#scoy meta

[waitmyturtles]

Turtles Catches Up With Old GMMTV: Secret Crush On You (SCOY) Edition

[What’s going on here? After joining Tumblr and discovering Thai BLs through KinnPorsche in 2022, I began watching GMMTV’s new offerings -- and realized that I had a lot of history to catch up on, to appreciate the more recent works that I was delving into. From tropes to BL frameworks, what we’re watching now hails from somewhere, and I’m learning about Thai BL's history through what I’m calling the Old GMMTV Challenge (OGMMTVC). Starting with recommendations from @absolutebl on their post regarding how GMMTV is correcting for its mistakes with its shows today, I’ve made an expansive list to get me through a condensed history of essential/classic/significant Thai BLs produced by GMMTV and many other BL studios. My watchlist, pasted below, lists what I’ve watched and what’s upcoming, along with the reviews I’ve written so far. Today, I offer my thoughts on the importance of Saint Suppapong's and Cheewin Thanamin's Secret Crush on You in the annals of Thai BL history.]

I offer a very hearty THANK YOU to my dear friends @lurkingshan and @bengiyo for reviewing this draft before publication!

Well! A VERY belated happy new year from the OGMMTVC shores! I have allowed myself a lengthy onboarding back to the pattern of watching older Thai BLs due to many life circumstances around the 2023 holidays.

But I do still stay on my grind: while I was slowly watching and re-watching SCOY over the last month, I've added two current shows to the list, which I'll explain about later, and I've also taken up reading an incredibly important book to this project, Dr. Thomas Baudinette's ethnographic study, Boys Love Media in Thailand, which is giving me tremendous insight and history into the development of the Thai BL genre from direct reporting in Asia. In other words, the OGMMTVC project is still cooking along -- I'll plan to post about the book when my current watchlist is at a pause, while current shows on the list are airing.

All that being said, I'm here today to report on my watch of 2022's Secret Crush on You. Here's a little outline to keep me organized:

1) A quick reminder of how SCOY got on the OGMMTVC list, 2) A thematic hit list of why SCOY belongs on the list, and why it's so important for the history of Thai BL, and 3) A few personal takes on the show.

SCOY got on the OGMMTVC list way back in May 2023, in the comments of my glowing review of the second season of Make It Right, suggested by @absolutebl Sensei themself. SCOY is directed by Cheewin Thanamin, who had co-directed MIR and MIR2 along with New Siwaj. (He is also, famously AND infamously, the director of the recent shows Playboyy and Middleman's Love, as well as many other shows, including YYY, Why R U, and more.)

At the time of my watch of MIR2, I reveled in the fabulous endings of TeeFuse and FrameBook, the holistically loving and embracing relationships of those two couples, who were fearlessly and openly queer and committed to each other; and I compared those endings to that of another fabulous Cheewin show, 2023's Bed Friend, which also ended glowingly, after a hell of a traumatic journey, for the dear mains, KingUea.

SCOY, from a growth perspective, fits between the high school world of MIR and the working adult world of Bed Friend, showcasing Toh, the stalker-shy university junior outcast; Nuea, the popular, athletic, and gorgeous university senior, and their respective groups of friends, who, to a tee, end up with each other. In the comments of my MIR2 review, @absolutebl wrote,

"...there is a case to be made that Cheewin is having a conversation with us[,] the culmination of which is actually SCOY. It feels like everything in his career was leading to that show[.]"

I believe this is absolutely right. While the public commentary on SCOY was that the first few episodes would be hard to digest -- for me, it took until episode *9* to feel comfortable enough to ride the SCOY train -- the amount of internal and external-to-BL themes that SCOY carries within it marks it as an incredibly important show for the annals of Thai BL history.

I also want to note that, after SCOY, Cheewin's War of Y also airs in 2022, as a macro commentary on the BL industry. Without having seen War of Y yet -- I think it makes sense, and is quite fitting, that there may be similar themes between these two shows as to what SCOY was addressing by way of personal and industry-related psychologies.

