jpny01

I can't figure out what you mean by "pungent to ears" - pungent means a strong smell, so your phrasing sounds quite poetic (I plan to steal it), but very negative.

They've more or less decided to be brothers and family to each other. Lukmo is not sure he can handle it, but you can tell he'll go for it. Both are in agreement that romance is not possible because they're related - in fact Simai writes a song about how they can't be together because of their situation (he's a great singer). I suspect Simai is adopted, and that will be the solution. I'm basing that on the parents saying a couple of eps ago that there's something Simai is too young to be told, which I think is that he's adopted.

I'm trying to decide if that's weird. I guess it is, but I'm OK with it. Step brothers doesn't bother me as long as they didn't grow up together.

OK. This was better than I was expecting - it's unoriginal, but very well-executed in detail, from the production to the dialogue, plotting, and of course the acting, and I like how there's no agonizing over gender - Best's friends didn't even bother to guess any girl's names when they were figuring out who he likes. Even the tired trope of somehow being hit by a basketball (by people so far away that I was expecting to see Clark Kent on the court) was handled well and integrated into the plot in an intelligent way. And more happend in this 30 minute ep than is normal for four or five 45 minute eps in a "standard" BL series, and they did it without it seeming rushed.

But, I'm sorry, War is way too mature for the role. He's a great actor and he "acts" perfectly high school, but he's too manly and sexy, and it takes me out of the story, if for no reason that I have to keep reminding myself he's 27 and I'm not a pedophile for feeling what he's making me feel. It's especially obvious when he's around younger actors.

Even then, small complaint if I get to see War & Yin, but there's no reason for the story they're telling to be set in high school. Would it make a difference if it was the workplace, for example? Why not take advantage of the experience and looks of your actors? Y Destiny was a trainwreck, but I loved seeing everyone in high fashion - woudn't it be nice to see War in adult clothes, and a non-high-school or college setting for once? That haircut on Yin feels like a mutilation of a work of art.

Anyway, I'm definitely going to watch all of this, but it feels like a missed opportunity for something memorable and special (well, especially special).

I think War is way too sexy and manly for high school. His acting is good enough for it, but his body & everything it does is too adult, and it's especially obvious when he's around younger actors. When he was practicing the guitar, I wanted him to put pants on so I didn't have to chant "It's OK, he's 27. It's OK, he's 27".

There really isn't any reason for the story to be set in high school - it's a simple and well-written romance that could have been in any setting, so why not show off the beautiful men they cast instead of hiding their looks in high school uniforms and school boy haircuts? Look at a picture of Dew with "normal" hair can compare it to his Korean schoolboy look in this - it feels like painting a mustache on the Mona Lisa. Wouldn't it be nice to see them in fashionable adult outfits? If there was a positive to the Y Destiny trainwreck, it was the fashion design.

Anyway, it's not like I won't watch it - I went through the torture of Tossara for the occassional glimpses of War, and although it's not very original, the writing is much better than the usual and well, War & Dew.

I totally respect that, and you make a good point - even not great representation is better than remaining hidden, so I should be more appreciative. Progress is progress.

Also, these productions are likely struggling to obtain funding, and sponsors will be afraid of things that are different from past successful shows, so it's unrealistic to expect everything to be as progressive as in the West overnight. (And that's not even touching on how most of these societies used to be more accepting until Western imperialist powers imposed their Victorian morality on the rest of the world.)

The real couple are permanently on their maximum setting for "cutesy". Would anyone who has ever lived on this planet (or any other) find it cute that someone vomited all over their living room during a party?

Gift exchanges at work are way more fun than this - we usually give mean-spirited gifts that are really funny. Seriously, a $5 desk lamp? And this from someone who can afford a giant house with a living room the size of a football stadium.

I guess the "top secrets" are that Phob likes Eak and the brothers thing. Both & New Year's secret will be the revelation that they are malfunctioning robots stuck on the "act ovely cute in an an artificial way" setting, and the other couples are hiding anything that could possibly be interpreted as interesting.

They should have stuck to the main three + Lukmo. The other couples aren't really related to the main storylines. Maybe the producers demanded high school students and engineers so they threw in the other pairs. They also demanded an unnecessary damp-towel wipedown for the middle of a New Year's party.

That being said, with some judicious fast-fowarding, I am enjoying this series, because the main three are so f@#$ing cute. Simai killed me this ep.

Why does he have zero social media presence? Or am I just failing to find it?

They could have left out the entire gift giving scene and replaced it with the two scenes you mentioned felt like they were missing. The gift exchange was lame as f@#$. I've had more interesting ones at work.

Actually, like @ImHereForTheBL said, that was a crappy, depressing party.

