#moonlight chicken 5

[anotherblblog]

Cheating McChicken Episode 5 Thoughts

I knew Wen was a messy gay! I knew it!

Alan: why’d you sleep with me? Wen: because I felt sorry for you. Alan: well feel sorry for me again!

Not knowing the inciting whatever that turned Wen off Alan is gnawing at me but maybe Wen and Jim will share those things with each other soon

That first year anniversary into the present cold war was a doozy

Ummmmmmmmmmmmm so is Gong bi representation or just a strong ally?

Ok so I think Gaipa’s mom dies and then Jim inherits the land? Is that what’s potentially being set up…

Also Gaipa get a first date or honestly first fuck and a commitment before offering a man a deed

I really wanna know more of Li Ming’s thoughts on Jim’s dating life

I wonder if Li Ming like Leng just wanna see Jim happy and Li Ming has seen Gaipa fail long enough for Li Ming to throw his support behind Wen who he probably heard him and Jim doing the moonlight.l chicken dance

Wen fonding over the baby gays was totes adorable, it’s reminding me of TanBunn and their lil baby gays

We need more queer friendships and mentorship in our bl’s

Now the Alan Wen cold war has a brief skirmish against the isolationist nation of Jim

Return to me what you took

Honestly Jim could have said, the pen chose me back and really gagged Alan (and ruined his chance to save his business but the drama might be worth it)

Listen jobs and capitalism make us do a lot of things but idk if I could help the person my ex/estranged living partner is interested in

But to Wen’s point, it wouldn’t make Wen not like Jim

Soooo I know I’m not the only one who thought Gong was 🌈

Wen: If you don’t wanna take my calls, fine I’ll come back to your place/my maybe sometimes place of employment

Ooooof that “this is really over”/no need to rekindle the fire lmao

Like it wasn’t subtle and that’s hilarious and camp and also painful

She took that ring off

See what happens when Mark Pakin isn’t in the episode a lot. People get re-dumped, people have motorcycle accidents, parents get the dressing down of the millennium

Like they’re baby gays so I’m sure they’re trigger shy but Fourth’s face on that overlook was screaming kiss me

It feels like it’s been a while since we’ve had a really bad bl parent so shout out of Heart’s parents cuz damn they suck. It’s sad and not fun.

Another “serious enough for a hospital visit but not lasting or impairing the actor” bl wound

Jim kinda doesn’t stand up for Li Ming. But Li Ming is clearly responsible for the accident but idk dude, defend in public and dress down in private. Like Jim publicly implicates Li Ming and idk, I don’t like it even though I get that Li Ming is wrong or appears to be wrong in these scenarios. It’s like dude you treat him bad and then wonder why he’s distance.

Oh Wen, literally making yourself homeless to get a man. Brava you messy drama queen, Brava.

[onlyrainbowshipstbh]

View via her Insta!

[wen-kexing-apologist]

By god do I just need to scream into the ether about the Heart and co. confrontation scene.

First, the tension, incredible. Gemini and Fourth are phenomenal actors. Heart and Li Ming know they are walking in to a very emotionally fraught situation and their hesitation is palpable.

It's scene breakdown time babyyyy! Let's start from the beginning

For a boy who admitted last episode that he has no idea what he is doing, he sure keeps doing things right. He's letting Heart know he's going to talk. Now, granted I don't know what he is saying here precisely if he is just simply saying "I'm going to talk for us/first", "I'll interpret," or if he's saying "I'm going to talk?", I don't think his face moves in any way that would imply a question, but his face is partially obscured. Either way he is at the very least keeping Heart in the know, and at the most asking for Heart's explicit consent to lead this conversation. You can't see it from pictures, but I appreciate the fact that before they cut back to the wide shot, Heart nods, so we as an audience, and Li Ming as the speaker here knows that Heart is okay with the power dynamics at play, with Li Ming talking for both of them.

It's a blink and you'll miss it moment, thankfully I'm obsessed with this scene and therefore have been looping it endlessly, but I feel compelled to point out the way eye contact in this moment goes a long way in conveying how Heart's Mom and Li Ming view Heart. When Heart's mother points to her son she doesn't even look at him. The most she does is cast a downward glance at his bandage, and that's before she even points. And you can argue all you want that she doesn't look at him because she's specifically talking to and addressing Li Ming. But I call bullshit on that because Li Ming is specifically talking to and addressing Heart's mother, and he's looking straight in to Heart's eyes when he refers to and gestures towards Heart. I'm sure that both of these characters believe they love and care about Heart, but of these two characters which one actually recognizes Heart's personhood?

