BadPenny

I hear you Mash-mallow. I wish I could drop it but now I'm doing a review series on it and I plan on leaving one whopper of a final official review, for which I need to have seen the whole damn series. My friends and I are also running bets about how shitty or crazy the plot is going to get and we keep getting out-crazied by the actual plot. I mean... This latest episode features a delusion of Kuea's where Lian is a vampire, cape and all.

It's batshit.

For people watching it without the context of the novels, a lot of the characterizations are batshit crazy. So I get you.

Who on earth is hating on Cutie Pie to "benefit their favorite actor or series"? There are so many legit reasons to hate on the show I seriously doubt that's going through anyone's head. I mean seriously, point me to a post here. I gotta see this.

Hey, if they made a show I liked, I would be expounding on how sweet or fun or clever it was. That I'm hating on Cutie Pie just means it's given me so much to work with in that direction. LOL

Glad the reviews are bringing you 'round here.

Yeah, see, he's not less controlling and manipulative, he's just approaching it from a more relaxed standpoint since he now has Kuea right where he wants him.

It's no less gross of him than previous weeks. Just a different flavor of gross.

We're also in a dry spell right now with the rest of the BL choices being weird too. I'm hoping the premier of a few new ones will herald in a bit of refreshingly decent choices.

Werd dude. As bullshit crazy as this last episode's plot was, it was still somehow a total snore. I am not even sure how they managed to mix crazy and boring together.

He looks like he might have grown up as an actor, a bit.

Did NOT like Joon in 2 Moons 2. But this looks pretty good so I'll give it a try.

I heard from a friend who read the novels recently, that the drama's handling of the tones in the relationship isn't anything close to the book's. So your opinion is noted, but disregarded--not that I ever cared how close the drama was to the book. I'm not even sure why that was an argument you employed.

Nor do I care if you're tired of reading that I find several characters toxic. You can always not read my posts. That's a you choice. You are literally as free to disregard my opinions as I am to disregard yours.

Also, the relative popularity of something has NOTHING to do with its quality. There are tons of things that are popular that suck on principle. I can list several but how the fuck to even choose from a list that long? And without voices of dissent, no media standards get changed. So just consider that I'm dissenting. You aren't expected to agree.

As for explaining my stance, well, I already tried explaining why the kiss in episode 2 was non-consensual and exactly zero of the people who already thought it was sexy/cute got my or anyone else's explanations. If people didn't understand my explanation of consent, why would I think for a second my explanation of toxic relationship dynamics would be understood? Likewise, if you can't figure out on your own why this show is toxic, me explaining it to you isn't going to help.

Okay, I had to sit on this review and really think. Because this episode was like some enormous zoo mammal ate 500 jigsaw puzzles, downed a horse cart of hallucinogenics and then shit everything out in one giant, steaming pile of incoherent sludge.

First, I thought from the previews that this episode was going to take a sharp left at Albuquerque and suddenly start on the redemption arc for Lian and Yi that some people think is so worth waiting for (or at all plausible at this point). And no, I wasn't expecting much. Just some lifted rugs and some big brooms sweeping away all Lian and Yi's bullshit, and someone showing up with a neurolizer from MIB to erase all our memories of the crap these two have pulled up to this point.

But, Uh no. The show writers decided for a different tactic. This show surprised me with its "reeducation" campaign. It didn't skip the toxic behavior and move Lian right into acting like a reasonable human being, no the show just doubled down on finding new ways to try to convince the audience that his manipulative, toxic behaviors are relatable, cute, funny and at times even sexy. I think we're meant to suddenly view everything leading up to this episode as some dramatic overture to a fun romance instead of the train wreck of manipulation, control issues, unwholesome power dynamics, hypocrisy, de-legitimization and infantilism that culminated in the two abusive lead relationships.

In case I've never actually said so, Fuck This Show.

It picks up in Lian's bland as fuck bedroom where he was...ugh...being himself. "We must sleep together." Is it any wonder that this show makes my stomach do weird shit that is not okay? Why are we meant to think it's funny for Lian to wind up the junior he forced to move in with him against his will?

