Multilicus

Special to air on 01.03.2025 on IQIYI at 10am (GMT +7) - this according to J&J IG account.

01.03.2025 on IQIYI 10am (GMT +7)

Not a fan of his ventures into "comedy", I do enjoy when he's calmer, more serious and collected. The park scene in ep. 18 of "Perfect 10 Liners" was a good example of that kind of performance. I also think he'd be good as a troubled, moody, even slightly dark or haunted character.

I don't know when the special was produced nor whether it was planned from the very start or was conceived after the series aired, so I can't disprove nor confirm your claim, that the show's visibility (I assume you meant mainly international visibility) had anything to do with the special becoming possible. I did read - in a post by an interfan who was upset by the special not being streamed - that the special was shot at the same time as the series itself, but I assume it was just speculation.
I think that with no information on how the special came to be and what YWPB plans regarding the special were/are it's risky to make assumptions about the importance of interfans. Until this is cleared one or the other way one could just as easily claim that interfans were never a part of YWPB plan for the special, that it was always meant for the domestic market only - hence limiting the release to cinema screenings in Bangkok and lack of information regarding streaming, hence the only sponsor is Unif fresh, a drink brand of Uni-President Ltd., a Thai company. I'm not saying I believe this was the case, but such a claim is as valid as what you wrote - until we know more.

I don't know enough about the special nor YWPB intentions to give an answer to that.

Just a random thought: killing off a major character (like one of the two main characters) shuts down any discussions on continuing the show. May seem cruel, but it can be a way to stop the fandom from demanding a 2nd season.

So far the special was not aired nor streamed, the release date (22.02.2025) referred only to the screenings at Major Cineplex Ratchayothin. There's speculation, rumors and expectation that YWPB will make a deal with a VOD platform (like iQIYI) and release the special there.

1/ Basing on the seating plan for Major Cineplex Ratchayothin (published on J&J IG account on 15.12.2024) the 8 theatres where the special was to be screened have a total capacity of 1397. Assuming all tickets were sold (and that was what the J&J IG account claimed on 02.02.2025), 1397 people would have to refrain from posting anything about what they watched or sharing it in any other way. Obviously that was never going to happen, so spoilers were inevitable. BTW: back in 1980 people spoiled the climactic plot twist of "Empire Strikes Back" - despite of having no internet nor mobile phones.
2/ I'm not blaming anyone for spoiling (or supposed spoiling) the special. Judging just by the MDL comment section there's plenty of people who have a very strong emotional connection with both the series and its characters. I'm pretty sure people with a similar attitude were among the audience of the special's screening and some of them felt like sharing what they watched.
3/ No idea whether I'll like the special - I need to watch it first. Spoilers won't prevent that, even if the rumors are true. Paraphrasing an old saying: I won't judge a special by its spoilers.
4/ Don't know whether I count as an international fan - I'm just a bloke from Poland who likes to watch Thai BLs and has a soft spot for YinWar. Assuming I am an "interfan", I don't feel like I was forgotten by J&J creators nor that I'm an afterthought for them. I also don't think they owe me anything nor that I have any right to demand anything from them (like streaming of the special). They made a product - a very well crafted piece of entertainment - and they alone decide what to do with it. They made more of that (the special episode) and used it to sell some movie tickets. I see no problem with that - after all they're running a business. For them it's a transaction - why should it be something else for me? I payed about $21 for 3 months of iQIYI access when the series was airing and in return got 12 episodes of the best BL I've ever watched. I'd say I got the better end of that deal. Nothing is going to take that away from me - not the special and certainly not the spoilers for it.
5/ I hope YWPB and the crew of J&J are well and wish them all the best.

I guess... But the credits would have to be more than not reflecting that/innacurate - the credits would have to be deliberately misleading. Well, we'll see what comes out of that.

Also:
Po - achiever
Thame - believer
Pemika - schemer

Every episode I ask myself how the characters played by Keen, Aun, Ashi and Louis will fit into this story. The fact that they are to portray characters named after themselves made me think that they'll play themselves... And maybe - just maybe - with only 2 episodes left - they'll show up and say something like "guys, we tackled the same no-dating issue in a BL we made a few months ago; don't do what characters from that BL did - do something else, rebel against the system, show Oner the middle finger". I mean it doesn't make much sense and doesn't fit what we saw in the preview for ep. 12, but it sure would have been something crazy and memorable.

