23.5 the Series: It's Thai GL Heartstopper!

Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
(00:06):
Hello and welcome to Big Gay Energy.
I'm Caitlin. And I'm Fiora.
Come along with us while we diveinto the fun and nuances of
queer media. Representation matters, and
we're. Here to talk about it.
Cheers, queers. What's on the big gay agenda
today, Theora? Today we're going to be talking

(00:28):
about one of our favorite shows ever, which is 23.5 the series.
It's about damn time. We know in this episode it will
not be a scene by scene breakdown.
Instead, we are going to be discussing all the things we
loved about this show, which is favorite characters select

(00:48):
scenes and even why you at home those that participated in our
poll why you guys loved 23.5 theseries.
So hopefully this will be super fun talking about this really
cute little show. It's.
Been a long time coming. It has been.
We've been talking. About the show since Gap.
Yeah, we've been talking about the show since it came out.

(01:08):
It just we didn't have time to cover it.
But now here we are. So we're going to talk about it.
If you love 23.5 the series, just know we have.
We did watch it together. We did react to it.
There are some reactions on YouTube for select episodes in
highlight reel format. We reacted to the entirety of
the series. So you can head on over to our

(01:30):
Patreon and for $5 you can watchus watch all of 23.5 for the
first time. We were even the same room
together, which was special. My dog joined us.
You know, it's a good old time over there.
Dog's the best. Yeah, she's something.
So if you want to see us in the same room together, that's where

(01:50):
you can. All right, so let's get into it.
So we have a lot of comments from the lovely listeners at
home. Thank you to everybody that
participated. We're just going to weave in
what you thought with what we thought.
So let's start with some of our listeners over at TikTok who
said things about why they love 23.5.
And there's a couple that kind of went together.

(02:12):
So we have Carolyn, who said it's just so wholesome and
sweet, which, Yeah. And Sarah B, who also said it
was really cute and sweet. It's the show that would have
really helped me out a lot if ithad been on when I was a preteen
slash teenager. I wish I had grown up in the
Thai girl of era. Girl, Don't we all?

(02:32):
The world would be a better gosh.
Girl, yeah. Thai girl love should have been
hundreds of years ago even though.
For real man. TV was there anyway healing?
Humanity, now, that's all that matters.
But like especially, I loved howthey said it would help them out

(02:53):
a lot if they've been on becausethat scene with Sharon.
How do you say it? I don't I cannot pronounce her
name properly. Like Sharion is what it looks
like to me in English, but I cannot hear them pronounce her
name so I really don't know. I well, we apologize in advance
for our butchering of her name. Well, she says, why would that

(03:18):
be weird for you to like son? And I just love that
normalization. Of it, it was really cute.
Over on Instagram, man, you guysreally like to make this hard.
Neely or Nelly 43256 says. It is really funny, wholesome,
and sometimes Angsta is very relatable.

(03:39):
She's quite relatable if you freak out.
Relatable just like the she's kind of like the loser girl who
like, you know, the underdog. You want to root for her, but
like she doesn't believe in herself and so it takes the
village to get her to have some courage.

(03:59):
That's also basically in a nutshell it just how do you not
love her? And she puts more value on the
people around her, which is why she freaks out so much when Son
texts her. Yeah, yeah.
Because she doesn't believe in herself.
She believes in everybody else. Yeah.
That is relatable, I understand.Yeah, it's relatable.

(04:19):
And Nerd Life 0789 says because it's lesbian heart stopper and
it is so light hearted which is needed in the world we live in.
God, yes. Yes to all of that yes so yeah,
main theme from all of our listeners wholesome sweet.
We needed this as children relatable and it's lesbian heart
stopper and I will say heart stopper is the thing we compare

(04:41):
this to the most because it is it's basically the Thai version
of heart stop like every it's like like even some beats are
like exactly what happens in heart stopper.
And if you've been listening to us for a while and you haven't
watched heart stopper, go watch heart stopper.
If you liked this like you will like heart stopper.

(05:01):
I I'm not even like the show thecomics go consume heart stopper.
If you watch all of our content and listen to us tell you to
watch Heart Stopper and still haven't done that, how have you
not consumed the peer pressure? Seriously, how have you not
watched Heart? Stopper yet?
What the hell anyway cuz 23.5 literally is GMMTVS heart

(05:23):
stopper. It's what it is and it's it like
that wholesome, sweet feeling that's heart stopper and it's
basically like Alice Osmond cameand wrote this, honestly, this
screen adaptation. Yeah, it's because it.
Feels very warm and wholesome the whole entire time and that's
and still like. Hope touches on real stuff too,

(05:44):
yeah. No, exactly, but it's got that
like hopeful tone that Heart Stopper has that was really
needed in the world we live in to quote our listeners.
And like and also like the series, just like Heart Stopper
kept getting queerer. The more you watch it, like over
time you get like Sharion who? Sorry, I'm going to process that

(06:06):
name wrong. She's like, I'm bisexual.
Like you get more characters that are just like, oh, they're
queer too. And then the teachers and then
you're like, this is literally what happens at Heart Stopper.
Literally just happens like that.
To that part though, because that scene, basically, they just
started rattling off. Everybody was queer.
Yeah. Like.

(06:26):
Everybody and Tin likes guys andthen then you get aliens and
like I don't like anyone. I don't like any humans.
And it's just all the representation in one scene.
It just it's completely normalized.
Right, which I will say is, is the show not so this was based

(06:47):
on a novel and the novel and theshow are not 100% the same.
And like when I say that this isGMTVS heart stopper, they
removed a lot of the homophobia from the book and we're just
like, we're going to give you heart stopper.
It's just happy and hopeful and things are normalized.
And it's like for a modern audience, like quote, UN quote,

(07:08):
which is really nice because, you know, we got enough drama
out there. Like, let's not focus on the
homophobia, you know? Yes.
Please let's escape like Alien is trying to do with the aliens
because I don't want to be here.I hate it here.

(07:29):
So I will go to 23.5 in my mind.That's good.
Yeah. It's good escapism.
It's a it's set in like high school too.
So the end. What I like about this
adaptation is that the characters act their age.
And so kudos to all the actors and the writing and everything
because it's one of those young,it's a young adult type story

(07:53):
that actually feels like young adult, which is my biggest pet
peeve with why a is that a lot of people don't write it or
execute it properly. American high school dramas, for
example, the vast majority of them are adults in young
pretending to be young people. And you're like, what is this?
Whereas this was actual young people acting like young people.

(08:14):
So for example, Unksa Unksa feels like a teenager, like
uncle would do things like, Oh my God, my crush texts me.
And then she'll like throw herself around her room and
squeal and do things like that. Like, like a teenager who has
big feelings and they're just like, physically letting them
out by like, acting like a childbecause she's a child.
And then they're wardrobes too. Like, obviously the school

(08:38):
uniforms for sure, but like, their street clothes, they look
like children. So everything about the
production really felt like you were watching a group of
teenagers, even though, like, you know, they're older actors,
but it felt like you were watching teenagers be teenagers.
And I really appreciate that about this, this adaptation and
it, it lends to that like wholesomeness of the show

(08:58):
because the actors and everybodyinvolved did a really good job
of like making this a believablelike high school slash teenage
type story. So kudos to everybody.
I loved that. Yeah, I I did not question any
of them like their ages at all in this.
Yeah, exactly. Because even in the other shows
you see them try to age them down.

(09:19):
And I don't know if it's just because you see the adult
version 2 in the same show, but it's very hard to like believe
they are in high school at that point.
But this one, I'm like, OK, they're all high schoolers.
That's their age. And then when I saw the Girl
Rules trailer I was like what the hell?
Yeah. My mind was blown anyway, yeah,
so I it did. It was very much high school.

(09:43):
I did see someone leave a reviewsaying they they couldn't see it
and I'm just like how? But.
Yeah, how? I guess we all see different
things I saw. We sure do.
I saw high. Schoolers.
Being high schoolers and trying to figure out the world still.
Yeah, and who they are. And like, that's very, it's

(10:05):
very. That's what teenagers are like,
you know? Why you need it growing up.
So to all those 1213 year olds that are loving GMMTV in 23.5,
I'm so happy for you that you have this while growing up.
It's such a good show, it reallyis.

(10:28):
OK, but my question is because we keep comparing it to Heart
Stopper. Originally I was going to ask
which characters are who in Heart Stopper.
But that's really. Putting them in a box, we could
see some similarities. So I'm like, let's just put them
together. What would happen if they had a

(10:49):
crossover special? What would happen?
Darcy would love Latte. First of all, I think Darcy
would just gravitate to the dog.That there's that.
First of all, Kizzy is a scene with a dog, so yes, exactly.

(11:11):
Kizzy would like that. The actor we interviewed Kizzy,
if you want to go check that out.
Who played Darcy in Hard Summer?I have no idea.
Honestly. I feel like Nick and Son,
they're both the Sunshine characters, so they would get
along obviously. I don't know crossover like to

(11:35):
be honest. With you, Tan and Tao would do
something with like filmmaking. Yeah, for sure.
Because you'd be like, I'll starin it.
Tan would. And then Tao would be like, who
are you? And then it would just be a
whole thing. And they would have to, they'll
learn all, learn valuable lessons together because that is
what their shows do. And OK, the teachers though.

(11:58):
The teachers. I was just thinking, I have a
whole thing teachers to hang out.
I want all the queer teachers tohang out.
That's actually. What I want, Oh my gosh,
because. That would be great.
I don't want the kids. I actually want the adults to
like hang out and. Do stuff.
Honestly, I think the teachers. Meeting like the gym coach like
that would be hilarious. Oh my.
Gosh, yeah, the gym coach, but II would just see like Farooq

(12:19):
seeing the teachers and like howshe's so accident prone and then
he just is like, at least at least we're not like that.
I'm into that. I don't know.
Whatever it is, it would be amazing to see them all

(12:40):
together. I would just be really happy.
Speaking of things that make me happy, let's transition to my
favorite characters, Eileen and Luna, starting with a comment we
got on. YouTube, our favorite.
So comment we got on YouTube from Dominic Thornborough AKATRG
Luna uses used kindness and friendship to help alien come

(13:03):
out of her shell and showed her it's OK to be different and that
made her comfortable enough to step out of her comfort zone and
find love. I was more invested in their
relationship than Angsa and Son.Yes.
Same, not that I didn't like Ungson Son's relationship, I
just I felt like that was more comedic whereas Alan and Luna

(13:27):
there was more depth there whereUngson Son is just like the
catfishing humor. Oh my God she texted me.
I'm wearing a sheet mask. I forgot to take it off.
Oh no. No, I loved.
OK, I will say disclaimer, I read the novel and so I will be
comparing it to the novel. So I'll try to give a heads up

(13:50):
if you don't want to hear those little spoilers.
So like mini spoiler, I'm reallyinvested in Elite and Luna
because they're not in the novel.
So that was new and I was like, what is this?
Like they, the GM MTV purposely added them into the show to make
it gayer, just like Heart Stopper or Alice Osman's.
Like here's these other characters that don't exist in

(14:11):
the Canon, they're queer. You're welcome.
Like GM MTV did the same thing. And so I was really invested in
them because it's purely for theshow.
And I loved how they their relationship formed really
organically and it was really beautiful because it wasn't just
about oh, I have a crush on you,blah, blah, blah.
It was like TRG said on YouTube,it's about like Luna helped

(14:36):
Aileen like trust people and come out of her shell.
And she was a big reason that Aileen had this humongous
character growth throughout the show.
And it was just it took her kindness and her empathy to get
Aileen to like kind of like alsolike believe in herself and
like, you know, make friends andthings and like heal whatever

(14:58):
little like hurtness going on inher little heart.
So like they had just like a really beautiful relationship on
many levels that was so sweet and I just wasn't expecting it.
And I just, I love them, that's all.
I love them so much. As as we went on, Aylin
definitely became my favorite character because how can you
just not love her? And can we just talk about a

(15:21):
little bit about her as a character first?
Because she definitely is unconfirmed neurodivergent
representation. It's up to the viewer to see.
Some people don't think so, but you know, it's what whatever.
I feel like she's autistic. She's definitely.

