Honglou Meng

I'm not sure there is much more to talk about. The spicy scenes are perhaps the best in Thai BL, and that alone makes it worth watching. And Oat is a great actor, who does amazingly well with the script he's given. But I'd be surprised if many people stayed here *just* for the story. That's like reading Playboy just for the articles.

Lol. So it would have been where I come from. Alas, I now live in a country where they insist on using Fahrenheit for everything, which I still can't make sense of.

I did not know spermials were so medicinal and anti-allergenic. I should tell that to my husband next Spring.

Lol. Most likely. And I'm confined to bed with a 102 F fever, which probably makes me more impatient than usual. But they should have really hired a script editor.

I won't lie. I find myself coming back to this show mainly for the chemistry between the leads. Otherwise, the show's become an incoherent mess. And this is from someone who's been an apologist for this show from the first episode.

Don't hate me for saying this gang, but I kind of want to be done with it. Esp. now that we know that the obligatory crisis of separation and reconciliation is coming.

At this point, I'm not sure why they even bother with the pretense of having two side couples... Half the time, I forget they exist.

Finally! Missionary Accomplished!

Not in my experience... ;)

Lol. I just got to that scene.

Checking for rashes... Is that what the kids are calling these days?

I feel the same way. It's been fun watching it and commenting about it, but the idea of prolonging it for another month feels agonising. And I say that as someone who has been an apologist for the show since the beginning.

Ah, P'Porn, you look gorgeous with your hair down. Which philistine moron asked you to tie it up into a manbun? They weren't cool in 1970. They aren't cool now.

Oat is a good actor. Not easy to play someone who's that pissed and still make it funny.

You took the words right out of my mouth. It's Jae-Hyeok's sheer magnetism and presence -- in front of which I'd melt like a wax candle, while burning at the wick like the flamer I am -- that makes this show. He's so gorgeous.

That said, was it just me, or was he painted up unusually white and unusually thick, even by the standards of Korean make-up? I think Farrow & Ball must have multiple branches across Seoul, to go by the amount of face paint I see on BLs alone.

Yeah, unless you watch this show as unintentional pure camp, you can't get far. But hey, have you heard? The drought is soon set to end! We have 4 or 5 JBLs heading our way in as many weeks! You can cure your itch by watching Sannin Fuufu now if you want -- it's on Netflix -- but it's about polyamoury, and I think they have gone down a very bad path. So I don't know if I can recommend it.

I suppose people come searching for a specific "product". It's as if they go to the butcher's and are surprised and angry to find them also selling fish. Why, I don't understand, because I don't imagine people having the same reaction to a straight kiss or sex scene. After all, BLs have always had straight couples. So I must presume that the removal of all men from the scene is intolerable to many.

Mind you: consider the audience for BL. It's mainly straight women, and a smattering of gay men. GL could only be of theoretical interest to straight men -- who, for the most part, just go to porn -- and to lesbians. But lesbians don't recognise themselves much in GL, perhaps even less than gay men in BL. So, unless the writing and the promotion improves, they won't do right by GLs.

Oh. My. God. That's brilliant! I have to try this. What precisely did you google?

Your message is far from oozy, don't worry, and I see why you raise the questions you do.

However, I'm disinclined to write more about this here, lest either of us draw the wrong kind of attention. So I'll write to you privately about this later.

You make a good point!

Yeah, I think a lot comes down to the script and direction, which, when good, can make a mediocre actor seem better than he or she is. On the other hand, a good actor can elevate an otherwise mediocre (or actively bad) script and direction. I don't think Pond is by any means mediocre, to judge by the first two and final episodes of 180 Degrees, but it also had a great script and a good director. He definitely chose the wrong project with Fourever You, which diminished, if not actively undermined, his acting skills. And if you choose enough bad projects -- like Sandra Bullock -- people forget you are a good actor.

I've seen great acting in Lakorn -- the women in To Sir, With Love, for example -- so I don't feel like he's consciously doing a style. I'm inclined to think it's the producers and the directors.