3
5
jpny01
So much potential and so frustrating
This is brilliantly acted and directed, and the writing is in detail much better than the average BL - but the story as a whole was tedious.
When you have characters kiss in the 2nd episode, you can't just slam on the brakes for 10 more episodes and then have nothing happen. The development of their relationship is beautifully done - slow burn at it's best - but it reaches a peak far before the end and then goes nowhere after that. Not slow burn - no burn, because to keep the relatioinship at a steady level they couldn't continue to show them quietly doing loving things to each other and so we didn't get any more of those beautiful moments.
Sheng Wang does what he does to avoid being turned on by the way Jiang Tian drinks water? After the enormous amount of focus on studies - and I mean ENORMOUS, there was no setup at all for him to do something that drastic. OK, so you're turned on. Go whack off and get it out of your system. Obviously there were deeper issues behind it, but those needed to be explored and not handwaved away with the sexy-water-drinking shorthand.
The could have entirely deleted the tiresome and totally unnecessary secondary couple plot and instead devoted that to Sheng Wang's descent into self-denial.
There's a scene a few eps before that where Sheng Wang explicitly names himself as Jiang Tian's home, which was one of the best scenes in the series and would have been the perfect place to end it. But unless you have a second season confirmed, then it's beyond frustrating to have devoted 12 weeks and hours to this to get absolutely nothing.
To be honest, what kept me from dropping the series was Andy Chen as their friend Gao Tian Yang, who I found enthralling. So hot and such a well-drawn and acted character.
Would I recommend it? No. Not unless a second season does come out and does resolve all the unresolved issues, which is ALL the issues since none of them at all are resolved. It doesn't sound to me like a second season is likely, and all those people, who appear to be most of the MDL audience, can blame themselves for watching pirated copies of this. That is stealing and it greatly diminishes the chances of BLs being made, so hang your heads in shame.
When you have characters kiss in the 2nd episode, you can't just slam on the brakes for 10 more episodes and then have nothing happen. The development of their relationship is beautifully done - slow burn at it's best - but it reaches a peak far before the end and then goes nowhere after that. Not slow burn - no burn, because to keep the relatioinship at a steady level they couldn't continue to show them quietly doing loving things to each other and so we didn't get any more of those beautiful moments.
Sheng Wang does what he does to avoid being turned on by the way Jiang Tian drinks water? After the enormous amount of focus on studies - and I mean ENORMOUS, there was no setup at all for him to do something that drastic. OK, so you're turned on. Go whack off and get it out of your system. Obviously there were deeper issues behind it, but those needed to be explored and not handwaved away with the sexy-water-drinking shorthand.
The could have entirely deleted the tiresome and totally unnecessary secondary couple plot and instead devoted that to Sheng Wang's descent into self-denial.
There's a scene a few eps before that where Sheng Wang explicitly names himself as Jiang Tian's home, which was one of the best scenes in the series and would have been the perfect place to end it. But unless you have a second season confirmed, then it's beyond frustrating to have devoted 12 weeks and hours to this to get absolutely nothing.
To be honest, what kept me from dropping the series was Andy Chen as their friend Gao Tian Yang, who I found enthralling. So hot and such a well-drawn and acted character.
Would I recommend it? No. Not unless a second season does come out and does resolve all the unresolved issues, which is ALL the issues since none of them at all are resolved. It doesn't sound to me like a second season is likely, and all those people, who appear to be most of the MDL audience, can blame themselves for watching pirated copies of this. That is stealing and it greatly diminishes the chances of BLs being made, so hang your heads in shame.
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