Let's Watch: Addiction 上瘾, China's First/Last Gay Drama

[taigunjeung]

 

Episode Ten of "Addiction" (watch online here)

 

The two most important things to know about this episode:

• Gu Hai and Bai Luoyin and now officially not a couple, and it's all because they finally figured out that they share a mother/step-mother, a burning open-ended secret since episode one (uh, if you were paying attention); and
• This episode features a guy touching another guy's junk. 

Yes, "Addiction" has hit a high water mark as a drama and as an exploitational vehicle, and it comes at a time when the stakes couldn't be any lower. The actual gay relationship between the two is uncertain, Gu Hai always gets what he wants, and the big drama comes from finally revealing the pair's common mom/stepmom since the very first episode. Nothing is lost. Hai will just have to grope some other willing victim, and Luoyin will just have to be surly by himself without being prompted.

 

This is a Chinese drama, and it's in this one aspect that the show stages a breakdown: over family. As per China rules, family is the most important part. It then become the dramatic high point that we see Hai's hard work hard to be accepted by Luoyin's family finally come to fruition in the opening of Auntie Zou's new diner (does not look delicious, sorry); under the auspicious opening flanked by bamboo flower arrangements, Luoyin and Hai join Luoyin's dad and Zou in becoming a family unit... which is why it's just that much more poetic that it's Luoyin's and Hai's treatment of other parts of their family (again, the mother/stepmother) that would tear them apart.

 

But again, this is all staged by Hai's manipulations. Auntie Zou's store and Luoyin's dad's new job are all due to Hai abusing his guanxi, something Luoyin and Hai have a showdown over at the beginning of the show. We all know how it's going to turn out, and as per China rules, Hai again gets whatever he wants, this time by showing that his intentions are pure and that he did it "for the family". (Here's a justification from Hai: "In our society, everybody is doing it, guanxi is just the way things get done.") But before you think Luoyin is an upstanding idealist, the point he was really really trying to make, as a way to make the conclusion more final, is to question if Hai is actually part of the family.

 

And with that, we can comfortably cross off the word "gay" to describe “Addicted". There's nothing I want more from this show than for Hai to just turn to Luoyin and say, "I want to be a good man, and love you always." (I suppose Luoyin can say the same) But no, this is a family drama, with conflicts about family identity. Everything gay about this is resigned to be dick touching, groping under sheets, and peeking behind shower curtains. But what's fine for Desparate Housewives or Mistresses is completely insincere when it comes to a drama about what it's like to be gay in China. As popular as this show became in China, I'm sure more people became confused with the gay lifestyle than were illuminated by it. So far, there's not one shred of honesty from this show; it's a pure, unadulterated fantasy of sex and power that makes no sense at all when you tell someone about it.

 

Speaking of no sense at all: Hai's girlfriend professes her love to Hai after he catches her in bed with another man, after she insulted him by admitting she isn't a virgin, something Hai didn't even know during their time together. I get that Hai is mad for having been cuckolded, but they never liked each other, something proven by the fact Lulu has worn the same dour face everytime she appears. The family to which her role suggested was never established, meaning nothing else was lost here.

 

But the one indeterminable thing from this episode has to be Luoyin's reaction to Hai's shock when they hear the news the dad will be buying an extra bed for Hai to sleep on (as a result of the new job Hai secretly gave him). Luoyin laughs at his dad's cockblocking of Hai's attempts to nightly molest Luoyin.

 

We know that the pranking of each other goes back to the beginning of the series, and that Luoyin's laughs will just be the just desserts Hai will feast upon, as he always does. In the middle of the night, Hai pushes the two single beds together, creating a super-orgy bed that is christened in the baptism of fire that is hand-on-genitalia action.

 

But why is he laughing? As Luoyin's baseball team allegiance hasn't yet been revealed, we can only guess:

• Luoyin is straight, and is laughing because his dad has inadvertently become the one to to stop Luoyin's nightly gropings, something he has never been able to stop Hai from doing everyday, but still invites Hai to sleep with him (as a brother, but one that wants to have sex with you)
• Luoyin is gay, and is laughing because Hai has been stopped from doing the thing that Luoyin really digs, and now won't get any more of
• Luoyin is gay, and is laughing because he won't have to work as hard anymore to put up a fight to maintain his hyman remains intact
• The writers don't know how to accurately depict homosexuals as believable characters instead of fantasy cut-out within Chinese TV tropes 

What we get in the end, folks, is the "shouting drama" that is the hallmark of any melodrama. Luoyin and Hai finally have a relationship-splitting fight, but it has nothing to do with their personal relationship, and everything to do with the way they hate their families. The argument is terribly done, but it's the one this show loved to happen.

 

I was right about Luoyin being a metaphorical purse change holder, rolling over when confronting Hai about the guanxi business, so let's make a few more predictions:

• Most of the kisses between Hai and Luoyin (as seen in the end credits) will be Hai forcing himself upon Luoyin. They become consensual because Luoyin doesn't fight back, but learns to enjoy it.
• The word "gay" will never be spoken once in the entire run of the show, as it hasn't so far in ten out of 15 episodes.
• Hai will continue to get everything he wants, Luoyin will continue to be surly and capricious; no one will ever know they're a couple.
• The ending to the series will be a kidnapping, as is the hallmark of any TVB show. Luoyin will be the one captured, and it's up to Hai and his bullying skills to save the damsel in distress. 

