silviakundera

[silviakundera]

@ my mutuals: I'm not dead, job just exploded on me so I'm traveling and working 14 hour days.

hope everyone in Love in the Desert is still hiding out in that 1 lord's house and groping each other.

I will ride again. 加油!

[silviakundera]

There’s your cousin, and there’s your cousin’s cousin.

[silviakundera]

I know security is apparently very lax in Yunpei, but to have one of the city lord's "favored" concubines go on a full blown date in broad daylight with a strange man and not even attempting to conceal her identity! Even (presumably) leaving city walls to have a romantic tryst!!!!

yunpei citizens:

[silviakundera]

👀 need this cousinfucker on my screen NOW

This poster is GORGEOUS!!!! Very much like a cover of a web novel I'd love to read.

yoo-hoo, @silviakundera and @renewedmotionforjudgment

PS If I had a nickel for every time Zhang Wangyi fell for his fake cousin, I'd have two nickels etc etc etc. Borgia Boy is back in action!!!!

[silviakundera]

We ask your questions so you don’t have to! Submit your questions to have them posted anonymously as polls.

[silviakundera]

I confess I never understand why they wipe the brow or blot with towels rolled up. Wouldn't it cover a greater area unwrapped?

But also, the fact that he's super out of it and super wounded and freaks out about the small cut on her hand (that she did as part of her quick thinking to save him earlier, love her.)

And then he's all, I am not worth it. DELISSSSSSHHHH

The way he collapses into her arms and she strokes his faceeeee HIGH PITCHED SCREECH

This is my fave type of thing, when she's in charge and gently bossing him.

He looks all princess in distress here and I love it.

(Side note - the fact that he's impervious to poison because he drinks some sort of alcohol daily? Is this drama sponsored by booze manufacturers? Heh.)

[silviakundera]

This is SUCH an amazing scene! Like he KNOWS it's a bad idea, but he can't help but ask.

He's melted utterly.

Awwwww, she's self sufficient and would never admit this unless she was dead drunk but she is lonely and wants protection...

I love this because he KNOWS KNOWS KNOWS this is gonna end in disaster but he's unable to help himself.

But honestly, the way he wonders if she can forgive him once again leads to the whole "he wasn't the one who told the archers to kill the mom" because then it wouldn't be anything to wonder about, the answer would be obvious.

[silviakundera]

Lust Love in the Desert, ep 12 liveblogging

Have I mentioned the opening song? Because it's fantastic. I normally fast forward opening songs after the first episode but I let this one play more often than not.

(great translations as ever from peachey blossom)

We pick up where we left off, with General Wu having discovered the escape. Ruo Wen happens to be on scene with his silly hat.. will he help?

maybe? tbh I'm not certain if toppling that bookcase was intended to help or hinder

ML is shot with an arrow and it's all very tense and exciting! The Lord and guards are combing the grounds! ML is incapacitated, poisioned and seizing! FL has to hide him as the Lord prowls suspiciously in her rooms!

She cleverly slices open her palm to explain the blood smears on the cabinet. This woman really thinks on her feet.

FL is tending to the gaping arrow-sized hole in her beau's back

"Such a little injury is nothing" ML says as his eyes fill with tears, torso shuddering. Ok tough guy.

This hurt/comfort routine is happening on her bed, I'm fairly certain

Now she's wiping his brow and he wants to care for her hand. He's feeling very angsty about her risking her life to save him and unfortunately she can't understand why he's so adamant about being 'not a nice guy'

Yunpei Lord still plotting but sorry bro, I still think you're smart yet 50% less smart than you think you are.

But he's at least not an idiot so he's highly suspicious of FL

FL ruminating on if ML is impervious to poision, which I would dismiss as ridiculous but we're playing by wuxia rules

He wasn't wearing her armor for guilt reasons. Now she makes him swear to do so.

Every time we see Ruo Wen in his silly bowed hat I'm

Once again ML is healed and spruced up after being at death's door

He claims this extra special wine is like poision and he's been drinking it since a child, because everyone is always trying to kill him

More backstory flashback: he was handed over to the north lord to pose as his illegitimate son. lol so actually both he and the current Yunpei Lord are fake heirs.

