I started this morning by watching first episode of Hide & Sis, which is not a QL, but is one of those ensemble-cast GMMTV extravaganzas. It’s delightfully trashy in the way I associate with early 2010s k-dramas and American soaps. Actually, it reminds me of the show Revenge, which I absolutely adored the first season of. I wish Snap25 had put this energy into Pluto and truly made it a thriller or, alternatively, leaned off their insane color grading to make it look less like one. At every moment in that show it did feel like someone was about to be murdered and yet nothing! Please.
Anyway, this had me thinking about trashy TV and why some shows work for me (this, Reset) and others profoundly do not (My Golden Blood). I think I largely stand by the opinion that the issue with MGB is the overall structure and plot of the show, because it’s positioned as a vampire thriller when it starts, but fails to deliver any of the actual genre staples. I get the suspicion that a lot of people think you can’t balance a thriller and a romance, and I’ll admit it’s difficult, but Dr. Sam has done it multiple times, with Spare Me Your Mercy being possibly the hardest lift since the characters are on opposite sides for most of the show, and yet she delivers. The trick is that, as always, the characters’ romance storyline needs to tie into the main plot.
Currently Watching
My Stubborn: This show has not been well-paced from the start, but this episode was particularly bad. Something I think they’ve been uniquely terrible at is scene transitions, which don’t feel natural, though at least they usually give establishing shots for place/time of day.
I did think this episode was weak, but I enjoyed that 90% of it was Jun being completely baffled by Sorn’s 180 into being a clingy simp. He doesn’t know how much that man has pined, and to be fair, neither do I, since the show hasn’t told us specifically how and why Sorn fell for him. I hope we get this in the final episode.
Unfortunately I might have to write fic for this show, because I do find them compelling despite everything and I have a suspicion the show is going to leave a lot of open room for getting them settled.
Pit Babe 2: Honestly, the stand out of this season for me has been Milk as Willy. He’s vile and horrid and willing to do terrible things, but when he gets a chance to show another side, I actually do feel bad for him.
This episode did a lot of things that had me like, oh that’s an interesting and cool plan! Like Kenta being in disguise, or the trap at the race. And then the show was like, eh, that’s enough clever writing for now, and drops an anvil on them, whether that’s Kenta being found out in a very silly scene or the plan to trap Willy just culminating in Babe punching him a bunch. That’s the plan gang??
Boys in Love: Something I love about this show is how real the stakes feel despite them not being, like, earthshaking. As an adult, I know they’re not as monumental as these kids believe them to be, but watching them agonize over deciding where to go to school and what they want to do reminds me of being 17 and thinking that my entire life hinged on this one decision.
I said this early on, but it’s a show about being in love rather than falling in love, and how you navigate being in love as a teen when your life is about to change. All of the couples, even the hags, bring something unique to that idea, and I like how the couples are shown supporting each other. Mon and Kim do kill me—Mon, that is your stupid dog boyfriend, you’re going to have to get used to it. And god, I hope Per and Tar figure their shit out before the end of the show, or else I will also have to write fic for them.
The Ex-Morning: Still an episode behind, so all I’m thinking about is how FUCKING DERANGED!!!! Krist is for licking Singto’s mouth not once, but twice. Hello?? If you’d told me that these two would be doing this in 2025 back when I watched SOTUS, I simply would not have believed you.
I have been complaining that it just isn’t believable that Tam came back from Australia still a bottom, but I do buy it more in their nc scenes, even if I think ultimately they might be the rare switch couple in BLs. But the introduction of Biggest Ohm as Phi’s ex really has me like, that man is not a top. Stop gaslighting me, GMMTV.
The Next Prince: At this point I’m suspicious of everyone. Every single one of the kings, even dad. I’m very suspicious of Grandpa. My current fun theory is that Khanin’s mom (or “mom” if we go with my baby swap theory) was investigating too hard into the mines and Grandpa didn’t like that, so he had her killed. Baby swap theory goes from there to real Khanin also died and then Grandpa had to figure out a way to still have an heir, so he stole Pearl Kingdom’s baby prince and swapped them. Insane? Yes, but tbh I wouldn’t put anything past this show.
