A No Drama Drama

To be honest, I rarely watch a Cdrama to the end. And even though I rate this drama poorly, all things considered, I did finish it. So that's something. As other reviewers have said here, there really was no story at all - just good-natured people dating and supportive friends. Here's what I enjoyed:
1. The information about voice dubbing culture and fandom in China (something I've always been curious about).
2. THE FOOD as love-language.
3. The "friends/colleagues having fun vacationing together" vibe.
4. The travelogue to Guijin (bucket list location)
5. No backstabbing or miscommunication tropes

Here's what troubled me:
1. The lack of nuanced characters or character arks (nobody is that good all the time).
2. The age-gap thing, how ML pursues FL. All they have is surfacey love for each other based on their voices? And he's way too mature for her. She acts like she's 12 - is that a cultural thing? Do college aged women act like that - all obedient and eager to please? I would definitely find him sus, if he weren't so sweet....
3. The whole thing seems like a Chinese propaganda show.
4. NOBODY SLEEPS WELL.

Here's what I'm curious about:
1. Why isn't sleep prioritized?
2. Is their representation of the voice-dubbing and traditional Chinese music culture accurate?
3. Wouldn't her parents have been more involved?
4. How are there so many cousins, while China had the one-child policy in place? I really don't think that Cdramas have a realistic portrayal of the effect this policy would have had.

Overall, I think I continued with the show until the end because I am really heartily sick of what's happening around me - awful politics, environmental disasters, etc, - that I just needed a break. This show was a break. The people are good and well-intentioned, they all think of others before themselves, and care about relationships.

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my first review - so upset!

You know I had to be angry enough to actually sign on and write a review....I'm a middle aged white woman, trying to learn Chinese, and discovered BL quite late in the game. So quit reading if my thoughts wouldn't be worth your while.....all set? Ok. This series seriously grew on me. SO concerned about the bullying, stalking, and lack of boundaries this show depicted. However, that being said, I felt that it portrayed accurately the puppy-like mentality of teenaged boy culture. There was something that felt true about it - the pent up emotions, the love poured out in friendship, the anger sprouting from loyalty. While I was really fed up with the boys, I was also made acutely aware of the truth in the way they treated each other.

The weak male lead was quite a good actor, and grew on me. But I couldn't see what the girls (and male lead) were crushing on? He was barely there....a strong breeze would have surely swept him away. Perhaps this was a problem with the casting - but he DID look impoverished and vulnerable and the perfect target for bullying. Once that disjuncture passed, I got really into the story, especially the chain of reactions that led to male lead's remorse and very sincere apology for being a pig towards the weaker one.

The portrayal of sexual aggression was troubling. Second couple's first kiss - a forced one in a locker room, was seriously problematic, but the guy being forced was, like, what, 30? And the younger guy was just so clueless about how to handle his hormones...it felt real. Their sex scene (unsafe sex, anyone?) was obviously consensual, and the older guy sort of showing the younger how it worked - these are the reason BL's are important, even if it would have been better with a condom-getting moment. History 4: Close to You - does a good job teaching the kinds of things young men should know, including open communication and asking questions.

The pressure male lead 1 put on male lead 2 to "give yourself to me" made me seriously uncomfortable. He came around in the end - but with such a huge pouting period, that male lead 2 gave in, albeit with older lead guy giving him advice..."follow your heart" and "have confidence in yourself." All good things - but how about, not until you're ready? Talk it out with each other?

Finally - the ending. I was sooooooo very angry at this last episode that I cannot even put words to my frustration. I don't know where to even begin! The accident was not covered - we don't know what happened exactly - other than he got hit by a car, and what about everyone else's reaction, like older male lead, who cared for him? But then some version of him keeps appearing? I thought (bear with me here) that perhaps, he had some kind of brain injury that made him lose his memory and mentally stall at 18 - so no matter what happened, he never matured or was able to learn more and meet his goals? So he doesn't remember male lead 1, or their relationship...that, in itself, would be tragic. To have your lover not remember or be able to progress beyond a teenager would be kind of like having a spouse with dementia. But then, his old girlfriend shows up and talks about the aunt having a small funeral, etc., which confused the heck out of me. Is he dead? Were those hallucinations? A doppleganger? And why, if it was hallucinations, was the version of weak male lead 2 so weirdly hip? What the heck??? And male lead 1 was so pathetically sad - there was no way for the viewer to process! The ending was SO unsatisfying. I couldn't sleep, as my mind was actively trying to figure out what it all meant.

So I'm torn. I did like the portrayal of male hormonal love (lust, really) - well, not liked it, really, but thought it realistic at any rate. The character arks for both male leads of couple 1 were believable, and very well acted. But the ENDING. We all need closure, and the writing let us down.

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So worth every minute!

Here's my disclaimer: .I'm a middle aged white woman and discovered BL quite late in the game. So quit reading if my thoughts wouldn't be worth your while.....all set? Ok.

I loved, loved, loved this series! Just enough action to keep the plot moving, but with SO MUCH character development and depth. Just enough romance, but with sex scenes that actually make sense and, like the action sequences, keep the plot moving along. I watched this on IQiYi, and really enjoyed the option of watching all the little extras with the cast.

It's very well-put together - staged, sound, music, and just the right amount of silent pauses with the main cast, particularly Kinn and Porche. I loved how Porche went to his former boss to ask for dating advice, and how Pete sensitively gave Kinn advice on how to tone down his frustration when talking to Porche. Sure, there were corny bits done just for laughs, (weird almost kissing scene between sleeping Pete and Porche, for example) but all in all, the comedy was at least giggle-inducing.

My only critiques would be when Vegas speaks English out of the blue. Why? I mean, his diction and American accent are pretty decent, but like many tonal language speaking actors, the delivery was quite flat, which I find annoying and distracting. I was also confused by the trailer scenes not ever appearing in the actual series. What's that about? Were they playing around with creating scenes before actually putting the series together? I've tried googling deleted scenes to see if they were just cut for time, but no such luck. And finally, some of the plot twists after episode 8 were just extra - like the whole sequence near the end with the fake death of the dad and the sudden appearance of mom) but, hey, they had to fill in the 14 episodes, right? (I have this critique for many, many, many series. so nothing new to see here.)

I never watch things more than once - at least until I've forgotten the details. But I'm watching the first 8 episode for the third time at the moment.

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