FL is all 😔 both of us are orphans. Don't say sorry, it's not your fault ❤

ML: ... 😬

Perhaps out of guilt, for the first time he actually tells her actual true things about himself: he's an orphan and he's planning to rescue Rong Huo (though not why)

Ok so ML does think Ruo Wen was helping. 🤔🤔🤔

"I take you as my confidant," he says while still mostly sharing nothing about himself

She's incredibly wasted by this point. Babbling about rice cakes and wanting to cuddle

drunk!silvia also feels an overwhelming urge to cuddle, so I deeply sympathize

She admits missing him terribly when he's not around and it's very tender to see her lying in his embrace

She's lamenting that everyone who cared about her & protected her is gone, but at least destiny sent him to her. While we and ML know that he's at least partially responsible for her mom and nanny ending up dead. (the nanny wasn't skewered by his guys but if he'd let them in the gates, no one would have been kidnapped by bandits)

Princess #2 is taking over the brothel and turning it into a restaurant-front, backend bandit hideway. Of course she's ego bound to prove to Ruo Wen she can handle this business.

idk though... guys... The more I think about it, I just don't know how this is gonna work out. I could be very off-base on this, but I have the feeling that on some level she's too... 'mainstream' for Ruo Wen's lifestyle. She was up for the wild spring break times (adventure! excitement! no rules!) but sometimes I think there might end up a rude awakening between how she thinks this is gonna play out and Bandit Leader's plans. Like in this case, she's turning a brothel into a restaurant and releasing the girls from being sex workers. And she wants to send the madam to prison instead of the bandits' instinct just to kill her. None of that is very Desert Rankers, formerly of The Dead Zone. Is this gang actually going to go "straight"? Can 2ML truly withstand a leash? And if they don't, how long is she going to be able to vibe with it?

(This isn't a criticism of her subplot - the unpredictability of how this storyline will play out is what makes it interesting.)

Ruo Wen lying on a bed in the royal mansion, right under Loser Lord's nose, and ruminating on FL and if she'll truly come with him willingly or was just bluffing

But he is simply not made for thinking or playing indoor housecat - he's reactionary & impulsive, so he makes some sort of decision and bounds off the bed to stop the fake chef games

He rips off the mask and terrorizes Other Concubine for a while. Serve me, dance for me, do as I say or I'll scar you and you can be my wife. The usual. (I presume, as a powerplay to feel in control again).

[silviakundera]

Lust Love in the Desert, ep 11 liveblogging

Yunpei Lord got his conspiracy board out, trying to conjecture how no one has attacked him since that sketchy show at the lantern ceremony.

If only he knew it's at least partially due to being distracted by their girlfriends

One of which is married to himself 💀

Other Concubine of Yunpei Lord is just existing in a whole other universe from everyone else's concerns. 🙃

For instance... FL showing up at the Lord's throne room in order maneuver for the 3rd Climate volume into her hands - not in the least interested in his favor or a chance to produce an heir.

(Btw that throne room is gorgeous and also completely OTT - this dude really loves to cosplay emperor)

She doesn't get the book but at least she confirms he has it

Bandit Bonnie & Clyde have made a breakthrough - they're now acting almost like a couple. He even asks if she wants to come along on a mission.

Team Bandit ransacked the arsenal and are now ready to infiltrate the mansion. Ruo Wen is coming to collect "his woman".

smh FL's house is as heavily trafficked as a public thoroughfare.

in the meantime, ML is poking through the library, pulling up clues that the Lord is a fake heir. Naturally FL shows up to search for recipes and do their hide & seek thing

Worst secret lovers EVER. When you're alone in the same room it should be wild makeouts time. Not darting behind pillars.

She falls again so the director can have him artistically catch & twirl her

Then hiding together in a tight space! Pressed together! She bites the hand cupping her mouth! His hands clutch her shoulders! That's UST, baby!

Oh and whatever, it's revealed that the Lord has a secret entrance to somewhere from the library. yawn.