(15:43):
On the autism spectrum, that's what I see.
Like she has trouble making friends, fitting in,
understanding social situations.We'll get to a scene that's
hilarious later of her being like, why do humans kiss?
Oh my God, that was so fucking funny.
She couldn't. Let it go that.
Scene was. So good.

(16:04):
I love her. Why do humans do this that?
Was so funny I forgot about. That also her hyper fixation
with aliens. I first she's just amazing.
I love her. She's amazing views portrayal of
her is incredible, especially when you go from that to.
US. The the versatility amazing.

(16:28):
I think I have that somewhere too.
Yeah views acting like damn she might be 1 of GMFT VS strongest
actors like holy shit. Just yeah I'll I'll get to that
later. OK.
My thoughts on her acting. And she did grow up being
bullied, and we see it in the show too.
It's a constant thing for her because of the way she doesn't

(16:49):
fit in with everybody else. And I know we learned about her
being bullied, but I don't know if the obsession with aliens
became before or after the bullying 'cause I know they
started, they gave her the nickname Alien.
So I'm wondering if it was because she was obsessed with
aliens or if it was a play on her name Alan, and they thought

(17:11):
she was acting like it. And it's just kind of word play.
And that's why she's like, OK, well, I actually think I like
aliens. And then?
Yeah. That's.
A good question. Yeah, they became her safe space
because All right, Well, these people, aliens, are othered in

(17:31):
our world even no matter how youlook at it, it's aliens, outer
space aliens and other. As.
Foreign, yeah. It's just you're being othered,
not fitting in, and that's what she feels like.
And I think it gave her hope that she wasn't supposed to be

(17:53):
like the people around her. Because when you are different
quote, you feel like you're supposed to try to fit in.
So you do everything you can. But because she now has aliens,
you don't really see her try to fit in as much until like Luna
is kind of pushing her into it, which she does a little too much

(18:15):
at times and then pulls back a little bit and learns what she
actually needs. But.
OK, so we see. Eilan trying to contact the
aliens a lot in the beginning episodes and it's because she's
just trying to escape and find her people and you do see it

(18:37):
become less and less and it's because she is finding her
people in life. I although it would be nice to
get confirmation if she was on the spectrum because I know some
people there's been discussions about Aylan and the
representation that she has. People wanted them to have a

(18:58):
conversation about her being on the spectrum, how it affects
her. I feel like it may have been a
good thing that they didn't address it explicitly because it
just normalized it. It's not they didn't make it a
whole thing like, oh, This is why I'm like this.
Like, no, I'm a person who has things that I need to work

(19:21):
through in life, but I'm not boiled down to this one label or
diagnosis. No one is.
No one like explicitly talks about their labels in this show.
Yeah, that's true. And I mean, it's just I
normalizing it. That's also what we need because

(19:46):
in a way, if we did talk about that, it's othering her more
than what we were trying to do of getting her to realize that
she doesn't have to be exactly like everybody else to find a
place in the world. And then also another.
Section in the show is when Aylin is trying to figure out

(20:08):
her feelings for Luna. She asks Ansa if alien hearts
can love like human ones. And this is like such a sweet
scene. And then Ansa starts freaking
out because son actually texted her.
And I think that's when Aylin islike, first of all, this is a
lot, but also it makes her think, oh, but I don't feel like

(20:32):
that when I talk to Luna, not yet.
So do I like her like that? So I feel like that kind of
confused her even more in the relationship because she's not
feeling exactly how Anksa is. And Anksa is very expressive.
Oh my God, Anksa is such a reactive teenager to her big

(20:56):
emotions. That's an understatement.
I love it though. But Luna's the perfect person
for Aylan because she sees her strengths immediately.
She is the first person to see her as a person.
Even her family you see at the dinner table, they they do other

(21:17):
her a bit. And it's because the whole
family isn't cohesive because they've all been apart or they
don't fully know each other. They need more time together,
which we do see the cousins all start to grow and learn more
about each other now that they're all together.
But Luna just immediately from the time that she threw that

(21:40):
first paper ball at. That's our love language,
throwing shit at each other. And then when they were doing
the fortune telling for the clubfair, Yeah.
She says that Aylan and Ansa should be the fortune tellers.
And she says Aylan is the best among us when it comes to
information. So she's using the hyper

(22:01):
fixations that Aylan has to advantage.
Like it's your doesn't make you weird to have all this
information. It's an advantage for us.
And that makes you special too, because you are valid and useful
for us. But wait, what?

(22:23):
Followed up after that? All those are valid points.
And then they're like, also, we're popular and better at
drawing and talking to people, so you guys need to be in the
tent. I'm like, which is also valid.
Once we got to that part, I'm like, OK, well, yeah, that makes
sense because you can't really, you can't have Alien and Ansa
trying to get people into this because they're not going to ask

(22:45):
anybody, right? That would be a disaster.
But the issue is that they need to talk one-on-one to people.
They're more one-on-one type people, which is also valid.
It's not a bad thing. So everybody played to their
strengths in that activity. I just I love how Luna really

(23:07):
did bring out the best in Alien except when she forced her to
have lunch with other people andthat I mean she had to learn.
She is a teenager though. Teenagers aren't going to know.
She's a teenager. Teenagers, they're dumb.
They're dumb. They're learning.
But I mean, she was like, from her perspective, she's like, you

(23:29):
promised me you would do this. You're my girlfriend kind of
thing. Like, yeah, she wasn't being
malicious or anything towards aliens.
It's just like she's like, you know, these people.
Why is it weird like? You There's only so much
understanding you can do withoutbeing in that person's shoes.
Yeah, exactly. Like she was empathetic, but

(23:50):
like, yeah, their life experiences are different and
they're young and they're figuring it out.
That's part of it. Just you make mistakes.
That doesn't mean she's a bad person and evil.
It's like she's a teenager, likeshe's not and.
She used that experience to change how she handled things in
the future. Growth.
Yeah, if people were perfect. What would these stories even be

(24:13):
about? They would be super boring,
right? What would?
But I do I yeah, I love their relationship.
I love, I love how Luna did get on her level with the space
stuff. First of all, she's named after
a moon and she like played into that.
She's like, oh, you like space? I'm literally named after the
fucking moon so. And I like when she's like.

(24:35):
I'm not a person, I'm a moon. And that got like Eileen to like
see her like as more of appearedin the beginning versus being
like, I'm othered, you're othered, let's stay in our
lanes. And then Luna's like, but I'm a
moon. I'm not a person.
Like, look at me differently. And that actually got Eileen to
be like, oh, OK. Like let me regard you as a
person. I'm not a person as somebody

(24:58):
who's more on my level basically.
And that like started the relationship.
But the one of the my favorite scenes is when they did the not
the heist when they were trying to find the aliens in the school
or whatever, the green light andEileen and Luna end up together
and she does the little the finger thing.
They do the ET. Their version of pinky promise.
It's so cute with like with the spotlight in the background.

(25:21):
It does. It gave me ET vibes, which like
goes on the line of like their space theme, which I have to say
one of my favorite things about the show is the commitment to
the space stuff. So much the commitment is so
good. All the space stuff.
It's more than the novel becauselike the it's 23.5 is like the

(25:41):
the earth tilts and like the whole concept is like sun and
and Ongstar are like, you know, colliding because of that or
whatever. But like, the show is like, hold
my beer when it came to the space metaphor.
And I was like, here's 10,000 more things that were not in
this novel. Space.
And it's just awesome. The.
Astronomy Club in the book. I think so.

(26:06):
I read the book when the show was coming out so it's a little
fuzzy. I read a couple of quick
chapters for this discussion butI I can't.
I'm pretty sure that was in there, but I can't recall
exactly. But the scene when Aylan is just
not sticking up for herself and people are bullying her and

(26:28):
Luna's like, don't you care? And Aylan is, I mean, maybe she
doesn't fully care, but you could see her face and you saw
that was starting to get it to her.
She's like, I just try to ignoreit.
And Luna's like, OK, well, I'll protect you.
You know, the moon has a bunch of craters in it.
They'll protect Alien. So cute.

(26:52):
I love that she's like, you don't care, I fucking care, I'll
care for both of us. I just love Luna's fierceness
all the time. She is a woman who knows what
she wants and goes and gets it, and I respect that about her.
She knows exactly how to talk toAlan to to get her to understand
what she's trying to say. Like the the way that she

(27:13):
approaches things differently tohelp Alan in life is just
incredible. And and then by the end, when
Aylan is smiling and feeling safe in their relationship, it
is so sweet to see because theirrelationship might not look

(27:34):
normal or typical to everyone else, but she's finally feels
safe and home. She doesn't feel like an alien.
Although it helps that Luna put on her own alien hat and just
shows that Ellen is accepted andshe's all in with her.

(27:57):
Yeah, all of that. And just just appreciate her,
Luna in general, just on her ownas a character.
I love that she's always ready to fight people.
Like when we first meet her, she's like ready to throw hands
with like Taun over something. And then later when she starts
defending like Aylin, like you said in the library, she's ready
to like throw hands with people.I love that about her.

(28:19):
She's just like fiercely protective of people she cares
about and things that she cares about.
And I love that about her. And that's like, what, you know,
her girlfriend needed was somebody to stand up for her
because nobody ever did. And then Luna is like, always
like, want to fight me? Let's go like immediately and
so. It's.
Kind of funny when you put thosetwo together.
So I love that about Luna and I love that Luna's always like

(28:40):
kind of like bossing alien around and Eileen's like
whatever. Like she kind of like lets it
go. Like, for example, when they had
the big sleepover at Anson and Aileen and Alfa's house and
Luna's, just like I'm staying with Aileen for a few days.
Like. She's like, I moved in.
They're. Like wait, what We're.
Working on a project. Honestly.

(29:01):
Tell like you already, Aileen. Needs that.
She needs that. Because.
Aileen needs that. She's not going to do it on her
own. She needs to that little push
and Luna's the type of person ifshe knows that it's not what
Aila needed or she's uncomfortable, she would pull
back. So that's the only reason why
it's a good thing, because I mean, it could turn into.

(29:25):
No, I mean, that's what I mean. She need like their
personalities balance each otherout because Luna is very
confident and knows what she wants and goes and gets it and
then alien's like whatever and then fine.
I like it. Like it's kind of like that
relationship. So anyway, I love that about
them and to circle back to the acting, you and June do a really

(29:47):
good job of like the having thatlike push and pull kind of
relationship where they're like kind of like bickering, but it's
like lovers bickering. That's like part of their
flirting. They're very good at doing that
together. So I appreciate that about them.
It made Alien and Luna, it made sense for those characters and
so how they played it, but worked really well and View in

(30:07):
general. Shout out to her.
Like I said, I think she's probably 1 of GMMT VS strongest
actors. Her acting choices as Alan were
incredible. Like the way she just embodied
that like robotic kind of character so so well at all
times that she was fantastic. And then when like she was

(30:28):
having the big feelings and theykind of like broke through.
Like you did such a good job of playing that character.
And my absolute favorite acting choice that she ever did is the
episode where like Son and Ungs are finally like it's the
jealous son episode and sounds like you're my girlfriend now.
And everyone's like everyone wastrying to get them to do that

(30:50):
and they do it. And the friend group in the
background who's like watching this.
And when they finally hug, everybody celebrates.
And the way of you played Eileenand that scene.
Is one of my. Favorite scenes because she's
just like overwhelmed and like the clapping that she does that
like reserved little clapping. She's like, I don't want to be
here like. What was the fucking funniest
thing I've ever seen her? Acting was so on point for

(31:13):
somebody who would be uncomfortable in that scenario
but also happy. And it was so fucking funny the
way she did it with the execution.
Chef kiss, man, that was so. Fucking funny.
It's it's hilarious. Her acting voices were
definitely very, very good. And because you could see Ailan

(31:33):
kept being with them even thoughshe kind of wanted to be
somewhere else, but she wanted to fit in still and be with her
friends because she knew that they were getting closer.
And you could see all of that emotion that's not present on
her face, but just like in the body language.
So she's emoting more with her body rather than her face.

