#eboni tag

[tanrak]

MJ! You have to have at least 5k followers! That's my guess!

eboni 🥺 it’s honestly an honor that you think that!

thank you so much 💕

[liyazaki]

Hi Mor!!!!!! I hope you're doing well! Quick question! Where can your girl watch Lucky My Love!?

EBONI- how the hell are you?! hope you're having a spooktacular Halloween 🎃🦇👻

Saturdays on YT at 8:11AM EST! they wanted to make a standard-length season with longer episodes, but they're operating on such a tiny budget, they could only afford five 20 minute episodes plus a special (ep. 1 just dropped this past Saturday).

I'm hoping it gets a TON of love (making a second season a possibility) because those girls' chemistry already? insanity 🔥

[attentionateasesoilder]

Something cute

Something nice

Something new

[tanrak]

Hi MJ! I hope you're doing well! I'm rewatching some of my fave eps of WOH so naturally I thought about you! And I was thinking maybe Zishu calls Kexing 'Lao Wen' because Kexing talks like an old man. You know in book quotes and riddles and rhymes. I feel like we talked about this but I don't remember...

hi eboni!!! i’m doing well! hope you are too!!

ohhh you’re rewatching woh and thought of me??? 🥺🥺🥺 that’s an honor! thank you so much!!! ❤️💙

omg yeah, i think we’ve talked about this before but it’s always a good time to talk about it again akdkkskdks

but basically i do agree with you! it definitely started as teasing because wkx talks like an ancient person. and he also behaves like one most of the time because of how fast he had to grow up in the ghost valley and raising gu xiang all by himself. he’s got that Single Dad™️ vibe to him

it’s only when he’s with zzs that he allows himself to be more playful because zzs brings out that childlike joy from when they first met as kids. wkx wishes to be that person again but his speech pattern and years in hell still give him away 😭😭😭

[liyazaki]

MOR! My beloved. I can always expect the truth from you. Overall thoughts on Between Us? I know the final ep was not your fave but how about the series? What would you want to keep? What would you want to change?

Eboni, my darling- hoo, boy. you're about to get way more than you bargained for, but I got some Thoughts™️ & some Things™️ to say.

disclaimer: Between Us was a sweet, serviceable, inoffensive show. I mostly enjoyed watching it & I loved being back in the UWMA universe, however tangentially.

speaking to the collective “you” here: if you loved the show from start to finish, I'm sincerely happy for you! if it'll lessen your BU fandom experience to read critiques- which is valid & completely understandable- click away. I swear I'm not trying to rain on your parade (or argue with anyone, which I won't be- period).

also, let's check ourselves: this is a show. it's not that serious- it couldn't be less serious, actually. sometimes I just like to go off the analytical deep end...it's a good time for a nerd like me. this is my house (my blog) & I'm just having fun, throwing digital paint around.

with all that out of the way, let's jump into it.

UWMA set an extremely high narrative standard. we knew from scene one the writers weren't messing around. that opening is burned into my memory forever.

from compelling flashbacks, to multiple couples that had something for everyone, to little plot details weaved in from the beginning that only made sense later- they knew exactly what story they were trying to tell & they told it in a big way. it was tightly constructed, cleanly delivered and hit all the right notes for me personally.

UWMA is a tough act to follow. in the end, it felt like Between Us barely tried. to quote an MDL reviewer (before the finale even aired): in with a bang, out with a whimper.

step one of any good story is solid character development. it's what draws us in, making & keeping us emotionally invested. we have to like these characters- and know enough about them- in order to care. that- and a good, solid plot- is what sustains our attention.

in a pretty atypical way, Between Us had serious emotional fan investment long before it had basically any character development (thanks to BounPrem's chemistry, IMO).

Win and Team had roughly 31 minutes of total screentime in UWMA, but you'd have never known it from the fever-pitch fandom support years before its release. we didn't have much real character knowledge or depth to go off of, but many of us came into this show ravenous for more of their story (raises hand).

the show's over now and, disappointingly, I don't feel like I learned much about either Win or Team that I didn't already know. we did see them struggle- Team with his guilt and insecurities; Win with his vague intimacy aversion and self worth issues.

