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Episode 1 - Straight Until He Kissed Me · Besties Do Verticals

• Lucy: ⁓ it didn't actually affect the recording, I realized. So I think you'll just need to surprisingly not talk as close. I guess. I wanted you close, yeah, each Aleta: Okay, it was just very loud. So if I'm back here, I turned the volume down a little bit too, but okay. Lucy: Yeah, we'll see how it goes. Okay. All right, well we started so Aleta: We have already? ⁓ sorry, I missed it. Lucy: Yeah, we're recording. Yeah. No. You're fine. Aleta: All right. Hello and welcome to the very first episode of Besties Do Verticals with your besties Lucy and Alita. Hi, I'm Alita. Lucy: And I'm Lucy. Hey Alita, I loved that introduction. Do you think you could do it in French and maybe Spanish, please? Aleta: ⁓ Lucy. Maybe in Spanish. Hola y bienvenido a Besties Do Verticals con tus amigas Lucy y Aleta. Lucy: That makes me sad. You gotta redo it, sorry. I know. Go ahead and ⁓ do the Olaf in the beginning. Aleta: ⁓ shit. Hola y bienvenido a Besties Do Verticals con tus amigas Lucy y Aleta. Salut et bienvenue à Besties Zoo Verticals avec tes amis Lucy et Aleta. Lucy: ⁓ my gosh, that was so awesome. I loved it. Thank you, Bestie. I hope to hear more French from you in the future. Aleta: Uh-huh. Lucy, to start us off would you like to talk a bit about our plans and goals for this podcast? Lucy: Yeah, I can do that, actually. ⁓ we're really excited that all of you are here and, you know, tuning in to listen to our very first episode. Alita and I are really excited. We have a few goals in mind that we're hoping will kind of take us through the future of the podcast. So our goal was basically to make a podcast that feels like you're sitting in on a conversation with friends. You know, we talk about Queer verticals all day anyway. So some of our goals ⁓ we're hoping to promote LGBTQIA vertical s verticals and So we're hoping to promote LGBTQIA verticals and actors. We plan to recap and discuss queer verticals. We even thought we could possibly talk to fans and people in the industry, maybe in future episodes. Maybe some actors and crew if they were ever interested. We felt honestly that there was no podcast out there currently specifically for queer content. Alita and I very much have a soft spot for specifically queer verticals. We both got sucked in for the BL. ⁓ and sucked in by suckum, that's right. But we really ⁓ felt that there was something kind of missing ⁓ out there for a nice, maybe safe space for people in the industry and fans to just have something that's Aleta: Sucked in by suckum. Lucy: Just kinda queer only. There's a lot of great podcasts already out there, there's a lot of great interviewers, and a lot of amazing fan accounts. But we both kinda realize there's not any for queer content specifically. So we're here to change that is our goal. ⁓ fun fact, Alita and I actually met in the Straight Until He Kissed Me fandom. So that started way back in September. I do believe what straight until he kissed me released? Aleta: September 1st or 2nd? Lucy: Twenty twenty five? Yes. Seven months. Seven months ago. ⁓ and we basically became friends in the Greg Duffy and Evan Gambartella subscriber chats. And we adore Evan and Greg. I feel like their decisions to follow their dreams spawned wonderful friendships for most of us. So we are just really excited. Aleta: Yeah. ⁓ Yeah, I always say it's amazing when you meet someone who is the same flavor of crazy as you are. And you know you're going to be besties. And that was Lucy and I. So on that note, let's dive in. Our first episode, we're going straight to where it all began and discussing Straight Until He Kissed Me. We'll talk about the plot, share our favorite moments and why we love it so much. So, Straight Until He Kissed Me opens with Cutie Petutie Miles, played by Evan Gambardella. He finds out that he has got a medical internship at Hunter Industries and in the same moment practically catches his girlfriend Amber, played by Ali Ledford, cheating on him with her trainer. He immediately calls his friend Kira, Emily Lemoine is the actress that plays Kira, and hatches a plan to break up with Amber. and make it hurt. So he meets up with Amber at a coffee shop. Just sew again. Lucy: You're fine. No, and the so is fine. I've said ⁓ a few times, so don't worry about it. Aleta: ⁓ When he meets up with Amber at a coffee shop, he immediately blurts out that he has cheated on her with someone 10,000 times hotter. And we get our first glimpse of his love interest, the handsome CEO Hunter Everett, portrayed by Greg Duffy. We like Greg. And Evan. Lucy: Ooh. We love Greg. Yes, we do. Aleta: He reaches out to pull Kira in for a kiss and accidentally grabs Hunter and smooches him instead. Hunter is stunned, but then he grabs Miles and dips him for a second smooch. Hmm. He did. Lucy: But did he really see, I always thought about that. I I I felt like wasn't it just some kind of slip and catch? Or was I dunno if that wasn't that was Aleta: I don't think so. was a, okay, let's try that again. I think so. Lucy: I know I didn't take it as that. We need to you know maybe Greg and Evan will tell us someday what the intent of that was because I was I was like he slept again. Aleta: ⁓ huh. Well that's what I'm saying, like how is he slipping again? Anyway. So this leads to the key running gag of the whole vertical, which is Hunter saying that he doesn't like men and Miles proclaiming, I'm not gay. Which ⁓ I think they, they counted up, he says that 13 times in the vertical. Yeah. ⁓ Lucy: Was it thirteen times? I love that though. I it's an iconic line. Aleta: So next is Miles arriving late for his internship and panicking. A nice little bit of ⁓ chaotic ⁓ acting there by Evan as he arrives. I don't know whether it was acting or whether the bike really fell over for him, but. Lucy: I bet it really fell over. It's just knowing, you know, the little we know about Evan, I'm like, mm, I think it just happened. Aleta: Maybe. And who should join him in the elevator but the handsome stranger that he had kissed? He still doesn't know who Hunter is at this point. ⁓ Sorry, I lost my spot. Just a second. There we go. ⁓ okay. Who should join him in the elevator but the handsome stranger that he had kissed? Hunter reaches for the elevator button and Miles shouts, I'm not gay, thinking he was about to be kissed again. The elevator doors open and the staff catch