etoks21

Kissing/hugging/lovemaking is NOT "smut."

WTF? Is that really the end? Sequel?

I've been dumping on this show for eight episodes during which what had been a promising story went to shite, but even I am a mess and don't know what to think.

Episode 23: "The Power of the Lube"

This ep actually wasn't half-bad, for a censored/pseudo BL/Bromance thing.
Question for Chinese viewers: Is that hideous little pigtail the Evil Brother wears on the back of his head an actual "thing" in China? Or is he just a complete dweeb?
Question for Censored/Pseudo-BL/Bromance lovers: The horse riding scene with WB and SY in snow white outfits and Duo in a little white outfit...is that to be interpreted as sort of a "wedding" scene? I can't figure any other reason they'd be casually riding horses in such formal attire.
Question for all viewers: When will someone pull out a revolver and shoot that douche bag Evil Brother?
Another question: Is Evil Brother in love with WB?
Anyone else think when WB looks jealous there's a hint of serial killer in his glare? I worry for SY's future if he makes a false step. Wouldn't be surprised if Mao Chong is found in a garbage can chopped to pieces after that "I lie to WB about him being handsome; YOU are the most handsome" comment from SY that he overheard.
I love the little Fujoshi.

lol Newsflash: Just because you say something "actually" is something else doesn't make it so. Do you believe Black folks in whiteface successfully fooled anyone? No, they did not.

Black people in whiteface weren't trying to fool anyone. It was obvious they weren't really white. Censored crap out of China tries to fool the censors by pretending it's not gay.

My analogy is fine. Whether or not you agree is another matter.

Question for anyone not trapped in China: Why not simply watch REAL BLs and REAL gay-themed movies instead of this "subversive" garbage? There are thousands of REAL gay-themed series and films available on the Internet. Why support entertainment that bends to the will of bigots?

If you live IN China, behind the Internet Iron Curtain, then watch this stuff if you must but please don't claim it's anything but what it is.

"subversive?" seriously? lol

This is the type of series that ties itself in knots to conform to the draconian, homophobic, requirements of the Chinese government's bigoted standards for gay content, all with a wink and a nod and a lot of stupidity to bypass the censors.

Yes, I'd rather they quit making ridiculous, insulting, pseudo-BLs like this until such time as they can make a REAL one.

This is comparable to Black performers a hundred years ago in the U.S. Jim Crow South, wearing white-face makeup to perform in whites-only venues. Better to go elsewhere and quit humiliating themselves.

You don't "subvert" anything when you conform to its demands. Subversive would be making a full-blown, non-shame-based BL and releasing it outside China, uncensored.

This showed great promise early but descended into the realm of the comically bad.
Lots of bad acting, some great acting.
Excellent fight choreography and acting.
Great blood/gore prosthetics and makeup.
Story kept becoming more and more a satire; maybe it was supposed to be.

Loved the crazy little dude. Wish he and Dora had become BFs by the end.

3/10

OK, whatever. But before I leave you, I have to ask: What exactly is IT that you think I'm "entitled" to?

Who am I? I'm...me.
Certain things are what they are, whether you like to hear it or not.
Your Chinese rulers have done a good job washing your brain.

It IS pathetic that the best years of your life were a time of frustration and sexual suppression for you, and yet you've convinced yourself they were wonderful. How can it be anything else?

"Entitled." Yeah, right, I spent my high school years in the closet too, but I'm not delusional that it was a great time, the "best of my life." Not by a long shot.

I repeat: Why can't two gay guys who love each other stand on an isolated beach in China or anywhere else, completely alone where no one will hear them, and scream "I LOVE YOU" without pretending they're talking to the water? Are they afraid they might hear themselves and spread rumors about themselves?

Look, I'm sorry you were raised and live in such a homo-hateful place, but brainwashing yourself into thinking it's all good just the way it is, is not the answer.

