Momijii

I really liked it as well! It was a no-cut scene, right? I really like those. I haven't liked Zhe Yu much before, but it was nice to see that he also cares about Bing Wei in his own way. It was surprisingly sweet how that sarcastic dude had made sure not to ruin BW's big moment, even though ZY had stumbled on the ring in advance. He even made sure that BW wouldn't realise that he accidentally misplaced the ring. I hope s3 gives them more screen time.

Yeah, there was a few mentions of them being together but easy to overlook. They mentioned having a date that had to be cancelled because of work in I think episode 2, and there was a few moments from time to time where they were taking care of each other like bringing coffee and such. But it wasn't super overt or anything.

Hopefully they'll get some focus in s3 because of the wedding. I swear, if the wedding happens off-camera I'll write a sternly worded letter to the writer of this drama... ;)

I agree, UWMA rocked both the parallell timelines AND the non-chronological structure of the past timeline perfectly! That drama was so well-written as well as well-directed.

But with s2 of WBL, the best I can say is about their narrative timeline and story structure is that they obviously _tried_ to make something a bit different. They botched it completely, unfortunately...

I've been comparing s2 of WBL to a recipe where they had all the right ingredients for a superb meal, but put all of it in the pot in the wrong order and proportions so the result was not very tasty and wasted a lot of effort for nothing.

I agree that your idea about putting GSD and ZSY as the secondary couple supporting the other couples is sound, though I suppose that with the popularity of the actors, it's perhaps not likely from a production standpoint.

Definitely too late to be patching up those plot holes in the final episode. If this season had been structured properly, they would have solved the conflict in, say, ep 4, confronted the father in episode 5 and tied together the dangling plot threads/relationship hijinks in this final episode. It was so weird to me that the drama did everything in the least dramatically effective order possible.

Episode 3&4 was so detrimental to the story overall that the final episodes didn't recover in time. :(

They better give some spotlight for the 3d couple next season! I'd love to see some wedding hijinks. :D It'd be the perfect moment to bring back ZSY's friends from s1 as well.

But yeah, s2 was a mess. Is there any chance of a director's cut or anything? I feel like episode 3&4 should be either remade entirely or at the very least remade into something resembling story coherence.

This! They need to find a really good story hook and then have a looong think about story structure and logic for s3.

I was also a bit surprised at first, but I think what happened is this:

ZX gave his speech as if he was offering two choices:

1. try to stay together and see if it would work
OR
2. give up.

He then proclaimed that he'd thought about it and already decided to give up (choice #2), and now wanted to return his stolen treasure to PSY to do with as he saw fit.

But PSY listened to what ZX said and then decided to accept the #1 choice instead, without really commenting on it more than telling ZX to come unpack his stuff at the bar.

I knew the final episode wouldn't redeem this 2nd season for me, but at least I can say honestly that I gave it a chance. Several chances in fact.

A part of me wants to rewatch the show now that it's all done to see if I like it more now that I know that some controversial parts will never be adressed. But there's better shows out there to watch, so I think I'll try to spend my time more wisely instead.

I enjoyed GSD and ZSY's scenes in this episode, as well as the final no-cut scene which was nicely choreographed in a non-distracting way. I'm not 100% happy with how the whole dad situation played out, but it could have been worse I suppose. GSD's stunt at the end in the pool was borderline nasty, but I was so relieved to see the chaotic neutral trickster I fell in love with back in season 1 return to form that I kind of liked it anyway.

In the end, it was the chemistry between GSD and ZSY that kept me watching, and I loved the bilingual aspect. The writing and direction was a hot mess in pretty much all and any aspects, but I've said enough about that already. Sam and Yu were wasted on this meh season.

Here's hoping that season 3 won't turn out as bad as this one. I'd love nothing more than see the show return back to form.

This was a really good series! It's very down to earth and steers expertly away from the worst tendencies fo the BL genre as well as romance genre as a whole. The drama always focuses on story first, romance second, which works in its favour. Character growth and relationships outside of the main couple gets a lot of focus, which enriches the story. It's such a well-crafted drama!

We're on the same page! My comment is not meant as a general observation for the same reasons as you talk about above, but meant as critique for this particular drama and creative choices. We Best Love tries in both season 1 and 2 to be simultaneously serious and quirky. It doesn't work well imo. The story repeatedly tries to make serious issues like blackmail, homophobia, etc into borderline screwball comedy and it falls flat imo.

Not sure if it's a directional failure or weak/problematic writing... Maybe both.

Yeah, Yu's role is complicated, and as you've pointed out in this thread, the script is all over the place which could be potentially nightmarish for a less experienced actor, so he's been dealt bad cards imo. He's not bad, he's just trying to act out a weak/confusing script.

