Who’s Geared Up to talk about this week’s episode of My Engineer? As always, don’t read this unless you’ve watched episode 11 of My Engineer. Also go show some love to my cohorts @jordieseay and the fabulous dream team of J. And Lay from the podcast Thoughts on Y. Links posted below.
Geared Up – Ep 11 – Couples and Actors – Jordie Seay Geared Up – Ep 11 – Behind the Scenes, Setting and Fan Interactions – Thoughts on Y PodcastStoryline And Tropes
Before we jump into the episode, let’s do a quick recap of episode 10. In that episode Bohn and Duen were engaged in a power struggle to see who would come out on top, both literally and figuratively. 😁 Sorry. Couldn’t help myself. They came to the conclusion that they were both unhappy with the change in their relationship, and it was more important to be true to themselves. Position in the bedroom didn’t mean anything if, by worrying and fighting about it, it changed who they were as a couple. They decided to table the discussion and go back to the way things were before.
Mek and Boss, meanwhile had moved farther apart. However sad and discouraged Mek was about the relationship of Boss and his girlfriend, in the end he decides to support his love’s wish to get closer to the girlfriend by helping Boss become an idol himself. This led Mek to teach Boss how to play the guitar and even compose a song for him to sing. That’s truly the nature of an unselfish love.
Ram and King were getting closer. This is leading King to really understand Ram. Ram is stressed because he saw his dad and a girl drive into a motel and is very upset about this. Their friend groups, of both Bohn and Duen go to have a barbecue at King’s families house. When everyone is gathered, King takes Ram to his secret spot because he can tell that Ram is upset. King shares his haven, which is filled with plants, with Ram telling him anytime he needs an escape, he’s welcome there. Ram’s friends find them and then they all return to eat and drink together. The end of the evening winds down and people begin to leave. Before leaving Ram tries to tell King about his father’s betrayal, but gets interrupted by his friends, so he leaves without being able to share. Now on to this weeks storyline.
We start off with Boss who drags Mek to a good luck tree on their campus. They burn an offering, saying prayers for Boss to have success at the audition. Of course, Boss being Boss, tries to negotiate in his prayers saying that if he succeeds in the audition that he and Mek will run around the campus naked. 😂 Of course this is something Mek would never do, as he claims he was shy. Lets be honest, when you’re a guy you can’t really hide your physical attraction very well, so that would definitely be a problem with their bargain. Boss renegotiates, saying he will run naked and Mek can run in full school uniform. Too funny. Then, as they leave, Boss remembers that in order for your love wish to be fulfilled you must dance for the tree. Of course the only dancing Boss knows how to do is ballroom dancing, which takes two people to do. So he enlists Mek’s help, leading to this adorable dancing montage.
Next we move on to the fourth couple in our show, Dr. Thara and Frong. Frong comes rushing into his mother’s room, anxious and worried about her cancer diagnosis. To his surprise, she seems calm and comfortable. A medical student had come by to talk to her about her condition, leaving her with pamphlets about her treatment and self care. This student explained that he lost his father to cancer due to the lateness of finding the disease. He helped ease her anxiety, but you can see that Frong feels guilty for how he treated Thara the last time they met. As he leaves his mother’s room he bumps into Thara, prompting this exchange between the two of them.
Frong opens up and shares his worry about his mother as well as his feeling of helplessness. This prompts Thara to reassure him, and to tell Frong that his cute smile should make his mother feel better. He’s such a flirt.
Now we are back to Duen who is running late to bring his flower for Bohn. I honestly laughed so much at this scene. Duen is a sly one. He brings a very specific type of flower. 😁
Bohn reluctantly accepts the veggie on the condition that Duen cook dinner for him and stay over at his condo. Bohn is no fool. He knows how to get Duen to do what he wants. But Duen also teases Bohn asking Bohn if he wanted to take a picture of the cauliflower before he cuts it. His smile is pure mischief. It’s good to know that Duen isn’t going to let Bohn have the upper hand all the time in their relationship.
