Thai QL Favorites Tag Game
months ago i was tagged by @telomeke and it was during a time when i was super busy working as an assistant director for a theater production and then when i wanted to sit down and answer this tag game i ended up getting super distracted by the point "most underrated actor". more on that later tho...
anyway, here goes mine. you already know at least half of these answers are gonna be bad buddy related 🤭🤭🤭
Favorite Thai QL:
Bad Buddy, hands down. I have been thinking about this series every single day for two years straight gay now. No other QL has been living in my head rent-free for this long. So the answer has to be Bad Buddy. Ok bye.
Special shout-out also to Theory of Love. If you were following me back in 2021 and regularly read my tags then you'll know this series helped me deal with and get over my very own, personal Khai from my real life, so this series holds a very special place in my heart. It gave me a whole lot of catharsis and helped me reflect on my own situation. To this day it's still my most rewatched QL with me having watched it at least 27x since late 2020. (though BBS is catching up very soon, I'm currently watching it for the 23rd time (at least that I've counted on mydramalist) kkdfkfdfkj)
Favorite Pairing:
Do I have to say it? Do I really have to say it?? You've seen the state of my blog. You've seen my icon. It's PatPran. PatPran is my favorite pairing. Pat and Pran from แค่เพื่อนครับเพื่อน BAD BUDDY SERIES (2021) dir. Aof Noppharnach Chaiyahwimhon. You know this.
Most underrated actor:
Ok. Ok. So. This is one of the major reasons why I took so long to complete this tag game. And I have decided to give more than one answer but to split my answer into different "categories" as I was struggling to pick just one person. And this is what I came up with:
Most underrated actor by GMMTV:
Sing Harit. I think he's really underutilized by GMMTV. The man can do comedic roles (see for example: UMG; The Warp Effect), the man can do drama (see for example: Not Me; Home School). He's got the range. More lead roles for Sing, please!!!! Give him his own drama (and let him kiss Gun Atthaphan in it), please!!!!! It's such a joy to watch him act and I'm sad that he's often put in just a supporting role :(((
Most underrated actor by (tumblr?) fandom:
Joong Archen. We as a fandom don't talk about Joong enough. Please, he's so good and so fun to watch!! He has this really calm, grounded presence that I find very interesting. And I also really like the way he shows his thoughts and emotions with his eyes, his face, his entire body even as seen here. I can't gif it all, but here, here, here and here are some more examples that I happened to find on my blog. And the way he whips his head around in this scene never fails to make me laugh. Oh, and for those obsessed with the term "microexpressions" I've also got something for you: do you see that tiny hint of a smile in the second gif of this post? If you check the corner of his mouth you can see it twitch up just for a split second.
And on a side note I wanna point out something that I noticed while looking for these gifs: I find the difference in the way he shows his thoughts between the one scene in the hallway and the scene with the motorcycle helmets super interesting. In the hallway scene his thoughts flow more continuously, all his movements are connected. Kind of like when you play legato on a musical instrument or a video clip that is running without a cut. But in the scene where they're wearing the helmets everything he does is a lot more jumpy, he jumps from one thought/one movement to the next kind of like playing staccato or a vlog with jump cuts. It's quite exciting when actors play with the tools that they've got at hand and this is exactly one of them (in general Joong has some fun dynamics in his acting imo!!).
Anyway, here are some more examples that give me joy:
(^^^for more context: the girl his character thinks he doesn't have a chance with is sitting at the table with him so he's saying that right in front of/to her)
(^^^trust me you do NOT want the context of this kgkdfg. but just look at the complete disbelief that forms on his face as his eyebrows are slowly rising up)
(^^^pls that eyebrow raise the split second before he sneakily steps closer for a back hug. btw here have a gifset of this scene bc they're just too cute)
Also, can we just talk about the absolute rage in his eyes here?? Look:
Honestly the gif alone doesn't really do it that much justice imo, bc it's even more fascinating in the context of this extremely private, reserved character just suddenly lashing out like that.
