Gelboys, Episode 7 Finale: "Controversial In a Good Way" Is How I'd Describe This Finale, As Well As Teenagehood in General
CONFESSION! I know not everyone will agree with me about the following.
When Bua/Baabin and Chian/Fou4Mod get together in the end -- besides the issue of these four WONDERFUL characters not getting enough screen- and development time (which has been fully discussed in the tags, thank you fandom) to really close their stories as ripely as we wanted them to be closed,
I also thought to myself, we've seen this before, or at least, I've seen this before, in a Boss Naruebet Kuno show. What did I see that I thought I've seen before?
When I first watched Boss Kuno's I Told Sunset About You, I focused my meta on the amazing cultural framework of the show, the intermingling of the history of the environment with the show's characters. However, I spoke my truth on my feelings about the ending of ITSAY in my review of I Promised You The Moon, ITSAY's sequel, a show that was screenwritten and directed by another person (Meen Tossaphon) that wasn't Boss (who served as a producer for IPYTM).
In short, at the end of ITSAY: I could have very well seen Teh and Oh-aew not getting together. I loved Teh for the hotttttt mess that he was. I could have seen Oh-aew hold him very accountable for that hot mess action in ITSAY. It didn't happen in ITSAY -- but it did happen in IPYTM, when Oh-aew peaced tf out for a year before they got back together in their later adulthood, all because Teh remained messy, and Oh-aew had had fucking enough.
So, what I'm seeing in the tags is at least, Chian and Fou4mod didn't have to get together in the end for many fans to consider the show a success.
Between ITSAY and Gelboys, from a dramatic narrative perspective: I could go either way with an ending for Teh/Oh-aew and Chian/F4M either being together or not, as long as the dialogue could support an excellent accountability read on imperfect people.
However. From a purely emotional perspective,
Who the fuck am I to ask characters that are teenage boys to hold each other, and themselves, accountable to the feelings of someone else -- when they might not know how to *do* that kind of accountability?
I can't. First of all, I'm a mom! I have to model that behavior myself for my kids as I raise them, which, hello, I can be a mess, too, dur.
I've written in my past Gelboys meta that a huge theme of this show, for me, is nostalgia. The show places an emphasis on the point that despite environments and modes of communication changing over time -- that interactions of emotions between two people remain mostly the same throughout generations. I truly loved it when Bua told Baa,
That sentiment has remained universal throughout the advent of fuckin' cuneiform, the printing press, the telephone, e-mail, text messages, and AirDrops and TikTok likes. The little squeal that you make when the person you like gives you the moment of attention you need. That's been universal since our brains grew larger than walnuts.
In order for a person like Baabin to get there, to give the attention that Bua is wanting and demanding -- well, shit, that'll take work on Baabin that he might not know how to do, because he's a kid, too, like Bua. And I feel the same for Chian, and for Fou4mod, too.
These guys are confused, horny, in love, playing games, and using technology to dance around their crushes and their feelings. That shit is all messy, and that mess was captured perfectly in Gelboys, as it was in ITSAY, as only Boss Kuno knows how to capture it (and Meen in IPYTM, too).
From a dramatic perspective, Chian and Fou4mod could have not gotten together, and again, I think the show could have worked. But from an emotional perspective, Chian and Fou4mod do get together, and....do I call that a happy ending?
Not necessarily -- and I'm okay with that. Because Boss's past work, from ITSAY to IPYTM, showed that he himself is aware that humans continue to grow, past their teenagehood, into probably imperfect adults that will still make mistakes, because they are simply humans who will never actually be perfect.
That's what I'm taking from this finale of Gelboys. Like most of what others are saying in the tags: I believe the convictions of imperfections that I'm talking about, the chaotic intricacies of these characters, would have HUGELY benefitted from a couple more episodes.
I think there's a lot of emotional layering that we missed out on. I think I could have seen a lot more of Fou4mod with Faifa, and not only because I cheese on Paper Peerada everyday. I think Fou4mod making those mistakes with Faifa could have been elaborated for us to get a more in-depth look into his mindset when he was with her, and how the lessons he learned from fucking it up with Faifa turned into his ultimately trusting Chian in a relationship. I think that storyline was rushed, and we missed out on some key growth development from Fou4mod. I really also think we could have had so much more time with Chian and his growth, besides his growing out of love from Bua. I would have loved to spend more time with Chian in university, watching him grow and trust himself more.
But, what can you do. We got what we got, and ultimately? Despite my quibbles, I absolutely LOVED THIS SHOW, from beginning to end. This was a Series Y drama with a totally fresh approach, leveraging romantic nostalgia through the chaotic lens of modern technology, and I think Boss absolutely slam-dunked the risks he took to shoot the series the way he did. That weirdly-lit, frowsy, old-timey cinematography while Fou4mod and Baabin were in the nail salon to start the final episode? Crank up the gaslights, I absolutely love the way that scene looked.
I hope Boss continues to make Series Y for a long time. He's willing, and he's lucky enough, to take risks in his writing and directing, and I think those risks paid off. Gelboys was a little rushed in the end, but the story worked perfectly for me, and I'm gonna remember this series -- as a mom who'll be raising teenagers in no time -- with total fondness and admiration for the story that Boss told.
