Honglou Meng

Thank you! You've done me a huge service. I was hesitating about whether or not to drop the show. This spoiler has made the decision for me.

Yeah, I think I'm done.

What are you talking about? I died, with lust and laughter.

P. S. Before anyone comes for me, the actors are 29 and 30, and I'm in my 30s. Thank you very much.

Okay, I see you come from Bangladesh, and I'm glad that, though LGBT rights don't exist there, you support it. I'm proud of you for that.

The second thing to say is that this is entirely a fictional world where things like homophobia don't exist. In fact, though gay marriage is legal in Taiwan, only 50% approve of it. BL is for the most part a fantasy world. Anything can happen -- even the most unrealistic. And no, I cannot imagine a school anywhere in the world where this will happen. But that doesn't stop my enjoyment.

I think people were puzzled by what you said about Sheng and Tian only seeing each other's private parts. I think that will only make sense to people in conservative parts of the world, where you remain a virgin, or untouched, until marriage or otherwise commit your vows. But this is not the norm in much of the West, or for that matter in Taiwan. Hence the comment about "should" and "shouldn't".

Hope this helps!

Phew! Glad I'm not alone! As you might see below, I'm in fact thinking of dropping it.

I used to think that there is no such thing as "overrated", because if people loved something so much, then that was a good thing. But thanks to MDL and Reddit, I now know there really are limits.

Oh, I'm sorry, the confusion stems from there being two lists here: the original MDL list, and the list of what you thought *I* might dislike. When I said "Your Top 4", I meant the original list.

It's been a while since I saw "More Than Words", as I saw it before my entry into BL. But I remember liking it, because -- correct me if I'm wrong -- the character who owns his sexuality finds his happiness with another and leaves. That felt quite bold to me, given that most people would want the leads together, no matter how unworkable their relationship was. I don't remember the female character as anything other than a hindrance and a symbol of homophobia in Japanese society -- so, I guess she was indeed vile?

Etoks, my favourite Jane Austen novel is "Persuasion." I can be persuaded with everything except reason and logic. :)

I didn't dislike Blueming or Unknown. I just couldn't, and cannot, see what's so special about them. Ho hum!

That was my favourite part -- incredible as it was, in every sense -- of an otherwise... {insert preferred adjective} episode

Two things, Avik. One, this is a work of fiction. A fantasy. I don't think there's a real school anywhere in the world where pupils will show their arses off to their teachers. Two, the customs of one culture cannot, and should not, be imposed on others. Sure, such customs may change, evolve, or even be absorbed into others, but I don't think it's right to say "this is what they should have done."

What on earth is this person on about?

Maybe they were listening to Black Eyed Peas on repeat... :)

Oh good. I have had at least 5 other people who wrote to me to say they wondered the same thing.

A question to the good people of MDL:

{Potential spoiler, I'm not sure.}

...

Was it just me, or did one of the perpetrators in that Jenny-from-the-block scene imply that Qi Jia-hao might have killed himself? I am assuming at the moment that this was just a mistranslation, or an idiom that was translated too literally, but I don't speak the language.

I ask, because, if this *is* true, it would be so tonally dissonant with the rest of the episode, that it would be nothing less than shocking. Not least because, after that fight, Jenny and Xi and the rest of the teachers found it perfectly normal to look at the arses of their pupils and laugh...

What can I say, I live to make you laugh!

Yeah, I pretty much said the same in my review. It's trope-galore in this show, and I even forgave the whole mature-actors-pretending-to-be-17 bit, because the chemistry was good, as were some quiet beautiful moments between them. I'm not sure I care anymore.

Also, apparently there's a lot of plot left in the novel, including what I'm told are other well-worn tropes: separation, time-jump, trip abroad. So much so that it is not clear that most of it could be included in the remaining three episodes. They're obviously angling for a second season. But it's always a bad idea to write for TV hoping for a second season. You risk leaving a bad taste in your audience with an incomplete story.

Well, you already know I dislike the first three. The next three -- More than Words, History 4, and HIS -- I really like. The third three, nope! (I did like the first 2-3 episodes of Zettai BL, and found it funny, but in the end...) Tharntype, I actually don't dislike -- and being, similar to someone else I know, a bit of a contrarian -- I liked it more than most chaste BLs! I'd watch Tharntype again, if someone were to pour me a dram of scotch.

I'm afraid I didn't care for your top two -- which means, in the end, I didn't care for your top four! Who'd have thunk it? Don't get me wrong, neither Blueming nor Unknown was by any means bad. I thought them good. But, for reasons we can discuss (if you want), I thought them both wildly overrated. (Sorry!)

I'm glad you think that way! I'm not sure I can subscribe to your other justifications, but I'll grant you the ankle injury. That said, this episode gave me sleep paralysis, so, where is my Tian to wake me up with a kiss?

#justmysenseofhumour

Well, this is a school in which students can apparently expose their arses in front of their teachers, and it's perfectly fine, and they are not in the least bit worried that the parents will sue the school, or call Child Support Services.

On the other hand, are we still living in a world where, in order for one guy to recognise his feelings for another -- especially when he has known him long, and been in business with him -- a straight girl needs to come between them, and worse, as a damsel in distress?

Haha, either because it is such a spectacularly bad idea that you had to erase it from your mind, or, the novelist had sense enough to not write it in the first place. :)

Have you read the book? If so, did it contain the hostage part? Or the sports day? Or did they just dream it up for the series?