Terrible series, even in comparison to Lee Long Shi's other awful shows. The most interesting aspect is watching an attempted murder be somehow more ridiculously handled than a supposed rape. One star for PerKan; their story had gusto. & stamina.
Also, where did Mud go? I guess I'll just headcanon that someone cared enough to ask why he thought he saw what he saw, took him to the hospital for a medical evaluation, & they discovered a massive tumour pressing on his occipital lobe, so he was sent to the US to have surgery.
Just a real nothing of a series. It's as if it's its own fanfic of itself, the kind that would be tagged "fluff" & absolutely nothing else. Which is fine, if that's what you're into, but I found the MLs boring & their story tedious.
I remain fascinated by the ladies. That one-liner about saliva exchange in their final scene was perfect. I kept watching the show just for the girls, & I would watch a spin-off series of just them. The glimpses we got of their relationship & their personality dynamics were more engaging & tantalizing than almost the entirety of that of the boys.
Lee Long Shi has starred in several awful projects but this bit of retro trash doesn't even have the good grace to be as entertainingly silly as "OMG! Vampire!" or as unapologetically twisted as "Love Syndrome III". & holy hell, I'm actually kind of missing Frank; I wouldn't go so far as to say he & Lee had great chemistry but Frank at least had personality. Or maybe it was the hilarious wigs. I don't know but it was better than the excruciatingly vapid dullness that Arm brings. Lee is trying so hard to sell this love story, it actually looks physically painful.
At this point, I almost believe that "Red Peafowl" fell victim to whatever horrific curse or intense blackmail is clinging to Lee Long Shi. His career just makes no sense unless it's almost entirely under duress.
It's all very stupid but...is anyone going to check on Mud? My major takeaway from all that nonsense is he needs to either get off the sauce for good or get his eyes checked or both. Just how drunk was he that night? I have been blitzed to blackout in my life but never to the point where my mind imagined a graphic, violent rape that was not happening. I'm unsure what that particular scene was about, whether it was what was being described to Mild or what Mild was imagining based on what he was being told, but it's apparent Mud believes that's precisely what HE saw so...Mud, bud, you ok?
I just want more scenes of Lin Xiao Yang & He You Mei. Every single thing about them, from their differing personalities to their interpersonal dynamic to their clothes, is just so much more interesting than the main CP. I think it's because they are much more mature & self-assured; even He You Mei, for all her weird manic pixie energy, seems to have a pretty solid grasp on who she is & ownership of her own (prob messy) choices in life. I sincerely believe their relationship, platonic or romantic, would weather any storm, & if they did date, they'd unapologetically defend tooth & claw their love & their right to love one another.
Meanwhile, the boys keep basically unravelling at every small hiccough. I know that's the point of their story, it's just such a tedious & predictable thing to watch. & I'm still not convinced Han Tuo's feelings aren't just childhood hero worship of a boy who made him feel included that he's mistaken for eternal romantic love. Everything about Han Tuo just screams "abandonment issues", & watching him be jealous over his boyfriend's nephew was both silly & pitiful. Does Lu Jun Xi really want to spend his life managing the exhausting emotional dependance of an obsessive, jealous, developmentally arrested man?
Who knows. Lu Jun Xi's general lack of personal agency would be frustrating to watch if he wasn't such beige wallpaper. Characters who let their lives be constantly dictated by the wims of others are a chore; I hope Lu Jun Xi grows a bit of a backbone before this enterprise comes to a close.
Even in a show of already subpar calibre, & almost irrespective of whether a rape was committed, episode six was atrociously, spectacularly tone-deaf.
Not that I would expect the Wattpadverse that is the foundation of such BLs to handle so complex & weighty a subject as a victim falling in love with their victimizer but, still, there are better ways of telling such a story than having the victim's circle gaslight him at every turn while simultaneously having him refuse to hear "the whole truth" he obviously wants to know just because the run time needs some Manufactured Drama to pad itself. Frankly, I don't care what the explanation is, or if Mild was raped by Knight; the real "truth" is that Mild needs to run far the hell away from that entire group of people. Hanging about with twats who tell you that your rape happened for a reason & was a good thing is exactly how you end up a podcast episode about death cults.