And here, please, just look at the utter disappointment on his face when a knock on the door interrupts his character's chance to kiss the bf:
Pls he looks SO distraught, it's so funny:
In German we have this idiom that goes "wie ein begossener Pudel" which literally translates to "like a watered poodle" and that is exactly what Kluen looks like in that moment, I love it.
Actually, speaking of Kluen: one of the things that fascinates me the most about Joong's portrayal of Kluen is the way Kluen is an extremely reserved, quiet character. A man of very few words who doesn't really show the world how he feels about things. And yet you can clearly tell where Kluen is at emotionally and what is going on in his head in a scene. Joong knows exactly what his character is thinking and feeling and I'm having the time of my life watching him.
And staying on the topic of "the way he shows his thoughts and emotions on his face", one of my favourite things that he does when it comes to that is this: he'll turn his head to the side and for just a moment a facial expression passes over his face that provides commentary to the situation or to something another character said:
And oftentimes the expression on his face is amusement, which I find rather endearing:
And the thing is: that commentary isn't for any other characters!! No, it's for Joong's character himself!! It's a reaction to the situation, but in a way where it looks like he's talking to himself and I love that. And it also lets us, the viewers, know exactly what is going on in his character's head. My camera acting teacher always said that in front of the camera we had to speak quietly and think loudly and Joong, my man, is thinking very loudly in front of the camera. I love to see it.
And something else that Joong is really skilled at is something that I really struggle to put into words. It's that thing that actors do when they really focus their whole attention on their scene partners, really sending their whole attention towards them, channeling it. In German I sometimes like to use the word "anspielen" in this context but I just fail to come up with an English word that describes exactly what I'm trying to say and that also sounds right and like "correct" English (the literal translation is "to act at/towards" or "to play at/towards" and it sound weird to me, idk). Sometimes I'll talk about "sending" too. Anyway, Joong is really good at focusing completely on his acting partners, really zooming in on them with his attention. And it doesn't even matter whether he's positioned right in front of his co-stars or if they're some way away, it makes absolutely no difference to Joong.
He can do it with Dunk boys:
(^^^note how it almost even looks like he's falling forward a little because the pull towards his scene partner is this strong)
And he can do it with ladies too:
And here, this sequence just has to be appreciated as a whole for full effect as a single gif just wouldn't do it justice. Just look at him go:
It's not simply just staring at them what he's doing here, there's more to it. Joong stares, but it's so filled. Filled with thoughts and/or emotions. His stares are "gefüllt" (filled) as my mother would say and "gefühlt" (felt) as my fave acting teacher would say. There's this really strong invisible pull towards his co-star, like, you can see just how much his character is drawn to the other person. To the point where it sometimes looks like he's falling towards them a little because that pull is so strong (see for example that one scene with Dunk or also the scene with Fah). And the way Joong does it.. it's just so intense???? It just hits you like whoaa. Amazing.
Oh, and he can do it live on stage too:
He can do it while he's singing:
And he can do it while he's dancing:
Bonus bc I couldn't resist: Here, can you spot the moment where he turns his intense focus on for just a second??
I'm talking about this part here specifically:
Beautiful!!!! And here have more gifs of this intense focus/attention thing that he does.
Also, you've seen Joong cry prettily, now get ready for:
I bet you didn't know my man Joong could cry like this (I sure didn't!!!!). Tbh, I considered posting a video clip of this entire scene too, but I actually want more people to watch Mafia The Series and so I didn't wanna spoil it too much, hence just the still. But I swear to you, the entire scene is just jaw-dropping, especially when you've only seen Joong cry prettily with the tears silently streaming down his face.
I mean he does do the pretty crying really well too lbr. No complaints.
Joong can do drama, but!! I'm telling you Joong can also do comedy:
^^^yes that's a water bottle, yes he's holding it like a weapon, no don't question it
No, I will not post gifs or clips or give any context whatsoever. You're just gonna have to take my word for it that Joong can do comedy and find out for yourself. Yes, I am still trying to convince you, my dear reader, to go watch Mafia The Series if you haven't already.
And that's just the tip of the ice berg of all the things that I enjoy about Joong's performances. For example, I haven't even mentioned dynamics or directions yet.
