[admin] Welcome and Introductions

[doctorskuld]

Welcome to the HIStory3: Trapped 圈套 Community on Dreamwidth

Even the though the fandom is spread around on various social media platforms, I think there are enough people on Dreamwidth who have seen the show to merit a separate community to celebrate our favorite disaster gangsters and their disaster cop boyfriends.

This is a comm for discussing and sharing the love of Trapped 圈套 and its related content, including:
• All types of discussion, discourse, and squee
• Actor news and spam (RPS and speculation is acceptable)
• Fan works (fanfiction, podfic, art, icons, vids, etc.), including your own work, challenges, recs and fanwork finding, beta requests
• Episode recaps

You are encouraged to post content directly to the community so that discussion can happen in one central place.

The Community Guidelines can be found on the profile page.

---

To start things off, let's introduce ourselves, tell each other how we came into the fandom, and what our favorite things about Trapped 圈套 are.

Comments

[bonibaru]

How I came to watch Trapped
I was perusing Tumblr in April of 2019 around the time when I think episodes 3 & 4 (episode 2 on Viki now) had just dropped and the fansubs had gone up. A person I follow on Tumblr for another series linked to Florbexter's master post with the fansubs from Adam Uni uploaded to their G drive, plus, HD unsubbed episodes for download. I liked the premise, I looked at some gifs also on Tumblr from stebeee and other users, I followed Adam Uni on Facebook and watched and I was hooked. One of the few webdramas I have actually watched while it was airing in progress, and I really loved being back in a space where fans were screaming at each other in real time for weeks as episodes aired. There's a lot to be said for being able to binge a show all in one go but that sense of togetherness gets lost when you don't have 3-4 days each week when we're all stalking each other online looking for clips and spoilers and translations and just being able to shriek at each other about what the heck just happened. I made my first true squee post about it on April 26th here. I tried very hard to bring people into the fandom but everyone in my circle was still all about Guardian or not into Asian webdramas at all, so it was VERY LONELY FOR A LONG TIME. Then at the end of the series run the production company swept down all the fansites, the fansubs were lost, Adam Uni kept getting reported and taken down as fast as anyone could put the subs up, because it was going on Viki, so .... it's much easier to find and more accessible, now, thanks to Viki, and thanks to the episodes being restored to their full selves and not chopped weirdly into two uneven pieces each week - but I still have all those original fansubs in G drive if anyone wants to download them for posterity.

My favorite scene in Trapped
Aha! I answered this in the past! There are two, and they're both Tang Yi & Shao Fei (sorry Jack/ZZ - but I love your scene on the stairs in ep 19 / ep 10 ... it is a very close 3rd; the ominousness of Jack's shadow following ZZ up the stairs at night, and we all still weren't 100% sure Jack wasn't going to turn out to have been feral all along, and something terrible might be about to happen to ZZ .... whew. It was a big relief).

Scene 1:

"There will be other scenes in #HIStory3 that will get all the attention but honestly, for me, this is the perfect one. The comfort, the caretaking, the sweetness, the softness, the everything. This is intimacy. This is connection. This is love. https://t.co/hXm4k0yMg4"
—May 14, 2019

Scene 2:
The first love scene between Tang Yi and Shao Fei when they've gone back to Shao Fei's home after the hospital. The chemistry between Jake and Chris is soft, tender and believable and I love how much they respected what these two characters were about to go through, and how to bring out the connection, and the TRUST.

SF’s in-the-chair seduction of TY is all about connecting: hands are touching but eyes are open, they keep eye contact, their intimacy in this moment is powerful, gentle, and direct. TY invites SF to seduce him as a test: to see how far SF is willing to go, but also as a way to judge his experience level and his tastes. TY then pushes SF a little more. When they're out of the chair, Tang Yi does not have Shao Fei trapped against a wall. Shao Fei has room to back off if he wants to. Tang Yi brings him in, holds him up, holds onto him, but never presses him back, gives him the option of space if he needs to take it. But Shao Fei doesn’t take it. He leans in, and he listens, he lets himself be touched and treasured, and he trusts Tang Yi. Tang Yi pulls him in, increases the skin to skin surface area by removing the shirt, takes away the eye contact but by doing so invites SF to learn how much you can *feel* when you come in closer and close your eyes and listen, and touch, and touch again.

