#doublel27 talks

In the original, we had Boston surreptitiously recording a kiss between Ray and Mew and then saving it for two years to just use the kiss part to fuck with both Mew and Ray as they tried to move into relationships with Top and Sand, especially to get Top to sleep with him.

We also in the OG, had Nick recording Top and Boston fucking in the car, which he and Sand used to hurt Boston and Top for their own revenge.

And then in the continuation of this universe, Raffy gets his hands on a recording of Dean in his work as a host to share with the drama faculty to hurt Dean and to get closer to Jack.

And I just…

Considering how often these men are recorded by a third party, sometimes without their knowledge, and then that is put online.

The continued commentary on performance and what is acceptable and what isn’t and how we shame people for their choices continues to delight as we move from business management to drama.

As well as the ways the groups react to them. No one in season one seemed to have a major issue with someone leaking recordings unless it was a recording of them. The swift rebuke of Raffy in season 2 by Rome and the way Jack, Tua and Timmy rally around Dean — to the point that Raffy’s scheme backfires (whereas arguably Boston, Nick and Sand got what they wanted from their leaks)…

But also, the first friend group from Only Friends OG was heading into that rupture for a long time whereas we are picking up with the Dream On friend group trying to piece themselves back together after several major ruptures, what with the break up between Jack and Dean as well as Jack and Rome’s disdain for each other and Rome and Dean’s connection as well as Tua’s Boston hook up. It’s narratively continuous while being entirely distinct.

We are getting an idea of what repair could look like, just with a very different group of people. Whereas the majority of characters of season one were self righteous in their anger and feelings being wounded, the characters of Dream On are very aware of their flaws and pitfalls.

No, I really don’t, Anon. I don’t think that loving one particular show over another makes anyone’s opinion invalid (that’s the TLDR answer.)

The longer answer, and I have no idea why you came into my inbox with this ask (and no idea who TF you’re trying to shade and if you just spammed it to as many BL blogs as possible trying to get someone to agree) but in my little house for hermit crab, we don’t value judge people’s favorites or their enjoyment of things.

See, I’m a fandom old. My fandom existence predates the existence of tumblr by a decade. And we have a saying: YKINMKATO - or your kink is not my kink and that’s okay.

Or to phrase it another way:

“It’s just not for me” - Jocelyn Schitt

See, things can be something you dislike and other people really like. Or vice versa! You may love something and someone else thinks it’s the worst! This does not make either of you wrong or bad, and I think that the wish to ascribe value judgement to someone’s enjoyment or dislike of a show is one of the worst things about modern fandom.

So you don’t enjoy My Stubborn? That’s great. It’s just not for you. And it being for someone else, it’s FOR them.

I’m also a BL fan that says: there’s so much cake why not eat it all?

Currently I’m watching: The Ex Morning, Pit Babe 2, My Sweetheart Jom, The Next Prince, Boys in Love, My Stubborn and Reset (and back watching Until We Meet Again) and I enjoy them all for different reasons. They all bring something different to the table! And I am sure if I polled the greater BL fandom there would be a very diverse selection for favorite show currently airing (there’s stuff airing right now that I’m not watching, which may be someone else’s current favorite thing airing.) If you did it out of BLs of all time! Even wider! And that doesn’t make anyone’s opinions invalid.

Tattoo is impulsive. He’s a talented engineer, but all of his decisions when it comes to stealing the necklace and getting out and betraying his friends is based on the opportunity presenting itself. He’s shaken after Hope threatens his mother next. It’s clear she’s the most important person in his world, even if they don’t fully understand each other. His decisions are very much of the moment and focused on getting his mom out (and Hoy if Hoy will go). He’s fine with doing a bad thing to get out because it’s the only way to survive.

Jack on the other hand is lawful and rational. He will try every avenue to get out which is why Boss has to hem him in and out smart him (and he has help). Boss knows Jack won’t go outside the bounds of his own morality to solve a problem but if you can make him worried enough about others, you can bend him within those bounds. When he feels he has no other choice of how to solve the problem of getting money but to rejoin Boss Jack does. Yes, Joke would help him in a heartbeat, and tried going to his dad. But Jack would never ask or let Joke go back to stealing. It would break the promise Jack asked for and break his own moral code that Jack tries to live within while Boss lives in a world with no codes. And it’s why every threat made to Grandma and Joke pushes him to decide to do what he can to protect them and distance them from his own danger.

