#manner of death ep 12

[absolutebl]

This Week in BL - The Industry is Having Issues But the Spice Spicy Must Flow

Organized, in each category, with ones I'm enjoying most at the top.

March 2024 Wk 4

Ongoing Series - Thai

Two Worlds (Thurs IQIYI) eps 1-2 of 10 - One of those "he's dead Jim so time travel" thingames starring MaxNat. I'm over this concept but I do enjoy MaxNat. Phupha (Gun) and Khram (Nat) love each other but Phupha is murdered. Then Khram is pulled to a parallel world where, years ago, Khram and Tai (Max) were in love. However, Khram was killed by Tai’s dad. Now Tai finds alter-Khram. But then there is ALSO an alter-Phupha to deal with. (Phupha is played by Gun Thanawat who was Khom, the repressed butler bodyguard from Unforgotten Night. We like this, but we scared of the love triangle aspect.) Did that make sense? Yeah, okay, see what I mean?

Initial thoughts?

The subs are troubling but I’m enjoying this show a lot. It’s nice to see MaxNat get something meaty to sink their teeth into - that’s not just each other. Also it’s so smart of them to give us a fully fleshed out entire episode developing the alter romance rather than just a separation + death. It makes Khram’s grief and motivation that much more believable. Also it’s really nice to see Nat have good chemistry with other actors. 

Deep Night (Thurs iQiyi) ep 3 of 8 (10?) - I'm still enjoying it. But Two Worlds is objectively better. So this one has lost ranking. Also, unexpectedly chili (the name of my heavy metal Thai cover band).

Lovey switchy and verse main couple too.

This is all quite pleasing.

The bit where the hosts pretend to be a BL couple actor ship was epic on so many levels.

Also unsettling.

All sex work is performative, and in a way there is something more honest about this depiction, in this setting, than what BL actors are made to do on the promo circuit. Which then begs the question, how different is BL from sex work? That's the unsettling bit, for me anyway. Not to slam on sex work AT ALL, we pro-the-true-pros on this damn blog, but actors have been shaded by association with True Professionals for a very long time and BL has already had one epic shut down in this regard. (See the PerthSaint scandal around Love By Chance, no I will not explain.) Where was I? Oh yes, so anyway, see the Gossip section for the part where they better be paid either way!

Also, since I'm a warped fucker, I found this scene funny.

And then hilarious when all of those BL tropes were just trotted out. Like a greatest hits reel.

Truly beyond meta. (How Absolute BL of them.)

Note he’s even standing in yaoi's patented "hands in pocket with the shoulders back"? 

Meanwhile, the gayest bridge in Thailand made its quarterly appearance:

And lip serviced was paid to the most touristy romantic things you can do in Bangkok.

And I mean lip service literally. 

To Be Continued (Thai C3 Thailand grey) ep 5 of 8 - I’m still enjoying it but getting more and more nervous. We getting too close to Promise territory for comfort. EXPLAIN Ji’s reticence well and do it now or risk audience mistrust. We have to be given a GOOD reason for Ji's behavior, or he'll be irredeemable.

City of Stars (Fri iQIYI) ep 8 of 12 - NO SINGING. Yes smiley kisses and good communication and a nice healthy relationship. But no singing!

1000 Years Old ep 6 of 12 - Dropping in the ranks. I’m sorry it’s just gotten boring. It has, however, inspired me to invest in my own ridiculous cream fuzzy sweater. Which I plan to wear with leather trousers and huge stumpy boots, like the Kpop queer I truly am. Or do I mean vampire? 

Kiseki Chapter 2 (Sun iQIYI) ep 1 of 6 - Seems to be an excuse for a small posse of Thai actors to wander around Tokyo playing tourist and sing in public . Someone stop them?

“Most people think this kind of thing is bad manners .”

Anyway, it’s v boring. I’ll give it one more ep but I suspect I’ll DNF.

Close Friend Season 3: Soju Bomb! (Weds iQIYI) eps 1-2 of 6 - Meh. This is also looking suspiciously DNF-a-licious.  

Ongoing Series - Not Thai

Unknown (Taiwan Tues Youku YouTube & Viki) ep 5 of 11 - It's brilliant. I love it. I'm ready to hurt. Let’s do this thing. 

Distribution note: This one has been picked up and is also airing on Viki now, so it may lose YT distribution in soem territories. I like Youku's hard subs better than Viki's subs, but that's a matter of preference not information since I don't speak Mandarin.

Love is Better the Second Time Around AKA Koi wo Suru nara Nidome ga Joto (Japan Weds Gaga) ep 3 of 6 - It is good. Every week I like this show a little more. I'm enjoying a reunion romance explored in Japan's quintessentially contemplative yet slightly surreal way. The juxtaposition of the tenderness of the sex scene with this Japanese brand of authenticity was oddly elegant - for lack of a better way of putting it. All in all, this is a good show. Thought provoking. Stylish.

AntiReset (Taiwan Fri Viki/Gaga) ep 9 of 10 - It remains lovely but they sure are reusing a lot of footage. Also, this was a classic penultimate doom episode. I do wonder how they are going to resolve this show ethically.

My Strawberry Film (Japan Thurs Gaga) ep 6 of 8 - It is what it is, and it isn’t my style of show no matter what country of origin. Oddly that's one of the reasons I don't like it. Anyone could have made this, it's not as Japanese as I want it to be, it's just indie film club high school angst. Yawn.

I watched it, finally

The Servant and the Young Master (Vietnam YouTube) 7 eps - I dislike vertical filming, but I kind of enjoyed this show as a BL. I like class conflict romances. For me the rich kid is a bit too dictatorial (edges into bulling), but it’s kinda works. It’s sparse and underdeveloped and a bit plotless, but mildly entertaining. If you're missing Vietnamese BL you might give it a try. 6/10 

Began Beginning (Myanmar YouTube) 8eps - A Burmese BL that I had thoughts about but actually ended up recommending. Read the saga here:

It's done, ready to binge, but I suck

What Did You Eat Yesterday Season 2 AKA Kinou Nani Tabeta? Season 2 (Japan Gaga) 10 eps

It's airing but...

Graduation Countdown (Taiwan YouTube) ep 1 of ? - on one hand it's micro-installment vertical, on the other it's adorable and from Taiwan. I blame @heretherebedork entirely for my conundrum. As indeed, I did for My Type back in the day. (That was Nat Chen's first BL, yes of Kiseki: Dear To Me fame.) So I think I will also simply lean on Here to let me know when it's done and binge all at once. It's just too much to ask me to keep up with 2 minute pieces, I don't have that kind of endurance training, not even for BL.

Time the series (Tue Gaga/YT) 10 eps - it's finished now, I dropped it at ep 4. Should I bother?

A Secretly Love (Thai Sat WeTV grey) 10 eps - I watched the first ep but grey is too much work for this inferior of a show. I may pick up and binge if it gets distribution but for now, it gets a DNF from me. KimCop might have held this crap together but Kim without Cop? No thank you.

Lady Boy Friends (Thai WeTV grey) 16 eps - reminds me a bit too much of Diary of Tootsies only high school. Not my thing. DNF unless it turns a corner and is truly amazing for some reason.

Man Suang that MileApo vehicle from last year is coming to Netflix in the USA. I haven't heard much about it and since the KP stans would have lost their tiny minds if it was any good at all, I'm assuming it's not good at all.

Gossip

Thai BL actor Yoon breaks with his former company and talks about some very very VERY shady goings on in the Thai BL industry. Including not being paid.

And whacha know, same thing happening in Korean BL.

Have I mentioned recently how much I hate the film industry?

