What I Watched in 2023 (January to June)
Jun. 30th, 2023 07:27 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
forestsofpineHere's last year: What I Watched in 2022
This year I decided to break it up and do Jan-Jun and July-Dec so the posts wouldn't be quite as long. Listed in chronological order by when I finished, first to last:
Between Us (MDL)
WinTeam, the popular side couple in Until We Meet Again, which I watched last year, got a series of their own. I felt like it wasn't quite as strong from a storytelling perspective as UWMA and would have benefited from being a couple episodes shorter, but I really love WinTeam as a couple and it was delightful to spend more time with this entire group of characters. And to meet some new ones! I especially loved Santa as Win's younger brother Wiew.
Also, have I mentioned that I love the bed sharing trope? This series was a feast.
GIF source
Since it's a fairly small fandom, I stuck all my fic recs for UWMA and Between Us in one post, you can check them out here.
The New Employee (MDL)
A nice enjoyable Korean BL in an office setting with mature characters who mostly act their age. I thought the chemistry could have been a little stronger (to be fair, this is my most frequent complaint with Korean BLs and it was fine by Korean standards), but the actor who played the younger guy was especially charming and I appreciated that it was more grounded in realistic queer experience than most Korean BLs. Also had a pair of delightful female side characters.
A Tale of Thousand Stars (MDL)
This Thai BL is by the same director as Bad Buddy, which was one of my favorite watches of 2022, so it was on my to-watch list for awhile before it was abruptly catapulted to the top of the list after I saw its stars, Earth Pirapat and Mix Sahaphap (aka EarthMix), in Moonlight Chicken (see below), also by the same director, and fell in love with their chemistry. I started watching 1000 Stars after episode 4 of MLC and liked it so much that I finished the whole series before episode 5 aired. It's a lovely slow burn romance, and one of the most solid and consistent Thai BLs I've seen yet in terms of production quality, acting, and story. Beautiful rural scenery and lots of great side characters as well.
Moonlight Chicken (MDL)
This was one of my most anticipated BLs of 2023 thanks to the great director and talented cast, and I'm happy to report that I absolutely loved it. I was initially most interested in seeing more of Khaotung and First after loving them in The Eclipse last year, but rapidly became a fan of Earth, Mix, Fourth, and Gemini as well. The acting was great, the cinematography was beautiful, and the storyline was mature and meaningful, with realistic character, relationship, and community dynamics. It became an instant favorite.
And the chemistry... 🔥😵💫🔥😵💫🔥
GIF source
I shared some longer (spoilery) thoughts about it here.
Lovers of the Red Sky (MDL)
A het fantasy Kdrama set during a fictional Joseon-era dynasty about a female artist who is asked to re-create a portrait of the previous king in order to imprison a dangerous demon who happens to be possessing the body of her childhood sweetheart. I liked the spirited heroine and the chemistry between the two leads, but thought that the plot petered out and became repetitive in the second half. I did enjoy learning more about classical Korean painting methods, and there was lots of beautiful art to admire, especially during the episodes about the painting contest.
Our Dating Sim (MDL)
A Korean BL about a second chance romance between a shy artist who is hired by a game company to help with the design for a dating sim game, and his high school crush, who he soon discovers is also working there. The couple is very cute and domestic together, and unusually touchy-feely for Korean BL. Low angst and adorable.
The Bear (season one)
My spouse, who worked in food service for years during university, absolutely loved this show and says much about it was very accurate. It's about a fine dining chef who returns home to Chicago to take over the family's sandwich shop after his brother's suicide, and it deals with some pretty heavy themes of grief, depression, alcoholism, and more. Episode seven was one of the single most stressful episodes of television I have ever seen. The chaos and crushing, claustrophobic pressure was captured at one point by an impressive 18-minute long single-take shot. Lest I make it sound too grim, it also has some very funny moments and I really enjoyed the found family that built between Carmy and his employees as they learned to work together.
Bed Friend (MDL)
A Thai BL office romance starring NetJames about a pair of coworkers who become friends with benefits. Net's character, King, is obviously in love from the start of the show, with some world-class heart eyes to show for it, so the majority of the plot of the show focuses on James's Uea, who has major trauma from an abusive childhood and past relationship to work through before he can accept King's love and care.
As someone who's fairly indifferent to most hurt/comfort tropes and generally not a fan of woobie narratives, I felt like the series sometimes tipped over the line into exploitative suffering for poor Uea, but I did appreciate that Uea got therapy as well as a hot, sympathetic boyfriend, which is an issue I've had with other BL characters with traumatic backstories in the past.
