any_anka

I do have the impression sometimes that some who criticised or rated it very low did so in response to positive reviews and attention the series got. Like, they wouldn't even bother or would've been less harsh in their evaluations if The On1y One had lower ratings or garnered less fans.

In a way maybe it's to be expected. I myself tend to have higher expectations if I see some work getting good feedback (and that, in turn, could influence my watching experience in the end).

It can happen within 5 months, but also earlier than that. That's basically the deadline for any news - we will know in 5 months, whether s2 happen or not. Patrick Liu mentioned that theoretically, filming could start even this year.

The kisses happen in ep 2 and 3, as MiHile mentioned, but they're not really proper kisses.
One is a dare kiss, another one is a revenge kiss in response to the first one. I'd argue that they do make SW feel some sort of way, but it takes him many more episodes to realize his feelings.
The drama features a lot of very poetic moments, interactions between the two protagonists where you can really feel they're developing feelings, experience how they open up to one another and it's all very beautiful. Some of these interactions do feel like borderline flirting. In general, I'm one of the people who think SW and JT have great chemistry.
However, it's not the type of series that will give you a lot of physical demonstrations of their feelings. Not in the first season, anyway. If the second one actually happens, there should be some according to the book's events.

In all honesty, if you're starting this series with the anticipation for kissing scenes or some more physically intimate moments between the leads, then you *will* be disappointed. The story of SW and JT's growing bond is a beautiful one, but it's really more of "enjoying the journey" kinda thing.
More details below, if you don't mind the spoilers.

You can start watching one of the dramas I'm currently watching, then. Which is Psych-Hunter with Dong Qin 😁

I usually end up calling every Asian drama that focuses on gay male characters, a BL. It's quicker for me this way, and sometimes I don't really know if the drama will have that "vibe" to separate it from other BLs before I actually watch it. It doesn't really help that Love in the Big City is still under BL category on Viki as well.

I also feel that the term BL evolved over the years and is attached to more productions nowadays, not just pure "shounen-ai" (people call Your Name Engraved Herein a BL, e.g., which I originally did not but then settled for "ugh, I guess it's fine, whatever").

No official announcement of it being confirmed (or cancelled). The director mentioned this month that they are trying to make it work (hiring ppl, arranging the schedules of cast, thinking how to show certain intimate scenes etc.)
*If* it does happen, filming would start in the next 5 months and the time period between it being completed and released should be much shorter than season 1 (I think they took like a whole year for s1). The cast would stay the same.

The show's official IG teased sth's supposed to happen soon, but I doubt it'd be an info on s2. More likely news about official merch, maybe fan meet or sth.

Same! Only in my case you can expand this statement to pretty much *any* romance story.

I'm currently watching Psych-Hunter which is like bromance with supernatural/detective elements (with some romance that I'm intentionally trying to ignore), a contemporary cdrama In Between focusing on people's dealing with relationships, expectations of love, their own self-worth etc. (where almost everybody lies and cheats, so it's hardly romantic at all) and just started watching this queer kdrama Love in the Big City, which also so far feels more like a report on people dealing with loneliness and hardships of life more than portrayal of anything romantic.

And that's as close as I can get at the moment to anything that has romantic-love-related themes.

If I were to watch something that aims to be a story of blooming, developing love, I just know I'd find it lacklustre... I actually dropped two other BL shows I was in the middle of watching after I got into The On1y One (and I actually quite enjoyed one of them) and don't even plan to get back to them anytime soon.

Taste is subjective, I know, I know... I don't need people to like what I like (well, in this case, maybe I kinda do, because I want that 2nd season, so the better the reception of the drama, the more chances to have it, I'd assume 😜).
But in general, I'm ok with people having different opinions. I even enjoyed and could appreciate some of the earlier comments in this section from people who didn't really like the show, but had some good arguments/constructive criticism/funny way to voice their complaints.
But as I said, I think aside from our personal taste, there is some objective value to everything. E.g. people can debate over whether they like Mariah Carey or Whitney Houston more, but it's an objective fact they're both fantastic signers, y'know?
There are plenty of movies or dramas I watched in my life that I didn't really vibe with, but I could still acknowledge areas where they were more or less objectively good. And to give a show 1 or 2 stars, they'd have to be complete rubbish on almost every front, in my opinion.
But anyway, I'm with you on "how can anyone not like it?", so maybe I'm just too narrow-minded to understand others 😉

Thank you for writing this. I sometimes stop myself from saying sth because I don't wanna end up being too ranty (plus, ultimately, everyone is entitled to their own opinion and I won't "convince" anyone into liking sth they don't like, anyway).

However, I really wish people were more rational with their ratings. MDL allows for like 20 different ratings - that's a huuuge range to choose from. When I see some reviews going to the abysmal 1 or 2 stars I really wonder what are the criteria these people took into consideration.

Aside from purely subjective "I like" or "I dislike", there are certain objective qualities to a drama or a movie, like the ones you just mentioned. I fail to understand how someone can look at cinematography of The On1y One alone and give the show a rating of 1 (or even 2) stars.

I mean... to each their own, but I'm a bit surprised that you didn't even like the actors. I had the impression that even people who disliked the drama (for whatever reasons, be it slow burn, the ending, not following the book close enough or yet sth else) usually still considered the actors did a good job (even if they claimed the cast looked too old 😜).

Also, it's always interesting for me to read opinions of people who say they felt nothing was going on. To me, every episode was a step forward in JT and SW getting closer, breaking down each other's walls.

