FreshKicks

YES! The best BL storyline I've yet to see. It has it all, and it takes the time to deliver it as a slow burn with a fantastic payoff. Someday I need to write a review of this series too.

Oh, I didn't think to look at the stats! Thank you. :)

Ohm is a gorgeous man, but it must be said that he's looking a little too grown-up to be playing a high school student. I kept thinking he looked more like First's older brother than his younger one. They should at least let the actor graduate to college roles lol.

There's a clip making the rounds on Twitter of a cast party where Ohm, First, and Fluke all share a quick 3-way kiss. That's more BL than The Shipper's entire 12 episodes combined, and that in turn makes that cast party stunt a little bit insulting.

In the end, The Shipper did celebrate hetero-normality. Back in the 50's when a movie or TV show featured a gay character they often killed them off in the end, as a "lesson" over their immorality.

The Shipper has done something similar, and the character's death wasn't even necessary for the plot. The m/f romance lived on while the m/m romance got relegated to fan fiction (whose idea was THAT?) along with a graveside funeral service.

This director is even dumber than the one who did 2gether. Imagine if 2gether, after all the hijinks, had killed off Sarawat or Tine. I'm more grateful now for the ways they *didn't* screw up 2gether.

Yes. These series vary in quality but they're all worth supporting. They'll learn from the things that they didn't get right and improve with each new production. Sometimes it takes a blow to the gut like The Shipper to make me truly appreciate the people who are trying to cheer me up in the age of pandemic.

When you wrote this it was probably at 8.2 or 8.3? Now it's at 8.0. That's pretty shocking, really.

The cast really was great! And that's another reason why the ending was terrible.

For example, Wayne Song's performance as a lead in MODC was fantastic in every way, but according to his MDL profile it hasn't resulted in another lead role. I have to believe that if MODC had delivered an uplifting story then Wayne's career would be off to a roaring start.

The same goes for First and Fluke in The Shipper. Fans like me will be happy to forget this series ever happened, and as a result those two will probably have to work harder to jump-start their own acting careers. (First's upcoming roles are all supporting characters and Fluke's profile shows nothing in the works.)

I'm here to do some penance toward 2gether, after dragging it for weeks. I just finished watching The Shipper, and its cynical sad ending for the m/m couple and happy ending for the m/f couple makes me appreciate that 2gether at least tried to deliver something uplifting.

Ironically, The Shipper has now put me in the perfect mindset to watch Still2gether and give it a fair shot. ;)

Exactly. It makes me wonder why they killed him off in the first place ... unless they've been playing "the long game" the whole time and have always had a two-season plan. Unfortunately, when people are so disillusioned by the first season the interest in a second season fades. The idea of "maybe this time they won't screw us over" is a lousy reason to look forward to something.

Nobody likes to see a beloved character killed off, and in the universe of the series anything was possible because it's a fantasy -- the writers can make up the rules as they go. So they could have brought Kim back but decided to kill him off, and surprise surprise, a lot of people don't like a series that ends with a favorite character dead.

These production companies will never learn. They could have had a big hit on their hands if they'd gauged their audience correctly and delivered a happy and moving story instead of the dour fake-out that we actually got.

HIStory: MODC made the same mistake. Are these production companies forgetting that their audience wants an accessible romantic comedy and not a life lesson, and especially in these difficult times can do without a downer that hurts all the more because you sat through twelve weeks expecting a happy BL ending?

It's funny because The Shipper has now made me feel more charitable toward 2gether, the last series that bummed me out. At least they *tried* for a happy ending, however awkward it was.

As it stands, I think very few people will want to rewatch The Shipper and nobody I know even gives a sh*t if they make a sequel.

Hey, production companies: stop thinking that sad endings are "arty" and that a BL series is the right place to put one.

The movie version (which looks like it's all of the episodes edited together) is now on YouTube with English subs, official and free for all.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3EuJ5uS_oLU

The score dropped ... That was fast.

^I think that means that one of the moderators for MDL deleted someone's post. It must have been someone really upset about the finale lol.

Preach! Baited indeed. And they keep us on the hook until the very last episode. Really not nice.

The child character was a terrible idea. She exits the stage after about 3 episodes but something tells me she'll be back before they're finished.

The series keeps teasing the Yiyang-Wuyue pairing but those two always seem to get thwarted whenever they try to take it to the next level. It's starting to get a bit tiresome. I like how their relationship has evolved, but as a couple they don't strike me as particularly electrifying. (He barely speaks to anyone, including her.) Because of this, all the suspense around their getting together seems a little unnecessary.

On YouTube I've been able to watch the first 18 episodes with English subtitles.

On this topic I think I'm on the same wavelength as you. In this instance I just noticed that the photo got released and I'd never seen that happen with other BL productions.

I have no doubt that it will be happy.

Imagine if they had that big preview event for the finale and the ending turned out sad. Yikes.

It's funny about Tin and Can -- at the time I thought their ending was so awful and unfair that it almost ruined the series for me. Then came MODC, and my whole standard for bad endings changed.

I also felt that Tony's acting was a weak link today, and to me it seems he has gotten more shaky as the series progresses. Maybe it's because as the story goes on it requires him to convey more emotion, plus when he's constantly put side by side with JC the contrast between their skill levels doesn't help. Back when Xavier was more of an everyday "bro" Tony seemed to do better.

Crystal: talk about killing it! Such a warm and understanding character, and a fantastic performance. They'd better not mess that up in the finale. (I don't think they will.)

I love Junjun. A series for him would be fine by me.