Stray Dog Observations:

• For someone who can do 100 push-ups and beat his gym teacher at a chin-up competitions, Hai sure is reluctant to use his arms in a fight. Upon confronting his cheating girlfriend and the other guy, Hai kicks him, the same way he's kicked the bully that was picking on Luoyin, You Qi, and the guy who fouled Luoyin on the basketball court. I don't know why, but I bet it comes from the source material.
• All the women characters on this show are terrible, and that's not just my observation: Luoyin's mom has a line of dialog criticizing Auntie Zou, saying "You can't trust her, she's just trying to use you. That's what all women do."
• Gu Hai has a BMW all this time, and we didn't see it? Luoyin may yet have an alternative to crying to the back of a bike.
• This show features a guy touching another guy's junk, but a woman in bed having sex with a man is seen with the sheets up to her neck.
• The show's name is "Addicted", and it's about two guys that "just can't quit" each other. (and they're collectively called "Heroin") And yet they did break up, and the show never even addressed the attraction that keeps them together. 
• Hemorrhoid cream has made its way back for a third appearance as the glue that keeps their beds stuck together. It's the most topical gay thing about this show.
• I figured this out a few episodes ago, but saying it now: the actors playing Luoyin and Hai sing the duet in the theme song. What threw me off about it was that Luoyin sings on the show, and doesn't sound a thing like the singer at the beginning.

Various Vocabulary 

 

救济jiu4ji4 emergency relief, esp with cash

舒坦shu1tan comfortable

[Pokarface]

I actually want to watch this since I consider this unusual in the mainland. Almost like a collector's edition of something valuable.

[Lu]

his hyman

This is not a typo, is it.

[taigunjeung]

This is not a typo, is it.  

 

You can't lose what you don't have, but then, you can't value what you've never lost.

[taigunjeung]

 

Episode Eleven of "Addicted" (watch online here)

 

Allow me to preface things by admitting why I'm watching "Addicted". After all, I'm not the target audience, and I honestly wouldn't be interested if this didn't happen to get banned on the mainland. I'm not interested in gay culture, but even if it's something that has nothing to offer me, at least I an offer it something: my attention.

 

I haven't always been kind to the gay community, and when I was younger I've issued callous slurs that I've become ashamed of now that I'm older, and know better. But even if I currently support gay rights and culture, they just aren't a part of my life. So if I watch a gay Chinese drama, maybe I could walk away having a little more appreciation and respect for gays. 

 

Through culture, we can bridge the gaps that divide us, provide other perspectives that elude us, experience the breadth of humanity that challenges us all. And yet, "Addicted" is not that show.

 

No. "Addicted" is a fantasy about sex and power that masquerades as a family drama, one of the few perspectives available in the TV genre. In other words, it's a farce that betrays both its themes and its audience. "Addicted" is a hot mess of dry humping and family themes. "Addicted" may not be the worst thing to happen to the homosexual community since the 80s AIDS epidemic, but that doesn't take away from "Addiction's" status as a cancer for the eyes that causes an inflamed sense of bullsh*ttery with an aversion to making a damn lick of sense.

 

I said before that all I wanted from the show was for Gu Hai to take Bai Luoyin aside and just say, "Hey man, I like you, and I hope you like you too."

 

And now, finally, in this episode, it happened. When Luoyin was kidnapped. By Gu Hai. 

 

Only after was Luoyin was chained up in his bed, Hai finally had the courage to admit his feelings. Gu Hai did say he liked Luoyin, he did ask for Luoyin to like him in return. All while Luoyin was chained up in his bed, with Hai straddling him on top, smothering him with non-consentual kisses. Yes, I was right about the kidnapping -- I was just wrong about how irredeemable the show was going to make Gu Hai, and how much Chinese audiences can still accept him.

 

Now, you can say that perhaps I'm pulling a double standard towards Gu, that maybe I'm putting expectations upon him that I wouldn't make of characters in a straight rom-com. After all, those things are littered with explicitly creepy behavior that drive right past Stalkertown. However, the difference between "Addicted" and your average rom-com is that those usually star an affable, roguish hero with charisma to match who you can't help but root for. "Addicted" features Gu Hai, a brutish oaf who uses his position of power to force others to do his bidding.

 

Let's just take this moment to look back and see all the things Gu Hai has done to Bai Luoyin:

 

• Cut holes in his school uniform while he's still wearing it
• Drugged him with sleeping pills, making him lapse into unconsciousness
• Every night for a certain amount of time (I dunno, let's say a couple of months), has molested Luoyin despite his incessant protestations
• When confronted about scheming to get Luoyin's dad a new job, Hai got angry in return and raised a broom to Luoyin's face as if to hit him
• Put his hand around Luoyin's throat while on top of him in bed during an argument

Luoyin looks like he has battered wife syndrome, but to Gu Hai, this is just part of the whole fantasy where he gets whatever he wants. It's a ridiculous situation that insults the viewers if they weren't so busy eating it all up.

