BL Drama Lovers Club

Secret Lover - episodes 1 - 2

This is certainly fast paced, and I am not complaining. It is no secret that I do not like slow burns, whether it is a series or a book.

I love how the series hit the ground running. No playing around, just straight to the point; no beating around the bush, "I like you, I want you to be my boyfriend."

I think it is quite obvious that Jun Xi does not like Lin Xiao Yang; he just wanted her to be his girlfriend so that he could compete with Tuo who has had girlfriends and admirers since high school. I had a fear that Lin Xiao Yan would end up getting hurt in all this, but that fear has been dispelled substantially after episode 2 with how fast the plot is moving along. I only hope that the plot does not race in such a way that substance is left behind.

Another thing, has Jun Xi ever considered that the reason he kept losing to Tuo when playing rock paper scissors is because he keeps using scissors, and so Tuo keeps using rock 👀

I like that they are not too hasty to have Jun Xi admit feelings for Tuo. That would just kill the anticipation; I may like it fast and precise, but I still do not want it to be quick and done. I cannot understand from a personal place how Jun Xi must feel having his best friend confess to him, however I understand that it will take some time to come to terms with it, and sort his own feelings. A friend has never liked me before, at least not that I know of (I know what question I am going to annoy my friends with now in the group chat right after I post this lol hehehe)

Another reason why I am glad this is fast paced is that I do not think I would appreciate a slow burn right now. With other currently airing series blazing the romance right now (Reset, Revenged Love, The Next Prince: Uncut, ABO Desire) a slow burn right now would frustrate me and be put very low on my list of series; why eat vegetables when pastry is being served in large amounts. 

All to say I am looking forward to the next episode, and unpacking more of this story.

Revenged Love - episode 14

29 minutes in

F**king hell the snakes came out of nowhere 😭 I hate the damn things 

 RXinw:

Revenged Love - episode 14

I think it is quite symbolic that after the last few episodes without the snakes, they have made a return to the screen the same time as Chi Cheng's ex's return. What does that say about him 😒

We know that the reason why he cheated on Chi Cheng with Guo Cheng Yu is because he is jealous of their close relationship. He thinks they have feelings for each other. A similar conclusion to what Jiang Xiao was suggesting. I am slightly inclined to also reach a similar conclusion, but I will voice my thoughts on that in my finale post, because I want to watch how everything will play out first. I am beating up myself that I have the book in my library all these months before this series aired and I did not read it. If I had read it I would already know what will happen. Now, I refuse to read it and spoil myself. I will read it after this series finishes though.

What Jiang Xiao's ex did to him was horrible. Using him then spreading photos of him that suggested he was being a common whore with men in a Karaoke room, men who the ex paid to get Jiang drunk and take suggestive photos of. Thankfully it was only photos and nothing sexually harmful happened. However Jiang thought all these years that he was gang raped and thus dirty. It pushed him to the point of attempted suicide as people talked about him - character assassination. That ex deserved everything Guo Cheng Yu did to him and more. Happy to see Guo Cheng Yu being Jiang's hero. It has me looking forward to their relationship developments.

On the lighter side of things. Chi Cheng and Suo Wei look so good in their couple era:

This is so domesticated of them.

I look forward to the next episode.

 RXinw:

What do you guys think?

I only started watching BLs less than a year ago, so I missed the era you're talking about. But I love diving into the older ones. Even with their flaws, there’s this sweet kind of innocence to them (not sure if that’s the right word). It’s like watching a baby take its first steps, and it’s really fascinating to see how things have evolved. The amount doesn’t really faze me. If a series hits me in some way, I’ll always come back to it, whether it’s rewatching the whole thing, revisiting a scene, or just vibing to the OST again.

And I've just watched the first episode of Meet You at the Blossom and I’m already hooked!!

 RXinw:

What do you guys think?

(ref. RXinw post on p. 2080 "Today's BL Thoughts)
Yes, I definitely agree with you, but speaking for myself, there's another separate mechanism affecting my engagement level now vs. then: When I started watching BLs, everything was new and fresh, so I was easily wowed. Now that I've  watched many hundreds of BLs, it's much harder to impress me. I have a broad base of comparison (themes, tropes, character types, cuties, my personal BL harem), so my standards have gotten quite a bit tougher. (Maybe I'm even getting a bit jaded? I hope not.) 

That being said, I still rate generously with a lot of 9's and 10's, probably more generously than I should, but I'm willing to overlook a lot of flaws for what I like, plus I want to encourage BL makers and actors. But when I give these ratings, it's definitely with a lot less excitement than when I rated my first BLs.

 Ju Moon:

back-and-forth of hunter vs prey

(re "Revenged Love") That's a great way of describing the dynamic.

 Ju Moon:

A scene doesn’t need to be explicit to be hot.

Indeed. In fact, the more explicit ones tend to bore me (unless they're really kinky or really top-tier cuties ... or better yet, both). I often speed-watch to get through them quickly *yawn*.

 Ju Moon:

The actors are killing it in their roles, especially Zi Yu. His control over facial expressions is seriously impressive.

Yes!

 Ju Moon:

the king need to face consequences for all that greed.

Getting shot in the stomach was certainly a good start. I will never forgive that b*st*rd for what he did to Korn and Intouch!

 Ju Moon:

I’d absolutely love to see Khanin, Ramil, and Ava team up to take the three of them down and rule Emaly together.

That's what I'm hoping for, too.

 Ju Moon:

Personally, I think the series deserves at least two more: one focused on Ramil and Paytai, and another on Calvin and Jay. Ramil is hands-down my favorite.

Yes, I'd love that!

We'll soon get plenty of Net & JJ in "Love Upon A Time", but in the case of Jimmy & Ohmkrit, they will be just one of the three pairings in "Magic Lover", so I'd be especially pleased to see them featured in a "Next Prince" spin-off (hopefully including Tutor and Yim - Tutor would be such a perfect prince!)

Jimmy Karn is a natural actor, as we saw with his performance as an absolute total novice in "Why R U ?" - and the skit that he and Ohmkrit did in "It Takes Two" was by far the best. 

@Ju Moon 

I pretty much agree with everything you said about revenged love, the next Prince, and reset. I even mentioned in an earlier post how much I wish Khanin, Ava, and Ramil would team up. I agree about GL side couples in BLs, although sometimes I still like how inadequate they are because at least they don’t have the chance to go down the road of full-on bad storytelling. Instead I can imagine a better story for them. (I’ve only watched a few GLs but I found them all inadequate.)

im also having fun watching Bom and First play villains, although the contrast for Bom’s character from I will knock you really is amazing.

i think revenged love and reset are super sexy, and exactly what I want. I don’t need explicit scenes to be satisfied, but nor do I skip them. in the end the spicy scenes I want to rewatch are the ones with good stories and characters too. If I’m not getting any spice, though, I need damn good chemistry or my favorite actors to hold my attention.  

it’s clearly my “rambling hour” since my posts just keep going on and on. not that I’m short-winded in general. Lol

 Frandisia:

How is the adaptation? I saw people complaining about a few changes in dialogues or scenes.

Yes, they did change some things compared to the original for the first 3 episodes. I know of only one major change that people didn't like. They only removed from the manga story some scenes that presented crude jokes. Everything else seems to be in order? A character appeared earlier in the story.

I think the adaptation is worth watching as imo, it's proper horror. It is indeed scary compared to most other horror anime.