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 23-24 of Pursuit of Jade. No one in this show will ever tell poor Changyu their real name and title.
I continued recapping Payback with episodes 3-4. Our poor wanna-be actor is pushed hard to see how far he’ll go for his revenge. We still don’t know the answer.
For Funsies I am sharing commentary on the latest BoatOat omegaverse nonsense Knot over on my Patreon! Although honestly, this week’s episode had a real lack of omegaverse-ness.
What did I watch this week? This week, I finished a Thai GL and BL that were each part of a longer series. Let’s start with the GL:
The Air – เสน่หาวาโย – 2026
Recently aired princess-and-bodyguard GL with 8 episodes.
When a princess is betrayed by her not-loyal servants, the only person keeping her alive is the cop assigned to protect her.
This is the third in a quartet of GL, following after The Earth and The Water.
In my initial review, I mostly focused on the weak writing of the characters.
I’m afraid it never got better
Around episodes 6-7, I finally maybe understood what I think maybe they were maybe trying to do with the Princess’s character.
The reason her character is Princess and nothing else IS BECAUSE her character IS a Princess and nothing else. The only love she really understands is the love of a monarch for her subjugated people. (No, she didn’t put it that way, but the pro-monarchy of it all continued to grate on me like the writing.)
Which brings me to the other main issue I had: the romance was a super slow burn. Not something I typically object to, but not something I typically see paired with a thriller, on-the-run plot. The adrenaline usually heightens emotions, pushing characters towards intimacy faster because their inhibitions are lowered.
Not so much here. There was a lot of staring and yearning. Our cop was painfully aware that she can’t just date a Princess. Our Princess doesn’t understand human emotions outside of what’s required of her as a Princess.
And while being on the run did change things for our Princess, allowing her the experience of being NOT Princess, it was slow. Like, episode 7 out of 8 slow.
I think this show is for fans of super light action and/or our leads, Becky & Freen
There’s a type of action drama that’s too light for me, but I know others like to turn their brain off and enjoy. Shows like The Sign, The Wicked Game, or the first installment in this quartet, The Earth.
This fits in that category. The action scenes move at the same pace as the romance plot. Gunfights and hospital visits happen. The bad guys are bad and trying to do bad things. When they show up.
But those action sequences are spread out. In between, more time is spent on the beauty of Thailand, its beaches, and the people. It’s not that intense or stressful, and it doesn’t require you to engage much to follow what’s happening.
And if you like Becky and Freen, they spend a lot of time staring at each other, and they’re good at it. What are you waiting for? Go watch.
More my speed was the final installment of Fourever You:
Fourever You Part 2: Lately It’s Winter Season – ไทเกอร์เดือนหนาว – 2026
This section of Fourever You Part 2 is episodes 17-24.
A reluctant young Mafia heir falls HARD for his sweet, oblivious high school classmate. Years of yearning ensue.
This third couple of Fourever You Part 2, and the fifth couple for the entire series, probably comes in as my third favorite part. Or maybe the second after a tie first?
We’ll address this more later.
First, let’s talk about how they actually put the mafia part in this time
Arthit and Johan are totally part of the mafia world, but those parts were somehow made without the word “mafia” coming up once. It was a little confusing.
Here, at least, they’ve made it clear that one of our guys is in a mafia family. They say the word and we see mafia things happening.
But it’s still more character backstory than anything else, not even reaching the level of Me and Thee for relevance to the plot.
The “plot” is all about our super tough, black-wearing, occasionally having to murder people for work, Mafia Heir’s desperate yearning for the friend he makes in high school. Our poor Mafia Heir doesn’t WANT to be a Mafia Heir and spends his time couch surfing with friends rather than with his family.
Our other lead is the unremarkable half of a pair of twins. He rivals North for being chill and laid back, but is less of a goofy, silly extrovert. He’s happy being the Unremarkable Twin, playing soccer, and isn’t too worried about anything.
