Feardorcha

Granted, I've never secretly knocked up a mistress and then abandoned her and our child for a couple decades while waiting on my cancer-stricken wife to die but if I wanted to build a relationship with that now grown child, "Meet me or else I'll destroy your life" would not be my approach. But that's just me.

I also appreciate the visuals here. I like pretty-boys well enough, but I do so enjoy when leads get to look and feel seasoned. There is a sensual sizzle about Senpai, in particular, that I think is directly connected to his age and appearance. Delicious.

The dead fish kisses are almost whiplash confusing. I'm trying to put them down to gestures toward cultural sensibilities about PDA but then they'll do it in private just before trying to swallow one another's faces. Perhaps it's like a polite knock on a door: "Hello, pardon, I'm about to try to suck your lips off your face, just FYI" and then you go in for the kill.

I think the fact that the series is so very good is why this misstep was so jarringly disappointing. But, perhaps it can be redeemed. We shall see.

Not a single person on this thread has said one word about NC scenes, or even mentioned physical intimacy. Why does that topic keep coming up whenever even slight deviation from total approval of a BL series is made?

There are many quality, character-driven BLs and BLs with quality characters out there; this is absolutely one of them. That does not, however, make this series immune from criticism of story elements. In this particular case, I feel the separation was mishandled, and a lost opportunity to further develop Yuan's character.

That's what disappointed me. I was eager to have them separate because I wanted Yuan to build a life that didn't orbit around Wei Qian. I was hoping we would see him do that, and do it well and with every intention of moving on, ultimately to have those experiences reinforce for him the nature of his love in an Adult context.

I was hoping to see him grow beyond what looked in many ways like puppy love/hero worship/obligation in a pubescent teen rescued from the streets. While I'm glad we saw Wei Qian's quiet self-analysis and emotional progress (and it was lovingly handled, from the subtle to the overwhelming), I didn't sense any evolution in Yuan. It's difficult to believe he had any kind of journey of self-discovery.

Maybe we'll see more in latter episodes but the preview suggests to me we're done with this part of the story and that's that.

You responded to my comment. You're free to stop responding if you're confused.

I never once said I didn't like the series (quite the opposite, actually). What I wanted from the separation was for Yuan to become a self-realized individual. To find and define himself outside of his love for Wei Qian. My hopes for the episode were to see him making friends, exploring hobbies, pursuing a career, going on dates, building a life for himself. In other words, actually trying to move on, and discovering in that process what elements of his love were true and deep, and not rooted in hero worship of, familiarity with, or proximity to Wei Qian.

Had that happened, I might find validity in the notion that he's accepted rejection and/or he's seeking to maintain familial ties. As of this episode, and the preview, however, I find no substantive evidence for that being the case. It may be what the script intended but the episode simply didn't sell it.

None of that has any relation to why I was disappointed in this episode. I said last week why I was looking forward to them separating; this episode didn't deliver any of what I'd hoped that separation would be in terms of seeing Yuan actually mature and try to move on, and the preview has given me reason to believe the series is now introducing in him behaviour I find annoyingly childish (playing hard to get, using jealousy as a weapon, deliberate coyness, etc.) The sigh I sighed at "What makes you think I still like you?"...

The shallowness of the separation, Yuan returning as basically the same person with the same feelings, just less effusive, are communicating to me that what you said is exactly what will happen: Yuan will taste one crumb of hope and immediately revert back to the lovesick puppy he was before he left. I was hoping for much, much more from a BL so mature in other story aspects.

I have enjoyed this series so much, episode-after-episode, but this one has made me feel my expectations climbed entirely too high. Which isn't to say it's not a good series, it certainly is, just one that isn't quite as outstanding as I originally perceived. I simply must adjust my expectations accordingly.

As you brought up "We Best Love": honestly, I thought their separation and reunion was a beautifully layered arc, the emotional storms complex, their personalities and their interactions gesturing loudly toward what we didn't see of those years they spent apart—the hope, the despair, the effort, the rage, the love that just wouldn't die and the raw, open, angry wound of it. THAT was a phenomenally handled time skip, in my opinion, one in which the separation truly mattered and changed their dynamic, and that made watching their reconciliation so richly satisfying.

Anyone else waiting to watch until airing is complete? I found the first season after it was complete and I was able to binge it. If I had watched it while it aired, I would absolutely have dropped it; I figure season two has the same energy.

I found episode 7 disappointing, rather treacly in a series that has been emotionally deft so far and, unfortunately for me, it didn't do anything meaningful with the separation, other than have Wei Qian mope about in his finally semi-acknowledged feelings. And the suggestion in the next episode that Yuan is going to play hard to get/try to make him jealous has really dampered my enthusiasm for the rest of the series, as it seems this will ultimately trod a well-worn BL formula, just in better style and with exceptionally better writing. Think I might just put this one on hold until it finishes airing.

Well, that was certainly a series of things happening in a row.

I knew it would end on a HEA, because it's a fairly typical BL, but, honestly, I think I would've rated it higher if Ever 9 stayed "dead".

The series never did manage to live up to its concept, and all the angst over Ever 9 not being Human that was crammed into a handful of minutes in the penultimate episode felt both shallow and entirely unwarranted. It never mattered that Ever 9 was an android—his not being Human was only relevant in so much as it granted access to immortality, making it possible to ressurect him from the dead, which cannot (yet) be done with the Human consciousness. It was clear by how much the series avoided any meaningful exploration of Ever 9's existence that there would be no great moral or material quanderies, so watching Yi Ping doing all that sobbing was more tiresome than emotionally impactful.