(I also saw a theory that Jay is secretly pearl prince, and that would also be fun even if it would kill the delightful The Prince & Me storyline with him and Calvin.)
Reset: The pacing on this show continues to baffle me, but it’s hard to care when I’m busy looking at Pond’s big wet eyes. It’s so funny to have a revenge plot that involves traveling back twenty-five years, because like, none of your suspects will have the same motives they had at your actual death! Bro what’s going on.
Like, normally in a rebirth story like this, I’d expect the protagonist to go off and make friends with the people who hated him or at least find a way to reduce their influence on his life but a) Armin is very bad at this and b) all of the people he suspects are huge bitches. (I don’t think I’ve mentioned how much I’ve enjoyed First in this role; he’s having so much fun playing a diva Alpha Bitch, and he makes such a good villain.)
I can’t talk about this episode without mentioning the nc scene at the end. Jesus Christ. Like, strictly speaking, it isn’t that explicit—it’s a pretty typical sex montage with a lot of artful obscuring of the bodies (this might actually be why they had it in a pool) with music over it so you don’t get the moans or whatever, but Pond’s face acting made it. So pornographic. He wanted us to know that Armin is getting dicked down but good and that he’s loving it. Fine! Good for him! I felt like I needed to go lay down after watching it.
Memoirs of Rati: I’d have to watch more historical hetero lakorns to know just how much this is playing into tropes, but it sure feels like it based on the one I have seen some of. So far most of my complaints about this show are stylistic—why is the director obsessed with having the characters look directly into camera?—and obviously if they could have had a bigger budget/more time to handle some of the more difficult to deal with anachronisms, that would have been nice, but I like how much we’ve learned in the first few episodes to complicate the relationship between these two characters and it has the overarching conflict of WWI to provide constant tension.
I do think that the show expects audiences to know the history of France and Thailand, which is fair for them to assume, but I did have to look it up. The Incident they keep referring to must be the one around 1907, and I think the part where Rati asks Thee how he would feel if their countries were in conflict is supposed to foreshadow the eventual Franco-Thai war 30 years on from this show.
Anyway, about the actual story and acting—Inn’s French is surprisingly decent to my ear although it’s obvious he isn’t actually fluent and he definitely has an accent. I do keep looking at his nose like, that nose knows what Instagram is, but what were they supposed to do, give him a prosthetic that looks like his old nose? Great is, of course, so good at seeming completely infatuated, and it’s remarkable how quickly Thee established himself as a Grade S Simp. One episode! The fact that his character is also a Notorious Homosexual in the area fucking kills me. Episode two starting with his grandma coming to his door like "GRANDSON ARE YOU A HOMOSEXUAL” made me lose it.
Aou and Boom promise to be more enemies to lovers, which I am thrilled about. It’s interesting that this show has several layers of class difference and conflict—theirs is more obvious, since Aou is a servant and Boom is from a royal (?) family. (His aunt is called a princess, but I know that title isn’t always used the way we would.) The layers in the first interactions between Rati and Thee when Rati thinks Thee is just a favored servant are soooo…like, Rati being originally servant class but adopted by a princess and so technically having that rank, but also being near the family who knows his birth. And him clearly still being acutely aware of that and how it affects his relationship to his adoptive father and everyone around him! It’s a very interesting character to create. I’m excited to see where it goes next.
Break-Up Service Corner
I have to give acknowledgement to this show for managing to make Oat not be the weird villainous homosexual by having him immediately back off from Boss when it became clear Boss genuinely didn’t have feelings for him, and then for bringing New in as a cameo. Brilliant! You had him off camera when he first spoke to try and make it a reveal, but I know that man’s voice when I hear it, you can’t fool me!!! And man, Tay and New have so much chemistry on screen it’s deranged. Less than 1 minute and I was enthralled.
I feel like there was some BL news I meant to include this week but honestly it’s eluding me. Instead I’ll just put in a plug for Hide & Sis if you want something thrilling but crazy to watch.
urs,
hk