#patjeng | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

wen-kexing-apologist · 11 months

Text

I Am Perfectly Normal About Step by Step Episode 7

Sighs.

Dear readers, I do not have time for this. I have trainings to make, I have shows to catch up on, I have practice to go to. But alas

Here I am

Once again

Overanalyzing the fuck out of the body language in my silly little gay Thai shows.

Because the BODY LANGUAGE in this episode??????????? HELLO?!?!?!?!?!??!?!?!?!?!?!?!??!?!?!?!?!?!??!?!?!?!?!?!

GOD! Jeng and Pat’s interactions are putting worms in my brain. ALRIGHT, LET’S BEGIN

First off:

Jeng

When Jaab calls Jeng to accuse him of secretly dating Pat, Jeng immediately starts closing himself off, because he may not currently be secretly dating Pat, but Jeng is head over heels obsessed with Pat already and is trying to hide his feelings, from his brother and from himself by placing his arm across his chest and slouching to hide himself a little better. But of course, he is incapable of truly hiding his feelings for Pat because his whole apartment is BLUE which is Pat’s color.

And Jeng is nervous, like he knows that he has feelings for Pat, and now he knows that his feelings are obvious enough to his baby brother who is friends with his crush and if his brother knows, then who else knows? Jeng is constantly moving in this scene, he is folding and then unfolding his arms, he is turning forward and then backward, he is pacing!!

When Jeng gets the news from Jaab that Pat is dating someone, his back is turned to the camera. He is facing Pat’s color, but he is in the final stages of trying to hide his feelings by giving the audience nothing but the nervous scratching of his neck to read.

Until he sinks under the weight of the news that Pat is taken, at which point he sits down on his desk and then his nervous energy is transferred to his fingers, which are fidgeting as he considers whether or not to ask Jaab “Who is Pat seeing?”

Edit: peace, love, and my firstborn to @respectthepetty who has granted me a gif of Mr. Fidget

But he freezes, only shifting the grip he has on his phone while he waits for Jaab’s answer. After Jaab replies Jeng is constantly moving some part of his body: his arm, and then his torso as he takes a deep breath, and then his head as he looks down.

Jeng, Pat, Put Round One:

It does not take long for Jeng to figure out who the secret boyfriend is, because Jeng is totally platonically interested in Pat’s life, Jeng is in fact ~completely normal~ about this man. Jeng certainly would never see Put’s wallet, after already having one subtle “he’d not interested in you anymore” at the aquarium with Put, and immediately put the pieces together.

gif from @earthpirapat

Nor would he spend his work hours sulking because he sees Put and Pat flirting with each other...

gif from @earthpirapat

And he 100% most definitely would not need to be physically pulled away from Pat by his brother, because seeing Pat and Put together has made Jeng forget all workplace decorum, and Jeng, who has been unaware of how far over the line he has actually crossed with Pat over the last few episode, is now no longer capable of hiding his intentions while in a workplace setting.

Especially not when he is wearing a light blue button up shirt, because he’s trying to be neutral but his feelings for Pat are still seeping through.

This is less a body language note, and more a body placement note, but Pat is positionally closer to Jeng than he is to Put in this scene.

Put and Pat

With the flirting we get between Put and Pat during the interview, we can see how they might work together as a couple. There is some illusion at least of playfulness and familiarity, they are feeling strongly enough towards each other that they aren’t capable of being 100% professional during that shoot (and neither is Jeng) because he’s too busy looking like a kicked puppy.

But when we return to Pat’s home, where he and Put are sharing a meal, suddenly the vibe is very different.

The lighting is dark and white and cold, with a hint of warmth from the lamp in the corner behind Pat, Pat who spends the first part of the meal smiley and trying to engage Put in conversation. But Put is too busy on his phone to pay much attention. In fact, for the entire time that Put and Pat are eating together they do not make eye contact. Only after Pat says that he is full and tries to leave the table, does Put meet his eye.

This is starkly different than when Pat and Jeng are in the kitchen together:

gif from @smittenskitten

Here the lighting is bright and warm, golden and more natural in feeling, and Jeng and Pat dedicate too much time to eye contact. Drawn to one another, rather than trying to pick up a connection that was lost years ago.

The incompatibility continues when Pat has his breakdown on the commercial set. We saw in the earlier dinner scene that Pat is sensitive and that Put, like Jeng, is capable of hurting Pat’s feelings. However, Put only comforts Pat when he himself has made an inappropriate/slightly mean comment about the noodles Pat made, knowing that he fucked up. When the going gets tough, and Pat succumbs to intentional external aggression from Chris’ mom, only Chot reaches out to comfort Pat.

Put won’t even look Pat in the eye.

Pat runs off to have a #hotgirlmeltdown behind a trailer and Jeng shows up. And this is where I start to go feral, because the HANDS the BODY LANGUAGE the way Jeng is constantly trying to keep himself in check. The way he starts to reach out to take Pat’s wrist, and then immediately pulls his arm back, because he knows that is not an appropriate touch between a boss and an employee. Between Yutaka’s split second reach for Minoru’s hand and Jeng’s split second reach for Pat’s hand I am being personally victimized by the gay yearning of fictional Asian men.

gif by @pharawee

Jeng looks at Pat approximately a thousand times, trying to figure out what to do, his body making all these little movements like he keeps considering whether or not he should touch Pat, if he can comfort Pat, how he can comfort Pat.

And Pat leaves him no choice, Pat and Jeng are hidden behind a trailer away from the eyes of the rest of the office, and Pat is too distraught to be thinking about appropriate workplace decorum, and instead seeks comfort from a person who he has feelings for, who has made him feel valued, and supported, and listened to in a way that no one else really has.

gif from @pharawee

And again, the body language, especially from Man is exquisite here. Jeng is stiff, he doesn’t initially relax into the hug, again his brain catches up to his heart, and he starts to reach out to complete the hug, to touch Pat’s shoulder or arm, and again he stops himself. Jeng’s initial response to this hug is handled in such a way that someone walking by would not read the encounter as romantic. The first few moments of this hug are truly just Pat needing comfort, and his boss being the only person around.

But as Pat continues to cry, Jeng gives in. He finally touches Pat and the second that he completes the hug, the second that his hand makes contact with Pat’s arm, it’s over. There is no more plausible deniability. This is an extremely unprofessional hug, this is a “oh no the boy I like is sad and I must comfort him” hug. Because Jeng makes contact with Pat’s arm and then leans his head down to rest his chin on Pat’s head.

gif from @pharawee

And it does not leave until Pat finally calms down and breaks the hug.

