jarabaa

Thank you for adding your remarks here. As I have said, I fully expect everyone to disagree with me, dismiss my views as unfounded, tell me they have no sympathy for my perspectives, and so on. How rapidly that is being proved to be the case! I, all alone, in a minority of one, do not find all the private conversation on this page engaging. I just don't. Yes, that makes me a boring killjoy who's unable to enjoy a little bit of fun. But a lot of the fun is just incomprehensible. I have NO idea what people are talking about.

Secondly, there are indeed plenty of texts below written by the same few people who explicitly state that they are writing those messages for the very purpose of boosting the total number of messages. I don't think I've ever read that sort of material here before. And is it really a "comment"? How does it add to my appreciation of "Bad Buddy"? Again, I accept that everyone else sees it differently, and values these messages greatly.

Yes. Of course I want good-quality BLs. Anyone who has read my comments or reviews or indeed what I write above should be aware of that. In fact, part of my concern in this immediate context is to defend a space in which people can talk about "Bad Buddy" and why it is, yes indeed, a very HIGH-quality BL.

Personally, I myself do not feel that our screens are packed with BLs that are just "full of tropes and stereotypes that are poorly made". I have watched numerous m/m romances from the Far East which were absolutely outstanding productions. I could easily offer a list of the many m/m romances (=BLs) which I think of as high quality - a really awesome array of series from Thailand, China, Taiwan, Vietnam, Korea, the Philippines, and Japan - but I know no one would be interested.

As far as the other subscriber's "mission" to rid the world of "toxic BLs" - it seems clear that this is intended to describe the whole BL genre, There is no reference to breaking stereotypes and supporting good BLs. Not at all. The mission is defined as getting rid of all BLs because BLs are "toxic".

I so totally agree with all you say, jpny01. Nothing more to add. Yes, let's see more of Pluem and Lee, absolutely. Ideally, wooing, romancing and making love to each other. Please. So that I can forget some of the truly bizarre, repellent, disturbing stuff I encountered in "Baker Boys".

Thanks, what you say all makes absolute sense. Though I did not really ask people to agree with me. I have no doubt that others will, as you express it, like the comments here and feel that they make the page more fun. But, as I explained, I myself - all alone, I am sure - feel [as I put it] "disturbed" by certain perceptions of my own... I don't imagine that anyone else will feel any sympathy for those perceptions.

OK, thanks, that helps. If it applies to these other series, it makes sense. The only odd bit is that of course I checked the GMMTV channel and there is nothing there about a New Year's break. Plus Thailand is a Buddhist country which follows another calendar. But you're right, it seems that this year both 1 January and today, 3 January, are observed as public holidays in Thailand, and so let's hope "Bad Buddy" returns in ... due course! Thanks again for taking the trouble to give me a serious answer to my question.

Thank you for posting an ostensible answer to my question. However, this "answer" to my very reasonable question - where is Episode 10? - of course means nothing to me. You have instead used my message as a means of continuing a very entertaining private conversation with "mermaid". Unfortunately, I do not know "Mermaid", and I likewise am not entirely clear what sort of "professor" or "classes" or "recruitment" you are referring to - though I get the impression that I am seen as some sort of pathetic stupid outsider who needs to be sent to classes to grasp ... I don't know what.

Again, can anyone tell me what has happened to episode 10? Did the series end with ep 9?? Has the frequency of episodes been altered? Has production been halted because of Covid? Yep, I am stupid, ill-informed, out of it, not party to the fascinating private conversations on this page, etc etc - but it does not mean my question isn't worth asking. Or answering.

I'm disturbed by what's happened on this page and to this page. It is now completely dominated by the private online conversations of two or three subscribers whose only goal, it seems, is to write lots of messages. They don't want to engage others in making comments. They don't want to discuss or promote the series "Bad Buddy". To the contrary - one says she is on a mission to rid the world of toxic BLs. Someone who thinks BL series are "toxic" is not likely to want to boost appreciation of "Bad Buddy". I can no longer make sense of the endless blizzard of messages here from the same people which are all about themselves and the actual business of writing messages, increasing the number of messages, and deluging this page in particular with 25,000 messages. I don't understand it, but I sense this whole exercise is designed to rid the world of BLs, as stated below, and to silence us, the routine viewers, fans and authors of comments who have been discussing various BL series here on MDL for years ... I know many other loyal and committed BL fans on MDL feel this way about this "Bad Buddy" page, but are afraid that they will be subjected to a torrent of abuse if they say what I'm saying.

Since writing this, I have of course received a range of objections and disagreeing opinions. Meanwhile, the total number of comments climbs towards 28,000 - and there continue to be lots of "comments" which seem to focus on pushing the number higher and higher. That was one of the things I commented on above. I wasn't used to anyone concentrating on this concern.

No one has expressed any agreement with anything I said above. Nevertheless, I still feel that this, as I call it, "blizzard" of messages - many of which simply continue what strike me as private conversations - is alienating. bewildering and overwhelming. I gladly accept that I am the only person who feels this way.