 

Now, you're a reasonable person, and your reasonable reaction to the commission of a crime in order to tell someone your romantic feelings is that it's stupid. But, as you're reading this review that is twinged with sardonic fits of exaggeration, you're obviously wondering, "But how stupid does it go?" Well, you're gonna need a new barrel after this one.

 

The kidnapping and subsequent release of Luoyin could have been the last scene in the show. And, as the emotional climax/fallacy, it should have been. But the show tacks on another scene, immediately afterwards.

 

That scene is Luoyin and Hai are having dinner with the Gu family. Luoyin and Hai are sitting side by side as though one of them didn't commit a crime, and the other wasn't in fear for his life. The two have since changed clothes, but there's no reason to suggest that the two off them cleaned themselves up (after a kidnapping) just before dinner, at which they both seem fine.

 

We can dwell on how stupid it is to finish with such a jarring change of scene to conclude with, but you're still asking, "That simply isn't stupid enough for my impossibly low expectations of this show," and you're right.

 

The show bankrupts the faith of its audience and severs the suspension of belief by sending Luoyin on his way to apologize to Hai. Yes, when told that Luoyin has turned his back on Hai because he belongs to Luoyin's mom/Luoyin's dad's ex-wife new family, Luoyin's dad simply doesn't see the problem. Nope, this good-mannered man with nary a character arc has forgiven his wife for abandoning him because his isn't man enough to provide her the lifestyle she wants. Hey, that makes it a much easier job for the actor portraying him, but it does make seems as though father and son have two separate lives despite sharing the same traumatic experiences. 

 

As such, Luoyin's dad forces Luoyin to apologize to molestor Hai, and have him return home. In fact, this is the reason why Hai finally releases Luoyin from captivity.

 

Not stupid enough? There's more!

 

When Luoyin gets kidnapped by the thugs Hai hires, Luoyin injures one of them. These are tertiary characters that have never been seen before and likely won't get seen again, but yet there's a scene that humanizes them as being normal guys who don't like getting hurt ("He took a big chunk out of my hand!"). It lets us know that this isn't a dangerous situation, and yet we're supposed to care about these guys while Luoyin is tied up. Maybe that's just aggravating instead of stupid, but we don't need these characters when the next scene that shows Hai is responsible for everything explains all.

 

One more? Something stupid that shows the show is never beyond willingly manipulating its audience?

 

When Luoyin is kidnapped by Hai, there are two upbeat musical background pieces that tell you everything is all right. It's not the happy-go-lucky "whistling" one, but the contemplative solo guitar that demonstrate something very dramatic is going on.

 

I may not be the best at articulating thoughts into words, so let me make this clear: "Addicted" is not a show about homosexuality nor a real family drama like it's structured, but a show for morons made acceptable to Chinese audiences through the use of tired cliches and tropes that conform to Chinese customs.

 

This show is an insult to homosexuals, people who have been in love, and even real kidnappers.

 

To ring in the stupid, here's a short synopsis of the episode:

 

Yang Meng and You Qi are worried about Luoyin for missing school two days in a row, so they finally check in on him. Luoyin's dad tells them nothing is actually wrong with him, but he's accepted that Luoyin has missed so much school because he's tired (so Luoyin's sleeping at school doesn't seem to help). But when Meng and You Qi finally drag Luoyin back to school, Gu Hai absconds, dropping the duties of yearning upon Luoyin. Hai is seen with his friends, and since he's drunk, reveals his true feelings about Luoyin at the same time he mistakenly molests his friend thinking that it's Luoyin.

 

Luoyin finally doesn't meet up with Hai (while he's getting a massage), but has lingering feelings for him upon having another fight with Hai. Then, after having the one conversation he's avoided his whole life with his dad about his mom abandoning him, Luoyin's dad commands Luoyin to apologize to Hai. On the way to school, Luoyin gets kidnapped only to find out it's Hai, who uses the opportunity of a captive audience to finally reveal his true feelings. Then, they have dinner together.

 

And yet, after all this, after being kidnapped, getting forcibly kissed, and called "baby" by Hai who professes his love, we the audience still don't know if Luoyin is gay or straight.

 

All I know is that I am going to keep watching this vile, putrid plague. And that more expletives are coming.

 

There's probably a viewing of "Farewell My Concubine" for me in the near future.

 

Stray Dog Observations:

• Gu Hai left behind his "OBEY" Nike shirt at Luoyin's when he left, and he's wearing it when Luoyin is captured. 
• When Luoyin has his Mandopop backgrounded flashback of his reminisces of Hai, the scenes include shoving phallic food into each others mouths and his getting groped by Hai while double-riding him to school
• If the back third of this show has Luoyin and Hai moving their surroundings to the Gu residence, the only thing that will change is that they'll have a nicer bed in which Hai can grope Luoyin in
• Remember that dog that Hai stole from that suck-up govt official? Was thinking it would factor in more into their relationship. But no
• That sea cucumber does not look delicious to me, but that doesn't mean Hai can pluck it out of his bowl. Add that to the list of abuse Luoyin has suffered under the tyranny of Gu Hai
• The thing that convinced Luoyin to seek out Hai was by getting a calligraphy boner after seeing Hai's beautiful handwriting of his name, repeatedly written over several pages. Kind of like "All work and no play makes Jack a dull boy.

