jpny01

That was really funny. That's like my mother. "I made vegetarian pea soup for you." I eat it. "Are those chunks of ham in there?" "Yes, but just small ones."

I love this show, but I'm getting confused. Who is that other couple in the still shots? I think the one in the sweater is the psychologist. I'm trying to imagine how they'll tie this up in a single 20-minute episode. But anyway, the acting in this is superb and the cinematography first-rate. And the writing and music are fantastic. This is for me the best BL on right now by a wide margin. And Blake Cheng is so hot.

I don't know if you've already watched it or not, but I think it's the best thing airing right now, by a decent margin. There's not a lot of competition, but still, this is really good. The acting is first rate, and the cinematography is fantastic. The story is different and interesting - no engineers or high school kids.

LOL, too true. Especially right now with so many projects on hold.

The actors aren't really given much to do in general - First had the thing with his mother where he got to act, but other than that Fiat just sulks and pouts and Leo stands around looking cool and supervising Fiat's every activity. I'm surprised the actors have put as much energy into this as they have.

It was interesting that both couples had intimate scenes, and Leo & Fiat's was quite a bit more explicit, but it was Leon & Pob that were on fire. I watched again with a critical eye to see why one couple was so dull and the other so hot. It's not looks. Ja and First are gorgeous.

I think it's stiffness. Leo and Fiat always have at least a foot of empty space between their bodies, even when Leo is laying on top of Fiat. He looks like he's planking, not making love. It reduces the chemistry to zero when you can see the actors really, really don't want to touch each other. When First and James kissed they pressed their bodies together, and whatever First's shortcomings as an actor, he can definitely do desire. Even the way he snuggled up afterwards was really authentic.

There's also some formulaicism - Leo & Fiat have the same love scene over and over. Leo says something about how he won't be able to control himself, Fiat gives him a "bitch please" look, and Leo at some point grabs Fiat's hand and pins it somewhere beside his head.

Maybe it's also that Leon is younger and less controlled than Pob and their relationship isn't written like wet-cardboard D/s. I like that Pob is innocent and inexperienced but not weak. Whereas Fiat can't tie his shoes without Leo.

Anyway, it's chemistry. I don't know where Ja & First's went. Maybe the actors are confused by the total lack of plot and can't get into their characters.

Check in the support character section - the guy who places Ice.

https://kisskh.at/people/52687-aton-thanakorn-techawicha

That's an excellent summation of what I felt. For the reasons you mentioned, they should have left out the BL completely, or hinted it's something that could develop later as a result of their shared experience.

Yeah, he really does.

Well, Santa seems to have actively pursued association with Earth, so it seems reasonable to speculate - if he were just trying to worm his way into the industry, he could have picked someone more prominent, or a director. It might not be a coincidence that that was the best hug I've seen in a BL - he wasn't afraid of full-body contact - no 1 foot of air between their bodies.

I was just watching an interview with Mon Hatsawatchon, talking about My Friendship, which has a lot of sex in it, and he said "this film was very difficult for me" - I was expecting him to go into the usual "as a straight guy, having to kiss man is eww" routine, but instead he said "the director wouldn't let me take my clothes off, so I had to portray the passion with only facial expressions." Now that's a trooper. And a great actor. (And super cute.)

I agree with you on all of that - but that's what I mean by telling us rather than showing us. It's cheating if your twin can detect it despite a total lack of evidence to the audience. But even so, you can still communicate youthful attraction, awkward or not, without touching or saying anything explicit. I didn't feel any of it. That scene on the lawn is where something could have gone down - it almost felt like it was written to be more and edited down. I mean they more or less said it.

But I don't just mean this show - it seems like a general trend to me. Take a look at these guys - 5 years ago they were playing the same age characters as these and having a LOT of sex, even if not shown onscreen.

It looks the same to me - he's several years older, so maybe he just grew into his face. When I was a teen I felt like you could see my nose from outer space, but by my 20s it worked with the rest of my face.

Didn't ep 6 feel completed? Or did you mean the first 5?

What's going on with BL lately? I don't think it should be soft-core porn, but there's absolutely nothing now. Are they trying to market to the Chinese audience? This was well-written and I enjoyed it, but it wasn't a BL, it was a bromance, and that's becoming the norm, it seems.

I didn't feel that way with the Earth/Santa story, which was almost equally mild - there I felt it. Here the romance was surprisingly missing given the history of these two. The "BL" was dependent on us being told it was there - we needed to be shown. Even the hug was bloodless (unlike Santa's).

Peak seems to have surpassed Boom as an actor - and in looks, IMO - I was all about Boom in Make It Right. Both of them have improved, though. I think overall this was the best ep (although as a romantic pair, I think Earth & Santa win hands-down). The writing was economical without feeling rushed, yet more happened in this brief ep than often happens in entire series. That's how it should be done!

I see what you're saying. I think that's largely true of early BL, but the genre has broadened and there are many BL characters who identify as gay from the beginning. Especially in the case of Filipino BL, which is a lot more progressive when it comes to representation of sexuality.

Ooh, I have Sei no Gekiyaku on my list - I have to watch it now. I really liked SOTUS when I saw it because it was the first BL I saw (and I thought New was super-hot), but SOTUS 2 was such a waste of time for me that it retroactively downgraded the original for me. Plus everyone copied it and now were stuck with engineers forever.

As for anticipation, I'm not allowing myself any expectations for KinnPorsche because of all the troubles the production has had - I don't believe it's happening, so if it does, I'll be happy. Bad Buddy is up there because I love Ohm. The Couple - I really love Mon Hatsawatchon. Cutie Pie looks interesting, Love Stage, Middleman's Love (although it seems ridiculous to cast Tommy as "a very average guy") and The Miracle of Teddy Bear.

To me, Gameboys was a series of manufactured external crises thrown at the boys, whereas Hello Stranger was an organic coming-of-age story, so it had more depth and meaning for me. Plus, I like the extensive use of symbolism - like after Mico Pushes Xavier back to his straight life, this is indicated by his X going back to a "straight guy" backward baseball cap - but it's pink, symbolizing that his true self is knocking on the door.

The HS movie was OK, but I was a little disapponted that it was more or less rewinding back to Ep 6 and playing foward again - I was hoping for new development in their relationship.

I haven't seen the GB movie yet - I want to rewatch the series first and see if it does more for me. It was well-acted and scripted, it's just the plot didn't do much for me - I think it was originally an 8 ep story and they stretched it to 14, and that may have made it feel a little repetetitve.

What are your top BLs?

This looks refreshingly different. I love the cast - I'm looking forward to this one.

What on earth does that mean? Are you saying BL characters have to be straight?

I agree, but about half of BLs start out like this where you hate the lead and then he turns out to be wonderful and everyone loves him.