Alright, five episodes in, and the chemistry between the leads is off the charts. I'm not sure I care for the second couple, but nor, it seems, does the show.
I do wish that a distasteful and pointless scene had been removed from the end of the first episode -- the sensitive soul might well want to skip that part, as it adds nothing to the story or the character, and in fact is at odds with them. Otherwise, this is very, very enjoyable.
I understand. To me this reminds me of Happy of the End, but an idealized version, more along the lines of fan-fiction…
Your second paragraph: spot on!
"I still watch things I have criticisms with, fluff and melodrama alike, no matter the quality, as long as those shows are self-aware of what they are." -- Couldn't have put it better.
I ended up watching the second episode of this, and found it rather enjoyable. And I'm not someone for whom one scene could ruin a whole series -- unless that series is Cherry Magic Japan, the final scene of which did ruin the whole series for me. I think it's perfectly legitimate to hate one scene, or one plot point, without detracting from the rest of the show, whether in its darker moments or lighter ones. But apparently, I'm a 'snowflake' -- I, who loves O Fantasma and Salò!
What disturbs me here is less the scene itself, whose main vice is tastelessness, than the way in which people defend it here. But I had better not say more, lest I bring upon myself the wrong kind of attention.
I never tried to understand the majority of the audience here, we just don't have compatible brains.But I love…
Assuming you don't mind my replying to you, I'm usually the same. It is of course true that people have different tastes, and different reactions, and that people are allowed to express it in an open forum; normally, I don't even bother commenting here, unless I want to make people laugh.
The only reason I posted my comment was that I felt compelled to call out what I see as rank hypocrisy about BL/LGBT content on MDL, which skews the ratings of certain kinds of shows in one direction, and others in others. I also wanted to point out the inconsistencies and contradictions implicit in how people talk about gay intimacy here.
But do I think people shouldn't watch this show? Absolutely not. Do I think people should have the right to enjoy this show? Absolutely. Do I think people should be as bothered by that scene as I was? Not at all. Do I believe all viewers should conform to one particular mould or viewpoint? Never.
I never tried to understand the majority of the audience here, we just don't have compatible brains.But I love…
Hmmm... I might watch a couple of more episodes, to see what the fuss is all about and how it goes. Your loving it is a point in its favour. I also suppose a lot of people cut it some slack because it's not a censored Chinese BL, which is a good thing. But something about that scene troubled me. I'm not at all opposed to very dark storylines (as you know). Cruising and O Fantasma are two of my favourite films. But perhaps it is precisely having such a scene in the background of a BL that is otherwise a silly romance that made it feel really off to me.
I can sort of understand why you might feel Thai BL is more messed up. It is a country that has equal marriage, and where the actors are unafraid to be intimate. So, perhaps any violation of decency or consent stands out more. But then, mind you, one could argue the opposite. It is precisely because Thailand is more accepting of gay people that it feels it can afford to take such risks. Portray gay men as violent r*pists in a culture which still demonises them, and you have to ask yourself what kind of messages it reinforces. (I don't necessarily subscribe to this theory, by the way. I don't consider model minorities to be good representation. But, just a thought to consider.)
Let gay men have rampant, pleasurable sex on screen, and out come the pearl-clutchers, saying "sex doesn't further the plot".
When we complain about the lack of real, physical intimacy on screen, you ask us to "go and watch porn."
Put a bunch of teens together, and create a chaste, utterly sexless romance, and many of you go, "it's so cute and fluffy."
When gay men suffer, you go, "oh yes, please, give me more of that angst, it's so realistic." You even say: "This is not BL, this is a queer romance."
Yet, Chi Cheng assigns his goons to gangr*pe someone in the first episode, and yet, most people here don't seem to mind. The rating stands at 8.6.
What's going on? I'm no prude, and I love dark stories such as Double Mints and Dangerous Drugs of Sex (present rating for both, 6.8), but at this point, all I can say is:
A lot of people have asked me to watch this, and I've been putting it off. But if the opening scene contains a skinny little twink, being the head of some awful gang, with a private snake collection, and indulging in a snake fight with two very bad CGI serpents, sign me up...
I agree with you. People shouldn't at all bash Ji Won for not wanting to be out, nor even for asking to keep their…
I'm with you, and I'm sorry you are stuck in a place where you can't be yourself. (I myself was in such a place once, but managed to escape.) If I could give you the means to move to a different country, I would do so in a heartbeat.
