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Revenge is a dish best served….with a hot boy.
Revenge has been a recurring theme in BL during 2026. Overarching even. Since almost no one accounts a desire for revenge among the more noble human emotions, following a main character motivated by a thirst for vengeance can be somewhat distasteful for the viewer. Are we meant to root for the revenge scheme to succeed? Or should we hope that the person will find a more healthy way to deal with their anguish? We’ve all seen revenge stories in which some older wiser person admonishes the person pursuing vengeance that if their quest succeeds they may discover the result less satisfying than they anticipated. It is a trope of such stories that the protagonist often concludes that forgiveness is the healthier path. (This is your cue to commence singing “Let it go! Let it go!”) On the other hand anticipating a justified takedown of a vile character can also afford the viewer a certain degree of vicarious satisfaction. Whether to lean into forgiveness or exact vengeance presents quite a philosophical choice for a writer. Mr Fanboy figured out how to split the difference.
At least five different BL series this year have approached that revenge conundrum. Korea served up The Lie We Lived In and The Prosecutor’s Proposal. Thailand delivered Payback, Mr Fanboy, and Oops Mysterious Sounds. [As the latter series remains ongoing as of this writing, I shall minimize references to it.] Each of these series offers a different twist on why revenge is sought and the degree to which the audience is meant to root for the revenge scheme to succeed. The writers for each one confronted the difficulty of pairing the cold, calculated revenge storyline with the kind of sweet, charming romance that BL is famous for. I suspect because all of us have fantasized about revenge fantasies ourselves, the pairing of revenge fantasy + fantasy romance works well. All that fantasy is additive to the enjoyment. Only in the Prosecutor’s Proposal did the revenge seeker end up falling for his target.* Only in Payback does the scheme for revenge eventually unfurl in all its calculated glory. Only in Oops Mysterious Sounds does the balance between dark (revenge) and light (romance) prove unseemly—although the “revenge” there is closer to “quest for justice” than bald retribution, so perhaps the distasteful way the BL romance blooms at a funeral is just a tacky narrative choice. Only in Mr Fanboy does the revenge arc emerge in the later episodes rather than from the introductory narrative established by e 1. Despite the late appearance of the motif, the writers packed quite the emotional wallop into those episodes.
Among that quintet of BL + revenge series, Mr Fanboy is the only one where the primary genre cross is something else: BL + show business—a story frame even more overworked than the revenge one. In fact, all three Thai series share another commonality: each one features characters who work as actors in the BL industry. Two of the three, Payback and Mr Fanboy, focus on rookie actors just breaking into the business. Most of Fanboy’s episodes concern the production of a BL series the characters are acting in. (BL-Within-A-BL is one of my favorite tropes. One of my least favorite is when a show business series focuses on the shitty people who populate Thailand’s BL industry. Mr Fanboy checked both the good and bad boxes there!) While Mr Fanboy replicates many of the tired motifs that characterize Thai BL series about BL series (or celebrity culture, broadly speaking), the way the writers handle the revenge angle transcends the otherwise formulaic episodes about the BL industry. The series builds toward an escalating series of spiteful, selfish acts perpetrated by the series’ resident villain, one of the co-stars in the fictional production. (Never has the colloquial expression “Bad Actor” been more apt!) None of the main protagonists have clear grounds to seek revenge until late in the series. The revenge arc thus arrives feeling like the logical denouement of character choices rather than simply a thing the viewer must accept as part of the show’s set-up. The result is a show business BL that feels unique even though we have all seen BLs about BLs previously.
I particularly appreciated the way Mr Fanboy’s closing arc of episodes made me crave to see the revenge succeed in bringing down the villain (that bastard deserves it!), yet simultaneously root for a redemption arc of some kind. Are those desires contradictory? Sure are. Getting the viewer to walk that line is quite the accomplishment. Credit for my contradictory impulses owes much to the performance by James, playing the villain Nine. James famously stepped back from a popular BL ship, a development his character in this series fears. In real life, that career decision yielded slings and arrows of discontent from devotees of the NetJames pairing. To its credit, Mr Fanboy does not shy away from moments that tread awfully close to James’s real life experiences. His character and others all run afoul of discontented fandom, the consequences of which catalyze the plot. When the accumulating pressure leads Nine to the verge of a nervous breakdown, I had to wonder how much of James’s riveting performance was drawn from his own encounters with Thailand’s sometimes vitriolic fan culture. I’ve no doubt the actor knows a thing or two about how vicious some corners of BL fandom can be when riled up.
In the final analysis, closing Mr Fanboy with a revenge arc elevated a decent series to a higher echelon. Very good? Maybe even excellent? I will need some time to process that final judgment. But I can recommend the series to anyone reading this review who has yet to see it. In fact, I’d probably endorse any of the five series mentioned above.** Revenge may be a dish best served cold, but throw a hot boy into the equation and I’ll sit through a bunch of episodes to see what happens next.
