Nolan Peale

Yep. It finally became clear. The photos need to happen. They've been working under the assumption that he needs to prevent them from happening.

One of those series where I probably should have spent more time watching other series to understand. Since I've seen like 2 historic K-Dramas in my life, I have no idea why its bad that Dongbaek was born in the home of a shaman, what is so bad about being a child of god, why wasn't he supposed to have a name and what was supposed to happen once he had one. O.K. he has a destiny now. And? What? Is he going to grow horns and shoot fire from his eyes now that he has a name?

Episode 4
The Good
-I'm actually pleased that Ben seems to have some kind of chance. Usually, third wheels arrive already flat. And there's actually some very good reasons for him to choose Ben and not wait around for Palm. Maggie is pretty much drawing dead, as usual. I don't think Palm is using her as a beard, so its not exactly his fault when she's cast aside.
-Also glad that Palm gives the warning that Neung and Ben need to be careful about making out. When Chopper and Ben had their convo, it was like "oh, yeah. Just ask him. Asking another boy out is really no different than asking a girl out in this surprisingly free and open society that we're just imaging exists because its a BL and love is love. Nothing to worry about here at this school." Yeah, its another example of Palm eating his true feelings and copping out because he's "security", but it will make the next episode less jarring.
The Meh
-O.K. I get that the fight showed that Palm is going to remain Neung's protector, even after Neung humiliated him. Easiest thing for him to do is go "whoa, buddy, you call me a friend one minute, and a slave when you're drunk. Well, you're on your own." But really, I thought the whole "the ballroom dance social suddenly is no different from a biker bar with all the drunken roughhousing" fight sequence wasn't necessary. No matter how much they try, they aren't going to make me think of Pond as an action-hero, so the fewer unnecessary fights, the better. Everything was fine until they escalated.

Yeah. I'm guessing that there are men who take ballroom classes as part of court ordered anger management classes as part of a plea bargain. Maybe. The guys were even dressed low class in t-shirts and jeans like they walked into the wrong party. It was just poorly thought out. And once again, Ben is missing.

Yeah, though the issue with Palm's asswhopping is that he would have killed Phun if he didn't get pulled off. And as much as I hate a high school bully, he didn't really do anything beyond bullying until the fight escalated. If I'm the vice principal, both boys are doing hard time.

Episode 1
The Good:
Well, I liked Jason Tuan in Red Ballon and loved to see him again. The more I see him, the better.
The Meh
I’ll stick with it, but am meh about the way the time travel doesn’t seem to matter much to the story so far. In a world where wizards exist and they cast spells to transplant random people decades into the future where they’ll be in different bodies, there doesn’t seem to be much that the writers seem to find worth exploring. O.k., cell phones are now smart phones and it’s easier to start a scooter, but I’m concerned that the mains are going to hand the same BLrelationship that they would have had if there were no wizards and time travel.

Bluefin, skipjack or albacore? If you're gonna be a tuna, you should reach to be the best one you can be.

Episode 3 thoughts:
-Yeah, Ben, when Neung said, "don't tell anyone", he didn't mean "use this information as a cudgel to beat on Palm. Chopper also gave a warning about him. Maybe its sour grapes over being rejected, or maybe Chopper knows but loves him anyway. Regardless, they made him state that he doesn't know how to shoot a gun, which either means that he's the most dangerous character or that he in fact does no how to use a gun.
-I'm glad Pawin turned out to be an asshole. I was worried it would be Nemo part 2, where he was just another desperate hanger on. Neung really needs to start learning about the family business and who might have it in for him. I don't know why Neung's dad tried to have Phun killed, though.
-Speaking of the family business, I don't think they are actually a "mafia" family as I would understand it, although they are hazy about what business they might be in besides hotels and casinos. When Thanya says that the tenants are letting their competitors operate on the land, I have no idea what she means. Uncle Bozo complaining about rising management costs to me is a tell that this isn't mafia. The mob does not really care about those kinds of metrics and as for shareholders, well, its not like the accounts mobbed up businesses hire won't sign off on anything. Anyway, I had to laugh at the idea that the way he thought management costs would get under control would be to have a second CEO. Yeah...umm...having two of those and no one knowing who answers to whom is a pretty sure fire way to have costs go through the roof. Try again, Sam.
-I'm hoping that Thanya and Chanon were the ones to kill Neung's father. Its just too obvious if it were uncle Bozo. Thanya seems to eager to play Queen Regent for prince Neung, like she had a plan all along.

I found it funny that he's going to get a gig playing piano and they don't specify what he's supposed to be playing.

