Suliabryon

Ooooh, what extra layer from the novel? I am so curious!

I'm not surprised the ending confused people. Basically, it creates a kind of "dragon eating its own tail" infinity loop for the story where you now have: The original real-life couple (Fang Chi and Gao Zhun) inspiring a movie, meanwhile we the viewers think they are just fictional characters the entire time. The actors filming that movie (Zhen Xin and Zhang Zhun) end up falling in love themselves while playing those roles. Then, THEIR love story becomes a novel... which we see being read by Fang Chi and Gao Zhun, who even comment on the characterization, which makes the audience wonder if ZX and ZZ aren't fictional characters after all. But I'm like 95% sure both couples are "real" in this narrative of stories within stories within stories.

I was traveling out of town since Wednesday and got home super late last night, so finally just finished this and now I don't know what to do with my life. I think some of you may have read my previous comment, but the TL;DR version is, I am not normally a BL watcher, despite the BEST efforts of some drama-sphere friends who watch them and have tried and TRIED to get me into them for like a year or more.

I think C-BLs might me more my thing than Thai BLs. Although someone left a VERY generous and lengthy comment on my last comment here with TONS of recs that also included things like Korean BLs.

This show could not have ended any more perfect, and I have all of those recs to go through now but honestly this one gave me a drama hangover. I am not ready to emotionally move on yet. The Inception-like ending bonus scene was some crazy stuff that is going to keep me thinking about this one for awhile.

Also, I'm going to reiterate once again that it's insane to me the level of layers and nuance and emotional depth and maturity that Ollie and Shu Yuan were able to bring to the table with this. Like...how??! Oh, AND the director! ALL of them are basically newbies. Ollie at TWENTY YEARS OLD has the MOST professional experience of the three of them, to which I say WTAH?!?! Is he a reincarnated spirit with multiple lives and access to his previous lives' experiences, because seriously this whole thing by all rights should not have been as good as it was, but here we are.

I just don't know if I'm ever moving on from this show. The meta-messages about acceptance of self and overcoming trauma and forgiveness of ourselves and others really elevate it and sell the romance so completely (along with the chemistry of the actors, of course).

Aw, thanks.😊

Ha, thank you!

Maybe I'm just jaded because I'm an author and live in that community, so even though I don't write it myself I know A LOT of dark romance authors and have seen that genre explode over the past few years, but to people upset about the "toxicity" and "ethics" of the doctor/patient relationship....first of all, this isn't even that dark, and it certainly isn't exploring darker themes arbitrarily. It's very much a necessary component to the heart of the story. It's a drama WITHIN a drama....so it's literally a work of fiction being worked on by the characters in the show we are watching, and it's meant to be uncomfortable to push boundaries for the MC's because if it doesn't force them to cross lines we won't get the "immersed so deep that they lose themselves in the role" dynamic.

COULD you technically do that if they were filming a rom-com or some other green flag type drama? I guess, but the subject matter would not fit the tone of the drama or the themes being explored.

Look at Zhen Xin. He starts off as this untouchable A-lister who believes he has absolute power and control over every situation. But it’s a total illusion he’s bought into. Even from the very beginning, when he thinks he’s just using "method acting" to manipulate Zhang Zhun, it’s obvious to the audience that he isn't actually in control of his own emotions either. He thinks he's the puppet master, but he's already in over his head.

Meanwhile, Zhang Zhun’s arc goes in the exact opposite direction. He starts the show at the absolute lowest point of his career, feeling like he has zero control over what he wants in his life. But the crazy thing is, the deeper he gets into playing this powerless patient, and the deeper he falls into his relationship with ZX, he actually finds his confidence and agency.

You see this perfectly in the confession scene. ZX is the one completely breaking down in tears, literally calling himself a "stray dog," while ZZ is the one who remains grounded and takes the decisive first step, telling him flat out, "I'll break up with her." When you watch that scene, you really have to ask: who is truly in control here?

