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Starry Nights - THK Era

@scrumptiousstuffs / scrumptiousstuffs.tumblr.com

Sue/She/the blog is really about 🐈🐈‍⬛. Ask me anything (can’t promise I know the answer)
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waitmyturtles

Turtles Catches Up With Old GMMTV: 55:15 Never Too Late, and Integrated Queer Storylines in Thai Het Dramas Edition

[What’s going on here? After joining Tumblr last year and discovering Thai BLs through KinnPorsche, I began watching GMMTV’s new offerings -- and realized that I had a lot of history to catch up on, to appreciate the amazing current works that I was delving into. From tropes to BL frameworks, what we’re watching now hails from somewhere, and I’m learning about that history through what I’m calling the Old GMMTV Challenge (OGMMTVC). Starting with recommendations from @absolutebl on their post regarding how GMMTV is correcting for its mistakes with its shows today, I’ve made an expansive list to get me through a condensed history of essential/classic/significant Thai BLs directly or indirectly related to GMMTV and what that channel is producing now. My watchlist, pasted below, lists what I’ve watched and what’s upcoming, along with the reviews I’ve written so far. Today, I delve into the queer storyline of 55:15 Never Too Late, an ensemble het drama that featured two phenomenal actors in Kob Songsit and Khaotung Thanwat as older and younger versions of the same person.]

55:15 Never Too Late: this is not a show that I think the majority of the Thai BL fandom is aware of, unless they're particular stans of Nanon Korapat (RAISES HAND) and/or Khaotung Thanawat (RAISES OTHER HAND). In part, let me just say upfront that 55:15 Never Too Late features significant het storylines with middle-aged adults, and -- one's assumed BL audience may not be so into that.

However. I picked this show up for the OGMMTVC after discussions with a few dear mutuals (in particular, the wonderful @chickenstrangers -- thank you for engaging me in conversation on this show!) about queer storylines in GMMTV het dramas. I had a thought early on in this project that I should touch upon this, as I was impressed with my earlier-this-year watch of GMMTV's 10 Years Ticket, and that show's inclusion of a wonderful queer storyline was woven with intergenerational trauma, which is a theme that I appreciate seeing in shows when it's done well.

In considering what might have been seminal for GMMTV regarding queer storylines in het dramas before shows like 10 Years Ticket aired: two shows kept cropping up in conversation, 55:15 Never Too Late being one, and The Shipper being the other.

I wanted to think on this because... man, for me, as an old Asian-American, to think about Asian het shows/dramas/primetime dramas that would have integrated queer storylines -- not even just a passing queer character who's used for cringe/comedy -- strikes me as remarkable. I certainly didn't see these kinds of storylines in the romantic or slice-of-life K-dramas and J-doramas of my youth.

Of course, this was territory that had already been crossed in pre-Thai-BL ensemble shows like Love Sick and Kiss/Kiss Me Again (which preceded Dark Blue Kiss). While The Shipper (I think -- I haven't watched it) was more of a coalesced storyline, 55:15 Never Too Late had a little bit of that ensemble feel to it -- but all the characters of this show were affected by the same supernatural phenomenon, which ended up bringing all their individual storylines together as one in the end. And after 55:15 Never Too Late, we have 10 Years Ticket, and hopefully more het dramas will follow suit in including impactful queer storylines as well.

I was encouraged VERY strongly to NOT watch The Shipper for the ways in which it treated issues of transgender identity (big ups to @so-much-yet-to-learn, @bengiyo, @shortpplfedup and more for helping me to avoid that disaster). And 55:15 Never Too Late was described to me as having a BL storyline that featured a cameo with Earth Pirapat and Mix Sahaphap, and that offered critical feedback about the wider BL industry.

All of that is true, and I deeply appreciated the feedback and direction. What I didn't expect was to receive a storyline that also treated elder queerness and coming out at a later age with empathy and tenderness.

Before I get there, let me set up the show and describe all the different storylines, and then I'll focus on Khao's turn, as he played the younger version of our main queer protagonist in Songpol.

55:15 Never Too Late starts off with five middle-aged individuals: San, a washed-up voice actor who is drunkenly robbed by two women; Jaya, a washed-up former teen idol; Amonthep, a washed-up former boxer whose boxing academy is about to default in debt; Jarunee, a despised high school teacher who receives a devastating cancer diagnosis, and Songpol, a restaurant owner who harbors a long-lived love for the pianist in his restaurant, a man named Mathee.

All five of these 55-year-old adults wake up one morning -- after all having visited the same photocopying shop -- as their 15-year-old selves, with their adult minds still in tact. All five of them use their newfound youth to address longstanding issues in their lives, and to hopefully find clarity on the problems they face as adults.

