jarabaa

Good point. Episode 10 was released on Friday 31 July. Then IdeaFirst said they would not be releasing further eps weekly (which they had been doing) but instead "would delay the release of Gameboys episodes 11, 12 and 13 by two weeks". So I thought as well: a gap of two weeks from now on between eps. But ... maybe not. Seems to mean that the ep scheduled for 7 Aug would be delayed by 2 weeks. And so on. Meaning intervals of 3 weeks. Maybe. It's certainly disconcerting when an eagerly-awaited weekly ritual is suddenly turned into something you have to wait 3 weeks for. I hope everyone in the whole Gameboys team is safe and well. That's what's most important. But I miss hearing Gavreel saying "Babyyyyy!"

Well, in the midst of this heavy, er ... discourse, you did make me laugh! "If this story were set in Copenhagen, ..." - oh my, as George Takei would say. What an idea! Copenhagen. Yes, in that setting this story would be completely ridiculous, that's for sure. But maybe that's Copenhagen's loss. Much as I like Denmark, I find in these Filipino series a rich human warmth, plus a sort of simplicity and innocence, which are all deeply sympathetic. Beautiful and meaningful. The internal struggle we witness in both Xavier and Mico is indeed a powerful human process - and a powerful human story.

But I am frustrated, especially now after episode 7, by the relentlessness of the negativity - why should shame and fear win out in every scene, again and again, terrorising these two into inarticulate, self-denying silence? It seems that Mico's friends are able to cope with the idea of same-sex love. Mico himself comes out to them. So .... I am just not convinced by this overpowering terror which binds him AND Xavier to perpetual silence about their feelings. And absolutely, you are so right, what about Xavier's love serenade at the end of ep 5?? Wonderfully open, articulate, expressive - and Xavier followed that up by explicitly telling Mico the song was for him. So there we saw a Xavier who was completely capable of owning his feelings and being breathtakingly open about them.

And that's where the writing went to hell - and I became suspicious (see above) Obviously that declaration by Xavier would have meant something to Mico - but instead the writers had him dismiss it as a joke. For me, that did not ring true in any way. And even if Mico did respond in a flippant way, Xavier - who has just been so courageous and explicit - would never just back away. Once you've gone that far, taken that huge risk, you don't just abandon the cause and walk away. Xavier would have returned to his theme and made Mico understand what he was saying - and demanded an honest response. He's in love - he 's brave - he wouldn't just drop the subject. However, yet again the plotline charged off in an implausibly hopeless, tragic direction, and ... I began to wonder what was going on. And indeed, on into ep 7 as well, - that's what we've had - more of the same. We're 7/8 through this story, good heavens, and although I do agree with you, "they are very clearly in love with each other" - what does that "love" add up to, when the two people in question are so deeply scared of it that they allow their fear to silence them - and deny them any access to the reality of love? What kind of love is that? What kind of story is that?

Thank you for those very interesting comments. I've learned a lot from you. I am glad to hear that there are some out gay actors and directors in the Philippines. If they want signs of international support and solidarity, that's what we should be supplying - to give them some strength and hope. Sounds like life isn't easy for them! Plus it's fantastic to read that the creator of Gameboys is gay - it's a very original, creative and timely ... work of art. Incredibly impressive. Not least because the two lead characters, Cairo and Gavreel, fully own their gay identities - we see something of their coming-out experiences, we learn about the pain and shock of being involuntarily outed, we see them express same-sex love and desire in a thousand beautiful ways. I am less sure about Hello Stranger, which has given us 7 episodes of fear, shame and silence: no coming out, no courage, no open statements of love, no evidencing of positive same-sex desire. Just misery and loss. Meanwhile, in everyday human terms, I'm concerned for LGBT actors in the Philippines. First, like all actors, they have to deal with Covid - which has had such a catastrophic effect on their profession. But secondly, it is worrying to read that they find the simple act of openly being themselves ... difficult, scary, risky. That is nothing less than tragic. These are young people - working hard, trying to do their best in their chosen profession. This is 2020. Maybe they've lived the whole of their lives in the 21st century. So it is very sad to think of young LGBT professionals anywhere in the world needing to lie and hide who they are. I know nothing about Alex Diaz, have never heard of him, but if he's "out and proud" AND all alone in that regard AND it's all because he was originally outed against his will, well, he has my sympathy - and my admiration. Let's hope he can give a lead and others can follow.

