Flawed but fun

Full disclosure, I came into this not expecting to like it. Literally the only reason that I pulled it up was because it was Monday and I had nothing else to watch. I like Gun (the only actor I knew going in) well enough, so I figured unless I hated it I could just have it on as background noise.

But then a strange phenomenon happened. I fell in love. No, really. By the second ep I was hooked. I really enjoyed the creepypasta like style of the stories, and ep 2 is a particular favorite for that. The cast is excellent - plenty has been said about Tor, Gun, and Nanon, and in my opinion, all deserved, but in my opinion the entire cast brought their A game. I was especially a fan of Namtan's June and Ploypach's Bam - June was just lovely and sweet and her friendship with Dome and they way that she prodded at Khatha about him was delightful, and i love Bam with Triphop and her antagonistic relationship with Khatha. Again, though, everyone showed up for this show, even guest stars who were only there for one ep, and it shows.

The meta plot kept me guessing, but that is also where the weakest element in this show is, I think. I am not against dribs and drabs of meta plot that slowly build into a crescendo of insanity, but I do think that the pacing was off - the meta plot only really came into play in episode 5, and then they had to ramp it up fast so that they could wrap it up by episode ten, and it shows.

Subjectively, this is a 10/10 show for me. I love it, and will wind up watching it again and again because it's a blast and large swathes of it feel tailored to me personally (the entirety aforementioned episode 2, episode 6, and episode 10 are particular faves, but really the only episode I wasn't too keen on was five). However, if I force myself to pull back a little I have to admit that it wasn't perfect, even if it felt perfect for me. However, I do think it is very good, and ambitious, and I don't think that most people who try it will find themselves regretting the watch. If only to count how many times Dome faints (nope not a criticism, that's another part that was tailored to me :D).

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When I first saw the trailer for this, I decided to skip it. The leads were attractive enough but to be honest it seemed kinda poorly made and like it didn't know what it was going to do with itself. And I was feeling surly and judgmental and decided that it just wasn't for me. Also it was on Iquiy and I had no interest in signing up for another subscription.

But then I saw someone had stuck it on youtube and I was bored one Saturday an there were a few eps already out, so I thought, eh, why not?

And I've not regretted it for a moment. I loved this show so much my god. Even when OF started (and you all know how much I obsess about OF) this was still the thing I looked forward to most on Saturdays, perhaps made even I adored Charn and his shark smile from moment, one, and that adoration did not cease throughout the entirety of the show's run. His character development was by far the best on the show, and I loved the slow, stumbling way he regained the person he used to be, while still keeping the ruthlessness of the man he allowed anger and bitterness to let him become (up to a point). I loved that the show began and ended with his shark smile, but for very different reasons. And he and Tinn were adorable.

I appreciated them banging the marriage equality drum, too, and especially Charn's very pragmatic reasons for wanting it to be legal (as a lawyer, he would think like that, and I appreciate that the show kept him in character even when he was sappy). I also loved his wedding jacket I want four.

I also loved Tinn, and I have to give credit to Jam for the way he portrayed him. While Film totally ate as Charn I do think that in some ways a character like Tinn is harder to portray, because it would be very very easy for him to become preachy because of his morality and rigid sense of justice. But Jam played him with enough nuance that he never slid into that for me - he was willing to occasionally be at least slightly underhanded when the situation called for it, and while he expected Charn to be better (and read him to filth when he caught him out lying to and manipulating him), he thankfully also seemed to understand the fine art of compromise. Plus he's really pretty. Both of them are really pretty.

But the thing that I never expected was just how hard I turned around on Thaenthai. He drove me absolutely bonkers for the first few eps, and I was loudly annoyed by the fact that after about ep three (if not sooner), it became clear that he was not the one who had hit Tonkhao but that he was being made to take the blame. It felt to me like the show wanted me to excuse how vile he was (acting like Tonkhao's death was nothing, beating the crap out of Tinn when he was already tied up and helpless, just generally acting like a spoiled, entitled, horrible shitstain of a human being) because his father beat him. And while that was horrifying and I wanted him to get the hell out of there as soon as possible I still felt that a worm is a worm is a worm, even if the worm's father happens to be worse.

