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 7-8 of Cinderella Closet. Things are getting complicated between the Princess and her Fairy Godmother.
I also recapped episodes 7-8 of My Romance Scammer. Poor Tim goes to the hospital twice in these episodes. CTE better not exist in this drama world.
What did I watch this week? Thai GL. I accidentally started a quartet of dramas, each featuring one of four single cousins. Let’s start with a completed review of the first one:
The Earth – วิวาห์ปฐพี – 2026
Recently aired childhood-friends-to-lovers GL with 8 episodes.
The shy, reserved, knows-how-to-use-a-gun cousin promises her neighbor she’ll protect his daughter, her childhood friend, from danger.
Here’s a link to the trailer (that makes it look like an action show).
The set-ups of each drama in the quartet feel like something from a 90s romance series, just in GL form. Each of the cousins has interesting life circumstances, money, and a dramatic set-up to meet their lady loves.
While these characters and set-ups feel decades old, they also feel refreshing because they aren’t set-ups I’ve encountered in the GL world.
Of particular excitement is that these women are not in their early 20s. They are in their mid-to-late 20s and early 30s, fully realized adults with established jobs. We’ve escaped the well-explored world of the college campus.
Our cousin for this series owns the vegetable farm she grew up on. When her childhood friend and neighbor returns, a sweet, shy, gentle romance blooms between the two of them.
With two sweet people already halfway in love with each other, there’s not much to stand in the way of their happily ever after.
Well, except for the human trafficking
Because the evil neighbors on a third farm nearby want her land for smuggling people over the border. All they need to do is convince Childhood Friend to marry the vile son of the family.
Childhood Friend gives that a pass, and she and our Reserved Cousin fake-marry so she’s less of a target. This only ignites violence from the neighbors, putting our couple’s lives in danger. Meanwhile, the local police shrug and don’t bother to show up most of the time.
Besides human trafficking, their other main conflict is petty jealousy. The marriage is fake, but their feelings are real. And Childhood Friend is jealous of any woman who gets anywhere near the Reserved Cousin.
It’s hard for me to care about Childhood Friend’s groundless jealousy when you’ve seen a screaming woman dragged away against her will.
But poor Childhood Friend has little else to do
The character is underdeveloped and given no resources to protect herself. Nor does she try to find any. Instead, she watches Reserved Cousin protect her from evil and stand too close to other women.
Outside of what’s happening on screen, and her being a little bolder in the romance area than Reserved Cousin, I have very little idea who she is as a person. I’m not sure what she was doing with her life before coming back to the farm. I’m not sure how her life experiences shaped her as a person. She’s just kind of … sweet. Unless she’s jealous.
This particularly hurts the show’s ending. As the external threats conclude, all that’s left between our two leads is for them to resolve the feelings between them. Except, there’s no conflict there. So, poor Childhood Friend gets to manufacture more problems to give us one more episode.
If you like high stakes but uncomplicated drama, this could be for you
This reminds me of some shows I’ve seen in the BL world, like the recent Dare You To Death or The Wicked Game. All of them involve deadly circumstances, but all real danger is quickly resolved rather than leaving you in suspense.
Human trafficking is horrible, but the show doesn’t spend time on the horror. I wouldn’t call it light, but for what it is, it is light. You get to spend a lot of time with the couple being sweet together.
Also, the countryside farm locations are really pretty.
Despite my lackluster feelings towards the first of the series, I wanted to give the second one a try. And I’m glad I did:
The Water – นทีร้อยเล่ห์ – 2026
Currently airing hotel-family-versus-hotel-family GL, I’m at 3 of 8 episodes.
A super serious hotel executive finds herself dealing with a new, daring, sexy employee. An employee with a lot of secrets.
I’m really enjoying this one. The characters, their backgrounds, their motivations, and their conflict with one another are well established and have me hooked.
Let’s talk about our two very different leads
Our cousin this time is the Hotel Executive, who is not unkind but extremely strict and serious. She’s a workaholic with little else going on. Her loving cousins and family would like her to get a life and a girlfriend.
Enter, The Spy. From a rival family group conglomerate business thingie (I don’t know how this works). She’s been secretly sent by her brother to help him get information on Hotel Executive, so their family can have All The Money.
The Spy’s initial attempts to get Hotel Executive’s attention feel very poorly thought out. She mostly irritates her. Then she switches gears, gets a job at the hotel, and proves she can do this job well.
Despite everything, both the Hotel Executive and I admire her determination. She doesn’t let her failures stop her. She learns from them and tries again. She’s quite smart. And she’s shameless.
Still, as she does with all her employees, Hotel Executive tries to keep her distance from The Spy. The Spy though, won’t let that happen. And as she works at getting the Hotel Executive’s defences down so she can get at her secrets, she starts to admire her.
Underneath that strict, serious exterior is a fair and compassionate person. Someone a whole lot nicer than The Spy’s own sexist, horrible family. But The Spy has wanted to prove herself to her family for a long time, and that’s hard to let go of.
I can’t wait for all the secrets to come out
While a lot of time has been spent on The Spy working her way closer to the Hotel Executive, the Hotel Executive has yet to return the favor. I’m hoping that rather than condemning her, she gives her a path to something better.
And they start kissing and cuddling.
I’m also looking forward to the next in the series, The Air. It’ll star Becky and Freen, a popular pairing I’ve enjoyed watching. Freen has already been showing up as the cop cousin, with a flirtatious and laid-back attitude. I’m excited to see her romance with who else, but a princess.
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