They are choosing to present this series to the world in a very bizarre way, it seems to me. First, the actors don't need to give all these interviews - certainly not at the very beginning. As we see, it just creates needless difficulties and misunderstandings. But it's too late now. Both actors have created the impression that they are desperately keen for it to be generally known that they are straight - meaning 100% heterosexual. And there are already masses of fans on Youtube who are just as keen as Aki and Miko to make the same point. They seem to think it is a very noble and daring sacrifice on the part of straight actors to touch a gay role. Plus this insistence on their "straightness" makes one wonder - are there really NO gay actors in the Philippines? Not one? Seemingly no - not one. Which makes me wonder what we're dealing with here. A story about a ... "gay" romance played by heterosexual actors from a professional world where there are no gay men. It makes the idea of a gay character totally ... recondite, mysterious, elusive - a sort of fantasy construct that doesn't exist in reality.

Secondly, the whole uproar - see below - came about because one of the actors not only stressed that he himself is straight but also stated that the characters in My Day are supposed to be straight too. Again, "gay" men ... just don't exist. It's a story about straight guys who happen by some fluke to "fall in love" with each other.

Meanwhile, it is claimed all over the Web that in fact there are some genuine LGBT folk in the Philippines, and they stand accused of hating and attacking the hapless actors Aki and Miko, insulting them, persecuting them, abusing them, etc. There is much denunciation of these LGBT "activists" and the cruelties they've visited on the actors. However, much as I've searched on this website and on Youtube, I cannot find any examples of this colossal outpouring of LGBT "hate". Even on this page here, there are other contributors who say that LGBT Pinoys have been busy bashing Aki, calling him names etc. But much as I search, I have not discovered one single L, G, B or T Pinoy saying anything nasty about him.

At the end of the day, it does seem to me that there are aspects to this which are worrying. Why is it so important to ensure that everyone understands that the actors are 101% heterosexual men? In fact, lots of actors do not like to draw attention to their "private" personalities. They're actors, after all - they pretend to be other people for a living. They tend to like a challenge. They don't tend to like to shine a spotlight on their own identities. And are there really no gay men in the acting profession in the Philippines?? Plus, what's this focus on "straight men in love" all about? It's not the first time we run into this phenomenon. Two male characters fall in love, we're told, and embark on what anyone would call a romantic, erotic, sexual relationship - but we're assured that they're actually two straight men. It's as though this version of things (however ludicrous, fanciful and generally implausible) is seen as more acceptable than two ... gay men, i.e. two real, living, breathing ... homosexuals. Let's just say they're two straight guys who by some weird trick of fate ended up falling for each other! It's like waving that magic "no homo" wand. Two men "in love" - but no gayness please, we'll have none of that, thank you.

Like countless others, I was hideously let down by the end of 2gether. The Pam story seemed foisted on us at the last moment, and the beautiful, once very erotic Sarawat/Tine relationship was turned into a tepid high-5 bromance. Once upon a time, Sarawat said he yearned to kiss Tine till he dropped - but by the end of the series, well, we all know what a damp squib that turned out to be. BUT it was compensated for by the beautiful Man/Type story. Mike and Toptap are one fantastic combination and they have kept us going through the Coronavirus nightmare with all their sexy TikTok dancing routines - wow. I am downright eager to see their story progress.

Meanwhile, I've checked the cast and I do not see the "Pam" character making any reappearance here as the unknown great love of Sarawat's life. So that's promising. On the other hand, there are three female characters highlighted - Earn, Air, Pear - and I wonder what that portends. It would be great to see really interesting, stimulating female characters who are not deployed as menacing "girlfriends" in order to derail the m/m love stories. Please, please - no more!

Absolutely fascinating. Thanks! This series and Hello Stranger are the first Filipino productions I've ever watched. It's all a revelation. Such a complex, multi-layered mode of communication we're hearing. I don't know anything like it. I wonder how people select their vocabulary before opening their mouths and forming sentences. And does this complicated, individual, creative process of choosing words and mixing codes mean that in effect each person has his or her own distinctive language?

I got puzzled ... Episode 6 looked like the end of the series. My mistake! Whoops. And it certainly would have been a "depressing, negative conclusion", which is what I wrote here in my original comment (this is an edit). It looked to me as though we were seeing two straight couples, Xavier + Crystal and Seph + Kookai, getting together and living happily ever after - with the potential romance between Xavier and Mico "dashed on the rocks". So now I realise there are two more episodes, and that means that there is still time for ... something to happen. But three quarters of the series is now behind us, and it has been a long stretch without anything resembling a relationship between these two guys. And that's sad. Even if something else materialises at the last minute in ep 7 or 8. I realise that's my preference - or my hang-up.

