Lyson

The grin did NOT leave my face ya'll. Yet another fantastically entertaining episode in the recent on high run since ep 15. I mean, don't get me wrong, I enjoyed 1-14 hella too, but the series of events that have brought us to the current relationship statuses of all 4 male leads is just peak for me rn. Their four way friendship and couples dynamic is genuinely just so fun and so worth watching and seeing develop and settle in.

I love the humor especially, I love a show that can genuinely make me laugh despite seriousness or angst or whatever.

Highlights:
- Again, the humor in so many scenes, I loved it.
- Everything and every scene of CC and CY is burned into my brain and will be rewatched repeatedly, #fightme.
- XS finally getting his 'CY certificate', that scene was satisfying, again a nod to how they changed it for the better from the novel, they made it a W imo. The tone was right, the atmosphere was right, the scenes felt right, the pace felt right, the music was...odd and it gave me a distant Sense 8 episode 6 sex scene vibe, where they used Macy Gray's song, except...more romantic and less sexual. I'm not saying one is related to the other in any way or even all that similar, the mind just makes very unusual associations sometimes. It wasn't a bad music choice in the end. (sorry off topic I'm a music lover this kind of thing rolls around in my brain and also I dunno if anyone here has watched Sense8 and will know what scene I'm talking about)
Anywayanyway, and the other highlights were;
- I like that the watch came back and ended up serving some purpose, albeit not a very useful one, especially because the 520 moment between CC and SW was adorbs.
- Gangzi AND Li Wang, wow, these two random gems deserve a mention! <33 Who doesn't love a loyal and likable 'minion' to a likeable main character????
- Edit: another highlight, CC throwing CY the finger and getting one back, so on brand for them XD (my brain glitches whenever they're on screen together, I can't help it)

I swear the Chinese producers and directors understand how filler and nuance in every scene, no matter how minor or major the scene is, can play a role in the entertainment level of the show, as well as using humor the right way. I'm also loving watching a show fully delving into the established relationship arcs of the pairs, as well as focusing on good friendships, so few BLs do this and it's so unfortunate. (It makes me miss TWM, the established relationships A+, Korn and Yihwa's friendship A+, Fai and Farm being loyal likable 'minions', the humor) We need more of these kinds of things in BL shows. Less fancy lighting and sound effects with dramatic kissing scenes and flawless makeup and MORE about the characters lives and their connections with eachother. I'm rambling. Way off topic again. eeeeeehhhhhh.

Mind you censored BLs all do the 'established/domestic' arc very well, but seeing it without the censorship just makes it better. Speaking of censored BLs, was anyone else reminded of Sako's Door in The Spirealm when Chi Cheng was running down the passage of the old factory??? Another weird brain association.

This comment is all over the place but the point IS that this show is a W, I really do not think it's going to disappoint me before it's over. For what I personally look for in a show, I have yet to be let down.

Selective copium memory 😂

But in this scenario, CC doesn't want to sleep with XS, and XS does not know that they're trying to get him to sleep with CY (initially), so their plot makes vaaaague sense. And CC wants CY to get laid because bros help out bros, same with SW, he wants XS to get laid possibly for similar reasons or because he wants revenge for XS setting him up before.
As for how XS handles it, depends on how sensitive he is. He's no snowflake himself though.

They're all very clever and very stupid, really.

"C'est l'hôpital qui se fout de la charité" 😂😂😂 Nice lol I've heard 'pot calling the kettle black' and 'people who live in glass houses shouldn't throw stones' but that's a new one!

Guys, guys, a gift for our (my?) eyes 😍
https://i.postimg.cc/b8rTNX8V/best.png

I think it might have something to do with Suowei calling him stupid and saying he talks too much 😂

Chengyu and Chi Cheng are actually EXACTLY the types of dominant characters I like in fiction lol They both fall into the list of Tops who would burn shit down/and or kill someone for the one they love, right along with my other faves like Hannibal, Hua Cheng, Deadpool, Lestat, Ruan Lanzhu, Crowley, just to name a few. They're also all exceptionally morally grey to black and totally fucked up. Hehe. >:3 I love them all.

I read KoD as well before, knew what would happen, same as the Counterattack novel, but if the scene hits, it hits, if it doesn't, it doesn't. We react according to our attachment imo.

True, they confuse actor with character. Me on the other hand, I know Chengyu's as fucked up and Chi Cheng in many similar and different ways, but I like him anyway. It is what it is.

I think it really depends more on how much we like the characters. I was VERY invested in Ruan Lanzhu, he made my 'fave fiction characters of all time' list. Suowei is fine, as in, I like in a general way in the show, but I'm not moved by him in any way and he won't stay in my mind beyond this show.

Yep. 100%
They've glazed over the deets in the show, but I actually think the underlying story of Chengyu's family business and his own business in the novel is the same as the series Chengyu. Mofo has his own shady shit going on.

Yo! Yeah that was my comment (or one the few who made a comment about not crying) and nope I didn't even tear up, let alone cry during the scene of SW's mother passing. I;m not inclined to feel emotional for a scene unless I'm really invested in the character/s experiencing the pain. That said, I was impressed and a did smile and do a small clap for Ziyu's actin! It was the first time in this whole show his sad-emotional acting was good, he did a great job.

