Stay with Me (2023)

IT'S BL, NOT bromance

....Hints are all over the place that this is purely BL! So, if you still think this drama is only "bromance," you are lost!
This got to be the best BL adaptation of 2023 and also one of the best bl I have watched!
All the actors and actresses 100% match their character in the story so much! Zhang Jiong played his character, Su yu, so well. He nailed it! 👏 Even better than Timmy who played Su yu/Bai Lou Yin in the 2016 version.
Zhang Jiong was able to capture every personality of his character!
I LOVED ML and MC's bickering! The chemistry was awsome! We got to see a lot more scenes from the novel making the drama more interesting and heart warming! Hopefully for season 2 with our two lovely Zhang Jiong and Xu Bin returning!🙏❤️

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You'll need a box full of tissues!

If you like sad ending than it's a must watch! I was totally addicted to it. The story is more like bromance. At the end I felt like their family was my own family. I cried like crazy after finishing it. Everything was perfect.

The cast was so good! And Wu Bi is the perfect boyfriend 😩 He'd die and kill for his loved one's. Su yu is also great!

If you're looking for something intimate, then it's not a good choice! It has nothing intimate. It's the best beginner friendly bl! The only thing I didn't like about this story was a bit of miss communication.

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Simplest Act of Love is Truly Wonderful

First of all, I never watched Addicted series, and only read the novel partially because it's too angsty for me.

I decided to watch SWM after seeing some tweets talking about it.
Kinda hesitated at first because it is said that the ending is too sad.
I'm really not fond of angsty story.

But I'm glad I did. It's truly remarkable and wonderful.

Wu Bi and Su Yu showed their love and attention to each other in simplest way, a way that they could do best without any exaggerated efforts. So simple yet so sweet.

For me this series is much more romantic than many other BLs series that I have watched.

A bit weird but after watching this SWM series, I haven't got any interest to watch other BLs series.

The secret kiss at the classroom is the best kiss compared with many other crazy and passionate lip kisses.

I watch that scene repeatedly and always smile foolishly.

Their family condition is what we can find in reality, that one family can be very loving and supportive, while other can be very hateful, judgmental, and super toxic.

They seem wanted to remind us that if we build our own family in a wrong way, it will cause a great damage in the future.

As I said in the comment section, knowing how crazy China with its censorship, I don't hold a high hope for a 2nd season.

This drama could be considered lucky for getting the permission to be broadcasted worldwide but not so sure for the 2nd season approval.

Either way, let's just cherish and enjoy this series as long as we can.

I'm just gonna re-watch that sweet scene now so I can sleep happily with smile on my face.

*Loving BinJiong*

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Prime example of love that is shown more than spoken

As I started this series back in July, I had no expectations whatsoever. But then, entering into the first half of the 1st episode, I realized how wrong my judgement was. It was so thoughtful and deep that I decided to stop at ep 8 and binge watch it after the last episode aired. And I never valued any decision I made more than that.

This series is an existing example of how affection and bonds can be gracefully and magnificently shown without delving too much into them. It teases on the emotions, lets it float on the surface for the audience to pick up and analyze. Every interaction, each sideway glance, all the quiet smiles and loud fights gave this series so much life and domesticity that it left me with a pleasant ache.
The actors, each one of them did a beautiful job out of their roles, they owned them. The chemistry between the leads felt like molten rocks and flowing water, slick and domineering.

This series would be rightfully called a family drama with romance and slice of life. Every character was impeccably written and directed, every family diverse, every relationship unique. The subtle signs and affections scattered all over the series through expressions and even household decorations, just perfection. Special mention to the coloured glass panes of Su Yu and Wu Bi's part of the house, they made the cinematography a hundred times more impactful, influencing the moods and scenes with all the colours they gave off.

Till the 22nd episode, I had no expectation of witnessing anything remotely similar to kiss, yet it took me out like a gun shot each time they kissed each other on the cheeks, felt butterflies and stars on their intimacy. Speaking of intimacy, the series exuded sticky warmth through every intimate shots and gestures with such ease that it hit raw and real.

Many may argue that this is not BL or even call it queer baiting, but that couldn't be farther from the truth. I can't imagine the amount of bravery and guts it took for every person associated with this series to step up and play such roles when china has harsh and inhumane censorship rules. Hats off to every staff and actors involved in the making of this.

This would forever be one of my top rated BLs, eagerly waiting for s2!

