smnsbr

I agree, one of the charms of this series for me personally is how close to real life it feels. The characters, and their issues. It might not be the same exact problem that we face, but indeed it somewhat parallels what we also face in our daily lives. It feels pretty relatable and also kinda comforting in a way.

you are the one making conspiracy theory with all your assumptions, dumbass.

*sees a long ass comment*
*checks that it is a burner account*
*concludes that it is a paid comment or MUST be from the inside trying to boost the sentiment*

out of many possibilities, that's the one you thought was likely the case? i seriously question your analytical skill. you do not have enough data to back up your (false) assumption yet you easily accuse people. why do you lean onto the possibility of it being made up instead of it being genuine? suspicious of people much? it says more about your perspective tbh, that you think negatively about something. had a lot of bad experiences around you that make you suspicious of people easily huh? poor you. i also don't fucking care about your shallow minded baseless accusations.

also the way you think negatively of a comment just because it's coming from a new account on MDL is quite something and pretty judgemental. does a comment or a review means less if it's coming from a new account? what are you? a MDL master or moderator or something that you can predict who is behind the accounts here? i don't fucking care if you are an experienced MDL member or some shit, you're literally a weirdo who's being unnecessary weird towards a person genuinely just leaving a comment for the first time just because they like a series.

Overall EP. 5 is still a very good one for me. It's like, with each episode, they are slowly revealing the problems and issues Xiangyong has, that makes me understand why he made that wish upon the shooting star, to 'not wanting to be He Xiangyong' anymore.

I do not mind the lack of romance-progress in this episode at all (well they did kiss so there is a progress but it was not really the focus of this episode, so), because from the start i already see this as a fantasy BL with themes about family and hometown and the community, so i never expect this series to be fully centered on the romance. The scenes where people are complaining that there are just too much 'filler scenes', for me it's just a way for the series to highlight the hometown-island vibes and the community, so personally i don't mind those scenes.

The father-son relationship is the spotlight in this episode. The acting is just superb, makes me feel all the emotions they feel, and they portray the asian parent-child relationship in a very realistic way. The fights, how they choose to handle a problem both in their own ways, the communication issue. Some might blame the father for selling the house without consulting with Xiangyong first, but you also have to look at how Xiangyong also hide such a big problem from his dad too. He also did not consult or talk to his father about it. So i don't think it's fair to just blame his father. They both do have communication issue because they just don't really express themselves that well to each other. Xiangyong did not tell his father about it or did not want to consult this huge problem with his dad probably because he didn't want to make his dad worry or burden him. On the other hand, his dad also did not consult Xiangyong about selling the house because he felt like that's the best way to help Xiangyong. He did that because he worries and cares about Xiangyong. Even though it's also very hard for him to sell it because that house means a lot to him, but he would literally sacrifice anything for Xiangyong.

What does not make sense to me is how easily the company can trap Xiangyong into such agreement/contract, where he has to bear ALL the losses when a project fails? The company is literally using Xiangyong as a scapegoat, but how can an employee basically have no right like that? that the company can force them to sign such an evil & dirty agreement/contract?

That detail does bother me, about how he even end up in that situation, but i would just like to think that in life sometimes you would just unexpectedly get caught up in shitty situations like that with shitty people, That situation aside and the questionable detail, i think they still do well in portraying the father-son relationship and how they handle it when a problem comes. So it still makes me understand the father-son relationship more and that's what matters the most to me.

Also Xiangyong and Li Wanzhe's conversation was also nice, i really do like their friendship. Especially when Li Wanzhe said 'what is the use of blaming the shooting stars'? That made me think too. Even without the shooting stars thing, the problem already existed anyway, and again, even if he was still He Xiangyong at that time, will his dad handle the problem differently? I kinda feel like his dad would still want to go forward with selling the house, just that, they probably will have a more intense argument before that.

For me, things are all still building up nicely so far. One thing i would like to say is that i hope they do better with the editing. The drunk kiss scene was perfect for me, except for the fact that the editing was not that smooth, so it didn't flow as well as it should be when they are about to kiss (which is an important scene). Even if there were several different takes and shots, i still think they could do better with the editing to make it not look like that lol But for me the drunk acting was good though. I particularly like Jed's drunk acting, i think he did well (i watched their ig live after Ep. 5 aired, and it seems like they said they both did drink and got drunk a bit, especially Jed, he seemed to drink more compared to Ernie lol). Also, each episode really feels too short.

really love that you brought up the detail about the guesthouse name. non chinese speaker definitely will miss that detail, but thanks to you i gain some understanding about the meaning behind it and how it relates to the story.