I love the dichotomy and range of physicality, connection and emotion they go through in just 5 minutes, seizing the moment, being present and trusting. How many times am I going to use the word trust? A LOT. Because the only way the two of them could have survived being together - literally, I mean actually survive, since they were both targets in one way or another - was to see and to feel and to trust each other, whether their eyes are open or their eyes are closed. Yes the kissing is hot. The actors are hot, all the skin is hot. But the connection is the thing that kept them both alive.

I like Trapped because
There's not enough room in this comment box to say, so: Shao Fei and Tang Yi are two sides of the same coin who are just trying their best.

You can also find me on...
If a social media platform exists, I'm probably on it, and if I am, it's under this name. I am most active on Twitter daily and on Dreamwidth several times a week. Oh! And I am bonibaru on AO3, also. My fics and my fanvids for Trapped and other fandoms are all there.

[doctorskuld]

I cannot imagine how much fun it must have been to watch Trapped while it was happening, particularly since the last few episodes were such cliffhangers!

The comfort, the caretaking, the sweetness, the softness, the everything. This is intimacy. This is connection. This is love.

That scene was so, so sweet. I was actually surprised that how intimate and soft that scene was.
...and how Zhao Zi totally slept through it.

The first love scene between Tang Yi and Shao Fei when they've gone back to Shao Fei's home after the hospital.

That was scene was amazing! I swear I felt some tingling down my spine when Tang Yi bent to kiss the bandaged bullet wound.

I think you're onto something about the TRUST, which was something that the director really wanted to bring out. It is special, it's the first time that both Tang Yi and Shao Fei are letting themselves be vulnerable with each other present, in the moment. It was very, very nice.
...even up the point where Shao Fei escapes, because it's a little too much for him. XD

There are so many powerful, emotional scenes between those two.

I remember finishing Trapped and thinking to myself, "Good thing that TangFei are my main OTP!" ...and then a few weeks later, having written the first of the Househusband fics, I went, "Oh no, I was so wrong about myself."

[bonibaru]

Haha "fun", yes, you could call it that, when the next-week's promos showed us guns being fired and people looking shocked and people crying when we all know Shao Fei/Hospital is the true fourth ship of the show, but there was no one who'd already seen them to let us know if anybody was actually going to be dead. The question was: did Tang Yi really shoot Shao Fei or are they faking us out, and, if he did in fact shoot him, IS EVERYONE ALIVE. FUN TIMES! SO FUN lol.

It was really exciting though, I'm laughing about it now, but there was a lot of screaming on Tumblr. SCREAMING. People were watching and liveblogging and posting summaries the minute the eps ended for those of us having to wait 24-48 hours for fansubs to post. Adam Uni and Stebeee were TRUE HEROES. And Florbexter for having the eps up, and letting me snag them fast and mirror them on my own G drive as the show got more and more popular. I think a lot of people waited until the end, though - for the same reason they waited on MODOC - not trusting how the ending would be. I was so stressed out about that final episode. SO STRESSED!

[doctorskuld]

when the next-week's promos showed us guns being fired and people looking shocked and people crying when we all know Shao Fei/Hospital is the true fourth ship of the show

OMG, Shao Fei/Hospital, SO TRUE. XD

Quality hurt/comfort is also a way to sell Trapped to other folks, because Shao Fei does seem to have a habit of getting shot. Tang Yi, where the heck were you aiming?

The question was: did Tang Yi really shoot Shao Fei or are they faking us out,

HAHAHAHAHAHA...oh god, I can't imagine having to wait a week to find out, the same way that they didn't fake us out in MODC.