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China has many potentials for making BLs

Okay just finished this drama after a week of binge-watching. I have never written any reviews before. Stay With Me indeed touched my heart and i can’t help spending time writing this review. NGL the past 7 days give me more butterflies than my entire career of watching BLs. I won’t forget the moments i blushed at the dialogs/interactions between the MLs. I loved this drama. It will take time for me to get over it and I’m gonna miss the MLs especially Wu Bi. There are so many quotes from Wu Bi that give me butterflies. The way he is so jealous and protective of Su Yu completely melts my heart. You can tell that he is madly in love with Su Yu. As a gay guy myself, Wu Bi is my babe goal. The line “Su Yu is mine” will forever Stay With Me and i know it will cheer me up whenever i think of it. The ending gives me a bittersweet feeling. I’m sad that Wu Bi ended up that way and we have no idea what will happen to him and Su Yu next. However, this open ending gives me hope for a season 2. So yeah, it’s a bittersweet feeling. SWM is the first Chinese BL that i’m really invested into and it opens my eyes a lot. Before it, i was stuck in the world of Thai BLs and i always wondered why it is so hard to find a good BL that can touch my heart. Now i know that there is a big gap between China and Thailand in terms of drama production. Thailand especially GMMTV still has a long way to go. China has mastered their storytelling, acting and production. I will definitely explore more about Chinese BL dramas. Too bad, LGBT content is censored in China. If they were allowed to develop and produce LGBT content at full force, i strongly believe Chinese BLs would take the world by storm.

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Stay with me have my heart❤️

Well, I am a massive fan of this series. I binged watched it one day and well of course I was hooked into the storyline and characters. Not enough words can express my love for this series and the way it made me feel when I watched it. I love it. It’s the best thing in the world. But- the ending… I’m looking forward for an update about it if there ever will. The ending was unsatisfactory for me- I really love the characters so I want to see them again. Please just give us season 2 I will beg everyday and everyone for it. I cannot live without a season 2. Anyways, thank you to the production team, all the staffs, the actors, everyone who made this series happen 😊❤️ I haven’t seen anything like it 🥲 Please I beg. The characters are so beautiful. Well done to the makeup artists and stylists. The hair stylists too. Thank you to the music provider, the directors and producers. To Jiongmin and Xubin. Thank you all I miss you. 😭❤️

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everyone says it's bromance but it's not, gagaolala and Viki confirmed it's bl

highly recommended, i can't spoil guys, i'm gonna leave some short message, but guys this is the best drama series of 2023, and for me this is number 1 drama series , the plot of the story, the acting, casts and the ost/music, very perfect, the best outstanding drama series, please watch it you will be obsessed like me and you will miss so bad the actors, it's been a week i miss them so bad, i'm waiting for the season 2 even it's too long to wait, but this is me I can wait, i don't know what to say more, but this drama is so very good to watch, the best the best the best the best the best the best the best the best the best the best the best the best the best the best the best the best the best the best the best the best the best the best the best the best the best the best the best the best the best the best the best the best the best the best the best the best the best the best the best, sorry guys this is my first time reviewing a drama series, I hope u understand but this drama series is so good , please watch it

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To date Suyu myself I would have to time travel, but to what year?

I would like to preface this by saying I absoloutly adore this show and the characters and I would never steal Suyu from Wubi ever (I would porbably die in a 1v1 fight), but why is the time period of this show so extremely confusing? The thing about this very spesific critic is that it sounds really nitpicky to point out, but it seriously bothered me so much while watching that I just had to say something about it.

This show is a remake of an older show that came out in the 90s(?) or atleast early 2000s, therefore it makes sense that the creators would like to keep the same "old" feel when directing it. The problem with this is that while a lot of the scenes, places and clothes fit that aesthetic super well, it somehow feels like they just forgot to keep the thing going in the middle of the show, making the clashing elements so extremely out of place and distracting it becomes jarring.

Like in episode 5 when Suyu uses a really old fashion heavy-duty box computer at his friends house, while Wubi literally whips out a macbook less then 5 minutes later, EXUSE ME WHAT DECADE ARE WE LIVING IN? They use huge computers, old casette TVs, they have cds, casettes and DVDs that are IN USE, they never use laptops/computers when in school, literally just paper, pencils and books (idk if that's the norm in China pls don't sue me).

The interior and clothing design is also so aggressively 90s, but Wubi talks about how Suyu is weird for liking a song that came out in the 90s? As if it's ancient and not from the decade they're living in at all. They take pictures with cameras and not phones, they use flip-phones with keyboards and ipods, no headsets just earplugs and cd-players. BUT THEY STILL HAVE MACBOOKS?

My head hurts. Anyway WUbi better be alive or I'm suying the entire Chinese government, thank you and goodnight.

