based on your expansive knowledge of anything BL, I want to know if there are characters that you think would be perfect for one another, in a crossover sense type of thing. I am itching for an Ae x Tutor content so that pushed me to ask around for people's crossover pairings.
So yeah basically I just wanna know if you have any BL crossover pairings that you wanna see interact one way or another and maybe what kind of plotline you want for them. Thank you!
Oooooo, character pairings?
That is too hard because I don't like to split up HEA couples.
Can I do actor pairings instead?
Crazy BL Actor Pairing I'd Love to See
Some of these are gonna piss people off, but that's OKAY.
Also, I really want to read other peoples takes on this, so if you post something similar, tag my ass, okay?
Sam & Saint
Look I want the two best actors in BL on screen together. I honestly DO NOT CARE in what. But I'm going for something international and heavy plot, perhaps spy/hacker (suspense version of jock/nerd). Saint would play the spy and Sam the hacker who ends up having to back him up and extract him at some point. No seme/uke dynamic. Lots of separation tension.
THAI PAIRS
Tul & Perth
Stick with me here. I really would love to see Tul play a seme role, I think he'd have a lot of fun. And I want to see Perth play an uke role and think he'd be great in that as well. They both have very mellow soft personalities and a mature acting style, so I'd like something with high domesticity and a small cast. So perhaps the Thai version of Mr Cinderella?
Tay & Gun
Why the hell not? They're already cute together as friends and it'd be fun. Not sure what would suit them though.
Kao & Aun
I like the contrast with these two. Kao has such a sternness to his screen presence and Aun has such a gentleness. I’d want to see them in something that plays into that, so how about the Thai version of To My Star or You Are Ma Boy? Where the basic concept (celebrity meets and falls hard for chef) is taken and actually treated like a proper story over a longer series. Lots of family drama and serious coming out angst.
Bright & Heart
Look I would like to see Bright in a BL without Tine, sorry all. I want to see him play off a softer younger actor, like Heart. Honestly, I’d really like them to do the trope we never get in BL which is: best friend’s younger brother. Solid family drama, home for the holidays style? Grew up next door to each other. Younger gay boy has had crush on older one forever, finally finds out that older boy is bi, that kind of thing.
OUTSIDE THAILAND
Miyazawa Hio & Yagi Yusei
Look maybe this is just because they are both so gorgeous, but I just want them in some more fucked up high drama, beautifully filmed Japanese cinematic folderol. How about like super pining and ultra angst rival corporations? A real good version of Same Difference?
Lee Sang & Choi Jae Hyun
I want a pinging winsome-off. I think these two need a complicated story where everything is mutual but they’ve been separated by their families and friends etc... They could do a Korean ultra soft tear jerker version of Bad Buddy. That’d be fun.
Wayne Song & Duke Wu
Don’t ask, I have no idea why these two, I just love them both and I want to see them in a different (less seme/uke) pairing. It should be something hard fought and very messy and right in the HIStory franchise wheelhouse but with an HEA.
Okay, those are my picks.
I did do something like this before, for existing pairs:
MY TOP 10 BL PAIRS + What They Should Play Next
Thai BL Actors - Who Would I Love to See Together but It'll "never happen"
Warning: Potential Spoiler for POSE Season 2. I’m not sure if it’s been streaming globally yet, but I mention the death of a character.
