The audacity to drop your rating from a 9 to below 9 is actually laughable because you said Fan Xiao repeatedly…
Honestly, I didn't realize some people have their egos inflated to the dark side of moon, getting it bruised at the slightest touch. We all understand that some stories just dont tick the boxes for some people. Yes, it's every person's right to rate or critique a show on their grounds of understanding. But hollering around and calling out people who like this show for a lesson on morals and ethics and questioning their interests by attacking their character, if that isn't miles away from the ethics they preach, I don't know what is. This is just screaming for attention and rage.
But, we do have more secure watchers on this page than unhinged ones, so please take a breath and let those people who love to fight wilt in the absence of reaction. We have better things to do with the time we absolutely do not need to waste on them🥰
Dear, everyone has different ways of looking at the same thing. This series is afterall fiction, you are free…
Darling, you're right in every word you say- we spent wasted time on something so obviously unmovable. I'm sure most of us are secure viewers- you, me and all the respectable fans. We really shouldn't waste another breath here, but I really understand that urge you speak of, sometimes we just fail to hold back from arguing down the lane of no return and no benefit😂😂
Today’s livestream ends with 43.1 million likes 295.7K viewers and ranked top 1 on Xiaohongshu app 😍❤️😍
This makes me so happy. Yet, I feel kind of anxious for their safety all the same. I genuinely hope they sail smooth without any 'chinese incidents' that previously occurred to famous ships🙏🙏🙏
So I had to rectify my score for this one from a 9 to a 8.5. It doesn't deserve more than this.People who are…
Dear, everyone has different ways of looking at the same thing. This series is afterall fiction, you are free to interpret it as you wish. However calling people who like this series 'sick in the head' just means you are validating others' rights to call you out for your hate. I do not know what personally offended you so much when neither you nor us are in the story trying to decide who is right or wrong. This is fiction- wherein two flawed and emotionally abused characters find their own way in love. Fan Xiao is a toxic character and no one would put up with him in real life. Most getting caught in his net like You Shulang would end up broken and scarred for life never to step into his trajectory again. And again, people like Fan Xiao in real life seldom change for the better either.
It is precisely becuase it is fiction that we get the leniency to explore his character and behaviour out of the rigid morality upheld in real life. We are free to imagine in fiction because no one with a well developed pre frontal cortex would look at abuse and manipulation on screen and justify it or implement it in real life. If mere fiction can get them to abandon their clarity and take on real life situations, maybe they were never that clear to begin with.
None of us are hear to moral police a character or dictate their choices for them. We all have different takes and also are mature enough to differentiate what applies only in fiction and not real life.
Appreciating a well directed, well acted and well thought out BL, especially coming out of a repressed country like China where the entire team has risked their everything to bring out quality content requires no ones understanding. I've been watching bl for over 10 years and am confident enough to say I know quality BL when I see one. I did not enjoy watching Khemjira as much as everyone did. However I know it is a qualified masterpiece which was brought together by so much care, love and dedication.
Bottom line, you can disagree with the show's message or characters. But you don't get to call people who like and call this masterpiece 'sick in the head'. Also, saying that you'll rate the show 5 because of "fans" who disagree with you, if that isn't infantile behaviour, I genuinely don't know what is, dear.
I finally watched episode 15 and I need to talk about how it broke me open, because I think I understand now what…
I've been waiting for your comment since yesterday, thankyou for the detailed analysis. I would like to add on a few of my takes as well about You shulang's conversation with Huihui. Huihui's conversation with You Shulang is one of the most brilliant dialogue settings in the entire episode or even the series as a whole. Because, not only does it beautifully encapsulates You Shulang's internal crisis perfectly, it also throws light on Fan Xiao's inner workings on a parallel.
"It is exactly because he is too good that I cannot bear to make a move. Someone like me will end up hurting everyone. So I am more suited to a scumbag."— This is something that Fan Xiao himself says multiple times in the series. He is flawed, down in the abyss. He once wanted to pull You Shulang into the abyss with him and posess his light. Then, when he truly realizes his love and the pain it forced on the person he loved, he moves into the shadows with a promise to stay away.