So, here’s the thing, it’s not entirely Put’s fault. Like, when Put is being attentive to Pat it seems to go well (the tickling scene from earlier) but his priority is work, and his priority has always been work. Put can’t be seen getting too comfortable with people, on set Put can’t really engage in the behaviors a boyfriend would, Put is still at the will of his manager. But Put left Pat last time in part to pursue a career, and those same things that pulled them apart last time have not gone away.

Whether Pat realizes it at the moment (and I don’t think he does) getting back together with Put is a last ditch, desperate attempt to try to channel his feelings for Jeng somewhere else. At one point he used to love Put, at one point he and Put seemed to really work together, he can have fun with Put, he and Put know each other, Put is more comfortable with his sexuality now. It could be easy, it could be easy to forget his feelings for Jeng, it could be easy to find the feelings he once had for Put.

But…

And to Put’s credit, he is extremely forgiving and patient, he says they can take it slow. The whole time they were interspersing teasing with kissing with talking Put and Pat are constantly touching each other, stroking their thumb along a shoulder, running their fingers through each other’s hair. They are comforting touches, they are familiar touches. They are touches that Pat can’t get from Jeng.

But it doesn’t feel the same, and they both know it, and where Put seems willing to give it time, I think there is a part of him that knows this is not going to work out. Pat is too in love with Jeng. I want to shout out the post by @chicademartinica because it analyzes the use of barriers as a way of showing that Put is trapped outside of Pat’s world.

So Pat goes to the party, and he drinks and he drinks, and he drinks, and he drinks because it is easier to get drunk and forget that he can’t ignore his feelings for Jeng, and so that he could, as @shortpplfedup so aptly identified in conversation, have some deniability.

Pat goes to the party and before long he is sitting next to Jeng. Because Pat is also not able to control himself as much as he should. To my mind, Pat is his usual amount of light hearted tease with Jeng, making digs at his breakdown, trying to rope Jeng in to singing karaoke with him, etc. but Jeng, who is at least a glass of wine in, if not more, is uh…much much much more obvious then he usually is.

Listen, I know what you are all going to say when you read the next sentence, but you know what I mean. Man is a physicality beast. He is an expert in knowing where and how to place macro and micro expressions. He knows when Jeng is supposed to read awkward and stiff, he knows when Jeng is supposed to read comfortable and relaxed. I am struck, watching this couch scene, by how many times Jeng looks out the corner of his eye in Pat’s direction without ever turning his head to face him, when Pat leans in to suggest they sing karaoke together.

When he turns to face Pat, he is only able to keep his eyes on him for a second at a time, he keeps turning his head almost 180* in the opposite direction every few seconds, changing his body position, smiling, Jeng literally cannot help himself. He’s already had to rein himself in once, almost making a comment about Pat that would not have been work appropriate.

Pat gets drunker, Pat in fact gets obviously drunker, but we aren’t really certain where Jeng lies in his inebriation levels. Which is fun because that means we get to decide if he is looking at Pat and saying “I will still be there” SO SINCERELY because he is also buzzed/tipsy/drunk and therefore no longer fast enough to stop his mouth. Or if he is deciding to be bold because he knows that Pat and Put are together and he wants to show Pat he is interested. Or if he thinks that Pat will have a repeat of last time, and blackout and not remember everything that Jeng has said.

It is harder to tell on Jeng than on Pat, but I am pretty sure that Jeng’s cheeks are at least a little flushed, and let’s be real

gif from @junghaesin

This man is under the influence. Of what? Alcohol? Love? Doesn’t matter, Jeng has gone full Heart Eyes, Motherfucker at the work function. Rest in peace to everyone, and especially Chot who is going to have to deal with their stupid, sorry, gay asses.

Pat continues to drink, and then, OOP:

gif from @smittenskitten

Jeng has an excuse to take Pat’s wrist, plausible deniability “I was trying to stop him from drinking more” but honey, that hand stays on the wrist for way longer than #justcoworkers should touch.

And then Pat chugs the rest of it, and Jeng tries to stop him, and he freezes and for just a second, Pat’s wrist once again passes across Jeng’s fingertips. This time, just brushing together as Pat moves his glass back to the table.

gif from @smittenskitten

Moving on to my absolute favorite part of the entire episode. THE SHIRT SCENE. Yes, I know this scene is probably more accurately referred to as The Grass Jelly scene or the Drunken Hallway Conversation scene but I DO NOT CARE. I DON’T CARE WHAT IS MORE ACCURATE, I DON’T CARE WHAT IS MORE APPROPRIATE, ALL I CARE ABOUT IS THIS:

gif from @earthpirapat

“Mr. Jeng can make grass jelly” Pat says, drunkenly, as he tugs at Jeng’s shirt with enough unsteady force to knock them both back into the wall. You can see the top of this man’s boxers. Does Jeng seem bothered by it? No. Does Jeng seem angry about it? No. Does Jeng try to switch drunken men to support when Pat starts being overly familiar with his tank top? No.

What does he do?

HE. LOOKS. DOWN.

He does not protest. Pat’s faculties are gone and all that is left is Pat’s affection for Jeng. He wants to eat grass jelly because that is a food he associates with Jeng. (Let’s be real here, Pat doesn’t want to eat grass jelly, Pat wants to eat Jeng). Pat plays with Jeng’s shirt because he can’t help but touch Jeng.

To be completely honest with you, whatever the implications of the grass jelly are, whatever the implications of Jeng just watching this happen, dead fucking silent, I don’t care. I care about how comfortable and familiar it is, and they aren’t even together yet. I don’t care how much sexual tension is acting as an undercurrent to that interaction, I simply think this is so goddamn fucking cute!

As for the rest of the drunk man shuffle, the benefit of having a Certified Tol Boi like Man, is that Jeng can hold Pat’s hand and cup his chest without it inherently coming off as inappropriate to outsiders, because he is so tall that only Pat’s wrist is really the only thing that can sit somewhere on Jeng’s shoulder that Jeng can grab. Jeng simply must hold Pat’s wrist and/or hand, and he’s slipping more towards Pat’s hand. Convenient.

This is less a body language analysis and more a “in case you didn’t notice because I did not notice at first and @shortpplfedup had to tell me” JENG TAKES OFF PAT’S SHOES.

Between this and the t-shirt grab, my brain just wants to spin and spin and spin towards all the domesticity they could have if they were allowed to be a couple right now.

And now, dear readers, I am coming to a close. If you have gotten this far, again I marvel because, holy shit this is literally so long, and for what?