After a rough beginning, these two become friends, and suddenly Mafia Heir is only couch surfing at the twins’ house.
Special shout-out to the twins’ mother. I adore her. Her easy acceptance of a lonely, quiet teenager who is friends with her sons is the Sweetest Thing Ever. Her warmth, acceptance, and love of her sons and their friend make up for all the horrible, redeemed monster parents littering Drama Land.
You could watch this part of the show for her alone.
The overall “plot” has the same weaknesses as the earlier storylines
Mainly, that it’s short, slightly underbaked and plotless. The small amount of mafia plot outside of the yearning and the obliviousness is quickly dispensed with.
And since these two were in a fair amount of Part 1, this section largely skips that part. This sorta makes sense, but it makes the relationship feel disjointed at times.
On top of that, there’s a lackluster second couple who needed more time or less time.
Another episode spent on the tricky emotions and struggles when transitioning from friends to lovers would have been much appreciated.
For those keeping track, we’ve now had 3 different varieties of “yearning for someone close to me who doesn’t know”.
“I want a person who doesn’t know I exist,” with the top yearning after an oblivious bottom in Johan and North’s story.
“I want a person who thinks of me as a younger brother,” with the bottom yearning for a top who picks up on clues in Fah and Typhoon’s story.
“I want my best friend who has no clue I want him,” with the top yearning for an oblivious bottom in this story.
So why are they my 3rd favorite couple?
Or second after a tie for first?
Like the previous section with Arthit and Dao, these two don’t fall as strongly into the Toppy Tops with Bottomy Bottoms category as the earlier pairings.
They initially meet and bond because they are both good at sportsball. They are about the same height and stature.
Our Mafia Heir is the crier. Underneath his tough, quiet exterior, he’s the real tender softie. It’s why he struggles with being a mafia heir. And he yearns SO HARD in his one-sided crush.
The Unremarkable Twin is athletic, pragmatic, and unflappable. He helps our Mafia Heir accept that his life, unfortunately, involves murder. Sometimes that’s just how things go.
Don’t get me wrong, I like Toppy Tops and Bottomy Bottoms, but it’s nice to change things up too.
And unlike poor Arthit and Dao, I enjoyed the courtship section of this more. It was more about yearning and less about kissing the other person against their will.
Plus, bonus points for having our Caged Again couple as side characters.
What’s my final ranking anyway?
I will judge you based on how you rank the couples. Just kidding. But wouldn’t it be funny if we could make some kind of inferences about a person’s character based on their ranking of Fourever You couples?
Anyway, I’ll put myself out there. This is my order:
Fah and Typhoon (Part 2: Beside the Sky) — I’ve decided to give them first because they are JUST THE CUTEST.
Johan and North (second pairing in Part 1) — But I could be persuaded to give them a tie for first.
Tiger and Nao (Part 2: Lately, It’s Winter Season)
Arthit and Dao (Part 2: The Sun From Another Star)
Hill and Ter (first pairing in Part 1) — I’m so sorry Earth and Pond, I liked your characters in the other characters’ stories
As for the special, it cracked me up
It felt like they got all the actors together on a weekend at a hotel, didn’t bother with a script, and just had them cosplay as their characters. It’s cute and fun and has no substance at all.
But if you’ve made it this far in the series, you aren’t watching this for plot anyway.
Which is to say, I continue to recommend this to anyone who likes different flavors of classic BL tropes with a pinch of Mafia in a college setting. Rich guys with overprotective, jealous instincts who want to pamper and control their partners a little. A fun friend group who finds this all acceptable and supports each other’s romantic pursuits. An occasional classroom scene or gunfight.
Even the more out-there couple (Arthit and Dao) doesn’t subvert those tropes enough or have enough plot for me to suggest to anyone who wants anything stronger.
I can’t believe I’ve been watching this show for over half of this year. I’ll miss its nonsense.
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