greysweater

Same-- I'm trying to be balanced because it seems he's having a hard time mentally, but he's hurting people with his confusion (including himself). I think it's telling that the strongest negative words expressed by the cast have been for Young Woo in these recent episodes (i think PD generally tries to keep panelists positive to not dunk on any one contestant).

Also, the message he sent is so stupid, it doesn't look like he's romantically interested in her either, just wants to avoid avoid avoid.

edit: I wonder if production told him he had to talk to ChoA because of how much he's leading her on.

Young Woo and Jung Sub are prime examples of the kind of guy who will say a woman is crazy and too attached. But the reality is *they* led the women on and gave them false assurances. What Se Seung says at the end is exactly right: "I thought he felt strong about me [because of his actions] so I let my emotions grow. But now I'm finding out he wasn't sure about me, I start thinking why did I let my emotions grow?" (rough translation)

It's not her fault and it's not ChoA's fault. They both received constant assurances (Jung Sub even buying a very "date-y" gift for Se Seung; Young Woo constantly messaging ChoA and outwardly acting like he had ZERO interest in anyone else).

PSA to men: if you don't sincerely like someone, don't act like you do! Ugh, it shows even more how mature Jae Hyung is. He was confused about his own emotions so he figured himself out FIRST; now he knows his heart he can confidently meet Ji Won WITHOUT CONFUSING HER! I love that so much

Ah, I need to edit-- turns out they were talking about JS. The translations were a little confusing

Ahhh, our JaeCho ship has officially harbored in Friendship Cove, which is still a nice sight to see! I appreciated their conversation on the grass-- this is exactly the kind of conversation Young Woo seems resistant to having because of whatever internal defense mechanisms he hasn't yet worked through. It's refreshing to see ChoA on a date with someone who is capable of having more "serious" conversation (is it even that serious? I think Young Woo is just avoidant so everything seems capital S "Serious" to him). It makes me more certain that ChoA would probably be better off leaving the show alone, but she's very emotionally perceptive so whatever choice she makes will probably be the right one for her whether we can see the reasoning or not.

Also, I realized the reason I like JaeCho together so much is because they are so similar. Lmao at both of then being love bulldozers!

Overall, there's no couples I'm wildly rooting for the last two episodes. However, I'm keen to see more of individual arcs.

I cracked up when he said that and they had her floating in slow mo 🤣

Haha, titanic for real! We're a ship of hopeless romantics but at least we're hopeless together lmao

I'm posting a lot today lol

This week feels electric-- we are on the edge of final couples folks! I can feel that ep 13 is going to be the episode to solidify current couples and/or spark something new.

Now, if you are not on JHxCA ship, the next bit is not for you. I'm just being dramatic below because it's fun and I would like to be silly and fun with other shippers. Please give us some privacy lolol

****Alright, now-- calling all JHxCA shippers🛳🛳🛳🛳****

This is a safe space for JHxCA shippers (😂😭) as we consider the fate of our ship approaching with ep 13. Lads, ladies, sailors! This is it! We are at peak electricity-- it is either the iceberg or the clear blue seas we meet mateys! This ship has a little water in it, but dang it we still have hope. If we go down, we're gonna go down cry-singing 21,25 with our arms linked together and a flag of CAxJH's picnic date flying proudly

To celebrate the single date we've all been clinging to with hope finally coming to our screens next ep, let's share the moments that have kept our ship afloat so far!

I'll start first:

- Jae Hyung straight up LEAPING to get to the phone and pick ChoA as his date that time (darn you Cheol Hyun! I get it but ahhhhh😭)
- Jae Hyung trying to get ChoA's attention when she came home and then looking around trying to figure out who she was smiling at

What moments made your heart flutter?

Yes to everything you said-- especially YW part. The thing that really gets me is that he specifically says he kept texting ChoA *because* she said she is attracted to stability. So he *purposefully* did something that doesn't reflect his full intentions in order to give ChoA a false impression to fall for. Isn't that crazy?!

It really rubbed me the wrong way and made me think that ChoA is really emotionally perceptive. I can't imagine how confusing it would be to be in that situation trying to untangle the truth from YW's texts, actions, and words when they all contradict. I can't believe he didn't figure this out before they went to Singapore, now they only have a few days left.

