A person hiding behind the cover of anonymity, making accusations without any evidence? How does stuff like this…
The fact MDL ran this is revolting, especially in light of LSK's recent suicide. Yes, SUICIDE, not "extreme choice" or "unhappy departure to be a star in the sky." I can't even with Korean scandal culture anymore.
Take this garbage post down. There is nothing to these accusations, as clearly stated in the article itself. But of course, Korean media and MDL publish it anyway.
is it hard for the K-entertainment industry to filter the people they make into stars? Why each time one of them…
Are you an idiot? There is NOTHING to this story. MDL should never have published it. The agency investigated and none of the accusations are true. Do you need a hammer to hit you over the head to get this? wtf?
Korean scandal-mongers will seemingly never stop slinging unverified mud and shit until the next suicide. After which they'll start it up again.
Wow. I have never done a 180-degree turn on my opinion of a BL as hardcore as the one I did on this show. I hated most everyone and everything about the first episode, but by the last I was almost entirely won over. I would recommend this to anyone. Which doesn't change my firm position that drama or film or whatever, if a show takes more than an hour to even begin to rope me in, then something's wrong.
On the other hand, because I did keep watching, often for reasons as shallow as Jooha's lips and pecs, I got the thrill of that 180 degree turn, along with some genuinely moving moments, as well as some laughs too. There were too many lazy tropes and cliches, but at least the two blatant trip/fall/catch incidents were creatively executed.
I'm still debating exactly why Seoheon found it necessary to do what he did near the end after he learned all the background, so if anyone cares to enlighten me, I am open to suggestions. I have a theory, but it's pretty lame.
OK, one comment on each character, then the production as a whole:
Seheon: Power-twink bottom with sass and a backbone from the start. Bravo! Taeyi: Brooding, mostly passive jerk to romantic hero. Bravo! Doyoon, he of the blue-black tresses: Funny, sincere, kind and loving. Bravo! Jooha: Pecs, lips, great acting skills. The actor made me believe Jooha's character arc. Bravo! Taejoon: Best smile and dimples on a dead BL character. Bravo! Sejin: His seeming lack of ANY guilt or remorse, right to the end, was creepy. Boo... Seheon's dad: Asshole. Boo... The teacher: Dull. Boo...
Production: Too many gauzy filters, white face powder, and lip gloss. The editing, which when combined with the actors' efforts, made the musical sequences entirely believable and, especially the final one, a treat for the eyes. It was lovely. I kept thinking of that awful Thai BL, 2gether, and how one of the two leads, who was supposed to be a great guitar player, was never shown doing anything much more than strumming the instrument and smirking. I'm too lazy to research it: Who did the vocals for the final number? Love the voice. Seheon's outfits were all two sizes too big in the traditional Korean BL tradition, but the white clown shoes in the final scene sealed the deal. The progression of kisses from dead-fish to open-mouth, was genius.
The most moving scene in the entire series was Joo Ha coming clean to Dowoo in the hallway in...episode 7, I believe. I cried. He's a good actor.
All in all, I'm docking three points for wasting over an hour of time, then adding one and a half points back for making me do that 180, and for some truly touching and also funny scenes. The one near the end in which Doyoon kept catching our leads smooching, and everyone acted awkward, was hilarious.
If you'd have told me, when I was about to drop this halfway through episode 1, that I would shed tears for Jahoo's pain and loneliness, I would have smacked you. His pecs are life itself, even under a tee shirt. Jahoo and Doyoon horsing around/flirting on a BB court is a beautiful thing.
A lot of pieces of paper and photographs conveniently falling out of books, but whatever...
Wow. This has gone from terrible to fairly good, clown-white powder and lip gloss aside. WTF, an actual, honest-to-god, lips-to-lips kiss! Seheon has turned out to be one of my fave BL wispy, willowy, little bottoms. He has sass and spunk, and has always stood up for himself, in contrast to what I expected from him based on his physique. I lived for Doyoon's slo-mo, spinning-his-head-around to look at the camera shot, shimmering blue-black hair flying around his handsome face. Glad to see Jooha's pillow lips back onscreen. It's the ever-so-slight up-turned corners of his mouth and the under bite that compound his lipuncular hotness. Plus, I'm guessing he rocks a nice bod. How shallow and looksist of me.
