HIStory4: Close to You (2021)

It has a lot trigger warnings! Could have been so much better though...

I did not like the main couple I think they were, I really did not like the disturbing relationship of the step-brothers, it was too much really! The other couple on the other hand I enjoyed, they were funny and how their love develops it is actually cute, intense and funny. I would watch again but without all the scenes from the other couple, because I did watch the whole drama to be able to give an honest review and their story (the stepbrothers) it is way too disturbing for my taste, the fact that he get him drunk and too advantage of him it was disgusting plus he was a stalker really, creeping and lurking in the shadows all the time! I mean *yikes*. Anyway, the other couple, YESS big big YESSS! I loved them and their connection and chemistry is super intense and cute!

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the second couple *sigh*

how to say this, this serie gave me a lot of mixed feelings, it has a good main couple but the second couple are a mess, and when i say a mess its really a disaster
first let me start with the plot, the plot is so so meh ,so in order to get a crazy bl shipper girl the main couple pretended to be a thing which is so so cringy, eventually i got interested in their chemistry because its amazing and i loved how close they were to each others, even tho there is few dialogue shared between them that is a bit off and show the toxic "mindset". for exemple "im a man how can someone take advantage of me",and "if i was a girl i will say this is sexual harassement" so a guy cant be taken advantage off or be sexualily harassed? what nonsense is this, but overall the main couple had a healthy relationship and its consensual i loved them so much they are the one who lifted the serie tbh

the story of the second couple? i will just say "just skip it"seriously that young brother should be in jail and he needs a psychiarist too, look lets not dismiss rape!!!!! because he fully raped his step brother and looking so proud and happy about it then it turned out that he also filmed it and showed his father, to protect him ? you can say that in jail because i dont believe the bs thrown there,i just dont get how they ended up together ,their whole story is so problematic and the red flags are everywhere there.

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In the start, I didn't want to write about it because I was watching this when it was airing, left it and finished it after some time. I won't speak about the acting or the music, in this series it doesn't matter.

I cannot believe people are justifying the rape. Nothing and I mean NOTHING can justify it. There isn't "no but..." or staff like that. Whatever the conditions or I don't know, Yong Jie is at fault. I cannot anymore with dramas, romance and BL especially, that romanticize the abuse and the toxic relationships. The obsession sometimes or the completely wrong "I want you only for myself" or even the kissing the sleeping person, It is abuse whatever we say, even if it is the most "romantic" scene. It is wrong and it is rooted in the patriarchy that exist in our society and in the 21st century we have to adress these things and change our way of thinking.
I red in comments that this is a work of fiction and some things is forgiven, something like that. No it is not. First, a lot of people especially younger ones, watch these things and these things create some morals from them and what you say? "It is ok to do anything to your partner, even abuse." Second, when we are speaking about abuse of any kind, especially rape, there are victims, survivors out there, real people with real wounds that they are trying to heal. I have meet some of them and I have talk to them. Let me tell you it is really hard even listening to their stories, think about how they feel. And I don't speak about someone in the road did something to them. In the most cases, it was their partner the one who abused them. How do we think these people feel when their trauma is used in this way?

The second couple had far more chemistry, but also it was created with the wrong reason. A man wants a woman (who is fetishizing LGBTQ+ people), the woman doesn't want him (he is not stepping back and he is pushing her) and he is using and lying to his best friend. We can see where this is wrong. Mu Ren is drugged and Li Cheng thinks how sexy he looks??? Ok... I spoke before about abuse. I cannot also understand how this man that tried to rape Mu Ren came back and the way Mu Ren tried to take revenge.

All in all, it was a really unconfortable and borderline angering experience. Yes, you can watch something and be harsh about it if it is using crimes like this, it isn't "making noise". I truly, truly believe that, fisrt, we will trully try to change our way of thinking about these things, and, second, any kind of series (especially romance) will stop the use of these tropes (non-con, abuse, obsession etc) as their way to create relationships. It is toxic and wrong.

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It's good if you skip the side couple

I'll be dead honest and say that the ONLY reason im watching this show is for the main couple. The main couple is SO GOOD. The actors are good, the story is good, and tbh I'd say they make the series.

The side couple... uh... I have no words really. I literally just skip every scene with them involved. They severely gross me out and I had just wished that the parents would've split them up sooner. Sadly, the didn’t, and the absolute monstrosity of this couple became official.

Overall (without considering the side couple) this entire drama just gives me good vibes. The characters are adorable and fun. The set is super nice. The story is simple and predictable and there's a certain comfort in take. I'm content with this series. Is it revolutionary? No. (I mean except for that tub scene that was pure art) Is it the most unique and unpredictable? No. BUT I liked it a lot and I thought it was super cute and funny.