"Then be honest with Zhang Shicheng. Cut it off completely. Do not let him keep hoping."— You Shulang not only suggests this to Huihui and subtly to himself, in a very nuanced way, he's also imploring Fan Xiao to not keep giving him hopes, he's complaining with a bit of helpless grievance- 'Do not give me hope. If you really want to stay away, don't let me find out, don't let me see you. I can't forget you, I cannot get you out of my head, I cannot help but hope.' You Shulang feels trapped within the love that destroyed him but also quietly burnt to build him up. He finds it exasperating, he is no longer held by the detestable firm shackles that once bound him, yet, he craves that possessive love to fill in all the lonely spaces in his soul. Like a child blaming the candy for all the toothaches, not their own addiction, he's mildly complaining- "Fan Xiao, why do keep giving me hope?"
"I have decided to end it so many times but I just cannot. People like us, we lack something and we also hate the very thing we lack. Sometimes we cannot even tell whether it is hatred or longing. Zhang Shicheng, I cannot give him up and I cannot let him go. I am afraid of hurting him and I am afraid of shattering my own dream"— This truly embodies both Fan Xiao and You Shulang. Fan Xiao hated the endless hope You Shulang held, yet he craved that brightness with fervent longing. Where he was abandoned and forced to survive his entire life, he craved someone who saw all his rotten dregs and fears, choosing to stay for him, because they wanted him as a whole. You Shulang despised all the bone-deep, possesive, forced affection from Fan Xiao, but he also yearned to be held and moulded into him. In a life where he looked at the candies he desperately wanted to taste and called them not worth it because no one ever gave him one, he longed for a bond where he didn't have to be so strong, who would give him all the candies he wanted, cured his loneliness without having to ask.
"So you are just stringing him along."— This is not only You Shulang being unable to let go of Fan xiao resolutely, it also shows that he is aware of Fan Xiao lingering in the shadows watching over him with a silent resolve to stay away yet stay close enough to protect. For Fan Xiao, it might be the only way he can still keep hoping for the world to be a kinder place, watching You Shulang shine bright and happy, his love far too consuming for him to ever move on. However, for You Shulang who teeters at the edges, it feels like a testament to how he indeed can never get over this entangled bond. He feels strung along like an unmoored boat being swept off by the clueless wind.
"I am not stringing him along. It is that he still loves me. If he stopped loving me then nothing I do would have any meaning"— If he stopped loving me, then nothing I do would have any meaning. If Fan Xiao stopped loving him, then nothing You Shulang does in life would hold meaning. If You Shulang stopped loving him, nothing Fan Xiao does will mean so much- It wouldn't matter if he took the fall going to jail, It wouldn't matter who he gets beaten up by, It wouldn't matter if he worked all night to lay down a path brick by brick. Nothing he does will matter, because for You Shulang, he would have become nothing more than a bad experience.
In the end, it's not about who owes whom, not about morality, ethics or socially acceptable decisions. It's about two emotionally vulnerable, flawed people choosing to accept their love for each other, to try and slot their lives within gaps they can fit.
Such brilliant use of dialogues, I'm hopelessly in love.
