First of all, for people who had trouble with the darker aspects of this series, well, the title should have given you a clue. This isn't a sweet tween drama - Gu Hai's feelings for Bai Luo Yin are over-the-top, obsessive, and unhealthy - like heroin is. This isn't meant to be an ideal relationship - relationships can be complicated, even toxic.
Many reviewers have said Luo Yin doesn't reciprocate Gu Hai's feelings, but he really does - it's just that his expressions of love are subtle. When Gu Hai asks him if he likes him, he says "you already know the answer, so why ask?" Plus, Luo Yin invited him to live with him and sleep in the same bed, so that's another hint.
- Loved the cast. Timmy Xu who plays Bai Luo Yin is so beautiful it's painful to look at him. The acting is very solid.
- The writing is unusual, as it skips the saccharine quality of a lot of BL and actually gets a tad dark - you'll know what I mean when you see it. It's played for humor, and the Chinese title of the series is "addictive", so it does make sense, but some people will not find any of it funny. The power imbalance was kind of hot, to me at least.
- Although both boys have (semi- and ex-) girlfriends, this isn't the major and consuming obstacle to the main pairing like it is in many of the earlier BLs. Here, the girlfriends here mostly serve to help the mains figure our their sexuality, and they both fit into the addiction theme.
- While you have to wait for it, there are a couple of hot consensual love scenes, at least in the uncensored version. One of the characters is way more aggressive than the other, and in a couple of cases semi-forces the other, although never for anything more than a hand-job . In one scene the more passive one was clearly parading himself in an effort to drive the other crazy, but "he was asking for it" is a bit cringe-inducing even if it's two guys.
- If there's a flaw, there is some repetition, (although common to most serial dramas), especially rejection of physical intimacy. It later turns out there is some fear of pain involved, but hand and blow jobs don't hurt. Also, the main actors are clearly way too old for high school, although I'm not complaining about that.
Ironically, the censored version is more transgressive than the full version - there are physical scenes where cutting out just as it's starting makes it look like one raped the other whereas in the full version you can see that they didn't even have sex.
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The acting is good. The atmosphere is depressive and the story is boring. There is no chemistry between the main actors and one of them is suffering all the time and I was suffering with him!
I do not know much about Chinese culture in general, but if this kind of relationship is normal, then it is sad indeed. There has been so many better stories than this with better representation of BL and relationships in general.
I am very disappointed.
Not worth watching.
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What the hell did I watch?
What the hell did I watch?I read plenty of reviews before I started this show, I gave it a try to make my opinion, and honestly, I have no idea where all those high ratings come from, but this show was terrible. The first couple of episodes were alright, and I enjoyed it. Who doesn't love a good enemies-to-lovers story? However, it just went down the hill after the first couple of episodes. I can overlook the weird parts, but the lack of chemistry made this show unexciting for me.
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This review may contain spoilers
So utterly cute! My heart is full whenever Gu Hai and Luo Yin are onscreen together! And when they 'broke' up, my heart hurt. The chemistry between the two leads is electric and without a doubt, is one of the best BL couples no cap! The performances of everyone was ace! The writing was strong though there were some questionable plot points that don't make much sense like why Gu Hai and Luo Yin started to live together when Gu Hai had his own apartment or how neither of their parents mentioned the names of their sons for so long when they should know that their sons attend the same school and are in the same year, Also, the girlfriend coming back at the end seemed a bit shoe-horned in and makes it all the more annoying that there won't be a second season due to China's ridiculous censorship! Imagine all the BL content that China could have put out without that inane ban! The Untamed would have been so much better! This series could have been one of the best BLs ever alongside SOTUS & SOTUS S if it wasn't for China's censorship. I'm so angry! Anyways, the musical themes used in this show are very good though they don't really fit in with the story or atmosphere. And why did the drama use musical scores from iconic gay films such as Carol and Brokeback Mountain? How does music inspired by the 1950's and music inspired by the American wilderness work in a high school setting? And the usage of The Lion King's Can You Feel the Love Tonight was kinda random? Wouldn't it have been expensive to get the right to use them? I wonder how if they got clearance? Or maybe the fact that its in China means that they don't need clearance? Anyways, I also really liked that the two leads are not conventionally beautiful but rather regular-looking. It's nice seeing ordinary people get the spotlight unlike in Thai dramas where everyone is pretty.A reviewer on Viki said it best: "I wish that the cast and crew would just pick up and move to another country where they can start right back up where they left off and finish this series. Every person that has been involved since the beginning deserves to see the proof of their hard work and we fans deserve to know what happened to the characters that we got angry with, laughed , cried, and fell in love with, as well as those of us that who fell in lust with them and their hot steamy love scenes where we could almost see and feel the electricity and fire that sparked between them with every look, kiss, and touch. I want that kind of passion in my life. Even imagining a miniscule percentage of that intensity in my life has my heart pounding." Perfectly describes my feelings towards watching Addicted.