*--Though it occurs to me now that Japan’s The Journey to Killing You (2025) is also a revenge tale wherein the person seeking revenge ends up falling for his prey instead. At only 8 episodes, that more compact series may surpass the four I mentioned here in overall quality.
**--Technically, the jury is still out on Oops! Mysterious Sounds. The BL is fairly standard stuff. But the way it pairs with the mystery, which treads close to revenge territory, is a bit unsettling. But…I’ll let it finish before I pronounce judgment.
At least five different BL series this year have approached that revenge conundrum. Korea served up The Lie We Lived In and The Prosecutor’s Proposal. Thailand delivered Payback, Mr Fanboy, and Oops Mysterious Sounds. [As the latter series remains ongoing as of this writing, I shall minimize references to it.] Each of these series offers a different twist on why revenge is sought and the degree to which the audience is meant to root for the revenge scheme to succeed. The writers for each one confronted the difficulty of pairing the cold, calculated revenge storyline with the kind of sweet, charming romance that BL is famous for. I suspect because all of us have fantasized about revenge fantasies ourselves, the pairing of revenge fantasy + fantasy romance works well. All that fantasy is additive to the enjoyment. Only in the Prosecutor’s Proposal did the revenge seeker end up falling for his target.* Only in Payback does the scheme for revenge eventually unfurl in all its calculated glory. Only in Oops Mysterious Sounds does the balance between dark (revenge) and light (romance) prove unseemly—although the “revenge” there is closer to “quest for justice” than bald retribution, so perhaps the distasteful way the BL romance blooms at a funeral is just a tacky narrative choice. Only in Mr Fanboy does the revenge arc emerge in the later episodes rather than from the introductory narrative established by e 1. Despite the late appearance of the motif, the writers packed quite the emotional wallop into those episodes.
Among that quintet of BL + revenge series, Mr Fanboy is the only one where the primary genre cross is something else: BL + show business—a story frame even more overworked than the revenge one. In fact, all three Thai series share another commonality: each one features characters who work as actors in the BL industry. Two of the three, Payback and Mr Fanboy, focus on rookie actors just breaking into the business. Most of Fanboy’s episodes concern the production of a BL series the characters are acting in. (BL-Within-A-BL is one of my favorite tropes. One of my least favorite is when a show business series focuses on the shitty people who populate Thailand’s BL industry. Mr Fanboy checked both the good and bad boxes there!) While Mr Fanboy replicates many of the tired motifs that characterize Thai BL series about BL series (or celebrity culture, broadly speaking), the way the writers handle the revenge angle transcends the otherwise formulaic episodes about the BL industry. The series builds toward an escalating series of spiteful, selfish acts perpetrated by the series’ resident villain, one of the co-stars in the fictional production. (Never has the colloquial expression “Bad Actor” been more apt!) None of the main protagonists have clear grounds to seek revenge until late in the series. The revenge arc thus arrives feeling like the logical denouement of character choices rather than simply a thing the viewer must accept as part of the show’s set-up. The result is a show business BL that feels unique even though we have all seen BLs about BLs previously.
I particularly appreciated the way Mr Fanboy’s closing arc of episodes made me crave to see the revenge succeed in bringing down the villain (that bastard deserves it!), yet simultaneously root for a redemption arc of some kind. Are those desires contradictory? Sure are. Getting the viewer to walk that line is quite the accomplishment. Credit for my contradictory impulses owes much to the performance by James, playing the villain Nine. James famously stepped back from a popular BL ship, a development his character in this series fears. In real life, that career decision yielded slings and arrows of discontent from devotees of the NetJames pairing. To its credit, Mr Fanboy does not shy away from moments that tread awfully close to James’s real life experiences. His character and others all run afoul of discontented fandom, the consequences of which catalyze the plot. When the accumulating pressure leads Nine to the verge of a nervous breakdown, I had to wonder how much of James’s riveting performance was drawn from his own encounters with Thailand’s sometimes vitriolic fan culture. I’ve no doubt the actor knows a thing or two about how vicious some corners of BL fandom can be when riled up.
In the final analysis, closing Mr Fanboy with a revenge arc elevated a decent series to a higher echelon. Very good? Maybe even excellent? I will need some time to process that final judgment. But I can recommend the series to anyone reading this review who has yet to see it. In fact, I’d probably endorse any of the five series mentioned above.** Revenge may be a dish best served cold, but throw a hot boy into the equation and I’ll sit through a bunch of episodes to see what happens next.
*--Though it occurs to me now that Japan’s The Journey to Killing You (2025) is also a revenge tale wherein the person seeking revenge ends up falling for his prey instead. At only 8 episodes, that more compact series may surpass the four I mentioned here in overall quality.
**--Technically, the jury is still out on Oops! Mysterious Sounds. The BL is fairly standard stuff. But the way it pairs with the mystery, which treads close to revenge territory, is a bit unsettling. But…I’ll let it finish before I pronounce judgment.
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