jpny01

I agree withyou that it's not really funny to have the guy coming on to her all the time. It would have been funnier if they'd just gone with his inept attempts to impress her.

LOL, I watched the scene again too and I was starting to agree with you more - it was a bit creepy for him to guilt him like that. It's somewhere on the line between pressure and coersion, because the boy felt he owed King for helping him and King was taking advantage of that.

I think you're right - that sounds like the typical BL move. It's just odd that they made such a big deal out of King helping him.

The third option is that their software is malfunctioning and they have to be reset between takes. Especially the AekBot.

I do get a little chemistry from Aue, but that might just be because he's so handsome that it's on all the time - and his was at least contextualized with his asking Aek to spoon-feed him, but it's only the context that paints it as romantic - I feel nothing.

I totally agree - a slow-paced scene can be like letting a bottle of red wine aerate. But this is leaving it open so long it goes flat and muddy. <-- See how I went with the chef theme? If I knew anything about cooking I would have gone with that, but this is the best I could do. Maybe something about soufflés collapsing.

Aue could get me into bed with that stare, for sure, but not get me to marry him. Well, maybe.

If they'd spent the time they spent staring on cooking together, we would have had something.

I get what you mean. To me, their connection is cooking - so let's see them do that together instead of stare at each other blankly (in Aek's case) or with smoldering intensity that makes me feel like I'll burst into flame (in Aue's case - and even that was starting to get silly this ep).

I was liking the show a lot up till this ep, but it lost me with all the staring and incredibly slow talking while nothing at all happening plotwise. I'm afraid it's getting lost in style over substance. The style is beautiful, but when there's nothing else in an ep, it frustrates me.

I agree. I think the problem is the staring - they should have kept the emphasis on the cooking. The staring is actually getting kind of strange. Who really does that?

It's on Viki.

You can say it. It was revolting. It's hot, humid, and rainy there - I don't even want to think about the varieties of fungus that must be breeding in there.

I was sure he would sever an artery with that final shard he picked up. Then Aue would have get whip out the disgusing yellow q-tip to dab him with.

I wasn't bothered by Ep 2, but Ep 3 made me consider dropping this, so I'm guessing you will either commit seppuku or fall into a coma if you watch it.

Whenever Aek utters a phrase, just hit the advance 10 seconds button twice and it has a similar effect, athough it's more effort. It makes him seem more like a normal person talking instead of a broken robot.

It's also a little creepy to spout poetry at someone you don't know. Agree about the sharp objects. I'm even starting to get over my BL-sharp-object PTSD. Not sure about Mark's acting yet - has he not been called upon to show what he can do, or is it that he is trying to show emotion but failing? In the endless staring, I can feel what Aue is conveying, but Aek just seems to be staring or unsuccessfully assembling words in his head to speak.

Aek & Aue's situation is delicate, but the hostess has decided to sweep away such considerations and just go for naked sexual harassment. If their sexes were reversed, it would be really disturbing, especially since all her commentary has been about his looks.

I would have agreed with all of this until this episode. There's a point where the pacing drains the dramatic tension rather than creates it. Slow pacing can allow a scene to breathe and develop, but there needs to be substance that goes with it. I liked the symbolism of Aek picking up the shards, but then the endless staring obscured the connection between them, which is passion for cooking. That's why a lot of people are finding their connection shallow. I wouldn't say it's bad directing, but whoever is having Mark pause for 15 minutes between each phrase might reconsider that artistic choice.

Aue is a well-drawn character, but is Aek? It's hard to tell because all his screen time is taken up with staring and taking forever to say anything.

To me this is degenerating into style over substance. The style is beautiful, but it's getting stale for me.

I agree. Although I would say "malfunctioning robots". I was annoyed and disappointed with this ep. Nothing even happened. Aek misses his mother. I think we've thoroughy established that already. His roommate like cake and pastry chefs. We knew that too. Gameplay doesn't like studying. Got it. Sigh.

That sums it up for me. I think the mutual attraction is undermined by all the staring. The connection is the mutual passion for cooking, which does have depth, but the staring gives it the impression that their appreciation for each other is aesthetic and is part of the style over substance problem this series has in general.

As a petty example, to get the attractive overhead shot of them eating while sitting on the floor, we're to believe that after Aek poured the soup, they paused to clean up that huge mess before eating. On the floor.

Also, Aek was wearing sneakers with no socks in hot and wet weather, which is gross, so that shoe removal scene was revolting as well as unnecessary.

Aue blatantly came onto Aek by making him spoon-feed the soup. I don't know if he's in love with Aek or just the idea of him (and what he can do for Aue), but that's not a misdirect Aek seems to be cautious with his feelings and is holding back, but fascinated by Aue. That's how I read it.

After the previous episodes, I said I was more excited about this than anything else that's aired this year. Unfortunately, not anymore after this ep.

A lot of my interest was drained by the endless staring and eighteen minute pauses between each phrase Aek speaks. The scene where he asks Aue for permission for his friend to photograph cake almost made me give up entirely. Nothing happened this episode - slow burn is fine, but not no burn.

Mark has one expression, placid mild smile. Aue is way more expressive, and imo a much better actor, but even he can't save the staring scenes.

This is turning out to be all style, no substance. I like touches like Aek picking up the shards of Aue's emotional state, but how long did that scene need to be? I'm grateful that Aek is the first person in a BL to ever pick up a shard without cutting himself, but it wasn't worth that interminable scene.

Ugh. I hope next week moves it forward.

Weird and unbelievably tiresome.

I think they did themselves a disservice with the immature title, but this is fundamentally about passion for cooking, which both men share, which is a strong bond. There's a lot of symbolism involved - some of it is sledgehammer-subtle like the endless scene of Aek picking up the shards of Aue's platewear (i.e. emotional state).

What do you mean by development? I've noticed that nobody seems to mind when "development" is one boy tripping and the other one catching him and staring at each other - the cooking bond seems a lot more substantial than that to me. I guess people can have strong passions for tripping or strong passions for catching people, but it seems a shallow and tired gimmick.

But on the other hand, the unfortunate tendency in this series for extremely loooonnnggg staring scenes undermines the substance of their attraction and is intensely boring. Except when the camera is on Aue's face, because I can never tire of that.

I'm not sure what you mean by lazy. (That's not sarcasm or an attack - I'm seriously asking.) They are both most passionate about cooking, and shared passion is a strong bond. I can't speak for all men, but we're generally a lot more shallow about attraction - maybe not for long-term relationships, but a lot, or even most, guys know if they're attracted to someone immediately - if it's not there, it's not going to be. Finding out if they're someone you want to be with long term takes more time.