Where our queer storyline lives is with Songpol, and shit if I did not yelp when I saw who was playing the adult Songpol: none other than one of the best and most-seen dads in BL, Kob Songsit -- Kinn's dad! Dean's dad! Kawi's dad! And he's also a dad of a gay son in the movie Love of Siam as well. (Khun Kob is also a legendary Thai actor and singer in his own right -- cc @wen-kexing-apologist for the heads-up!). I squealed because this was the first time that I'd see Khun Kob play a queer man himself. I'm almost positive that he's likely taken on other queer roles, but -- Khun Kob's characters are usually the accepting dads! This time around, we get to see him embody a queer role holistically.

The adult Songpol was closeted his whole life. Upon his mother's approaching passing, he whispers in his mother's ear, as she lays in her hospital bed -- "I'm gay." The line on the monitor goes flat. We can surmise as much, that her household would not have welcomed such an admission in Songpol's earlier years.

Songpol is also a fan of the aging teen idol, Jaya. After his mother's passing, he takes it upon himself to decorate his room fully with all the fan memorabilia he collected over his teen and adult years.

Before his transformation into his teenage self, he meets with his fellow queer friend at a gay club -- likely Songpol's only outlet to be out in private (and his friend is played by the FABULOUS Shaowanasai Michael, who just OWNED the time he had on screen as a fully-out, decked-out older gay man. WE NEED MORE ELDER QUEER UNCLES IN OUR SHOWS!). Songpol's friend encourages Songpol to finally admit his love to Mathee, the pianist. As Songpol finally screws up his courage to make his admission -- Mathee reveals that he's getting married.

And Songpol goes to bed, devastated. And he wakes up as his 15-year-old self, played by Khao.

Of the times that we see the adult Songpol on screen, we see Kob Songsit do the most amazing delicate balance of a kind of presence struggle that older queer men VERY often have to do, by way of tamping down a peeking-out, a shimmering of femme characteristics, that often needs to be traded for a carriage of more masculine characteristics in everyday life (what movie better captured this than The Birdcage?) (cc @wen-kexing-apologist). Throughout the show, when Khun Kob was on screen, he carried himself like... like a het Thai uncle, slightly worn in his years. But when he was able to flourish in recognition of his queerness -- we saw that slight shimmer, the little twist in his shoulders, a little gleam and sly smile in which he knew he was safe to be out and gay.

Dudes, if you're a completist nerd like me, taking a moment to watch Kob Songsit embody a queer role ALONE made this show worthwhile for me to watch.

But! And! What did Songpol learn about himself as his younger version in modern times?

That's where Khao steps in, and of course -- Khao is Khao, right? One of GMMTV's best actors, Khao as the young Songpol (in body, not in mind) takes himself on a journey of recognizing that the world (at least the world that the younger generations live in) has long moved past the prejudices of his mother's generation.

Young Songpol looks on in wonder as two boys hold hands at the high school that he's returned to. He listens in wonder as his niece -- who is now the same age as him, LOL -- tells him about BL series. And he's agape when a school project on BL shows is proposed to him by a fellow classmate.

That classmate (played by Pawin Kulkaranyawich, love u Pawin) is none other than the son of Mathee -- the pianist that the adult Songpol is in love with.

I was talking with @chickenstrangers a bit about this -- that the one wrinkle (no pun intended, HA) (listen, I get to make that joke because I'm an old mom) that 55:15 Never Too Late faces is that we have actors playing 15-year-olds who are all tackling adult problems... often with the other age-appropriate adults of their past lives. Meaning: age gaps, both externally and internally.

(Very namely, Nanon's character, the young San, interacts with his former high school love interest. Now, Nanon can pull off almost anything, and I'd argue that he was fabulous in this role -- as long as you were comfortable watching a 20-year-old Nanon express a long-lost love for a 55-year-old woman. He did it exquisitely, but the age gap could give some folks the jibbles. This also happened with the young Jarunee, played by the AWESOME AS USUAL View Benyapa, who confirms her love for a 30-year-old man, who was actually in love with the original 55-year-old Jarunee, so we're dealing with TWO age gaps there, okay, confused yet? ANYWAY.)

In this age gap case, Pawin's character, Phiphu, begins crushing on the young Songpol. The young-bodied and old-minded Songpol is like, wut. You're Mathee's son. Phiphu even goes in for an acted kiss as he and Songpol audition (AUDITION! LOL) for a BL series.

It's Khao and Pawin kissing -- but it's an older character that Khao is embodying. Khao did not lean into the kiss, and made it seem plenty awkward, which -- good job, Khao/Songpol. But I'd say the show overall didn't quite address the age gap issues frontally, which I do think was a miss.

(KhaoPawin, btw? Yet another reason why I want to ban branded ships. Pawin's never been better than when he was paired with Khao! Pawin was great! They were great together! Pair more randoms together!)

