A friend of mine was texting me updates from Awesomecon this weekend, which included a BL panel that was self-admittedly slightly out of date—notable couples included MewGulf and BrightWin—which was very charming to see. It’s actually really interesting to me how rapidly the QL landscape has changed, even just over the last couple of years. There’s been a clear increase in financial investment across the board, as well as being able to attract more experienced actors who in the past might have shied away, largely because being a BL actor was seen as a step down or something.
On the GL front, I saw a tweet that was like, we finally have girls no thanks to THAT company (in this case GMMTV), which did make me roll my eyes. The GL landscape has been pretty barren across the board—it’s hardly limited to just one company—which I think is due to a combination of factors. To me, it’s just funny to specifically mention one company that is actively building its GL pairing roster and has been working on it for a couple of years now; I think people underestimate how long it actually takes to get a project going, from pitch to casting to writing.
This is not to say that they have a good balance, because they demonstrably don’t, but I also appreciate that the GL couples at GMMTV are not just femme4femme, which has honestly been my biggest complain about most GLs that exist. This too has been changing, as have the stories that GLs have been able tell (for some reason, there was such a preponderance of woman in a comphet relationship but secretly yearning for x girl stories that tend to play out in similar ways), and that’s really great to see.
Currently Watching (on air)
My Golden Blood: This show continues to be very bad, and it’s held entirely together by how ragingly horny Mark is at any given moment. Yet I am compelled, much like someone being hypnotized by a vampire. I sincerely hope that Mond and Neo make out again in this show, possibly before Mond bites him. Mond does in fact know the assignment—he’s chewing scenery every chance he gets, and it’s delightful.
Sweet Tooth Good Dentist: The pacing of the second episode felt much more natural to me compared to the first, but I am wondering what the hell the plot of this show is going to be given we’ve gotten Sant’s tragic backstory already. I guess maybe it might be more slice of life than like, here is a rom com trope plot? I think I’m just used to Jittirain’s stuff having a clearer throughline goal from the start. It’s fine, though; the show looks beautiful and Ohm and Mark are very cute together, so I’ll enjoy watching it anyway.
Top Form: I truly don’t know what to say about that NC scene in episode 4, other than my hair was absolutely blown back by how deranged and horny it was. This is another show where I’m not exactly sure what the plot is going to be, other than presumably they will be pitted against each other fame-wise and I assume one or both of them will be outed. I don’t think we’ve properly met either the B couple or Judy, who are both in the opening credits, so there’s definitely a lot more to come.
Heesu in Class 2: This remains so, so charming—it has the vibe and energy of any other youth kdrama, with the romantic crossed wires and the tight-knit family dynamics, but the main character and romance storyline happens to be queer. That’s genuinely so cool to see—it’s related to what I said above about the BL landscape changing. I don’t know when this went into production, but I’m curious if it was before or after LITBC—it would be interesting to know if that show and its success encouraged development of shows so they can have more than 8 half-hour episodes and larger productions.
Currently Watching (completed)
Us: Emi and Bonnie are so stinking cute and gorgeous that it’s impossible for me to give an unbiased opinion on this show—I do think it’s kind of meandering at times, but it’s got just enough of a bigger plot to keep it running. It’s, in a lot of ways, a very warm show; I love the found family stuff and the softness of Dokrak and Pam towards each other (which doesn’t stop them from clearly having a very active sex life—love that). I also keep looking at Aek and Peem like, you should kiss, I think. My inappropriate ghostship...
Finished
Boy Next World: Definitely not a perfect show, but boy I enjoyed it, probably more than I did Love Sea. I think part of why is that both characters are more clearly fleshed out in this—they both have their traumas and their flaws and places to grow, which I don’t think is always true in MAME stories. I think the main place it fell down for me was the worldbuilding, because we get these two people with maybe??? superpowers but nothing else is elaborated on, even though Jin says something to Phu early on that implies maybe the rest of their friend group also has powers?? Also the ending resolution for the Mom issue was absolutely wild. We’re just gonna let Zone go off and deal with that? I guess he’s not as psychologically beaten down as Cirrus...
The special episode was really fun, actually—I was pleased to get to see foul-mouthed ponytail Cirrus make a return and see what is essentially just a dynamic flip of the main universe where Phu is the unhinged stalker type, and since we did get to know that Cirrus, it was nice to have something like a resolution to his story.
The less said about the nc scenes the better. Noeul, we get it, you know what it’s like to take dick, you can calm down.
Perfect 10 Liners: This ended in an episode that felt so extremely Director New that at some points I was just laughing. He loves a finale that brings together every single character! And you know what, I can’t blame him. It’s super fun. I do think it’s hilarious that the objectively least stable and most toxic couple is the one that gets together, and I get the vibe that everyone there knows that that about them but is like, eh, let it ride, they deserve each other. And they’re right!
It’s hard to give a real rating to this show since it’s essentially three shows in one—the first part is absolutely the weakest to me, for a number of reasons, and feels less cohesive with the rest of the show, too, so it drags it down a bit for me. But both the YothaGun and FaifaWine arcs are so dear to me, and they tie together so well. As always, the family stuff was resolved? a little too easily, but at least it seems clear that they are still working on it together.
The only additional thing I wanted from this show was more Tawan—I want to know how and why he set up this whole Perfect 10 Liners thing and also who his partner is. Our Skyy 3??? Maybe it’s set as Wine introducing his new mentee (make it a girl) to the whole thing with a flashback. Call me, Director New.
BL News:
GMMTV made a bunch of casting changes due to schedule conflicts, which of course led to some discourse, largely about Barcode taking Santa’s place in Revamp, because apparently BounPrem are being neglected or something. I suspect part of it is that Revamp is an original idea from Boun, so it’s probably gone through a lot of rewrites, and they’ve started filming, haven’t they?? The funniest one to me is Leng replacing Luke Ishikawa, because those two could not be any farther apart when it comes to type. Jan is going to have a crush on Leng?? Leng is going to have a girlfriend??
Boys in Love has an airdate, which makes me so deliriously happy, especially because it’s going to be airing on Sundays, which means I finally have a new Sunday scaries show. Maybe that will fix me.
I don’t know why it was cracking me up so much, but an IG account posted about the airdate for the upcoming IdolFactory show starring Saint and Poom and kept calling it a PoomSaint show with that hashtag, and I’m just curious if we watched the same trailer. Because that was not the vibe I was getting.
We also have air dates for The Next Prince and Pit Babe 2, both of which promise to be deranged, but in different ways. What a spring we have coming for us!
urs,
hk