CAN YOU GUYS PLEASE TOUCH MOUTHS

"Why did you bite me?" "Have you been too busy lately?" lmaooooo he's not been giving enough attention to his forbidden love

Ruo Wen and FL start bickering in broad daylight and they're actually ridiculous. There's zero sexual tension between them now, not even on his side. He is so thrown when she tosses the script and just agrees to come with him. Tying her up, throwing her over his shoulder: he has a playbook for this. But not whatever the hell she's doing.

2ML's incredibly silly hat makes all this funnier.

ML is super jealous and FL is sick of the hot & cold, close & distant act. Oh and also his inability to ever say 1 true thing to her.

But then we get a reunion between ML and Rong Huo + flashbacks

Rong Huo dropped him off in the north after they saw the last lord murdered. And has been waiting for him to grow up and ride to the rescue.

But oh no! They've been discovered by General Wu! 😱

[silviakundera]

There is something so distasteful and almost.... disrespectful about doing this with an adaption of a censored queer cdrama. When there has been so much effort and creativity and risk-taking from the staff of those chinese productions to push the boundaries of what they can include. It feels like... how dare you?

It can be incredibly affecting & rewarding to craft romances that are told without physicality. (I even made a whole post celebrating how creativity in this area can deliver exquisite romantic passion.) But write an original story to experiment with that. Don't co-opt something fucking CENSORED. That was taken down for being too explicitly gay. How do you not see the difference?

also: the audacity of this man thinking he's fucking revolutionizing the industry when A Tale of Thousand Stars is one of the most popular thai bl dramas and its couple kisses once, in the final episode.

Saw the director of Addicted Heroin Thailand had posted this on his Facebook account:

This man looked at the show that was the tipping point of the first big anti-gay censorship wave in China in the 2010s, and decided to remake it and intentionally self-censor, just to see if he could attract the "Chinese BL is superior because it doesn't rely on kisses or NC scenes to show the emotions" audience to Thai BL?

I am so mad about this.

[silviakundera]

Lust Love in the Desert, ep 10 liveblogging

Secret Scroll already paying dividends as FL is inspired to use tree bark as alternate embroidery material. Even ML takes a night shift lol

The music gets so majestic and sweeping as he's twig stripping 😂😂😂

Then he gazes at her sleeping and tenderly cares for her wounded hand. THE most romantic stalker.

She wakes and he makes her play hide & seek when they could be making out instead

She pretends to fall so that he'll catch her and they can embrace and burn with unresolved sexual tension

This ship is cooking, don't get me wrong, but other than being hot for her, not sure a single true statement has passed his lips

When she embraces him though... 🔥

This drama has turned me around completely on Fang Yilun. @dangermousie you were right. Is Love By Hypnotic worth watching for his performance?

Bandit Leader has discovered his non-girlfriend's whereabouts and actually comes to collect her! She was able to hold out long enough for him to show up, then she kicks a few people and they go upstairs to bang. Few people are suited to be a bandit leader's wife but she's one of them.

Alas, ML's henchman delivers him the results of their fact-finding: he now knows his crush is the girl he was engaged to and could have had all along, but he decided not to open the gates and let them die.

(Now, we don't see in the flashback that he specifically ordered his men to shoot them. But lbr, he probably wasn't specific. It's something he likely didn't think much about at the time and presumed they'd be fucked regardless. 🤷)

Henchman: ...so, you know killing someone's mom is one of those universal dealbreakers ?

ML:

Meanwhile, FL keeps investigating that twin fruit free dead!mom told her about. Never get between a woman & her reading.

At the brothel, Team Bandit is back to scamming. Setting up a take-down with Princess 2 as bait. Is this guy the weapons connection?

She found the key on him so mission accomplished I suppose, but clearly freaked out by the Supervisor ready to have his way with her and realizing she's not actually in control. GIRL, GET WEAPONS TRAINING, I BEG YOU.

Bandit leader likes to appear aloof but was distressed by her distress and beats the shit out of the dude. It's been established that he is protective of his own people (one of his few rules is they don't kill their own) and while he's not about to confess true love, I think he's at least accepted her as one of them - not a hanger-on that he's trying to ditch. She doesn't quite fit in any safe box for him but he's become accustomed to having her around and he's now learned the joys of an easily accessible, ready & willing sex partner.

