My favorite autistic boy and his emotionally constipated boyfriend are back and I genuinely didn't stop smiling the whole air time. I'm on my 4th rewatch. I love them so much don't @ me
May I ask what you mean by "this is not how a person with autism lives ?" I've only watched a few episodes so…
Thank you for your answer ! I agree with you on a few points, but not all. Obviously this is a work of fiction, so things are quite romanced - not everything goes as smoothly in real life, but real life doesn't necessarily make for good drama material. It's true that autism is a very, very broad term that encompasses many different kind of people and behavior, which is why it is referred to as a spectrum. It also doesn't help that most autistic people have comorbidities (down syndrom, ADHD... the list is long and impactful on a person's behavior and life experience.)
Personally speaking, as an autistic person myself, I've found many similarities and dissimilarities between the way I function and Youngwoo's from the little I've seen so far. I don't think it fully represents my life or anyone else's, but it's obviously quite sincere in trying to portray the issues we face. I dare say most people who have what was formerly called as Asperger will have had some kind of similar life to Wooyoung - though many of us aren't diagnosed early enough to get the help we need to adapt to society in our childhood and go on to having massive burnouts sooner or later from overly compensating.
I think it's fairer to look at it from the perspective of : this isn't the same kind of autism you have seen in your life, but it does not necessarily make it unrealistic about its depiction - just like a work depicting other experiences of autism doesn't make those unrealistic either. It's just my opinion of course, and it would be much better and more simple if we simply had more shows with fully fleshed out autistic characters that cover the entirety of the spectrum ! :)
The director waited a year for EB to appear in the series, and as much I know such autism spectrum is very rare…
May I ask what you mean by "this is not how a person with autism lives ?" I've only watched a few episodes so far so I might be wrong but I've found it decently realistic !
I think you should check in with yours about why you think it makes you look cool to like being agressive with strangers. Have a nice rest of your day :)
I'm certainly not above it all, but I know better than lashing out at strangers on the internet without rhyme or reason. We're clearly not changing each other's minds with this discussion, so what point is there to it ? I've said my piece in my first comment and I stand by it. I don't feel obligated to make you see things the way I do for the sake of winning an argument. Been there done that and you gain absolutely nothing from it.
In your own words, maybe it'd be better to facilitate your irritability in another way than be a "psycho" and spend so much time arguing over something as mundane as the matter at hand ? It's what therapy is teaching me these days. It's just my two cents and nothing more ; I just wish you could see the irony in calling out a character for acting emotionally and inconveniencing others while writing the way you have since your first comment.
I understand you're clearly feeling some emotions right now, which is fine. But I believe you'd do yourself a favor if you took some time to reflect on them instead of trying to argue over something as insignificant as media taste. :)
The words "monster" and "psycho" seemed heavily loaded to me, which is why I felt compelled to say something. If it was simply hyperbole, I understand ! All good haha
I've never said I think the way he acted was morally commendable, simply explained what I believe his thought process to be. Your judgement of his personality and actions is yours to have, and mine is mine - there's space for both. I'm certainly not trying to change anyone's mind !
That being said, outside of the scope of fiction being, you know, fictional, I don't believe painting mental illness in such a bad light is healthy in and of itself. Trauma-informed response to situations can be messy for everyone included, but healing takes time. As they say, you can't truly understand it until it happens to you :)
You're not alone. I really liked them too ❤ The first time I watched it I was too frustrated to notice a lot…
I agree with everything you said and more !! I've answered my thoughts about it to the first person who replied to my comment if you'd like to read them, so as to not clutter too much haha
I didn't mention Seojoon leaving too early to hear the answer as well because I thought this one was way too obvious for anyone to miss. Haven't we all watched / read enough to understand that leaving before you hear the full conversation is the number 1 miscommunication trope ? LMAO
Jiwoo being so completely lost in thought after their hookup that he uncharacteristically messes up in the kitchen. Him looking at the door longingly with the logo of his restaurant on the same level as his eyes, telling us exactly what is going on in his head despite the mixed emotions he's feeling. Tearing up while saying the meanest things he can to make Seojoon give up on him for good, his front dropping as soon as Seojoon tells him how clearly he sees that it's all an act and that he's not the kind of person who can be with someone casually like that. Simultaneously always looking back at Seojoon but never being able to look him in the eye for too long all day long. Getting so angry with him blabbing about their personal matters he finally looks right at him, but still reflexively protecting him from loud sounds and making sure he's ok. Getting shy when Seojoon notices it. Feeling so complicated he has to leave the gathering immediately. Trying to find an excuse when his behavior gets called out. Getting angry, again, when Seojoon starts being self-sacrificial, again. Lashing out from repressing everything, just like he did in season 1.