Humans are complicated. Trauma bonding happens. In real life, there are rape victims who partner with their rapist. These are stories that are as worthy of being explored as any other, no matter how uncomfortable or distasteful they may seem. "The Natural Phenomenon of Madness" was a difficult & conflicting watch regarding rape and affection but after observing this mess of a show unfold, I feel I may have been a bit harsher on that film than warranted. It at least had a grasp on its problematic subject, a nuanced narrative, & characters with layers. Most importantly, there was a palpable atmosphere of this-is-rather-fucked-up throughout proceedings. "Doctor's Mine", meanwhile, seems eager to make the point that whether or not Knight raped Mild is fundamentally irrelevant, which is certainly a choice.
I can't tell if Mud is just a straight-up sociopath, or if the character is unduly hampered by the actor, the director, or the source material. The last time I saw a character so smirkingly triumphant about their sibling's rape was in an episode of "Criminal Minds". I've spent the whole series thinking his on sight bullshite with Knight was rooted in some petty jealousy, & in hindsight...seriously, is he just mad fuckboy Knight never chose him? What is your deal, Mud?
I would love for intense, manipulative Han Tuo & experienced, possibly calculating Zhan Wen Sen to get together. I would like to see more of Lin Xiao Yang & He You Mei & their oddly intriguing, high-energy dynamic. I want to watch pops have that stress-induced heart attack all that paternalistic yelling is going to give him so he learns a liberating lesson about having just one precious life to live. The central love story here feels tedious but everything else around it is holding my attention.
Once again I ask, will there ever be justice for Lee Long Shi? His whole career has me convinced he's somehow made a powerful enemy in the Thai BL industry. He's an engaging actor, he's handsome, he seems like a personable fellow, as well as a hard worker and a good colleague, so why in the hell does he keep getting saddled with the absolute worst projects? This BL is probably the best of the bunch & that's...really sad.
If it isn't an enemy, he has to be carrying some kind of curse. It just boggles my mind that he hasn't been snapped up by any of the better production houses, or at least been made some independently wealthy auteur's small screen muse. Where is this man's Tim Burton? Why is he being punished with dreck scripts and awful partners? How much longer must he endure this performance purgatory? What kind of hellacious Faustian contract did he sign?
Well, on the plus side, at least he's free of Frank. & Frank's wigs.
Zhan Wen Sen wasn't on screen for five whole minutes and I already ship him with Han Tuo. Self-assured, assertive, accomplished, and handsome to boot? Yes, please, more of that, and less of the dishwater dull blushing maiden trope. I hope the character doesn't turn out to be an asshole, and that there are delicious scenes of Han Tuo adoringly fanboying all over him to feed my fantasy.
The NC scenes between the MLs are very watchable. The series itself is tediously predictable, just a string of tired tropes & comfortable cliches. It has more actual story than, say, the lovely Japan travelogue disguised as a show that is "Season of Love in Shimane", but that's a low bar.
Honestly, if you're seeking unapologetic NC scenes where lust & hunger & mutual desire are given unfettered room, just watch them both, & don't worry overmuch about the "plot"; it barely matters anyway.
Visually appealling, the characters are interesting, the romance is 100% skippable. Not a bad way to while away some lazy hours, although the titular creature is simultaneously integral to the plot & feels like an afterthought most of the time. The horrendous creature spends the last third of the series slaughtering a ridiculous amount of people yet no one really seems all that fazed by it. Sure, no one wants to die gruesomely but they also have paperwork & important meetings, spouses to thwart & sundry war crimes to commit or avert. These are very busy people.
A painfully unnecessary season. Everyone should've just died & stayed dead in the first season, & let it end there. Season two jettisoned nearly everything that made the first season engaging (setting, costumes, layered characters, complex stakes, sociopolitical upheaval, resistance, failure, triumph, being able to actually see what's on the screen) & doubled-down on its most tedious elements (romance).
Season one wasn't perfect but it had direction & heart & aesthetic appeal. The story was at least definitely headed somewhere, whereas season two felt like a loose collection of plot beats leftover from other, better shows.
The absolute best parts of season two were the flashbacks. It was so frustrating that instead of getting that narratively & visually energetic direct continuation of the story from season one, season two offered up little than a meandering, monotone borefest.
