you pull me out of the dark and now it's light

Continuing the low-brain streak, here's what I watched in November:

TV finished

I finished my side distraction: the 24-ep shorty Starlit Bloom on viki. While most of it was okay, the ending was much worse than I'd expected, omg. The last third devolved into some crude psycho villain revenge plot and the ending was just missing completely. I haven't seen such a bad ending in a long time.

TV new (ongoing)

A friend recced The Mandate to me, a Thai BL set in the world of politics. I loved the first episode, it was well done. I really liked that it was basically impossible to tell that there's going to be a romance - the setup was thorough and fanservice-free. I was a bit disappointed by episode 2, because I couldn't quite follow the lead's change of heart. Apart from that, it was pretty good, too, and I think I'll continue it (although I haven't touched it in weeks, so... who knows). There are only 8 episodes total, and most fans seem to agree that the last two suck. I also don't know where to watch it legally.

I started Love at Night on viki, because I wanted to see if Liu Xueyi (the ML in A Moment But Forever) is any good at modern drama, but the drama itself is... mediocre. He's... also mediocre so far? Zhang Yuxi is his FL, and I really like her acting. His is... well. His mannerisms are pretty natural? I liked that about him in AMBF as well, but I'm not sure it's enough. But the story OMG the story is so bad. I was delighted to see an actress (Zhao Yuanyuan) from When A Snail Falls in Love as the 2FL, and in true cdrama fashion she looks not a day older than she did in 2016. I am still watching this (now on ep 14 of 30) and still finding it preposterous. But my brain is gone (I blame work), so silly things are all I can watch right now. Oh, and I learned that Liu Xueyi played Xiao Hua in TLT2 (which I haven't seen).

Aaaand I just finished the first ep of Heated Rivalry, the hockey rpf romance and really like it so far. (It's on HBO Max.) Interesting characters, good acting, quite a lot of sex scenes. I hope I can manage to stick with it, considering the no brain situation - and the fact that I'll have to wait a week for each episode. (Although I usually really like that, so it should be fine, and there are only 6 eps total.) I might read the book, too.

TV continued

I am going slowly, very slowly, through The Long Ballad, and the romance there has gotten a fine bolstering. Nothing physical or intimate, but an actual confession of feelings and lots of smiles between the leads. I'll take it! Some of the conflicts sound like they should not be resolvable, but somehow they always turn them around before bridges are burned. The covid analogies were very O_O, and while the ML had nothing much to do while the FL went off to solve yet another crisis, I still enjoyed it. There were hugs and smiles! Then came ep 40 (of 49), and I really really loved it. Okay, I ranted very much at the screen for them not giving us a kiss (when they had no problems letting the fricking 3rd couple kiss in close-up and slomo, ugh). I suspect Wu Lei's contract was to blame, nothing else makes sense. There haven't been any scenes at all of the second couple in a while, they'll probably hog some of the remaining ep screentime. I'll find out soon, but I'm going through it extremely slowly now because I don't want it to end. Still my absolute fave show right now.

I also stalled on A Moment But Forever with five eps left (of 36). It was kind of meandering along for a few eps there, I doubted whether they'd ever get together, but the main couple were sweet enough for me to keep enjoying it. I also still enjoy the silly xianxia magic, and the steampunk craftsmanship. They even had a surprise baby acquisition, lol, but he grew up fast, phew for fantasy worlds! It then got a bit tense when the ML and FL realized they're not playing with open cards and may in fact be on opposite sides, but then they resolved their problems (or did they?) and the romance materialized! Is that good or bad? Will they ruin it in the remaining five episodes? I'll find out!

TV (dropped)

I started Love's Ambition, mostly despite myself. It's also a relatively tense modern romance drama starring William Chen and Zhao Lusi - her last one to date. Who knows if she'll make any more dramas. The first episode sets her up as something of a con artist, faking her way into a marriage with the man of her dreams. I'm thinking what could save it would be if he'll turn out to be just as fake as she is, but it's way too early to tell. I only watched two eps and then stopped, because it wasn't gripping me. I don't think I want to invest my time into 30+ eps (unless I develop a Zhao Lusi craving).

Book

I know books don't really belong here, but I'm only reading this because of Wu Lei, so I'll just put it here anyway:

In another attempt to do *anything* Wu Lei-related, I am trying to read Jian Lai, variously translated as Unsheathed, Sword of Coming, and The One. Wu Lei just started filming the cdrama adaptation: shooting will take five months, and the drama likely won't be released until 2027. The novel is very wuxia cultivation-heavy, a paragon of the genre, and very much not my thing. :D What am I doing? /o\ I made it up to chapter 50 so far, and am trying to at least finish the first book (84 chapters), which just barely sets up the story of 1500 chapters and counting. You can read a (good!) English translation here: https://www.wuxiaworld.com/novel/unsheathed/



Things I looked at but did not really pick up (yet) :

Maxton Hall season 2 came out in November, but I'm a bit hesitant because the lead actor said that it was pretty dark and he had a hard time filming it. I actually made it about ten minutes in before it got too tense for my current state. Maybe later.