I fell in love with the BL drama HIStory this past August. It was after coming across a video on twitter of two men embracing, kissing and both breaking down in tears on the floor of a lavish, minimalistic, bedroom. After a bit of digging in the replies, I learned the name of the show, History3: Trapped. One google later, I’m on VIKI and I find the entire first half-season which had just wrapped up two months prior. The rest of that month was spent binging it and the first 2 seasons (and The Untamed). This week the second half of the beloved drama’s third season which has been hailed the best BL drama of 2019, possibly all-time, ended with a thud on the 18th. Prior to this week it had a solid score of 9.5 on MyDramaLive where it now sits at 8.5. (Rating seems to be falling slightly every 2-3 days, now sits at 8.4.) This season’s love story focused on the story between Yu Xi Gu, an orphan, loner, and presumptive valedictorian of Zenren High and Xiang Hao Ting, the carefree Mr. popular of the school. The show also follows a side couple, HaoTing’s best friend Sun Bo Xiang and Xi Gu’s boss, Lu Zhi Gang. This season focused on the blossoming of these two couples’ relationships in such a way that most of us thought “Oh wow they’re going for full on happy go lucky in love” and while they met challenges like HaoTing’s homophobic parents and entrance exams they managed to fight for each other with their relationship getting stronger every time. That was until this week’s finale when we were served with a plate of Deadly Distant Finale with a side of Bury Your Gays and a glass Gay for You.
I initially thought that I was okay with the finale in a similar way to how I was with the finale of HIStory3: Trapped. That was bittersweet yet common sense. Shao Fei was a cop, Tang Yi a mob boss who shot an officer, he “had” to go to jail. Yet the more I thought about it I felt grieved, insulted rather by MODCs finale. So, like everyone else is doing on social media, I’m going to nitpick the hell out of it as part of my “healing process.” Also, while all of us are upset, unfortunately as in the summer, some fans are attacking the cast and crew. In the words of the master heart crusher, Shonda Rhimes, “Don’t tweet them your crazy,” or...whatever the weibo equivalent is. So, before the nitpicking, a caveat. My beef is with the lazy writing of episode 10, this entire cast was outstanding from Wayne and ChuanChih to the ZENREN homies to The Xiang Family just outstanding. Possibly the best History ensemble since H2:Crossing The Line. Thankfully, this season was not written the same writer of H3: Trapped that would have been way too much for me. (Although, word in the fandom is that MODCs screenwriter wasn’t fond of Trapped’s screenwriter, or rather her treatment for the finale? Alexa, Play Ironic by Alanis Morrisette.) Also in this review, I’m going to be using the VIKI episode count when referring to episodes so just 1-9. *wink*
On to the picking apart, if you watched all of episode 9 last week, you probably had the same horrified realization as I that our first intimate moment in episode 2 where HT saves XG from getting run over by a moped was foreshadowing for the finale. I don’t want to dissuade anyone from watching the series again, I will, but with the ending we got? It’s going to be difficult to revisit that scene again without resentment. It’s bad enough that XiGu, the main character up to this point, dies off screen in a way that nearly renders him worthless. Especially in the way that this story said “meet this soft, pitiful, malnourished and overworked boy; fall in love with him as he allows himself to fall in love and watch as that love makes him bloom.” I haven’t been this upset over a needless character death since, well, I can’t even say that I have made peace with Candy’s death in season 2 of POSE and that was 5 months ago.
I don’t know why the writer chose this ending that says “fighting tooth and nail for love is meaningless, yet the memories make it worthwhile?” I’m being petty, we know for HaoTing this love was not meaningless, XiGu’s death is not meaningless. If XiGu’s death was meaningless he wouldn’t have thrown himself into his undergrad studies and gotten into Stanford grad to continue XiGu’s dre…hold the hell on. Wait a damn minute, isn’t that…the dead love interest trope? So, in the POV of this finale, XiGu’s existence was to get HaoTing to mature and become a physicist? Remember, high school HaoTing didn’t really have a dream outside of being with XG 24/7. He became a better student and chose to become a Physics major solely to be with XG. During the show, this particular plot point had some fans noting, while sweet in theory, pinning your hopes and dreams on teenage love can be costly in real life.
