Flypsyde

OK, I get what you're saying, thanks. The behaviors you mention by SD still feel out of character to me primarily because in S1 I completely believed in his over-arching, passionate love for SY. Then he went off to America and had a personality transplant and reacted to the first obstacle to their love with a seeming shrug, like "whatever." Then they meet by accident after five years and he wonders why SY is just a tad annoyed. I hated the seeming arrogance SD displayed in the first two eps in his approach to SY. He didn't first explain and ask forgiveness, he acted as though SY was being silly. He was dismissive. Remember, "oh, you just need a good meal,, that's what's wrong with you..." comment as he invaded SY's house without permission. For whatever reason at that moment I wanted to crawl into my laptop screen and punch him in the face. I'm still trying to determine which person from one of my former lives he must remind me of. :D

I'm sorry, I don't mean to belabor this and you have every right to your perspective. And yeah, I wanted to know if they did the deed or not, too! It was really annoying how they jumped from that pivotal scene to SD fully dressed sitting on the couch opposite SY and dad. That happens frequently in BLs...some big confrontation occurs and then the next scene is like days later or something and you never find out what happened in those next moments. Pure bait and switch. I don't get it.

But you're right, we didn't get an answer to that. They just skipped ahead so that we'll keep wondering. ugh.

I'm working on not being quite so argumentative as I have tendency to be, so please forgive me if I'm failing at that right now, but I mean "stupid" as derived from its root "stupor," or to "be in a stupor." I don't mean they are mentally challenged or anything. My point being that people who avoid things like details and context go through life in a sort of uninformed haze, or "stupor" in which they miss a lot of what's going on around them. To me, that accurately describes the Chief and the villagers after Tian's admittedly confusing confession.

"Stupid" has evolved to where most people consider it a pejorative insult, like "retarded" or "dumb-ass." I use it as I describe above.

Good. It's excellent that you've seen the error of your ways. Sarcasm aside, why DID you quote the ratings? What was your purpose in doing that?

Agreed about Earth in the jungle scene. On to hot star in action flicks!

There are ENDLESS ways to create conflict and drama, but the writing has to be believable, original and logical or it doesn't work. No one here said they don't want to see any drama and you are well aware of that. They just don't want to see the same BL tropes and cliches presented in the same way over and over again. You seem to have given up on BL as a platform for good writing and are just taking whatever dreck is tossed your way.

But if everyone,, including the rangers, thought Tian really DID kill Torfun, wouldn't they arrest him? I kept wondering why that wasn't happening. "OK, dude, you killed our beloved teacher, but instead of throwing you in jail or dismembering you, we're just going to look at you real mean-like."

BRAVO. Well-written.

I cried a lot too, even as I noticed all the groaning plot holes and silly behaviors.

You are CORRECT!

lol. Yeah, that was a weird edit. I can see why you might think he was a ghost.

Ummm...the Chief came in bellowing about the diary, and then no one, including the Chief, asked Tian HOW he was responsible. It was a sadly typical case of very weak BL writing. As someone wrote above, the writers don't want the villagers/Chief to know what happened yet, so they just barge ahead, too lazy to come up with a believable premise for why no one would yet know the facts. This kind of lazy-ass writing is the downfall of many otherwise promising BLs.

But wouldn't the average person be curious as to what exactly Tian meant by "being responsible" for Torfun's death? NO ONE thought to ask. "HOW are you responsible" would be the very first response to such a statement from me. Instead, everyone, including Chief, acted like they knew specifically that Tian had put a knife through Torfun's heart...oh, what a minute...

I disagree with you about the Chief's response, unless you want to posit that most humans are kind of stupid. Well, that might actually be true...

Is that how you determine YOUR feeling about a show? By checking the rating of the majority so that you can fall in line? I'm sure that's not the case, so why would you imply it to be? I agree with kasim that LW and CM are terrible shows. I watched two or three eps and gave up on both. You disagree. That's what makes response and criticism fun.

Unfortunately, "those people" REALLY don't want to hear anything but lolipops and rainbows about their pet shows. Who cares what a show's average rating is? We can only have the response that we as individuals have, and it is valid regardless of its comparison to what a majority of viewers have.

Sometimes I think the term "herd mentality" was invented by observation of K-Pop and BL chat boards. lol

Tian never got to really confess at all though. He got to "I was responsible for Torfun's death..." then Chief came in bellowing about the diary and that was it. Tian didn't attempt to explain, just started staggering forward like a tearful zombie while everyone acted as though he'd put an axe through Torfun's head. Didn't anyone wonder in what WAY he was responsible? Guess not.

Bravo. Excellent rant. I agree with almost everything you said so won't go point by point. This is one of the few BLs I have cut a lot of slack because it has at its core a very big heart. But I was thinking about every single one of the flaws you describe here as this episode played out, and when that happens you are pulled out of the story and begin to start observing from a distance so you don't have to keep making excuses for it. Likewise, you are on point about the final scene. I too was struck by how beautifully it was performed in contrast to the prior train wreck.

I do admit thinking, during the fighters with rifles in the jungle" scene, that Earth really needs to start aggressively pursuing feature roles in action films. He would make a great action star similar to the U.S.'s Dwayne Johnson, who is actually a fine actor with loads of charisma and charm.

So many people expect so little from BLs and go out of their way to excuse lazy, unoriginal and even stupid writing and direction. It's too bad because certain standards should apply at all levels. Even a comparison of middle school plays is going to display different levels of quality, and quality should be rewarded.

My pet peeve regarding BLs: SPEED UP THE DAMN DIALOGUE AND PACING! You're driving me crazy with these long pauses between one actor speaking and the next one replying. People talk OVER each other in real life all the time and the more you can replicate that pace on the screen the more real your story becomes.

OK. Thanks

You almost made me spit out my iced tea. :D

(wink wink)

lol You are-ALMOST-skilled at insulting those who disagree with you while pretending not to be doing so. "...dealing with nothing but hordes and hordes of very young children." lol Are you trying to say that as we mature we become accustomed to being told the same stories over and over and over in almost exactly the same ways, and have to accept that it's useless to expect better than that?

I said in another thread, and I still believe, that every story conceivable has already been told. It is only HOW and in what DETAILS, WAYS and SETTINGS those stories are re-told that we can hope for originality and freshness.

WBL S2 presents very little if anything original or fresh so far. I get that you don't want to hear it and that you disagree, but your condescending dismissal of those who hold this perspective as "hordes of very young children" is nothing short of a slap in the face and you know it.