Hunter looming over Miles. Greg does loom beautifully. Lucy: He does loom beautifully. Actually can envision that shot because we've seen it so many times. The elevator opens, and there's Greg Duffy with his all of his what tall glory just leaning over casually. And I don't know, I I feel like they just look so good together. It just kills me. Aleta: Yeah. Miles is stunned to find out that Hunter is the CEO, but he runs off after Hunter has threatened him to not tell anyone about the kiss. Miles scurries off and promptly runs into his high school bully, Kate, who is also working at Hunter Industries. They are interrupted by our queen, HR manager Fiona. who is in the act of firing Hunter's assistant Cindy for drugging him. Cindy loudly announces that Hunter has erectile dysfunction. And that's another running gag. Fiona assigns Miles to be the new assistant, much to Kate's chagrin. ⁓ which one? No, I can start again wherever you want me to. Lucy: It is another running gag. Ri You're gonna have to repeat that line real quick. But it's okay. Don't start at the beginning, start like a couple words ago, ⁓ after the erectile dysfunction. ⁓ but real quick. We wanted to make a note that we hunted far and wide for the actress who played Kate. And we have not found out who this actress is. So if any listeners know who played Kate, this phenomenal, fiery, supporting actress who we both felt was a huge part of Straight Until He Kiss Me's success. To be honest, I don't think it would have been as charming or as funny without Kate. So she was a great villain. So if anyone knows her name, we have hunted. Aleta: She was a great villain. Yeah, it's not on IMDB and I even tried doing an image search on her face and I couldn't find anything. Lucy: She's disappeared I don't know. Maybe someone will know. We're we're crossing fingers. Start after the E D. Aleta: Okay. Fiona assigns Miles to be the new assistant, much to Kate's chagrin. Kate threatens to expose him as gay to his family unless he helps her to get Hunter. Naomi Melville is the actress who plays Fiona and we just really loved her too. She was a ⁓ ally. ⁓ She's obviously delighted by Hunter and Miles finding love together. And I really liked that. Lucy: Yeah, I d I do think they tried to emphasize her as like an ally and a supporter and I think that was talked a lot about in the fandom. So I did enjoy that about her. And I've you know, seen a little bit of her on social media. The actress, she seems awesome. She had done a vi a video for Evan's birthday. I don't know if you remember that. She did it was so cute. She yeah, she was she seems awesome. I hope I see her in more. Aleta: Mm-hmm, for sure. ⁓ did she submit one for that? Yeah. And the other thing we mustn't forget here is the insults that Kate uses throughout the vertical, many of which were improvised by Evan, ⁓ because I guess the script just said Twink and all the time. ⁓ the actress who plays Kate ⁓ asked Evan to come up with some alternatives. the most important one is Twinkle Inc., which really caught on. with the entire fandom calling themselves the Twinkle Eggs. Lucy: I think I swear in a live Evan said Kate came up well him and Kate came up with Twinkle Ink. Aleta: I thought he came up with it. I was watching the good chat that they did, that Evan and Greg did, and they said that Evan came up with those. Lucy: Okay. Alright. I swear I remember him talking about him and the actress playing Kate, trying to figure out what to say. And just the way she delivered it, you know? I guess we're an adult podcast. You fucking twinkle ink. Like I loved it. I thought it was so funny. Like her expressions were so funny. I just the two of them play I I just know because I really remember them. She ha he had said that they came up with it on the fly. I mean maybe he came up with the twinkle ink, but Aleta: Hahaha I think, yeah. Lucy: I know it was from a discussion right before they shot, so I just think that's so cool. It's it is iconic, you know. ⁓ basically we've called ourselves the twinkleinks for seven months. It's become a term of endearment. the Straight Until He Kiss Me fandom, and we are the Twinkle Links. So I love it. Aleta: We are. I really appreciated that the director, Dai, allowed Evan to really stretch his improv muscles in this vertical. He was ⁓ really amazing and a lot of the funniest moments weren't even in the original script. So they really, he really made the vertical something special with all of those additional. moments and making Greg laugh all the time maybe. Lucy: Yes, I love that. No, he did talk about that a lot, about how much he was given liberties and he appreciated it. And I really don't think Straight Until He Kissed Me would have been as as successful, to be honest. I think really allowing the actors to stretch their wings, flex their muscles, you know, he's a king of comedy. Obviously we've seen this from him. I mean Aleta: Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. Lucy: A lot of these verticals, from my understanding, I don't know if Straight Until He Kissed Me was translated from, you know, a vertical that had already happened, maybe like in e you know, Ch I think a lot of this these maybe came from China from my understanding. I don't know if Straight Until He Kissed Me was original or more adapted. So I I like to think it probably was because a lot of these actors talk about that, you know, having to change things and Aleta: Mm. I'm not sure. Mmm. Lucy: make it more appealing for a Western audience. So I just feel like companies should trust the actors. You know, they know what they're doing. They've been around the block. And I feel like the most beloved and well received verticals, not just data. You know, they're creating fandoms. There's so few that created fandoms. So few where fans are creating edits. Aleta: Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. True. Lucy: You know what I mean? I don't see a lot of people creating edits of straight verticals. And it's because they No, they keep recycling the same stories. Who wants to edit that? Even if they have amazing actors and actresses. Like I see edits of the actors. You know, I really like Cameron Porriss. He's edited. I see Evan Adams. He's edited. I see Ben Armstrong. He gets edits. I've even seen some for you know I think Hannah. Aleta: Mm-hmm. No. Mm. Lucy: ⁓ Hannah's a famous lead female actress in the straight verticals, but it's just the actors. Like nobody's like