Yes, I also clocked the way he subtly suggested to JiWoo to pick him for the date the next day. Ugh-- why can't he just say what he means?! So frustrating, like bro, all this shadow and talking in circles is driving people crazy and making everyone feel bad. I knew something was really off when he talked about himself and ChoA in the third person while at dinner 🙄

I was sad to hear him say so many times that he dislikes himself. I have a suspicion that he's acting the way he is because he has some things inside himself he hasn't worked out yet. The way he shuts down when the talk gets serious, how he doesn't even tell his own sibling the truth about his feelings. It's shocking to realize, but I think YW is a little bit of a people pleaser overly worried about how people perceive him. He wants to "appear" cool to everyone but honestly the cool person is someone like JH who will do the right thing and tell the truth of himself even if someone (JY) may be hurt by the answer. YW needs therapy, not romance

I also think the picnic date might just be like a friendly comfortable vibe, but I am prepared to ride this ship until it officially sinks!

I'm also curious if YJ x YH really like each other for real-- I feel that maybe some part of it is relief that they have someone they can dependably be matched with on the show (since YH kept getting 0 votes and YJ was extremely nervous that none of the women would like him). I can't wait to see the "where are they now" segment in the final episode. My thoughts are that they probably will not be together if (but I'll be happy to be wrong)

This is so funny-- I noticed that a lot of CHxJH shippers have very similar thoughts about the cast members overall. Maybe we're all a similar personality type? That would be wild😆

Your comment literally started with "Lol" and ended with "The build up on their (JHxJW) love line is so obvious." What do you call that if not defending your ship and trying to point out that the couple I'm rooting for is never gonna be final couple? Maybe you intended it differently, but yeah, it is annoying when I'm gushing over my ship and someone else is trying to get me to agree that my ship is failing-- like damn, let me fanboy lol

If you notice, my comment only says "It's moments like this that keep us Jae Hyung x ChoA shippers alive 😂". Because I, like many other CHxJH shippers, am very aware that our ship sailing would require something of a miracle at this point.

But guess what? We're happy to live off of small moments like that that are thrilling and make us think "whoah, maybe we can still sail!" It's exciting for us to watch, that's why we make our comments. We didn't choose our ship because we think they're the most likely to sail, but because we just like the idea of the couple together. The same way you might like vanilla over chocolate or vice versa

Yet every time we're just gushing or happy on our ship, there's always a JHxJW shipper sliding in to say "actually..." under our comments! Like bro, we KNOW our ship is not exactly sailing. Can we just have the space to fan over the small moments we do get? That's the part I find annoying.

I have nothing against JHxJW. You are completely correct in saying 'm annoyed because I'm selectively focused on JHxCA and you are trying to get me to focus on a ship I'm not interested in. And yes, I am hyping up/enthusiastic about my ship. I don't know why you're acting like that's a weird thing-- we're literally all hyperfocusing on the people we find most interesting

If someone likes mint choco, are you going to come in with all the reasons why mint choco sucks as a flavor and your favorite flavor is better?

Because that's what you're doing by sliding in saying "Actually Jae Hyung said he doesn't need to meet anyone else after the date with Ji Woo." Like, okay, he did say that. And guess what? His feelings could also change after the next date with someone new. We've already seen lots of people change their feelings in the house.

All I'm saying is, why can't CAxJH shippers have the space to be excited over our ship-- whether it's logical to you or not-- without someone coming in to rain on our parade? We're literally just enjoying the show in our own way

They haven't interacted much at all based on previous episodes. But in the preview for ep 13 they go on a date and Young Woo says something like "I feel like I didn't get a chance to date you yet so that this moment could happen (fate)" and Yoon Ha says "If we'd gone on a date sooner would things be different between us?" It looks like they both enjoyed their date a lot, plus I think Yoon Ha originally had some interest in Young Woo.

I'm on the ChoA x Jae Hyung ship, but I know the possibility of them being the couple that surprised the producers is slim (not nothing, but definitely slim). Since Ji Won and Jung Sub are the ones who can pick dates in ep 13, we can probably assume that Ji Won picks Jae Hyung and Jung Sub picks Se Seung. Neither of those pairs would be surprising as final couples, which leaves potential surprise pairings of:

* Young Woo and Yoon Ha
* Joo Yeon and Yoon Jae
* Cheol Hyun and Se Seung
* Jae Hyung x ChoA

Out of these four surprise pairings, there can be a case made for "story-building" moments between JH X CA and CH x SS. The truly out of left field would be YW x YH or JYxYJ. Based on the preview, something could be brewing between YW x YH specifically, which means they are the likely candidate for unexpected couple.

