VixenByNight72

"It’s about whether these characters can break free of their families, the patriarchy, and the weight of reality. BL may package itself as romance, but what keeps people watching is the deeper question: can love survive a world that keeps trying to crush it?"

Thank you for this post!

"I wanted to flag that ageism seems to be so ubiquitous in the BL-watching community (also elsewhere as well?) ...which I find to be quite sad and unnecessary."

I also find the ageism within the BL community rather shocking, but sadly after all these many years not so shocking. Like somehow, these BL characters cannot have feelings of love, sexual desire, and need unless they fall into a very very specific targeted and preferred age that will appeal to a certain demographic.

Victor isn't a wide-eyed 14 to 16 year old being manipulated Trin.

Victor is a college student, who has met someone, an older college professor, who has spent significant years living, and experiencing life outside of their home country who challenges him, makes him think about things in a different way, and has sparked a mix of emotional, mental, and romantic/sexual desire in Victor.

What's so off-putting by showing that from Victor's point of view?

Damn.....that was a great cliffhanger. "Tutor" Gu has been leading the Crown Prince to commit patricide and treason for years in his quest for power, and ShuQian was prepared to do it. He was ready to kill Shuhe, the brother that he previously adored to achieve his goal. He literally manipulated and poisoned Hua Yong, to be his blade and spy. He could have achieved his goal, while also maintaining the love he had from his brother AND the young man that he had by his side.

Duan Zi Ang, reunited with his first love, finding his younger brother is still alive, AND finding out that he isn't just a former general's son, but the next Crown Prince of the Northern Kingdom?!

Zhang Zhe Xu and Mi Jin have done an incredible job in their performances as Duan and Shuhe.

Now the long wait until next Saturday.

There is no love from the Crown Prince towards Hua Yong. He just wants his subjugation, and loyalty.

He told him to kill himself, and that his thoughts about the Crown Prince were "dirty".

"In this vast world of mountains and rivers, you are the only freedom I long for."

Zi'ang had to say those words to Shuhe, because he does find freedom, comfort, and love with him. Wow!!

I feel that some viewers just expect the worst in developing storylines due to thinking that every BL is the same as a previous BL they watched prior.

A Tuo cannot imagine having a life with anyone else but Jun Xi by his side.

Even if Wen Sen tried to make unwanted advances towards A Tuo, he wouldn't have accepted, because he's totally in love with Jun Xi.

I like how this series is developing how Jun Xi's getting more comfortable in acknowledging his love, desire, and need for A Tuo. How he is remembering their time as kids. How much A Tuo has always been an important individual in his past, present, and their potential future.

It's nice seeing how Win is just so overwhelmed in trying to get the band started, and change his and Nut's futures, so that they can hopefully have a happily ever after or make sure that Nut survives.

Win completely forgot about Lin coming into the situation, and that Nut's controlling father would sonehow find out about the band.

Chai trying to come off as this bad ass rebel, when he's just another young man dealing with a sad situation of his mother's alcoholism.

Ek's crippling shyness, but the amazing emotional support that he has in both of his parents is so wonderful to see.

I am throughly enjoying this BL.

I don't think I dropped the series, but I remember thinking to myself, "There is NO possible way, that this is the direction that TPTB are choosing to go with the storyline of Kengla, Techno and his brother." Then they actually went there.

That's why A-Tuo was so fearful, once Jun Xi found out about his actions in keeping all of those fickle girls away from Jun Xi in high school, that he would also leave him like his Mom, or totally neglect him like his father. I was shaking my head, thinking to myself, I am not a parent, but this man wants A-Tuo to be polite, and filial to him, but he hasn't even EARNED an ounce of the real feelings that his son has shown towards Jun Xi's parents.

A-Tuo has always known that he was wrong for doing that to Jun Xi, but he truly felt that none of those girls really cared for him and sadly, he was right. All it took was a smile from him, and those unrequited feelings for Jun Xi vanished from all of them. While, he's been holding onto his crush/feelings for Jun Xi, since he could even figure out that his feelings were more than just friends for Jun Xi.

