randomthoughts

might be too early to say, but it feels like Kim Woo Seok is going to be the star of the whole show for me (and the only reason I was even watching this was for Bo Hyun). Woo Seok is doing such an incredible job!!

thoughts on Noh Tae Nam?? idk what to do with his character, he's obviously trash (of the psychotic and rapist variety) and I doubt they're going to give him an actual redemption arc (please, don't. how stupid). but I feel bad for him? like I feel morally conflicted in all his scenes now its obvious that his mother systematically and very intentionally traumatized him as a child, turning what was probably a bully rich kid type person into the awful human he is now. but post the trauma reveal scene, I feel like the drama keeps wanting us to sympathize with him....? or maybe woo seok is just acting the hell out of the role lol. he makes me wish NTM wasn't such a horrible person so that I could comfortably feel bad for him.

definitely, this ep especially shined in terms of their use of lighting. And yes!! How could I have missed mentioning the OST!! The soundtrack really pops and is so good on its own but so perfect as the soundtrack. I didn’t officially study film or music in college lol, though if I could endlessly be in school those would be the programs I’d return for.

easily one of the best produced/directed/edited K-BLs out there right now! This was high quality right from the start, and the acting was great, but with each episode I’m really appreciated the editing/lighting/colouring/etc. Just all around such high production, it’s setting such a standard for future shows.

wish I hadn’t read comments and realized I missed the post credit scene lol. I was very ready to part with this mess of a series at the more realistic ending of no one ends up with anyone. Oh well. cheers to Jeff still being the most amazing part of this show (acting + ost)!

haha yes so down for that. If there’s to be more chaos, Sean should be the one creating it, in just about whatever way he’d like.

lowkey at this point i’m kinda hoping they just don’t bother resolving anything??? cause how awful would that would be for pango and nont. everything is problematic enough anyway, just somehow wrap up king’s story in something vaguely better than these awful rebound relationships Kaitoon and Valen got into, and call it a show. don’t have the energy for more ridiculous drama lol

Such a massive mess lol, started shaky in season 1 and just spun out of control since, but Jeff took his guest role in the series and totally nailed it. I guess the only good things coming out of this are the sneak preview of what we can expect from Jeff in KinnPorsche, Jeff’s OST, and maybe some more projects for Ohm (King) who while not entirely consistent in all scenes, has done very well with the sad/high emotion scenes, which shows a lot of potential

Surprised by the low ratings! Better production quality and acting than many of the other k-bls, and the overall pacing/story are progressing well for the first two eps. Would highly recommend! Also appreciate the 20 min eps, makes a massive difference.

Ahh damn just realized ok jin wook is the ML! I remember seeing him in that show through which the group superfive was made and am so glad that he’s making headway with his dream to act. Got a great voice too, was my favourite in the group after hui and mj

This is going better than I expected, albeit a tad slow because of the drawn out scenes. Surprisingly I think it's because of Nut that I'm liking it, his acting has really improved since Oxygen. He (or maybe more accurately his portrayal of the character) is kinda giving me Kimmon vibes???

Not a happy ending but felt realistic. Two people who missed the timing to tell each other they like the other, and missed their chance. (Plus, a boy who couldn’t fight his homophobic mother’s wishes. And not that this ever becomes “easy” - having to fight your own family, whom you love, about something as fundamental as your identity is always awful and difficult, but add to that being 17/18? Tbh I can’t even imagine coming out to my fam at that age, I waited till I was independent. Thankfully I didn’t know anyone horrible and naive enough to out me either).

But regardless of this sad ending, it’s not exactly a hard end stop to their story either— Best might decide to go to Chiang Mai for uni (he didn’t seem overly choosy about where he went), or they may connect whenever Dew comes to visit his mom. They’re so young, that the bittersweet ending works, it feels more sweet than bitter even as the last scenes are them crying lol.

Overall, I enjoyed this, obviously for War’s acting, but I appreciate the writing/direction too. Thought it was generally well done!

I said it was short and sweet after ep1, when in fact its short, sweet, and sad AF lol.