I rarely cry for TV shows in general though, last time I teared up for a show was like 2 years ago, for The Spirealm ending scene of EP34 and again in EP38's separation scene. Even then, not crying, just wet eyes. lol

The Chengyu 'green flag' and 'green forest' posts are all over and I'm laughing every time. Like, he's a great character but that guy ain't no green flag. Chartreuse maybe, on a good day😂
Chengyu is a slick, sly, morally gray mofo (and I love him just btw, don't get it twisted 😏)

It was a bit different from the novel (which has an equally incoherent and stupid series of events). They made it make slightly more sense in the show, the gist of it in the show is:

Phase 1 - WSW goes to XS crying about 'wanting to break up with CC', his intent (to my understanding) in this phase is to make XS take him in, to stay at his house together, in order to prevent XS from seeing and contacting Chengyu to make him miss (i.e: yearn for/want/become horny) due to being separated from CY for so long without seeing him, while also implying to XS that CC compared the two of them so XS will start worrying about CC being interested in him again.

It seems to work well enough but it's still going too slow, so CC tells SW to speed things up because he's becoming impatient. Entering phase two, and impulsively, escalating things-

Phase 2 - this includes SW continuing to pretend CC is treating him badly and comparing him to XS, but with the impulse added act of wanting to kill himself in the bathtub, which is quite drastic in XS's eyes, and causes him to want to confront CC.

Phase 3 - SW tells CC to 'do his best' during the confrontation, because at this point, the plan seems to be about baiting XS, who already misses CY, into running to Chengyu after CC 'threatens' that he's interested in XS sexually. SW seems to expect XS to do what he did, as in, sleeping with CY in order to get CC to back off (albeit under slightly different circumstances), so in the sense where CC would 'lose interest' in XS who would prove he wasn't reserved or dignified or whatever. (the plan is sooooooo random)

Phase 4: CC 'puts the moves' on XS and XS panics and focuses on dragging CC back to see SW instead.

At this point they're winging it, I don't think CC and SW expected XS to bring CC back to see SW and the whole act in the apartment is on the spot and essentially goes well right up until it doesn't. They almost seem to have succeeded in making XS decided to go off and sleep with CY in order to prove to CC that he's no different or better than WS in terms of being a more 'pure' partner.

But XS overhears them after he leaves, talking about it, and their ridiculous plan falls apart, but also not reeeeeeeally because XS ends up rushing off to see CY anyway.

This is how understood what happened, they managed to do a pretty good job of adapting this whack ass plan into the series.

There's a lot of unexplained stuff between them. I mean, they played that bees game again in ep 19, those who take the copium will tell themselves that while drinking and playing that game they didn't kiss each other again 😂😂😂 Despite not having romantic feelings for one another per se, those two definitely cross/crossed lines more often than not, even before WS came into the picture according to the novel. They don't a have a lot of boundaries as it were.

Aaah, guess I'll just have to see if I ever get around to watching MoR. The other commenter said it's good enough to watch and you said their chemistry is better than WG. I'll probs watch at least one ep and decide ✌️😁

They really did it so well ✌️😭

Holy shit they adapted that spastic novel so DAMN well, they REALLY left out all the worst parts in the novel and rewrote it so PEAK. I deadass loved both these eps so fucking much. The range from sad through recovery and reuniting to building back and building up relationships was just on point on point on point. The producers really hit their stride from eps 15-20 for sure, it just keeps delivering all the key highs of the novel without all the mess and it's really enjoyable, every scene, every character interaction, all the sadness and angst and humor hitting all the marks!

Best Notes:
- Ziyu's BEST acting landed with the scene of finding his mother outside, first time I've been impressed with his acting personally. He really did a good job there.
- I loved the make up scene of him and CC too, that they kept the dynamic and dialogue which flowed into CC demanding he stop crying to breaking down his charade and softening, so good. The passing of time was also handled well since the beginning of ep 19. Flowed well, didn't feel rushed.
- EVERY SINGLE scene with CC and CY is burned into my brain and will be rewatched and swooned over, sorry not sorry, they'd be fucking hot together like it's nobody's business.
- That said, I also enjoyed every scene with CY and XS's relationship growth and how they adapted the ridiculous plan of SW and CC, I can't believe they worked it in SO WELL. I was expecting them to ditch that whack series of events but noooooo, they did it and they SERVED it. It was comedic instead of cringe and...

OooooOOOOhhh that ending of ep 20.
WOw. SO good. No waiting at least, tomorrow is only one sleep away. Fucking A, all entertainment boxes CHECKEDCHECKEDCHECKED.

PS: We all love you Gangzi <3

Wandee Goodday - dropped
Reset - dropped
Secret Lover - struggling not to drop
ABO Desire - not interested (ABO is for fanfiction imo)
Trapped in Osaka - This was hella good, but sadly too short 🥺

Thanks for the reccs :D but I know what BLs have happened and are airing currently, I just wanted to know if MoR was any good. Um, okay, how about this, is Memoir of Rati anywhere close to as good as I Feel You Linger In The Air?

How is Memoir or Rati? I've been avoiding it because it's GMMTV and I'm barely lukewarm on the pair too, is it fan overrated with the usual GMMTV schtick, or is it actually a good story? Rn I'm struggling not to drop Secret Lover, and aside from watching RL I haven't bothered with other BLs in weeks 😒💤
After RL ends, I'm pretty much only waiting on The Wicked Game.