I think the show did a responsible job at indirectly addressing the age gap issue at least between the old/young Songpol and the only young Phiphu, when Phiphu finally admits his attraction to the young Songpol. And remember! They're living in an age -- an age that the adult Songpol isn't familiar with -- where Phiphu can feel comfortable making a queer admission to another teenager.

The young Songpol knew he was kinda in the shit when Phiphu confessed to him. Between the time that the young Songpol received this confession and the end of the series -- the young Songpol had transitioned back to his present elder self. In that elder self, played by Khun Kob, the young Songpol left a letter for Phiphu to explain his departure -- and to urge Phiphu, a loner, to be hopeful for a more loving future. A kind of future that, prior to his trip to his younger self, that the older Songpol may not have ever imagined for himself.

All while this is happening: the elder Songpol's love interest, Mathee, is getting married. And: Mathee confesses to the adult Songpol that Mathee knows that Songpol was in love with him. Mathee addresses it head-on, and explains how important Songpol is in Mathee's life as an elder uncle, a familial presence. It was empathetic as anything, wonderful to watch.

Again, repeating myself from the top: these topics are extremely adult topics. Not by way of explicitness, but by way of maturity and and growth. The way this show touched me as an adult -- there aren't a lot of BLs that do that, simply because I'm much older than your average BL audience member. This show really gut-punched me, simply because it was a drama (it just so happened to be a het drama) about reckoning with the highs and the disappointments of adult life, ones that, especially as a parent of young children, I am learning far too fast and all too well. To see an adult Songpol's mind -- channeled through Khao's brilliant acting -- coming to terms with a new generation for which queerness is far more accepted, was utterly moving. Even for myself, a het woman who was raised with a culturally embedded sense of bigotry for anyone "different," watching young people just accept queerness, as an everyday part of life -- and watching an elder mind try to process that, and realize that he could live safely and publicly, as he finally did, as an adult, at the end of the show, totally got me.

Most of the storylines of the rest of the characters ended beautifully, with a little tragedy mixed in. If you're a fan of dramas that feature the GMMTV stable outside of our beloved group of BL actors, I would definitely say to give this one a shot. (If you're a BBS girlie like me, keep in mind that this was airing at the same time as BBS, so Nanon had two shows airing at the same time -- and I do be believing that there was a little BBS reference in 55:15 because of that timing.) Sea Tawinan in particular, who I have no familiarity with (I didn't watch Vice Versa) was fantastic as a devoted and thoughtful son to one of the time jumpers. View, Kay, Arm, Piploy, Marc Pahun, and ESPECIALLY PRIGKHING (WHAT A DELIGHT!) were all fantastic.

Some of the latest het dramas out of GMMTV -- UMG, The Jungle, etc. -- seem to me to be post-pandemic leftovers featuring cute dudes in weak storylines that not a lot of folks really got excited about. 55:15 Never Too Late was a pandemic-era drama that was very much rooted not only in nostalgia, but also rooted in addressing regrets -- the exact kind of mental exercise that a lot of folks had time to work on during the pandemic. 55:15 held a queer storyline in its hands with tenderness, it featured two phenomenal actors in Kob Songsit and Khao Thanawat to treat it with compassion, and the result was eye-opening and fulfilling. This was a wonderful show, and it makes me very glad that there are GMMTV shows, outside of the Jojo Tichakorn universe, that consider queerness as inclusionary of storytelling. If this theme can continue at GMMTV, I will be ever more glad about it.

[So! WITH THIS! I'm going to be doing a slow rewatch of Bad Buddy and Our Skyy 2 x Bad Buddy x A Tale of Thousand Stars, along with a robust, if not heavy, slate of currently airing shows, including Absolute Zero and What Did You Eat Yesterday?, all of which will be taking a chunk of time of meta writing away from my generally middling level of sanity.

That being said, I'll be doing plenty of liveblogging of BBS, and I have at least two OGMMTVC posts planned for the show, so stay tuned in the next few weeks, as I sharpen my pencils and take notes on Aof Noppharnach's very best drama.

There is a future after my BBS rewatch, namely Cheewin Thanamin's Secret Crush On You, which I'm really looking forward to watching later this fall.

Here's the latest info drop on the OGMMTVC watchlist. For a more clear picture of what I've watched, please click this link!

