However, in this drama we can see such an amazing chemistry between the main characters that one can't give less then ten points, although it's not finished. Theoretically, the plot is very simple, an ordinary school story but the charisma of the main leads captivates you and doesn't let you go. I simply loved Huang Johnny's character as he, being so playful and manly too, created an incredible tension in his relationship with Bai Luo Yin. Somehow, you want to rewatch the show a lot of times because of an infinity of charming moments created by Johnny's character.
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Story: I believe it develops nicely although due to the censorship the progression of time does seem off, however that is not really something that can be helped all of the time. If there was a uncut version released I believe the story progression and development could very well reach near perfect.
Acting: I believe the two main actors play their parts well. They have not stepped back from the characters personality, specifically that the feelings develop nicely and do not get turned on like a switch out of the blue.
Music: The opening song is very nice, during the show the music is not overpowering.
Rewatch Value: I think you could very easily watch this over and over again because you are made to feel sad, empathetic, happy, embarrassed and shocked across all of the episodes. I found myself laughing at the characters and sometimes that is difficult to give to your audience.
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I really loved the character interactions in this drama. Also the main couple had amazing chemistry throughout the whole show. The music was great too. There were a lot of laugh out loud moments and a lot of moments that just resonated with you.
What I Disliked
How the second couple never got together or developed thoroughly (maybe in season two I hope). How annoying a lot of the female characters.
Overall it's a good drama and I recommend giving it a watch.
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Looking back, Huang Jingyu (Gu Hai) and Xu Weizhou (Bai Luo Yin) were so talented in their performances I think they had a real connection. The chemistry and the make-out scenes were the best but just seeing how they interacted with each other was worthwhile. With that said, I think the title is totally accurate "Addicted Heroin". The love that Gu Hai has for Bai Luo Yin is addictive, it gives you the feeling that even if he wanted to stop he wouldn't be able to.
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All of the actors here are beginners and they did a good acting here.
I really liked the story itself and the characters different attitudes towards other, it was my first time to see and hear a soundtrack that is sang by 2 boys. Quite rare.
Why i disliked here is the other couple didn't have any chance to get attention to their story but aside fro, that, they give everything is this series.
The chemistry is really adorable, strong, and different.
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The story made me feel every possible emotion. I knew the finale was coming and felt like I was going to miss these characters. I love the very raw, powerful kind of portrayal. Something that begins from basically bullying each other in stupid ways to growing into a deep love. Just wow. Just one thing, if you get offended easily this is not the show for you. If like me you prefer flawed characters who make blunders because of what they're going through and you can suspend disbelief then you'll love it. The unfortunate reality of the majority of the Asian world is their lack of understanding for same sex couples. I realize that the entire team and actors were threatened and basically they were unable to make a second season. There's nothing you can do about that. But you know what, just forget that last scene of her appearance and it finished off perfectly at the parking lot car scene. That's it. Let's show our support for these shows so people can understand same sex stories are marketable and people love them, so love can win over hate. Again, thanks to the creators for being brave enough.
As for the two main leads both Timmy Xu and Johnny Huang are gorgeous (though I have a shameless preference for Huang).
Xu plays the role of Bai Luo Yin who was abandoned by his birth mother and has been living with his father for most of his life in a financially tough situation because of his father's meagre earnings.
Huang plays Gu Hai, who is extremely rich, but his birth mother died in mysterious circumstances and since then he's always held his father and his step mother responsible. Even though the step mom tries hard to get along with him, Gu Hai never listens to her or his father.
Basically when they interact at school neither Luo Yin nor Gu Hai realize that they both share a person-- Luo Yin's birth mother is actually Gu Hai's step mom who is about to marry his father.
But Gu Hai and his father have a falling out and Gu Hai leaves home to live in the same neighborhood as Bai Luo Yin. He hides the fact that he's rich from everyone. And the first time Bai Luo Yin encounters Gu Hai it's not pleasant.
They both end up not getting along and literally bully and tease each other to hilarious lengths. But one day when Luo Yin's complaining to a friend about Gu Hai, the friend tells Bai Luo Yin he believes Gu Hai doesn't hate Luo Yin at all in fact he explains why he believes Gu Hai actually likes him. Bai Luo Yin finds it strange that a person who bullied him that way could like him.
Anyway from here on out you are taken on a somewhat strange journey. As Luo Yin goes from extreme annoyance with the new guy who refuses to sit anywhere else but behind Luo Yin in class, to a weird kind of friendship to love and plain obsession from Gu Hai's end.