Not to mention that, when Seojoon tells him he loves him despite all his flaws, the words he says only mean "I dislike / hate it." He could be telling Seojoon he dislikes him, yes, or he could be saying he dislikes being the kind of person he is. He knows that objectively speaking Seojoon has always been too good to him. Him, who doesn't know how to open up, how to reciprocate correctly, how to be honest, just like he said in ep 4. Him who hates getting anything he feels like he doesn't deserve, him who believes he can never make another person truly happy.
The face he makes when Seojoon leaves, which he has been desperately pushing him to do because he truly believes it's what's best for him, tells me everything I need to know about how hard this for Jiwoo. Not to mention the scene where he gets incredibly shy because he has to admit that he named his own restaurant (the biggest dream of his life) thinking about Seojoon. I saw a comment earlier saying they missed the cute Jiwoo from s1, but I truly believe if you take the time to notice the little things, he is still here despite all the false pretense ! His awkward way of expressing worry over Seojoon's wellbeing when he knows how gossipy and downright cruel the other villagers can be is definitely cute to me.
And despite everything that's been said about disliking the ex-gf plot, I truly believe the last conversation between Jiwoo and her tells us much about his thought process. My interpretation of it is : he's definitely felt guilty over Dakyung giving him everything he needed, over not noticing that she was suffering as well. When he says that while dating him, he could focus everything on his cooking, I think he's also apologizing for not being careful enough about her own needs, about being too selfish to notice how hard it was on her as well. I think this is the trauma that drove him to leave Seojoon - seeing how Seojoon was living only for him, not taking care of himself, not being, if I may say, selfish enough, and being afraid that he would eventually resent Jiwoo as Dakyung did in the past. So he left instead.
Obviously we'll get the final word next week, and I might be slightly off in my interpretation, but this is why I love this season so far. I like when shows tell you what you need to know subtly !
I was a bit apprehensive reading all the rage against ep 5 and 6 but I ended up really, really loving them. I think they're the strongest eps of the season so far. So many blink it and you miss it details that tell you how much these two love each other... I love this show <3
This has literally all my favorite tropes so far. Absolutely in love with everything, from the acting performance to the production............ Spicy take mayhaps but truly nobody does it like the japanese when it comes to BL. There's a reason why the genre originated AND matured there !
Hwang Daseul's golden hands strike again... I loved the maturity of S1 and I'm loving this one even more. I was as worried as anyone when they announced S2's plot but seeing how even through the pain she still manages to add the sense of humor that made S1 shine... I think this is gonna be even better than anything else she's made so far <3
For people who have experienced situations and feelings similar to those of the main cast, this will probably…
Well it seems my little comment made a lot of people want to talk haha. As @CoffeeBlender mentioned my comment was full of conditional because obviously, having such and such life story does not make you necessarily receptive to x or y storytelling. I personally believe that a show without a consistent plot like this one is as needed as others. Change doesn't happen quickly in one's life, usually. It certainly doesn't happen quickly in mine. Seeing myself, my thoughts and my processing of trauma represented in an art piece feels validating, and it gives me joy and hope for the future.
This is what I meant by "For people who have experienced situations and feelings similar to those of the main cast, this will probably be a masterpiece." It's about seeing yourself, your flaws and your trauma, and no judgment being passed onto these. You just are. We all just are. It's ok to be a work in progress. Those are the words I've taken from this show, and those are the words I hope other people always keep in mind, no matter where they themselves might have taken them from.
For people who have experienced situations and feelings similar to those of the main cast, this will probably be a masterpiece. For the rest, it might seem boring, farfetched, or ridiculous.
I personally think that good art isn't meant to be a little understood by everyone but fully understood by those it is meant for, and according to that philosophy I'll say this was a near-perfect masterpiece. It's probably never gonna be one that has high ratings, but a masterpiece nonetheless.
The scenes that touched on the tragic mundanity of death were those that broke me the most. I love this show with all my heart, and I truly think it was made with love and care for the slow, melancholic people whose strengths often aren't highlighted enough in our dynamic and speedy society.
I'm aware that it's probably available on illegal sites but I was specifically asking for a legal option since I want to support the director's amazing work ! haha
I know sometimes viki gets licenses once the initial exclusivity deal is over, so I'm hoping for that. Maybe I'll get an iqiyi sub if I don't feel like waiting anymore !
