Little Tomatillo

I was finally able to finish this show today. During airing I had enough after episode 7. But yes. Asami finally told him about his feelings to be in a movie where he basically will play his father. And than Shirasaki lashed out. I still don't know why and also why Asami will eventually play in that movie that os based on his fathers book.

That is the timing of the show they played in. That aired at 1.00 at night.

I forgot to mention something important. I will ad that.

I comment as a spoiler.

I was also a bit confused so I watched that scene twice.

Mu Hee had cold feet and wanted to be the nice one, to not stand in the way of the love between Ho Jin and Si Jeon. She thinks that Ho Jin is still in love with Si Jeon and wants to be selfless and "help" him.

But for Ho Jin this felt like a slap in the face. He thought he had made his true feelings for Mu hee clear by being nice to her and help her and stuff.

And by her telling this, and also saying that she wants not to stand in the way of real love. That what he thought what they had was real, is now by her telling this, that what they had was not real, but fake, a joke.

He feels hurt, because he is sincere in his feelings for her. By her making this decision, she does a one sided decision that for both of them. Under the disguise of "for his sake"
But actually Mu Hee running away from him is her way of distancing and not getting hurt by Ho Jin.

The title of this show is not only about him as a translator. But actually, although they both speak Korean. If they can understand each other. This scene is their miscommunication.

She does not understand why he is mad at her, isn't she the one sacrificing? And that he was only nice to her out of pity? While he thought his kindness was showing how much he cared for her.
The last line about crossing the street finally hits home. This was Ho Jin telling her that he would have done that for her. That is the moment she messed up and that he had genuine feelings for her. But rejected her now because of what she said.

I also have to mention the problematic upbringing and family of Ho Jin. His brother is his half brother his father had with another woman. And that woman seemed also a part of the "family". All very strange arrangements. And his parents divorced. For him, a commitment is not some casual thing. When he is in love, he is sincere but he has to think about it. He needs to be certain. He was at that point certain. He talked with Si Jeon and that made everything more clear for him. He was in love with Mu Hee. But she threw that in his face.

One of the very few series I could watch the last year that I could watch from start to finish in no time.

It was great. The story, acting, visuals, setting. Canada and Italy also showed up as a stunning location. This show must have costed a fortune. But it was worth it.

To low.

It is not a masterpiece. But it is actually enjoyable and the merman action under water is definitely high quality. The actors had like one year of training to pull that off. Nosebleeds and all.

Imo, Fan Xiao was homophobic at that point.

If i remember correct, the local university, he had found out, had a very good faculty in what he was planning to do, I only can remember that he met a old professor from i think Penn state

Just saw this. https://x.com/i/status/1999335656557019283

Only Chinese subs. But that was adorable! Daniel and Michelle sure know how to act love.

This was also mindboggling to me. She had found work in New York. Or was that also a lie? I guess the prospect of her new career seemed better than to live 2 years in the US. She said that he should broaden his world while he did not want to. But she has not broadened her world. It was a shitty thing to do.

I see what you mean. I also was not fond of that. But he worships the ground she walks on.

I can't believe it that I binged this in 2 days. Ok. I have to be honest. Most of the show I had sped up. Because 30 episodes is a lot. I'm especially taken with the acting of Daniel Zhou. Never heard of him. But now I am tempted to watch another show with him. And again, 30 episodes? 😬

He does

Sorry. I only posted the things we have seen untill episode 8 from yesterday.
But I can understand that not everyone is up to speed with what has aired. I will try to change it.
Thanks!

There are spoilers in this comment with events that have taken place from episode 1 till 8, incl.

Fan Xiao knows that Shulang is not in any way a pushover. The contrary. He admires his inner strenght. He had seen hos Shulang handles emergency situations (saving the baby), how he controlls himself at his job and orders his sub ordinates. Ofcourse that famous scene, how Shulang walks back and just goes with his upper body in the car and get Fam Xiaos cigarettes. The way he handled him when Fan Xiao went there with the special tea's and Shulamg was not polite anymore. How good he is at fighting (before he was abducted, also with Xue Bao Tian etc , the mind games (at the club), even drugged, he was able trlo controll himseld up to a point, how clever he is. And also that Shulang would not break if Fan Xiao would break up with him and told him he never loved him.