1) The Love of Siam (2007) (movie) (review here) 2) My Bromance (2014) (movie) (review here) 3) Love Sick and Love Sick 2 (2014 and 2015) (review here) 4) Gay OK Bangkok Season 1 (2016) (a non-BL queer series directed by Jojo Tichakorn and written by Aof Noppharnach) (review here) 5) Make It Right (2016) (review here) 6) SOTUS (2016-2017) (review here) 7) Gay OK Bangkok Season 2 (2017) (a non-BL queer series directed by Jojo Tichakorn and written by Aof Noppharnach) (review here) 8) Make It Right 2 (2017) (review here) 9) Together With Me (2017) (review here) 10) SOTUS S/Our Skyy x SOTUS (2017-2018) (review here) 11) Love By Chance (2018) (review here) 12) Kiss Me Again: PeteKao cuts (2018) (no review) 13) He’s Coming To Me (2019) (review here) 14) Dark Blue Kiss (2019) and Our Skyy x Kiss Me Again (2018) (review here) 15) TharnType (2019-2020) (review here) 16) Senior Secret Love: Puppy Honey (OffGun BL cuts) (2016 and 2017) (no review) 17) Theory of Love (2019) (review here) 18) 3 Will Be Free (2019) (a non-BL and an important harbinger of things to come in 2019 and beyond re: Jojo Tichakorn pushing queer content in non-BLs) (review here) 19) Dew the Movie (2019) (review here) 20) Until We Meet Again (2019-2020) (review here) 21) 2gether (2020) and Still 2gether (2020) (review here) 22) I Told Sunset About You (2020) (review here) 23) YYY (2020, out of chronological order) (review here) 24) Manner of Death (2020-2021) (not a true BL, but a MaxTul queer/gay romance set within a genre-based show that likely influenced Not Me and KinnPorsche) (review here) 25) A Tale of Thousand Stars (2021) (review here) 26) A Tale of Thousand Stars (2021) OGMMTVC Fastest Rewatch Known To Humankind For The Sake Of Rewatching Our Skyy 2 x BBS x ATOTS (re-review here) 27) Lovely Writer (2021) (review here) 28) Last Twilight in Phuket (2021) (the mini-special before IPYTM) (review here) 29) I Promised You the Moon (2021) (review here) 30) Not Me (2021-2022) (review here) 31) Bad Buddy (2021-2022) (thesis here) 32) 55:15 Never Too Late (2021-2022) (not a BL, but a GMMTV drama that features a macro BL storyline about shipper culture and the BL industry)  33) Bad Buddy (2021-2022) and Our Skyy 2 x BBS x ATOTS (2023) OGMMTVC Rewatch (watching) 34) Secret Crush On You (2022) [watching for Cheewin’s trajectory of studying queer joy from Make It Right (high school), to SCOY (college), to Bed Friend (working adults)] 35) KinnPorsche (2022) (tag here) 36) KinnPorsche (2022) OGMMTVC Fastest Rewatch Known To Humankind For the Sake of Re-Analyzing the KP Cultural Zeitgeist 37) The Eclipse (2022) (tag here) 38) The Eclipse OGMMTVC Rewatch For the Sake of Re-Analyzing an Politics-Focused Show After Not Me 39) GAP (2022-2023) (Thailand’s first GL) 40) My School President (2022-2023) and Our Skyy 2 x My School President (2023) 41) Moonlight Chicken (2023) (tag here) 42) Bed Friend (2023) (tag here) (Cheewin’s latest show, depicting a queer joy journey among working adults) 43) Be My Favorite (2023) (tag here) (I’m including this for BMF’s sophisticated commentary on Krist’s career past as a BL icon) 44) Wedding Plan (2023) (Recommended as an important trajectory in the course of MAME’s work and influence from TharnType) 45) Only Friends (2023)]

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scrumptiousstuffs

This is me just again plugging to go watch the criminally underrated 55:15 Never Too Late 🥹🥰

#55:15 never too late#nanon korapat#khaotung thanawat#pawin kulkaranyawich#kob songsit#view benyapa#my fav story line is Khao and View but I love all the actors and actresses in the series#and yes I cried buckets
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Dangerous Romance, Episode 4

In which the directors (and scriptwriters) want us to know Kanghan and Sailom belongs together cause what’s a windmill without the wind?

Well…this is the episode where Kanghan starts to grow up and learn that for every action, there is a consequence. We see him realising his previous mean-spirited actions meant Sailom has no other job apart from tutoring him. And even that is precarious with Kanghan only half-heartedly committed to the tutoring sessions (there is no doubt both of them are friends now but Kanghan still dismissed Sailom when the VR set arrived)… until grandma gives an ultimatum, whereby Kanghan must pass all his midterms or otherwise Sailom loses his tutoring job. And that makes Kanghan panics, cause he likes hanging out with Sailom (but him being a dork, thinks the only way Sailom will spend time with him is if the latter is getting paid for the tutoring sessions). Cue some cute montage of the boys becoming closer and closer during tutoring sessions(🥹🥹🥹…and such sweet scenes - also, kudos to Kanghan flirting with Sailom by using the Kanghan/windmill and Sailom/wind analogy, but heh, Sailom walked into that one 😂)