Taeyi may be the first BL character who looks hotter WITH glasses than without. It was cool, the way Taeyi magically knew the song and played it flawlessly, despite not knowing what song it was and with no rehearsal. This is the first music-based BL I've seen in which the characters actually seem to be playing the instruments they are written as playing. Nice editing. Well done. I wish Doyoon and Se Heon would pair up. Doyoon is a sweetie. Not usually a fan of bright hair dye colors, but Doyoon rocks that blue-black look, which in shadows hardly shows at all, but when light hits it just right, is beautiful. Junyun is the nicest guy in this show. That teacher is worthless. The psycho dad should be shot, but we all knew that was coming. I'm glad Seheon got the hell out after shredding the dad about his mom leaving. The girl with the ears was wise to let her hair hang straight down while sitting on the swing. I noticed a review above headlined, saying this show started great and went downhill. I feel the exact opposite. I almost dropped it after the first episode, but it has improved with each one since. I totally hate the homophobic message these slo-mo, camouflaged, non-kisses send, but that issue aside, the umbrella one was quite artistically done. Seheon, while looking at the photo: "If they are brothers, they do not look alike..." hmmm... I missed Jooha's lips in this episode.
Pretty much similar to master slaveWere they trying to show that gay people have no self respect, both the leads…
Indeed. You must now be dragged before the SJW/PC court of gender-speak policing. :) I'm a guy, but when I was a kid I sometimes felt like a "girl." lol That went away with the years...
on edit: Now that I think about it some more, it's more like I occasionally wanted to "act like" a girl growing up, rather than "be" one. As I understand true transgender disphoria, that's not at all what I experienced. I never felt that I was in the wrong body, gender-wise.
I don't think there's any incest, Koreans like these brothers who love too much (brotherly love) I've seen it…
I don't think there's any intended incest in the story either. I'm saying the way it is written and acted kind of blurs the lines for me. I'm not familiar with the "brothers who love too much" trope though, as I watch exactly no straight, romantic Kdramas.
I'm watching it now because I've watched five eps so I might as well finish it out. It's not well-written. Motivations/dialogue/actions…
There's a difference between "reading between the lines" to obtain information clearly intended for the viewer to glean, and having to simply make stuff up in your head to fill in the blanks left by the writers.
I'm good at reading between lines when I watch cinema and dramas, but here the spaces I'm looking into are largely blank.
Pretty much similar to master slaveWere they trying to show that gay people have no self respect, both the leads…
Are you fairly new to BL? I only watched SOTUS and its sequel because I stumbled across BL about three years ago, it was all brand new to me, and I didn't know one BL from another. I had no idea what I was getting into; I don't even remember how I found SOTUS, but it was still considered a good one then or something. But there have been SO many, much better BLs made since then that if I found BL now I wouldn't bother with that shit. If your'e interested, there's a top 30 fave BLs list on my custom lists page.
Actually, I said jooha has the best lips in this show, not in the world; that would be Jonghae in "Semantic Error." :) But yeah, I do think Jooha has the best lips in this particular show.
Pretty much similar to master slaveWere they trying to show that gay people have no self respect, both the leads…
Yeah, the "kisses" in this show are almost as bad as the really bad ones in very early Thai BLs like SOTUS and SOTUS S where they'd lean heads toward each other and the camera would swirl wildly in an attempt to disguise the fact their mouths were nowhere near each other. lol
Only, here they're using slo-mo and gauzy filters and umbrellas to obscure and block the view. It's beyond absurd.
"Also, every guy is, you know...gay"Oh, really? I'll jot that down in my "First World Problems and Other Non-Issues…
The color of your skin is irrelevant to this discussion or my use of the "back of the bus" comparison, but nice try.