editing the actual verticals. And I think a lot needs to be should be said for that, right? Like it would be great if the apps or the industry, if they want to do better and they wanna concentrate on art or they want to concentrate on what's long lasting, right? I feel like they would pay attention to Aleta: Mm-hmm. Lucy: What is sparking this desire and this huge response? You know, he did rivalry. People were so shocked. ⁓ my gosh. But I could tell you, as somebody who's been into BL specifically since I was 13, that it did not surprise me at all. It's just nobody's creating that content. Nobody's like doing a good job. And from my understanding, you read Heated Rivalry, right? Like Aleta: Yeah. Lucy: It was very close to the book. Aleta: Yeah, yeah, yeah, it is. I haven't read part two yet. I got part way through the long game and I haven't gotten back to it with one thing and another. Lucy: With all the with all the fandom stuff going on, but that's okay. Aleta: with all the fandom stuff, all the edits and yeah, but I will get back to it before season two comes out for sure. Lucy: Fair. And that's fine. And we can get back to straight until they kiss me. But I just had to say my impassioned plea to apps, you know, go look past the data too. You know, look a little past to to what's long lasting, what people love, what we appreciate. And there's a reason we wanted to make a queer podcast specifically. Because yes, original content. Aleta: Original content, you know, that's the 10,000th vertical about Mafia Boss and I just look at them and I don't even want to watch them. You know, it's well, yes, this one does have the CEO trope for sure. I mean, obviously some of that's inevitable, but I don't know. I think they really need ⁓ to look for more original scripts and Lucy: C E O Aleta: It sounds like that new app, Chira, is going to be doing that. So that'll be interesting. Lucy: Yeah, I'm really excited. Their first one drops April twenty sixth, I think. ⁓ very soon. I've downloaded the app. And we can talk about them actually because they have a ⁓ GL. I heard that the first vertical they ever recorded was a girl love. and I don't know why they're not releasing it first. They are releasing a dance one, which I love step up and all of that. So Aleta: ⁓ wow. Mm-hmm. Okay. Lucy: I I mean I don't watch a whole lot of straight verticals but I will probably watch that one. ⁓ but I think in May they're gonna release their girl love and let me bring it up. It is called A Shot at Love and it is releasing May 18th. I did w there is a trailer out. And you know, we'll see. We'll see. It looks it looks original. Aleta: Yeah, I just followed them on Instagram and it said that they're women-owned too. Women-owned and actor-led, which I thought was fantastic. Lucy: Yeah, we need to support ⁓ we need to support more apps like that and I think more creators like that. So I'm really excited. I think it's gonna be really fun. I'll definitely be signing up, so it'll be good. Aleta: So back to Straight Until He Kissed Me. Next we get a lovely scene, one of my favorites, and I have used in so many edits, ⁓ which is Miles examining Hunter to see if he's had any ill effects from the drugs in his office. And I just, the light is so beautiful. And the focus on their eyes, it's just amazing. And the chemistry. You know, you can feel the electricity in the air and the attraction between Miles and Hunter. Lucy: I love it when they allow the actors to speak with their eyes. And I think when I've been editing Straight Until He Kiss Me, I mean I always noticed it before, but you notice it more when when you do edits going frame by frame. I know you've talked about this. And ⁓ I've appreciated both of them, you know? And it's crazy with it being Greg's first vertical. I don't know if it was Evan kinda helping him along or Aleta: Mmm. Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. Lucy: Or it was just their natural chemistry. Cause they do, they have really natural chemistry. I don't I don't know what deity out there or just what voodoo happened where someone was like, Hey, let's just throw these two together and we'll throw them with this hap, with this director, and we're gonna mix it all up and it's just gonna be magic. That's what this was. Aleta: I'm Mm-hmm. Lucy: And it's so funny because I think if you ask anybody why do you like straight until he kissed me so much, there's gonna be a slew of different reasons. But I think it was just their natural chemistry together, how they played off each other, and of course the actors themselves. But I don't know. I don't know what drew you to it, but that's some of what drew me to it. Aleta: Yeah, I mean, they they both have really expressive eyes and that's and yeah, the chemistry was there. The the silliness to and I don't know, I just really like the story. And I got sucked in by the ads. And, you know, then we saw Greg and Evan together in their ⁓ first live on September 14th. And they were so lovely. They're such great friends and they just seem like such genuinely lovely guys. And I think for a lot of people that's when they really joined the fandom for real. Lucy: ⁓ I think so. I think that's like what was it, September fourteenth, twenty twenty five. So I think that's really when the fandom was created. I think I I can't remember, but the creator of the Discord, I think it was created right before that live or maybe right after. I I can't remember the timeline. Aleta: Mm-hmm. I seem to remember it being announced on that live. But I didn't record that whole live, unfortunately. I only recorded the bit where Greg sang to Evan and where he played the new song. So I'm missing a lot of it, unfortunately. Lucy: Was it that one? ⁓ my gosh, no. So if you go to Evan's TikTok and scroll down, he's got all their clips. So yeah, no, it's ⁓ it was it was I think that was the t that was what really sucked people in. That's what really kept people seeing their dynamic on the live, just who they are as people, made people want to also watch it. And so I think they gave more fans. And I think the longevity of their popularity and Straight Until He Kissed Me. Aleta: ⁓ yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Lucy: A huge reason why that's still going on is because of Evan and Greg. They just great fan service. Aleta: Yeah, they have absolutely fantastic fan engagement, which is so rare. mean, they are so great at, you know, engaging in the comments with