For sure, seeing some very toxic series so popular (like Addictive Heroine or Tharn Type) can be disheartening.…
Me and another poster here have put up a discussion about the character of Green, which you allude to, in the discussion board and I will refer you to his excellent discussion on this subject (as well as my perhaps not as great discussion about it). I have some notes on it below, but you should read his take on it. Its very good.
You are incorrect in assuming that he is going "gay" because of women. Its been very apparent to me that he is gay, just in denial. That's why he sees women as caricatures and that is why he is spending an inordinate amount of time and energy trying to get to Sarawat (who, it is also hinted, is gay).
If you pay attention to Thai BL you will see things are changing and a lot more dramas and romcoms are showing gay ppl saying they are gay (instead of I am not gay, I just like you). DBK did it. 3 Will Be Free also had a gay character (and the best female representation I have seen in BL!). ToL, sadly was not too clear about this but it was pretty much insinuated that Third was gay but Khai was not. ToL also had a lot of those "crazy women" type characters and unlike this show, in ToL there was no excuse. To some degree ToL was a step backwards, even when it had perhaps the best kissing scenes of the year.
I find your definition of straight to be too simplistic. I hope you keep watching more BL and as BL evolves you, you will learn and become more aware of when a character is hinted to be gay and when a character is hinted to be bisexual (for an interesting bi character watch 3 Will Be Free).
I go back to my original statement that this is all narrated by Tine. That montage in the beginning is a flashback and he is narrating his relationship with women. That is his view of women. While some men will find it cute when a women does certain things, he finds it annoying. That's whats going on there. He doesn't know he is gay but soon enough he will.
His reaction to Green is not a typical homophobic reaction either. In fact, he meets with him on the basement of the school to try to convince him that he will get "beat up" by these guys who "hate people who fall in love" (notice, no homophobic comments here either), as though he is trying hard to not offend Green by telling him "I don't like you" again and again. Then he also goes to Greeen, who is seen crying (and as I recall, this is a first in Thai BL, a gay character who is feminine seen crying in a way that we empathize), and tries to comfort him. Then they go out on what seems like a date. This all points out to the fact that Tine is probably very empathic to Green because he is gay, like Green.
Later we see Tine with his eyes focused on Sarawat. Later, when he sees Sarawat he can barely talk and responds rather non-nonchalantly to Sarawat's "I will kiss you until you drop". If by this point, you don't think they are both gay, you most check a fuse in your gaydar, 'cause its just not working.
So no, Tine didn't become gay because how women treated him. He treats women they way he does and sees him the way he does, because Tine is gay. And Sarawat will not make him gay. Sarawat will force Tine to see that he too, like Sarawat, is in fact gay.
For sure, seeing some very toxic series so popular (like Addictive Heroine or Tharn Type) can be disheartening.…
Not every minute of a tv show has to educational.
We gays have to deal with a myriad of troupes and stereotypes in tv all the time.
I love how this show has subverted some of those stereotypes. This is why I ask about your experience with Thai shows. I also asked because, you cant do any kind of analysis of stereotypes without knowing the social context. You cant also see the ways this show is subverting stereotypes. It should be praised for that.
I understand your concerns and if this was not a BL show, I would agree. But alas, its bl and its a win for representation of LGBTQ ppl in asia. So, as far as your struggle for positive repetition of females, could we just criticize the show without vilifying it? I mean for me as a gay man this is a gem. Is not that i dont care about your struggle but that is a larger problem than this little show.
Much has been said about the fact that this was written by a women. I agree that you need to take that into consideration but the biggest issue here, and i bring this up again without you having acknowledged it yet in any of your rebuttals in any significant way, is that this is a gay mens perspective on this women and as a gay man I am very sorry to tell you that often when one is in the closet, women look exactly like this to us, incomprehensible, needy, immature, self centered and annoying and boring.
Once you come out, your perspective changes. We saw this n lovesick and i personally cried like a baby when Noh and yuri have the conversation at the end that breaks yuris heart. So, no, i dont see women that way anymore. I have many good friends who arr girls and like you I try to be conscious of all these issues. I do think women are not portrayed in a positive light in american or thai tv. In that we can agree.
Can you just say you hate women and go?Why have all these negative stereotypes about women to justify why a "straight"…
You dont understand the narrative structure of this show. This is Tines perspective. So he sees women in a different light. The women to him are yappy, undecisive, and annoying. It was kind of like that for me when I dated. I think this is his perspective. Besides, it is a comedy so of course it relies on old troupes
What I honesty find the most unrealistic about this storyline is the fact that Tine is supposed to be this straight…
I strongly disagree with your POV. Just because Tine is a closeted gay guy doesn't mean that any gay man can come in and sweep him off his feet. It happened to me when I was in the closet.
