I’m rushing to squeeze in this letter now because tomorrow is GMMTV25 and that might require its own special edition of this letter. I’ve been trying to find a show to watch on my own that I don’t want to subject others to, but keep bumping into ones other people want to watch also, like The Secret of Us and Petrichor, the latter of which just started airing and looks, at the very least, engaging.
Currently Watching (on air)
Jack & Joker: I feel like anything I could say is almost irrelevant since the finale airs tonight, so the main thing I’ll say is that there’s no possible way for this show to redeem itself after introducing Squid Game style murder sports, so really all it can do is keep itself from dropping lower in my esteem. Good luck on that one.
Fourever You: While sleuthing for something else related to the show, I came across a couple of tweets that indicate that this is actually going to be two parts, each 16 episodes focusing on two couples. Which means that it’ll be a total of 32 episodes. New Siwaj, how do you have the stamina for this?
Which is a relief, because I was starting to get really concerned about how they’d fit Dao and Phoon into this, but if they’re maybe only going to be shown a little to tease part 2, that would make sense. However, I don’t think that’s been communicated effectively, so I foresee a lot of complaints.
The development of North as unexpected man-magnet was great for me, especially Ter’s deep dislike of it. Ter’s shipping of Jo and North should be annoying, but Earth is very charming and portrays it as so earnest and well-intentioned that it’s hard not to think it’s cute. The scene with Arthit, Hill, and Johan at the bar was hysterical; I love these gay F4 worsties.
Perfect 10 Liners: Spoilers but I can’t believe those crazy sons-of-guns did it. They got Tay Tawan to play Tawan. Honestly, I’m finding it hard to think much more about the rest of the episode because he was just so ding-dang handsome that it wiped everything else out of my brain, aside from how I think Force and Book upped their kissing game.
Caged Again: For a show that is in many ways wildly tonally dissonant—there’s the school arc, which is about extra curricular activities, and then there’s this apparent animal-smuggling arc—it somehow still works for me. It knows it’s a comedy, which is a big help, and Jaonine’s performance as Jodd especially helps with that. Love that Junior is just rocking a crop top now. Torture that panther boy, go!
Pluto: I’m a week behind, but the bathtub scene had me absolutely rolling. May is so unbelievably horny and so is Ai-oon, except Ai-oon doesn’t know what to do about it and May very much knows what she’d like to do about it.
Again, I’m behind, so no idea what else has progressed, but I was saying it might be interesting if Oom was lowkey impersonating her sister when she met May, because May doesn’t seem surprised by Ai-oon’s job or anything. It was the scene at the beginning where Oom expressed jealousy which then turned into her being a huge bitch, but I do think that there was something real in that, in wanting people to have fewer expectations of her. We’ll see!
The Heart Killers: Episode 1 was everything I could have wanted, with the worst sound design I’ve experienced since, like, Bad Buddy. It’s almost art how much those mics are either peaking or getting muffled. I’m wondering if it’ll get better or if they had to sacrifice that for how good the show looks visually.
Anyway, the OST slaps, they got the plot moving quickly, and everyone is already an absolute maniac, which is what you want from a romcom about hitmen based on Taming of the Shrew. Thrilled to see what comes next.
Currently Watching (completed)
Manner of Death: Finally started our Sammon deep-dive, just as Spare Me Your Mercy is about to start airing (this week!!!). I haven’t rewatched it, so it’s cool to go back with my knowledge of how the thriller plot unfolds and see what I pick up this time. Are there plot holes? Sure. Is Bun very bad at being an investigator? Yeah, but that isn’t his job. I can also recognize Great now, so his changing hairstyles in the show don’t confuse me like they did the first time.
Finished
Kidnap: You know, initially I thought this show was going to be a bust because the first few episodes have some bizarre editing and pacing and also it felt like it was going to be trying really hard for a conspiracy plot that I wasn’t sure they could pull off. But clearly the writers said, actually, no, this is all set-dressing for Min and Q getting gay married and legally adopting Min’s brother, and even if I kept going, “GIRL?? THE CARTEL???” I was on board with that.
There’s still weird artistic choices and the pacing is a little off, but to me the shift ended up being camp. It helps that Ohm and Leng have insane chemistry and that while the show is sometimes tongue in cheek and silly, it also takes things like Q’s PTSD seriously. An entire episode about his recovery maybe wasn’t necessary, but I didn’t mind it, either.
It helps I didn’t exactly have expectations that this show would be High Art with Deep Meaning, so I wasn’t let down by any of the sillier elements. Miss Yada being genuinely scary was good, and there was a genuine sense of danger several times. I do think maybe this show is better binge-watched because then the pacing issues that were obvious week-to-week become less of a problem, but overall I thoroughly enjoyed it and will probably watch it again.
Why R U?: We finally, finally finished this. I completely forgot that episode 13 is entirely a honeymoon episode. So much of this show I’ve wiped from my mind, but in fairness I first watched it in like May 2020 so it’s a miracle I remember anything. It’s so funny to me that they included the wrap-ups for all the tertiary couples when those storylines got completely cut from the show around episode 9. Me like, who are these people?
Anyway, I can’t recommend this show because it’s bad, but the Fighter/Tutor storyline does still hit. They went off with that one.
Dangerous Romance: Honestly, the two main things about this show are 1. you have to be able to get past the bullying plot at the beginning (although in fairness I was thinking back on it and I’m not sure how much Kang et al were actively bullying as opposed to just being little jerks. They paid Auto to do their homework, which is what kicks off the conflict at the beginning of the show) and 2. you have to accept that every episode is going to have at minimum five minutes worth of flashbacks. This show does NOT trust you to remember what’s happened previously.
Kang and Sailom are so dear to me, though—I’ve seen criticism that their relationship seemed too bromance over romance, but to me, that’s because they just like each other so much. They like hanging out and goofing off and also kissing and engaging in cringe roleplay. Technically Guy and Nawa are the b couple, but I think we all know the true secondary romance is Saifah and Name. GMMTV, if Pepper is still with you, please style him like this more. It’s the best he’s ever looked.
Other BL News
The ThamePo trailer is officially out and will start airing December 13. I’m so excited to see that LYKN are clearly going to have a prominent role and that it’s going to be just as much about the group’s friendship as about the romance. William is shockingly good in the trailer—I hope that’s a good indication of what the show has in store! (I am not prepared to see sad Lego, though.) (Also I’m putting in my bet here that Joong is playing Est’s ex.)
WeTV also posted the pilot for Knock Out, which stars a Boys Planet contestant. It’s one of the more cleverly edited pilots I’ve seen—using the countdown in a boxing match as the framing device was really smart! It also looks profoundly horny.
As I mentioned, GMMTV25 is tomorrow. The hot gossip right now is that there will be an adaptation of a 3-couple period piece BL, which would be incredible and maybe get people to shut up finally about how GMMTV only makes school dramas (god forbid they make things aimed at their demographic).
If you’re in the US, hope you have a great Thanksgiving week! If you’re like me and also will be waking up at 5 a.m. for the GMMTV livestream, happy yaoigiving.
urs,
hk