Nolan Peale

I don’t think Thais are any more than others. I think they gave it away when they compared themselves to talk show hosts. That’s kind of what these characters were. They were like people outside the BL subculture who just assume that any male who is involved in it must really be gay. (And a lot of shippers behave that way, too). So it was like those kinds of interviews we see where the actor gets quizzed about his sexuality because he was involved in something gay. Like being in a show gives people a right to know.

Also relieved that they actually had sex and it didn’t end with us having to watch Tae vomit all over Nite. For a change. Tae can hold his liquor. Plus he woke up and remembered he had sex without having to touch his arse to see if it was still there or something. This may not be the best series, but they don’t reach for the easy jokes that other light series do.

Nite 2 looks a lot like Cooper Patpasit. He is annoyingly charming. I think I could get behind this match if he didn’t use Tae’s toothbrush and push him in the pool. I’m wondering if this show got shelved at some point by COVID or something. It’s like these later episodes aren’t being shot by the same crew. They are using different filters and whatnot. Also shirtless Tae in ep 10 looks like he’s put on ten pounds compared with shirtless Tae from ep 1.

I think Tae just got his hair done when he went to the resort to get away from his troubles. Wouldn’t be the first person to feel that a new hairstyle would help. “I’m a new man, out of my rut.”

I'm guessing Muren has had a crush on Li Cheng all along because for the life of me, I have no idea how a lout like Li Cheng could ever have been promoted to head his own sales department. Someone somewhere is making a decision based on something other than professional qualifications and suitability for a role dealing with the public. A guy who thinks broadcasting the humiliating childhood nickname of a new co-worker wouldn't embarrass her probably isn't all that good at closing sales with brides to be at a wedding planning company. LOL.

Well, sure. In the real world. But in the world of the novel, he can't. Because then he would not need to go and explore gay sex and this would be a completely different story. LOL

As to the lack of sex in Bad Engineer, it looks like a straight up attempt to copy SOTUS, which didn’t have a lot of sex scenes. Neither did Love Sick. There’s actually quite a few like that. Yeah, they have sex, but the authors draw the curtains on us before the deed. So it’s not unusual that he’s been able to write a successful BL novel without ever describing what it’s like to have sex in any detail. What Bua wants from him this time is from the less sexually inhibited side of the BL realm. Because that realm has been selling much better. (And she likes it more!). At least in this fictional universe, that’s what the fictional fiction market wants. Since she’s the boss, and in charge of defining the quest and setting the stakes, her fictional demands are reason enough.

Thank god, though. Otherwise Gene would just skip the gay sex and go back to writing horror fiction and there’d be no BL story to speak of. That would be unfortunate for us. As far as heros go, Genes a bit of a slacker and lacks gumption to leave his house a lot of the time. Thank god for Queen Bua to give him stern orders.

I don’t think this is the kind of parody that ever promised to transcend BL and give us something completely trope free. What you refer to as tropes are what they refer to as “moments” in the series. So far, the only thing really funny about them is that Gene ends up pointing out how annoying they are. (I can put on my own seatbelt, thank you very much!!!). I think those are going to come up again when they start to get into the contradictions of “shipping”.

Oxygen was doomed from the moment they decided it was a good idea to make two inscrutable introverts the main story. Two guys who sit around, not talking to each other, not letting us know anything about them, never sharing any thoughts or feelings, looking for warm milk at bedtime. Was bound to sag after episode 3. Lol.

That's an interesting question, and one that we'll have to see as Gene resolves his conflicts. I do think Gene is interesting because he has a personal hang up about writing about sex as well as a professional one. I think the criticism the show is leveling at a type of BL novel and where we are 6 years into the Thai BL craze is probably genuine. The professionals from the BL industry are repeatedly shown as lacking moral centers - both the director, the marketer and his publisher couldn't care any less about anything but money and sex if they tried. And they aren't wrong in their assessments of what the audience wants. Shippable couples! Moments! and Sex Scenes! Gene isn't a moral hero, though. He could turn out to be a hypocrite. The story we're watching might turn out to be another "how I learned to love my sexually harassing Seme" story. Or Gene could just learn to write about hot spicy sex within a non-toxic relationship and we'll live happily ever after because he'll be living what he's writing and the conflict resolves itself. Stay tuned!

