@whoisthatmovinginthedark :

"I just love this part so much. Sung-rok taking a needle and thread in his rough fighter’s hands and stitching up the sash for Seon-ho out of Yeon’s last piece of embroidery.I love picturing him going into Yeon’s room, looking for something, anything that could help. And then seeing the embroidery and realizing what he could do. To care enough to do his best to pull him out of the darkness. And knowing him well enough to know that this is something that would do it."

"It warms my heart that when the whole world treated Seon-ho like an unlovable piece of trash, there was still Sung-rok."

these broke my heart hard and every time I read them it's enough to relive all that pain.

@whoisthatmovinginthedark Ahhh so this was for you. I saved a lot of posts from mctna before and that's why I didn't know the source. these words really touched my heart. thank you and @sadviper for saying that and sorry that I wrote this without mentioning your name. I'm attaching it to the post right now.

Reveal your watch and rewatch list

thank you @talays-portkey ♥ I did this a while back but my list has changed since then. I get through dramas fairly fast since I don't go anywhere thanks to covid

watching:

Heroes - Watching this is possibly a mistake because I've been warned it is Tragic. I've decided that if I can watch Guardian and MCTNA then maybe I'll be okay? Maybe? There's only been mild pain so far but I'm only on episode 9 so I'm sure it will get worse.

Immortal Samsara - I don't generally watch dramas while they're still airing but I've been eagerly waiting for this ever since the first trailer dropped. So far (I'm on episode 19) it's delivering exactly what I wanted.

Light on Me - @signechan and I are watching this together on a Saturday afternoon. It's very cute but I think I'm going to be mad if this doesn't end up in an OT3 which I don't think it will. And I can't unsee how slow everyone walks thanks @strandedchesspiece :D

Secret Crush On You - Watching this one with @literaryoblivion and a few Twitter friends. It's utterly ridiculous but we're having fun watching as a group

Ghost Doctor - We haven't technically started this yet but we finished our last Monday group watch drama and this is what we're going to be starting this coming Monday. Don't know much about it but sounds interesting.

rewatching (I don't really have time to rewatch anything because there's so much new stuff but if I did have time):

The Lost Tomb Reboot - I'd love to watch this again now that I know more about the overall franchise and characters

Not Me - Still my favourite Thai BL and I'd love to watch it again

Love and Redemption - I was itching to watch this again but Immortal Samsara is giving me a lot of what I enjoyed about this drama so I'm happy for now

tagging (only if you want to): @psychic-waffles @foxofninetales @strandedchesspiece @killerandhealerqueen @dancing-out-in-space

Y'all I got my friend to watch the first episode of MCTNA with me today. it was the first time I'd rewatched in a year, except for scenes here or there. A good time. More Hui-jae than I remembered, and Seon-ho and Hwi both start out so... normal. Like they are just trying to live their lives, you know?

Something that struck me that I didn't notice the first time was the conversation where Nam Jeon goes to have a Talk with Hwi. He asks him for Yi Seung-gye's arrowhead in exchange for a hundred silver ingots, and Hwi agrees that would be more than enough. He's kind of heavy-hearted about it, but he seems on the fence about whether or not to agree to the exchange. Maybe leaning towards yes, even.

But then Nam Jeon says that he wants Hwi to 1) not take the military exam, and 2) stay away from Seon-ho, and THAT'S when Hwi explodes. And the thing is that not taking the military exam is kind of implied in the request to give Nam Jeon the arrow, so what Hwi's really reacting to so violently here has to be the order to stay away from Seon-ho. Even though his response is to do with Nam Jeon thinking he should stay in his place and "chase and bark", what really set him off was the idea of breaking off his and Seon-ho's friendship. Because Hwi's country is "food"--he isn't sure yet if he wants to be a military officer or go chasing after the kind of life the military exam could lead to--but he knows for sure that he doesn't want to lose Seon-ho.

Of course, he's going to lose both the military exam and Seon-ho anyway. Maybe he should have taken the money :(

top 5 mctna scenes?

Gotta caveat that I only rewatched some of the beginning and the end for my fic writing, so I’ve since forgotten a lot of the middle, including most of the scenes where Bang-won shined. He really impressed me a lot too! But you’d never know it by how little I talk about him. ^^;; SPOILERS AHOY!

1) Sung-rok's sacrifice - ;_; Gosh, no brainer here. Not sure if I mentioned this online already, but I basically laughed my way through almost all of My Country--it was that bombastic and over-the-top fun-- until Sung-rok. SUNG-ROK. Dude probably had 10 lines in the entire show, but when he went, uuuufff, it made it all real for me, and I ugly cried through the last two eps. 2) Nam Jeon's end (+ fighting and iconic "you're sword is affectionate" moment that preceded it) - Honestly, should've ended the series right here. He was the real villain of the show, and what a masterful one at that! The build up! The climax! The catharsis of Bang-won doing the deed to spare the friendship, Nam Jeon's gut-wrenching final words to Seon-ho (VILLANY! Of all the horrible things he's done, him being kind was the worst!!!!)! It's too traumatic, Seon-ho in agony rejects Hwi!! The stuff that came after was rather wiggly and got progressively nonsensical. 3) Bro fight to get to the military exam/Fight at the military exam - had to cheat and do a two-fer for the contrast. I <3 the duo working together to beat up random soldiers just so Hwi could get a chance to apply. The last truly happy thing to happen before it all went downhill with Seon-ho's accidental betray at the exam. Seon-ho's torment there was truly exquisite. 4) Speaking of torment...Seon-ho secretly sobbing behind a bush while Hwi gets dragged away to the army? WOW. Followed by him rushing to Yeon's aid in desperation when she collapses, carrying her back home, only for Nam Jeon to throw her out? And when Seon-ho pitches a fit, Nam Jeon SHUSHES HIM and is all like, "Don't make so much noise, if you want something, threaten for it, young puppy". Distraught Seon-ho forces himself to follow through, and then Nam Jeon's all like, "nice threat, good boy". kjljkljlk 5) The magnificent one-take battle scene where Hwi wakes up and just slowly and steadily hacks his way through everyone with the help of the bros who will eventually become his posse. The scale of that fight with no one messing up!! The beautiful steady camera that let you luxuriate in all the moves and counter-moves playing out across the field of battle! No fast cuts and jerking camera here, it was wonderful. The squealing violins and Irish flute! Really got my blood up, mhhmm. Honorable mentions: 6) Seon-ho getting tortured in prison. I mean, whew, the whump!!!! Never mind his glorious wig, which deserves its own credits, but just how Seon-ho lay in his jail cell, then struggled up when Nam Jeon came to visit---the way Woo Do Hwan looked through the blood and his hair, sort of glassy-eyed, barely any fight left but goddammit, he wasn't going to lie there if someone was going to look at him-- 7) Fire-y recruitment scene/prince of darkness speech - just for the lol's, this was when I started laughing and didn't stop until Sung-rok's death.