Lian is smarmy-creepy right from the onset of this ep. Dude, no. Lemme be frank, that smirk is a registered trademark of the International Motion Picture Villain's Association.

I sat watching this and yelling a Kuea to stop stomping his feet like a fucking pissy Disney princess and leave. Not that Lian would let him leave for good. We all know this. That's sort of how Kuea ended up in this mess to begin with.

This whole scene was stupid. So...So...stupid. Kuea stop threatening to break off the engagement and just tell him to fuck off and die in a fire. Then start a real fire, burn the stupid plushies and go to your own personal flat. Change the security pass-code while you're at it.

I had a really long, really detailed review I was about 3/4 of the way done with. But it was so long and I was so exhausted from this stupid, awful show. So I set it aside and went for what served as brevity instead. The same people saying "Give it a chance, it's too early to judge" at 1/4 of the way through are still saying the same thing nearly halfway through the series. And nothing has gotten at all better. IN fact Lian is somehow slimier. We're going to be 3/4 of the way through and the same people are going to be saying "It's too early to pass judgement."

Nope. This show is trash. It was trash the first 1/4. It's been trash the second. And at this point without a complete personality transplant nothing they do with Lian could redeem what he's done so far. So it's going to end up trash the whole way through the show because we all know they're just going to hand wave it all away.

Plus, loopy lulu as this episode was, it was somehow ALSO boring as fuck. How you make something crazy and dull at the same time is an utter mystery to me. But hats off to the creators for that impossible little cocktail.

I will say, the sound editor gave it his all. He really, really tried to convince us this was all meant to be funny. But after 4 previous episodes of textbook toxic manipulation, the stabs at comedy were just awkward and out of place and the sexy or funny music/cutesy-humorous-SFX were unconvincing.

From the bedroom scene onward, it went downhill in strange ways that I could tell were meant to be lighthearted but which totally weren't. There is a big difference between a show 'trying' to be funny and a show actually being funny.

The vampire scene was obviously a stress induced hallucination. Or else Kuea needs to avoid eating or drinking anything in the house because Lian is having him drugged. Which would be on brand, considering all the other lengths Lian is going to.

Kuea's mom talking to Lian told me exactly what kind of shitty parents Kuea has and they were using Lian as much as Lian was using them, both having the same goal of wanting Kuea controlled--for different reasons of course. Lian just apparently thinks it's how romances work and Kuea's parents simply want to offload the job onto literally anyone they can.

Problem is, Kuea doesn't need to be controlled. Though someone does need to teach him how to use a fucking Keurig machine. (Kuea, hey dumb-ass. You have the internet on that small, handheld computer known as a cell phone. FUCKING LOOK UP HOW TO USE THE COFFEE MACHINE!)

I did feel Yi got some weirdly effective layering of his personality, just from his actor's performance. He still sucks. He's still absolutely not cable of participating in a relationship in a safe or sane way. The entire thing where Yi ignores Diao's blatant body language that says Diao didn't want him to touch him? Oh, someone's mommy never told him to use his words not his hands. But at least we know it's not just malignant aggression without some kind of addressable source.

And Jay somehow manages to get worse every episode. It's impressive, almost. A friend of mine points out he's worth watching for his man titties. I have to disagree. I ALMOST think Perth's man titties are worth putting up with Jay's crap. But not quite.

Nuea was at once better and also just as weird as he's been. I am not sure what to do with Syn still. The two of them still feel mostly superfluous.

Those who feel shy or uneasy or in the minority for thinking this show has some serious problems with its approach to toxic characterization--don't feel that way. You are absolutely correct. Honestly, it's going to be a struggle to finish this little nightmare so I can properly roast it in a full review once it's finished releasing.

I think what bothers me most is that the further we go, the more "kept bird, happy in their cage" that Kuea is written. When he was first presented he was silly, but he was someone who was a capable artist and adult who was managing a double life, a creative existence full of adventure and his college career. Now he's presented as a stupid and incompetent child in need of taking care of for his own good. It's disturbing. It's painfully inconsistent and it's lame.

I am not feeling this CP at all.

