BL Drama Lovers Club

p43425:

Tina:

I discovered if I use 1.25x speed

I speed-watch almost everything at 1.25x to 2x unless it's complicated dialogue, particularly beautiful or gripping, or a top-tier cutie-patootie.

That makes sense. Not all dramas are created equal. But I usually don't speed up anything. Speeding up dramas recently though. Mostly because I can't be bothered to sit the full length of them and need to pick up the pace. For Cherry Blossoms After Winter, it's so slow that it needs a bit of speeding up.

Tina:

p43425:

Tina:

I discovered if I use 1.25x speed

I speed-watch almost everything at 1.25x to 2x unless it's complicated dialogue, particularly beautiful or gripping, or a top-tier cutie-patootie.

That makes sense. Not all dramas are created equal. But I usually don't speed up anything. Speeding up dramas recently though. Mostly because I can't be bothered to sit the full length of them and need to pick up the pace. For Cherry Blossoms After Winter, it's so slow that it needs a bit of speeding up.

I can't tolerate speeding it up because the dialogue sounds robotic and weird so even if I'm finding it really boring, I just get through it

Tina:

Unique_rain:

Tina:

p43425:

Tina:

I discovered if I use 1.25x speed

I speed-watch almost everything at 1.25x to 2x unless it's complicated dialogue, particularly beautiful or gripping, or a top-tier cutie-patootie.

That makes sense. Not all dramas are created equal. But I usually don't speed up anything. Speeding up dramas recently though. Mostly because I can't be bothered to sit the full length of them and need to pick up the pace. For Cherry Blossoms After Winter, it's so slow that it needs a bit of speeding up.

I can't tolerate speeding it up because the dialogue sounds robotic and weird so even if I'm finding it really boring, I just get through it

Aah I know what you mean. Unfortunately something is lost when you speed up a drama.

For dramas that I don't care about though, what is lost is of no consequence to me.

I think I'm also done for today. Finishing Journey With You tomorrow. Long episodes are not for me. >_<"

What do you class as long

Tina:

Unique_rain:

What do you class as long

More than 30 mins per episode. Journey With You has 45-48 mins episodes.. so it's a bit long for me. Most C-dramas and Kdramas are long imo

For me anything that is 50+ minutes is long as usually it would take 2 sittings to finish an episode. I hate when kdramas have 1.5 hours for every episode. Cdramas just have so many episodes like 40, 50 episodes

Indie Art Girl:

After the last episode I went back and read Jadeheart's post. I don't fully understand it but I also felt smth was missing in the last ep after all of Tanrak's struggles up to then. I didn't get to see Tanrak actually arrive at his final decision and how he got there in the end. Or Barth's reaction to it. Maybe I missed it. I won't say more cuz that would reveal ending details.

The main message I took was everyone is deserving of forgiveness, love and grace, no matter what path they choose in life.

I think this is one of those shows where a viewer could have benefitted from watching as it was airing then joining the Reddit on-air discussions. I sometimes do that to get more from a show. There are so many insightful feedback and reviews. I've esp. enjoyed learning more about language and cultural refences I miss.

I know you didn't ask but I want to give you additional feedback about the show because there was just so much depth to it. When raised as a Catholic, it becomes part of your very being. Your life revolves around the Church community, the festivals, volunteering for the events and community service. With Tanrak, it's even more so because he's living in a Catholic Boys' School dorm. And he's one of the boys who has openly said he would be going to seminary school, which is pretty rare. Those boys sent to the school are there for their education and the strict discipline provided by the school.

When Tanrak fell in love with Barth, not only was he struggling about losing the only community he's ever known, the only Father-figure who has raised him but also what he thought was the only path he had to see his parents again in heaven. In the confessional, Fr. Arnon says, "Love isn't wrong." But Father reiterates what the Catholic Church believes, which is he must take responsibility for his actions, that if he believes it's wrong, he needs to find a way to make amends. Tan's solution is to offer to break up with Barth to get absolution. Fr. Arnon doesn't say yes. He tells Tan that God always forgives those who repent. He also asks Tan to decide whether he "wants to stay with that love (Barth) or with Him (God)." In this scene, Fr. Arnon was trying to tell Tan that he God will always love him even if he were to choose Barth.

When Tan and Barth ran away, they stayed at the motel, then with Auntie Lek. This was a huge turning point. Auntie Lek was Tan's father's friend in the same Boys' School they just left. She is a transgender who is actively religious, the very example of who Tan could be years down the road. He hadn't been able to reconcile in his mind that his two worlds could co-exist: that he could love Barth and love God. What is not shown is whether he and Barth were able to find a church where they eventually settled (after they ran away, they never returned to the Boys' School until the Ordination). I hope they found a priest as kind and accepting as Fr. Arnon. In Catholic churches, it's really the priests who set the tone on how accepting they will be towards the LGBTQ+ community. And your final take is right on: everyone is deserving of forgiveness, love and grace, no matter what path they choose in life. Exactly. Once Tan was able to fully accept that, he was at peace with this decision for the most part, but he felt guilty for turning his back towards his community without a proper goodbye. He and Barth were just 17 or 18 at the time and felt they had to run away, and that they wouldn't be allowed to leave peacefully, given their age.

In 2013, Pope Francis famously said, "If a person is gay and seeks God and has good will, who am I to judge?" Since then, the Vatican has been more open to accepting the LGBTQ+ community in church. Pope Francis also expressed support for civil-unions to protect gay couples in 2020, but the Vatican's stance on same-sex relationships has changed multiple time over the years from allowing priests to bless such unions to disallowing them. This will likely remain an on-going debate in the Vatican.

Just finished Love Upon a Time : I enjoyed it, but there were moments when I started to lose a bit of interest. Overall, it was well made, but I don't think it's a drama I'll rewatch 8/10.

I'm really glad I got to enjoy a NetJJ BL before the release of their next one, 30 Days of Us which I'm eagerly waiting for.

p43425:

It should come as no surprise that today's episode of "When Oranges Fall" is absolutely adorable. 💕

Yes. I believe I had many feet kicking moments throughout my watch. 😊