their fans and responding to, you know, liking edits and stories. And yeah, that's definitely been a huge part of the fandom, for sure. Lucy: Fully agree. Aleta: You don't see, I mean, I don't know, because I don't watch too many other verticals, but you don't see this for other actors, I don't think. Even ones that are very good, there isn't the same engagement, so. Lucy: No, I don't think so. And I I do think Declan Clifford, from my understanding, he because I I follow him and I'm in his subscriber chat. He does do lives. ⁓ I love Declan and Evan because I I don't I don't know a whole lot about Sky Kawai. Kawaii. Kawaii? I think it's Kawhi. ⁓ but my understanding is he's not a social media hount like a a social media fiend. Aleta: Mm-hmm. Yeah. Lucy: And Declan said many times, he's like, I'll see what I can do, get him kicking and screaming. But ever since him and Evan have worked together, I feel like I've seen a lot more content from him. Shared content. And but they're really the only ones with Greg. ⁓ Andrew Aleta: Yeah. Well, mean, Greg dragged Evan kicking and screaming into the social media sphere, I think too. Yeah. Lucy: Do I guess that probably is true because yeah, Evan said he didn't really have anything on his accounts. You're right, because when you look back at the lore of Greg Duffy, he's been going hard for years and years and years and then especially COVID. COVID was what I think threw a lot of people into TikTok and content creation. ⁓ my gosh, we're digging deep. This is great. Aleta: Yeah. he has. Mm-hmm. ⁓ We're getting off topic here, but that's cool. That's what we're here for. All right. So, ⁓ the other scene I wanted to mention from this part is the bookcase scene, which I love where they shot through the bookcase as ⁓ Miles is looking for the assistant handbook and Hunter comes up behind him. It's hmm, that's a good, again, the eyes, ⁓ Lucy: That's okay. I loved I loved it too, I loved That was that was half half the vertical right there was just them looking at each other. So cute. Aleta: Yeah. ⁓ because this is a campy rom-com. There's also a lot of silliness and misunderstandings throughout the whole vertical. Miles assuming that Hunter wants help with his ED and goes in for an intimate examination. Hunter's not impressed and ties Miles to a hundred thousand dollar lamp ⁓ from Amazon. Lucy: That killed me that like when he's like, that's a hundred thousand dollars. I'm just like, No it ain't bro. But it was great. I think we all said that, but I loved I love the outlandishness of and and the declarations in the vertical. Aleta: 50 bucks tops, yep. ⁓ Yeah. Definitely. Miles always has to talk fast to not lose his job. ⁓ But again, when Miles leaves the office, this is another scene that we really love where he leans against the wall outside the CEO's door and asks himself, why is my heart racing? And breathe, you're not gay. Lucy: I love that scene. Yeah, that's a really special iconic scene. And I don't know, we might hear something about that scene in future episodes. Who knows? Who knows? Aleta: Well, I was going to say we see that in Prince's first love as well. Lucy: Where in Princess First Love? Aleta: When Nicholas arrives at the New Year's Eve Ball and Nicholas sees him and asks himself, is my heart racing as well? Yeah. Lucy: ⁓ okay. Yeah, I guess. I I I remember that scene. I don't quite take it as a copycat. There's another vertical that we may talk about in the future. Yeah, no, but it is cute. There's there's another one that maybe is spoken about that I yeah, copycat, maybe. We'll see. Aleta: ⁓ I wouldn't say copycat, I'm sure it's fairly common, but yeah. Mm-hmm. So Kate is trying to get ⁓ Hunter and gives Miles a salad to drug him. And we get the hilarious knot in front of my salad scene. ⁓ Where Miles trips over his own feet and splashes a suspicious looking salad dressing all over himself and Hunter. I think we all laughed out loud at that one. Lucy: And I love the shot on his face. So he's on his knees looking up at Greg. I'm like, wow, guys. Wow. They went there. And he's just and he just he just Evan just put his all into that little scene, man. He's just the shock. The eyes. Greg is just sits looking down at him like, Really? Like this. It's just ⁓ that like I feel like Evan's Aleta: ⁓ my god. Ha ha, they did. Yeah, yeah. Lucy: natural, what do I want to say? Natural comedic talents. They just feed this. You know what I mean? It just makes it so outlandish, so hilarious. Aleta: Yeah. And again, Greg's expression, like the exasperation and Miles says, I should leave and he's just like, yeah. Yeah, really, really great, hilarious scene. So Miles tries to make it up to Hunter by bringing him steak, but Hunter isn't buying it and threatens to fire him. In a desperate bid to save his job, Miles confesses that he likes Hunter, saying, if you like someone, gender shouldn't matter. Lucy: Yes, but I love I I I don't I I don't know if you're gonna further explain the scene, but I just can't get over how how he just gets his little booty up on that desk on all fours and just presents. I don't know how else to say it to him about like how that went. Aleta: Hahaha grabs Hunter by his sweater and... Lucy: The lion growl. Aleta: ⁓ yeah, Hunter's very much responding to this and yeah, there's a little great little sound effect. Lucy: You know. Yeah, no, it's the cutest scene. Aleta: So then Hunter gives Miles the opportunity to save his job and takes him off to a client meeting, where we have a really cute little moment there, where we kind of see for the first time Hunter looking at Miles ⁓ not maybe as an employee. He sees Miles being taken away by this girl who claims she wants help and he's looking at him like, what's going on here? And yeah, definitely, definitely a different vibe. So it turns out that there's a bad guy trying to extort $10,000 because of course, you you look at this medical student and you think you must have 10 grand. But, uh, Hunter rescues him of course and yeah that's... Lucy: Yeah, that scene that scene can be a little rough too. We won't go into detail, but basically somebody tries to frame him and I think it's a scene a lot of people don't enjoy watching that much. it's just yeah. But it's Miles Evan did great in it, of course, and it set up everything you needed for the rescue. Aleta: Mm-hmm. Yeah, mean Hunter repeatedly rescues Miles throughout the whole vertical. So after that we have Miles going out to get