EMaij

Hidden Agenda special/behind the scenes. It's got 4parts.

[ENG SUB] วาระพิเศษ HIDDEN AGENDA [1/4]
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0__G-WwfM-w

I'm getting all fidgety, I wan't to see this so much. The mains have a sweet chemistry, I'm hoping the screenplay does them justice. I'm not expecting anything ground breaking, I just want a script that really lives up to the ❣Romance❣ tag. Also, please have enough plot for all the episodes, no fillers please. Crossing my fingers and toes hoping it's better than Star in My Mind😊

We agree about the history of BL. The disagreement was only regarding censorship, which was what the original subject was. You wanted to talk about BL as a genre 😀, which is fear enough. Like you said, it's about catering not censorship, although, sometimes it feels like self-censorship by the producers for fear of losing profits.

Okay! I pointed out that your comment, despite containing factual information, was beside the point. I pointed out that censorship is done by countries/governments. Governments censor LGBTQ content because they don't like it. BL/Yaoi having originally been made for straight women didn't cause the censorship. It's a cause for unrealistic story lines yes, censorship no.

Love Tractor just finished airing. It's a Korean BL with a rating of 8.0 on mydramalist. I've only watched one episode but it looks interesting.

BL comes from the Yaoi manga tradition, which is by women for women and is not realistic LGBTQ content. It's a separate issue from the censorship that countries impose on LGBTQ content.

Sometimes we use BL and LGBTQ/queer as interchangeable descriptions but they aren't the same. At times they do merge in a confusing manner. Luckily the worst aspects of Yaoi don't really show up in the live action BL series. Although, you can see the inspiration from time to time. The source material by the likes of MAME and JittiRain can be weird, especially when it comes to sex. I'm still scarred from reading 2gether by JittiRain. Be My favorite is also based on JittiRain's writing, but the screenplay looks a lot different from the book. I can't believe I caved and read the thing after the disaster that was 2gether the novel.

"In Thai BL most of the time the sexuality isn't addressed. But him being gay (for real) explains the relationship with everyone else in this series."

It's so true. I was hesitant to trust my instinct about Pisaeng's character, because bl doesn't necessarily flesh people out to such detail. I was thinking, him being gay would explain a lot, when Pear said he doesn't have many real friends, and he closed himself off from people he knew, like Knot. Then Kawi told him he feels unsafe with Pisaeng. That sounded like the classic hateful stereotype that gay guys are sexually threatening, because they are after all men. It was like,ouch, that would hurt a guy just trying to figure out his own identity. Again, I was like am I reading this story line correctly. When Kawi rejected Pisaeng but at the same time was really accepting of his sexual orientation, the happiness on Pisaeng's face was so pronounced. His expression was screaming I can be myself and have people like me the way I am.

The way the story emphasized how everyone needs encouragement and kindness was such an accurate comment, considering this series is showing how one person being confident in themselves has a ripple effect on everyone around them. Confident people don't need to hide or rip into others to protect themselves, instead they have the capacity to lift up everyone around them. It's a revelation when you realize interpersonal conflict stems from people feeling like they are not enough/respected the way they are. Fear of being inadequate makes people lash out a lot. Our inability to encourage each other is basically keeping people, societies and the whole of humanity from achieving our full potential. It's a freaking tragedy really. I'll try not to have an existential crisis. 🙂

So first Pisaeng told Kawi to stop being selfish, and feeling like he's the only one with difficulties in life. Now Kawi is telling Pisaeng to stop being selfish, to be honest about his feelings, to stop hurting Phrae/Pearmai with his silence. They are a good influence on each other, I guess.

To have a healthy relationship, they both need to fix their own issues.
It looks like Kawi needs to deal with his lack of self-confidence and his melancholy, and Pisaeng probably needs to become more confident in his identity, with the fact that he is not straight. Pisaeng doesn't seem to have everything figured out, since in the alternative timeline he looks to have settled for Phrae/Pearmai, because he couldn't get Kawi, the one he loved. When Pisaeng ran away from his wedding, he asked Kawi, has he not felt anything for Pisaeng during the 10 years they were friends. So, Pisaeng never dared tell Kawi about his feelings for 10 whole years? Why? It was interesting when Kawi told Pisaeng to be honest about his feelings in this timeline, Pisaeng did tell Kawi he likes him by attempting to kiss him.