Take care of yourself, and sending you all my love. 🌈
I agree with you. People shouldn't at all bash Ji Won for not wanting to be out, nor even for asking to keep their…
Well, a lot of people (including me), did put our lives on risk to come out publicly & fight for our rights. So the choice does exist. (Excepting, of course, in countries and places where being gay is punishable by death or a life-long sentence.) And it is because I made that painful choice that I refuse to go back into the closet for anyone.
That said, I would not ask anyone else to make that choice with me. The last thing I would do is ask someone to come out of the closet for my sake. And Jeong U cannot ask that of Ji Won. In real life, this does lead to many heartbreaks -- as it seems to have done with you, and as it did with me. Fortunately, we are in BL Land, and so I think all shall be well and end well. :)
I've seen people bashing Jiwon for not wanting to out their relationship, and all i have to say is that those…
I agree with you. People shouldn't at all bash Ji Won for not wanting to be out, nor even for asking to keep their relationship a secret, which comes down to the same thing. However, Jeong U can (and in my view, should) say 'no'. He doesn't need to go back into the closet, even for love. He doesn't need to keep his sexuality a secret -- which it seems he doesn't want to anyway, not even for the sake of his career -- and not after he has come to terms with who he is and accepted it.
Ji Won of course deserves to come out (or not) in his own time, in his own terms, and no one has the right to take that away from him. But I, for one, refuse to be anyone's secret. I did not go through the pain of coming out for that.
Standard disclaimer: Born & brought up in a homophobic country, and been beaten up for being gay.
I think crying, begging for forgiveness, and directly confessing his feelings is a little more than "half-heartedly".…
I don't know, my friend. 'Manipulation' and 'playing' require intent, and malicious intent at that. Sorn may be selfish and self-absorbed, but nothing in the show has given me any objective evidence to argue that his behaviour is the product of a deliberate intent to deceive Jun. He may deceive himself about his feelings for Jun, and harm Jun in the process: but I don't see how it is possible to argue that he is a player. Players always play with and then discard their playthings. Here, we know that he and Jun will end up together.
Right? I did too and I think that's the first time I have ever skipped a BL NC scene. I don't know why exactly,…
I love Yoon. Unironically.
But here, Yoon and PunPun touched each other as if they both had visible eczema. There was more daylight between their bodies than between the arctic circle and North Pole in midwinter. It was just so awkward...
I replied about an hour ago to another comment, that I am unfairly biased to Sorn and Jun and skip most of the…
Lol. The other comment might have been mine. Yes, Oat and Boat are willing to go all the way, which is what you want in actors anyway, but above all when intimacy is concerned. Yoon and Pun, on the other hand, treat each other as if they have visible eczema. And then there is the Thai BL staple: the plank sex. I'm sure Yoon got more of a core workout in the scenes today than he did in the past 6 months at the gym...
Add to all of this the wafer thin plotting of the side couples, who, as soon as they randomly and with no build-up appear, take us away from the reality of Porn & Jun -- and you can't help but keep pressing the right arrow on your keyboard, hunker down, and pray for daylight.
I'm hoping that at least the next two episodes will be fun again, and we are spared the so-called NC scenes of the other two pairs.
After an episode and a half of some good writing, and genuine character work, I fear we're going back to the same old song-and-dance next week...
Unlike many others, I have no gripes about the sex scenes. There is no thing as "just a sex scene". Sex is one of the most vital parts of life, and is not an accessory to this or any other plot. It is what brings Porn and Jun together. (Yes, I only call him Porn or Sorny.) Sex is a powerful drug which can make you lose all senses. It's rather the cavalier way in which the show has treated the side couples, and foreshortened the emotional growth of the lead couple, that grated on me today.
I think I'm a bit frustrated with this episode, because it neither felt as fun as the first 8 episodes, nor as emotionally rewarding as the last two. And, yes, I'm still haunted by that beard.
10 
4 
3 
1 
I do wish that a distasteful and pointless scene had been removed from the end of the first episode -- the sensitive soul might well want to skip that part, as it adds nothing to the story or the character, and in fact is at odds with them. Otherwise, this is very, very enjoyable.
Zi Yu is to die for.
