#he really gets the character and I’ve never seen an actor who just loves their own character so much

[lilislegacy]

Okay, I’m so gonna get hate for this. And it will probably get about 4 notes. This is, by far, the most opinionated thing I have ever posted on here. If you can’t tolerate criticism towards Rick Riordan, the books, or the TV show, please keep scrolling. My goal is NOT to change your mind or start arguments.

I also want to preface this by saying that I love and respect Rick Riordan (even if I disagree with him on things and don’t like some of his choices) and fully acknowledge that he has the right to do whatever the hell he pleases with his own series. I also want to say that I love Annabeth Chase (both the book and tv show version) with my entire being and you will never find me being an Annabeth hater. She’s my girl.

We good? Okay cool. So here’s the thing: I’ve seen a lot of people on here saying things like “If you didn’t like the books, you just don’t know how to have fun,” and “The new book haters are just mad that they aren’t the target audience anymore,” and (my personal favorite) “Nothing in the books has changed, only the readers have.”

And while I see your points, and I respect you, allow me to show you something. Because of the 10 picture limit, I am only going to focus on one specific change: Annabeth’s view of Percy.

WOTTG: Annabeth is surprised to be comforted by Percy

Past Books: Percy is constantly comforting Annabeth

WOTTG: Annabeth is shocked when Percy is smart

Past Books: Annabeth often points out that Percy is intelligent

WOTTG: Annabeth thinks Percy can’t do anything on his own, and Rick communicates that Annabeth is always saving his ass

Past Books: Percy is ALWAYS watching her back, and saving her ass just as much (and Annabeth admits that)

I could put a hundred quotes in here. I could go on and on and on. But I can’t, and I won’t.

My problem with this new book is NOT that it is more goofy than serious. My problem is NOT that little things have changed. My problem is NOT that it’s just for fun. My problem is NOT that it’s much more childish. (And by the way, I’ve read PJO and HOO as an adult, so it’s not like I was a child when I read everything else and am now an adult reading the new ones.) I really did like and enjoy many parts of this book.

My problem is that the characters (especially Annabeth) have flat out changed—in bad ways—and we have no choice but to accept it as canon. My problem is that Rick, while trying to merge his books with his new TV show project, is changing the entire personalities and past behaviors/ tendencies of the characters.

I loved Chalice of the Gods. You know why? It was fun, goofy, and showed the characters that we know and love being happy and adorable. I strongly dislike Wrath of the Triple Godess because the characters—no matter how adorable and happy they might be—are no longer the ones we know and love.

My problem is that Rick Riordan fully admitted that he no longer considers the old book characters when he writes the new books. He is now purposefully incorporating his own personal mixture of the book characters and tv characters and writing those versions instead. Because of his desire to change and transform the series, I doubt he’s even read the original PJO or HOO books in years, which is why everything is so inconsistent. The old book characters—the ones who made the series what it was—are gone. And that is not my opinion. Rick fully admits that he doesn’t imagine them when he writes anymore. Don’t get me wrong, I LOVE the tv show actors. I adore Walker and Leah and Aryan with my whole heart, and I wouldn’t trade them for anything. But the fact is: they will never be exactly like the book characters. It’s impossible for actors to become the words on a page. They’re their own unique version! And likewise, you cannot turn actors into print. It doesn’t work! And why would you try? The books versions were perfect as they were. And the disney kids need to make the characters their own. The two versions can exist side by side, equally as wonderful, and still be gloriously different. We should celebrate the uniqueness of both. But instead, Rick is attempting to merge them into one. And in my opinion, it’s just hurting them both. And I’m gonna get real brave by saying this, but do you want my honest prediction? If he keeps doing what he’s doing now, the TV show is going to get cancelled and the books are going to turn into a joke. I so, so badly hope that this doesn’t happen! I have loved Rick and PJO for many, many years. I badly want both to thrive. But what is going on right now… it is not working, no matter how much we all want it to. And speaking as someone who knows people in the TV/Film industry, I am sadly not the only one who thinks the show is gonna flop. Which is devastating, because Rick Riordan deserves a redemption on the big screen, and the incredible actors deserve to bring this series to life in a new way.

I am not trying to force my opinions onto anybody. You are welcome to disagree with me and move on. I am not saying that I’m right and you’re wrong. If you disagree, that’s okay. If you agree but you don’t have a problem with it, that’s okay. In fact if other people have literally no issues, that makes me somewhat happy. And if you loved the book, I’m honestly so stoked for you. Feel free to just keep on scrolling, my friend.

But me? I’m sad. I’m really, really freaking sad. And I’m a little angry too, even if I don’t have a right to be. I can’t help it because I’m only human. But this is how I—and a lot of other people—feel. And you know what? That’s okay too. Because the fact of the matter is:

Annabeth isn’t the same Annabeth anymore. And Percy isn’t the same Percy anymore. And it’s not because they went through trauma, or because time has passed. It’s because Rick Riordan doesn’t have any interest in writing those versions of them anymore. And I think the comparisons between the old and the new show that fact pretty clearly.

[abstract-venus]

If Payneland has a million fans, Jayden Revri is one of them

If Payneland has 1 fan, Jayden Revri is THAT ONE

If Payneland has no fans, the fucking Netflix execs got him

10 more seasons or 0 more seasons

Canon ship or not canon

He will always support them

¡VIVA LOS CHICOS DE MEURTOS!

[thehmn]

I wanted to make this post because we don’t see a lot of asexual characters in western media and despite him being from a hugely popular show (Seaside Hotel) you’re unlikely to know of his existence if you’re not from Denmark.

His name is Hjalmar Aurland and he’s one of the more sympathetic and realistic asexual characters I’ve seen. He lives in a time and place where asexuality as a concept doesn’t exist yet so he’s never labeled as such but rewatching the show made me realize that he acts exactly like the asexual people I personally know. Asexuality can mean a lot of things but his specific brand isn’t naive to sex nor is he repulsed by sex, sexual desire or thoughts simply doesn’t come naturally to him.

He can be convinced to have sex with his wife Helene but only if she appeals to their emotional bond. Just so you don’t get the wrong idea, he’s not being forced or emotionally blackmailed to sleep with her. It’s simply that he understands sex is a way to show emotional love too and he wants to express that love for Helene when it’s important to her, and seeing as sex isn’t unpleasant to him, just kinda boring, he’s willing to do that for her.

Unfortunately that isn’t enough for Helene and despite her love for Hjalmar she starts an affair with the dramatic and emotional actor Edward Weyse. He has a string of relationships, marriages and divorces behind him because despite what it may look like from the outside Edward doesn’t really want shallow sexual relationships. He just can’t help himself and keep falling in love with women left and right, fully and wholeheartedly, only to be dumped or dump them once the initial excitement has passed.

So Helene and Edward’s affair that was only meant to satisfy their carnal desires quickly becomes romantic. Helene feels torn between him and Hjalmar who she still loves and Edward understands the difficult situation they’re both in while also feeling jealous of Hjalmar. And Hjalmar? He doesn’t catch on for years. He’s not stupid but his brain just doesn’t jump to sex. He just assumes they’re good friends and why shouldn’t his wife be allowed to have friends, even male ones? Things get really complicated when Helene gets pregnant and she has to have sex with Hjalmar so he won’t wonder how it happened. Edward even has to join in on the seduction, reminding Hjalmar how much Helene loves him, even though it breaks Edward’s heart to do so.

But like I’ve said Hjalmar isn’t stupid. He saw the signs but chose to ignore them until one night when Helene accidentally says Edward’s name. It breaks the dam in Hjalmar’s denial and he has to face that deep down he always knew. Overcome by sadness and betrayal he wanders off into the night in nothing but his nightgown and gets a room at a different hotel where he can think in peace. Eventually he agrees to return to the first hotel with Helene and Edward and decides to take control of the situation.

He sits them both down and tells them that he understands that the three of them share a bond and that there are things he can’t really do for Helene so from now on he wants their relationship to be open and honest. He wants Helene and Edward to keep seeing each other and Edward is welcome in their house, but Hjalmar wants to be allowed to call Edward by his first name and makes it very clear that Helene and Edward’s children “belong to him” because he still thinks of himself as their dad and loves them as his own children. Both Helene and Edward agrees to it, though the emotional Edward is very flustered and confused by the acceptance and love he’s being shown by Hjalmar.

This is obviously a very tv drama situation but I was so stuck by how much Hjalmar acts like my asexual friends. Having a lover for your partner isn’t the most common solution but it’s an idea I’ve heard a lot of asexual people be open to under the right circumstances and of course that’s the most dramatic solution for a romantic tv drama.

Hjalmar is defined by so much more than his sexuality though. His main characteristic is his passion for social justice and equality, and other than some early show weirdness before they really cemented the characters, Hjamler is the only character who floats freely between the men and women. He’s just as likely to sit with the men as he is the women, often appearing in otherwise entirely female spaces. It’s never questioned or even brought up, not because he’s a “safe asexual” but because he cares and think their worries are as important as the men’s. He’s often called a pessimist by the other men when in reality he is determined to be hopeful and compassionate and spread the love he feels the world is lacking as WWII draws closer.

So yeah, I just wanted to share this sweet ace guy with you because you probably wouldn’t have known about him otherwise.

[0-therw-0-rldly]

I’ll preface this by saying I’m not really a shipper. I just enjoy canon couples on TV Series/films.

Terms I’d like B*ddies to remove from their vocabulary because they don’t know how to use them correctly:

Media literacy: For a group that uses this term a lot you sure do misinterpret everything in this show.

Queerbaiting: Going to expand on this one. A show that’s already been pre established for having queer characters simply cannot queerbait.

Ship baiting: While sometimes you can argue that they could be doing that, that’s only if you look at the show in a very biased manner. You might think this is the case but the general audience doesn’t think the way you do.

Ship war: This isn’t a one tree hill situation where there was Team Brooke Vs. Team Peyton where the middle guy (Lucas Scott) had canonically been with both women. This is people not understanding fanon vs. canon and not being able to just watch the show. It’s like playing quarterback on Madden and thinking you could be better than Patrick Mahomes.

Plot device: everything’s a plot device. Move tf on.

Predator: You sound like crazy MAGA supporters calling everything regarding the LGBTQIA+ community as predatory. Sit down.

Co-parenting: I know this is a big one and discourse was brought up during the hiatus. Oliver and Ryan have loosely mentioned this years ago but it was never to be taken this seriously. Do y’all even know what co-parenting is or are you that big of a donut? Buck is someone who loves his best friend deeply and by extension, his kid too. Him taking care of him frequently does not make him a co-parent. Maybe he is a parental or uncle figure, but he isn’t a co-parent. Also, I swear y’all need to learn how a will works. He is a GODPARENT, not a GUARDIAN. Stfu.

Hag: This especially applies to women, but to say that someone 25-30+ is a hag for still being in fandoms or enjoying tv shows/films is inherently misogynistic. Men are never held to this much criticism for enjoying fictional media, but women aren’t allowed to?

Queer Coding: people of the same sex “looking at each other”, hugging, or having intimate moments all together doesn’t make them queer coded. It could mean that they just love each other that deeply platonically. While representation is amazing and just because you interpret a character as queer coded (just like my ship baiting comment) doesn’t mean others interpret it that way as well. In addition, network TV has stipulations, and also actors are allowed to decline storylines. Ryan has mentioned his character is heterosexual an abundance of times which means (at least for now) that he isn’t willing to go for this storyline.