But uh oh! Li Ming stood up for himself and for Heart, and talked back to not just an adult, but a powerful adult. And now she's mentioning past debts, and now there will be more to pay as a result. And Li Ming can only work so much with school and life and everything. He clearly doesn't know what he's getting himself in to, or what he has gotten himself in to. Li Ming and Heart's Mom are both getting angry, tensions are rising, something needs to happen to de-escalate the situation or this might go wrong. Uncle Jim absolutely must intervene (I hope you can hear the sarcasm in my voice). Interesting note: Guess who else doesn't look at their child when making a decision for them. Jim does look at Li Ming directly after this though, but it's to ask him why he did it. It's to place the blame for the accident on Li Ming. "You Li Ming, why did you do it?" "Heart asked me to." "Stop saying that."

Jim is scared, Li Ming is pissed. "He was bored at home" "I said stop!" Jim is used to the way powerful and wealthy people can control and punish the poor. Jim and Li Ming have had conversations before that indicate this very mindset. Jim has mentioned power to Li Ming before and Li Ming's response has always been "what, so we just let them?" "He's a police officer so he can just do anything he wants to us?" to a young adult like Li Ming, this is an absurdity, to an older man like Jim, this is a reality. "he can just do anything he wants to us?" the answer is yes. Which is why Jim is so desperate to get Li Ming to stop talking here. But it just serves as a reminder to Li Ming that Jim thinks he's a child, and that he needs all his battles fought for him. If Li Ming doesn't keep pushing, nothing is going to change (social and political commentary anyone?)

"There you go again," Heart's mother says, and this is Li Ming's initial reaction. This moment of annoyance and anger that this woman who doesn't even know him is once again accusing him of something he didn't do. This woman who is pointing once again to her son without even a glance in his direction "You know that he's mute, so you can say whatever you want?" First of all, even people who are mute have ways to communicate, so it's not like even if he was mute Heart would be helpless. Hell, even if Heart was mute he still has fucking sign language.

The face of a woman who was, in fact, not aware that deaf people dislike being called mute.

GUESS WHO FINALLY LOOKS AT HER SON AFTER THAT!!!! Please please if the writers are kind and merciful, this will be the point in the show where Heart's mother does so deep deep introspection and realizes how much she has fucked up. "He's just deaf," Li Ming says, loudly, and he steps forward, to try to engage Heart's mom in further conversation, in more dialogue. And what does Jim do? Pulls him back, takes him off his even footing "I said stop,"

The face of a man who is very scared for the trouble his nephew might be getting himself in to, and the face of his nephew who is very disappointed that his uncle keeps not only backing down, but forcing him to back down as well. Who keeps asking him, in these small ways to lie instead of tell the truth. To remain quiet, to take the blame, to stick to the status quo.

And then the part I hate (emotionally) begins. Heart asks Li Ming to tell him what they're saying. And I hate it because Heart's parents refusing to learn sign language does not only hurt Heart but it hurts everyone around him, themselves included. But specifically here, it hurts Li Ming, because he has to be the one to look Heart in the face and repeat the words his mother said, knowing that to do so will hurt Heart. Knowing that he has to be the one to hurt Heart.

And this moment is also a great reminder for the audience as well that no one else knowing sign language creates really uncomfortable power dynamics between the person who is able to interpret and the Deaf person. Because Li Ming is hesitant to repeat it. Heart has to repeatedly grab his arm, repeatedly ask Li Ming to tell him what was said. Li Ming has absolute power over Heart right now, to refuse to say it, or to flat out lie. He doesn't, but it also should not be Li Ming's decision whether or not Heart knows, accurately, what was said. Even after we see it in his face that Li Ming agrees to translate, he still hesitates for a few seconds to move, to reach for the notepad, to have to write it down.