Various Vocabulary
 

估摸gu1mo v to reckon, to guess

服帖fu2tie1 adj docile, obedient; appropriate, fitting, at ease, comfortable

鸡毛蒜皮ji1mao1suan4pi2 trivial matter

顺带shun4dai4 (do sth) in passing; incidentally (while doing sth else)

窝囊wo1nang adj good-for-nothing, stupid and cowardly; adj annoyed; pointless, asinine

抽风chou1feng1 v to ventilate to induce a draught; spasm, convulsion

[大块头]

Ha, is that the Brokeback Mountain theme song playing in the background here?

[taigunjeung]

 

 

Ha, is that the Brokeback Mountain theme song playing in the background here?

 

Ugh, this guitar theme has been used throughout the entire show. Good catch there.

 

Anyone else, check the original out here

[大块头]

Oh man, this show is so rapey.

[taigunjeung]

 

Episode Twelve of "Addicted" (watch online here)

 

This is it, the last episode of "Addicted" to be broadcast in mainland China before it was completely banned. Censorship in all its forms is a terrible thing, but to stand up for this principle signifies that you also defend a vile, manipulative, exploitative crock of trash like "Addicted", a show that distorts each and every positive image of the homosexual community.

 

As I continue to shout back at the TV as I watch this show, I realize it's not fair to be so negative toward a show that other audience viewers may enjoy for all its scenes showing a psychopath getting all the rape he wants. So, in fairness, I will just explain things without contaminating things with my Western, heterosexual-breeder bias.

 

This episode, Hai continues his domination of Luoyin's soul and mortal coil by initiating sexual relations with him (for the first time), as prefaced by pushing Luoyin on the bed and fading to black, despite knowing that he may be infected with hepatitis B. Yes, Hai initiated in this high-risk act that may have led to a the transmission of a communicable disease that was likely done without any protection, if we are to accept the show's visual cue of a gigantic pile of tissues as confirmation. 

 

But then: we knew that sex was going to happen because Luoyin had a shower, and we the audience were allowed to watch his naked, high school boy body as he rinsed off his rippling muscles. Then, exiting the bathroom clad only in a towel and a few drops of water he hadn't sponged up yet, Luoyin disrobes and changes into his pyjamas in full view of Hai, the guy who has been molesting him on a nightly basis.

 

However, it turns out that Luoyin does not in fact have hepatitis B. The class monitor had told Luoyin early without getting his facts straight, something Hai punishes him for with a punch and then a kick while he's on the ground. The class monitor isn't so nice about it, but then, Hai isn't nice about anything. This is the fourth person he's assaulted on school property.

 

Series regulars You Qi and Yang Meng make a rare appearance. For the third time, schoolmate You Qi gets cockblocked by Hai when he asks Luoyin to do something. This time is not as bad as last time when Gu Hai put You Qi in a headlock as he helped him with his homework. Since You Qi is denied yet again, the spiral of shame and loathing trickles down to Meng when You unsuccessfully tries to chew him out.

 

Also this episode, there is no mention of the kidnapping last episode. It happened, but is never mentioned again.

 

But since we're talking about "Addicted", we have to mention penises. This episode, the students all have to endure a naked health examination that include a medical profession getting a head-on view of each boy's private parts. Luoyin gets a "Good job, son, you're healthy enough to be a pilot!" while Hai gets a silent but knowing gaze, full of envy and admiration.

 

At this point, watching this show is just tedious. It takes longer than ever to watch because I have to stop and utter my objections to the screen. This show is simply insincere, despicable, and a debasement towards any virtues or morals.

 

"Addicted" is as rapey as the most indefensible Japanese hentai, but retains all the corruption inherent in Chinese culture. It is my hope no one watches it and thinks it is representative of reality. Any criticism made against "Addicted" pales towards the harm the show has inflicted upon the homosexual community. By recommending this crime against decency, any fans of "Addicted" are outing themselves of being in favor of rape, corruption, and terrible storytelling.

 

I only have three shows to go before this is over. So, if you notice three tugs on my rescue line, it means I need immediate evacuation from the depths to which I have succumbed by watching this awful, godforsaken show. 

 

Stray Dog Observations

• The first consensual kiss between Hai and Luoyin happened this episode, while the two were in bed after sex. Hai kissed Luoyin, and Luoyin didn't move.
• Speaking of after sex: Luoyin pushes Hai away, and then covers his head out of shame.
• One of the forced kisses Hai imposes upon Luoyin was with a dumpling inside his mouth. 
• Still in question: is Luoyin gay? He didn't want to do the physical check-up with Hai next to him, looking at his naked body. And yet, later at home, he changes in front of him. Girl, you givin' off some dual signals, ya hear?
• Luoyin only wears the white sweater over at the Gu residence. Maybe that's his own dad's suggestion.

