Pretty-boy, teenage gangsters in trendy knitwear and ripped jeans pretending to be bad-ass, torturing and killing people on a the spotless, polished floor of their dad's garage. Not gonna work. However, Wayne Song comes off as a REAL bad-ass, and it's fun to see him and Huang Chun Chih, my boys from H3MODC together again. The show feels like what you'd get after putting KinnPorsche and Secret Crush On You in a blender and hitting "puree." Basically, I FF'd through everything other than the H3MODC boys and potential sex scenes, so I was in and out in about seven minutes.
Ugh, this show is such a pain in the ass to watch!
Thank god for the beauty and soufulness of Akira's round and lovely eyes...I melt into them every week even though he is a moron. Those orbs are why I watch.
No, they are not "wholesome." Being asexual and unlike any young man ever made on Earth is not "wholesome," it's rainbow and unicorn silliness for ten year-old fangirls.
Episode 8: Continues to be an endless, silly cock-tease of a show. More wheel-spinning, even when they brought out the trope-of-tropes, alcohol! I thought that might move things along and get somebody laid but oh no, we can't have plot movement in this bore-fest.
Why do I keep watching? Isn't it obvious? The gorgeous, soulful, round eyes of Kusakawa Takuya, one of the prettiest men on Earth.
I won't pretend to be as virtuous as Shin. All these young men are written as cartoon characters, not male human beings. There was a great opportunity for the portrayal of what an ACTUAL young man in Shin's position when gorgeous Akira passed out beneath him after nearly confessing might do (not that this silly show has done ANYTHING realistic so far): It would have been incredibly powerful to see Shin look down upon this beautiful man he has passionately desired, emotionally and sexually, for two years laid out before him like the tastiest, most luscious, creamiest dessert on the planet, emote an almost uncontrollable urge to have his way with him while he out cold, knowing Akira would never remember it, maybe even start to kiss him down his neck and shoulders, and then see him stop, wrestle with his emotions and desires and FORCE himself to stop and NOT do what every fiber of body, heart and soul was shrieking for him to do; even roll away from Akira with a gutteral scream of frustration.
THAT would have been a BL scene for the ages. We would have seen an honest, un-prettified portrayal of what it is really like for a guy that age to deal with the kind of sadistic temptation Akira has been confronting Shin with almost daily for so long. And yet we would also have seen him make the better choice (and not cause riots in the streets of MDL had he said "aw, to hell with it, I am DOING this guy while I can!" and had his way with Akira) and be the better man for it.
Instead, what we got was Shin going "oh, well the man I love and desire physically more than life itself is half-naked and fully available inches away, but the script says I am not even tempted, so that's how I'll act" and immediately his sexual desire disappearing. 🙄🙄🙄🙄🙄
Of course, the sane thing for Shin to do after reaching a crisis point like that would be to pack up, leave the resort, go to the house and pack up his stuff there, then leave Akira for good; maybe go to Tokyo to the best Public University he deserves to be in, and start forgetting about crazy-ass Akira. But this show is about Shin doing only masochistic, self-destructive shit like spending all day-every day being around that which he cannot even touch.
Oh, and someone tell me WHY Akusa likes Shu, please. He is a Vampire-Undertaker-Android, not a man. So WHAT if he bought you a cutesy Japanese-ish key chain thing, he's dead inside! It was so lame how as soon as Vamp-man handed Asuka a freaking key chain, his sex drive immediately disappeared. This show is a ten year-old, sex-phobic fangirl's fantasy of what men are like.
Second watch after maybe 18 months. I understood what was going on better this time, but still found it severely lacking in coherence. There is very little in the way of explanation for the WHY of so much of the behaviors/actions of the two main chararcters.
Decent acting except for the constant use of cigs and gum as actorly crutches. Terrible direction. Showing no expression conveys dullness, not depth. Cigs and gum don't evoke deep thinking.
So this guy came back to right this wrong in his head, yet he had NO plan, had contacted no one to help, had done nothing at all to execute this revenge. If not for the intervention of a random hookup he would have had the shit beaten out of him in a pool-hall bathroom. He's a sullen, rude, robotic, douchebag with a chip on his shoulder. He's been nursing his victimization from a violent past incident like the treasured child it is, yet I suspect he has ALWAYS been an angry person and will remain one. Worse, the hookup, who seems well-adjusted, friendly, positive and kind, is for reasons unknown powerfully attracted to this asshole and follows him all over Seoul. The dumbest part was taking part in a dangerous, potentially violent foot-chase on behalf of someone you just met who treated you like crap three or four times already. I guess the nice guy is a masochist. But that's not explored either.
