Do y'all realize that in 13 short episodes running from 24 to 40 minutes long, this drama dealt with?:Coming out…
Oh get outta here, no show could do *ALL* of that!? If anything, this show has serious flaws!
Specifically, they didn't completely explore big brother London's t h i c c legs and how his addiction to pizza contributed to their considerable girth. Such a serious oversight, completely unwatchable.
(Just kidding, this is sarcasm, to those who can't code for it. :D)
After reading my Gameboys series review, my Marxist friend told me he likes Gameboys but his one issue with the…
Oh, I knew someone would go there, and I appreciate it being explicitly pointed out about Quaranthings. And as I said over there, I like that Quaranthings makes sure you know that Judah and Rocky are of different socioeconomic statuses, and therefore see the world and their problems through different lenses, but the show doesn't fetishize it/make it a poverty porn eleganza extravaganza.
I agree with ijm05 that the middle class' problems are equally valid and deserve depiction. They're simultaneously "not poor enough" to receive government aid yet "not rich enough" to have any long-term or durable security; people who are one crisis away from financial catastrophe.
And so I also agree with Pinoy BL Series that that's what Cairo's family is: while Cairo's mom phrased it as "uniting the family", it's implied that his dad's hospitalization and death forced them to sell their property in Manila and return to the province where the cost of living is much lower.
If anything, your Marxist friend might take opposition to Gavreel's status as a landlord :)
P.S. Aren't you guys proud of Fuccboi's "alumni" going on to act in shows like Gameboys and Quaranthings? :)
Gameboys has changed my expectations for a BL series. It's changed the way the "game is played" for me. Much like what Technicolor did to Hollywood, I can't be content with one-dimensional characters and monochromatic themes anymore.
"I'm just happy it's a BL, I don't care if the characters or the stories suck" just doesn't cut it anymore, now that Gameboys has shown that you can demand the same level of quality from a BL series as from any regular mainstream show.
In fact, Gameboys is problematic for the 'BL series' as a category. Eventually, love of all genders will be normalized on screen, and shows won't get special consideration anymore just because they're BLs. "This show blows. So what if there are boys kissing? Gameboys did that way back in 2020, and it was a great show."
I know that in Thai culture getting touched on your head is a pretty intimate gesture, but I'd like to point out to international fans that what Orion was doing to Tau's jawline and hair was rather intimate too for officemates in the Philippines!
If I saw my officemates do that in the pantry (regardless of gender pairing), my eyes would be the size of saucer plates.
Seems to me that *both* of them needed that hug. Juju because he wants to be free of his family's smothering judgement, and Rocky because he wants his family's love and presence.
As an example of how there can be chemistry between two leads without skinship, watch this episode of 'Ingredients'…
This was the show that started out as basically fronting a grocery chain, then gradually took a life of its own, yeah? A part of me kinda admires Thailand's blase approach to BL hahaha.
Thai Exec (TE): "Hey, we need a larger market share for our retail chain. Ideas?" Marketing Person (MP)#1: "Music video?" TE: "Too temporary, we want something that lasts longer." MP #2: "Endorsement from an idol group?" TE: "Hmm... keep talking..." MP #3: "BL series about people who buy from our grocery?" TE: "Go. The boys gotta be cute though and have great chemistry."
Did you mean, instead of kissing properly, Sar just makes 'sniff' sounds on Tine's cheek? or head? I read somewhere…
Oh, it's interesting you mention those sniff kisses and their place in Thai culture. Interesting because in the Philippines, those exact sniff kisses are given by grandmothers and aunts to babies and toddlers. School-age kids too, but they'll try to evade as they grow older haha.
Ian and Pao's answers are reassuring, particularly in the wake of... other people interviewed. I sincerely hope the show lives up to Juan Miguel Severo's advocacy.
I kind of disagree with you personally because I watch a lot of LGBTQ+ content because it allows me to feel represented…
If I understood your point correctly, then I agree with you. I think Sarawat and Tine, despite a year of being a couple, don't seem to have 'lived in' on their relationship.
Now, to be fair to the actors, I don't think they're phoning it in, in fact I think they're doing exactly what the showrunners want. And their success and popularity validates their approach. They're here to make money, first and foremost, and it's high time people come to terms with that. That's one of the differences between a mainstream vs an indie production.
2gether and Still2gether came with a boatload of product endorsements, and all the strings attached to those products. On the other hand, a show like Gameboys only recently got sponsorships after a lot of their episodes had been released already, so they had freedom to say what they wanted and the sponsors had to decide that they were okay with the brand association.
The ideal show would have the courage and sensibilities of an indie combined with the consistency, quality and reach of a mainstream. Maybe one day we'll get there.
"Oh no they still haven't inhaled each others' brains out through their mouths the world is gonna end!"
If we plot BLs in a scale where one end is shounen-ai (think Lisa Frank notebooks) and the other end is yaoi (think pixelated Japanese porn), 2gether definitely skews toward the former. It's perfectly fine if you prefer one over the other, so I think what's going on here is an issue of managing expectations.