I think Sam with his previous experience carries most of the plot this season, and since GSD is the viewpoint character this time around it also makes sense that we find it easier to understand him . ZSY has gone from being the viewpoint character of s1 to being the "enigma" of this current season, whereas GSD was the "enigma" of last season that ZSY tried to figure out ("enigma" as in the one person that neither viewers nor the main character knew everything about).

Just as a great script and direction can elevate a mediocre actor into excellence, a messy script and/or bad direction can cause beginners as well as great actors to give an unsatisfying performance.

I also can't believe they cut it! One of my favourite aspects of s1 was how most of the problems, misunderstandings, conflicts etc were solved by people talking it out. ZSY and his female friend talking about his old crush on her was one of the best scenes. This cut scene from s2 is, to my mind, the equivalence of that s1 scene. It shows two people resolving their previous issues in a grown-up manner, while also giving their characters more nuance.

They need to re-edit and re-release this entire season imo...

Sigh... At this point I feel like they should just re-edit the whole second season and patch up some of the worst plot holes with re-shoots while they still have the actor's contracted.

Perfectly said! The creative decision (whoever it was who made it) to make a deeply homophobic character like ZSY's dad into a goofball completely undermines the character. It makes it easy for viewers to overlook the serious nature of the father's actions and words. To me, ZSY's dad is abusive. There's no need for physical violence, because he has the money and resources to make things happen with little to no blame falling on him until GSD and ZSY figured him out.

The drama is lesser for having treated a hateful character like an opportunity for comedy. There was a golden opportunity to use the switch between goofy dad to machiavellian mastermind trying to ruin his son's happiness, but the way it's been playing out lacks edge. I'm foreseeing that the drama will try to pull a "but he only loved his son so much, he was misguided but his heart was in the right place" at the last minute.

ZSY should cut off all contact with his father once he takes over the company. Or just leave the family all together and find work that truly makes him happy.

Just want to say that this comment was helpful for me. Thank you for writing such a detailed post for those of us with little insight in how large companies function!

The creators of the drama burned a lot of "plot bridges" too early by imploding the whole hate/revenge storyline at least 2 episodes too early. This season should be used as a lesson in how not to plot your dramatic storylines or time your backstory reveals.

I think you (jpny01) are right on this one.

I've been reading a lot of anxious (or even hopeful) comments about ZSY possibly still carrying on his revenge in secret in order to revenge-dump GSD, but I can't for the life of me see how a plot twist like that would serve the story being told at this point? In my opinion, that part of the story was only viable during those first 2 episodes, and shouldn't be resurrected after being thrown out unceremoniously. GSD overheard ZSY talking about it, leading to him getting drunk and confessing to ZSY that he knew about the plan – to me, that was the end of the revenge-faking-love-storyline. It won't carry the same punch if they double back on it now.

Since the writing has been weak this season, with plot holes approximately the size of small planets, I wouldn't be terribly surprised if the writers/production team actually did try to go for a plot twist like that. But such a twist would completely implode what little remains to enjoy about this season.

So I think that it's far more likely, as you point out, that ZSY's actor (who is a beginner after all) is being outshined by the more experienced actors at this point.

Agreed, the drama needs to steer away from all the BL/romance genre clichés and do something novel.

I also interpret the house as a designed villa of sorts. Definitely not middle-class. It's a good fit for the story and tells us viewers how ZSY felt after being supposedly ghosted.

If the guys make it through s2 without ZSY revenge-dumping GSD in the final episode, I hope they sell the prison-house and get a cozy place together.

True this! I actually liked ep 5 a lot, but as a whole this season is still a complete mess. I think it's insalvagable at this point.

It was advertised as a season of fighting and butting heads, but episode 3–4 undermined all of that. I liked this episode personally, but I definitely think that the scenario in this episode would have fit better into the story as a whole if there had been more antagonism and office drama leading up to it.

In my eyes, this drama has all the right ingredients needed to make a delicious meal, but it's all been put into the pot in the wrong order and in weird proportions, so as a result it turned out not to be so tasty and kind of wasted all the effort to make it.

We've only got 1 episode left and the secondary couples are both still underdeveloped – in particular the high school friends. The pacing has been completely off since the story started delving into the backstory in episode 3 and forwards. The whole premiss of the 5-year-apart-for-silly-reasons backstory completely undermines GSD's character as he's been depicted from season 1. The ambiguous "did-they-or-didn't-they borderline assault scene that was never mentioned again afterwards undermined the romance. Etc, etc, the list of mistakes goes on and on.

I suspect that I'll remember this season as the biggest waste of potential I've come across in BL so far.