So I will end with this, Jeng is a goner, and we’re heading towards the break in the dam. Jeng and Pat have tried to keep their feelings for each other at bay. Jeng has tried to be professional about this, Pat has explicitly made an effort Not To Date His Boss. They have failed. Pat failed the moment he stopped kissing Put, and he failed again the moment he grabbed Jeng’s shirt. (and also a bunch more times, see: eating together before he knew who Jeng was, see: furniture shopping, see: putting on the chef’s hat, see: watching fireworks together). Jeng has been failing the entire goddamn time. God he tried so hard in the beginning, when he learned Pat was going to be his employee, he pulled back initially, he gave critiques, he did not play favorites, but it did not take long for Jeng to come up with more and more excuses for why something was work appropriate. “Oh you won’t have time to go home before the gala, just shower at my place”, “Oh, I’m only available on Sunday for a meeting, just come to my place”, “Oh, I didn’t know where you lived so I let you sleep at my place,”, “Oh, the rooms weren’t booked properly, why don’t you share my place?”

But where are we at the end of Episode 7?

Jeng is, in the light of day, with his employees milling about the room, looking Pat in the face and saying that the video of him drunk is, and I quote “pretty cute.” which means, by extension, Jeng is calling drunk!Pat “pretty cute”, which means that, by extension, Jeng is calling Pat “pretty cute”. Narak indeed, Jeng, narak indeed. So, all caution has been thrown to the wind, Jeng is over trying to be professional, it’s time to officially enter Jeng’s “I Lost Focus and Had A Consensual Workplace Relationship” Era.

#step by step #step by step the series #patjeng #jengpat #pat x jeng #jeng x pat #dee hup house #thai bl #man trisanu #ben bunyapol #up poompat #bruce sirikorn #people better read this post it took me four hours to write #there was a w-k-a before the shirt tug and there was a w-k-a after the shirt tug #and they are not the same person

265 notes · View notes

thefreeblog · 11 months

Text

You know what I love most about the dynamic going on in between Pat and Jeng?

See Jeng is rich, handsome and a established business man. He is very particular about his impression in general and in public, where as Pat has just started his career. He is inexperienced and new to everything atleast in the business or work. They have a solid 10yrs gap in them.

We know that it was mostly crush on first sight for both of them. They both have maintained the professionalism to an extent while they work together. But as they spend more time together that guard is slipping, but still you see that despite being younger, inexperienced and clearly overwhelmed by everything that is Jeng, Pat is so put together. He gets flustered but he hides it so well , whereas Jeng as the days pass is turning into a shy ball of a man. He has to look away from Pat. He can't keep looking or he will melt then and there. He just can't control his face , eyes nor his heart from showing that affection for Pat.

Look at the difference between how both of them get flustered.

And this kind of role reversal or anti stereotypical thing going on between them is so precious. I just can't wait to see their dynamic when they get together.

I don't think we have got this dynamic ever in any BL. This is not exactly tsundere - sunshine kinda thing either. I don't know what to call it. But whatever it is glad I am here to witness it.

#step by step series #step by step the series #step by step #patjeng #pat x jeng #jeng x pat #jengpat

145 notes · View notes

syrena-del-mar · 10 months

Text

The Birth Order Theory: The Only Child in Step By Step

First things first, I already touched upon this idea about the presentation of the Birth Order Theory in Step by Step a bit while I was live-blogging Episode 9, but I was pretty much enamored with the episode so I don't think I was able to coherently state my thoughts. Episode 9 of Step by Step (in my opinion) has been one of the best so far in the whole series. Which is saying something since I've been enjoying this series immensely since the first episode. Granted, I am more forgiving regarding filming mistakes or even most timeline confusion as long as there are captivating characters that drive the story.

I already thought that most of the characters were all, generally, well fleshed out— my reservation being on Jane— but episode 9 really knocked it out of the park for me. What really stood out to me was the juxtaposition with how Jeng and Pat were able to deal with the fall out of Jeng's confession. I actually came to appreciate and understand Pat a lot more on why he reacts as he does because of this episode.

So we're back to the Birth Order Theory, but this time we're applying it to Step by Step, I promise to attempt to keep it a shorter read than my La Pluie Birth Order post.

Only Child Syndrome and the Lack of Sibling Effect on Pat

If you want a more substantive post on what Birth Order Theory actually encapsulates, you can click on my La Pluie post, where I dive into it a bit more, before proceeding. Essentially, it's a theory that reasons that the personality that you develop is affected by the order in which you were born into your family. There's no hard evidence to base its' accuracy, simply anecdotal, but for characters and stories we don't need the scientific evidence to be accurate.

The Only Child Syndrome is typically seen as a negative effect on children with no siblings. Austrian psychotherapist, Alfred Adler, suggests that while only children are at an advantage due to being the sole focus of the parents (both financially and emotionally), the "sibling deprivation" that they experience has a detrimental effect on the only child's personality since they lack interactions with their peers at home. Depending on the child's upbringing and the tactics that parents utilize, only children can struggle with anxiety and lack social skills at a higher rate than their peers that have siblings. Since only children's parents have no other children, they are often over-protected during their upbringing which can lead to overachieving children that struggle when it comes to healthily dealing with stress. They often have face difficulty sharing with peers, while also preferring to maintain direct communication in order to avoid misunderstandings.

Maybe it's just me, but I think it took me too many episodes to fully register that Pat was an only child. Personally, I believe it's because we typically see Pat being surrounded by people, especially when he's facing emotional turmoil. As a result, I didn't register how small his nuclear family was. This episode really highlighted how alone Pat is when he's not with his friends. While Jeng has his brother to depend on and cry with (not to mention the unseen sister), Pat has no other outlet than himself on a day-to-day basis. Even though he surrounds himself with friends, he goes home to a dark and empty house which contrasts Jeng, who has the choice of going home to his brother.

From what we are shown, Pat's parents are mostly absent from Pat's life. Pat's mother lives abroad, has remade her life after the divorce, has her own family and has resettled. Pat's father seems to be dating different people and likely traveling around. They both only really seem to physically reappear into Pat's life around his birthday from what they have mentioned. Life does move on and sometimes you 're not able to care for yourself as much as you like, it's important to come to terms with that and be able to navigate life regardless, but it does add another layer as to why Pat has been unable to successfully deal with his emotions. He's an only child with divorced parents. Add to the fact that the parents are all around the globe and not easily accessible, it really seems like he's the one that's always being left behind and abandoned, or at least not anyone's main priority. I'm sure this notion was only reinforced when Put chose his career over their relationship. Pat, while not immediately visible, seems to struggle with abandonment and just being alone.

