BadPenny

Mandee doesn't care. They got their money already. Meanwhile, this was a massive waste of everyone's time.

Nope

I am here with you the whole way and I get everything you've sad. This drama is painful to watch. Brava! (Bravo? Don't know your pronouns)

I am finally really FEELING Nuea/Syn, too. So in season 2 I am hoping we get more of them. I am assuming this mess will cliffhanger and a season 2 is in the works.

Kuea is not the one with the toxic relationship tactics. He's the one trapped by them.

Kuea's been failing to trust due to his insecrities. Lian has been failing to trust as a symptom of his need to control Kuea. And... The grooming they both underwent while young to facilitate this marriage--both sets of parents are FAIL.

I don't even think Kuea went about things in a childish way. I think he went about things like someone who has had their world turned on its ear and doesn't know quite how to handle it right. Which, he's 20. I think that's pretty normal.

He was given away to a man he's finding he can't trust and as you said, everyone is telling him to behave. Which only reinforces that the parts of himself that he hides are unwelcome. Unwanted. But as I mentioned weeks ago in a review, that kind of double existence can really tear a person apart and in the end, the combination of pressures have left Kuea feeling ultimately unworthy.

So I really felt bad for Kuea, but I also felt that refusing the proposal was the right thing to do. Lian had to be INSANE to think that with all of their unresolved issues and the web of deceit he'd woven and the secrets Kuea was keeping that pressuring Kuea into accepting marriage by proposing in a public venue with none of Kuea's family was a good idea.

I am always astounded just how bad Lian is at being a good partner for Kuea. Kuea, on his own, does just fine. But with Lian he's a wreck. I've never seen two characters less suited to be together.

Kuea's not in the wrong here. Kuea has been groomed into adulthood under the idea that he's meant to be with Lian and yet he has no idea who Lian wanted in a spouse. So along with hiding his music, taste in cars/bikes and his college major from his parents, he's also hid it from Lian. This isn't a big crime. It just means he's holding back the part of himself he thinks exempts him from being loved. And we all do that sometimes.

He's allowed to have a part of his life he doesn't share. This isn't an indictment on his character, it's a sign he has trust issues.

And Lian's infantilization and toxic handling of Kuea has only reinforced those insecurities and trust issues. Kuea was literally forced out of his home into Lian's. And told his ability to go places and do things depends on how well he behaves. How is that meant to help him trust that he'll be respected and accepted for all of his parts? It's not.

Lian knew all along about Kuea's insecurities, about Kirin and the entire rest of the parts of himself that Kuea hides, and yet doesn't say anything the whole season? This is not only noxious and manipulative, it's also deeply unfair of Lian. He's literally treated their entire relationship like a test. And Kuea keeps failing without ever knowing he's even being tested until the moments before Lian actually proposes without them ever having worked through anything. In public? In a room full of people Kuea doesn't know or trust. Without his family present.

I legit was relieved Kuea turned Lian down because until Lian gets over how he treats Kuea, he doesn't deserve him.

Kuea, on his own, has shown he's capable of maintaining school, a home and a music career on the side. Hell, the world is full of experienced adults that never manage that. But Lian drops into his atmosphere and his confidence fails, his determination vanishes and it's like Kuea becomes a deconstructed child .

This show wasted tons of real estate doing nothing with the plot until the last minute. And now suddenly things are unfolding with so much left that I can't see a way for it to conclude in a satisfying way. My suspicion is that this season will end on a cliffhanger where Kuea or Lian one are injured and this all will need a season 2 in order to resolve it.

As for Yi and Diao... That's a rant for another day. That's some very not good shit happening there.

Riri, when this all started not only did I not care about Nuea and Syn, I actively did not get them. Eventually I liked Nuea, but not Syn. And then I was like, okay, I see what they're doing with these two.

Now I am like "THANK FUCK! It's a Syn and Nuea moment." They have literally become the break I need between awful scenes with the other characters.

The accidental kiss thing was silly but cute. As tropes go it's harmless. The real kiss that followed was very sexy/cute. But honestly, I wish it hadn't happened in the middle of a fucking bar.

However, I had to genuinely laugh when Syn was like MoreMoreMore. Boy's a natural.

YES! Episode 1 I was on here going "MJLsdfjklsdfjkl;! That is some class A abuse going on right there. It's not romantic! It's toxic as fuck." And well, you recall the hysterics some people went into. I think I ended up blocking 4 people that week, for their own good.

And here we are episode 11 and now with the judicious application of dog, salty noodles and dick, Diao is happily brainwashed into believing that adult humans should allow their lovers to designate curfews.

I am making a formal prediction.

*drumroll*

This will have a season 2. Season 1 will end on a cliffhanger with nothing resolved and one of them being carted off in an ambulance.

No, you read it right. I laughed. And was like "Hey asshole. How's that strategy for manipulating Kuea working out for you?"

Hahahah Best thing to happen the WHOLE series.

Sure. If I ever find the secret to time travel, there's room in my TARDIS for you too, hon.

Naw, they'd be like "Man, time travel just to avoid Cutie Pie? That shit must be some absolute shit."

Yeah, it was garbage. My final parting thought on the episode was "Why are you crying at his refusal, Lian. You could have prevented this scenario from taking place at any one of a hundred moments in the story. This one is all on you."

ROFL. What a mess. And as for Diao, all I gotta say is when I told my hubby about the fuckwittery of Diao's curfew, he said "oh, you'd have cut a bitch." My man knows me so well.

Yeah, that is a "Holy FUck it's 1890" moment. This show has set a new bar for awful and I am not at all sure what to do with that. Because it did it in all the most gross ways.

Awww... DM me if you need to talk.

Pffft. Hahahahaha! That's right. Lian is more the barefoot and pregnant type of daddy. I forgot that Kuea can't even go out unless "He's behaved himself".

Oh no! No problem. I was just assuring you we're not all blind to it. You're good, hon.

Naw, bro I'd have taken you with me too. The more people to convince our past selves, the better.

No one should come at you, hon. But if they do, there are several folks here keep to help out.

The whole drama for me bounces between creepy, cringeworthy and boring as fuck. So I feel you.

Nice. And I cant blame him. Nuea is hot.

Now, now. A dog. THEN salty noodles. Then sex with pink lighting.

Lian's problem isn't the web of lies or his control issues. It's that he boned Kuea in the wrong order. ;DDDD