But then the show went and did something I did not expect it to do: it didn't just tell us that Thaentha was lashing out because he was caught in a desperate limbo of wanting to run away from his and wanting to please him, but it went and did the work to show it. I started turning around on him after he found out about the gardener his father used as a scapegoat once things started getting heated, because we finally got to catch him before he had time to put on his mask. And it just kept coming, because now we knew what to look for. He's still an ass for beating the shit out of Tinn when he was tied up though, lol.

Another thing I really loved that this sow did with him was show him loving his dad in spite of everything. This man beat him, nearly drowned him, let him take the blame for a murder he did, tried to kill the only person Thaentha felt was really on his side (because I do think that the intent was always to kill Thee - I'm just not entirely sure why it didn't happen as soon as Thaentha got on that plane. I guess because we needed a happier ending. I am not complaining), and told him to his face that he could never love him because he killed his mother, and yet Thaentha still loved him, still wanted his attention and his respect and his love in return. And it just rang very painfully true to me. You don't stop loving your parents because they're shit, and humans for some reason tend to be wired to try harder for love that is hard to receive (or impossible, in this case). It did not surprise me that Thaentha tried to visit his father in prison, or that he was sad when he died. But neither did it surprise me that something in him seemed looser in those scenes as well, because even though he loved his dad there's a part of him that's glad he's gone.

I love stuff like this, because it's so complicated and realistic and it hurts in a way that only something that resonates with reality can. I ate it up.

Shout out as well to Not Vorarit, because he really did a good job with Thatthep. The way he slowly unraveled as the show went on was pitch perfect, every little nuance from his first intro as the shady but possibly not *that* shady "concerned" parent right up until that last scene with Charn where he's just a cackling monster. Kudos, you created an excellently detestable character. Watching him get his comeuppance was certainly a highlight of the show for me.

I was also really into the way that Tonkhoa was very much a main character despite the fact that she died so early. One of the best strengths of this show was the way that it never let us forget what started this whole thing, it showed Tinn and Grandma grieving for their little girl, talking about her, missing her. Being reminded of her around every corner. They kept her in the forefront of our minds exactly the way that they should have, and I was delighted by it.

Other fun notables are himbo ex Nawin and Rose and Maya, our GL couple that I wish had gotten a little more screen time *as* a couple but either way were fabulous. I will love this show forever for introducing Nawin in the final hour and making him such a great combination of ridiculous and ruthless. And the way they let him breathe as a character - they really just stood back and were like "look at this ridiculous man stealing the show" and it was amazing. And Rose was just - she was such a good friend to Charn the whole way through, and both her and Maya's utter delight for him when he found Tinn (and them welcoming not only him but grandma into their little family so readily) warmed my cynical heart. And I will watch Sylvie Pavida in pretty much anything, I think.

All in all I would highly recommend this. I loved it, and I'm gonna miss it on Saturdays.

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I loved this drama. And the funny thing is that it was low on my radar - literally the only reason I was planning on watching at first was due to First and Khao. That was it. The plot wasn't even really my thing, I figured I'd just be waiting for those two to show up and that would be that. But nope, I loved it. This felt like just the kind of grown up drama I've been aching for, one that was ultimately less BL and more, well, life, with all of its complications and messes. It just so happened that the main characters were gay. More of this, please, Thailand. I promise you that there is an audience for it.

I liked how messy it was, and in such a believable way. From Wen and Alan's extremely slow breakup to Jim's trauma becoming a sort of shield for him against opening up to people to Heart and Li Ming's wholehearted jump into a first relationship, the characters felt real and grounded and i loved it. No one was perfect (well, except Gaipa who is honestly a sweetheart too good for this world - I loved his huge crush on Jim even though I knew it wasn't gonna go anywhere, he was so sweet and unassuming about it, best unrequited love ever).

Jim especially won my heart, because the way his walls worked was so relatable to me. I think that some people don't quite get how easy it is to shut yourself off, and how once you do it it is so much easier to just keep letting past trauma keep you from moving forward, not necessarily in ways that hinder your entire life, just parts of it. Jim's utter reluctance to let Wen in and his worry about Li Ming made so much sense to me. He'd been burned and burned hard, it's only natural that he'd want to protect his beloved nephew from the same pain, even though he went about it in the worst way possible most of the time. :D But that's not how it works for the young, and that's a good thing. Yeah, Li Ming might crash and burn, he and Heart might not be forever, but that's okay. I have heard people complaining that Earth is way too young to play Jim, but I honestly thought he suited the role, actually. It might be my favorite role of his yet.

