The REAL obsession? Adam Driver
I went into this series fully expecting angst, obsession, heart-rendering drama… Everything you’d expect from a Chinese BL novel. I haven’t read the book, but I expect it follows through in all of these things. And from the reviews, I was thinking the series would be much the same. It was, for the most part, but for some reason my heart didn’t feel touched by these characters.
The casting choice was - meh. The actor that played Xiao Chen was uninspiring of any kind of obsession: In looks, acting ability, chemistry. All I could think of was, why in the world is Lu Feng obsessed with this little kid. They just didn’t match up age-appropriate or looks-wise. The actor that played Lu Feng, on the other hand, was very talented. He played bi-polar believably. But honestly, I kept getting distracted by thinking he looked familiar. It finally hit me that he looked like an Asian Adam Driver. And once that took hold, that’s literally all I could see for the whole series. Which would’ve been fine… If his supporting cast had the talent he had as far as acting. But because they were uninspiring, all I had to look at was him. And all I could see was Kylo Ren.
The visual production was well done. I didn’t really have any complaints with that. The OST was kind of obnoxious to me. I didn’t really like the song choices, which I typically will in Chinese dramas. But the intro song just kind of annoyed me for some reason. Also, the editing took some major parts out of the story. I don’t know if it was censorship, or a time factor. But they left some things up to your imagination that I could’ve used to help me understand the story and motivations better. Like the many implied bedroom scenes… Was it consensual? Was it not? Without reading the book I don’t have enough of the backstory and the editing really chopped it up for me.
I think that in the end, a Chinese BL novel is never gonna be portrayed exactly how any of us wanted it to be on TV. I think that “Revenge Love” was pretty close, but even that lost its way halfway through. If they ever do “Addicted Heroin” I do not think I can watch it because the disappointment would be too great. It’s my favorite BL novel and I just don’t know that they could do it justice. So watch this BL with caution and low expectations. But reading the book is probably a better use of your time.
The casting choice was - meh. The actor that played Xiao Chen was uninspiring of any kind of obsession: In looks, acting ability, chemistry. All I could think of was, why in the world is Lu Feng obsessed with this little kid. They just didn’t match up age-appropriate or looks-wise. The actor that played Lu Feng, on the other hand, was very talented. He played bi-polar believably. But honestly, I kept getting distracted by thinking he looked familiar. It finally hit me that he looked like an Asian Adam Driver. And once that took hold, that’s literally all I could see for the whole series. Which would’ve been fine… If his supporting cast had the talent he had as far as acting. But because they were uninspiring, all I had to look at was him. And all I could see was Kylo Ren.
The visual production was well done. I didn’t really have any complaints with that. The OST was kind of obnoxious to me. I didn’t really like the song choices, which I typically will in Chinese dramas. But the intro song just kind of annoyed me for some reason. Also, the editing took some major parts out of the story. I don’t know if it was censorship, or a time factor. But they left some things up to your imagination that I could’ve used to help me understand the story and motivations better. Like the many implied bedroom scenes… Was it consensual? Was it not? Without reading the book I don’t have enough of the backstory and the editing really chopped it up for me.
I think that in the end, a Chinese BL novel is never gonna be portrayed exactly how any of us wanted it to be on TV. I think that “Revenge Love” was pretty close, but even that lost its way halfway through. If they ever do “Addicted Heroin” I do not think I can watch it because the disappointment would be too great. It’s my favorite BL novel and I just don’t know that they could do it justice. So watch this BL with caution and low expectations. But reading the book is probably a better use of your time.
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