And once he writes it down, Li Ming's eyes do not leave Heart. He is honed in on Heart, on Heart's face, on his shoulders, hell even on the back of his head until Heart asks him to translate. And god as much as I hate this moment in the scene for the pain that it causes Li Ming, I hate it even more for the pain that it causes Heart.

He is fucking livid. Rightfully so, because HE'S NOT FUCKING MUTE, HE'S HAD LANGUAGE THIS ENTIRE GODDAMN TIME. He just wants to live his life like everyone else AND HE HAS TO TELL HIS PARENT'S THAT USING SOMEONE ELSE'S VOICE. Because they have refused to use his own. GOD. I'll be surprised if anyone makes it this far down in the post but I just...AHHHH I have no coherent thoughts about this moment, I just....Heart's parents do fucking better. Damn. And the worst part of this scene is yet to come because his Mom tries for like 0.2 seconds, but it looks like she's going to start signing something and Heart just looks SO surprised.

He's so focused on it, he's paying so much attention to it. Is this it? Is this the moment he finds out that his mother has actually been trying? That she has learned and is ready to start using sign language with him? To talk to him, to understand him?

No.

She can't do it. She doesn't know how to. And it's just..it's so easy to see how much hope he had for just a second, how much that one millisecond of effort obliterated all the logic in his head that told him they didn't know it, they didn't care. And how quickly that disappointed anger snaps right back in to place. So Heart starts talking, in sign language, like he has been able to do for years, and he speaks his mind, and his mother still can't understand him. And we see the same dynamic here as with the "mute" comment. Heart's Mom wants Li Ming to translate, Heart wants Li Ming to translate, Li Ming knows how hurt Heart is, and yeah, probably some of his hesitation in voicing what Heart said is because he knows what Heart said will hurt her. But more so because I think it hurts Li Ming to know how much pain Heart is in.

God, poor Heart, literally having to beg to be heard.

"He said you are ashamed of him being deaf,"

His mother shakes her head and says "Heart, I'm sorry. I don't know what to say, dear," and therein lies the problem. She doesn't know what to say, she never has. She has never bothered to learn how to communicate with him since he went deaf. She has kept him locked away. And it doesn't matter if she thinks she did that to keep him safe, Heart feels like he's being hidden away. And she doesn't say "No. No I'm not ashamed. I have never been ashamed." she doesn't know what to say. Because she can't say that. She can't deny that, and it just confirmed everything that Heart has known. So he leaves, because that's too much to handle.

Bullshit 'he'll be fine, honey'. Your fucking son just told you that you never bothered to learn sign language in THREE FUCKING YEARS, and stormed away after admitting that he feels like you are ashamed of him, and you think no need to go after him, he'll be fine??? Fuck you. ACAB.

Does this...

look like...

he's fine, to you?

No. I didn't think so.

I don't really feel like I need to say much about this last shot. It stands on its own so strongly. Mirrors reflecting back, Heart and Li Ming only ever being able to see each other, to be seen by each other. Warm light at Heart's back, Li Ming in front of him, sandwiched between warmth in all of that blue, isolating coldness. All that evidence of how much time and the energy Heart has spent learning sign language. I don't know what the post-its say, I don't know that I want to know.

I don't know if they are notes Heart has written to himself when he was learning, and this is just what remains of his effort. Honestly I hope it's that, because if it is what I think it is, general, every day responses that he might have to give in reply to his parents that he can just pull off his wall and return, that is so much fucking worse. Because then its just the evidence of all the effort Heart has put in to communicate with his parents on their level when they have not put in the same effort to communicate on his. Even if it's something cute, even if it's all the notes that he and Li Ming have passed back and forth to each other over the last few months, serving as a reminder that someone cares, you still are left with the heartbreaking shot of two young men, desperate to be understood by their families, only having each other to hold on to, surrounded by reminders that they are the only two people that can understand each other. No matter how hard they try.

[chicademartinica]

That scene in Bed Friend is really hitting me in my COLORISM RUINS EVERYTHING BECAUSE LOVERS WITH CONTRASTING SKIN TONES ARE THE SEXIEST THING ON THE PLANET spot. Let the melanated characters (and actors) get loved on ON GOD.