I wonder, if in the next episode Pisaeng is going to tell Kawi about himself and how he feels. Kawi seems to be in, if I spend time with Pisaeng I might start to fall for him, kinda phase.

Still waiting for the last episode to get subbed.

It's not a zero to love situation. It's more tentative. Pisaeng is forming an attachment: He thinks Kawi is interesting. He's flirting and noticing he might be jealous of Phrae. He wants Kawi around and is extra upset when he's rejected by Kawi, because he might be hoping for more than friendship.

Love can mean non-platonic, more than friends, romantic feelings in general, not just full on 'let's spend the rest of our lives together' kind of love. The nuance and progression of the feelings is left to us to interpret.

All the other characters aren't entirely real to him, they are pieces of a puzzle in the timeline Kawi is trying to perfect. So it's not that hard to see why he feels free to be a little uncaring. Mostly he does look contrite and remorseful after he hurts people. At this point, Kawi's people skills are questionable. The one time that had me rolling my eyes was, when Kawi wondered why Pisaeng was so upset after he told Pisaeng to give him some space at the club, because he felt unsafe, duh!

LOL I did notice that he makes unflattering faces quite frequently, but I was thinking he's the type of actor that doesn't give an eff about looking pretty, he just throws himself into a scene. I suppose it's in a way extra strange in bl, where a main character's esthetics are often overly important.

I think something like that could be, possible. This show does layer emotions, so it could be that Pisaeng is ruining Kawi's plan/happiness on two fronts, by being Phrae's favorite and by inspiring non-platonic feelings in Kawi, hence the fight.

I summarized the general idea, but yes, I think the exact translation was "ruining my happiness". Basically, it seems to be about ruining Kawi's plans. (Whether his current time traveling plans would actually bring about his happiness is a different thing altogether)I think Pisaeng might be ruining Kawi's plan/happiness on two fronts, by being Phrae's favorite and by inspiring non-platonic feelings in Kawi, hence the fight.

It was so painful. Psaeng was most comfortable around Kawi, and to be told, as a friend, he makes Kawi feel uncomfortable and unsafe, ouch! Furthermore, ideally the one you love should be the person you are even more comfortable around than a friend, which is pretty much what Psaeng is feeling, double ouch!

That preview for episode 4. I'm starting to suspect the reason Kawi was slapping Pisaeng and accusing him of ruining things for him, is related to Kawi acknowledging Pisaeng has gotten under his skin and Kawi doesn't know how to deal with it. Like Kawi is saying, I hate you for making me feel things for you, my plans are ruined.

I wan't the next episode to find out the real context, but we have to wait for 6 whole days, argh!

This episode really was an emotional gut punch!

You could see the conflict in Pisaeng when he was watching Kawi and Phrae at the restaurant. How he was happy for Kawi, but sad for himself for losing Kawi by helping Kawi get closer with Phrae.

Kawi repeatedly hurt Pisaeng, but he was also regretful for doing it. It was so devastating for Pisaeng when Kawi said, "You make me feel uncomfortable and unsafe, I don't want you to be this close to me", because that wasn't him just rejecting Pisaeng as a friend, which was bad enough, it was a rejection of the budding feelings Pisaeng is having for Kawi and the way Pisaeng has expressed them. From Kawi's point of view, uncomfortable and unsafe was because of the kiss, but from Pisaeng's perspective there was no kiss, just some flirting and teasing Kawi about liking Pisaeng, which Kawi had already told him, wasn't fun for Kawi.

I wonder if in episode 4 Kawi really will single-mindedly pursue Phrae or if it's already a more complicated situation. Kawi did say, "I don't know who I'm supposed to ignore, implication being Pisaeng or Phrae", and he is clearly shook by the kiss.

Episode 3
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B3V_XoUPPls

It went back down again, it's 7.9. for me too now 🙁. It fluctuates you know.

Ooh, the rating came up to an 8. Under 24h to go!