Various Vocabulary

 

颈椎jing3zhui1 cervical vertebra

腰椎yao1zhui1 lumbar vertebra (lower backbone)

生殖器sheng1zhi2qi4 reproductive organ, genitals

阳性yang2xing4 positive

乙肝yi3gan4 hepetitis B

抗体kang4ti3 antibody

搅和jiao3huo to mix (up), to blend, to spoil

 

Also, there's these delightful BJ dialect terms. I kinda understand them, they may need more explaining:

 

那你今儿呀，你就散开欢招我 -- "Today, you can get mad at me all you want"

你至于为我做到这个份儿上吗 -- "Can you go to that extent with me? (referring to sharing eating utensils with a guy with a communicable disease"

胳膊拧不过大腿  -- "The strongest/oldest/best will always win"

[taigunjeung]

 

Episode Thirteen of "Addicted" (watch online here)

 

Congratulations, one and all: we've made it. Not only are we at the point in the series where a normal human being would have given up on this show, but episode 13 is one show past the tolerance of Chinese state censors who decided to ban it last episode, making the last three "Addicted" shows an unknown entity in China. And yet, our gain is not China's loss.

 

Since the show doesn't dwell on things that happen in the past, neither will we. And yet, what with the kidnapping, Hai's confession, the sex, and the threat of communicable disease through said sex all happening in past episodes, there's no real place to go without acknowledging a dramatic precedent. So, this show aimlessly reintroduces an imaginary feud between You Qi and Yang Meng. And then it attempts to up the stakes by having Meng walk in on Luoyin and Hai sleeping together, and then Luoyin's dad and Auntie Zou get married.

 

But it doesn't matter. Nothing matters.

 

The feud between You Qi and Meng didn't get resolved, and there's no reason to think it will in the next two episodes. Meng finding out Luoyin and Hai are gay risks nothing. Luoyin just mumbles his way through the routine excuses, and Hai will never allow Meng to ruin their reputations. Luoyin's dad getting married is directly due to Luoyin's blessing, and nothing to do with Luoyin's dad ever being anything more than a spigot of expository dialog. Without the need to show the ramification of past actions, the show is just biding its time by tying up some loose ends that don't need tying up, making the show become like a pair of sneakers with the laces already done up, making an already convenient shoe redundant.

 

There's one burning question that the show refuses to answer, and that's Luoyin's sexuality: is he gay, or straight? Obviously for the happy ending things will work out, but up until now there's no reason to doubt that Luoyin is straight. 

• He's trapped in a relationship with Gu Hai, a sociopath who always gets what he wants
• His father completely approves of Hai, and gets mad when Luoyin gets mad at him/wants to leave him
• Luoyin can't stand up for himself
• In a secret relationship no one knows about, Luoyin can't even face the truth

And so, with just three episodes left, we finally get the "talk". Gu Hai point blank asks him, "Do you like me?" And Luoyin refuses to answer him.

 

Since the show has been content to make objectify Luoyin as the (successful) target of his lust, he's been largely ignored as a character with feelings, and instead rendered as a cypher. But even though Hai has always prevailed towards getting anything he wanted, whether though brute force, his guanxi, or pure luck, this is the one thing that has eluded him: Luoyin's love.

 

So then it's almost poignant that Hai reveals to Luoyin that for all the power and position he enjoys, Hai lacks a "sense of security" because for all the groping and manipulating of Luoyin he does, Luoyin doesn't love him back. And because this show doesn't follow its own story it's telling, the whole matter is ignored. Luoyin doesn't give an answer, but Hai is content with yet another night of molestation.

 

What does it matter? Even if Luoyin is straight, he's trapped in this relationship, and even if he's gay, he's wasted the time of this audience by repressing his sexuality -- both outcomes that the show doesn't care to talk about. 

 

Yes, in continuing to write about this show, the numbness is setting in, the same way that Luoyin focuses upon the ceiling above him as the darkness overcomes him every night. There's only despair in the last two episodes waiting for me. Even the phrase "happy ending" does not spell out a conclusion I want to witness.

 

I've given up on this show. "Addicted" is the worst. Gu Hai is the worst. At this point, there's only a few ways for him to be redeemed:

• pull some strings, and tell Luoyin that he can redeem all the "rape points" he has earned can be cashed in for scratch-and-win lottery tickets
• When Japanese Imperialist forces show up unexpectedly in the third act, Gu Hai will take out an enemy machine gun nest by fatally charging at it with a live grenade, despite suffering massive bullet wounds in agonizing slow motion
• For Gu Hai to perform a monster dunk over LeBron James
• to feature a cameo by Fan Bingbing in any role, any role at all, even as a nurse who helps pull a metal shard from Iron Man's heart
• recast the character with actor Chris Pratt 
• take a page out of "Deadpool" but instead of going hard "R", break the fourth wall to unremittingly apologize directly into the camera, over and over again