[ql-of-all-time-bracket]

QL of All Time - Round 5: The Handmaiden (2016) vs Moonlight Chicken (2023)

[wanderlust-in-my-soul]

You're the light, you're the night | You're the colour of my blood | You're the cure, you're the pain | You're the only thing I wanna touch - Love Me Like You Do by Ellie Goulding

Moonlight Chicken

HIStory 2: Crossing The Line

Utsukushii Kare Season 2

Gaya Sa Pelikula (aka Like In The Movies)

The Director Who Buys Me Dinner

HIStory 5: Love In The Future

Tinted With You

The New Employee

Favorite "Let-me-watch-you-while-you-sleep-moments" (Part 1/?) as part of my favorite bl-tropes collection.

[respectthepetty]

Because the conversation about the pen isn't just a conversation about a pen. It's about Wen.

Because Li Ming purchasing two bubble teas isn't just about the bubble teas. It's about Heart being an unseen presence in Li Ming's life.

Because eating beef isn't about preference of meat. It's about changing for another person to a point that you don't know who you are anymore.

Because the waiter trying to relight the fire isn't just about the food. It's about the relationship being over.

Because the sticky notes framing the mirror isn't just about the notes. It's about how Heart's entire world is boxed in by his parents' lack of communication with him.

Because the colors aren't just about the colors.

It's about the love we give and take from others.

Because Aof is telling a layered story that is full of subtle and visual clues every single scene that even in the silence, there is constant noise.

This show is feeding my soul.

[whydoidothistomyselfandothers]

I KNEW IT

[hongtiddiez]

your top five favourite soft scenes in bl <3

ask me my top 5 bl anything 🌸

AAAA I LOVE SOFT SCENES THANK YOU AL (and happy new year beloved!)

BE MY FAVORITE | PISAENGKAWI

i could just make this entire list scenes from Be My Favorite, to be honest. Pisaeng and Kawi are so, so fucking soft, but this is one of my absolute favorite moments. you just know Pisaeng's heart was crawling up his throat.

HISTORY 3: TRAPPED | TANG YI x MENG SHAOFEI

your former enemy now lover, one of if not THE most powerful man in Taipei, stopping in the middle of heated kissing to kneel at your feet and reverently press a kiss to the wound you received while protecting his sister? FUCK. i didn't consider this one of my favorite BLs but i literally can't get this scene or them out of my head, so i might be wrong about that.

NOT ME | SEANWHITE

Is that the sound of your heart beating? Thump, thump, thump, thump.

GAWD. what the FUCK man. i feel like crying just briefly rewatching that scene alone, it's such a gentle reprieve from everything going on in their lives, an impossibly soft moment captured between them. and seeing White so playful in love? AUGH.

MOONLIGHT CHICKEN | FINALE

i could also fill all 5 of these just with Moonlight Chicken moments but i wanted to include a moment that wasn't necessarily between a couple. i love this moment of family and peace at the end of everything, the way everyone comes together and things are different but that's okay. there's so much i always want to say about MC but i feel so much for it i can't ever really properly put it into words (shocking from me, i know.) this show is just so special to me.

SEMANTIC ERROR | JANG JAEYONG x CHU SANGWOO

I was so nervous.

it's Sangwoo's acceptance and Jaeyong's palpable relief. it's how Jaeyoung looks like he still can't believe this is happening. it's how they fit so perfectly together like they were always supposed to find each other. I NEED MORE OF THEM.

because it was so hard to pick just 5 here are 3 honorable mentions:

LAST TWILIGHT | MHOKDAY

i'm still here. i'll probably be here for a while. i'll probably never forget this.

KISEKI: DEAR TO ME | ZE RUI x ZONG YI

the reunion was so incredible and soft and UGHHHHH. the way i felt so fucking relieved like it actually affected me at all

KISEKI: DEAR TO ME | CHEN YI x AI DI

it was so nice to see them so soft after all the shit they had to go through to get together. they're so comfortable and at peace with just about the only people they can be that way with and it makes me want to bite someone.

[shortpplfedup]

Mix's specialty as an actor is eyefucking his character's romantic partner and making respectful forms of address sound slutty as hell.

[obscuredilfoff]

Propaganda below the cut!

Doug Eiffel

No propaganda was submitted for this character.

