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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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Self (Thai Series)

By Golu
Yet another nonsense Thai drama with an outlandish nonsensical plot which makes absolutely no sense and even the juvenile romance doesn't develop. The characters are so random and outrageous that you don't even expect adults to tae some of those actions, forget 16-17 year olds as depicted in the show. This was so bad, that you can't even laugh it off as an amateur show. The bright side is that the show is only 6 episodes of about 18-20 minutes.

A high school student Tang aspires to be a famous singer, but he has attitude problems and he thinks high of himself and is rude to others including his closest friends. One night, suddenly Tang stops seeing his own reflection in the mirror. Instead he sees some other teenage boy. But only he feels this issue. Others don't notice anything wrong. When Tang tells his friends about what happened, they don't believe him. Tang wants to get rid of his ailment, and tracks down the mysterious boy in his mirror reflection. This student is Neo, a student attending another school. Neo is involved in a school scandal, resulting in everyone ostracizing him. It turns out that he had a close friend who fell in love with him but since Neo didn't reciprocate his feelings, he committed suicide. Everyone in school and around him blamed Neo for it. Neo and Tang become close and Neo is still dangerous. Meanwhile, this other guy who committed suicide, his brother now wants revenge and he is using Tang to get back to Neo. More ridiculous drama follows where misunderstandings are resolved and a sudden random love and romance starts between Neo and Tang.

The makers did try to think of something out of the box here with initial setup of Tang unable to see his own reflection in mirror, but despite this the overall writing is so fun of plot holes that after a while it becomes hard to ignore them. The characters indulge in outrageous behavior and give unreasonable reactions. There's so much about the narrative that doesn't feel realistic < No explanation on why Neo keeps a gun, why live in shady areas, how does Tang track down this brother who eventually happily gives him address for Neo. The series swings wildly between two extremes, escalating from innocent schoolyard drama to intense psychological warfare. Each episode is filled with nonsensical conflicts. Also , given the circumstances that Neo and Tang met in, their sudden romance seems so implausible. They are forced to share a bed and their interactions are more forced to make this cater to a BL audience rather than anything else. Overall, with a messy plot that cannot decide what genre it wants to be, this show is laughable at best and easily avoidable. I would actually even argue if this can truly be classified as a BL show. (2/10)
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Golu said…
What a fascinating personal story Miisu.
I do have to agree that I also , most time, get spooked by some antique mirror. They do feel like some sort of mystery to me
June 4, 2023 at 9:41 AM
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