This was almost my perfect drama and if I could have more of this I would be delighted.

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Much Better Than Expected

I was really hesitant to watch this one entirely because of the body swapping element. I figured that it was going to do the "oh, I fell in love with you as a girl but I decided it's your personality that I want, not the body," which is fine in theory but is often executed in a way where I can never fully believe the feelings for the character in the correct body. It just tends to feel too much like a hetero romance that becomes gay at the last possible second. I was worried that this one would follow that trend.

Spoiler: this is definitely not the case.

In fact, it's so clear from moment one that Korn is so far gone on Win that he can't even look at anyone else that I could just sit back, relax, and enjoy the hijinks. I could also enjoy Win's inevitable angst and heartbreak over Korn being in love with his sister because it was just patently untrue.

This was my first exposure to Jan, and I have to say, she was a favorite. I loved the way that she played Lin as Win - it was pitch perfect and I thought that the show did a really good job alternating between her and Mix when they were body swapped.

This was also my first exposure to EarthMIx and I have to say it was a good one. They work well together, have an easy chemistry that is very believable. I can definitely see why they were co branded.

There is one thing I don't get: the mom's plan to marry Korn and Lin off to each other so that the farm would be all theirs. If her husband hadn't given Korn a percentage in the farm at her insistence, wouldn't it have gone to Win or Lin anyway? Or maybe she was afraid of an even split with the money hungry sibs? She truly doesn't seem to have a problem with Win and Korn together so I just don't get it. I will say that her manipulating of Korn and Lin into marriage does drive me infinitely more insane upon rewatch because now I see her machinations right from the get go and know she knows how much she's forcing things.

Aside from that one quibble though, I just love this drama. It's become a comfort rewatch for me, and if you're in the mood for a mostly low stakes drama with fun leads and good chemistry, I can't recommend it enough.

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I remember watching years ago, but I only remembered the basic points and so decided to give it another go.

I am so glad I did. What a gem this show is. I really enjoyed the slow burn between Med and Thun, and I liked that it went hand in hand with Thun's realization that he was gay. Really enjoyed how supportive his friends and mom were about it, too. Just a really lovely group of people all around.

Another thing that was fun was the mystery of how Med died. I liked that once Thun decided to help him find out he was all in, willing to help him pretty much no matter what. I honestly don't know if I guessed the mom thing or just remembered it from before but that was a kind of hilarious twist - well mom, I'm in love with your ex who's been a ghost for twenty years. Blessings?

The one thing that knocked this down for me (I'm not into the soundtrack much but I would have given it a ten if not for this), was the whole story with the grandpa/uncle. I think I will never get used to these dramas downplaying things that seem like a pretty big deal to me. Manipulate your student into committing literal crimes and nearly drive him crazy with the pressure of holding up an impossible standard? It's okay, you have trauma too so we understand! Deliberately sabotage your son's happiness so that you can make your marriage scheme become reality? All's well that ends well! Plot and then actually go ahead and murder your own nephew, or at the very least orchestrate events so he could die? We can't change the past, all we can do is hope for a better future! Clearly I take these things too seriously.

Overall though, I really did have a good time. I thought that the chemistry between everyone was excellent, not just the two main characters but the entire cast, and I think the eight episode run time worked in its favor because it kept the show from ever feeling bloated, or like they were trying to find things to do to fill time. And the ending, while bittersweet in its way, is perfect for them. All in all, a thoroughly enjoyable show, and I'm very glad I decided to watch it again.

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Things I really loved about this drama:
1. The acting
2. The chemistry
3. Everything Ayan chooses to be
4. Akk's issues with anger and internalized homophobia and his terror of being exposed. His torment over what he was doing even though he was utterly convinced it was the only way. Honestly First got most of the meat of this drama and he was wonderful, bravo.
5. Khao's song from the OST
6. The protest trio

Things I was meh on: pretty much everything else.

Still gave it a high rating because I find it extremely rewatchable but if not for the cast this would have been a bust. sadly.