Lee Yi Kyung is a very good actor but this is the second role I have seen him in in which he smokes constantly. I have no problem with smoking onscreen as some kind of moral or ethical problem; I just think it's a lame crutch too many actors lean on. People smoke WAY more in movies than in real life, especially in Korean movies. Smoking lets you play with a lighter, squint your eyes when you light up, let the cig dangle dramatically from your lips while talking, blow smoke out of your nostrils, hold the cig with your middle finger and thumb like a tough guy, throw the butt to the ground when pissed, grind it with your foot for emphasis, etc. Sometimes I'm moved to laughter when yet ANOTHER actor in a Korean movie lights up in an intense scene, or better yet, while waiting on a city sidewalk for some other character to show up. SO movie-ish!
Well-produced fail. Even my Lee Yi Kyung can't save this one.
Me, too. The last scene in which Won Gyu stares at the phone means he is on the verge of calling Tae Joon. And…
Wow. I think Won Gyu is DEEPLY emotionally/psychologically ill, and Tae Joon is too, as demonstrated by the fact he is so deeply attracted to someone who is so obviously severely, severely damaged.
Their feelings are anything but "pure." They're twisted af.
I'm not dissing the film for portraying the above. It did so very well. But yeah, I've no delusions this is a romantic story of pure love. lol
Turama! I was traumatized watching a traumatized man drag a good guy with his own baggage into his trauma full…
I agree with the gist of your comment, but I'd consider arguing that the "good guy" is even more disturbed than the possessed robot guy. I saw NOTHING about the robot, other than his good looks, that was attractive. He is hostile, rude, uncommunicative, angry, sullen, doesn't answer questions...ever, continually walks away without answering when engaged, etc. all of which indicates major psych problems, which our hero mentioned as being the case early on, and yet our "good guy" is powerfully attracted to him and chases him all over Seoul like a sad puppy.
So good guy digs other guys who are deeply f**ked up. This is not a healthy way to conduct one's personal life.
My biggest problem with this film is that it doesn't tell us WHY either one is the way they are. So much of what we get about "good guy" makes him seem healthy, optimistic, realistic, funny, nice, etc. And yet he follows this catatonic sex-addicted zombie all over Seoul.
Totally disagree. I enjoy dramas and movies that challenge my assumptions and push me toward the outside of the…
Isn't "hot sex" still hot sex, regardless of what anyone participating in it has or has not done prior to the hot sex? Is a beautiful painting created by a brutal killer any less beautiful because it was created by a brutal killer?
Is it that you felt "enticed" into feeling something you didn't want to feel? Doesn't EVERY piece of art in any medium "entice" its audience to feel emotions of all kinds?
"They seem to share your ability to experience that kind of programming without any sense of distaste." I'm getting a judgmental/self-righteous vibe from this statement. Tell me if I'm wrong. It seems to imply that people like me and the commenters you mentioned above are at a lower level of moral expectations than are you.
What, exactly, caused you "distaste?" The fact that murderers can have hot sex, or did have hot sex after killing someone? They should have stopped having sex after killing someone to punish themselves? What?
Wow ... I absolutely love the first two episodes. The slow burn is delicious! The script and acting are on point,…
Totally disagree. I enjoy dramas and movies that challenge my assumptions and push me toward the outside of the envelope I live in. Can a "demented murderer" also have intensely tender feelings of affection and love? Can TWO murderers truly love and care for each other in some kind of relationship that works for them? Can a person kill a defenseless victim and also be capable of great tenderness toward another human being?
I like being asked to hold two or more seemingly opposing emotions or beliefs at the same time. Do I want a killer to escape justice for their crime just because they're in love with another person and treats them beautifully and kindly? No. But can I experience wanting two killers to be together even though I don't want them to escape the law? Yes.
I want them to be together and have a beautiful life AND I want them to go to prison. Doesn't have to make sense. We humans often want what we can't have, and desire that which is not good for us or anyone else. I like experiencing the conflicting, angsty emotions of messy stories that challenge me with all this...stuff.
Lee Yi Kyung is an exceptionally talented actor. He carried this film all the way.