I'll get into those themes in a second, but as so many of you know as well: this was also the first production for Saint Suppapong's agency, Idol Factory, featuring (for 2022) a slate of incredible new QL actors and actresses who have already made a fast and deep impact on the genre (...fast and deep impact huh huh ANYWAY).

Putting ourselves into Saint's shoes -- a man well familiar with the pitfalls of the BL industry, vis à vis his associations with his previous PerthSaint and ZeeSaint ships -- I can make a safe assumption that he approached the production of SCOY with the intent to make a groundbreaking show, and to approach the fan service side of the BL industry with as much consciousness for his actors as possible. While I'm not watching Idol Factory's latest show, The Sign, I am noting that The Sign's two stars, Billy Patchanon (of SCOY) and Babe Tanatat are very good at their fan service offerings. (Heng in this video, omg.) But all that being said, the unfortunate incident last year of the untimely revelation of Seng Wichai's and Freen Sarocha's relationship indicates that Idol Factory is also not immune to the controversies and pitfalls of the BL and shipping industries.

What I particularly loved about SCOY -- and why I agree with @absolutebl and many BL fandom veterans that it belongs on the OGMMTVC list -- is that this show unabashedly insisted that all people are people, all humans are equitably humans, and all humans deserve the same emotional and social respect as anyone else. It punched social expectations of the "winners" and "losers" down to the ground to offer nuanced narratives of most of its characters.

We see Toh (Seng Wichai) and his group of friends repeatedly put down and bullied. We see Toh and Jao kicked to the ground for their looks and presentations. We see popular Nuea (Billy) and Sky (Heng Asavarid) suffering from jealousy, insecurity, unrequited love and desire. We see Nuea and Sky objectified. We see Daisy question themself for their femme identity, and we see Daisy's group of friends become so moved and emotional about this change as to both uplift Daisy's preferences and to support them in whatever changes they want to make.

We also see -- for only the second time on the OGMMTVC list, and surely in the biggest BL up til 2022 -- a prominent femme side character in Daisy, one who is very much pursued by a cis male suitor in Touch. (The first time we see such a prominent femme character on the OGMMTVC syllabus is, again, in Cheewin's Make It Right 2, in the character of Yok, who was very out and very gay throughout that season.)

I'm going to examine this more in just a bit, but I also want to note, in a fabulous conversation I had with @bengiyo about SCOY, that this show also somewhat upends social expectations of who exactly gets bullied in a "typical" school setting. We do very much see Toh and his friend group get attacked. We see that friend group come together in support of each other. But we also see them very much accepted, as they are, by the older, more popular friend group.

There are many more examples of these themes, but in any case:

These were nuanced, layered, and sophisticated depictions of humanity, all for a show within the BL genre that had started its journey, way back in 2014, in demanding clear seme/uke dynamics and male/female characteristic assumptions between main couples. SCOY clearly took great pains to examine and upend these assumptions. In particular, the hot tub conversation in episode 9 had me going wild; a conversation that has become legendary as it was the first time (and not the last!) that a character of Billy Patchanon's stated that he was verse:

By the time we get to 2022, I love what this conversation signifies for Thai BL. From SOTUS's Kongpob saying that he'll make Arthit his wife; to Pat clarifying to BOTH Pran AND Phupha, "I'm not your wife" -- and, now in SCOY, to Nuea being like, "oh, roles? Yeah, whateves, I'm down," is such a refreshing spin to the conversation about the demands that the genre, AND society, place on hulking cis-presenting men like Nuea/Billy.

Of course, the biggest upending to any assumptions that viewers (including myself) may have had about the dynamics between the two main couples of NueaToh and SkyJao was in seeing how deeply insecure both Nuea and Sky were of the stability of their relationships with their boyfriends in Toh and Jao. Nuea and Sky both recognized that it was literally society itself -- and the very deep internal impacts that society could have on the psyches of the nerdy Toh and Jao -- that could threaten the sanctity of Nuea's and Sky's relationships.