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It would have been the best bl ever for me if it was not for……

SPOILER ALERT

Maybe some of y’all thought I was gonna say the ending.
While I was annoyed by that crappy ending I was not surprised by it at all. It’s rare for mainland Chinese drama to have happy endings, I didn’t think a bromance was gonna be an exception. If anything I was prepared for the worst possible ending. My biggest complaint is not the ending itself but events leading up to that ending. Nothing made sense. It was like they were hell bent on having a tragic end. It’s not unheard of for a series to have many plot holes and even throughout the entire there were so many of them but the ones in the last episodes were just too much. For instance;
you telling me Suyu who hated being given hand outs would just easily accept to go to an hopistal appointment made by Wubi’s creepy brother without even questioning the whole thing at all?
Also didn’t that creepy brother even consider that even after killing Suyu, Wubi would not live without Suyu like literally? And the way those two boys used to spend every minute together didn’t creepy brother not consider that by attempting to kill Suyu he would end up harming Wubi as well?

I couldn’t even be sad at Wubi death, I honestly don’t know what the writers were aiming at by killing him. I guess they wanted to maintain the ending in the original material. But that don’t make sense either because they had changed so many things, I don’t understand why they couldn’t just change the ending as well. One more thing, I feel like the series was also unnecessary too long. By the end of three quarters of the show, most conflicts were already resolved, relationships were mended, as for the rest I felt like it was just dragging down and I was just there waiting for that miserable ending. I can’t say enough about how predictable that ending was omg. The moment Wubi gave duo duo that watch, I knew he was gonna be the one to die. When the creepy cousin started asking Wubi funny questions like; seeing you can do anything for Suyu are you willing to give him your dad’s company?—/ I was like dude, if what you want is the share of the company or rather whole of it, won’t killing Wubi’s Father be more sensible that killing this only 18 year child because you think he is a potential threat? 🤦🏽‍♀

Anyway enough ranting, let’s move in to the things I liked.
This show is so much better than the show; addicted. Wubi was a better person than Guhai, he never really forced himself on Suyu, he waited for him. Their relationship seemed to have naturally grown. Notwithstanding some plot devices at the beginning for our boys to get together, the rest didn’t feel that forced. There was no nonsensical accidental falling into each other’s arm and what not.

The star for this show for me was Duo duo. Heck I loved that child. I loved the whole extended family thing they had. Their cute moments together made this little wicked cold heart of mine beat. Also I liked the fact the boys were actually studying haha all the damn time.

I wish they didn’t make the rich folks seem unredeemable though. I mean they were not that bad. I think they deserved a chance to show their humanity and kindness. Like Wubi father cared for his son, and losing his wife was not easy on him let alone having his son blame him for his mother’s death.

Cringy parts
I didn’t like that crush who turned into a fan girl and was shipping the boys. For anyone paying attention would have known that the boys were more than just friends, we didn’t need a fan girl confirming their relationship .

I didn’t like that dance the guys performed at duo duo’s school. There was nothing wrong with it just made me cringe.

I didn’t like those forehead kisses and pecks in the dark because they left me wanting more 😂. They should have just stuck to hugging.
I kept checking if it’s indeed from China mainland, sometime I wished it was from Taiwan then our boys would at least kiss once. Yes while I was satisfied with the mutual pining I couldn’t help but wish for more.

Fav parts
Suyu: so Aunt Zhou is the most important person in us your life?
Wuyu: You should use that brain of yours more on other things than just solving maths problems.

Or when Suyu asked Wubi why he was crying when yet it wasn’t him that was hurt by that creepy uncle.


总结,那个结局很垃圾。but if a show is called; brother don’t run away, that’s a dead give away like literally.

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Great watch overall - hard to choose a standout factor amongst great project

I am writing this review probably a month after the watch of this show. It stuck in my mind as a great watch.

One word for it - consistent. I was dropped into a bucket of emotion and comfort. I did not feel threatened by ridiculous plot or unnatural acting of the leads for the sake of story. They kept their character throughout (not suddenly cute while being portrayed as extremely cool). The makn character traits stayed the same -- some aspects of their character were challenged and some were relished by the moments in the story -- as it should be! It is really that easy, challenge the traits you give them as a writer, do not simply give them randomly new ones. It is life for God's sake (except dis fake life but ykwim, they be representing life).

Their chemistry was one of the best in bl I witnessed. Sometimes they made me feel butterflies just because of their bantering.

I do not particularly care for OST, so not really memorable.

One of fave watches of 2023.
Skip never.
Many rewatches shall proceed.

Also pls S2. Only if you won't disappoint me.

Thanks for reading.

Bye bye.

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So happy with this drama

Is that really the ending!?! It was such a good drama I was so ready for somone to finally make a move. Besides that tragic ending (*sniff*) I'm happy that there are so many episodes! It gives the male leads a chance to bond before all the romantic tension starts. No offense to shorter BL dramas, but they are usually a little lackluster and less intense. I love the family dynamics, watching WuBi feeling at home with SuYu and his dad, their whole little family is the sweetest, especially Duo! Then SuYu finally accepting his mother, there's so much growth its beautiful. Stay with Me is very sweet. There better be a second season ahhh

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