["...but this felt more like a series of graphic encounters than a genuine exploration of love and connection."]Because…
There is...so very much that is aggravating about your AI-generated response but what it tells me most of all is that I should disengage immediately from someone who can't even write a halfway decent prompt in the first place.
I just don’t like the fashion style they make Tongrak wear. Can’t they show gay guys with taste when it comes…
I'm also not a big fan of the sartorial choices here but then I am generally put-off by conspicious consumption masquerading as style. I absolutely hated his introductory outfit in the first episode. I took one look at it and thought, "That is a man whose clothes are wearing him".
But at the same time, the wardrobe choices could be character-related. Perhaps Tongrak dones flashy clothing like armour, the same way he uses money as a weapon. He's inhabiting a shell that loudly telegraphs to the world that he's successful, in control, undaunted, and not even the littlest tiniest bit unstable or uncertain.
Or, you know, it's Thailand, where the cultural affinity for what's considered fashionable is closely aligned with what visibly looks expensive. I'm just glad he's not strutting around with branded bags and giant logos plastered everywhere.
Ok fine, but I'm only hanging around for the sex and the scenery; let's not muck it up with too much "story".
Vie is deliciously diabolicial. Khaimuk, my lovely little doe, you are a married woman, even if you don't realize it yet. If you two were any other type of mammal, Vie would've just been aggressively scent-marking the hell out of you. I could smell the pheromones through the screen—you're in danger, girl!
I don't think I've uttered the sentence "What in the world?" as many times in my whole life as I did during that opening scene. Shame the rest of the episode was nowhere near as entertaining.
That poster communicated no information, advertised no product or service, provided no insight, contained no logos or even a website. It wasn't even a complete thought. That poster existed, in that specific elevator, at that precise moment, just to mock Yak. It tickled me pink and I laughed and laughed.
Which was good because pretty much the rest of the episode just pissed me off.
I fully expected some pointless conflict because we're at about the part of the story where it has to happen but holy hell was that manufactured. Everybody came out of this looking like right idiots.
Yak hasn't displayed any propensity for violence outside of the ring, nor has he been shown to be anything but hard-working, devoted, and successful; he's not even particularly cocky about it. He seems like the kind of guy who is aware that, as a professionally trained fighter, he shouldn't be getting into punch-ups with civilians. So what in the blue hell was all that yelling about him always resorting to violence and being a constant disappointment to everyone?
And did Wandee just lose all common sense? He had a pre-arranged date with Yak and candles burning on the table; on what planet does he sit himself and his sex costume down for dinner and drinks with Ter and then a little light PowerPointing? Previous crush aside, Wandee just would not do that; at the very least, he'd have taken off the headband and put on some damn pants first. I am insulted on behalf of the character that he was reduced to such outright stupidity for the sake of pointless drama.
And speaking of Ter—look, either pull the trigger or drop this storyline. I have no idea what his motivations or objectives are and, at this point, I really don't care. So either let him be an actual villain or move him out of the way; he has served his primary purpose as a plot point, and nothing else he's doing is important. I am getting annoyed by his face and have you seen Pod's sexy face?
I would say the same about Taem but Taem was never a thing. Even she looked confused about why she's still here.
As usual, Dr. Plakao was the only one making any sense; I, too, would like this saga to end already if this is the dumbassery we should expect going forward. Just...wow.
Episodes two of both this series and the JBL ended the same way: with our main protagonist realizing he's developing feelings for his male classmate. Why was it so believable in the JBL but comes across as undercooked balderdash here?
Somewhere between all the unnecessary inner monologuing and the silly noises soundscape may be the element that would actually make all of this work within the confines of Thai culture but I'm not seeing any promise that element will actually come to the fore. This series is hitting all the beats but it just feels so artificial, so empty, and so forced.
The play scene really left a foul taste in my mouth. In the JBL, the protagonist is a tad goofy but genuinely well-meaning and caring. He had no confidence in his own ability to perform the role but he was willing to be embarrassed on stage in front of the whole school if it meant he could save a friend from the same fate (and in the JBL, this decision truly seemed less about his crush and more about his inherent empathy; you got the impression he would've done it for anyone in the class, not just the girl he liked, because he's driven to be helpful to the people around him). He let them put him in that shapeless dress and slap on that shoddy-ass wig and just went with it, because he promised to help and by-golly, he was going to fulfill that promise. We watched him awkward his way through the production with all the gusto he could manage and it was bloody fucking charming. The play scene was short in the JBL but it told us so much about our characters: their fears, their shortcomings, their strong suits, their braveries, the traits that underlay their personalities.
