I’m back from a week away with a bunch of friends, which was both very affirming and very depressing to leave. On the other hand, I can catch up on things that I’ve fallen behind on. The networks have finally timed it out correctly so that the supernatural themed shows are airing leading in to fall, which suits me perfectly.
I was feeling like I wasn’t watching much of anything, but now that I look at my list I realize how untrue it is. I think it’s more that only a few of the currently airing shows have me gripped and I haven’t finished anything recently since I fell off a few.
Currently Watching (On Air)
Desire: We’ve finally gotten to the point where Hua Yong cracks…not that Shaoyou is aware that it’s Hua Yong. But presumably soon? Unless the show is going to cut off where the book does (which I skipped through the other day). Anyway, this show’s narrative structure is pretty bad, but what makes it work for me is entirely how crazy Hua Yong is and wanting to see what he does next. I really love how subtle the acting is for him and how immensely clear it is that this man is deeply, deeply unwell.
The Promise of the Soul: The reveal this week that Haiyuan and Riqing are brothers was wild—I can’t figure out if I think it was a good or bad reveal. On the one hand, I think it’s great that we know early on that Haiyuan is the illegitimate son of a rich man and it doesn’t come up for a while, but maybe there could have been more to his interactions with Riqing? I don’t know, maybe I missed something. Anyway, I genuinely have no clue how this show is going to resolve the soul swap—I mean, the opening credits imply that Xia Cha gets to stay, but I feel like we’re owed Zefang getting to come back for at least a bit, especially now that we’ve seen that Riqing does genuinely care for him in some fucked-up way.
Memoir of Rati: This show stresses me out largely because Thee has absolutely no sense of discretion, which I admire, but as I said while watching it if he weren’t a nobleman he’d have been hate-crimed by now. My largest issue with this show remains the visual style, which I still find kind of ugly. I also feel like there’s something slightly off about the pacing, although I can’t put my finger on what I want out of it. But I am very invested in both couples and so scared about getting an unhappy ending.
My Magic Prophecy: Aside from the bland-ass palette of this show, the biggest problem right now is expecting me to believe anyone would pick Dr. Jimmy over Junior Panachai. No disrespect to the good doctor, but have you seen that man?
Anyway, I’ll admit to liking this show more than I thought I would. Part of it is because I think they’re keeping the investigation in our minds well so there’s no “girl the cartel???” moments, both through In’s constant worry about Thap giving too much of himself away and cutting back to Inspector Save (he has a real name I’m sure), who seems to be noticing that something is up with First. Save and Franc have more chemistry than I expected, too, and Jimmy playing someone so sneaky and underhanded is much more interesting for him in my opinion. Something about him makes him playing nice characters boring, so I need him to be more of a freak, and Thap is definitely that.
Mu-Te-Luv: The first episode was fun! My current theory is that the online fortune teller Err is texting is actually secretly Mawin, which would be a fun twist. Kee is doing great in this—Err is so different from Moo and he’s still so charming and cute. Sea (baby) still isn’t as strong an actor, I don’t think, but at least Mawin is supposed to be pretty blank.
I’m already really in love with the visual style of the credits, and the show itself looks great. I’m curious how much the style will vary between stories, and I’m also wondering if maybe they’ll be connected—there was a line about Err’s aunt (?) loving to consult fortune tellers and going after a doctor, which could be Jan’s character. I hope so, it would be really fun it that were the case!
Revamp: People were freaking out so much over the tone swap in the trailer from the original teasers, but it definitely is not a comedy. They’re playing up the inherent weirdness and comedy of being a vampire in the modern world for sure, but honestly I found Boun’s performance lowkey unsettling. There’s something very alien about the way he moves and reacts to things even in scenes that are more comedic.
The biggest crime this show has committed so far is making me rewatch part of My Golden Blood, though it was nice to remember how bad a show that was in comparison to this, which has already introduced more personal stakes for the characters and more lore and factions. I’m really excited seeing how different the three vampire minions are, and seeing Barcode play such an edgelord is delightful. I can already tell the Punn-Pokpong brother relationship is going to wreck me, though. Interested to get more into the plot next week now that the introductory exposition is out of the way!
