One time watch

I was a bit hesitant to watch the series because I felt like it would have a much darker tone as the series was supposed to explore the toxicity surrounding the BL industry. I was surprised to see it was much light hearted than I anticipated. I would say it is a good one time watch kinda series.

Postives-
1.The actors did a great job potraying their characters.

2. The cinematographers and costume designers did a very good job.

Negatives -

1. Tbh during the first few episodes , I was extremely annoyed by the exaggerated sound effects to the point I wanted stop watching it.

2. The series was trying to be serious and comical at the same time , thus the results seems to be a mush of both not in good way

Story telling and characters:

1.Despite liking the acting , I didnt relate to any character other than Gene and Aey at certain scenes

2. Gene was the most explored character in the series. We got to see Gene as a person outside of his relationship with Sib. I loved his relationship with his parents, collegues and friends.

3. On the other hand, Nubsib being the main lead wasn't explored at all. There was nothing about his character other than his love towards Gene.He was shown as this cold guy who is rude to his manager , coworker and everyone other than Gene. Thus we dont know anything about him as a person other than he loves Gene

4. Aey was a character I liked and disliked at the same time. I really felt bad for him for how he was treated by his family. Again , his character was given no development in this series. Since the creators went out of their way to give a backstory to him in the first half of the series , I hoped he will have a redemption arc somwhere towards the end. Yes ,he did an awful thing to the main couple.But it was kind of sad to watch everyone just leaving him in the end. Someone should have gotten him the help he needed since he seem to be going through a tough time even in the last episode.

5. Tum and Tiffy's relationship and even their individual backstory was rather nice. I feel like there should have been more scenes of them as they seems to have just disappeared for a few episodes only to come back randomly when necessary. Tum and his sister's relationship was not really explored . Tiffy and Aey barely had any scenes together , same goes for Sib and Tum. I couldnt figure out the work relationship dynamic between Tum and Sib at all. Sib seems to have no respect towards Tum most of the time.

6.Another unexplored character was Hin. He literally disappeared from the show for most part of it. Even though his character was given a closure , there was barely anything we know about his characters other than he is gene's assistant and he writes . He comes and goes from the series without much of a purpose.

7. Despite having a lot of plot holes, I did love how it portrayed the importance of consent and communication in a relationship. It was refreshing to see how caring and loving the couple were towards each other. The best plotline of the story I would say is the coming out episodes. It was well written and acted. The potrayal of toxicity in the industry and fandoms were kept to a bare minimum . They could have explored on this subject much more. Something that confused me was how they got together after the huge break up in the last episode. For a couple who communicated extremely well throughout the series, they got back together without talking to each other about how they will face such a situation in case that happens in future.


I would say , the series as a whole is a one time watch if you like the actors.

Read More

All the BL tropes

TRIGGER WARNING :RAPE

I just finished watching the series. I quite liked the series if I ignore the extremely problematic plot of one of the two couples. So let's start with the positives of the show.

Positives

The series was aesthetically pleasing. Be it the actors , locations or coustume designs , the series was extremely pretty. The acting and chemistry between the characters were pretty good. The highlight of the show indeed was Mu Ren and Li Cheng's relationship which was very sweet. Even though I would say Li Cheng's character sometimes come of as pretty agressive , it is a part of his charm. Most of the relationships in the series are potrayed rather well , be it the relationship between the trio , Li Cheng and Mei Feng's relationship or Ye Xing and his father's relationship. The OST also complimented the series well .

Negatives

Ye Xing and FuYong's relationship was huge turn off for me from start to end . It's high time writers realise romaticizing rape is not right. I remember watching Fu Yong's first scene and thinking , 'Is he gonna fall in love with his stalker'. Somehow they made it even worse. You cannot convince me he is a good character when he stalked his brother for years, raped him and physically assaulted his friend because he was close to his brother.. There is no way I can see them having a healthy relationship as brothers or lovers. I even hated his mother who knew what her son is planning and did nothing to stop him..like what kinda parent does that.

Funny thing when the other guy tried to rape Mu Ren , he was labelled a "villain " but it was considered love when Fu yong did even worse...

If I set aside the whole second love story, the show as fine. It had a lot of the usual BL tropes but it was enjoyable to a certain extend.

Before ending, I must compliment how pretty Anson Chen( Mu Ren) looked in the series... I rarely say this while reviewing something but everytime I saw him on screen I was thinking " He is as pretty as a flower"

Read More