Alex_Christianson
The drama is clearly low budget. You can tell by the costumes/props and at some point, it looks like a home-filmed thing. However! That does not subtract anything from the amount of pure substance in this piece ;)
Considering the Chinese government censors and all that, I'm very proud of what these people managed to put out!
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The storyline is fairly everyman. The story pretty much literally revolves around 4 men with unique personalities and lives mixing with each other. There isn't any mind-blowing plot or intricated scheming. There's nothing you "can't see coming." In some places, the story appears rushed and underdeveloped. However, the reason I gave the story aspect such a high rating was because this is definitely a character driven story and the characters are amazing. The characters come from different walks of life, with vastly different personalities, with vastly different goals, hidden agendas, open agendas and complicated psyches. It captures the nitty-gritties of relationships and love. The undercurrents in relationships that noone wants to talk about, the kind of stuff everybody wants to pretend doesn't exist and it captures every feeling beautifully.
Acting is spot-on. The cast is all eye-candy and handsome. There's plenty of gorgeous bodies and man on man action. ;) But, less superficially, I think the actors did well in capturing each character's individual charm, flaws and emotions. Jimmy's actor nailed the seemingly happy-go-lucky facade (with a sensitive and deeply emotional side). Yan Fei's actor nailed the stoic, in command and forward thinking marketing director who is very filial to his mother (yet he is insensitive and he is not loyal to his partner). Hai Qing is artistic and apparently highly talented, but he has a dark (easily angered, depressed, easily upset, possessive and jealous) side. Ping Jun is the simplest character - he's pretty much just a nice guy the whole time, to the end. (And he finished last, haha)
Music is lovely. Yeah. I'm going to be downloading the track. The music matches the theme/story so well.
Definitely a whole truckload of heartbreak, unfairness, conflicting character values. It's awfully realistic in that sense. Every character has needs that just aren't met. In that sense, I do think that Yan Fei and Hai Qing complete each other, but it's not going to be a healthy relationship because they're both emotionally and mentally unhealthy characters.
My biggest complain about this drama is the casting and the chemistry mismatch, actually. Tom (Wang Ting Yun) is drop dead gorgeous, but he's reserved/hesitant person/introspective in real life and he can't 100% pull off the dominant/aggressive character Yan Fei is supposed to be. Charles (Lin something) is an outgoing, aggressive-ish and intense personality in real life - great acting, but he isn't 100% pulling off the clingy/desperate-for-love energy Jimmy should have. Jimmy/Charles&Tom/YanFei has insane chemistry, but Tom/Yan Fei could not even remember Aric's (Hai Qing's actor) name and other than some courtesy fan service, would never touch Aric....this absolute lack of chemistry shows, okay? The YanFei/Jimmy scenes felt natural, romantic and sexy. The YanFei/HaiQing interactions... I can tell you guys don't dig each other.
But, for what it's worth, this is still one of the best BL shows out there due to all the stupid censoring that happens to mainland China ones.
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The bads: The plot is extremely predictable, to the point where it borderlines unrealistic or simplistic. The way some events play out, it gives a 'are the characters idiots!?' or 'are you for real!?' feeling.
You can tell it's adapted from a BL novel and they try to force it into a 'brotherly love' thing. Worth watching at least once? Heck yes. Re-watching? Not really, lol.
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There's no.. -oomph- or manliness at all from Yo and frankly, I don't watch BL to see het.
Okay. Other than how I don't like the character dynamics/story-line - The script is nothing special and there are absolutely no lines that hooked me. I honestly can not remember a single line any one said whereas, I can't forget at least half a dozen lines in SOTUS) I'm going to give the actors some kudos because they're just going off the script and they did well with what they had, but the main characters were nothing special and therefore I can only shrug.
I can only say, don't waste your time watching this.
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This review may contain spoilers
This was a really good show! A curious mix between "guilty pleasure binge" and "a show that really made me think about life and the choices we make." Would you rather peacefully stay alive, live in relative mediocracy and let go of "all that could have been" or would you rather live out the rest of your shorter life achieving your dreams and really living life? Bromance is off the charts, and rather satisfying. I'm not a fan of a forced-yaoi moments (can't think of a better word for those scenes...) through the lens of the female fan, but their interactions are pretty sweet. I like to contrast Lu Xiang's relationship with Bai Ying with Lu Fei's relationship with You You. Despite what Bai Ying says, I don't think Bai Ying can ever see Lu Xiang for who he really is and to Bai Ying, Lu Xiang will never hold a light to Bai Ling. Whereas You You likes Lu Fei for exactly who he is, even if there is a hotter, more popular "version" of him out there.
Definitely a huge fan of the music!
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The plots are pretty interesting (not mind-blowing, but interesting enough that you'll want to continue watching). There isn't anything I haven't seen before on any other show, but the show was medically educational. I actually learned a few very interesting facts about the human body and general function of things. The scenes were also pretty streamlined and played with your emotions pretty well. There wasn't a single boring moment.
My only nitpick is that the actors/actresses have a habit of touching their face all the time... including during an autopsy or while examining a corpse. So they'll be prodding a bloated and rotten corpse with their gloved hands, and then wipe sweat from their face in the next second. Okaaay.
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Okay.
The plot is not brilliant or super innovative. Didn't floor my chin anywhere, though I do like how everything was laid out. Although I am not complaining, I feel like certain parts can be better fleshed out. The "Capture The Flag" game didn't really worked for me; I feel like there were fillers sometimes (the show kind of stalled) and there were sometimes "drama for the sake of drama". Don't come here expecting to get your mind blown away by the plot, but WHO CARES when you'll be laughing and grinning the whole time :P Besides, there were plenty of sub-plots, symbolism, "circle of events" and etc that more than makes up for when the plot lapses a little.
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What lowers my opinion of the show is the baffling female lead with unnecessary attempt at romance. I really don't like how they made a strong, masculine female who is so good at fighting/doing manly things and dresses mostly in male clothes, emphasized multiple times that she's such so strong... and then flip to emphasize how pretty/girly she is, make her squeal/scream/cry at the sight of corpses, and make her act like a dumb, innocent little girl. I know many people thought there was sizzling chemistry, but personally, I found those unnecessary romance scenes to be pretty cringe-worthy. Can't she just stay strong, fierce and manly?
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