Sorry for the long response, I couldn't help myself-- I love these kind of mystery/whodunnit/let's get the red thread on the wall type of situations!

That's what I'm doing! I only watched the end of ep 12 (previews) and it looks like for sure ChoA-Jae Hyung date is in ep 13. I am going to live off of that little clip until next week lmao

**EXTRA SPOILER!!**

The preview also reveals that the unexpected couple the producers talked about may be Young Woo and Yoon Ah. Which is like a true ghost ship with 0 occupancy -___-

Exchange 2 truly was serendipitous with Hyun Gyu and Hae Eun's story. Aside from the cute friendships between cast members, the show became boring and frustrating (sorry to those who like it, just my experience) until Hyun Gyu and Hae Eun's story started.

I'm beginning to think My Sibling's Romance may be like Exchange 2 but without that fire that unexpectedly starts blazing at the end. I'm hoping there's still time for a twist. Otherwise, I mean, we could all pretty much guess the end at this point

I understand JWxJH shippers want to defend or hype up your ship, but please understand that other people can enjoy the show with other ships, whether or not those other ships happen. We all have our different preferences and attractions, and that's fine

I've recently been annoyed by the way many (not all) JWxJH shippers comment specifically against JHxCA as though having any other ship is ridiculous and that we.need to change over to JWxJH.

I have no problem with JWxJH fans and would not go under a JWxJH comment saying "no no no-- that's not what's actually happening." Let us breathe and enjoy the show our way, please

Finally watching ep 11 and right off the bat Jae Hyung says "Since nobody is going to work, and we're spending the whole time together, I think I'll also get a chance to talk to some people I haven't talked to yet." It's moments like this that keep us Jae Hyung x ChoA shippers alive 😂

edit: and "When I feel sure about me being her priority, my heart just feels at ease. Then I don't have to try too hard to be in her vicinity."

edit2: still on ep 11. I don't think the date with Young Woo was that bad. It seems ChoA and Young Woo are just not compatible. While I have my personal thoughts on someone over 30 years of age not being able to handle conversations with a serious bent in a romantic relationship, it's not an indictment of his character. He seems like he has a lot of internal defenses that are no longer serving him but that he hasn't let go of. Good luck to him, but I hope ChoA gets away from him (emotionally) quickly. Looks like she's bound to get hurt because of his late realization that he only liked the thought of her

edit3: So the Young Woo-ChoA date was not bad; Young Woo realized he's not into her nearly two/three weeks into the show. Unfortunate but whatever, happens. Ji Woo and Jae Hyung seem to be getting along. I like both of them individually but together just not for me. Cheol Hyun still living it up without any real romantic direction lol. Poor Joo Hyeon, she's going to have to watch the guy she likes be interested in other people the whole trip :(

I skipped to the end of episode 12 to see the previews (because I just knew we're not getting the Jae Hyung x ChoA date ep12) and we have one small preview to keep us alive (that clip on the grass is so precious! Might be just a friendly vibe but who knows). I'm going to skip ep 12 this week and watch 12 and 13 together next week

Anyone else find themselves doing that? The pacing is so slow I get too frustrated to watch along properly

Haha! I just finished up a 132 episode drama and I have a new appreciation for shorter dramas

Haha, all aboard! If this train actually arrives at a destination this will be simultaneously the most thrilling and ridiculous ride

I was surprised that this drama is 16 instead of 12 episodes-- it would fit perfectly in 12 (or 14 at most). The next few episodes are gonna be a mess I think

They release two episodes at a time, so the show should finish this week

Yeah, I just wrote out a long response to one of their other comments and I'm not going to respond to them anymore. I don't think they realize how queerphobic they are being. You're completely right that they have a narrow view of BL and just want an explicit, comfortable plot to watch. They should just watch something else that fits their very narrow, very basic view of queer romance

tl;dr Your main problem seems to be that the drama doesn't fit what YOU want to see. Which is fine, you could just say that instead of making this faux-intellectual points that don't apply to the drama and are disgustingly queerphobic. With such a narrow view of BL, you would probably be better off writing your own fanfiction or screenplay that has all the specific ingredients that *you* want.

Long Response: You added a lot to your comment so I'm going to try to get to your points. Overall, your response reveals that your actual problem with the drama is that it doesn't have the plot you wanted. Which is fine, but claiming that the drama is playing into queerphobic tropes instead of just saying it doesn't fit what YOU want in a drama is not okay.