But man what a journey! I couldn't get over it for months.
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Nothing says I love you as much as being forcibly kissed (this is a bad joke)
I came for the lack of consent, and I was not the least disappointed. Had I come for the romance then this would probably have me running by the first assault. This is a short and intense drama with high pace and and not a dull moment. The leads acting is superb, while some of the side characters could use an acting lesson or two with very few side stories if at all. I found all the characters interesting but in need of allot of emotional guidance.The drama is called Addicted-heroin, it has very little to do with the actual drug and more with a (several) persons addiction to another person sending them to make some pretty bad decisions (I will write more about those as a comment wit a spoiler tag).
And tells the story of an extroverted rich bad boy who (unknowingly) falls for his stepbrother an introverted poor yet super smart good boy icicle and douse all in his power to own him. While still having a girlfriend and denying his sexuality. Both leads seem to have connections to having (had) girlfriends with an addiction to them who need to learn to let go.
All in all an interesting watch, just be prepared for sexual and physical assault, and most importantly what ever you do not have this as relationship goals, or in any way accept this kind of behavior when seeking a partner.
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¯\_(ツ)_/¯
This show had a lot of good going for it in the first half, which is why I rated it kind of high. However, Addicted has a lot of bad going for it as well. I'm a big fan of the enemies to friends to lovers trope, which is exactly what happened between Bai Luo Yin and Gu Hai. In the beginning, their relationship was adorable. However, later on, in the show, Gu Hai becomes extremely aggressive, and whenever Bai Luo Yin says no or pushes Gu Hai off he just ends up pressuring Bai Luo Yin more, and it's extremely upsetting and uncomfortable to watch. I really wish they could have handled the relationship between the two of them better because they had a lot of potential. Also, the storyline was okay, the acting was very good, and it does unfortunately end a cliffhanger. I would be lying if I said the ending didn't leave me a bit upset because I did kind of want to find out what happened. I believe they had a second season planned, but China banned the show before it even finished airing.Was this review helpful to you?
Still, no matter how I look at it, Gu Hai is really going about showing his affections to Bai Luo Yin the wrong way. I didn't not find it endearing not even at the end when they were in the car alone. What he said sounded literally threatening, but I guess it was supposed to be some sort of declaration of love and commitment?!?
All that aggression made me sad, because this could have been a nice series that was actually given a happy ending for a change.
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This review may contain spoilers
Toxic BL Drama Show That Shows How Much BL's Have Improved
Okay so who lied to me and said this was a really good series? Because it really wasn't it was actually pretty bad. If you like this series probably don't read the rest of my review, because it's going to be pretty negative and roastful.First of all, the whole "stepbrother romance thing" is weird enough upfront. I don't like that plotline, especially not in the context of this story. The parental issues our 2 main characters have was actually quite interesting though, so I'll give the show that. Also Bai Luo Yin's father was the best character in the show. But it's overshadowed by the crap later on.
Our main characters Bai Luo Yin and Gu Hai are really pretty boring. One is a borderline crazy stalker and eventual kidnapper (Gu Hai) while the other is exceedingly stubborn and wants seemingly nothing to do with the other for the most part (Bai Luo Yin). These traits make up just straight up bad character portrayals. The actors themselves played the parts well, but I just couldn't stand their characters at all. Especially together, which is where we get into the super serious problems I had with this series. STOP ROMANTICIZING SEXUAL ASSAULT. Too many BL series do this, granted not so much anymore because I think they finally realize it's super not okay. But back in the day, like when this aired it was too common. Literally Gu Hai's character does all these pretty kind things throughout the show and then BAM, he's literally an awful person! He has Bai Luo Yin kidnapped, tied up and he forces himself upon him. Assault does not always just mean sex by the way, if someone isn't interested in being groped or kissed DON'T DO IT! Then the show doesn't address any of it ever again. Absolutely not.
Amongst the varying levels of toxicity thrown into later episodes randomly, there's this weird disease subplot that also pissed me off. DO NOT get a disease for someone, like wtf that's so stupid and careless to throw in there! I mean it ends up being not real, but the idea is stupid and not something to be romanticized along with everything else. Also random note, the music in this show was weird too. Like either brokeback mountain esque, loud dubstep or whatever else. So weird, please don't watch this. I feel like because it was banned a lot of viewers have this weird attachment to the show? Well I went in knowing this and still hated it. I'm glad LGBTQ BL representation is getting much MUCH better with shows like UWMA and LBC. These types of important topics need to be portrayed correctly please and were definitely improving!
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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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