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Stop! That! Train!

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...

Twins (Thai Series)

I really tried and hoped that I would like the series. I had heard some favorable reviews of the show and hence was hoping to see something nice. But the show just did not click with me. The premise of twins taking each other's place is something we have seen before (albeit not in BL world), but in this series one person has to take up dual identity which makes the story more interesting. But sadly, the BL content and romance is minimum and occasional scenes of muscular physiques and steamy encounters of other characters can hold your attention only so much. Plus the series is 12 episodes of almost 50-60 minutes each. 

Sprite and Zee are identical twins, separated at childhood after their parents divorce. Zee is now a star volleyball player while Sprite trains in his university's jujitsu club.  Zee doesn't get along with the others. Everyone else hates his arrogance and alienates him from the group. The only friend he has is the girl Salmon, the team's manager. Another star player First holds the biggest grudge against him since he sees him as a rival since childhood. One night Zee is mistaken for Sprite and gets attacked and is hospitalized. Zee's mother is upset and together her, Sprite and Salmon decide that Sprite will pretend to be Zee and continue playing on the volleyball team until Zee's full recovery. As. You can imagine this creates plenty of funny, awkward, suspenseful scenarios. Sprite now has to live a double life and also learn volleyball and get good at it while continuing his own jujitsu love. Salmon helps him get used to his new role. However, the other teammates notice Sprite isn't as mean or arrogant as Zee. They also think his volleyball skills have worsened. For some reason, Sprite (in Zee's avatar) takes a liking for First and their flirting starts while everything else is going on. We also have 3-4 other couples besides these main characters but I could care less about them. When Zee is healthy, he is upset to know what Sprite is doing and asks to go back, but Sprite tells everyone that he likes First and wants to pursue. Zee and Sprite alternate their days, which confuses First because some days he gets a lot of love from Zee and other days he doesn't. Eventually more drama happens, truth comes out in a small group, Sprite apologizes to First and the duo are together. Meanwhile turns out Zee has had a crush on Salmon and they both make another couple.

As mentioned before this show has interesting premise that could lead to many comical situations, which we do see. We see how Sprite struggles to maintain double identity playing two different sports and dealing with new friends. But sadly this gets repetitive and somehow failed to captivate my attention. Also there are many side characters, whose love stories, flirtations etc keep coming in between. I know this is now a norm in BL shows but somehow in this show it was even more glaring. On a positive side, all these characters are hunky with amazing bodies and there are plenty scenes with them shirtless. There's a constant display of sweaty torsos, muscular arms, and bare thighs. We also do get a couple of steamy locker room and bedroom sex scenes although they last barely any time. But then the dream keeps getting convoluted and boring. I understand that Sprite wants to continue to pursue First, but there are better ways to do that rather than continuing the charade of deception. Also the sevens which lead to Sprite, as Zee, making his enemy teammates to now friends is also a bit clunky and hard to swallow. 

The actor playing the lead is really good and does a good job to separate the two characters. This is a good opportunity to display your acting chops. Sadly, First barely has any characterization and comes out as very dull. IN contrast, the girl Salmon has more appeal and charisma and better role and another reason for me to be confused whether it's truly a BL show at heart. Overall, it's hard to overlook the many problems that this series has. If you are looking for a proper BL show, I'd not recommend this since the romance part is very minimal here, but yeah there is enough eye-candy. (3.5/10)

Comments

Sailor Maan said…
A really boring and bad one for me. I couldn't wait for it to end. Situations are barely plausible, and not even funny. And I'm not even talking about Zee's bastard behaviour in the end.
Surprisingly I just have the exact opposite feel than you about the main actors! I found Zee/Sprite acting pretty annoying, however I totally loved First actor and the way he displays confusion and feelings hurt through his eyes. Ok I confess I have a weak spot for those kind of guys. Anyway I'd like to see him in another series (... not named "For him", stay away from this one at all costs). Same for the secondary actors, I'd love to see their naked bodies I mean acting skills again (the Jujitsu friend has a real charm though)
Golu said…
of course, it is all about sexy bodies !!!

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