Fantasy Horror, though...really? Fantasy Horror authors concerned about the ethical treatment of their characters? Since when? The whole genre rests on being willing to make characters and even whole societies suffer perilous situations, deaths of beloved companions in the mouths of unimaginable monsters, victims of dark wizardry, slaughter, mayhem, torture chambers, etc. Yet "gay sex" is too much for Gene to imagine and sexual harassment is a cause for concern. Uh huh. If I'm Bua, I'm calling BS and sending Gene back to the salt mines until he writes more than a kissing scene. He's been at it 2 months.

Yeah. I'm curios as to how these competing novels will work out in the end. Both Hin and Gene have started writing their real life experiences into the novel. I'm guessing Gene is not going to be too happy when he recognizes himself as a character in Hin's novel. Sib is also might not going to be amused to find out that he is in Gene's novel, or Gene will decide not to publish it because it hits too close to home.

I think Sib is actually trying to seduce Gene like a character in a BL series, which is kind of working, but does give us the sense that he is affected. He doesn't have any better idea about how to win Gene than, say, Yuri did with Noh in Love Sick, so he does things that work in BL novels and series that don't actually work in real life unless someone is already into you. Like putting on someone's seatbelt or wiping their mouth. IRL we would find that kind of thing rather annoying, and I'm glad Gene is put off by them. I sure would be. I'm sure he'll try to tie Gene's shoes and put him on the back of a bike. He's not some kind of master of seduction. He's a kid who's probably never dated anyone so he's trying out the things he's seen on TV.

Yeah, if I'm an bigwig editor in the BL industry with a bob haircut, I'm probably seething right now. I think she is supposed to be someone.

Not to take Bua's side here, but Gene is a otherwise a hack genre novelist in the realm of "Horror Fantasy", not exactly known for the finer nuances of character development. His sudden interest in the matter stems more from his hang ups about gay sex and his wish to avoid thinking about it than from any mission to improve the quality of BL novels or a desire to write the Great Thai Novel. Yeah, Bua is a more than a bit crass and not very empathetic to her employees, but he's not much better. He's a bit of a slacker.

Poor dude. Everyone in his life seems to overlook him. Even show viewers. LOL.

I'm guessing it was Hin because Bua tasked him with getting lots of pictures of Gene on the set. Saymork was taking the pictures of the failed kiss scene, though. Regardless, I appreciate this show took a little time to give some characters some motivation to take and leak the pictures. A lot of times in BL, pictures get leaked to social media as part of the plot that no one would have bothered to take or would have been impossible to take in real life and there no explanation as to who would take them. (See: Tonhon Chonlatee, My Tee, Together with Me, Nations Brother). Here at least we have two suspects, who were both seen taking photos of the event.

Well, at least we finally found out about Nite. He did return home to avoid breaking a rule. Which they won’t tell us. And all gods are slow talkers. So new Nite. I’m going with Nite’s evil twin, the god of Lust, moving in where his brother dropped the ball. Or there’s some other rule that requires Tae to first prove that he loves Nite even if he were mortal. New Nite is a bit more fun.

I wonder where Prab’s boyfriend went. Did he get the hint and just go away?

I don't think you have to worry about this series. No one is watching it. Not sure what to make of the Teacher/Student story. Its not pedophilia, because the student is of age. Its squiky because parents don't send their kids to school so that teachers can have dates on Friday nights. The whole school appears to be in on it, though. Like its just part of going to that school. This kind of teacher/student relationship has been part of yaoi for ages. If Chol were able to live out his fantasy with his tutor, it would be the same age difference as between the teacher and student in the series.

I'm actually fine with him being creepy at this point. The easiest thing for this series to have done is given us something like TGIF or another really safe show. If they are criticizing BL for having too much sexual harassment, its far more risky to take us towards that line, but without crossing it.

Liked ep 2. Curious about Aey’s conflict. Hopefully it’s just some normal family squabble and not some kind of huge gaping wound that has turned him into a monster.

I don’t think Tiffy is way off clueless with thinking that Tum likes Gene. Since he acts like he likes Gene. Wondering if something more will happen to them that will involve other characters. Like they’ll engage in a manger fight that threatens the show. Nah. That never happens in real life. Too implausible.

I wonder what Hin’s novel is. Going to guess that this series ends with his novel being made into a series with Gene’s in the rubbish bin, just a guess. Make mother proud, Hin.

And yeah, egads. That is really the Mount Everest of a pile of jam on toast. Surprised gene doesn’t eat it with a spoon. I’ll laugh if in some future scene he doesn’t have anything to wear because all his shirts have strawberry stains.