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Kinda cute & Sweet

The entire premise of this series was, badly excused, the whole friendship and using the friend to get with the girl and then a 360 on how he is madly in love with the friend, the friend be really adamant that he is into girls, goes on a fake date to try and discover how feels, Nah that's just plain, wrong, how do use a girl to figure out if you need to come out the closet, and making such a discovering after dating and being with countless women as he said, it felt like he had play with BL of the two work colleagues in order for him to see his true self.

Li Cheng was way too pushy. He sexually harassed Mu Ren multiple times. He also tried to almost force his feelings upon him. It just didn't sit right with me. Li Cheng also really said, "It's not that I like guys. I just like him." Another thing was the focus on who was top and who was bottom. Get over yourself. It doesn't matter. You're not any less masculine because you're bottoming. Yong Jie planned to get Xing Si drunk, and then he raped him. His mom even knew about it. He also had the audacity to film it and show Xing Si's dad. I still have no idea what the purpose of that was.

There were just too many parts where I was questioning if that is correct, and if what they were doing was right, granted they all came together in the end, but the whole build up how they got there is questionable.

Toxic definitely

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A really good drama with two very different pairings that went through very different experiences. One was your typical friends to lovers lovey dovey coffee shop pairing - Licheng & Muren - the other had much, much darker undertones of non-con and incest - Xingsi & Yongjie. I started the drama for Licheng & Muren and they were cute and hot and sweet - but their story was also nothing new, nothing I haven't seen done a dozen times over, so in the end who caught my attention more were the step-brothers Xingsi & Yongjie. Now that was a pairing I haven't seen done yet.

Their parents married when Xingsi was in high school and Yongjie in elementary school - and Yongjie very early on decided that he would make Xingsi his one day. I'm not really sure if Yongjie was borderline sociopath or psychopath, there was definitely something off about his mental state and I wish the drama dug at least a little bit into that beside a word dropped here and there because it was apparent that their whole family knew that he wasn't exactly... well, sound.

What fascinated me was that the drama didn't skirt the fact that what Yongjie did to Xingsi that one weekend at the sea was wrong - just like his mom was wrong for knowing about it and not stopping him - and that Xingsi decided to forgive them so easily? That wasn't because they deserved it or whatever but because it's who he was, too kind for his own good and they all knew it.

Another thing that fascinated me was that the fact they were step-brothers wasn't just brushed over. Xingsi's father never accepted it, not truly, that Xingsi and Yongjie became lovers, he only gave them his blessing because they were dead set on doing it anyway but without his blessing, Xingsi would've been forever miserable - like I said, they all knew what Xingsi was like. And the father's love for his flesh and blood was stronger than his aversion to their relationship.

Also, I loved that even though Xingsi insisted that he truly loved Yongjie, there was still the lingering question if his feelings changed from brotherly to romantic freely or if he let Yongjie manipulate him which was what his step-mom and his dad feared.

Goodness, what a fascinating story!

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Yes this does have rape,attempt raped, drugged,a stupid male lead

I didnt add incest because they arent realated by blood yes this isnt really like history but i love it and yes the fan girl was not written that well in the begin but she was written better as time went on .this show is a really funny and it had some mature scenes that is not suitable for some people.the talk between the father his sons was heart tear and can make you cry and i loved it for the people writeing bad rewives are wrong because again it doesn't fit what they are ok with but they are people that would enjoy the show but because of their comments others would be scared to watch it or even skip the show and the acting is really good and so is interaction between everyone. the acting make me forget that this is a show even the sexually scenes i am happy they were able to actually act out the scenes because some people they might not be able to but this cast was able to do it perfectly. Boy loves arent the best when it comes to making fan girls and I am not saying this show made a good fan girl but you will love the fan girl later. plus we get to meet the second couple from history 3 make our days count and yes they are still dating and to be honest I wasn't planning on watching it til I found out zhi Gang and Sun bo were getting married.This might just be me but anything that is part of the history franchise I am watching . i wouldnt drop this series so take a risk and watch it u might really like it.

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TW: RAPE, INCEST, FUJOSHI PLOTLINE

Note: I shared this as a comment and I shall share it as my review. It's basically a really long rant. Feel free to disagree but you will NOT change my opinion.

TL;DR: THE YOUNG STEPBROTHER RAPES THE OLDER ONE. THIS IS A PURPOSEFUL PLANNED RAPE, IT IS NOT ROMANTIC AND ANYBODY WHO SAYS IT'S NOT RAPE SHOULD SERIOUSLY REEVALUATE THEMSELVES. The fujoshi plot should have never existed, there are other ways to do fake dating. Mu Ren is bae.

I wish I liked this series but there are way too many things that bother me to the point where continuing to watch this makes me feel like I'm not only purposefully torturing myself but also sexualizing gay relationships because literally, the only reason I would watch this is to see Li Cheng and Mu Ren get together. Not that there's anything wrong with watching just because you want to see one couple get together but given that it's the ONLY reason for me to keep watching I don't think it's worth it.

