jpny01

I'm probably being harsher than i feel because Kao is so good at the sad puppy look. If Gene quickly apologizes, I forgive him, I still don't think he's particuarly appealing as a person - combining weak with mean - but I don't think he's bad. Unless he fails to apologize.

Just to make sure, because the point was inadequately made above, the issue isn't that people have individual ways of coping with their sexuality - I agree with you completely on that issue - it's that the way Gene reacted did not feel consistent with his character. If making out with a man didn't produce gay panic, being told he's cute shouldn't create that strong a reaction (although it could be partly a delayed response to the kiss, i.e. his blowing up was really about the kiss, not the "you're cute"). So while I don't think there's anything unbelievable or impossible about a reaction like that, I don't think it makes sense for Gene as his character has been drawn, unless he sincerely apologizes very soon, which is possible - they do like cliffhangers. I can believe Gene might have a bad moment, but he would feel so bad about it I don't think he would let leave it like that, so if they have one of those five episode implausible failures of communication it will irritate me.

As I said to blessyourheart, my problem is the sequence and character development. If it didn't produce homosexual panic to actually make out with a man, it doesn't make sense for him to have that violent a reaction to being told he's cute, which is not even really "gay". In fact several men have made positive comments about other men's appearances in his presence, so it's not like this is shockingly novel.

So the point is that yes, while people have varying ways of coping with their sexuality, it still has to be consistent with the character. If Gene immediately and sincerely apologizes, I can accept his outburst because we all have bad moments, but if not, I can't accept him as a good person after being that terrible to someone who has been unfailingly kind and considerate to him. Plus Kao is very good at the "kicked puppy" look, and who could stand that?

My point isn't that there isn't homophobia or that people don't struggle with their identities. I am a gay male who isn't young, so I did experinece all this myself, and it was certainly much worse back then, at least in the USA, so the year does make a difference. If I were out when I was a teen I most likely would have been beaten to death. Now it's just harder to get ahead at work. I don't think it's possible to have the perspective on how incredibly, pervasively, structurally homophobic society used to be if you haven't lived in that period. There are of course societies which are as bad or worse today, but at least people have access to positive imagery in the media - we didn't have media except four or five channels on TV and there were ZERO gay characters - and if one showed up it was always a horrible person who ended up dead and everyone celebrated it.

My point is that his reaction didn't make sense for Gene in particular. Being told one is cute would normally produce a smaller reaction than say, making out with a man, which didn't seem to bother him in the slightest - in fact, it inspired him. The problem is character progression and development. I can see Gene having a negative reaction to the situation, but I don't thing it's consistent with his character to be that rude and cruel to someone who has been unfailingly kind and considerate to him.

Don't make fun of me, but I look forward to this show more than 1000 stars. I know that it's 0.01% as good, but that's how much Tae does it for me - I don't think it's possible to be be more my type.

Look at the first panel, second photo. I mean Jesus H Christ. Those arms.

https://www.instagram.com/tee_fgm/?hl=en

I appreciate flawed characters, but i really don't like Gene at all - I haven't seen any redeeming qualities in him.

I think it's too early to conclude Sib is being unprofessional. He might really have been sick, or there may be something we haven't seen that went on between them offscreen.

On the other hand, the show they're filming is titled "Bad Engineer", so that may have meta implications - we'll see.

I thought maybe it's because he's a trans man, but this series seems too shallow to go there. Also, Gene would know about that, and he's a homophobic asshole, so I'm not sure it fits.

I liked it a lot when I saw it because it was the first BL I saw - but I went back to rewatch and I couldn't get through it. What seemed fresh at the time is just regressive now - BL has moved too far past those tropes. Part of it is not SOTUS' fault - everything else has copied it so much that it can make you groan. The best thing about this series is the title of the BL they're filming - that really made me laugh.

I agree with all of this. But even the nightmare scene fell flat for me because it was too long. I would have written it to go back into Gene's head to see how his dream changed instead of just having sib stare at him for 10 minutes.

I hated the last scene. It felt really regressive and out of place. I get that everyone's process of coming out is different, but come on - he writes BL, is around gay men all the time, and is not a teen. It's not that it's impossible for a person to react like that, but it's hard for me to accept the protagonist being that awful. Sib is also a guest - you don't just throw someone out for complimenting you. And the line "should I take it as a compliment if it's from a man" was just yuck. I hate Gene, TBH. I don't really see any redeeming qualities in him.