But despite Kanghan truly showing a significant improvement across his academic scores, he still failed one subject. Cue sad montage of them spending time alone and being absolutely miserable without each other, pining from afar (boys, there is no harm just hanging out without studying/tutoring you know??? 😫😩 it’s like they think they are Romeo and Juliet or something)

And with Sailom’s financial situation becoming worse - his brother’s twisted ankle (is it just me? But I think Saifah is doing some shady businesses with these old ladies he is looking after..like, I’m sorry, but I genuinely worry Saifah is maybe skimming some money from these oldies….the way he kept saying “auntie so and so gave me an extra 1000 baht for medical or auntie X gave me this shoes etc etc.”). Plus no more side jobs - be it tutoring or the car wash, Sailom reluctantly takes a job as an escort under Name (and if that’s not an ominous sign of what to come, cause we know from the trailer Sailom will be doing more of this escort business…)

Ultimately, Kanghan and Pimfah caught Sailom when he is out in his job as an escort. And while it truly looked just an outing, I guess there is always a threat that it could escalate to more. This prompted Pimfah to ask Sailom as a tutor (but both Kanghan and Sailom can see she asked him so that the latter doesn’t need to do any more escorting)

We ended with Kanghan persuading grandma to hire Sailom as a tutor again - “It must be Sailom. After all, what’s a windmill without the wind.” Grandma being the best wingman (ahem, I mean woman) ever told Sailom that for Kanghan to receive the best tutoring possible, he must move in and live with them in their mansion.

(seriously, by the end of this episode with the rain, windmill umbrella and both boys waiting it out in the rain, followed by the absolute domestic scenes of them fooling around and chasing in Kanghan’s garden, I almost believe we are in a fairy tale and these 2 are in their happily ever after era - but we are not even halfway there 🫣)

I know some people don’t like this series. But I personally like Perth and Chimon in this. They have an easy chemistry and as actors, both of them are good at micro expressions - they always make be belief in whatever they are acting out (be it Kanghan/Sailom pining from afar to both of them slowly but surely falling in love with each other) - so, I’m rooting for them, and I can’t wait to see how their relationship developed further (also, they were my favourite pairing in NVLM 🫣)

09/09/2023

#dangerous romance#episode 4#perth tanapon#chimon wachirawit#kanghansailom#gmmtv series#thai bl#view benyapa#aj chayapol#pawin kulkaranyawich#euro thanaset#marc pahun
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Dangerous Romance Episode 3

In which Kanghan and Sailom are basically dating without the labelling ✌️🫣

We see the boys getting close together with Kanghan agreeing to be tutored by Sailom. For someone who hemmm…until recently despise Sailom, he spends a lot of his free time with the latter - not only daily tutoring but sending him home with rides on his bike, eating dinner in expensive restaurant, and Kanghan even casually buying food for Sailom to share with his brother (now that was sleekly done Kanghan! 😏)

Even on his birthday, and I’m surprised but also sad Kanghan didn’t think much of his birthday, just shrugging it off when his 2 besties asked what his plan for the day is, saying he needs to check in with Sailom whether they have tutoring or not. You can tell he has fun with Sailom during their tutoring sessions, even if Sailom got them to do really questionable things - what’s with the bar scene? (I’m sorry, I snorted and laughed 😂 with the whole scene of them pretending to be Korean tourists speaking English, and Kanghan straight up just asking for people IG 🫣 as a bad pick up line to “practice English.”)

But obviously, there is the sinister undertone I kind of expect with this series - we see Pepper’s character (Name) saw the 2 boys drinking beers and chatting up with the foreigners, and he seems to clock on Sailom. Similarly, when Sailom was innocently waiting for Kanghan to finish his business in the loo, he got approached by said foreigner who believes Sailom is a willing rent boy (and when Sailom firmly decline, the foreigner didn’t like the answer and almost start sexually harassing him until Kanghan intercepted (hot-headedly, if I may add).

Sailom definitely starts to notice how Kanghan is more than just a bully in this episode. I think for someone who has always been self-reliant and independent due to his financial constraints, having Kanghan casually giving him rides on his bike, feeding him dinner etc is such a novelty for Sailom. And Sailom has enough self awareness of his own attraction to Kanghan but knows the latter is still oblivious to it (plus other barriers including the obvious one of their different social class). (Really, Kanghan can be such a lame dork 😅, but he can be endearing too - otherwise I don’t think Pimfah, Max and Nawa would have stick around that long as his friends).

