jpny01

Apparently unpopular opinion: Pran's mother made the right decison (or at least "a" right decision if not "the") sending Pran to a different school. Pat's father sabotaged her, and she had every reason to believe he would sabotage Pran in favor of Pat.

He was 13. It was absolutely her responsibility. You can disagree with her choice, but I find it indefensible to call it abusive. As far as the music thing goes, it's not like she's the only parent who wanted their child concentrating on academics. To be honest, I wish my parents hadn't allowed me to major in music.

I like this explanation and it does make a lot of sense - my only comment would be that if Pat cried I wouldn't see it as feeling responsibility for what his father did - I would see it as feeling a loss of his father as someone he could respect and look up to. Also, we saw in very stark terms in Ep 5 on the roof of what effect the feud has on Pat - that was a very emotional speech - "I felt relieved I didn't have to compete with you and it was so depressingly lonely for me."

My objection here is that the impact on Pran is not new - he has known for four years that he was sent to a different school to separate him from Pat. The only difference is that now he knows his mother's motivation was that Pat's father is evil, not a petty business issue.

On the other hand, Pat has been confronted with the knowledge that his father is a bad person and unworthy of his respect - and that's not a four-year old revelation, it happened that very day.

I wonder if there are social conditioning pressures that affect how we view this - it's actually kind of fascinating. I see the father-son dynamic and the dynastic issues, and you are attuned to the assumption/imposition of victimhood, which I can't see (not because it's not there, but because it's outside my experience).

The way I see Pran's mother is that because Pat's father sabotaged her, she felt she needed to send Pran away out of fear that he would sabotage Pran as well in favor of Pat, which is in my mind completely legitimate, and maybe even the best decision.

On the rooftop, the only emotional motivation I could find for Pran was feeling bad about what he said to his mother, which seemed insufficient. I feel bad for days when I get impatient with my mother.

Real conversation:

Mom: "My computer isn't working right."

"Ok, turn it off, then turn it back on."

"What do you mean?"

Buddha himself would lose his patience over that, but I still felt bad when I did. Not to the point of sobbing on the rooftop, though.

Those are all reasonable explanations - if Pran & Pat were real people. But because they are characters in a drama, their emotional natures have to be set up through the writing and must be consistent. If we see them behave in a certain way for the whole series and then they suddenly behave in a different way, it doesn't have the right impact. You shouldn't have to scrounge for psychological motivations, you should just know what the character is like.

What you said about older children is often true, but in this case we actually saw a scene where Pat's sister was drowning, and he froze in panic - it was Pran that held it together and saved her.

I'm not defending violence, but it would also have worked better if his mother had really slapped him, instead of just tapping a couple of fingers to his cheek. I get why they did it that way, but it undermined the moment.

The scene on the roof had power because of the acting - but think about it for a minute. Imagine Pat crying and Pran embracing him - that would have been much more powerful, and it would have been a dynamic reinforced by everything that's gone before. Besides the lake rescue, Pat wasn't able to control himself in the confrontation with Wai - it was Pran who held it together and by force of will kept two much bigger and stronger hotheads apart.

It's indeterminate because the Joseon period was long. I'd guess between 1400 and 1800, probably closer to the later date. It can't be much later than that or there would be signs of technology.

Also probably closer to the later date or the language would be too different, although I doubt anyone in the production is paying much attention to specifics beyond "JoseonEra".

Well, if you think about it, there's no explanation for why all the Thai BL characters aren't morbidly obese since they spend 90% of their time eating nutrition-free snacks and drinking refreshing bottles of sugary tea.

I just assume on this series that they get their food and services from the nearby village, the inhabitants of which creep around whenever the camera is not on them and do their thing.

The product placement here is art paint, so it's almost unnoticable, but that's just smart production, if you ask me.

There appears to be a cast, but I'm not always the most observant person.

I wasn't crazy about Tasty Florida, but it wasn't bad by any means. I liked Nobleman Ryu's Wedding more than most people, and I really like this series. Where Your Eyes Linger could compete with the best BLs, so Korea can do it if they set their minds to it.

I'm not sure I agree. If the writing is of the same quality as a Thai BL (i.e. not very good writing), then you're right, it's impossible to do in 90 minutes. But almost all films are around 90-100 minutes and they're perfectly able to tell a coherent story - it just needs good writing. Although Oscar winners tend to be 130 minuts or so, so maybe a bit longer would help. But you absolutely do not need 10 hours to tell a good story. In fact, I'd argue that most long BLs could do with tighter editing. And less product placement. In this series they've cleverly been sponsored by an art-paint company, so you barely notice, but sometimes when they story comes screeching to a halt so that everyone can have a refreshing bottle of tea and discuss the delicious flavors, it gets annoying.

This is really good - I'm surprised people aren't digging it. I think it's better to watch it as a movie, but the acting is really good and the story is interesting.

I worked for a big-ass Korean corporation, and I can attest to the homophobia from personal experience. Although the racism & misogyny were possibly worse.

Yes. Is that not where people watch it? They're always good about providing subtitles up front. Unlike other places *cough*Viki*cough*.