Net and James are gorgeous together and it's a high heat series, comparable to Why R U? and just a little below Kinnporsche and Love in the Air, with some very spicy kissing and foreplay, implied blowjobs, and even some petplay. Overall, I enjoyed it and am looking forward to seeing more series from Net and James (they have a historical coming up that I'm especially hopeful about), but don't think it will join the rewatch rotation.
⚠️⚠️⚠️ Major trigger warnings for graphic onscreen emotional, physical, and sexual child abuse, attempted rape, gaslighting and emotional manipulation, victim blaming, drunken sex, and more.
The Warp Effect (MDL)
This Thai series is not a BL, but is still without question one of the queerest shows I have ever seen. Although the main characters are both straight(ish? - it's implied that both of them might be bisexual), there are gay, lesbian, non-binary, and transgender characters with major subplots, plus kinky characters, poly characters, and a character who might be aromantic, though she doesn't explicitly identify as such.
The story involves a teenage boy named Alex who's convinced that his deeply religious mother put a curse on his dick before her death. After drinking too much at a party, he accidentally time travels 10 years to the future, where he discovers that he's estranged from his remaining family, his high school friends all hate him, and his former bully is now his best friend. He soon realizes that fixing his relationships with his family and friends might also be the solution to fixing his broken dick, and sets about doing that.
It is bonkers (in a good way) and very funny, but you could legit play this series in a sex-ed class, because it also covers a lot of ground about the biology, diversity, and ethics of human sexuality and sexual behavior in a realistic, progressive, and sex-positive way. I will throw in a ⚠️ because it does cover some heavy subjects, including consent issues, abusive partners, homophobia and transphobia, infidelity, outing, fatphobia, slut-shaming, abortion, and more, but I thought that they were handled with compassion and thoughtfulness.
The cast is stacked with a lot of familiar faces from GMMTV's BL series (some of which I've seen and some of which I've only heard of). I thought New Thitipoom did well as Alex in a demanding role, and tbh, I kinda want to marry Jean (Fah Yongwaree). She's kind, brave, and takes no shit, and she became one of my favorite characters in a Thai series ever.
GIF source
I do have some reservations about the final episode and may at some point write a reaction going into more depth about why, but with that caveat, the series overall is a blast.
Our Skyy 2 Bad Buddy x A Tale of Thousand Stars (MDL)
Our Skyy and Our Skyy 2 are anthologies of special episodes for series that aired previously. I watched the Our Skyy 2 episodes for Bad Buddy and A Tale of Thousand Stars and I loved them. The four episodes were done as a crossover, with the first episode focusing mostly on the Bad Buddy characters, the last focusing mostly on the 1000 Stars characters, and two in the middle where they were together and given about equal focus. Our Skyy episodes are meant to be a little silly and unserious, and, true to form, the plot was more of a framing device and contrivance to get the four main characters together in one place, but seeing Pat, Pran, Phupha, and Tian interacting with each other was absolutely delightful in all combinations, and then the finale hit us 1000 Stars fans in particular with an extremely satisfying and emotional pay-off. 🥰
XO, Kitty (season one)
I remember being fairly charmed by To All the Boys I've Loved Before a few years ago. I haven't seen any of the other sequels, but one night I was scrolling through Netflix and in the mood to watch something shorter, so I decided to try this despite being, oh, only about 2-3 times older than the target demographic. As a bit of light entertainment, it was fine. I was entertained enough to finish it, at any rate, so I guess that counts for something. Kitty's constant meddling in other people's lives got on my nerves a bit and Dae was just sort of there, existing mostly to be pushed around by the various women in his life, but Yuri and Minho were fun.
Going Seventeen
Just like last year, I've haven't watched a full season but have been watching random episodes of the K-pop boy group Seventeen's popular variety show as the mood strikes. Favorite episodes watched so far this year included:
E.M.S. Earth-Mix Space
Like Going Seventeen, this is a variety show rather than a scripted series. I watched various episodes this year after becoming fans of its hosts, EarthMix of Moonlight Chicken and A Tale of Thousand Stars. The two of them manage to keep it cute and fun despite often being stuck doing lengthy and annoying advertisements in the middle of episodes. Many of the episodes are travelogues with visits to interesting sites in Thailand and other Asian countries, and Mix is a bit of a foodie, so there's lots of yummy-looking food. Here are a couple of the episodes I enjoyed the most so far:
Happy watching!
This year I decided to break it up and do Jan-Jun and July-Dec so the posts wouldn't be quite as long. Listed in chronological order by when I finished, first to last:
Between Us (MDL)
WinTeam, the popular side couple in Until We Meet Again, which I watched last year, got a series of their own. I felt like it wasn't quite as strong from a storytelling perspective as UWMA and would have benefited from being a couple episodes shorter, but I really love WinTeam as a couple and it was delightful to spend more time with this entire group of characters. And to meet some new ones! I especially loved Santa as Win's younger brother Wiew.
