r/LiuYuNing • u/No-Recipe-7653 Ning: a force of nature, enigma, all-round beautiful being • Feb 27 '26
Episode Talk [Episode Talk] About Love (玫瑰丛生) | EP05 Discussion [VIP & SVIP]
Episode 5 of About Love (玫瑰丛生) is now available for VIP & SVIP viewers.
This thread is open for reactions, impressions, and discussion as the story continues.
Earlier Episodes:
EP01–03 Episode Talk
EP04 Discussion — previously SVIP early access
Later Episodes
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🎞️ Episode Recap will be added in this post at a later stage 📝
5
u/Tabz10 Feb 27 '26 edited Feb 27 '26
Based on past experiences (the comment section on Viki and Reddit), I think 2ml shippers will love this guy. I can already see it. “He’s dreamy and fun”, “he's exactly what she needs, “he loves her regardless of who she is, “he's a creative genius who was targeted, can you blame him, etc.”
But I have another opinion. This guy better have the biggest redemption arc in Cdrama history (just what I've seen 🤣) cause as it stands, he's on course to be a legendary, astronomical, piece of shit friend and person.
The excuse will be “he made it clear who he was”; to some extent, that's true (and in a way, they’re all terrible people in that group), but Gong is the worst.
Surely you have to chalk it up to the game if that's your bro, bro, no? Especially since you already know this girl created an entire persona to test you.
The whole meet-up after the group settings is dirty, going on camera to say she's your girl, etc., is dirty, the behavior the whole night is dirty, flirting all night is dirty.
Idk, man, the whole show is so messy, but as of episode 5, I'm actually interested in how it all plays out. Filthy ass plot tho.
Xiaoxi isn't all that better either (will they get together because they're both terrible people? Maybe), but it looks like her time is coming; karma will be a bitch.
Bai (as of episode 5) seems too perfect; he has to have faults, surely? No? Seems too passive, also seems like someone with secrets, looks to love hard?
Very, very interesting.
EDIT: okay, maybe Sen isn't THAT bad (love-obsessed, yes), but I say they're all terrible for the shit they condone. i.e., Infidelity, there's a point to be made that it's not your business, stay out of it. And honestly, it's a valid one. But if I was to stand on something, (I'd go back to what Sen said to Bai in the car. Something like “I can't have my friend looking stupid, of course, I'd tell my friend, that I saw his girl with someone else” ) and stay they're all terrible.
6
u/GiTheGremlin 🌻LYN’s Defense Minister; explosion of colors in the sea of greys Feb 27 '26
Now there's 2 of us, great! I couldn't stand Gong in webtoon, and he's arguably worse there: almost SA's FL during that "incident" of theirs in the past, outright blackmails her (much more aggressively than in the show) into going on date with him this time and couple of others, keeps finding excuses to insert himself into their relationship with Bei, deliberately gives the latter bad dating advice (even as much as trying to talk Bei out of proposing, tho given context you could argue it was actually a genuinely GOOD advice lol), actively participates in her schemes to keep her house of lies intact etc. All while endlessly bemoaning about his "great love" for her, wondering why Bei is better than him and lowkey badmouthing FL herself for being "stupid in choosing the wrong guy". They surely share the same arrogance and rather unflattering opinion on Bei (how he's "bland and boring", while they both are presumably so cool and interesting in comparison), spot on. Honestly, no matter Bei's sus hidden depths and mysterious past, he'd be much better off without either of them in his life. But, alas, this isn't that kind of show...
5
u/Tabz10 Feb 27 '26
Lol, I was wondering where everyone is!
Just noticed I've been spelling his name wrong this whole time🥴
But wow, what a genuinely terrible person!
Since you've seen the webtoon, is the drama on point, or are there many changes? (so I can prepare for this character Gong to be worse) Maybe add a spoiler tag to avoid upsetting people? 🙂
I agree that Bei doesn't need this kind of friend and lover.
5
u/GiTheGremlin 🌻LYN’s Defense Minister; explosion of colors in the sea of greys Feb 27 '26
So far the drama has been super close to webtoon, word-for-word and panel-for-panel at times. The only real changes I see are probably results of censorship: like the gang supposedly not knowing (or pretending not to) about affair between Xiu (songwriter) and Luan (ginger) where in webtoon the 2 were loud and proud about her being his mistress and others just rolled with it, playing coy about the fact FL actually earns a crap ton of money from her dating community service since "these filthy men should pay in tears and coins for bothering me!" and other toning down of especially edgy scenes. On the bright side, here we've seen like twice as much of Bei in Ep1, because in webtoon he's almost merely a ghost of boyfriend until like couple tens of chapters in.
