PoetryInMotion

Ugh, all of this!

Honestly, I didn't actually feel any true sympathy for Kaeng until the dinner, because that's when his pretences finally fell away. I felt sorry for him during the car scene, but because he was just so pathetic by that point, and it was such a contrast to him in his first scene when he walked into that bar like the Hot Bitch Express. But he was shit at communicating, and he was going about everything all ass backwards, and the whole time I was just like, oh honey no. Of course that's not working. And don't even get me started on Puth, that manipulative little bastard.

And yet. AND YET. They are just SO interesting to me. I'm really amazed how the series got me to root for them in the end, despite them being so intensely unlikeable in some ways, especially given the fact that the storytelling hasn't exactly been exceptional in the other episodes. I think it's because these are two people who well and truly have met their match, and in both senses of the word: the opponent they can't beat, and the one that completes them. I would LOVE for them to have their own series to see all these nuances that are hinted at actually play out to their fullest extent. As you say, that would be intensely satisfying.

To your point about some of the couples being childish, I think a lot of people here forget that these are college freshmen and they're 18 years old. I was an IDIOT at 18. Everyone I know was an idiot at 18. And that's fine. Sometimes that looks like being inexperienced and naive still, sometimes that looks like feeling you're oh so mature and being smart about some things at least, when you're also in fact an idiot. It actually seems more realistic to me that you'd encounter a mix of some more and some less mature people in that age range instead of them all being terribly grown up already. Kaeng is sexually experienced, but emotionally immature. Even Puth, despite his emotional control, goes looking for someone older in his quest for a stable partner. As you say, it's all so very, very human, and that's why I am FASCINATED.

"Interesting" is right - I find it fascinating how different perceptions are on this topic. I don't know how deeply you care to get into this, so please tell me to stop if I ramble on too much, but I have Thoughts haha.

I do agree with you that their flirty interactions have a certain choreographed quality to them. I just think that for these particular characters, it's a choreography they both consciously follow because they get a thrill out of it. It's their little dance, their game they play together.

Both Kaeng and Puth, each in their own way, are very conscious and deliberate about how they want others to perceive them. The costuming communicates this very effectively, I think. Kaeng, almost always in red, dripping in jewellery, collarbones exposed - I'm the hottest thing in here, I know it, I want you to know it, look at me. Puth with his almost comically wholesome grandpa sweaters - I'm safe, trust me, let me treat you right, at least for a little bit. While Kaeng is the more obvious slut - and I mean that in the most loving way possible -, Puth is actually the one who's more calculated, even borderline manipulative. Just look at the scene in the beginning of their first episode when he plays all the people blowing up his phone like a fiddle.

Now, I think that since they are both masters at controlling their projected image, and they both use this to get sexual partners, when they develop an interest in one another, they each recognise this quality in the other and playing that up becomes part of their dynamic. Like huh, here is someone who is just as good at this game as I am, which makes it more fun for me because this is an actual level playing field.

And so, as you say, they circle, and circle, and circle. As for the actual eating part, I know what you mean, I just think that this is really where we come up against the limits of what you can explicitly portray in a series like this. In my mind, Puth and Kaeng have ALL the sex, and I do think we get a glimpse into that as far as possible. They clearly hook up gladly and often, given how unbothered Puth is by Kaeng just turning up in his room, and how obviously their friend group is aware of what is going on despite Puth trying to keep it on the down low.

So now they are in a sexual relationship. And then feelings get involved. So what now?
As for why they develop actual romantic feelings, I must confess I don't have a better answer than they just do. They complement one another, they have respect for one another in the sense that each appreciates the other's hustle without falling for it, and the sexual compatibility is there. And really, was there ever a completely logical reason for falling in love? lol

Anyway, they develop feelings, and I do believe that this is mutual because, as we find out later, they both stopped seeing other people, and in Mon's second episode, we see Puth being possessive over Kaeng. It's clearly more than just a casual arrangement.

To understand their different reactions to developing these feelings, we need to circle back to a point I made earlier, about Kaeng being more obviously promiscuous and Puth being more calculating.
Kaeng, once he realises he has fallen in love, tries to shift the relationship from fwb to something committed, and he uses sex for this because that is what he knows in order to get people to act the way he wants them to. Only, because Puth knows this game as well, of course it doesn't work on him, and so he begins to pull away to pursue the teacher anyway. At this point, it makes sense that Kaeng comes off as desperate, because he IS. Someone he loves is leaving him, and his usual strategy for making people stay as long as he wants them to is failing him, but he doesn't have anything else in his arsenal. The pinnacle of that is the heartbreaking scene in the car, when Kaeng just tries and tries and Puth is unmoved.