Anyway, Joong Archen. We should talk about Joong Archen more. I know we don't talk about Joong enough bc if he wasn't so underrated then more people would have watched Mafia The Series and we could have had so many great memes at our disposal, like, that show is SO full of meme material. But alas...
Honorary Mention:
Dunk Natachai. I have my reasons why I like him as a performer and why I think he doesn't deserve all the hate he's been getting, but since he's only done two series (both of which opposite of Joong) plus a few lines in BBS I have decided that I want to keep my eye on him and his future works for a bit longer. I want to see him act alongside actors that aren't Joong first, prove it to me that he can do it with other co-stars as well before I go off about why I like watching him. For now, I'm just gonna leave this here:
การกลับมาของ “ดัง พันกร” ศิลปินในตำนานแห่งยุค 90s กับแนวเพลง Pop Rock ที่แฟนเพลงคิดถึง “จะเลิกกันอีกวันไหน” เพลงเศร้าของคนแอบรัก ที่ได้แต่รอ
And also this:
Story time:
So yeah, as I said my answer to this took me quite a while to figure out. Bc when I first read through all the points I was like "underrated actor?? oof idek". But then I gave it some thought and Sing Harit popped into my mind. But then I saw some other people answering this question with Sing too and I was like "hmm, I guess he isn't even all that underrated in the fandom". So I decided I wanted to say someone else for this, someone who I hadn't seen named yet. And then I thought of Joong. But I had only watched SIMM and a handful of Hidden Agenda episodes that had aired up until that point and so I decided before I could go and publically list him as my most underrated actor I had to go watch his entire filmography to get a better overview of his acting and to confirm my opinion of him. And so I finally sat down to watch The Warp Effect bc Joong was in it and as you all know, Sing also has a role in it. And that was a reminder of how much I adore him too and I was like "hnggggg but I do also wanna say Sing as my answer. Can I just say both?". And well, another thing that happened was that since I was watching through Joong's entire filmography in chronological order from oldest to newest I used this as an excuse to rewatch SIMM. Plus, you know, Hidden Agenda was also in the middle of airing. And so I fell into a JoongDunk rabbit hole. And then I got distracted by Dunk's performance (esp once I went on YouTube and watched a whole bunch of singing performances) and I started to get a real appreciation for Dunk's performance too, especially when I kept seeing comments bashing his acting. So then I was like "ok so what if I changed my answer again and said Dunk for 'most underrated actor'' instead??" I couldn't decide on an answer for quite a while and as you can see in the end I've named all three of them anyway lmao.
Favorite Character:
Pat Napat Jindapat. No, I'm not gonna elaborate.
Favorite SideCharacter:
Pa. I love her. She's so fun. Also Pat and Pa have one of my fave sibling dynamics ever.
Favorite scene in a QL:
Can I just say the entirety of Bad Buddy here? No? Oh. Okay. Well, alright then. In that case, I'm gonna go somewhere completely different and say:
The yank-kiss-yeet scene from Hidden Agenda. Definitely one of the funniest kiss scenes I've ever seen. Absolutely iconic. Not to mention how precious and endearing Joke's reaction was afterwards in the hallway 🥺🥺🥺
Favorite line in a QL:
Oh you just know Pat's "........no" still has me insane even two years later.
But to bring some more variety into my answers (I told you I was gonna make most of this about BBS, didn't I!!!!) I'm gonna go with a line from Theory of Love. It's when Third is finally moving out of Khai's place and he's packing his stuff, ignoring Khai's knocks on the door which makes Khai say "Fine, if you don’t answer me today, don’t call me your friend again." And then Third finally gets up to open the door and says:
I absolutely LOVE this line and this moment specifically. I love the double meaning in this. I love how Third is speaking his truth, is pretty much confessing his feelings to Khai ("I haven't wanted to call you a friend for a while [because I have been wanting to call you my boyfriend instead].") but to Khai it's a painful slap in the face bc he hears something completely different ("I haven't wanted to call you a friend for a while [because I want nothing to do with you anymore and in telling me you're dropping our friendship you're actually doing me a favour]."). It's extremely satisfying to me. Watching Khai suffer was extremely cathartic for me bc I could live out all my frustration and my anger about my irl-Khai in a safe space without making my irl-soap opera worse by running back to my own irl-Khai and starting a fight with him. And this scene and specifically this line right here? Was one of my top most satisfying suffering Khai moments.