I already rewatched it all 3 times... And there's always something new to catch. When I know the dialogues, I…
Exactly one of the reasons I rewatch, I can focus more on the micro expressions, settings of the scene, colour gradings, implied meanings and appreciate the filming and cinematography more. Nothing more relaxing and introspective than enjoying a good old show or book
Love the "rewatch till I die" list concept, I think I should have one too. Would love to know what other…
Lol, I really don't have a list like that, just a bunch of comfort dramas in my mind which I tend to rewatch when I need recharging but am not sane enough for the energy needed to process an entirely new show. Some of them are The untamed, Word of honor, Under the skin, The spirealm, Mysterious lotus casebook, Killer and healer, Old fashioned cupcake, Like in the movies, A tale of thousand stars, Last twilight, Your name lies herein, Bad buddy, The eclipse, Kinou nani tabeta, I feel you linger in the air, Laws of attraction, Our dating sim, The eight sense, Stay with me, A breeze of love, Semantic error, ThamePo, The on1y one, Love for love's sake, Unknown, My school president, Spare me your mercy, Top form, Juctice in the dark, Revenged love, Kill to love, and now To the shore. Some of them, I yet have to rewatch, but will probably someday I have to admit that I definitely re-watch chinese and taiwanese shows more often😅
The last 15 mins had me on tenterhooks and air-screaming into my pillows. I really wouldn't know what to do with my life if this ending was not due to be followed by the special episode. It's definitely good enough by itself, but having seen their domesticity pre-breakup, I definitely am greedy for it post-reconcillation- even imagining it makes me a puddle of syrup😭
Omg, can we talk about THE warehouse? The madness, the coyness, the bite and THE THROW followed by YSL's "My love"? How do they expect me to be sane??? I'm doomed and drowning beyond saving🧍🏾♀️🧍🏾♀️ I know this is definitely going on my 're-watch till I die' list
On Shulang, Revenge Rights, and Mutual Owing in To My ShoreOkay so this scene has been living in my head rent…
I've read every one of your "Ideas that live rent free in my head", and I must say you've made me love this series more and more with all the layers and complexities you unravel. Stumbling upon your comments feels like indulging that persistent itch that just won't go away. It also has me at a chokehold knowing that language barriers often hides the very nuanced meanings that art conveys. I keep wondering what else I missed through the process of translation. Chinese is really a magnificently rich language, hoping to learn it someday🤞🏽
The moment I saw Fan Xiao's heartbroken crying in ep 14, my belief that Yunqi is not a stiff/ poor actor just solidified 100 times over. His depiction of Fan Xiao is an excellent personifiction of hard to read, hard to understand. Does he have grounds to improve- Yes, he's a rookie actor. Did it visibly undermine his depiction of Fan Xiao- A resounding no. I applaud the director for bringing out the best in him and guiding him through difficult scenes, given this is his first major involvement in acting. Both Hao YIran and Yunqi really gave their best to their roles, I hope the best for them in all their future projects.
I don't know, but as someone that have high pride like SL, I somehow don't want them to end up together.I know,…
It's less about us accepting and more about YSL's decisions and emotions. Let's put it this way, we as the viewers tend to place ourselves in the shoes of the character we most relate to. But, at the end of the day, we are not the character itself and we only experience their emotions in relation to our understanding of the character and circumstances. Sometimes, the decisions they take just do not resonate within us because our interpretation and emotional adherence to the particular relationship/ circumstance is not as deep and entwined in our heart and mind.
Here, just as you say, YSL is prideful and you relate to that. So you feel like forgiving and moving on is the acceptable decision. But, on a general basis, summing up YSL's entire being into 'prideful' ia a huge understatement to his complex characteristics. I'll boldly assume that you most probably wouldn't look at YSL and go, "Ah, that person's entire persona screams pride" either.
YSL is the kind of person for whom pride is not worth more than intent and truth. If we take him at face value and trust his words- we can probably call him uptight, strict, prideful, kind in places he can strive to be and unforgiving when triggered or tested beyond his tolerance. However, the paradox strikes when we notice that, yes, he is all that he says he is, yet beyond. He is strict and uptight- but we also see him loosen up and bloom when he's around people he is close with. He's prideful- but he'd also swallow it and bow if he needs to (No one with sky high pride can lower themselves for an ex-lover). He is kind- not just whenever he can be, but also when he can't be (He gave up prestigious institutions to stay with his family, he cleaned up after his brother multiple times only cutting him off when he learnt that he was entertaining his abusive father, he couldn't convince himself to give FX away to law even though his heart was shattered and squeezed beyond anguish and pain) . He is unforgiving- yet he tells FX to keep fooling him, to not give himself away if he was.
So what I'm trying to say is, FX might have tormented YSL, driven him to the brink of abyss because he had lived in one his whole life. I wouldn't condone any of his manipulations or behaviour, Yet, for YSL, FX was a lover and family he dared to fall head first into. He loved him beyond his mask of cruelty having witnessed the fear and pain that clung to FX like vice. At the turning point YSL did realize that his love was not worth anything in the grand scheme FX played, that he was a conquest, a prey. But, later on as he uncovers FX's changes and intentions, as he slowly witnesses a FX who is willing to stay away if it could make YSL happy, YSL heart softens. Because, sometimes feelings over-ride what is morally acceptable. Because to YSL, giving another chance to FX was worth betting his future on.