I agree with you that coming out is different for everyone, but Gene writes gay fiction and is around gay men all the time, and this is 2021 - and he's in his late 20s, not a teen. There was no reason for him to be that rude to Gene. Besides the horrendous violation of hospitality, it felt way too strong - that was over the top rude and even cruel. Did that really fit his character? And Gene only said he's cute - I just don't think that was well-written.

Yes. I was interested when he took his shirt off because he has a hot body and I'm shallow. The only thing that would make that storyline interesting is if he's a trans man, which was possibly hinted at by his being in the wrong dressing room.

Also, yes, there are LOTS of scenes that are too long. In general the energy is too low.

Kao is doing it on purpose - Sib's apparent personality is fake, so Kao is playing it stiffly. When Sib's real self comes out, you'll see more natural acting, but I suspect it will be a bit dark based on the hints we've had so far (e.g. "only be generous with me").

What was funny? I didn't laugh at anything. I'm not criticizing, I'm just asking because maybe I missed something.

Fortunately it was a lot less this ep than the previous two, which were making me bang my head against a wall it was so annoying.

OK, this isn't bad and there are things I like about it, but it's dull. It's fine to have the relationship be slow-burn, but too much of this lacks energy.

If you were writing this, in the nightmare scene, wouldn't you have gone back into Gene's head to see how his dream was affected by Sib's attention? Instead we just had him stare at Gene for what felt like 10 minutes, after applying the magic washcloth which solves all problems.

It feels like the show hasn't decided what it is. Is it a comedy? Parody? Drama? It can be all three if well-written as such, but this feels all over the place.

Also, Gene is an asshole and I don't like him. Why did he have that incredibly rude (especially by Thai standards - talking to a guest like that?) reaction to Gene at the end of the episode? He can't be a homophobic BL writer - that doesn't really make sense. That last scene made no emotional sense to me at all.

Incidentally, Tum shirtless. Yikes, that was nice. Also, is he supposed to be trans? Is that why he was in the women's dressing room? Now THAT would be interesting - that's certainly some underrepresentation we've had going on - I don't think we've ever had a trans man in a BL.

I think Aey is the best actor in this - he's put so much nuance and feeling into what could have been a 2D villain role to the point where I feel so bad for him and I want good things to happen to him.

Yes, I agree. The exaggerated tropes are supposed to be parody, but they either carry it too far (like the sound effects in the first two eps, THANK GOD under control in ep 3), or not far enough so they just seem like "standard" BL cliches, like the product placement, although it was kind of funny how they did it.

The problem is Gene is a dick and he's not really likeable. I actually can't stand him. Anyway, I'm finding this watchable but forgettable. It's a little boring and lacking in energy.

I don't get why everyone is ripping on this - I think it's good. The characters are well-drawn - we've all known a Ying Jia Ming, and the acting is good by BL standards. Nobody involved has ever had an office job, I can tell you that - the workplace is like what college film students would imagine it to be like, with stacks of papers like old movies. I haven't had a sheet of paper in years - I'm not even connected to the printer. And one tiny monitor on the desk... anyway, I'm enjoying this more than 90% of Thai BLs, so sure. Not one engineer in sight, and no accidental kisses!

This isn't a "cash in on BL" project - there's some love that went into this, and remember, this is China so everyone involved is risking their futures to bring this to us - I think we owe it to them to give it a chance. So what if it's low-budget? At least they're technically competent and the dialogue isn't drowned out by roosters crowing or traffic noise.

Thanks - that does shed light on what was going on.

You forgot to mention a second ghost story thrown in. Because one is never enough. Do the new subtitles explain why the principal wants to destroy the volleyball team? Her reasons were never clear to me.

I didn't hate it - the swimmer/ghost romance was cute. Maybe I'll take a look at it with the new subtitles. That one love scene was really hot, but yes, it came out of nowhere and the two characters hardly exchanged a word for the rest of the series. I usually like a hot love scene or two, but it has to fit in the plot and make emotional sense.

Oh - they must have redone the subtitles - when it was running on LineTV they were close to incomprehensible. I love the ghost walking towards his mother scene in Ep 2 - that was really beautiful.