etoks21

This.

You know, that's such a lame and repetitious canard thrown out by weirdos like you who despise clearly defined gay characters. Asserting that those of us with discernment, who aren't homophobic, are simply desperate for some random kissing, is hogwash. A kiss in this show, the way it's written, would be bizarre.

"Underneath emotions" are great/wonderful/awesome as tools to BUILD a plot and characters toward something. But when, after SIX HOURS of storytelling, we are still only getting "underneath emotions" there is something wrong, a cowardice/reluctance to allow a gay romance to flower and OPEN up.

And why would that be? It would be, because the director/actors/ producers have decided they are unwilling to portray a clearly gay storyline. The history of rewrites/reshoots/delays regarding SM is telling. It was released a full year behind schedule and was chopped up in the meantime.

I can't find anything specific online, of course, because studios cover up shit like this, but casting a reluctant Korean "idol" to play a gay character is a sure-fire way for that character to end up gay-but-not-really-gay in the final product. I've seen that particular weirdness play out and ruin dramas/BLs 473 times before.

Ok Taec Yeon and his obvious rhinoplasty should have been kept far away from this show. Cast him in something with a girl opposite him, where he's willing to commit. The JP actor was the superior performer, and my guess is he wasn't worried about playing gay.

Yeah, plus it's really poorly written with loose plot threads everywhere, disappearing characters, and strange, inconsistent character behaviors.
Also, in the latter half, it becomes all about the female, childhood friend and her baby. Like...OK, a little of that is fine and the actress if very good, but...who cares? The details of that are like from a different show.

Well, I can't say we have much in common in our tastes regarding Asian films/series, but you do you and I'll do me, right? :)

I'm not finding a page here for Lost to You...?

The Gaze sounds juicy and twisted, my fave genre! :D
I'll check it out.

oooh...I just saw that Double Helix is a retelling of "A Round Trip To Love." I saw the original version, which while featuring some bad dubbing, was gloriously twisted. I'll give it a shot.

Do you watch Chinese historical or also Korean, JP, etc?

JWY might be the one where I probably would have kept going, but the dubbing was so off-putting that it took me out of the story repeatedly. It brings a weirdness/Uncanny Valley vibe to things for me, especially in outdoor scenes where it just doesn't sound right.

I keep imagining actors standing in front of microphones in a studio, instead of what's going on on-screen. I fully acknowledge that I may be hyper-sensitive about that kind of thing. :)

On edit: I just checked, RL is the one with the snakes! lol Yeah, in that case it was the cheesy storyline about yakuza and all that shit. In most BL cases, they just aren't able to bring a believable quality to those plot lines and I end up feeling like I'm watching a high school performance of "The Godfather," but with teenagers playing all the roles. :D The guy with the snakes was hot, though. He put a lot of time into becoming comfortable and familiar with those critters, too.

A question: How are you able to use emojis here? I don't get that option. Do you have to download your own emoji app or something?

Thanks! That sounds familiar.

Nah, I've learned better than to "explain" the obvious to delusional MDLers.
Have a great one!

Good for him and his team.
This needs to be happening across the board, and some very public consequences, including possible juvenile detention, will serve as a deterrent to other psycho "fans," who aren't real fans at all, of course.

In this particular case, it sounds like the kid may be a nutcase who needs to be under supervision and treatment in a juvenile hospital setting. Or, maybe she's just a snotty brat. Who knows?

I wish Korean celebs would start doing this. That's where it's really out of control.

Thanks.
I dropped both of them. lol

What "kind of love" is it?

That's some delusional thinking there. :)

You're confusing cowardice with expert storytelling.

I'm all for ambiguity, emotional intimacy (where did you see this in a romantic sense in this show?), but "romantic coding" (lol) is necessary only in censored bromances. There is no such thing as a censored hetero-mance, is there? I wonder why that is...?

Don't attempt to lecture me on the art of writing fiction, screenplays, plays, or anything else for gay or straight or anyone else audiences. I assure you, I'm fully educated on those matters. When you have a SIX-HOUR screenplay that never gets past "romantic coding," (lol) subtext, unexpressed longings (that you imagine), subtle hints, charged glances, etc., what you have is writerly/directorial cowardice and subterfuge, not great art.

All the techniques/tools of writing you mention can be extremely useful as mechanisms to BUILD a story toward something. However, when, after six hours, you have used those tools over and over and over, and are still using them when the credits roll, you have failed the audience.

Well, except for the audience for Chinese censored bromances, and whatever this thing is, which would, it's clear, include you.

It used to amaze me the contortions MDLers like you would put themselves through to excuse this homophobic crap, but I've been around here a while now, and I know there's no bottom to the barrel. If you'd say you'd make these arguments for a straight romance that never got past the same level of nudge-nudge, wink-wink, you'd be lying.

But, you're lying to yourself already, so what's one more?

I just explained that, often being a context-based language, the English, "I love you," as it's used in the last 2 seconds, is romantic.
I also explained what a joke it is to claim that an expression of romantic love in the waning seconds establishes the pair as a couple in any meaningful sense
Either way, Ryu never says the same, so there you are again.

If it makes you feel superior somehow to imagine that aishiteru is deeper than I love you in context, I don't care. Have at it.

Oh, very delusional.
Very imaginary.

=The hockey player runs screaming from the confession of one of the only two gay characters in the show.
=When the gay guy puts himself in a coma over being rejected and humiliated, hockey player never goes to see him. Oh, wait, he stood outside the hospital room door once, didn't he? lol
=When gay guy comes out of his coma, hockey guy is distant and cold to him, a real asshole.
=Hockey guy never hugs, kisses, or expresses romantic affection for the Korean gay guy either, even when Korean guy leaves their little daddy/daddy/mommy setup, and expressing that might have made all the difference.
=Hockey guy never tells Korean guy he loves him romantically.

You seem to ASSUME characters are gay here...why?
Would you ever need to assume that a straight character was straight, or would you expect the screenplay to fill in that info for you?

You confuse "subtlety" with "nonexistent."
You seem to think saying "literally" proves something.

Friends love each other, too.
There is nothing in the series that clearly defines the hockey player's love as anything other than platonic.

Like I said, save it.

The Netflix subtitles read "I love you."
I just educated myself as to what ashiteru means.
In the context it's used in the series, "I love you" means the same.

Either way, dumping a deep, emotional, romantic confession of love in the last two seconds of a 21,600-second show means nothing, other than as an insult to the audience. I suppose it could also be seen as a punchline/joke.

It's amusing that someone who thinks this series is deeply romantic finds "I love you," used in a romantic context, to be "shallow."

Save it.
I know AI slop when I read it.