Just like Jin Woo learned and accepted that an ideal type checklist doesn't mean other love doesn't exist, you should learn and accept that dramas don't need to fit your ideal drama checklist to be unproblematic.

Additionally, you misunderstood my point about normalization. I'm not saying the society in the drama is a new Korea where queerness is all accepted. I'm saying the way *the characters are framed* normalizes queerness to us, the viewers. As a queer person, I'm used to the usual storyline where being queer is one of the main struggle points for the characters/their relationship. The fact that this drama completely bypassed that and said "nope, this story is not about internal struggles about sexuality, watch other dramas for that. This drama is going to focus on queer people who suck at love for other reasons" is amazing to me. Of course, the remaining two episodes might dip into struggles about sexuality as the parents and family are pulled into the story, but the introduction of the drama has been refreshing in this way.

The irony about your "criticism" is that *you* are actually being queerphobic with a lot of what you are saying:

- "heteronormative leanings of the male characters" there's literally only one main male character with any significant attachment to women and that's Gi Seop. The remaining three male characters all had very clear attraction to other men. Tons of bi people lean more heavily towards one or the other gender anyway, it's not a perfect split. It's biphobic of you to make comments that insinuate that only bi people with "even" attraction to both genders are the "actual" bipeople and the rest aren't. Even if Jin Woo *were* Gi Seop's first male attraction, that wouldn't make Gi Seop any less bi.

- "lack of explicit declarations" The drama is literally called Boys Be Brave. All the main leads are attracted to and pursuing men. How much more declaration of sexuality do you need? This is why it's obvious that you have a narrow checklist of what *you* like to see in a BL. If you need characters to say "I am gay," that's fine, but it doesn't mean that every BL that does not do that is problematic. For me, it's refreshing that the characters can literally just be queer and pursue queer attraction without it being a big deal. Other dramas where the declaration is made already exist-- **every drama does not need to be the same**.

- "In what manner was "queerness" normalized?" Are we seriously watching the same drama? First, all of the leads easily accept that someone of the same gender is interested in them and there's none of the usual big deal about someone being queer. Gi Seop doesn't think twice about the fact that a guy likes him. Jin Woo doesn't get anxious and self-conscious that he is crushing on another dude. That is normalization. Treating their attractions as something given and okay. Again, I think you misunderstood what I meant by normalization.

Your point about the straight couple confessing at the beginning is so unserious. First, straight couples being included in a drama doesn't suddenly mean queerness is can't be presented as normal by the drama. We have a whole main cast of queer characters who have struggles other than being queer. That is normalization. It doesn't mean the whole world is suddenly queer. Are we wanting any kind of realism in this drama or are we wanting to pretend that all of South Korea is suddenly queer and queer-accepting?

"A landscape dominated by straight couples" is an over-exaggeration. Dominated? Really? All the straight characters are literally background characters we don't even get names of half the time. Even the confession event is only used as a tool to capture that Gi Seop liked Jin Woo from the beginning. Every single main character is queer! This story is "dominated" by queerness.

"I anticipated a greater presence of minor gay or lesbian couples." There are not even that many people involved in the story. We're literally following 4/5 peoples' stories rn, ALL of them being queer! Again, it seems like this drama just didn't live up to your ideal BL checklist.

"How can the absence of "queerness" be reconciled with your alleged normalization of "queerness" in this fictional Korean society?" Like I said above, you completely misunderstood what I meant by the drama framing queerness as normal. The framing is done by the drama (like the actual storytelling decisions-- what they choose to focus on and what they don't etc.).

"Declaring or acknowledging a character's sexuality is essential for visibility and representation. For viewers who are exploring their own sexuality, having explicit examples of "queer" characters helps them understand and embrace their experiences" -- No, this is literally just YOUR opinion. And the funny thing is this drama has already done the work of acknowledging the characters' sexualities-- the title, the presentation of it as BL, plus all the queer characters in it. Viewers exploring their sexuality benefit from having a wide spectrum of media to look at and see varied experiences. Someone who doesn't label themselves might see this drama and feel *relieved* that they don't have to. This is what I mean by you being queerphobic with your criticism. You're acting like there's only one way to be queer and there's not.

I hope that you are just feeling self-conscious about having jumped to conclusions and that's why you're doubling down in the comments. Because if you sincerely believe everything you wrote, you should reflect on yourself. How you can be interested in BL and be loudly against homophobic tropes, yet say a whole bunch of queerphobic crap is beyond me