it is as simple as 'i like this series so much that i even make a new account on MDL just to talk about it which i never done before but i want to do it because i want to leave nice comments about it'

let me put it simply for you, it is not some rocket science (surprise, surprise). let's say you go to a new restaurant or something, and then you try the dishes there and you like everything about it like the service, the place, the taste, the food, the price, etc. you think it is so good they deserve to get some rating or recognition somewhere, just to appreciate them, maybe in the google map or anything like that. so you go to their page, and give ratings, and leave nice comments. that's all.

like, also cut your crap about some conspiracy theory or something. your tone is annoying af. your statement was lowkey accusing people of things, based on YOUR own logic. and then you don't like it when people get offended lmao

for real lmao

in terms of storyline i think it all depends on whether or not you can handle slow pace and that this is not a very romance-centered storyline. this is a fantasy BL with themes like family and hometown (and the community in it). other than that, the acting, settings, OST i would say is well produced. just that sometimes the editing is a bit off but it is kinda minor for me.

yeah i think it hasn't been explained in details yet. but for haowei idk what his job was but i think his job was to ask people to invest in something, probably persuading them by saying stuffs that they will make a lot in return and all that, but seems like the thing that they invested in was a scam or it failed or something like that and people lost money. so technically haowei didn't really scam them but he was probably caught up in the middle for persuading them to invest in a scam/failed project.

for xiangyong idk what kind of contract or agreement he signed with his company, but basically i think his company was using him as a scapegoat for a failed project as well. i think there was a project maybe with a client or something, and that project failed, and they blame it on xiangyong saying he did something wrong that cause the project to fail so he must bear the losses. we do not know the details but that's kinda the gist of it.

but i do agree that the xiangyong situation kind of doesn't make sense. like, how can you easily make your employee sign some kind of bullshit contract/agreement with you where you can make them bear losses for something that i doubt is entirely only one employee's fault. i mean if it's a big project with huge responsibility, how come there is no supervisor or others to back up the work if things go wrong? how come only ONE person bears all the responsibility? so weird lol

you talk as if BL series only has to be centered 100% in the romance. which is... weird. you do know BL series can have other genres too right? not just romance? this one is a fantasy BL with theme such as family (father-son) and hometown. so the story is definitely not just centered in the romance. romance is a part of it, but it is not really the center or the main focus of it. the center is more about family and hometown (and all the people in it).

yes, for real. this part just doesn't make sense to me.

i mean, it is fantasy genre so there are some things that would not make sense. but if you noticed, when he xiangyong JUST changed into xiaoyou, the next morning, the scene with Li wanzhe at the town asking the others if they recognize he xiangyong, there was like some special effect on the screen like some distorted kind of view/lens or something like that. basically the fantasy elements make it so that he xiangyong does not look like he xiangyong to others (except li wanzhe). that special effect also appeared when he first talked to his dad as xiaoyou (the morning where haowei first appeared).

and i think his dad did try to search for him but since he xiangyong is an adult, well, his dad could just also think that he xiangyong just went somewhere because he needs time alone or something like that. i mean, they aren't really THAT close to tell each other everything so their lack of communication is indeed one of the issue between them tbh. i think they clearly highlight that on Ep. 5, about how the father and son barely tell each other things. also, i think it has just been a few days that he xiangyong disappeared, so it's not like he xiangyong has been away for weeks or month. and for the other people in that island, whether or not they even know he xiangyong disappear, we also don't know lol but anyway they also knew he xiangyong got fired so maybe even if they knew he xiangyong disappeared, they might also think that he just went away to have some time alone to think or whatever.

about his dad not consulting his son about selling the house, i think that is part of his character tbh. and also part of their relationship dynamic. again, if you notice, they do not have the best father son relationship. and sometimes a father from that boomer era might do stuffs like that tbh. they are more old-fashioned and stubborn. they like to do things their own way and solving things their own way before consulting first. idk if it is cultural things but i see a lot of asian parents acting like this, my own dad included lol it is not that he does not respect his son, it hurts him too to do that, but for him, he is doing that because he HAS to, that is his way of showing that he loves his son. that is the only thing he can personally do himself, to help. that is the only thing he thinks he can do, at least. even if he xiangyong was there to talk it out with him, i doubt it would make him change his mind unless he xiangyong can find ways to solve it, which so far i don't think he has any way to solve it, just like Li Wanzhe said. even if he xiangyong confronts his boss, what will happen then?

the only thing that does not make sense to me is how easily a company makes their employee owes them 5 million lol

yeah honestly their editing isn't the best, but so far it was still okay, but this time it was just too obvious lol and kinda ruin the flow. i was just so confused why would they edit it badly at such an important scene.

uh, wait are you saying Jed was supposed to be Haowei because Max Kuo has dimples like Jed? I don't think that's correct though, but do correct me if i'm wrong. I think Jed has always been supposed to play as He XiangYong. If you look at the ceremony they held before they started filming (where Teddy was still the cast), Max Kuo wasn't even there, but the younger He XiangYong (Chen Yen Hsu) has always been there. I also once saw a pic where Jed and Chen Yen Hsu took a picture side by side which means that they're probably both playing He XiangYong but i somehow cannot find the pictures now. and if i remember corectly i also saw Teddy taking some picture side by side with a younger looking cast too which i thought was supposed to be his younger version but again somehow i cannot find those pictures now.

i actually thought that Max Kuo was casted after they chose Ernie/Mengxuan as replacement, but this is just my assumption.