Personally speaking, as an autistic person myself, I've found many similarities and dissimilarities between the way I function and Youngwoo's from the little I've seen so far. I don't think it fully represents my life or anyone else's, but it's obviously quite sincere in trying to portray the issues we face. I dare say most people who have what was formerly called as Asperger will have had some kind of similar life to Wooyoung - though many of us aren't diagnosed early enough to get the help we need to adapt to society in our childhood and go on to having massive burnouts sooner or later from overly compensating.
I think it's fairer to look at it from the perspective of : this isn't the same kind of autism you have seen in your life, but it does not necessarily make it unrealistic about its depiction - just like a work depicting other experiences of autism doesn't make those unrealistic either. It's just my opinion of course, and it would be much better and more simple if we simply had more shows with fully fleshed out autistic characters that cover the entirety of the spectrum ! :)
In your own words, maybe it'd be better to facilitate your irritability in another way than be a "psycho" and spend so much time arguing over something as mundane as the matter at hand ? It's what therapy is teaching me these days. It's just my two cents and nothing more ; I just wish you could see the irony in calling out a character for acting emotionally and inconveniencing others while writing the way you have since your first comment.
That being said, outside of the scope of fiction being, you know, fictional, I don't believe painting mental illness in such a bad light is healthy in and of itself. Trauma-informed response to situations can be messy for everyone included, but healing takes time. As they say, you can't truly understand it until it happens to you :)
I didn't mention Seojoon leaving too early to hear the answer as well because I thought this one was way too obvious for anyone to miss. Haven't we all watched / read enough to understand that leaving before you hear the full conversation is the number 1 miscommunication trope ? LMAO
Not to mention that, when Seojoon tells him he loves him despite all his flaws, the words he says only mean "I dislike / hate it." He could be telling Seojoon he dislikes him, yes, or he could be saying he dislikes being the kind of person he is. He knows that objectively speaking Seojoon has always been too good to him. Him, who doesn't know how to open up, how to reciprocate correctly, how to be honest, just like he said in ep 4. Him who hates getting anything he feels like he doesn't deserve, him who believes he can never make another person truly happy.
The face he makes when Seojoon leaves, which he has been desperately pushing him to do because he truly believes it's what's best for him, tells me everything I need to know about how hard this for Jiwoo. Not to mention the scene where he gets incredibly shy because he has to admit that he named his own restaurant (the biggest dream of his life) thinking about Seojoon. I saw a comment earlier saying they missed the cute Jiwoo from s1, but I truly believe if you take the time to notice the little things, he is still here despite all the false pretense ! His awkward way of expressing worry over Seojoon's wellbeing when he knows how gossipy and downright cruel the other villagers can be is definitely cute to me.
And despite everything that's been said about disliking the ex-gf plot, I truly believe the last conversation between Jiwoo and her tells us much about his thought process. My interpretation of it is : he's definitely felt guilty over Dakyung giving him everything he needed, over not noticing that she was suffering as well. When he says that while dating him, he could focus everything on his cooking, I think he's also apologizing for not being careful enough about her own needs, about being too selfish to notice how hard it was on her as well. I think this is the trauma that drove him to leave Seojoon - seeing how Seojoon was living only for him, not taking care of himself, not being, if I may say, selfish enough, and being afraid that he would eventually resent Jiwoo as Dakyung did in the past. So he left instead.
Obviously we'll get the final word next week, and I might be slightly off in my interpretation, but this is why I love this season so far. I like when shows tell you what you need to know subtly !
This is what I meant by "For people who have experienced situations and feelings similar to those of the main cast, this will probably be a masterpiece." It's about seeing yourself, your flaws and your trauma, and no judgment being passed onto these. You just are. We all just are. It's ok to be a work in progress. Those are the words I've taken from this show, and those are the words I hope other people always keep in mind, no matter where they themselves might have taken them from.
I personally think that good art isn't meant to be a little understood by everyone but fully understood by those it is meant for, and according to that philosophy I'll say this was a near-perfect masterpiece. It's probably never gonna be one that has high ratings, but a masterpiece nonetheless.
The scenes that touched on the tragic mundanity of death were those that broke me the most. I love this show with all my heart, and I truly think it was made with love and care for the slow, melancholic people whose strengths often aren't highlighted enough in our dynamic and speedy society.
I know sometimes viki gets licenses once the initial exclusivity deal is over, so I'm hoping for that. Maybe I'll get an iqiyi sub if I don't feel like waiting anymore !