I withdraw my crazy theory that the blizzard is "designed to rid the world" of anything at all or to "silence" anyone - it was just a paranoid delusion on my part born of that sense of alienation and bewilderment which I wrote about. I won't now delete that comment above, because that means no one can see what provoked the responses below. People need to hear all sides in real time, meaning I am not allowed to reach back into the past and retroactively alter something I said. I accept that the phenomenon which I was commenting on has not been "designed" by anyone with any purpose and that many people experience it as an aid, a prompt, a source of stimulus in pursuing dialogue and discussion.

Everyone seems to be having a fantastic time here in the absence of episode 10. It seems to be a wild page of endless imaginative free association bearing very little connection to the series "Bad Buddy". Right, I love it as much as everybody else. But what became of it? There were 9 episodes, and then ... what? a New Year's break? Covid halted production? episodes are no longer weekly and will appear ... as and when? episode 9 was in fact the end of the series? episode 10 WAS actually broadcast last week, watched by millions, and nobody knows what I'm talking about?

Obviously everyone else here knows the right answer. Please help. And where did you obtain enlightenment?

Diminutive and perfectly formed! 6 engrossing episodes, dramatic and vivid without departing from the real world. Beautiful camera work - angles, colours, wonderful. Beautiful, charming actors. Superlative, gripping acting. A very poetic script.

Me too. He really is ... amazingly adorable in every scene.

Thank you for raising such an important point. I feel that there are increasingly these barriers - if "international viewers" want to follow various first-class m/m romance series from the Far East, we end up being obliged to subscribe to a whole variety of different platforms/networks etc - i.e. not purchase that particular series, but sign up as a relatively long-term subscriber. And often there is nothing else provided by that company which interests us.

If MDL were to develop one single subscription service covering everything, of course I would sign up. I'd take out a bank loan to sign up! But the problem is that there's no coordination, but instead a lot of private production companies and somewhat mysterious "platforms" that want us to subscribe on some sort of repeating/indefinite basis to their sites; furthermore, all too often they want more money for some sort of enhanced "VIP" access - or it turns out that they have a few episodes with subs from a given series, and then you're left hanging - etc. I found "I Told Sunset About You" exceedingly difficult to watch, for instance. The only licit, "legal" way to follow it was to sign up to a company (which I otherwise had no interest in) offering an expensive time-limited rental!

When I or anyone else should leave any comment questioning this, we are contemptuously ripped apart by other viewers claiming we are cheap and stingy, miserly, unwilling to support struggling actors, making a fuss about trifling sums of money, promoting immoral "illegal" online pirates, and so on. This happens here too. Lower down, I asked about how/where to view "Paint With Love", and another viewer weighed in to tell me with disdain that Gagaoolala isn't expensive at all, in British currency only the price of two cappucinos or a meal at McDonalds, £7 a month. It's lovely that others go out for cappucinos etc so regularly - not so lovely that they pour scorn on those of us whose spending habits are different. One is reminded of Draco Malfoy making fun of Ron Weasley for being poor. But why give Gagaoolala £84 a year ($100 US) just to see this one series? And then pay Viki a similar amount to watch another series, AND then Crunchyroll etc. I'm sorry, it does add up to a lot of money for relatively little, and some of us just don't go out for numerous cappucinos and McDonalds meals every month.

l find it very frustrating to have to struggle to find access to a series such as this one, "Paint With Love", which I find really outstanding - like ITSAY. And at the end of the day, I don't understand why access is made so difficult. On a more positive note, thanks for your inspiring hopes and wishes for the future, anchormore - more good BLs (like this one), more fresh air in the productions we're following, an end to Covid, and the realisation of our aspirations and goals. Yes. May it be so.

Where on earth does one have a chance of actually seeing this? Gagaoolala turns out to be an expensive subscription site which is difficult to access. I've followed other leads but in the end drawn a blank every time....

I've lost my way - I give up. I've read all the explanations, which cite the wonderful fidelity to the manga of 1922 and the anime of the late Ming Dynasty. I'm sure they're sparklingly entertaining sources. But I can't follow this any more. I've lost my orientation, I don't know what to focus on here, it's all too bewildering. Now we have a completely new storyline about Pooh and his daughter, and the welter of previous storylines has been left abandoned. A comedy about murders and kidnappings of children somehow doesn't sit well with me anyhow. But maybe that whole crime mystery trajectory has been discontinued, and some other incongruous new saga will be unrolled next week. Weir's three ex-wives!

Somehow I get more out of Don Giovanni ... maybe it's the music ... call me old-fashioned!

All true, true, true. Absolutely baffling.

No, not at all. But I have no idea what it is! I'm truly bewildered. Dizzy with it all. No idea what's going on.

It's growing on me. Seeing Baker Boys as a rather affectionate parody of everything we've grown to know and love in BL enhances my still very limited enjoyment of this series. Take Mone[t] the Girl Detective and her family. These 3 truly absurd characters are obviously all drawn by a skilled parodist. I did indeed downright enjoy the hot gay moment when the father, Manop a.k.a. Mr Superstraight Daddy, cast his admiring gaze upon Weir/Singto and Krathing/Pluem and altogether lustfully pronounced them both "ATTRACTIVE and charming". You go for it, daddy! I'm all for seeing both daddy Manop and exaggeratedly caricatured (but cute) Bumbling Detective Pooh fall for Weir's or any guy's m/m-loving charms... Please! Then when I saw this straight dad-husband's courtly, profoundly unerotic interaction with his gracious wife, I thought of KK in Ossan's Love (Hong Kong) - which I'm pretty sure everyone in the production team has seen.