Six years on, it seems the only people that have been affected by XiGu’s death are HaoTing and Lin Cai Chu, his ex-girlfriend? I understand in real life we tend to be moved on after this much time. Yet, there was no mention of Xi Gu from the crew or the family, even when he was visibly upset around them. You could count Mrs. Xiang when she spoke to Hao Ting while he was packing, but she never names him, only implies, and, I feel we had to dive for that meaning. Also, there was no significant interaction from Sun Bo or his sister Yong Ching, who were the closest with HT during this whole relationship. Yong Ching listens to her brother cry after their father tears XiGu and HaoTing apart and she plays messenger between them during their parting. However, in episode 10 she’s enamored with Phoebe’s style? Sun Bo is HaoTing’s brother in the battle for love they share everything about how their hearts feel about their guys. But when HT drunkenly pours out his grief after six years, and he kinda gives a “damn bro, that sucks” vibe for a good part of the talk? (Sidenote: Wayne acted his whole ass off in this episode, do you hear me?) In Trapped, ShaoFei knew everything about TangYi. When Chen Wen Hao and Sister Lizhen were revealed as TangYi’s parents he grieves with and comforts him back at home. (Bonus: if you watch that scene again you can see Jake break down with Chris when they pull apart.)
I’m not touching that damn doppleganger moment, why even do it? These decisions have been made, yet the way both XiGu’s death and HaoTing’s potential girlfriend Phoebe are hinted and implied at, yet never really engaged with or seen. Which, to me, signals fear on part of the writer. These are the decisions you felt comfortable making so why not go ahead and give it to us full out. Show us XiGu dying in HaoTing’s arms, HaoTing visiting his grave a la Trapped episode 10, or show us the moment when Phoebe meets the family. We could have gotten more thought or effort put into these plot twists on the part of the writer. We see the way HaoTing weeps over XiGu and how he just shrugs off the mention of Phoebe from his family. XiGu and HaoTing lined and called each other daily, Phoebe can’t even email to let him know where she is? Worse yet, HaoTing does not even attempt checking up on her? Is on a 13-hour flight or about to get on one? Don’t really know, damn sure don’t care.
I “got” that he doesn’t think the love of his life can ever be replaced, but we also know through his actions that he doesn’t love her either. Even though he’s introducing her to his family, I ask, does he even like her? Where’d they meet? How old is she? Why bring her up if you aren’t going to flesh the concept of Phoebe out? If you really wanted to give a love story closure “well” you should have done all of this several episodes ago by breaking them up or even condensing the love story and killing XG earlier on rather than handing us this death/new gf cocktail in ONE EPISODE. So many HIStorians thought that the boys would split because of HaoTing lying about the rent, and this makes perfect sense as it’s a clear violation of XiGu’s desire to be as self-reliant as possible, even in a relationship. That could have given rise to the first big argument and potential breakup.
At first, I thought that the most insulting thing about this finale was that we didn’t get a happy ever after, or at least a happy for now like Trapped. Happy endings are an unofficial mission statement of the series. However, the most insulting thing about this finale, for me, was that death became final. Three years in a series, where death has NEVER been final, or even an option for its leads at least since season 1. (Which HIStorians like, but don’t really talk about for good reason.) Now, you could argue about Trapped because Shao Fei does get shot twice and if any storyline was primed for death it was theirs. However, even with the action element, the Brooklyn Nine-Nine type comedy never gave it the gravity that MODC unknowingly had. We were presented the stakes, the murders of Old Tang/LiZhen, and knew the threat, Chen WenHao. In MODC, there was a quiet unease I had for most of my watch along the lines of, “this is perfect. I love it, but it’s too perfect.” The “challenges” XG/HT faced they pretty much steamrolled every time so I assumed they were in the clear until the last 5 minutes of episode 9.
H1: My Hero and H1: Obsessed both had plots that dealt with the boundary of death, making it impermanent “because love.” While we’re at it, let’s talk about Obsessed shall we. Even abusive ass, stalker ass Jiang Jing Teng, a man who by logic and common sense shouldn’t have, got a chance to love again. He got to say goodbye to, spread the ashes of, and reunite with Shao Yi Chen. After his beard, who it just so happened was also a witch/sorceress, brought back SYC from the dead, not once BUT TWICE?!? (First, from rebirth. Second, it was all a dream.) Yet YXG/SHT, the most loved couple since CTL, can’t get a similar twist of fate? Make it make sense, especially given that this is likely the final season for HIStory.