I agree with Pat's parents that people entering and exiting your life is the natural cadence of life and that it does not determine the love that people have for each other. Yet, Pat is only 24 years old. This newfound realization of how he's unable to prioritize himself, plus the added emotional charge of breaking up with his boyfriend again (and on top of that, your boss confessing), is a lot to be able to really process. They're all part of the growing pains that you experience in your twenties. For the most part, Pat is navigating the growing pains alone. He doesn't have a sibling to learn from or with, so it adds a layer of hardship to that. At the end of the day, while Jeng can go back home to his brother (arguably, even his parents... though that's a whole conversation), Pat goes back to a house, where it's just him and his stuffed tiger (that is now in time-out somewhere in a drawer.)

Pat and his struggle with Conflict Resolution and Balancing Stress

Pat struggles with fully being able to express himself, we saw this when we first met him at the office, he was being ridiculously overworked. Not to mention the office rules and societal rules placed on subordinate employees, it's difficult enough to say no, but this, theoretically, also stems from being the only child in the family, where he was probably subject to more "adult influences" since he only had his parents growing up. He is an over-achiever, which we see with him having gained his Masters abroad before coming back to Thailand to work (even if he did initially run away after being abandoned by Put) so he's having to adjust. His struggle to fully express yourself correct, when you already have an issue saying no and standing up for yourself, is not going to magically disappear without putting effort to improve, even if you age.

Now I'm not saying that those moments of emotional outbursts that Pat was showing was not immature or unprofessional, but I think it really puts into perspective as to why he's reacting as he did. He's relatively young, at 24, and he's rather new in the workforce, having just finished his academic career. Everyone starts out with a level of professionality, which Pat originally was. Except his professionality ended with him becoming a doormat. The burnout of being used, combined with the new expectations that Jeng came in with, Pat's stress escalated. Pat's emotional outbursts were a direct result of not having positive coping methods. He went out with his friends and got absolutely trashed each time he was stressed. It's a rather troublesome way to manage his anxiety and stress, because it does not resolve his anxiety or stress that he already has.

I'm also not diminishing any relationships that an only child may form with friends and other loved ones, I'm a firm believer of found families, but I do think that sibling relationships, typically, guarantee a relationship that is emotionally charged and characterized with an intimacy that are not as easily formed with non-direct blood relatives [disclaimer: this assumption does not apply to every only child and I'm solely using this theory for application here.] When you have siblings that have a long history and intimate knowledge of who you are as a being, there are ample opportunities to provide both emotional and instrumental support with on another. Conflicts naturally arise in sibling relationships and as a child, you tend to learn different conflict management and resolution strategies. While only children can have the opportunity to learn the same skills, I think it can be profoundly different in how they learn and implement those skills into adulthood.

Here, when Pat is facing any professional or personal difficulties, he often turned to Ae (and Beam by default). When he was dealing with solely professional issues at work, he got accustomed to turning to Jeng for solutions or comfort. He coped by being with people and socializing with them (this includes his excessive drinking in social circles), rarely did we see 100% on his own dealing and mulling over his feelings. This time around, Ae, while still being a great friend, is just in a different stage of her life. She's engaged and has a baby on the way, this doesn't minimize the friendship, but it does signify a shift in the relationship dynamics of their friendship are bound to occur that comes with time. Plus he doesn't even have Jeng to depend on, because Jeng is the issue this time around. Even Chot, though he's a great friend, he's still a work friend. The time and understanding that is needed to nurture a friendship where Pat can fully open up to him is just not there yet. Pat, in this moment of his life, lacks that person that he can turn to and who truly understands him.

Final Thoughts

Both Jeng and Pat really shone in episode 9 and I completely agree on how heartbreaking it was to see Jeng be heartbroken, but I think Pat gets written off a bit too easily for my taste. I've seen people discuss Step-by-Step and simply cast Pat aside due to his "immaturity", I mean even I'm guilty of an eye-roll or two with some of his decisions, but episode 9 really fleshed him out.

Rather than immature, due to the negative connotation it carries, I'm starting to see him as inexperienced. He's still learning and his reactions are a result of all his life experiences. It's easy to overlook the reasoning as to why he reacts the way he does, especially when you have Jeng crying his heart out, but his reaction is a culmination of Pat's life experiences. He's just getting out of a break-up, he had no clue Jeng was not straight, he has abandonment issues, insecurity issues, and then Jeng is his boss of the same office that is filled with workers that harassed him. It's a lot to think about and he has a lot to lose if he just accepted Jeng rashly.

There's a proverb in Spanish, "Todos los hombres estamos hechos del mismo barro, pero no del mismo molde." Essentially, even if we're made of the same clay, we do not come from the same mold. Pat reactions start to make more sense when you look at the life experiences that have shaped him, instead of just simply thinking, "I would never act like that." Episode 9 really hit that message home this week.

#step by step ep 9 #step by step meta #step by step the series #jengpat #patjeng #jeng kittiphong #pat x jeng #jeng x pat #ben bunyapol #man trisanu #thai bl #that bl meta #thai boy love #thai series #thai bl meta #thai drama #Birth Order Theory #steph overanalyzes #steph rambles

61 notes · View notes

sunshinechay · 1 year

Text

Might be too soon to call but I think so far, Step By Step is actually doing the Mr Darcy transformation correctly…?

#step by step #step by step the series #jeng sbs #jengpat #patjeng #i love pandp so much #and like #so many adaptions do it wrong #and while i definitely don’t think they’re going for a full pandp story here #it’s refreshing to see the writers #getting what darcy and his change actually mean #this drama just keeps surprising me #cap watches step by step #cap speaks #step by step spoilers

60 notes · View notes

omgtheregoesthefuckidontgive · 11 months

Text

Two heart broken bitches. Remember people. Friends who throw up together. Stay together. Even if you don't realise that is your friend

This could have easily been avoided, but these kids have to learn the hard way

#thai series #bl series #step by step the series #patjeng #jaabjen #They're such a mess #I love them #Jaab throws up so violently #Seriously someone get him some throat medicine #Step by step ep 8

30 notes · View notes

stuffnonsenseandotherthings · 10 months

Text

Okay but we all agree that this is the central theme of Step by Step, right? The consequences and complexities of mixing work with pleasure (e.g emotions)? And the power imbalances and unprofessionalism that can result from that??? Because it 100% is.

Also the fact that it's Jeng (who everyone sees as deeply professional and conscious of the issues of a boss/employee relationship but who actually keeps slipping up in little ways until he reaches the point of no return) saying it to Pat (who everyone sees as driven by emotions and who is constantly told he is being unprofessional but who ultimately is the one to reinforce the barriers between work and pleasure).....

Yeah that's pretty neat.

