#nlmg ep2

[airenyah]

so i just watched ep 2 of never let me go and is anyone else tempted to post the music parts in lingling40hrs for twoset to see gkgkkg

[gunsatthaphan]

"what are you doing?"

[petrichoraline]

[purple-out-of-red-and-blue]

neung attempting to make palm's subjugation kink work in his favour is hilarious

[eliazine]

Never Let Me Go 1&2 : Dynamics of power or "Nueng, you should learn to swim !"

So. This is my first meta. I guess the sometimes massives posts I wrote in response to others meta could count but they were in themselves interaction whereas this feel like talking into the void. So please, interact with me :) ? I wrote this to formalise my thoughts about the beginning of never let me go but I would loove to have people agree/disagree with my take and share why :)

I just watched the first two episodes of Never Let Me Go and wanted to pour my thoughts somewhere about the way the serie is handling relationship accross social class so far. Disclaimer : contrary to what this could look like, I do really like Nueng ! This is just the beginning of his character arc and it is a very interesting starting point. I look forward to him and Palm figuring out how to interact in a meaningfull manner.

Nueng is a young heir and Palm is his new bodygard. An important point is that from the other characters point of view, either Nueng isn't supposed to know Palm is an employee himself and not just the son of one (and him figuring it out is a proof that he has some understanding of the way his world works) or like at school, Nueng isn't supposed to know Palm at all.

Nueng is the boss

Nueng decided to treat Palm as a friend with the caveat that when needed he doesn't hesitate to remind them both that he is indeed the boss and that Palm has no say over what is going on between them. Which he does a lot, from little barbs to blackmailing him. Yes, he may not have any intention to use it and not even see it as a big deal : I'm gonna tell your dad you went to swim without permission may not exactly sound menacing to him as a mafia heir because he doesn't realize how much it means to Palm and the way this beginning set the tone of their whole relationship.

Because Palm, his father and maybe his whole family (we don't know about them but siblings, mother, grand-parents ?), are dependant on Nueng and his mother. Apart from their salary, being their bodygard clearly seems to be the core of Palm's father identity. He devoted himself to them, putting aside his own family even if the devotion may also be caused by the fact his job enables him to provide for them. The fact that he would only bring Palm with him when he is needed by his employer is harsh. But from his point of vue, he may have let him just live his own life until this great opportunity came to get a life-long job, a job that he himself deemed worthy to dedicate his life to. So Palm displeasing Nueng would at worst put their whole family in peril, at best be a huge blow to his father by reflecting on him and especially since he was the one to suggest Palm for the job. Both outcomes are to be avoided at all cost.

Why does Nueng act that way : It seems clear that he acts that way in order to protect himself, he does want a friend but doesn't want to be vulnerable. A "genuine" friend could deceive him, have ulterior motive going from small favour towards their university admission to full betrayal. A friend-for-hire doesn't, it may not be as rewarding but at least the risk is minimal. There is a contract between Palm and his family so, on a personal level what Palm mays want from him is taken care of and on the macro level being the son of a trusted employe, he is a safe person too. Can't fault someone to being risk-aversed a few weeks after his father being shot. Still, he needs to always remind himself that he is in control of the situation. He could do it silently but regularly he explicitly state it to Palm which can be seen as cruel but are in fact the moments where he is at least real with him.

Nueng as a "friend"

On the other hand, what I find very interesting is the way he acts when he does believe he is playing the part of a friend. When he invites Palm for breakfast or to carpool, he does it because that what would feel normal to him and so that's what should be. But he doesn't consider the situation he is putting Palm in. By pretending he is a guest, he is alienating him fron the rest of the staff. Because the staff would have to fall in line and treat him the same way, which (even if they would stay fond of him) would deprive him of the sense of easy belonging they provide him in this new place. Especially on the carpool aspect, it would be awfully akward for him to have his own father act as a chauffeur toward him. I liked that they used the school to transpose the same dynamic toward Nueng. By being the same kind of "friendly", the teacher that prevented him to do push-up even though he was also late put him in almost the same situation this time towards his peers students. The only difference being that even in this situation Nueng remains the one that has the power over the teacher. He try to decline the favour and doesn't dare to push it but if he chose to he would face real consequence and it may even greatly help toward others student seeing him as one of their own. Bullies will be bullies, but it could help those that are just intimidated by him to approach him. As it is, Ben is the only one who dares, I think because the fact that he is class president give him both symbolic power countering Nueng's and an incentive to.