Dead naming: Y’all construing the fact that Buck wants people like coworkers and some of his former love interests, to saying Evan is his dead name is inherently transphobic because do you even understand what a dead name is? Evan Buckley is shown as being fine with being called Evan by both Tommy and his sister. I’m pretty sure some of his love interests have called him Evan as well.

Fetishizing: You guys saw two hot guys who “looked at each other” and for 6 seasons have wanted nothing but to see those two make out with each other. Those of us who enjoy Tevan saw Buck giddy at the thought of Tommy and have wanted domestic fluff for them since.

Anything to do with racism, homophobia, and misogyny: I’ve seen the way you guys have conveniently weaponized Henren and by extension Aisha/Tracie when you didn’t get the Ryan/Oliver interview, don’t try to act like you’re morally superior. Not to mention wanting a canonically gay man to die in a show and not even holding those who use your ship name to write CSA fics accountable because you’re petty and want to throw hissy fits. Anyone looking at your comments as an outsider would think you’re homophobes and yes queer people can be homophobic.

I do hope you can expand your vocabulary. 🤍

[davidtennantgenderenvy]

On David Tennant and Aging

So, I’ve seen a lot of posts in response to Tumblr users’ habit of affectionately calling their favorite middle aged dudes “old men”, David Tennant in particular, saying things like “clearly you’ve never met an actual old person”, “omg you talk about these guys like they’re 80”, “please be normal about people aging”, etc. And on one hand, all of these statements are objectively right and true! But as someone who’s always been really fascinated by and found a lot of beauty in getting older (which I’ve explored in some of my writing on A03 because nobody else is going to do it for me), I’d like to provide a bit more nuance on how I think this label applies to David in particular.

David, obviously, in literal terms, is not “old”, at least not to me- I don’t personally consider people old until they get past 60. 52 is middle aged, simple as that. And yet, when I see David stuck with the “old man” label, it still somehow feels weirdly right, for a number of reasons.

It annoys me so much when people say David “hasn’t aged a day since Doctor Who”, because, well…

He clearly has. A lot. He’s got forehead creases, deep crows’ feet and eyebags, and I think that post-Fourteen we’re gonna see him rocking the grey temples a LOT more. He also has the voice of an older man now, his upper range is still there but the default is much more deep and rich, with a gravelly, rumbling quality that just goes straight through you. I personally think Broadchurch was when David finally started to embrace looking his age- Alec Hardy just wouldn’t have been served by Ten’s fresh-faced boyishness.

Obviously, these are the kinds of changes you’d expect any 52-year-old man to have, but something about David just makes it all seem a bit more… intense? The expressiveness of his face combined with his almost gaunt frame makes his wrinkles very prominent, and when he works his voice to its emotional extremes, his lower register can sound positively ancient, to devastating effect.

David, I think, is someone with an old soul- I don’t think he could be as good as he is at playing ancient characters like Crowley and The Doctor if he weren’t. He has lived so many lives, given so much of himself to so many characters, often incredibly tragic ones, and I think it wears on him. David also has five kids. FIVE. Do you know how exhausting it is to be one of the hardest working actors alive and be a present, loving father to even ONE child? But David somehow does it anyway! Nowadays I see him and my heart breaks because he looks so tired, so weary and fragile. But he’s all the more beautiful for it to me because I know that that is because he is kind. He’s a deeply empathetic person who feels and lives to the absolute fullest, and that story is written so clearly on his face, along with every other story he has ever been a part of.

There’s other things about David that make the label endearingly fitting- his utter hopelessness when it comes to technology, for instance. And he’s just got that warm, wise, grandpa energy too sometimes- look at that above Fourteen picture and tell me I’m wrong!

I once showed my friend who’d only seen David in Doctor Who and Harry Potter a picture of David from Around The World in 80 Days. It was a particularly emotional scene, and his face had just the most beautiful expression of compassion and sadness, every wrinkle on full display. And she said, in a less than complimentary fashion, “he looks so old!” Which, of course, offended me quite a bit at first. But to me, referring to David as old almost feels like a badge of honor, something he’s earned by living fully and selflessly, working hard and being wise and compassionate beyond his years. I think David himself is secretly more than a little insecure about the fact that he’s getting older. There’s sadness behind every jovially self-depreciating remark he’s made about his age in the past year, particularly in comparing himself to Ncuti Gatwa. I know how much David struggles with his impostor syndrome and how people perceive him, and I can clearly see in his eyes the fear of being discarded, the anxiety he feels about if he’ll still be as loved as he was back in 2007 now that he’s closer in age to King Lear than he is to Romeo. So I hope David knows it’s a privilege to watch him grow older, to watch his soul and talents deepen with the crinkles around his eyes. If I, in my silly goofy tumblr girl-ness, call David Tennant an old man, it’s because it’s a label that suits him beautifully- even if it isn’t TECHNICALLY an accurate one yet.

[g1rld1ary]

red carpets - actor!sirius black x actress!reader

wc: 942

cw: none! you catch sight of sirius on the red carpet

tag: @lovemenotts

The sheer amount of noise surrounding you was making you light-headed. Yet, you plastered on a smile, smoothed out your silky skirt and stepped onto the red carpet. Your smile didn’t budge as you inched down the carpet, performing for the hungry cameras and the sometimes scary men behind them. You grit your teeth as they yell commands, changing pose as they desire, waiting to get to the interview portion of the red carpet. At least the journalists had to be polite to you.

A woman from some gossip rag you purposefully avoid reading calls you over and you consciously boost your smile again, turning up the energy to 100. She’s nice, at least, and a good conversationalist. Too many interviewers left you to pick up their slack and carry the conversation as if it weren’t their job to be digging for the information they want.

“How does it feel to be nominated for an Emmy in your first foray into television?” She asks and you beam.

“It’s such an honour, really. I mean, this show is such a labour of love, Lily put her heart and soul into the writing, so I’m just so grateful I got to be the one to bring it to life. It’s so amazing that we’re both being nominated tonight,” You answer with a practised grace, giving a glance to the camera behind the interviewer.

The conversation continues and you find yourself enjoying it more than you anticipated. The interviewer connects with you well and matches your excited energy at being around celebrities. You figure it’s about time you move on, but give her one more question as a secret reward for her not being as invasive as the others usually are. She asks about your friendship with Lily and creating a project with someone you’d known forever and you grin again.

You start your answer, gushing over Lily’s talent for screenwriting and your friendship of ten years. You turn to look for her, meaning to gesture when your eyes get caught on something. Someone.

“Who is that?” You ask the interviewer, pointing out the most gorgeous man you’d ever seen in your life. Long dark hair, dressed in all black with silver jewellery glinting in the flash of cameras, you basically fall in love at first sight.

“That’s Sirius Black,” The interviewer answers with a laugh.

“God, what is he from?” He’s honestly supernaturally good-looking, you’re not convinced he’s real.

“He co-created and stars in The Marauders series, you haven’t seen it yet?”

“No, I’ve been meaning to but I haven’t had the time — Lils says it really has to be appreciated so I’m waiting to dedicate significant time to it. He did not look like that on the poster.” The series is set in high school and so all the actors look different, younger, Sirius no exception. The dark eyeliner around his grey eyes creates a magnetic contrast that makes him look much more mature than his character.

“Is it safe to say you’ll be finding him at the after-party?” The interviewer asks cheekily. The situation comes back to you in an instant; you’re on camera and who knows how many people are seeing you thirst over another actor in real-time.

“God no,” You laugh, frantically trying to brush over the incident, “I don’t chase after boys. He’d have to work for my attention.” You wink in an attempt to deliver the joke and it goes over smoothly enough, the interviewer graciously letting it go and thanking you for your time. You thank her profusely.

You chance another glance at Sirius as you move on, all grace and long limbs as he effortlessly poses for photos and messes around with his co-stars, spirit not yet beaten out of him by Hollywood. You envy the way his cast talk all the way through the process, clearly extremely fond of each other. You would go to the ends of the earth for Lily, your best friend and writer of the show you star in, but your male lead couldn’t be more opposite. Severus Snape was someone you would never get along with, and your interviews consisted of forced smiles and camaraderie on your side and zero effort from him. You would love a cast like The Marauders, not that you would dare complain to Lily, who had given you so much.

You don’t end up meeting Sirius during the awards or the afterparty, unfortunately, though you do see him once more across the room and feel the flutter of intrigue in your stomach. The next awards ceremony you had a goal, and a series to watch in the meantime.

LOVE IS ON THE RED CARPET? EMMY WINNER ADMIRES NOMINEE SIRIUS BLACK

The clip from that interview goes viral, both your fans and Sirius’ dissecting every frame of the videos. Some focus on the subtle up-and-down you give him, slowing it down to a snail’s pace to catch every eye movement. Others focus on Sirius, swearing they could see his eyes flick over to you for a fraction of a second. The ultimate conclusion is that you two should be in love, or already are, and fan edits of both you and your characters are already surfacing on TikTok.

You sigh from your hotel bed, scrolling through an endless amount of photos of him and yourself. Your publicist would not be happy with you. Although, it could be a pretty good marketing strategy.

[justisabellethings]

Can I just take a moment to talk about the wild transformation Barry Keoghan has had this year (by that I mean like 2023 and 2024 so far)?

In the space of a few months, this man went from being a slept-on actor who was being cut from superhero blockbusters — someone who doesn’t watch award shows or film festivals might have called him a “nobody” despite being an Oscar nominee in several big movies — to this impish, heavily sexualized, and somewhat overexposed (or perhaps overexposed to the point of full on excess) viral pop culture phenomenon.

I mean that quite literally.

I don’t think I’ve ever seen a public image transformation like this. A metamorphosis really. Especially for a dude. It’s shocking. It’s brilliant.

You usually see people like Britney Spears or Miley Cyrus do the whole “transition into something more mature” thing to further their careers, but I’ve never seen a man do quite the same thing until now (in my lifetime, at least.) With the same degree of objectification and sexualisation a woman.

Like he’s not just unbuttoning his shirt and posing in jeans or Calvin Klein underwear like other leading men tend to do, he’s fully nude, in latex aprons, latex gloves, false nails and pearl necklaces. He’s covered in blood, lipstick, cummy bath water, god knows what else.

He goes there. Unflinchingly.

Like he’s almost sexually degraded. Degraded in ways men usually aren’t in Hollywood.

(I freaking love Saltburn, I guess I’m not exclusively referring to that, more so his exposure in the media.)

Crazy part is he’s a fantastic actor who doesn’t even have to go there. But he still goes there. And honestly I do hope he does keep working with Emerald. He could be a good muse for her. Assuming he’s going there of his own free will and he’s owning this sexuality that’s been latent inside of him his whole life, good for him.

But this will change his public image and persona forever from now on. He can totally embrace the sex symbol thing if he chooses to, but that can overshadow some actors as it has been known to do that in the past. He has openly idolized bisexual male sex symbols of Old Hollywood, after all.

I just wonder if he can channel all of this and continue being taken seriously as an actor and not become known only for this.

I know he probably needed to do this to become a lead actor and not just a character actor (I’d say the role of Oliver Quick blends both and required both), but I guess we’ll just have to see where all of this goes in time.

Still, you can watch videos of him from years ago and you will still see him, but at the same time it’s like day and night. It’s just very overwhelming.

Anyways I just wanted to get that off my chest.

[dangermousie]

2023 End of Year Post - cdrama edition

Yes, we have a lot of December left, but I don't think anything else I want to check out will air before 2024 hits (it's cdrama so caveat is - you never know.)