Next Week Looks Like This:

Starting Soon

3/31 Only Boo! (Thai GMMTV YouTube) 12 eps - New main couple for GMMTV in an idol romance about a boy who dances good and a food stand vendor. Other side of the tracks grumpy/sunshine pair who fall deeply in love but, of course, baby boy idol can't date. Boyband but from GMMTV? Control your singing and I'm game.

4/1 Love is like a Cat (Korea ????) 12 eps - This completed filming Aug 2022(!) which means there have been serious problems with post-production. This is another of Silkwood's Korean+Thai colab projects. Mew Suppasit plays a rookie film star, called the Cat Prince (for his cold arrogance) who goes up against a charismatic puppyish animal daycare director (JM of JUST B). There is also a side romance (love triangle?) with a veterinarian. Geonu of JUST B is also in the cast.

I wonder if this was part of the hold up, with Geonu on Build Up right now, they might have tried to muffle this one. Or maybe it's just that bad...

4/3 We Are (Thai GMMTV YouTube) 12 eps - University ensemble BL featuring PondPhuwin, WinnySatang, AouBoom, MarcPawinPoon - basically the good kind of messy gay friendship group (so more My Engineer and less Only Friends). Looks a bit like the Kiss series but everyone is queer. I'm IN!

Knock-Knock Boys (Thai WeTV?) - 4 college friends conspire to help their friend lose his virginity. Familiar faces like Seng (yes, Billy's previous partner), Best and frest face, news here.

Upcoming BLs for 2024 are listed here. This list is not kept updated, so please leave a comment if you know something new or RP with additions.

NOTE: It looks like one of my personal favorites of last year Unintentional Love Story is getting a spin off!

THIS WEEK’S BEST MOMENTS

Without ghost girl.

With ghost girl.

I think she may be my favorite part of 1000 Years.

CLASSIC tsundere seme description of a sunshine uke. Like classic'est of classic. (Two Worlds)

Is there such a thing as a tired trope in a BL? Since it is a genre that is made up entirely of tropes quilted together? Your philosophical question for today brought to you by Deep Night's kabedon (Japanese trope) + punishment threat (Thai trope).

Love me a lap sit moment. (City of Stars)

(Last week)

Streaming services are listed by how I (usually) watch, which is with a USA based IP, and often offset by a day because time zones are too much work.

The tag BLigade: @doorajar @solitaryandwandering @my-rose-tinted-glasses @babymbbatinygirl @babymbbatinygirl @isisanna-blog @mmastertheone

If ya wanna be tagged each week leave a comment and I will add you to the template. Easy peesy.

#this week in bl #bl updates #The Servant and the Young Master #The Servant and the Young Master reviewed #Vietnamese BL #Two Worlds the series #To Be Continued the series #City of Stars #Unknown the series #Love is Better the Second Time Around #Koi wo Suru nara Nidome ga Joto #AntiReset #1000 Years Old #Deep Night the series #bl series review #upcoming bl #bl news #bl reviews #thai bl #japanese bl #taiwanese bl #koren BL #BL gossip #BL updates #BL starting soon

[spicyvampire]

Being horny for your man while hiding from cops/getting shot at aka the worse possible time for that is mandatory [5/5]

MANNER OF DEATH (2020) EP.12

KINNPORSCHE (2022) EP.14

#manner of death #kinnporsche #asianlgbtqdramas #maxtul #mileapo #tanbunn #kinnporsche the series #tonanons #tolunalina #uservik #userjap #usertaeminie #tansedits #lels:mod #lels:modkp #edits:kp #edits:mod #usermor #it's like bunn and porsche have to constantly hold tan and kinn away from their pants by the neck #like holding a kitten away from human food or something

[chalkrevelations]

Mm. About 2/3 of the way through the first part of Ep 12 of Last Twilight, and I have yet to encounter anything that makes me happy about a prospective MorkDay HEA. What's the bait-and-switch you're going to pull on me, like the ~surprise~ that Pat and Pran never actually broke up, Aof? Because if there's not one, you're going to have to work really fast, at this point, to make me not want Mork closing that car door in Day's face to be the last interaction they ever actually have.

Particularly as you only have 20-30 minutes to also deal with Mork's issues over his sister's death in any kind of satisfactory manner at all.

Is it possible for Day to do any of the emotional labor in this relationship? At all? (Not to mention that we clearly are never going to deal with the fact that the car accident was not Night's "fault." I suppose if we never take Day's culpability in the literal car accident into account, it'll at least match the complete failure to recognize the way he figuratively mowed down Mork that we seem to be heading toward.)

I cannot believe I'm going to have to watch the slow unspooling of this show into an unearned ending only a few months after watching the slow unspooling of Only Friends into a trashfire of multiple unearned endings. I'm almost afraid to go back and watch the rest.

ETA: Also, lol at everyone who's spent previous eps indignant on Day's behalf that Ramon was always traveling so much instead of being Super-Supportive Stay-Home Mom. Apparently, she can't even make it to Night's wedding, so the fact that she cooked Day a birthday dinner at all apparently cements his Favored Child status.

ETA2: Yeah. Probably a good thing they put Porjai and Night in the preview for part 2, or I might actually be done with this, at this point.

#you need to love yourself more mork #day danainat #mork methas #last twilight #last twilight the series #>: ( #<- me right now #do not think that because i've watched jimmy and sea have some adorable moments #that my primary emotional stake does not continue to be jimmy and his characters #AOF

[supanuts]

Thank you for not only humoring me but also responding to my angry rants in a measured and thoughtful manner! It's post ep-12 now and tbh I've managed to eliminate most of the full-on Way hate from my feed via judicial use of the blocking tool! Which means I can't tell if the small swell of sympathy I've seen since the most recent ep is because, by using Pete as a conduit, the show is inviting us (and Babe) to, if not outright forgive, at least acknowledge the coercion and abuse that has informed Way's actions, or if general opinion has not in fact changed, but my extensive blocking has merely succeeded in shutting out the angry mob!

It is curious, though, the complete disconnect some ppl seem to be experiencing vis a vis what the show itself - not just us crazy apologists! - is trying to tell us about Way and his motivations and psychology, vs the funhouse mirror version they see: a toxic incel who can only be redeemed by death. And yes, the hypocrisy of those who write essays pleading for Kenta's salvation whilst simultaneously wishing the worst for Way...I don't get it. Well, actually I do have some thoughts as to why.

I think some ppl can't see past - and will never be able to, and I won't judge them for that - the attempted sexual assault, but, more than that, they haven't contextualised it (ugh I know how that sounds but bear with me!). They still see it in terms of Way trying to rape Babe cos he thinks his ten years of pining mean he's entitled to him. They still see his actions as motivated primarily by a twisted version of possession and obsession masquerading as unrequited love. And if that was the case I would be right there with them, baying for blood! But for reasons both of us have discussed in length already, I see it very differently (and I'm fairly confident this is also how the show intends us to see it): I see someone who has been manipulated, abused and groomed for years, who is being held at metaphorical gunpoint, feeling he has no choice but to do this abhorrent thing because otherwise everyone he loves will suffer an even worse fate (insert usual disclaimer here about how this doesn't excuse or justify said actions). We've talked about how Way had TEN YEARS to use his power to assault Babe should he want to, and yet it's only when the walls are closing in, Tony's piling on the pressure, and Way's true identity has been revealed that he finally feels there's no going back and now he has no other choice but to go through with it. I do think maybe the show hasn't been explicit enough in spelling out that this was Tony's plan for Way the whole time - not sure if it's a subs thing, or an attempt not to lean too heavily into the mpreg thing, but they could have been clearer about that (I will be forever bitter that out of all of Tony's 'kids', we didn't get flashbacks of Way's background or his time as a child in Tony's house. I get why, to keep the reveal as a surprise, Way was kept as a bit of a mystery up to that point, but now it's out in the open it would be really useful and illuminating to see how he came to be there, how Tony planted the seed in his mind, how he met Babe, if he'd ever met any of the others, etc. I think show dropped the ball in general a tad after the big reveal - Way's screentime was reduced to drunkenly moping around in bars, which doesn't necessarily engender much sympathy! We could have had more about the meds, seen more of the real life ramifications for him if he's no longer of any use to Tony, etc.).