Nuea and Sky weren't relying or assuming on their good looks or popularity ranks to win Toh and Jao over. Nuea and Sky were very much in love with these two men, and both wanted to have holistically complete and committed relationships with their boyfriends. And Nuea and Sky WORKED for these relationships, and feared the worst, often, if an internal obstacle (like Jao's insecurity) or external obstacle (like the girls in pursuit of Nuea) got in their way.

@bengiyo, in reference to my conversation with him earlier, mentioned a social shade to all of this that I found fascinating. He noted that this show did NOT interrogate the "weirdness" of Toh and his friend group. I'm actually going to criticize that just a touch in a bit, because I would have liked more background context into Toh, myself. However, Ben makes an important point about this, because he noted to me that majority society WOULD interrogate the origins of Toh's "weirdness" -- and would NOT interrogate the popularity, good looks, and success of Nuea and his group, because majority society would well assume that Nuea and his group are... "normal."

I find these instinctual inclinations to be FASCINATING to ponder, and I really think SCOY did a wonderful job in allowing us as viewers an "in" to a loving alternate reality that those who are considered "weird" in this world deserve a fair and equitable shot at love and acceptance from all corners. Ben noted for me that MUCH more often in majority society, that being queer makes someone vastly unpopular. (Ben also noted for me that what SCOY posits for Nuea and Sky by way of their queer presentations against their popular standings would likely have led to them being ostracized in real life.)

I want to note that this loving alternate reality for the unpopular is almost exactly similar to another fictional environment created by Cheewin in Make It Right -- which prompted an early and memorable conversation between Ben and me early in this project. (Thank you so much to @bengiyo for giving me time and space to read and comment on this SCOY piece.)

I want to posit -- again, without having seen War of Y -- that all of this is fascinating territory for Idol Factory, in its first show, to tread by way of humanizing IF's gloriously good-looking talent in Billy, Heng, and others. I'll know more by way of comparison when I actually watch War of Y -- but I think SCOY does a FABULOUS job in slowly leading viewers to contemplate our assumptions about how "easy" it might be to be a good-looking and/or athletic person in society. Insecurity and instability are common characteristics among all of us. SCOY very decidedly skewers any assumptions that viewers, and society, may have about the "transcendent" nature of the show's fictional "celebrities" to bring all of its characters down to a more common and equitable human level.

By a long shot, these themes are the ones that I loved absolutely the most about SCOY. I have a few personal takes on the show that I'll share in just a moment, but one more shout of celebration that I'd like to offer to SCOY is the following:

Of all the excellent acting in this show -- from Billy, to Heng, to the utterly DELIGHTFUL Looknam Orntara as Som, to the fabulous Surprise Pittikorn as a conflicted and insecure Jao -- let me offer all the flowers to

Seng Wichai, who had me CRINGING, OMG, *CRINGING*, throughout most of SCOY.

I hope this man won AWARDS for this role. All of my feelings towards the character of Toh aside -- Seng Wichai absolutely BODIED this role. I was SQUIRMING during the first three quarters of this series. God, he NAILED every last characteristic that would make a person like Toh so interpretively painful and pitiful. That Seng left Idol Factory last year, before his relationship with Freen was exposed, is, I think, a huge loss for IF. I know War of Y is chaotic, but I actually can't wait to watch it simply to see another side of Seng's acting.

For Seng's Toh to be pursued so intensely by Nuea -- and for Toh to be so Toh throughout that pursuit -- I truly can't think of a past BL actor from the past OGMMTVC dramas that could have done a better and more nuanced job than Seng Wichai to just remain so COMMITTED to Toh's modus operandi of stalking and collecting, especially so DEEP into the 14-episode run.

I will admire Seng's performance endlessly. My very own personal take on SCOY -- which I do not want to detract from its importance in the BL genre annals -- was that I think some of Cheewin's typical chaotic flourishes did not quite comport with the complicated emotionality that SCOY otherwise served.

At the end of the series, we meet Toh's parents in rural Suphanburi -- but we don't get a sense throughout the series of why Toh decides to pursue Nuea only from afar, in stalker-like actions, for so very long. Again, this stalker behavior is only presented as an MO -- and as @bengiyo noted to me, that was likely on purpose, as a means of showing that Toh's friend group would be accepting of each other NO MATTER their unique characteristics.

