I’m trying to figure out if this draft storyline is meant to make a statement about the injustice of mandatory conscription or if it’s simply a vessel for the inevitable time skip
Maybe both? And/or it's commentary about the way class dynamics impact relationships, which makes sense in a series that is so much about class. Even though Akki explains not doing ROTC in high school as a result of being focused on soccer, @recentadultburnout helpfully pointed out in a post I made about the same topic that it would mostly be students from poorer backgrounds who wouldn't be territorial defense students and thus exempt.
On another note. Just saw this post on why some people might side with P'Jane reasoning about his whole 'devil-deals' thing, and some side with Little Jane.
That made me realise, that I want to add a little bit to this very insightful observation.
I would like to say, that I'm somewhere in-between these two opinions. Like, on one hand I completely agree with P'Jane. People come to him willingly, on their own accord. Ask something from him. He then lays all the conditions in front of them (and may even, just like with Little Jane, ask if they are sober right now). And then leaves it up to them to say their final yes. Or not to say it.
Those who ask for a favor are being warned about conditions. And they willingly choose to agree to them. So in that regard Big Jane is not in the wrong. He does everything according to the previously negotiated conditions. If he has the right to ask anything he needs/wants then why shouldn't he?
And when Little Jane asks him just to not meddle and not intervine and stay away from other people business.... why tho? When it's these people who seek him and his help, not the other way around? Why should he pass on those deals, if it's not hard for him to do some favors and he also can get something in return?
That was the 'me understanding P'Jane pov' part
But on the other hand I also agree with the other pov. I can see just like the next person that his way of approaching his debtors is not right. There is already power imbalance in a way where he has all the connections in the world, it seems. And the other party - doesn't. And he already can do basically whatever he wants, but still drives others to be indebted to him, as he pleases. There should be some boundaries, some rules, if you wish, to which extent P'Jane can ask to return the favor. As well as to which extent he can punish those, who broke the rules of the agreement. Because I do agree that his methods and solutions are rather extreme.
So, in conclusion, I don't see that much problem with P'Jane's reasons why he's doing everything the way he does. But at the same time, the boundaries and the extent of him asking for favors in return and punishing should be greatly reconsidered.
It's kinda dark grey on big Janes side. Either he is aware of this or not I don't know. But the contract conditions are not fully clear when one big part of it is "I can ask whatever I want whenever".
It looks like everyone knows what they sign up to. But they literally don't. They don't know if what he asks for will cost them more than what they got or if they are even able to pay it back. Plus the fact that he manipulates and baits people into these contracts. We saw how he tried the first episodes with little Jane (and his brother), constantly dangling suggestions in front of him while praising him, how much that goal would suit and benefit him and that he could help him if he just asked. He makes them want, seduces them with what he could offer so it looks like they came to him by their own will. Which they probably wouldn't do if they actually knew the exact price.
The devil makes sure his contracts with humans are waterproof, consensual and appealing as well. While wording things bit tricky that can be misunderstood when only viewed from one side or only within one context. Or withhold important information. The devil can't lie but he can trick you by twisting words or just not tell what you don't ask and then blame you for not asking. Scammy marketing like on temu love to do that too. Selling you this beautiful snow globe but you just get a picture of a snow globe on a pvc plate because they didn't mention it's just 2D or hid the actual scale somewhere where you don't look. They are preying on you assuming that they sell you the snow globe what they show on the product photo. But them selling you the photo instead is edgy legal theoretically. But some countries count that as fraud and intentional misleading so they are now forced by law to be more clear in their descriptions.
And that's what big Jane does too imo. He preys on others assumptions that his price will not be that bad (maybe he even believes that himself) because they don't think like a trickster / criminal like he might do. Most of them probably can't even imagine what he could ask them in return. I think we don't even know either what he asked them to do, except with little Jane. And that is already pretty crass. I mean he basically bought him as a boyfriend, if we are completely blunt. Against little Janes will since they are exes for a reason, he just used his emergency to get him back. That (+ his methods) counts as coercion.