cupcakes for Hunter's birthday because he's missed the birthday party. And that leads to one of the funniest moments and then the sweetest moments in the vertical. First when Miles is mugged for his cupcakes and Evan got to improv the line, you aren't seriously mugging me for my cupcakes. Lucy: cupcake scene and then the cupcakes on his chest on his little man parts where that's you know and then I think Evan had talked about trying to put that on a t-shirt once and we were like, yes, yes please Aleta: Yeah. Yeah. Then Hunter arrives in his big fancy SUV to rescue Miles and races towards them saying, get your hands off my man. Lucy: I swear it was a jeep. Aleta: Was it a Jeep? I thought it was like an expensive SUV. He's a CEO. We'll have to look back. But it's definitely not an employee employer type response there. Lucy: I don't know I don't know. Aleta: And he fights the muggers and rescues Miles. Lucy: And gets stabbed in his arm. Little s little scratched up, you got a boo boo. Hunter got a boo boo. Aleta: ⁓ yeah, he got, got... Yeah. Several in this, yeah, there's another one a little later on, but... And then they get in the car and it's raining and all romantic and they blow out the cupcake candle, which is very sweet. And again, with the eyes, my gosh. And Hunter finally admits that he also has feelings for Miles, but unfortunately, Miles was already passed out from a fever. Lucy: Yeah, he gets boo boos. I love that scene. I think it was beautifully shot. I think Greg looked beautiful in it and he was so expressive. And gosh, and then when he leans, this is a highly edited clip, so we know at this point Hunter leans in and just presses his forehead to miles and it's just Aleta: so he doesn't hear. Mm-hmm. Yeah. Ugh. Lucy: I fangirl it's fangirl moment time, you know? It's so cute. Aleta: Yeah. Yeah, for sure. So I, this is not explained, but Hunter takes Miles home to his place and puts him to bed, which maybe he doesn't know where his employee lives. So he takes him somewhere safe and puts him in bed. And there's some lovely moments here trying to get Miles's fever down with some lotion. And another beautiful shot with Hunter's hand running down Miles' chest. Very, very... Yeah. Lucy: Can't believe you put that in here. That's great. Aleta: The other scene in this part we have to talk about, Lucy, is the baby bird scene. ⁓ Lucy: ⁓ gosh, here we go. ⁓ this scene. I and you know what's funny? There is ⁓ it was it was a TikTok, so it was just content. It was not alive. I think someone had said, What is the most cringe scene? And straight until he kissed me, and Evan was like, It was this scene, and I think he called it the baby bird scene. And I I did wince and like look away and be like, ⁓ god. So, you know Aleta: Yeah. Yeah. Lucy: Whatever. It it is what it is, and I have se Aleta: Like he couldn't just tip the cup up. Lucy: He couldn't just tip it up and I'm sure both of them were like, What are we doing here? But you know, it's ⁓ I have to say that I've seen people get really creative with that scene. ⁓ and it doesn't look too bad sometimes when people use it and other things. Aleta: Well, I think out of context, just looks like he's kissing him. Lucy: Right, exactly. Aleta: Yeah. So Hunter leaves the room and That ⁓ led into a trope that I've seen in other verticals, including Princess First Love, where they have a mutual dream. Hunter and Miles have a simultaneous intimate encounter dream. Lucy: A boom boom dream. Aleta: I actually wrote a little fan fiction about this, which was what if Hunter had stayed in the room with Miles? Lucy: ⁓ my gosh. I remember this fanfiction. I've read it. It's been a long time. It was cute. It was a cute fanfic. Aleta: Ahahaha! But even in my story they're interrupted by the annoying Kate who interrupts them the next morning. The following, okay. Lucy: That's sad. That's sorry, I was lagging, but that's sad. Aleta: It is. The following morning he, Miles, comes out and spots Hunter working out. Lucy: He looked really good here. I liked how he he had his arm like really close to his side and he's just really emphasizing the muscle. Yeah, it was cute. It was cute. And I liked the lighting. Aleta: Mm-hmm. Really flexing. Yeah. And I think he said somewhere that those dumbbells weighed like nothing at all. They're like foam dumbbells. To really act it out, yeah. ⁓ Lucy: So that's why he had to probably flex his arms so close. Yes. ⁓ my gosh. Aleta: So yeah, Hunter threatens Miles, apparently attempting to flirt with him extremely badly. Lucy: ⁓ what was the thread again? What did he say? I know you'd remember. Aleta: Well, he said something like, I don't care what your sexuality is, but, you know, it shouldn't affect your work or so. I can't remember exactly what he says, but after Miles leaves, he says, did I come on too strong? After he's basically threatened to fire him. It's like. Lucy: Yeah. Right, I mean come on ⁓ four miles four miles Aleta: In what world is this flirting? Lucy: Exactly. Crazy town. Aleta: So Miles dashes off to meet Kate and this is a great story with this scene because they've spoken about this one in quite a few interviews where Kate is threatening to throw Miles off the building and apparently a neighbor called and reported it as a murder in progress and LAPD showed up. Lucy: So she's talking about for real. So we found out behind the scenes that while they were film filming the scenes, they saw a helicopter flying over them in the air. And so this is like well known because they've talked about it several times. Yeah, like you said, like someone was freaked out. Yeah, I just couldn't believe that. That's hilarious. Aleta: Mm-hmm. An LAPD helicopter. And they were delayed and had to film everything in a very short time because of it. ⁓ Because they had to show their filming permit and explain what was happening to the police. So the next day they're off to a company retreat at Everett Industries Resort. And lots of great scenes here with Kate trying to get Miles fired or possibly imprisoned by switching the cakes, which causes Fiona to have a near fatal allergic reaction to mango. I don't know about you, but I would think if someone on the retreat had a severe allergy to mango, that wouldn't be on either cake. Lucy: I agree, I agree, especially if it was a known allergy. Aleta: Yeah, so they all knew what was happening to her immediately. So Amber and Josh inexplicably show up at the resort, the trainer boyfriend, and