Yin was great, but War stole the show for me, what a wonderful, expressive actor. Hope we'll get to see them in something new soon.

I could be misinterpreting it as I don't speak the language, but the subs on viki read: "YJ: Whether you were willing or not, having you was my gift to myself for my twentieth birthday" so yes, based on the subs available to me, that is exactly what he said. If, to a native speaker, this is an inaccurate translation then ok.

Moreover, "he received clear signals" ? Yes, YJ is pretty obvious, especially to the viewer, with what he wants. But realistically, how many people would truly consider that their step brother/sibling wants to have sex with them? The average person would take those signals and entirely dismiss them.

And XS does say various times in the scenes after, that he feels that YJ misconstrued XS' actions, XS' attempts to be close to YJ, as a romantic love. He's clearly stating that his actions were never intended in a romantic or sexual way. Does he love YJ, yes, but at that point, he doesn't mean that romantically. We see in the story line where XS begins feeling romantic love for YJ, as he discovers just how much YJ cares for him. But at the hotel scene, he's not declaring romantic love, there's literally no evidence for it, and he explicitly says otherwise later on.

And frankly yes, you can be too drunk to have sex with someone you didn't want to have sex with. I'm not claiming that we should accuse YJ or rape or sexual assault, because those terms have a legal ramifications and don't fully apply to this situation. But I do think it's wrong to construe XS' actions as proper consent, or say he brought this on himself due to his actions, or that he initiated it. This scene is a moral issue specifically for this reason - that XS didn't want this to happen (i.e., lack of consent), but YJ made sure it did. You're presenting consent and morality as two entirely different things, but if not for the lack of consent, what else about this morally wrong? drunk sex isn't morally wrong when there's consent, and if it's that they're step brothers, well then the whole show is morally wrong, so that doesn't really specifically apply to this scene either. You seem to agree that the scene was morally questionable, but then why?

I don't think folks have an agenda, nor am I ignoring scenes, I'm just clearly interpreting them in a very different way from you. No matter how carefully I watch this show, I wouldn't ever be able to see XS's actions as initiating sex or giving proper consent.

My ranking (best to worst) would be:

history 2 - crossing the line
history 2 - right or wrong
history 3 - trapped
history 3 - make our days count
history 4 - close to you
history 1 - stay away from me
history 1 - obsession
history 1 - my hero

If someone hasn't watched any of them at all, then I'd really only strongly recommend the first four. I'm torn on close to you simply because I really appreciated the acting, but didn't find the main plot or the variety of cliches (particularly with the whole "BL shipper" angle) to be engaging. If you can look past the story line and the multitude of issues, then I'd say it's worth it just for An Jun Peng's acting.

I agree and disagree with various points here. this wouldn't legally be rape, and sexual intercourses definitely have gray areas, especially when one is drinking. I also do find it frustrating that some viewers have been somewhat tunnel-visioned in their understanding or reflection of the scene/show, and wish people wouldn't bash writers for it, given some of the dialogue that takes place after that scene, it's clear the writers are aware this was a gray area.

However. "it was a totally mutual sexual attraction and he kind of knew it was coming" -- I agree that we see seeds of Xing Si's attraction (though we also see his discomfort with feeling said attraction), but I don't think he knew or even vaguely imagined it actually happening. His reaction the next morning and in the time that follows are very clear in indicating his shock, horror, and hurt.

"knowing someone wants to have sex with you" is a huge gray area. At no point prior to being insanely drunk has Xing Si verbally, or intentionally signaled he wants to have sex with Yong Jie . His body reacting to Yong Jie's touch doesn't and shouldn't count. Reacting to a sexual touch is not abnormal (and it was dead obvious Yong Jie was touching him in a very deliberate, sensual way to illicit such a reaction). XS moves away as soon as he processes this.