And it got me thinking about Mr Gay Conqueror. Everyone knows that Singto has a devoted, slightly obsessed following. They madly adore him and everything he does in the glorious cause of BL. I adore him too. But here the production team have drawn him as the 180-degree opposite of the hot gay man who can get any guy into bed. Come on! The sweet pudding bowl bobbed haircut, the John Denver granny glasses, the bizarre, prim clothing - this is not what gets men salivating to explore wild man-to-man love. No way. Think of all those volcanic Mr Gay Conquerors who really do drive us all wild with desire (or quite a few of us - here's my favourite topic and I'm getting quite carried away...): Nanon (Pran), Mew (Tharn), Bright (Sarawat), Boat (Sun in Golden Blood), Pond (Mork in FUtS), Noh (Bom in Nitiman), Kao (Nubsib in Lovely Writer), Pod (Sun in DBK and Tonhon), Ohm (P'Deeeeeaaaan in UWMA), Tay (Pete in DBK) and ... Max and Tul in ANYTHING. These are the men who have embodied the zenith of male man-loving sexiness - and our hero Weir is the opposite. Any gay or bi man would be thoroughly put off by his winsome pretty blinking and old-lady twinkling eyes, good grief. So he is clearly a parodic caricature, quite a good one, when you think about it. He even has a fear of being around women. Everything about him is ... absurd and at odds with all those hot gay heroes I just listed.

So, armed with this view of BB, I am finding some pleasure in it.

For the first time, I am watching a Thai BL series with what I can only call "horrified fascination". But I am pleased to read all the enthusiastic comments from viewers here and especially on YouTube. I read those comments again and again, trying to delve into the delight which people are finding in Baker Boys. I cannot get through to the fun of it all, however, and their delight remains a mystery to me, though I am pleased so many people are having such a good time watching this ensemble of excellent actors - many of whom I have enjoyed (and lusted after) in other roles which we all remember well.

Much of the time, Baker Boys seems to be a surreal pastiche - there are obvious allusions to Golden Blood, Manner of Death, Dark Blue Kiss, Ingredients, Until We Meet Again, Hidden Love, Bite Me, even Lovely Writer and TharnType, all dished up in ... an outrageous parody? Is it just these fine, sexy young actors having a lot of fun on screen in the crazy on-again, off-again world of Covid-era Bangkok? I am particularly reminded of YYY. So many aspects feel like in-your-face, over-the-top spoof gags. The ludicrous "Gay Conqueror" persona - obviously a satire on Singto's extreme popularity as the king of gay romantic roles - or the weird bits & pieces of a gruesome murder mystery so threadbare as to be similarly absurd, make one sense that there is not an iota of seriousness to be encountered here. Perhaps the whole thing satirises the strange amalgam of wild slapstick comedy and life-and-death drama which we do find in a lot of BL. After all, Singto starred in one series in which one of the lovers was in reality DEAD (He's Coming to Me). The ghostly/supernatural element, which predominated in Hidden Love, He's Coming to Me and UWMA, is being hinted at here, I think, likewise the rather confused handling of the "main character with a history of childhood sexual abuse" reminds one powerfully of TharnType. The café setting and the emphasis on cookery and deserts likewise seem to scream out references to numerous food-focused BL items, in particular the recent Bite Me, but also DBK, Ingredients and UWMA.

Unfortunately for me, I am just not laughing enough. Also, the men are cute, but I do not have the sense that there is really going to be any man-to-man love connection here - although I find "gay romance" among the tags. Strange. Whose "gay romance"? Everyone who knows the earlier novel or anime says there is no chance of a real m/m romance - which means I'm outa here, thanks. But that's based on adherence to these earlier Korean etc stories. The idea that the people involved in making this and appearing in it decided suddenly to make a video version of a rather uninteresting Korean story from many years ago seems distinctly weird - unless it is just meant to poke fun at the current worldwide obsession with all things Korean - ? Well, I'm puzzled and so far not very entertained, but I'll go on watching because it's weirdly intriguing and I simply enjoy looking at these actors ... carrying on.

I tend to agree with parya. We've already read below how much you're turned off by the idea of one male character loving another. Lots of people seem to share that aversion to what they see as gay material - you're not alone. But that sort of hostility makes some of us very uncomfortable. Anyhow, feel free to enjoy homophobia in all its forms! Glad to go. Bye!

Good point very cogently argued. There is indeed a certain amount of homophobia on this page. People saying how repelled and displeased they are by any form of m/m romantic storyline, Oh well. I'm one of those who especially enjoy m/m romance, and nowadays there's suddenly a lot to enjoy: until very recently, after all, there was nothing at all, zero, zilch, nada - it was an untouched taboo topic. But I guess there are others who just aren't into men loving men. However, the way they express that is ... of key importance.

You are so right.