Also, I want to add that I saw many people say they couldn't warm up to Khai even at the end of the series but... as gleeful as I was when I was watching Khai suffer, the more I rewatched the series the more appreciation I got for his development in the second half of the series. I saw a lot of growth and self-reflection that I never saw from my irl-Khai. In fact, I don't think that to this day my irl-Khai has even understood how his behaviour really hurt me and what specific shitty things he was doing that hurt me. And that is, despite me trying to explain it to him on multiple occasions. And I'm not saying that I would have liked my irl-Khai to have a cliche-romance-story moment where he realized that he was in love with me after all, bc god no. What would have been really nice tho is if he had at least realized and understood that he was being an asshole and how so. But alas, he never did. And that is why fictional Khai is the superior one. And despite me having the time of my life watching ficitonal Khai suffer... let it be known that I WILL be the No. 1 Khai apologist and defender.
Most Anticipated QL (& why):
I have been procrastinating this tag game for so long, at this point I could even answer with GMMTV 2024 QLs lmao.
Anyway, quite a bunch of the GMMTV 2023 QLs that I've been waiting for have already aired (or have started airing), but from the ones that aren't out yet my most anticipated one is definitely 23.5. I have been waiting for a MilkLove GL since BBS aired, it's been two years, where the fuck is it!!!!
Healthiest relationship in a QL:
Easy. PatPran. I want what they have.
No, for real though, they are so in tune with one another, they know each other inside out to the point where they often don't even have to say things out loud. They just know. They know exactly how to get under each other's skin, but also how to help each other and cheer each other up. And in general, they are so good at communicating. And even when they're fighting and arguing, they WILL always choose each other over everything and they WILL compromise and try to find a solution that works for both of them, because they want to stay in each others lives and they also want the other person to be happy. They care about each other and each other's well-being so much. We love to see it.
Most toxic relationship in a QL:
Idk, in general I haven't really watched any QLs that had super toxic relationships? I saw a whole bunch of people saying TharnType for this as well as VegasPete. But I refuse to watch TharnType (since I didn't hear a lot of good about it) and I also dropped out of KinnPorsche right before the VegasPete arc so I don't really know much about it apart from bits and pieces that I've picked up from my dash.
As for toxic relationships from something I've actually seen.... well, I guess the Only Friends gang is probably better off apart as well??
Guilty pleasure series:
It's 2023, cringe is dead. We are unapologetically enjoying things now.
But if I had to choose..... Idk, maybe Why R U????? Or maybe Star in My Mind, bc I know it's not super popular. But I don't really feel guilty about watching those two series and I will post about them on main.
As for Why R U, it's a hot mess but I mean, Saint and Zee?? Hello?? Saint and Zee – that's it, that's my argument.
And as for SIMM, well, I know the plot is super basic and boring but I just have a lot of fun watching JoongDunk. Watching them entertains me and makes me feel all warm and fuzzy inside, so I literally do not give a shit about what other people think and I also absolutely do not feel guilty about watching (and rewatching) and actually enjoying SIMM. There, I said it.
Tagging:
No one bc at this point it's been so long that I don't remember who has done this already and who hasn't. But if you see this and you haven't done this and you really wanna do it then let me be your reason to participate!!!! (and tag me!!) (@newyearknwwme have you done this yet? 👀)
Appendix:
Ok, fine, I couldn't help myself, I just HAD to gif Joong doing something comedic too:
He's doing something silly but just look how he's taking it completely seriously!!!!! Just look how serious he is about being silly!!!!! It's so good!!!! (actually the way he just carries on with a completely serious expression as if nothing ever happen in the 2nd gif he actually kinda reminds me just a little bit of buster keaton who would pull the funniest shit and not crack a single smile. have i mentioned i love to see it)
