If you really think its just the "gay content" that made shl so famn popular it means you havent watched the fucking drama.

Listen many might have started watching it for the "gay" stuff but people wouldnt have stayed if it was just that!

Coming from someone who consumes BL dramas from both thailand and china...I have more than half the time abandoned stories because of the less than stellar plots.

Even if the plots were great and the couple's chemistry was off the charts i have never been obessed like this.

A big part of why I love shl so much is the very nature of the characters. Not to mention the beautiful cinematography and the fight scenes.
Even before I got invested in wenzhou i was caught in love with the way the whole drama was so beautifully shot.

And coming to the lead pair itself....a lot of people assume that wkx flirting so blatantly is just them trying to make it more "gay"

But that's his fucking character. Fyi he is worse in the novel. So comparing by saying you love how you love a certain other drama for being +

+ more subtle? Two different characters and two different stories lmao!
Also, implying that you prefer the censored subtle romance conveyed just through the eyes...because its more romantic or "deep". You are just glorifying the censorship...which..lmao lets not go there.

ALSO c*ql might be the first drama you watched but it isnt the first BL or first wuxia to exist. So please get off your fucking high horse where you say "shl did nothing big they just copied the model of x or y"

You know what shl did different? And why people are praising it?

1. They did all that you see on there with a walnut budget. And despite covid and an almost complete change of main cast

2. The fucking script. The way they managed to add so much more depth and details. The poetry, the world which they built. (both priest and the script writer)

3. Most important. A cast and crew who accepted it as a BL and treated it as BL and not "bromance". They put their heart into the work and its seen in every fucking frame.

4. The two main leads who thoroughly understood their characters and embraced their roles completely.

5. The way each freaking character is so well rounded? Typically when I watch any chn wuxia or xianxia I end up skipping the side plots. But here i was hooked! I didnt dare skip a sec. I was invested in every plot, from caoxiang to beauty ghost and xie'er I was fucking invested

6. I never thought I would be caught praising a corporate but y0uku* and the way they dealt with this drama and its promos have been very hooking as well. Yeah they have their interests vested on it, but honestly look how they keep the fandom so alive & engaged! I love the energy

7. The author and source material. This should have come way above but I am still not done with the novel so cant comment a lot on it.

But from I have read of tyk and priest...the world and characters she creates are so complex and the very foundation on which this drama stands

8. The freaking dialogues. Last day i was reading the qrts of the post asking for fav shl quotes and I realised just how many iconic quotes the drama gave.

I cant understand the chinese dialogues but even with the loses in translation some of it is so freaking beautiful!!

I can go on and on istg this drama has taken over my life and I fucking hate to see people reducing it to something like "its just popular since its bl or its just a copy of x or y model"

FYI being a bl doesnt gurantee immediate success. Fans still have standards

And correct me if I am wrong but wasnt shl one of the least anticipated bls? The one everyone assumed will flop? I remember how LOW the expectations were.

Its a show which made it against all odds. It was def not riding the success off something else.

And lastly, you think they could be this "gay" onscreen only because c*ql paved the way and showed how its done?

I will wait to see how many of the upcoming bl dramas will deliver as well as shl. (I hope there are more but I am not delusional)

There is a reason why many are saying shl is the STANDARD now.