The show's very premise certainly required a healthy suspension of disbelief throughout the first season but it was a mostly engaging & enjoyable police procedural. Season two descended into magical ridiculousness.
There is also a grating third tonal shift toward the latter half, with the Peking Opera storyline being embarrassingly silly by the end. I got the concept, understood what they were trying to do, but it simply did not work. Shows like "Tell Me What You Saw", "Strangers From Hell", & "Hannibal" can deliver on the beautifully grotesque, adorning horror & psychoses in Baroquely complex trappings that lend a touch of fractured light to the twisted shadows that are the very soul of those series' stories. But with "Under the Skin", it's like watching a fervent yet unskilled LARPer in action. This show just doesn't have the bones to wear that type of flesh. In season one, it brushed up against darkness but didn't embody it, & its feints at doing so in season two were more awkward than intriguing.
The dynamic they were structuring between Fang & Shen Yi has been done a thousand times & a thousand times better elsewhere. Everything about it was predictable & tiresome. Also, if they were trying to set the stage for a struggle between Fang & Du Cheng over Shen Yi, it wasn't working. The Shen Yi/Du Cheng relationship has mellowed too much (or, at least, the series's depiction of it), I just don't buy that Du Cheng is Shen Yi's anchor. At least, not enough to put up a credible fight against Fang's seduction of Shen Yi.
I suppose they're trying to take the series in a "darker", heavier direction but, honestly, that type of show just doesn't fit this cast, the scripts, or the cinematography. The series is at its best when it's grounded in emotional realism, intertwining the consequences of Human frailty with levity & hope. The best episodes of the season were the ones that focused on that rather than trying to do deep psychological dives into the nature of monsters. & don't even get me started on the genetics nonsense. "Mouse" exists, & though it has its own issues, it's a far better, more arresting exploration of genetic predisposition to psychopathy than whatever "Under the Skin II" is trying to do.
I guess, for me, season two just feels like it's trying to be a bunch of other shows, & has lost the identity that made season one feel fresh & unique.
It is so refreshing to have another BL that more realistically portrays sex between men. I am so very tired of the soft-focus, salmon-flopping-around, heteronormative pantomimes that pass for NC scenes in the majority of BLs. Perhaps "4 Minutes" will be the series that passes the mental barrier I have between BLs and legitimate LGBTQ+ cinemedia.
"Big Dragon" was bad but this series is both tedious and bad. It's like a vapid fanfic of an old school Harlequin Romance paperback, and those were insipid by default. Just awful.
This series began unravelling in the second act and never quite pulled itsef back together, and there needs to be justice for Taem (I detested everything the writers did to her; such a misused character), but, overall, worth at least one watch for Drake's Dr. Plakao and the fun energy of GreatInn.
Also, where did Mud go? I guess I'll just headcanon that someone cared enough to ask why he thought he saw what he saw, took him to the hospital for a medical evaluation, & they discovered a massive tumour pressing on his occipital lobe, so he was sent to the US to have surgery.
I remain fascinated by the ladies. That one-liner about saliva exchange in their final scene was perfect. I kept watching the show just for the girls, & I would watch a spin-off series of just them. The glimpses we got of their relationship & their personality dynamics were more engaging & tantalizing than almost the entirety of that of the boys.
At this point, I almost believe that "Red Peafowl" fell victim to whatever horrific curse or intense blackmail is clinging to Lee Long Shi. His career just makes no sense unless it's almost entirely under duress.
Meanwhile, the boys keep basically unravelling at every small hiccough. I know that's the point of their story, it's just such a tedious & predictable thing to watch. & I'm still not convinced Han Tuo's feelings aren't just childhood hero worship of a boy who made him feel included that he's mistaken for eternal romantic love. Everything about Han Tuo just screams "abandonment issues", & watching him be jealous over his boyfriend's nephew was both silly & pitiful. Does Lu Jun Xi really want to spend his life managing the exhausting emotional dependance of an obsessive, jealous, developmentally arrested man?
Who knows. Lu Jun Xi's general lack of personal agency would be frustrating to watch if he wasn't such beige wallpaper. Characters who let their lives be constantly dictated by the wims of others are a chore; I hope Lu Jun Xi grows a bit of a backbone before this enterprise comes to a close.