Other reasons I think ppl are quicker to forgive Kenta than Way: Kenta's abuse and subjugation have been shown much more regularly and explicitly - Way appears to be out and about living life freely, has his own place, his own income, his own friendship group, etc. whereas Kenta is more literally trapped/constrained/manhandled. And although we were told by Tony himself that Way is still effectively a prisoner, it's the ol' show vs tell thing again - that's still nowhere near as powerful as seeing Kenta's very continual and visual degredation. I also don't think it helps that the one scene where we are both told and shown the truth about Way's situation and his treatment at Tony's hands comes immediately after the attempted assault, when most viewers, understandably, aren't exactly in the mood to feel sorry for him!

I also think another possible explanation is that Way's actions specifically hurt Babe, our main POV character, and in a very personal way, whereas Kenta's actions a) had a more indirect impact (well, the trafficked children might disagree but they're only hypothetical so we don't really care about them as much!) and b) weren't personal - he didn't betray anyone's trust or friendship or love - so viewers find it easier to accept mitigating factors.

At the end of the day, I mostly just feel sorry for those viewers who either can't see past their own bias (obviously does not include anyone who for personal reasons may have been triggered)/admit they were wrong, or who lack the necessary media literacy to fully engage with the characterisation the show is offering us (hahahah says the self-proclaimed hater of all things Charlie/Babe!!!), since it's an infinitely more interesting and powerful and tragic story if you see Way, and Way's relationship with Babe, through open, receptive and, most importantly, sympathetic eyes.

my pleasure! i'm happy i have someone to talk with way about; the friends i usually theorise and cry about blorbos with are still way behind so i can't tell them anything bc i don't want to spoil them, and i've been venting to another friend (more like talking her ear off) but she's not watching or really interested so it's not really the same even when she has something to say lol

and yeah, at the end of the day we're responsible for curating our fandom experience, inasmuch as people don't tag hate etc. i haven't blocked anyone bc for some reason i feel bad blocking people which i know is stupid (edit: never fucking mind i am blocking now), but i do follow very selectively bc i get easily overwhelmed by my dash, so everything i've seen was either in the tag or by people i no longer follow. this means i have wonderful moots who provide me with plenty of blorbo feels and are not assholes about other characters <3 (fun? fact: my top blorbos are literally way > kenta > pete which is i think i'm no too bothered by the shipping side of things? as in it's not affecting me as it does sometimes the fact that some people are looking at all of this solely through their shipping goggles or whatever... but idk. i don't deal well with hate generally and after some thought i think that's what's bothering me about the whole way situation, bc the character/media you're hating on won't know bc it doesn't exists but their fans will.)

i totally agree, the fact we saw that scene with tony (even if it's clear how terrified way is in his presence earlier) right after the attempted SA didn't help. i wish we'd seen more of his past, maybe a flashback when he was at the bar… because as you said, once again the not showing/telling/letting people infer things isn't helping. specially when people aren't interested in the first place. idk i just like to understand characters independently of if i like them or not so this is! baffling to me! and yeah exactly, the fact that it was personal to babe plays a big part too, never mind how babe himself feels about way since we're already sympathising with him as our main character so…

as my friend (the one that isn't watching but is patting my back in these difficult times) tells me, sometimes people just let their prestablished idea of a character blind them to what the story is telling them. and honestly, their loss. skill issue if you ask me /j

anyway, the ep is about to start. let's hold hands.

#asks #anon #way anon #pit babe #pit babe the series

[bunnakit]

15 people 15 questions

thank you so much for the tag @writerwithoutsound and @callipigio !

1. are you named after anyone?

my government name? no, my mom just likes unisex names like taylor. my chosen name? yeah, oat the cute lil guy in manner of death lmao

2. when was the last time you cried?

i think 2 days ago when i was watching a reaction video to ep 3 of the last of us

3. do you have kids?

no thank you (:

4. what sports do you play/have you played?

i did swimming competitions when i was a kid, thats about it

5. do you use sarcasm?

constantly

6. what’s the first thing you notice about people?

their vibes

7. what’s your eye color?

brown

8. scary movies or happy endings?

happy ending, i can't watch many scary movies because am baby

9. any talents?

zero (: i feel like someone will come for me if i don't answer this honestly so i guess writing? and maybe art?

10. where were you born?

ive never left the state i was born in

11. what are your hobbies

writing, watching BL obviously, video games, reading

12. do you have any pets?

4 cats 1 dog 1 ferret

13. how tall are you?

5'2" or 157cm (sorry to anyone that thought i had tall energy, this is a common misconception)

14. favorite subject in school?

art and english, i took every single art class ever offered to me

15. dream job

i don't dream of labor but if i had to i'd pick the job i'm currently at

i'm way too lazy to tag a full 15 people im sorry but here are some no pressure tags and if you've already been tagged ignore me: @timetoboldlygo @sparklyeyedhimbo @aikinn @kinnbig @porschesbabydaddy @first-kanaphan @clairedaring

#tag game #about me

[gillianthecat]

Reverse Engineering the Best Kiss 💋 Bracket Seeding

I am very impressed by how accurate the BL brackets organizer's seeding has been so far! I reverse engineered the two seeded brackets ('cause i'm a procrastinating dork), and in both the first seed won, the semifinals was between 1 and 2, and the bottom 16 lost in the first round. Otherwise it wasn't perfect (because that would be no fun) but it was pretty close!

I was inspired by their answer to this ask about how they did the seeding, and extrapolated the order from these brackets.

Below the cut is the seeding for Best Kiss, so you can see what it looks like! (Assuming I ordered them correctly!) The Gender Envy seeding (as reverse engineered by me) is in this post.

(@bl-bracket I can delete these posts if they ruin the magic of it all.)

Of the 64 candidates, 10 did better than expected and 10 did worse, so 69% of candidates performed exactly as predicted by their position, and in 84% of match-ups the higher seed won.

The final 4 were the top 4 seeds, the semifinalists the top 2, the winner, 1st seed. The top 16 seeds almost exactly matched the final 16; Hojoon & Jaeyoon (Roommates) snuck up in there from 18th seed, and 15th seed Sky & Prapai (LITA) fell in the 2nd round instead of the 3rd. The bottom 16 all went out in the first round. The biggest shakeup was because of 7 of the candidates in the 2nd quartile who in the 1st round defeated 7 slightly higher seeded candidates in the 3rd quartile. The biggest upset was 48th seed Shi De & Shu Yi’s drunk kiss (We Best Love 2) winning over 17th seed Seojoon & Jiwoo kiss on the dirt road (To My Star 2), overcoming a difference of 31 positions.

purple = lost in 1st round. blue = lost in 2nd round. green = lost in 3rd round. orange = lost in 4th round. red = lost in semi-finals. pink= lost in finals. 👑=winner. 🔼= beat a higher seeded opponent. 🔽=lost to a lower seeded opponent. (No candidates made it more than 1 round against a higher seed.) * = my submissions.

