John Master

If an episode hops onto a treadmill, will any forward progress ensue? Or does the walking motion disguise the fact the story is stagnant? In any event, Kidnap has two stories: the romance. The crime story. In ep 6, one story walked on the treadmill. The other, moved ahead into a new space.

Well said. And perhaps the phrase "so bad, it's good" applies here as well.

This series comes across like a BL sketch show. No actual story. Just a bunch of scenes designed to appeal to fans of the genre. And like any sketch show, the formula yields mixed results. Some scenes land. Some miss. Some leave viewers scratching their head and asking "What was that supposed to be?" I keep tuning in though. They must be doing something right.

"...all that confetti has been swept into a nice little pile."

At first blush, I think you meant this as a kind of compliment. Suggesting the writers managed to pull things together that had seemed "scattered." After all, confetti in the air signifies fun and celebration and exuberance. Once on the ground, however, the moment of joy has passed, and those colorful bits of shredded paper are really just incipient trash waiting to be....um....swept into a nice little pile. For disposal. So, wait--this series is a pile of garbage?

Thus, on second blush, that line reads as a most backhanded compliment. Which, to be fair, is kind of in keeping with the tone of the whole comment. It's basically saying, "this series is an indefensible piece of slop, but, golly, I am having a great time anyway--no apologies for that!"

Now that I think about, even Netflix "original" k-dramas do not get released all at once. Unlike most other Netflix originals. (Watch all of Heartstoppers S3 in one sitting if you wish!) That schedule mimics the broadcast schedule in Korea. But most K-BLs stream. No broadcast. So, why not all at once?

Is there a business case (on YouTube) for dribbling out a solitary 10 min episode once per week for seven weeks versus releasing all seven episodes in one day (Netflix style, all at once)?

Point taken. Well played.

In my first reading, I thought "they" referred to writers setting the scene rather than the characters acting it out,

I have no doubt Ohm enjoyed those Euro cakes. Looking at his physique, it is clear the only time he permits himself a junk food cheat is when he is actually on camera. Gotta enjoy those empty calories when the opportunity knocks.

Me? I bought the big red Christmas tin of Costco Euro Cookies in SEPTEMBER. The first one, i mean. More, sure to follow.

Respect to a director who gets Ohm shirtless and yet skips the opportunity for the camera to linger on that stunning torso. Indicates character and story more important than cheesecake shots just for the sake of cheesecake.

Or is Ohm better described as beefcake?

Maintaining facade of a real kidnapping is kind of irrelevant since Dad knows where son is and thinks he is safer with Min than at home.

The Distraction: the eye sees three posts. The brain assumes multiple commenters. Reading happens. The brain must reconcile a faulty expectation against actual reality. The process of revision diverts attention from processing the substance of those posts, which was the original point of reading them. The comment bespeaks the momentary (and trifling) confusion created in my own brain.

What you perceive as some kind of attack or criticism is nothing more than a description of how I encountered your comments. Personally, I would have used the edit button to add belated thoughts. You adopted a different strategy. The phrase "how you had that whole conversation with yourself" owes more to that difference in style (edit original versus tack on) than to any sense one way is better than the other. Frankly, I found the trio of comments rather charming. Which is both why I replied and liked them. So far, I might add, the only reader to have clicked the heart for your words today.

Edit: someone else came along subsequently. Hearts for both of us!

I think I agree with every questionable, bemusing thing you called out. If I sound uncertain, it's because I am thoroughly distracted by how you had that whole conversation with yourself.

That flourish stood out to me. Out of nowhere, it was.

Kuhn Shy Serial Slayer: the Series.

Yeah. I'd watch that one.

This sort of show MUST have stupid gangster people. Otherwise, the "good guys" would be eliminated within three episodes.

The gangsters have no monopoly on Stupid, though. Joke (and his henchman) need to quit signing his name on walls.

I write reviews too. The worst sin you can commit is to point out deficiencies in a work someone else sees as flawless. To offer a grace note to the individual above, the issue described (downvoting) does exist. To assume any one person's contrary opinion fits that profile, however, reasons ahead of facts.

On the off chance you still want a forum to gripe about how this series ended, please see today's video from Thai BL YouTube channel, which ranks the last year's Taiwanese BLs. I was going to keep silent, but the Comments section was so rapturous for TOO that I had to chime in. Cantankerous of me, I know. But I'm old. It's allowed. At the very least, please track down my comment (same username) and leave a like, so that I dont have to be a hating crackpot all on my own.

https://youtu.be/en2rAPivlFA?si=zc_s8_xQjXo_bUzD

Belated replies to Friday's comments:

"But all of a sudden Tian was proclaiming his willingness to 'wait'."

I also thought that dialog was off. I am less rosy about Tian than you. Based on when he manifested signs of having fallen for the New Boy, I think it was a narrative mistake for him to keep his feelings unvoiced. Perhaps the writers were too slavish in following the novel? Tian was observant about Wang, it would have felt more plausible for him to detect Wang's discomfort and perhaps defuse it before Wang self-immolated during the exam. For me, his failure to confess indicates his own struggle with internal homophobia, which makes my take on the character harsher (?) than yours.

"I've come to a much greater recognition of my yearning for the most angsty, painful, dramatic, excruciating, even horrifying developments in the fiction I partake of, from novels to plays to movies; no matter the medium."

I began watching during Lockdown. BL (and K-drama) was pure escapism. My 2020 brain disengaged from intellectual analysis of entertainment. I was just along for the ride and quite content with the genre's penchant for empty-headed fluffiness. Somewhere around the time Lovely Writer and Cutie Pie were airing, my brain reengaged. (The sheer awfulness purveyed by one of those two led my intellect to conclude it would no longer sit out of the BL consumption.) Nevertheless, I retain my preference for the happy, fluffy stories. The LGBT genre is chalk full of heavy queer stories. I welcomed that BL differentiated itself with sappy happy tales, even while accepting that BL seldom engaged queer truths in any substantive way.

(One surmises from your statement that the recent Happy ofmthe End must have been right up your alley?)

"If you ever meander over to my custom lists and are bored...."
"Another reason I left it there was because it's 23 years old...."

I actually surveyed a couple lists Thursday night. My top and bottom look very different. (No pun intended.) (No, really. Not intended.) But I endorse judging older works by the standard of their own time first, while not ignoring the question "does it still stand up today?" So if you forgive an older work for an unhappy ending and do not extend the same grace to one from 2024....I concur in that conclusion.

I shall make no attempt to talk you down from that reaction. Giggle away!

"I want to be alone." The line was spoken at two separate moments.

The first party spoke it, only to flee into his room to avoid confrontation exhibited immaturity. The second party spoke it, and likewise fled into his room to avoid confrontation delivered the perfect rejoinder.

You had that coming, Turtle Boy. In your face!

Following that with "Directed by..." freeze frame? Priceless.