On a side note, I watched this using the free trial on Viki due to reports of scenes that were cut on the versions on YouTube. And the quality was good too!
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Although the story is quite enjoyable to watch, there were a lot of moments that made me feel uncomfortable. Firstly, the other guy cannot understand what "NO" means. Of course, it's no surprise, that this is portrayed as if it was supposed to be cute/sweet/whatever. It just made me feel uncomfortable. There's even the scene wherein he asked for the other guy to be abducted. Although he really loves the other guy (supposedly, this is drama so yeah), this can easily turn into an abusive relationship if we were to actually look at it realistically. The guy was possessive, manipulative, and violent (to others). He even beats people up for no reason (for comedic value, I guess idk), which is already bullying if we look at it from outside their perspective like wat. There are a lot of problems with the other guy's personality, seriously. There are also those storylines that are like wUt, like the other guy's ex-gf. It's also quite unfortunate that we won't be seeing the two friends' love story because of China's ban >:( The main thing that made this show enjoyable to watch was because the actors were really good. However, as I have mentioned, there were a lot of problematic things that happened in the show (and please don't say iT's JuST a ShOw). Was this review helpful to you?
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Abusive and obsession in any relationship is bad and should not be encouraged
I am so disappointed with this drama as the relationship it portrays should not be encouraged. I especially did not like the fact that it is not OK to force yourself to someone you like , not OK to sexually and mentally abuse another person and keep pestering them to accept your love, not OK to kidnap someone and raping him. This is not acceptable especially with all the young teenagers watching this drama who are easily influenced by social media and films. No one has any right to force themselves on you. No one has any right to pester you and following you around because this is sexual and mental harassment. I do not like this drama and every episodes are showing how one male lead is forcing himself to the other male lead. No wonder this drama is banned because we should not encourage this type of drama. Not acceptable in any relationship at all.Was this review helpful to you?
A Guilty Pleasure
First, let me tell you right off the bat, if you are here to enjoy the bickering and banter between the two leads, maybe you can give this show a try but if you are the type who can't stand questionable plot points and downright toxic tropes, turn away and never come back. Some people regard this as terrible, and rightly so.✅ Clingy ex-girlfriends
✅ Non-consensual sexual advances/dubcon
✅ Moments that don't make sense and make you go "WTF?!"
✅ Mediocre acting for some scenes
✅ Prank in the form of some physical assault
There are so many moments in this show where, as a critical viewer, you'd be 100% totally turned off and decide to drop it. I wouldn't blame you. Now, I sat through all the episodes and found some moments of redemption, albeit that's all they are, moments. These moments all combined are not even close to outweighing all the problems this show has. But to the lead actors' credit, they are able to somehow carry the show even if at the barest minimum.
The story had potential but was never realized, maybe only very remotely. Alas, the writing was questionable at best and stopped down to toxic levels at worst. Things were starting to get interesting towards the end. If only the show was not stymied by Chinese censorship, we might have seen a proper end to the story even if at this stage, we're left with only barely anything of substance (other than the two main characters' romance).
Even with the unquestionably dubious storyline and toxic tropes, I managed to enjoy some portions of it thanks to Johnny and Timmy's 'chemistry', even when it isn't apparent most of the time.