The show is entertaining- yes. But addressing of social issues that are very much relevant to the society today- This drama represents the issues and its moral impact plain and raw. However, it fails to deliver strong and stubborn verdict. The answer to each case feels more like a suggestion than a firm legal stand. It's almost like the producers want to bring up hot topics to draw attention, just to deliver a wishy-washy justice that will mildly satisfy both the sides of the coin. An impactful, humane stand cannot hold peace with regressive thinking. One of the few places where they took a soft yet hard stance was on the LGBTQ+ festival scene wherein Da wit tries to defend himself with "I am a manly man" and realises how insecure and silly he was being. I especially did not like the 2nd case with the "Art thou holy" chaebol adopting the young mother- I wonder if he'll adopt all the other runaway women who were forced to give birth? That leaves us feeling bitter and hollow- because no amount of cash or goodwill can give the young mother back her personal autonomy that was violated or the life she once had. Yes, all life is precious, but we're also kinda ignoring her life at this point. This was a very sensitive and excellent case to take a revolutionary stand with women- but they let it coalesce into nonsensical fairy tale ending. Overall not very impressed, But I like Kang Dawit, so I'll be continuing the show
Before episode 11 drops, I need to get episode 10 out of my system because it has been gnawing on my brain like…
Detailed and precise as usual. I enjoyed my tea😌 I would like to add on a slight deference: I feel, You Shulang calling on an escort wasn't trying to numb himself with casual sex, rather a well orchestrated move to get Fan Xiao to spill about all the cameras hidden around the house- clearly depicted in the way he purposely asked for an escort with the characteristics he once tried to reject Fan Xiao with- Fair, slender, sweet looking and young. He also outright asks Fan Xiao if he enjoyed the show as soon as Fan XIao breaks into the house with You shulang refusing to answer any of his calls
My bad, I did forget that it happened, it totally slid off my mind😅😅😅. What I meant to portray was Fan Xiao in his early phase of the relationship. Later on, even if You Shulang asked him to skin himself, Fan Xiao would have, so bottoming wouldn't even have been a big deal😂 On a side note: Their sexual dynamics really don't matter actually. What matters is that they love each other enough to be vunerable.
We all understand that some stories just dont tick the boxes for some people. Yes, it's every person's right to rate or critique a show on their grounds of understanding. But hollering around and calling out people who like this show for a lesson on morals and ethics and questioning their interests by attacking their character, if that isn't miles away from the ethics they preach, I don't know what is. This is just screaming for attention and rage.
But, we do have more secure watchers on this page than unhinged ones, so please take a breath and let those people who love to fight wilt in the absence of reaction. We have better things to do with the time we absolutely do not need to waste on them🥰
It is precisely becuase it is fiction that we get the leniency to explore his character and behaviour out of the rigid morality upheld in real life. We are free to imagine in fiction because no one with a well developed pre frontal cortex would look at abuse and manipulation on screen and justify it or implement it in real life. If mere fiction can get them to abandon their clarity and take on real life situations, maybe they were never that clear to begin with.
None of us are hear to moral police a character or dictate their choices for them. We all have different takes and also are mature enough to differentiate what applies only in fiction and not real life.
Appreciating a well directed, well acted and well thought out BL, especially coming out of a repressed country like China where the entire team has risked their everything to bring out quality content requires no ones understanding. I've been watching bl for over 10 years and am confident enough to say I know quality BL when I see one. I did not enjoy watching Khemjira as much as everyone did. However I know it is a qualified masterpiece which was brought together by so much care, love and dedication.
Bottom line, you can disagree with the show's message or characters. But you don't get to call people who like and call this masterpiece 'sick in the head'. Also, saying that you'll rate the show 5 because of "fans" who disagree with you, if that isn't infantile behaviour, I genuinely don't know what is, dear.