I guess I prefer to see a series about a relationship - whatever the challenges faced along the way. I want to witness communication, intimacy, a story. Whereas 6 episodes, 75% of the whole project, without any discernible relationship at all, is something I find ... disappointing. And it suggests to me that in the writing and production of the series there may be a strong view (lurking in the background) that male same-sex love relationships are in some intrinsic way doomed, tragic, weak, defective, dysfunctional. We do have one sort of heart-warming, positive scene with some sort of "gay content": when Mico comes out to his friends. But the overall context is ... sad, painful, marked by feelings of fear and alienation. Gay love is therefore connected to very negative experiences in life. And as we see, both Mico and Xavier are so terrified of it that they cannot attach a name to it, much less speak of it. That is a really profound abyss of silence, fear and shame. And that's where we are as we move towards the last two episodes.

And it feels like such a negative state of affairs that I dared to refer to the prominent role of religion in the Filipino context - a reference condemned (below) by Katy as "tasteless". Hmmmmm. It's true that Hello Stranger has not as yet highlighted the Catholic dimension in the way that other Filipino series have. But it is not in any way "tasteless" to mention it! What a bizarre accusation. The Philippines is an intensely Catholic country. The Catholic bishops have a lot to say about gay relationships and gay people - most of it very hostile. They ceaselessly inveigh against gay love, gay marriage, gay adoption, gay rights at work, gay anything & everything. In particular, the Church argues that male homosexual relationships are tragic, damaging, deluded, perverted, sinful etc. So I was wondering if that bitter negativity was influencing the writing and/or production of this storyline. However, yes indeed, it looks like there are 2 more eps to go, and maybe - after this long, harsh journey through the desert - an oasis of some sort will suddenly appear at the end of the story. Maybe. But that's way too late for me - the journey to the last-minute oasis will have been too long and harsh and loveless, too lacking in meaningful development.

You are absolutely right, with reference to all points. I likewise am particularly ... exasperated when I (repeatedly) find the comment "realistic"used to praise storylines which are negative or tragic.

My first series from the Philippines, and I'm already beginning to feel somewhat enchanted. Very imaginative - sweet, engaging characters - excellent actors. The Mico/Xavier interaction already has me ... excited. But that depressing, disturbing beginning - was that our Mico, in the "future" (relatively speaking), heartbroken? Is that our goal - arriving at a lonely, betrayed, devastated Mico at the end of the 8 episodes? If I already know that's the destination, I don't want to go there. Sorry, life is hard for young gay men in the Philippines. They need upbeat stories and positive encouragement! Not a forecast of inexorable misery and heartache. I want to follow the story of someone who finds love.

As seen below, this series is unique in its power to generate unbelievably volatile responses. Quite simply, many felt it got off to a great start - but lost its way by the end, let down by poor writing and direction. What felt like a sizzling m/m romance between sexy out-and-proud Sarawat and radiant, innocent Tine became a rather flat bromance by the end, with an unknown would-be girlfriend figure called Pam suddenly thrown into the series at the last minute. I sensed that the actors were aware of the disappointing turn the series took and did their best to cope with the bad writing and give us two very memorable characters, Sarawat and Tine, and at least the emerging outline of a really powerful m/m love story. And I enjoyed the two secondary couples, especially Man and Type - both very entertaining characters, and an unexpectedly touching, sexy romance - they made the very best of very little.

But stranger than the weird switch of direction (most people agree around ep 10) is the violence of the opinions and feelings this series inspires. I myself felt so bothered by the role of Pam - and Tine's heartrending tears - that I quit watching 2gether for about 2 months. But as we see here, any criticism of the series is immediately met by repetitious allegations of "hate". Looking down this page for a couple of minutes, I had no difficulty finding up to 20 instances of accusations of "hate" and "hatred" lobbed at various people who submitted critical or disappointed comments. Honestly - not one of them is guilty of anything remotely resembling hate/hatred. But some fans, SOME fans, do seem to feel it this way. I myself found that I got too invested in the story and the characters (and felt too bitterly disappointed when all the energy seemed to fade from the Sarawat/Tine relationship), and so I had to take a break. I wonder what that was all about. In retrospect now, I do not have any strong feelings about 2gether.