Best Kiss Bracket Seed Order

1. 👑Pat & Pran - 1st kiss (Bad Buddy) * 👑 2. Kinn & Porsche - goodbye kiss (Kinnporsche)

🟥🟥🟥 semifinals loss predicted 🟥🟥🟥

3. Jaeyoung & Sangwoo – ep 7 (bar) kiss (Semantic Error) * 4. Nozue & Togawa - 1st kiss (Old Fashion Cupcake) *

🟧🟧🟧 4th round loss predicted 🟧🟧🟧

5. Sean & White - 1st kiss (Not Me) * 6. Akk & Ayan - dream kiss (The Eclipse) 7. 🔽Gao Shi De & Zhou Shu Yi - bridge kiss (We Best Love 1) * 8. 🔽Akk & Ayan - underwater kiss (The Eclipse) *

🟩🟩🟩 3rd round loss predicted 🟩🟩🟩

9. 🔼Vegas & Pete - hospital kiss (Kinnporsche) 10. 🔼Vegas & Pete - 1st kiss (Kinnporsche) * 11. Neo & Shin & Mew - beach kiss (3 Will Be Free) 12. Hira & Kiyoi - final kiss (My Beautiful Man 2) 13. Kinn & Porsche - 1st kiss (Kinnporsche) 14. Tan & Bun - couch kiss (Manner of Death) 15. 🔽Sky & Prapai - final kiss (Love In The Air) 16. Tinn & Gunn - 1st kiss (My School President)

🟦🟦🟦 2nd round loss predicted 🟦🟦🟦

17. 🔽Seojoon & Jiwoo ep 4 kiss (in the dirt) (To My Star 2) * 18. 🔼Hojoon & Jaeyoon final kiss (Roommates of Poongduck 304) 19. 🔽Milk & Uncle - final kiss (Choco Milk Shake) * 20. Pat & Pran - ep 7 kiss (Bad Buddy) 21. Teh & Oh Aew - underwater kiss (I Told Sunset About You) 22. 🔽Lian & Kuea - Siam Paragon kiss (Cutie Pie) 23. Payu & Rain - victory kiss (Love In The Air) 24. 🔽Kan & Thua - asleep kiss (The Eclipse) 25. 🔽Daun & Siwon - 1st kiss (Blueming) * 26. Vee & Mark - ep 3 rain kiss (Love Mechanics) 27. Tinn & Gun - park kiss (My School President) 28. Sound & Win - 1st kiss (My School President) 29. Palm & Nueng - ep 9 kiss (Never Let Me Go) 30. 🔽Seojoon & Jiwoo final kiss (To My Star 2) 31. 🔽Nuea & Toh - ep 7 kiss (Secret Crush On You) 32. Jaewon & Jihyun - ep 9 kiss (The Eighth Sense)

🟪🟪🟪 1st round loss predicted 🟪🟪🟪

33. Gavreel & Cairo - 1st kiss (Gameboys) 34. 🔼Tin & Tol - bed kiss (Triage) 35. 🔼Pluem & Kevin - 1st kiss (Ghost Host Ghost House) 36. Korn & Intouch - stolen kiss (Until We Meet Again) 37. Dean & Pharm - 1st kiss (Until We Meet Again) 38. Khai & Third - 1st kiss (Theory of Love) 39. Arthit & Kongpob - ep 14 kiss (SOTUS) 40. 🔼Phupa & Tian - forehead kiss (A Tale of 1000 Stars) 41. 🔼Sean & White - final kiss (Not Me) 42. Yi & Kon Diao - sofa kiss (Cutie Pie) 43. 🔼Win & Team - be brave kiss (Between Us) 44. Gu Hai & Bai Luo Yin drunk kiss (Addicted) 45. Ram & King tent kiss (My Engineer) 46. 🔼Payu & Rain ep 5 kiss (Love In The Air) 47. Zi Xuan & Yu Hao net kiss (History 2: Crossing the Line) 48. 🔼Gao Shi De & Zhou Shu Yi drunk kiss (We Best Love 2)

49. Hira & Kiyoi hand kiss (My Beautiful Man 1) 50. Da-un & Si-won dream kiss (Blueming) 51. Mark & Vee shower kiss (Love Mechanics) * 52. King & Uea morning kiss (Bed Friend) 53. Puen & Talay - forehead kiss (Vice Versa) 54. Sound & Win - forehead kiss (My School President) 55. Palm & Nueng - beach kiss (Never Let Me Go) 56. Wan & Gi Tae - first kiss (Our Dating Sim) 57. Tin & Tol - final kiss (Triage) 58. Cher & Gun - ep 10 kiss (A Boss And A Babe) 59. Seryou & Yuzuru - bedroom kiss (Seven Days) * 60. Guang Ye & Xu Qi Zhang - 1st kiss (About Youth) * 61. Ai & Nhai - cheek kiss (Ai Long Nhai) 62. Bai Lang & Jin Xuan - 1st kiss (My Tooth Your Love) 63. Tongfah & Paper - ep 3 kiss (Second Chance: the Series) 64. Koichi & Mitsuru - bed kiss (Eternal Yesterday) *

#expand for pretty colors 🌈 #best kiss bracket #in my data nerd era #bl brackets #reverse engineering the seeding #please correct my math (or anything else)​ if I got it wrong! #ql lists

[silviakundera]

Manner of Death rewatch

Ep 8

the girls are FIGHTING

Ok so it WAS Pued's direction to terrorize Bun.

Brother vs brother showdown

Bun outside of Tan's supervision for less than 12 hours and already hospitalized smh

Maybe the brothers' idiot plan had merits? Tan very much regretting his lack of dedication in stalking.

This is definitely where he vows to handcuff the motherfucker next time

Bun, definitely done with this sketchy man: leave my house 😤😤 or I'll call the police 😤😤

Tan, giving puppy dog eyes

(record scratch) (scene cut to them both on the couch as Tan is sliding into sultry face again)

Tan: my brother wants me to bring you over to chat 👁👄👁 trust me?

Bun: ...ok but first link up our phones so the stalking is mutual

godDAMN that man's rizz

Ep 9

The Tan frame up episode! Best way for Bun to forgive our fav lying liar who lies a lot is to put him in peril. 👍

That and Nam are kidnapped too. For... Reasons? idk there's really no justification not to bury them out in the forest. Every villian in this drama is competing in the loser Olympics. Doesn't help that none of them are talented actors.

A crowd of dudes being brought in to beat the hell out of Tan while a cop watches from outside the cell. Mortal peril ✔

Now we're back to desperate handholding.

Tan should have gotten himself stomped 4 episodes ago.

They get back home and immediately Bun cuddles into his side, being all cute, and Tan looks confused but pleased and I know the feeling bro.

The big action scene ensues, so that the narrative can propel them to a love nest.

Sir Tan I'm Incapable of Not Manipulating My Man For a 12 Hour Stretch then sweet talks, towel dries, and lures Bun over to the stairs with a hot make out session. Great job, Bun! Now you're hand-cuffed to the banister. This is why we don't put up bail for hot mob enforcers and join them on the run from assassins, to their secret hideaway. At least make it YOUR secret hideaway. god.

I gotta do everything around here.

ep 10

It's flashback time! In which we learn Tan is way less willing to kill innocent people than big brother Por. And he and his brother Pued really did love each other. Tragic and stuff.

More importantly, Tan joins Bun in the shower and it's all artistic and tender and probably the #2 thing everyone remembers about this episode.

#1 being their fake double murder at the end.

#manner of death #drama watching

[save-the-data]

triage | s01e13: end

Thai Drama - 2022, 13 Episodes 54/100 Drama Completed in 2022

EP 1 : 2 : 3 : 4 : 5 : 6 : 7 : 8 : 9 : 10 : 11 : 12 : 13

Okay so now you have set up a Manner of Death and Triage cross over with Dr Tan investigating the illegal dealings now deliver. Please. 

#Triage #TaeTee #Tae Darvid #Tee Thanapon #LGBTQ+ #Romance #Thriller #Fantasy #Gay Character #Doctor-Patient Relationship #Medical #Adapted from a Novel #Asian Drama #Thai #Web Drama #ทริอาช The Series #Kiss Episode #Final Episode

[littlegaypeopleinmyphone]

Thoughts on Good Omens Season 2

(CONTAINS SPOILERS OBVIOUSLY)

Good Omens season 2 was such a genuinely beautiful and moving addition to the Good Omens franchise. I could write forever about it so I'll try to keep it concise, and mostly talk about the finale because it was SO DAMN GOOD.