You can even see the Rape in the hashtags now so people are warned but let me list my biggest problems with the drama:

1. Step/Adoptive brothers: I know that they aren't blood-related but they are family. I don't know about you, but I would NEVER look at my brother and think "Oh, yeah, I'd smash that." He's also 10-years younger than me. I know that in Taiwan it's not illegal but that doesn't make it's any less wrong on a moral level. You're free to disagree with me.

2. Rape: The younger brother purposefully gets his older brother drunk in order to fuck him. What's even worse is that it's being romanticized yet again and I'll explain why. Even though Xing Si (older bro) cries after he realized what happened (which people use as an excuse to say that this hasn't been romanticized) the main reason why it is romanticized is that Yong Jie basically tells him that he'd kiss him when he's awake, insinuating that he isn't taking advantage of him, because he wants his brother to be awake and be able to consciously reciprocate the kiss (NVM that he still kissed him without his permission in the morning). In any other situation, the ML saying that he'd kiss the other lead when they are awake would've been romantic because it means that he didn't try to take advantage of their SO. However, in this case, he proceeds to F*CK his half-unconscious brother without his consent bc as we all know, DRUNK PEOPLE CANNOT CONSENT.

People in the comments are saying that it's fiction so the rape shouldn't bother them and I wish I was that cold-heartedly removed from anything I was watching but as a person who likes to enjoy her stories, I'd much rather watch something that is actually romantic. IDK about you, but one brother raping the other isn't romantic at all...unless all you're here for is some bed scenes which you can find in any porn site with consent too and more detail.

My biggest problem with the rape scene was that it wasn't only shown in quite a bit of detail BUT Xing Si was so obviously experiencing some victim guilt. HOWEVER, he wasn't thinking that it was HIS fault that he experienced what he did but that he was the one to rape his brother. WHICH WAS NOT THE CASE.

If I was to analyze it, I'd say that it could be the big brother talking in him because Yong Jie is younger and therefore is supposed to be the weaker one, and Xing Si is just such a sweetheart that he was feeling the guilt his good-for-nothing brother should've been experiencing instead. What makes Yong Jie such a scary character is that HE FEELS NO REMORSE FOR WHAT HE DID AND HE DOESN'T FIND ANYTHING WRONG WITH IT and for anybody saying that he's a morally grey character and that "he did what he had to do" is seriously wrong in the head.

The fact that we're going to see Xing Si slowly fall for his brother (or maybe fast, you never know with BL) makes me sick. It's absolutely disgusting.

Incest is NOT okay. Blood or no blood relation.
Rape is NOT okay no matter if you truly love a person or not. Fiction or not, a rape plot as a shipping device IS NEVER OKAY.

3. Let's ship 2 straight men into gayness: Now, this isn't that big of a problem, it's just an old trope that's also not that great because it just portrays the fantasy of a woman. The reason it's not a good trope and has to be abolished is that it's the epitome of the BL genre created by fujoshis - it sexualizes the relationship between men. I'm not calling them gay relationships because they aren't. These types of relationships are usually about two straight men who "are gay for each other only".

Some could argue that Mu Ren already likes Li Cheng and I wouldn't disagree because I've seen a couple of instances where Mu Ren does look like he might like his friend. In this case, that's fine, at least one of them isn't straight. What's more, when Li Cheng starts to develop his feelings even further, we can all say that he was a closeted bi man in denial or some other excuse like that. The fact is, I just personally don't like the trope where two grown men have to pretend they are gay for that one woman that gets turned on by it because one of them wants to get in her pants until that same person starts wanting to get in his friend's pants instead. Like no, you can literally have them fall in love in any other fake-dating scenario available, why this?


In conclusion: This is rape, it is not romantic, it is not enjoyable, it is not right, and anybody who doesn't see a problem with planning to and getting somebody purposefully drunk in order to fuck them (bc you very well know if they are sober they would never agree to it, has some serious issues they need to work through. Thank you for coming to my TedTalk. You are free to disagree with me but DO NOT try to convince me that this wasn't rape.

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(almost-)Everything wrong with BLs!

I was waiting for this series so much as the History series has given some good content in the past. But, didn't know it's going to turn out this horrible.

- The discussion to be 0 or 1 and that too just for the imagination's sake is so painful to watch.
- And, then that messed up guy intoxicated his stepbrother and then raped him but saying I will kiss you when you are awake? And, he still caters to every whim of that toxic guy wtf!
- Those two girls are also so annoying to watch, why can't they just shut up!

Sorry, but I don't enjoy sexual abuse and these role stereotypes. The actors are also not good but I definitely cannot enjoy this story anymore, will just wait for the second part of the series now.