Again, I say that I'm putting this show in my "guilty pleasure" collections of shows I've watched. Most will objectively and subjectively not like this, and for good and very valid reasons, but I liked it enough to even give a few minutes of my time to write this review. It's stupid fun.
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Know your triggers before watching - Appreciate its rawness when watching in 2024
I don’t think I would appreciate “Addicted” as much if I were to watch this in 2016 and not in 2024. “Addicted” is one of the first uncensored gay romance C-dramas and we all know everything is censored now. There is a full on gay romance, and not the subtle bromance or implied gay romance. Additionally, this drama is starred by two big stars now, Timmy Xu and Johnny Huang.Timmy and Johnny had awesome chemistry and their acting is great considering “Addicted” is both of their first drama. As much as I enjoy them, their romance is problematic and toxic. Gu Hai (Johnny) is obsessed with Bai Luo Yin (Timmy). His way of courting and showing affection has red flags all over. At first, he’s acting like a typical high school kid who only knows how to show affection by being mean to the person he likes. If you are triggered and bothered by dubious consent to intimate acts and forced kisses, I do not think you should watch this. I am aware of these triggers, so I won’t fault this drama (too much) on some questionable actions/scenes.. I know what I am getting myself into. Having said that, I do not agree with Gu Bai’s method of keeping Bai Luo Yin in his apartment after they found out they are step brothers.
This is a decent low budget production. The acting of the main supporting cast is OK. But the acting of the minor roles, e.g. Gu Hai’s ex-girlfriend and cousin, is pretty bad. Those two characters are annoying. There are some weird plot holes. I am still not sure what’s going on between the other two friends, Yang Meng and You Qi. I thought You Qi likes Bai Luo Yin. So, what’s the deal with him harassing Yang Meng? Also, the ending…..that’s not how I expect the drama to end, and there’s no sight of a season 2 after 8 years.
There are quite a few scenes of the leads showing off their nice bodies/abs. Well, Johnny Huang has been keeping fit all these years. He looks just as good as I last saw him in “Bright Eyes in the Dark”.
The drama’s name is “Addicted” and also “Addicted Heroin”. At first, I thought it must mean Gu Hai is addicted to Bai Luo Yin like a druggie is addicted to heroin. After watching the drama, I realized their names together “Hai Luo Yin” = “Heroin”. What perfect names!
Lastly, there’s a quote from Gu Hai that sticks with me and pretty much describes how much he loves Bai Luo Yin - “No matter how much I hate your mother, it wouldn’t even be a fraction (1/1000th) of what I feel for you!”
I would only recommend this drama if you are aware of the triggers. It’s great to see a younger Johnny and Timmy, and how courageous of them and the production team to create such a raw drama. I’ve also watched the newer adapted version, “Stay With Me” and I would recommend that one if you want a tamer, sweeter and more romantic version of “Addicted”.
Completed: 5/23/2024 - Review #444
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It's okay...
Okay so I'm not sure why everyones loves this BL so much...Gu Hai is extremely toxic! He literally kidnapped Bai Luo and SA him. Like what??? That's unacceptable! They're wasn't much chemistry between the actors in my opinion, I just wasn't feeling what everyone else was feeling. I wouldn't recommend this BL to be honest. It's like Gu Hai was trying to be romantic but he was doing so wrong lol. Like dude your being a stalker and your obsession with this boy is weird. Get help and leave him alone. I guess there were some cute scenes here and there but it wasn't all that. I wouldn’t watch this again.Was this review helpful to you?
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I'm not a psychologist, but...
Boys and girls! If you meet a person like Gu Hai, run for your life! He has every feature of a toxic narcissist: he does not respect other people's boundaries, does not take "no" for an answer, tries to alienate his significant other from their friends, manipulates their family, stalks, sexually molests, tries to buy love with presents/favours, and does not refrain from crime and verbal/physical violence.Boys and girls! If you are a person like Gu Hai, you need therapy. Seriously. Your destructive behaviour will only cause pain to people you care about.
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I must add that although Korn and Knock are my favorite TV couple of all time, Bai Luo Yin and Gu Hai are a fierce competition.
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