I'm wondering what the second couple shared that would make you go “They're completely in love with each other.”…
Hey Cookie, I am with you!
While BOTH couples have deception going on, I think there are differences, and it is very important to consider the innate power imbalances here.
1. Gao Tu is, we always must remember, an Omega. This is a often considered a lesser class of person. Omega is stand-in for woman; needy, hormonal and emotional. So Gao Tu is hiding something that disadvantages him. Gao Tu is NOT hiding his real personality. He is, however, incredibly disconnected from his sexuality and gender. He is less empowered socially, physically and financially than everyone else. He is hiding to protect himself. Social constructs and SWL's dumbassery have kept them at arm's length. But, they have known each other since school, and so there is some kind of sincere connection there. GT KNOWS that SWL has issues, and loves him despite how damaged and ridiculous as he is. He's seen SWL at his worst. GT is genuinely of service to SWL. Nothing he does has a chance to physically hurt SWL; the consequences always fall back on GT.
2. Hua Yong is an Enigma. He is incredibly powerful, and he is also hiding. BUT, not because he would be looked down on, but because he is manipulating Sheng Shao You and, really, the world at large. Hua Yong is wealthy, at the top of society, as an Enigma has pheromone power over all the other genders, and physically the most powerful. In every way possible, he can and does overpower SSL without his knowledge and consent. And he is hiding, so he can exercise his power over SSY. HY is not being his true self; the personality he shows SSY may have flashes of truth, but its largely a construct of the omega he thinks he likes. Their moments of tenderness can't help but be figments of artifice. Everything he says he does out of 'love' has a funny way of also tying SSY to him even closer, with SSY bearing the consequences.
And just like that we are already half way through , Hua Yong getting scarier day by day , I genuinely felt so…
GIRL. SAME. Like, I think we all have to have an appreciation of fucked up dynamics to watch BL in general, but this is...it's just repugnant to me. That scene where SSY comes home to HY and talks about the business meeting where HY intentionally sabotaged him? After having been physically interfering with him, manipulating him, doing corporate espionage, lying about EVERYTHING . That whole scene is just sick. I wouldn't want to be with someone who violated my bodily autonomy constantly? People, how would you feel if your boyfriend was putting sex change drugs in your food secretly? That is what this is, thematically. HY doesn't respect anyone, not even the person he purports to love. This is not love. This is possession.
Counter that with Gao Tu; he is altering his own body for love; but it is something he chooses to do. Is it stupid? Absolutely. But he is making the choice.
I can’t get behind "gender bender." Manhood and womanhood aren’t costumes you try on and discard whenever…
That's why I am annoyed at this show. It's not DOING anything with the gender-bender stuff.
Kim Ji Eun has NOT changed in essentials. Her body has. Massively. It's phenomenally bizarre to me dysphoria hasn't come up. How she relates to her/his own body is a topic they seem too scared to properly address when it's not surface comedy. Nothing about how she relates to her new body. She's allowed to have feelings about this; discomfort, disgust, fear- or even ambivalence or actual comfort. JUST. DO. SOMETHING. Her concerns are her parents finding out and the situation with her boyfriend. External issues---
Yet, the series doesn't want to talk the role of gender in their society either.
So, what's the point of this? Just Park Yun Jae looking scandalized every six minutes? I think that's why Min Ju is being so horrible; the series doesn't want to deal with any of the issue it is itself raising; not the specter of transgenderism, not sexism in society and certainly not Yun Jae's sexuality or emotional intelligence, so they have to do something. Why not have a pushy girl and make Yun Jae freak out because he looks- oooh nooooo GAY! The worst, amirite?
I just...in effort not to talk about transgenderism and same sex attraction this series dodges INTO incest and the apparent idea that someone's personality doesn't matter as much as their gendert? The compulsive heterosexuality is so, so weird in this.
It would have been waaay worse 15 years ago I think. Still far from perfect through, and I didn't watch ep 4 yet.
I think you're absolutely right that it would be more overtly transphobic and homophobic instead of subtly so, but the core ideas are still the same; Oh No! I've Turned Into a Boy And That's Bad! In 2009? I guess, but in 2025? When multiple cultures are actively deconstructing gender, gender expression, gender roles, systemic sexism, the spectrum of sexuality, compulsive heterosexuality ...this feels like a weird time capsule where none of that exists. Why?
While BOTH couples have deception going on, I think there are differences, and it is very important to consider the innate power imbalances here.
1. Gao Tu is, we always must remember, an Omega. This is a often considered a lesser class of person. Omega is stand-in for woman; needy, hormonal and emotional. So Gao Tu is hiding something that disadvantages him. Gao Tu is NOT hiding his real personality. He is, however, incredibly disconnected from his sexuality and gender. He is less empowered socially, physically and financially than everyone else. He is hiding to protect himself. Social constructs and SWL's dumbassery have kept them at arm's length. But, they have known each other since school, and so there is some kind of sincere connection there. GT KNOWS that SWL has issues, and loves him despite how damaged and ridiculous as he is. He's seen SWL at his worst. GT is genuinely of service to SWL. Nothing he does has a chance to physically hurt SWL; the consequences always fall back on GT.
2. Hua Yong is an Enigma. He is incredibly powerful, and he is also hiding. BUT, not because he would be looked down on, but because he is manipulating Sheng Shao You and, really, the world at large. Hua Yong is wealthy, at the top of society, as an Enigma has pheromone power over all the other genders, and physically the most powerful. In every way possible, he can and does overpower SSL without his knowledge and consent. And he is hiding, so he can exercise his power over SSY. HY is not being his true self; the personality he shows SSY may have flashes of truth, but its largely a construct of the omega he thinks he likes. Their moments of tenderness can't help but be figments of artifice. Everything he says he does out of 'love' has a funny way of also tying SSY to him even closer, with SSY bearing the consequences.
Counter that with Gao Tu; he is altering his own body for love; but it is something he chooses to do. Is it stupid? Absolutely. But he is making the choice.
Kim Ji Eun has NOT changed in essentials. Her body has. Massively. It's phenomenally bizarre to me dysphoria hasn't come up. How she relates to her/his own body is a topic they seem too scared to properly address when it's not surface comedy. Nothing about how she relates to her new body. She's allowed to have feelings about this; discomfort, disgust, fear- or even ambivalence or actual comfort. JUST. DO. SOMETHING. Her concerns are her parents finding out and the situation with her boyfriend. External issues---
Yet, the series doesn't want to talk the role of gender in their society either.
So, what's the point of this? Just Park Yun Jae looking scandalized every six minutes? I think that's why Min Ju is being so horrible; the series doesn't want to deal with any of the issue it is itself raising; not the specter of transgenderism, not sexism in society and certainly not Yun Jae's sexuality or emotional intelligence, so they have to do something. Why not have a pushy girl and make Yun Jae freak out because he looks- oooh nooooo GAY! The worst, amirite?