Also, using one's brain to think things through is not the same thing as being "entitled." I won't apologize for not being born in China.

lol I DO avoid Chinese series, gay, straight or in-between, mainly on principle regarding the dictatorship's psycho ban on gay content. I started watching this one on the strong recommendation of a fellow MDLer I respect. I binged episodes 1-14 and liked it to about that point, when it all began to go to shit.

YOU should avoid Chinese series too, especially these stupid Bromances, as a boycott against the ban.

You don't read well. I saw every silly little signal and hint they dropped in this silly series. I just think telling a love story through little signals and hints that people such as you build up in your mind into a fantasy of what you imagine is REALLY going on between the guys, is a sad, sard way to portray love.

"I know you want more romantic things but the series is not adult romantic heterosexual series..."

Seriously, why write seemingly stupid things like this? The last thing I want to see is a heterosexual romance...I've seen enough of those, thank you.

And I think you're delusional to pretend your high school life was like this series. lol You're confusing fantasy and reality.

Tell me, if you were on the beach early in the morning with a guy you loved and he loved you and absolutely NO ONE else was anywhere nearby, would you yell
"I LOVE YOU...beach?" Why hide your feelings when there is no one to hide them from?

It's sad that your high school life in the closet, afraid of being exposed all the while, was "the happiest time of your life." Pathetic. What? Are you now married to a woman, with three kids and pretending to be happy?"

Wow. Did you come up with that question all on your own? SO original.

Thanks. I knew that, but appreciate your explaining it in more detail.

Thanks for your informative, non-confrontational reply. 😊😊😊

"Well you can't expect that everything has to be shown, they need a tent so you need to see them pack a tent? What proof do you have that they barely touch? Maybe after a more than 300km trip they were exhausted..."

See how conditioned you are to imagine things in your head that would be shown in almost any other, well-directed films/series?

It's bad direction.People are leaving for a beach trip and as they get in the car we see their backpacks, towels, tent, whatever. But not here, oh no. Here we are to IMAGINE this. They sleep without touching though allegedly in love. We are to IMAGINE it's because they're so tired. lol

Come on...

No. No, their "eyes" explained only that they were too cowardly to move from a longing stare to a tender kiss. Like I suggested, consider the possibility that gay love scares you. When was the las time you saw a straight romance where all the emotion has to be imagined in the eyes of the viewer, rather than onscreen where it should be.

btw, lol, I said a LOT more than I "don't like this series because it has very few hugs and kisses." Two cheek pecks between the MC and one for the dad which was supposedly meant for Su Yu but which the dad didn't seem to find odd.

Thank you for your review of my comment. 😁😁😁Here's what I will never get: How does a viewer enjoy watching a show in which every homophobic exclusion of an act or dialogue is excused with "but they're censored?"

Actually, I was hoping the version of this show released inside China would be censored, but that the rest of us beyond the reach of dictatorial Chinese rule would see a real BL, no censoring.

oops, I was wrong.

ugh. I feel the story here is terrible. It's veered away from the MC into corporate intrigue, family drama, mystery theatre stuff. Also, part of the story is a trip to the beach (that 300 miles sure went fast!) where they camped in a tent they hadn't packed, took no clothes other than what was on their backs, yet woke up in fresh clothing to face the sunrise where Su Yu works up great courage to scream "I LOVE YOU...ocean," after which he smiles as though he said the real thing.

Boys we're supposed to imagine as being lovers spend an entire night together but barely touch, and immediately one of them yells a potentially very moving and romantic declaration of love...to the ocean...which clearly hurt his alleged BF's feelings. And viewers are expected to "ooh" and "ahh" at this great portrayal of gay love.

Chinese Bromance is just such a strange universe of homophobic weirdness. Except this one has detoured into kind of a parody of BL. Lots of hints at BL tropes, but none of the real thing.

"hate," lol The usual accusation that comes from people who have had a nerve touched.
Thai BLs are mostly garbage. Which is part of why I had high hopes for this one.
What is it about sex, that people have every minute of every day all over the world, that scares you? Or is it only GAY sex that scares you?