I would like to add on a few of my takes as well about You shulang's conversation with Huihui. Huihui's conversation with You Shulang is one of the most brilliant dialogue settings in the entire episode or even the series as a whole. Because, not only does it beautifully encapsulates You Shulang's internal crisis perfectly, it also throws light on Fan Xiao's inner workings on a parallel.
"It is exactly because he is too good that I cannot bear to make a move. Someone like me will end up hurting everyone. So I am more suited to a scumbag."— This is something that Fan Xiao himself says multiple times in the series. He is flawed, down in the abyss. He once wanted to pull You Shulang into the abyss with him and posess his light. Then, when he truly realizes his love and the pain it forced on the person he loved, he moves into the shadows with a promise to stay away.
"Then be honest with Zhang Shicheng. Cut it off completely. Do not let him keep hoping."— You Shulang not only suggests this to Huihui and subtly to himself, in a very nuanced way, he's also imploring Fan Xiao to not keep giving him hopes, he's complaining with a bit of helpless grievance- 'Do not give me hope. If you really want to stay away, don't let me find out, don't let me see you. I can't forget you, I cannot get you out of my head, I cannot help but hope.' You Shulang feels trapped within the love that destroyed him but also quietly burnt to build him up. He finds it exasperating, he is no longer held by the detestable firm shackles that once bound him, yet, he craves that possessive love to fill in all the lonely spaces in his soul. Like a child blaming the candy for all the toothaches, not their own addiction, he's mildly complaining- "Fan Xiao, why do keep giving me hope?"
"I have decided to end it so many times but I just cannot. People like us, we lack something and we also hate the very thing we lack. Sometimes we cannot even tell whether it is hatred or longing. Zhang Shicheng, I cannot give him up and I cannot let him go. I am afraid of hurting him and I am afraid of shattering my own dream"— This truly embodies both Fan Xiao and You Shulang. Fan Xiao hated the endless hope You Shulang held, yet he craved that brightness with fervent longing. Where he was abandoned and forced to survive his entire life, he craved someone who saw all his rotten dregs and fears, choosing to stay for him, because they wanted him as a whole. You Shulang despised all the bone-deep, possesive, forced affection from Fan Xiao, but he also yearned to be held and moulded into him. In a life where he looked at the candies he desperately wanted to taste and called them not worth it because no one ever gave him one, he longed for a bond where he didn't have to be so strong, who would give him all the candies he wanted, cured his loneliness without having to ask.
"So you are just stringing him along."— This is not only You Shulang being unable to let go of Fan xiao resolutely, it also shows that he is aware of Fan Xiao lingering in the shadows watching over him with a silent resolve to stay away yet stay close enough to protect. For Fan Xiao, it might be the only way he can still keep hoping for the world to be a kinder place, watching You Shulang shine bright and happy, his love far too consuming for him to ever move on. However, for You Shulang who teeters at the edges, it feels like a testament to how he indeed can never get over this entangled bond. He feels strung along like an unmoored boat being swept off by the clueless wind.
"I am not stringing him along. It is that he still loves me. If he stopped loving me then nothing I do would have any meaning"— If he stopped loving me, then nothing I do would have any meaning.
If Fan Xiao stopped loving him, then nothing You Shulang does in life would hold meaning.
If You Shulang stopped loving him, nothing Fan Xiao does will mean so much- It wouldn't matter if he took the fall going to jail, It wouldn't matter who he gets beaten up by, It wouldn't matter if he worked all night to lay down a path brick by brick. Nothing he does will matter, because for You Shulang, he would have become nothing more than a bad experience.
In the end, it's not about who owes whom, not about morality, ethics or socially acceptable decisions. It's about two emotionally vulnerable, flawed people choosing to accept their love for each other, to try and slot their lives within gaps they can fit.
Such brilliant use of dialogues, I'm hopelessly in love.
Some of them are
The untamed, Word of honor, Under the skin, The spirealm, Mysterious lotus casebook, Killer and healer, Old fashioned cupcake, Like in the movies, A tale of thousand stars, Last twilight, Your name lies herein, Bad buddy, The eclipse, Kinou nani tabeta, I feel you linger in the air, Laws of attraction, Our dating sim, The eight sense, Stay with me, A breeze of love, Semantic error, ThamePo, The on1y one, Love for love's sake, Unknown, My school president, Spare me your mercy, Top form, Juctice in the dark, Revenged love, Kill to love, and now To the shore.