Not that I would expect the Wattpadverse that is the foundation of such BLs to handle so complex & weighty a subject as a victim falling in love with their victimizer but, still, there are better ways of telling such a story than having the victim's circle gaslight him at every turn while simultaneously having him refuse to hear "the whole truth" he obviously wants to know just because the run time needs some Manufactured Drama to pad itself. Frankly, I don't care what the explanation is, or if Mild was raped by Knight; the real "truth" is that Mild needs to run far the hell away from that entire group of people. Hanging about with twats who tell you that your rape happened for a reason & was a good thing is exactly how you end up a podcast episode about death cults.
Humans are complicated. Trauma bonding happens. In real life, there are rape victims who partner with their rapist. These are stories that are as worthy of being explored as any other, no matter how uncomfortable or distasteful they may seem. "The Natural Phenomenon of Madness" was a difficult & conflicting watch regarding rape and affection but after observing this mess of a show unfold, I feel I may have been a bit harsher on that film than warranted. It at least had a grasp on its problematic subject, a nuanced narrative, & characters with layers. Most importantly, there was a palpable atmosphere of this-is-rather-fucked-up throughout proceedings. "Doctor's Mine", meanwhile, seems eager to make the point that whether or not Knight raped Mild is fundamentally irrelevant, which is certainly a choice.
If it isn't an enemy, he has to be carrying some kind of curse. It just boggles my mind that he hasn't been snapped up by any of the better production houses, or at least been made some independently wealthy auteur's small screen muse. Where is this man's Tim Burton? Why is he being punished with dreck scripts and awful partners? How much longer must he endure this performance purgatory? What kind of hellacious Faustian contract did he sign?
Well, on the plus side, at least he's free of Frank. & Frank's wigs.
Honestly, if you're seeking unapologetic NC scenes where lust & hunger & mutual desire are given unfettered room, just watch them both, & don't worry overmuch about the "plot"; it barely matters anyway.
Season one wasn't perfect but it had direction & heart & aesthetic appeal. The story was at least definitely headed somewhere, whereas season two felt like a loose collection of plot beats leftover from other, better shows.
The absolute best parts of season two were the flashbacks. It was so frustrating that instead of getting that narratively & visually energetic direct continuation of the story from season one, season two offered up little than a meandering, monotone borefest.
There is also a grating third tonal shift toward the latter half, with the Peking Opera storyline being embarrassingly silly by the end. I got the concept, understood what they were trying to do, but it simply did not work. Shows like "Tell Me What You Saw", "Strangers From Hell", & "Hannibal" can deliver on the beautifully grotesque, adorning horror & psychoses in Baroquely complex trappings that lend a touch of fractured light to the twisted shadows that are the very soul of those series' stories. But with "Under the Skin", it's like watching a fervent yet unskilled LARPer in action. This show just doesn't have the bones to wear that type of flesh. In season one, it brushed up against darkness but didn't embody it, & its feints at doing so in season two were more awkward than intriguing.
The dynamic they were structuring between Fang & Shen Yi has been done a thousand times & a thousand times better elsewhere. Everything about it was predictable & tiresome. Also, if they were trying to set the stage for a struggle between Fang & Du Cheng over Shen Yi, it wasn't working. The Shen Yi/Du Cheng relationship has mellowed too much (or, at least, the series's depiction of it), I just don't buy that Du Cheng is Shen Yi's anchor. At least, not enough to put up a credible fight against Fang's seduction of Shen Yi.
I suppose they're trying to take the series in a "darker", heavier direction but, honestly, that type of show just doesn't fit this cast, the scripts, or the cinematography. The series is at its best when it's grounded in emotional realism, intertwining the consequences of Human frailty with levity & hope. The best episodes of the season were the ones that focused on that rather than trying to do deep psychological dives into the nature of monsters. & don't even get me started on the genetics nonsense. "Mouse" exists, & though it has its own issues, it's a far better, more arresting exploration of genetic predisposition to psychopathy than whatever "Under the Skin II" is trying to do.
I guess, for me, season two just feels like it's trying to be a bunch of other shows, & has lost the identity that made season one feel fresh & unique.