Transition to Boss who shows up right as the idol competition begins. He gets his name tag on and sits down. The other contestants are clearly on a different level than he is, as one starts beatboxing and dancing, prompting another to join in, while Boss sits with this expression on his face.
Boss is the first one called. The producer barely let him sit down before she lets him know that she’s Fon’s (the girlfriend) manager. She asks him if he’s trying to sabotage Fon’s hard work to become an idol. She also tells Boss that if he cares for Fon, then he knows what he should do. As Boss leaves dejectedly, he sees a video of her playing on a screen nearby. She talks about her dream as a small child was to become an idol. When asked if she had a boyfriend, she answers no, reassuring the public that she’s focused instead on being an idol. Just another stab at the heart for an already down and out Boss.
Onto my favorite couple next, King and Ram. Ram has a conversation with his mom, asking where his dad is. His mom tells him that the dad is out of town, prompting Ram to ask where and for how long. He’s suspicious. Can’t say I blame him. The mom and brother go off to do laundry chores and Ram gets a text on his phone. The text is from King asking if he felt better now. Then King sends him a silly picture prompting this rare treat.
He also scrolls through his social media and stumbles upon a picture that breaks his heart. He sees his best friend post a pick of two hands entwined, with a caption about their love. He notices the other hand has his father’s watch on it. His father is cheating on his mother with his best friend.
As we are reeling from the news of betrayal, the scene switches to Bohn and Duen, as they are getting ready for bed. It’s a bit jarring to go from serious subject matter back to the more fluffy couple. This getting ready for bed leads us to the first trope in this episode.
The don’t cross this pillow trope. How many bl’s have we seen use this as a dividing line in the sand when couples have to share a bed? Too many to count, lol. The last one I can remember clearly is Dark Blue Kiss when Mork and Sun have to share a room.
We transition once again from fluff to angst as we go back to see that Ram has decided to leave home, basically running away, while taking his dogs with him. This is so Ram. He can’t leave them behind. They are a large part of his life and very important to him. He sees his father as he leaves and decides to confront him. For the quiet Ram this is a big deal. This scene shows all the feelings he’s been bottling up, frustration, sadness and anger. Kudos to Perth for giving a great performance here.
Ram seeks shelter as it begins to rain with his dogs, and King see’s him.
Back to Mek and Boss, as Boss stumbles back to Mek’s place drunk and discouraged. Mek tries to get to the bottom of what happened and before we know it, we’ve transitioned back to Ram and King. I feel like I was getting whiplash at the transition speeds during this episode. The tone felt all over the place too, so it was hard to keep up a continuity of feeling.
Ram and King. King literally and figuratively brings Ram in out of the rain, even the dogs. He provides shelter, a warm safe place and comfort. It’s a very telling gesture because Ram is not used to needing this, but you can tell that King is used to caring for things. King treats Ram like he’s a fragile plant in this moment, and it’s very sweet. Even though King is terrified of dogs, he’s letting his biggest fear into his sanctuary for the comfort of his friend.
Mek and Boss time again. We have Boss being down on himself, talking about how he’s worthless and not good enough for Fon. Of course this frustrates Mek, leading him to do another bl trope.
Then the most hurried, crazy confession happens where Mek drags Boss to his bedroom to show him the shrine. Mek confessed he’s never thought of Boss as a friend, that he’s always liked him. As he’s preparing to leave his own apartment so he won’t make Boss uncomfortable, he gets stopped by Boss who then in turn confessed that he’s also had feelings for Mek since freshman year, and then we see the montage of happy moments from Boss’ point of view. Surprised by this? Yeah, I was. Especially since just five minutes prior he was so depressed he got drunk over having to break up with his girlfriend. Talk about emotional whiplash. Seems super rushed to get them together without much buildup in my opinion.
