As I write this, I realize that it might seem like I’m ending this newsletter, but actually I’m thinking about show endings since two I was watching finished this week. Both managed to avoid the common Thai BL trope of having time skip (though to be fair, GMMTV is the worst about this), which was great, but I don’t know if they were equally successful finales.
In most of my writing workshops, we talked a lot about endings and how difficult they are. Beginnings are hard, of course, but endings are the final impression of the work, and it’s hard to escape a bad ending while a weak beginning can be forgotten. Think Game of Thrones or the special episode of Jack & Joker, both of which managed to alienate their fans in different ways.
It’s hard, right, because you need to wrap up all the story elements in a satisfactory way, but in a way that doesn’t feel too contrived. And wrapping things up too much can be more frustrating to some people, while others like a friend of mine is like, actually I would like to see this couple all the way until they die.
That latter instinct is something I’ve noticed a lot of romances fall into, with a lot of fics, romance novels, and shows having some kind of flash-forward sequence at the end. It seems to be more common with slow-burn stories, which I suspect is partially because the “resolution” of the story is the couple getting together, but the writer wants to show that the relationship actually lasts. It’s hard to write denouement for romance, I think, because it’s more than just the end of a situation (the aftermath of a murder being solved, the cleanup post disaster), it’s the start of a new story, just one the audience won’t be seeing.
And there are cases where I think a flash-forward is good—I cite it a lot as an example, but ThamePo having the unspecified time skip for the final part of the finale showed us that MARS did end up figuring things out and tied up one last thread (Baifern getting to meet Thame as Po’s boyfriend) that didn’t, strictly speaking, needed to be tied up, but was a nice touch to make it feel like everything came full circle. But it wasn’t the relationship itself that needed that follow-up, because the arc of the show and the reunion scene gave us a good sense of what their relationship will look like, with enough evidence that they work together to trust in a HEA.
Then there are others where it’s just messy. Last Twilight’s finale has one way more obvious flaw, but the two 3-year time-skips are just bad writing outside of the chosen resolution being wildly ableist. The first one could maybe pass, even if I think it’s a bit much to have your characters separated that long with that big of a conflict between them and not give them more time to reconcile, but the magic oh everything is fine now skip is worse, because immediately before that is an event that radically changes their dynamic (Day getting his vision back) and we know nothing about how their relationship looks as a result.
Currently Watching
Pit Babe 2: Just a cavalcade of Decisions this episode, with Alan being tremendously stupid for the sake of plot—although I admit that at least they’ve been building up to it throughout the season with his stress about his injury plus worrying that he isn’t able to help the rest of them. It’s just a baffling and terribly out of character decision for him, even with that. I did appreciate Kim immediately noticing what was up and being suspicious, which confirms my “Kim is the only bitch with sense” opinions even harder. As I said on Tumblr, Kim is the only person who ever has a clear goal and a plan to execute on it that doesn’t suck, largely because he isn’t constantly distracted by dick or hole like everyone else. Frankly, if he weren’t distracted by Kenta/didn’t have Kenta to worry about, he could rule the world.
North and Sonic’s scene was surprisingly lovely, largely due to the acting and how gentle it was. It made me excited to see what the actors do when given more to do, which is the highest compliment I can pay. It was killing me that they were just making out in public, in front of a glass wall, though I suppose at this point everyone who works at this garage has either done worse themselves or is used to it. Gayest garage in Thailand? Maybe so.
The Next Prince: I can’t think about anything else other than the nc scene this week. I think everything else, except the tantalizing hint of old man yaoi between Khanin’s dads, has been wiped from my mind. Wait, no, I’m remembering Khanin’s Disney princess moment of starting to sing during the protest which had me go, “What is this, The Hunger Games?”
But the nc scene. Christ. Even by Domundi standards it was egregious in its length and use of slow blocking that made it feel even longer. I had to cover up the screen because I was in physical pain watching it, not because I think Zee and Nunew have no chemistry but rather because I think they have far too much very real chemistry and I feel like I’m intruding. Also because I found the paintbrush stuff incredibly cringe, but that’s me. When Zee called him good boy at the end, I did laugh so hard that it made my sunburn hurt, so there’s that.
Revenged Love: I blasted through the available episodes of this and live in fear of the fact that we’re only on 10 out of 24, which gives the Chinese government 14 episodes during which they can pull it from streaming, which they just did to another show. The dubbing is atrocious, but I am never tired of the “I will seduce my girlfriend’s new boyfriend for revenge” concept, which I’ve now seen maybe two or three times, and it’s always hysterical. It’s even funnier here because Chi Cheng is fucking crazy and it also has a lot of rich chaebol heir drama going on. Like, congrats Suowei, you’ve made an insane toxic gong obsessed with you. What’s the plan, bro?