Who knows what he asked from the others. I suspect it's some kind of pyramided scheme, where he uses everyone for illegal things and other deals. Not normal things like paying him back double or renovating his house. Which is how he weaves people into his criminal network. If that's how it works. Then he's more some kind of loan shark but instead of money he gets them to do messed up stuff. We even had to loan shark gang in comparison the other episode who had impossible conditions and horrible punishment -> which only exists to force people into getting more dept or into doing crimes which they then can use for life long blackmail.
I am definitely more on the empathy side, so I know that colors my perspective more in line with Little Jane's, but I feel like the "people come to him and know the conditions" argument is very akin to saying people who go to casinos always know what they're getting into, when in fact, a lot of people truly don't understand the ways the game is rigged from the very start.
I like the casino metaphor and want to add another - predatory lending. When people sign predatory loans they technically have access to the information about the loan terms but the loan terms are unfair, unclearly communicated, and often unmanageable. The sales tactics are aggressive. The borrowers are often under-educated, in a difficult position, and have significantly less power than the lender.
I’m curious about Akki getting called up for the military draft in A Dog and a Plane. I’ve never seen the military draft referenced in any other Thai BL (or any other Thai tv show, but I have a smaller frame of reference for non-QL Thai media). For folks who are more knowledgeable about Thailand and Thai media- would a Thai audience consider this at all radical or transgressive to be included in a BL? Or simply a little unusual? Is there any other context about this storyline that a non-Thai viewer might miss?
Not sure who to ask, so I’m tagging a few people I’ve seen post about Thailand and Thai media in informative ways, but anyone knowledgeable please feel free to chime in: @siathawisit @virtualtadpole @nocturnalsoph @recentadultburnout
Spoilers below the break:
In case you aren't watching the show - one of the main characters goes to the military draft and pulls a red card, which is depicted on screen. He's crestfallen, especially because he's just landed a hot boyfriend and a new job that he loves. His boyfriend reassures him that they'll get through it together.
I love that the first thing out of Toto's mouth was "I'm happy for you even if we have to do long-distance" because there wasn't anger at Kanit not telling him, he expressed he was happy his man's dream was coming true, AND he immediately established that long-distance wasn't even a doubt in his mind.
And even though Akki is going to say something stupid in the finale, I appreciate Veha stating they would work through it, together.
I appreciate that the issues are real, but none of them are communication and trust.
It's interesting to contrast the queer P.E. teacher in Jojo Tichakorn's 2022 Warp Effect to the queer P.E. teacher in his 2026 A Dog and a Plane.
In Warp Effect, Joe is outed against his will when Army shows up at his school and shouts that he loves him in a moment they thought they were unobserved. Joe's boss later tells him that parents are holding their children back from practice because they're scared that if the coach is gay, their sons could become gay too. This is ultimately resolved, but Joe comes very close to permanently losing his job. The tone of his conversation with his players is heavy.
Compare this to A Dog and a Plane, where Veha tells Akki that he looks too good in his P.E. uniform and he's worried the students will develop crushes. After all, he jokes, hot gym teachers are the main reason kids turn gay. Jojo has taken the fears from Warp Effect (both being outed and the gay conversion agenda) and turned them into fodder for light teasing. Now, the new coach proudly sniff kisses his boyfriend in front of his players, who tease him about getting distracted from his coaching duties.
Warp Effect is as much a sex education show as it is a sex comedy, so it's understandable that there will be some preachy moments. Even still, it seems possible that the difference in these storylines is evidence of a larger cultural shift. At the very least, the Akki/Veha moment seems like a very intentional callback to Warp Effect, offering a sweet and hopeful alternative.
I love A Dog and a Plane so much. So so much. I don't even know where to begin. One of the many things I love about it is that it feels like a show made by, for, and about adults. Episode 9 had so many elements of this.