#step by step #thai bl #jengpat #patjeng #tee said let me serve the theme to the audience on a silver platter in ep 2 #yeah I like this a lot #and if I'm right then episode 10 makes a lot more sense #because Jeng has never actually been professional he's always had one foot over the line #but episode 10 is where that's finally made obvious

14 notes · View notes

formayhem · 10 months

Text

I started Step by Step, stopped and decided to wait for it to be finished, and now I'm on episode 9. you know, the episode where Jeng cries TWICE. I don't know where it goes from here, but I want to fight his demons for him 🥊😤😤😤

also, I really loved Pat's father calling him "baby", and I hope that wasn't just a translation choice. my dad still calls me honey/baby/sweetie (but mostly buddy), and I'm a grown ass adult man, and I just ✨appreciate it✨!!

#step by step #jeng x pat #patjeng #step by step the series #bl series #bl shows #thai bl #currently watching bl

11 notes · View notes

25shadesoffebruary · 11 months

Text

Jeng & Pat + hands

#step by step #step by step the series #thai bl #bl series #jengpat #man trisanu #ben bunyapol #manben #jeng x pat #patjeng #asianlgbtqdramas #asian lgbtq dramas #25shadesedit #okay last gifset....i think...

283 notes · View notes

queeraroace · 10 months

Text

I hate to say it but...I do not think step by step is sticking the landing. A time jump for our final episode? I do not have high hopes.

#step by step the series #step by step series #step by step #Jengpat #Patjeng

10 notes · View notes

heretherebedork · 11 months

Text

Jeng is the most smitten man in the universe. He looks at Pat like he would climb a ladder to hang the moon and stars just for him without hesitation.

#step by step bl #step by step #step by step the series #step by step series #jengpat #jeng x pat #bl series #thai bl #thai drama #thai series #thaibl #asianlgbtqdramas #asian lgbtq dramas #thai bl series #bl drama #thai bl drama #pat x jeng #patjeng #thai boys love

220 notes · View notes

wen-kexing-apologist · 10 months

Text

Going Out

Whether you loved, liked, were neutral, or outright hated today’s Step by Step episode, I want to talk about one of my most favorite (and poignant) moments of today’s episode.

This hand holding scene.

But, wka, there are so many other scenes for you to focus on! You say. But, wka, there were multiple spicy scenes you need to do body language break down on. But, wka, last week you wrote a 20 page deep dive in to Pat’s psyche. Why are you hyperfixating on this four minute sequence???

BECAUSE THE SOCIAL COMMENTARY TEE AND THE REST OF THE PRODUCTION TEAM IS GIVING HERE IS BEAUTIFUL, BRILLIANT, AND LOWKEY MAKING ME EMOTIONAL GODDAMMIT.

As someone with strong, deeply rooted beliefs in empathy, in connection, in harm reduction, I can firmly and sincerely say there are people who I consider a part of my community, who I care for deeply, who are my friends who are homeless, who are drug users, or who are homeless drug users. And having worked in harm reduction before let me tell you how truly wonderful and enraging it is to provide people basic services and treat them with basic goddamn dignity and respect and how genuinely surprised, uncertain, or overjoyed my unhoused and/or drug using loved ones are to have someone who actually cares about them.

SO, I present those pre-emptive thoughts and personal background as proof of concept for what I am about to glean from this whole scene.

The scene transitions from flirting to community service when Jeng asks Pat if he wants to come with him to give food to the homeless, and I don’t remember this but @bengiyo did but this is something Jeng has been doing since Episode 1, and it shows in the reception Jeng receives when he arrives to this spot under the bridge.

The people who live here know Jeng, the people who live here like Jeng, he comes here often enough that he has established a rapport with their community and it is so so wonderful for me to see this nepo baby raised on rich bitch juice feeling comfortable and at ease with a group of people that society (at least Western society) almost always ignores, belittles, or downright dehumanizes.

And if I wasn’t already impressed with how Jeng and Step by Step as a whole was handling its portrayal of cultivated relationships with unhoused people, Jeng takes this even further, when he hands the woman the rest of the food bags:

Now, this is a brief scene and we don’t get a lot of information at all about the people who are living here, but in my mind, or rather the indication I have for this interaction is that Jeng has identified a community pillar, trusts that community member, and is recognizing and valuing the autonomy of the community to distribute the rest of the resources they have been given.

Most everyone Jeng handed food to wandered off and went about their night, leaving Jeng and Pat alone to sit and talk. Under a bridge. With homeless people nearby. Rather than leave. This is SO IMPORTANT TO ME. It is SO SO SO important to me that Jeng and Pat don’t just show up, hand out food, and immediately return to Jeng’s fancy car to drive back to Jeng’s fancy condo but that they stay and they talk here under the bridge, maintaining a respectful distance since Jeng and the rest of the people in this scene do not appear to have built a strong enough relationship to join them directly, but sharing space nevertheless.

(I will not talk about barriers, I will not talk about barriers, I absolutely, positively will not talk about how Jeng has spent most of the show with a vertical line between him and Pat, and Put spent most of Episode 7 with vertical lines keeping him out of Pat’s world, and now that Pat and Jeng are an item, they are sitting together inside double barriers, boxing themselves in having a discussion on cruelty because they are still in the phase of their relationship where the two of them are in their own little world and hiding from the world at lar... FUCK I talked about the barriers)

ANYWAY, I absolutely will not talk any more about the barriers and will instead begin my descent into madness in the form of The Proffering of the Hand.

The build up to this moment starts when Jeng and Pat settle down to talk. They are sitting as close together as they can be without physically touching, they are openly flirting, they are making prolonged eye contact. Basically, they are being very obviously gooey, and the community member who appears to be the closest to Jeng (this is the person who hugged Jeng when he arrived) comes up to him and Pat, and points out the drawing that he made and the similarities he sees between that drawing and the two of them.

The drawing is two stick figures of an undetermined gender (or if you want to read it this way, of a visually similar build [ie both people have triangle chests and short hair, no obvious breast tissue, no differentiation in color, they their faces are a little different but they are nearly identical] so you could call this a drawing of a same sex couple and it wouldn’t be wildly off-base, especially not with the original artist here telling Jeng and Pat they look like the drawing). For the sake of making me feel even stronger about my love for this scene, lets say this is a drawing of a same sex couple.

Now the two lines this person says to Jeng and Pat are particularly striking to me:

“This picture was drawn by me, you look the same”

“It looks like us.”

Both of these lines are said by the artist. You can interpret that “it looks like us” line however you want to, but baby that’s queer to me.

The artist walks away, leaving Jeng smiling softly to himself, thinking about it for approximately three seconds and then proffering his hand.