The only interesting gesture to the questions of sentience, autonomy, and agency was Ever 9's memories refusing to be erased. That was a fascinating development that would have really made his "death" effective and elevated the whole series. If he can resist a reset, then does that make him sentient? And if it does, does his creator have the right to deny him life, liberty, or love? If he could live in digital space but without a physical form, would Yi Ping still want him?

Ah well. My own fault, I think, for expecting a BL to tackle anything so hefty as sci-fi of this concept. Though I do appreciate the effort, and it's a sweet little love story and a decent enough watch, anyway.

Well, that was all really rather stupid. What a terrible series.

Xiao Yuan has a lot of growing up to do (today's episode heavily reinforced that). I'm hoping for at least one full episode, 1.5 if we get to watch Xiao Yuan forming a life in the US.

I think I may be the only one looking forward to their separation. I believe it's something that needs to happen, for both of them but especially for Xiao Yuan as he cusps on Adulthood. Distance, I think, will help him sort his mature feelings of love from his adolescent feelings of hero worship and obligation, provide him the opportunity to explore his own life on his own terms as he fully grows into manhood, and give him the sturdy assurance that comes with knowing and asserting himself away from Wei Qian's constant presence and influence. I just think living life without one another for a while will make for a healthier relationship overall when they ultimately reunite.

The misrepresentation of the series is only part of the issue I have with it. Aside from the false marketing, it is simply not a good series. It's not engaging as a "slice of life", there's nothing captivating about the "mystery" (and that word is doing a lot of heavy lifting), and it can't even manage decent atmosphere. It's a plodding, paltry, nearly plotless bit of dreck. It's obvious they tried to use BL/GL to attract an audience because the actual story itself simply isn't interesting.

It's nice that some people are finding merit in this series and enjoying their watching time. I am not one of them.

Basically 100%.

Blood type and Rh factor have neither a correlative or causative relationship to haemophilia. Any female of any blood type and Rh factor can give birth to a male child with haemophilia so long as she is a carrier, regardless of the genetic profile of her male partner. Even the fact that Uncle V is O-negative is not a conclusive indicator of paternity. It's only suggestive so long as Phupha is O-type AND his "Father" is AB-type, since the AB blood group cannot produce O-type offspring regardless of the blood group of their partner.

Absolutely agreed on the jarring, unfulfilling nature of the time jump. I suspect the director and/or scriptwriter did that to very intentionally NOT spend time on any progress point where the incest would have to be directly and baldly addressed by the brothers but, in a series format, watching them fall in love would be the juiciest bit. Coming to terms with your own homosexuality during the hell of puberty is stressful enough; doing that while also longing to burst into the shower while your brother is bathing and just go to town on every inch of his water-slicked and heat-blushed flesh? Goodness, the tension alone could stunt your growth.

I found the film to be an overall pleasant watch but it was, at its core, quite basic. It was a fairly standard romance story, with pops of jealousy and obsessiveness, a brief separation and ultimate reunion, all the expected beats. That's why your comment about heads exploding made me think of it. It has all the usual trappings and tropes of the romance genre while treating the incest as fundamentally immaterial, and you can hear the viewers' howls of "Why won't you address it?!"

I can virtually taste the hand-wringing, pearl-clutching, bullet-sweating angst in the MDL comment section over such a story. Especially if, as you pointed out, the falling in love portion showed them engaging in typical consensual pre-adolescent curiosity and later consensual adolescent exploration with one another, which is rather common regardless of sex or gender identity.

Ah, I wish I had the money and production company to bring this idea to life.

For native or fully fluent Thai speakers: does Lady Lu actually say the portal opens only during a full moon, or did she describe the mechanics differently? A full moon happens every month, so it makes no sense to me that they would have to wait three months for the next activation, unless the actual reference was a seasonal Blue Moon rather than a standard full moon.

I am 100% certain it won't actually matter to the story but it's bugging the hell out of me.

Oh I would pay good money for a Taiwanese remake of "From Beginning to End". If I recall correctly, they were half-brothers, but there is no reason that couldn't be changed. The incest being both core to the plot yet incidental to the story drove many folks absolutely mad 15 years ago.

I know we're only three episodes in but this series just isn't catching my attention. It has aspects that I normally find quite appealing, such as sex work (or sex work-adjacent) themes, pretty boys in tight-fitting and/or mesh clothing, women in powerful business roles, people with unclear motives, other people keeping secrets from loved ones. But this series just isn't grabbing me. I couldn't even recall what the show was when it popped up on my airing calendar last week, and I spent most of episode 3 trying to remember who any of these characters are, what/who they're doing, and why. I had the same issue with episode 2. I'm paying attention but, for whatever reason, nothing about this series is sticking with me. Things are happening, and at a rather refreshing pace for a Thai BL, but none of it is particularly interesting. It's not good, it's not bad, it's just...colourful but not much else.

It might be the lack of meaningful conflict, or the threadbare tension, that makes all this feel less like a story and more like a pantomime of one. But perhaps the next episode will introduce compelling stakes and hold my interest.