ML coming to stare angstily at his sleeping crush (and ex-betrothed), thinking about how he just hadn't wanted to be tied down

"Destiny actually brought you to me and I lost you. Who I am to approach you?"

Of course she wakes and hands him the armor she handmade for him. AND WE GET A PRINCESS CARRY.

He's suffering and I'm loving it. Let the guilt run through you!! Yeeeeesssssssssssss

[silviakundera]

The Addams Family (1991)

[silviakundera]

Ok I got to thinking there were 2 kids - ML who as a kid in the palace witnessed that murder and AND the true heir of the old lord. I had thought it was setting us up to think that every time "kid" is mentioned it was about ML but then the viewer realizes that Yunpei Lord isn't even searching for him, but his 'missing' brother. So nope, no misdirection. ML is just the most special snowflake. I overthought it. 😂

lol that random oasis, I feel like this is very much like being given a deed that says you "own" a distant province and in practice it just means you can tax them.

Lust Love in the Desert, ep 9 liveblogging

Yunpei Lord, on his lil podium in the lantern show & mumbling to himself & captive Rong Huo: "When one is powerful enough, everything in this world will surrender at his feet."

me & Rong Huo:

ML has infiltrated the festival as... a performing dance trope. Ok?

To distract us all from the twirling, FL brings out a full ass tea set to the stage

lmaoooooooo both ML and SML have teams on the ground cued to an 'action whistle' and they're canceling each other out 😂😭

Now random concubine is trying to show up the FL with her own tea and actually doing her a favor by causing more distraction

ML drawing a bit of not silvia recommended attention by asking for tea served by the princess as a reward.

"The tea is cold." "But my heart is hot." ok, SMOOTH. and he passed her a lil note thing.

still dumb, sorry

General Wu proposes a tea(?) battle between FL and the other concubine, to get her tribe some oasis. I'm guessing this was already planned by the Lord.

Ah the note has "I miss you", damn ML has romancing skills

Yunpei Lord made a big deal at the festival about exempting his residents from taxes but now he's underlining to the general that this money better be re-couped from the weaker tribes. I'm making like the nanny in Are You The One, 'what a sin, what a sin..'

This Lord is just so in love with himself. Like he's clever but so up his own ass that eventually that'll be his downfall.

Ruo Ren and the Desert CIA have now both figured out they're both in the city and plotting shit.

Ruo Wen also finally notices he misplaced his non-girlfriend last night but whatever, moving on lol

His first priority right now is meeting with Team ML to stir up some shit together

ML is supportive of Ruo Wen's Yunpei conquering plan and is gonna hook him up w a weapons connection.

Oh did 2ML not actually forget her and is asking for help from Desert CIA? tbh it's a bit confusing because he flashes a piece of paper and it's the same portrait paper he had with FL's picture before. But it wouldn't make sense that he doesn't know where FL is. He just saw her last night on stage. So it must be a new pic of Princess 2.

Princess 2 was kidnapped by a brothel and her rich girl temper tantrums are not gonna cut it. She needs to pick up some of her non-boyfriend's famed martial arts.

ML just walking into the Lord's home to seduce his woman some more. This time it's some mutual lute playing.

This man has the worst security I stg.

EVeryThiNG in tHis WOrld wiLL sUrrENder aT HiS feET. 🤡

Faux-enunch at the door to be impotently suspicious and also inform us it will be a needlework competition among ladies. ok.

Where's Wei Yingluo when you need her

Our ML still creeping around the house, watching his crush embroider, sneaking a baked good she left out for him. This relationship is so weird, I kinda love it.

Yunpei Lord comes back to try to intimidate a reclining Rong Huo yet again, then very poorly lies that he just wants to find his brother to share the city with him

Rong Huo: didn't u kill him as a kid 😏

Lord: I'm not gonna give up 😤

Rong Ruo: k have fun with that 😝

The missing kid of the former lord is very obviously our birthmarked 2ML

oh noooo someone stole the needlework threads from FL's competition (obviously the rival concubine)(or just the Lord fucking with her)

But why do we care?

