FrothyMix

This is the type of nonsensical post that makes me wonder about commenters being paid for their (in this case, very weak) efforts to shore up the reputation/reception/reviews of a failed show.

Awesome. Just finished watching BL cuts through ep 12. OW and Mark are an instant top-ten favorite BL couple of all time, even as a side-story.
Love the difference in demeanor and personality that makes the natural chemistry even more striking.
Love that OW is already out.
Love that Mark let himself open up to that, although a bit more struggle with the newness of these gay feelings, and they did seem to be new, would have been nice. But hey, they're a side-couple, right?
Love how it's OW who has to come around to realizing Mark is really into him
Love the acting talent from both. Mark is a natural, hilarious comedic actor.
Love that the out gay guy kicks ass (convincingly!) in the alley fight scene.
Love Mark's sore legs after the weight competition.
LOVE what OW had been hiding under his shirt. I did NOT expect that torso and those pecs.
Love Mark's sideways smart-ass smile.
Love how Mark understands OW's quiet thoughtfulness the morning after and reassures him with that drop-dead kiss.
Epic sex/love scene. We're in TharnType territory here.
Best part of the grappling around in the hotel room was all the hangers sliding down the rack and some falling off...I wonder if that was planned or a nice accident?
IF these two don't get their own series, someone is super-stupid in BL world. Since they're already together though, at least at this point, I have no idea where that story would have to go.
REALLY enjoyed this BL cut.

I will check out 7 Project. I'm already on board with Peach of Time. Just watched the BL cut of Love Is Science?...OW and Mark are an instant top-ten fave BL couple of all time.

Thanks!

omg...this sucks. Dropping after 29:26 into episode 1.
Forced myself thru the ep 0 setup, but it was as awful as this anyway.
The plot, not that there is one, is ludicrous.
Suddenly Fiat, the biggest proud homo slut in Asia, is all shy, bashful and nervous when Leo's around. Hello! He already confessed and you already did the deed, probably a number of times, so the sudden switch to the Virgin Mary act isn't cutting it.
I didn't see any fog machines in the gym. Where was that coming from?
The second time they showed the BB court confession, Leo was wearing a white uniform. The first time around he wore blue. Dear god.
The acting, especially from Fiat, is horrible. Given, he has the cringiest, stupidest dialogue to say, but his mannerisms and demeanor are annoying af.
Leo is his sweet, smart, drop-dead handsome self. These two characters AND actors are not a good combo. There's something oily about Fiat that puts me off and Leo deserves much more.
Damn, I am jonesing for BL content and was hoping this would help curb the need. Not happening.

I'm off to gagaoolala and dramacool to see what I can find...any suggestions?

This is like an Asian "Les Miserables," only character motivations make even LESS sense. Don't watch this if you're depressed. It may put you over the edge.

So, naturally, given the above, I loved it. lol No...I am drawn to dark, berserko stories like this, but when misery is piled on misery and there isn't any redemptive character or behavior to hold onto, I have trouble carrying much in the end.

SO many character choices I'd love to throw out here for examination, but since no one appears to be watching this but me, I won't bother.

Great acting and directing, full commitment to characters from the actors, but how much repulsive, destructive behavior can one person take in a sitting?

If you like things dark, give it a try and let me know what you think.

Thanks for making that distinction clear for me. I appreciate it. Sorry if I got too "forensic" for you. lol

So...the lovely old Grandma who initiated the adoption and absolved her son's lover of guilt for her son's death...basically, knowingly and willingly turned her grandson into a murderer. My god, I totally get her desire to be free of pain and to die, but there are many different ways to accomplish that without scarring her beautiful grandson for life. Selfish bitch. She could have simply asked the boy to leave the pills on her bedside table, that she would take some later, making certain she could feel where they were, then sent her adorable grandson off to bed, then taken the pills herself. Even then, he would have to live with knowing that he had brought the pills to her, which is bad enough. I can probably come up with more, less soul-destroying methods of committing suicide she could have used.

WHY did anyone blame Chien Lei for his lover's death? All he did was tell the honest truth when his BF presented him with the same sort of glass beads he had given to his wife. I don't blame him one bit for freaking out and outing his BF to the wife. It looked as though he was pretty drunk and out of control when he did it. But he had just learned that not only had his BF married a woman without telling him, but then he also had a child with her without telling him. wtf? Of course, there is an entire movie to be made about why CL stayed with the lying cheat of an asshole through all of that. The guy was living a double life.

So then after finding this out, the BF jumps on CL and says "your took Yo Yu's mother away from him," indicating that had he not been outed he would STILL be married and living a lie. That entire plot line for me turned CL from an apparently noble, kind good man into a doormat who put up with being his BF's ass on the side for years. THEN...the worst part...the BF, knowing he is already suffering from altitude sickness, responds to these revelations by passive-aggressively killing himself in the most pathetic possible way, guaranteed to make CL feel as guilty as possible. He cared more about punishing CL for outing him than he cared about his own son and remaining around to take care of him. That is just bizarre to me.

It's just pretty weird to me because toward the end of this to-that-point wonderful movie, Grandma and the dead BF turn out to be selfish douche bags. My empathy for both of them evaporated at that point and I didn't really care much about how things were going to play out.

BUT there's more...why tf would Yo Yu go off to Shanghai to live with his asshole of an uncle who brought false charges against CL and exposed the child's role in Grandma's death? The uncle was also barely around at all during Yo Yu's life, and came running and put on a big show of his grief (guilt) when Grandma died, but then wasted no time going after the $$$. The only good thing about him is that he's incredibly good-looking. Also, CL is Yo Yu's LEGALLY ADOPTIVE PARENT and has been caring for YoYu for five years, more than half his life. In what universe would it make sense to traumatize the child by separating him from the only caregiver he had ever known.