 

Stray Dog Observations:

• Luoyin's dad looks mighty dapper in a suit. As the show is so low budget, we can safely attribute his costuming to the actor that plays him.
• Hai pushes Meng away in a show of dominance. No, we'll never stop seeing the same beats played out over this show
• Gu Hai wasn't at the wedding at the end of the show, but I'm sure he had long sent his bribes
• Cryptic ending: Luoyin is enjoying his father's wedding, but seen watching it on the other side of a window, distant from the action. Also, he's drunk and has a creepy look on his face.
• That ice cream looked awful, which made it good acting from the actor playing Meng that he really wanted to eat it

Various Vocabulary

 

老千lao3qian1 n a cheat, swindler (gambling)

过目不忘guo4mu4bu4wang4 to have a highly retentive memory

矫情jiao12qing (BJ) argumentative, unreasonable

 

These ones below I have no idea:

 

犯驴 

掉二斤肉 (signifies something you don't want to do, cause it's like losing apart of yourself?)

他就连珠炮似的骂我

认自己那一套理

[taigunjeung]

 

Episode Fourteen of "Addicted" (watch online here)

 

In the haze of a serialized TV show that has no beginning or end to limit its scope, or lingering consequences to deal with this show is features bookends by two characters: the new arrival of Gu Hai's elder cousin Gu Yang, and Luoyin's mom/Gu Hais stepmom.

 

As Hai has universally achieved everything he's wanted, it looks like he's finally met his match with Yang, a guy who is such a jerk that Luoyin actually had time to read a magazine as he went around Luoyins apartment throwing shade. The new dynamic threatens to overturn Hai's world, revealing itself when Gu Hai inadvertently make a penis slip-up of the tongue, embarrassing himself in public and giving Luoyin something to laugh about literally all the way home. For all the real-time "Addicted" shows the jerk in all his jerkiness, it then turns around and just has Gu Hai just tell the audience the difference as if we simply couldn't get it.

 

It turns out the Simpsons are right again: as bad as Gu Hai is, it turns out that he's not the evil twin. As Gu Hai explains in a flashback about an errant kite, Hai ran after the kite in tears, while Yang ran after it laughing: the difference is that Hai has a good heart, while Yang is evil (so that's what laughing will get you). It's a nice shakeup to the status quo of Hai's constant manipulation, but there's no point to it if there's only one episode left.

 

And then there's the favorite battering doll for the stepbrothers/boyfriends, Luoyin's mom/Hai's stepmom. It's the same thing as before where she's full of good intentions, but gets shot down on the spot by both of them. As with all secondary characters on the show, any appearance by her is simply redundant.

 

We're just treading water here as we eagerly await the last episode of "Addicted" as nothing of consequence happens -- since nothing is shown to have any ramifications. I'm guessing now that the show will simply abruptly cut off at some point with no semblance of an ending. Most mainland dramas don't want to tell a story, they just want to portray Chinese culture being performed/enjoyed by Chinese characters. It as if Chinese dramas are nothing but ripping a hole in your wall and watching your neighbors next door, who happen to be really good-looking but have really dull lives.

 

But that's any other Chinese drama. We're talking about "Addicted", so even though this episode wasn't so bad, the next one will likely return to its rapey ways of its past.

 

Stray Dog Observations:

• Nice Hellboy toy.
• That spaghetti looks al dente (rare in China), but it also looks hours old. Marco Polo would be rolling over in his grave.
• Luoyin's dad doesn't get drunk at his own wedding.
• As per Chinese drama tropes, Luoyin gets drunk and reveals a secret, but the secret is that he hates his dad's cooking, and doesn't care for the way he's raised him (as per ruining his underwear in the first episode). As he's crying, I'm not sure what to make of it.
• If someone brought me a nice basket of apples, at least I'd thank them for it before I remind them of their life's failings.

Various Vocabulary

 

不伦不类 bu4lun2bu2lei4 nondescript, neither fish nor fowl

风度feng1du4 elegance (for men); elegant demeanor, grace, poise

麻利ma2li swift, agile, efficient, quick-witted (colloquial)

 

膈应 means "uncomfortable", but someone will have to explain it for me

[Lu]

I haven't always been kind to the gay community, and when I was younger I've issued callous slurs that I've become ashamed of now that I'm older, and know better. But even if I currently support gay rights and culture, they just aren't a part of my life. So if I watch a gay Chinese drama, maybe I could walk away having a little more appreciation and respect for gays. 

 

Through culture, we can bridge the gaps that divide us, provide other perspectives that elude us, experience the breadth of humanity that challenges us all. And yet, "Addicted" is not that show.

Taigunjeung, I made you a thread.

[GaHanna]

"the show is just biding its time by tying up some loose ends that don't need tying up, making the show become like a pair of sneakers with the laces already done up, making an already convenient shoe redundant."

 

Keep going. You watch this so the rest of us don't, and can read your great posts.