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This was my favorite drama of 2022. I can't say enough about how much I loved it.

Was it hard to get through? Sometimes, yes. Especially as we drew closer and closer to Koichi disappearing and we were forced along with Mitsuru to understand that there was not going to be a last minute save. Koichi was going to leave and there was nothing that anyone could do about it.

A heartfelt meditation on grief and loss by increments, this show had me in a chokehold the entire time that I was watching it, and I still think about it sometimes. The acting was excellent - both Komiya Rio and Inoue Sora gave their all and it shows. Without them both being all in this drama wouldn't be half so decent. It also has maybe the best confession episode I've ever seen. I have rewatched that episode more times than I care to admit, but it's truly glorious.

The soundtrack still makes me cry, but both credits songs are amazing. I am especially in love with Sunshower.

This drama will come for your feelings, but if you can handle crying an ocean of tears, it's totally worth it. Mitsuru and Koichi's love story is beautiful, and in a lot of ways what this drama is is an ode to that kind of love and devotion - something so powerful that time itself stands still for it, if only for a short time.

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I loved it. I had no preconceived notions of this series as UWMA was never on my radar (I just don't care about fated mates and reincarnation, sorry), so I came in fresh with zero expectations of how the story should go, and I think it served me well.

I also found it when it was well into the series, starting just before ep 10 aired, and I think that it served me well too, because I didn't have a week between each episode to obsess and get angry about no one talking to each other. This show was very internally driven, which I find does better well on binging rather than watching week to week. And having watched the whole thing again since the drama wrapped up, I can confidently say that binging it all at once actually increased my opinion of it as a whole.

I felt like the reasons that both Win and Team had for hesitating were very well done, even if I can also understand how it was frustrating to watch from the outside. I was not frustrated, myself, being the type of person who can't communicate emotions well on top of becoming immersed in the story enough that I could see it from their POVs. The hesitation felt very real for two people who are 1 - still fairly young and 2 - have the specific hang ups that they both have surrounding love and whether or not they deserve it/can keep hold of it.

I do wish that Team's trauma had been addressed a little more thoroughly. To me that was the biggest misstep of the drama, followed by maybe too many side couples. I was 100% in it for Team and Win, and all of the side stuff started to get annoying after a bit. I wanted to enjoy Wan and Tul more than I did, and I have less than zero time for Bee and Prince, although I was pleased by them tackling (or at least attempting to tackle) the issues that celebrities can have dating in the real world, because people start to think that they own you. If any side couple was the MVP for me, it was Pruek and Manow, honestly. They were so darn charming it hurt. Still, thank goodness for the ffw button.

One thing this drama definitely did was make me a fan of Prem and Boun. I honestly didn't even know about these two before this but thanks to this show they are extremely on my radar and I look forward to whatever they wind up doing next, even if it isn't together (although I won't lie, I hope they have more projects together because their chemistry is lovely).

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A MAME offering, but…not bad? I mean, not great either, although I will put up with a lot for the premise because I eat stuff like that up, but I've seen way worse from MAME. However, it's not going to become a guilty pleasure show like LITA or an unexpected comfort show despite myself (at least the AePete parts) like Love by Chance. It was fine.

Things I really did like: Nuea's family and his workmates (I loved how fiercely both sets of people stood by and supported him through everything from his huge mistake in sleeping with the groom to running back home to deal with it to basically adopting Lom into the group when they worked it out ("we have a new brother in law"). The lesbians - I could have used a bit more heat but I'll take it for now. Let's work on normalizing GL in our BL (frankly I'd love it if we started doing more of that and less of the token straight couple or three)! Was a little annoyed by how they had to fix everything but I won't pretend that the bits with them in episode 6 didn't get to me - I may have teared up a little when Marine was being treated so horribly by Yiwa's mother - that whole thing was so upsetting on a number of levels. And I was happy for them that they could afford to run away to their own happy ending. Also the gag of Lom pretending to be devastated when he was anything but was kinda funny, I will give the show that. And I did like the way that Lom's mom came around - realizing with time that losing her son the same way Yiwa's mother lost her could be a very real result if she kept being rigid. I also liked that she didn't just suddenly become a PFLAG member (or whatever the equivalent would be here) but simply told her son that she would work on it, because that felt more realistic.