Whatever it is that Tine likes, he only sees it in Sarawat. Sarawat is his man. Sarawat is the one who will pull him out of the closet. Green stands 0 chance against Sarawat's magnetic charm.
This is nothing against gay characters. To me, it is made very clear on the first episode that Sarawat is gay. I have a feeling his friends know it as well so he is potentially as out as Green, just not as flamboyant.
It is too soon to have a real idea of how this serie will be, first episode was very introductive and incredibly…
Liz, are you with me then? Do you also think Sarawat is yummy? :) Are you joining my movement of #IwanttoeatSarawat
LOL :)
The last time I loved a character this much was Kongpob. I also really liked Frame but my favorite Seme who was a goody two shoes was Phun in LoveSick. I have a feeling this character is sultry and devious like frame, good and sweet like Phun, and cool and straightforward, knows-what-he-wants like Kongpob.
There was a lot of really tight character introduction in this episode, not just with Tine, but with his friend…
You articulated a lot of my thoughts, some of which I had but never even thought well enough about to write them down! I especially like c.
Overall, very good analysis. You should make this a discussion post that we can refer people to if they start asking why the "beat up" scene is not as bad as some claim and why this show is really going in the right direction in terms of LGQBT characterization.
One thing I do have to point out in terms of your point A is that, I don't think that Green is being mean or forceful. He is persistent for sure but you can see that he is just infatuated and not forcing himself or anything like that. However, I can see how at some point it could get annoying.
We should never complain too much of how Green chases Tine because Tine is doing this to Sarawat to. We should also think of the many times we have seen this in BL, from Ying in Love of Siam who chased Pchy character and Donut who had a fake relationship with Mario's character to Yuri annoying the heck out of Noh in Lovesick, this has been part of the Thai BL plot troupes for a long time, so it won't die soon.
For me, TT and WRU felt longer bc the scenes seemed to drag on with not a whole lot happening that advances the…
me wonders if episode 2 will be longer and this shorter episode had more to do with the fact that they seem (per the first teaser) to have reshot the pilot....
The first episode felt like it was going at 2x speed, everything was very fast, cliché and boring... Uninspired…
As I said to you Brad_8, I think we can agree that we have different taste in BL.
Btw it occurs to me you misunderstood that scene. They weren't planning on beating him up. They just wanted to scare him. I know, still bad, but that was the idea which backfired when the gay guy beat them up instead!
I mean, I see where you will say the story is cliché, cause basically fake bff relationship has been done before…
You have a good point. I agree that no means no. But within the context of the show and the expectations I have about how gay ppl are portrayed, I think Geeen is a positive character. He has been given some humanity. He is also perhaps the first femenine Seme in Thai bl.
No show is perfect. I am just glad when i see a glimmer of hope about LGBTQ representation in asian tv.
1 
It only takes a committed actor to make a kiss like that work. You don't need to be gay.
You are incorrect in assuming that he is going "gay" because of women. Its been very apparent to me that he is gay, just in denial. That's why he sees women as caricatures and that is why he is spending an inordinate amount of time and energy trying to get to Sarawat (who, it is also hinted, is gay).
If you pay attention to Thai BL you will see things are changing and a lot more dramas and romcoms are showing gay ppl saying they are gay (instead of I am not gay, I just like you). DBK did it. 3 Will Be Free also had a gay character (and the best female representation I have seen in BL!). ToL, sadly was not too clear about this but it was pretty much insinuated that Third was gay but Khai was not. ToL also had a lot of those "crazy women" type characters and unlike this show, in ToL there was no excuse. To some degree ToL was a step backwards, even when it had perhaps the best kissing scenes of the year.
I find your definition of straight to be too simplistic. I hope you keep watching more BL and as BL evolves you, you will learn and become more aware of when a character is hinted to be gay and when a character is hinted to be bisexual (for an interesting bi character watch 3 Will Be Free).
I go back to my original statement that this is all narrated by Tine. That montage in the beginning is a flashback and he is narrating his relationship with women. That is his view of women. While some men will find it cute when a women does certain things, he finds it annoying. That's whats going on there. He doesn't know he is gay but soon enough he will.