I'm not entirely happy about the decision the writers made to kill off Chen Wen Hao, but in terms of that being the only major or supporting character casualty...our boys got a surprisingly good end!

[her_cool_aunt]

Although I quite see the anxiety and uncertainty, I think the shared community aspect of watching alongside others week by week is very, very good. As well as with Trapped, I also watched Guardian solo over a short period of time and then felt quite alone feeling all sorts of things. Now, I occasionally come across old Twitter thread discussions about people discovering these shows and I want to jump in, say “me too!” and even sometimes re-start the commentary. With Shadowhunters, I was there for series 3B and listening to the Descent is Easy podcast to help me think through and discuss so many different layers. I enjoyed that very much and hope to find some elements of it again. Perhaps here.

I’d like to rewatch Trapped on a slightly more sensible schedule and see what thoughts I have then. Reading everyone’s favourite scenes and best bits already makes me consider what I want to go back to in more depth. Like your point about boundaries and trust in that seduction scene.

On that note, I’d be interested in how my current favourite scene ended up with them waking up (semi?) naked in bed together. Does anyone know of anything written filling in that gap? I haven’t so far come across much “first time” stuff for MSF/TY, mainly later established relationship stuff. Not that I think that night was THAT kind of first time. But it was (probably?) their first time sleeping in the same bed together, right?

[doctorskuld]

I’d like to rewatch Trapped on a slightly more sensible schedule and see what thoughts I have then.

I strongly urge the folks here who are doing a rewatch to do some posts on the episodes. Please do!

On that note, I’d be interested in how my current favourite scene ended up with them waking up (semi?) naked in bed together. Does anyone know of anything written filling in that gap?

I have not seen anything in the English language that fills that gap in particular, but there are quite a few short ficlets posted to Tumblr that I haven't read.

But it was (probably?) their first time sleeping in the same bed together, right?

That was my interpretation as well, since that is the first time we, as the audience, see them in bed together, but it's also possible that the birthday kiss might have been their first time?

[bonibaru]

But it was (probably?) their first time sleeping in the same bed together, right?

You mean the night that Tang Yi had his emotional breakdown over finding out about CWH?

[her_cool_aunt]

I did mean that, but it’s been pointed out that this might already have happened on the birthday evening. The timeline is a little fuzzy. I really must watch again and get things in order.

[doctorskuld]

The possibility of them having sex on the night of Tang Yi's birthday is pure speculation on my part. The scene ends with them making out, and there's no specific evidence that they might have done more than that, but I'm pointing out that it is possible.

[her_cool_aunt]

I don’t think they’d have sex but I could imagine them maybe sleeping in the same bed that birthday night. Given the care that Tang Yi showed at letting Meng Shaofei dictate the pace (with only a little, careful push further from him) in the seduction scene in MSF’s apartment, I think just getting more bare skin time is where they’d be at. Just an opinion, of course.

[doctorskuld]

I have a hard time imagining two men with sexual attraction for one another sleeping in the same bed without being turned on and ending up with some type of hanky panky going on, at least at the handjob level, but I realize that there are all sorts out there. (Again, that's just my opinion, and both of ours are equally valid.) And you're right, Tang Yi is very respectful of MSF's boundaries.

[her_cool_aunt]

Oh, I do agree with you questioning how feasible this is. I was very much in two minds about whether I could see them in bed and not having some kind of sexual encounter at all. Two reasons I finally plumped for it as a possibility were that: (1) the last time we saw them intimately together, MSF was flustered enough by hands on chests and the rest of their bodies covered that TY got dressed and cooked him a meal rather than taking things further; and (2) I’m unsure whether I can read them ending up at least partly naked in bed post TY’s breakdown as the first time they’re in bed together at all. If I can’t see the second (jury’s out for me), and I trust the dynamic of the first, then I end up with bed-sharing but no sex.