My Grandpa Is A BL Writer (Thai Series)

Okay so this one's basically about an old writer who ends up having to pump out BL novels just to keep things afloat, but that's really only the surface of it. What's actually going on underneath is this whole tapestry of smaller stories happening inside one family, especially the bond between a grandfather and his grandson, plus everyone else living under that roof. There's a lot of warmth running through it, the kind of show where you watch people show up for each other when things get hard, taking care of one another without making a big deal out of it. There is a slightly messy romance thread too, since the lead basically takes advantage of his friend's feelings early on, though it does eventually turn into a proper redemption story for him. Compared to the usual Thai university BL formula, this one goes in a totally different direction. Twelve episodes total, each one clocking in around an hour.

At the center of it is grandpa, once a big deal in the writing world, now completely out of step with what's trendy, to the point where publishers won't touch his new stuff. He spends his days running an orphanage, feeding these kids, raising them, being there for whatever they need. His son and daughter-in-law pitch in too, along with their two kids, one of them being a teenager named Save. Money's tight at the orphanage though, and grandpa's also fallen behind on loan payments back home. People keep telling him to just sell the place, but he won't hear it, since his own grandfather started it and he refuses to hand off that responsibility to the kids depending on him. So he sets out to write something new, does a bit of digging, and realizes BL novels are the moneymaker right now, except he knows nothing about the genre. That's where Save steps in to help. His first attempt gets rejected by the publisher for not having enough heat to it. Around the same stretch of time, Save's close friend and classmate Guy tells him he's in love with him. Save doesn't really know what to do with that at first, but then it hits him that this could actually be useful, that he could feed grandpa these real moments from his own life to shape the story. And that's the spark that gets everything moving. From there it's one obstacle after another, publishers turning things down, the family posting content online hoping it catches on, traction crawling along slowly, with the son and daughter-in-law even trying to sell homemade sweets online to help out. There's also a whole storyline about grandpa's other son, the one he pushed away for being gay, and over time grandpa comes to realize just how badly he handled that. Meanwhile the thing between Guy and Save keeps swinging back and forth. Save leans on Guy's feelings for his own benefit at first and holds back from really meeting them honestly, but the more time he spends around his grandfather, the more he starts to understand that he actually does love Guy back.

Honestly the writing itself is what carries this whole show. The story never feels like it's dragging its feet moving from one beat to the next. Sure, obstacles show up constantly, but none of them feel forced, they all land as things that could genuinely happen, and the heart of it is watching these people lean on each other to get through. Nothing about the pacing feels rushed, and that slowness feels deliberate rather than sloppy. What really got me in the end was just how real the family felt. At first glance they come across as a pretty standard four generation household sharing one home, but slowly you start seeing their kindness, their cracks, what they struggle with, and how much they actually care about each other. I really liked that grandpa doesn't play into the tired grumpy old man stereotype. Yeah, he's set in his ways and old fashioned about a lot of things, but with the orphanage kids around him, he starts to get why adapting matters. He actually listens, he actually grows, and that shift changes how he sees basically everything, most importantly how he finally makes peace with his younger son being gay. Whoever's playing grandpa is honestly incredible in the role. Save as a character has some rough edges and could've been written tighter, but the actor still pulls it off well enough that it works. 

If I'm being picky, I really didn't love that they leaned on Save manipulating Guy's feelings just to get material for the novel, that part felt unnecessary. The scenes between grandson and grandfather are so genuinely sweet that they'll have you thinking about your own grandparents. The show also touches on a bunch of real world stuff, scams, health struggles that come with age, gender roles, and this bigger theme about generations needing to respect each other. But the biggest thread running through it all is about families accepting gay men and people who don't fit typical gender norms.

The ending left me feeling really good, genuinely hoping this family keeps thriving, and every storyline gets tied up nicely without loose ends. On the downside, the pacing does drag in spots, some scenes go on way longer than they need to and I found myself wanting to skip ahead. Also, there's honestly not enough romance or BL chemistry between Save and Guy, I wanted way more of that side of things. Even with that, it's still a solid watch and one I'd recommend. (8/10)