His reaction to Green is not a typical homophobic reaction either. In fact, he meets with him on the basement of the school to try to convince him that he will get "beat up" by these guys who "hate people who fall in love" (notice, no homophobic comments here either), as though he is trying hard to not offend Green by telling him "I don't like you" again and again. Then he also goes to Greeen, who is seen crying (and as I recall, this is a first in Thai BL, a gay character who is feminine seen crying in a way that we empathize), and tries to comfort him. Then they go out on what seems like a date. This all points out to the fact that Tine is probably very empathic to Green because he is gay, like Green.
Later we see Tine with his eyes focused on Sarawat. Later, when he sees Sarawat he can barely talk and responds rather non-nonchalantly to Sarawat's "I will kiss you until you drop". If by this point, you don't think they are both gay, you most check a fuse in your gaydar, 'cause its just not working.
So no, Tine didn't become gay because how women treated him. He treats women they way he does and sees him the way he does, because Tine is gay. And Sarawat will not make him gay. Sarawat will force Tine to see that he too, like Sarawat, is in fact gay.
We gays have to deal with a myriad of troupes and stereotypes in tv all the time.
I love how this show has subverted some of those stereotypes. This is why I ask about your experience with Thai shows. I also asked because, you cant do any kind of analysis of stereotypes without knowing the social context. You cant also see the ways this show is subverting stereotypes. It should be praised for that.
I understand your concerns and if this was not a BL show, I would agree. But alas, its bl and its a win for representation of LGBTQ ppl in asia. So, as far as your struggle for positive repetition of females, could we just criticize the show without vilifying it? I mean for me as a gay man this is a gem. Is not that i dont care about your struggle but that is a larger problem than this little show.
Much has been said about the fact that this was written by a women. I agree that you need to take that into consideration but the biggest issue here, and i bring this up again without you having acknowledged it yet in any of your rebuttals in any significant way, is that this is a gay mens perspective on this women and as a gay man I am very sorry to tell you that often when one is in the closet, women look exactly like this to us, incomprehensible, needy, immature, self centered and annoying and boring.
Once you come out, your perspective changes. We saw this n lovesick and i personally cried like a baby when Noh and yuri have the conversation at the end that breaks yuris heart. So, no, i dont see women that way anymore. I have many good friends who arr girls and like you I try to be conscious of all these issues. I do think women are not portrayed in a positive light in american or thai tv. In that we can agree.
But this show is a gem.
Whatever it is that Tine likes, he only sees it in Sarawat. Sarawat is his man. Sarawat is the one who will pull him out of the closet. Green stands 0 chance against Sarawat's magnetic charm.
This is nothing against gay characters. To me, it is made very clear on the first episode that Sarawat is gay. I have a feeling his friends know it as well so he is potentially as out as Green, just not as flamboyant.
Its a fast paced, funny, romcom that promises to give us a lot of laughs and some cute moments as well (already it has delivered on both fronts).
The ending was a bit dissatisfying.
I was taking a guess :P i was wrong!
See you around the boards!
LOL :)
The last time I loved a character this much was Kongpob. I also really liked Frame but my favorite Seme who was a goody two shoes was Phun in LoveSick. I have a feeling this character is sultry and devious like frame, good and sweet like Phun, and cool and straightforward, knows-what-he-wants like Kongpob.
All my favorite Semes in one! :P
Overall, very good analysis. You should make this a discussion post that we can refer people to if they start asking why the "beat up" scene is not as bad as some claim and why this show is really going in the right direction in terms of LGQBT characterization.
One thing I do have to point out in terms of your point A is that, I don't think that Green is being mean or forceful. He is persistent for sure but you can see that he is just infatuated and not forcing himself or anything like that. However, I can see how at some point it could get annoying.
We should never complain too much of how Green chases Tine because Tine is doing this to Sarawat to. We should also think of the many times we have seen this in BL, from Ying in Love of Siam who chased Pchy character and Donut who had a fake relationship with Mario's character to Yuri annoying the heck out of Noh in Lovesick, this has been part of the Thai BL plot troupes for a long time, so it won't die soon.
Its great! Sarawat could become a legendary character in Thai BL. We shall see! So far I love every minute he was on screen!!!!
Tine is great. Win has an amazing comedic timing.
My thought is that you dont like coming of age stories as much as i do.
Just my opinion. You know you better of course. I can tell you I am sucker for fluffy romcom and coming of age stories. Like big time!
Btw it occurs to me you misunderstood that scene. They weren't planning on beating him up. They just wanted to scare him. I know, still bad, but that was the idea which backfired when the gay guy beat them up instead!
No show is perfect. I am just glad when i see a glimmer of hope about LGBTQ representation in asian tv.