A-Tuo tries to keep his needs/wants in check, because he knows that Jun Xi is just not ready to be "public" with them with the other students, his parents, and their world. Yet, each time Jun Xi pulls away in fear of being found out, to A-Tuo it's another physical example of another important person in his life expressing some sort of distaste/shame/neglect of him.

Jun Xi's slowly growing aware of these long-term issues with A-Tuo, but he's not truly ready nor prepared on how to ease those worries/concerns from him yet. I think Jun Xi's folks will have to start seeing how things have changed regarding the "friendship" between those two and start providing support for them both in their changed relationship.

How will Mild be able to face the fact that all of these people knew about it? His brother. His friends. The man that he's allowing himself to grow closer to, who is rumoured to be the one that raped/sexually assaulted him?

I keep thinking about the other horrible rape storyline from "Love By Chance"

This one and "Eye Contact" literally went back in time to the 2015 to 2019 years of believing that rape/sexual assault is "different" when it's centered on male characters.

Sigh.

I really enjoyed this series.

Of course Grandma is going to place the blame on Rati. It has to be someone else's "fault" that her grandson is "that way". She refuses to acknowledge that Thee IS a homosexual, even though she's completely aware that most folks in that village have talked about Thee being an "invert" years before Rati came back to his home country.

Just the same way that she refuses to acknowledge that Ram has another son, Tiwa, and has always been in love with Tiwa's mom.

If Ram had a little bit more of Thee's fight to acknowledge his true feelings for Tiwa and his mother, there would be no way that Grandma would be able to use the threat of kicking those two out of the little house over him and Thee.

Very impressed by this first episode.

I feel that I will enjoy this series. Older Win's life is muddled with regrets for not taking chances, especially regarding his unrequited/not spoken feelings about Nut. His "reset/rearrange" could be a blessing in disguise. He will be able to be honest with himself and Nut about his feelings, but how will he be able to keep his love from dying again?

Does Nut share his own unrequited feelings towards Win, or will he still feel drawn towards Lin?

A-Tuo has been trying to not be too obsessive/possessive of Jun Xie, but I do feel that Jun Xie really isn't all that bothered/put off by Tuo's behavior. In Jun Xie's mind, there has literally been NO ONE else, who has spent this much effort, dedication, and YEARS of devotion towards him, as Tuo has. He's slowly realizing that his best friend has been in love with him for a very long time

All these young girls in high school who supposedly had unrequited crushes on Jun Xie, YET all those crushes suddenly were over the moment Tuo implied that he liked them. None of them held stuck to their original unrequited feelings for Jun Xie at all.

None of these girls talked to one another, after this guy who suddenly confessed them started giving them the cold shoulder? His interest in them started to wane, because he couldn't make himself act romantically towards them.

BOC is being very very clever in how they're marketing this series.

She was!

"When Armin took that ring, he cried. Real tears. His eyes looked like they were reflecting every single firework in the sky, and Tada looked like a man who had just closed the most important deal of his life.

This isn’t BL.
This is ML: Men’s Love. Excessive. Nostalgic. Perfect."

Armin accepting his marriage proposal WAS the most important deal in Thada's/Tada's life.

Thada/Tada was excessive, and romantic in this "Reset" present life with Armin, due to him regretting being so cautious and reserved in their former past life, that any possibility of getting Armin to know him was horribly taken away from him by his obsesssed step-brother Thiwthit.

When you rewatch the earlier episodes, you can now see why Thada/Tada seemed to have this "sixth sense" regarding the needs/whereabouts of Armin at all times, even though the trauma that Thada/Tada experienced in the aftermath of Armin's past death kept him from wondering why he saw those visions in his dreams.

To quote from the 2016 Tony Award Winning Musical "Hamilton", Thada/Tada was not going to lose his "shot" at another chance at a happy life with Armin. Hashtag: Armin's Husband.

I think that Prince Ma wants to see that Thee is determined enough to do whatever it takes to be with Rati. The Prince isn't allowed to go against his own duties and responsibilities to their country, but he can show support towards them.