Team and Win had plenty of things between (heh) the two of them to overcome- so what went wrong?

for me, Between Us suffered from a tragic case of barely-scratching-the-surface character development (there was so much there to play with narratively & yet- sigh), paired with serious flaws in the rising action.

every single story in existence uses rising action. to quote Henry of The Closer Look, a media analyst I like: "rising action is basically narrative tension. it's the way the conflict builds as the story goes along."

when a story utilizes rising action effectively, the audience ends up feeling almost elated by the end. it's almost like we actually went on the same journey as the characters, and we now get to bask alongside them in just how far they've come. we want to see characters we care for improve, persevere. overcome, conquer.

when rising action is handled correctly, the plot progression looks something like this.

via Henry's excellent analysis on why TLOU2 divided its fandom so thoroughly

Between Us had tension, it had conflict- but it looked something like this (I'd add way more hills, personally).

"what you're seeing here is an abomination of story structure." hey- Henry said it; not me.

the conflicts went up and down throughout the story. Team internally spirals; Win does something sweet and pulls him out of it. everything seems fine; Win pulls back.

rinse, wash, repeat in an endless cycle, made worse by the fact that they struggled with- and apparently overcame- the same. exact. issues, over and over, the entire time.

conflicts that seemed to be resolved came back exactly as they were, sometimes multiple times in a single episode. by episode 7 or so, it was getting tedious. by the end, I was just bummed.

for me, watching Between Us was going around in circles, hoping we were working towards some actually-important climax that never came. and I wanted to believe we were going somewhere, right up until the bitter beige-on-beige end.

there were no scenes that actually made me hold my breath, ala Bad Buddy’s confession-of-legends on the rooftop. no repeating themes, masterfully culminating in the finale (running up the cape in ITSAY). Between Us left me with an itch for depth and impact that only fan fics can scratch at this point (bless you writers).

yeah, Win and Team ended up together- of course they did. I don't think anyone had any doubts they would eventually. but standing at the finish line, do I care that they ended up together?

I hate to say it, but- not really. they didn't give me enough to make it feel meaningful- like it actually meant something. it just- is. yay? I guess?

this post was brutal enough, but to answer your question about what I'd keep & what I'd change? it's hard to pick when the whole thing just felt like special episodes (filled with lots of cute, sweet moments, to be fair) with an enormous dash of missed opportunity.

all in all, I don't regret watching but it's a universe I'll only be returning to via fan fic fixes- and UWMA, my forever top 3 BL beloved.

[liyazaki]

MOR! THIS GIF RIGHT HERE? IDK WHY! BUT SUDDENLY IT'S ATTACKING ME! Honestly...the entire gifset has ruined me until further notice. I hope you take this as the compliment it's meant to be!💖

I'll tell you why: Win is unleashed here.

the way his lips part on the inhale as he leans in, eyes constantly tracking, head tilting like Team has an actual magnetic pull?

call it wishful thinking, but look at how quickly Team's shoulders roll forward as the t-shirt comes off. how Win's arms are moving right along with the motion- like he's using it to get Team over to him as quickly as possible.

that man would devour Team whole if he could.

[liyazaki]

Hey Mor! Did you answer #4 yet?

hey hey, Eboni- nope & ohhhh Lord, do I have an answer for you 😂

4. most ridiculous plot

Rainbow Prince- oh, Rainbow Prince. you had me cringing harder than I've ever cringed, until I realized the cringe was intentional & then things got real. and by real, I mean @flukenatouch was getting live reaction scream-laughing-till-I-was-actually-crying voice memos at decibels I didn't know I could reach.

every episode reached new levels of BL camp I can't even describe, but here are some highlights:

drag queens singing an original song about searching for the perfect top

a guy sings a lament about being imprisoned by his evil father & he grabs the prison bars dramatically...but the actor is visibly holding back because the "bars" are actually just a garden gate, living on a prayer & ready to fall over at any second

seductive banana eating

the most infamous musical number- I'll never be the same, it was so ridiculously unhinged- was about a dog. just cause. because they really, really loved that dog. fun game: say the words "Chuk Chuk" to anyone who's seen RP, sit back & watch the reactions

royal bodyguards who do anything but body guard

hardcore kidnapping & "fight" sequences

logic just generally being defied/ignored at every glorious turn

if you're in the mood to laugh your ass off & get a boppy little soundtrack stuck in your head forever, I highly recommend.

drama asks

[liyazaki]

Hello Mor! Just dropping by to say I look forward to your Gameboys 2 gifs...when you ease out of VegasPete mode that is lol.

aww, thank you Eboni 🥺 I can’t wait to finally watch the damn thing…ANY day now, Gaga.

oh right, yeah- totally! easing out of VegasPete. that’s- that’s something I’m capable of doing. no problem, just- a breeze, really. could do it in my sleep. doing it RIGHT now, actually. *yawns*

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[mutes the playlist; minimizes 309 AO3 tabs; stealthily nudges the shrine door closed]