jpny01

I probably wouldn't have watched The Shipper if she weren't in it, and I'm glad I did because it was excellent.

I still think things moved too fast in this ep, but I guess they're a bit limited by having ony 8 short eps.

You make some very good points here, especially about norms of Pinoy shows - there is a degree of melodrama that a viewer should expect that might not be standard for say, an American viewer. What's most important about GB is that it's a BL with an actual LGBTQ sensibility that is socially conscious. And you're right, it's not lazy writing - that's not really fair.

I did see He's Coming to Me, which at the time was one of the first times I saw a Thai BL character identify unambiguously as gay, and even better it was Ohm, one of my favorites. I was also disappointed in the ending - like mouth hanging wide. Nobody paid any consquences for their crimes - including murder - and I don't think you can have anything more positive than a bittersweet ending when the romantic pair is a live person and a ghost. COME ON. But other than the ending it was one of the most underrated BLs ever. People resisted it because Singto isn't allowed to be with anyone other than Krist, even though his chemistry with Ohm was 10 times better, although Ohm would have great chemistry with a cardboard box. And my goodness did he grow up well.

I admire you for your ability to maintain a positive attitude.

I just can't. I'll give a show a chance if it's not great but has something going for it, like a cute couple, at least one good actor, technical competence, well-written dialog - or is bad in an entertaining way. This is just plain bad. The dinner scene in part 2 even had the conversation drowned out by the clacking of dinnerware, and the line "I know your sexual preference and I respect that" was the most cringeworthy line I've heard... maybe ever? They even managed to have a shot where two guys are sitting together in tandem and one is in focus and the other is not. That's active incompetence. Every scene is just a collection of either poorly executed shots of people doing nothing, or a collection of tropes and steretypes. The main character showers a lot is the only positive thing I can think of to say.

I hope it gets no further views. It's so bad that I don't think I could force myself to watch another episode, as much as I want to support all BL. I'm glad that BL is exploding, but we're getting to the point that there's so much of it that the quality has dropped off a cliff and the genre is going to get a reputation for being garbage. There is nothing positive to say about this show. It has the usual transphobic representation, the dialog is terrible, the acting nearly non-existent, the technical aspects of the production are a total disaster, and the show is not even a trainwreck in an entertaining way like My Day, which at least has a pretty convincing couple. Here we're going for the "I'm straight, I just like X" trope. I'm sure he has an evil girlfriend waiting to mess things up.

My problem was that it wasn't a glimmer, it was a nuclear-powered searchlight - he went from immature and bratty to wise and thoughtful 30-year old in 30 seconds.

If you have that degree of internalized self-hatred, you don't just get over it after one 30 second conversation with your father, and it takes longer to accept yourself than a day. Going from "I'M NOT A FAG LIKE YOU" to "I want to be your boyfriend! :)" is too jarring. We needed to see him feeling awful for the way he treated Judah (he did leave him alone and sick without a quarantine pass when he's the only person who could have infected him) and a lot more reflection and agonizing. It really didn't work for me at all. But, no series is perfect and they only have 8 short episodes to tell the story, so I forgive them. Plus, having a fem main character without him being exploited for comic relief or sitting around with no agency waiting for Prince Charming is quietly revolutionary and necessary, so I'm all in.

But to me the actors are not good at all. It's harder to play an introvert, but a skilled actor can make a quiet character compelling. Introverts can still be intense and have emotions - we're not robots like these two. Phu is almost never on screen and he hardly even talks, but he's fascinating and has a real screen presence. Or Ram on My Engineer, although he had the advantage of being supernaturally cute and actual chemistry with his partner. I had a hard time even remembering that Gui was mad at Solo because this show is so boring that anything other than PhuKao quickly slips from my mind.

Got it. Yup, Judah is a Millenial. Almost my entire staff are Millenial, so I have a ton of Judahs running around annoying me all day. Rocky didn't exactly decline the courting - he just said that Judah has no chance, not that he couldn't try. And Judah clearly did have a chance... But I completely get the entitlement point.

The vast majority of Gameboys fans are not like that - but many even tear down rival shows - like calling Hello Stranger a copycat, when it was totally different and fully written and in production before GB started airing. But what you pointed out is my biggest problem. I'm not objectively wrong if I have issues with the show or it didn't do much for me - and I don't even think GB was bad, or that shows I like are better.

Regarding Pearl, she's perfectly fine as a character - my problem isn't Pearl, or the actress, it's the artificial way she was introduced in order to generate a cliffhanger for Ep 2 in a way that was inconsistent with her character. That's a lazy or manipulative writing issue.