Khemjira: I was idly looking forward to this—I never watched the official trailer, so I’d only seen the teaser—and was actually blown away by how much I enjoyed the first episode. So far it’s been gorgeous to look at as well as engaging—the semi-episodic aspect of “here is this week’s ghost problem” works in its favor as the rest of the plot unfolds. I had no idea there was a reincarnation element, but I do love that because it’s a trope we don’t have in the west and I think it always raises interesting conflicts. Keng and Namping are also lovely to look at. Namping is so cute! And as someone on tumblr said, Keng is the perfect casting for a mysterious shaman who’s so handsome he has to wear sunglasses to keep people from falling for him. He has what the kids call aura.
Currently Watching (Completed)
Revenged Love: I’m finishing this up right now and I have to be real with y’all, it’s dragging for me. I think this show is probably too long, though if they’d made it shorter the fans would have been even more pissy and irritated than they already were. I think mostly there’s too many consecutive conflicts/plot elements that don’t tie in well together, and some things get dropped for ages. What happened to all the snakes??? My general feeling is that the show is Fine, and probably worked better as a novel.
Petrichor: It is genuinely incredible to me how they made Charlotte and Engfa, two literal beauty queens, look more or less like just very beautiful normal women instead of out of this world beauties like they are. I totally didn’t realize that the reason they got paired together was because people shipped them when they were competing for Miss Thailand; that’s crazy, Thailand is genuinely unmatched when it comes to shipping.
Anyway, I’m already liking this show a lot—I’m currently on episode 3 and enjoying how the cases are building onto each other while revealing things about the world and the characters. Which is pretty typical of Dr. Sam, she knows how to write a thriller. My main beef with this show is that I feel like it’s shot oddly, though I don’t know enough to explain what feels off about it to me. I love all the hot competent women, though, and the dynamic between Tul and Ran is very good for me. The banter is so solid.
BL News:
There was a bunch of recasting news out of GMMTV recently, the most interesting ones being related to the breakup of Marc & Poon, something I think many of us saw coming. They had good chemistry on We Are, but the spark was gone by Perfect 10 Liners and it seemed like they weren’t getting along or something, so no surprise there. What is surprising is Poon getting paired with Biggest Ohm for My Romance Scammer; Ohm and Fluke had been doing the fanservice work posting together and stuff, so I wonder if it’s just that they got into workshops or whatever and realized the chemistry wasn’t working, or if someone saw Ohm and Poon together (since they apparently hang out) and thought hmmmmm.
Poon will be great for the role—he does look like he could be related to Markji, for one thing, and the character is supposed to be a wide-eyed, gullible romantic, which I think he’ll excel at. The size difference between him and Ohm is also truly delicious; now I’m doubly looking forward to that show.
The other fallout is the switch from MarcPoon in A Dog and a Plane to Mond and Ryu, which must mean they did well filming That Summer. Mond will play an excellent dirtbag, as we know from Only Friends, and is closer in age to Tay which will sell that friendship a bit more, and Ryu is such a funny hot younger model for New’s cheating boyfriend. I’m really excited to see them in That Summer now!On a related note, the GMMTV Outing happened and as per usual there were some incredible costumes. The highlights for me have to be Jennie as the Coldplay kisscam couple; Lego as Miss Universe or whoever that was; and the girls as a football team. Greatest time of year.
I keep seeing fans watching Revenged Love and Desire complaining about the lack of explicit nc scenes, which is abso-fucking-lutely hilarious when they love to say Thai shows are just porn, but also is so tone deaf as to the realities of filming a Chinese BL. Like, it’s a miracle that they’re airing at all, and there’s been talk about restrictions getting tightened again after all the attention Revenged Love got. Do you want all these people to get blacklisted and never appear again? The Desire folks might be more protected as I think that operation is happening through Australia ???? but like. Please be real.
urs,
hk