Welcome to my Saturday blog post, where I give thoughts on dramas I’m watching, whether at the beginning, middle, or end. Whatever I want, because I’m petty that way.
This week, I recapped episodes 3-4 of Interminable. The ghosts are being cryptic and secretive because… they’re ghosts.
I also recapped the final episode 13 of Goddess Bless You From Death. I really, really enjoyed this show and go into detail in my recap, but I’ll give a different, spoiler-free final review below.
What did I watch this week? Who cares! It’s Valentine’s Day in the States, and two shows are going to be MY Valentine. Starting with:
Fourever You Part 2 – Beside the Sky – เพราะรักนำทาง พาร์ท 2 – 2025
I’ve watched 8 episodes of 24, or the entire Beside the Sky section.
A young college student with a sad past reunites with his childhood crush, and Daddy Issues complicate things.
Here’s a link to the trailer for the Beside the Sky section.
This is one of those shows that I became obsessed with, and I can’t entirely explain why, but I’ll do my best.
Let’s start with what’s going on
Our sweet baby Phoon has had a rough first 20ish years. His Dad is up there with the worst of the worst of drama dads. One of the few positives in Phoon’s young life is his sweet, kind, slightly older neighbor, Fah.
After years apart due to the natural ebb and flow of life, Phoon reunites with Fah. But during their years apart, he acquired a few secrets. Because of those secrets and the destructive force that is his father, he deliberately hurts Fah’s feelings and sends him away.
Only to run into him again soon after, as Phoon’s new friend group’s boyfriends’ friend group includes Fah. I apologize for that sentence. Let me try again: There’s a group of cute young college students, there’s a group of handsome older rich college students, and they will all date each other. Phoon and Fah are next.
Thanks to his new friend group and the independence of attending college, Phoon starts to disconnect from his domineering father and make his own choices. He’s even ready to do something about his feelings for Fah, sending him secret gifts and notes.
As I mentioned in my review covering Part 1 and the beginning of this Part 2, this is not a show to watch for a strong plot. It’s entirely about Phoon and Fah getting together, and Phoon getting support in resolving a few issues with his past. That’s it.
The point is, Phoon and Fah are the cutest of the cutest
Fah isn’t just cute, he’s a gentleman. He’s smart, dedicated, hard-working, sweet, thoughtful, and supportive. The kind of person who makes an excellent partner in real life, and a boring character in fiction.
But that’s fine, because he’s not the main character. This is Phoon’s story, and after everything he’s been through, he deserves a lover like Fah. The first few episodes are hard. Phoon suffers a lot, and Fah is the reward to us and Phoon for getting through it.
Which isn’t to say Fah has no growth in the show. He’s slotted Phoon into the “little brother” role and is generally relationship-averse. But that’s a small road bump to get over compared to Phoon’s secrets and sad past.
But let’s not forget the friend group. I love that they’re such a big part of the story, second only to the main romance. And not just Phoon’s friends, Fah and his friends, too. They get to be active parts of the story. Ter and North even have a sweet moment despite neither being the main character.
Look, none of us is perfect, including this show
I think the first half is stronger, with stronger production. There are some beautiful locations and moments.
As the show goes on, we spend more time in the familiar, and less exciting, BL college world. The big dramatic scenes from this part of the book are condensed on screen (I suspect because of budget and resources).
To me, giving the initial courtship and romance more time and attention than the later stuff is the right choice, but some of the latter episodes felt a little choppy as a result.
I also suspect some things that happen in the drama might be a bit confusing and unclear if you haven’t read the book.
But this show is still my Valentine
While watching it, I suddenly needed to rewatch parts of Hidden Love and Reset, and I know why. If you loved the swooniness of Tada going to extremes to make Armin happy in Reset, or Jiaxu realizing Sang Zhi had been in love with him this entire time and doing everything he could to spoil her in Hidden Love, this show will give you the same excited, happy, fuzzy feelings.
For me, this is a happy addition to the rewatch list.
(I actually plan to make a rewatch list here, in the near future.)
But if what you really want is plot, maybe this next show will be your valentine:
Goddess Bless You from Death – สิงสาลาตาย – 2025
Recently aired cop protects his witness horror-mystery-thriller BL with 13 episodes.