We also have to wait a VERY long time in the series for Toh to be held accountable for his stalking actions, as he even continues to collect items well into his relationship with Nuea. The flip side of this is an empathic one -- he's collecting the items out of an assumption, on his end, that his relationship with Nuea WILL end. However, it's made clear that Toh had no intention to ever tell Nuea of this side of Toh's behavior.

There were other moments in the show that tonally confused me, particularly in episode 5, the first time that the group goes to the beach, where Toh is in the hotel room with Nuea for the first time, and is both overtly confident that he might get it on with Nuea, but also seems reluctant to actually pursue it once Nuea starts offering hints. I worked this out with @lurkingshan (thank you, friend!) that Toh was demonstrating a brave face and fantasy to start, but was surprised when Nuea actually reciprocated the consideration. This happened a couple of times throughout the show, and Shan's assessment makes absolute sense -- I think I could have used some language clarity around those scenes myself, particularly when Toh was talking postgame with his friends after those moments, that he was surprised by Nuea's acceptance. But, @lurkingshan -- your assessment of the pattern holds, and I understand it.

Once I finished the series, I read @absolutebl's 2022 review of SCOY, and ABL -- I totally understand your perspective. I get the pull between adoration and cringe for this show. A stalker premise is HEAVY. It didn't help, in that heaviness, to have no past context to Toh's behavior, coupled with Seng's incredible cringy performance.

If another director without as many chaotic tendencies could have directed this show -- I think we would have gotten a more complete and contextual emotionality to the show that would have helped Toh's and Nuea's relationship be portrayed as fully full-circle.

I think this is enough of a quibble that'll keep me from easily rewatching SCOY. But, towards the end of the series (@twig-tea, YOU WERE RIGHT!) -- especially from episode 9 onwards -- I felt that I finally and truly understood where this show was going, and what it was about, and I felt endeared to it.

I think many in the fandom will agree that SkyJao was actually the couple that interpreted, much more clearly, the impact of social pressures and insecurities on a relationship, and for that, I will forever shout

SKYJAO! SKYJAO! SKYJAO!

as one of my absolute favorite side pairings of all time.

SCOY was a hard watch for me because of the interruptions of the holidays, of life, and because I've gotten a little less patient with Cheewin's chaos (...I dropped Playboyy, omg, I have to admit), despite my utter admiration for his work on Make It Right and Bed Friend.

But the difficulties I had in watching it should not take away from honoring this show as a hell of an important one. It makes me admire Saint Suppapong to no end for spending his own damn money towards the pursuit of better BLs. And the acting in SCOY was truly FANTASTIC. Despite my own personal reservations, I cannot recommend SCOY highly enough -- because watching it, and enjoying it, is truly a perfect demarcation to understand how far Thai BLs had gotten to its airing moment in 2022.

[OKAY! As I mentioned above, this project has gotten even richer with the addition of my current reading of Dr. Thomas Baudinette's Boys Love Media in Thailand -- I look forward to offering my thoughts on that book after my watch project is over.

I have added a few shows to the watchlist! The recently-aired Last Twilight makes it on as a show that centered disability vis à vis BL for the first time, and Cherry Magic Thailand makes it on as Thailand's first major adaptation of a Japanese manga and dorama. I've also added 23.5, GMMTV's first GL, to the list, although the premiere date continues to be up in the air for that show.

AS WELL! An actual Japanese BL makes it on the list, ha ha! I'm obsessed with this because I'm learning from Baudinette about the Japanese roots of Thai BL. I am in LOVE with Ossan's Love Returns, and it happily features a cameo by none other than Loong Jim and Wen, who hilariously (AND SMARTLY, go get yer money, guys) franchised Moonlight Chicken to Japan. Earth Pirapat and Mix Sahaphap make the most adorable cameo, and they will be inhabiting Haruta's and Maki's roles when the Thai version of Ossan's Love starts filming later this year.