Josh tries to get his revenge on Hunter for embarrassing him earlier. But of course, Hunter takes him down and calls security. at which point they finally discover Hunter's identity. mean, Amber and Josh finally discover. And Kate is sneaking around and overhears Amber say, the CEO of Hunter Industries is Miles's boyfriend? So she switches her tactics to blackmail rather than trying to get Hunter. And she tells Miles she wants a million dollars or she'll tell the media about this relationship. So, There's a lovely scene in here where Miles asks Hunter what would happen if someone outed him as gay. And Hunter says that he couldn't care less and quotes Miles, that if you like someone, gender shouldn't matter. Lucy: I love that line and I love that they used it a few times. It's just it's it's such a beautiful theme. Aleta: Yeah. but that they would not get away with threatening his business because Hunter has big responsibilities to his employees and his shareholders. So Miles goes off, says he's going to clean the warehouse and calls for a loan from some kind of loan shark, maybe? And a big suspension of disbelief is required here because how is Miles, a poor medical student who's drowning in debt, able to get a million dollars with a phone call? Lucy: Yep. That that yep. Mm-hmm. The vertical disbelief. Yep. Aleta: Yeah, even the dodgiest of loan sharks would pass on him. Noah arrives at this point and offers to help clean the warehouse, but he really wants to flirt with Miles. Hunter shows up and interrupts and he is comically jealous. Very cute. As they're cleaning up a box falls and injures Hunter, Noah goes running off for help, closing the door and locking them in. Lucy: Wum wom wom Aleta: ⁓ This is a very dramatic scene where we discover that Miles has claustrophobia caused by being locked in a closet by his abusive religious father, which does make his willingness to do anything to avoid Kate showing the video more understandable. And that's something that we would love to have seen or maybe love to still love to see, because we still have hope in season two, exploring that backstory with Miles. Lucy: That's right. Come on, good short. I believe. Let's let's get to it. Come on. We get And if you need a script writer, we know people. We know professionals. We do. So I'm just saying, okay. Moving on. Aleta: We've been begging for seven months here. We do. We do. Hunter gives Miles mouth-to-mouth, saves him, and ⁓ that's kind of cute when Miles sort of comes out of it and says, Hunter you saved me and he's maybe I just wanted to kiss you. Very cute. Lucy: And I it is so cute. And I don't know if you have this in there, but ⁓ Evan, his reaction was real. Evan has talked about that during that scene, the claustrophobia scene, that he was like, I had I from my memory, and I guess I hope I'm not wrong. So Evan, if you're like, What what are you smoking, Lucy? ⁓ But I remember, I swear, from a live or some TikTok or something, he said That reaction was real and he dug really deep to figure out ⁓ how to pull that out of himself. And I this is what I can't remember is if it took him a while to come down or whatever, but I just thought that was also fascinating PTS. So whenever I see the scene, I I I feel like, ⁓ my gosh, this hurts. I don't like seeing Evan upset. Aleta: Mmm. I seem to remember him saying that they had to shoot it again and again because they were getting all these different angles and so he had to kind of stay in that place, in that deep emotional place for a really long time. So it was really hard to break out of it afterwards. When Fiona and the other employees arrive to let them out, they catch them kissing, of course. And Miles Hunter is, yeah, says something about needing to draft a statement with Fiona and he threatens everyone don't that if you tell anyone you're fired and miles quite naturally assumes that this means that Hunter's got no interest in him, right? And he, yeah, okay, sorry. So Miles gets really upset and he starts packing to leave. And once again, Noah shows up to flirt with him. And Hunter catches them in the act and we see him jealous again. He's like, not having it stay away from my man. Hunter demands that Miles stay and go with him that evening to meet with a client. The Predatory Tammy, played by Caitlin Chesna. This is a part that I always skip over because of the sexual assault. I don't know about you, Lucy, but it's not my cup of tea. Lucy: Yeah, I think I get through that scene a lot better than I get through the framing scene. poor Miles, man. They this this character just gets put through the ringer and I think in that scene what's always interesting is what comes after. You know, I think when you're in a position like that, as especially as women, and I think we see this in a lot of verticals, where one of the leads is attacked in some way or violated in some way. And then after there's like a you know, they're rescued, but then they're so grateful or they just jump right into like, hey, maybe a boom boom scene, right? And so okay, I had to do that to lighten the mood. ⁓ just for listeners, when I say boom boom I mean the intimate scenes, so you might hear me be ridiculous throughout the podcast. But just so you know, that's also an honor, ⁓ to one of our fallen twinkle inks, amethyst, who we've met in the subscriber chat. She loved it when I said boom boom. Aleta: It just makes me laugh. Lucy: Pretty soon I'll have everyone sing boom boom. Aleta: No. Yeah, so Hunter arrives in the nick of time to rescue Miles and tells Tammy that Miles isn't an assistant that he can replace at the drop of a hat and says, he's mine. Tammy leaves and Hunter confesses his love again and they kiss and then they both have their first intimate experience with a man. Lucy: And I thought that was beautifully done. Besides the, would they do something that quick? I don't know. but you know, men are built different, so maybe they would. I wouldn't know. ⁓ but yeah, I did think it was really beautifully done. I love this gets used a lot in content, but Evan has these beautiful big eyes, and so they did the scene where like They're looking down on him and he's just so like with his eyes. And I don't know. It was a really good scene. It was sweet. They did it. They ⁓ there was a line. What is Greg's Yeah, what is Greg's ⁓ those ⁓ those those rumors don't hold up, right? What was it? Those Aleta: It was. It was well done. It was funny too. ⁓ he says, weren't you