damsel in a dress

I see what you mean, (and I have to admit I haven't finished the drama yet, so my feeling on this is not fully informed) - but looking at the get go: 'he thinks usefulness = love' and 'wanting to be useful to his old and new families' in a situation where he was already used beyond the scope of familial love - I have to consider that kind of thinking highly problematic. LuQing treats him 'sort of' kindly before XiaoFan starts out on his 'soup-odyssee' and I explicitly recall LuQing on several occasions telling him to go study and improve himself (and thus his lot) rather than spending time on a task that no-one needed or asked for (they already have a house keeper- I remember thinking 'is he trying to put her out of a job'?). And as he lays himself open to mockery time and again, how misguided does one's perception of usefulness have to be to continue?
Finally, I don't think anyone wants him to be useful - they are a rich upper class family, they have no need for his kind of usefullness whatever it may be. At the beginning he is treated as inferior in position but neutral when it comes to his personal development by the Bei's. But as he maneuvers himself into subservience, people exploit him just because they can (human nature is a bitch that way) - So I agree with the second part of your analysis - that he develops awareness for his lack of dignity and tries to patch it back in his own clumsy way.
So in essence, I maintain that I cannot understand and more imporantly cannot like his character, but the journey he will undertake is certainy worthwhile.

You make a good point. And I see from some of the other comments that the subtext and similies used in the script are meaningful and give a lot of depth to their interaction beyond what is actually said. This is artfully done and requires skill to write and interpret and act and thus is like a treasure hunt for us - the audience. But, from my point of view, no matter how layered the characters and the conversations, what I see, is a highly dysfunctional personality in Xiao Fan. I can see that all these interpretations match his character and the way he behaves, but his motives continue to elude me. I cannot grasp why he acts the way he does and this is one of the main lacking points of the story for me. I saw the interpretations of Lu Qing's character as well and those give me a better picture of the person and his thoughts. I don't like him much for it, but how he thinks is more tangible to me. I can watch a drama about an unlikeable person I can understand more than about a 'good' character who I cannot fathom the behaviour of.

*nod nod* congee is the food equivalent of sobstory. XD
Making congee doesn't even require skill anymore. Xiao Fan really puts in all the effort *sarcasm*

Half-way through: this is probably much deeper than I am giving it credit for (or can see at this stage), but if Xiao Fan talks about soup one more time, I will scream.
I get it's his way to show devotion, but it's too servile. And not the kind a good dom could have use for. But the egotistical-kind. Regardless of whether Lu Qing wants soup or not- Xiao Fan never bothers to ask- soup is what he must have. It makes me sick.
He has no ambition, fine, not everyone does, but he doesn't even want to be the best version of himself. He just wants to make soup. Or rather, he wants to be loved for offering his devotion-soup to someone who never asked for it.
This is me, totally disappointed again, because I expected powerplay and got a sobstory.
Pls someone edit the summary, because 'forced into the role of his brother-in-law's lover' is really not what happens.

You are right! I meant irrelevant to the collapse of Miyu's marriage.

Hey look. It's that Omegaverse-drama everyone is pretending not to watch and then either hate-watches or guilty-pleasure-watches.

when it was first announced I was like 'oh hey Oat/Boat's new p*** is coming out' :D. And I truly pity them because somewhere during My stubborn it became obvious that they would have a hard time to ever film anything with their pants on ever again.

It's campy. The bed scenes were undignified for the actors: so much nipple zoom is unbearable to watch. If I look at at man's chest, I'd like to do it because the body is telling a story and not because I feel the director may later give me a quiz about how many nipples the actor has.
The plot is typical ABO - I didn't expect much. There are ABO stories out there delving into legal rammifications of forced bonding, the oppression of Omegas and restrictions placed on Alpha dominance in mixed human-ABO society. But none of this was picked up on here. Instead I see an Alpha crying on his mother's lap. And let's not mention the gaping plot holes. It's (probably) fine to capitalise on the hornies out there, but has the writing team not asked themselves even the most basic questions of cohesion and plausibility?

This drama has so many great things to recommend it. The intensity, the chemistry, the hate, the passion, but what made me (personally) so happy was that: they had sex when Chaeha was clearly flat out wasted and no-one asked "do you know who I am?"