FINALLY! My own personally long-awaited KinnPorsche (OOOO-WEEEEE!) rewatch is up next, but I'm taking a beat to catch up on Cooking Crush. I can't wait for my late-night liveblogs on KP, though -- they're coming soon!

Here's the status of the list -- as always, Tumblr's web editor is NOT nice to this list, so please mosey over to this link for your very latest updates on the project!

1) The Love of Siam (2007) (movie) (review here) 2) My Bromance (2014) (movie) (review here) 3) Love Sick and Love Sick 2 (2014 and 2015) (review here) 4) Gay OK Bangkok Season 1 (2016) (a non-BL queer series directed by Jojo Tichakorn and written by Aof Noppharnach) (review here) 5) Make It Right (2016) (review here) 6) SOTUS (2016-2017) (review here) 7) Gay OK Bangkok Season 2 (2017) (a non-BL queer series directed by Jojo Tichakorn and written by Aof Noppharnach) (review here) 8) Make It Right 2 (2017) (review here) 9) Together With Me (2017) (review here) 10) SOTUS S/Our Skyy x SOTUS (2017-2018) (review here) 11) Love By Chance (2018) (review here) 12) Kiss Me Again: PeteKao cuts (2018) (no review) 13) He’s Coming To Me (2019) (review here) 14) Dark Blue Kiss (2019) and Our Skyy x Kiss Me Again (2018) (review here) 15) TharnType (2019-2020) (review here) 16) Senior Secret Love: Puppy Honey (OffGun BL cuts) (2016 and 2017) (no review) 17) Theory of Love (2019) (review here) 18) 3 Will Be Free (2019) (a non-BL and an important harbinger of things to come in 2019 and beyond re: Jojo Tichakorn pushing queer content in non-BLs) (review here) 19) Dew the Movie (2019) (review here) 20) Until We Meet Again (2019-2020) (review here) (and notes on my UWMA rewatch here) 21) 2gether (2020) and Still 2gether (2020) (review here) 22) I Told Sunset About You (2020) (review here) 23) YYY (2020, out of chronological order) (review here) 24) Manner of Death (2020-2021) (not a true BL, but a MaxTul queer/gay romance set within a genre-based show that likely influenced Not Me and KinnPorsche) (review here) 25) A Tale of Thousand Stars (2021) (review here) 26) A Tale of Thousand Stars (2021) OGMMTVC Fastest Rewatch Known To Humankind For The Sake Of Rewatching Our Skyy 2 x BBS x ATOTS (re-review here) 27) Lovely Writer (2021) (review here) 28) Last Twilight in Phuket (2021) (the mini-special before IPYTM) (review here) 29) I Promised You the Moon (2021) (review here) 30) Not Me (2021-2022) (review here) 31) Bad Buddy (2021-2022) (thesis here) 32) 55:15 Never Too Late (2021-2022) (not a BL, but a GMMTV drama that features a macro BL storyline about shipper culture and the BL industry) (review here) 33) Bad Buddy (2021-2022) and Our Skyy 2 x BBS x ATOTS (2023) OGMMTVC Rewatch (Links to the BBS OGMMTVC Meta Series are here: preamble here, part 1, part 2, part 3a, part 3b, and part 4) 34) Secret Crush On You (2022) 35) KinnPorsche (2022) (tag here)  36) KinnPorsche (2022) OGMMTVC Fastest Rewatch Known To Humankind For the Sake of Re-Analyzing the KP Cultural Zeitgeist (watching)

...interrupting the OGMMTVC list here to watch War of Y (2022) in chronology and to decide if it gets listed...