Casual affection between people in a committed relationship
Career and money issues impacting how a relationship evolves
Supporting a partner as they navigate a difficult relationship with a parent
Miscommunications are resolved quickly and with a promise to be more direct and forthcoming moving forward
The dreaded cursed episodes at the end of the season ended up being about boyfriends navigating the difficulties of adulthood together as partners rather than a sudden breakup (the Toto/Kanit "breakup" was resolved so quickly I don't really count it). In many ways, the military draft plot feels heavier than many other cursed episode plot twists because it feels so real and immovable but without the heightened drama and forced angst of, say, a hospitalization, or a blackmailing ex, or a parent's death.
And throughout it all, the series never loses its core as a raunchy comedy.
Bravo, Jojo, Tay, New, Mond, and Ryu. Well done, everyone.
I'm in the camp of people who believe that even if Jane Patrick is carrying out the letter of the law (the law he sets, btw), the agreements he makes fundamentally disregard human suffering to the extent that they become not just unkind but unethical, whether or not the other party agreed to the exchange. I agree with Little Jane's reasoning - let these people succeed or fail on their own, there's no reason to enmesh yourself in their lives.
I'm a little surprised at the number of folks who agree with Jane Patrick's reasoning (essentially, they had it coming), but I have a theory about it.
I know the MBTI has largely been disproven as having any real scientific validity, but I do find some of the categories useful. One of the categories is Thinking vs. Feeling:
"People who prefer Thinking put more weight on objective principles and impersonal facts when decision-making. They focus on logic and analysis. People who prefer Feeling put more weight on personal concerns and the people involved when decision making. They focus on values and relationships." (MBTI)
Jane Patrick is a textbook T: logical, reasonable, questioning, objective, critical, tough-minded.
Jane Jennalee is a textbook F: empathetic, compassionate, accommodating, subjective, accepting, tender-hearted.
I wonder if the people who are swayed by JP's reasoning are Ts (focus on rules and systems) while people who are horrified by his disregard for others' suffering are Fs (focus on relationships and harmony)
I think it's one of the things that's so compelling about Don't Be Too Emotional - that there are two people with fundamentally different frameworks trying to navigate a relationship with each other.
I still think Jane Patrick is scary and evil, though.
There’s a commonplace anxiety about how well BL represents queer men’s experiences.
It’s, in fact, an anxiety BL has depicted from the outset, with fantastical BL fictions clashing against the live-action boys’ messy realities.
BL is not a realistic genre, these depictions acknowledge, it’s just romantic fantasy.
Yet, BL is a fantasy that looked at the harshness and tragedy that pervaded queer mens’ experiences and stories…
And instead imagined hope for them, believed affection could be just as compelling as pain, and forced open a place for their happy endings.
When BL references its own novel and manga origins in series, it often contrasts the romantic cheesiness with characters who struggle to imagine queer love as any kind of positive possibility for themselves to experience.
Repressed by social societal attitudes or beaten down by hardships that marginalization increases for queer men,
The characters experience the BL fantasy (as unreal as it might be) and the attitudes of the often younger generations who engage with it slowly chipping away at their closets, their irony, their defeatism, their self-neglect and hatred…
Until they are liberated--not unto some perfect fairytale ending, necessarily, but to a love and life that brings them deeper fulfillment than they had been allowing themselves to imagine was possible.
Meanwhile, those who have fantasized about them through BL fictions learn to respect and appreciate their full humanity instead of the dreamy romantic leads they had idolized them to be.
Meta-Referential BLs Pictured
The Shipper (2020)
Love Sick (2014-15)
Absolute Value of Romance (2026)
The Boy and I Who Will Break Up in 100 Days (2026)
I binged When Oranges Fall this week and I can't decide how I feel about it. Some thoughts:
I was in 11th grade in 1999, so I feel a sense of generational kinship with these characters.
