You Are Mine (2023)

would like to see these actors again

Overall: it had some fun moments and I'd love to see the actors together in another series, but I struggled with the plot/how the characters were written. I set aside the actual HR nightmare that this would be when writing my review. Aired 10 episodes about 25 minutes each on GagaOOLala and Viki. Note, there are sometimes extra scenes after the initial credits including the final episode.

Content Warnings: past kidnapping, trauma, kidnapping, non con touching, non con kiss turned consensual?, coercion/manipulation, manhandling, slaps, homophobia

What I Liked
- clear flashback and then what is in the present
- cute moments (especially enjoyed episode 10)
- laughed a few times
- supportive coworker
- that vice president guy calling out Xia Shang Zhou in ep 9
- how Yao Shun Yu stood up to the mom
- the interviews at the start of each episode
- (neutral) comedy sound effects

Room For Improvement
- traumatized/cold boss and the nervous/peppy employee dynamic
- the boss's sudden change of heart and the non con touching
- had a crack comedy feel, but then the boss with trauma didn't mesh well with the comedy
- was very tropey, 2 accidental falls in the first 10 minutes of ep 1 as an example
- recap too long, especially at the start of episode 2 and episode 4, I almost thought I was watching the wrong episode
- nonsense plot things like not taking him to the hospital and then not getting him crutches
- almost all of episode 9 and the poor communication throughout
- post credit scene seemed a fast 180 for the mother

Read More

Not bad. Not great, but not bad.

There are a lot of good things about this - the acting is solid, especially from Hsiao Hung, who throws himself 110% into the role. His character can be a little OTT, but he pulls it off, and he has really good comic timing.

The story and writing are not the strongest aspect of this - it leans way, way too heavily on misunderstanding, which is a particular crutch of Asian drama. Shang Zhou's emotional constipation is well-supported, and it's clear his character was formed by an unloving mother, so I did buy that, but it's carried too far - there is a situation in particular that could have been solved by a "yes" or even a subtle nod of his head, and Shun Yu's misunderstanding of the situation is less explainable and comes off as forced drama.

This works well as a comedy, but the problem is that it veers to heavily into drama, which is tonally dissonant and none of the drama is sufficiently supported.

What might have worked better is to have made the mother a more central villain, and made her the obstacle that had to be overcome, rather than really stupid misunderstandings. That would aslo have made Shun Yu's "boss moment" in the final confrontation with her much more satisfying. It was very well-acted, and it was quite a moment to see him finally become confident in love, but if there had been more of a development arc to that point it would have had a larger payoff.

The interaction between the two as a couple at the end was some of the best I've ever seen in a BL, with both of them acting like men, and not shying away from affection, There's no sex, but the way they hug and touch each other is uninhibited and convincing.

I really hope to see Hsiao Hung again - he's really talented, not to mention beautiful and hot. That skin is like porcelain.

Anyway, there is a lot of frustration in the second half, but the payoff in the finale is quite good, so I can recommend this, although there are some parts you might want to ff through.

Read More