FreshKicks

I dunno. I have to wonder if not for being forced to join the volleyball team Uno would have ever interacted with Jared again at all. Macho Type-A guys like him don't like to admit mistakes and consider an apology to be emasculating.

A lot is riding on how the series decides to work through this. It would be nice if Uno had been burdened by guilt ever since he hurled that ball at the back of Jared's head, but there are no signs of that yet. Should be interesting.

Stopped watching weeks ago. Keen was too infantile and annoying.

Throwing the ball at the back of Jared’s head, and doing it at the urging of the boys who’d always taunted Jared, hurt Jared physically, but emotionally it was probably devastating.

If Uno doesn’t think he needs to apologize, or if he actually has no idea what he did wrong, then he’s an idiot who’s not worth patching things up with. And, unfortunately, those seem to be the only two real possibilities. Which I guess makes Uno an idiot who’s not worth patching things up with. 🙂

Jared owes him nothing, but he owes it to his teammates to be a proper captain.

All Uno does is stand around with a frown on his face. He's supposed to be the leading male role but the character has no charisma. Why would anyone be attracted to him? He's just a low-energy bump on a log.

Seems so. But it's too bad Ethan hasn't been given anything to do other than gaze at Jared longingly. And this week I seem to remember at one point Ethan had his arm around Jared and Jared shrugged him off.

The writers should give Ethan more personality, make him exciting and attractive on his own, so he doesn't end up just looking like a consolation prize for Jared.

Ah, no wonder people are pissed.

You seem to be picking up on the issue I had earlier, when I thought Farrah wasn't a volleyball player. That would have made the series title really queer-baity. But it turns out she's on the girls' volleyball team. Yeah, a little mischievous on their part, but technically not a lie.

I've seen the two trailers but haven't noticed any other marketing -- but then again I avoid Twitter and Facebook and I might be following the wrong people on IG, so maybe I'm just ignorant. Have they indeed been pushing this as a BL out in the social sphere?

From the very beginning we get big indications that the main couple is going to be Uno and Farrah. Reading over the comments here I'm surprised that so few people have acknowledged that. I mean, it's no accident that the one character with whom Uno has his first conversation is Farrah, and from there the script goes out of its way to bring the two together at key moments, with Farrah emerging as the only student at the school who has any empathy for Uno. Also, Emilio Daez (Uno) and Reign Parani (Farrah) appear first in the opening credits. It's clear to me that this is fundamentally a het romance.

Which means that as far as BL is concerned I think the most we'll get is a side couple involving Jared, but (on the other hand) with the series now almost at its midpoint there doesn't seem to be anyone emerging as his love interest. There's that one guy on the volleyball team who's always at Jared's side, but aside from longing looks he hasn't been getting a "love interest" treatment. Nor does Jared treat him special in any way, and the fact that I can't remember the character's name says something. 😄

So, then, what about the queerbaiting?

The two trailers for the series focus a LOT on Farrah and Uno as a couple while at the same time depicting Farrah's conflict with Jared due to her attraction to Uno. No love triangle, just Farrah wanting to be able to date the guy who has managed to break through her defenses. While there is one very brief shot of Jared and Uno going in for a kiss, the murky, sepia-toned lighting of that scene makes me believe it will turn out to be a dream sequence.

And, because that quick almost-kiss is included in the trailer with no hint of its context, I think if we're going to level an accusation of queerbaiting then it's really the trailer that's guilty. And, in this I'd be surprised if the director had anything to do with it. The studio's marketing team would be the likely culprits.

I think two other story threads will be Uno finally apologizing to Jared (that HAS to happen), and Lucien becoming comfortable with being gay. General acceptance of LGBT in general doesn't appear to be one of the themes. The gay volleyball players are an openly festive bunch, and it's not like the whole school shuns them, so I don't think there's any dramatic seeds being planted there.

My biggest problem with the series so far is Uno as a character. It's unbelievable that the Uno we're getting so far would be so unaware of the reason that Jared is so angry with him, and the longer we wait for Uno to wake up, the less believable any transformation will be. So far, Uno comes across as just a handsome guy with a lot of pent-up anger -- at his scholastic circumstances, at his father, at the basketball team. His Emotional Intelligence is severely lacking.

Another problem is to wonder why Farrah would be attracted to someone like him. Is she just one of those "rescuer" types who thinks she can make him change? Yeah, Uno's a hot slice, but what are we to think when Farrah knows everything about what he did to Jared but still thinks he should be her boo? I was bummed when in Ep3, after giving Uno all that well-deserved shade for what he did to her cousin, she ultimately let herself be charmed by him. The series needs to give us some redeeming qualities for Uno, STAT. Otherwise Farrah will only look more and more gullible for falling for him.

A nit: the "evil auntie" stuff. Totally unnecessary. Why clutter up the plot with such clunky material? If the idea is to make Farrah look more saintly then they should do it without forcing her make dinner and scrub toilets. They need to invest her character with enough maturity to navigate that situation between Uno and Jared and bring them back together as friends.

(PS: did everyone spot the "Sparks Camp" alumni in the cast?)

The last episode was a bit rough, but overall I believe it's a must-watch series if only due to the main leads. What chemistry! -- the kind of "nuts about you" chemistry that's missing from, say, that other BL series that ended today.

While everyone (rightfully) praises Boat, for me it's Oat's performance that's the big star turn. Who knew? And of course they both share the grand prize for their no-holds-barred NC scenes. Those were history in the making.

On the down side, the other couples were a mess, and ended up being such a drag on the series as a whole that I'm sure they alienated a lot of potential viewers.

I for one will miss having my Sunday afternoons brightened by the goofy theme song that played under the main titles, and all the hi-jinks and misunderstandings that followed. This one was a gem, flaws and all.

If the promos led you to expect a BL and the series gives you het romance instead, you were officially queerbaited.

Yes, “queerbaiting” is when you purposely lead your audience to expect a gay romance but don’t deliver one.

It will be hilarious if your infallible LGBT hero ends up giving us a m-f love story after giving us a trailer that focuses on gay gay gay. If the main romance is straight straight straight then it might just mean your buddy Andrew sold us out.

Now, feel free to spew more hate at someone who disagrees with you. You’re cute when you’re mad. 😉

Queerbaiting is when you intentionally and deliberately lead your audience to believe a story is a gay romance when it actually is not. Those other shows you name never promised such a thing. At most they had a gay subtext. You‘d have a point if instead of “Sherlock” the show was called something like “Investigations On The Way To Love”.

In this series, if the character Farrah is not on the volleyball team but she’s the love interest, and the series title is intentionally making it sound like the “love” is between two guys on the team, then that’s queerbaiting.

They won’t. I’m pretty sure the “love at first spike” is with the female lead since she’s listed second on this page.

If this is indeed a bromance then giving it a title that implies “love” is just a shitty tactic. I for one will review bomb it to hell.

Plus when Yo woke up in that scene there were suddenly lit candles in the room. Definitely a dream. :)

Ohh, I like this!

Totally disagree.

Never would have expected March back in a BL!

Hugs really are the missing element in so many series! And here they hug with the whole body, the way real people in love really do. They don't just press their chests together while holding their crotches apart.

Ironically, there's a whole subset of BL fans who don't like seeing two men have sex. For them, BL is about crushing on cute guys and getting the tummies when they snuggle.

I think this is one reason a series like "Boys In Love", populated by adolescents who lack a sex drive, can get such a high rating. It's set in an alternate universe where teen boys don't get horny.