Let's be honest- whether or not he covered up the panty-incident, is really irrelevant. Looking at the ensuing drama LadyNo2 would have wrecked that marriage either way. I actually kinda enjoyed that everyone was mostly unlikeable. It's a nice change from JackieSue characters and Prince Charmings. I mean, I hated ladyNo2 just like everyone else did, but the way things turned out for her- that was kinda deep and not in a 'you got what you deserved'-way. FL was a bit too self righteous and too successful making expensive friends, if you know what I mean. ML was an ass, except when he wanted to be nice. Everyone had zero chemistry except the cook friend and the finance guy. I would watch a drama about those two. I skiped through a lot of the middle drama, nearly dropped the whole thing when I saw the kiss scene but somehow made it to the end.

You mean we should all start using objective criteria to rate shows? ... the idealism of that thought is truly inspiring! ❤️

One31 has a record off hit and miss BL. I was looking forward to this as production and thrill-intensity looked very decent in the trailer but, then there was the random jacuzzi scene in minute 6. If you are in doubt about the plot quality of a series then 'abs before ep 3' (that's what I call it) are never a good sign. I mean, like any BL fangirl, I don't mind abs. They are nice abs. Here, too- but random abs - soapy or otherwise - ... nope. Not buying.

I hate myself. 3 minutes? That's even less than last week. No scene with both of them even in the same room. Director are you kidding me? Would it have killed you to make their story progress an inch? If I extrapolate you have about 6 minutes left to make Wenlang realise&verbalise his feelings, find out about GaoTu, go off his rocker about the broom cupboard-incident and swear eternal fielty. That is just going to be a car wreck. Why not take another 20mins or so from HuaYong's plot who could easily spare this?

Every time I finish an episode to wonder 'where is this "feral filth" everyone one is moralising about?' and then I come to this comment section... 'Ah~ there it is'

When everything is picture perfect in one popcorn clip and you are already heartily fed up knowing that in the next part (*cough cough* 3/4 *cough cough*) shit will hit the fan. It's so sadly predictable I really don't even want to watch anymore...

And all I can think is: No-one's uniform ever fit as snugly as Inspector M's did.

Is it me or does this feel like the final 4 eps of a gmmtv drama? What are they going to do for another 10eps if they keep up this pacing?
Ps. How can you end a Shakespeare tale on a kiss? (700 yo Spoiler) Romeo dies. They both die.

Come what may, in my mind, Great will forever be Inspector M, whose uniform was so tight his buttons earned a salary for their job.

Seriously, this made me crack up so hard. ♥️
I mean: the staircase of looooove ~~~

I want to like Tam, I really do. And I want to think he moves the earth for Phi. But looking at it objectively, he behaves more like a supporitve friend. They find a co-producer because Yong hires her. They find a camera women because she wants to support Phi (not because of anything Tam did), he doesn't even come up with a show theme by himself that fits Phi and brings out his best side. what about him screams 'successful producer'?
Mediation means looking at what either side wants. But he does not take into consideration what the team wants (maybe an apology) and then trying to get that done. when they don't have funds he wants to spend his own money? Producers go and raise funds. To be honest I am impressed the Good News pays him.
'I tried nothing and I am all out of ideas' - is really not a professional attitude. If saying 'pretty please' is sufficient to make one a successful producer I could try having a shot... sorry the passive-agressive bitching was uncalled for. It just makes me so angry that (from my perspective) there is so much lost potential in the character.

Yes, my point exactly...

The role of Tawan is sadly not fleshed-out. He does nothing a professional producer should do, instead alternating between mopey and cheeky (read: inappropriately handsy) and simply standing around like a potted plant. If they had given Tawan more spine / maturity letting him actually help Phi to turn his character around through a reality check that would have been nicer. why neglect a major role like that?
And what is the use of the little fan girl? She adds nothing to the story - seems he sole purpose is to distract from the fact that there is total lack of substantial plot between Phi & Tawan in the 'now' timeline (ps. I can do my own squeeling off-screen, no need for an on-screen squeeler to cue me in)