It isn't at all clear that Pran is more vulnerable or sensitive. Remember, he's not a real person, he's a character, and his reactions and the way he deals with things have to be consistent and/or rooted in what has happened previously. You can't have him be the more mature and controlled person for 9 episodes, then have something much worse happen to Pat yet have Pat be the emotional rock just because he's a top. From the very beginning Pran has been more conrolled. Pat sat frozen in a panic while Pran dived into the water to save Pa when he was 12. In the previous rooftop scene that this mirrors, who was the one who displayed his depression and loneliness?

Pran had to go to a different high school- his mother didn't chain him to a radiator in a basement and electroshock him every time he saw a photo of a guitar. How many of your friends even live in the same country as you? It's not hard to stay friends with people - we're making it sound like he was sent to prison or something. People move to different places all the time - it's just a different setting, not a desert island. I'm from the SF area, and of my two best friends, one moved to NYC and the other to Berlin - we're no less close, and over 20 years have passed.

And again, motives matter. Pran's mother was trying to protect her child, even if misguided. But Pat's father is a terrible person who did something irretrievable for totally selfish reasons.

So what are the realizations here?

Pran has already known for four years that he was sent to a different school to separate him from Pat, but he is now in a relationship with Pat, so that has been reversed. What is new here to make him break down? If anything, Pran has now gained an understanding that his mother actually had a more substantial motivation than petty rivalry for what happened.

Pat has just now realized his father is a terrible person.

How are these remotely comparable for emotional immediacy? It's Pat that needs Pran's support, not the other way around.

Except Pat is taller and so by BL Law he's the top, and so he had to take care of the bottom, because that's how life works. If you take it up the a@@, you need a real man to take care of you. That's why it irritates me when they do things like this. It's a trope that's fundamentally homophobic. It's a positive reflection on the audience that they don't see it, but that doesn't mean it's not there.

Why do we accept the seme-uke trope at all? Does being masculine make someone more capable of dealing with emotions and hardship? Top and bottom have nothing to do with anything except a sexual preference, but we're allowing cultural biases against being penetrated govern how we see the nature of people. Does every relationship have to have an imbalance like this where one has to be strong and take care of the other? Why can't they just be people? It's not only homophobic, it's inherently misogynist as well.

It's not an accident that in both BL and straight dramas that ukes and women resist sex - it's not acceptable for a woman to seek sexual pleasure or a man to seek being penetrated, and that's why they so often are forced. Somehow rape (or at least very dubious consent) is less morally objectionable. Fortunately audiences are growing less inclined to accept this, but nobody can deny it's been a strong trend in this genre. Even in this series, several times in every episode Pran pushes Pat away when he's trying to get frisky.

You're right - I should give them a break, they've poked a ton of holes in the tropes with this series. And I agree that the acting was perfect. I just want another marriage of perfect acting and writing like ITSAY.

Although to be honest, I think the acting in this [glances both ways to make sure nobody can hear] is better than in ITSAY.

Yes - maybe it's not available in your geographic area. I'm in the USA.

I agree with what you're saying, but Pat was also hurt by Pran being transferred - remember what he said in the previous rooftop scene? Also, being an introvert doesn't make you cry more easily - if anything it's the opposite, although it's so variable from person to person it's hard to generalize, other than that introverts tend to process their feelings better when alone. But throughout the series, Pran has been the more mature and emotionally controlled of the two.

Strong emotional reactions are usually to recent events aren't they? I feel sad when I think of my grandmother, but it's not the shattering grief I felt when she died. In a sense, Pat's father just died - he's not the man Pat thought he was and he can never look up to him or see him in the same way again, whereas Pran has seen that there is a real and valid reason behind his mother's hostility toward Pat's father, even if her actions have been misguided - misguided but motivated by a desire to protect her son. What Pat's father did was pure selfishness and just downright evil.

If you win a business deal through underhanded means, there are always other deals - but college is a one-shot deal, and depriving someone of their chance can never be made up for.

If Pran had said "I'm so sorry" before he started sobbing like someone died, it would have worked better for me because he would have been upset for what Pat lost, which is the only real emotional motivation for him being that upset.

Pran's mother shouldn't have sent him away, but that's in the past and it's been fixed as Pat and Pran are together. She made a mistake. Pat, on the other hand, has found his father is a terrible person - a horrible realization to have to come to. What Pran's mother did was repairable. What Pat's father did isn't. Her mistake was misguided protectiveness - his was pure selfishness. There is no comparison between the level of pain Pat and Pran would be feeling, and throughout this series Pran has always been more mature and with better emotional control. I think this is pure trope.

I think those are good reasons, but the situation is still much more hurtful to Pat, and throughout this, Pran has always been the one with greater emotional control and reserve. I don't think your position is unreasonable and makes sense to me, but I think the reason they did it this way is because Pran is the uke. His character isn't more feminine, but BL Law requires the seme to take care of the uke, and the Law must be obeyed, even if the uke is more together and the seme is the one who's hurt.

I agree - Tae is brilliant in this. Phap is so weird and charming.

I love Phap. He's a unique and interesting character, and Tae is doing a great job with it.

I agree about the secondary couple - I like both actors, but they're a waste of screentime. They don't feel connected to the main story and it doesn't draw me in.