(31:55):
But then her facial expressions were still hilarious too.
The the physical comedy, yeah. Just seeing the versatility of
you as an actor is amazing to have to do a more monotone
robotic like voice the entire time when you're not.

(32:15):
We don't don't normally speak like that.
Just kudos to view, kudos to. The screenwriter, because again,
this is a character that's not in the novel.
They created this character for the series and I saw online from
like native Thai speakers at thetime this was airing, that in
the script for Aileen, it's evenmore.

(32:41):
I don't want to say the. Way they had her dialogue was it
was even more indicative of the fact that she really doesn't
like talking to people. Like the like a lot of her
language, from my understanding,is really clipped.
Like it's really like her sentences are condensed.
Like she gets her point across with the least amount of words
as possible as a Thai speaker toconvey that this character

(33:01):
really doesn't like talking to people.
It makes her even more reserved.And that's something that like
we miss because we're reading the translations.
But like the Thai speakers were like wow, like the way she's
talking is even or like they clipped her sentences to show
that this character really like.Really.
Genuinely. Doesn't want to talk to people
and like does it in the minimum minimal waste humanly possible

(33:24):
so they. They're like, there's a lot.
Of thought that went into this original character from the
screenwriters who developed the character and then the actor who
conveyed this character. And it was very effective.
And I think that's partially whypeople like, you know, like us
are like drawn to this characterbecause so well done in so many
aspects. I really appreciate that about

(33:44):
the show in general. I love her.
Yeah, well, we could. Literally spend all day talking
about Aileen and Luna. So let us let us move on.
So we'll move on to one of our OG favorite Patreon people,
Pooja, who has a lot to say about 23.5.
So let's let's get into what Pooja thinks.

(34:04):
Pooja says. Oh, I love this show.
It's one of my favorites. I love almost everything about
it. Yeah, girl first, I love the
characters. They're refreshing and
relatable. I adore Aileen.
We go back 20 minutes. We agree the way she feels
different from others, with hints that she might be on the
spectrum, her journey of findingfriends and love.
It's also beautiful. The Luna and Aliens story
definitely deserves a spin off. Girl, I was wishing for that.

(34:27):
Yeah, we're never going to. Get it now.
But you know, put that out in the universe, I'll take an alien
spin off. Yeah.
And then there's Onsa, this hugeball of anxiety.
Yeah. Who?
Doesn't. Relate.
Who doesn't relate to her in some way?
Her default response to anythingis self rejection.
She pushes herself away before anyone else can.

(34:51):
Parentheses are you talking about?
Answer. Are you talking about me?
Just yeah, she said. That one really hit home.
Yeah, it's relatable. Sun on the other.
Hand is pure sunshine, I love her relationship with her
parents, and I appreciate that the show doesn't include the
homophobic angle. Sometimes it's nice to just see
queerness normalize. It's a happy show, and I love it

(35:14):
for exactly that. It's funny, cute, has great
music, and most importantly, it's harmless.
No one dies in this one. Yeah, GMMT.
V What happened? Nobody died in this show.
What happened? Surprised you decided to adapt
this. It's.
It's like they. Wanted to give the younger
children well the younger audience hope before like they

(35:37):
move on to Pluto and all the other shows they produce where
people start dying they're like let's keep them innocent start
dying they. Start often more people than is
necessary. Often Where are the grandmothers
of this show? I just realized that I think
there's no grandmothers. They took out the.
Homophobia, Theora. There's no, but there's no.

(35:58):
Grandmother in the novel either like usually they like to give
you at least one grandmother. Where was the There's no
grandmothers of this show? Maybe they were like they.
They finished the show and you're like, you know what?
Feedback Too many living parents, not enough
grandmothers. We need to fix this going
forward and. Then you get to Pluto.
And then you get to us. There's no they just got.

(36:22):
They just got body counts. Going forward?
Oh my gosh. Anyway.
So that. Is one thing that, to your
point, puja, that makes 23.5 unique and there's no bodies.
All right, OK. As for my standout moment, it's
when Luna visits Aileen's room, Yes.
And Aileen initially tries to stop her from looking at her

(36:43):
things, but then she realizes that Luna is genuinely interest,
interested in her interest. You can see her walls start to
crumble from that moment on. I love that scene.
And I love you trying to, like, use her body to, like, literally
block Luna. That was a really cute scene
because also the commitment to her room and the way they
designed it with the door, the, like, keep out stuff.

(37:05):
Yeah. Like alien containment.
Center, like it was really cute the way they designed that room.
But yeah, that was a really significant scene in a lot of
ways cuz like, nobody's allowed in that room.
And here's Luna being like, I'm coming in whether you say yes or
no and it comes in and it's like, can you show me all your
stuff? This is actually really cool.
I'm not making fun of you. It was adorable.

(37:28):
Anyway. OK.
And then pooja. Our favorite Swifty says ends
this by saying this show is veryspeak now lover coded.
And yes, all. I have to.
Say is that I love you, Pooja. You will keep the Taylor Swift
section going because only you are.
Yes, you're the only person who comments on it.

(37:52):
You're probably the only person who listens to it at this point.
That's actually not real. There's.
There's a couple of people on YouTube, but yeah, who just
isn't spearheading that. We appreciate that about you,
yes, but yeah, no, I agree. It's very very honestly lever
coded. Is is a good way to.
And speak now. You're right cuz.
Like I still got more and speak now.
I was like, younger, Yeah, before.

(38:14):
We continue into all the 23.5 goodness.
We have to interrupt this video to bring you a few brief shout
outs from KS crew over on Patreon.
So our chaos crew members on thebig gay rider died Here and
above are Dana W, Caroline RA, mixed monzone under score multi
Natalia Danny Kassie M here for it Jill L, Regina V and Monet FI

(38:38):
could not do it in one breath. I tried damn but.
This is the first time I'm reading.
This list of names. Wasn't used to it yet.
I will try again next time. Our featured big Gay supporter
members for this episode are KimP, Janie C and Chelsea.
Thank you everyone. All of your support.
And as always, we appreciate everybody who supports us,

(39:00):
whether it's on Patreon, as partof our Chaos Crew, or just by
watching our content, listening to the podcast, sharing it with
everybody, commenting, subscribing, reviewing, doing
all the things that you definitely know how to do
because that's our world. We all consume a lot of media.
That is why we're here, quite literally.

(39:24):
And. If you aren't already, come join
our discord so you can talk about 23.5 with us and all other
queer media. We have a great group of people
over there, especially in the Thai girl of groups.
If you love Thai girl of there'syour people are there OK?
They're there ready and willing to talk about it all at any time

(39:46):
of the day. So.
Yes, make friends. All right, let's continue.
All right, so. Spinning off of Pooja's comment,
let's talk about the homophobia changes.
So this I'm going to talk about the comparison to the novel.
So again, if you don't want to be spoiled by the novel, jump

(40:08):
ahead like 10 minutes because I'm going to make some
comparisons because GMM. TV.
I've noticed with their girl love series very much like are
like. They create fan fiction.
Out of like the novel, Canon basically is what they do.
And as we know, fan fiction, sometimes it's better than

(40:29):
Canon. Sometimes you read it and you're
like. I'm here for the characters.
What is this? But you know what?
I'm here for the fan. It's fan fiction if you look at
it that way. It's I'm OK with the changes,
truly, because they're trying tomake fan fiction.
I'm OK with that. So one of the big, big, big, big
changes is the homophobia, OK? Because I'm convinced somebody

(40:51):
on this production team has red heart.
Stopper knows Alice Osmond personally tries to like put
that vibe into their adaptations.
So homophobia was a huge part ofthe novel, I'm not even going to
lie. So particularly UNGSA and Son
when their relationship comes out, because yes, there is

(41:14):
acceptance that they receive, but there is homophobia that
they also experienced because Sun is super popular and there
was a lot of like jealous men who are like, you're into vulgar
comments about women, gross, like all this stuff.
So they didn't face that. And from, and the the story is
written from Unksa's point of view.
So you're in her head. And Unksa, as we you can tell

(41:36):
even from the series, has reallylow self esteem at the end of
the day. And so that really got to her
and made her kind of do the backand forth thing with Son to be
like, wow, I'm making Son's lifeworse because she's with me.
Son is getting all these comments like Ongson's like has
low self esteem. So she's like, I kind of expect
this shit. The same way we're talking about

(41:56):
the scene with Aileen in the library to be like, I expect to
get bullied. The same thing with Ongson.
She's like, I expect this for me, but like I don't want the
person I care about to go through this kind of thing.
And so they had there's that. So it wasn't like sunshine and
rainbows when they, you know, itwasn't like a grouping like gay.
They're together. No, there was homophobia that
they faced at school that the GMMt VS like burn that.

(42:20):
We don't need that shit here. MTV is like we do.
Not need examples of what could happen like we need to show them
what they should be reacting like.
GM MP is like it is. 2024 Enoughof this basically.
Also this is heart stopper. Why would we put this in here?
OK, the but the bigger one that I think was more important to

(42:43):
the plot and where things kind of fall apart a little bit for
me in the adaptation was the stuff with Unksa's mom.
OK so Unksa's mother is super homophobic and Unksa knew this
and that was actually a major plot point with Unksa and son's
relationship. And this was the chapters I just
quickly reread because I wanted the details.

(43:06):
So remember in the series where they're having the dinner and
the sun's there and sun? Outs everybody at the.
Dinner table and then gets mad at Ong SA, OK.
And that creates this friction with Ong SA and Sun.
And then we have the conversation where where Ong SA
runs away from her family because she's like, Oh my God,
they're not going to accept me. And then they accept her

(43:28):
immediately. That does not happen in the
book. OK, In the book Unksa's mom is
incredibly homophobic and Unksa knows this and so she's super
afraid of her mother finding outabout this relationship and son
does not out people. That does not happen in the
novel. In the novel, there are more

(43:48):
characters and basically Unksa'smother is having like a catch up
session with one of her friends and her friend, her friend's
daughter is like friends with Unksa.
She's got a girlfriend, blah, blah, blah.
And the Unks mother's friend is like casually mentions like, oh,

(44:09):
the people that are dating that are their kids age.
And she mentions she's like, it's not that weird.
Like, oh, actually, no, here's what happened.
They they're at a diner or cafe or whatever and they see two
young teenagers making out or whatever and they're like, wow,
don't these kids have decency these days?
This Unks his mom and the friendis like, yeah, you know, I'm

(44:30):
glad our kids don't kind of do that and like, blah, blah, blah.
And then she accidentally lets it slip and almost has a
girlfriend. And then her mom flips out and
she's like, what do you mean my daughter is dating a woman?
What the hell? And basically the the friend's
mom saw it on Facebook is kind of how that happened.
She's like, whoops, and didn't know it was a big deal.
And so Unk's mom flips out and then goes to pick up Unka from

(44:52):
school. And you're in Unk's head now.
And she's like, my mom's acting weird and she starts getting
freaked out. She's like, something's wrong,
something is wrong. And mom corners her and it's
basically like, are you dating agirl?
You better not be. Basically.
And Unk's is like, no, no, we'rejust, you know, it was one of
those things we did it for attention.