Which then leads us to Save, who is cold and calculated, and the only objective he has is saving Hope. The moment Save found hope bloodied and unconscious in the floor of his house, he decided he would do whatever is necessary to save him. Now it’s clear he regrets these choices and that they’re done with a heavy heart, but Save’s world is Hope no matter how much he pretends otherwise. Joke is an interloper who has upset the status quo of their neighborhood and has lead to Hope being nearly beaten to death. It’s personal and not personal all at the same time because it’s only about Hope and saving him.

And then it’s interesting how some of these defining characteristics are mirrored in their current/potential partners, in terms of their goals and how they operate.

In the same way Tattoo is focused on his mother and saving her, Aran’s focus for the first half is getting back the necklace, a major connection to his mother. For all of his ego and spoiled behavior, Aran is looking for the love and respect of his family. It’s his father taking away the necklace and nearly killing hope that sends Aran out of the house. And it’s altering the path of things.

While Joke’s thieving does not fall within Jack’s lawful stance, he’s also driven by a morality that dictates his actions. Joke has always had very specific criteria for who he steals from and what he steals. It’s his disdain for the wealthy and the elite that drove the majority of his jobs. He was angry with Tattoo for both the impulse stealing of Aran’s mom’s necklace and going to the black market pawn shop that has long profited off of stolen goods and misery. Going about it differently, Joke aligns with Jack in this way and it’s why he’s so angry that Jack goes back to Boss, because he sees Jack rejoining a man who stands for everything they hate.

And then Hope mirrors Save in that I’m pretty sure Save is his whole world. He’s built his life around being strong enough and big enough to fight anyone that dares to hurt Save. Hope then turned that into his job for Boss. I have so many questions about what of Hope’s Boss has on him. Mostly because Hope openly said in ep 2 if he was guarding his collateral he would take it and be out of there so fast. He was certain that Jack stole the ring because it is exactly what Hope has done. He’s talked about running away with Save multiple times. Hope enjoys beating people up, yes, but it’s what he’s good at. It’s the thing he thinks makes him valuable, to Save first and then to Boss. He doesn’t mind getting the shit kicked out of him either, as long as Save is okay.

I know we all thought Yak was going to be the one who knew he fell first, because he’s in so deep, but after Ep 4, I’m not so sure.

One, Dee has Plakao to be his voice of reason and is already admitting to Kao that he’s jealous of Yak’s crush and Kao is making observations like this.

Conversely, when confronted by Cher about his feelings for Dee through the evidence of giving away his prized name necklace and effectively claiming Dee, Yak denies it by saying that Cher already knows who Yak has feelings for and when pushed says this:

Which, the phrasing of “I’m not someone who changes his mind easily.” Is a really interesting denial. Because he’s affirming his commitment to his feelings for Taem. That just because he has Dee and they’re close doesn’t mean he’s going to change his mind or his feelings.

And it got me thinking of some other bits of nuggets we got about the Phadetseuk family.

His mom opened the gym and when asked about his parents Yak makes the saddest faces.

We now know thanks to the cold shower that was this week’s cold open that their mother died. But that leaves us with the question of where is their dad. Because my sweetest boys were alone at the hospital.

And their dad wasn’t there. Now maybe something happened to their dad, but there is an actor listed for Yei and Yak’s father and step mother.

Which made me speculate that perhaps there’s a reason that Yak is committed to not changing his feelings for Taem. Perhaps his determination to not be a person who changes his mind easily is tied to their father leaving their mother for their step-mother. And the concept of being like his father, someone whose feelings change easily, and can leave someone they care for, is not something Yak would want.

And I wonder, if this is true (and I could be wrong) how long Yak will hold on to his feelings for Taem even though she does not return them and how committed he will be to becoming a different person so that she might like him when Dee likes him exactly as he is.

Definitely curious if part of his feelings for Taem are tied to her helping him study and how his mom sat and encouraged him. Dee filled a bit of that function this week and it was a beautiful parallel but Taem has been doing it longer.