This is only going to cover cdramas that aired in 2023; if I watched it but it was made in a different year, it's not on the list. This was a pretty good cdrama year, all in all.

DRAMAS WATCHED

(In order of liking from least to most as opposed to pure quality; I am including if I’ve seen enough to make up my mind; yes I realize that’s inaccurate, but that’s my list)

30 legend of twin flower - Not dignifying that drama with capital letters, as the only capital that should be associated with this is capital punishment - which is what watching this feels like.

29 Dominator of Martial Gods - sounds like a bdsm gay porn title. Would probably be better acted and written if it was.

28 Beauty of Resilience - you'd need a lot of said resilience to sit through this incoherent, barely acted mess. The thing that I remember the most other than my annoyance is all the jingly-jangly head gear on JJY. Perhaps they could have sold some of them and spent the money on a better script.

27 Divine Destiny - if you think you have too many brain cells and want to get rid of some, boy do I have a drama for you!

26 Wanru’s Journey - honestly it's probably tied with SEL - I mean it's worse but it has actors who are nowhere as well known and a fraction of SEL's budget. Still, this is a big fat nope. I will not say what I think of Aoi Rupeng's "acting" or I'd have to put money in the curse jar.

25 Snow Eagle Lord - Gulinazha's stone face, nonsense plot, terrible CGI. Take your pick as to why this is terrible.

24 Scent of Time - it was uneven but fun but then that ending was dumb enough to destroy the whole thing. Show me on the doll where common sense hurt you, makers!

23 Royal Rumors - Jeremy Tsui and Meng Ziyi are utterly wasted in this nothing trifle of a drama.

22 Legend of Anle - I had high expectations but alas. This is the drama version of color beige. There is nothing offensive about it but nothing good either. Mediocre actors are mediocre, good actors become mediocre, this is just a waste of our finite time on planet earth.

21 Romance on the Farm - it's not you, it's me in action. I can see why people would like this wholesome slice of farming family life, but it's tailored to trigger every one of my "nope" opinions.

20 Back from the Brink - if I were 12, it would be my favorite thing. I am not 12.

19 Journey of Chong Zi - objectively a terrible drama with plot holes the size of Mars and a leading lady whose face has apparently frozen when the wind changed. But I am a total sucker for the trope of upright shizun falling for his demonic disciple and going mental so here we are. Objectively, garbage, subjectively my precious!

18 Love you Seven Times - just call poor Ding Yuxi "Atlas," he carried this mess so hard.

17 Blooming Days - trashy dogblood harem fight fun throwback. It's not that great (and the fact that it was shredded doesn't help) but it's probably the last gasp of that genre for the foreseeable future, so I am grading on a curve.

16 The Starry Love - a fun fantasy where the secondary OTP stole the thunder but overall a really solid fantasy xianxia romance.

15 The Longest Promise - it could have been better - the secondaries were unbearable and there was too much of them and what they did with Alen Fang's character still gives me rage fits, but the main couple was impeccable and lovely and I rooted so hard for them.

14 Chang Feng Du/Destined - visually gorgeous, solidly acted, impeccable first half. Bland as hell second half. Win some, lose some.

13 Circle of Love - this drama is a nonsense trash heap on fire. After a typhoon hit it. It was also the most entertaining, addicting drama on this whole list.

12 Hidden Love - the sole modern on this list, this story has barely any plot but it made me care about the young, decent lovers so hard.

11 Choice Husband - starts out wacky, continues with angst and blood and happy ending. I loved it, but I've always had a soft spot for melo and schemers turning devoted.

10 Pledge of Allegiance - bromance, super solid acting, visuals, a really dark take on officials and the world. Insanely underrated.

9 Provoke - a truly fun Republican revenge and love tale, showing that short format can be wonderful.

8 Gone with the Rain - some of the secondary characters are rage-inducing (hi there, cardboard boy!) but the scheming, ruthless, vulgar FL is amazing and her slowburn with her age gap general who is delighted by her out-there-ness is great!

7 Wonderland of Love - Fei Wo Si Cun goes wholesome and the result is surprisingly entertaining. Battle couple, glorious visuals, a fast paced plot. It's the first Xu Kai drama I enjoyed in years (and he plays a rare cdrama ML it would be pretty neat to pair up with in rl.)

6 My Journey to You - that ending is infuriating (and I am OK with open endings if done properly) but what a visual feast, probably the most gloriously shot drama on this list, and that's a tough competition. Also it packs a hell of a lot of couples and familial and adversarial relationships into its slim running time; assassin lady won over by a gentle man is my favorite trope and so this is extra great.

5. Till the End of the Moon - the ending is a rage-inducing disaster for me, but this drama was the most incredibly emotionally intense, visually eye popping experience. It was deeply flawed but when it was amazing, it was like nothing else in its visuals, its characters and its narratives. It took insane risks; some paid off and some did not, but it was glorious.

4. Story of Kunning Palace - I don't often care for reverse harem stories but this one was such fun - the main OTP was glorious (strong FL, unhinged ML) but honestly everything about this was just so excellently done.

3. The Ingenious One - the most adult drama on this list. Smart protagonists, intelligent plot, emotions that felt true, this is a revenge and a mystery and found family and goes into so many directions you do not expect (Su Mengyu's PTSD after his first kill - that is something you never see in dramas, definitely not prolonged and profound - not like this.) If I was to say which drama was objectively the best on this list, as opposed to favorite, it would be this.

1 (tie) Lost You Forever 1 - this is an exquisite emotional jewel of a story about damaged people moving forward, with damage always present - their past informs their present and always will. The narrative about Xiao Yao and three very different men in her life makes me think that it's an equivalent of a neutron bomb going off right before the main narrative starts and now we are watching the survivors wander in the wreckage. This is very high fantasy setting but it's one of the most emotionally human narratives out there.

1 A Journey to Love - everything I ever wanted - assassins, ride or die adult OTP with genuine believable conflicts, great and complex secondaries, beautiful fights. Oh, and yeah Liu Shi Shi domming the hell out of every man in a ten mile radius, as she should.

FAVORITE DRAMA

It's a tie between Lost You Forever Part 1 and A Journey to Love. LYF1 is a bona fide art piece but it's only part 1 and who knows if part 2 will be any good (seeing the huge ep number cut, I have my doubts) and so it's incomplete. AJTL is an old school wuxia romance with incredibly competent, adult people in love and great cast of secondaries. I can't pick.

WORST DRAMA

romance of twin flower - this is a drama that should not exist. If I could hex everyone involved with it, I would. It's a terrible, stupid, shrill, badly acted drama to start with, but where it really is catapulted into stratosphere of horror is that is took my very favorite non-danmei web novel of all time, a smart and complicated tale with incredible protagonists and turned it into that barftastic abomination. Peng Xiao Ran kept making horrible drama after horrible drama but I kept giving her a chance because of Goodbye My Princess but after this disaster, I've had to accept GMP was a fluke and she is on my "if she's in it, I am out” list. Ding Yuxi is not that far yet (his performance in Seven Lifetimes was the one thing carrying that mess afloat) but he's on freaking thin ice. Anyway, I like to pretend this drama does not exist.

FAVORITE MALE CHARACTER

It was hard because there were so many I loved this year - Deng Wei's traumatized, gentle Seventeen from LYF1 (if someone told me I'd swoon and weep for a character played by Deng Wei, I'd have told them to examine their brains asap), Liu Yuning's incredibly capable, deadly, contained Ning Yuanzhou from AJTL, Zhang Linghe's unhinged Xie Wei from SoKP, Chen Xiao's schemer with a heart Yun Xiang from TIO.

But ultimately, it couldn't be anyone else but Luo Yunxi as Tantai Jin/Demon God/Ming Ye/Cang Jiumin in Till the End of the Moon. He was everything - a demon, a saint, a martyr, a monster, a tormented abuse victim, a savior, joyful, unhinged, smart, pitiable. It was the cdrama performance of the year for me. Luo Yunxi even in a mediocre role is impressive but in a complex (series of) role(s) designed for his strengths, he is a force of nature.

FAVORITE FEMALE CHARACTER

Xiao Yao (Lost You Forever Part 1). Once again, there were runner ups - Bai Lu's smart a little evil FL in Kunning, the gloriously unhinged assassin domme Liu Shi Shi in AJTL, Esther Yu's assassin longing for a different life in MJTY etc etc etc. But Xiao Yao's damaged, difficult, very self-aware woman stole my heart. I was skeptical going in because I haven't enjoyed a Yang Zi performance in a long time, but she was the wounded beating soul of this incredible drama.

NEEDS TO BE MURDERED

Where do we start? How about all of Seventeen's (LYF1) monster family? His brother, who tortured him for years physically and emotionally to such a degree his body is a horror map and his personality is permanently altered because "mommy liked you better." Psycho mother who created a situation where the kids were going to turn on each other and "let's get my grandson raped" grandma. Where is a well-placed meteorite when you need one.

FAVORITE SHIP

Xiao Yao/Seventeen, LYF1. Yes, a ship of characters played by Yang Zi and Deng Wei is my favorite. Leave me alone, I am on my tenth helping of crow already. They are both incredibly damaged, barely functioning survivors who find what they need in the other - he finds a savior and someone who sees him as a man and rebuilds himself around her and she finds someone who will always put her first and only, and subsume himself in her. Is it healthy? No. Does it make sense for them and is it making them slowly functional? Yes.

Runner up: Ren Ruyi/Ning Yuanzhou, AJTL - two adults, so competent, so chemistry full. She has so much damage and so little normalcy but is so strong and he is oddly gentle (in between murders) and incredibly self-reflective. They are each other's mirrors and I love them.

FAVORITE SECONDARY OTP

Su Mingyu/Ke Menglan, The Ingenious One - the idealistic merchant who wants to join jianghu until he sees its horrors firsthand and a slave entertainer who wants security but decides she wants him more. They are gorgeous and glorious and wholesome and I adore them.

Runner up: Liu Gong Quan/Ming Zhu, The Ingenious One - that drama was a shippy gift, especially impressive considering it wasn't even romance-centric. He's the officer who has to bring down her treasonous father but loves her. Delicious.

Another runner up is Chao Feng/Qian Kui, the angelic good girl and the scheming bad boy in The Starry Love. They stole the drama from the main OTP for me.

NOTP

Scent of Time endgame. What the hell was even that. It made NO sense.

FAVORITE SCENE

So many good scenes this year - Tantai Jin taking apart Li Susu in prison in TTEOTM, the OTP fighting in perfect sync and insane rhythm in the gorge battle in AJTL, Chen Ruoxuan's character stopping the execution in Pledge, Yan Lin's coming of age in Kunning, the poison/antidote "gamble" in MJTY, Cang Xuan detoxing in LYF1. But I think ultimately, me being who I am, my favorite scene is Xiao Yao kissing Seventeen's damaged, scarred knee to show he is in no way inferior for her. AAAAA!

In terms of pure jaw dropping visuals tho nothing will ever beat Ming Ye’s battle against the Devil God in TTEOTM.

BIGGEST CRUSH

Ning Yuanzhou, AJTL. He's sexy as hell (that height, that way he moves in battle) but he's also so incredibly competent, so adult, so self-reflective and so attracted to a woman for her strength. He also gets whumped on the reg. Anyway, my hormones are ready.

BEST SCENE STEALER CHARACTER

Gong Yuanzhi (My Journey to You) - I loved the unhinged, brocon poison boy. He was everything. Also Yan Lin (Kunning) - talk about sunshine; I totally got why all these people felt they needed to save him.

