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...
Yai is a bratty wealthy college student who has inherited his father’s pub and thinks the handsome Mangkorn, an architecture graduate, has eyes on his girl-crush. So one evening, Yai gets his men to mix something in Mangkorn’s drink inadvertently ends up getting drugged himself. His plan to record an unconscious Mangkorn in a compromising position backfires on him when Mangkorn steals their video of having a hot passionate sex and uses it to blackmail him. Yai needs to revamp his bar and when Magkorn shows up next day as part of architecture team, the two boys meet again. But rather than treating each other as victim and drag and revenge porn, they behave like any other university love story students ad the story just goes downhill. Over next several episodes, they meet, fall in love, have petty misunderstandings. Yai sees Mangkorn kissing a girl who has ben handpicked by his parents. Similarly, Magkorn sees a guy named Nine (someone whose Yai knows from childhood days and has a crush on Yai) kiss Yai, but its one of the most bizarre handling of situation. They both have their family history, which could have made the show interesting and they invested in more. Every time the show focused on the love story, it was going south. Even the culmination of story is odd. They finally decide that they are in love, and then Mangkorn leaves for Masters to New York and then just randomly comes back after 6 months.
There are way too many plot holes in the show and so much cramped with no proper development for anything. Yes, the two actors look good together and have a good chemistry, but the story just doesn't click, especially after that bizarre start. The topic of drugging and blackmail using sex, non consensual ex could have been used for some innovative and important conversations, but it just never gets talked about at all. I think couldn't decide whether to have their characters be toxic and mysterious or sweet and silly. In the process they ended up making an odd show. Once they have made very clear how much they hate and dislike each other, how the hell does one fall madly in love in such a short unrealistic time? And what was the point of suddenly bringing that Mangkorn was actually in love with Yai since first year of college. This information had no bearing on the entirety of series because non of his actions suggested otherwise. Firstly, the coming together of this couple is problematic and then the whole lack of trust or respect for one another is just baffling in the whole show. I'm also going to throw in here that the attempts at comedy, mostly with the bodyguards just really fell flat. The production value is good and the locations and sets are aesthetic and pleasing to eyes, but none of that can take you far, when what you have on paper is badly written and directed. The one good thing is that this ended in 8 episodes. We have been given a warning for season 2, but I seriously hope they hire better writers for it. (4/10)
Comments
I was feeling very "meh?" during the second half. The first two episodes were rather promising, especially those two clumsy bodyguards of Yai. How on earth is their protégée still alive, remains a mystery :D The French farce moments were really good, and the soundtrack and the fact that Yai's family lives in "my" house :D - and then all the storylines got tangled, some pieces of the puzzle went missing, the events went time travelling and... then the "see you in S2". Still feeling "meh?". The ending was so close to flatlining that I didn't even feel that this is the actual END of the story. Although I liked the fact that Yai waited for Mangkorn to return from NY - there's no need for all the 1990s drama when lovers change locations for a period of time, because that's what it is - just time. The contemporary technology helps keep the important people close even when they're in different time zones or continents for a while. (Maybe I've inherited a different cultural memory here - not a very long time ago the Soviet army took (Estonian) boys for 2 years and the unluckiest ones had to spend that time thousands of kilometers away in some arse-end-of-nowhere location and their friends, families and girlfriends waited, counted the days and waited. Two years? Piece of piss!)
Btw, the story could have been worse, since it's written after a book. Really, there's enough crap going on, please don't add the "pregnant man" line. Asking nicely and yada yada yada.
Back to the series, maybe I had been watching too many bad thai BL recenttly (... and I had...) but I appreciated this one. Probably because of Yai eyes. Boy I feel you could read everything through them -confusion then hesitation then feelings. OK I admit I have a sweet spot for this kind of actor with talking eyes. I also loved his evolution as a character.
I actually like the first 2 episodes with 1) the silly bodyguards and 2) how every evil plan fires back at Yai, so well deserved. Then I feel they tried to fill all the possible bl cliches at once (enemies to lovers + playboys, child acquaintance, one being in love way before, working together on a project, arranged marriage, love triangle with former friend, studying abroad... etc and I'm probably forgetting some). Which felt a little indigest and improbable and too much.
But I'll still gladly watch season 2! There are barely any cliche left to exploit, should be ok now lol
So nice to read that I'm not the only eye-fetish-person out there, yay :D My main eyecatcher is lashes, though, but still - eyes... I thought it was me being Estonian (there was a poll for finding out the most Estonian feature in films and "a pair of deep eyes all over the screen" got the first place, the second place was "a single tree standing in a vast field" ). Yai had amazing outfits as well, I'd say. I hope S2 includes more fun moments with those French farce bodyguards, some additions to the soundtrack, more instant karma - and please-please-please NOT the pregnant man storyline.