I have never been so genuinely compelled by a piece of acting before in my life. When I say that David Tennant's delivery of the confession at the end of episode 6 changed my life, I truly mean that. The way his voice hitches in his throat, the way he stutters, the way he has to keep forcing the words out. Goodness, it was a DELIGHT.

Michael Sheen brought the same energy to the scene. Both actors seemed like they were on the verge of tears, but Mr. Sheen's facial expressions and mannerisms (especially AFTER the kiss) broke my heart right in half. Tennant and Sheen both care so deeply about these characters and it is truly beautiful to watch.

The entire latter half of ep 6 had my stomach in a knot in the best possible way.

Lets get into the rambling analysis in the form of various bullet points:

1) Crowley kissing him was a stupid idea, sure, but I DON'T THINK AZIRAPHALE EVEN UNDERSTOOD IT WAS A LOVE CONFESSION BEFORE THAT. I TRULY DON'T THINK THERE WAS ANY OTHER WAY TO TELL HIM.

2) Aziraphale called CROWLEY a "bad guy". Not JUST HELL. He said "YOU'RE the bad guys". On top of this, he keeps wanting Crowley to change. I understand that Aziraphale truly does want to change the way heaven functions, and he wants Crowley to be happy and accepted, and he wants to get rid of all his pain, but HOLY SHIT WHAT ARE YOU DOING. It feels so out of character for Aziraphale. This point in itself is making me like the coffee theory, but also I dont like fan theories much so I'm not regarding that.

3) CROWLEY DOESN'T KNOW AZIRAPHALE LOVES HIM BACK. AZIRAPHALE NEVER GAVE HIM ANY INDICATION OF LOVING HIM BACK. CROWLEY DEFINITELY THINKS AZIRAPHALE HATES HIM.

4) "I forgive you."

ARE YOU KIDDING ME? IS THAT A JOKE?? ARE YOU KIDDING? I DON'T EVEN HAVE ANY COMMENTARY I JUST WANTED TO SAY THAT THAT LINE KILLED ME TO DEATH.

5) Muriel saw. That's pretty hilarious to me. What r u doing back there silly??

6) THE METATRON ONLY TOLD AZIRAPHALE HE COULD BRING CROWLEY BECAUSE

HE KNEW THAT WAS THE ONLY WAY AZIRAPHALE WOULD AGREE

HE KNEW CROWLEY WOULD SAY NO

7) THE KISS LASTED T W E L V E SECONDS. 12. TEN AND TWO. 1/5 OF A MINUTE.

I'm sure when I collect myself I will have more insightful things to say, but for now ill just say that the season was absolutely beautiful. I love art that makes me feel things. It's a true work of art. Heart and passion just SEEPS out of the season.

10/10!!

#gay #good omens #crowley #aziraphale #good omens spoilers #good omens season 2

[randomidiocyncrazies]

rewatching and taking notes on the vampire murder mystery before the reveal tomorrow, and imo Raoul (the younger son) seems pretty suspicious upon rewatching?

(watch me be totally wrong XD)

timeline of the case:

ⵜ 12:00-12:30 - family meal with everyone present (last time Mom was seen alive)

ⵜ 12:30-1:00 - Dad, older son and daughter in study together; younger son in his room; maid cleaning up the kitchen; butler in office

ⵜ 1:00-1:30 - Dad and younger son out hunting (younger son tagged along less than 1 min after Dad started to leave); older son in his room; daughter with maid in laundry room; butler in office

    [storage room was normal when Dad left for hunt]

ⵜ just after 1:30 - Mom’s body discovered

the characters assume the murder was committed between around 1:00-1:30, but I think the murder actually happened earlier than that—because i think the silver stake is a diversion and not the real murder weapon (and the assumed time of death hinges on the stake being the murder weapon).

It’s significant that the creators depict Raoul giving a look to the maid during Aya’s interrogation of their alibis, so the look is definitely significant in some way. she seems afraid/pressured by him, so she was definitely knows something about him that he doesn’t want the others to know—it could be him drinking her blood (with the Dad being a staunch human ally he’d never allow his son to drink a human’s blood), but she could also be his (unwilling?) accomplice in something more sinister, or simply saw him being suspicious/not in his room at the time he said he was. her comment about being adept in draining the blood of creatures could explain why Mom’s blood is on the silver stake.

speaking of the stake... upon rewatching ep 2, Raoul is the one who brings up the silver stake after the hunt and calls it dangerous, almost as if he wanted to draw his Dad’s attention to it. the discarded lock was also broken in a way that strongly suggests brute strength, which points towards a vampire. along with the broken lock, the bloodied stake is also laid out in an incredibly eye-catching manner... almost as if it’s designed to catch attention.

After all, if Dad and anyone who came sniffing around thought the stake was the murder weapon, then nobody would think to look for the real murder weapon/question the time of murder. plus the silver will divert any investigators’ attention towards the vampires, since they would not be able to heal the burns by normal means, and rather neatly frames humans/hunters as the perpetrators. (Aya also raised a good point by questioning why the killer would remove the stake from the crime scene, only to leave it in the store room—the only way it makes sense to me with the information given is if the stake is a fake out to divert attention) 

there’s also the fact that ep 3 establishes that silver stakes aren’t carried by all hunters, and it’s very likely that the old (dead) hunter and the mansion’s inhabitants are the only ones who knew there is a silver stake on the premise. Since we’re only introduced to silver and holy water as things that would injure a vampire in any meaningful sense, i assume the hunters who don’t carry silver use holy water to kill their prey. i’d like to know how common silver stakes are in the hunter community, since that seems significant to the case— the young hunter seems surprised at the silver stake, so it might’ve been an unusual choice? i’m not 100% sure what this clue is supposed to do though, other than confirming that the killer isn’t an intruder and/or that they missed something in the frame-up (if silver stakes are rare, then framing the murder as “hunter broke in and murdered the lady of the house using the confiscated silver stake” would’ve been off, since there’s no reason for the intruder to assume there’s a silver stake on the premises even if they knew the vampire family had caught and taken the previous hunter’s tools. from the young hunter’s reaction in ep 3, it sounds like people knew the old hunter died, but not about the silver stake that Goddard took from him)

aside from the stake, there’s also holy water at the crime scene, but the bottle that presumably carried it in is dusty on the inside, and seems to be deliberately left behind by the killer. We know that the holy water could only be used after the Mom’s death in this case, as her body does not bear wounds that indicates scorching from holy water. if the stake is indeed the murder weapon, why bother with the holy water after death? it could be done to confuse investigators, but it seems rather pointless—unless the holy water is directly linked to the real murder weapon/she was killed by holy water, not the silver stake. given that the only wound she had was the hole in her heart and there wasn’t a murder weapon on scene when the body was discovered... is it possible that the murder weapon was a stake made out of frozen holy water? that way the murder weapon would 1) instantly kill Mom, since vampires cannot heal the burns created by silver or holy water (she wouldn’t be able to heal the wound, causing her to bleed out), 2) melt afterwards, so the real murder weapon can disappear without a trace, and 3) the melted holy water won’t cause new wounds on Mom’s body after she died, thus successfully creating the illusion that the silver stake killed her. Assuming vampires can detect the presence of holy water, presumably the killer deliberately left the bottle behind to “explain” the presence of holy water at the crime scene (that is to say the bottle might not have actually carried any holy water, it’s just there to create a plausible explanation).

however, this theory doesn’t really answer the question of why the holy water bottle is dusty on the inside, since you’d expect the killer to want a clear bottle to sell the illusion better. there’s also blood on the lip, which isn’t accounted for. we also never really got an answer for whether a vampire can avoid holy water wounds (we only got info on the silver, and even that was vague—Dad never said they can’t avoid wounds made by silver, he just said they’re psychologically predisposed to avoid touching it), so the fact that Raoul has uninjured hands might stop this theory in its tracks if it turns out vampires cannot avoid wounds made by holy water even if they didn’t touch it directly etc. 

it also doesn’t take the conflicting accounts between the noises into account (i.e. butler can’t hear any noises, while older son hears three gunshots deep in the forest etc). i assume this discrepancy is meant to establish that vampire senses are much sharper than human senses, and Raoul not hearing anything in his room from 12:30-1:00 might be significant, but it also debunks the idea that Raoul broke the storage room lock in the time between his father leaving the storage (when there’s nothing out of the ordinary) and him joining his father on the hunt, since presumably all the vampires would hear him break the lock.