Now, Jeng and Pat have not…how you say….been particularly careful about maintaining appropriate distances from each other anywhere since they started jumping each other for sport, but the touches they give to each other in the workplace are secret, are hidden. Hands held between them on the computer in a cubicle where no one can see, arms pressed up against each other so they can be mistaken for just being cramped, footsie under the table away from prying eyes.

Here, now, is the first time since they got together that Jeng overtly, publicly extends a hand to Pat in a move that cannot be mistaken as anything but romantic. Pat is, rightfully all things considered, a little apprehensive.

“What is it?” he asks “It’s like the picture that he drew,” with a smile and a soft nod to his hand.

Pat’s brow furrows, he looks to his right, where the people they visited are sitting, he looks to the left his eyes scanning for any other potential witnesses. Pat, who has been the person consistently approaching this relationship with the most caution, is initially hesitant to take Jeng’s hand; Is initially hesitant to confirm their relationship to one another with other people around.

“No, people will see”

“No one will see” Jeng says, and I want to make it clear here that this is not a situation where Jeng is saying that the unhoused folks sitting nearby aren’t people.

I interpret it more as there is no one around who would be unsafe for us to be visible to.

Pat takes Jeng’s hand. Right here, out in the open, with people around him, he takes Pat’s hand in his outside of their houses, outside of Jeng’s car, outside. Outside. OUTSIDE.

So why is this such a monumental occasion for me?

I feel like I always say this, so eventually I have to make it happen, that I need to familiarize myself more with Thai social issues, because I don’t know much about Thai homelessness, and which populations of people are disproportionately represented there. So when I saw this scene, the only way I could approach it was with a Western lens. And I am comfortable running with my thoughts here using that Western lens because Pat references American homelessness in his conversion with Jeng.

Which means, dear readers…

The first thing that came to mind for me when Jeng and Pat were visibly queer here was the disproportionate rates of homelessness in the queer community in the United States.

Let me give you some quick (and very unfun) stats about homelessness and queerness in the United States:

40% of homeless youth are queer

Queer youth are 120% more likely to experience homelessness than non-queer youth

In one survey, researchers found:

8% of transgender adults surveyed had experienced homelessness in the past 12 months

3% of cisgender queer adults surveyed had experienced homelessness in the past 12 months

1% of cisgender heterosexual adults surveyed had experienced homelessness in the past 12 months.

All this to say, that there are close ties between queer people and homelessness.

And there is something extremely, extremely powerful in Tee and co. recognizing and affirming that queer people can be safer sharing space with homeless people than they might be sharing space with salarymen at a corporate office.

For a number of reasons, Pat and Jeng cannot come out at the office, even if that closet is glass. In huge part because a boss and subordinate relationship is a gross imbalance of power, but also because homophobia is rampant in that office. We saw it all the way in the beginning of the show, when Pat was asked if he was a top or bottom. We see it now, when Pat is overhearing his colleagues, his coworkers, that spent the beginning of his time at this office exploiting him to do their labor, saying awful, gross, disgusting shit about him and to him.

“I didn’t think he’d be working on his knees”

“Lick until you get your bonus” These are things Pat is seeing, Pat is hearing in this place full of “people contributing to the betterment of society”, people who have stable housing, and cash to spare, and food to eat. People who aren’t looked down upon by society, people who reflect society’s current ideals and mindsets. The other queer people in the office clocked Jeng immediately, but Pat didn’t and neither did any of the straight employees in the office until Pat and Jeng started hanging around

each other more unable to turn off their heart eyes. Because Jeng is in a position of power, he dresses in traditionally professional clothing every day. Collared shirt of mild color, suit, tie, brown loafers. Compare him to Chot or Pat and you can see how Jeng blends in as straight to people who aren’t trained to clock that shit. Look at Jeng when he’s out of the office and hanging out around Pat, he is in denim, he is in white tank tops, he is wearing a chain. Jeng is putting armor on when he goes to the office. Pat and Chot don’t have that luxury.

And as a result, Pat and Jeng can only be out and open at home. Until now. Until this moment.

Step by Step definitively established in this one scene, in under FOUR MINUTES that Jeng and Pat, two queer men were made to feel comfortable enough and free enough in this place in this space around people who are often villainized, who are often deprived of human rights, people who are often seen as deserving of their poverty and the treatment they get from others as a result, people who are frequently spoken about as being a negative impact on society (WHICH IS BULLSHIT BY THE WAY HOLY FU- *I am forcibly removed from my pedestal*) because queer people are often villainized, deprived of human rights, seen as deserving of the terrible treatment that they get, and are frequently spoken about as being a negative impact on society.

And considering the statistics on how many homeless youth are queer, there is something to be said for the way the person who appears the youngest, or who at least is acting the youngest, is the person who initiates the interaction that signals to Jeng that they are safe here. That helps Jeng and Pat realize they can engage in a public display of affection here amongst people who understand.

And that is one hell of a fucking statement to make if I do say so myself.

Side Note 1: I was already leaning towards this show being a For, By, and About Queers show. This scene solidified that for me.

Side Note 2: I am thinking about the BL trope of the BL Bridge, I think this was something that @absolutebl wrote about once, but please correct me if I am wrong. If you are new to BL or otherwise unfamiliar with the trope, it is essentially just a repeated theme in multiple BL shows where one of the couples kisses in front of famous bridges in Bangkok. It is notable that in a show like this that is For, By, and About Queers (and boy do I have more thoughts on when and where and how the connection between Jeng and Pat deepens over the last couple episodes in relation to the workplace and homophobia (see @bengiyo’s quick thoughts which will hopefully become bigger thoughts on queer people and corporate culture)) that Jeng and Pat’s first openly public display of affection happens not on the surface, not lit up by bridge lights, not where the whole world can see them. But underneath a bridge, hidden away with the rest of the people that society has shunned, looked down upon, dehumanized, ignored, and failed to support.

(tagging @neuroticbookworm who is waiting patiently and @waitmyturtles because if I know one person on this website who is gonna add something incredible to a discussion of homelessness in this scene, it's gonna be my bestie.)

#yall better fucking cry at this one cause I almost cried writing it #step by step #step by step the series #step by step episode 10 #tee bundit #patjeng #jengpat #manben #benman #jeng x pat #pat x jeng #chot x krit #ben bunyapol #man trisanu #bruce sirikorn #dee hup house #i am DEEP in my feelings tonight yall #and now i collapse in to bed because it is *way* past my bedtime #homelessness

185 notes · View notes

thefreeblog · 11 months

Text

Series name: Step by Step

Genre: Slow burn romance

BUT this look Jeng has here says fuck the steps I'll risk everything and everyone I have for you right here right now.