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would have been great if the second couple didn't exist

this drama is pretty good, if you completely ignore the second couple's existence. which i did. i skipped basically every scene with the two of them because they quite frankly disgust me. i mean the line "i want to be you brother and your lover" says it all. there's incest, rape, stalking, an age gap. it's like every bad thing you could possibly put in a couple. and they romanticize all of it. Fu Yong Jie (who i have nicknamed Tibby because i hate him so much) is a whole ass psychopath. he needs help. on the contrary, i actually think Xing Si needs even more help because he somehow decided he fucking reciprocated Tibby's feelings???? i just absolutely hate the second couple and they would have ruined the show for me if i gave a shit about them. but i don't so here we are.
now onto Li Cheng and Mu Ren. they're cute. that's all. just a wholesome, if a bit tropey, love story between these two guys. some parts of this show are a bit cringey, a bit questionable, a bit weird, but i overall enjoyed it just because i liked Li Cheng and Mu Ren's romance. i mean the supportive friendship between Li Cheng, Mu Ren, and Xing Si was also sweet and nice to see. honestly i like the show a lot more after the two couples have gotten together. it's very cute and i was suddenly very invested in Li Cheng and Mu Ren's relationship. the acting is ok. it's pretty good, compared to the other shit i've seen in bl's. the music is good also. honestly i gave this show a pretty high rating after everything i've said. so i'd give this a chance and just pretend Xing Si and Tibby don't exist and watch for Li Cheng and Mu Ren.

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Unexpected Love

Unpopular opinion, but I enjoyed the series, even the side couple, Xing Si and Yong Jie. Even though I do not condone Youn Jie's actions in real life, there are people who like dub-con (I'm not one of them) and eat those stories up. The Fu Yong Jie character prototype is not uncommon in Japanese BL manga and comics. Look at the Caste Game manga series, or many of the web toons are are so popular right now.

The Mu Ren and Li Cheng had such charisma and it was fun to watch them fall in love and become a couple. I enjoyed their banter and even Li Cheng's over the top behavior. I'm glad this show exposed the couple to public homophobia and set the tone that no matter what, they are not ashamed and will publicly be a couple, regardless what anyone thinks. I would love to see them again if there is another installment because they are just to refreshing as a couple.

The most annoying aspect were the fujoshi squad. I believe the scriptwriter is the same woman who wrote MODC, so I'm not sure why fujoshi were included. Such misrepresentation of women.

Also, I think this episode makes it clear that MODC is canon. The guys mention Hao Ting living abroad at the wedding and refer to sending photos to "him" (not them) a the wedding. The wedding was strange because Sun Bo's cousin wasn't there, neither was Zhi Gang's relative who was in Season 1.

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Difficult

I personally enjoyed watching it, but I would 100% understand some people not getting with this one at all (especially one of the two couples).

Let’s start off with the positive: the TengTeng/ Li Cheng couple. They were absolutely adorable. And if you really can’t get with the other couple (or don’t want to) just watch their scenes and you’ll be happy.

Usually I get kind of annoyed with Fuyoshi playing a (bigger) part in BL but I actually liked how it was included here.

I also very much appreciated the chemistry between all of the actors, even for the not so great couple.

Now the not so positive:
Let’s call them Couple B, the Drama already started off on the wrong foot with them causing me to almost quit on the first EP. It got a little better so I decided to stick with it, mainly because I wanted to see how their “main issue” would be solved/handled. Their trope is not something I’m very fond of, but I genuinely liked how Xing Si handled his feelings and the whole situation.
The other party involved (Yong Jie) however was an absolute disaster.
And more than controversial on so many levels.
I personally still enjoyed their scenes, because well I am a kinky person and I tend to separate things that happen in TV series from things that happen in real life. But since not everybody seems to be able to separate those two, this couple sends some really terrible messages, not even solely because on the things that happen, but mostly because of how they deal (or don’t deal) with them.
I guess everybody will have to make up their own minds about whether or not they can or want to ship/watch/enjoy this couple.

Another thing that kind of put me off about this Drama is how it was so extremely obvious that this is a BL made for h*rny girls/women. I don’t know how to describe it but literally everything felt like they were trying to feed into as many “desires” the female audience may have as possible.
Don’t get me wrong, since I am a great appreciator of everything cliche I was happy about most of the scenes (well they accomplished what they were aiming to do) but it just felt too glaringly obvious…

Another thing that is completely unrelated to the plot but really really bothered me is the camera movements in some scenes.
There was one scene that was supposed to be romantic that literally just made me nauseous because the camera was spinning for an unnecessary amount of time.
There were some other scenes where the camera movements were just terribly distracting.

All in all I personally enjoyed watching it and I would recommend at least giving TengTeng and Li Cheng a chance. The rest is a question of preference I guess.

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