(45:12):
Like, it's not real, mom. It's not real because her mom's
like flipping out on her and hermom's like, good.
You better not do that. It's evil, like all this stuff.
So that gets into Uncs's. Head and she ends up like
breaking up with son because things at her house get really
bad to the point where like her parents are sleeping in separate
rooms. Like they have a huge fight over
this and like her parents almostget divorced over this like it's

(45:34):
that bad. So uncs is like I don't want my
family to break apart. So she breaks up with son to try
and like salvage her family basically and son doesn't really
understand the full context cuz like Unksa is bad at
communicating we all know this. And shortly after that for just

(45:55):
randomly. Unksa ends up getting.
Appendicitis and has to go to the hospital to get her appendix
removed. Convenient.
Yeah. I mean appendicitis.
Just happens randomly so it's not super.
I don't know where. So she ends up in the hospital
and this is one of my favorite, least favorite things I've ever
read. You don't we don't know what

(46:15):
happens. Basically, we're in mom's head
and then alpha calls and she's like distraught and mom's like,
what the fuck's going on? I was like, it's also she's in
the hospital. And so like you as the reader
don't know what's going on. And then you get to the hospital
with the mom and the doctor's like, OK, let's let me talk to
you guys are also's parents. Let me talk to you.
And the first thing the. Doctor.
Says is. How would you feel if I said

(46:36):
also doesn't have that much longer left to live and.
You as the reader don't know what's.
Going on, you're like, what? And he's like, I'm kidding,
she's fine, but how would you feel?
Can can you do that? OK, wait, wait, there's a
reason. This is all happening.
This, this the homophobia thing is wild actually when you read
it. OK.

(46:57):
So. There's that and the mom
basically has a heart attack andthen he's like, no, no, she's
fine. She's fine.
But hang on to that feeling. And the reason is the doctor.
That's talking to him. Talking to them is the root
cause of Unksa's mom's homophobia.
And the reason she's so homophobic is because Unksa's

(47:18):
dad used to date this doctor, who's a man.
Yeah. And basically they were in love
when they were younger. And he explains the story here,
the doctor, and he's like, well,yes, we used to date.
He's like. And the reason we're not
together anymore is my our parents found out and shipped me
away to America, and then the parents forced the boys to marry

(47:40):
girls basically to break them upspecifically.
And. He's like, you know, but that
was a long time ago. We've moved on this and that.
And like Unk's mom, I think found this out a while ago.
And so she's been like kind of afraid of she's been super
homophobic because she was like felt like she was the second

(48:01):
pick and like always afraid her husband was going to leave her
for a man and this and that and basically that.
I think the parents talk at somepoint and it's like Alex's dad
is like, bye, basically. And he's like, no, I love you
too. It's not that I don't love you.
I loved him, but I also loved you and that kind of thing.
And they finally talk it out andlike, it gets better.
But like, that's why she was so paranoid about her daughter.

(48:21):
She's like, it's a sin. It's isn't that because she was
like scorned by this because of her husband was queer.
And like, you find it out duringthis hospital visit.
It's wild. Wait.
I kind. Of want that though.
I know I'm saying it's real, it's real good, it was good.
And then, OK, so then what ends up happening is like.

(48:43):
That. And like the doctor was like,
he's like, hey, and the reason Isaid at the beginning, how would
you feel if you only knew your daughter?
You know your daughter had shortamount of time left.
He's like when you were in that moment thinking about that, he's
like, what mattered more that she was queer or that you wanted
her to stay? Like how did you feel about your
daughter? Did anything else matter other

(49:03):
than I want her to be OK? He's like, remember that you
love her. She's your daughter.
That's why he opened with that. But like you're reading it.
You're like what the fuck? Why would you say this?
But he's like, yeah, yeah, he's like I.
Know you're going to flip out. You were always mad at me, but
like, don't take it out on your daughter.
Basically, that's what the doctor was saying.
I knew that that was. Probably what he went in with,
but I'm like, is a doctor allowed to say shit like that in

(49:26):
the beginning? I mean, he knows that.
Personally, All right, that is fair.
That OK. But anyway, obviously it just.
It's funny because as the reader, you don't know the
context of any of this and you're just like what the fuck,
man? Because you don't know what's.
Going on with long sex? You're out in her head yet?
OK, so then. Again, Sun is not the crux of
the homophobia thing that happens in the show.

(49:48):
So what happens with Sun in the way it gets resolved is that
Unks is in the hospital for a few days because she had
surgery. And TIN, oh, like, son, I forget
how, but Tin and son start talking or whatever.
And he like, he basically tells her the context of what's going
on. He's like, hey, did you know
that her mother is super homophobic and she flipped out

(50:08):
when she found out you guys weredating and that her parents
almost got a divorce and she wastrying to salvage her family?
And so I was like, no, I didn't know any of that.
Onsa is like Sam, he doesn't communicate.
And he's like, yeah, that was the context of it all.
So like, he can't be super mad. He's like, I'm not making
excuses for Onsa. We all know she's the worst
sometimes. He's like, that's what happened
so. Son kind of feels a little.
Like, OK, I want to see her and so she goes to the hospital.

(50:32):
With like school work. Basically because she's like,
finals are coming up, let me give Unsa our school work and
she runs it to Unsa's mom, who doesn't know whose son is she.
Just know that Unsa has a girlfriend.
And so son shows. Up and Unsa's mom's like, oh, do
you want to see her? She's awake and son just kind of
freaks out. She's like, oh, this is the mom.
Oh my God. Because she has the contacts

(50:54):
now, like the homophobia and she's like, no, it's fine.
It's good here. Give her the homework and then
son kind of runs away. So like Unsa, Unsa's mom in that
moment puts together it's son and it's like, oh wow, this girl
cares enough to like starts putting it together that they
actually care about each other. It's not like some weird
experiment or whatever. And after son leaves the mom
goes and talks to Unsa and is basically like tell me why you

(51:16):
like this girl. And unsa's like this is that.
Weird. And then Unsa basically tells
her like, why she loves son. And then the mom's like, OK,
like love who you're going to love.
It's fine. You have my blessing, basically.
And that's what resolves it. So it's to me, I like that
better than oh, I love that so much better.
Yeah, I like it a lot. Better, it's like, yeah, it's

(51:37):
more dramatic and stuff, but I it made more sense of why.
UNSA was so. Afraid of her mother versus like
in the show? It didn't to me.
It didn't quite pan out because they removed the homophobia
entirely. Her like.
Reaction. To son outing her made less
sense and there was like less payoff with it because there

(52:00):
were no stakes involved. Where is like in the novel that
like there was a huge family blowout.
Like, there was a real reason for UNSA to be so freaked out by
it because the consequences werekind of real.
And yeah, you can argue that like, well, UNKSA doesn't know
exactly how the parents are going to react.
So there's that fear. That's totally valid.

(52:21):
That's part of being queer. Unfortunately, in the world we
live in, there's always that fear until, like, you do tell
somebody and it's her parents, you know?
But it. But but like.
For son to get so mad at UNKSA and be like, well, we told my
parents we need to. There's no.
World that's OK for you to tell out somebody it's first of all

(52:44):
that. Second of all, it didn't make
sense for Sun's character to do that, no.
You would be so accepting they right they set.
Her up as sunshine and acceptingand empathetic.
So it didn't make any sense for her to actually do that.
I feel like the writers got backed into a corner because
they didn't have the homophobia anymore, which is what actually
propels the plot in the book. So they're like, how do we get

(53:05):
around this? And they made Sun the villain,
which was kind of, it just didn't translate to me because I
was like, this feels out of character for Sun to do this.
But I feel like they have to do this to get the plot to move the
way it moves in the novel. They could have easily.
Made it that the parents over like heard or over like saw them

(53:26):
together somewhere. But Even so, like.
But they removed the homophobia.So like, again, there's no
stakes to any of that. They were just been like,
Congrats on SA and that we don'thave like the break up and like
the way it goes. Like you don't have those beats
anymore because they removed this element that drove that
plot. That's what I'm getting at.

(53:46):
Like, yeah, it was nice to not have homophobia in the story.
But like the plot kind of falls apart towards the end because
that was the plot at the end. And like the I don't think the
writers like. Super calculated.
That the end. I think they got stuck and so
they were like, we'll have Sun flip out like.
You know, like that's. Kind of.

(54:07):
The sun gets angry, you know, Sun gets angry.
She's an explosive flare. Yeah.
Solar flare. Exactly.
So for me, it didn't, I don't think it's super worked.
It is what it is. But that was a consequence to me
in the writing of removing that element, because it is part of
the plot at some point in the novel.

(54:28):
It was a choice. It was a choice and.
Like again like there. Are pros and cons to making?
These changes, and I'm not saying it's a bad thing, I just
think the writers got stuck because that was a plot point
that was the last third of the book basically.
Another thing that I do, anotherchoice they made when adapting

(54:49):
this is they GMMTV kept it in high school.
Like they kept this as just YA. It's just young ung son, son in
high school and that's it. And they just keep it there.
Whereas the novel you get to seetheir future a little bit more,
which I did like. So and they and they did make
some changes, like son's family didn't have some business she

(55:11):
was taking over. Like son eventually becomes an
actress, Onsa becomes a dentist.Like she wanted to be a
veterinarian and in some point she's like, I don't know if I'm
that smart. And then she becomes a dent,
then she becomes a dentist. Like girl, you are smart.
Like again, what she had to believe in herself to like do
anything. And Son and Unksa do get
separated by the gap year thing that Son does.

(55:34):
Son does go abroad. I forget why, but she does go
abroad. Unksa enters dentistry school
and they don't like see each other until she's in like
dentist school. And son like shows up at the.
Campus and then they start like living together from then on
basically and. Also becomes.
The dentist Sun becomes the actress and the whole time their

(55:56):
relationship remains closeted because Sun's an actress.
So they kind of like end up in the same scenario they were they
started with with the closeted relationship because of Sun's
career. And.
That was kind of sad, but like they make it work kind of thing.
Does it just end there? Well, it ends with like.
Son coming to visit on set her clinic and they like make out

(56:18):
the dentist's office. And that's basically how it
ends. But they're like still their.
Relationship's hidden because. Son's an actress.
So, yeah, they they they hide the relationship otherwise, like
it would jeopardize son getting work based.
I assume this is more when the novel was written versus like
now kind of thing. But yeah, to preserve son's
career, which is it's still a thing being an actor like that

(56:42):
is a choice. You could you could go.
Yeah, exactly. So they kind of like make that
choice together and they're like, you know, son's a famous
actress. We have to kind of hide this,
but I do. Like that they get a.
Glimpse of their future and likewhat it looks like in the novel
but I respect the fact that the the show is like we're just
going to keep this as a why a story we're going to keep it in
high school and we're just goingto end it there and I thought

(57:04):
that it worked it was just you get different things from both
mediums because at this. Point like these teens, they
don't know where they're actually going to end up.
They might think they know totally.
They're focusing on the you're in the teenagers heads.
We're not like. Seeing like the big.
Picture of like what the parentsare seeing.

(57:25):
And it's not that. It's like we are living in high
school. So we don't really get that
future because they can't even fully see it.
Yeah. And truly, I I.
Respect the choice to be like son has a happy, healthy family
that they love her and son's trying to be the good daughter
to like take over the family andshe wants to like go abroad
while she can. And I I thought that worked that

(57:46):
worked as a back story for son that worked as motivation for
her to do the abroad thing. So I did like, and you know, so
it was empathetic towards that. And I, I liked that in the
novel, like, like I you make changes when you adapt stuff and
like some works out, some doesn't.
And I thought overall, like the changes worked for what they
were trying to achieve. And so being like, these are
kids, we're going to keep them the story as them as kids.

(58:09):
I thought that worked. That was really fun.
Another thing that I really loveis the OST, their opening song.
It got stuck in my head every single time.
I wish I knew the words in Thai because they that song gets
stuck in my head so easily. It's a little ear worm of a
song. I think Milk and Sun harmonize

(58:30):
really nicely together, like their voices complement each
other. And when they created the song,
it really fits the tone of the show because it's like warm and
it sounds really upbeat. And that is like going into the
show, what you'd expect. Like that show, really, the song
matches what you're about to watch.
So I do like that. Like they put a lot of thought

(58:50):
into that, you know what I mean?Yeah, it matches the.
Tone and. I mean, we jammed out to.
It in every single reaction episode we had the whole the
same conversation where theor was like I wish I knew that the
lyrics to it so I could sing it.And then I told you I saw a
TikTok where they did put the lyrics so you could learn it.
And then I still haven't found it.

(59:11):
So if anyone has it, send it to us.
One day. And also the commitment to the
space theme and the opening credits.
It's great. That was my.
First introduction to GMMTV and I was winning credits.
And. We've seen it like similar ones
to it, but it's a they do reallywell with their openings, yes.