In this Thai series, all of that was lost. It just seems like he was waiting for the right moment to step into the spotlight and flex his own talents. I skipped both of the songs; they felt so out-of-place in the story, so obviously just a vehicle servicing the main ship as a commercial Thai BL product rather than an integral plot element that moved the story and its characters forward. And, sure, he's "just stepping in", but he can perform the song flawlessly with no rehearsals and has the most perfectly tailored wardrobe for the whole show despite there being ZERO warning to the production crew that he would replace the title character? Sure. Ok. Aggravatingly stupid, and without reason. He could've just played freaking Cinderella and we could've skipped all the nonsense.
I so want this Thai series to be good because I genuinely like the source material. I'll stick around for another few episodes; perhaps it will find its speed once it reaches the new material, where there's more overt romantic activity between the leads. Thai BLs tend to be rather decent at that stage.
Tong has such resting "I murdered someone & got away with it" face. It is so very punchable. I want someone to punch it. I hope Joe gets to punch it.
Joe, it's wonderful you acknowledge that you are, in fact, a dumpster, and Tong and Ming are the flames you keep letting set you alight. But you just keep being the best dumpster fire you can be, you pathetic boy.
Wut needs more love. The man has such layers, and is carrying so much tragedy and loss that he isn't sharing with anyone. I'm glad he got some of it out, and also got his friend back to boot. Cheers to you, Wut.
And am I the only one who was mildly surprised Ming didn't spawn from under the van or out of a tree when Sol was hugging Joe? I guess Ming's "Someone's touching Joe" radar goes silent during meditation.
I don't care. I just don't care. This didn't necessarily begin as a great series but it has certainly devolved over the weeks since its premiere. One episode left, and I'm dropping. They're going to end together, sure, great, of course, but I just don't care.
What a filler of an episode. How long are we going to just be spinning our wheels here? And can we finally please be done with this Taemrak nonsense? It has been nothing but a dull waste of time since the beginning, as well as a waste of an otherwise engaging and likeable character who should have been given literally any other reason for existing. There is so much else we could be exploring during all the dead air that is pretending Yak's interested in Taem.
What medical mysteries lie in all "the research"? What ominous and vaguely illegal mess has Yei gotten into? Cher was saved from being assaulted, how'd that go down? Is Dr. Plakao putting sex costumes on other people? How talented is Wandee that he can perform completely bloodless surgery? Is Ter having a real awakening or is he about to villain villainously? Could they really not find NC archive footage where Yak wasn't visibly wearing his necklace, or what are we supposed to think happened there? Wandee has been conspiciously wearing that thing for weeks, it was distracting to see Yak suddenly wearing it with no context. See? So much more we could be focusing on.
At this point, whenever Taem appears, I start pining for the next sex ed lecture. It also contributes nothing to the story but at least something new may be learned.
Ming, you selfish ass. Now they've got to reset and probably reshoot the end of that scene, and Joe is likely going to end up apologizing to everyone after receiving yet another lecture about professionalism, because you keep sabotaging his work. Don't you have some more decour-coordinated robes to go buy or something? Let the man work in peace, at least.
Tong absolutely murdered someone in the past and no one will ever convince me otherwise. How is it that neither Ming nor his sister can actually see Tong? He just oozes smarmy insincerity from every pore. One would think a monster like Ming would recognize another monster like Tong, especially after they basically killed Joe together.
I suppose we are now officially on the "redeem Ming" arc, terribly disappointing. Honestly, I don't want to see Joe's love lift Ming up; I want to watch Ming's obsession drag Joe down. Joe has been most interesting to me when he meets Ming at Ming's level: manipulative, forceful, occasionally cruel. Stop fighting the poison, Joe; just let it seep in.
Typical GMMTV presentation, nothing more, nothing less. At least they're mapping the formula to a story with an actual plot, so hopefully we won't be spending excessive time meandering.
I am so pleased to see Na. I dropped "We Are" so I'm thrilled I'll get to ogle him in this series, at least. I am definitely hot for teacher.
Not that I expect anything in this series to make sense but I hope it revisits that whole "Patrick fended off a vampire chick" from a few episodes back. The series might've forgotten about it but I certainly haven't. I realize there are endless shenanigans from the Dumbest Scooby Gang Ever to cover but, still. I would like some closure.
There is a difference between being powerless and being weak, and I fully admit I find the former more deserving of sympathy than the latter. If Joe is choosing to once again be Ming's doormat, despite having valid alternatives, then he deserves to once again be walked all over. So keep wiping those shoes, Ming, you delightful little sociopath, until that weak boy is crushed completely under your heel.