NEEDS A SEQUEL

My Journey to You - what the HELL was that ending?

NEEDS SCISSORS TAKEN TO IT

legend of twin flower - that is, stab it with scissors like it stabbed the novel until it's dead.

TOO MANY SCISSORS TAKEN TO IT

Till the End of the Moon - they clearly cut stuff to fit into the new regs about runtime and it made the last 1/5 rather abrupt. Gimme!

TROPE THAT NEEDS TO DIE

The emperor cannot be irredeemable. WTF, China, you are a communist country!

FAVORITE TROPE WE’VE SEEN A LOT OF

This is the year of a ML who yearns to be dommed by his FL. Long may it continue.

BIGGEST DISAPPOINTMENT

The Legend of Anle - the novel had a great plot, the cast were all actors I either enjoy a lot or somewhat and we got - whatever that soggy piece of wonderbread toast was.

BIGGEST GOOD SURPRISE

LYF1 - I only checked out to mock because nobody could explain the story to me and nobody in the cast did anything I like either ever or in years. And then I fell utterly and completely in love and had to eat so much delicious crow.

2023 DRAMAS I HAVEN’T SEEN THAT I MOST WANT TO WATCH

Ancient Love Song is the only one on that list. It looks really good, I just need to brace myself.

BEST NON-2023 DRAMA I’VE WATCHED IN 2023

The Imperial Doctoress - best slowburn and pining and glorious character development and adult leads.

MOST ANTICIPATED

Anticipating any nonaired cdrama is a mug's game but if they air, I will definitely check out all the Fox Matchmaker dramas, LYF2, JoL2 and The Last Immortal. If Prisoner of Beauty ever is allowed out of the vault (dubious), it goes on the list too.

[jgroffdaily]

Russell T Davies talking about the Regency episode titled ‘Rogue’:

It features Jonathan Groff in a guest role, and “it’s a mystery what [his character’s] doing there,” teases Davies. “What could he possibly doing at a regency ball? It’s putting two great actors together [with Gatwa and Groff]. We never thought in a million years that Jonathan Groff would agree to be in Doctor Who.

Sometimes people have these suggestions and I just roll my eyes thinking. ‘You’ll be lucky,’ like that. But it turned out he watched It’s a Sin. He knew my name, which was a surprise to me. [That] made him pick up the script and look at the offer, and the next thing I knew, there he was and he sent me a video. He was cycling around Central Park. I wish my life was like that all the time. Normally you get 27 agents blocking you. Jonathan’s one of our great screen actors there, and to put that with Ncuti, it’s just fireworks.”

**

We’ve also gotten glimpses at the Regency episode, and all of it, including the costumes, looks amazing. “It is so stunning,” the showrunner confirms. “A lot of it we had to make ourselves because Bridgerton classically brought up every regency costume in Great Britain and we probably filmed in the only country house that they haven’t been to yet. And let me tell you that they bumped the prices up, but it’s a joy.”

And just like Shonda Rhimes is a fan of Doctor Who, he loves Bridgerton. “She did an interview with the Sunday Times recently where she expressed her love of Doctor Who and she named me. I was really thrilled to see [that]. I mean I’ve only ever met her once, for 30 seconds. But there she was saying how much she liked me. That was one of the greatest compliments in my life,” Davies shares. “There’s an episode of Grey’s Anatomy in which people come into the emergency department because they’ve been fighting over my autograph, and they contacted me, got my autograph. That was years ago. But that episode must get shown somewhere in the world every day because almost every day I get someone texting me, have you seen this?”

He continues, “So almost to repay the compliment—Shonda put me in Grey’s Anatomy—I thought we’d put Bridgerton into Doctor Who. Actually, the writers said initially they wanted do a great big party. They wanted the Doctor to visit a party in time and space. And we had a long time winnowing down what sort of party that would be, but the moment Bridgerton was said, all other ideas went out the window. That really is a gorgeous episode.”

[frangipanilove]

I just watched the entire season of TBOC, and I loved it

Mild spoilers below the cut

I’ll do other posts on it, this is just a couple of sentences on my first impressions. The Beth mention from the leaked script pages was cut and yes that is disappointing. It’s fine though, it wouldn’t have fit, and we have other things to be excited about. I predicted the season to have insane Beth callbacks and dialogue parallels, and there really truly was. I wrote about some of them in the Green(e)land post, and I’ll get more into it in later posts.

Guys, this season was all about Daryl and Laurent. It wasn’t about Daryl and some woman, or any woman, it was about a father and his son. The entire season is watching Daryl develop a strong bond with Laurent, and by the end he has mentally adopted him and is ready to do anything for him, and I’m 100% here for that. I don’t understand anyone who says that Daryl acts out of character this season, I’ve personally never seen him more in character. He’s going through tons of character development, and it’s beautiful. Norman’s acting is absolutely stellar, I was a sobbing mess at times. I thought Laurent’s actor was a bit weird and awkward in season 1, in season 2 that’s all changed. I thought the chemistry between Daryl and Laurent was spectacular, which is why the father-son storyline works so well.

The relationship between Isabelle and Daryl makes more sense when you watch the entire season imo. I agree there was little build up and the kiss seemed random and awkward, but there’s a purpose to it, and it isn’t just more man-pain. At least that how I feel. And then of course others might feel different, and that’s fine too.

The song Daryl and Laurent sang was “You can’t always get what you want” by The Rolling Stones, and that’s what reduced me to a sobbing mess. The lyrics continue with something along the lines of “but you gotta pray you get what you need”, and that’s basically what the season is about. Daryl typically can’t have nice things. Everyone he loves dies or disappears. But what he needs this time isn’t primarily a woman (although there’s always room for that some time in the future) it is a child that loves him and needs him. Daryl is actually a terrific parent, and I love to see it.

Imo, that’s what drives Daryl’s character development this season. He can’t help himself, he reluctantly starts caring about Laurent, and he recognizes how incredible vulnerable that makes him. He doesn’t automatically welcome it, because of course having a child is genuinely terrifying. What if they die? And in TWDU they do, constantly. Just ask Carol. Daryl knows that.

This season was imho TPTB’s big fuck you to shippers, probably of all varieties but especially to the most rabid ones, I’m sure we all know who they might be. The love Daryl needs right now isn’t that of a woman, but that of his child. He has mentally adopted Laurent now, and feels and acts like his father. You can’t always get what you want, but you gotta trust you get what you need. What Daryl needs right now is to be Laurent’s father, and I’m here for it.

I loved this season, I thought it was absolutely brilliant! Norman was stellar, MMB was stellar, everyone was stellar. And then, not everyone will agree. We’re all different and that’s ok.

[blackterrae]

Ideas for Black!Reader Fic

I am going to try my hand again at writing. And I wanted to share some people and fandoms that I love. If you don’t know these shows/actors/franchises/movies/streamers I’m putting you on! For the following:

Princess Bride

Alice In Borderland

Johnny Depp- All his characters

Napoleon Dynamite

Cameron Monaghan- I know that there are fics out there but it’s only always his Jerome/Jeremiah roles never just him or Cal Kestis

Anthony Carrigan- I loved Anothy as Victor Zsasz

Paul Dano- There are Riddler fics but not as many for his other roles

Damsel

The Entire Cast of Hawaii Five-0 (2010) - Don’t even get me started on how good this show is! And the cast looks amazing!

Chicago Med/Fire/PD- These shows have so much potential for fanfic storylines!

The Game (2006)- Has great potential for slow burns and fluffs.

Star Wars franchise (1977-present) - I know I said Cal Kestis but there are also other characters like Anakin, Luke, Obi Wan,Boba Fett (etc.)

NCIS franchise- I honestly love this franchise and it’s characters!

Hamilton

Any/All Sports Men- Jude Bellingham,Lewis Hamilton,LaMelo Ball,Allen Iverson(etc.)

Berleezy - He’s handsome and he’s funny!

Coryxkenshin- I literally love him and his videos!

Albert Aretz (Flamingo)- Look … he may be the epitome of mediocre white man but I like what I like!

AMP- Duke Dennis, Kai Cenat, Agent 00, ChrisNxtDoor,Davis, and Fanum ( all I gotta say is love a black man from infinity to infinity🗣️)

Beta Squad- A British YouTube/ streamer group!

SOMEBROS- Berleezy, Rico, ,PG, Joe (etc.)

WWE- come on now, do I even need to explain!!!

Four Brothers- All the cast but Garrett Hedland in particular!

Peacemaker - Don’t get me wrong I love Adrian Chase but I want to see just as much Peacemaker x black!reader fics because 2 words… JOHN CENA

MAWS- New animated Superman show! Love!

Smallville - The entire cast is hot! Tbh I fell hard for Tom Welling when I was younger when he was in Cheaper By The Dozen. Plus they literally whitewashed Vixen. COME ON! Vixen is a black female hero btw. She was also with Jon (Green Lantern) at one point.

Justice League/Justice League Unlimited (2001 and 2004)- I mean I literally can’t find any Jon Stewart x black!reader fics and he was with a BLACK WOMAN!

Warner Bros Franchise (minus the looney tunes & space jam)- There are lots of popular franchises that this company has from Fast & Furious to The Matrix!

Peaky Blinders- Saw a Tommy shelby x arms dealer black!female reader fic on my previous account but even then I couldn’t find it again on that account. So it’s gone with the wind. And the cast (i.e the actors and other characters they’ve portrayed). Example: Cillian Murphy as Johnathan Crane.

The Bear

FBI (All)

The good doctor

Tiktokers: Vinnie hacker

Blue Bloods

Will Poulter- I haven’t really seen any Adam Warlock fics

Slashers

Stranger Things

Cruel Intentions

Burnt

Dave Lizewski

Eddie Redmayne

Macgyver (2016)

Fresh Prince of Belair

Guardians of the galaxy- Explanation? Do I really need one?

On My Block

Descendants (characters will be the actors age in real life.duh)- Love Boo-boo Stewart & Mitchell Hope!

Matt Rife

Joey Bragg (Liv &Maddie) - What can I say I love dorks!

The Boys- Haven’t seen that many fics about the characters and a black reader

Once Upon A Time- I love dark fairytales sometimes because they remind me that not every story has a happy ending and you have to learn from them. But this series is good for any theme really.

Walker Texas Ranger (1993)

Top Gun

Nicolas Galitzine

Magcon: Whether you saw their vines on YouTube or vine, you know who they are

Dolan Twins

Mission Impossible

Euphoria- Entire show has great storylines with the potential of drama in fics

Shameless- Especially Carl Gallagher and Lip Gallagher

Creed- Michael B Jordan need I say more

Keanu Reeves- There are very few fics about Keanu but I’ve seen a few of his John Wick x black!reader fics (chef’s kiss) but never see any of The Matrix Fics!Also Ted (Bill & Ted)

River Phoenix

Batman Beyond

Rider Strong

Danny Gonzalez

Timothée Chalamet

New York Undercover

Past-Present Singers & Rappers/ Groups -Bow Wow, Tupac, Lil Baby, Nelly, Omarion, Prince, Michael Jackson, Jon B,Usher, Central Cee, Måneskin, New Edition, BTS, James, PRETTYMUCH Bay, Daniel Caesar, October London, Steve Lacey, Artemas, YUNGBLUD, Andy Biersack,Eduardo Vega(etc.)

Anime(Any kind!)- Would love to see other shows, I know hunterxhunter,aot,one piece (etc.)