37) The Eclipse (2022) (tag here) 38) The Eclipse OGMMTVC Rewatch to Reexamine the Start of “Genre BLs” and Internalized/Externalized Homophobia in GMMTV Shows  39) GAP (2022-2023) (Thailand’s first GL) 40) My School President (2022-2023) and Our Skyy 2 x My School President (2023) 41) Moonlight Chicken (2023) (tag here) 42) Bed Friend (2023) (tag here) 43 La Pluie (2023) (review coming) 44) Be My Favorite (2023) (tag here) (I’m including this for BMF’s sophisticated commentary on Krist’s career past as a BL icon) 45) Wedding Plan (2023) (Recommended as an important trajectory in the course of MAME’s work and influence from TharnType) 46) Only Friends (2023) (tag here) (not technically a BL, but it certainly became one in the end) 47) Last Twilight (2023-24) (tag here) (on the list as Thailand’s first major BL to center disability, successfully or otherwise) 48) Cherry Magic Thailand (2023-24) (tag here) (on the list as the first major Japanese-to-Thai drama adaptation, featuring the comeback of TayNew) 49) Ossan’s Love Returns (2024) (adding for the EarthMix cameo and the eventual Thai remake) 50) 23.5 (2024)]

[theheightofdishonor]

aight miscellaneous thoughts that i'm too lazy to seperate into individual posts now

this show might have my favourite friend group ever?? and that includes scoy

still a bit sad we didn't get any flashbacks to last ep with all that happened.

the credits song??? here i was almost disappointed that msp was breaking its streak of 1-performance-per-episode but they came through!!

shoutout to all the bad buddy references - from the song choice to the fistbump to the "can we be just friends?". the show's delivering on these

they're super smart with how they're utilizing mark here for both comedy and meta commentary. Not a single one of his moments have missed and he draws attention very well. Which then makes it even more surprising just how subtly they're sketching out por and tiw.

they've finally hit their stride re: pacing and switching between subplots so that's nice to see

tiw vs noodle lady was hilarious.

the absence of tinn's mom was glaringly obvious last ep when the plot centered around dreams and how parents can influence you and i continue to wonder where she is.

overall, msp is hitting it out of the park. even as i nitpick details, i still wholly love and am enjoying every bit of this show.

[heretherebedork]

Nuea has never been one to confront or to comfort in public. He seeks privacy, a moment alone, a space apart, to speak with Toh and to be with Toh in emotional moments. He wants to be open about the fact of their relationship but not the making of their relationship, That is for him and Toh alone. Not for the world.

[fleet-off]

Finally, the correct response to seeing the person you're hoping to kiss scrunch their face up and brace themselves!

I had a preemptive wince when Sky said his "I'm not sure how much I can contain myself" line and got this expression in response. I'm so used to seeing that face used to indicate that a character is shy/anxious/innocent to sex--it's that "reluctance equates to purity and moral goodness" thing, which is a bad take anyway, but it almost always just reads onscreen as a deep aversion to the idea of kissing. And of course the love interest takes the kiss anyway, because he's dominant/can't resist his desires. I don't like it, but I've gotten used to this as a quirk of BL. And then Sky! Wonderful p'Sky!

Our cheesy, not-so-secretly dorky walking green flag saw that face and drew back. He made it clear that he's (as always) ready to follow Jao's pace. Good man!

Jao looks surprised, too! And then his face goes fond as he realizes that Sky truly won't take what isn't freely given, and he decides it's his turn to lean in.

 No discomfort. No fear. *That* is how you get consented-for, passionate mutual kisses. Ah, these two are the best. I love them.

(Bonus picture of their little smiles, which turned me to mush:)

[luthienmpl]

Wow the scoy tags are slow today, guess that's to be expected in the middle of the week, let's see if there's any interesting posts on twitter -

?????

Well. Guess I'll stay here then.

[cherrymagicalboys]

Toh tops when Nuea is emotionally vunerable and needs to feel wanted and secure send tweet

[heretherebedork]

If I had a nickel for every show that had a character who feels like a loser place his love interest on a pedestal for something out of his control and then have a revelation about him being only human long after falling in love him with despite themselves... I'd have at least three nickels and I'd be asking for more.

[heretherebedork]

Jao and Sky are such a soft, loving couple that are going to hurt so much because they are both deeply insecure in very different ways and I don't think Jao realizes that.

Jao is insecure and he wears that on his sleeves, he wears his fear there and everyone sees that he's uncomfortable with his body and with himself and how he tends to hide himself when he's in a group and is quick to let others make his choices for him.

But Sky?