[silviakundera]

Lust Love in the Desert, ep 9 liveblogging

Yunpei Lord, on his lil podium in the lantern show & mumbling to himself & captive Rong Huo: "When one is powerful enough, everything in this world will surrender at his feet."

me & Rong Huo:

ML has infiltrated the festival as... a performing dance trope. Ok?

To distract us all from the twirling, FL brings out a full ass tea set to the stage

lmaoooooooo both ML and SML have teams on the ground cued to an 'action whistle' and they're canceling each other out 😂😭

Now random concubine is trying to show up the FL with her own tea and actually doing her a favor by causing more distraction

ML drawing a bit of not silvia recommended attention by asking for tea served by the princess as a reward.

"The tea is cold." "But my heart is hot." ok, SMOOTH. and he passed her a lil note thing.

still dumb, sorry

General Wu proposes a tea(?) battle between FL and the other concubine, to get her tribe some oasis. I'm guessing this was already planned by the Lord.

Ah the note has "I miss you", damn ML has romancing skills

Yunpei Lord made a big deal at the festival about exempting his residents from taxes but now he's underlining to the general that this money better be re-couped from the weaker tribes. I'm making like the nanny in Are You The One, 'what a sin, what a sin..'

This Lord is just so in love with himself. Like he's clever but so up his own ass that eventually that'll be his downfall.

Ruo Ren and the Desert CIA have now both figured out they're both in the city and plotting shit.

Ruo Wen also finally notices he misplaced his non-girlfriend last night but whatever, moving on lol

His first priority right now is meeting with Team ML to stir up some shit together

ML is supportive of Ruo Wen's Yunpei conquering plan and is gonna hook him up w a weapons connection.

Oh did 2ML not actually forget her and is asking for help from Desert CIA? tbh it's a bit confusing because he flashes a piece of paper and it's the same portrait paper he had with FL's picture before. But it wouldn't make sense that he doesn't know where FL is. He just saw her last night on stage. So it must be a new pic of Princess 2.

Princess 2 was kidnapped by a brothel and her rich girl temper tantrums are not gonna cut it. She needs to pick up some of her non-boyfriend's famed martial arts.

ML just walking into the Lord's home to seduce his woman some more. This time it's some mutual lute playing.

This man has the worst security I stg.

EVeryThiNG in tHis WOrld wiLL sUrrENder aT HiS feET. 🤡

Faux-enunch at the door to be impotently suspicious and also inform us it will be a needlework competition among ladies. ok.

Where's Wei Yingluo when you need her

Our ML still creeping around the house, watching his crush embroider, sneaking a baked good she left out for him. This relationship is so weird, I kinda love it.

Yunpei Lord comes back to try to intimidate a reclining Rong Huo yet again, then very poorly lies that he just wants to find his brother to share the city with him

Rong Huo: didn't u kill him as a kid 😏

Lord: I'm not gonna give up 😤

Rong Ruo: k have fun with that 😝

The missing kid of the former lord is very obviously our birthmarked 2ML

oh noooo someone stole the needlework threads from FL's competition (obviously the rival concubine)(or just the Lord fucking with her)

But why do we care?

[silviakundera]

I'm going to find these two idiots. Now everything in Wayun is on track. I'll leave the rest to you. But the North Clan's forces are all over there. How can you rescue them with so few men and horses? You're walking into a trap. Didn't you just say their behaviors were very foolish.

Eternal Brotherhood 紫川 · 光明王 (2024) • Episode 24

[silviakundera]

Modern Urban-ish Fantasy:

Parallel World

Wuxia/Xanxia:

Legend of Shen Li

A Journey to Love

Word of Honor

Historical:

A Dream of Splendor

Modern: (I generally can't recall age but my mind segments modern dramas into 'characters living adult lifestyle of a 30s-40s year old' and 'kids' 😂 these all fell into the adult lives bucket)

I Know I Love You - he's divorced, she's slowly extracting herself from a 10 year relationship

Road Home - the characters are at least mid 20s; they're well into their careers and it's a "second chance romance"

The Rational Life has a late 30s FL character who looks it, but ML is under 25. (age gap romance)

You Are My Glory - the characters are at least mid 20s and then it covers a few years (they're well into their careers and it's not the 1st romantic relationship for either)

Fake It Till You Make It - probably between 25 and 30? idk but they're both mature adults and act like it.