Bridgerton- There is very little Bridgerton stories catered around a black reader.

Marvel- Now that’s not to say that there aren’t any in fact there are many but I never see (Tobey Maguire Spider-Man stories and it seems like everyone tends to focus on the famous Marvel characters like The Avengers but not on other aspects like X-men or better yet, heroes that haven’t even gotten their own movie but are just as amazing like Squadron Supreme , it’s equivalent to DCU’s Justice League.

Secret Invasion- Not gonna lie , I’m feening for Gravik.😳

DCEU- Another franchise that pushes its other characters to the side. For example, Hush (Thomas Elliot) is literally the epitome of Bruce Wayne gone bad!

Ross Lynch- There are so many roles that Ross did so well in Like Teen Beach Movie or Sabrina.

Highschool Musical Franchise (2006- present ) I’m not just talking about HSMTS (2019), I mean even further back than that. I don’t see any Troy Bolton x black!reader and that’s crazy. I also can’t find any Zac Efron x black!reader

Interview with a Vampire (1994) and (2022)

Austin Butler- He did well in his role as Elvis!

Vikings - There are a good amount but still!

Transformers

Suits

Saved By The Bell

The Goldbergs

Parks & Recreation

Leverage

The Outsiders

Heart of Stone

New York Undercover (1994)

Addams Family

Victorious

Matpat

ICarly

The Real Bros of Simi Valley (2017)

Think Like A Man (2012)

One on One (2001)

Scorpion (2014)

The King of Queens (1998)

G.I. Joe Franchise

Terminator

Beware the Batman (2013)

Any and all Asian Idols/Actors

Seal Team

Mortal Combat

Bill and Ted

Barbie

Detroit: Become Human

Will Trent

Bones

Tokyo Vice

Growing Pains

Graceful Family (Kdrama)[Any Asian Drama shows or movies would be great as well]

The Regime

Batman: The animated series

The Sympathizer

The Invitation

Jawbreaker

Hunger Games

Saved By the Bell

Eve (2003)

Yellowstone

Superstore

Rodrick Heffley

Tracker

Girlfriends

Grown-ish

CSI

Kingsman

Jury Duty

Scoot Pilgrim vs the world

21 Jump Street

If anyone needs ideas for these franchises/movies/shows/actors , then holla at me! I got you!

Also add more to the list if anything that you would like to see comes to mind.

Also tag black writers who you want to see this!

@sheabuttahwrites @shinsouscatpisssmell @cocoamoonmalfoy @heathenarmyimagines @cinewhore @cocoamoonmalfoy @stxxllaaa @glitterjuju @lilvampirina @breanime @blackmissfrizzle @afro-hispwriter @stargirlfics @lavenderursa @clydesducktape @pettyprocrastination @theblvckvenus @plantvenuss @punani @n-slayaaaaa @infernalodie @halfofmysoulsblog @iridecsense @tomhardydallasstarsgirl @supremethunda @thekrazykeke @canumoveurseatup-no @hiatuswhore @avintagekiss24 @ohcaptains @iguessweallcrazyithinktho @xsapphirescrollsx @sunflowertuliplily @bakarilennox @batfamily14 @ramp-it-up @blackreaders-assemble @royallyprincesslilly @funnyexel @blackterrae @slashisms @artemisthewh0re @shelbydelrey @toocriticalharlow @v-era-18 @vampsired @queenimmadolla @sinnerlillith @greengoblinswifey @apocalypse-shuffle

[asexualenjolras]

It is one week until Newsies London closes in Wembley, and I got to see it again the other day, so I want to talk about Ryan Kopel and his beautiful portrayal of Davey Jacobs one more time.

I love how Ryan portrays Davey to be autistic. Ryan has said that he plays Davey in a way that exemplifies his quirks, and it really works in this production. It’s what I am going to miss the most. I’ve never felt more seen.

As an autistic person myself, I have always headcanoned Davey as being autistic – in every format of Newsies previously. Ben Fankhauser’s Davey was always autistic-coded to me – his portrayal was one of my favourites. And I was nervous about seeing another actor take on a character that means so much to me ... but Ryan took Davey and made him even more autistic and I am so, so grateful and in awe of his talent.

Let’s talk about Davey Jacobs and his autistic traits, as portrayed by Ryan Kopel in West Endsies:

- Stimming:

Davey is stimming the WHOLE SHOW. And that’s not an exaggeration. He is shown to bounce on his toes, he is constantly fidgeting with his fingers (and standing with those stereotypical t-rex arms) and he runs his hands along his newsie bag, and he does a few little spins when he's excited, and he jumps up and down at one point.

- Difficulty with social interaction:

From the first moment that Davey is on stage, he is shown to be incredibly uncomfortable talking to other people. He is shown to stammer over his thoughts and struggles to coherently converse with the other characters on the stage. He is portrayed as someone that is reluctant to speak, and he stutters and rambles and struggles to maintain eye contact, looking down at his fidgeting hands a lot. Ben Fankhauser made Davey more confident in his ability to share his thoughts, but Ryan’s Davey struggles - both internally and externally - with this.

He is also shown to have a one track mind in conversations. He struggles to see why Jack is having doubts after the rally because he, personally, thinks it was a success. Davey is bouncing around and his tone is so light and he is so confused by Jack's doubts. It's so autistic. It's so relatable.

- Relationship with physical contact:

Davey is shown to struggle when people suddenly touch him, he flinches and wipes the touch away whenever he is uncomfortable. BUT he initiates touch with those that he trusts. He's so physical with Les, constantly holding him and giving him reassurance through taps. He is shown to hug Jack and he hugs Crutchie and it's nice to see.

- Strong moral compass:

Unlike Ben Fankauser’s Davey (who I LOVE), Ryan’s Davey is shown to be more reluctant to join in on the strike – he is a lot more sheltered, and is completely isolated on one side of the stage in that scene. Davey looks down to his feet and looks to be at war with himself. He looks completely defeated when Jack asks if his father would be in the mess he was in if he had a union, because he knows that Jack – this boy that he has just met – is right. But he is so conflicted because he knows that this is going to be difficult, and he’s so worried and so anxious and so questioning about what the right thing is. It’s such a minor part of the show, but it’s there and I love it.

- Autistic joy:

I don’t know how else to word this but the way that we see Davey unmask throughout the play makes me so smiley. We see him go from this uncomfortable, awkward, masked version of himself in the beginning to someone that genuinely feels accepted and like he has a place in this strike and in the Newsie family. The excitement in his voice when he is talking to Jack in Medda’s is UNMATCHED. He’s so bouncy and light and he’s STIMMING and he’s so happy. I love it.

I could go on and on but I won’t. I just really love the artistic differences between Ryan and Ben’s Davey Jacobs’. I love both of their adaptations, but Ryan’s Davey feels so authentically autistic. And I am PRAYING we get to see his Davey immortalised in a pro-shot?! PLEASE?!

Ryan Kopel, thank you so much for giving us this wonderfully autistic Davey Jacobs on stage.

[chaifootsteps]

Keith David recently complimented the hb cast saying when he’s with them he’s in the presence of something beautiful. I think that’s really sweet, because yes, the vast majority of the cast of HB seem like very kind and passionate people. I’m really glad Keith is having a good time, and tbqh I’ve never really had an issue with the cast.

But weirdly there are already people saying shit like “you just KNOW the Hazbin haters are mad lol” and that Keith said Hazbin was his favorite role—

FIRST—It’s really weird that they assume people who don’t like Hazbin think Keith needs to be “saved” or some shit? Keith David is a grown ass man who can make his own decisions. He’s a very very talented individual, who has been in TONS of movies and shows, and has done a lot of really amazing voice work. He’s the best performer on HH imo, and while I don’t like Hazbin Hotel personally, I find it downright bizarre that Stans would assume that we’re like…mad at him or don’t think he can make his own choices??

SECOND—the clip that was circulating did not show him saying Hazbin is his favorite role, he said he’s in the presence of something beautiful with the other cast mates and crew while working on the show (which tbh, I agree with—I really love a lot of the actors/actresses on the show, and I think, all things considered, they did a good job with what they were given. I’m of the opinion that the voice director did a pretty bad job, as a lot of the seasoned VAs on the show sounded kinda off, but I digress)

And hey, if he DID say that on a separate post or clip like. That’s okay??? He’s allowed to like the role??? If it’s his favorite role that’s great!!! That doesn’t automatically mean that everyone who’s ever criticized or disliked Hazbin is wrong in their opinion.

There’s like. This weird insistence I’ve seen in Hazbin Stan spaces where they point to the professionals who have worked with Spindlehorse or started in Viv’s shows and are like “SEE??? THIS REALLY TALENTED PERSON WAS ON THE SHOW!!! SO IT MUST BE GOOD!!!!”

And I mean. That’s still all subjective. I’m so sorry, but it is!! Idk how to tell yall this but great actors and artists have been in some really really bad movies. It’s not really an indicator of if something is SURE to be well written or made. Again, all subjective, but like. Idk Keith David is very very much allowed to think Hazbin is the greatest story of all time and his favorite role ever, and I’m very much allowed to disagree with him on that, but still enjoy his body of work.

My favorite performance of his will always be Childs from John Carpenter’s “The Thing”, but that’s just, like, my opinion, man!!! Who cares!!! Maybe Keith hated that role! That would make me a little concerned, because I’d be worried that he was treated badly or was struggling during the filming, but if it turned out he just didn’t think it was a good movie? That’s okay!!!! Him not liking his part in it wouldn’t take away what I like about it.

Just had to vent that. I really really hate when fans or critics bombard actors from shows in any way, either by being overly familiar in a really parasocial way, or by acting like they’re “owed” something from them.

Either way, love Keith, not a fan of Hazbin personally, and that’s an incredibly normal cold take to have that for whatever reason some people apparently cannot fathom. It’s kind of sad to me that people will see an actor compliment a show they like and immediately go “PEOPLE WHO DONT LIKE THIS SHOW MUST BE SO MAD RIGHT NOW HA!!” Instead of being like “aww yay, I’m so glad the actor enjoys the character”

(In the same way, I really loved Adam Sandler in Hotel Transylvania and Fifty First Dates. Doesn’t mean I have to love every single “grown ups” film, or defend “Jack and Jill” as high art cinema. I don’t understand why people don’t get this Chai. Anyway! Have a great night!!)

Even if we discount the fact that Keith David was probably (rightly) treated like a king on that set just because he's an old guy and Keith David, what the hell do they think he's going to say? "I hope this show and everyone involved with it gets fucked with an iron stick?"

[epiphainie]

I completely agree with you in that there are many bad faith interpretations of tommy and buck and tommy’s relationship. I don’t know if this one I’m about to share would necessarily be a bad faith interpretation but I’d like your take on it. In the scene where buck comes out to eddie, eddie says to buck “this changes nothing between us” and buck responds with something along the lines of “uh good, that’s a relief”. I’ve seen a lot of people interpret buck’s facial expressions as not showing just relief but relief mixed disappointment because a part of buck wanted things to change between them, in the romantic sense, he just doesn’t realize it. I do agree that buck’s expression as he says the words is interesting but I don’t personally think it has anything to do with him harbouring romantic feelings for eddie. for me it felt like one of those moments where you dread the reaction for so long, that when you finally face the thing and open up, even if the other person’s reaction is positive, it takes a minute for you to really internalise it and let yourself believe it.

