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Stop! That! Train!

By Golu
Coming out of the same studio that gave us RuPaul's Drag Race, and stacked with a whole crew of former contestants, Stop! That! Train! plays like RuPaul basically taking a bow for the entire franchise she's built. It's not really a gay film in the traditional sense, but with so many drag stars from Ru's shows popping up alongside a few cameos from well known out gay actors, I figured it earns a spot on this blog anyway. The whole thing is completely over the top, packed with GenZ slang, loud flashy visuals, and humor that's constantly winking at you knowing how ridiculous it is. Going in you'd assume it's meant to be a laugh riot, and a lot of critics online seem to be eating it up, but I just couldn't get into it at all. I've never really been someone who vibes with campy silly stuff like this, so honestly my reaction doesn't surprise me one bit. The setup follows Tess and DeeDee, two low level stewardesses who sneak onto the fancy Glamazonian E...
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Oxygen: The Series (Thai)

By Golu
Thai BL series are all starting to blend in. With pretty much similar story lines and unwittingly stretched beyond one could care for, I pretty much have a lukewarm response to this specific series. With 13 episodes of about 40 minute each, it is pretty time consuming to watch any series, and it is frustrating when they are so underwhelming.

Orphaned at a very young age, Gui, a fourth-year engineering student, has always had to work hard to support himself. Despite the many difficulties, he has kept his soft demeanor and gentle smile as well as his empathy for others. Solo, a freshman on the other hand has good looks, money and fame but something is bothering him. A chance encounter between the two boys make them instantly fall in love with each other. Then we have Sol's best friend Kao, who is madly in love 9for no reason explained whatsoever) with Phu, heir to a business tycoon who also happens to be Sol's cousin. And finally we have Khim, a girl who works with Gui at a barista and is obsessed with boys falling in love. There are 2 doctors who visit the cafe often and she wants them in love which one of them does to help Khim with her sickness. As expected, Sol's rich father is totally opposed to the idea of this son being together with Gui. In a few episodes we see some background of the orphanage that Gui spent his time and how slowly he starts to involve Sol in his life. When it comes time fo internship, Gui interns in Sol's fathers company with the bet that if he fails he will leave Sol alone. Gui succeeds and finally the lovers are united happily with acceptance from Sol's father as well.

This series has a lot of issues. First the very uneven pace. The whole college life and contests and forced comedy has started to get in my nerves in these BL shows now. over a time we get to know and understand Gui's past and his side of story but we are not told anything about Sol. Why the unhappiness? Someone says that he is linked to Mafia and that he is dangerous. But other than that his back story is still not revealed and that comment has no relevance at all. Why was Phu shown as Sol's cousin? There was absolutely no relevance of this angle too. And why is Kao so badly in love with Phu and pursues him relentlessly, not knowing whether Phu is even interested in boys or not! The whole doctor-Khin angle was so forced and annoying. The supporting couples are good and lively but they take away more from the protagonist's screen time (which itself is stretched in the first place). I would rather create a shorter crispier series that the audience will be able to connect better with. On the plus side, Sol and Gui's chemistry is nice but Gui is one dimensional soft nice character. I wish there was something that makes him angry. niceness doesn't take you a long way. Someone should create a version with only main characters and delete everyone else and maybe the series will be more focussed. The actors, as always good looking and act alright. They all just talk very very very slow and there are a lot of dramatic pauses.

Given the amount of time this series requires and the output it provides, I would recommend this with reservations. Watch it if you really are a huge fan of BL Thai series. (4/10)
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Comments

Sailor Maan said…
Huge fan of thai BL here I am XD! I think this show is a hit or miss. I liked a lot it for its sweetness. But I have the weirdest confession to make : given the non expressional face Gui and Solo always had in the beginning, I persuaded myself they actually were robots who slowly learned about feelings. I don’t know, I had the same feeling as when watching real humans or playing detroit become human. Anyway, at least my twisted brain made me enjoy the first 9 episodes where nothing incredible happens, except extremely sweet moments between apathic beings. I guess that must be a proof to how bad the show is if you consider them as the human beings they really are? From the moment they go to the orphanage though, it turned really good in a normal way. I liked a lot the music and the brighter than usual filming too, contributing to the peaceful and unusual atmosphere (perfectly fitting for robots falling in love lol). Oh and for once there was nearly no sign of those stupid comedy noises, such a relief !!! All the couples were cute even if nothing memorable.
May 14, 2021 at 4:10 AM
Golu said…
Absence of the forced comic sounds was indeed a relief.
You definitely are one of the more serious Asian BL fans that I have seen :)
May 14, 2021 at 2:51 PM
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