talk me down

- admitted he had a problem

- sought professional help

- made armends with those he’s wronged

- took responsibility for the fledgling he abandoned

- helped daniel start a youtube channel and supported his career

- tried to prevent the apocalypse

the episode opens with a boy beaten and broken (possibly dead?) lying stomach down on a bed, naked, after having been clearly sexually used (and likely abused) by an uncaring tyrant. one who typically preys on younger men who need some kind of monetary help to find their footing in the big bad world of entertainment. formally known as A Sponsor. the episode opens to deathly actor and the man who caused it walking out.

and then to parallel this with sun and jay. jay who is also an older man that could be sun’s sponsor (that’s how it looks to the outside and what sun was initially after anyway). sun who was also stomach down, naked, on the bed looking sexually satisfied. but this time jay is leaning over him a look of absolute care and (dare i say) love in his eyes as he actively engages in those acts of pleasure with sun.

this juxtaposition between what different versions of power look like under the “same” umbrella.

A special thanks to all of the amazing gif makers who have been working on this show.

I'm greatly enjoying this search for truth, and I'm enamored with Taeseon's tsundere bite...

And the guileless nature of Lee Chaeha.

But beyond the endearing characters, this show has hit a lot of nostalgic buttons for me. Because while it thankfully has all of the trappings and tropes of a modern BL...

This show is using a ton of long-standing kdrama tropes. Scenes like this one....

Are immediately causing all kinds of older scenes, like this one from Coffee Prince, to flood in to my brain.

It feels like seeing old friends. (Note: Gifs from older shows I made myself.)

Even the setup of the relationship is nostalgic. Your parent (might have) killed my parent!

Like other fated childhood connections, it's a classic kdrama setup. When I realized that's where this story was going, I named three older shows with that setup before I blinked. And that list only got longer the more I thought about it...especially if you expand it to family members instead of just parents.

It's a delicious setup, because the fact that the leads share this tragic historical connection always causes angst. Tragedies involving family, particularly parents, carry heavy cultural weight.

The angst monster in me howled with delight when this popped up.

If their relationship wasn't always known to one (or both) of the leads, "the reveal" is a big deal, and typically a stumbling block for the relationship. Example - this scene from He Is Psychometric.

They've been investigating the truth about the fire that killed his parents, and he just found out her dad was the one arrested for it. He's incredibly upset and leaves her behind. Note - she insists he was framed, and...she became a cop. Sound somewhat familiar?

So while I saw some posts surprised that Lee Chaeha had such a strong reaction to the reveal, I was gleefully anticipating it.

And it hit me just right...like taking a sip from a perfectly brewed cup of tea. (Ehh...ok, I wouldn't have minded if we had a few more episodes with these characters to build even more depth, but the flavor was good.)

Even the hand gesture Taeseon used in this moment...

Is a hallmark of protecting your partner from things that will hurt them.

That gif is from the het show Come and Hug Me where his father DID brutally murder her parents and tried to kill her too. And maybe you guessed it...but he became a cop.

Long story short - we may often make fun of tropes and cliches, but they exist for a reason. When they are used well? We get to sit down and enjoy a really good show.

des: WRU, LBC, TT, KP, ITSAY, ATOTS

first of all, the fact that i can recognize all of these from abbreviations is telling: why r u?, love by chance, tharntype, kinnporsche, i told sunset about you, a tale of a thousand stars. they all feel classic and foundational to me, despite some varying quality, and that's probably bc we got into bl around the same time. my personal ranking would be itsay, atots, tt, kp, wru, lbc. tho kinnporsche i haven't seen in it's entirety (this is the only bl i didn't drop after a certain number of episodes, but rather skipped scenes, focusing on vegaspete and major plot occurrences). why r u? is such a product of covid it's hard to gauge apart from that, but still solid. in my head, tharntype is classic mame (positive) and love by chance is classic mame (negative) but they both have redeeming and uh unredeeming qualities

blue: to my star, i feel you linger in the air, ossan's love, eternal yesterday, I hear the sunspot, and kiseki

much less to say here because, of these, i've only seen kiseki: dear to me, and that at their recommendation (loved it, but blue is about the only person i know who's most invested in the main ship). these are also mostly from the years i wasn't watching much bl (late '22 - '24) and, well, i tend to think japanese bl aren't my vibe, but i was proven wrong recently with my personal weatherman, so i should probably give more of these a try. to my star has been on my list to get to for ages (which to my shore has, rather confusingly, more recently joined)

my list: i told sunset about you, we best love, tharntype, revenged love, khemjira

rating shows and books is a stressful experience for me, and i always feel like i got it wrong, so instead of going off my top favorite bl, i went mostly for those i would/have absolutely recommended to people outside of the bl sphere. for example, itsay has been recced to two of my siblings, multiple times (the episodes are too long he says), and i loved we best love so much, i separately forced my sister and my roommate to watch a few episodes with me. let's go through them one by one i guess

i told sunset about you: what is there to say about itsay? no really, it's just a masterpiece. cinematically, musically (there's a better word for that), in chemistry, tension, and story. a show i would and could recommend to anyone

we best love: it may not be apparent here, but taiwanese bl are so often my favorites, and we best love is perhaps the best of them. it's a simple story, really, and shorter than i usually prefer, but i was so in it. helps that YU is one of the most beautiful people in existence and shuyi fits all my hopes for a bratty lead. it's angsty, cute, and with, i would argue, one of the most solid second seasons we've seen. i'm still praying sam will come back to star in another bl (unknown gave me hope)

tharntype: tharntype was, along with color rush, my introduction to bl, and i wouldn't have it any other way. these two... i never even know how to describe or explain tharn and type, they both have such awful characteristics, and half the time i forget just how much crazy shit went down in this show but it's just, such definitive bl you know? (i'm sure you don't, if you haven't seen it, bc i'm being completely unintelligible). the second season was in many ways a dumpster fire, but it did give me leofiat, so can i really complain?

revenged love: a newer entry, but i really can't imagine coming to an understanding of where we're currently at with bl without at least seeing some of revenged love. another rare case where i was yapping about it so much my roommate started it, and was also near-immediately invested. perhaps even more rare in that i've already rewatched a number of episodes, and probably will do so again. it's so entertaining and humorous, sexy and even emotional, without being too drawn out (obviously some parts were rushed or arranged poorly in post-production, but there are a number of subplots/arcs, separate from the romance, which span multiple episodes in a way that kept me hooked). and of course, toxic snake poly!!

khemjira: i had a lot of trouble settling on these last two spots. it comes down to the fact that khemjira is, to me, the perfect execution of a modern bl. i truly watched this without finding a single complaint, pulling up a two hour episode and not looking away until it was through. the acting is phenomenal, the story purposeful, filming beautiful. normally i need some hint of toxicity or banter to pull me into a romance, but that wasn't necessary here. we have fully realized characters (including women!!) and convincing stakes. i also think it does represent a growing trend, within and beyond bl, of horror romance, which is a blessing to me