jpny01

Well, be prepared for a huge spate of mafia stories.

I don't agree with that. The problem is the assembly-line nature of the BL industry, which is what leads to uncreative and mindless imitation. Hair-drying hasn't been there since the beginning - it showed up, I think maybe Brothers was the first, and now it's in everything. Often the first time it's intergrated into the plot and has a purpose - the imitations are just there to be there, regardless if it makes sense for the story or characters involved.

Likewise, seme and uke can be there but it can't just be exactly the same dynamic in every story or what's the point of the story? And why is it needed at all? What's the point of having a story about two guys if you're going to make one a girl from 100 years ago? Just because BL started there doesn't mean it has to stay there forever.

Things evolve - all genres do, except, for some reason, BL, which is stuck in the 1980s. Compare 50s gangster movies to The Godfather.

I'll give you two contrasting examples:

1. In Don't Say Know, Leo is talking to a girl, and Fiat shows up at exactly the right moment to see something to misinterpret, despite the fact that he had absolutely no reason to be there, nor any likelihood of being there by chance. Two episodes of ridiculous drama result from Fiat being upset his GAY boyfriend who has been 100% devoted and faithful to him for his entire life was talking to a girl that he knows Leo has nothing to do with. Lazy and stupid writing.

2. In Love Mechanics, Vee is talking to a girl, and Mark shows up at the right moment to see something to misinterpret. But in this case, the reason for Mark being there was a result of deduction as to where Vee would be, Vee was there for some time in a long conversation, and he was also doing something he shouldn't have - with his ex-ish girlfriend, and given his previous pattern of behavior, Mark's misinterpretation was absolutely reasonable and partially justified.

Both of these are tropes, and not very original. But one is just there because the author is talentless, and the other is solid and coherent writing. You can have tropes and familiar plot points, but if they're just thrown in because the production has comtempt for the audience, then that's not the same things as if it's written with a modicum of skill.

Likewise, in Brothers, the hair-drying was a daily activity that was an excuse for the boys to be intimate, and when the dryee one day said "I'll dry it myself", it was a devastating rejection.

But in this series, it was stupid and out of character for both characters.

She might have an assistant or something, In Don't Say No, I have a hard time believing the main story and Leon & Pob's were written by the same person.

The first thing I saw of hers was TT, and TBH, I found it refreshingly different - it was transgressive in a way I hadn't seen, plus Tharn was explicitly gay, which at the time was unheard of. But now I see she just writes the same story over and over with a few cosmetic changes.

If I'm being honest, what bothers me about it is that's it's imitiative. BL has these trends and everyone jumps on board, and it's a sign of a lack of creativity. Things go in waves - for a while every BL seemed to be about basketball, then it was cooking, now there has to be a man-bun. At least Phayu has enough hair to merit one. In my Secret Love, Mek's hair is so short that it was just pure affectation.

Wasn't Siskel the mean one? I guess they're both mean. :)

I don't think it was very homophobic - maybe a dollop of gay-panic, but fear of your own homosexuality is not something that anyone should criticize - it's very difficult to overcome and is awful to deal with.

As for he non-con(ish), I found it tiresome and formulaic, not morally objectionable. Phayu was coming on too strong, but a guy who spends all day asking for permission for everthing is a boner-shrinker. Rain sent him so many signals that it's hard to blame Phayu, and he stopped when it was clear Rain meant "no." I think most guys will recover emotionally from being kissed on the neck by a hot guy when they didn't want to but they did want to.

"Homosexual panic" isn't fear of a homosexual person, it's a panic created by the pressure of your own uncontrollable gay urges.

It was OK, but disappointing given the raves in the commnts below. I don't care about the non-con, although it was a little strange, nor the "homophobic" statement, which it wasn't. Asking a question isn't homophobic, just inappropriate.

But what I don't like about both these things is how formulaic they are. Once again a totally useless straight-identifying uke in a gay panic, and the perfect seme who is also not gay because that's not allowed. And with the man-bun, because that's now apparently a requirement.

There did at first appear to be some departures from the formula, so here's me watching: "Oh! It's raining and it's not only so that someone can hold an unbrella over anyone! Oh."

"Oh! At least the perfect seme isn't wealthy! Oh."

"Oh! There's no hairdrying... Oh. Sigh."

I didn't see the chemistry everyone was talking about except in the very last scene, mostly because Rain was asleep so his opportunity to be irritating was limited. Phayu (I nice original seme name) is obviously handsome, but Rain is so totally lacking in appeal that it's hard to invest.

Also, who did Tonnam piss off to get stuck in that role?

The production was so-so. The theme of the series offers a lot of opportunities to the score, which didn't rise to the occassion, the editing was fairly bad, but everything else was fine. The subtitles were really good.

Anyway, I kept having to take breaks because I was bored. Running it on 2x didn't work because there were too many subtitles because we have to listen to Rain speaking out loud his entire annoying inner monologue, because why show when you can tell?

It's possible we've grown used to the normal BL red-shift so that anything normal looks yellow/blue. It was years before I realized the high school shirts were blue and not pink.

It does seem like the same thing over and over. It's funny, there's a scene where Phayoo is heating charcoals for a hibachi, and I was thinking "the probability of his burning himself is 100%."

If an uke goes anywhere near anything that could potentially be harmful, he will injure himself. It's BL law. The only way a seme can get hurt is by defending the uke from harm, or when he's shaving, but only if the uke is there to dab his cut while staring longingly into his eyes.

All the guys in this look good with their shirts off, so it's at least worth scanning through for the 30 seconds or so there is, but it's almost always Chahub and it's easier to just stalk him via Instagram.

It must have been BDSM in that case. It doesn't matter who is older in terms of dom & sub, and you absolutely can't tell by looking at them in day-to-day life who is who. However, you usually CAN in a BL. It's the taller one. It's BL law.

Hmm. I didn't catch that, but I was having trouble keeping awake. From your post I thought you were saying that Evan was his uncle and he was sleeping with him. It's really too late in the story to introduce a whole new villain - as if the series isn't a big enough mess now!

OMG, I'm dating my self by laughing at that.

I'm completely lost with your last sentence. When did that ever come up?

Danai is so hot. The actor is cute and funny in real life.

Danai is much hotter.

Again with the water? Who leaves the shower ON when they're done showering?!? Kim is an awful person. Although at least he doesn't wear shoes in bed.

And what did they do to that poor tiger? That thing was more stoned than Cheech and Chong combined.

I loved how Baiboon used news that Khom was injured to feel him up. "Was it your pecs that were injured? The bottom of your pecs? The side of your pecs? Your abs? Your muscled shoulders?"

That episode was dull - I had trouble staying awake. When you're hate-watching something, you expect it to be gloriously awful, not boring. Tne only thing that gave me please was the TIger that was so wasted that when Kim pet it, it didn't react. It was probably wondering if it had left the shower on. (⩺_⩹)

Damn right there's not! :)