This episode also highlight and give us a bit more in-depth look at Kanghan and his father’s relationship. On the outside, he is the perfect doting dad who spoils his only son with all the material wealth Kanghan ever need. But I find it weird his dad never has any expectations on him (and I will again reiterate this is so unusual for Asian parents!!! Kanghan mentioned something about his dad has been like this ever since his mom passed away? So I wonder if there is a connection? Mom passing away from illness maybe and Kanghan may have similar illness? So dad don’t want to put any expectations on him? I’m just speculating now…)

Nevertheless you can see this has shaped him, where he feels anchorless. No matter what he does (good or bad), it doesn’t seem to matter with his dad. And even when he tried his hardest to finally set expectations to himself (and by default also his dad) by promising to pass the midterm to get the motorbike he wanted, his dad undermined him - by getting him said bike 🏍️ without him needing to do anything. You can see his frustration (Perth is very good with micro expression and the way his eyes tensed, jaw locked while he smile to cover up his disappointment when he accepted the bike from his dad 😔)

We end up with Kanghan and Sailom having a mini celebration of the former’s bday by the pool and with Sailom giving a pep talk to Kanghan to start thinking about making himself AND Sailom proud (and again the micro expression in both boys - Kanghan stunned that someone does belief in him, and Sailom fiercely protective already)

But what’s this? a childhood connection - Sailom has met Kanghan and his mom before where they gave a ride home to Sailom? And Kanghan giving one of his paired umbrella ☔️ to Sailom? But Kanghan can’t remember he gave it??? (WHYYYYY? Did he get into an accident and has amnesia? and that’s why his mom passed away? Or maybe I’m way off and he just has a bad memory 😅)

01/09/2023

*not much from our side characters today but I still love 💕 Sailom’s friendship group and Kanghan’s cronies are growing on me - it’s clear they have genuine friendship between the 3 (despite their flaws) of them plus Pimfah!!!! - the way they celebrate his birthday with a surprise cake and presents, I thought the scene was sweet ☺️

#dangerous romance#episode 3#this is me again just trying to gather my thoughts before the next episode#perthchimon#perth tanapon#chimon wachirawit#kanghansailom#view benyapa#jj chayakorn#pawin kulkaranyawich#pepper phanuroj#euro thanaset#marc pahun#gmmtv series#thai bl
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Dangerous Romance Episode 2

In which round 2 of Kanghan versus Sailom continues with Sailom proving to be as steadfast and whipped smart while Kanghan and his bruised ego made multiple attempts to get Sailom to break without success 😂😂

It opens up with Sailom answering maths/physic questions without needing to do any calculations, while simultaneously helping Auto with his homework despite a wonky laptop. Kangham and his cronies (on the other hand) are licking their wounds and tries to erase all evidence of the Sailom-Kanghan kiss 💋.

It’s ironic then his own buddy (Max) didn’t do so and the video eventually made its way to grandma. Kanghan tries his hardest to flip the narrative by lying to his grandma but grandma (I love her!! Such dignity and poise) with the help of Pimfah is already aware of Kanghan’s bullying nature (this is why women in most Thai BL dramas are the superior species 🤫) and not only gave a much needed kick to Kanghan’s ego (hah! She made him apologise to Sailom 😝) but also delivered the ultimatum to the useless home school teacher, invest on more CCTV to make the school safer AND offered Sailom to tutor his unrepentant grandson 🫣

Sailom tries to avoid taking up the offer, but with debt mounting and a carefree brother, he took the job (and as a bonus continues to frustrate a seething Kanghan 😅) - also Kanghan brought it on himself by trying to sabotage Sailom’s work - Sailom continues to have some of the best line in this episode “Haven’t you heard of the Cloud system, the work is uploaded automatically.” “From now on, call me Tutor Sailom 😁”

He tries his hardest to teach an uninterested Kanghan but ultimately gave up and return the money to Kanghan (not before delivering a much deserved punch to the latter’s face! - urghh Kanghan made a douchebag move, basically framing Sailom as a pervert preying on young children, and making the former lose his tutoring job of teaching primary school students) - I think it’s also quite telling it’s the way Kanghan besmirch his reputation that finally made him angry enough (not the bullying, not the rudeness and how Kanghan threw his money to Sailom etc) - and this is consistent with what we know of Sailom’s character. He has never been tempted (yet) with money, not if it means sacrificing his honesty and integrity. And so for Kanghan to sully his reputation as a provocation, well, I don’t blame him for giving a shiner to Kanghan.

We finished the episode with Kanghan deciding to threaten Sailom with an empty gun to comply with his demands but it ended up with him saving Sailom from a beat up/torture (can’t believe those thugs almost used an iron to burn his arms!! 😱).

