TianQi

This was an interesting read. For me, I'm compelled to fault each character because the circumstances of their setting because I feel like they're all more victims of their circumstances than they are of each other. One is a gay king in the middle ages, one is a soldier in the middle ages and one is a princess sold into marriage as political deal during the middle ages. It's a set up for a hard life for any of them. In spite of all that, though, I think there's something much more complex to the story than that, particularly between the king and Hong Rim. I don't think it can be easily said that the only reason the Hong Rim had a strong affection for the king is because the king groomed him. I think that may oversimplify Hong Rim's character and almost negates him having agency and autonomy over his own mind, which we see isn't the case in the second half of the film because of all the crazy shit he starts to do. If he had no mind of his own, I don't feel like a few rounds of sex with a female would lead him to that level of betrayal. Yes, I think that while the king very much doted on Hong Rim, but Hong Rim also truly cherished the king. Hong Rim wasn't just a personal servant to the king, he was also a part of the king's guard, so there was a little more to his life than just the king 24/7. I don't think we could say it was 'true love' as we know it, but given their circumstances and their basic human capacity to love, I think it was as close as they would have gotten. I'd like to think Hong Rim could have secretly been having sex with girls all the while, like I think some of the other soldiers might have since that wasn't uncommon at the time, but he didn't. That may digging a little too deep into things that weren't shown, but still.

As for the queen, I feel like it's easy to see what she and Hong Rim had wasn't love...primarily because of the fact that she deeply and openly resented him because of how close he was to the king. There was nothing but hate there until they were actually in the bed. So, I feel, as far as the queen's concerned, a sexless marriage that turns into sex with her husband's lover that then turns into a pregnancy could easily be a lot of things: attachment, jealousy, spite, revenge, anguish, etc., but I believe the queen just wanted to BE loved much more than she actually loved either of them. She loved the king, empathized with him and knew her duty/place well. She fell into a sexual relationship with Hong Rim and got over-attached (due to lack of affection shown to her before), but I just really can't see her as actually being *in* love with Hong Rim.

I could go on forever about this movie. It's one of my favorites. I love when others dissect it too. lol

So far, this series is just OK for me. It's funny, but not funny enough. Romantic, but the chemistry isn't there as much as it could be. The story also has very little nuance.

So many people are saying 'Oh not every BL needs kissing and bed scene.', but a romance without at least kissing is a little awkward. If it were a bromance, that'd be one thing...but they're dating.

Also, if you think that other BLs *rely* rely on the bed scenes, then clearly the only thing this series is relying on is Sarawat's good looks because that's the best it has going for it right now imo.

You make really good points. I remember as I was watching that part and being like, "Ehh this is wrong", but I don't know if it's meant to be played off for laughs considering Type actually was sexually assaulted when he was a kid and there's another storyline later in the show with the character Tar which deals very seriously with sexual assault.

This drama wasn't irresponsible as 'Make It Right' with its depictions.

Hopefully all this will be over soon. There are still places in Beijing that are closed down like the Forbidden City with no word as to when they'll open again. :(

This drama makes me proud that I live in Beijing. <3 A lot of the old style houses (or hutongs) are still here in the center of the city. Now when I ride my bike through them, it really makes me think about this time.

It's based on a BL novel, so it's already been turned a lot more straight than it's supposed to be. haha

So true. It's so lovey dovey now. I'm not excited for it to dark, but I can feel it's gonna go there.

One episode in and I'm already feeling the subtle gay vibes. I'm here for it. Also, the time period: 1930s Beijing (my city!), the cinematography, and the opera. I'm here for all of it. This gonna be good.

There's also nuances and subtleties that some people may have missed either due to culture or language. For example, the numbers on Kafka's motorcycle license plate are 1314, which is a Chinese slang way of saying 'for life' usually referring to love '520 1314' is a way of saying 'I love you forever'. There are also quite a few things to be interpreted about the role religious symbolism plays in this movie too, but I don't wanna ramble too much.

Just watch this movie. It's mature, but just keep an open mind.

I felt this movie. I don't know how to exactly describe the emotion it made me feel, but I felt it hard. It's kind of like a mix between nostalgia and angst, but it's not either of those things. Everything about the characters seems very real to me and the story just hit me really hard.

I'm giving this a shot just because of this comment. I shied away from it for years because of how heart-wrenching I know it's going to be, but I stumbled across it again, so I guess it's time.

Heard that too, but I don't know how likely that is. I mean, I'd watch, and I think many others would too, but the four leads for sure wouldn't be in it, so I don't know if it would be worth it.

None, unfortunately. Doesn't seem like there will be a second season.

The storyline was alright, if a little too jam-packed with soap opera-esque turns. The acting didn't improve much from the first movie and of course, the ending leaves us wanting more. Wasn't horrible. Wasn't very good either.

This movie is infuriating. Fortunately, the thing that makes it infuriating part is the only the last 5-7 minutes. The entire movie before that is great. lol Enjoy! ^_^

I liked it, but maybe the acting skills weren't quite as up to the standard that would have REALLY let me enjoy it. However, it was only 10 short episodes, so I could forgive that. It was a pleasant watch.

Which one's are sons of Taiwanese celebrities?

The reason for them to possibly be able to speak Korean is because they have an immediate relative who is Korean and a father who has business investments there. They also speak Korean to him too...Maybe that's not a big enough reason for you, but it's enough of an indicator to smooth that part of the story out well enough. Super rich people the world over are pretty big on their children being multilingual anyway.

When does the youngest brother's boyfriend understand him speaking Korean? I seemed to have missed that one. For the other people, yeah, it's quite awkward, which is why I said, they should have just let him speak his "choppy Chinese".

I'm not sure how familiar you guys are with Chinese or Korean, but at the beginning, the when he says "I can speak a little Chinese", he says it in Chinese. He also responds to his brothers at several points throughout the drama in Chinese. Likewise, his younger brothers (particularly youngest one) do say a few lines in Korean to him. So, I guess it's supposed to be understood that the all the brothers/father are more or less bilingual, but they understand the second language better than they speak it, so they just speak their first language. This isn't a totally inconceivable concept. In the US, where I'm from, children of people from like Mexico or China who immigrate to the states, will speak only Spanish/Chinese to their kids at home and as the kids grow up in America, they only speak English everywhere else, so the ability to speak Spanish/Chinese well will fade, but the ability to understand it doesn't because that's all their parents speak to them and of course the parents understand English too, but it's not their first language. So, it's not an uncommon thing to communicate like this.

All that said, it is still VERY awkward at the beginning when he's just talking to the guys who are mugging him in pure Korean. He could've at least let out some of that choppy Chinese. LOL

I was thinking he did something to his chin. lol