A gruesome murder scene brings a young man who sees ghosts together with a skeptic cop who needs to find the murderer before it happens to someone else.
I thought this show was excellent, neatly balancing the complicated horror-mystery-thriller while still taking enough time with the romance to be satisfying. The flaws in the story, while annoying, were pretty typical of this genre.
Ye who do not like horror and murder, do not enter
The show starts with seven corpses hanging from a tree in the middle of an abandoned mall. Soon after, a young man nearly falls to his death while being chased by wandering ghosts. There’s a ghost whose mouth has been split open with a machete. There are multiple gruesome, on-screen deaths. There’s a lot of blood.
This show is far bloodier, gorier, and creepier than any BL I’ve seen recently (including Khemjira).
This is not a good time for some people. If you’re really curious, I did a full recap of the series that you can read instead. (I did my best not to use any screen caps that were too creepy, but I admit my threshold for horror is high and I may have missed something. If this stuff bothers you, please still be careful.)
For me, this was great.
And it wasn’t all horror, there was policework and BL too
So far, I’ve either gotten one or the other. Good police work with a BL loveline on the side, or a BL lovestory with police investigating clues so vague and nonspecific that there was nothing to follow.
Here, we have Sing, a police officer with a grim outlook on the world who is nonetheless still determined to do the right thing. After being transferred away for a few years, he’s back and given this horrific murder scene to solve. He immediately comes across someone who could be a witness or the culprit: Thup, a young man who claims to see ghosts.
Sing quickly determines that the strange, timid younger man is unlikely to have killed seven people. But in this world of corrupt police, this only makes things harder, as he now has to keep the young man from being framed while he finds the actual murderer.
To do that, he follows clues that lead him to different places and people who might be involved. He questions the family members of the victims and searches their homes. He investigates suspects and questions them. One thing leads to another, that leads to another, bringing him closer to the real killer. The whole time (well, almost) I knew what he was doing and why.
I know, this all seems like it should be a given, but I’ve spent so many hours watching characters look around rooms for “evidence”.
At the same time, Sing is dealing with his witnesses’ growing attachment to him. Ghosts are afraid of Sing, so Thup, constantly haunted by ghosts, likes being with Sing. Not only that, his ability to see ghosts, his knowledge of rituals and mythology, are useful in solving the case.
So they’re together because of plot AND feelings.
I like a puppy-top with a tough-bottom
It’s not a common pairing, though we’ve seen it before with these actors. But I like Sing a lot more than Pit Babe, who was insecure and quick to throw tantrums.
Sing is a genuine tough guy, with strong morals and a refusal to bend them. He doesn’t need to prove anything to anyone. Thup follows him around, (usually) eager to help and take care of Sing, despite often getting scolded for his efforts.
Thankfully, Sing has his own past and secrets, and even he can’t be a tough guy all the time. Though he’s often helpless, Thup has moments of steely inflexibility, when he can be the strength and support. Soft Sing with strong Thup is adorable.
We also get a second couple, our pals Sonic and North from Pit Babe. Here, they’re our forensic team. At first, their love story was too similar to their annoying friends-who-won’t-become-lovers-just-’cause dynamic in Pit Babe. But they improved in the second half of the show, as it became clearer why they’d struggled in the past and how they’d change in the future. By the end, I was ready for them to ask for an auspicious date.
Finally, mothers, often the villains of BL, get to be the guardians here. It’s nice to see.
But if you want real police work and smart decisions, keep looking
The focus here is to be entertaining, with moments of horror, excitement, and romance. Accurate, realistic, proper police work is less important. For the most part, they try to handle evidence carefully and make smart decisions, but at times it’s more important to keep the plot moving.
Sometimes a character needs to be kidnapped, and to do that, other characters need to be stupid. What can I say?
Truly, I felt that (most of) the sloppy decisions made in the latter part of the story were motivated. The clock was ticking, and everyone was getting desperate and a little stupid.
I also wouldn’t have minded getting a little more detail about the rituals and mythology. We get a lot about certain aspects, but other intriguing parts are alluded to without being explained. Again, this is a show meant to entertain, not educate, so I can let it go.
Yes, this is another one for my rewatch list
It’s the kind of show I can easily recommend to anyone interested in this particular genre. There are good creepy moments, good romantic moments, good clues, good-not-wait-bad villains, and an overall good time.
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