Uncle Jim

he got bankrupted by his ex boyfriend's parents (ex died and the bank account was in the name of the ex) and had to build his life up from scratch. hes raising his 17 year old nephew for atleast 7 years because his sister did want to be a parent. he has bills to pay but can barely make ends meet. hes the sweetest man on the planet. he famously said 'why do you have to be gay? is it not enough to be poor?' while pursuing a guy he has a one night stand with (its famous because HES gay, hes had to fight his mildly homophobic sister about it and is estranged from her - while raising her child at her request) he nearly got punched by a pretty boy loser of a banker guy (ex bf of one night stand guy). one person is introduced as someone with a long time crush on jim and he turns him down by calling him a Good Kid. the actor for this character is 29 so its a fandom belief that hes probably at most 32 and Dramatique TM. he has so much game. the end scene of the show is him pulling one night stand by his id card, whispering dirty things in his ears and then BITING the lobe. mostest tierdest gay of the neighbourhood, we love uncle jim (additional info with no joke whatsoever because that would be soooo rude and inappropriate - jim in thai slang means pussy, which is the name of this gay elder who everyone in 1km radius wants to fuck. do what you will with this addition)

He's got two young twinks fighting over him. Is like in his late 30s but acts like he's way older. Tells one of the guys who has been in love with him for years that he's a good kid. Dick so good that he got a guy to work for him for free for like a year before he finally acknowledged that they could potentially get together (they only fucked once at the very start). Tells his gay nephew that lives with him that he shouldn't be gay since he's already poor.

[onlyrainbowshipstbh]

View via her Insta!

[wen-kexing-apologist]

Top 5 color?

Ooo interesting question, and I have such different answers to this:

It's funny cause lighting design is one of my favorite things and yet I never talk about it. For uses of lighting, I have two favorites for the year:

Moonlight Chicken

gif from @wanderlust-in-my-soul

The warmth of Jim and Li Ming's home, the cold of Heart and Wen's home, the way the light slowly dims throughout the entirety of Wen and Alan's break up? Moonlight Chicken has some of the best, most thoughtful, and incredibly interesting uses of lighting of the BLs I've seen from 2023. (Fun fact! Orange and blue lighting color combination is probably my favorite lighting combo because it's so gorgeous).

Playboyy

Playboyy is certainly a messy messy show, and I don't think it is using it's lighting intentionally like Aof was in Moonlight Chicken, but it is getting fucking creative and artistic with some of it's lighting and I love that shit. They've been going hard on the reds and the purples in this show and I support it.

_

For my absolute favorite color moment of the year, I have to give that to:

What Did You Eat Yesterday?

gif by @my-rose-tinted-glasses

Shiro getting him and Kenji matching aprons for Kenji's birthday. The colors may not match, there may not be a color exchange, but holy mother of god this scene absolutely destroyed me. Shiro has grown so much throughout the course of this show and it makes me so fucking emotional.

-

My singular favorite use of color in a show this year:

Last Twilight

gif by @tomystars

Once again Aof is taking the crown for such intentional uses of color. I don't care here if the pink has an actual meaning to the color, what I care about is what this shirt does to show Mhok's character, grant some autonomy to Day, and give you a sense of how Day's vision works. Which, I know the show has been doing pretty consistently throughout, but you can really see here why bright neon colors work really well for Day, and why Mhok 100% puts those bright neon yellow laces on Day's old shoes.

and finally...

Net's skin

gif by @ueasking

Net has such a gorgeous skin tone, and @neuroticbookworm and I weep every time some magazine, show, or other promo photo lightens his skin. Honestly I am personally not vibing with Middleman's Love but both Net and James look so good in it.

ASK ME MY TOP 5 OF ANYTHING BL 2023

[blmpff]

[bl-bracket]

Horny on Main Loser's Bracket Round 5: Wen (Moonlight Chicken) vs Segasaki Mizuki (My Personal Weatherman)

[Submitted Reasons Under Cut]

Wen: "man was so horny that he worked for free for like a year in order to hopefully get that dick again"

Segasaki Mizuki: no propaganda submitted

[wanderlust-in-my-soul]

H❤: I've lived in Pattaya since I was born, but I have never been up here before. Ming☺: I will bring you back here more often. H❤: I haven't felt this way in a long time. Ming☺: What way? H❤: Like a normal person. Ming☺: To me, you're normal.