Sky is insecure in all the little ways. He's terrified of losing Jao. He's scared of not being cool. He's scared of being rejected. He's afraid of being alone. He's afraid of losing this love he's found.

Jao doesn't see that because he doesn't see Sky as insecure. He still sees Sky as cool and popular and just nearly perfect. So Sky's jealousy and insecurity come across as anger and rejection to Jao.

While Jao's easy acceptance of the gifts has Sky terrified and insecure and worried because he's been fighting just to get a moment of Jao's attention, to give him anything, to be accepted by him on any level. Seeing Jao take those flowers and that plushie with a big smile and so much joy and then to realize that someone else sent those that Jao might be better with?

Sky is breaking inside. He's so worried and so insecure and he doesn't know how to ask for reassurance because he doesn't want to put that pressure on Jao. Remember how he wants to be cool for him? Remember his fear of breaking up?

Jao is much more forthcoming about his insecurities and his fears and he isn't looking for those in Sky and I am so afraid for them because there is so much love there and so much fear.

It's actually extra interesting because their love has made Jao more secure and more confident and comfortable but Sky is now the one in need of reassurance and comfort.

[heretherebedork]

As much as I am worried for the baby queer gang in SCOY, I'd like to take a moment to worry for Sky.

Of the engineering gang, he's definitely the least confident and the one who's changed himself the most for his love of Jao. He's the one who tried to cover up an injury to stay 'cool' and literally learned an entirely new way to flirt and to hold a friendship just to be sure he was being the best he could for Jao. He stood up to his old friend group for him, called him to make sure he was okay, checks on him and supports his every choice.

And he's made it clear that the only way he'll stop is if Jao says he doesn't love him any more. But they're both the self-sacrificing members of their group and they're both the type to give up on love to make sure the other person is comfortable.

Now we've got someone sending Jao flowers in from of Sky and Sky obviously upset and worried and if that continues... look, I worry about Toh and Jao and Daisy and Som...

But I'm very worried for Sky as well. I definitely see a chance of him breaking down to try and make sure Jao is happy and loved.

Neither Nuea nor Touch holds that same risk to me at this point.

[heretherebedork]

hi! do you have any ideas on how SCOY writers could even make daisy/intouch storyline be developed at this point after cutting all of their scenes out through 3 episodes? cause this baffles me 🤷

I've got nothing but I still trust them, honestly. They've done an amazing job with everything so far. I feel like we had to get the Daisy/Dai scene to understand where they were coming from and I'm hoping we get just a bit more with both of them soon.

In all honesty, I get it. The two of them can resolve their issues fairly quickly because neither of them is struggling the same way Jao and Toh are. Daisy's insecurities have come out in this extreme way but I feel like Touch can show Daisy, fairly quickly, his comfort with how they present themselves and can make that very clear, very directly, once he knows.

So... I dunno? I think they could do it well enough because what we need is just one good scene to see the two of them back together in their joy and love. I'd like more, yes. A lot more. But, sadly, I don't think we're gonna get as much as I would have liked. Or anyone would have liked.

But I am trusting in SCOY at this point. Oddly enough.

[heretherebedork]

Hey, just finished watching scoy after watching Daisy the sunshine gifs. And i didn't expect it to turn out so good. I couldn't get thru the first ep becoz of the over the top dramatics when it first aired but Daisy and intouch gifs and ur blog influenced me to give it a second chance. The show is soo much deeper than i expected .

What i can't get around is did they make the initial arc soo over the top to make the post ep5 story shine more like being everything u don't want in a bl then turn it upside down? The writers r meta without being in ur face. I'm curious if u have any other thoughts cause I feel it's purposeful.

Also nutt really did a good job in ep 11 I'm in love with his portrayal i really wanted to hug Daisy/day and the body image issues jao's actor portrays..

i didn't expect this show to be tackling actual issues it keeps surprising me.

That's what's so great about Secret Crush on You. By being so over the top and so wild and so funny, the more serious moments hit even harder because they're so real compared to everything else until you realize it's all real, it's all real it's just different levels of realistic.