The show also got me with how lonely it must have been for them, to know that they were gay and that they could never say anything, and how overwhelming it must have been to find someone who understood in each other. No wonder they'd do anything for each other. I would have too, if I'd had someone like that growing up.

So yeah. It was fine. I mostly had a good time, even if I got a little bored once or twice. Frankly when it comes to MAME, being a little bored is preferable to feeling like the top of my head is about to come off because I'm so annoyed. it could have been a lot worse.

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While I really enjoyed most of it, I feel like it fell apart for me at the end and I'm having a hard time articulating why.

I think it might be the reincarnation bit. While I get what the show was going for there, what are we saying, exactly? Is Tua gonna wait now until Prakan is of age before showing up to be his boyfriend again? Are they gonna go back to phi and nong until then? Or is Tua gonna watch Prakan like he's straight out of a Police song without speaking to him for the next 5/6 years? My problem isn't even really with the idea that Tua and Prakan will continue to meet in all of Prakan's lifetimes until perhaps Tua's time as a reaper is over and they can be reborn in the same timeline again and maybe be together for real. I think it's the idea of them both waiting around for Prakan's minor clock to expire that's doing it. I feel like Goblin did this trope better. Personally I loved Tua and Prakan being together until he passed, and for me, I think that the show would have been stronger overall if they had left it at that and not done the end bit with the new Prakan.

That said, the child actor who played young!Prakan was stellar and I hope that he has been getting steady work. I have to say that in a lot of the Thai dramas I've watched, the child actors have been standouts.

Other than that, I did really enjoy the drama. It was interesting and I liked seeing Yacht play a character that wasn't super Pond-esque for once. I did feel watching Between Us that he could do better, if given the material (not his fault, Between Us had too many side couples, both he and his partner did what they could with what they had), and I'm happy to see I was right. Metha actually became one of my favorite characters - he had a whole arc from conflicted asshole to loosening up and remembering that he actually loved his friends/realizing his uncle had manipulated him into hating Prakan for his own personal gain, and Yacht did a really good job with playing both the asshole and the decent dude beneath.

I saw a lot of comments complaining about Prakan's inability to be mature regarding Tua's job, but I think that for the most part it was actually fairly believable a reaction, especially after his mom died. And it would be hard for me to deal with the idea that death can be around any corner no matter how hard I try to prevent it, let alone someone for whom that is their entire job.

I was annoyed, however, by the weird ep 11 (I think, might have been 10) "Nuch could die" plot, simply because it was so late in the game, took up so little time, and seemed like a plot device just to get Metha to finally tell her he loved her. Annoying and pointless. Wasn't needed - he could have done it a million other ways.

Enjoyed the couple of Kheeta and Nathee as well - Nathee was another one that did a 180 as the show progressed, but unfortunately I believed his less than I did Metha's, mostly because I just don't think the actor is as good. He was kind of a weak link in Between Us too, although I think I enjoyed him in Even Sun? I can't remember (and just as I said that I did remember, and no, he wasn't one of my favorites in that either. But the less said about Even Sun the better, really). Still, the whole plot for them is one of my bulletproof tropes. It would take a lot for me not to be into it.

Overall though, I enjoyed it. It kept me extremely engaged and made me cry more than once, and up until the last let's say episode and a half it really, really worked for me. The problem with me is that if the ending doesn't land, it can effect my enjoyment a lot, which is why I have to dock it a couple of points overall.

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After months (months? sure) of hearing about how good this drama is I finally decided to watch it.

Admittedly it annoys me sometimes when people are right, especially when they go gushy over something that is playing at the same time that something I prefer is playing and they totally ignore my thing, the jerks. That said, well. People were right. This show was great. I really loved it, and I loved all the ways it tried to challenge ideas surrounding sex, identity, kink, etc. Maybe not always entirely successfully, but the attempt was there and honestly, I loved how it seemed to be pointing out hypocrisy towards women in particular (there are several examples of this, but I am thinking particularly of how Jean was treated after the party vs. how Alex was. I love that the show made a point of explicitly stating how messed up the disparate reactions were, and how unfair. I also liked that despite following Alex as he goes on this journey, the show never attempted to pretend that he was the wronged party in that situation. Neither did Alex himself, which was refreshing). I'm not used to that from my shows, full stop.