And don’t get me wrong, Dee is gonna have his own issues. He’s a hopeless romantic who definitely is not always the most reliable narrator, but he’s coming around. Still waiting to learn more about his parents car accident and how that’s left him desperately wanting someone to care for him.

Or the meta I didn’t intend to write.

It’s taken 9 eps (of me admittedly watching We Are through gifs and clips on Twitter, because I have yet to pay for iQIYI and I am bad at grey watching) but I think I have figured out the central conflict/plot of We Are and why the mostly linear narrative of Phum and Peem with the in media res relationships of our other three pairings made this impossible to fully tease out until we got all the pieces.

The through line that connects all of these stories about how incredibly hard it can be to be part of a queer friend group when the lines of friendship and romance blur, especially when there’s a real aspect of found family to that group.

Two things really cemented it for me this week: Tan telling the gang (and therefore the audience) the full scope of his background with Fang, as well as the beginning of Phuwin’s IG live where he talks about why he likes Kluen as a character is that he’s very direct with people he likes and isn’t blurring the lines between friends and possibly fucking up the friendship.

Because that’s the central problem that all four main couples of the show grapple with in different ways. I’m gonna get into all of that under the cut.

If I am to trust Google translate and reformat for Thai to English grammar, why are you asking me if I have prepared tissues for my assassins romcom tomorrow?!

It’s Ep 3, THK?!

Just because it’s a story about three gaslight girl bosses that all think they’re winning the individual games that they’re playing. Meanwhile they’re building card houses out of their lies and will all end up playing themselves in the end.

And one gatekeep morally motivated assassin who hates people (justifably) and loves playing with knives who would be justified in a stabbing the aforementioned gaslight girl bosses.

I mean does it matter that Khun Mae has been sending these young men out to do her extrajudicial bidding.

Or that he’s being blackmailed to get close to these assassins to stay out of jail and take care of his brother.

Or that Style is mostly flying blind in what he’s gotten himself into for the love of cars.

I definitely don’t have to be worried about @respectthepetty pointing out that there will be a beautiful recreation of a favorite Kat plot point in this episode where Style might realize that Fadel is more than just a bad attitude and find the depth of his trauma.

Why would I have to cry?! And in ep 3?!

The reason I engaged with both of your asks is the following:

1. I am 100% certain that both of your experiences with the fandom on Twitter are real. People’s experience of fandom is largely driven by what they engage with and what they block or ignore. If one of you is gathering evidence all of the hate and one of you is blocking the hate and actively working to tune it out, then yeah…you’re going to have a different experience.

2. Harassment and targeting of actors is never okay and some fans (of any fandom) will do so, even as fans, because they want a specific behavior and they don’t think about the person as a person. I will talk about this every chance I get. It’s never okay, even if it is only a few people.

3. Some fans will take everything said or done in a light most harmful to their bias, even if that’s not true. There is a level of infantilization and a need to protect that CAN cross the line. It IS something to keep an eye on. The calls by a few Santa fans to remove Joong and Aou from JASP.er over the fans’ (not Santa’s)?perceived slights is a prime example of this.

I’m not saying either of these things are true of either of you, or the people you talk to, but it is an overall pattern that we should be talking about. I also don’t think fandom is cooked as a whole. I just don’t. Maybe that is because I have been fandoming for a very long time and these things have always been happening. Maybe because I separate behaviors from people. Engaging in a bad behavior does not, generally, make you a bad person wholesale. People can change their behavior.

Joong, himself, has made significant comments on his own and in interviews on both above behaviors.

That being said:

I am not litigating a ship/anti ship mentality. Or how much there was or wasn’t happening on Twitter. That was never the point of either of those posts for me. The point was to talk about the issues above.

If you would both like to post your own feelings about: Joong, JoongDunk, some of the fan behavior that bothers you, ship/anti ship, the trending over Joong at PFW and what was and was not included, off anon, on your own blogs: be my guest. Me continuing to post responses on this is only going to spiral into more things from there, and it’s beginning to feel like you’re sticking in arguments for each other that have nothing to do with what I have said.