You basically just described pretty much most of all BLs , that's even like the definition of the genre. It's…
As a gay male, I'm going to have to politely disagree with you. Yaoi/BL for most of its existence has been very niche and until series like this and the whole world of Thai BL (SOTUS, Together With Me and onward), it wasn't very mainstream, so it never really was representation for gay men to the point that it could cause mass misperception that wasn't already in place.
I will concede that a lot of BL features toxic romances, but a lot of the times, the relationships are presented as they are because they're supposed to be perceived as toxic. Addicted and TharnType are good examples of this. The characters aren't meant to be taken as a norm. An example of a toxic BL that tried to pass the relationship off as OK was Together With Me and Kengkla and Techno in Love By Chance.
I don't think BL, in general, leaves us in a worse off position as a community for a few reasons. Firstly, cishet women aren't (and never have been) the chief antagonists of gay men. BL existing (flaws included) underlines that point. Secondly, cishet women's perceptions of how gay male relationships are/should be don't affect how gay male relationships exist. Cishet men's perceptions do, though. Third, dominant and submissive roles exist in humans naturally and get accentuated when there are pairs. Yes, sometimes, it will happen in BL that it seems like there's a "guy" and "girl" role, but can we really say Addicted is an example of that? This series oozed masculinity everywhere. Bai Luoyin had zero qualms about telling and showing Guhai how much of an asshole he was and he never feared him or played a damsel-in-distress role. In many BLs, the relationships don't develop in heteronormative ways even when the actors are cast to make it look like the should (for example, in some Thai BLs, the "top" will be cast as a taller, tan guy while the "bottom" is shorter and pale).
Lastly, I think we agree in that we want to protect the community for ourselves and future generations, but in the same way straight people don't need to throw away princess fairytales stories or romance novels, I don't think gay people need to disregard BL...especially when the quality of them is only getting better while still being largely written by cishet women and largely appealing to cishet women, although that too is changing as more and more gay males are becoming fans.
Beam is the Kamol we deserved. Yoon should have been cast as Kom. Every time Yoon tries to be "threatening" with his facial expressions, I feel like I laugh so loud my neighbors can hear it.
If you haven't seen Story of Yanxi Palace yet, maybe watch that one first. Are they connected, no, but this one almost, kinda sorta echoes that show, but in a different dynasty. This one in Ming and that one in Qing. The female lead in this show (played by the same actress) is bold in words, but calm in attitude. In SoYP, she's bold in words and actions. The fundamental plot is fairly similar, except there's no second male lead in this one to interfere with the relationships with the main characters. The story-telling in this one just really isn't as strong though and that can get boring for some people.
Where this drama exceeds is the food and culture. While some crucial things like the outfits and hairstyle were out of place, many of the things included in the show do reference real life...even the small things. At one point, they show a painting that the ML was painting and it really was a painting that the real emperor painted. In another scene, the royal painter paints a portrait of the emperor (ML) and the FL changes it to make his skin darker and give him a beard (which is actually what he looked like in real life). There's also loads of references to Song and Tang dynasties as well. So, if you're very interested in Chinese history, that will be enough to take you through this. If not, it may be a bit 50/50.
It's a censored version of a BL novel, but honestly, I'm not sure how it passed. Cheng Fengtai and Shang Xirui…
This passed before the "last strike" as it were against BL-turned-bromances here in China. BL went kind of unnoticed until Addicted (2016) came out. That's when BL first came under the radar for the Chinese government. All the BLs after that were bromances, but were still successful and gaining in popularity. The Untamed (2019) was insanely popular and then the government started to get hints that BL-bromances were really starting to trend. After Word of Honor last year, that was it. The government finally realized that, despite the censorship, people are really watching these explicitly for the romance and all further BL-bromances have since been shelved.
Anyone else notice that Talay said he doesn’t like Pink, but appears in pink like two or three times in episode 3? There’s also a pink light in his apartment.
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I will concede that a lot of BL features toxic romances, but a lot of the times, the relationships are presented as they are because they're supposed to be perceived as toxic. Addicted and TharnType are good examples of this. The characters aren't meant to be taken as a norm. An example of a toxic BL that tried to pass the relationship off as OK was Together With Me and Kengkla and Techno in Love By Chance.
I don't think BL, in general, leaves us in a worse off position as a community for a few reasons. Firstly, cishet women aren't (and never have been) the chief antagonists of gay men. BL existing (flaws included) underlines that point. Secondly, cishet women's perceptions of how gay male relationships are/should be don't affect how gay male relationships exist. Cishet men's perceptions do, though. Third, dominant and submissive roles exist in humans naturally and get accentuated when there are pairs. Yes, sometimes, it will happen in BL that it seems like there's a "guy" and "girl" role, but can we really say Addicted is an example of that? This series oozed masculinity everywhere. Bai Luoyin had zero qualms about telling and showing Guhai how much of an asshole he was and he never feared him or played a damsel-in-distress role. In many BLs, the relationships don't develop in heteronormative ways even when the actors are cast to make it look like the should (for example, in some Thai BLs, the "top" will be cast as a taller, tan guy while the "bottom" is shorter and pale).
Lastly, I think we agree in that we want to protect the community for ourselves and future generations, but in the same way straight people don't need to throw away princess fairytales stories or romance novels, I don't think gay people need to disregard BL...especially when the quality of them is only getting better while still being largely written by cishet women and largely appealing to cishet women, although that too is changing as more and more gay males are becoming fans.
Where this drama exceeds is the food and culture. While some crucial things like the outfits and hairstyle were out of place, many of the things included in the show do reference real life...even the small things. At one point, they show a painting that the ML was painting and it really was a painting that the real emperor painted. In another scene, the royal painter paints a portrait of the emperor (ML) and the FL changes it to make his skin darker and give him a beard (which is actually what he looked like in real life). There's also loads of references to Song and Tang dynasties as well. So, if you're very interested in Chinese history, that will be enough to take you through this. If not, it may be a bit 50/50.