It's a simple matter of not being either fish or flesh, which is horribly isolating. And it seems this is something Nueng was never taught to take into consideration, be it as a social tool or a weapon.

But even though, he could at least pick up on the way he makes Palm obviously ill-at-ease. I dare say he can see it, but he just acts as if doesn't matter and doesn't try to make it easier for Palm (well unless we see ordering him as a way to make it easier. indeed it removes the doubt about what Palm should do : just obey, but it makes it a job, the opposite of a shared moment free from what is expected of him). This is what he deemed should be and he seems to expect Palm to just get used to it (because it is so normal ! and shouldn't be any other way ). Which even if we're talking about something as mundane as having breakfast is still a diresgard for consent. In those situations, he is not trying to establish a relationship despite the weight of their respective position, he is just genuinely trying to deny it exists which in a sense put all of it on Palm shoulders until the moment where he bring it back in full force.

Even the way he get his mother to authorize using the pool is done in a way that is explicitly as a favour and not a discreet kindness. I know what you want and I'm giving it to you. But we are nowhere near a "because I like it when you are happy" (I love this line with such a passion) and it's more like a "now you owe me" or at least "see, what a good friend I can be". Again I do believe it is genuinly meant just poorly executed.

What about Palm ?

And no, Palm isn't grateful, happy for the opportunities he is offered etc.. But he isn't profundly hurt by it either because he isn't emotionnaly involved (yet). From where he stands, he understands the game his boss wants to play and just need to find his footing. He needs to do what's expected of him so he can avoid the forementionned consequences while still finding a way to be at ease with his world outside of the game as well as the moments where the game pause. As an aside, their "I always kept my eyes on you" sounded more to me as Palm feeling he was beeing rebuked by his boss and defending himself by denying that he had been distracted from his job by mackye than him wanting Nueng to know he is interested in him. At this stage, I don't think it would be true and if it was he definitly wouldn't express it even as a joke. They are not mates sounding each other out. And even if Nueng intention was to tease him, I don't think it came accross that way.

Is it even worth trying ?

So what could they do ? Is it simply impossible for them to be friend ? For Palm, in his situation he can't really take initiatives and moreover he isn't interested in doing it. He may feel interested by Nueng in some ways but he mainly wants to get on with his job and life. But for Nueng, he Can act in order to create a real friendship and at least at first a better "friend-for-hire" relationship. But, and it is so obvious and crucial, he needs to take Palm into consideration for it to work. He needs to observe or even better ask (but that will only be possible at a latter stage) what put Palm ill at ease and understand (or even better later discuss together) why and find (again better if together) how to improve on it. As this stage, he could discretly offer for Palm to ride in front with his father when the later is driving him to school, he would still let him keep the role of son of an employee while avoiding him the trouble of taking the bus. The breakfast is harder, because sharing a meal is intimate. Maybe later he could try to come and take breakfast in the kitchen with Palm and the cook. As their boss, it could be an invasion of Their personnal space and he would need to be self-conscious and carefull to be sure they are not unconfortable but at least he would be the one enduring the fact that he isn't where he is supposed to be.

He could also try and create situations where he can give Palm some power at least in a relative and localized way. He could go on Palm's ground and put himself out of his own confort zone. He would still ultimatly be the boss and that fact wouldn't be erased but it could be mitigated. (Kinnporsche ep6 was a great example, Porsche being more experimented in the wild allowed them to share moments where he didn't have to defer to Kinn, could even have Kinn defer to him and it greatly contributed to leveling the ground between them so that they could then have meaningful interactions, says sorry and be forgiven etc..)