Whale Store xoxo: I watched the first episode and was charmed, as expected, but I don’t know if I’ll be watching week to week. It’s the kind of show I like to binge, so I’ll probably be waiting until close to the end to watch it. I did think it was nice to see Milk playing someone actually her age, and also the recurring bit about people thinking Love’s character is a student is very real.
The Promise of the Soul: I keep referring to this show as grandpa yaoi, because it’s about a guy who dies alongside his grandson and then wakes up in his grandson’s body. The only person who believes him his grandson’s crush, who found Zefang very annoying, and now they’ve gone back to college where grandpa is struggling to deal with the messy gay lifestyle Zefang left behind. I’m pretty sure there’s some kind of reincarnation story going on here too—I think Huaiyan is the reincarnation of grandpa’s childhood sweetheart—and both of the leads are beautiful, especially Huaiyan.
I personally am enjoying it, but the commenters are obviously all very ew gross to varying degrees (and for varying reasons) about it. My friend referred to it as Schrodinger’s Age Gap, which I found very funny. Having recently read the novel of High School Return of the Gangster, which is a 40-something year old into an 18 year old, I’ve been thinking about age gaps and what actually makes them problematic. People love to just point to the number and say “number bad,” but what it really comes down to is power dynamic and how it’s used. (I’m talking specifically about characters who are of legal age of consent/adulthood in their culture in this case, since if they don’t both have the same legal rights, that’s automatically a bigger and very real issue.)
Because the truth is that age is no guarantee of intelligence or wisdom; the only inherent advantage living longer gives you is more experiences, but it’s still up to the individual to take lessons from that experience and apply them. The true problem is several-fold: older people, especially in cultures that have strong elder-reverence, are given more deference and are more likely to be trusted/believed; older people have more opportunity to establish reputation, wealth, and connections, all of which can be used to suppress a younger partner; and because we tend to correlate wisdom and intelligence with age, a dishonest person can use that to manipulate a younger, more naive partner.
But the thing is, all of those things can be true of a wealth disparity, or in a relationship where one person is from another country, or in cases where one partner has been out longer, to name a few. In general, people who are predatory in relationships will find a way to manipulate their partner, and finding someone younger is just an easy way to do it.
When it comes to a show like this, it makes me ask, okay, so what is the power dynamic? It’s not age itself that makes the relationship unequal when both parties are adults with the same legal rights—and many people are clearly applying their own revulsion to the idea of dating someone in their 60s to this situation. But this is someone in their 60s who is in the body of a 20 year old, and who is actually at a massive disadvantage to Huaiyan, because Huaiyan knows Zefang’s life, knows how to be a college student in 2025, and knows that he is actually Xia Cha. Any potential advantages he could have are nullified.
Do I find it weird? I mean, yeah, it’s a crazy concept for a show, and I don’t think that if I woke up as a 20 year old I’d be inclined to date a 20 year old (if I were inclined to date generally) and I’m much closer to that age than grandpa. But I have friends who are close to a decade younger than me, and it isn’t like they’re aliens or impossible to talk to. I don’t know, it’s something I’ve been thinking about!
Finished
Ball Boy Tactics: I watched this mostly in one day and found it incredibly charming! It’s got a misleading title since I don’t think Jiwon is ever actually a ball boy, and on the subject of endings, I think it would have been nice to a) get a little more resolution for the b couple and b) possibly get a bit more about being a famous athlete with a boyfriend.
But I really liked the character dynamic, and what I liked about the relationship conflict was that it came down to how they see the world and having to adjust to each other. I do think it could have gone a bit more in depth into Jiwon’s gymnast career and its ending and used the photo competition to better effect, but I suspect the first was at least partly due to logistics, since as far as I know the actor is not actually a gymnast, and the photo competition did at least get mentioned at the end. It did have the most extensive bed scene I’ve seen in a KBL (6 minutes long!) and while I don’t think it was the most effective one ever, I was impressed with their commitment to showing the intimacy and desire there. Fun show!
Side note: when they went to the movie, I’m ashamed to say that I instantly recognized the Heart Stain poster despite it being out of focus and in the background of a shot. This is my brain on yaoi.