Jeng asked "Will you go with me?", but he meant "Will you marry me?" And no one can convince me otherwise.

#step by step #step by step the series #khun jeng my new favourite boyfriend in the bl world #step by step series #pat x jeng #jeng x pat #jengpat #patjeng #tbh this is slow burn only because Pat is oblivious

87 notes · View notes

syrena-del-mar · 11 months

Text

"Foliage, Flowers, and Feelings, Oh My!" in Step By Step Ep. 8.

The flower motifs were rampant throughout all of episode eight, more so than the majority of any of the previous episodes. Maybe I was made aware because Jeng brought attention to them while he was preparing for his date, ahem, market research with Pat this time around, but man, everywhere I looked on screen, I could only focus on the flowers.

Since a lot of the shots that had the flowers were blurred, take my analysis with a heavy amount of skepticism. Not to mention, my discussion of the flowers and their meanings are deriving from a Western point of view; flowers and their significance can differ greatly between cultures. [Specifically my understanding derives from my Latin-American and American upbringing with the meanings behind certain flowers and any research I came upon, so if you have any better cultural understanding that is more applicable, feel free to sound off].

There was so much imagery with flowers in this episode that I'm going to attempt to organize this analysis with specific scenes where I, personally, could not help but immediately notice the flowers and become hyper-aware of them.

Love Blooms Best at a Restaurant

While we see flowers and plants in the first quarter of the episode, they're typically at the very corners of the foreground, heavily blurred, or rather small, where it's presence is easily forgotten (i.e., the tiny plant on Put's living room table.) The plants and flowers really start to become a greater motif after Jeng requests the first restaurant to fill the empty space that he rented out with bouquets.

Now there are so many different flowers that make up the several bouquets that are brought in by the restaurant staff, so I'll briefly mention the most commercially known and their significance, while delving a little deeper into the flowers that were a bit harder to identify but that I strongly believe are in the bouquets.

First, the most obvious of the flowers were the red and pink roses that make a portion of the vase that is put at the table where Jeng and Pat sit. Pink roses typically take on the significance of admiration and gratitude, while red roses are generally used to signify love and passion. Hidden behind those, which we are only able to catch a glimpse at in far-away shots before the vase gets turned, are yellow snapdragons. There is a longstanding belief that when you hide a snapdragon, it's going to make you appear to be enchanting and amiable; this often results with the snapdragon being correlated with good-luck and deception.

Meanwhile behind Jeng, there is a huge bouquet that is made up of pink lilies, and what I believe to be, but not 100% sure, pink orchids. Pink lilies are generally used to depict new love, friendship, and admiration, while pink orchids are generally for thoughtfulness, refinement, and mature charm.

The flowers here seem to be very representative of both Jeng's mentality and the current state of relationship that Pat and Jeng have. Prior to this, Pat had gone from cancelling their meeting (destroying any hope that Jeng had) to asking if he was still up to going out (restoring it slightly, thank you Ae and Beam.) Jeng has made it apparent that he admires Pat for his talent and work ethic, praising Pat when he does a job well done, but this admiration has gone far beyond "you're a great worker", which Pat is completely unaware of. For Pat, this is just another work event that he is doing as a favor to his boss, without knowing that Jeng wishes is more than just work and how much effort he put into making this "not-date" "date-like". While deception has an incredibly negative connotation, in a way this is applicable here, this is Jeng's pretense to spend more time with Pat outside of work.

Jeng has been treading the line of boss and loverboy lightly, because he is more than aware of the consequences that could occur due to his attraction and feeling towards Pat. So he does what he does best, delve into work and find a way to incorporate it so he can spend some quality time with Pat, even if Pat isn't fully aware of his intentions, which is why it catches Jeng off-guard when Pat points out how much this outing resembles a date. This is a new chapter that Jeng is trying to navigate and breach, even without fully knowing the way to get there. He's learning how Pat ticks, when Pat is silent and what it likely means, and how much pain and burden Pat carries, even when its unnecessary. He's seen Pat at some of his worst moments, at his tactless moments, and he's falling for all sides of him, even if Pat is fully oblivious at this point. And Jeng is so proud of himself, when he gets the restaurant to look just right for when Pat arrives.

Running Leads the Heart to the Silver Trumpet Tree

The second full shot of flowers in this episode was after Pat and Jeng narrowly made it out from running into Chot, specifically after they finally came to a stop after sneakily running away from him, in order to not be caught fraternizing outside of the workplace. When they finally come to a stop, Silver [Yellow] Trumpet Tree [Tabebuia Aurea], also known as Lueang India (Yellow India) in Thai, cover the background when Pat and Jeng have finally come to a halt. While it can be easily mistaken with the Golden Shower Trees, which I believe is the national flower of Thailand, the Yellow Trumpet trees are as common but are distinct in the clusters that they form.

While the there is no distinct meaning or symbolism behind Silver Trumpet Tree, the Trumpet flowers, generally, have a more positive interpretation on its symbolism. Yellow Trumpet flowers tend to be referred to the Angel's Trumpet, which really leads to the auspicious significance that is attached. Depending on the culture that is interpreting the flower, the significance of the trumpet flower can range from prosperity and good luck to new beginnings.

Here, we find ourselves with Pat and Jeng running off in an attempt to avoid being seen by Chot. Jeng had just gone through the effort of making renting out the prior restaurant and decorating with as many bouquets as possible in attempt to make the non-date, date-adjacent. Yet, while this plan seems to be partially ruined, I think Jeng should be thanking Chot. For the first time, they held hands and weren't letting go. While Put and Pat may have been balanced physically, Pat was always being left behind by Put, even if it was unintentional. Put was the one leading their relationship, taking the first steps to enter and exit out of Pat's life, yet in comparison with Jeng, while Jeng may tower over Pat, he has always been the one to push Pat rather than pull, this was the first time that he was pulling Pat with him. And let me just say, Jeng was not the first one to let go. Their relationship is evolving.

Pat had cancelled meeting with Jeng, after not feeling well about breaking up with Put. Put was his first love, he was the one that had been abandoned, but it's still difficult to come to terms that the love and man you had idealized prior was no longer the man that you were in love with, no matter how hard you attempt to fix together the pieces that had remained. Yet, instead of wallowing in the pain, Pat reached out again to Jeng and asked him if they could still go out, even though he was the one the previously opted out. If Pat being proactive, even when clueless, isn't a step into a new beginning, I don't what is—

Barriers made visible with Peonies and Peperomia

After running away from Chot, they found themselves in a new restaurant, one that partakes in the tradition of plate smashing. Throughout this who sequence, we have the the ornate bouquet in the background that is creating a visual barrier, dividing the restaurant in two sides. In doing so, we're also seeing a rather physical divide between Jeng and Pat. Now I'm sure there are color theories that play into this, with the hues of purple at play, but we don't get a closer, albeit still blurred, look of the flowers until Pat gets up to smash his own plate.

