Flypsyde

I think the mom is a saint. She is handling the situation between the guys with a straight-forward, non-freak out approach that fosters communication and understanding. I don't think she knows that YJ planned the hotel incident, nor does she know exactly what happened. In fact, she knows very few details at all. What she knows is that her son is in love with his step-brother and that the vice-versa appears to be the case. Instead of going BL-psycho-controlling-mom on YJ, she is offering emotional support without the hateful selfishness we're so used to in BL moms who find out their sons are gay.

The bath scene was entirely LC's dream/fantasy. We saw him awaken from it. In the dream sequence MR is in the bath in clothing he did not wear the night of the Karaoke party. It was cool how at first it appeared the sequence was MR's recollection of the event as he was thinking it through with XS at the restaurant, but it ended as LCs dream. Well-done.

I find MR to be facially stunning as well. And that long neck! And that thick, gorgeous hair! :D As for the rest of him, he is WAY too skinny for my taste, but it is cool how the design team is using his height, body type, face and fashion choices to make him look like a Yaoii character illustration come to life. In some shots, that effect is really stunning. In particular, when he undressed for the bath and they shot him from behind with the tub to hide his butt, I was amazed at the degree to which his body and posture looked like a Yaoii drawing. The actor has obviously studied Yaoii and is moving and holding his body in such ways as to emphasize that reference.

I wondered the same in that moment. I was guessing it was something like "I will help get you moved back in here/I will help make this happen" maybe also referring to dealing with the dad's anticipated reaction to finding out that his two sons are a couple. lol For myself, I think the idea of XS moving back in with the family under ANY circumstances is insane. Can you imagine the atmosphere? Furthermore, YJ is plenty old enough that he should be moving out anyway. So YJ and XS should be planning to get a place together, though I think it's too soon for that as YJ needs psychotherapy for a while first, or moving him into XS's bedroom in the house with the two roommates.

lol. Yeah, I'm a freak who needs help like the rest of the 85 percent of bl-watchers who love the gray-area, hot, dark and fascinating aspects of sex and life in general.

You're a douche bag who needs to stay away from BLs. You can't handle it. Or rather, you thoroughly enjoy the sex stuff you claim to abhor, it gives you moist thoughts, and then you get to also pretend to be outraged by it. Either way, win-win, so go with it and enjoy.

As you know, I don't agree any "rape" occurred. So I would hardly advocate for something that was not part of the episode.

You ARE an SJW dear. Please stop bothering BL fans with your prudish, silly, sex-fearing nonsense.

If I implied LC's dream was a memory, I didn't mean to. What I meant was that I admired the way in which the director constructed the scene so that as it began it seemed to be WR's memory of what happened as he sat in the restaurant with XS...then as the scene played out and ended it became LC's dream/fantasy, realized by us when he woke up.

Curious as to which character was "cartoonishly evil?"

lol. Oh well then, pardon me.

You need to work on your reading comprehension. Much of my point is that there are miliions of different opinions inside AND outside the USA, and we don't need censors or religious zealots or anyone else telling any of those people how to feel and what to see. Does EVERY SINGLE PERSON in your country feel the same way about this silly ban on fourth-cousin marriages? No, of course they don't. I bet plenty of people leave the country together to get married and live elsewhere. Fourth cousins are practically not related at all, it's a scientific fact, whether it's in USA or where you are. I am a gay man living in the USA. If you believe every single person here is OK with my existence, you are very uninformed.

"Have we not yet established that rape shouldn't be used in a storyline that develops into romance?"

Who the hell is WE? And no, the BL audience has emphatically NOT established any such thing. The ratings on this series went through the roof after last week's episode. People love the juicy stuff. It's the Western SJWs, PC Prudes and blue noses who are screaming bloody murder, and you are in a minority here. Stop watching BLs. They're not your thing.

Thank you for writing this. Your "long" comment helps me to further understand and appreciate a series I am enjoying very much..

The drama is less than half over. Let it develop and see what you think when all is said and done.

The bathtub scene was hot because it was a fantasy/dream. Why would a person fantasize about something they desire in a non-appealing manner? To me, one of the best parts of that scene was how it went from seeming to be Mu Ren's recollection gathering itself in his mind as he sat in the restaurant to our realization that it is actually Li Cheng's dream, or is it both? Very cool and beautiful.

I love the depth of YJ's character and his many layers. I agree the writers are doing a great job. YJ's behavior is at times abusive toward XS, but that can change. If I were XS, I would make psychotherapy a requirement of accepting YJ as a partner.

I LOVE the two fujoshis! They are the comic relief and are also driving the MR/LC story line.

I also love how the way MR is built, his looks and the way the designers dress him make him look like a living Yaoii character. :) I'd like to buy him a couple of hamburgers, though.

Thank you for your thoughts on Yong Jie. You helped me clarify some of my fuzzy thinking on his character. I too find him fascinating.

The people in the international audience who bitch and moan and want to censor the juicy stuff, are NOT the majority of the audience. They are merely the most vocal and aggressive in comments. Most INTL viewers love the step-brother plot and are as drawn in as are the Chinese and Taiwanese, they just don't want to waste their time and effort to argue with the SJWs and PC Sex Police in comments here like I do. lol :D

It's interesting because I think of the Chinese and Taiwanese societies as being more sexually conservative and censorious than most of the developed world, but my time in comments here has me wondering...

Says who? YOU? Oh well, if YOU say so, I guess that's all we need to know. lol Stop watching.

Well said. :)

You need to put a spoiler warning on your comment. The step-brother situation is the most intense and dramatically gripping part of the story, whether you approve of specific actions or not. The scene at the hotel HAD to be included to tell this story. If you're talking about censoring it because of some audience members' delicate feelings, the show makers obviously went a different direction, thank goodness. We have enough censors in Mainland China without adding more elsewhere.

I was thinking about that later after watching and I'm feeling like XS may simply be emotionally overwhelmed by all that is happening and has happened. He has long loved XS in a romantic way but lived with that in secret. Now he knows that feeling is returned in spades. Then we had the intense episode at the hotel, followed by the next morning's regret and panic and the confrontation between the two. Then we had the younger brother's OTT declaration of WHY and HOW he loves XS, in the dramatic scene on the ledge of the building. Then XS spent much of the evening holding YJ's hand while he slept and spent the rest of the night at the house. Then, because unfortunately YJ is unstable, he immediately went into encouraging/pushing XS to move back home (which would be a disaster), all while the dad walked around them there at the apartment and the mom was cooking and telling them to hurry up and, and...I think he just kind of lost it.

XS is a very professional and able wedding planner who does his job well and people like him. He's smart and educated and successful. In that regard he is very much an adult. But he has held this dark secret of his love for YJ in his heart all alone for so many years and now everything is bursting out into the light and there is so very much to absorb all at once, and I think the innocent child in him is very frightened. So he cried...and that's OK. More people should cry when they need to. The problem is that the parents were going to wonder what the hell was going on, so YJ sort of hilariously and coldly shoved him into the bathroom to cry it out while he kept the parents distracted at the table. It seemed callous of YJ to do that in the moment, but maybe that was the best choice. To stay in the bathroom and comfort XS, which would be my instinct, would only bring more questions and prying from the parents, and the guys aren't ready to face that yet.

Thanks for the recommendations! :D