Another moment that people often talk about from this scene is reaction to buck saying he can’t stop thinking about tommy. People often say eddie’s facial expression shows some sort of disappointment but again, I don’t know if that’s it? again, it is an interesting expression so I get why people would pause and focus for a minute but to me, it reads as eddie searching for a moment to give his honest advice to buck in the scenario.

Anyway, I’d love your thoughts on those particular moments and how you see them. Again, I’m not saying that the interpretations people are making of that scene in relation to buddie are necessarily in bad faith. I know it’s fun to analyze and interpret scenes in ways that you enjoy and I’d never want people to stop doing that. I just feel like Oliver and Tim have been very clear in that they do not want to tell a story where a guy comes out and is in love with his best friend and if buck was truly disappointed in hearing eddie say nothing’s going to change between them post buck’s coming out, that would be a quite bold contradiction.

Hi anon!

I'm not sure if you actually meant to send this to me because I'm kind of the exact opposite of a person who engages in the practice of reverse-engineering actors' faces to find deep secret meanings that doesn't actually exist in the script. I think it's a slippery slop of a fan practice where if you go "haha he looks jealous here" and want to make it gay in your fantasy world and are capable of compartmentalizing that from the actual text, it's great! If you look at it like it's subtext that is meant to one day come to surface, as some sort of proof that this is not the actual story, you're either too deep in your world that you treat these characters like they have agencies and thoughts and feelings and are not, yknow, fictional - or that actors are making the conscious choice to layer their performances with breadcrumbs for a plot that doesn't exist at the time.

I've seen all these arguments with almost every scene this season. Eddie's face when Tommy enters the bachelor party. Buck's face when Bobby says Tommy is good for him. Bobby's face when he says Tommy is good for Buck. Eddie's smile when they enter the hospital room. Most of these are insignificant and the others have in-text explanation (Yeah, Bobby smiles weirdly in that scene. Guess what, he's kind of planning to kill himself). And like I said, if people want to read these in a pro-Buddie sense and go do fandom stuff with it, that's great. But we all know this fandom is taken over by the question of "will Buck and Eddie happen?" so everyone who's not even doing this in bad faith (I don't think all do) are looking at it in "does this support canon romantic Buddie?" lenses. So much of shipping Buddie is about speculating for the next episode, next season, next whatever that I think it's so easy to find yourself on that slippery slop where you fit every shot, face, editing choice to your interpretation. There's also the sunk cost fallacy at play here - once you do it for so long, it's hard to give up on the belief that it'll happen.

I think both Oliver and Ryan great actors - and that scene is one of my favorites in the season - but no, I don't think there's more to their faces than what they're given to play. Which is as all of them mentioned a billion times, a scene of a guy nervously coming out as queer to his best friend and receiving support. If I'm wrong and the rest of this fandom is right and the production/writers/showrunners are actually fully married to the idea of canon romantic Buddie but The Powers That Be are keeping gay Eddie in the closet as if he's a real person and they're the evil step-mother, and come S10 Buck realizes he's been in love with his bff all along, then yeah in-text, that would recontextualize all their performances. It still wouldn't change what the writers' intention has been with the text as it exists today or be proof that Oliver and Ryan are making acting choices for a hypothetical future SL.

[moutheyes]

[translation] Allure Korea - Love in the Big City Interviews

Hello, for fun/practice I decided to translate the Allure Korea interviews with Nam Yoon-su, Kwon Hyuk, Na Hyun-woo, and Jin Ho-eun, who are starring in the upcoming TV adaptation of Love in the Big City. I saw bits and pieces floating around social media but hadn't seen a full translation anywhere. I've been learning Korean for a long time but still honing my translation skills, so any awkward parts or mistakes are mine. If there's anything egregiously wrong, please let me know and I'll fix it with a note!

LOVE NEVER SLEEPS / Love in the Big City: Nam Yoon-su & Kwon Hyuk, Na Hyun-woo & Jin Ho-eun

In Love in the Big City, Nam Yoon-su, Kwon Hyuk, Na Hyun-woo, and Jin Ho-eun fall in and out of love intensely, just like everyone else in the world. In Seoul, a city that never sleeps, love never disappears.

Park Sang-young’s Love in the Big City, a queer literary bestseller, will find new audiences in two separate adaptations this year. One of them is a currently airing movie, and the other is a drama about to premiere. The movie focuses on a character named Jae-hee from the original novel, while the drama depicts the first half of the novel, and Park Sang-young himself participated in writing the script. 

“I tried to keep the emotions of the original story as they were,” he said. “I also put a lot of effort into reproducing the rawness of queer life in a big city, and aimed to bring out various detailed feelings in order to let viewers connect emotionally with each chapter.” As he explained, the protagonist Go-young is “a person whose natural brightness masks the sadness in his life. He is a scientist who studies everything about love, embraces the inexperience of life, and eventually turns it into something beautiful.”

This role is played by Nam Yoon-su, and the drama will be a total of eight episodes, with two each directed by renowned directors who have appeared in various film festivals: Hur Jin-ho, Hong Ji-young, Son Tae-gyeom, and Kim Se-in. The actors (T/N: except for Nam Yoon-su) all said that they met for the first time at the photoshoot. There’s never been a drama like this before in Korea, but it’s a drama that must exist. Borrowing them for a time, Allure Korea met the four actors who loved each other passionately.

NAM YOON-SU

I have to ask how you’re doing. As soon as filming ended on the drama, you donated a kidney to a family member and became an ambassador for the Life-Sharing Campaign. No one knew about this?

I lost some weight but I’ve been healthy. I really didn’t know it would receive that much attention.

Seeing as how the episodes were filmed two at a time, aside from Yoon-su, the other actors are all meeting for the first time here?

Correct. That’s why the atmosphere is a little awkward? (laughs) Everyone’s introducing themselves and asking each other’s ages. Kwon Hyuk and Na Hyun-woo hyungs, I dated for a month each, and I dated Ho-eun for around three months?

Haha, so that’s how all of Nam Yoon-su’s men met. Or should I say, Go-young’s men?

“Nam Yoon-su’s men” works. (laughs) That’s accurate. I’ve done everything with them.

How did you get involved with Love in the Big City?

For me, it wasn’t a difficult decision, nor was it a difficult show. I’ve had queer friends since I was young, so I’ve always been open-minded. I could do everything the script and the director demanded of me. I thought of Go-young as a very ordinary person. He eats, sleeps, and loves like anyone else. The fascinating thing was, I received a ton of DMs after the casting was announced. They were thanking me. It was really amazing.

Haha, these are DMs you wouldn’t have received for any other dramas up until now.

People from different countries thanked me for taking part in this drama. Of course I also received hate, but there were way more thankful messages. They were even fighting in the comments. I just stayed out of it.

Park Sang-woo said, “Nam Yoon-su was destined for the role. I had a strong premonition that this person would become Go-young.”

Is that true? Thank you. (laughs)

It was a comment prepared especially for today. (laughs) But hearing that, I think the drama will remain faithful to the novel. It seems like Go-young experienced a lot of love in a compressed amount of time.

It’s because he was looking for love, isn’t it? I read the novel and thought it would make for a fun drama. I really thought hard about how I could express the story.

Didn’t the main character go through some changes? In the novel Go-young is described as a “fat cat,” so his nickname is “Fatty Catty” (뚱고).

Hehe, that’s correct. You have a good memory. Compared to the character in the book, I’m taller and skinnier, so in the drama “Fatty Catty” becomes a “chubby kitty.”

You’re the only one who worked with all four directors. How different were their directing styles?

Not just their filming techniques, but the crew and staff were also completely different. It felt like a fresh start every time. Directors Hur Jin-ho and Kim Se-in love to do long takes, but even those were different. Director Hong Ji-young said from the beginning, “I only film one or two takes, but there are a lot of cuts.” And director Son Tae-gyeom likes to film dialogue in a natural way. He kept only saying that it was good, so I got confused. Their styles are naturally different, so I’m also curious how the final product will turn out. I haven’t seen the final cut yet. Can I see it already?

Continuously switching between directors, what was that experience like as an actor?

I was able to learn a lot, actually. I would get used to one director’s methods, and then switching to another one would be a challenge. I would be in the middle of a scene, then get flustered and stop. It felt like a sudden change in the environment and atmosphere. We actually only had about a month to get to know each other. But as soon as we got close, it was already time to part ways, so that was sad. I think the audience will feel those directorial changes as well. That’s how different it is.

Everyone’s curious about this drama. Love in the City is described as “the story of a very ordinary queer person.” The emotion of love doesn’t change according to sexual orientation, but it can still be seen as unconventional.

It’s the same old love story. We live our lives, and the only difference is sexual orientation. I hope people see it for what it is. It’s not a surprise or a special realization that Go-young is gay, this is just his daily life. But the fact that the show is only available on streaming platforms means Korean society still thinks of it that way. I don’t know what the final cut will be like, but there are some spicy scenes, so it’s probably difficult for non-cable TV.

Korea has never seen a drama like this before?

Up until now, Korea has not had a drama like this. People ask me if doing this show will have a negative impact on me, but that’s the way I am. I’ve never thought about it, and I won’t in the future. I don’t want to act while only considering my image. I think that’s what being an actor is about.

So what is your mindset when acting?

It’s about what I want to do, and what I want is to make good shows and movies.

Just going where your heart leads? That’s simple and good.

That’s how I’ve lived my life, both as a model and when I went into acting. I just accept everything and consider whether I like or dislike it. I have a simple approach to work. I want it to be like that in the future as well. This drama, too, I just had fun while filming it.

What are you really like in a relationship?

Nothing special. Like Go-young, I just meet up and have a meal with them. I don’t date that often? (laughs) When I’m working, it’s hard to stay in contact. My relationships don’t tend to last that long. I’m quick to warm but also quick to cool. Honestly, that’s my dating style.

So you’re a bad boy, then.

I’m nice at heart. (laughs) I do everything I can for the other person. But I don’t think I’m good at dating. Hyun-woo hyung just asked me when I’m going to read his KakaoTalk messages... (laughs)

Seoul itself is another main character in Love in the Big City. Did you get to go around the city a lot?

Actually, we filmed in a lot of places. We also went to the club from the novel and filmed there. It’s a real gay club, and I heard it was the first time they allowed any filming there. They said the director went to get special permission. We put out a casting call for extras for the club scenes, and they also came and helped out.

Is there a neighborhood that represents Seoul to you?

I’m from Namyangju, and the first time I lived alone was in Wangsimni. Cheonggyecheon. I’ll never live in Apgujeong. There are a lot of bars there, which I don’t really like. After Cheonggyecheon, I lived in Dowon-dong, then Yongsan, and also Mapo-gu. I’ve lived in a lot of places, so I’ll go somewhere else next.

What kind of neighborhood do you have to live in?

Pyeongchang-dong. I’ll move there next. A place with monthly rent.

Do you enjoy living in a big city like Seoul?

There are so many people in Seoul. In some ways, there’s too many. It’s too crowded. I don’t like that part.*

If there’s no one you love among all those people, then being an urbanite can be lonely.

That’s right. So I don’t go out. Even now, I just go to the mountains. I go with my camping chair on my shoulder, eat a lunchbox by myself, and then I go back down the mountain.

You get that same kind of feeling from the drama poster—being alone in a sea of people.

That’s a real scene from the drama. There was one scene in a club in Thailand, and another one where I’m waiting for Ho-eun.

What kind of love did you experience with the three men gathered here today?