My Stubborn: The show ended as it went on, which was with a forced mini-arc with the b couple (who I still couldn’t tell you anything about, not their hobbies or their interests or how they met), complete with a scene that should have been horny except for the fact that I think Yoon is clinically incapable of having chemistry with anyone. And can’t kiss on camera, either. Horrible. You could have cut their storyline from the show entirely and it would have made virtually no difference.
The show didn’t do what I wanted, which was fully get into why Sorn fell for Jun in the first place, but I’m glad (?) they at least included an nc scene because their relationship has been so much about sex that to ignore that would be weird. In the fire escape stairs, though?? People are always going up and down those, guys.
I found the ending of this vaguely unsatisfying, which I think is mostly because I’m not convinced the show really sold me on what their relationship is going to be. I believe they’re into each other, sexually, and I believe they care about each other, but as of where it left off, it still felt like Jun was a little uncertain about Sorn/surprised by Sorn wanting him as badly as he clearly does, plus with his internship ending their relationship is going to necessarily change with them not being in the same office all the time. For once I might have actually liked a time skip here!
That being said, I believe I saw earlier that Boat and Oat have been given an official fandom name or something, which implies they’ll be doing another project together (unless something happens like with Smart and Boom, RIP), so I hope they get something fun and with a little more meat on it, because their chemistry and charm is what kept me watching this show. Like, overall I thought it was bad on several levels and I wouldn’t recommend it, but I had a blast watching them.
Boys in Love: Ahh, what a show! I’m so sad it’s over, because it’s been a lovely Sunday Scaries show. It’s something about how the stakes are low, because they’re in high school, but to them the stakes feel impossibly high, because they’re in high school. I really enjoyed the journey we went on with these characters, especially Kit and Shane. Kit’s is kind of the more traditional high school arc, where he figures out what he wants to do with his life and finds something to motivate him, but Shane’s is what interested more. Maybe it’s because I also have an anxiety disorder, but him going from relentlessly pushing himself for the sake of doing it and not because he had a real goal in mind to accepting uncertainty and messiness was actually really nice to see. I think another show would have been tempted to do a time skip to show Shane getting into college and what he ends up doing, but that wasn’t actually the point for him. The point was Shane learning to enjoy the journey of being eighteen.
Kim and Mon had more presence in the show overall than I had initially expected, and I think they served as an interesting counterpoint to Kit and Shane. There’s similarities in that Kim and Kit are more carefree and Mon and Shane are more driven, but the way it manifests in them is different. I liked that a lot of Kim and Mon’s arc is about learning to communicate effectively with each other and how to accommodate each other. They’re definitely going to be a couple that “breaks up” every other month because they’re both incredibly dramatic, but they’ll love it, because they’re also insufferable. I enjoyed how that part never changed. (Side note, I don’t know if I ever mentioned just how much I enjoyed Aston’s facial expressions this entire show. He’s clearly still growing as an actor, but he has nailed it with his expressions and using his truly cartoonishly large eyes and dimples to their full effect.)
The teacher relationship had just the right amount of screen time in the end, though of course I’d have loved more hag time. I did keep joking toward the end that these are Shane’s real parents now, but given the heart-to-heart he and Nut had in the last episode, odds are high that Shane will be turning up on their doorstep for advice int he future. The best part of their arc for me will still be the mini speech Nut gives about how lucky the students are now to be able to be themselves and how in some ways he’s immensely jealous of them and regretful of the youth he could have had. It was such a real moment of queer pathos and nostalgia for something you never had that also captured a bit of why I’ve come back around to liking QLs set in high school.
Lastly, Per and Tar…those bitches are going to be in a situationship until they’re 30, huh. Per is truly just waiting for Tar to catch up with him. The bit where Per gives Tar the flower and just smiles at him had me going, sir, this is a school, put away your face of immense longing. I said last week I hoped they got a resolution, and obviously I would have loved if they’d kissed again or something, but this did feel true to their characters.
Overall, I thoroughly enjoyed this show. If I wrote it, there would be things I would do slightly differently, but I have no objections to what they did do, so it gets the rare 10/10 on MDL from me. I really hope all the couples from this show get more projects, especially Chokun and Aston, who are simply so cute together that it makes me ill. (I am still laughing about Aston being asked if they’d do enemies to lovers and him going uh…I don’t know if we could do that tbh…)
Well, that’s it from me this week. I’m going to put in a plug for KPop Demon Hunters if you haven’t seen it yet, which isn’t gay but has a thing in it that reads so heavily like a gay metaphor that I’m like, I support the main ship in this but also…? Join me and, like, half the world in having the songs stuck in your head.
urs,
hk