Orion is causing Otep's "spider sense" to tingle, and for good reason.
Orion told Tau that "shuai ge" means 'big brother' when it actually means 'handsome boy'. And the line Orion spoke in Mandarin "I thought you mean boyfriend" while facing Otep, knowing full well that Otep wouldn't understand.
(It would be such a plot twist if Tau was an unreliable narrator all along and had been lying to everyone, including the audience! But they'd never be that audacious, would they? Naaah.)
Alright. I just saw Ep 1 and right off the bat, I like how the show made it clear that Juju and Rocky are of different socioeconomic statuses but they didn't turn it into poverty porn nor did they rely on tired stereotypes. It's "real", but it's not "too real" (does that even make sense?).
(okay, like, in "too real" world would you really fall asleep on a shirtless Royce Cabrera's lap while getting a head massage? SERIOUSLY? hahaha)
I'm getting the "A for effort" and "at least they tried to be different" vibe from the comments here. I tried watching the pilot several weeks ago and all I remember was a disorganized cringey blur. It looks like it hasn't improved in the interim. Maybe interactive series with procedurally-generated meta plots are too avant-garde for this time?
Specifically, they didn't completely explore big brother London's t h i c c legs and how his addiction to pizza contributed to their considerable girth. Such a serious oversight, completely unwatchable.
(Just kidding, this is sarcasm, to those who can't code for it. :D)
I agree with ijm05 that the middle class' problems are equally valid and deserve depiction. They're simultaneously "not poor enough" to receive government aid yet "not rich enough" to have any long-term or durable security; people who are one crisis away from financial catastrophe.
And so I also agree with Pinoy BL Series that that's what Cairo's family is: while Cairo's mom phrased it as "uniting the family", it's implied that his dad's hospitalization and death forced them to sell their property in Manila and return to the province where the cost of living is much lower.
If anything, your Marxist friend might take opposition to Gavreel's status as a landlord :)
P.S. Aren't you guys proud of Fuccboi's "alumni" going on to act in shows like Gameboys and Quaranthings? :)
Gameboys has changed my expectations for a BL series. It's changed the way the "game is played" for me. Much like what Technicolor did to Hollywood, I can't be content with one-dimensional characters and monochromatic themes anymore.
"I'm just happy it's a BL, I don't care if the characters or the stories suck" just doesn't cut it anymore, now that Gameboys has shown that you can demand the same level of quality from a BL series as from any regular mainstream show.
In fact, Gameboys is problematic for the 'BL series' as a category. Eventually, love of all genders will be normalized on screen, and shows won't get special consideration anymore just because they're BLs. "This show blows. So what if there are boys kissing? Gameboys did that way back in 2020, and it was a great show."
If I saw my officemates do that in the pantry (regardless of gender pairing), my eyes would be the size of saucer plates.
Thai Exec (TE): "Hey, we need a larger market share for our retail chain. Ideas?"
Marketing Person (MP)#1: "Music video?"
TE: "Too temporary, we want something that lasts longer."
MP #2: "Endorsement from an idol group?"
TE: "Hmm... keep talking..."
MP #3: "BL series about people who buy from our grocery?"
TE: "Go. The boys gotta be cute though and have great chemistry."
https://youtu.be/B1yOppAVZew
Ian and Pao's answers are reassuring, particularly in the wake of... other people interviewed. I sincerely hope the show lives up to Juan Miguel Severo's advocacy.
Now, to be fair to the actors, I don't think they're phoning it in, in fact I think they're doing exactly what the showrunners want. And their success and popularity validates their approach. They're here to make money, first and foremost, and it's high time people come to terms with that. That's one of the differences between a mainstream vs an indie production.
2gether and Still2gether came with a boatload of product endorsements, and all the strings attached to those products. On the other hand, a show like Gameboys only recently got sponsorships after a lot of their episodes had been released already, so they had freedom to say what they wanted and the sponsors had to decide that they were okay with the brand association.
The ideal show would have the courage and sensibilities of an indie combined with the consistency, quality and reach of a mainstream. Maybe one day we'll get there.
If we plot BLs in a scale where one end is shounen-ai (think Lisa Frank notebooks) and the other end is yaoi (think pixelated Japanese porn), 2gether definitely skews toward the former. It's perfectly fine if you prefer one over the other, so I think what's going on here is an issue of managing expectations.
Orion told Tau that "shuai ge" means 'big brother' when it actually means 'handsome boy'. And the line Orion spoke in Mandarin "I thought you mean boyfriend" while facing Otep, knowing full well that Otep wouldn't understand.
(It would be such a plot twist if Tau was an unreliable narrator all along and had been lying to everyone, including the audience! But they'd never be that audacious, would they? Naaah.)
(okay, like, in "too real" world would you really fall asleep on a shirtless Royce Cabrera's lap while getting a head massage? SERIOUSLY? hahaha)