Mackie: O.K. Elderly people, time to work on our cha cha steps. Take it away piano man.
Neung: I don't know any cha cha chas.
Mackie: What do you know.
Neung: Well, a few Christmas carols, some minuets, a few rondos and a tarantella.
Mackie: O.K. Geezers. Lets get ready to rondooooo.

Episode 2

-Yeah, its a little over the top, but I'm glad they escalated that Uncle Khit is violent, or at least has his minions commit violence. That's something they never bothered to do in Eclipse for many episodes. Make the danger more dangerous. That said, he didn't actually look at the finger while it was being chopped and didn't actually do the deed himself, so he's in danger of being another lightweight villain who uses incompetent lackeys. He's got fairly simple motives. Lakhorny even. I hope he can shock us. Since he's telegraphed his intention to off Ma and Son, I hope its not him.
-Next time, I hope Neung goes "I like to watch you swim. But please wear this. *pulls out tiny thong* or nothing at all." Work with us, Neung. Be our surrogate perv so we can view more Palm flesh.
-One of the things they also never really made us do until the last episode in Eclipse is make us re-evaluate a character. That was too long for a thriller. So hopefully they have something planned to make us change our minds about someone. Chanon had dad killed maybe. Or maybe dad doesn't want his son in the car not because of class reasons but because he's planning on having Neung assassinated in the car some day. Anyway, make him interesting. Surprise us. I'd rather have a bit of a thrill than the typical lakhorn where we know who is good and who is bad from the early episodes and it never changes. The Good Servant is a bit of a bore. Chanon has potential to be an actual antagonist here since until he's dead, I don't think that Neung and Palm can be friends, let alone lovers.
-O.K., Chopper, Dear. If you want to win Ben's heart, the way to do so is to spend some of dad's cash to take guitar lessons. Or, since you're named after a kitchen appliance, make yourself useful and bring him snacks. Egads. Approaching him under the pretext that you're suspicious of him is not going to get you far. You know that now.
-Chimon is wasted being a good kid. Ben is a politician. Should we trust him?
-Nothing against Mackie, per se, but I hope she ends up walking with a cane in the end for calling those people elderly when they are merely not kids anymore.
-Why is it that no one seems aware that Chopper is related to Neung?

I think he kind of revealed too much to Chopper when he kind of said that he wants to keep him close because at any time, Ben could be removed as President if Neung wanted to be president. He has an anxiety. Then he backtracked and got all huffy when accused of wanting something.

It does make me worry that when I go to Thailand the kids are going to refer to me as grandfather rather than uncle. I can handle uncle. I guess I'll appreciate the respect, but come on. I'm not in "the elderly" for at least another 20 years.

Or they just could have lied and said he was a cousin from the country, moved to Bangkok for school. Or something. Maybe they go to Sunday School together. Or an old family friend's kid whose parents have died. Like there's many reasons a rich person would have someone come stay with them. Its not like the school administrators are going to ask questions.

I guess the biggest mystery from episode 4 is whether Joey really went to buy Aun beer wearing only his boxer shorts.

5 Questions for the Series after ep 1

1 Will they bother to solve the murder and who else is going to die? I'm going to trust Jojo here that he didn't just kill off the patriarch of the family with potentially seedy income sources just to set the plot in motion. 3 Will be Free gave us a cadaver a week. I'm hoping for the same. Since we've already established that Neung can't hit the broad side of a barn, he's going to have to shoot someone stone cold dead in the head or I'm going to be disappointed. Prediction: It will be Chopper. Alternative Prediction: It will be Palm's father.

2 Will the BL get in the way? Ugh. I know we love our "moments" but the BL moments were rather awkward in the first episode. Why did they need to duck in the hallway at that moment like its Bad Buddy 2? Why did they need to fall into the pool? The less of that the better.

3 Will there be more to Palm than just the robot? O.K. so we have another "I fell for my bodyguard" story. Golden Blood and Oh! My Sunshine Night gave us these barely human bodyguards who were all about duty, and short on the libido. Why should they have to give their lives for these rich pricks? Unlike those bodyguards, Palm wasn't raised for this role. So hopefully his character story will be more than just "he was a good soul who ignored all those protest signs against our capitalist overlords and was never tempted to do anything but fall in love with his master." I liked that he decided that since no one was using the pool, he might was well use it. It was just kind of laying around there, anyway. (When Neung didn't see anyone, I was very very worried that Palm had a habit of holding his breath and meditating under water. Oh! My Sunshine Night has ruined me.)