Grandmother's Glasses are my second favourite character in this series. They aren't my style but they have such personality and flair, and look like someone actually bothered with principles of form rather than just raw functionality. Usually in Thai shows eyeglasses (alongside wigs and jeans) are deeply unflattering and/or ugly as sin. I am half-convinced those glasses may actually belong to the actor rather than the production.
This Taemrak thing is very tiresome. Not merely because we know where it's all headed but because it just looks so assinine in-universe. They're publicly going about as boyfriends, spending most of their free time together, posting affectionately intimate updates on their socials, everyone seems aware they're screwing one another's brains out, and all those soft longing looks aren't happening entirely behind closed doors. Wandee is wearing Yak's necklace, for fuck's sake, and Yak is voluntelling his friends to actively support Wandee's scholarship efforts. How does any of that help the "Make Taemrak Fall for Yak" plan? If Taemrak actually DID fall for Yak, it would ruin her character, because she'll come off looking either bizarrely stupid or jarringly self-centered, neither of which she is. And not one single person in the viewing audience is convinced Yak has meaningful feelings for her anymore so...why are we doing this dance? It's lazily contrived even for a Thai BL.
Leave sweet Taemrak out of it and just give us more Dr. Plakao and his enthusiastic costumed sexplay research—for science!
An aside: did the OyeCher stuff make anyone else feel like they missed some scenes? I think I was more bewildered than Oye when Cher popped off in the gym. There's been some friction regarding their business finances, sure, but shite really escalated into a whole other thing this episode.
The clarification on Uncle's corporate position is everything I needed. Thank you, special episode. Also interesting to see four grown men, including the wildly advanced android with a massively juiced AI system, are absolutely baffled by the violently antagonistic concept of intentional low-speed collisions.
Good day to you.
Because it is. It's two young hot strangers banging each other on a tropical island; love and connection has nothing to do with it. For now, anyway.
But at the same time, the wardrobe choices could be character-related. Perhaps Tongrak dones flashy clothing like armour, the same way he uses money as a weapon. He's inhabiting a shell that loudly telegraphs to the world that he's successful, in control, undaunted, and not even the littlest tiniest bit unstable or uncertain.
Or, you know, it's Thailand, where the cultural affinity for what's considered fashionable is closely aligned with what visibly looks expensive. I'm just glad he's not strutting around with branded bags and giant logos plastered everywhere.
Vie is deliciously diabolicial. Khaimuk, my lovely little doe, you are a married woman, even if you don't realize it yet. If you two were any other type of mammal, Vie would've just been aggressively scent-marking the hell out of you. I could smell the pheromones through the screen—you're in danger, girl!
Which was good because pretty much the rest of the episode just pissed me off.
I fully expected some pointless conflict because we're at about the part of the story where it has to happen but holy hell was that manufactured. Everybody came out of this looking like right idiots.
Yak hasn't displayed any propensity for violence outside of the ring, nor has he been shown to be anything but hard-working, devoted, and successful; he's not even particularly cocky about it. He seems like the kind of guy who is aware that, as a professionally trained fighter, he shouldn't be getting into punch-ups with civilians. So what in the blue hell was all that yelling about him always resorting to violence and being a constant disappointment to everyone?
And did Wandee just lose all common sense? He had a pre-arranged date with Yak and candles burning on the table; on what planet does he sit himself and his sex costume down for dinner and drinks with Ter and then a little light PowerPointing? Previous crush aside, Wandee just would not do that; at the very least, he'd have taken off the headband and put on some damn pants first. I am insulted on behalf of the character that he was reduced to such outright stupidity for the sake of pointless drama.
And speaking of Ter—look, either pull the trigger or drop this storyline. I have no idea what his motivations or objectives are and, at this point, I really don't care. So either let him be an actual villain or move him out of the way; he has served his primary purpose as a plot point, and nothing else he's doing is important. I am getting annoyed by his face and have you seen Pod's sexy face?
I would say the same about Taem but Taem was never a thing. Even she looked confused about why she's still here.
As usual, Dr. Plakao was the only one making any sense; I, too, would like this saga to end already if this is the dumbassery we should expect going forward. Just...wow.
Somewhere between all the unnecessary inner monologuing and the silly noises soundscape may be the element that would actually make all of this work within the confines of Thai culture but I'm not seeing any promise that element will actually come to the fore. This series is hitting all the beats but it just feels so artificial, so empty, and so forced.