(59:36):
I have one. Gripe with us, hey, if you've
watched. Our reaction?
Videos, you know what it is? It's in everybody's.
Pick a random one. Don't.
We will say it every time because.
However. I think you played it.
Out in the YouTube. Version it's only oh, actually
everybody yeah, if. You're on Patreon gets when we
talk. During the credits, we talk

(59:56):
during the credits. But that is my favorite OSD of
all time. So it's it's because the OSD is
so perfect. My gripe has to do with it, but.
Anyway. That's for another time when we.
Eventually, talk about us, we'llget into it.
OK, so. To comment, Speaking of music,
to go back to Pooja's love of Taylor Swift.

(01:00:17):
So what songs go with this series?
I'm just going to throw it out there that mine is Alien and
Luna's song just because of everything we said about the Way
like Luna and Alien, basically, they change each other's lives
in these really beautiful ways. And like, they are the best
thing to each other. And they, I, I of all the
couples, they they make it. That's the one that's, you know,

(01:00:38):
they make it forever. Yeah.
Especially when. Like Aylan?
Well, in the song it's like, brace myself for a goodbye.
Like she doesn't. Think that.
She's worthy because like what she sees and it's just.
Luna. Showing her that no, it doesn't
have to be like that, and just taking her time and showing her

(01:01:00):
how things can be. That does encapsulate that song.
Yeah, they're. That's their.
Song. They're so cute.
Thank you. Again.
Pooja, because you pointed me tothe right albums to look at.
I just went through it with the discography to refresh all of
the. She has so many songs I can't
remember. I didn't finish my database yet
because I. Forgot about it for a little

(01:01:21):
while. Anyway, from the songs mean I
think is alien because she's gonna be running this world one
day. I gotta.
Be so. Mean, that's alien.
And literally everybody else. Yeah, everyone's so.
Mean to her, I mean, not in likethe group, but everybody in the
world. Angsa is definitely enchanted.

(01:01:46):
Yeah, please don't. Be.
In love with some. Also just I'm enchanted.
To meet you, can I point out something?
So when I was watching this for the first time and this was like
early in our intro to like Tigerlove shows.
And at that point, I think a gapwas like the only one I've we've
seen all the way through becauselike Blank was still airing.
And so in my brain I'm like, whyis this another show where like

(01:02:08):
we have Internet stalking because like Mon stalked Sam for
decades and then we have this show where like Anksa is the
Internet stalking sun. And that's how I have an all.
Star. I mean stalking.
Catfishing, yeah. Stalking and catfishing Mom
didn't do catfishing, but like mom was stalking Sam like the.

(01:02:29):
Following for a while guidebook of really bad stalking.
Mom did bad stalking, but like Iwas like, here's Om so dude, she
upped the stalking and I was like let me catfish you.
I was like what a way to start the show.
I just thought it was really funny.
That is the. Era we live in.
With Internet the possibilities.OK, I have a couple.

(01:02:52):
More. Oh yeah, go.
Son is lover. Mostly just because of the line.
I'm highly suspicious. Everyone who sees you wants you.
And that is episode 7. You have the.
Jealous son. Absolutely.
Ellen's other song. Is it's nice to have a friend,
Yeah. My poor baby.

(01:03:12):
And then Ansa is fearless. Ah, yes.
So I wrote down. The lyrics too, just so in case
you don't remember the song, because when I hear Fearless,
all I think of is head first fearless.
And I don't know the rest of thewords.
So we're driving down the road. I wonder if you know, I'm trying
so hard not to get caught up now, but you're just so cool.

(01:03:33):
Run your hands to your hair. Absolutely making me want you.
And I don't know how it gets better than this.
You take my hand and drag me head first, fearless.
So this is when she hurts me, meets son and is driving on the
motorcycle with her. The motorbike just in general.
That because like again, Honest's big thing is she has a
lack of self-confidence and likeson gave her the the self cut.

(01:03:56):
This song also works for Aileen and Luna because like Aileen
dragged that's true and dragged Aileen into confidence the same
way son did. Like they honestly have parallel
kind of stories in a way that were told differently.
Yeah, it was. The butt, you're just so cool
around your hands, your hair. It reminds me of when Son was
taken off the helmet. Yeah.

(01:04:17):
But also like you could. Relate that to like again, uncle
scrolling through the Internet and being like, wow, she's so
pretty. Like absolutely.
My name is she just existing andlike, God damn it, yes, Siren or
whatever, like you know what I mean?
And then my. Last one is also for Aylan.
I think about her a lot, Can youtell?

(01:04:38):
And her song, Another song is a place in this world and.
Just yeah. I love her.
OK, this last bit I already said.
Yeah, OK, All right, so now thatwe've talked about all of that,
let's talk about some other characters like that are in the

(01:04:58):
show. So we'll we'll use our page
lovely Patreon member Cassie M as the jumping off point.
So why does? Cassie Love. 23 point 523.5 is a
personal favorite of mine because Onsa is pretty much me
40 years ago. I identify so much with that
nervous character, with a lack of self-confidence, that it was
great to see her come out of hershell and even get the girl I

(01:05:20):
adore that Onsa is in a perpetual state of panic, yet so
true. Yet yet, son.
Sees through. Her.
Her true. Self, which is capable of much
more than she believes. Son is pretty much the popular
girl in this relationship, even more so than in the book, but in
the series she definitely encouraged her to aim for more.

(01:05:40):
Apart from that, the friends they are surrounded with all
support. Unsa and Luna plus Alen are the
best side couple of other girl loves.
Absolutely. Seriously.
Seriously. So yeah, let's ODE.
To Onsa real quick because she'sthe, you know, she's the main we
spent a ton of time talking about.
We said like 30 minutes talking about alien but like Onsa's the
main character and Milk did sucha good job playing Onsa This

(01:06:03):
like literal ball of anxiety that's teaching expressions.
Oh my God, God, she's such a strong actor.
I really enjoyed watching her play Onsa, she really nailed it.
Like her like physical acting, facial expressions, the like her
voice acting, the whininess of ONSA like she nailed it.

(01:06:24):
Did a phenomenal job committed in.
Every aspect to this character, yeah.
She like is so so so so good. One thing I love about.
Onsa and the way it was depictedin the show is really her.
At the end of the day, Onsa is on a quest, her courage.
That's basically her her, if youhad to boil down her character

(01:06:47):
arc, that's what happens from start to finish.
And I love that the show bookends that journey with the
the motor taxi scenes. So something you kind of lose a
little bit in the adaptation. And I will say this over and
over again, especially when you have a first person like you,
you lose the character's inner monologue.

(01:07:08):
So their thoughts, OK, when you translate it to screen, unless
you have a ton of voiceovers, because the point of a voiceover
is to tell you what they're thinking.
Like basically you have like theactor voice out loud what
they're thinking while a scene is playing out.
That's a voiceover. And that gets annoying.
After a while, because you're like, just so often times like

(01:07:30):
the characters have to show you what they're thinking, right?
Why are you? Laughing.
Because. You complain about it whenever
it happens in shows and I love it, no?
I have to say this. Every time it's not.
Whenever it happens, it's when they're used inappropriately or
overused. Because when you have it like
the actor supposed to show you what they're thinking without,

(01:07:51):
it's a show don't tell. Once you put it on screen right
in a book that the author can tell you explicitly, this is
what the character is thinking in this moment.
That's the novel 'cause you're in their head.
So in Uncs's head in the novel, you really get to see or or read
how self deprecating she really is.
Like she constantly calls herself lousy, unworthy.

(01:08:14):
Like she talks down to herself in her brain on screen.
Either the the way you would. Kind of like show that is you
show like how self deprecating Unksa is through her actions.
Like she self sabotages herself constantly.
It's because she feels unworthy.And the other way you kind of
depict that is by having her talk with other characters.

(01:08:34):
I think that's why we have Aileen.
It's so that Unksa can talk out loud and you get those thoughts
through the dialogue of how unworthy she feels.
So like all of that is to say isin the novel, it's really clear
that like she does. Not have any.
Confidence at all. She talks down to herself
constantly and that's really what makes it so hard for Anksa

(01:08:54):
to accept that somebody like son, a person who's the complete
opposite of her, like Son is happy, upbeat, confident, you
know, And because of that, she like she easily interacts with
other people and she attracts people to her.
Like she's the opposite of Onsa.And it's really hard for Onsa to

(01:09:15):
to accept the fact that Son likes her because Onsa doesn't
even like herself. So that's really a lot of their
friction. And she's like, I don't even
know why son likes me because how could she?
I don't even like me. Like she doesn't see her own
value. And like son gives her that in
the same way that Luna gives that to alien.
Like they have kind of like parallel, like trajectories and
why. And So what I love about the

(01:09:36):
show is they bookend essentiallythis journey that UNSA has with
the motor taxi. So the first, like the opening
scene of the show is like they're trying to it's the the
cousins are trying to hail taxisto get to school, right?
And Ungsa lacks so much courage and self-confidence.
She can't even hail the taxi by herself.

(01:09:57):
Like she can't. She just fails so miserably at
it. The sun, the like knight in
shiny armor has to come rescue her basically because she's so
useless. She can't even achieve this.
But then she goes on this journey where she like gets to
know Sun. She, you know, gets more
confident with her friend group and in herself and she becomes
the beauty pageant queen. And she starts like, like, like

(01:10:17):
finding her own values so that by the time we get to the end of
the show, when we get to the last motor taxi scene, it
parallels the first one. But and not only in the scene
does Onsa grow so much that she has the courage to hail the
taxi. She puts the finger up, she gets
the taxi. She also teaches somebody else
how to do it. You know what I mean?
It's like she grew so much that not only is she confident in

(01:10:40):
herself, she's able to pass it on to somebody else.
Like that's a huge amount of growth to have in one show.
And I love that they really showthat with these two, these two
parallel scenes. It's a great way to bookend
Unksa's journey when it came to like her own character growth.
And outside of like the sun, stuff like that's Unksa grew a
lot and like shows you that it'sreally cute.

(01:11:00):
I love that it was a. Great way to depict it.
I just want to touch on something that you briefly
mentioned well in that explanation and the parallel
between the. Between Aylan.
And Angsa really because both ofthem feel othered cuz Angsa is
socially, she's always she's socially awkward.

(01:11:25):
I will say one thing. In the book that's really
obvious that she says in her inner mom at the very beginning,
she's like, it's easier for me to talk to dogs.
So like in the show, you'll see her talking to latte because she
doesn't feel comfortable talkingto people like, and she says
that in her brain like she's like, it's so much easier just
to hang out with dogs. Like she, she.
Doesn't. Feel comfortable with people in

(01:11:45):
the same way that Alien doesn't,like you said.
And she even, like, admits that about herself.
And so, like, Latte is there to kind of show you that, like,
Angsa is like, whispering to himat the table and things like
that. Yeah, she's sort of very
awkward. I think it's in the first
episode. We hear her say it's weird to
hear latte at the dinner table, and that's exactly we don't hear

(01:12:06):
alien say that, but you see thatwith the way that she's obsessed
with aliens. They both have the same
feelings, they're just presenteddifferently and I do think
that's a very good way to contrast like neurotypicals and
neurodivergent as well if you want to call.
Uns a neurotypical? Yeah.
I mean, you don't know. No, I don't.

(01:12:27):
She might actually have. ADHD.
Herself so like, Oh my God, yeah, you know what?
But like you. Just see like the.
Differences in people totally how they present and react
situations, but you do see that they both.
If they really talk. Or like just hang out.
They would see that they're verysimilar.

