us, episode 11

The horse lamp has the last laugh...

I’ve seen some interesting conversations lately about Us and genre. One idea gaining popularity is that Us isn’t actually a romance, it’s a family drama. I agree that Us is not a romance. Pam and Rak get lots of screen time, but the story isn’t about their relationship—you could easily tell the same story with no GL involved. I admit some of my frustration with Us might be because I’m looking at it through the wrong lens.

But the fact that these conversations are happening tells me I’m not the only one having some trouble with the story, wondering how to “make it make sense.”

I cannot *believe* the second-to-last episode ends with yet another five-minute ad goddamn itttttttttttt

I love a good family drama. Believe me, I would be so on board for a lowkey slice-of-life family drama involving a wlw couple. Fragrance of the First Flower, which just came to an end, felt a little like that, and it’s one of my favorite GLs ever.

But if Us is a family drama, it’s not a very good one. The characters all have about two dimensions tops. Kawi is nice and depressed. Dokrak is kind and brave. Khem is angry and promiscuous. Orn—a character who had almost no screen time in the first half of the series—is the most interesting member of this family by far, because her character arc has something to *do* with her family. She feels like a failure for not protecting her children, and then decides to take action.

That’s pretty minimal and basic, but it’s a character. She feels things, she wants something, she makes a choice.

Orn, the unexpected hero, spitting truth.

When Orn admits to Nene that her family was “ruined a long time ago,” it’s a satisfying moment because (1) go off girl, and (2) that’s not an easy truth to admit. It takes courage to accept that you’ve made mistakes, and that you bear some responsibility for a broken home.

Okay but why isn’t that the story of Us, then? Why haven’t we seen more of what leads Orn to this difficult realization? Why is her whole arc, the most important one in the show, condensed into about ten minutes?

Hmmmm have you really Dokrak??

That’s maybe my #1 problem with Us. Not only are the characters flat, they don’t grow or change in believable ways. Dokrak doesn’t become brave, or kind, in spite of anthing. She just is those things. When she says this episode that she’s learned a lot from Grandma Bua, I snorted. What on earth did you learn, Dokrak? You’ve been a ray of pure goodness and sunshine since Episode 1!

I’ve heard Dokrak described as a “green forest,” and it’s true, she chooses to do the right thing, over and over again. If she were a real person, she would be a good person. But she’s a character—and a character without flaws, who only ever makes good choices, who is never even tempted by a bad one, isn’t very interesting! Why is it so easy for her to always choose forgiveness and empathy? If it’s Pam’s love that enables her to overcome her upbringing in a cold abusive home, why do we never see how that love changes her?

Nene more like Slay-ne amirite

Lately I’ve been comparing Us to Fragrance of the First Flower and Friendly Rivalry, but maybe those comparisons aren’t entirely fair. So instead let me compare Us to 23.5, another GMMTV show with the same writers and director. 23.5 is full of adorable heartwarming fluff, but that fluff says something about the characters. When Aylin writes “I love you” in Morse code, it’s cute because it’s not easy for her—it’s something she has to work up the courage to do. And it’s thanks to Luna’s support and encouragement that she’s able to overcome her social anxiety. It’s not just a cute scene: there’s cause and effect, there’s character growth, there’s tension. The cuteness is the cherry on top.

Us is all cherry, no sundae. All reward, no tension. It wants us to feel good when characters do the right thing, but doing the right thing is almost never difficult for them.

Farewell, side characters, we hardly knew ye.

I’ve noticed that a lot of people, when they praise Us, tend to focus on things it doesn’t do: Pam and Rak don’t break up, Kawi doesn’t try to get between them, there’s no toxicity (I find Pam’s jealousy pretty toxic tbh but it’s limited to a few scenes), Khem isn’t redeemed. And it’s true that Us avoids a lot of the more annoying GL tropes and plot devices. But what’s left when you take all that stuff away? You have the story of a one-dimensionally evil man who abuses his family, and how his abuse is overcome by…his wife deciding to divorce him. The plot could be resolved in two episodes, if Nene just showed Orn the evidence of his affairs sooner. What was she waiting for all this time? 

I’m not convinced that the creators knew what genre this story was supposed to be. Us feels like a very thin pancake of a family drama, with a bucket of GL syrup poured on top.

I will fully admit that I may have been the one who started that romance vs family drama discussion, and I was going to reserve judgement until the end of the show, but I do want to say I agree with you op.

This GL series (or maybe nearly all GL series) are marketed as romantic dramas, and we have the actor pairings and all the fan events in service of that, but this show is at its core a family drama. Whether it's a good family drama is a separate question. You are right that there is very little tension. The romantic tension lasted for the first few episodes, and for the family stuff the conflict really is in Orn and Nene's choices, for which nothing really changes until these final 2 episodes. To date, Orn is the one with the most character development, but I don't know if that was the intention. Dokrak and Pam are meant to be the main characters after all.

As you said, the creators may have been confused with what story they were trying to tell, or marketing decided it had to be a GL show, so those elements got emphasized. And there's no denying that people seem to like the fluff, but personally the latter half of this show isn't speaking to me that much.

This just made me think of another tumblr post I saw recently that was saying how tv has moved to the opposite of queerbaiting. They used to tell a story and lure you in with the possibility of queer content, but now they put in canon queer content and pretend there will be a story. 😅 Maybe I'm part of the problem though, because if this was just a family drama, I doubt I would even have watched this show.

FRIENDLY RIVALRY | Episode 16

someone on twitter is trying to claim that use of an em-dash is an indication of AI-generated writing because it’s “relatively rare” for actual humans to use it. skill issue

I can admit this is a little out of hand, but I promise AI didn't write my 150k fic 😂

Reblog if you're a human that uses em-dashes

I know it’s a lie. nevertheless, NEVERTHELESS (2021) dir, Joo Sa Hyun.

oh okay i see how it is

Like cocaine (Ara x Jaeyi, Friendly Rivalry)

Author notes:

I'm not sure if I'm going to include this part in my new fanfic, but at least I'm sharing it with you as a one-shot.

Unbeta'd.

****

Ara could remember how it all started. It was during her junior year when she first met Jaeyi. She radiated excellence and elegance, so naturally all the girls were drawn to her, including Ara. She was by far the most beautiful girl in the school and also the best student. In other words, someone you could easily fall in love with. And Ara had fallen, hard. But Jaeyi had another side that not all of her fangirls were familiar with. She was a master of manipulation, someone you shouldn't mess with.

Ara knew both sides. After all, she was lucky enough - or maybe stupid enough - to be chosen as Jaeyi's henchman. She had no doubt that Jaeyi knew how she felt about her because she didn't exactly hide it and Jaeyi was a master at reading people. Maybe Jaeyi even used that knowledge to her own advantage. Whether that was the case or not, Ara didn't care. Maybe she was a silly girl in love, but she did everything Jaeyi asked her to do to stay close to her. She even hoped that Jaeyi would show her a completely new side of herself, a softer side.

----

"I'll switch seats to sit with you if you put these notes in their lockers."

"I'll walk home with you if you buy these items for me."

"I'll show you my room if you deliver these packages."

That's how she hooked you. Those little promises were like cocaine. So addictive! She became addicted to Jaeyi. And she wanted, no, she needed more and more. But Jaeyi rationed her affection whenever she found a new toy - or keyring, as she called them. Beomsu, Nari, and the newest one, that country bumpkin, Seulgi.