I never felt it was boring, nor did I even feel that I am just being baited (like, you know, sometimes you have a drama or a tv show that keeps you watching because you want to see the characters finally get together, or see a mystery solved in the end, and they dangle the promise of this conclusion in front of you like a carrot in front of a donkey, or sth and you just sit there, your patience tested, because between the point of the beginning and the final you're waiting for, everything else is just a filler). Well, I never felt like this with this show. I was just along for the journey, that felt very comforting, profound and heartfelt every step of the way (with some minor bumps in the road, but nothing bad enough to ruin the entire experience).

Your Name Engraved Herein is a beautiful movie, we're in agreement on this one, though 😊

As for the parents, they are not terrible people, but they are not the greatest parents, either. Hence exactly why both boys have reasons to feel abandoned and lonely (and why they can understand each other's emptiness and longing for companionship in life).
Tian's mother also has her own issues. I personally think she feels she doesn't have the right to impose too much on her son's "personal space" out of guilt, because she used to pretty much abandon him as a kid. You will see it even more in her behaviour in later episodes when both boys will have heart-to-heart talks with their respective parents. Which explains why she is just waiting there for Tian until he comes to her himself.
As for Tian, someone on MDL used to liken him to a stray wandering cat and I found that comparison very fitting. Him moving in alone in the middle of the night is not some plot hole or lazy writing. It's both part of the character's typical behaviour/life pattern and and a reflection of his family dynamics.
Finally, this was already answered by others, by I still wanna add: if you have issues with Tian being a pricky emo teenager, he truly is not and he should grow on you in the next episodes. He is a very caring, deep, empathetic individual. However, a lot of his kindness is silent and happens through actions solely.

You seem to have made up your mind to keep on watching (good choice!), but just a couple of final words from someone for whom The On1y One became my favourite BL series of all time (and the best BL series out there - which are not always interchangeable). I will admit that even I was not instantly in love after episode 1. First two episodes gave me an indication that this show will have good acting from at least one main lead and pretty cinematography, so I kept on watching.
The end of episode 3 was when I really fell hard of it.

I think it's easier to imagine DQ as JT because we've already seen him in more roles, contrary to Benjamin whom I've only seen in that music video/promo film for Kiseki (?). I tried to find Cohabitation, but with no luck so far (used to be on Gaga, but not anymore - at least in my region).

A yeah, the cockroach situation... I guess if LDQ played JT, we would've had a fake cockroach used instead of a real one (but maybe not, maybe DQ would be a pro about it and I'm not giving him enough credit 😜)

This is a truly beautiful series, but I have two problems with it.

The first one is a minor one, actually: the very catalyst of the Cream and K plot that puts it in motion feels improbable for me (I mean, time is money and how costly it is to look for a copyrights holder on some random song - just look for another one; I know A-Lin is a big star in Taiwan, but it still did not convince me).

Now, the second one is a big one: in terms of my emotional investment it peaked in episode 7. And by "peaked" I mean, I could not stop crying and dropped the drama for a couple of days before continuing. After getting back to it, despite the show being primarily Cream and K's story, I just could not bring myself to care as much as I did before. Episode 7 and Ke Le's death was just too much of a hit, too much of a tragedy, too much of a tear-jerker for me to feel truly moved by anything that followed.

Still, it's a really nice series, with rgood acting. I started watching because of Fandy Fan being in it, and he did surprise me with his portrayal. Nevertheless, the story of An Yi Qi and Ke Le was the one that really stole (and shuttered) my heart.

At least we have a deadline for that waiting period. Whatever the conclusion...

I plan to wait and rewatch and watch some fan edits and read bits of the novel and probably rewatch again, so I have a pretty busy 5 months ahead of me.

This is just my opinion, but I think ultimately the profits will matter the most. However, every bit of views, ratings, social media buzz, number of signatures under the petition for s2 could constitute an additional argument in favour of producing season 2.
Patrick Liu seems to be especially interested in that IMDB rating (as he mentioned it more than once before), so I suppose the reviews and rating there would matter more than reviews on any other website (?).

Thank you so much for your trouble! 😊
So LDQ is not jus a man of talent, but also a man with an eye for talent 😎
Not gonna lie, part of me would like to see him as JT (or even better, see both of them doing a role reversal). Maybe during that promised (but who knows if ever realized) fan meet?! Fingers crossed.

The thing is, the drama's performance is sth the creators didn't really anticipate. Meaning, they actually targeted Taiwan, HK and Mainland China originally.

According to what I read online (some of the info could be found here), the drama got review bombed in China before it even got released, it was criticised further for not following the novel close enough and in general apparently wasn't much of a success there (the criticism directed at actors you're referring to is probably the criticism they received for not being "good looking enough" for their parts). At the same time, to the creators surprise, the show actually blew up quite much internationally.

So, the way I see it (I would assume, I don't know what they're actually thinking) the creators found themselves in a situation they didn't really account for and are probably thinking right now how to turn the drama's popularity into actual money (as they can't really count on spending power of Chinese fans - which is formidable when it's there, let's be honest).

So, in a way it's an uncharted territory for them, I don't know how much I can actually blame them 😜 The drama alone was fantastic (the reason why we all want season 2), I guess the only thing I used to blame them for was not dealing with full episodes being all over YouTube (but maybe that could count as exposure as well and will bring sth good, in the end; who knows?).

I have a tendency no to have my hopes too up high, just in case, but I can't help myself hoping for a 2nd season.

Ofc, I wish they got to play SW and JT again, this time bringing closure to their story. I also wish Patrick got the opportunity to complete his work (as he seems to be the one really set on making s2) and, of course, I wish for all of us who loved this show, to get a continuation.

Oh wow, where did you read it?