You summed up my problems pretty well. The interaction between Cai & Gav was really repetitive, but I think that was probably because they extended the run to 13 episodes and so the plot ended up moving slower than initially intended. I wish more of the drama was internal to the relationship between the characters intead of external obstacles thrown at them. That made it a shallow story to me.

I'm OK with overhyping, but it does annoy me when people treat a show they like as perfect and refuse to even hear any criticism. In the case of Gameboys, I just found the show boring. My reaction to the first episode was extremely positive - I loved it and was super-excited (especially because Gav acted like an actual gay man instead of fetishizing straightness like Thai BLs), but then it just didn't go anywhere for me. There's only so many times I can watch someone day "bayBEEE!" followed by a pout. Gaya sa Pelikula is equally hyped and I love it without reservation.

I've lived through the homophobia too - it did exist in CA and was very strong where I grew up - in fact it was simply not possible to be gay, and there wasn't enough context to even understand that I was gay (although I lived in terror every day because on some level I knew), until I left for college, but societal attitudes have changed far more in CA and other progressive places, so that we've had this type of positive portrayal and validation in the media for a very long time, so it just doesn't have the same impact for me anymore, and in fact is a reminder of less happy times. In fact, sometimes it feels condescending and limiting if gay characters only have storylines about being gay.

COVID is spread by having a large number of people in poorly ventilated spaces, not by people going outside. You can get it outside, but you will generally need to be in an environment like a political rally or sporting event where you're in one space for a long time around a huge number of people (a "super-spreading" event). The chances of Cai's father getting COVID by going outside to look for him are astronomically small, so it felt manipulative and contrived to me. And beside that, it seemed inauthentic for the family to blame and resent Cairo rather than being solely focused on the father's well-being, and I don't believe a loving mother would ever make Cairo feel the way she did in I think it was ep 6. And in fact they really didn't, it was just a manipualtion of the presentation of their characters to generate drama, which to me is lazy writing.

This is one of the best shows airing, but this episode moved way too fast relative to where last episode left off - it feels like there needed to be at least one and probably two intermediate episodes where there was some processing and reflection. Judah is instantly 10 years older and more mature, and Rocky is instantly ready for a gay relationship? It's not a fatal problem, but it didn't completely work, and I thought this was the weakest episode of the series, in terms of writing. The acting was better than ever.

3WBF is historic in that a trans character was not only not a joke, but a character with real agency and not at all helpless that was integral to the plot - and in fact Jennie was at times terrifying. There are not enough thumbs up for that portrayal, and that shows us Thailand can do it, so there's no excuse for any more transphobia.

Over analyzing is what we do here! My problem was that Rocky's panic translated into cruelty towards someone else, which is a character issue to me. Judah was thoughtless, but he never mistreated Rocky intentionally. And Rocky better get used to being objectified because COME ON. I'm not even sure Royce is a good actor because I'm too distracted to pay close attention (I'm joking. Sort of).

Judging by the ep that just aired, your analysis is right on. To me I can understand Rocky's gay panic, and Judah was coming on way too strong - and although he was too cruel for the provocation, that behavior could be corrected with an apology. But leaving Judah alone and sick when he had the only quarantine pass and is the only person who could have infected Judah is almost unforgivable. I'm glad he came back quickly, but I think they glossed over their fight way too quickly - there really needed to be an intermediate episode where all this was being processed. Also, Judah's sudden transformation into someone 10 years older and more mature should have been stretched a bit with some reflection leading him there. I still love the show, but this episode was not their best.

I don't think those dynamics are absent in Western cultures, we just have a stronger sense of individualism and an identity that's more independent of the family. I'm going to guess you're younger than me - but you'll likely end up spending a lot of time taking care of your parents when you're older. I'm American (albeit my mother isn't) and I'm my parents' house visting right now, hiding in the guest room watching my Friday BLs. They're reaching the age where they aren't independent anymore, and I'm the oldest and nearest.

Totally agree. I think maybe because I'm older, to me a phone is just a phone, so last ep that wasn't as monstrous an invasion of privacy as it it struck Millenials - I was way more put off by Rocky's being a huge asshole and abandoning Judah when he was likely the person who infected him. Rocky can still do whatever he wants to me, but I still disapprove of his behavior.

BL audiences want Prince Charming (Top) and a damsel in distress (Bottom!) for him to rescue - not complex and realistic characters who make bad decisions like real people. Also BL characters Are Never Effeminite Period.

But Rocky was a huge asshole. First of all, HE initiated it, and second, Judah can only have been infected by him, so for him to leave was inexcusable - especially since he has the quarantine pass.

You're right, but without showing his face it was not right in a fairly minor way. And certainly not as bad as Rocky's behavior.