4 How are they going to decorate Pleum's room? Maybe they'll hire folks from Big Dragon and make it into a palace of pleasures. I doubt it. They'll probably just hang up some posters on the wall and call it a bachelor's pad.

5 Do these rich people and well-heeled schools know anyone who can tune a piano? I know its humid and the instruments were designed to be located in Northern Europe and all, but for an extra $100, or pocket change for the wealthiest family in Thailand, they could have someone come in and maintain them.

Well, some final thoughts:
-I thought the ending inspirational speech by P was incongruous with everything that came before in 19 1/2 episodes. I can't tell if he was sincere, but it seemed like they wanted us to believe it was sincere. We've had 4 tales about how awful the industry is and how these Idols are all very flawed, damaged, and dark. Then we get a corporate Ted talk about how wonderful it is. It isn't.
-As for the final question on whether I believe them if they said all the stories were true. I'll go with probably, but also quite a few embellishments and dramatic exaggerations were part of the crux of each story. I recognized a lot of these scandals, but not all of them, and none of them played out that way at key moments in the story. So fictiony.
-I like how they never let up on the perspective that shipping is a problem, and that while fans may say they want these couples to be "real", we really would be dissatisfied with the actual couples that formed. Every story served us what we claim to want as fans - the on screen ship is real. And every time, we end up thinking "these two would be better off breaking up, leaving the industry, and opening up a flower shop somewhere."
-I'm going to rank them. Y-Idol, New Ship, Wife, and War of Managers. I know a lot of people didn't like Y-Idol, but that was the one that I found myself taking a break from work to watch immediately when it came out that week. I connected with Peet differently than the other characters.
-As for the ending of Wife, I'm satisfied with the ending. I think I would have been more upset if they had forced Most and Achi to have some kind of happy ending. Achi did not somehow become a better person who Most could trust just by saying he was sorry, over and over. It was O.K. that Kla decided to stay with Peet, even though Peet is a project that needs a lot of attention, just like Achi. Kla'll get a comfy spot in heaven for that. But Most shouldn't have to make that same sacrifice and has no reason to.

Episode 8
-Well, at least someone finally smashed lips. Its been kissus interruptus for 8 episodes and that joke has gotten old. I was beginning to worry that this was a BL from 2013 and same sex kisses were forbidden. I know its Indtrytimes and she's not known for NC scenes, but there's nothing NC about a kiss. That Shogun gave Maitoh a hug makes me wonder what the endgame is here. 2 episodes of Shogun "making up his mind?"
-I want to live in Maitoh's house without having to put in the effort into the upkeep of Maitoh's house. If I lived there, eventually you'd need to use a machete to cut your way through the vines to get inside and any number of the critters that want to feed on those leaves would be my housemates. It is a stunning home, though.
-I want to feel for Green, but he had Maitoh to himself there and decided to do an slomo kiss. He should know, that you never do a slomo kiss in a BL series as it will never be allowed to land.
-Brother dear, are you really Green's wingman, or are you the cock-blocker. There was no need for that interruption since you know the story. Sadly, I think that was Green's last chance. I don't see Green winning the brother as a consolation prize.
-

The director is New Siwaj who actually has no problems directing NC scenes. He's playing himself and making fun of himself. The series that he's directed for GMM though have been very tame and I'm guessing he's making fun of fans who were complaining about his lack of NC scenes in Star in Your Mind and Sky in Your Heart.

I don't think P and Dew are together except for contractual reasons at this point. "RainY" who is getting the dirt from Fern is probably "DewY". Seems like he's probably trying to take P down now that he's got his contract with the network.

Let's see here.
-Kids. Don't be Achi. If you really want to be dumped hard, well, answer a question like Fern's like Achi did. Oof. I kind of wish he was fooling with Ray from "About Youth," who'd organize everyone involved to go cut the brake cables on Achi's car.
-In terms of the real life scandals that might be behind this - I think this one is fiction as the only time I remember something like this happening and being made public was with Captain a few years back, and it was nothing like this.
-Hmmm. RainY is probably DewY. I hope they do reveal what P and Dew have been up to this whole time in the last episode. Going to guess that Dew is trying to destroy P now that he's working with the network.
-New is a scream in this series. Yeah, sure. Now that you're directing series for GMM, you're ashamed of NC scenes. Sure. LOL
-There's no way that this ends with everyone reuniting. None of the other couples really should have had happy endings, but somehow, this one wouldn't be satisfying. In fact, I'd be hostile to that outcome. Most should cut his losses and find someone new. A sad ending would be Achi and Most together.