1
Fondueforkharpoon
On a little rock somewhere, looking at the stars
This review may contain spoilers
An understated landmark in queer Asian cinema and here's why
Now let me start off by answering some questions you may be asking yourself: Is this the greatest story ever told? No.
Is there anything particularly standout or special about any of the plot points, or characters, cinematography, literally anything at all? No.
But what makes it so incredibly enjoyable (and honestly objectively good in my opinion) is the way the show chooses to engage with its own genre. The whole things starts, as we know, with a fairly ridiculous plot by the university head to blackmail two of her students into producing shippy BL content and promote the university. This could have easily been stupid and downright problematic (kind of, more on this later), but the show holds absolutely nothing back in showcasing exactly why and how the entire thing is awful and problematic. Literally both goofy-ass, idiot main characters listen to the university head inform them of her plan and immediately go “Mam this is unethical as all hell”, with one main point they raise being that these sort of publicity schemes do nothing to actually help queer people or further queer liberation and both of them take issue with that big time.
This theme of calling bullshit on the fetishization of queer lives continues throughout pretty much the entire show, with a highlight being a montage of the two main characters working their way through a list of cheesy cliches to make content out of except every sappy and ridiculous moment devolves into all-out war (read – a slapstick level of physical violence) every time the camera turns off, funny and an incredibly clever and direct interrogation of almost every stupid, contrived trope this genre has ever seen.
The show also emphasizes the importance and beauty of authentic queer relationships by very deliberately juxtaposing them with the over the top, manufactured ship nonsense the characters have to crank out and they keep those themes going solidly even after the whole “we must make this BL content” storyline ends, which is fairly quickly (which I personally also found quite refreshing, I generally felt the pacing of the show was very well done)
Now why was I so blown away by this? Haven’t other shows done this exact thing except better, more in-depth, and more central to the plot? Why yes, they have, but the reason why this show sticks out is because a thoughtful analysis and deconstruction of a serious issue isn’t central to the plot or the themes whatsoever. What these showrunners have done is put all their energy into making a classic uni setting comedy-drama and then just casually tossed in some incredibly succinct and nuanced commentary on the realities of queer love in a time where such love is frequently and almost gleefully exploited for financial gain.
Combine that with some of the best and healthiest depictions of (queer) friendship I’ve seen in a long time (seriously, all six main characters support the hell out of each other and actually teach each other how to communicate, how to set boundaries, how to figure out who and what you want to be. They feel like real people with real thoughts and opinions who have things to say, want to learn and be better, and also happen to care about each other deeply. I may or may not have teared up a few times) and what you’ve got is a whole new standard for queer dramas going forward.
A quick list of negatives:
- As much as the show calls out the actions of the university head as being problematic, she still faces essentially no consequences in the end, and after she lets the boys off the hook and doesn't force them to produce more content for her, everyone just sort of has a collegial chuckle, going "Oh you, what a little scamp you are, uni head" and that's that. Compared to how well the aforementioned themes are handled during the rest of the show this just falls really flat for me.
- The show's one grand pitfall: the dreaded separation. Why do we still choose to do these, they are godawful, they make no sense, can you tell I'm just personally salty about it
In conclusion: An entertaining and sweet standard university drama that packs a little extra punch. If this is an indicator of what the average queer romance drama will look like from now on, then the future of the genre looks bright indeed.
Is there anything particularly standout or special about any of the plot points, or characters, cinematography, literally anything at all? No.
But what makes it so incredibly enjoyable (and honestly objectively good in my opinion) is the way the show chooses to engage with its own genre. The whole things starts, as we know, with a fairly ridiculous plot by the university head to blackmail two of her students into producing shippy BL content and promote the university. This could have easily been stupid and downright problematic (kind of, more on this later), but the show holds absolutely nothing back in showcasing exactly why and how the entire thing is awful and problematic. Literally both goofy-ass, idiot main characters listen to the university head inform them of her plan and immediately go “Mam this is unethical as all hell”, with one main point they raise being that these sort of publicity schemes do nothing to actually help queer people or further queer liberation and both of them take issue with that big time.
This theme of calling bullshit on the fetishization of queer lives continues throughout pretty much the entire show, with a highlight being a montage of the two main characters working their way through a list of cheesy cliches to make content out of except every sappy and ridiculous moment devolves into all-out war (read – a slapstick level of physical violence) every time the camera turns off, funny and an incredibly clever and direct interrogation of almost every stupid, contrived trope this genre has ever seen.
The show also emphasizes the importance and beauty of authentic queer relationships by very deliberately juxtaposing them with the over the top, manufactured ship nonsense the characters have to crank out and they keep those themes going solidly even after the whole “we must make this BL content” storyline ends, which is fairly quickly (which I personally also found quite refreshing, I generally felt the pacing of the show was very well done)
Now why was I so blown away by this? Haven’t other shows done this exact thing except better, more in-depth, and more central to the plot? Why yes, they have, but the reason why this show sticks out is because a thoughtful analysis and deconstruction of a serious issue isn’t central to the plot or the themes whatsoever. What these showrunners have done is put all their energy into making a classic uni setting comedy-drama and then just casually tossed in some incredibly succinct and nuanced commentary on the realities of queer love in a time where such love is frequently and almost gleefully exploited for financial gain.
Combine that with some of the best and healthiest depictions of (queer) friendship I’ve seen in a long time (seriously, all six main characters support the hell out of each other and actually teach each other how to communicate, how to set boundaries, how to figure out who and what you want to be. They feel like real people with real thoughts and opinions who have things to say, want to learn and be better, and also happen to care about each other deeply. I may or may not have teared up a few times) and what you’ve got is a whole new standard for queer dramas going forward.
A quick list of negatives:
- As much as the show calls out the actions of the university head as being problematic, she still faces essentially no consequences in the end, and after she lets the boys off the hook and doesn't force them to produce more content for her, everyone just sort of has a collegial chuckle, going "Oh you, what a little scamp you are, uni head" and that's that. Compared to how well the aforementioned themes are handled during the rest of the show this just falls really flat for me.
- The show's one grand pitfall: the dreaded separation. Why do we still choose to do these, they are godawful, they make no sense, can you tell I'm just personally salty about it
In conclusion: An entertaining and sweet standard university drama that packs a little extra punch. If this is an indicator of what the average queer romance drama will look like from now on, then the future of the genre looks bright indeed.
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