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Journey With You (Chinese Series)

By Golu
I've always had kind of a love hate relationship with Chinese historical BLs. Some are genuinely excellent, but then there are others that cram in so much plot that keeping track of all the layers of betrayal and scheming gets exhausting, and I end up checking out mentally. Part of the issue is also just how much content is out there in this space, so something really has to stand out to keep me hooked. In this case, the production value is genuinely impressive, top tier stuff, but story wise, I just couldn't bring myself to actually care about these characters. There's a ton of political scheming and backstage manipulation running throughout. Somewhere in the middle of all that chaos, a hostage ends up falling for his own Prince Charming. The show runs eight episodes, each around 50 to 60 minutes long. After spending three years guarding the border, Fifth Prince Yin Qi gets called back to the capital because of a secret letter, only to end up walking straight into a deadly...
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Terry And Julian (UK Sitcom)

By Golu
Terry and Julian is a British sitcom that aired on Channel 4 in 1992. The show had only one season with 6 episodes of about 22-25 minutes each. Unusually for a sitcom, Terry and Julian breaks the "fourth wall" by recognizing the studio audience and viewers, and employs use of audience participation. I was quite surprised to see how they used this method back in the day by inviting at least one audience member, making them part of the skit midway and sending them back with flowers.

Flamboyant Channel 4 television celebrity Julian moves into a flat with geeky well-meaning Terry, completely transforming his life and home and repeatedly upsetting Terry’s pint-sized moustached policewoman fiancee, Rene. Julian transforms Terry’s ugly flat into a Barbara Cartland-ish nightmare and takes over Terry’s life to the point of marrying him. The script consist of a lot of double meaning dialogues that are quite witty. Episode one is when Julian moves in and completely redo carets the flat. We then see Terry is about to get married to his policewoman girlfriend Rene, but is experiencing a difficult time of it until Julian rescues the situation with a tub of creosote. While Julian is off on tour Terry hatches a money-making scheme. Nothing can go wrong, unless Julian returns unexpectedly. Terry gets a job, only for Julian to ruin his prospects with a funny turn. And finally in episode 6, it's holiday time for Julian and Terry - time to don matching shorts and swan around like nobody's business.

The show started off really well. I was totally invested in the first two episodes and found it hilarious. Julian was a riot and thanks to sharp and witty dialogues with audience participation, the show made for a novel watching. But somewhere episode 3 and onwards, the pattern started to set in and the show started to look dated. I think the actor playing Terry did an exceptionally well job, although I have a feeling that when the show was aired, likely Julian won all the accolades. Terry's fiancé Rene disappears after episode 3 for some reason. Its was funny to see how she would always make claims about being very sexual but always had excuses to make sure that Terry never even touches her. Gay jokes about various situations are included in every episode multiple times and I am pleasantly surprised that in early 90s this was all ok. But t hen having seen so many BBC shows, they were always ahead. I am not sure why the show wasn't renewed but watching these six episodes was a good journey into memory lane in the times when I was quite young and didn't know much but it is flattering to see that some countries were still showing that being gay was ok. A shout out to al the over the top dresses that Julian wears in the show. It is not easy to carry them off. (5/10)
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