As for Puth, he realises both that he is in love, and that the feeling is mutual. Kaeng doesn't recognise that his feelings are reciprocated, which just goes to show what an incredible amount of control Puth exercises over his emotional output. But while Puth does see that Kaeng has developed feelings, I think that for the longest time he doesn't fully appreciate how sincere Kaeng's feelings are. I think Puth doesn't believe, at first, that Kaeng's feelings are deep enough to make a commitment worth Puth's time, and that someone as promiscuous as Kaeng is not a viable option as a partner. I also think that Puth is calculated and controlled enough to detach himself from his emotions in order to make it a purely rational decision not to pursue his own feelings for Kaeng. Instead, he takes this development as a catalyst to finally go looking for a serious partner. And the teacher fits the bill - nice, handsome, secure. Now I don't think Puth's interest in the teacher is insincere, per se, but in my mind it is a deliberate choice he's making to pursue him instead of Kaeng, and that practical considerations play as much a part in that decision as genuine attraction to the teacher.

The turning point comes, of course, at the farewell dinner. Before that, I think Puth saw Kaeng's attempts at pulling him back in truly just as Kaeng being a petty bitch. But you can see the shift, the understanding in Puth's eyes when Kaeng is crying, begging him to play his boyfriend just once. That's when Puth is like, hey wait. This IS sincere. This IS something I can have. Kaeng has actually been suffering, not just been trying to annoy me. I think he throws in the offer of sex as a last little test of Kaeng's priorities, which Kaeng passes when he refuses. So then Puth, in his controlled way, goes about implementing the consequences of this new information that has been revealed to him. He goes and breaks it off with the teacher the very next day. He lets Kaeng stew, just a little, just to be absolutely sure. And then he goes and asks Kaeng to be his boyfriend. And scene.


Oof, I did write a lot, huh. Again, I apologise if you're like, wow, this novel isn't really what I signed up for. Basically I just think this is one of the most interesting dynamics in BL I have seen, and so I have thought about them a lot. I will give you one thing though - that Sat & Choke scene? Single hottest moment in all of Y Destiny, hands down, mic drop.

Thank you! <3 Can you tell I've thought about them a LOT? lol

You're right, Phupa and Tian are a great example, and "loving eyes" is such a lovely phrase to describe it! I might steal that one if you don't mind lol

I see your point about the slowness - I noticed the same thing negatively in the other couples. What makes it work in Puth/Kaeng's case, in my opinion, is that the slowness feels deliberate and natural to the characters instead of artificially imposed by the production. To me, it reads as this deliciously lazy, almost feline sexual tension - the way their kisses linger, the dragging touches. In the end, I guess it comes down to which brand of sensuality speaks to you more - something more passionate, or this. It's also charming how the sensuality is juxtaposed with how deliriously happy Kaeng is once they start dating, and the way he looks at Puth.

Points were made!

Well, I'm glad lol
With some of these episodes, bitching about them on the internet afterwards truly is the most entertaining part!

Ugh. Okay.

I was not excited for this at all after the utter disaster from last week, but alas, I am contractually obligated to watch anything Perth is in, so I soldiered on.
Boy, do I regret it . This was just unwatchable.
The screenplay is....mediocre.....at best. Talay gives it a valiant effort, bless him, but you can only polish a turd so much. But what really kills this for me is the way this is shot and edited. These constant, truly CONSTANT artificially drawn out shots accompanied by never-ending melancholy music, whether it fits the tone of the scene or not, give the whole episode a monotony that is actually unbearable. It made me want to knock my head against a wall.
I'll probably be back next week to look at Perth some more because I am a gremlin like that, but holy shit. I can't believe that with a budget big enough to get this cast, these set designs, this camera quality, THIS is the episode we ended up with.

They're wonderful in 2Wish! I just wish that series was a bit longer and more developed.

I'm pretty excited for this! I've been hoping for Gun to get a main role since LBC. He may not be the best actor out there (though far from the worst), but I'm a shallow creature at heart and just find him incredibly pretty. It helps that this concept will probably provide the kind of melodrama that I find entertaining, so here's hoping that they do a good job!