Fan Xiao has never seen Shulang as weak.

That Fan Xiao doesn't knew what he wanted from the beginning is because his goal shifted. From being very annoyed by Shulang, because of his impeccable manners and later saving that baby. Due to his trauma. His mother saved him saying that he needee to be alive. While he rather would have died, because from that moment on, his life was not good. That os related to this father and brothers and also the reason why Fan Xiao asked Shulang what he would do if his spouse and child were in danger. He would stay with them. I think this is a pivotal moment. For Shulang, he was rescued as a orphin while looking through the trash by a woman with a low iq. But a big heart. She said that live was worth living.).

To out him as someone with a secret, namely that he is gay. Fan Xiao was homophobic at that point. (Wetland park situation, where at the last moment, he shoved Li Zhen in the car, not wanting to get his "revenge" there).

To obsession. Not only with how Shulang thinks and behaves. But he craves his body and also sees him as his savior and is now really loving Shulang. That is also what he said with his inner voice. That he had lied so much and said so much BS. But that he loves Shulang for real.

That is why his mind is messed up which is wonderfully shown in the scene in episode 8 where he delivers his acting while Shulang is not cracking under that. He stays stoic. Because he already had read the text messages.

[Some BTS from the kiss at the office.
](https://www.instagram.com/reel/DR9pTx6EXCI/?igsh=a2t5MXkxb2N1enN6)

[This is another one](https://www.instagram.com/reel/DR9xncckQXX/?igsh=MW5pOWtwYjMxamdvdw==). At at MUCH better angle.

They must have done that a lot. The first clip was different from the second. Poor lips that day. 😂

And even the biting in the 2nd link here. That was [the director telling. ](https://www.instagram.com/reel/DR9lPD_kU4a/?igsh=MTV2czQydnlnZWdwOQ==)

Although according to what they say here, there was [a lot of improvisation. ](https://www.instagram.com/reel/DR9sObTjSXh/?igsh=dHl0ZndwOGJlcThh)

Fan Xiao lost it after he had not seen Shulang for a whole 3 days!

Yun Qi is doing push-ups for this kiss. I wonder why. Because his costume stays on.

But I don’t complain.

Hear the sounds of that 4 faced Buddha necklace banging on the floor every time!

[This clip is a reaction ](https://www.instagram.com/reel/DRwYfXwkrEB/?igsh=MXhuNHY0MG43OGpjZw==)from them in the first NC scene. Someone found it on Weibo. Yun Qi wants to hide himself out of shame.

And Hao Yi Ran, the incredible skilled and trained actor that he is, asked for 2 books under his pillow and that really made a difference [in this scene. ](https://www.instagram.com/reel/DRwnZPekphy/?igsh=MWR2bDJ1aTh0Ymx5eg==)

And Yun Qi again so shy and adorable, watching that NC scene. He looks so much younger.

Here is the moment [that they watch together](https://www.instagram.com/reel/DR1yDBDEop3/?igsh=dHZkY2dvbGYyOGx6) the scene of "You were born to be under a man, no one's sluttier than you".

I love this show so much.
The story is great. The production of this show, direction, cinematography, light, sound. It is so good.

The acting. Considering that this is Yun Qi's first ever acting. The producters would have been out of their mind if they just put some rookie actor in a role that demands so much.
I guess that he made a impact at them, resembling the features they had in mind. He had a acting coach (Yun Qi had different persons on his phone tagged as Shulang, not only Hao Yi Ran, but also his acting coach). And he does a wonderfull job.

Hao Yi Ran as Shulang is something else. He is a gradudate from the Beijing Film Academy. And it shows.

To get into that Academy is so extremely difficult Only around 1 percent gets in! One of the lowest admission rates in China. Also during your time there, it is very competitive and you have to have talent and dedication to stand out. The exams are also really difficult.

So, yes, his acting is so impressive. He can play it all. Strong, fragile, angry, seemingly not shaken but internally raging or sadness. I love the character Shulang so much.

Thanks for this short summary, I have copied and pasted it on the Boyslove reddit sub, if you don't mind.