I was a bit disapointed to see that the pool was (or at least is still for now) a missed opportunity. I'm sure Nueng already knows how to swim but asking Palm, who is a better swimmer and for whom the pool is his natural habitat, to train him would be a great idea. It is a mundane way to create a space for them to easily spend time together, without overtly confronting their employer/employee relationship and with Palm being in a confortable environment and temporarily gaining some form of control over the situation between them. Whereas as a conterexemple, Nueng helping Palm with his chinese is quite nice from him but works as a reinforcement of their general dynamic. It puts Palm in a situation where he is in a weak spot and risks Pueng loosing patience with him if he doesn't succeed well/quickly enough.

To be continued

I find this subject fascinating and look forward to the way the scriptwriters will adress it. The fact that the firsts episodes put such an emphase on it gives me hope that it will be well adressed.

We are all Mafia Heirs

I will also use this post as a reminder to myself and anyone interested in it that all of us should be careful of the way we act when in position of power or symbolic power. We do not need to be head of mafia/heirs/millionnaires/bosses to have to take those things into consideration because, as Bourdieu would says Dynamics of Power are Everywhere (may I says I mention him mainly so you could go and check his work out if it interest you, I intends to do it myself and am by no means an expert). No matter how friendly, approachable or even weak we feel, we can all become intimidating to others by way of being : an established member of a friend group, at a more than beginner level in a given activity, a senior in the company, the host, the organizer of an event or of some club/association activity, a member of the majority of the current context (be it by our gender, race, orientation, religion, age etc…) . For now, the best ways I found to mitigate it (and I'm very interested in yours !) are indeed to recognise when I am in a position of symbolic power and stay observant of other people reactions to pick up on the moments where they seem unconfortable. And my favorite tool is try and make them talk about, or participate with them to things they are better at than me (and woah, did I learn interesting things that way !). It level the ground and help to make people feels able to be more natural in our interactions.

As an aside tip, I found that reminding myself of it also works in making me more at ease with someone who has symbolic (or explicit) power over me. Yes they are the teacher of my sport club, an important person in the work hierarchy, an expert is this field I'm interested in, their meta/fic as so awesome, but this is not the whole of their person and the situation could even be inverted if they were to come on the parts of my ground where I would end up being the intimidating one. So let's suppose they would like to interact in a normal way (because most people do and very often aren't aware they could even come accross as intimidating) and mentally mitigate or even decline to recognise any power they have over me so we can just interact in a confortable way as the human peers we all are.

The end !

Did anyone read until the end ? ^^ If so have a very nice day ! (and please tell me your thought on my take ! ;) )

[mirabella96]

Never Let Me Go EP2

So last week I was convinced that Tanya had her husband killed and this week I am convinced that there is a conspiracy with Palm's dad. They are behaving way too suspicious.

Maybe my Kinnporsche rewatch last week wasn't a good idean in light of me watching this show, it hits too close XD Especially with Mile Apo ad before second part ^^

Why there is so much od suspicious music through the whole episode in so weird unsuspicoius moments? Like I get forshadowing by music choices but it so much.

Also I really, really like main characters they are so nice together. And I like how strightfoward Nuengdiao is.

[blmpff]

✨2023: A Summary✨

Post your most popular and/or favourite edit/gifset/analysis for each month (it’s okay to skip months!)

Tagged by @lurkingshan, and also @colourme-feral and @troubled-mind as I was working on it, thank you ❣️

My two main ~things~ are uploading actors' photos, and doing my own favorite X posts from shows I'm watching, and considering I've uploaded 5593 posts in 2023, in this essay I'll focus on my own.

disclaimer 1: I started posting my edits in March, so the first two months of the year will be just actors' pics to not skip them disclaimer 2: as for favorites the answer is always my favorite shots posts because each and every single one of them is my precious baby disclaimer 3: I added SHOWS to each month for my compilation posts for them

JANUARY:

- most popular: First Kanaphan from their trip to Japan I think - favorite: ArmyJoe stills from gmmtv twt