No problem at all! Happy watching ☺️

well, that was terrible lmao

I do feel a little smug that I was right about the 13 Going on 30 inspiration (they even used the iconic "I'm crying because I'm happy for you" line, I mean, come on now), and the first episode was promising, but in this second episode, they really managed to take everything that made the original movie funny and charming and replace it with ten thousand shots of Sat from three different angles doing something insignificant in excruciating slow motion lol
When will someone tell these directors that these endless slow motion shots are NOT the tool for emotional gravitas that they think they are?

Are the stories connected? Yes and no. I'll explain.

Basically, S2 is a retelling and continuation of the TinCan couple's story line. TinCan were one of the side couples in S1, with AePete being the main couple. In S1, TinCan and AePete meet around the same time. However in S2, TinCan only meet after AePete have already broken up due to external circumstances (since Saint, the actor for Pete, left the series because of problems behind the scenes, the AePete couple's storyline unfortunately had to take that route).
The different circumstances around their first meeting change TinCan's story somewhat, and their story is also more fleshed out in S2 because they are now the main couple. But because their story starts from zero, you can watch their part of S2 without any knowledge of S1.
However, the stories of all the other side characters, including the side couples TechnoKengkla and TumTar (though I'm hesitant to call the last one a couple because of...reasons), continue on from where they stopped at the end of S1. It will get confusing if you don't know at all who these people are and what happened to them in S1. Honestly though, they don't get all that much screen time - TinCan takes up way more room - so it's up to you if you care to know their backstories.

I personally watched S2 without watching S1 first and had a great time. I read S1's MDL page a little beforehand, which told me everything relevant about TumTar and TechnoKengkla. That was all I needed to watch S2 without issue. Later I watched S1 out of curiosity and had a mostly good time with that as well, but it didn't add anything to my enjoyment of S2. If anything, at least for TechnoKengkla it's better IMO if you DON'T know too much about S1 and/or ignore what happened.
My recommendation is this: If the main reason for your interest in LBC is TinCan, skip S1 and go straight to S2. If you're equally interested in AePete, watch S1, pretend S1 TinCan is just a fever dream, and then watch S2 for the all around superior TinCan experience, having prepared yourself for the fact that Ae will be sad for a majority of S2 (he gets better!).

I can see why people who loved S1 might be upset about this, but for me personally, having watched this season first, I prefer it by a mile.

The TinCan relationship development and dynamic is SO MUCH MORE enjoyable here. It really benefits them that the friendship part of their relationship is given more time and room to develop and I prefer Tin's characterisation here as well. In S1, I found it quite a bit harder to sympathise with him. Can's hesitation about romantic relationships also makes a lot more sense with Ae and Pete being broken up.

I never really cared for Pete as a character, so I don't miss him.
Perth is pretty and a decent actor, so having him on my screen is always appreciated even if he is given nothing to work with script wise. The side characters are funny, the plot is telenovela-esque which I enjoy, and I can even tolerate the TechnoKengkla couple if I just pretend really hard that what happened between them was just Techno giving enthusiastic albeit drunken consent and being embarrassed/confused about it after instead of what actually went down in S1.
The only thing that I could really live without is the TumTar storyline because frankly, yikes, but oh well.

Also, can I just say, Can is iconic. Literally the only things on his mind are food and his boyfriend's d*ck. Like, I aspire to that level of carefree living. Teach me your ways. At the same time, he's genuinely a good person, a good friend, a great supportive boyfriend, and I love his relationship with his sister. Also, I can't help but respect a character who is so smol yet so ready to fight. I absolutely love the dude.

All in all, this is a feel good series that I have returned to multiple times now. It might not be an artistic masterpiece, but it never claimed to be and that's not what I want it for. If you want to be thoroughly entertained for a few days, however, you should give this a go. (I'd even say skip S1 altogether, but I don't want to be murdered.)

Haha yeah! I mean, I haven't seen that movie in years, so I couldn't tell you just how accurate they were with the dialogue, but I think at least it's similar enough to let you know where they got the inspiration from!

I'll have to go hunting for that movie, it sounds interesting! Growing up with western media in the 90s and 00s unfortunately meant that gay things were veeerrrry few and far between haha, so maybe that's why I'm always happy seeing these stories retold

I feel like Choke was half asleep and sort of guided Sat's hand down there thinking he was just having a really nice dream? I could be wrong though!

Could be! Honestly, I'm not upset about it. There are some really good romcoms out there, so having a BL version of those stories is kind of nice!

I guess this means I'm old now xD this episode was heavily, HEAVILY inspired by the American movie 13 Going On 30, so I'm assuming that whenever they're speaking English they're lifting the movie dialogue word for word!