I'm also just a sucker for a good time travel trope, and it always amuses me when the mostly decent kid travels and wakes up in this body of a huge jerk and then has to work back how the hell they got there. Watching Alex fumble through figuring out how the hell he landed on the career he chose, let alone wtf happened at that party so long ago, was kind of hilarious. I enjoyed the balance of humor and seriousness a lot. It kept the show from ever feeling too heavy.

One thing I have heard over and over and over again about Jojo is that he gets great performances from the cast, performances that feel authentic and real. I have to say that yeah, I get the praise. You know how with some directors you can see their hand in everything they do? Jojo is like that, I think, but his hand is seen in how little he's present in the overall product. It feels like he hands his cast a script, gives them a general idea, and then lets them do their thing and gives them room to explore their characters in an organic way. I'm sure that there is some management happening, that's his job, but mostly these characters feel lived in in a way that strikes me because so often it isn't there. Maybe it's a mix of his directing style and really good casting.

Speaking of casting, this one was excellent. I really liked everyone, but especially New, Fah, and Jan. New played Alex well - he's a character that I think could easily get annoying, but New managed to make him likeable more oft than not. Even when Alex was doing things I knew were stupid, I was more "oh, honey, no" than I was "you're the worst", so that was nice. Fah as Jean was just all around lovely, she played her so well. You could see the bones of the girl she was before everything went wrong in the woman she became, just a little harder, a little less trusting. But she stayed fighting for people because that's just the core of who she is. Her struggle with her desire to let go of what happened vs. her inability to do so was heart wrenching, and yeah, I guessed the big last secret fairly early on but one thing I liked (that I mentioned above) is that she was never ever once treated like she did something wrong. Oh, in show she got it in the teeth, but the show itself never failed to point out exactly how fucked up that was. Also Fah just did a great job and she's very, very pretty. I could watch her forever honestly. And Jan just continues to be a delight in everything I see her in.

After all this praise, I have to say I did find myself a little bit annoyed by the ending. It felt a bit too pat, especially after everything else was handled with such nuance. It was so weird to have Alex wake up and get to have his Scrooge turnaround because it was still Christmas after all. And some of the ways that he took care of things annoyed me, too. He came across as a little too "I know best for you" towards everyone's problems for a 17 year old kid. Which I get, he had all this knowledge from his messed up future under his belt, but I didn't love it. I did love his determination to be a better brother, though (another thing I loved? The fact that he helped Ice pull his head out of his bum w/r/t Kim's abortion choice in the messed up future. The fact that they had one of the male characters say, in no uncertain terms, that it's actually *her* choice and that being supportive means letting her make it, floored me, as did the fact that Ice actually listened and was fully supportive after his initial selfish freak out (and he admitted it was selfish! I couldn't believe it)).

I also felt like it would have been better to have a less entirely happy ending? Which is weird coming from me, since I love happy endings. But I really liked the message that sometimes there are things that you can't fix, some mistakes you can't take back, and then I felt like the show immediately undercut that idea by...letting Alex go back and make everything right. I think I might have appreciated the ending more had Alex stayed in the future after that last encounter with Jean. Then again I don't think *Jean* deserved having to be stuck that way, so there you go. For her sake, I'm happy it went the other way.

Overall I found this extremely enjoyable, and well, I can't say that I will be sad about Jojo's penchant for happy endings if that means that things go the way I want in other dramas. :D

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Well, it wasn't as bad as I thought it might be, but I'm not sure that it means that it was good, either.

Things I loved: Na and Miriam.

Miriam was a joy and lit up the screen every single time she was in a scene. She made me laugh a lot. This is the second thing I've seen Jan in and the second thing she's been a highlight of.

And Na was hands down my favorite character in the entire drama. He stole the show from his very first scene. I have to say that I have not given Neo enough credit even though I have seen him in several things by this point. But after watching this I am a fan. Na was a general blast and also an unexpected sweetheart, and I shipped him with Chon to an insane degree. Now I want a Khaotung/Neo pair up because their chemistry is very good and I think it would be fun. Maybe they can have angry makeouts in Only Friends? As a treat to me specifically.