Hmmm...could you quote me where I told anyone "what type of art they can or can't be drawn to?" I'll wait while you look for that. You go ahead and watch whatever you want. No one's stopping you, so quit pretending anyone's even trying. Or are your feelings so delicate that my opinions on Chinese gay-bait garbage will intimidate you into not watching?
Please also quote me where I said anything about urging gay people to march in front of China's government buildings... you're flailing around, trying to misdirect the conversation. I promise you it's not working.
You go ahead and lower your standards for Chinese gay bait shows and watch to your heart's content. That will liberate Chinese gay folks in no time. Your suggestion that China's creatives will all be out of work if gay-bait dramas don't get made is absurd. There is plenty of motion picture and television work in China that doesn't produce shows that deliberately erase gay people from their own stories.
Furthermore, Chinese people who want to see gay content have no choice, but what's YOUR excuse? Why are YOU watching censored shit? It makes no sense. Do you feel that adding your one set of eyes to the audience for The Untamed (which is extremely tamed) will tip the scales and ensure ever-more open and gayer content in China? lol You have a savior complex. No one there cares if you watch or not.
The fact that you refer to Chinese Gay Bait as "queer art" shows how low your standards have sunk for gay-themed art in general. There IS no gay art publicly made in China. You insist on seeing what's not there; the Chinese Emperor's New, Big, Gay Clothes. He's stark naked.
The old "oh golly, you don't respect other opinions, I have a right to opinions, no one can criticize my opinions, blah blah blah" thing. There's a lot of that on MDL from people who can't back up their opinions with valid arguments. I respect your right to HAVE an opinion but I don't have to respect the opinions you have.
And oh by the way, YOU are "disrespecting" my opinions and perspectives because you disagree with me. Thus, I will be reporting you to MDL admins.
I'm willing to be wrong, but I don't think I am: Please send links to vids of all those hot gay kisses in "Stay With Me." lol I'm pretty sure I would have noticed those. Note: Kisses that are vaguely implied, but not shown don't count.
Pretty much similar to master slaveWere they trying to show that gay people have no self respect, both the leads…
Lots of people, gay and straight, lack self-respect, but this show does seem to have a lot of that.
I was kidding about the brother, BUT...some of the things Tae Yi has said sound more about romantic love than brotherly affection. Plus, the way his brother's face morphed into the face of his new, little crush...I mean, come on...that's kind of...creepy in an incest-ish way. Actually, it would liven things up if it went that way but a show that won't even show two guys in a real kiss is unlikely to feature incest as a plot element.
This got much more interesting upon discovering that Tae Yi was in love with his blood brother, and even more and more interesting when Blue Hair was revealed to be in love with the evil Joo Ha, who DOES have the best lips in this show, so I don't blame him.
That poor girl with the ears.
I wish they'd have cast someone as Se Heon who has a little meat on his bones. Making the bottom always frail and wispy is yet another cliche of which this show is fond. SH does stand up for himself, at least. Otherwise, this would be giving Secret Crush On You vibes, with SH as just another helpless bottom. Speaking of which, that's TWO major slip/fall/catches in four episodes, between the same characters. Lame.
I'm liking the twistedness of Blue Hair's crush on JH, who is such a mean douche and likes to slug him around. Master/Slave relationship by episode 6?
1 
1 
Yes, SUICIDE, not "extreme choice" or "unhappy departure to be a star in the sky."
I can't even with Korean scandal culture anymore.
How long until the next suicide...?
Korean scandal-mongers will seemingly never stop slinging unverified mud and shit until the next suicide. After which they'll start it up again.
Wow. I have never done a 180-degree turn on my opinion of a BL as hardcore as the one I did on this show. I hated most everyone and everything about the first episode, but by the last I was almost entirely won over. I would recommend this to anyone. Which doesn't change my firm position that drama or film or whatever, if a show takes more than an hour to even begin to rope me in, then something's wrong.
On the other hand, because I did keep watching, often for reasons as shallow as Jooha's lips and pecs, I got the thrill of that 180 degree turn, along with some genuinely moving moments, as well as some laughs too. There were too many lazy tropes and cliches, but at least the two blatant trip/fall/catch incidents were creatively executed.