It's very toxic. And the problem consistently has been that the show employs the toxic behavior in ways that indicates it's supposed to be charming or romantic component, not a toxic flaw in personalities that legitimately needs addressed.

And it's not too soon to call the show on this problem. People have been saying "it's too soon to judge it, it's too soon. It's bloody well almost halfway through. that's not too soon to call out the toxic components in the storytelling.

having people do bad stuff can be part of solid character growth, when it's portrayed as a flaw. But when it's portrayed as part of a character's appeal there's literally no where for them to go.

I love his acting! In everything I've seen him in he was very entertaining.

The thing is, what Lian "wants" doesn't ever trump what Kuea wants. It doesn't matter if he wants to see Kuea more if Kuea wants nothing to do with him. Kuea has that right. And it's that intrinsic right to say "no" that is being most trampled on. If Lian wanted to make something up to Kuea, he should be using words, instead of manipulating the situation to cage Kuea in the same house with him. So, I am not convinced that Lian is at all a decent person.

That being said, I totally agree with you about Golden Blood. I only saw two eps of it as I was in the middle of a long comic art contract and by the time I had free moments to watch it, I was already watching other stuff. But from what I saw the power dynamics in that show were WAY out of balance. So there was literally no way for the relationship to be healthy.

agreed. Age gaps are less weird when you get a lot older, like between someone who is 40 and someone who is 50. But when you are still very young, age gaps create power dynamics. And their relationships have enough problems in those areas already

Tharntype was more toxic but less creepy. Objectively, I think the primary difference is that in Tharntype most (though not all) of the toxic behavior was framed as unhealthy, whereas in this the creepy, controlling behavior is contextualized as part of the "charm" of the romance. Now, that's my opinion and everyone has their own.

Neither show demonstrated healthy relationships between the leads. But at least in Tharntype the relationship problems weren't contextualized as "cute" or "romantic" or "comedic".

A lot of people are asking how this controlling, awful behavior is labeled as cute. There's nothing wrong with a flawed character that makes mistakes. That gives things dynamic room for growth. But when the level of "flaws" in one half of the couple scream destructive narcissism and the character on the other side has given up, it's not entertaining, it's pretty unappealing. And when the framing of the flaws suggests that it's meant to be seen as romantic, well... Newp.

I am sticking around so that at the end I have all the pieces to give a thorough review of this wreck. And that's really the only reason I'm sticking around.

OKay, week before last I said this show was a burning trash fire. And that was maybe not quite accurate. I rushed into judgement and didn't spend much time addressing specific moments within the drama.

My bad.

I was being too generous. This show is an enormous, raging, toxic trash fire the size of a Manhattan city block. This show is right up there with "Secret Crush On You", which I can't even form words to describe and am therefore at a loss to even review--for the moment.

Lian could write a book on de-legitimization, head games, toxic control tactics and obsession. He damn near ticks off every warning sign in the "Signs you are in an abusive relationship" pamphlets we passed out in the E.R. back when I was in nursing.

Episode 3 ended with Lian barging into Kuea's room and demanding he move in with him, while cementing it by having gone behind Kuea's back to manipulate the entire situation like the escapee from a psychological thriller that he is. So I was prepared for that whole pile of steaming crap and ignored warning signs.

Kuea's parents are more interested in helping shove him into the arms of Lian than they are in being good parents. And that's probably exactly the problem. They think parenting equals controlling your child. But man, that takes a lot of work so they've handed "controlling" Kuea over to Lian. Why not, he gets off on it.

Standing in the room he literally broke into (and then REFUSED to leave when told to) he tells Kuea "be more reasonable". Says the asshole who hired people to investigate his fiance and seems mono-focused on stopping Kuea from making his own choices about his life. What in fuck's name does Lian know about reasonable?

Absolutely nothing.

I gotta say, even Ghiradelli hot cocoa was not enough to ease this episode down. Nope, this one way ticket to crazy-town kept impressing me with how bad it could get. After the non-con kiss I did not think they were going to so easily top themselves for shittiest thing to do in the first third of the drama's season. But I have to admit I was wrong.

So, so wrong.

