BadPenny

I don't get the Nuea/Kuea thing. It genuinely confuses me. And I also am not sure why Sin was suddenly attracted to Nuea.

Leaving a bad taste in my mouth was the exact way I phrased it when I popped over here two weeks ago. And it's everything you say it is and more.

And one of the big problems is that people look at these fictional relationships and actually admire them. Like them. Think they're cute. And so more dramas like this get made that trivialize this kind of obsessive behavior.

Let me tell you how these relationships really end. And Null09, I apologize for the length of this post.

Years ago I was in nursing. Before ending up in Neuro I was in the ER. We treated this one woman who later (when she could speak again) said her lover had never been violent before. But from the very beginning he kept taking control of her choices. First it was refusal to respect her physical boundaries. Then he was taking control of whether she was allowed to break up with him. From there he had control of where she lived, what her hobbies were and eventually what friends/family she was allowed to speak to. Even what she was allowed to wear.

This should sound familiar. Most of these are right there on Lian's greatest hits track, and we're just 4 episodes in.

She was brought to us via air lift still pinned to a section of her kitchen floor with a butcher knife through her neck. They'd had to cut the floor out and bring it with her because the knife was embedded so deeply into the wood. She had 8 other knife wounds.

He'd never been violent before, but he brutally attacked her the day she got up and seriously tried to leave him.

This shit is just a drama? Sure. This shit is also part of the fabric of what we see and experience and the context matters. And this show's context tells everyone that this crap is cute. It's romantic. We're supposed to laugh at their silly antics. We're supposed to watch it and forget that it's firmly classified as dangerous behavior by law enforcement, women's health professionals and everyone who intersects with abuse victim advocacy and treatment.

And sure, the writers are going to weave some half-assed polish on this manure ball that will "make it all okay because Lian isn't really bad". But it normalizes and makes cute all the signs that mean danger. All the signs we should be internalizing as a warning. And honestly, that's disgusting.

So I get it. I agree with you. Don't watch more of this. And if you have the time and can bring yourself to do it, send a note off to the people who made this trash. I guarantee this isn't the only place I'm sharing my viewpoints on this show.

OMFG! I know! That broke me and JayDeeJay. I was yelling at the screen "Just turn the car around and you might be able to be redeemed!" But no, he doubled down on the psycho control issues and forced Kuea to stay in the same room with him. Which, I gotta be honest, was revolting. It literally was enough to make my stomach churn.

Juljr doesn't like it when people express strong opinions on this show. Don't mind them.

That sounds insane. But... Oddly, less insane than everything else.

I'm not relying on any book information, though. If they don't spell it out in the drama it's not useful to the folks watching the drama.

I get you. I would drop it too but I feel like I need the whole tamale in order to give a proper review at the end of the series. So I unfortunately sticking with it.

I may need ulcer medication before I'm done.

Hitting the high points with panache, as always. I agree with everything you said, including your assessment of the best part of the episode.

Yi still is way, way out of bounds. Still very creepy. But it comes from at least a place where he can work towards being better.

Not so with Lian. Who just threw out the "I need to at least appear like I'm not a psycho" script, and just went for broke.

They can't be worse than the main two couples. And at this point that's all we've got. So yay third couple? Not a fan of enemies to lovers either, unless it's handled very carefully.

Lian's behavior is so very, very disgusting. I was watching it with a friend (because I really can't stomach watching it alone) and we were both just appalled that Kuea never just cements the end of the engagement. He needs to. The longer he's under Lian's thumb the harder it will be to get free.

It a nasty, awful ride. I've gotten 1/3 of the way through and so am going to finish this monstrosity just to have the tools I need to leave a thorough, long review at the very end. But it's really a waste of production values.

They doubtless will brush it under the rug later. I'm not holding out for them actually addressing it.

It's the only reason to watch. And we didn't get almost any of their friendship moments this ep. We got Diao too scared of Yi to spend time with Kuea.

Yi is still an enormous creep. Like... He fucking let Lian wind him up about where Diao was and ended up FOLLOWING HIM. But I'll grant you, he's now coming of as much less of a creep than Lian is. And that's a bit of a surprise. Not that it's hard to be LESS of a creep than Lian.

I get you. It's legitimately creepier this episode and I did not think that was gonna happen.

And now I'm not sure what's creepier, characters like Lian or the fact that some people think it's cute.

Nope, I was not lying. I have been trying to figure out how to even begin reviewing that show. It's just....Unbelievable. I honestly did not think I'd ever see a BL where they'd make stalking someone the "cute" thing to do. I was apparently very fucking wrong.

This is true. We focused a lot on Lian and Yi, but they're hardly the only creeps in the show.

Yeah, this show is really just lining up the bad shit and checking it off the list. I cringe to thing what they're going to come up with next.

Lian and Yi both are extremely problematic. You are not alone in feeling uneasy, creepy vibes coming from them.

If he said it while still drunk than it falls under the same umbrella as drunk decisions like stripping in public, pissing against walls, and going home with strangers to have inadvisable sex "because they wanted to". Drunk people "Want" to do all manner of thing they wouldn't do while sober.

There is a reason consent requires, by law, for people to be sober.

That doesn't make it any less awful in BL's. I watch mostly gay dramas and BL's. So that's what I am specifically addressing in my posts. No one is claiming it's not a problem in media in general. I've seen booze ads pulled for making rape jokes in their campaign.

We are addressing the specific impact of this behavior in dramas that represent the gay community, of which I am a member.

Damn, that's one helluva mic drop. Truest words.