I'm still debating exactly why Seoheon found it necessary to do what he did near the end after he learned all the background, so if anyone cares to enlighten me, I am open to suggestions. I have a theory, but it's pretty lame.
OK, one comment on each character, then the production as a whole:
Seheon: Power-twink bottom with sass and a backbone from the start. Bravo!
Taeyi: Brooding, mostly passive jerk to romantic hero. Bravo!
Doyoon, he of the blue-black tresses: Funny, sincere, kind and loving. Bravo!
Jooha: Pecs, lips, great acting skills. The actor made me believe Jooha's character arc. Bravo!
Taejoon: Best smile and dimples on a dead BL character. Bravo!
Sejin: His seeming lack of ANY guilt or remorse, right to the end, was creepy. Boo...
Seheon's dad: Asshole. Boo...
The teacher: Dull. Boo...
Production:
Too many gauzy filters, white face powder, and lip gloss.
The editing, which when combined with the actors' efforts, made the musical sequences entirely believable and, especially the final one, a treat for the eyes. It was lovely. I kept thinking of that awful Thai BL, 2gether, and how one of the two leads, who was supposed to be a great guitar player, was never shown doing anything much more than strumming the instrument and smirking.
I'm too lazy to research it: Who did the vocals for the final number? Love the voice.
Seheon's outfits were all two sizes too big in the traditional Korean BL tradition, but the white clown shoes in the final scene sealed the deal.
The progression of kisses from dead-fish to open-mouth, was genius.
The most moving scene in the entire series was Joo Ha coming clean to Dowoo in the hallway in...episode 7, I believe. I cried. He's a good actor.
All in all, I'm docking three points for wasting over an hour of time, then adding one and a half points back for making me do that 180, and for some truly touching and also funny scenes. The one near the end in which Doyoon kept catching our leads smooching, and everyone acted awkward, was hilarious.
Thus, we arrive at...
8.5/10 Recommended.
If you'd have told me, when I was about to drop this halfway through episode 1, that I would shed tears for Jahoo's pain and loneliness, I would have smacked you.
His pecs are life itself, even under a tee shirt.
Jahoo and Doyoon horsing around/flirting on a BB court is a beautiful thing.
A lot of pieces of paper and photographs conveniently falling out of books, but whatever...
Wow. This has gone from terrible to fairly good, clown-white powder and lip gloss aside.
WTF, an actual, honest-to-god, lips-to-lips kiss!
Seheon has turned out to be one of my fave BL wispy, willowy, little bottoms. He has sass and spunk, and has always stood up for himself, in contrast to what I expected from him based on his physique.
I lived for Doyoon's slo-mo, spinning-his-head-around to look at the camera shot, shimmering blue-black hair flying around his handsome face.
Glad to see Jooha's pillow lips back onscreen. It's the ever-so-slight up-turned corners of his mouth and the under bite that compound his lipuncular hotness. Plus, I'm guessing he rocks a nice bod. How shallow and looksist of me.
Taeyi may be the first BL character who looks hotter WITH glasses than without.
It was cool, the way Taeyi magically knew the song and played it flawlessly, despite not knowing what song it was and with no rehearsal.
This is the first music-based BL I've seen in which the characters actually seem to be playing the instruments they are written as playing. Nice editing. Well done.
I wish Doyoon and Se Heon would pair up. Doyoon is a sweetie.
Not usually a fan of bright hair dye colors, but Doyoon rocks that blue-black look, which in shadows hardly shows at all, but when light hits it just right, is beautiful.
Junyun is the nicest guy in this show.
That teacher is worthless.
The psycho dad should be shot, but we all knew that was coming. I'm glad Seheon got the hell out after shredding the dad about his mom leaving.
The girl with the ears was wise to let her hair hang straight down while sitting on the swing.
I noticed a review above headlined, saying this show started great and went downhill. I feel the exact opposite. I almost dropped it after the first episode, but it has improved with each one since.