worried I couldn't perform? Something like that. I'll prove you wrong right now. That's what he says. Lucy: Yeah, are those rumours? ⁓ hunter. Aleta: Which again, Hunter has no, I don't know. I find the level of confidence when you have no experience very, I don't know, surprising. But you know, again, it's a vertical and I guess guys are different. Lucy: That's right. Good point. Aleta: A little side note in this scene, we have two of the little errors that fans have noticed in this vertical. As they have the first kiss of the scene, a hair falls off of Greg's chin. And as they're removing Evan's jacket, a price tag or maybe a costume department's tag is clearly visible. little things that they, you know, I guess they film verticals so quickly that they don't go back and deal with things like that like they might in ⁓ traditional media. Lucy: Really quickly. Aleta: Do you want to skip that? Lucy: No go back to the beginning and just say the beginning part. You were covering your face. So you muffled it. Don't do the whole thing. Just do the part with like the hair and the yeah. Aleta: shoot. Okay. Side note, in this scene we have two of the little errors that fans have noticed. As they kiss, a hair falls off of Greg's chin, and as they remove Evan's jacket, a price tag or maybe the costume department's tag is clearly visible. little errors that they would remove in traditional media, I think. So they live happily ever after. But no, it's a vertical. So we need some more drama. The next day at the office, Kate tells Hunter that Miles is only with him for money because he owes a million dollars to the loan shark. Well, she doesn't specify, but Hunter, who, as he repeatedly says, hates when people lie to him, believes it instantly, of course. And Miles runs out. However, Miles is nnn... no. Sorry. I skipped a line. As he's drinking away his sorrows at the bar, Noah finds him and tries to hit on him for a third time. He's persistent. Miles is not interested. once more jealous Hunter, who discovered that miles had given the money away to Kate comes to the bar to break it up. Hunter is like, he's got his miles radar on. if he's ever in trouble or if anyone's ever trying to hit on him, Hunter is there. Hunter tells Miles that he loves him for second time and asks Miles to be his boyfriend. Miles agrees and this time we get our happily ever after, although I think you and I, like a lot of fans, were left wanting because Miles actually never says I love you back. Lucy: You know what's so funny is I I think on my initial watches I didn't pay attention to that. But yeah, as we were going through the motions and the fandom and talking about the vertical, yes, people were mentioning that and that that was a big point of hey, hey, you have openings here to do a second script, to get our sequel. Let's see what's up. We wanna see Miles say I love you. We wanna see Miles Aleta: for sure. Lucy: Crazy f pastor father. You know, we want to see some more in-depth to their story, some more in I don't know, I don't know, in-depthness. That's not a thing, but you know, I want to see it, dang it. I wanted to mention too. I don't know, I don't think this scene is underrated, but the more I see it, the scene where Hunter says, I love you, and will you be my boyfriend? Aleta: Yeah. Lucy: I loved the ending kiss scene and Miles on his tiptoes. Aleta: I- I- I know I knew you were gonna say that. It's so cute. ⁓ Lucy: It was so cute. Like their chemistry. ⁓ just I I'm so frustrated because what are the apps doing? Like there are no verticals out there except for succumb that created a fandom that people are still in seven months later that they wanted to create a podcast for. I mean, I'm not trying to like it's not just us. You know what I mean? Like we know a giant group of people. Aleta: Mm-hmm. Yeah. Lucy: That still love it, still celebrate it, and we have not seen Greg and Evan in another vertical together. What are people doing? They are a moneymaker. Like anything they do would explode. Like they are hilarious. They are perfect. Rom com leads together. They're just fantastic. Okay, I'm off my soapbox. Thank you. Aleta: Mm-hmm. Definitely. No! ⁓ Tell us how you really feel. You know how I have the same feelings. So the next day in the office, Miles is sitting on Hunter's lap and we can see that they have had a wild night as Miles is covered in hickeys. They do like doing the hickeys in the verticals to show that there's been... ⁓ Lucy: I have feelings, I said. And I wonder. They There's been a night of passion. You know, I wonder was it like the makeup artists? Did they just draw those on? Did did they do those little toys, the little sucky toys, you know, that you get off of those kids? Okay, fine. ⁓ No actors were harmed in the making of the scene. ⁓ Aleta: Yeah. ⁓ yeah, for sure. I'm pretty sure it would just be makeup. Yeah, you know, it's interesting that because I, and I guess I've seen it in other verticals as well. To me, they go very well with Hunter's possessiveness because to me, hickeys have always been like you're marking your territory kind of a thing. And I'm not wild about them personally for that reason, but they definitely fit with Hunter. So. And this is a really funny scene too, because when Fiona arrives, Miles hides under the desk, which is so farcical because Miles has a perfect right to not only be in the office as Hunter's assistant, but everyone knows they're together. So why would you hide? Lucy: Well and I always laugh because there's no back really to the desk, so like it just happened that she just didn't look down. So it's you know, and then she eventually Yeah, but he makes a noise, but you know, 'cause I think he's he starts putting his hands on Hunter's knee and Hunter's like, Ur and then a desk hits and then she looks down. I I love her little face, her little like I don't know, her little librarian. Aleta: I know she can see them underneath! No, she does look down and is like, ⁓ yeah. ⁓ yeah. Lucy: Disproval approval face. I don't know how to describe it, but Aleta: is disapproval. I think she's tickled. She loves that they're together. Lucy: Yeah, n I mean well that's why it like disapproval, approval. Yeah, no, it she was she was into it. It just I liked how she kinda like looked down and was like, Mhm. Aleta: ⁓ huh, I see what's going on here. And yeah, that's a funny scene also because I know they've talked about in interviews how Evan improv that silly voice. And