(01:12:47):
You do see that in the show when?
Because Anxa. Understands Aylan more than I
think she realizes too. There is a scene where she calls
Aylan and says I'm waiting for you.
And Aylan doesn't respond. And Aung said just like, keeps
checking to make sure she's on the phone and just keeps talking

(01:13:09):
and like periodically checks like, OK, she's still there.
She's like, OK, I know you can hear me.
This is what's happening and then I'll see you.
She knows that Aylan doesn't want to speak and she accepts
that. She doesn't push her or like,
try to get something out of her,get her, get angry with her.
She understands her. And that part of the relation,

(01:13:30):
their two relationship, is so cool to see, especially when you
see the similarities between them.
Yeah. No, I totally agree.
But yeah, I think, I think. Anxa might have ADHD for sure.
Do you have? Any other thoughts about Anxa?
Before I move on Anxa. Just a relatable mess.

(01:13:53):
I love her and she's so. Fucking funny.
And again, Milk did a fucking amazing job playing Anxa.
She just nailed it. It's just Oh, yeah.
There was, I forget exactly the scene.
I think it might be when she wastrying to kiss.
Son for the first time. And I think son walks out of the

(01:14:16):
room and you just see her face and the reaction that she
failed. She tried so hard three times
and Oh my God. That was the one where they're
trying to watch the movie and Unsa's like, son's going to pick
out a romance movie and it's like this like mafia movie.
And yeah, when she leaves the room, Unsa does like the finger
guns at the TV, at the laptop because she's mad at the movie.

(01:14:40):
It's so. Funny.
Oh yeah, no, she starts. Freaking out and she's just like
having this whole not nutdown, but just like frustration that's
silent because she can't let sonhere.
And that is still relatable in itself.
And it's just like I want to throw this laptop across the
room but I can't actually it wasso.
It was great. It was great and.
Great. I don't know how much was like

(01:15:00):
directing and what was her choice.
I feel like when it's like physical like that, it's I think
it's more so the actor's choice of how to convey what the
emotion the character's supposedto be having.
So, but whoever's idea this all was so good.
It was very well done, so well done.
So piggybacking off that scene will trend this into the sun.
So also in that scene I love that when Son leaves the way she

(01:15:23):
has the little like gay. Panic.
Outside the door because she wasgay panicking she's like, Oh my
God, I'm so whatever. And then she goes outside the
door. She's like Oh my God, gay
feelings like she's like I'm so bold.
I like this because OK, because then you could be mad at son and
be like, wow, son, why couldn't you just kiss her?
But it's like they're teenagers figuring this shit out for the
first time. Like big feelings are scary.

(01:15:45):
And so the Son was like, Oh my God, Oh my God, that's.
You know that's normal. It's just unfortunate because it
took. Oh my gosh, sorry the names are
getting jumbled in my head. Ansa.
It took so much for her to even try, let alone three times at
once, and this is the first timeshe put herself out there like
that. And so having son escape.

(01:16:09):
Like, yeah, she wasn't. Ready for it, but you see her be
happy that Ansa took initiative,but now Ansa's going to be less
likely to take initiative because it failed.
Yeah, which. But I mean, Sun should not have
kissed her if she didn't feel ready or want that.
Exactly. Fine.
So fine. I just.
It's unfortunate. It does, but I do love Sun.

(01:16:33):
I love that Sun lives up to her name.
She is Sunshine in human form. Like if Sunshine was a person,
it would be Sun. She is aptly named one of my.
Favorite things? About her character.
She's really. Empathetic, honestly, like she's
not just like a happy go lucky person.
Like she really is empathetic and she.

(01:16:57):
Really does try to meet. Also where she is, and she
really does try to understand Unsa because like son doesn't
have the self deprivation. Son has a lot of confidence that
is reinforced by the way people see her.
She's like the president of the class like and she really does
try to meet UNSA where she is, which is like underground

(01:17:17):
because like UNSA has no confidence.
Like, they're on opposite ends of that spectrum.
I do love that about son. And son puts a lot of effort
into the people she loves. Like, it even gets to the point
where, like, she gets integratedinto Anksa's friend group and,
like, supports them. And like, Aileen, when Aileen's
going through her, you know, kind of like struggling to like,

(01:17:37):
fit in with everybody when she like, actively wants to do it.
And son's like, oh, I'll watch out for her.
And like, she really is a caringperson, which again, made the
whole outing everybody weird, but you know.
Another thing I love about son. That I'll never be able to
forget. Is her cat noises the.
Sound effects. They make me laugh every single.

(01:17:59):
Fucking time. Because they're just, they fit,
but they're just fucking funny. Especially like Happy Cat and
then Angry Cat, they're so. Fucking funny.
Whoever made that choice, well done.
It just makes me laugh every time, even when we hear Cat.
Noises and other shows. It's still Sun's cat.
It's Sun's cat. Noises.
They're forever. They're Sun's noises.

(01:18:20):
They're so fucking funny. OK, yes, but my biggest pet
peeve what's on is her outing Aileen and Onsa to the parents
and then getting mad at Onsa about it.
And I went on a rant about how it didn't make any sense.
But like, you can't just out twopeople.
Like, that's not cool. Seriously.

(01:18:42):
What? I mean again, we know.
That it really did not make sense character wise.
But seriously, how do you ever think that that is OK and then
get mad at the other person still right like it was a.
Really weird chain of events that happened that just wasn't
it Didn't I did forget for a second that.
She outs. That's insane.

(01:19:06):
That's what I mean. She's lucky.
That this is in the book. Oh my God, if this was.
The book they would have like thrown sun out of the house.
It would have been gotten reallybad, like really, really bad.
And if that was wild, if Aylan. Lived there too, like Aylan
probably would have. Been sent away or?

(01:19:28):
Something. Yeah, I know.
It's kind of fucked up what I favorite scenes at Sun.
Is I really like the basketball scene, that whole thing where
Unks is like trying to get the money as the treasurer and fails
miserably. But I like that sun is like,
well, you tried, like you did something nobody else would do.

(01:19:49):
I love the way she builds up Unksa and it like looks at the
bright side because she's the sun, right?
And I do love that whole thing with her where she's like, well,
you tried, that's what mattered,nobody else.
And you didn't give up like, andthat's, that's a good thing, you
know, like that you'd fought and.
So I like that she does that. She's, again, really empathetic
and good at supporting people, and she's very pretty consistent

(01:20:11):
about that as a character, and Ido appreciate that.
And I love that she named her moped Sunny.
That was I, I am as a person whoalso names inanimate objects, I
love that she named her Moped. I thought that was really cute.
And she named it after. Her It's sunny.

(01:20:33):
She did. That's cute.
OK, moving on to our next listener comment from Instagram.
There's a Ramachari. Oh God, if I said that wrong,
I'm really sorry. Ramachari, that's mine.
Thank you. Would you like to read it,
Caitlin? Since you can spell the name OK,
so Ramachari. 5048 says this show is cuteness overload.

(01:20:56):
The things I love about the showfollows.
They didn't say follows. Anyway, no bullshit attitude of
Son. She is really amazing and open
about what she wants. There is no drama with her.
Well except for a little bouts of jealousy.
She shows. Yeah I Son is just like I'm
going to tell you as it is. I wait a minute also.

(01:21:17):
Like the jealousy. I do love when they place into
Son's jealousy to get her to admit that she likes Anxa and
the way she's like not having itwith Todd.
I think I. Have this later but it's I've
been vocal about me not liking jealousy in shows like as the
plot point but in this show theymake it so funny like it's not

(01:21:41):
meant to be taken seriously and that's why I'm totally fine with
it because they're literally doing it on purpose right now to
get them to stop being idiots. Yes.
OK, so the next thing. Total and utter dorkiness of
Anxa. Has there ever been a more
relatable female lead? Thank you.

(01:22:03):
Like her. Thankfully I am past those
awkward teenage years. Or are you?
Is it awkward adult years? Because.
Those are a thing too. And awkwardness doesn't have an.
Expiration date it doesn't. Unfortunately, I wish it did,
really did. And Eilen and Luna, those two

(01:22:24):
are adorable. PS Am I the only one who wants a
happy ending for Alpha? No, I mean no, I want a happy
ending for everyone. But yes, AA deserves it.
Let's talk about. Alpha.
I have so many thoughts about Alpha.
I fucking love her. First of all, I love this actor.
She's was an amazing big sister to Onsa and Ailey, basically

(01:22:47):
older cousin kind of thing. And I love the way they showed
her very consistently trying to be like the perfect eldest of
the house, like sibling basically.
And she was kind of like the in the not the negotiator.
She's kind of like the liaison between the parents and like
Aileen and Onsa as the younger children in the house.

(01:23:07):
And I think she tried to fulfillthat role as best that she
could. And I really love that they gave
her her own plot where she struggles with that because as
like an eldest child, I, I empathize with Alpha in the
situation that by definition, inmany cultures, including mine, a
lot is put on the oldest child. And you see that with Alpha over

(01:23:30):
and over again. Like she feels responsible for
like everybody else in the house.
And she's like, is trying to be perfect in school And it like
does get to her. So I like that she has that
scene with the teachers where they basically coach her through
that. And they're like, well, what do
you want? And like, I like that they, as
educators who probably seen thiswith other students, like took
the time to invest in Alpha and like let her vent her feelings

(01:23:54):
and her fears. And I like that we got that
glimpse into Alpha. Like obviously this is Anksa
story. Like she's the main character.
But like another thing I love about GMTV in general is they
make ensemble shows where the other characters have their own
plot points. Like not everything the other
characters are doing a revolve around Unksa the main character.

(01:24:17):
Like this was literally. Just.
About Alpha and I really liked this little side plot with her
and up to this point. As a viewer, you're like, OK,
she's perfect. You're seeing what she's
presenting to everyone else as well.
And then this humanizes her where like don't forget not
everybody's perfect or they're everyone is being.

(01:24:39):
Who they think they. Need to be, yeah.
Yeah, perfection is. Not really a thing.
It's something you strive to achieve, but it's not always.
There's no such thing. As a perfect person, no,
There's. Literally no such thing.
People are people. And so I like that you get a
glimpse into Behind the Curtainsof Alpha because you you're

(01:25:00):
seeing her through Angsta's eyesin the beginning.
Because Angsta's the main character.
The book is written through Angsta's point of view and it
reads that way up until a point where it starts going like, OK,
let's actually look at these people outside of what Angsta
sees. And you, the viewer can see like
what that person is really like.And you see.
Videos of that. Scene it like come out earlier
too, when she realizes that she doesn't know Aylan and she does

(01:25:24):
take that personally. And I mean, I, I don't fully
remember when Eilen came to livewith them, but she she took it
so personally that she did not know everything that was going
on. So she could be there to be the
one to fix things if they neededto be when that's that's not her
job. But now you can get to know each
other as people, not as a personand that you need to protect all

(01:25:48):
the time. But I just the responsibility
that she had that she. I don't know if the parents put
it on. Yeah, like she just put it on
herself. She felt like she needed to do
that. Yeah, as.
The old, as an older child, you feel it whether or not you are
directed to do it or not. You feel like responsible for

(01:26:09):
the other people. And that's like Alpha's whole
thing. She felt like this the second's
parent to everybody. And yeah, that that's that
moment you brought up where she's like, I don't know Aileen.
I also don't know Anxa. She's like, you guys are hiding
shit from me. It was both of them.
And she's like in this weird position.
That's why I called her like theas the oldest child, you're like
the liaison sometimes where it'slike you're not really a

(01:26:30):
sibling. You're kind of like this in
between a parent and a sibling to everybody.
And so she felt alienated in that moment because she's like,
you 2 are bonded as just like the younger siblings.
So you don't have the responsibility or the feeling
that I feel. And so it kind of it separates
them. So I like when they, the parents
leave and like the writers, theygo on a trip and it gives the,

(01:26:51):
the writers gave them a bonding moment where like Alpha again
feels responsible. So she makes breakfast for them
and she's like, I know you like this.
So I made it for you and like itshow showing that she's like, I,
I, I know you, I care about you.Let me show you that versus just
like me being this like authority figure in your brain.
And I like they had that moment that they had time to bond with

(01:27:11):
Alpha as. Piers not as.
Like she's the authority figure because she's older and I have
to respect her because she's older than me.
It's kind of like that's also itkind of alienates you in a way.
So I do like that. They're relatable to Angsa and
Aylan who feel other. Yeah, exactly.
And again, it goes to show you like, yeah, she seems like this

(01:27:33):
perfect person, but she also feels alienated by her, you
know, status in the family and that kind of stuff and the
responsibility she feels. So again, like it makes it more
like these relationships are more complicated than like, if
you just superficially look at them.
So I'd like that we got depth toAlpha, not just like, she's my
annoying older sister or like whatever.
So I might also about their relationship points out the

(01:27:56):
fact. That everyone feels alienated at
some point. Yeah, that's the part of.
Being human, yeah. Honestly so alien.
Is more human than she even realizes.
Exactly. But back to Alpha.
So yeah, I wanted, I don't thinkAlpha didn't have a happy
ending, but I think it could have been happier.