But all supporting performances were just as good, especially from Jung Yeon Joo as the young mother. Her acting in that final scene was perfection and I'm fine with that ending. Asian films have taught me I don't always have to have a beautifully wrapped and decorated ending that answers all my questions for the future. Not knowing what comes next is OK with me if it's done right, which this one is.
I wish it was the other couple from history 4 instead.
What did you find "problematic" about the older/younger couple in History3:MODC?
As for the step-brothers, they were the most intriguing and challenging, thus dramatic, part of History4:CTY. Good drama is often built on gray-area behavior and character actions that test our boundaries. Do you want to see everyone doing nice things all the time? Boring.
The only "problematic" thing those two did was moving in with the parents at the end. Crazy. And if their loving relationship is stable and both are happy after all the getting-together dramatics, why shouldn't they give relationship advice to others? I'd say they are MORE qualified to dispense advice BECAUSE of what they went through, and yet they prevailed.
Lots of people become a couple under trying circumstances and end up forming a solid bond of love and respect.
1 
1 
Pretty-boy, teenage gangsters in trendy knitwear and ripped jeans pretending to be bad-ass, torturing and killing people on a the spotless, polished floor of their dad's garage.
Not gonna work.
However, Wayne Song comes off as a REAL bad-ass, and it's fun to see him and Huang Chun Chih, my boys from H3MODC together again.
The show feels like what you'd get after putting KinnPorsche and Secret Crush On You in a blender and hitting "puree."
Basically, I FF'd through everything other than the H3MODC boys and potential sex scenes, so I was in and out in about seven minutes.
Continues to be an endless, silly cock-tease of a show. More wheel-spinning, even when they brought out the trope-of-tropes, alcohol! I thought that might move things along and get somebody laid but oh no, we can't have plot movement in this bore-fest.
Why do I keep watching? Isn't it obvious? The gorgeous, soulful, round eyes of Kusakawa Takuya, one of the prettiest men on Earth.
I won't pretend to be as virtuous as Shin. All these young men are written as cartoon characters, not male human beings. There was a great opportunity for the portrayal of what an ACTUAL young man in Shin's position when gorgeous Akira passed out beneath him after nearly confessing might do (not that this silly show has done ANYTHING realistic so far): It would have been incredibly powerful to see Shin look down upon this beautiful man he has passionately desired, emotionally and sexually, for two years laid out before him like the tastiest, most luscious, creamiest dessert on the planet, emote an almost uncontrollable urge to have his way with him while he out cold, knowing Akira would never remember it, maybe even start to kiss him down his neck and shoulders, and then see him stop, wrestle with his emotions and desires and FORCE himself to stop and NOT do what every fiber of body, heart and soul was shrieking for him to do; even roll away from Akira with a gutteral scream of frustration.
THAT would have been a BL scene for the ages. We would have seen an honest, un-prettified portrayal of what it is really like for a guy that age to deal with the kind of sadistic temptation Akira has been confronting Shin with almost daily for so long. And yet we would also have seen him make the better choice (and not cause riots in the streets of MDL had he said "aw, to hell with it, I am DOING this guy while I can!" and had his way with Akira) and be the better man for it.
Instead, what we got was Shin going "oh, well the man I love and desire physically more than life itself is half-naked and fully available inches away, but the script says I am not even tempted, so that's how I'll act" and immediately his sexual desire disappearing. 🙄🙄🙄🙄🙄
Of course, the sane thing for Shin to do after reaching a crisis point like that would be to pack up, leave the resort, go to the house and pack up his stuff there, then leave Akira for good; maybe go to Tokyo to the best Public University he deserves to be in, and start forgetting about crazy-ass Akira. But this show is about Shin doing only masochistic, self-destructive shit like spending all day-every day being around that which he cannot even touch.
Oh, and someone tell me WHY Akusa likes Shu, please. He is a Vampire-Undertaker-Android, not a man. So WHAT if he bought you a cutesy Japanese-ish key chain thing, he's dead inside! It was so lame how as soon as Vamp-man handed Asuka a freaking key chain, his sex drive immediately disappeared. This show is a ten year-old, sex-phobic fangirl's fantasy of what men are like.
Decent acting except for the constant use of cigs and gum as actorly crutches.
Terrible direction. Showing no expression conveys dullness, not depth. Cigs and gum don't evoke deep thinking.
