Bruh.

Girl, you should've pushed him off a small curb then and saved yourself a divorce years later. Because you WILL get a divorce because y'all are about to have a kid, and he WILL be a shitty father.

Thank, God! We are back in the present with my kinky masochist and his need to be controlled and punished.

Oh. Oh. Look who is coming into his kinkiness! Look who is ready to play along now. Look at our baby sado master understanding what his boyfriend needs from him and when to apply it. *wiping away a tear*

Kong is begging for it! DENY HIM, ARTHIT! He gets no rewards until he earns them!

Oh, my ghost ship! How I have missed you in the past few episodes. M is still Kong's right hand man, while Arthit has his left hand tied up. Poly is the answer.

Arthit, being queer and in a relationship where you can be in control looks good on you sir. Kink is the new skincare regime.

Now Kong is holding up the gear, and if this show had any balls, it would have had a tiny freshman stand up to him and threaten to make Kong his wife. But no. There is only enough room for one boy to be in a queer relationship . . . WHERE IS PREM AND WAD?!

Kong clearly likes to be punished as a reward, so it's wild to be that he is now reprimanding others. Like, how stressful might this be for him? I think I'm going to have to watch SOTUS S to find out.

And what is included in these boyfriend duties? Annoying Arthit enough so he can get punished (rewarded)? Ironing his clothes? Bringing him pink milk? What I'm asking is WHERE IS THE DOMESTICITY?! I'm going to have to watch SOTUS S aren't I?

Iced coffee and pink milk, the true main characters of this show.

I'm cheesin' right now. I'm giggling like I've been sold to One Direction. Kong is always direct and tells Arthit what he needs and wants in the most unexpected times, and it makes my heart happy.

Grab him just like you did at the wedding, Arthit! Don't let him drop that on you then walk away!

This show is the kinkest PG-rated series ever because the way Arthit leans in here to whisper to Kong that he does miss him is like MGMT's "Electric Feel." Like, we know it's sexual, but your mom is too busy dancing to it to be bothered by it. "I said, "ooh, girl, shock me like an electric eel. Baby girl, turn me on with your electric feel"

YES! TELL THAT MAN TO STAY THE NIGHT, KONG! He can't bring his A-game, whisper in your ear that he misses you, then leave! YOU EARNED YOUR PUNISHMENT REWARD!

Kong wants Arthit to stay, and Arthit tells him he will be punished if he is late for his job tomorrow. The way I am screaming! This back-and-forth in front of the waiting taxi driver is top-tier. This is AO3 level of writing! The kudos button would be smashed!

Arthit is reading Kong's journal, and I think Kong is writing his own AO3 story! It's RPF?! This is a cute ending, but WHERE ARE THE KISSES?! Is this why I hated this? I think so!

Final thoughts:

I didn't plan on doing this because I didn't think I would have 'thoughts' about this. I only thought I'd hate it just like I did the first time I watched it, but here we are and I actually really loved it! Well, the second half that is. The first eight episodes probably added to my hate when I originally watched it. Regardless of what the juniors said and how the SOTUS system was framed, it was trash, and this is coming from me who is a lifelong member of a Greek-letter social organization. Hazing is universal, and it still sucks in any language.

The other issue is this story feels older than 2016. The language, the style, and the prudishness of the characters all belong in the early 2000s, but 2016 is too late to still be doing some of the stuff they were doing. We had Love Sick two years before this. We had Make It Right the same year. I don't need kisses in a series to know the love was real, but this didn't feel like a relationship until the final episode, and even then . . . I don't know. I love Kong and Arthit's dynamic now that I think it is based on kink, but am I convinced they are in a romantic relationship? Not really.

However, despite my issues with the show, I enjoyed this rewatch. A lot. I'm actually thinking of rewatching SOTUS S now, and I'm greatly looking forward to My Ex-Morning, which was not the case before this moment. But I know I would not have enjoyed this rewatch as much if I had done it sooner than this year. Be My Favorite helped lessen my grudge against Krist (but it is still there!) and seeing Singto act against others outside of GMMTV like Fluke Natouch in Shadow was great, but now I'm ready to see what these two have to offer eight years later. They are clearly trying to bring the kisses and more skinship from what I see in the trailer, but what else are they capable of as one of the longest-branded pairs since they were originally put together in 2016? OffGun have been partnered together just as long, but they have been consistently working with each other in seven shows during that time period. Actors are actors and they can do their jobs, so regardless of the outcome, I'm excited to see what these two bring us in 2025.

But I'm especially excited for the pink milk and iced coffee to return to main character status.

[thebroccolination]

It's 2:30am and I can't sleep AND I'm bored. So I'm goin around asking some of my fave blogs/writers to play a game of either/or........ready?

(Please don't hate me, this is just for fun 😁)

Reading Fanfic or Writing Fanfic

Boun or Krist

Romance or Sci-Fi Fantasy

UWMA or BUTS

SOTUS or BMF

Reaper Storyline or Time Loop Storyline

WinTeam or KawiPi

Watch the Movie/Series or Read the Book

You don't have to answer if you don't want to but if you do, you can't cheat! You can only choose one or the other NOT both! Okay? GO!

P.S. I love your writing, Key! Thank you for all your lovely fics ❤️❤️❤️

Awwww, first of all: thank you so much. :') This is a really sweet thing to wake up to. :'''')

Also incredibly evil.