Also, have I mentioned that I love the bed sharing trope? This series was a feast.
GIF source
Since it's a fairly small fandom, I stuck all my fic recs for UWMA and Between Us in one post, you can check them out here.
The New Employee (MDL)
A nice enjoyable Korean BL in an office setting with mature characters who mostly act their age. I thought the chemistry could have been a little stronger (to be fair, this is my most frequent complaint with Korean BLs and it was fine by Korean standards), but the actor who played the younger guy was especially charming and I appreciated that it was more grounded in realistic queer experience than most Korean BLs. Also had a pair of delightful female side characters.
A Tale of Thousand Stars (MDL)
This Thai BL is by the same director as Bad Buddy, which was one of my favorite watches of 2022, so it was on my to-watch list for awhile before it was abruptly catapulted to the top of the list after I saw its stars, Earth Pirapat and Mix Sahaphap (aka EarthMix), in Moonlight Chicken (see below), also by the same director, and fell in love with their chemistry. I started watching 1000 Stars after episode 4 of MLC and liked it so much that I finished the whole series before episode 5 aired. It's a lovely slow burn romance, and one of the most solid and consistent Thai BLs I've seen yet in terms of production quality, acting, and story. Beautiful rural scenery and lots of great side characters as well.
Moonlight Chicken (MDL)
This was one of my most anticipated BLs of 2023 thanks to the great director and talented cast, and I'm happy to report that I absolutely loved it. I was initially most interested in seeing more of Khaotung and First after loving them in The Eclipse last year, but rapidly became a fan of Earth, Mix, Fourth, and Gemini as well. The acting was great, the cinematography was beautiful, and the storyline was mature and meaningful, with realistic character, relationship, and community dynamics. It became an instant favorite.
And the chemistry... 🔥😵💫🔥😵💫🔥
GIF source
I shared some longer (spoilery) thoughts about it here.
Lovers of the Red Sky (MDL)
A het fantasy Kdrama set during a fictional Joseon-era dynasty about a female artist who is asked to re-create a portrait of the previous king in order to imprison a dangerous demon who happens to be possessing the body of her childhood sweetheart. I liked the spirited heroine and the chemistry between the two leads, but thought that the plot petered out and became repetitive in the second half. I did enjoy learning more about classical Korean painting methods, and there was lots of beautiful art to admire, especially during the episodes about the painting contest.
Our Dating Sim (MDL)
A Korean BL about a second chance romance between a shy artist who is hired by a game company to help with the design for a dating sim game, and his high school crush, who he soon discovers is also working there. The couple is very cute and domestic together, and unusually touchy-feely for Korean BL. Low angst and adorable.
The Bear (season one)
My spouse, who worked in food service for years during university, absolutely loved this show and says much about it was very accurate. It's about a fine dining chef who returns home to Chicago to take over the family's sandwich shop after his brother's suicide, and it deals with some pretty heavy themes of grief, depression, alcoholism, and more. Episode seven was one of the single most stressful episodes of television I have ever seen. The chaos and crushing, claustrophobic pressure was captured at one point by an impressive 18-minute long single-take shot. Lest I make it sound too grim, it also has some very funny moments and I really enjoyed the found family that built between Carmy and his employees as they learned to work together.
Bed Friend (MDL)
A Thai BL office romance starring NetJames about a pair of coworkers who become friends with benefits. Net's character, King, is obviously in love from the start of the show, with some world-class heart eyes to show for it, so the majority of the plot of the show focuses on James's Uea, who has major trauma from an abusive childhood and past relationship to work through before he can accept King's love and care.
As someone who's fairly indifferent to most hurt/comfort tropes and generally not a fan of woobie narratives, I felt like the series sometimes tipped over the line into exploitative suffering for poor Uea, but I did appreciate that Uea got therapy as well as a hot, sympathetic boyfriend, which is an issue I've had with other BL characters with traumatic backstories in the past.
Net and James are gorgeous together and it's a high heat series, comparable to Why R U? and just a little below Kinnporsche and Love in the Air, with some very spicy kissing and foreplay, implied blowjobs, and even some petplay. Overall, I enjoyed it and am looking forward to seeing more series from Net and James (they have a historical coming up that I'm especially hopeful about), but don't think it will join the rewatch rotation.
⚠️⚠️⚠️ Major trigger warnings for graphic onscreen emotional, physical, and sexual child abuse, attempted rape, gaslighting and emotional manipulation, victim blaming, drunken sex, and more.