So this guy came back to right this wrong in his head, yet he had NO plan, had contacted no one to help, had done nothing at all to execute this revenge.
If not for the intervention of a random hookup he would have had the shit beaten out of him in a pool-hall bathroom.
He's a sullen, rude, robotic, douchebag with a chip on his shoulder. He's been nursing his victimization from a violent past incident like the treasured child it is, yet I suspect he has ALWAYS been an angry person and will remain one.
Worse, the hookup, who seems well-adjusted, friendly, positive and kind, is for reasons unknown powerfully attracted to this asshole and follows him all over Seoul. The dumbest part was taking part in a dangerous, potentially violent foot-chase on behalf of someone you just met who treated you like crap three or four times already.
I guess the nice guy is a masochist. But that's not explored either.
Lee Yi Kyung is a very good actor but this is the second role I have seen him in in which he smokes constantly. I have no problem with smoking onscreen as some kind of moral or ethical problem; I just think it's a lame crutch too many actors lean on. People smoke WAY more in movies than in real life, especially in Korean movies. Smoking lets you play with a lighter, squint your eyes when you light up, let the cig dangle dramatically from your lips while talking, blow smoke out of your nostrils, hold the cig with your middle finger and thumb like a tough guy, throw the butt to the ground when pissed, grind it with your foot for emphasis, etc. Sometimes I'm moved to laughter when yet ANOTHER actor in a Korean movie lights up in an intense scene, or better yet, while waiting on a city sidewalk for some other character to show up. SO movie-ish!
Well-produced fail. Even my Lee Yi Kyung can't save this one.
6/10
Their feelings are anything but "pure." They're twisted af.
I'm not dissing the film for portraying the above. It did so very well. But yeah, I've no delusions this is a romantic story of pure love. lol
So good guy digs other guys who are deeply f**ked up. This is not a healthy way to conduct one's personal life.
My biggest problem with this film is that it doesn't tell us WHY either one is the way they are. So much of what we get about "good guy" makes him seem healthy, optimistic, realistic, funny, nice, etc. And yet he follows this catatonic sex-addicted zombie all over Seoul.
Is it that you felt "enticed" into feeling something you didn't want to feel? Doesn't EVERY piece of art in any medium "entice" its audience to feel emotions of all kinds?
"They seem to share your ability to experience that kind of programming without any sense of distaste." I'm getting a judgmental/self-righteous vibe from this statement. Tell me if I'm wrong. It seems to imply that people like me and the commenters you mentioned above are at a lower level of moral expectations than are you.
What, exactly, caused you "distaste?" The fact that murderers can have hot sex, or did have hot sex after killing someone? They should have stopped having sex after killing someone to punish themselves? What?
I like being asked to hold two or more seemingly opposing emotions or beliefs at the same time. Do I want a killer to escape justice for their crime just because they're in love with another person and treats them beautifully and kindly? No. But can I experience wanting two killers to be together even though I don't want them to escape the law? Yes.
I want them to be together and have a beautiful life AND I want them to go to prison. Doesn't have to make sense. We humans often want what we can't have, and desire that which is not good for us or anyone else. I like experiencing the conflicting, angsty emotions of messy stories that challenge me with all this...stuff.
But all supporting performances were just as good, especially from Jung Yeon Joo as the young mother. Her acting in that final scene was perfection and I'm fine with that ending. Asian films have taught me I don't always have to have a beautifully wrapped and decorated ending that answers all my questions for the future. Not knowing what comes next is OK with me if it's done right, which this one is.
9/10
As I do with every BL, I'll at least check out the first episode before sticking with it or dropping it.
This synopsis sounds like it was stolen from the Thai BL POS assembly line and camouflaged with a "Made in Taiwan" label.
As for the step-brothers, they were the most intriguing and challenging, thus dramatic, part of History4:CTY. Good drama is often built on gray-area behavior and character actions that test our boundaries. Do you want to see everyone doing nice things all the time? Boring.
The only "problematic" thing those two did was moving in with the parents at the end. Crazy. And if their loving relationship is stable and both are happy after all the getting-together dramatics, why shouldn't they give relationship advice to others? I'd say they are MORE qualified to dispense advice BECAUSE of what they went through, and yet they prevailed.
Lots of people become a couple under trying circumstances and end up forming a solid bond of love and respect.