I underestimated the writer(s). This episode we were given such lovely moments as Lian forcing Kuea to move in with him against his will, Lian watching Kuea cry in the car because he didn't want to be forced to give up his freedom and move in with the person who said they did not love him and were only marrying him because they had promised his grandfather (and Lian just rolling with it and not turning the car around because, let's be honest, he's the villain of the piece) and Lian taunting his supposed best friend into "checking up" on Diao by playing on his insecurities and obviously unhealthy fixation on Diao the moment Yi actually sounded like he was giving the first decent relationship advice Lian has probably ever heard.

Oh! And let's not forget the real icing on the shit cake that is Lian. Knowing that Kuea wanted to break off the engagement and was only at his house under duress, Lian didn't give Kuea his own room. No, no. Of course not! That would seem sympathetic and maybe even the least bit reasonable. And we can't have that. No, Lian tells Kuea that he is meant to stay in Lian's room, like the enormous creep that Lian is. Because obviously when Kuea's mother gave permission for Lian to have Kuea move in she was totally aware Lian was going to force him to share the same bed. Yeah. Sure.

No one can say that Lian isn't a full service freak. He's got all the corners covered. If I were the sort of person who liked sociopaths I'd have to admire his multitasking.

"I hope that my plan to straighten him out will work" Yeah Lian, because the artist who is just taking the college major he wants and creating music on the side and racing his bike needs "straightened out". (Sarcasm)

Or we could look at straightening you out, since you're the control freak trying to deconstruct someone's life so it fits the narrative you want for them. But I forgot, whomever is on the top is the one who's always "right" in cringe-worthy BL's of this sort. Ugh. Thanks for nothing Workpoint TV.

Diao had a special moment with the kids that looked like this part of his life had potential. Very telling that he keeps it secret from Yi. And the fact that Diao was too worried about avoiding Yi to accompany his best friend on what would be one of his last days before having his entire life dominated by Lian says everything about Diao's relationship with Yi that I've been saying all along.

And Kuea was tragic. I mean, no wonder he caved. With his parents siding with the person basically vying for the opportunity to lock him away except for when he's in school? I'd feel overwhelmed and defeated too. This whole situation is pretty sickening and that wasn't more evident than in the moment when Kuea is telling his social media contact that he wouldn't be making music content any time soon. He's basically having to gut his existence because Lian is a controlling dick who treats him like he isn't entitled to make his own choices.

The surprise this ep was that even though Yi is just as big a creep as I said he was, he's a completely different flavor of creep. He's still pathologically controlling. He's still doing nasty shit like checking up on Diao, following him, maintaining that noose-hold. It's still very nauseatingly awful. But we actually see this ep that there's a specific mechanism that needs addressing, a traumatic event, and if that were to happen Yi MIGHT in time be less of a creep. That is, if he also got a new best friend instead of letting Lian manipulate him and wind him up like he does everyone else. In the mean time, Diao needs gotten the hell away from Yi.

I am not sure what to think about Nuea. The invasion of Sin's personal space in a threatening manner and the fact that he's planning to pursue Kuea... He's not looking great either. Although compared to Lian and Yi he's coming out smelling like roses. Sin himself I can't get a read on yet. But there's backbone there that I like. The friend group though... WTF guys. Someone leans up all threatening in ya boy's space and you sit there like you're all stupid? Whatever.

And Jay. Wow. He actually gave Kuea some useful guidance. Which was then entirely overshadowed by the fact that the reason he's doing it is to keep his big crowd draw coming in on the regular. So yeah, thanks Jay for just finishing off the Trifecta of assholes in Kuea's life right now. Bravo.

I didn't get this review out until tonight because I have been sick in bed all week. To cut it short and sweet, episode 4 didn't leave me with high hopes for tomorrow's #5. This ep somehow managed to take Lian's creep factor and increase it. I think the absolute only decent thing this ep was seeing Diao with the kids and the whole bike ride--which was atmospheric and lovely amid all of the very not good.

Apparently between this, Enchente and Secret Crush On You, it's the season of the sickeningly manipulative romantic leads.

Yeah, Gen Y 2 was a ride. Still not done over there. I've just been out sick for a couple days.