-- Reading Fanfic or Writing Fanfic --

Honestly—and this surprises me—writing! I tried to imagine not being able to do one ever again and I'd be more upset if I could never write fic again.

-- Boun or Krist --

:/

Before this year, I would've said Boun, but right now, it's Krist.

I've always thought of BounPrem and KristSingto as the "main pairs" I follow, and even though Krist and Singto aren't officially a branded pair anymore, I still follow them separately. So I'm kind of a, uh, BounPrem, Krist, Singto fan now asdfghkj

When Between Us ended and BounPrem said they wouldn't have another series together for a while, I moved my focus to Krist because he had Be My Favorite coming up, and I'd been excited for BMF since 2021. And now, since I've followed Krist so closely this year, since I've gone back and familiarized myself more with his past work, and since I was fortunate enough to meet him in person last month and see for myself how kind and sincere and good he is, I'm very invested in seeing him happy and succeed the way he deserves. (Like, it's very clear why he's so beloved when you look into who he actually is, so it's been surreal to see how desperately interfans want to hate him. I was in his restaurant with other fans when GMMTV finally released a statement in his defense, and it was such a relief, I teared up. Some interfans are trying the "he used to be a bad person but he's better now" take at the moment, so I'm just waiting for them to take the next step and admit that he was never a monster in the first place and that hundreds of interfans have gleefully tortured him and trashed his reputation for years based on misinformation.)

Like I keep saying: the loudest anti-Krist voices are interfans. If he actually was what they claim, wouldn't his most ardent antis be from his own country? I've spoken to Thai fans of different actors: this is an interfan bandwagon that got blown out of proportion.

Now, of course, Krist and Boun have always been pretty closely tied in my heart, so if you talk to me once the BounPrem vampire series airs, I'll be focused on BounPrem again. I'm not one of those "you have to follow everything someone does or else you're a fake fan" people, so I only watch what I like. BounPrem have been doing a lot of fanmeetings and separate work this year that I wasn't interested in following, so I've just been patiently waiting for the vampire series to air. Even though I don't even like vampires. I just love BounPrem that much. :')

-- Romance or Sci-Fi/Fantasy --

Sci-Fi/Fantasy! I'm writing a fantasy novel right now, and most of my favorite stories are in the sci-fi/fantasy/speculative genres. :D

-- Until We Meet Again or Between Us the Series --

UWMA!

It was my first Thai BL series, and it launched my whole fandom life here. It still has such a strong presence in my memories, and I think it was a true labor of love from every angle.

I think BounPrem were incredible in Between Us, but I don't think Between Us was the series they deserved. In the months since it ended, I've gotten more critical of how Between Us was handled and it's dropped quite a few spaces on my list. I think if they had stuck closer to the novel, removed BeePrince completely, used fewer flashbacks, fewer UWMA clips, and not tried to cram six musical tracks into some scenes to guide viewers' emotions, it would have been a stronger series. I honestly get the impression New did it for BounPrem rather than out of a genuine love for the characters, and that might be why it didn't have the spark UWMA does. I think it was a labor of love for BounPrem, and I think New loves BounPrem, but I don't think he loved WinTeam's story as much as he loved DeanPharm's. Not his fault, but a different director might've been a better choice for the project.

-- SOTUS or Be My Favorite --

Be My Favorite!

From 2020-2022 my top three were 1) UWMA, 2) SOTUS, and 3) DBK, but then I did an honest reevaluation and realized that over time, SOTUS has had just a tiny bit more of an emotional impact on me than UWMA, so it took the top spot. And of course Triage came along and blasted up to take DBK's spot.

As soon as I saw the teaser in 2021, I knew I'd love Be My Favorite, I just never expected it to…Be My Favorite. \:D/

It's time travel, it's Krist, it's Gawin, it's queer as fuck, and it's the closest to perfect I've seen yet. Ever since it ended, I've just been in this bubble of bliss. I can't believe it exists, that we got such a perfect casting, that Gawin and Krist became so close, that they see each other as family now, that that chemistry is so clear in the series. It's just one of those significant series that rearranges your brain chemistry, like SOTUS, UWMA, and DBK before it were for me. <3

-- Reaper Storyline or Time Loop Storyline --

Okay, so with the understanding that most subject material can be great in the hands of a great storyteller, just from a, "Hey, Key, this series/book/TV show has a __ storyline," basis, I'll go with Time Loop. Time shenanigans is one of the fastest way to hook me (Be My Favorite, Triage, I Feel You Linger, etc.).

-- WinTeam or KawiPi --

WinTeam. Always, always WinTeam. :')

They're just the ultimate OTP for me. Of any series, movie, book, anything. I think it'll always be WinTeam for me.

-- Watch the Movie/Series or Read the Book --

Hmm. For Thai BL: series. In general: book. From what I understand, a lot of the novels Thai BL series are based on tend to be very rough. Like, written and uploaded by the author without an editing process or even a beta reader in the middle. LazySheep (Red Thread/UWMA, Hemp Rope/BU) is an indie author, though. She's with Hermit Books, and she's mentioned her editor on Twitter, and I think the extra steps she takes in the process of publishing her novels show in how polished her stories are compared to the average Thai BL novel.