Things I liked: Chon, Prang, Ai & Ni, Chon's mom

This was a fairly decent friend group. I liked that Ai and Ni understood and stuck by Ton even when he didn't especially deserve it, and I love how fierce Chon's mom was in defending her son, and how little she cared that he was gay. Petition to keep casting Khao in roles where he has a great relationship with his mom, please.

One thing I was a fan of was that Chon had a spine in him. So often when you get these pining romances the piner lets themselves be pushed around for love, and it always annoys me. I like that Chon didn't let himself get walked all over. Good.

Although…to be honest, I felt like both Ton and Chon were kind of nothing characters. Oh, both actors did what they could with what they were given (I have never seen Pod in anything else, but Khaotung I know is excellent so I blame neither of them for this), but they just…weren't given all that much. Despite the story being about them, I honestly felt that characters like Miriam and Na got way more development. Hell, even Ton's sis and her hubby got more than I felt Chon and Ton had. It was especially annoying in Ton's case, because there was a lot to work with there and I do think, based on what I was given, that the actor could have handled a more nuanced character. I feel like the main problem with this drama is that it didn't know how to walk the line between comedic an serious, and a lot of potentially good story was lost in the process.

Things I did not like at all: the attempted SA plot and the way that it happened and then was never brought up again (and also the way that Amp was somehow made out to be worse than the dude who actually tried to SA Chon, like he gets a free pass on that because oh hey, she really is a homophobe after all. No, sorry, both of them were vile) and the whole dad and babies thing. I also kind of hated that the second dad gets his way he's suddenly all remorse and solicitude.

The last thing that really rubbed me the wrong way was Ton kissing Amp as some sort of proof that he's still a man or something? What? Not only was it completely inconsiderate of Chon and his feelings (and good on Chon for directly calling him out on that part because what the hell, my dude?), it's also completely nonsensical. I get that it all tied back to Ton's ideas of what makes a man and the way he was raised by daddy-o, but again, the show did nothing with it. It felt like in the end it was just there to cause some drama and give Ton a reason for his big "I've loved you all along" confession, and honestly there are other ways we could have gotten there. As it was it just made Ton look like a meathead who would go around cheating whenever someone challenged his precious manhood with no regard for what it might do to his relationship.

I can't say I regret watching it, but I can see why so many people really don't love this show, ha. For me it was middling, and the problems outweigh the good points, so I probably will never find myself with the urge to rewatch. I am not what I would call a connoisseur of the best BL - I have been known to adore trash and I make no apologies for it - but this one just didn't manage to hit enough correct notes for me to remember it with fondness, nor enough bad ones to make me mad enough to remember it for that reason.

In summation, this is a show that exists, and I'll probably forget it in an hour or two.

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So I just binged S1 of Gay Ok Bangkok and a thought occurred to me.

I enjoy all of these characters. I see their flaws and their strengths and I love them because of both, because these are people I know. I'm friends or have been friends with all of these people - I resonate with some more than most from my own experiences, but I could point to people in my life that remind me of all of them easily. They're real and lived in in a way that I'm frankly unused to seeing from most of the dramas I gravitate towards.

They make mistakes I've made, mistakes the people around me have made, and they break and they fight and they come back together in ways that I've done with people I've loved.

The Bangkok crew (aside from Big) are all past or starting to get past that point in their lives when the future seems both daunting and very far away, and everything is all immediacy, but they're still searching. Whether it's Pom who just wants to find love (and I don't want spoilers for S2 but I love that season 1 ended with him learning to appreciate himself as an individual more - the facebook posts were a nice touch and a great way to show his state of mind as we went through the show), Aof who is trying to find a person he can take care of (and balance his dwindling interest in sex along with that need - he interests me so much tbh because so much emphasis does tend to get put on sex in relationships and it's a real struggle when it just isn't the thing you're after but everyone assumes that you should be, or wants you to be, or needs it from you (disclaimer: there's nothing wrong with either and I'm not trying to imply that but I want to see the navigation between his needs and Big's needs, or his needs and the needs of whoever he winds up with)), or Arm who is maybe the most aimless of all, wandering between relationships and jobs, staying with Pom when he gets dumped but unable to help foot the bills because he doesn't want to be stifled by a regular job. Arm strikes me as the friend who just doesn't want to grow up, but adulthood comes for us all in the end.