The show is brilliant. It's filled to the brim with queer representation that feels honest without also having to constantly dodge homophobia around every turn. Not a single character is having a sexuality crisis, no one is questioning if they're gay or straight, everyone is just in love and they're all happy.

They went over the top because they needed to show us how the world sees them and how they see themselves and how love and comfort and affection and acceptance can change how you see the world and how the world sees you. Toh is slowly growing more and more real and solid and steady as he believes in his relationship. Jao is trying new things and being more expressive. Daisy is joyous and over the top. Each of them is feeling something different and new as the show goes on and gets more realistic.

Because that's the beauty of the show. That's the real beauty. This is a show about people, wild and crazy and over the top and in love and real and hurt and aching and together and learning and accepting and we're with them on this journey. We're standing beside them as they figure out who they are and where they fit together and where they fit into the world.

We're invited into Toh's wildest daydreams and Jao's deepest insecurity and Daisy's darkest fears and Nuea's fondest wishes and Sky's softest smiles and Touch's deeply respectful words. We're given all of them as all of them and we're invited to see every part of them. The good, the ugly, the rough, the scared, the loving, the loved.

Secret Crush on You started so big and brash and huge and cringy and goofy and then showed you that the world has space for all that and more, always more.

SCOY invites you to join the world exactly as you are and promises that there is part of the world that will gladly embrace you.

[luthienmpl]

I’ve been getting the feeling lately that Nuea knows to an extend that Toh is insecure about their relationship, but I don’t think he really understands to what extend or *why*, so he’ll try to reassure him when he sees him struggling but he can’t really get to the root cause. And that’s mostly because Toh hasn’t really been communicating with him about it. He lets things slip here and there, but he tends to say things like “you have to tell me when you want to break up” or “I don’t want to trouble you” or “I’ll stop seeing him if you think I’m not suitable” in such a nonchalant, matter of fact way that it doesn’t really hit for other people just how deeply that feeling of worthlessness goes for him. I’m not sure if it’s really that deeply internalized to the point where he himself is numb to the pain of it or if he downplays it on purpose and the “positive” front is a coping mechanism. But in any case he’s never sat Nuea down and said “this is what I think of myself and it’s why I’ve resigned myself to this relationship being temporary”. In comparison, Sky has a much better idea that Jao’s biggest insecurity about himself and their relationship are his body image issues, so he can reassure him more effectively.

I was wanting to know your thoughts about Nuea not standing up about the bullies and the shit that was being said about Toh while Sky knew Jao would be upset he called Nuea did nothing which really pissed me off

I am still thinking about that, honestly.

I think that Nuea genuinely thinks that Toh is getting over his insecurities after being accepted by his family. And he doesn't want to make a big deal out of the photo.

There's also the part where Nuea has always tried to do those things when he's alone with Toh. We even saw him pull Toh away from the group just to talk about the makeover. Nuea tends to talk to Toh about these kinds of things by himself, without an audience.

I'm just not sure, though. Nuea has to know that Toh is still insecure and would want reassurance.

It does worry me. But I also trust SCOY at this point. Nuea will have a reason and it will make sense, at least to him. And it will be for Toh and not just for him.

I do lean towards 'Nuea thinks that Toh is comfortable in their relationship now that they're out to his family' and 'he will reassure him in private if he thinks he needs to' as well. But it's not a good feeling because we know that Toh isn't okay at all.

[heretherebedork]

I just wanted to tell you how much I enjoy your posts and your thoughts. I started following you because I enjoyed your analysis of SCOY but I’m glad that I did because I often find myself agreeing with what you post.

I know there have been some challenging anons recently but I felt like you should know that you are very much appreciated for your thoughts by many.

Thank you! Welcome to this dorky little place where I ramble a lot. Enjoy the posts, the meta, the occasional random screaming and the many strange food posts that pop up.

I love SCOY and analyzing SCOY has become such a happy thing to for me to do that I'm really wondering what I'm going to do without it around to enjoy. It's just so joyful and next week we put a bow on it and I somehow have to find something else that brings me joy.

... SCOY and Cutie Pie end.

That is so much joy gone.

What am I gonna do?!