The Warp Effect (MDL)
This Thai series is not a BL, but is still without question one of the queerest shows I have ever seen. Although the main characters are both straight(ish? - it's implied that both of them might be bisexual), there are gay, lesbian, non-binary, and transgender characters with major subplots, plus kinky characters, poly characters, and a character who might be aromantic, though she doesn't explicitly identify as such.
The story involves a teenage boy named Alex who's convinced that his deeply religious mother put a curse on his dick before her death. After drinking too much at a party, he accidentally time travels 10 years to the future, where he discovers that he's estranged from his remaining family, his high school friends all hate him, and his former bully is now his best friend. He soon realizes that fixing his relationships with his family and friends might also be the solution to fixing his broken dick, and sets about doing that.
It is bonkers (in a good way) and very funny, but you could legit play this series in a sex-ed class, because it also covers a lot of ground about the biology, diversity, and ethics of human sexuality and sexual behavior in a realistic, progressive, and sex-positive way. I will throw in a ⚠️ because it does cover some heavy subjects, including consent issues, abusive partners, homophobia and transphobia, infidelity, outing, fatphobia, slut-shaming, abortion, and more, but I thought that they were handled with compassion and thoughtfulness.
The cast is stacked with a lot of familiar faces from GMMTV's BL series (some of which I've seen and some of which I've only heard of). I thought New Thitipoom did well as Alex in a demanding role, and tbh, I kinda want to marry Jean (Fah Yongwaree). She's kind, brave, and takes no shit, and she became one of my favorite characters in a Thai series ever.
GIF source
I do have some reservations about the final episode and may at some point write a reaction going into more depth about why, but with that caveat, the series overall is a blast.
Our Skyy 2 Bad Buddy x A Tale of Thousand Stars (MDL)
Our Skyy and Our Skyy 2 are anthologies of special episodes for series that aired previously. I watched the Our Skyy 2 episodes for Bad Buddy and A Tale of Thousand Stars and I loved them. The four episodes were done as a crossover, with the first episode focusing mostly on the Bad Buddy characters, the last focusing mostly on the 1000 Stars characters, and two in the middle where they were together and given about equal focus. Our Skyy episodes are meant to be a little silly and unserious, and, true to form, the plot was more of a framing device and contrivance to get the four main characters together in one place, but seeing Pat, Pran, Phupha, and Tian interacting with each other was absolutely delightful in all combinations, and then the finale hit us 1000 Stars fans in particular with an extremely satisfying and emotional pay-off. 🥰
XO, Kitty (season one)
I remember being fairly charmed by To All the Boys I've Loved Before a few years ago. I haven't seen any of the other sequels, but one night I was scrolling through Netflix and in the mood to watch something shorter, so I decided to try this despite being, oh, only about 2-3 times older than the target demographic. As a bit of light entertainment, it was fine. I was entertained enough to finish it, at any rate, so I guess that counts for something. Kitty's constant meddling in other people's lives got on my nerves a bit and Dae was just sort of there, existing mostly to be pushed around by the various women in his life, but Yuri and Minho were fun.
Going Seventeen
Just like last year, I've haven't watched a full season but have been watching random episodes of the K-pop boy group Seventeen's popular variety show as the mood strikes. Favorite episodes watched so far this year included:
- Mousebusters (Part 1, Part 2, Part 3) - Seventeen gets divided into two teams (mice and mouse hunters) and turned loose among a bunch of warehouses for an elaborate and hilarious game of hide-and-seek
- Going Company OUTING, Surprise Don't Lie (Part 1, Part 2), Don't Lie: Clue (Part 1, Part 2), Don't Lie: The Chaser (Part 1, Part 2) - These seven are all connected and should be watched in the order listed. Don't Lie episodes (Seventeen's games of Mafia, which are even more elaborate than their games of hide-and-seek) are always a blast and these were no exception. I even went so far as to crack out a notepad and pen to play along with the Mafia/Clue combo game in Don't Lie: Clue. I love Clue.
E.M.S. Earth-Mix Space
Like Going Seventeen, this is a variety show rather than a scripted series. I watched various episodes this year after becoming fans of its hosts, EarthMix of Moonlight Chicken and A Tale of Thousand Stars. The two of them manage to keep it cute and fun despite often being stuck doing lengthy and annoying advertisements in the middle of episodes. Many of the episodes are travelogues with visits to interesting sites in Thailand and other Asian countries, and Mix is a bit of a foodie, so there's lots of yummy-looking food. Here are a couple of the episodes I enjoyed the most so far:
- Zoo Date - a visit to the Khao Kheow Open Zoo
- Drift - EarthMix and FirstKhaotung try drifting with champion drifter Davide Dorigo
Happy watching!