TL;DR: I think the murder weapon is not the stake, which is a diversion. the real murder weapon is directly linked to the holy water, and it’s possible that it’s a stake made of frozen holy water, and the time of death is somewhere between 12:30 to around 1:00. I think Raoul is suspicious, mostly by process of elimination but also because he seems very keen on diverting attention onto the stake. However, this theory fails to answer everything neatly, so there’s a fair chance that i done goofed and drew the wrong conclusion (in which case sorry Raoul, my bad)

#undead murder farce #undead girl murder farce #i love murder mysteries even though i'm not good at solving them

[absolutebl]

Top 10 Best BLs on iQIYI

Love For Love's Sake

Korea 2024

This isekai KBL is about a man who must win a game by convincing a reserved teen outcast to fall in love with him. Of course, that teen represents himself and his own unhappiness. Like many queer narratives, this show is actually about self worth, trust, and found family, and it is VERY on the nose. But I don’t expect subtlety from my BL and I enjoyed it's truly lovely redemption arc and earnest performances. While I found the narrative a touch disjointed with overworked filming angles and poorer than average captions, this is certainly much better than early KBL in terms of consistency of tone, script, and immersion. Highly rewatchable and charming, which counts for a lot.

Blueming

Korea 2022

It’s a tiny bit dark and a tiny bit bittersweet, almost too honest to a university experience and first love for BL, but if you want your mind ever-so-slightly messed with and your intimacy hellishly sweet, this BL will do it for you in a coldly distant manner, while bitch slapping you with self worth issues. I wasn’t into it at first, but the leads are solid and by ep 5 it got really good, becoming a narrative about self discovery meets understanding and accepting others people’s flaws without hurting them. Ultimately we witnessed two characters maturing because of each other and their mutual affection, without that affection becoming the conflict point. Instead, tension was built around other aspects of identity, popularity, and self-worth. While production values were a touch lower than usual for Korea, Blueming included decent kisses and other forms of intimacy and a satisfying ending plus there’s judicious and very elegant use of tropes, this is a great BL.

Laws of Attraction

Thai 2023

This is a great gay suspense thriller with several solid couples, fun plot, killer characters, queer rep, and a happy ending. Charn may be my favorite lead character in all BL. However, this show is not entirely BL, more on the fringe, like Manner of Death. There are several "singing incidents" and this pair is a little weak in the chemistry arena, but it's tons of fun. All the triggers tho.

Love Tractor

Korea 2023

Most of this country-set BL had me feral for the beautiful broken city boy and his hot young farmer. Hyung romance, puppy/cat pairing, open frankness meets jaded reserve, language play, water hose frolicking, only one bed, just all my favorite tropes. This show was basically a light-weight Restart After Come Back Home and I’m not even slightly mad about that. But (and you knew there was a “but” coming) something about the cringe of the final 2 eps and the impermanence of the ending (both of which highlight the fact that ultimately these 2 are I’ll-suited: too different and too far apart) left me with the feeling that they probably won’t last as a couple. However, in this case, rare for me, I forgive it this finale for my love of the rest.

Unintentional Love Story

Korea 2023

A boy who just lost his job due to faked corruption charges accidentally discovers his ex-boss's favorite artist, now a recluse. Evil manager offers him his job back if he can convince the artist to rejoin society. Instead, they fall in love. I found the artist a bit stiff and reserved but Gongchan (maknae of B1A4) is a fucking GIFT - he carried this show (which I do not expect from the idol element). He was luminous with extraordinarily expressive eyes, just drown in the emoting abyss. The external conflict, social tension and pressure is complex and beautifully executed, plus Korea gave us legit side dishes (NOT a love triangle, hally-fucking-luya).

Bon Appetit

Korea 2023

Romance between an office worker the man from his past next door who cooks well. It was very sweet and cute tale of food as love in the All the Liquors family of KBL. I’m not wild about it, I did enjoy it, I was happy to have it show up on my dash, but ultimately it will simply become one of the KBL crowd.

My Only 12%

Thai 2022

Y-novel adaptation (author Afterday - Bad Buddy) and strong little BL romance (tailor made for SantaEarth) about holding onto first love and childhood, but it’s buried under waffling family drama and formless side characters so that it took a lot of digging to get to - still I recommend it for the killer softly domestic couple chemistry.

A Breeze of Love

Korea 2023

Tsundere insomniac grump reunited with his sunshine jock ex (human sleeping pill) who now hates him. Basketball is also involved. While the simplicity of a reunion plot makes this more cohesive than most KBLs, it is a tad stiff and slow, never managing to lift itself out of "pretty and pretty enjoyable" - I liked it but I don’t think I’m going to remember much about it.

Between Us

Thai 2023

Featuring the hugely popular side characters from 2019′s Until We Meet Again, WinTeam, adaptation of the y-novel Hemp Rope. It’s a serviceable series about hot swimmers flirting and dealing with family drama in a sweetly earnest manner, but ultimately it squanders the talent in play. I would’ve preferred a cleaner narrative arc, less angst and more plot, fewer couples, and a shorter series. That said, there’s nothing objectively wrong, sub-standard, or off-putting about this show. And it has lots of consent and other good qualities. It’s fine.

Dear Doctor I'm Coming for Your Soul

Thai 2022

This is a romance between a doctor trying to save his patients and a reaper who is both his enemy and (eventual) lover (basically the genius premise of a gay Doom at Your Service). High concept looks good on you, Thailand. It’s lovely to see KarnNat back on screen together and they are still great, and Karn is just as painfully beautiful as ever. I enjoyed this one more than it’s ending deserved, and the best I can say is that it’s not strictly HEA but if you’re okay with Life: Love on the Line, you’ll be okay with this BL.

(source)

This list updated Spring 2024, not responsible for cool stuff that aired on iQIYI (or was taken off the platform) after that date. Some stuff on iQIYI is also on other platforms and if I loved it, I listed it there not here.

This is part of a series continued here:

#best BLs on iQIYI #iQIYI #recommended bls #top BLs list #korean bl #thai bl #Love For Love's Sake #love supremacy zone #Blueming #Laws of Attraction #Love Tractor #Unintentional Love Story #Bon Appetit #My Only 12% #A Breeze of Love #Between Us #Dear Doctor I'm Coming for Your Soul

[spicyvampire]

Tan has a one track mind [insp.]