Ceremony pics: https://www.ftvnews.com.tw/news/detail/2025428W0406

and about some people not liking the main couple, most of them that i read are coming from international fans and i kinda doubt that the international fans even know about the recasting tbh. i mean probably some do know about the recast, but probably just a few. i don't think this series was that big internationally for many international viewers to be aware of the recast thing, unless they search up about the series.

maybe i'm just a person who just genuinely likes this series? people nowadays really just like to make a problem out of anything. is there rules that i cannot be writing a whole ass paragraphs here? i did not spoil anything and a lot of the things i write are more like general descriptions and vibes. it is already hard enough that on the international side there is not really a space for me to talk about this series. now i also cannot write comments about it on mdl too? fine then. i'll save my time. like, istg some of you people just have something negative to say. you do not like this comment? you can just scroll past. cause literally what harm did i do by writing this that you need to police it? and damn i DO wish the marketing team or PR department pays me or do more to promote it internationally.

I think some things really do come down to perspective, but i'm gonna share my perspective about why this series is worth it to watch.

This series feels a lot like reconnecting with the past, with people (family and friends), community, and even with yourself, so the storytelling is naturally quieter and more reflective. Xiangyong is basically 'retreating' back to his hometown where things slow down a bit, so he could reflect on the relationships, past or present, with the people around him that matters.

I personally don’t agree that the side characters are unnecessary. If anything, they add to the bigger picture. They feel like part of the world and the community, and they contribute to the story in their own way. Many of them play a role in helping Xiangyong realize his worth, even if it’s not obvious right away. And beyond just helping Xiangyong's character development/growth, I think they also do offer some perspectives that are unique to their characters, that add more layer to the story. Some conversations might seem like “nothing,” but they actually carry meaning when you look at the story as a whole.

As for the pacing, I think it’s intentionally slow. Just because it’s not fast-moving doesn’t mean nothing is happening, there’s a lot being built up emotionally and narratively. You just have to be patient and pick up on the subtleties. There is no grand revelations or anything like that yet, but I think they are building it up slowly. We’re still pretty early in the story, and there are clearly many things that haven’t been revealed yet.

Xiangyong’s arc so far is about feeling like he has no worth as Xiangyong so that he wishes to just disappear, and after the shooting star incident, he slowly starts to realize that people do see and recognize him, even in a different form. I think that’s kind of the point, he matters more than he thinks. The supernatural element might feel confusing at first, but for me it’s also quite symbolic. It’s a way to explore identity, self-worth, and how people can see you on a deeper level. Some people can just recognize you even in any kind of form. because on the inside you're still you.

But tbh, to me, the story is less about the supernatural and more about self-rediscovery, human connection, relationships, and self-reflection. That you are not alone in your struggles, that there are people around you that see you for who you are, and that having people around you can help you get through the struggles in life. His return to his hometown feels like a chance to pause, reconnect with the past and what he left behind, and realize he’s not as alone as he thinks.

It’s totally fine if it’s not everyone's cup of tea, maybe some people already have some kind of expectations about what this series is gonna be, and turns out it's not like what they expect, so maybe some are disappointed. But i think that doesn't take away from the value of the series itself at all. For me personally, it’s doing exactly what it sets out to do, just in a quieter, more subtle, and meaningful way.

In the end, I would suggest people should just watch it for themselves, and if you cannot wait because of the slow pace, it's also okay to wait until more episodes come out. Story aside, the acting and cinematography and all the places are just very good, also the OST are also very good. It is a god production, all the places feels lived in, like a real place in a real neighbourhood, they manage to capture that really well. So, yeah, i would say, just give it a try and see for yourself.

Note: If you watch ALL the trailers (yes they have several versions of the trailers), you can already tell there’s still so much more to uncover. There are scenes hinting at deeper struggles that haven’t been explained yet, like Xiangyong sitting alone on a bridge as if he’s contemplating to..... jump? Idk. There is also a scene where he falls into the water. Also Haowei diving and seemingly drowning underwater, then holding some kind of stone. It clearly suggest there’s more going on beneath the surface. So I feel like the story is clearly building toward something, and a lot of what seems unclear right now will make more sense later as things unfolds.