In the first two episodes, Nam-gyu and I were dating when we were students. I liked him for a while, and when I didn’t like him anymore we broke up, something like that. As for Young-su in episodes 3 and 4, when you’re young, you like older people, right? Even though you regret it later. And in episodes 5 and 6, I’m dating Gyu-ho, who’s like a friend.

Why do you think these men loved Go-young?

I came on strong. (laughs) I was the one who kissed them first and I was also the one who approached them first. How do I seduce this person? That’s what I’m thinking about.

In episode 8, do you regret getting with Habibi? As in, you should have stayed with Gyu-ho.

I do regret it. I was heartsick but didn’t show it. I had no choice but to let him go.

Even though you were acting, were there any moments when you got carried away by the emotions? In today’s interview, everyone slipped into their characters while answering. It’s interesting.

That’s how I do everything, every time. I really do get emotional in crying scenes. The other hyungs and Ho-eun are also like that. We feel everything.

It was nice to see you today, after a long time. And all the men you used to love.

That suddenly reminds me. (laughs) I did it this way and I did it that way.

How will this drama be remembered?

I don’t know if I can say this, but I don’t think there will ever be another drama like this in Korea. There wasn’t before, and there won’t be after. So I hope everyone watches it.

*T/N: this was a little hard to translate directly so I went with the general tone, but his wording was interesting to me. The word he used in the first sentence was 사람, which is a neutral word for “person/people.” In the next sentence he used 인간, which means people in a greater humanity sense. The word he used for “crowded” was 몰리다, which can also be translated as “driven,” as in herding or steering, which to me further emphasized the dehumanizing aspect of Seoul being a big city swamped with people.

KWON HYUK

Love in the Big City starts with Nam-gyu’s story, but he’s hardly mentioned in the novel. He’s the closest thing to an original character in the drama. What kind of person is he?

Nam-gyu is shrouded in mystery. (laughs) On the outside he looks well-behaved and could even be considered rigid, so he could be frustrating. On the inside he’s a person who carries a fiery sort of love. When he dates someone like Go-young, he’s incapable of hiding his true self and conveys his feelings.

If that’s the case, why did they break up?

He’s super frustrating and inflexible. When acting as Nam-gyu, I felt that Go-young’s vibe was from the current generation, like someone who’s an MZ. But although Nam-gyu works as a photographer, he really has an ahjussi’s tastes. Go-young goes to clubs and is the carefree type, but this guy drives at 60km per hour (T/N: 37 mph). I think Go-young would have found him frustrating.

We asked Park Sang-young about each character, and he said this about Nam-gyu: He’s a guy who is inexperienced in love and can’t differentiate between love and obsession.

If there are experienced and inexperienced sides to dating, he’s definitely on the inexperienced side. I think everyone has gone through an immature phase when they were obsessed with someone, and even though they should have seen and accepted that person for who they are, they kept forcing themselves to see only the good things. I could have been like that once, too.

How did you get involved with Love in the Big City?

Director Son Tae-gyeom, who filmed the first two episodes, contacted me. I liked his film Baby and Me (2017), but we didn’t know each other personally so it was a little surprising.

So a director you admired suddenly contacted you one day?

That’s right. He said he wanted to suggest the character of Nam-gyu to me. He said he’s seen almost all of my work and could already picture me as Nam-gyu. He laid everything out very clearly. It’s this kind of drama, and the production will go in this direction. He spoke with so much conviction, I thought I should trust him and give it a try.

Is that how you got your hands on the script?

It’s really fun, and there are kissing scenes, but I don’t find that difficult or burdensome. Can I play this role well? That was the assignment. Nam-gyu and I are really different. I wanted to know what the director saw in me that made him think I could portray this character well.

You’ve never been directly asked like this before?

I think so. No one’s ever asked me about that. (laughs) It’s so different, will the viewers be able to enjoy watching my character? I thought about that a lot. I also talked a lot with the director. This was a very indistinct character in the novel, so there were a lot of blanks we had to fill in. The director accepted my interpretation of the character. Nam-gyu has a unique way of speaking. He uses unusual words. Things like “that was splendid.”** Usually you’d say something was good or great, but he uses “splendid.” People don’t say that often.

What kind of director is Son Tae-gyeom?

He’s a really warm person. I had so much fun and was so happy on set. He let the actors try out a lot of stuff they wanted to do, and from the standpoint of trying to inhabit a character, I was really grateful for that.

What kind of opinions did you give?

Something that comes to mind right now is, normally if you’re introducing yourself, you’d say, “Hello, my name is Kim Nam-gyu,” right? But the Nam-gyu in my head would say, “I’m Kim. Nam-gyu.”

So that’s how you became Nam-gyu. Why was he attracted to Go-young?

I think, as with all love, It has to begin with attraction. Wasn’t I attracted to him because he was so different from me and had something I didn’t have? I thought about that while acting, but Yoon-su and I are very different as well. (laughs) I think he really is a lot like Go-young.

If you had to defend Nam-gyu?

I think it’s love. At first the viewers might think, “Why is this person like this?,” but if you consider Nam-gyu’s point of view from start to finish, you’ll feel sympathy for him. “Oh, of course that’s possible. It could be like that if you really like someone.” If you like someone a lot, it’s possible to act like you’re somewhere in between love and obsession.

Speaking of Go-young, he said he seduced Nam-gyu, Young-su, and Gyu-ho.

Is that what he said? He was young then so he didn’t know anything. (laughs)

Then did Nam-gyu seduce him?

Of course. Nam-gyu takes photos, and he met Go-young for the first time at a clothing photoshoot. Although it was his first time doing it, there was something in his eyes. There was a certain energy about his photos, and that’s how it started.

After breaking up with Go-young, does Nam-gyu think about him?

I think he was too into him. Because Go-young made him frustrated with himself, he went too fast. He tried to change himself, so doesn’t that mean he still likes Go-young a lot?

How was your chemistry with Yoon-su?

I felt that Yoon-su is a lot like Go-young, both on and off set. I wondered if he was always like that or if he was just acting like Go-young in his daily life for the sake of the drama, but he was always like that. (laughs) So I enjoyed it and it was always fun.

Seoul itself is another main character in Love in the Big City. Did you get to go around the city a lot?

We shot a lot in Itaewon and went around to various other places. We also went to Namsan and Jongno, and filmed while going around Seoul.

Is there a neighborhood that represents Seoul to you?

I’ve always liked Namsan Tower. Whenever I see it, I want to go up and look out at the city. So I went there a lot, and earlier this year I moved to a place where I could see Namsan Tower. I also like Yongsan. It’s the very center of Seoul.

Love is something all these characters yearn and work for. Is there a line that expresses Nam-gyu’s love?

I can think of two. One of them is in the narration, I think. “If obsession isn’t a form of love, then I’ve never been in love before.” The other one is, “Eat this, it’s really delicious,” and it’s when he gives Go-young something he really likes, but Go-young said he doesn’t like it. I think these two lines represent Nam-gyu really well.

What are you really like in a relationship?

I never touch the other person. I’m the kind of person who lets things be and tries to like them for who they are, without trying to change them. It’s my dream to get married someday.

What does it take to live romantically in this big city?

Love, of course. You have to live while loving someone to your heart’s content. We only have one life, so I think it would be nice to love someone sincerely.

How will this drama be remembered?

You’ll have to watch it to find out. For starters, we were really cold, since we filmed in December.

I guess Nam-gyu’s love was cold.

When we filmed at the top of Namsan Tower, it was so cold that I thought, “This is really how you lose weight.” It was 20 degrees (Celsius) below freezing. I couldn’t move my face, but I still made a lot of fun and happy memories. I don’t know how the world will remember this drama but I think it’ll be a really happy memory in my life. Also, infinite thanks to everyone who was determined and supported this drama... wasn’t it a challenge for everyone? An awesome challenge.

**T/N: The Korean word he uses here is 훌륭하다, which can also be translated as superb, marvelous, grand, etc. You get the idea. I’m curious how the subtitlers will handle Nam-gyu’s word choices!

NA HYUN-WOO

You play Young-su in episodes 3 and 4, which are directed by Hur Jin-ho.

That’s right. I’m that Young-su.

It must have been a difficult role. He’s hard to like in the novel.

Every time we filmed that kind of scene, the director, director of photography, and lighting director would all say, “what a bastard.” But it would have been impossible to play Young-su if I thought of him as unpleasant, so I tried my best to understand the role.

Park Sang-young describes Young-su as “someone who can’t accept himself, and even makes the people who love him feel lonely.” How did you approach the role?

I only thought about wanting to play him well. He has a lot of self-loathing. Of course he’s going to find love someday. Wouldn’t he be a better person due to his relationship with Go-young? I hope so. I think there must have also been moments when Go-young was clearly Young-su-like. And I also wonder whether Young-su will date another Young-su at some point.

You’re saying it’s a universal thing that can happen to people who are in love?

I think everyone inevitably has their Go-young moments as well as their Young-su moments. If that’s the case, wouldn’t Young-su also one day become Go-young-like?

How did you end up working on this drama?

I previously worked with director Hur Jin-ho on the show Lost (2021). We don’t keep in touch, but he suddenly contacted me and gave me the script. First of all, the fact that he called me himself was a big reason, and secondly, I was waiting for a drama like this. When I saw the script I knew I really wanted to do it. At the time, it was hard to see Young-su’s bad side. I just really wanted to do it, and thought I could play Young-su well, so I appealed really hard to the PD and ended up joining the cast.

What was the hardest part about playing Young-su?

In the novel he’s 38, and in the show he’s 35. That’s a little older than I am. Young-su was part of a student activist group at a prestigious university, but my generation doesn’t have that experience, so I had to do a lot of research. I’ve never met the author, but there was something about this character that was so hard to understand that I really wanted to meet him.

What part was the hardest to understand?

Why did he go back on his decision like that? What’s wrong with him? I wanted to find the author and ask him, but because I never got the chance, I just thought a lot about it and tried to figure out the reason. It must have been because he couldn’t accept himself. So no matter how unlikable Young-su is, I still feel sympathy for him. Dating Go-young was the most cowardly thing he did, and I think it was also the most painful for himself.

How was your chemistry with Yoon-su?

There wasn’t a lot of time before we started filming, but we did spend two weeks preparing for it. We became really close during that time. I’d never done such deep table reading on a drama before.

Go-young bragged that he came onto Young-su first.

He came onto Young-su? Wasn’t it more like fifty-fifty? Young-su already liked Go-young subconsciously. And wasn’t he like that because Go-young also reciprocated? Among ourselves, we described Young-su as “a man who is only nice at home.” Wouldn’t he have always made this choice?

Did you film at Olympic Park, where a certain incident between Go-young and Young-su took place?

We did. That was the first thing we filmed. It wasn’t easy. We’d just met and had to film a scene where I got mad at Go-young. And that evening there was another important scene to film as well.

Is there a neighborhood that represents Seoul to you?

We have the most fun during our college years, right? I graduated from Sejong University, so the entrance of Konkuk University and Hwayang-dong feel like Seoul to me.

What are you really like in a relationship?

When I was young, love was really romantic. Back then, I didn’t know myself, and aside from the other person I didn’t look at or date anyone else. Now that I’m older, I think it’s okay not to date. That’s the reality.

What was it like working with director Hur Jin-ho on Young-su’s episodes?