MANNER OF DEATH (2020) EP.12

#manner of death #tanbunn #maxtul #asianlgbtqdramas #asiandramasource #tansedits #edits:mod #november is also mod's month #lakornet

[verysickofthisshit]

i am very Tired of people ignoring how severely traumatized vi is. like ok i get it jinx is a lot more noticeably Not Okay, but r we seriously going to look at jinx say “omg her childhood was so traumatic” when vi took the brunt of a lot of their traumatic experiences in her earlier childhood?? 

vi at like 10-12 led her little sister on a bridge that was on fire and filled with enforcers and dead bodies to go find their parents only to stumble across her mothers fucking corpse (some ppl think that she witnessed their deaths but idk). bc their parents were now dead vi immediately assumed a parental role which caused her to lose more of her already stolen childhood in an effort to protect jinx. 

she held a lot of responsibility for a teenager and was assigned leader/parent to her siblings. most of what she did was to help her family and community. ive seen some people say that she kind of imprinted onto vander when they first see him meaning she adopted the kind of personality he had then. shes brash and blunt and willing to take all different manners of pain to protect her family. i would bet that theres a sense of fear of losing them because she lost her parents. vi feels guilty for really anything because she feels that leadership and responsibility with all of her friends and family. 

so not only is she putting herself in physical danger to protect her family but she also torments herself if she fails or slips up. then in a desperate effort to save her father figure who raised her and taught her and saved her, she finds out her little sister accidentally just killed their entire adoptive family. so she lashes out in one of the few ways she knows how which is physically. is it okay?? fuck no. but understandable? yeah. she literally lost everything in the span of minutes. then she turns around and finds out that the reason for all of this is her little sister who came along even though she was told not to. 

so its a matter of loss of control and a loss of family and crushing guilt because she failed to protect them. i think something that really stands out too is how in ep 1 or 2 vander gives vi the whole leadership lecture “you say light a fire they show up with oil” which is essentially “you are responsible for the outcomes of your leadership decisions” the whole effort to save vander was coordinated by vi. this rescue mission ended with her and powder being the sole survivors of her family. 

then she’s thrown into prison at 14-17 until she is in her early or mid twenties. in stillwater she is physically and psychologically abused for six straight years. her sole outlet for all her guilt and grief is anger. so she builds a reputation for herself knowing there is no end of her sentence in sight and with the crushing fear that her little sister, who she hurt and abandoned (in her mind), is dead. she brutalizes other inmates and lands herself into solitary confinement often. 

then when she’s broken out she experiences a sort of culture shock with how much the lanes have changed, the shimmer problem worsening, and the way the last drop has gone from welcoming and gruff to barred off and threatening. she expresses herself in her go to coping mechanism which is beat the shit out of other people and getting the shit beat out of herself. she learns that her little sister is still alive but is working for silco. 

there HAS to be a level of betrayal and anger in that. i don’t believe it overrides her sheer relief and hope at the knowledge of her little sister being alive, but i believe its still very much there. silco cultivated the environment in which their family was slaughtered, took over their childhood home, and corrupted the undercity with swathes of shimmer. 

i looked away from my screen and stopped hyperfocusing uh.. im gonna finish this off the best i can but im stupid and i hear every noise now.

moving beyond into act 3 where do we even fucking start. okay, her sister shooting her?? terrifying. it is very hard for vi to understand just how much jinx has changed over the years. then believing to witness her death, you can see in the council scene just how apathetic she has become. 

the tea party scene and leadup i think are the scariest scenes in the show. jinx is clearly drugged out from her slow and borderline slurring voice. she puts vi in a very vulnerable situation that demands full trust from her, while she does get that in jinx’s eyes (from my opinion) vi hasn’t fully passed the test. vi is literally forced to choose between killing caitlyn (someone she has become very emotionally attached too) and leaving jinx (her little sister who she thought was dead for years). this is so traumatic i cannot believe ppl are glossing over this. my brain is loud and i cant think anymore but like... so tired of ppl not really paying attention and seeing how traumatized so many of the characters are and instead focusing so heavily on jinx. yes jinx is the heart of the show, yes she is incredible mental illness representation, yes she is a fantastic fucking character, but she is not the only one.

#vi #arcane #shes so traumatized its not even funny #character study #i guess #i just lost my fucking mind into the post editor or whatever tf u call it in a hyperfocused state and woke up with this shit

[authoreeknight]

I keep thinking about what we actually know about Andor. I've spent way too much time speculating about Kenari and I've decided Gilroy purposely left it vague. Even the "industrial accident" story is suspect. That was the official Imperial storyline for Jedha in Rogue One and authoritarian regimes aren't usually imaginative in their lies so I'm betting it's "Atrocity Coverup Story #1". Interesting that the prohibition on travel to Kenari seems strong enough that Maarva didn't want any hint of it in Cassian's paperwork.

We don't even know exactly how old he was when Maarva, Clem, and B2 took him off in their hauler. He looked to me like he was either in or on the edge of his tween years.

The first hard data comes at age 13, when in the aftermath of Clem's hanging he goes after some Stormtroopers. He's subdued, charged with insurrection, destruction of Imperial property, and assault on an Imperial soldier, and sentenced to 3 years in Sipo Youth Center, getting out when he's 16.

He goes "straight into the mud" on Mimban as a cook, according to Luthen, and within six months figures out he's playing Popular Front Battle Simulator on Hard Mode, where your fellow factions can betray you and there are no respawns. Who was he fighting for? No data, though he does call the Separatists "Sep" and he doesn't use abbreviations for any of the other factions, which means to me either he was used to fighting with them or against them, you tend to use verbal shorthand for words you use a lot. Anyway, he decamps in the manner of Pistol in Henry V, stealing home to Ferrix to steal, using the old wreck of a hauler to stash stuff.

At some point he ends up with Clem's Bryar-model blaster. Maarva was smart enough to hide it from him in the aftermath of Clem's death.

Now we don't know when he started up with Bix, either romantically or in the scheme to sell stolen equipment. But we know the stolen equipment bit only goes back two years at most, because that's when Salman Paak got his transmitter. The romantic element has even less for us to go on beyond that fact that it existed. One possibility is before Clem's death and Sipo, but at 12 or 13 it seems more like he'd be sneaking over that wall into her place so he could use her good game controller. I think it's a lot more likely that it was when he was back from Mimban. Say he's 16-19, a toughened teen more or less and pushing all Bix's "bad boy with a heart of gold" buttons and probably adding a few she didn't know she had. Rebel newly without a cause. Whatever it was the evidence is it was pretty intense for both of them. She gets emotional in Ep 7 when she tells him to leave Ferrix ("for good" is implied but I don't remember it being spoken, though "forget about me" sounds pretty damn permanent). At Bix's very lowest point in the hotel after being tortured her brain went to him showing up to rescue her.

*Sniff*

For Cassian's part, when he crept over her wall in Announcement, he was more than a little intrigued at the idea that Timm had suspicions. Then upon his return to Ferrix he's back over that wall straight away and as soon as he learns she's in Imperial hands his only priority is getting Bix out of there, to the point where he'll mostly ignore Maarva's funeral as that distraction gives him his best shot. Brasso has to go spelunking in that tunnel under the hotel to give him Maarva's final message. Once again, we're short on facts, but I think it's safe to say that Bix is the most important romantic relationship in his life up to this point in S1. He sure didn't look up Peezos 'n Green Revnog on Niamos.

To me, Cassian's still enough of a mensch to risk it all to rescue Bix even if there wasn't so much as a romantic ember still glowing.

We also still don't know who told Luthen about him. Bix said it wasn't her and I believe her. That leaves Salman Paak as the only Ferrix person we know for sure met Luthen (according to information from his interrogation). Maybe he gave Luthen a rundown on potentials and Luthen settled on Bix as the most valuable for his current needs while he did his own research into Cassian. But now we're in the speculation weeds again.

I think that's enough for one Saturday night. I'm going to try to cut down my obsessing to an hour or so a week from now on.

#Andor #Cassian and Bix #rogue one

[tacticalmaladjustment]

So the ending, according to the interview, will be something that the realists may take issue with. So let me play the role of the realist for a bit and ruminate how ep 12 could go down (and let's me see just how much i'll end up surprised by the end of episode 12).