Hard to say, as - so far at least - none of the promo pics and posts for the special mention iQIYI nor other online media; all of that promotional material mentions the Major Cineplex Ratchayothin screenings of 22.02.2025 only. Even the logos of Channel 3 and iQIYI, which were present on every picture, poster etc. when the main series was airing, are absent.
On the other hand there's this post from 19.02.2025 from JACKANDJOKER.OFFICIAL X account:
ปิ๊งป่อง ปิ๊งป่อง!! มาแล้วครับความคืบหน้า Jack & Joker The Special Episode บนช่องทาง Online:
“ตอนนี้อยากแอบกระซิบว่า 90.98% แล้วคราฟ อีกอึดใจเดียว คนทั่วโลกต้องได้ดูคราฟ พวกเราต้องทำให้ได้ เพื่อแฟนๆทุกคน“
ให้ทาย?? แอดมินคนไหนมาบอกข่าวดีนี้ครับ 😋
I'd say the special will become (legally) available online some time after the cinema screenings - and only should YWPB reach an agreement with iQIYI or a different VOD service. Right now it might seem that they have no deal regarding that - hence the lack of any mentions of iQIYI.

Just to clarify: I did not write that James said anything, I did not quote James nor did I claim that James said he wanted to stop acting.
What I did was I quoted a few words from the 29.02.2024 mandeework statement regarding James leaving the show, I marked it as a quote and - in brackets - I indicated the source of the quote. Neither the quote nor the statement say that James is quitting acting (nor did I claim anything of that sort); in fact the word "acting" doesn't even appear in the statement. The fragment quoted by me is the only part of the statement that mentions a reason for James leaving the show (in full this sentence reads "Mandee Work Co., Ltd., would like to inform that one of the main actors, James Supamongkon Wongwisut, portraying “Nakhun and Klao”, has decided to withdraw from this series to focus on his career as an artist") - and that (by which I mean the words "to focus on his career as an artist") was what I quoted.

I don't get the whole "James leaves the show, so it gets delayed" thing. The news of James withdrawing from the show was announced on 29.02.2024. JJ was revealed as a replacement for James in May 2024. Why wasn't the show made in the months that followed? Why is it that today - almost a year after James left the show - all we have is a trailer for the series? Call me crazy, but it seems that the production delay had nothing to do with James leaving. And how come James left the production of "Love Upon A Time" to "focus on his career as an artist" (to quote the mandeework statement from 29.02.2024), but he's still a cast member of two mandee shows: "Zomvivor" (a series announced on 13.12.2022 - yes, 2022 - which supposedly was in production for several weeks in 2024, but wasn't released yet) and "Mr. Fanboy"? Again, call me crazy, but it seems weird that starring in "Zomvivor" and "Mr. Fanboy" does not interfere with James "focusing on his career as an artist", but starring in "Love Upon A Time" somehow did interfere with it. I don't get any of that.

Not really an anecdote, but I'll share it nevertheless. So a few days ago I was browsing Satang's IG. What struck me was the apparent lack of pics of Satang with Winny. Most BL ships (not just in the employ of GMMTV) have plenty of pics like that and a lot of them find their way to IG accounts of both ship members. This didn't seem to be the case with Satang, which did surprise me a little. That was like 7 days ago. "All of the sudden" - 4 days ago and 3 days ago - Satang's IG was graced by two sets of pics of him and Winny. Just like that, almost like an answer to what I thought I noticed.
BTW: I did discover afterwards that Satang's IG account did include some posts with pics of him and Winny, but in almost all cases a pic with both of them was not the first one in a set - hence the pic displayed by default was of Satang alone.

Teerak's mom said "I know you’re disappointed. So am I" (according to English subs on iQIYI) - and that's what made me angry. That was the bit I couldn't forget nor forgive, that's why in my review of ep. 11 and the entire series I wrote that the show is attempting to defend homophobia. Truly inexcusable.

As I watched the "uncut" version of this show I reviewed that instead of the "cut" one, but I do agree with what you wrote. What utterly ruined the show for me was the way it presented Teerak's homophobic father; it was so outdated (so 2015) that I felt like the show is actually defending homophobia.
I loved your "even Joker didn't smile that much" remark.

I might be wrong, but I think GMMTV based it's position on - mostly - playing it safe and producing BL shows with no or minimal content that could be considered sexual. Around 2022-2023 other BL companies decided to use that niche - GMMTV responded by including more overt intimacy in it's shows (kisses started to look like kisses, characters were more open about sex etc.).

Thanks; to clarify - I have nothing against sex scenes in BLs; I do have, however, an issue with making the whole show just or mainly about it/for it. There's already a genre for that - and it's not BL.

Let's hope Papang and Pod will bring a certain maturity and gravitas to the show - to balance out the shenanigans of the otherwise very young cast.