FEBRUARY:

- most popular: Fluke and Thor TWE bts - favorite: this MosBank

MARCH:

- most popular: Our Dining Table promo picture - favorite: Midnight Museum ep5, The Eighth Sense ep2, first Shared Location

APRIL:

- most popular: P'Jojo explaining the use of thai soap opera cliches in Our Skyy 2: Never Let Me Go - favorite: T8S x train ride, Jaewon calling Jihyun his boyfriend, shadow kisses, Midnight Museum moon shots 4/4, the post where I save links to all the shows/movies I make posts about - shows: Our Dating Sim, The Eighth Sense, Destiny Seeker, Midnight Museum, Blueming, Bed Friend

MAY:

- most popular: P'Jojo posting about Only Friends getting the green light - favorite: Man's hands, this Between Us scene, this ONHCT scene, OS2 x Win's Adventures - shows: OS2: The Eclipse, OS2: NLMG, Happy Merry Ending, ABAAB, Love Mate, ONHCT, Dear Ex, Please Tell Me So, A First Love Story 1, A First Love Story 2, Step For You

JUNE:

- most popular: Cooheart in a bridal dress at Bangkok Pride - favorite: Fluke's hair poll, IQ subber in House of Stars, ODT Tane - shows: Star Struck, Our Dining Table, Love Tractor

JULY:

- most popular: NeoMark Only Friends Q photo - favorite: these two Tokyo In April Is parallels, this Semantic Error scene - shows: Step by Step, La Pluie, House of Stars, My Ride

AUGUST:

- most popular: P'Jojo talking about sex scenes in Only Friends - favorite: ML Shin being Shin, this scene in SMC - shows: Tokyo In April Is, Sing My Crush, Egoist, Low Frequency, Stay Still, Sonnet 18

SEPTEMBER:

- most popular: the epic journey that was Red Peafowl cast announcement - favorite: Leehyun repeatedly calling An his boyfriend, Joohyuk x Sungmin, hyung, EarthBank - shows: Laws of Attraction, Love Class 2, Marry Go Round, Minato's Laundromat 2, Hidden Agenda, Bon Appetit

OCTOBER:

- most popular: P'Jojo roasting Boston - favorite: IFYLITA dream dancing, bloody Papang, bloody GG kiss&murder - shows: My Personal Weatherman, Only Friends, Grand Guignol, Semantic Error: The Movie

NOVEMBER:

- most popular: new YinWar show Jack&Joker pilot - favorite: this Mermaid's Jade scene, this The Devil Judge scene, these Playboyy posters - shows: I Feel You Linger In The Air, Mermaid's Jade, Kiseki: Dear To Me, Pure Vanilla, One Room Angel

DECEMBER:

- most popular: Babe causing Billy to malfunction - favorite: JellyfishBolster compilation, this AobPuen, DFF I've been impaled - shows: Sweet Home 2, Shadow, To My Star s1, Absolute Zero, Bake Me Please, Moonlight Chicken

Tagging everyone who wants to do it and haven't already, this site helps!

[butdotheykiss]

me, experiencing nlmg heart break but also waiting for utsukushii kare ep2 to be uploaded:

[ropebunnykant]

nlmg our skyy ep2 is getting watches tomorrow btw. was way too busy today and am now just Tired

[fourthofgemini]

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

[gunsatthaphan]

the incident // the aftermath

[airenyah]

#THIS IS *THE* OPPORTUNITY FOR FORCED PROXIMITY WHY AREN'T YOU FORCING THE PROXIMITY

no really i MEAN these tags, like!!!! we could be getting this:

(source)

(source)

(source)

(source)

(source)

but instead it's like:

I SHOULDN'T REALLY BE ABLE TO SEE THROUGH THEM WHY AM I ABLE TO SEE THROUGH THEM

stand closer you cowards

[purple-out-of-red-and-blue]

back here after ep 2 to officially declare my new favourite trope is boys flirting under the guise of learning chinese

love the chinese embedded in this show, reminds me of itsay