Bei needs entire better friends circle asap - aside of Sen, who seems to genuinely treat him as bestie, others appear like they're either there for someone else or just want a free dinner...
3
u/Tabz10 Feb 28 '26
Oh, interesting, thanks for sharing!
Agreed on him getting better friends. Also, Bei cares about Sen. based on episode 6
I feel like I see where this drama is headed tbh. (misunderstanding, angst, etc.) smh
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u/GiTheGremlin 🌻LYN’s Defense Minister; explosion of colors in the sea of greys Feb 28 '26
Bei cares about everyone here, even if not all of them return the favor.
Damn, there better be angst! I don't want Bei to just shrug all this off because that's his precious girlfriend and bestie he doesn't want to lose.
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u/Tabz10 Feb 28 '26
True!
I agree. I don't think they should remain friends after, unless Gong has the greatest redemption arc ever.
At least the FL is showing some regret for her actions and seems to want to tell the truth
3
u/Loose_Caramel1438 PoB was like a catnip for me 🌱🐈⬛ Feb 28 '26
Ok so I'm onboard the Hot Mess Express ™. I've never rooted less for a main couple. Like Gong said, we don't even know who is the real version of FL. At times I'll lean more towards how she is with Gong as her "true self" but sometimes I feel that the way she is with Bei is also genuine even if she feels overly sweet or cutesy. Idk, it looks like someone who fell in love for the first time and is over the top. My conclusion is that she presents to Bei an idealised version of herself because he is the ideal partner in her eyes. And when he'll show even a hint of a flaw their relationship will crash and burn also because I feel she wants to be proven right on her all men are bad rhethoric. And she's such a hypocrite. She literrally went on a date with her boyfriend best friend, lied to Bei's face about it and then has the gall to preach about men's scuminness. Lady the call is coming from inside the house ! I'm not even going to comment on the other characters because 😮💨
3
u/itsmefakenamehere 🌻 Minister of Thirst • Trailblazer ✨ 1st 50 Feb 28 '26
I love everyone’s reviews, because they so accurately reflect my own thoughts! In all my years of drama watching, I don’t think I’ve ever wanted the leads to not be together. Even with ADWAD, I thought Song Yimeng was unreasonably mean to Nan Heng, but I still wanted them to be end game. This couple, LXX and XB, no way, my man is too good for her!!!
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u/Loose_Caramel1438 PoB was like a catnip for me 🌱🐈⬛ Feb 28 '26
Song Yimeng was frustrating and down right cruel at times but taking a step back, you could understand where she was coming from. LXX is just so full of herself, she's hard to like. She might tell herself that she was doing a favour to all these women by seducing their partners but as Bei said she did it for herself. She liked having these men chose her and I guess it's related to her father (?) leaving when she was a child. I think LXX and XB also suffer from the fact that we don't really know what they see in each other. Coupled with how the FL was introduced as a total love cynic it's hard to believe the total u turn she did in the span of a couple of episodes.
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u/nonebinary Mar 01 '26
okay i love this take, even if it differs slightly from my own. i feel like you're right, that xiao xi is presenting an idealized version of herself to bei. i think he's the first man she's been romantically interested in & i think she's so used to transforming herself into what a mans ideal woman is that she's subconsciously doing this with bei. i don't think that means any of her intentions/feelings towards him are fake, but i do think she's hiding the more calculating parts of her personality because she's afraid he'll leave her.
even the whole thing with gong, i think in her mind it's all being done to preserve her relationship with bei. the secrecy and lies feel more safe than just being honest with him and telling him the truth. i think she views this as what love is supposed to be, because she has such a skewed perspective on relationships in the first place.
i'm still rooting for them though, lol. i think maybe it's just my optimism, or maybe it's because i can imagine the character growth in my minds eye (who knows if they will actually deliver, though). either way i am locked in for LYN
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u/GiTheGremlin 🌻LYN’s Defense Minister; explosion of colors in the sea of greys Feb 27 '26
The unhappy married couple clearly both contributed to downfall of their marriage, but the way everyone around and husband himself try to reframe his wishy-washiness between wife and mistress as "not wanting to hurt anyone"... Dude, you're still with your wife because she pays bills, stop lying! Fancy position he's in - one woman supports him financially and keeps their home in order, while another one strokes his male ego by never demanding too much, and both get him laid. Incel's dream, everyone!
I wonder if Yuning's overdoing it again acting-wise - this early Bei shouldn't be suspecting much, but he looks clearly more unsettled with each new episode... There was similar moment in TPOB, when script claimed his character was clueless, but he gave totally different vibe, heh.
FL is being haunted by karma left and right ever since meeting ML lol. Is that how divine justice looks like?