(01:28:20):
So what I wanted with Alpha, honestly, it was for either her
to end up with Sharian because why the hell was she with Ton?
That was weird. I feel like her and Alpha could
have got together and then Alphacould have got a girlfriend and
that would have been nice for Alpha or I would have been super
happy with Alpha being like I'm an arrow ace bitch and living my

(01:28:40):
best life. I also would have been fine with
that read for her where she's just like I know who I am now
and I'm comfortable with like going forward.
Like she can be Alice, yeah. I I could see that.
As well, I could see it from her.
Without Luna I. Would see that for Aylan too,
but for sure I don't know. I don't know if you knew this or

(01:29:02):
if you told me this before, but apparently in the opening
credits the colors that outline the characters are the colors of
pride flags and it shows you what their sexuality is.
So apparently. Alpha is bi.
I'm also fine with that. Yeah, so end up.
With a Sharon. I want her to end up a Sharon.

(01:29:27):
Well, the spoiler the actors endup together and what is it
Pluto? So like I would have liked to
see it here too. I just wanted her to be a happy,
happy little alpha because she she did her best to be like the
best girl basically, and she should get happiness for that.
I mean if she's happy with. Tan good for her.

(01:29:49):
But OK, was. Sharon happy with Tan that they
were had the weirdest relationship.
Their ending was just like, I'm so much like, I don't understand
what's going on with these two. I don't even know if they
understand what's going on with themselves, but here we are.
That's basically how they ended.That was not in the novel.
That was like, I don't know whatthis is, Nobody knows what this
is. It's just the thing.

(01:30:12):
They're pairing up. Put this here, but I'm just
saying from Alpha's point of view, I would have liked that
for Alpha specifically because she deserves happiness like our
listener said. All right.
Let's. Go to Patreon where Zori M said
this show has my favorite episode of all the girl love
shows which is episode 7 AKA sons jealousy episode.

(01:30:34):
It literally makes me laugh so much I rewatch it all the time.
I couldn't agree more. This is one of my favorite
episodes of the show because it's literally the embodiment of
the classic lesbian trope of it takes a village to get the
lesbians together. Like that's literally the whole
episode where like you said they're like we have to play to
their weaknesses which is son's jealousy to get these idiots to

(01:30:58):
real to admit they like each other because they obviously
like each other. Like just this is the episode
where they're just like, can youguys just kiss like smooshing
the heads together? That's the episode.
And it's so funny how the friends try to execute this and
they try so. Hard.
And then the scene that makes them realize that they have to
try even harder now is like whenthey're working on stuff for the

(01:31:22):
blue team and Angsa is upset andthey ask her like, oh, why are
you upset? And she goes.
I don't think son likes my. New look and they're like are
you freaking kidding me? First of all.
She's literally the one who gaveyou that look that we see the
prior part of the episode. And they're like, oh.

(01:31:48):
Gosh, so yeah, they have to try even harder with the jealousy,
which Tan is fully willing. Oh my God, he was.
So fucking funny in this he was.So fucking funny, they said.
Make. They probably gave him the
direction. Flirt with Ansa, he said.
Say no more. I got this.

(01:32:08):
At all costs, I. Like again with the end.
Where like they win the trophy, they take the photo and then
Ansa's like, I'll see you later,son.
And they're like, get that? Done.
And he's like, hey. Ansa, you want to go to dinner
with me and then finally son's like stay the fuck away from
her. She's mine.
It's so funny. Yeah, but part of that, OK.

(01:32:29):
We get to the really. The end when they're together
and he's like my UNSA is moving on my.
Sweetheart. Yeah, my sweetheart, they're.
Like on he's like son, son, sweetheart, and then he's.
Goes I love my sweetheart, son, sweetheart.
So fucking funny, but. Yeah, there's just oh wait, OK.

(01:32:50):
Also, the way they executed thatwas hilarious too.
Just in general where like son'sfriends are finding this out for
the first time. They're like wait son, like so
so we'll. Fill you in later.
Shut up, shut up. The games are happening.
You're. Like.
What is? Happening.
They're like SH, let it happen, shut up, we'll tell you later.
But the best part of the scene? I was talking about.

(01:33:12):
Is when Ansa just leaves to go to the bathroom and everyone's
just like are you kidding me? And this, the reactions of
everybody is hilarious. And even Aylin's like humans can
be really stupid. She's like, you guys are fucking
stupid. Yeah, it's so funny.
Oh my God. This.
Episode was so so so so so so soso funny.

(01:33:34):
I agree it is one of the most rewatchable episodes because
it's hilarious. Cassie M on.
Patreon had a favorite moment I wanted to highlight.
My favorite moments include the repeatedly falling on each other
in episode 3, Luna's declarationof love, declaration of her as a
place to hide for alien which you brought up Caitlin, and of

(01:33:56):
course the Morse coded love declaration.
Oh my God, that was the fucking cutest thing ever.
That's all the fact that. Aileen and Luna got there. 1st.
I mean Luna. Knows the fuck she wants.
She ain't beating around the Bush.
But it's Aileen. Says it.

(01:34:19):
First. Like that was the crazy part.
Like, is it? Aileen said it first.
Oh my. I didn't expect.
That at all I. Thought it was going to be Luna.
Yeah, it was just like. The she, she couldn't say it
directly either and she had to like code it.
So just in case she lost like the confidence, not the

(01:34:39):
confidence, but like. The I don't know what the right.
Word is but in case you didn't want to say it and it's still
decoded technically, so Luna hadto do the a little bit of work
too. OK, but then like what?
Is Luna's response again, she gets on Alien's level.
She's like, OK, this is how you want to say it.
She's like, how do I say 2? Like, and she's like, she

(01:35:01):
engages in like Alien's way of communicating immediately.
She's like, OK, how do I add this?
And then she's like, OK, no, youread it like, and she does it
back in her language versus justbeing like, I love you too.
Like she's like goes to Alien's level, which they're the fucking
one of the best couples ever, period, because they're so
fucking cute. All right.

(01:35:21):
And then Cassie ends it with Sun's reaction to finding out
Alex's earth. Oh my God, that that where she's
reading the text and then she's like.
Why is why? Is your phone going off when I'm
texting you? I mean, that's way too long,
first of all, son, for you to belike, that's weird, that's

(01:35:42):
weird. He has like how many?
Confirmations do you need? Also you can clearly.
You see, it's your name popping up on your screen too.
You're like, right? Next, you're right next to it.
Yeah, that went on for. A while and I understand that.
Whatever I was worried about, like telling her about being

(01:36:03):
Earth, but you're getting in so deep there.
Well, again, it's on since. The character with no confidence
and so I. Understand why it took.
Her so long to like finally do it and one of my favorite scenes
too is the what she does with the bracelet where she.
Was going to give it to son. For her birthday, but then like

(01:36:23):
thinks better of it and she's like, well, again, the
self-confidence she's like, she's not going to want it from
me. She's going to want it from
earth because that's the one that she wants to see.
And I like that she sends it to her.
So son has a happy birthday, even though Unsa's like, I don't
have the courage to tell you this, but like, I want you to
have a happy birthday. And she sends it to her.
And it was just heartbreaking tohave like, son hug her and be

(01:36:44):
like, I got it. I got it.
And like this thing made her so happy.
And Hanks is like, but it's not me you want.
It's like this other person. And just like that was so
heartbreaking. It's a very good scene.
All right, and. Then.
Last member our Patreon member. Last but certainly not least,
Nancy over on Patreon. One of our Ogs.

(01:37:04):
Nancy had so many scenes that you like.
We're going to or we decided to include the most watched scenes,
which you noted, so thanks for noting that.
So #1 the lipstick scene, there always has to be product
placement of some sort. That was a very good one because
it didn't feel like 1 and it wasa lot of gay staring and almost
kiss. Good job ladies.

(01:37:25):
Suns declaration. Agreed.
The meteor shower. Aileen and Luna on Sun Sun, yes,
we'll get into that. Because that and the teachers,
that was a great scene. Everything about that.
Ung, so and son study. Session the extra alien in
aliens room scene AK Oh the Lunaalien kiss scene.

(01:37:47):
That was like homophobically cutout of the show.
What? That was cut out of the show?
It was an extra scene. That was an extra scene.
Oh, there's an extra scene. Of Alien.
I've showed it to you a while ago, I doubt if you remember it.
There's an extra seed of them in.

(01:38:08):
The in in Alien's bedroom and the whole whole homecoming
sequence that completes the series.
Yeah, I agree, that was really cute.
The the again the parallels whenSon came back with the motorbike
was cute. OK, all of.
Those are great scenes. I have to add my favorite themes

(01:38:28):
sequence that I wasn't expectingbecause why would I be and just
makes me laugh every single timeis the transition from the end
of episode 9 to the beginning ofepisode 10.
Because episode 9. Ends with UNSA and Sun alone in
her room and Suns in the towel and the towel drops and then we

(01:38:50):
open and then you're like oh, what's going to happen?
And then you open the next seat and the next episode not knowing
this was going to happen. So everybody screams Onsen
scream. Alpha comes running into the
room with a kitchen knife because she's like danger.
And it just gets really weird really fast.
And I was like, what is the sequence?
It was so. Funny.

(01:39:10):
I love the transition it becauseyou're just like, Oh yeah,
they're going to like fool around or whatever.
No, it's alpha. Comes running into the room with
a knife because everybody screams.
It's just so. Funny.
I mean she's, I mean she. Has to protect them exactly.
She's. So unlike Luna, she knows.
Her size and what she's capable of.

(01:39:32):
So she's like, I need reinforcements with a knife.
So funny I. Did not see that coming.
It's great. It's so good.
OK, One of my favorite scenes that I brought up in the
beginning of this episode is. Alan.

(01:39:53):
Asking Alpha why humans kiss. That was so.
Fucking funny. She even leaves the scene but
but alpha. Why?
Why? He's like don't, don't just
leave. I need this answer.
She doesn't like talking to people but she needs this
question answered and it is a valid question.

(01:40:14):
It is theor. Does bring this up?
In our reaction video. But it is exactly like the Good
Place scene. I saw.
This on Tumblr when I was tryingto look up more people talking
about the autism presenting in Alan and I saw this Tumblr thing
where it's the scene with Michael saying kissing is gross.

(01:40:36):
You just mash your food holes together.
It's not for that. That's literally alien.
And that's literally her when it's such a boring concept.
To you like when you're not usedto it, it's just like, it makes
no sense. And I still like think like, I
don't get it. Like who thought to do that?

(01:40:57):
I don't know who thought to. Do that, but I think it's like
you have a lot of nerve endings on your lips.
So like, that's why. It got popular.
Because like you do get tinglingsensation and stuff because
there's a lot of nerves. It is a really like when you
stop to think about it, it's super weird and like the good
place comparison is really great.
So if you've never seen that scene, the character that's

(01:41:19):
having this discussion isn't human, which again, Aileen, who
doesn't think she's human. It's it's a perfect parallel
who's like, I don't understand why humans do this shit.
Like it's basically alien in thescene.
It's works on so many levels, but it is weird when you
actually think about it. Like why are humans doing this?
It is weird. I mean, stop to think about it.
Most things that humans. Do are very weird weird.

