Ron Does Stuff

I saw the trailer for this last year, I think? I was really excited since I also grew up Catholic in Southeast Asia, but I don’t really follow GMMTV’s social media or any of the big Thai BL accounts, so I totally missed when this started airing. But I’m going to catch up now!

The episode starts off with a quote from Leviticus, so does that mean that we’re going to get Old Testament Catholicism here? It then jumps to 2025, where the marriage equality law has been passed in Thailand. And that’s not wishful thinking on the part of the show. That’s objective reality. Go Thailand!

We then get a pretty close-up shot of Gemini, who’s driving a fancy yellow car. Sorry, I don’t know anything about cars! He’s headed to a Catholic church; I can tell because the Virgin Mary is there, and to paraphrase Katya, it doesn’t look like an auditorium where the Wiggles would perform.

Gemini sits down on a pew, and as he’s about to make the Sign of the Cross, a priest touches him on the shoulder, in a totally benign way and not in the Spotlight sorta way.

We find out that Gemini’s character’s name is Barth, which I am guessing is short for Bartholomew. All of my education was spent in Catholic schools; I know these names. Barth says he never thought he’d come back to this place, but someone close to him is being ordained, and if this turns out to be Fourth’s character, I will be very upset. The priest says it’s been almost 20 years since Barth was here, and then we get a flashback to 1996 without finding out who’s getting ordained.

But if this is just 20 years after 1996, wouldn’t that mean the “present” is in 2016? Marriage equality wouldn’t be around yet? Is this a mistake on the part of production, or am I jumping ahead? Anyways, it’s a stormy night in 1996, and Fourth is closing the doors of the church. He looks pretty adult here already. So how old is he here, and how old is he in the “present”? His name’s Tan, which I’m pretty sure is a Thai name because there’s no Catholic saint named Tan just yet. They’re preparing the church for the storm, and in walks the priest with a younger Barth. A new bombshell has entered the villa!

Barth hasn’t been introduced with a name just yet, with the priest only telling the boys that he’s their “new friend”, but then the crucifix begins to fall because of these faggots the wind brought by the storm, and whose hands just happen to touch each other while also touching Jesus’ half-naked body. Barth and Tan.

Barth does stand for Bartholomew, while Tan is short for Tanrak. Barth’s going to be staying at Magdalene House like the rest of the boys, who are Grade 12 students, or at least Tanrak is. Which means they’re almost 40 in the “present”. Which makes Barth’s look a very young-looking 40. Damn. Anyways, back to 1996, Tanrak’s going to be looking after Barth, and I already know where this is going.

After the opening credits, we already get shirtless boys. I mean, the Thais work quick. We also get homophobia, which, to be fair, is period-accurate. Barth’s the new kid in…church? and is approached by the head bully, who was just picking on another kid, but he’s not about to kowtow to this guy. He is, after all, one of the leads of the show. He’s very lone wolf and all that, which is very attractive, especially to Tanrak, who seems like he’s repressed. Tanrak quietly leaves toiletries with Barth when he notices that the new kid doesn’t have any.

We’re now in the locker room after the guys finish bathing, and Barth is having a hard time adjusting because he might be a rich boy who isn’t used to the simplicity of life inside Magadalene House. Personal items are left in the lockers, and any valuables are given to Master Phak, who is the church caretaker. It also doesn’t help that it looks like Barth’s locker is right next to the bathroom bully.

The boys end the night praying what I am guessing is a Thai variation of the Angele Dei? And OH MY GOD it’s been literal decades since I’ve been to church, but I still know that prayer word for word. Catholic school will do that to you. Tanrak shows Barth where he’ll be sleeping, and one of the other guys tells Tanrak that Barth is weird.

We then see later that night that Barth is restless, but nothing comes of it yet. The next day, the uncle of the kid who thought Barth was weird is getting ordained, and we find out that these kids are expected to go into the priesthood after this. I SWEAR TO GOD if it’s Tanrak getting ordained, I will be very upset.

Tanrak’s interaction with Kongdech’s parents makes him think of his childhood as an orphan. We see a flashback of a young Tanrak wanting to be reunited with his dead parents, which leads the priest to take him in so he can stay in “God’s house” while he waits to be reunited with his parents. I guess this path to the priesthood is borne out of his need for family and companionship. And Barth? Doesn’t seem like he’d be a good companion, because he doesn’t seem to care about the ordination, and didn’t even wear the formal uniform that Tanrak let him. He even walks out of the ordination before it even begins. But this type of bad boy? I would have fallen so hard back in Catholic school. In fact, I have.

These classroom scenes? Girl, I’m being taken back to my childhood. And it’s been so long since I was a child. The priest tells Barth after class that he shouldn’t let anger rule his heart, but I really can’t blame him, seeing as he was the object of homophobic bullying at his previous school. And what’s this about his dad catching him doing something gay? Anways, the priest gives him an ultimatum. If he acts up like that again, he’ll be asked to leave. Good thing Tanrak’s here to keep him in line and keep him involved. He’s even included him in the class roster. However, Barth isn’t making it easier for other people to include him in their activities.

Elsewhere on the campus? The church grounds? Tanrak is asking Kongdech about his apparently mostly Catholic Thai village. Kong says that their current situation is probably the best the two of them could hope for, and this is definitely going to be a point of conflict in the coming episodes because going against something that has become such an important part of who you are is going to be difficult.

Now we’re back in the locker room, and Barth is being bullied by the same homophobic guy from before. It ends with fists being thrown, but it’s a pretty short fight as Tanrak and Kong immediately get the adults in the room. No fun.

BUT. The fight doesn’t end there, as the bully takes Barth’s stuff and takes it to the back of the school, where the fight is going to happen. Or maybe not, because the bully just threw Barth’s stuff into the pool, and now Barth’s gotta fish them out. Tanrak shows up as he’s doing that, but Barth is being all ~lone wolf~, and if there’s anything my Catholic school childhood has taught me, that is just irresistible for goody-two-shoes like I was, and like Tanrak is. Tanrak insists on being nice to Barth, and if there’s anything my Catholic school childhood has taught me, he’ll either take advantage of that…or become fond of it.

When the guys finally finish gathering all of Barth’s things, they discover that they’ve been locked in at the pool and now have to spend the night there. I believe I saw something similar happen to two teen Swedish homosexuals.

The night’s just started for Barth and Tanrak, and the two of them are already flirting. And then they sleep back to back on the pool floor? Oh, baby.

Or at least, they try to fall asleep. Their conversation starts out with the beginnings of a ghost story before it turns into Catholic God talk. Tanrak is definitely one of the faithful and is a believer. But will that faith remain steadfast when it’s face-to-face with Barth’s yearning eyes?

The next day, the rest of the school finds Tanrak and Barth in the abandoned pool, and I just cannot with the ominous music. Chill out, they just spent the night outside of the droms. Catholic school students have done so much worse. Much worse.

That said, this is much, much better than the last GeminiFourth show I watched, which was My Love Mix-Up (Thai). It feels like they really put effort and research into this, and I’m looking forward to catching up with everybody else when it comes to this show!

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