He likes suddenly coming up with ideas. He’ll abruptly remove or add new dialogue, or introduce scenes that weren’t originally in the script. You know that really long street in Itaewon? He suddenly wanted Go-young and Young-su to run down that street, even though there were so many people around. But he kept the camera hidden and filmed me and Yoon-su running down the street while screaming. A few people recognized me and called out my name. (laughs) There were no restraints, he just thought about filming realistically. I guess I was truly filming Love in the Big City!

Wrapping up that kind of shoot in a month, was it a bummer?

A total bummer. It’s like, I was so wrapped up in this character and suddenly it was over. This drama was my first one with such intense melodrama, and my first kiss scene...

You did all of that with Yoon-su.

Yoon-su took really good care of me. He quietly brought me mouthwash and said, “Hyung, use this.” That’s how he is with me. If we meet for dinner after he has a kiss scene during the day, he’ll tell me, “Hyung, I kissed so-and-so before coming here.” For some reason, I would feel weirdly jealous. It’s ridiculous. (laughs)

Haha, sounds like you got really immersed in the role.

When I was trying to get truly immersed during filming, I only saw Nam Yoon-su. I really researched only Nam Yoon-su, I looked up what kind of person Nam Yoon-su was, I only thought about Nam Yoon-su, to the point where he would appear in my dreams. Seriously, I was also shocked. I was that desperate to play this role well.

You became a Nam Yoon-su expert for a while. Did you get to know him that well?

I mean, I don’t know everything. That guy is really similar to Go-young! He went months without responding to my KakaoTalk messages.

He was really worried before. The three of you were sitting there after meeting each other for the first time, and he said it was awkward.

It’s true. Everyone here only looks for Yoon-su. So I’ll look for him a little less.

There might be someone out there who suits you better than Yoon-su.

I guess I haven’t totally escaped yet. There’s no one else but Yoon-su. (laughs)

JIN HO-EUN

How did you get involved with Love in the Big City?

I wanted to be in a queer drama. I heard this was being made, and as you know, the original novel was really well-loved. They said that four directors would be filming it, so I auditioned. I was really greedy for the role of Gyu-ho. I kept reading the novel while preparing for the audition, but I didn’t know if it would turn out well.

So you got both the project and the role that you wanted.

I filmed a video for the first round of auditions, and I’ve been saying I wanted to play Gyu-ho since then. But director Hong Ji-young really liked that. At the time, I didn’t know which part or which director would suit me, and all four of them were at the audition, as well as Park Sang-young.

Gyu-ho is an important character. He appears a lot in the novel, and on the poster, the “I don’t care, because it’s you” tagline also comes from him.

I was really glad to get this role. He has a huge presence in the story, and because of that I wanted to do a good job. I also really liked director Hong Ji-young’s previous work. I watched all of her movies and also bought the novel to read.

What did you like so much about Gyu-ho?

He’s someone who always moves forward without wavering. He and Go-young are similar in some ways, and different in others, so they are able to see each other deeply.

According to the book description, Gyu-ho looks a bit mean, but he’s actually a sincere person.

I was the least confident about his appearance, so I asked Park Sang-young about it a lot before we filmed. Not only about his physical appearance, but also his inner self—should he closely resemble the Gyu-ho from the book or should he be different? The author wanted me to do it my own way. The first time I met him, we were waiting for another meeting to finish and spent a very awkward hour together in a room. But I asked him a lot of questions and we got closer.

What was it like working with director Hong Ji-young on Gyu-ho’s episodes?

She’s really lovely. She’s really detailed, and for every little thing she tries to maintain the author’s style while also boldly including her own touches. So while Go-young and Gyu-ho’s story is a poignant melodrama, at the same time it’s also very charming. Their story felt like a youth drama to me.

Go-young and Gyu-ho had the most romantic relationship in the story. In the end, isn’t Gyu-ho the one man Go-young can’t forget?

I think so. The script is really sad. I felt sad the day we shot the scene in the poster. Although a lot of time has passed, I still tear up when I look at the script or any related videos.

You haven’t gotten over it yet?

It’s not that, but the memories still remain. Maybe because we spent almost three months together? I appear in seven or eight episodes.

It must have been a bummer when it ended. How was your chemistry with Yoon-su?

I was really sad when filming ended. I was glad that Nam-su hyung had the role of Go-young. Although we had to make some adjustments during filming, we were a good fit from the start. When he was filming the first four episodes, it reflected what he felt. Hyung really took care of me.

Today the men who loved Go-young have gathered, but I believe this isn’t everyone? From what I heard, Yoon-su kissed a lot of people.

That’s right. Who did he say was the best? Did you not talk about that? He told me he kissed around 15 people, and I was impressed all over again. Not 15 kisses with one person in a single drama, but one kiss with 15 people...

So that’s why they call him “Devil Go-young.” He said that he was the one who seduced Nam-gyu, Young-su, and Gyu-ho.

He said that? But Gyu-ho absolutely isn’t someone who falls for that kind of thing. (laughs) Gyu-ho liked Go-young. He must have been satisfied with that.

Park Sang-young said Gyu-ho was “a pure person who can’t help but fall in love.” Honestly, isn’t Gyu-ho someone who can have a good relationship, even if it’s not with Go-young?

Yeah, that’s Gyu-ho’s appeal. Still, he’ll get hurt again, grow, and heal the other person. I think he can emit a certain kind of influence over everyone he chooses to be with; he had a good influence on Go-young when they were dating, and it’ll be the same when he dates someone else.

So he’s not worried about the future. How do you think Gyu-ho will do?

I also think about Gyu-ho’s future. From his actions in episodes 7 and 8, I realized he’s a constructive and practical person. That’s so like Gyu-ho.

Did Gyu-ho want Go-young to hold onto him?

I think it was fifty-fifty for Gyu-ho. I think it was more that Go-young wanted Gyu-ho to hold onto him. That made it even sadder because Gyu-ho really understood where Go-young was coming from. That’s how I approached it while filming.

What are you really like in a relationship?

I try to do my best all the time. Actually I’m not really sure, but Gyu-ho made me think that way. (laughs)

What was the most difficult part of playing Gyu-ho?

The line “I don’t care, because it’s you” was really hard. That line is from the novel, right? But having to deliver it on camera was a challenge. Also, “You don’t care if it’s not me?” I wanted to do a good job, so I discussed different versions with the director and we filmed a lot of takes. Please check it out when the drama comes out.

What kind of drama will Love in the Big City be?

I think this is a much-needed drama for our generation. It’s a story that showcases different perspectives, so even if it doesn’t happen immediately, I think people will continue to talk about it. When the casting news came out, I received a lot of supportive DMs. They said the world needs this type of show, and also thanked me. Of course, I also got a lot of jeering or disgusted emojis. Yoon-su hyung received a lot more of those, honestly.

How will you remember this drama?

I hope this drama becomes a representative work for my 20s. I filmed it when I was 25, at the crossroads of my mid-20s, and I think we told a really good story together. Can you watch it the day it premieres? I want to achieve the top ranking on Tving. I hope a lot of people watch it. Truly, seriously, please watch it.

[morsesnotes]

I found this interview from when Shaun Evans was promoting S3 of Endeavour in 2016 and thought it was one of the more interesting ones as he gets asked some different questions. I particularly liked seeing him talk a bit about his peers and how he views his career.

Shaun Evans talks Endeavour series three, Hollywood and whether he'd star in Doctor Who

As Morse returns, the star of the hit ITV drama reveals what's next for his career By David Brown - Radio Times

Falsely accused Endeavour Morse was last seen languishing in a prison cell after being framed for murder. But fans of the hit ITV drama needn't despair - Shaun Evans is back on the case for a third series beginning this evening. Here, the actor talks about life as the Oxford detective, why Morse has endured for four decades and what the future holds...

So what has brought you back to Endeavour for a third series? I didn't feel like we should have left it where we did last time. It would have been odd. As a viewer, I would have been dissatisfied to have left it there because you'd have only been telling half the story. Luckily enough, we had the opportunity to come back to do some more and I think the stories are really good - particularly the final one. It goes along at a lick. It's a bank heist but it's also a love story. And it's heartbreaking. I think it's great and it ends in a really satisfying way.

The character of Morse has now been around for 40 years - why has he endured? A good story well told will stand the test of time. And if you throw in an unusual character - someone who is in a world but not of that world - then that's intriguing.

The original series of Inspector Morse did episodes in Australia and Italy - would you like to do an overseas Endeavour? Well, they keep telling me that the character is going to Spain. But I can take myself to Malaga. I'm joking, but I'm being honest too. There is a Spanish idea, but I'd want it to be right. I don't want this job to be a jolly or something that we take for granted and phone in. There are so many variables to that kind of thing: would the locations be as good? Or the actors? Granted, it would be a laugh to go away with Roger Allam, but would it serve the show?

Does Endeavour Morse become more like you as the series goes on? I think that’s a danger, definitely. The more comfortable and confident you get with something, the easier it could be to be less diligent about creating a character. But then you’d be taking shortcuts that you might not have done three years ago. So I try not to be complacent about it. I want to be even more diligent than I was when I started. But I admit that it's a tricky one.

Having a two-hour slot for a drama seems like a privilege these days - do you worry that viewers' attention spans could be too short to cope? I don’t worry about it at all. I feel like the work we’ve done so far has been very good. Some have been better than others - as would be the case. But I feel pleased with it. Now if audiences change and they feel that the episodes are too long, boring or complicated, then we’ll just stop. That’s OK. But I've seen some crime dramas that try to tell the story in an hour and, for me, it just doesn't work.You’re tyring to set up a killer, set up a world, solve it in an interesting or dynamic way and put in some character stuff as well. It’s nigh on impossible to do in an hour. I don’t think you can do it in a satisfying way. That’s my impression as an audience member.

Fans would be up in arms if you decided to stop Endeavour! No. I don't think that'd happen. It's just work. And they'd just fill it with something else. There'll be another brilliant show.

I think you'd make an ideal Doctor Who - would you like to play that role one day? I’ve never seen it! I think Matt Smith is a brilliant actor. And David Tennant also. But it just wasn’t my thing growing up and I feel like I’ve missed it now. I was in Moscow a few months ago and someone asked me about Doctor Who. And she thought I'd make a good Master. So if you’re offering me a part, then I’ll play the Master.

What about playing James Bond? Well, everyone wants to play James Bond, right? He always gets the girl at the end. And in the middle. And at the beginning, come to think of it. But I think that Daniel Craig would be a tough act to follow. He brings something really interesting to it.

Do you ever look at contemporaries like Benedict Cumberbatch and Eddie Redmayne and think, 'I'd like top billing in a Hollywood movie'? I know both those lads and I like them. But I never really think of my career like that. Of course, you want people to see your work, but I'm not interested in being the next so-and-so. It doesn't attract me. Mainly because it's short lived. It's better to keep working and do interesting stuff.

So being a big Hollywood star isn't all it's cracked up to be? I don't know. I suppose if you had enough clout to guarantee finance for a story you wanted to tell, then that would be a good thing. From a business point of view. But I don't spend my time being envious. There are so many variables in all that bollocks! When you desire fame or fortune - which are ephemeral things - you're building your house on sand, aren't you?

Do you have a dream project that you'd like to do? I'd love to do something about poets or photographers who have done interesting things and left an impression on their portion of the world. Someone like the American photographer Walker Evans. Or the French poet Arthur Rimbaud. 

So what's next for you? I'm purposefully having some time off. I've been busy and I'd like a bit of time to read some books and just study. I want to educate myself on writers, photography, filmmaking and poetry. I'm very lucky that I've now got enough money to have a bit of time to myself and study. I'm very lucky to be in that position.