The play scene really left a foul taste in my mouth. In the JBL, the protagonist is a tad goofy but genuinely well-meaning and caring. He had no confidence in his own ability to perform the role but he was willing to be embarrassed on stage in front of the whole school if it meant he could save a friend from the same fate (and in the JBL, this decision truly seemed less about his crush and more about his inherent empathy; you got the impression he would've done it for anyone in the class, not just the girl he liked, because he's driven to be helpful to the people around him). He let them put him in that shapeless dress and slap on that shoddy-ass wig and just went with it, because he promised to help and by-golly, he was going to fulfill that promise. We watched him awkward his way through the production with all the gusto he could manage and it was bloody fucking charming. The play scene was short in the JBL but it told us so much about our characters: their fears, their shortcomings, their strong suits, their braveries, the traits that underlay their personalities.
In this Thai series, all of that was lost. It just seems like he was waiting for the right moment to step into the spotlight and flex his own talents. I skipped both of the songs; they felt so out-of-place in the story, so obviously just a vehicle servicing the main ship as a commercial Thai BL product rather than an integral plot element that moved the story and its characters forward. And, sure, he's "just stepping in", but he can perform the song flawlessly with no rehearsals and has the most perfectly tailored wardrobe for the whole show despite there being ZERO warning to the production crew that he would replace the title character? Sure. Ok. Aggravatingly stupid, and without reason. He could've just played freaking Cinderella and we could've skipped all the nonsense.
I so want this Thai series to be good because I genuinely like the source material. I'll stick around for another few episodes; perhaps it will find its speed once it reaches the new material, where there's more overt romantic activity between the leads. Thai BLs tend to be rather decent at that stage.
Joe, it's wonderful you acknowledge that you are, in fact, a dumpster, and Tong and Ming are the flames you keep letting set you alight. But you just keep being the best dumpster fire you can be, you pathetic boy.
Wut needs more love. The man has such layers, and is carrying so much tragedy and loss that he isn't sharing with anyone. I'm glad he got some of it out, and also got his friend back to boot. Cheers to you, Wut.
And am I the only one who was mildly surprised Ming didn't spawn from under the van or out of a tree when Sol was hugging Joe? I guess Ming's "Someone's touching Joe" radar goes silent during meditation.
What medical mysteries lie in all "the research"? What ominous and vaguely illegal mess has Yei gotten into? Cher was saved from being assaulted, how'd that go down? Is Dr. Plakao putting sex costumes on other people? How talented is Wandee that he can perform completely bloodless surgery? Is Ter having a real awakening or is he about to villain villainously? Could they really not find NC archive footage where Yak wasn't visibly wearing his necklace, or what are we supposed to think happened there? Wandee has been conspiciously wearing that thing for weeks, it was distracting to see Yak suddenly wearing it with no context. See? So much more we could be focusing on.
At this point, whenever Taem appears, I start pining for the next sex ed lecture. It also contributes nothing to the story but at least something new may be learned.
Tong absolutely murdered someone in the past and no one will ever convince me otherwise. How is it that neither Ming nor his sister can actually see Tong? He just oozes smarmy insincerity from every pore. One would think a monster like Ming would recognize another monster like Tong, especially after they basically killed Joe together.
I suppose we are now officially on the "redeem Ming" arc, terribly disappointing. Honestly, I don't want to see Joe's love lift Ming up; I want to watch Ming's obsession drag Joe down. Joe has been most interesting to me when he meets Ming at Ming's level: manipulative, forceful, occasionally cruel. Stop fighting the poison, Joe; just let it seep in.
I am so pleased to see Na. I dropped "We Are" so I'm thrilled I'll get to ogle him in this series, at least. I am definitely hot for teacher.
Tong gives off big "I murdered a chick in University and hid the body" energy, doesn't he?
This Taemrak thing is very tiresome. Not merely because we know where it's all headed but because it just looks so assinine in-universe. They're publicly going about as boyfriends, spending most of their free time together, posting affectionately intimate updates on their socials, everyone seems aware they're screwing one another's brains out, and all those soft longing looks aren't happening entirely behind closed doors. Wandee is wearing Yak's necklace, for fuck's sake, and Yak is voluntelling his friends to actively support Wandee's scholarship efforts. How does any of that help the "Make Taemrak Fall for Yak" plan? If Taemrak actually DID fall for Yak, it would ruin her character, because she'll come off looking either bizarrely stupid or jarringly self-centered, neither of which she is. And not one single person in the viewing audience is convinced Yak has meaningful feelings for her anymore so...why are we doing this dance? It's lazily contrived even for a Thai BL.
Leave sweet Taemrak out of it and just give us more Dr. Plakao and his enthusiastic costumed sexplay research—for science!
An aside: did the OyeCher stuff make anyone else feel like they missed some scenes? I think I was more bewildered than Oye when Cher popped off in the gym. There's been some friction regarding their business finances, sure, but shite really escalated into a whole other thing this episode.