Meet Yourself - probably over 25? idk but they're both mature adults and act like it.

Asian drama rec where the leads aren’t under 25 or playing under 25?

[silviakundera]

Yeah it's not that I'd be pleased to see her have to fake orgasm for Loser Lord - even besides his gigantic harem and being generally evil, he's a joke to me. The man thinks playing emperor makes him one. No sir, you have not ACTUALLY conquered the desert yet. ML and Desert CIA is sneaking in through the back door walking all over your house PLEASE BE SERIOUS.

It's that it grinds my gears when one half of a couple must Remain Pure™ and there are repeated contrivances arranged to make them not have any sexual experiences, even when it doesn't make sense.

Nothing wrong with having a virgin character! Maybe they NEVER want to have sex. It's all good. But then the setting and characters and storyline gotta logically support it. Otherwise it just feels like the creators have a 'sex makes a woman dirty/used' agenda and ew.

Lust Love in the Desert, ep 7 liveblogging

Yunpei Lord calls FL in for a threesome but because the writers are WEAK ofc she doesn't bang him but makes an excuse

Because noooooo she must only sleep with the male lead or they're not allowed to end up together

Cowards!

However, definitely a bold move to just chill with the Special Scroll a few steps away from the fucking couple like they're not even there

As the fucking was clearly more of a powerplay, lure of power compels Yunpei Lord to pause the panting. He strolls over to pop quiz FL on her reading and tries to get glimpse behind her mask.

He thinks he's sooooo fucking special and smart that he both wants to be Too Jaded™ and presuming all his concubines are liars and ALSO he's weak for beautiful women calling him the 'sun'

"I'll wait until you open your heart to me." HOW CONVENIENT.

ML trying to get drunk over his crush threesomeing without him

Back to the wild spring break adventures of Princess 2. There's a fire. People menaced with knives. A nice roasted chicken. What more does a bandit want in life?

2FL is thrilled to be informed they're here to kill people.

I assume it's revenge against the group who helped our main couple bust up The Dead Zone.

He collects the remnants to rebuild his gang. All in a day's work.

This spoiled princess is drunkenly ranting and climbing in his lap and tbh @dangermousie has her dead to rights as that kind of cosetted & privileged young daughter running wild with an implicit belief that the world will open its doors for her. As unhinged as she can be, her character makes sense and is internally consistent.

Bandit leader has totally gone a bit soft for her and I actually thinks it's a kindness when he tries to ditch her this time (leaving her with MONEY). It's in his face when he looks at her. Acting!

"I don't care about money!" Yeah, not something a person raised in poverty would say lol

Yunpei Lord and FL are testing each other (though only FL realizes it's mutual). She thinks he's got juuuust the right amount of ego, ruthless ambition, and smarts to start uniting the desert (or at least enough to fuck up the North Lord for revenge).

Like our mysterious ML, he's intrigued by her brilliance and steel spine. But sadly for him, she's too clever to authentically fall for a dude this sleazy and pretentious.

lolololol ML doesn't even try to hide how hyped he is about FL not consummating her marriage

But then we get a lil flashback of mom being alive and mentoring FL and boyyyyyyy I just do not see how this works out for you.

hmmm so there are 5 parts of the Special Scroll, not 3. FL's family had 2 volumes, Herb and Architecture. With ALL ITS POWERS COMBINED, it can reveal a great secret

where does the twin fruit tree grow? Only the Desert Scroll knows.

wow mom was a real font of knowledge. It would be really too bad if someone shot her...

oh hi ML

he takes a break from stalking around the palace tunnels and tucks a blanket on his crush while she's dozing

I'll give the Yunpei Lord this: he's actually plotting w his faux-enunch to target the FL for her brains instead of as a bedmate