(01:41:42):
Man, sometimes I just walk. Around my house, I'm like, why
do we have all this stuff? Like how do we get all this
stuff and then like animals and like in like in the wild, but
they don't have stores. And stuff like.
I just don't understand. How we evolved into this?
That's the whole other. Brain breaking science lesson

(01:42:02):
but. The meteor shower scene or, or
episode, can we talk about that?I know you have a point.
I have many points about that. That's a great episode too.
That's probably my one of my favorite episodes.
The meteor shower episode. Yeah, it's.
The whole thing The whole thing is great.

(01:42:23):
The. Whole thing is great.
But you do. It's kind of the start of you
seeing Aylan really put herself out there and forward and really
think of all the things that Luna has been trying to get her
to do and just really studying the relationship between them.
And she recreates the way that Luna got her attention in the

(01:42:47):
very in the very beginning with you throwing a paper ball.
So she writes a note and throws at her, but it doesn't go far.
And then she OK. Because they're outside on the
bleachers and she's like many meters away from Luna trying to
throw keepers. I was like girl.
Like. And she doesn't try to like.
Walk closer to throw it she but she eventually does get

(01:43:09):
frustrated and just gets the paper ball and then puts it next
to her and then walks away immediately so.
Funny and like hides and that's how cute.
She invites Luna to watch the meteor shower with her and this
is after they found out the. The teacher.
Tells him that. If a couple watches the meteor

(01:43:30):
shower together, they'll be together.
I'm sorry my dog's starting to freak out so.
This this is even. Bigger question to ask because
now they are fully aware of this.
Yeah, I like you. Let's be together forever.
And Luna's like finally fucking ass.
God damn she's like I knew this.That's why I threw paper balls

(01:43:53):
at you in the very. Beginning that's their love
language. They throw paper at each other
multiple times and it's really cute every time.
OK, let's talk about that episode in general because it's
so so, so, so good. So that's going on, which is
beautiful. And then you get Unksa trying to
kiss son for the first time. And I do love the way it
actually happens with them aloneand the, you know, under the

(01:44:16):
stars and it's like really cute.And we're like, Unsa finally
makes a move. It's just them and there's like
no pressure because it's just them.
Nobody's watching them. There's no like you got to kiss
her during the movie. Kind of like like also was
trying to like cosplay other people basically when she was
trying to court Sun, whereas like to give herself confidence

(01:44:37):
because again, she doesn't feel worthy.
And so like in the scene, I likethat it's just them and also is
just being herself with Sun and it and it works, which
reinforces to Unksa that like she likes you, you are worthy,
at least for a little bit. Because again, it's hard to
learn to love yourself when you're not used to it.
And so it's a it's a journey. Like there's ebbs and flows to
that with Unksa. And so that scene is really cute

(01:44:59):
because it's just them. And it was really like romantic
and stuff. And I like the way they did it.
And then on the flip, flip side.You have.
The teachers and the teachers stupidly told everybody about
this legend or whatever, and then nobody shows up to where
they're supposed to be supervising everybody and
they're like, where the fuck arethe students?
So it fails miserably as supervisors of these children,

(01:45:22):
but they get to have a cute moment together because there's
like some unrequited feelings happening from the anyway, and
it's just the clueless teacher and the I'm into you teacher.
And just they were. Adorable.
I love. Them too.
Just all of all. Of the couples were just great.

(01:45:44):
But you know who was shafted in not a good way in this scene?
Mawin and 10 because Mawin gets stood up.
Poor mommy boy. No, Mala needs a little bit of
time for him because he. Got the short?
End of the stick, The entire show.
We needed so much more. Mawen.
He was the sweetest, cutest. Oh my God.

(01:46:06):
And he tried. I just love him.
I love him. There wasn't enough Mawen.
I agree. I loved his friendship with Tan
though. I loved their friendship.
I thought it was really great how supportive Tan was of Mawen
when he's like oh you like tin and he tried so hard to like
help Mawen get a boyfriend and like their friendship was super

(01:46:29):
when they were. I wish we had more of them.
When? Moen go exits the classroom and
then they just start freaking out together.
Oh my God, that was so. Cute.
They were freaking out. Like they were adorable as
friends. I loved them together as friends
and I wanted Mahwin to get his his man.
I feel bad for him because the writers were like forgot about

(01:46:50):
him. Yeah, they did.
Like poor, they got to. Forgot about him.
They're like, Oh yeah, Moen and 10.
So like, even worse, like we. Got less Mawin than we did the
teachers and we still the teachers weren't as big of a
part either. I just I needed for both of
them, but definitely Mawin. Mawin needed something special.

(01:47:11):
There was not enough. No, just like another a couple
more scenes. Yeah, just not asking.
Much just for Grady. Something that pays off for him.
Yeah, I just felt. Bad.
One thing I want to mention not about model item.
One of my other favorite scenes is our introduction to Bam Bam,
where Anksa is freaking out in the bathroom and the and Bam Bam

(01:47:35):
comes in and reads Anksa's fortune and it's like you're
going to die. And like it was like the
weirdest intro to this authorityfigure and like Ox's new, like
it's like new to the school and she's like, what's happening in
this bathroom with a teacher? It was so awesome.
She's freaking out in the bathroom.

(01:47:56):
Oh my God, which is in this? Again, your job.
She's freaking out like a teenager with big feelings.
And it was. That scene was hilarious.
It's one of your first interest to Unksa and this teacher and
you're like, who the fuck is this teacher?
But what an intro to a character.
What a scene. That scene was so funny and like
as you get to know Bammy, we're just like, no, she's just kind

(01:48:18):
of like that. She's kind of clueless and into
her like fortune telling and notjudgmental and like she's great,
but just what an intro to a character.
I loved everything about that. That was so funny, this whole.
Show is so funny. It's so.
Funny a great way to. Escape.

(01:48:39):
And honestly all. The characters are really, they
feel human, like they're very well-rounded.
And that to me is one of the advantages of writing an
ensemble where like a true ensemble where the other
characters have their own plot lines that do not revolve or do
not directly revolve around the main characters.
Like, yeah, you can argue, OK, the meteor shower, seeing the

(01:49:01):
teachers are there because of Ongson Son because they had to
supervise them, but they're not having conversations about them.
They're talking. They're having their own lives
on screen and they connect with them more as people.
And so you're like like we say you're I feel invested in like
every character basically we seein the show, even like sons
friends you get for like 3 seconds, like they're off like

(01:49:21):
doing dances in the background. Like they're their own people
and they're they're also lovableAnd like you just want more
because you feel I personally feel connected to all these
characters because the writers really let them be their own
people, not just like revolve around ung son.
Specifically, I want to see the.Scene where the friends have the
relationship explained to them of the timeline.

(01:49:44):
Oh my God, they're. Explaining to deer and mint what
the fuck happened. That would have been so funny
because the like I would love tohave like tin ton Luna Alpha
those ones explain what's going on with Ungson sign to son's
friends who are like what because alien has.
To be there to make offhand comments, though, Tin would be

(01:50:06):
aggressive. About it, Tan would be super
romantic about it, Alpha would be pretty matter of fact.
Luna would try to fight the men when they got annoying, like it
would be really funny, and then like Deer Inventor just like
trying to take all this in and they're just doing it really.
Fast too, so they can even conquer.
They're talking over each other.And aliens like plugging her

(01:50:26):
ears in the background. That would have been hilarious.
Good job GMMTV. This is our first intro to a
GMMTV show and honestly they execute their shows extremely
well and make you love all the characters like Bravo extremely
well. Done.
Extremely well done. Go watch.
Heartstopper, if you haven't already.

(01:50:47):
I'm just saying seriously, you missed the show.
Also if you. Haven't watched the Good Place
do that too because that show also do that is also amazing.
Do not have the first season ruin for you, go in blind.
Just go watch it just. It's amazing.
Love it, just do it, I'll see it.
There's all the actors in there.Brooklyn, I'm so sorry.

(01:51:09):
My daughter, anyway. 23.5 is a very special show we really
loved it thank you to everybody that shared why you also love
this show. Your favorite scenes probably
got. We got so many comments about
this show cuz it's just it was something special and.
Let us. Know if you didn't.
Let us know in the comments whatyou loved.
We couldn't cover everything. If there's any scene we missed

(01:51:31):
that you enjoyed, what you likedabout the show, let us know in
the comments because there's a lot to talk about.
And you know, we did this in a very overview Y kind of way.
So, Speaking of comments. If you are still watching this.
Or listening. Thank you.
Yes, thank you. I have two questions for you

(01:51:52):
because I needed to give you options in case you couldn't
answer 1. So it could please answer this
question either in a comment on YouTube, message us on not or
just tweet us whatever on socialmedia, social medias.
I don't think that's the right way to say it.
You get it or leave a review with the answer it.

(01:52:13):
It'd be hilarious 'cause you know people would not understand
what you're saying, but we wouldanyway.
So the questions are you can either tell us who you relate to
the most and why if you feel comfortable, never share
anything you don't want to in. 23.5.

(01:52:34):
Or if you've seen Heart Stopper 2, what would happen in a
crossover between Heart Stopper and 23.5?
Give us ideas and then. Maybe we can do it do something
where we actually fully dive into that crossover.
You know who I want? To see interact Tori and alpha.

(01:52:54):
The Big Sisters. Like the Big Sisters
interacting. Yeah, yeah.
Yeah. I want that now with Michael
Holden and Alpha they would get.I feel like Michael and Luna.
Would get along, yeah, I mean all of.
Them would eventually they'd have to have an entire group
scene and that would be chaotic and I'm just like thinking about

(01:53:15):
filming that as well. That would be so chaotic for
that group but also Aylan and then Isaac cuz Isaac definitely
would have read books and like under Michael.
Michael and. Aileen would also get along
because I feel like he is on thespectrum for sure.
Yeah, I've there's. There's a couple people who I
think would really bond with Aileen, but what do you think?

(01:53:38):
Let us. Yeah.
What do you think I'm? Curious.
Caitlin. I can't believe.
You didn't talk about latte. We got this whole thing and you
didn't talk about latte at all? Yeah, I had a feeling.
That, I mean, I did bring up that she talked to him with that
one line. I did.
I was thinking about that. I was like, I feel like she's
going to be like, you didn't even bring up Latte.
It's because we didn't get enough of freaking Latte.

(01:54:00):
And This is why we love the show.
OK, Caitlin's better. Caitlin's better.
Also, I'm a little concerned that.
Latte was too hot while filming.Yeah, poor baby.
He's a big fluffy dog. He was.
He was. Exhausted in the.
Half the scene, he was just like, I like here right now what
I want to say. About Latte really quickly

(01:54:21):
that's kind of funny in the so in the show, Latte is this big
golden retriever like again, because we're going for heart
stopper like that's the happiestdog of all time is like a golden
retriever in the in the novel, this is a spoiler, but not
really. Latte is like this little mutt
dog. So it's like a really weird.
Change like and and the way theytalk to Latte in the novel is

(01:54:44):
different than like this big fluffy happy like it's really
funny. He's like this little shit who
gets in trouble in the novel versus this like really sweet.
Yeah, yeah, basically he's Brooklyn.
Brooklyn, what are you? Doing in the book.
Versus this really sweet. Golden retriever.
So it's it's it's like not a bigdeal change, but it's it's funny
because the interaction that definitely.
Does change the tone of the way you talk to the dogs?

(01:55:06):
Yeah, it does it. Does it?
Does the dog is more mischievous?
I understand. The little shit.
Man, stop it goodly down. All right, so that was. 23.5
hope you enjoyed it I don't knowwhen this is going to air in the
relation to stuff we'll have other overview episodes
eventually very soon we're goingto be getting into our scene by
scene breakdowns of Pluto. We're sorry for everybody's been

(01:55:30):
waiting. It's coming.
It's. Coming.
It's coming. We're going to get into that, so
I hope you'll. Join us for that.
Ride and until next time I dreadfor lesbian Jesus and get up.
All over the place. Bye.
And with that we've been. Big Gay Energy, thank you for
listening. We'd really appreciate it if you

(01:55:52):
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