spunkless

Finally finished it after putting the last two episodes off for whatever reason. I really wanted to like it, considering that it was filmed in Kaohsiung, this big city in Taiwan that, despite being so clean and so beautiful, just seemed to be devoid of people.

The main weakness is the screenplay. It lacks that "umph" factor that can reel in an audience and keep them hooked. I could even rank it among the worst I've seen from Taiwan. The most questionable element in the screenplay is the character of Orca himself, who seems to be just a pretty face squeezed into the story to make the Thai investors happy. If his character was eliminated from the script, it would literally not affect the flow of things in any way 😂

The production value was really good though, including the cinematography, production design, editing, makeup and hair (except those godAWFUL extensions!), and costumes. They were all topnotch. But these things were not tied well because of the godawful story. I wish they could have hired a better screenwriter. To be honest I felt like they composed that soundtrack first (which is a BANGER, by the way), and then just built a story around it.

6/10

Can we talk about the cinematography work here. It's breathtaking! Especially in these three scenes: 1) Qi Lu and Qin Xiao's trip to the zoo / 2) Qi Lu and Qin Xiao stuck in the supplies room / 3) Qi Lu and Qin Xiao's first kiss

is the story really that hard to follow or are the Gagaoolala subs just terrible? lol I watched the entire ep. 1 without understanding a thing, except for the fact that the two main leads are stepbrothers

Good effort overall. Definitely not the best out there, but it was charming nonetheless.
Jaebin's screen presence is really good and magnetic, he should consider acting in more productions.

Hirukawa has such a gripping effect on me, he's just so good looking!!! 😭 I cannot stop staring at him throughout each episode, I don't even notice Minase sometimes lol

with that being said, i think this is the first JBL where I can't bear waiting a WHOLE WEEK for an episode to drop!!

the actress playing Xiaorui was also the producer of this drama??! 😱

can't complain about the kiss because it was so beautifully filmed. and we have to take into consideration that this is a mainland China series, even the straight C-dramas (at least from what I've seen) don't do those wet sloppy kisses we've been accustomed to

I knew I saw him from somewhere! He's definitely Kao's deadringer!

It is readily implied in the drama. What novel? This drama is original work.

it was his ex bf that's why tan yin walked out when he saw it

This is one of the major misconceptions of the west about China, that everyone in China is straight, lmao. ISTG they are just as wild and open as those in America. only difference is that they don't receive the same rights and recognition

I loved the still life room scene at the end of ep 3. the blue lighting with yellow flashes, paired with that ambient music, highlighting the intensity between the two boys who were very close to crossing each other's lines... it was so good.

i felt that The Spirealm was more of a bromance, haven't finished it though.

^^This! How can we encourage more LGBT productions from China if we're just going to boycott? Even though the BL market in China is growing, its sadly dominated by overseas productions. In fact, over the past 3 years I think only "Stay with Me" and "In Your Heart" were the only local BL productions to come out of China

i find it strange though that he learned how to speak so fast lol. unless he only became deaf later in life, I can understand that

I am not watching S2 if Xubin and Jiongmin won't be in it. THEY made Season 1. I'm afraid this will end up as another Addicted Thailand.

man, people in MDL are definitely NOT fans of time skips lol. this is like the fourth comment section where I've seen people endlessly complaining about it

All of those questions are not actually answered in Ep. 3-4. We will have to watch the remaining episodes to find out. Hwang Daseul is like this, she likes to leave out some key details and let her audience figure things out, and then explain everything in the last few eps. It's her own way of adding suspense.

if I focus too hard, I can trick my mind into believing that Orca doesn't have those fugly extensions on his head. And you know what, he looks wayyyyyyy better without them.

The teams behind this drama and the movie are completely unrelated, am I right? they just coincidentally decided to adapt the same novel at the same time?