And then there's Nat, who I think is the most settled of the bunch, possibly to do with his HIV + status, or maybe it's just him. Whatever it is, I adore him. He's got his head firmly on his shoulders and he knows what he wants, but that doesn't quite stop him from taking a chance on Arm, who he knows is a risk but who he hopes will be for him anyway. But he has enough strength to walk away when he realizes it won't work.

Am I still kinda rooting for Arm and Nat to work things out? Yes. Will I be upset if they don't? I don't know. If there had never been a season two I think I would have been fine with how it all shook out. Frankly, this is the kind of ending I want from OF - one that feels earned, and logical, and not like they threw a pat, unambiguously happy ending at us for no reason (no, I am never getting over the end of The Warp Effect, don't @ me I don't want to hear it).

But even more than the romance, what I really loved is the friendship. The sense of community. Yes Arm and Pom fight when Arm makes a move on Pom's crush, yes they are petty and mean and say awful, hurtful things to each other in the moment, but in the end they're still friends because they know each other and care about each other and because to be quite honest, in a community as small as theirs (and I can't speak to Thailand because I'm from the West, but I know that where I'm from you see this kind of thing a lot. We have more legal rights here than there, I know that, but our community is still smaller and everyone kinda knows or knows of each other) you don't just drop the only people you know who get you over that kind of thing. You just don't. I was as invested in Arm and Pom making up as I was in any of the romantic couples working out. More, maybe.

I am also extremely glad to see the show address sexual health. Suck, fuck, and get tested! Words to live by, honestly.

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The idea was better than the execution

First of all, I love office set BL. Highschool often feels a lot too young for me anymore - I'm at the age where too much drama feels forced and too little feels saccharine, a real goldilocks - university is better, but adults living in the adult world is best. I will watch just about any BL that has this element, and I love me a good office romance.

And honestly, that is where this drama excels the most for me. Because it didn't shy away from the reality of what can happen when you date the boss. The way that things mostly fell on Pat was realistic and very sad. Yes, Jeng had pressures too, but the reality of situations like this is that his head was never going to be on the chopping block. It was always going to be Pat who bore the brunt of their relationship, and I thought that the show was fairly realistic in portraying just what that looks like. I don't blame Pat for finding it overwhelming (and for being worried that he was getting opportunities for sleeping with the boss rather than because of his own abilities. That's what people will think regardless, and those kinds of rumours can and will kill a burgeoning career before it even starts, depending on how high they go). And while I was furious at the meeting with Jeng to discuss how his sexuality will negatively impact the company, that is real too. Real and disturbing, and I do appreciate that it was framed in a way to (hopefully) piss off the viewer, too. Because it isn't actually cool to tell someone that they should be in the closet so that your company's stock doesn't plummet - or cool that it should make the stock plummet in the first place, or that it will make people pull out of working with you. It's horrible and bigoted and it should be pointed out as a bad thing.

I also liked the chemistry between Pat and Jeng, especially at the end when they didn't have to worry about the job stuff.

I was not bothered as much about Pat's lack of maturity at the beginning as some - dude is barely out of college and he seems to just be a little sensitive in general - which is fine. He mostly managed to hold it together when he had to, and I'm not against sensitive or emotional characters as a general rule. That said, I do kind of wish that he'd been a little less like the Pat that left in episode 11 in episode 12. If we're doing the 2 year time skip thing then I would really like to see some growth out of both characters - we definitely got some out Jeng, in his new willingness to displease his father by forging his own path. But I felt like Pat was still where he was before, and that was a little disappointing.

I also don't know when Ying suddenly went from being one of the worst pains in the office to being on the core team and a major support for Pat during the rough times at work. It's definitely not something I am opposed to, but I want a character arc to have an arc, not just for it to happen all of a sudden. I don't know, maybe I missed something.

Chot was a delight and he should have been in every scene.

I was sad that the second couple didn't work out, but also I thought that it was realistic in a way you don't often see. Sometimes things just don't work, sometimes you can't put broken relationships back together. I'm unused to seeing a broken relationship stay that way, too, so it was a nice change even if I'd really rather it not become the norm.

Overall I feel like it was fine. I liked what it did with the office romance trope and I think I would like to see the leads in another show that has a tighter plot. But I probably won't watch this one again.

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