when Hunter laughs, it's Greg just laughing. He's like, I wasn't acting at all. Just purely laughing at Evan's shenanigans. Lucy: I loved the way that they looked at each other in this ending scene though too. There's like a scene where Evan is on Hunter's lap. ⁓ Miles is on Hunter's lap and he he's like, I don't know, holding his his little shirt and all demure. He was very he was very baby girl in this scene. I'm serious, you know, like his little like hee hee hee, his little face. I just we all know the scene, dang it. And it just ⁓ Aleta: Mm. Mm-hmm Lucy: Just a delight. Good job, Evan. Aleta: Hahaha And it ends with a kiss, as it should. Did I already say that? ⁓ shoot. Okay. Lucy: No you did not. You did not say that. Go ahead. Aleta: The vertical ends with a kiss, as it should, but something we haven't talked about, which I know the fans shall we say appreciate, is Greg picking Evan up so effortlessly, both here in the last scene of Hunter lifting Miles onto the desk, and earlier when he carries him into the bedroom to care for him. Lucy: I think as the fandom goes on, we we are watching Evan get picked up by a lot of different men. Well, okay, two men. But, you know, maybe in the future there will be more. There's many, many more, and we mean that respectfully. We just mean Aleta: Mm-hmm. Many many more, yeah We just really want Evan to get lots of great roles because he's fantastic. Lucy: Well he is so fantastic. I want to see more of Evan for sure. And you know what? We might as well just talk about how great Evan is. his vertical tutoring my rival boy just hit 30 million views on Real Short. And I think that that was one of the fastest climbs of any BL. Yeah, because I know Waterboy I think is right under 35. Aleta: for sure. Mmm. Lucy: And it climbed fast, but I think tutoring my rival boy climbed faster. Waterboy I think took about four months. And tutoring my rival boy that came out February twelfth or thirteenth, something like that. It wasn't that long ago. Aleta: And now we need to get Prince's first love up there too. Lucy: We will promote the best we can, girl. We're gonna do it. Aleta: because that's another beautiful one and Greg is fantastic again in that one, which we're going to talk about later. But, but Strangely Kiss Me was just the sweetest campy rom-com and it was my first introduction to verticals. I'd never watched one before and it really got me hooked. It really only got me hooked on a select number of verticals so far, but Lucy's hoping to change that by making me watch a whole bunch of other ones. Lucy: I told her that if we were gonna do a podcast, the way it works is we watch the vertical the night before, and then we make our notes, and then we go into the podcast surprised, and we just don't know what's gonna happen, and we talk about it, and we're gonna recap it. And I'm very excited because I have watched almost all of the Western BL verticals. There's very few that I have not. And ⁓ I think it's gonna be great to expand her horizons because there's other beautiful rom com verticals that she hasn't fully seen yet. So Aleta: Quite a lot, yeah. I just keep rewatching. There's a lot of other things that I would like to explore talking about too. One of those is something that Greg and Evan spoke about with regard to Straight Until He Kissed Me, which is that they were, neither of them had ever done, ⁓ neither of them had ever been the lead before and neither of them had ever done intimacy scenes before. Lucy: We will get her there. Aleta: So working with the intimacy coordinators, that's kind of a new thing in, well, when I say new, in terms of the history of Hollywood and entertainment industry, and came out of the Me Too movement and ⁓ having those guidelines to navigate the awkwardness and their comfort and safety. really help them with this. Olivia Koo is the intimacy coordinator. She's worked on several of their verticals. ⁓ Lucy: You're gonna have to repeat that. Alita, you're gonna have to repeat all that. You've been you've been banging. You've been banging that whole thing. So I I don't know if I can Aleta: ⁓ no, I don't remember what was the last bit that I said. Lucy: I would do the whole bit again. Everything you talked about with the intimacy quartet. Everything about the intimacy quartet is because ever since you started talking about that there's been like four bangs. I'm like, I don't think I can edit that out. Aleta: Which whole bit? ⁓ OK. ⁓ my god. I'm so sorry. Something that I'd like to talk to a bit in the future as well is the role of intimacy coordinator, which Greg and Evan have both spoken about. This was, you we know this was their first lead roles and their first experience of intimate scenes. And the intimacy coordinator really helped them to navigate that first experience. ⁓ Olivia Koo, she's worked on several of the BLs that I've seen. It's a relatively recent role coming out of the Me Too movement, and I think it's really important ⁓ advancement because a lot of people have been taken advantage of in Hollywood. ⁓ having those roles, actually, Greg posted his ⁓ chemistry read with Andrew for Prince's First Love and explained how how they deal with that because when they're doing those things, they haven't been booked yet so they don't get into the intimacy scenes in the same way and they have different things that they do to get that feeling without the intimacy itself. But I'd love to talk with people in that role as well in the future. Lucy: Yeah, maybe she would come on the podcast. It would be so awesome to talk to someone like her. Or Hey We need to dream big. I want the I also would love the ⁓ intimacy coordinator for Bound to My Rival. Just saying. Aleta: I think it's a bit hopeful at this point on episode one, but we can dream. And the costume designers. It's not a BL, but it is Andrew. ⁓ Daughter of Zeus had just a fantastic costume designer. And it would be interesting to talk to some of the people who do that as well. Lucy: I love it. I think that's such a good idea. Aleta: So that was Straight Until He Kissed Me and if you haven't seen it I really can't recommend it enough. Lucy: Yeah, Straight Until He Kissed Me is on Good Short. So definitely check it out. Form your own opinion. ⁓ Alita and I had an absolute blast watching it many, many times, but also an absolute blast recapping it with you guys today and with each other. so we're really excited and until next time, besties. Aleta: Mm-hmm. Bye besties!