And this (in my humble opinion) is where we see the turning point for the Sailom-Kanghan’s interaction. While the latter can be a douchebag and a bully, he is not exactly an evil person (just terribly immature and spoilt). Finding Sailom who carries himself with dignity; breaking down, scared and crying to the point he hugged his not-friend is likely an eye opener for him - realising how hard Sailom works in school and his side jobs to pay off his debt while still maintaining his integrity (we see all the flashbacks of what Kanghan did to inconvenient Sailom, and while the latter always push back he never retaliated…)

It should be interesting to see how their friendship (and love) blossom now that Kanghan has declared to Sailom, Saifah and himself again that Sailom is his tutor (I think both Sailom AND Kanghan looked stunned when he said that 😅)

25/08/2023

* Saw a tiny smidgen interaction of Guy and Nawa! I think it will be a riot once they get their act together! 😉

**Also - 💕 grandma and Pimfah, they both love Kanghan but very much aware of his shortcomings - Pimfah “I don’t want him to be more astray.” 🤌 and Grandma not giving an inch to Kanghan 😏)

#dangerous romance#episode 2#kanghansailom#perth tanapon#chimon wachirawit#view benyapa#aj chayapol#euro thanaset#pepper phanuroj#papang phromphiriya#pawin kulkaranyawich#marc pahun
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Dangerous Romance Episode 1

The newest GMMTV Thai BL has dropped and starring Perth X Chimon, this enemies to lovers trope is set in high school. And so far, I’m liking it.

The first episode highlights the societal, economic and class differences between our 2 main characters (and their group of friends).

We open with Sailom, played by the ever talented Chimon working hard in his part time job, while still maintaining his scholarship attending what appears to be quite a prestigious school (with a lot of the children being sent in expensive looking cars!) - and despite the financial hardship, you can see the cheeky side of Sailom (the way he answered the customer from the car wash shop 😂😂😂). I also love the small details (like how worn out his school shirt is compared to his schoolmates), again highlighting his financial situation. He has 2 loyal friends - both also on scholarships - Auto (Euro Thanaset) who is obsessed with an idol girl group, his mother working in the school canteen means he is always ready to feed Sailom when the latter is short of money. Then we have Guy (Marc Pahun!! So glad you are back on screen!), likely on a football scholarship? - alway ready to back up his friends.

Contrast with Kanghan, rich and unfortunately a bully. Clearly used to getting his own way, and being the top dog in school (anyone reminded of the F4 series?). He has the teachers wrapped around his fingers and nobody in school dares to go against him. But you can also see he has a soft spot for his grandma and Pimfah (beautiful View!!!! So glad to see her again!). And while his cronies (Max played by JJ, Nawa played by Pawin) shipped them together - Kanghan and Pimfah appears more to be close childhood friends who understand each other (I may of course be proven wrong as the series progress!)

Conflict arises when Auto got tangled up with Kanghan gang by agreeing to help them do a group project for money, but the plan went pear-shaped with Auto ultimately being beaten up. And that’s when the tug and war start between Sailom and Kanghan.

While Sailom tried to do the right thing by reporting the bullying, their homeschool teacher is not buying it (also Kanghan definitely has the teachers wrapped around his fingers) - “it’s just boys playing around. Now apologise and make up with Kanghan.”

It’s start a petty war from Kanghan’s side - throwing water/a shoe to Sailom, cutting up his bag/homeworks and harassing him at his side job

But, Sailom gives back just as good - he has some of the best line in this episode 😂😂😂

“Do you want to be a hero?” Kanghan
“Why, do you want to be my heroine?” Sailom
“There’s 2 type of people, the car owner and the car washers.” Kanghan (while slyly putting a credit card in Sailom’s pocket to get him in trouble) before Sailom slyly putting it back in the former pocket “There’s 2 type of people, a smart one and the person thinking he is smart.” Sailom

The episode ended with Auto being used to lure Sailom for essentially a beat up session in front of everyone (While Guy being locked up to stop him from interfering).

And again, despite Kanghan trying to humiliate Sailom by declaring he will forgive everything if Sailom kisses Auto - Sailom flipped the narrative and kissed Kanghan in front of the crowd (🤌👏👏👏) - now that’s a genius move by Sailom (or it could idiotic but we’ll see in next week episode 🫣)

The first round of Sailom vs Kanghan goes to Sailom. He is smart, sassy and not phased by Kanghan and his groupies. Yes, it’s frustrating and troublesome, but Sailom knows the value of patience. He is also aware of his lower socioeconomic status - and how to circumvent around it. Whether or not he will remain patience as Kanghan intensify his attacks (or if the trailer is to believed when loan sharks comes knocking and his brother get into trouble) will be interesting to see.

Kanghan despite being a bully clearly has a soft spot for his family and close friends. And there seems to be a barrier with his father - on the surface his father seems encouraging but also not?- “I want you to concentrate in school, have fun and hang out with your friends. Don’t need to do run for school president, it’s not fun etc etc.”

You can see his face fell when he heard his dad say the above (also, this is the first time I heard an Asian parent not wanting their children to strive for the best 😂😅) - so, I’m not that surprised why Kanghan just go on with his days cruising, as there is no expectations from his dad..and he seems at loss what to do with his future.

Will be interesting to see how their relationship unfolds as the series progresses!!!

