Martina

ABO Desire is one of those dramas that is difficult to explain without making it sound completely insane. We have a near-future world shaped by a virus that created Alphas, Betas and Omegas, plus the rare and particularly dangerous Enigma. Add secret identities, obsession, manipulation, family drama, mpreg and two men who really should probably make better life choices… and somehow it all works.

Hua Yong ... what a character!
He is probably one of the most entertaining red flag I've watched in a BL; he is exactly the kind of character who makes you question whether you should be fascinated, concerned, or both. Elegant, beautiful and seemingly fragile, Hua Yong initially presents himself as an Omega who needs protection. Except… that is very much not the whole story. Watching his carefully constructed image slowly fall apart is one of the most entertaining parts of the drama. Hua Yong can switch from vulnerable and almost innocent to terrifyingly calculating with just a look. He is manipulative, obsessive and definitely not what anyone would call a healthy romantic partner, but he is also incredibly charismatic. I kept waiting to see what he would do next, which made his scenes some of the most addictive moments of the drama. His relationship with Sheng Shao You is equally complicated. Their dynamic constantly plays with the question of who is actually in control. At first, it seems obvious who has the power, but the more we learn about Hua Yong, the more that balance changes. Their relationship is definitely not a model of healthy communication, but that is also what makes it so interesting to watch. There is obsession, attraction, manipulation and genuine emotion all mixed together, creating a romance that is much darker and messier than it initially appears.
There are plenty of dramatic moments, but there is also a surprisingly good amount of comedy. Hua Yong's contrast between his innocent facade and the person he really is creates some genuinely funny situations. Sometimes I wasn't even sure whether I was supposed to be shocked or laughing, and honestly, I enjoyed both reactions.

The second couple, Gao Tu and Shen Wen Lang, deserves a special mention because their story is probably the part that frustrated me the most. Their relationship has plenty of emotional potential: hidden feelings, years of misunderstanding, trauma and the huge problem of Shen Wen Lang's attitude toward Omegas. Gao Tu's story in particular made me want much more from them.

Now, let's talk about the elephant in the room: the ending. Or, more accurately: the lack of time the ending was given.
I don't think the series needed a different conclusion, but it needed more episodes to get there. The biggest victim is obviously Gao Tu and Shen Wen Lang, but even the broader emotional resolution feels compressed compared with everything the drama spends time building earlier.
It's especially frustrating because the story had already invested so much time in establishing the characters' emotional baggage.
Then suddenly we're expected to accept that certain conflicts have been resolved because… well, we're running out of episodes.


Overall, ABO Desire is messy, dramatic, occasionally ridiculous and absolutely addictive. It definitely has flaws, especially when it comes to pacing and the amount of time given to some of its characters, but I was entertained throughout.
It is not a drama I would recommend to someone looking for a realistic or particularly healthy romance. But if you like morally gray characters, obsessive romance, complicated power dynamics, Omegaverse, beautiful men making terrible decisions and dramas that occasionally make you stare at the screen thinking “WHAT AM I WATCHING?”, then this is definitely worth trying.