And then about consent. At that point in the storyline, XS would never have given consent if sober, or even a little drunk. In fact, Yong Jie pointedly says that he knew XS' alcohol tolerance and ensure he drunk beyond that by making the drinks much stronger than is usually the case (which means while XS chose to drink, he didn't actually choose to drink to that extent),

Xing Si also didn't willingly drink in order to drop his inhibitions about sex with his step brother, he drank because he wanted to drink, to enjoy the alcohol enjoy being drunk. People have all kinds of instinctual reactions and desires, in sexual contexts and others - the decision to not act on them should never be taken away by another based on highly self-motivated assumptions. (not to mention, YJ says that he intended to have sex with XS whether he was willing or not)

in terms of XS initiating sex, YJ's kisses were not platonic or familial. You don't kiss someone's face and neck like that for any other reason but initiating sex. On the other hand, putting your arms around someone's neck while incredibly drunk (XS's first physical action in this scene) also doesn't equal initiating sex. Physical touch can be very grounding when you're that drunk, and also some people are just more affectionate when drunk, whomever they may be with. Even if we ignore all that, wanting to kiss someone doesn't equal agreeing to have sex with them either. The way it's presented, YJ is fairly if not entirely sober, has gotten XS drunk on purpose and begins seducing him, and eventually lust (specifically, alcohol induced lust) takes over XS as YJ kisses him so he willingly responds.

Was XS being a bit willfully ignorant of YJ's feelings? Perhaps yes, and he could have created more distance between them, or confronted YJ about YJ's actions before then. Would this hold up in a court of law as rape, almost certainly not. Most courts, to my knowledge/understanding, hold a very high standard on declaring rape if the accuser/victim willingly got drunk, unless they become unconscious, so while its not crazy to think someone would want to accuse YJ of rape here, it wouldn't legally work. But all that said, I don't see how XS's actions before or while being drunk constitute as giving consent, purposefully seducing YJ, or initiating sex.

EDIT: Should add that filming a sex partner without their consent and/or knowledge IS a
criminal act in a lot of countries. So him having done that would probably tip the balance in court, at least a little bit. against YJ.

Haha yes, I agree with that. War acting has a certain maturity to it that he can’t hide. I had the same thought while watching. With them now having done a college story and a high school story with Yin and War, I hope they diversify their writing and give the two an opportunity to play a different kind of role.

yes, totally! A lot folks did seem to have an issue with War's age for this (if you scroll through MDL you'll see so many comments about it, as well as on the trailer video), and I do agree that in a lot of contexts, I don't understand why directors either don't cast younger actors, or as is the case here where they wanted to cast Yin and War, why not just write a setting that's a bit more appropriate.

But in this case, I think War totally makes it work so I don't think it's a problem either! He looks younger than his age + he can express the kind of innocence you would see/expect from a high school love story.

A lot of k-dramas (like Itaewon Class) have done this where they don't get a different actor for the flashback/younger scenes. Sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn't. But given that much of the show is about these characters when they're older, it makes sense, and it's hard to cast someone that'll look so similar to the main actor.

I've never been fond of the high school setting but for a 3 ep piece and they way they've done it, I think it works. It's short, sweet, and simple story that's well acted, pretty well shot, and has a nice OST.

And while casting a 27 year old as a character about 10 years younger is not my favourite thing, War can pull it off, he has such a young looking face (much better than Mew playing a 19 year old Tharn lol, Mew's a good actor but that was impossible to believe).

Plus, how refreshing to have that high school setting done with really good acting, War's expressions are wonderful and say so much. Usually they cast newcomers/rookies for this kind of plot and their inexperience is so obvious, even if they're talented.

anyone seen the new OST MV by PP yet? the mv have me vibes of: we broke up ages back, are semi-healed/semi-heartbroken still, but have a random encounter and have a drink (sort of) for old times sake. Makes me really wonder... is ep 4 going to be the year they are broken up, and ep 5 going to be the one where they end up back together again? (hold me tight was pre-red hair, while fake news is PP w/ red hair, so if correlates to the narrative, then is safe zone--also red hair-- maybe the ep5 song). I liked this new song but this MV got me so curious lol I'm overanalyzing everything