[taigunjeung]

 

Episode 15 of "Addicted" (watch online here)

 

This is it -- the last episode of the first season of "Addicted". As per the trend in Chinese dramas (at least in this one), nothing really ends: something starts, sort of becomes a "middle" when thing start to become complicated, and then never get resolved. That's why I am overly thrilled to report that, yes, there are some definite things the story concludes with, giving us the closure we've been seeking since ignoring the kidnapping in episode 11 and the rape in episode 12:

• It's Christmas: yes, the birth of Jesus to all Chinese is basically the same as Women's Day to Chinese women: a day of savings as people consume and take the day off work without understanding. Still, even if "goodwill towards all men" gets lost among the KTV outings, it does draw a thematic end by ending the show on a seasonal note. Even Gu Hai notices by saying, "It's Christmas Eve," which is relevant because later that night....
• Bai Luoyin rapes Gu Hai: Featuring the "world's most despicable use of fade to black", Christmas Eve is the night that Gu Hai passes out drunk, prompting Luoyin to drag Hai over to the bed, and instigates the part of our imagination that we normal keep locked up to work in overtime as the scene ends. My euphemisms for "evil" and "heinous" have run out by now, but this development does finally answer the question "Is Bai Luoyin gay?" with some finality. However, we can't but notice their's is a relationship of mutual exploitation, bringing to mind that this could be the "win-win" situation that keeps getting referenced in Chinese colloquial speech. But if that wasn't enough, the show concludes by saying....
• Gu Hai pledges his love to Bai Luoyin.... by threatening him: We see Luoyin make his choices towards Hai, and even though Hai couldn't have known, "Addicted" shows us that Bai Luoyin is rewarded for his relationship with Gu Hai by being showered with gifts. Think of what a mistress could want, and Luoyin gets it: luxury watches, matching BMWs and Giant-brand bicycles... Gu Hai uses up a trust fund to buy all the gifts, but it all comes at a cost. Gu Hai tells Luoyin he loves him, but warns him if he ever gets betrayed, he will hurt him back in a much worse way. Jealous?

I'm honestly not hoping for this story to turn out this way, but there you go: a fuerdai bully who uses his connections and power to get whatever he wants wins in the end by a threat, long after he has done things like kidnapping, raped, extortion, physical assault and lying. "Addicted" is modeled after the family drama, seeing how its main conflict is the break-up of the Bai family in episode 10, but in no way does it resemble a family drama in this last episode.

 

I talk about food a lot (nothing delicious seen in this episode), and while I am not a foodie by any sense of the word, it's clear to me when food is prepared without any love or attention -- it's just a scrape of protein that has a name because its on a menu with a price attached to it. When eating such food, it's clear that the cook doesn't care to eat his own food, otherwise he'd have to swallow his own lies.

 

That's how I feel about "Addicted". After having become a web sensation, the novella became a TV show that attracted a bigger audience. And yet, the story of "Addicted" unfolds without any care to storytelling: it's simply visual wet cat food that was pushed through a grinder that gets musical accompaniment.

 

Which brings us to the very weirdest part of this season finale. We see the tides turn for Gu Hai as he seems to lose his luster in a number of embarrassing incident that leads us to him being raped by Luoyin -- bear with me, but that does make sense (don't quote me on that, or use it to start a new forum thread). However, the tease for next season (purported to be shown in Taiwan after getting banned in the mainland) is Luoyin's ex-girlfriend, Shi Hui, who shows up at the very end of the show.

 

Dear reader, I won't insult your intelligence, so let's get it out of the closet right away: Bai Luoyin, as much as he has evaded the question, is as gay as a tree full of sequined robins. He is in a committed relationship with Hai, who he exclusively lives with and has sex with (er, mutual exploitational rape, but whatever). Furthermore, Shi Hui has been out of the country ever since she broke up with Bai Luoyin, and each phone call she has with him ends up with Luoyin always moving further away, culminating with Luoyin firmly putting his foot down and telling Shi Hui he's moved on.

 

So this is the upcoming love triangle that Luoyin must choose between next season: Shi Hui, a girl who has been a constant drag every time she appears on the show and to whom Luoyin has directly told its over, and Gu Hai, his live-in boyfriend with whom he enjoys a huge financial benefit as well as nightly molestations, and has threatened great harm to him if he ever left.

 

Is this even a pound-for-pound match-up? It's clear who the Tyrannosaurus is here, and it's not the whinny one.

 

This entire season of "Addicted" has been a despicable shambles of incompetence and outright villainy. It's nothing short of a blatant disregard for public decency and morals, and is worse than slander for China's gay community. In short, we can only imagine that this is some kind of obscene joke that no one can laugh about when toxicity and ill-will result, much like a populist presidential campaign.

 

Stray Dog Observations:

• Luoyin's non-consensual sex with Gu Hai happened on December 24. Merry Christmas.
• So: Shi Hui has been a continually manipulative ex-girlfriend who has been moaning and complaining all season long. Her appearance as a happy, completely balanced girl seems to be the show's first positive depiction of a woman besides the salt-of-the-earth that is Auntie Zou. And yet, we already know there is a motive behind her return...
• Twin mountain bikes? If this was the 90s, that would be so radical...
• No mention of Yang Meng and You Qi? What happened to their weird "beef"? Didn't Gu Hai need to bully someone on Christmas?