18/08/2023

#dangerous romance the series#episode 1#kanghansailom#perth tanapon#chimon wachirawit#perthchimon#marc pahun#pawin kulkaranyawich#jj chayakorn#view benyapa#euro thanaset#gmmtv series#thai bl
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“I’m not that good. I did bad things before. But I think what’s important is how you live amongst the eyes of your haters. I know it’s hard, but you have to do it.” Akk to Namo

+ Bonus - a proud boyfriend 👇🏽😂 (love how Aye never miss a chance to smooch 😘 Akk)

Our Skyy2, The Eclipse (episode 2)

#gmmtv series#thai bl#khaotung thanawat#first kanaphan#firstkhaotung#firstkhao#Khaotungfirst#AkkAye#akk x ayan#akk ayan#our skyy x the eclipse#our skyy2#the eclipse gmmtv#pawin kulkaranyawich
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“I know there is a thin line between caring and cross the line. But I think we should care about other people sometimes. We are humans. It’s easy for us to feel and become sensitive. Think about it, if you are with someone, and the person you’re with never knows what you like or don’t like, how can you stay together?” Akk

“Don’t action speaks louder than words? At least it’s better than people who are all talk but no action. I think caring about others too much and trying to live up to their expectations all the time is too exhausting.” Aye

“If you still have feelings for each other, please hug each other tightly. Otherwise, you can just walk away.” Wat

Our Skyy 2, The Eclipse (episode 2)

Man….of course rather than talking to each other privately, our stubborn duo had to get their group of friends to essentially force them to act it out on screen….

But like Wat said to Teacher Sani “I really wished you can see them hug. They are 2 people who truly loves each other but believe in different things.” (Also, I truly believe their opposite nature in this matter balance them out and make them such a great couple to begin with!)

#gmmtv series#thai bl#khaotung thanawat#first kanaphan#firstkhaotung#firstkhao#khaotungfirst#aj chayapol#neo trai#pawin kulkaranyawich#akk x aye#akk x ayan#our skyy x the eclipse#our skyy 2#the eclipse gmmtv
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Our Skyy2, The Eclipse (episode 1) in a nutshell is a mixture of sweetness, goofy but with subtle nods to what can happen in new found relationships (and how 2 essentially different individuals need to find ways to compromise and communicate to grow as a couple)

I love the sweet scenes that Akk and Aye have together and despite some people criticism about how Aye is portrayed in the special episode (apparently some people find him dismissive to Akk in some scenes) - remember, these are 2 teenage boys who are proud and headstrong individuals (of course they are going to clash! And without teacher Dika and the Suppalo mystery to loom Aye down, I truly believe he is free to unleash his cheekier side even more, especially towards Akk, who he loves to tease - he said it himself, he finds pouty Akk attractive 🫣).

But what Aye needs to learn is to tone it down a little. Akk has always been more sensitive, a people pleaser, and still feels insecure in his newfound relationship. He still learning cues on how to read Aye (and vice versa). On the other hand, Aye in a round about way (he is not doing it too well), is asking Akk to be a bit more selfish and think about himself first, to put his own happiness as a priority (not just other people). On the plus side, how cute is Aye when he placates his sulking BF (and he clearly knows the way to Akk’s ♥️, who melts everytime Aye whisper sweet things to him)

I also feel this thing about Akk’s birthday - I have a feeling Aye is aware and he is deliberately ignoring it to surprise Akk (look I might be wrong lol, but I just can’t see Aye NOT remembering Akk’s bday).

I think Akk is one of those who probably prefers everything to be outlined to him clearly (otherwise his anxious mind that is so previously rigid before with rules can’t cope! But he also like quiet gestures like a simple dinner and just spending quality time with his BF i.e action speak louder than words (remember cowboy Akk said this to aye?).

Aye clocked on this early on, expressing his love to Akk (we can see this, by his cheesy romantic darling/cutie/“my place is in your heart gestures”)….and doing cutesy stuffs like the matching hoodie etc (Hence why I think he is planning this grand gesture for Akk bday, although Akk’s insecurity is rearing it’s head in this!)

Anyhow…I can’t wait for the second episode - people, we have a shower scene?!!!!!! (We were deprived of this in the original series, despite the original trailer having it!! - so to have them tonight, woohoo!)

(Look the other scenes in this episode - like the reenactment of the movie scenes and KanThua relationship I can give or take - but I appreciate them nevertheless!)

04/05/2023

#gmmtv series#thai bl#khaotung thanawat#first kanaphan#firstkhao#firstkhaotung#khaotungfirst#our skyy 2#our skyy x the eclipse#the eclipse gmmtv#I can’t believe I am analysing what is meant to be a silly episode 😂#kanthua#neo trai#louis thanawin#pawin kulkaranyawich#ployphach phatchatorn
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