Bohn/Duen time again. Time for Bohn’s cuteness as he asks Duen to move in with him. He actually is very sweet in this scene. Bohn wants to see Duen’s face the first thing when he wakes up. Their cute time get interrupted by a phone calling saying that Ram is missing.
So cute. Duen asks him to wait a year so that Duen will know he’s serious which leads to Bohn’s promise.
Time to get the search party together to find Ram as Ram’s friends and Bohn start to look for him. As they are deciding where to go next, Duen receives a phone call from Ram. I really love this scene right here because it shows how well Duen really understands Ram as well.
We then go back to King’s apartment where Ram is sitting there facing the window, his back to the King. This next part had me almost in tears. King really really understands Ram in a way that is soul deep. He knows how hurt Ram must be. This causes Ram to break down, opening up, sharing his burden while King places a hand on his shoulder to let him know that he’s not alone. Powerful and beautiful character development between them during this scene.
The next morning we have the first morning after confession of Mek and Boss, and they sleep like an old married couple already.
Then they have Mek waking up, and pulling the covers over his new boyfriend, cue transition to another couple in bed, Bohn wakes up and stares at Duen’s face.
It’s also the morning at Kings place, and Ram wakes up to hear King yelling in fear. He jumps up to see that his dogs are very hungry. It is so cute because this picture just reinforces in my head the image of King as a giant cat.
Ram offered to take the dogs to Duen’s place, but King insists that they stay to make Ram feel less alone. It’s very sweet and prompts Ram to bring out the Venus Fly Trap given to him by King. King is surprised that he brought it with him, but King explains it’s very important to him with a sweet smile. The two things he wouldn’t leave home without are the dogs he loves and the plant given to him by King.
Meanwhile Mek and Boss talk about their first name of husband/wife duo at the orientation and how it made them both feel. Then we have cheesy Mek placing the tag around Boss’ neck saying Well aren’t you my wife now? Then Boss does the same except teasing him more and the start wrestling. It’s a cute scene.
Transition back to Duen, who is taking Bohn to get his flower. He sees Mr. Yim as he calls Frong, and greets him. Duen finds out that he is brothers with the owner whose name starts with F, so he tries to guess Frongs name, and of course it’s all wrong, lol. Then Frong tells him his real name, teasing Bohn that if Frong knew the flower was for Bohn, he wouldn’t have sold them to Duen, which causes Bohn to scowl harder. I swear his jealousy is getting on my nerves.
Duen invites Frong to go along for ice cream with his cousin, himself and Bohn. We know that Duen’s cousin is Thara, but Frong doesn’t know that yet. He agrees. Duen purchases a rose for Bohn then they depart the flower shop.
In the car, Duen gets scolded for Frong’s flirtation. This prompts Duen to remind him that he gave Duen a hickey the last time he was jealous. Bohn’s proud of this fact and tell Duen that Duen’s just an inexperienced kisser. To which the response is “I’ve kissed someone before you.” This sets off jealous Bohn again who demands to know if it was Frong, or some other guy. Honestly I am a little annoyed that he just assumes Duen’s sexuality like this. He could have just said lover, partner, significant other. But oh well, it seems like this show is deep in the trenches of bl trope land of husband and wifey when portraying their couples.
Duen tells Bohn that it happened before they were together to reassure Bohn that he is not a cheater. He tells Bohn that if Bohn behaves himself at their ice cream date, Duen will tell Bohn who he kissed before. And the last line of the show is true. Bohn complains that Duen sure has a lot of conditions. But if you think about it, Bohn is the one who started off making these conditions by forcing Duen to buy a flower for him each day. It’s his fault that Duen is now getting a little revenge by imposing conditions of his own.
That’s it for this week folks. Please tell me what your thoughts are on this episode and where you think the storyline for each couple is going. I’ve heard a rumor that one couple out of the four will get a sad ending. Which are you betting on? I’m thinking either Frong/Thara or Ram/King because we know they’ve announced season 2, so their stories can continue.
Thanks for reading everyone. See you again next week. 💕💕🤗 Jen
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