Various Vocabulary: 

 

独创du2chuang4 original, creativity, original creation

不依不饶bu4yi1bu4rao2 not to overlook, nor spare (idiom); unwilling to forgive, to treat severely without listening to excuses

倾家荡产qing1jia1dang4chan3 to lose a family fortune (idiom)

心悸xin1ji4 palpitation

 

I'll put my final thoughts about the show in one more post.

[taigunjeung]

 

Season One Review of "Addicted"

 

Let's get this out of the way first: much of Chinese mainland TV (and movies) have a known reputation for being crappy. It's more than likely that hundreds of millions of viewers disagree with that statement, just as it is likely that Chinese TV (and movies) uniformly make up all of their viewing diet. One perspective we can take that can satisfy both sides (while at the same allowing my first statement to be true) is that Chinese TV (and movies) aren't required to be good watching so long as the fulfill the primary requirement: to be Chinese, and be recognizable as such. This means Chinese people shown to be doing Chinese things so that a Chinese audience can be like, "Yo, this validates me and my culture."

 

So you have TV scenes of people eating dinner in which expository dialog just pops up once; what is a waste of 10 minutes is valuable validation time to a Chinese viewer, and so Chinese people can live their culture the way it was meant to be lived: by enjoying it (no spoilers or criticisms, please). It's the same thing with evangelical Christian movies and culture: as bad as they ever turn out, it doesn't matter so long as they uphold the tenets of their key belief system.

 

I find Chinese TV (and movies) to be so "bad" for so rigidly adhering to this formula that I've long since stopped holding them to any standard of quality, instead just wanting them to entertain me. And yet, that bar is long gone for "Addicted", China's first gay drama that attracted a huge audience before getting banned in the mainland. "Addicted" is so far off the scale of "bad" that it is a despicable example of reckless disregard towards its viewers by portraying a homosexual lifestyle as criminal and without morals.

 

"Addicted" is an exploitative show that tantalizes its viewers with outright depictions of manipulation and coersion that result in rape, kidnapping, and corruption.

 

And to get this out of the way, too: rape, kidnapping, and corruption don't necessarily have to be "bad things" in the realm of fiction. In one way, it could be the set-up for a punchline in a Bugs Bunny cartoon. In fact, these subjects are the lurid events that make up much of the viewing content of middle America who follow the adventures of meth-making chemistry teachers of fourth-wall breaking presidential candidates. What's more, some shows feature nothing but lurid content from housewives that are desperate, or cities in which sex is being had.

 

And that's where "Addicted" sheer failure as a narrative becomes wantonly irresponsible. If your story is a sex and power fantasy in which your main character achieves everything he wants through underhanded methods that include bullying, backdoor deals and sheer force, well, that's Rule 34 for you ("Addicted" started life as an online novella, after all, and I'm sure those fantasies only serve a tiny minority of people). But if this same content is reshaped as a family drama by which there are no consequences for each and any despicable act committed, then that's an outrage against the three words "beginning, middle, end".

 

"Addicted" is such a poorly written story that the surest way to render it from putridly bad to completely unusable is to add to it the words "Once upon a time..."

 

To borrow the brute force thinking that is the popular parlay of the times, nothing matters for this TV show so long as people are watching. And it's true: "Addicted" rose to some ten million hits by the time it was banned. And yet, "Addicted" isn't just mere entertainment to pass time with, it's delightedly immoral in fulfilling debased fantasies without any semblance of responsibility. "Addicted" is the same as what would happen if you took the second act of any slasher movie and spread it out over 15 episodes of programming. 

 

At the very least, Jason from Friday the 13th received his comeuppance at the end of the story (and in more unfathomable ways in each incremental installment). In "Addicted", nothing matters, nothing is of significance, not one thing is relevant except for the show's devotion to be a part of the tapestry that is Chinese culture.

 

As I said, Chinese TV (and movies) doesn't need to be good. All it has to do is entertain me. And yet, all "Addicted" manages to do is insult its audience and allow dangerous conceptions to come to fruition. Two scenes of coerced sex end by a fade to black, meaning the unshown acts are to live on in the audience's imagination. As common as this technique is, this "fade to black" rape is simply unconscionable when there is no overarching narrative of the show except to keep showing more lurid acts that never have any further consequences.

 

To call "Addicted" a bad show is just only to serve as a preface to further explain that it is an abomination to fiction and moral decency alike. "Addicted" is a gift set you give to someone in order to initiate a grudge war that will last for three generation down the line. "Addicted" is the creative output of what would happen if sentient AI killbots and ebola viruses were to breed and send their offspring to film school. "Addicted" is spinach for Popeye psychopaths. 

 

There is only one possible way for this show to benefit humanity. A public positive reaction to "Addicted" should identify to everyone in a room whom you should keep your valuables and personal information away from. It's a way at a cocktail party to tell whom drives a non-descript white van.