OK, who else besides me was BAWLING and SMILING at the same time, all the way through the last 15 minutes of the episode starting from the scene where they walked into their new house?
I love the way this series ended. And the music was perfect.
The very last scene, though......it *almost* felt like a set-up for a Season 2? But even if it wasn't, and even though all of the questions (like WHO is Jade's lover, Lit, and why were they so mysterious about him?) didn't get answered, I'm happy.
In fact, I'd actually prefer if there wasn't a Season 2. So many shows that turn out really well make the mistake of thinking they can re-capture the magic of the first season, and more often than not, it just fails. I would hate for anything to happen like that with Top Form.
Xiao Lin is trapped by his culture, which expects him to get married and produce children. The homophobia he feels all around him is palpable, and he decides to retreat further into the closet because of the pressure to live a heteronormative existence.
At the end, we see him refusing to accept himself. Instead, because of the expectations placed on him by his family, we see the groundwork being laid toward a future life he does not want, married to someone he will not love nor be attracted to.
But man, if I see another interminably long slow-approach kiss I'm going to scream. I could literally have gotten pregnant, carried the baby for 9 months and then my kid would be in Kindergarten already by the time their lips meet!!!
I will never understand movies and series where the characters are in a crowd of people......in this case while ALSO being pursued, so they don't know who to trust.......and they just start talking out loud about their plans, their secrets, their disguises, their methods of escape, their allies, their enemies, etc......RIGHT THERE where people can hear them.
I will never understand that. Every time I see it in a series or a movie, I laugh. But it's frustrating, too.
I will never understand movies and series where the characters are in a crowd of people......in this case while ALSO being pursued, so they don't know who to trust.......and they just start talking out loud about their plans, their secrets, their disguises, their methods of escape, their allies, their enemies, etc......RIGHT THERE where people can hear them.
I will never understand that. Every time I see it in a series or a movie, I laugh. But it's frustrating, too.
No, he definitely survived. There have been scenes in the trailer with him that have not yet been shown, and the…
So Dean's death was faked.
In that case it would have to be a cooperative thing between the guy who shot at him (using blanks instead of real bullets) and Dean himself, who fell at *just* the right time (knowing the bullets were fake) to make it look like he'd been shot.
Someone please tell Thai and Korean BL directors and actors to take notes from this series on couple behaviour.
I agree.
The methods being used in this series are:
-- financially frugal (the director is only using a small camera that is hand held or on a tripod) -- filmed NATURALLY both in the inside and outside locations (meaning nothing overly staged IF staged at all - the buildings, the rooms, the outdoor settings like walking in the woods, etc - and the natural weather conditions and natural sounds AS WELL AS the silences are all included) -- inspirational, acting and directing-wise
What I like most is that the director is giving minimal instructions to the actors.
In many instances (as seen in the behind-the-scenes videos they are also posting), the actors are given basic information about each scene but are encouraged to find their own emotional expressions and reactions to the circumstances, their own body language, their own comfortable level of skinship, and they are allowed to run with whatever emotions rise to the surface.
The director might ask them to re-do a scene to prompt other interpretations, but the actors are basically encouraged to be as natural as possible.
And that has resulted in a STUNNINGLY beautiful and deeply touching story that literally make me feel like I'm watching a poem being written in the air.
I have watched every episode of the original series as well as the "Extra" series that continues with the main couple but shows us much smaller vignettes, and at the end of the episodes I often find that I have silent tears running down my face, or a deep ache in my heart as if I have encountered beauty that I might never see again, and yearn for it to come back even before the last strains of it drift away on the breeze.
(Even just writing that ^^^ I have tears in my eyes again.)
What this small, brave, independent and ethereal series has achieved is remarkable. Especially considering it's a Chinese BL, which still amazes me.
I feel like I'm not explaining it very well, but this series has completely changed my level of expectation for dramas, and especially BLs, in the future.
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OK, who else besides me was BAWLING and SMILING at the same time, all the way through the last 15 minutes of the episode starting from the scene where they walked into their new house?
I love the way this series ended. And the music was perfect.
The very last scene, though......it *almost* felt like a set-up for a Season 2? But even if it wasn't, and even though all of the questions (like WHO is Jade's lover, Lit, and why were they so mysterious about him?) didn't get answered, I'm happy.
In fact, I'd actually prefer if there wasn't a Season 2. So many shows that turn out really well make the mistake of thinking they can re-capture the magic of the first season, and more often than not, it just fails. I would hate for anything to happen like that with Top Form.
Incredible cast - especially the young actress that plays the little girl. She's phenomenal.
Xiao Lin is trapped by his culture, which expects him to get married and produce children. The homophobia he feels all around him is palpable, and he decides to retreat further into the closet because of the pressure to live a heteronormative existence.
At the end, we see him refusing to accept himself. Instead, because of the expectations placed on him by his family, we see the groundwork being laid toward a future life he does not want, married to someone he will not love nor be attracted to.
Heartbreaking.
I hope they have a BANGER soundtrack again, like in Season 1. The "Backpackers" opening OST was especially good.
But man, if I see another interminably long slow-approach kiss I'm going to scream. I could literally have gotten pregnant, carried the baby for 9 months and then my kid would be in Kindergarten already by the time their lips meet!!!
JUST KISS ALREADY, geez!!
I will never understand that. Every time I see it in a series or a movie, I laugh. But it's frustrating, too.
I will never understand that. Every time I see it in a series or a movie, I laugh. But it's frustrating, too.
In that case it would have to be a cooperative thing between the guy who shot at him (using blanks instead of real bullets) and Dean himself, who fell at *just* the right time (knowing the bullets were fake) to make it look like he'd been shot.
Tony said he has someone planted inside X-Hunter. Has Sonic been a sleeper agent for Tony all these years?
If yes, that will devastate everyone, but especially North.
The methods being used in this series are:
-- financially frugal (the director is only using a small camera that is hand held or on a tripod)
-- filmed NATURALLY both in the inside and outside locations (meaning nothing overly staged IF staged at all - the buildings, the rooms, the outdoor settings like walking in the woods, etc - and the natural weather conditions and natural sounds AS WELL AS the silences are all included)
-- inspirational, acting and directing-wise
What I like most is that the director is giving minimal instructions to the actors.
In many instances (as seen in the behind-the-scenes videos they are also posting), the actors are given basic information about each scene but are encouraged to find their own emotional expressions and reactions to the circumstances, their own body language, their own comfortable level of skinship, and they are allowed to run with whatever emotions rise to the surface.
The director might ask them to re-do a scene to prompt other interpretations, but the actors are basically encouraged to be as natural as possible.
And that has resulted in a STUNNINGLY beautiful and deeply touching story that literally make me feel like I'm watching a poem being written in the air.
I have watched every episode of the original series as well as the "Extra" series that continues with the main couple but shows us much smaller vignettes, and at the end of the episodes I often find that I have silent tears running down my face, or a deep ache in my heart as if I have encountered beauty that I might never see again, and yearn for it to come back even before the last strains of it drift away on the breeze.
(Even just writing that ^^^ I have tears in my eyes again.)
What this small, brave, independent and ethereal series has achieved is remarkable. Especially considering it's a Chinese BL, which still amazes me.
I feel like I'm not explaining it very well, but this series has completely changed my level of expectation for dramas, and especially BLs, in the future.