How likely is a full-on takedown of the organization? I don't know how large the Suwa organization is but given the sheer size of the Suwa estate shown in episode 8, the presumably large number of people they employ, and the large sums of money regularly circulating in the underworld, I think it's safe to assume that the scale of their resources, power and operations probably rival some real-world mega corporations. What I'm getting at is it seems unlikely to me, as a realist (:D), that 3 dudes will be able to fully take down this enormous, highly-organized machinery by themselves. Organizations like that do not fall apart just because its head or its arms have been lobbed off. It would be a setback, true, but groups of this complexity adapt like malevolent slime molds, and even if Shigeki is gone, it will just grow a new head.

Now, one could argue that all they really need to do anyway is just John Wick their way in, eliminate Shigeki and it's done as far as our protagonists are concerned--he is the only one, apart from Ogino, that is truly relevant to the predicament our family is in and stands in the way of them being free. But who is to say, that once they killed Shigeki off (if that ever happens) that the organization and what's left of it won't turn on them in retaliation. Again, they have the resources and manpower to make that happen if they so choose to post-assassination. And that is not something Kazuki and Rei should have to deal with if their objective is to be a family that has no entanglements with their former lives of crime.

So considering the aforementioned very realistic take (?), if they cannot fully destroy the Suwa hold, they could either ( A ) go beyond its reach and/or slip through the cracks by going incognito or ( B ) change the organization such that it is rendered incapacitated in some manner or is at least no longer a threat to them. Now for some scenarios:

they could all just fake their deaths in some elaborate scheme that Kazuki and Kyu cook up. Yes, this has been suggested by some posts in the tag. The issue i have with this is just how relentless Shigeki, Ogino and the rest of the organization is. Will they just give up when they don't recover any bodies/corpses?? We've seen how dark and twisted these characters are. It's ideal for our 3 adults because fighting would be minimal, but...it feels too easy (???) I can definitely see them though coming up with such a plan, trying to make it work, but then it fails because, uh, shenanigans, and they end up having to fight and John Wick their way out anyways.

Escape to another country. Again, another suggestion that pops up a number of times. Realistically, we don't really know how vast the organization is. Does it have branches elsewhere outside Japan? It's not outside of the realm of possibility that they do have local outposts/branches or affiliated groups overseas given that the work they do has them putting hits on people who presumably travel the world a lot (ep 1 human trafficker and ep 2 drug king pin come to mind). So even if our family does end up doing this...i feel like they won't be too safe either unless they incapacitate the organization's ability to seek them out in some way.

The aforementioned fall under ( A ). As for (B):

A trojan horse. inspired by episode 1 where Kazuki delivered a cake to infiltrate the Christmas party. Here, the cake/bait could be Rei. Or maybe Rei returns home to deliver a "dead" Kazuki to his boss as a sign of his seriousness in continuing the Suwa legacy...Or something, something, whatever to catch the old man off-guard. But this just gets us inside the organization. We still have the problem of actually dealing with it. Of course, they can just kill everyone and everything that comes after them, but will it ensure their safety post-Shigeki?

the police/law enforcement (lol. i mean this is the most crimeless possibility out there). i mean they could get them involved, but seriously, won't Kazuki, Rei and Kyu just end up incriminating themselves? The organization has a lot of info on a lot of people (see all those files that Kyu gives to Kazuki for their missions as well as all the data from recons, etc.). and I'm sure they have files stowed away on all 3 of them. Plus, the police in Japan, in my limited knowledge of the world, don't necessarily even want to have to take head on some crime syndicates like the yakuza for example irl.

From here on, the possibilities are even more...improbable but i include for their inherent wildness. So, no.3: a mutiny. which will be an unforeseen event (i know, totally out of the blue. but then we don't really know much about the power dynamics/struggles within the group itself, so this is some wild conjecture. Anyway, the VA's did say the ending was unexpected). it could create enough chaos and distraction, totally disrupting the group's entire operations to let our family slip through.

leadership change. (may or may not happen as a consequence of no.3) Maybe after Shigeki is disposed of in some fashion, someone (maybe it's Rei, maybe it's some unknown deus-ex-machina relative/minion) who is at least sympathetic to or tolerant (or even ignorant) of the family takes over. in any case, our trio is off the hook.

some equally powerful external entity who has an axe to grind with the organization attacks. I'm suggesting this based off things Kazuki and Kyu have said about the chance that they are on some hit list because of a grudge or some vendetta. I mean the Suwa must have enemies, right? Realistically speaking. Some of their assassinations (like the human trafficker and the drug kingpin) must have made some powerful people somewhere really mad. idk. Anyway, we are yet to see the underworld consequences of these hit jobs.

These ones fall under (B). I would like to add that the last 4 of these conjectural events can hypothetically explain the presence of mystery guy in the anime op (who is yet to be shown).

Honestly, it can be any variation and/or combination of these. or absolutely none of these, since i went with the realistic route and the ending is supposed to be something realists will end up questioning. For all we know, they could go the simplest route: kill Shigeki, get out and then that's it--to hell with the consequences of the organization still standing. We could also just end up with a time skip, skirting around the topic of what went down. Heck, maybe the anime will even dodge fully resolving it at all (and we'd all have to pray for a season 2).

There is one final possibility though, that seems just bonkers to me:

Shigeki actually lets them go following a one-on-one fight/duel, or a deal, or something else entirely.

Seriously, not gonna happen.

#in any case none of these will happen #i just like making shit up and end up totally totally wrong #and yet we try nonetheless #buddy daddies

[eagna-eilis]

AHSOKA EP 6 THOUGHTS

Oh, to be a tiny baby youngling snuggling up for storytime with Huyang. I would be there with bells on, a hot chockie in my hands.

WITCHES WITCHES WITCHES WITCHES

Baylan is up to something and I don't know what but holy shit he's so compelling

Shin is not impressed with the whole situation and you can see it in her face. I want her to join the forces of good and I think she's gonna. (She better not have a redemption death, I swear to God I will riot if she does. They managed not to do it with Reva, they can manage not to do it with Shin).

I never cared much about Thrawn, I really honestly never did, but he's pretttttty cool in this ngl.

The markings on the stones in the Peridean wasteland are so very like the exterior stone carvings on the neolithic monuments of the European Atlantic seaboard and I am here for it. Might do another archaeology and Star Wars post about it

But like can we talk about the archaeology OF Star Wars? It's always been so interesting to me. The crumbling Dathomiri statues? Incredible.

(When are we getting a series about Dr. Aphra, space archaeologist? When? WHEN?)

Sabine's animal-lover ways are so charming and lovely. I hope her cat is okay and that Zeb is dropping by to feed her frequently.

Big doofy space horsedog is so ugly and so cute at the same time. He looks a bit like a tu'kata (Sith hound) from the Knights of the Old Republic games but he's nice. He reminds me of my German shepherd. 14/10 I would pet him.

NOTI NOTI NOTI OMG I ADORE THE NOTI!! Everything about them. They feel so Original Trilogy to me. I love their little voices, their little outfits, their mannerisms, the fact that they have SHELLS... I would die to protect them.

Also their music is great. Kevin Kiner's composition work on this series is fantastic.

I'm extremely upset that this series has made Ezra hot though. Obviously Eman Esfandi is beautiful but couldn't they have not given him the beard or the absolutely lovely outfit and done something ugly with his hair? I wasn't ready for a grown up handsome Ezra. In my head Ezra is 12.

I wonder how my sabezra girls are doing. It's not a ship I sail upon but I do like to see it out on the oceans from my vantage upon the deck of the good ship reylo.

I really missed Rosario this episode. I would have watched a whole 45 minutes of herself and Huyang swapping stories.

Very, very excited for next week.

#ahsoka spoilers