Some of them, I yet have to rewatch, but will probably someday
I have to admit that I definitely re-watch chinese and taiwanese shows more often😅
Omg, can we talk about THE warehouse? The madness, the coyness, the bite and THE THROW followed by YSL's "My love"? How do they expect me to be sane??? I'm doomed and drowning beyond saving🧍🏾♀️🧍🏾♀️
I know this is definitely going on my 're-watch till I die' list
I applaud the director for bringing out the best in him and guiding him through difficult scenes, given this is his first major involvement in acting. Both Hao YIran and Yunqi really gave their best to their roles, I hope the best for them in all their future projects.
Sometimes, the decisions they take just do not resonate within us because our interpretation and emotional adherence to the particular relationship/ circumstance is not as deep and entwined in our heart and mind.
Here, just as you say, YSL is prideful and you relate to that. So you feel like forgiving and moving on is the acceptable decision. But, on a general basis, summing up YSL's entire being into 'prideful' ia a huge understatement to his complex characteristics. I'll boldly assume that you most probably wouldn't look at YSL and go, "Ah, that person's entire persona screams pride" either.
YSL is the kind of person for whom pride is not worth more than intent and truth.
If we take him at face value and trust his words- we can probably call him uptight, strict, prideful, kind in places he can strive to be and unforgiving when triggered or tested beyond his tolerance. However, the paradox strikes when we notice that, yes, he is all that he says he is, yet beyond.
He is strict and uptight- but we also see him loosen up and bloom when he's around people he is close with.
He's prideful- but he'd also swallow it and bow if he needs to (No one with sky high pride can lower themselves for an ex-lover).
He is kind- not just whenever he can be, but also when he can't be (He gave up prestigious institutions to stay with his family, he cleaned up after his brother multiple times only cutting him off when he learnt that he was entertaining his abusive father, he couldn't convince himself to give FX away to law even though his heart was shattered and squeezed beyond anguish and pain) .
He is unforgiving- yet he tells FX to keep fooling him, to not give himself away if he was.
So what I'm trying to say is, FX might have tormented YSL, driven him to the brink of abyss because he had lived in one his whole life. I wouldn't condone any of his manipulations or behaviour, Yet, for YSL, FX was a lover and family he dared to fall head first into. He loved him beyond his mask of cruelty having witnessed the fear and pain that clung to FX like vice. At the turning point YSL did realize that his love was not worth anything in the grand scheme FX played, that he was a conquest, a prey. But, later on as he uncovers FX's changes and intentions, as he slowly witnesses a FX who is willing to stay away if it could make YSL happy, YSL heart softens.
Because, sometimes feelings over-ride what is morally acceptable.
Because to YSL, giving another chance to FX was worth betting his future on.
I especially did not like the 2nd case with the "Art thou holy" chaebol adopting the young mother- I wonder if he'll adopt all the other runaway women who were forced to give birth? That leaves us feeling bitter and hollow- because no amount of cash or goodwill can give the young mother back her personal autonomy that was violated or the life she once had. Yes, all life is precious, but we're also kinda ignoring her life at this point. This was a very sensitive and excellent case to take a revolutionary stand with women- but they let it coalesce into nonsensical fairy tale ending.
Overall not very impressed, But I like Kang Dawit, so I'll be continuing the show
I would like to add on a slight deference: I feel, You Shulang calling on an escort wasn't trying to numb himself with casual sex, rather a well orchestrated move to get Fan Xiao to spill about all the cameras hidden around the house- clearly depicted in the way he purposely asked for an escort with the characteristics he once tried to reject Fan Xiao with- Fair, slender, sweet looking and young. He also outright asks Fan Xiao if he enjoyed the show as soon as Fan XIao breaks into the house with You shulang refusing to answer any of his calls
On a side note: Their sexual dynamics really don't matter actually. What matters is that they love each other enough to be vunerable.