That hurt to type, but, it looks like History3 is going to be the final season for the series. Since we haven’t had any official announcement from CHOCO. And with 2 major backlashes, the first based on misunderstanding with Trapped and the second due to MODC lazy finale, it’s looking like a done deal until the CTL movie comes out at the end of 2020. In which case, everyone involved is going to have to be on their very best behavior from now on. In the hearts of some HIStorians, this finale has done irreparable damage to MODC itself and the HIStory franchise. Which is sad, considering that up to this point HIStory was getting better and better with each season only to decimate that growth in one episode.
*cue Mariah* I still believe that MODC is the best BL drama of 2019. It’s the best to come out of Taiwan since CTL. Most of that is due to the phenomenal work of the cast, and… yes, the initial episodes written by our screenwriter. Even with my frustrations with the finale, I was conflicted as I said on Wednesday night. I was very disappointed, but the performances I did get, specifically from Wayne, kept me engaged to the point that I still enjoyed it. Does it make up for the cruelty to Yu Xi Gu not at all, but the previous 9 episodes pretty much put it in my top 5 all-time early on. What now? I’m waiting for the dvd drop next year and reliving every blissful moment. Oh, and I’m rewatching episodes 5/6 for Christmas.
If you made it this far, thank you HIStorians, you all have made this surprise journey most certainly worth it.
Merry Christmas and Best Wishes to all of you in 2020,
Jo
PS: word from Mandarin speaking fans is that the novelization of this series has 2 endings. One happy and the one we saw on Wednesday which…*sigh* at least there’s a universe where the boys are happy. I also have some notes on issues I had with HaoTing’s family in episode 10 that I’ll likely touch on after Christmas.
PPS: I can’t believe we got blessed with multiple Duke Wu appearances!!!
If I am being honest, I only started this series because of Pete/Kao. I was following Tawan and Newwie on instagram and saw their teasers for DBK - so I naturally became curious and went digging, and found this.
This drama will satisfy all types of drama lovers I feel like. We have the love triangles, the contract relationship, the boy lovers, the reminiscent old love plots and so much more. Because of it’s variety, I felt like it is more appealing to a bigger crowd, and also the fact that their cast is huge. I only paid attention to 3 of story lines (Pete/Kao, Sanwan/R, and Sanson/Matt) and forwarded through everything else. There were a few moments where I was like “this is ridiculous” but all in all, it’s a good drama.
(NOTE: If you want Pete/Kao clips only, there are videos with all of their scenes for you! Bless the person who did this <3 )
HIStory 1
HIStory 1 consisted of three episodes, each episode has it’s own different story plot (therefore 3 different story lines).
Episode 1: My Hero 7/10
It was an interesting story line, originality was key as I haven’t seen any other dramas like it yet. With it being one episode and roughly an hour long, they really had to pack a lot of things in. They did a great job though as the story moved quite easily and smoothly. The Boy Love aspect of this...is there in a way but also not in a way. I mean, yes there are two male leads as the love interest, but a girl ghost is possessing him....so, yeah.
Episode 2: Stay Away From Me 8/10
With me being new to the BL world, I was very *alarmed* when I saw the step-brother trope. I was very curious, but also like, “what?” haha. Both male characters are very attractive and showed great chemistry with one another. Gives enough of everything; the feels, the tears, the laughter. Shout out to Meng Meng for making things happen <3 My favorite episode of the HIStory 1 series.
Episode 3: Obsessed 6/10
This episode....was by the far hardest one for me to like. I don’t know if it’s because I’m at a point in life where the adultness is kicking (yay me!) but I felt like this type of love....was on the brink of being abusive. I mean, the episode title is Obsessed...so it explains a lot, but there were MANY parts of this drama where I was like “Noooooooo. Mmmmm mmmmm. I don’t like it.” This episode did have the more passionate scenes in it though, so huge shout out to the actors for doing a great job on them. The one thing I did like was the plot of being reborn 9 years in the past, and trying not to fall in love with the man that broke your heart.