What a total charmer. Top of my list. Entertaining, funny, quirky and full of character, - every role he touches is marked by his special style. His Type plus Mike's Man saved 2gether. Let's hope Thonhon Chonlathee gives us a really good opportunity to enjoy this actor's radiant charm in all its sparkle.

Along with Toptap, he saved 2gether. A charming, entertaining actor with a brilliant smile who created an intriguing sexy character in Man. Quirky, as Hannibunny says below, plus definitely the TikTok king. Let's hope we see more of him. Dancing, for instance. Watch those hips ... jaw-dropping moves. I'm a fan.

An actor who made an impressive start in the role of Sarawat. At the outset, this was a seemingly gay character who sparked with erotic energy, focused on beautiful, innocent Tine. But by the end of 2gether, the writing had switched in a very different direction, and we were left with a damp squib, an uninteresting platonic bromance. But that's not Bright's fault. As an actor, he seemed to do the best he could with the material he was given (e.g. the unknown character Pan, invented out of thin air in the penultimate episode). And acting is what it's all about. Ultimately it was an impressive and memorable performance. Shame about the erratic writing - and the crazed fans .

... Hate? HATE? There is no "hate" expressed anywhere in Sawadee Kha Nanno Na Kha's comment above. Not one iota. And yet you go so far as to write "Go direct your hate elsewhere. For example, your mom." What a shocking thing to write in a public comment addressed to someone who has done you no harm! What in heaven's name is going on here?

... Hate? HATE? There is no "hate" expressed anywhere in Sawadee Kha Nanno Na Kha's comment above. Not one iota. And yet you go so far as to write "Go direct your hate elsewhere. For example, your mom." What a shocking thing to write in a public comment addressed to someone who has done you no harm! What in heaven's name is going on here?

What a strange bumpy ride 2gether was, yet Win was the captivating, radiant newcomer who ultimately redeemed it (together with Mike and Toptap). A promising m/m love story through several episodes, then suddenly turned into a distant friendship between two straight guys who might as well be waiting for their wives at the mall. The ridiculous high 5 was the low point. BUT ... Win held my attention throughout, totally charmed me in fact, and he really did his absolute best with writing and direction which were erratic (and at the end downright bad). What a smile! And an innocence that makes you want to reach out to protect Tine. Plus heartbreaking tears. It would be great to see him in a romantic m/m role that really allows him to be a guy fully in love with another guy. But would Win be interested in such a role? I don't know...

A lot of actors give us great characters, but in "real life" are ... somewhat elusive. Perth, however, created the intriguing character of Ram, who always kept us very engrossed, but also happens to be an extraordinary young man in the everyday real world , both utterly charming and impressively brainy.

Hmmmmmm. I can think of many - MANY - "BL" stories, i.e. m/m romances, in which there is no rape or coercion at all. No "assault" whatsoever. I am not sure I see it as a "major" dimension of gay love stories. What disturbs me more is the extreme homophobia which prevails in Korea. We now have a plethora of quite diverse m/m love stories from Thailand, Taiwan and China - dating back 5 or 6 years. A few had disturbing plotlines which feature violence and coercion, it's true. My observation is that those devices were much more used a few years ago than now. Plus they clearly reflected a tendency to impose the conventions of straight "romance" on stories about guys in love with guys. I'm actually rather impressed by the diversity of the BL genre nowadays, which includes series as different as "YYY" and "The Untamed". In Korea, though, BL, i.e. m/m love stories, are all but unheard of, and what does get aired is rather harsh and sad; attitudes towards male homosexuality in any form seem highly negative - it is usually depicted as an existence full of violence, tragedy, criminality etc. Meaning yes, sexual coercion is overworked as a plot feature. But that's because homophobic attitudes dominate those characterisations of male/male love - and absolutely not because "forced stuff" is typical of gay male relationships. According to my observations, forced stuff is actually rather more common in the world of conventional heterosexuality.

Never has the expression "I can't wait" had more meaning. Well, in these grim times, it's good to have something to look forward to! Meanwhile, I just hope all our Thai m/m romance (I prefer this to "BL") stars are healthy, safe, surviving lockdown OK and still making a living. These are hard times for many people, but esp. for actors.

One ep so far of "This is Love Story" and I'm bowled over. Prom (Ratchapat) brings a truly magnetic, charming style to the role of Nuea. It helps that as an actor he has been given brilliant scenes, a perfect co-star, and fantastic (witty, sexy, moving) dialogue. And I think I have to add him to my Most Beautiful Men list ...