AND WHY in the hell would letting Yo Yu read that hastily scribbled story about the death of his father be the only reason he would confess to giving Grandma the pills? He would have done that anyway as soon as he understood that CL was being blamed for her death. All these weird writing/script choices in the final reel make no sense to me at all.

So this was a big disappointment to me, given how good it was most of the way through. It was like two different sets of writers did the first and second halves. 6.5 stars.

I was with this flick all the way, marveling at its excellence, totally enthralled and then about 3/4 of the way in, as we found out more and more of the back story, and then finally, the rather pathetic, old-school gays cannot be happy ending sort of pissed me off. Details below in the spoiler post.

One of the few good aspects of this series after episode 3 is Phob's fake post-operative arm stump. I kept looking to see if I could tell where they had hidden his real arm, in front or to the back, and I couldn't make it out at all. Very convincing.

I have ragged on this series a great deal, primarily because it started out so great and I was enthralled and then it went to shit. BUT...in the final episode, when Nut became the replacement for Phob's missing arm while playing the guitar, I teared up in the extreme. I did not see that coming, and it was such a beautiful and touching development and totally believable and lovely.

Of course I also immediately thought what a great act the two of them could be, performing with Nut strumming the strings and Phob forming the chords with his remaining hand. :) They could make a mint! It would help though, if at least one of them could sing...

As a gay guy myself, and remembering that sexuality exists on a continuum and is not black/white/, I find it utterly believable that two guys who are WAY mostly straight, who think of themselves as straight and have no gay sexual experience, can meet someone who awakens the gay part of their sexuality in a way no one ever had before. That is an approach I'd like to see taken in a BL plot-line. I met one woman in my life who TOTALLY connected with whatever tiny bit of my sexuality that's straight. We hammered away like rabbits for three or four years, but then my interest began to wane. You can't build a relationship with someone who appeals to only five percent of who you are as a sexual being.

The character of Ae in LBC is an interesting case in that he seemed to not have much interest in sex one way or the other until he met Pete. But speaking only for myself, I don't find that a realistic proposition. The vast majority of human beings are intensely sexual creatures; sex in all of its forms plays a large role in determining our interests/opinions/world views, etc. To propose that a guy has grown to the age of 18 without sexual feelings of much note is a fantasy. Our male bodies at that age, and long before, are churning with testosterone and all kinds of other chemicals screaming at us to fuck whatever will stand still long enough for it to happen. We have semen running out of our ears; it's almost all we can think about, I kid you not.

That Ae, an athletically inclined and physically fit young man, would grow to the age of 18 and not experience the above is unrealistic in the extreme. I believe a woman wrote the novel on which LBC is based, which I tried to read but found boring, and I believe it's entirely possible for a woman to write believable male characters, but in the case of Ae she didn't do her homework. His asexuality until he met Pete is a silly fantasy. Yes, I know it's trendy to say some people are completely without a sex drive until they meet a certain person, but I don't really buy it. And if that phenomenon really exists, the percentage of young men who are like that is teeny-tiny.

The body wants what it wants at that age. It doesn't suddenly produce hormones/chemicals/sperm/sexual preoccupation it never created before because of meeting a certain dude. For reasons I don't claim to understand biologically/evolutionarily, a man is fully capable of impregnating one woman per day, 365 days a year, while a woman can only reproduce at a maximum of once every nine months. We are full of millions of sperm cells that the body creates on an hourly basis. Go figure.

I'm curious as to how you make the distinction between a BL and a "normal" series? What is it for you that makes a show a BL? Honest question.

In another comment I mentioned it may be Mean's fault as director that these two didn't do a better job. Especially since they were both rookies, they'd have been relying heavily on their director for guidance and support, and maybe they didn't get much of that. I guess we'll never know as they are certainly not going to talk about that in interviews or public appearances. lol And yes, you'd also think there would have been LOTS of pre-filming rehearsal with an acting coach.

Thing is, though, and I don't claim to understand it, I was thrilled with this series through the third episode. The acting seemed natural and believable, and I felt a nice chemistry between Nut and Phob. I didn't think it was anywhere near as good, but to that point I got ITSAY-level feels. Then something went haywire and the show began to slide downhill. Writing, direction, plot, structure...yikes. All gone.

Such a delicate flower.

None of the above. The ending was TERRIBLE.

For real, what's your deal with this series? Any drama that requires the kind and number of excuse-making comments such as yours is not a success. It's OK to admit that. The two leads were weak as could be after the third episode, I don't know if that's the director's fault or what, but Jesus, the acting was awful.

No, it does not make sense. If your final work is going to be significantly damaged/altered by something like a pandemic, you postpone production and do it right when circumstances allow. You don't just throw the thing out there with a note that "well, we had a great vision, but the pandemic made it into a piece of crap and this is far from our best work but here it is anyway. : "The show must go on" has its limits and this thing surpassed them.

Hi Solipsism. I feel you. I had such strong positive vibes from this in the beginning and then all hell broke loose, and in a boring way. Have to agree about the actor who played the sister. In her small role she had great presence and depth of feeling in her scenes. I could see her going on to big things. As for the actors playing Phob and Nut, not so much. As I said below, how, out of hundreds of auditionees, do lousy actors get these parts? Are they sleeping with producers, what?

Seriously, how do lousy young actors get these parts? I'm sure there are hundreds of auditionees and plenty of more talented guys among them. I mean, I liked Phob and Nut generally, I don't hate them, but Jesus, the acting was embarrassing at times, especially when the camera lingered on Phob looking at Nut and doing that weird thing with his mouth and eyes. I'm like what is that?

I so agree with this. Thanks for coherently writing a lot of what's been going through my head about this series, which I loved through episode three, then watched in horror as it turned to crap ep by ep.