OK, I like this show. But:

I know it's irrational, but Both & New Year annoy the f@$% out of me. I think I figured out what it is - they've always got 'cutesy' dialed up to 100. Sorry, but Jesus Christ would have been pissed if someone vomited all over his living room in the middle of a party, not smiled like it was cute with that"oh, those whacky kids" look. A Buddhist monk would have slapped Copy. Twice. And do you need a PA system for a party in your living room? Granted, their living room is the size of a hotel lobby, but still.

Can we talk about Simai this ep? The singing, and the watery eyes? That boy is talented. He really got to me.

But what was with the grand slo-mo entrance? He actually looked LESS good to me than usual, not more. I like his cute sweaters - the too-big overshirt made him look like a stereotype of a lesbian. Lukmo's fit and looked better to me.

Nampu is still creepy-overflirtatious to me, but I like how he and Copy interact off-camera - it's cute.

OMG, lol - I was totally thinking that about the party!

OMG, his watery eyes had me in tears all the way through this, and his singing was good. There was some auto-tune running, but not much and I really like his voice. The scenes from next week look like Eak gets jealous, and the parents have some secret that they think Simai is too young to know, and I'm guessing it's that he's adopted.

I love that story - thanks for sharing it!

A lot of the characters have Chinese names, so maybe they get married in Taiwan? That's the only country on the entire continent of Asia where it's legal. South Africa is the only country in Africa. The continent of Australia is at 100% marriage equality. :)

The story wouldn't make sense without a marriage though, right? There's no business purpose to two guys living together - you'd need the marriage contract.

Cutie Pie is one of the worst titles of all time, but I'm still really excited about this series.

I think the Thai title is นิ่งเฮียก็หาว่าซื่อ, which google says is "Ning Hee Also Think's He's Sue, which I doubt is right. [Skip to the end if you want to avoid my nonsense.]

Bing says "Stillhia Finds It Honest". Which also doesn't sound right, but at least sort of makes sense.

In case anyone is interested, it comes out in Latin as "Is etiam cogitat quod ille erum suo." (translator defaulted to Latin for some reason). But this inspired me to try translating it into Mandarin, (I was thinking Translate would have put effort into Thai-Mandarin), and then from Mandarin to English, which came out:

"Ning Xi Also Thinks He's Being Sued" (or maybe prosecuted)

I think it's a great title, although I can't help but wonder who Ning Xi is.

That sounds reasonable. We can probably go out on a limb and guess there are scenes with consent issues - and maybe main character cheating. I think those would be the main two that would make viewers abandon ship.

I just meant above that there is ridiculousness to the whole genre - most of that is part of its charm, like high schools where every single boy there is gay. Or a dead person's heart compelling a transplantee to carry out a last wish.

Consent issues are not always as objectionable in a novel where you can read the character's thoughts which may be consenting, i.e. scenes that might be steamy in print but horrifying onscreen. They touched on that issue in Lovely Writer.

Well, I hope it works out because I was really looking forward to this series!

No, I won't keep it to myself. This is a is a discussion forum, and it's for discussing shows. I'm not ever hostile toward other people - I'm critiquing programs, not people, which is what you're doing. There's not any comparison - one is merely sharing thoughts, the other is rude.

I agree Shin Woo doesn't really dislike him, but that's a "standard" variant on the theme, so I still think Shin Woo is firmly in the romantic partner slot. I am confused about what Da On's place in the story is - is it possible he's really not all that nice and will end up being the villain? He said he's not nice...

This sounds like a really troubled production - that almost always produces a substandard result - especially when you have competing visions.

I'd go further - the writer is being absurd. In an American production, you're lucky if you can even recognize the story once the studio has made changes. And really, if they're paying for the production, they get to decide what what is filmed. There can be pre-imposed limits on that negotiated up front and put in writing, but no studio is going to pay for a series and give up all control.

If a writer wants everything word-for-word, she needs to fund the production herself - but it's unlikely the writer has the same level of experience the production staff have with what works and what doesn't. That's actually what I think is one of the biggest problems with Thai BL - it's all adapted from novels, which are a non-visual medium, so they don't really take advantage of what's possible (as opposed to ITSAY, which did) and have elements that don't translate, like "the boy who lost his smile" (and so came off onscreen as a homicidal manniquin).

This is not an attack, but the word "toxic" is so overused it doesn't have too much meaning - do you know any specifics, or was it stated in general terms like that? It is about criminals, so if it's over sanitized it will come out ridiculous - but it's a BL, so I guess ridiculous kind of goes with the territory.

Thanks for sharing the info - I don't know where everyone gets it, but I appreciate it!

Maybe he's trying to get Shin Woo to be jealous to push him to get with Tae. But because he's in a main role, he must be a more important character than that. I'm not getting any second-male-lead vibes, but I can see why other people do. I guess because Shin Woo & Tae started out enemies I'm conditioned to think they'll get together.