And Boo was like “ Sure babe but USE YOUR WORDS NOW. You got to ask for what you want WEI QIAN.”

Another great episode this week, and one that had some very welcome changes from the novel. I finished the book earlier this week and I liked it a lot; the bones of the narrative hold up very well so I'm confident this drama will stay solid as long as it doesn't stray too far from the major story beats.

Where it can and should stray however is in tone and characterization for Qian, which is something I think it's doing very well. One of the reasons I am grateful Taiwan has this adaptation is because I knew I could count on them to strip out most of the violent homophobia present in the original text (this is not a criticism of the book, as it is culturally appropriate there, but I jive much more with Taiwanese culture in this area). Qian in the book is all around much rougher and harsher and deeply homophobic in a way our show Qian is not.

And so this week we see Yuan in his tortured pining era, old enough now to understand both his sexuality and his feelings for Qian, while Qian seems to be just beginning to subconsciously clue in to some of the weird feelings he is having whenever he gets close to Yuan. He did not seem at all bothered to see the gay romance content in Yuan's room, but he was certainly curious to learn more about who he likes. I like also that they continue to hit the hurt/comfort beats hard; Qian needs a caretaker and Yuan wants the job.

One complaint about the English subtitles: Yuan has not yet ever called Qian by his name, despite what the translation claims. He is calling to him exclusively as "dage" or "ge" even as the subs use Qian's name. This is actually quite important--what he calls his brother matters in this story! I'm a little annoyed that this is being mistranslated because when the change comes, it will lose impact, so just a tip to listen for it.

Wang Yizhou (Nie Mingjue) the BOW USER!

哥，你知道那種心裡裝著一個人的感覺嗎？裝一天倒還好，你試試看一個月、一年、甚至是好幾年。我知道再刻骨銘心的感情也有時過境遷的一天啊，可是都已經過這麼久了，時間對我來說早就不算什麼。那個人已經成為我的一部分。

Ge, do you know how it feels to have someone in your heart? It's one thing to keep it for a day, but try a month, a year, or even years. I know that even the deepest feelings can change over time. But it's been so long. Time has changed nothing. That person has become a part of me.

the novel (chapter 44 of Da Ge by Priest):

有一個人，我喜歡他好幾年了，沒敢讓他知道，也沒敢讓任何人知道，每天……每天刻骨銘心一次——我知道你要說什麼，哥，你的論調跟我高中教導主任一模一樣，你就是想說，再刻骨銘心的感情，也會時過境遷的對吧？可是一個人始終是由過去堆積起來的，你讓誰獨一無二地住進你心裡過嗎？你試試就知道，心裡裝著他一個月，那一個月就是他的，裝他一年，那一整年就是他的，後來就算真的時過境遷了，又怎麼樣呢？他都已經成為我的一部分了。