I totally hate the homophobic message these slo-mo, camouflaged, non-kisses send, but that issue aside, the umbrella one was quite artistically done.
Seheon, while looking at the photo: "If they are brothers, they do not look alike..." hmmm...
I missed Jooha's lips in this episode.
on edit: Now that I think about it some more, it's more like I occasionally wanted to "act like" a girl growing up, rather than "be" one. As I understand true transgender disphoria, that's not at all what I experienced. I never felt that I was in the wrong body, gender-wise.
I'm good at reading between lines when I watch cinema and dramas, but here the spaces I'm looking into are largely blank.
Actually, now that I think about it, I started more like three and a half years ago, which is quite a while in BL years, no?
Best lips: Plump and juicy.
Actually, I said jooha has the best lips in this show, not in the world; that would be Jonghae in "Semantic Error." :) But yeah, I do think Jooha has the best lips in this particular show.
Only, here they're using slo-mo and gauzy filters and umbrellas to obscure and block the view. It's beyond absurd.
Hmmm...could you quote me where I told anyone "what type of art they can or can't be drawn to?" I'll wait while you look for that. You go ahead and watch whatever you want. No one's stopping you, so quit pretending anyone's even trying. Or are your feelings so delicate that my opinions on Chinese gay-bait garbage will intimidate you into not watching?
Please also quote me where I said anything about urging gay people to march in front of China's government buildings... you're flailing around, trying to misdirect the conversation. I promise you it's not working.
You go ahead and lower your standards for Chinese gay bait shows and watch to your heart's content. That will liberate Chinese gay folks in no time. Your suggestion that China's creatives will all be out of work if gay-bait dramas don't get made is absurd. There is plenty of motion picture and television work in China that doesn't produce shows that deliberately erase gay people from their own stories.
Furthermore, Chinese people who want to see gay content have no choice, but what's YOUR excuse? Why are YOU watching censored shit? It makes no sense. Do you feel that adding your one set of eyes to the audience for The Untamed (which is extremely tamed) will tip the scales and ensure ever-more open and gayer content in China? lol You have a savior complex. No one there cares if you watch or not.
The fact that you refer to Chinese Gay Bait as "queer art" shows how low your standards have sunk for gay-themed art in general. There IS no gay art publicly made in China. You insist on seeing what's not there; the Chinese Emperor's New, Big, Gay Clothes. He's stark naked.
The old "oh golly, you don't respect other opinions, I have a right to opinions, no one can criticize my opinions, blah blah blah" thing. There's a lot of that on MDL from people who can't back up their opinions with valid arguments. I respect your right to HAVE an opinion but I don't have to respect the opinions you have.
And oh by the way, YOU are "disrespecting" my opinions and perspectives because you disagree with me. Thus, I will be reporting you to MDL admins.
I'm willing to be wrong, but I don't think I am: Please send links to vids of all those hot gay kisses in "Stay With Me." lol I'm pretty sure I would have noticed those. Note: Kisses that are vaguely implied, but not shown don't count.
I was kidding about the brother, BUT...some of the things Tae Yi has said sound more about romantic love than brotherly affection. Plus, the way his brother's face morphed into the face of his new, little crush...I mean, come on...that's kind of...creepy in an incest-ish way. Actually, it would liven things up if it went that way but a show that won't even show two guys in a real kiss is unlikely to feature incest as a plot element.
This got much more interesting upon discovering that Tae Yi was in love with his blood brother, and even more and more interesting when Blue Hair was revealed to be in love with the evil Joo Ha, who DOES have the best lips in this show, so I don't blame him.
That poor girl with the ears.
I wish they'd have cast someone as Se Heon who has a little meat on his bones. Making the bottom always frail and wispy is yet another cliche of which this show is fond. SH does stand up for himself, at least. Otherwise, this would be giving Secret Crush On You vibes, with SH as just another helpless bottom. Speaking of which, that's TWO major slip/fall/catches in four episodes, between the same characters. Lame.
I'm liking the twistedness of Blue Hair's crush on JH, who is such a mean douche and likes to slug him around. Master/Slave relationship by episode 6?