It's a little toooo wholesome for me. My own adolescence was more along the lines of Hormones or Gelboys (or My So-Called Life if Angela Chase was a closeted lesbian in love with Reyanne Graff). I always feel a little disoriented watching high school students experiencing a kind of naive interiority and living lives that are closer to what 5th/6th grade was like for me.
I am not against the BL bubble, but it feels strange to watch a series set in the late 90s/early 2000s with zero homophobia, maybe because my own high school years were a homophobic hellscape.
At the same time, there's something to be said for rewriting history to imagine an adolescence in the late 90s free of homophobia.
They are not in an all-boys school. Why does this show fail the Bechdel test so spectacularly?
Almond is talented. I'm enjoying how he's playing Ko Song as a fond but long-suffering husband.
I find Progress's performance as Ko Neung a little unnatural/affected at times. It's hard to tell how much of that is a Progress issue or a New Siwaj issue. New sometimes directs his actors into an exaggerated cutesy performance that I find distracting (see: Aou in We Are, Santa in Perfect 10-Liners).
I don't know how I feel about actors being locked into a koojin at such a young age. Actually, I do know how I feel about it. Uncomfortable.
Gay nerd solidarity! I want Tle and Ko2 to be best friends forever
Surely, I thought, surely there's no way Ai Girl is going to be about a woman falling in love with a robot, right? The robot even has a human doppleganger who, by virtue of behaving like a human adult and also not wearing a horrible wig, is infinitely hotter.
And surely, I thought, surely Gen isn't going to fuck the robot, right?
A Dog and a Plane [8/10] - This show continues to be extremely charming and the stakes are staying low, which is something I am very grateful for. I need a comfort show in my life.
AI Girl [3/7] - Mildly surprised by how close Gen got to fucking a robot, but after that final shot of Irene/Gen/Ai, my guess is we're moving away from that direction next week.
Don't Be Too Emotional [4/12] - Big Jane continues to demonstrate a truly psychopathic lack of empathy. Like Little Jane, I find him terrifying and compelling. That poor little fly is caught in a spider's web.
The Edge of Horizon [5/10] - A compelling mix of swoony romance and political intrigue. Poor Chat. He's mean and a dumbass of epic proportions but good lord his dad is cruel.
Lost to Light [4/?] - This is a very campy, silly satire of the Thai BL and idol industry. I'm a little confused by who the target audience for this show is, but I'm enjoying it.
Knot [3/12] - As expected, Boat and Oat are both bringing a real earnest commitment to this, for which I congratulate them. I'm impressed by the sheer amount of chemistry Boat has had with a coffee cup and now a button-down shirt.
Payback [8/10] - blah blah plot blah blah character development... in terms of nudity, anatomical specificity, and believability, this was possibly the most explicit sex scene I've seen in a Thai BL, including those from Be On Cloud. To their credit, it felt completely interwoven with (and even inextricable from) the plot and character development.
Peach and Me [2/4] - This week felt like a series of fan service vignettes.
The Fire [1/8] - I did not enjoy an hour of watching Fai being cruel and unpleasant. It also seems very out of character for the Fai that I've come to know over the past 3 series. If we don't get past this unpleasantness soon, I might need to drop this show.
Also watching:
Reset [8/10] - a.k.a. Armin vs. The League of Legendary Demon Twinks a.k.a. How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love My Stalker. Genuinely enjoying the histrionic lakorn acting of the villains in this show. Not particularly invested in the Tada/Armin love story. It's a little too saccharine for me.
A young actor enters into an ill advised relationship with an obsessive, stalkery media executive while one or more demon twinks attempt to destroy him. Call me crazy, but is Payback kind of a Dark Reset?
No spoilers please, I'm only on episode 6 of Reset.
My main takeaway from House 31 with all of the One31 QL couples is that Daou, as expected, is truly incapable of maintaining more than a centimeter of space from Offroad.
germansingergirl
areudirty
baratheonpilled
theartofmadeline
origamiaround
titsay
2087
romaincrisis