There are two plants that I'm almost certain that are making up the parts of the bouquet. First, what I believe to be red peonies, specifically closed darker red peonies, not yet fully bloomed. Second, it seems that the foliage that is being used to fill the bouquet is watermelon peperomia.

Now Peonies are one of the flowers that have a huge variety of origin stories, so I'm going to stick with the Greek origin story of the Red Peonies since they were in a Greek-themed restaurant (where they're smashing plates to throw away their bad luck). In a water-downed version of the origin story, the red peony is tied to a nymph named Paeonia. Paeonia was incredibly beautiful and attracted the attention of Apollo, resulting in a lot of flirtatious exchanges between the two of them. As they were flirting, Paeonia becomes aware of Aphrodite's presence and turns deep red. Out of spite, Aphrodite turns Paeonia into a red peony. As a result, red peonies are typically understood as a sign of bashfulness, passion, and love.

On the other hand, watermelon peperomia, or more generally, peperomia tends to take on the significance of hope and in certain areas of Latin America, are given as gifts to say that 'Everything will be alright.'

First off, this whole sequence of scenes took me incredibly long to get through just because it felt so intimate both due to Jeng's dilemma in confessing and Pat's own internal fight against his misery.

This whole portion was filled with different points where Pat unintentionally gave Jeng openings. From ordering the Lovers' Special to Pat telling Jeng directly, "I prefer the time that we were nothing like a boss and subordinate." The frankness that Pat was giving Jeng, even if he was a bit tipsy, renewed Jeng's hope that just maybe Pat shares some of the same feelings that he does. As @respectthepetty mentioned here Jeng keeps having an internal battle with his love for Pat this whole episode, so the frankness that Pat is gifting Jeng is like a crumb trail that Jeng is more than happy to swallow up. Giving him a semblance of hope, that just maybe, they could go back to who they were before they met as boss and employee.

Which is what leads into the scene of Jeng's imaginary confession to Pat. This whole series of scenes we're given a glimpse into Jeng's internal monologue, and as @shouldiusemyname stated here, so much of Jeng's internal conflict deals with the uncertainty of where he stands with Pat, because even though he's doing everything to subtly show his interest, Pat is rather oblivious. Throughout this whole dinner, Jeng was sending smoke signals that Pat kept putting out. It's palpable that this is out of Jeng's comfort zone, but he is still trying. Yet, he sees the glimpses of pain that Pat has on his shoulder, and instead of wishing for his own happiness or for Pat's love, instead he wishes that everything will get better for Pat. He, very literally, smashes away Pat's sadness.

Moss my heart and hope to die

If I thought Pat and Jeng were surround by plants and flowers before, when they made their way to the speakeasy, they were not only in a presumed queer bar that Jeng frequents [@chicademartinica reaction really mirrored mine here], but they were surrounded by foliage in every room of this bar. The main distinction between the plants here and in other scenes is that the vast majority of the plants in the bar seemed to be non-flowering. Yet, the greenery was always present, either in an actual planter or even as a mural on the walls and beams of this bar.

Now there were so many leafy greens here, that it would be rather difficult to even attempt to pinpoint what plants are where during what time, but I will say the Spanish Moss, that was adorning the exterior of the speakeasy entrance and framing the right side of the shot, was very apparent.

There's a couple legends that come with the significance of Spanish Moss, but the most popular one derives from Spanish legend. According to Spanish lore, a Spanish explorer [some times told to be a pirate] had attempted to 'buy' a beautiful native woman. Obviously, she feared him and ended up running away, attempting to flee his grasp. He pursued her and in a final attempt to escape, she climbed high up into a tree. In his attempt to capture her he follows her up the tree, but becomes entangled in the tree and dies there, the only thing that remained was his 'grey beard' that continued to grow and spread throughout the tree.

Spanish moss, when used spiritually, is typically used to promote protection for the home, as a sign of security, and a general promise of protection. While some may have a preconceived notion of the plant being parasitic, they are also known for the healing qualities that they are able to provide.

Jeng had a specific purpose when he took Pat along to the bar that he frequents with Jaab and Pat goes along because, as @wen-kexing-apologist stated, he's being self-destructive and wants to forget all the pain from his second break-up with Put. Jeng was more than aware that Pat, even though he was shooting him smiles and having a generally good time for the most part, was struggling, hence why he insisted on one more outing before sending him home alone where he knew that Pat would be suffering alone.

Instead, he brings him to the one spot that, very likely, only his inner-circle would know about. This isn't just about the market research they're conducting, it wasn't even on the list that Pat had drawn up so that they could examine and consider applying to Jeng's own restaurant. A line was being crossed, a literal physical barrier in the shape of hidden bookshelf door, because this is Jeng bringing Pat into his personal life. Jeng has some degree of notoriety, which we haven't explicitly been show to what degree except for very select few moments, but everyone keeps mentioning [@respectthepetty has a great post collecting all these moments.] This speakeasy is likely a safe-haven for Jeng, a reprieve from the insane work-life balance that he lacks. This is Jeng inviting Pat into his "home"; this is where Jeng brings Pat to distract him from the pain that he is carrying.

The Spanish Moss adorning the entrance to Jeng's hidden reprieve, while can seem ominous at first glance, is actually an invitation of where Jeng can offer more to Pat. Yet, while Jeng is so love-stricken by Pat that his brain keeps short-circuiting, he knows that his love isn't what Pat needs at the moment. No matter how much he wants to confess, he instead offers to be Pat's safe-haven, much like this bar has been to him. A place, a person, where Pat can be candid of his emotions, where he can drop the false smiles, really simmer in his feelings and really have someone to depend on rather than running away to another country, because of the pain that he is carrying. A restorative and therapeutic location that Pat can run to, which he didn't have before.

Final Thoughts

Now do I think that the producers and set directors put this much deep thought into every, single, specific flowers that were present in all the scenes in Episode 8? I would be honestly shocked if they did. But, plants and flowers are inserted in the arts to symbolize something. Whether it be new beginnings or blooming love or anything in between, so even if they weren't being so intentional with the specific symbolisms, I do think they were utilizing the botanical references to develop subtle understandings of where Pat and Jeng are in their relationship at the moment.

Anyways, if you made your way through all my senseless rambling, first off, thank you, and secondly, I'll leave you with this:

50 notes · View notes