"I still watch things I have criticisms with, fluff and melodrama alike, no matter the quality, as long as those shows are self-aware of what they are." -- Couldn't have put it better.
I ended up watching the second episode of this, and found it rather enjoyable. And I'm not someone for whom one scene could ruin a whole series -- unless that series is Cherry Magic Japan, the final scene of which did ruin the whole series for me. I think it's perfectly legitimate to hate one scene, or one plot point, without detracting from the rest of the show, whether in its darker moments or lighter ones. But apparently, I'm a 'snowflake' -- I, who loves O Fantasma and Salò!
What disturbs me here is less the scene itself, whose main vice is tastelessness, than the way in which people defend it here. But I had better not say more, lest I bring upon myself the wrong kind of attention.
The only reason I posted my comment was that I felt compelled to call out what I see as rank hypocrisy about BL/LGBT content on MDL, which skews the ratings of certain kinds of shows in one direction, and others in others. I also wanted to point out the inconsistencies and contradictions implicit in how people talk about gay intimacy here.
But do I think people shouldn't watch this show? Absolutely not. Do I think people should have the right to enjoy this show? Absolutely. Do I think people should be as bothered by that scene as I was? Not at all. Do I believe all viewers should conform to one particular mould or viewpoint? Never.
I can sort of understand why you might feel Thai BL is more messed up. It is a country that has equal marriage, and where the actors are unafraid to be intimate. So, perhaps any violation of decency or consent stands out more. But then, mind you, one could argue the opposite. It is precisely because Thailand is more accepting of gay people that it feels it can afford to take such risks. Portray gay men as violent r*pists in a culture which still demonises them, and you have to ask yourself what kind of messages it reinforces. (I don't necessarily subscribe to this theory, by the way. I don't consider model minorities to be good representation. But, just a thought to consider.)
Let gay men have rampant, pleasurable sex on screen, and out come the pearl-clutchers, saying "sex doesn't further the plot".
When we complain about the lack of real, physical intimacy on screen, you ask us to "go and watch porn."
Put a bunch of teens together, and create a chaste, utterly sexless romance, and many of you go, "it's so cute and fluffy."
When gay men suffer, you go, "oh yes, please, give me more of that angst, it's so realistic." You even say: "This is not BL, this is a queer romance."
Yet, Chi Cheng assigns his goons to gangr*pe someone in the first episode, and yet, most people here don't seem to mind. The rating stands at 8.6.
What's going on? I'm no prude, and I love dark stories such as Double Mints and Dangerous Drugs of Sex (present rating for both, 6.8), but at this point, all I can say is:
Yuck.
Take care of yourself, and sending you all my love. 🌈
That said, I would not ask anyone else to make that choice with me. The last thing I would do is ask someone to come out of the closet for my sake. And Jeong U cannot ask that of Ji Won. In real life, this does lead to many heartbreaks -- as it seems to have done with you, and as it did with me. Fortunately, we are in BL Land, and so I think all shall be well and end well. :)
Ji Won of course deserves to come out (or not) in his own time, in his own terms, and no one has the right to take that away from him. But I, for one, refuse to be anyone's secret. I did not go through the pain of coming out for that.
Standard disclaimer: Born & brought up in a homophobic country, and been beaten up for being gay.
But here, Yoon and PunPun touched each other as if they both had visible eczema. There was more daylight between their bodies than between the arctic circle and North Pole in midwinter. It was just so awkward...
Add to all of this the wafer thin plotting of the side couples, who, as soon as they randomly and with no build-up appear, take us away from the reality of Porn & Jun -- and you can't help but keep pressing the right arrow on your keyboard, hunker down, and pray for daylight.
I'm hoping that at least the next two episodes will be fun again, and we are spared the so-called NC scenes of the other two pairs.
Unlike many others, I have no gripes about the sex scenes. There is no thing as "just a sex scene". Sex is one of the most vital parts of life, and is not an accessory to this or any other plot. It is what brings Porn and Jun together. (Yes, I only call him Porn or Sorny.) Sex is a powerful drug which can make you lose all senses. It's rather the cavalier way in which the show has treated the side couples, and foreshortened the emotional growth of the lead couple, that grated on me today.
I think I'm a bit frustrated with this episode, because it neither felt as fun as the first 8 episodes, nor as emotionally rewarding as the last two. And, yes, I'm still haunted by that beard.