The drama-within-a-drama uses that toxic doctor/patient setup to mirror this massive shift in their real-world dynamic. And the physical intimacy is the linchpin that blurs all those boundaries—it's the absolute catalyst that forces them on this journey. If you tried to do this same meta-plot with them filming some fluffy, green-flag romance, the psychological stakes wouldn't exist and it just wouldn't land the same at all.

Oh yes, that explains a lot. Novels and screenplays are completely different beasts, and what works well for one medium does not always translate well to the other.

Wow, what a list! Thank you so much for the effort, I will definitely take a look! And interesting to know which drama was the catalyst for China's extreme ban on BLs. It's kind of crazy to me how BL dramas explode in popularity there (ala Revenged Love and the actors being mobbed and chased at airports, etc) despite all of the government's efforts to control it and keep it from happening. Honestly the fans mobbing actors, even non-BL actors like Deng Kai after Pursuit of Jade's popularity exploded, is really unsafe and I wish if the government was going to crack down on something it would be these crazy fans who create unsafe circumstances for actors and bystanders.

What?? OMG, why are people so cruel? This is his first drama ever and he's so young! I think he's doing AMAZING with some very challenging material for a first acting job! I'm so sad they made him cry with their comments. I hope he's also heard some of the many positive things people have said. Ollie is a stand out, that is for sure. But Shu Yuan is more than expressive enough that he is carrying his role(s) just fine!

I 100% agree on CBLs and given the huge popularity of danmei I imagine there is an enormous, largely untapped market for them.

Oh, man. I'm actually glad the director toned down the original. I am able to connect to GZ/FC despite the story they are in and it sounds like I might not have if he'd stuck to the original. I'm SO SO SO happy that the director apparently plans to work with them again! Unless this was just a lucky one-off, that will probably be an amazing drama to look forward to. I'm SO curious what story it will be! I've seen clips from some of their livestreams and they are so adorable! I know BL actors do a lot of fan service....even more so than leads in other dramas. So I don't assume anything about their relationship beyond friendship, in fact I pretty much assume it's ALL fan service and there is zero chance of actors actually dating one another, lol, just as a general rule. But the chemistry is definitely still there and I can see Ollie knows how to play the game more and is looking out for Shu Yuan and mentoring him a bit. It's lovely.

Okay, so....don't come at me, please, nothing I say is meant as any kind of censure against the genre, I am just someone who is typically very picky about stories. I'm an author IRL and it means I have a hard time turning off my internal editor and being immersed. This happens for me when I read books, watch movies, or watch dramas. Also, this comment is long so I can kind of explain my viewing background before getting to my comments on this drama.

So, I've tried a few BLs. I'm a huge drama watcher and have several friends who are also into them who watch BLs and have recommended various titles to me (the first one was Kinn/Porsche and when I tell you I was NOT prepared and no one warned me just how explicit these dramas can get. Like, I saw the rating but I still wasn't prepared!) Anyway, my point is I've tried several since then, mostly when a friend tells me I "have to" try one, and most of the time I nope right out a pretty short time in. I find many of the Thai ones tend to run more simplistic and trope driven but in a cheesy way that I can't quite ignore, or smexy times driven -- and I have no problem with smexy times, despite my early lack of preparedness for K/P -- my experience with Asian dramas of all kinds up to that point is that they are very conservative compared to western shows so it just caught me totally off guard. But I need the s3x to matter for the story and the characters and I need real storytelling as the scaffolding behind it. I love deeply character driven stories with complex layers. I started my journey with k-dramas and quickly found c-dramas and now c-dramas are the bulk of what I watch for exactly that reason.

So, it's probably no surprise that one of the few BLs I've watched the entire way through was Revenged Love. And it was good. It had everything I love in a gripping drama with complex characters going through deep emotions and layers of storytelling that matter..although the ending didn't quite land for me. I went into ABO Desire as another c-BL hoping for more of the same, but...and I should mention here that I'm a huge reader and writer of multiple romance sub-genres so the whole Omegaverse thing was not a new concept for me and wasn't an issue. I can suspend disbelief pretty well if the characters and story are compelling enough. But for ABO Desire, I'm not sure if it was the script, or the directing, but the storytelling felt all over the place and the pacing was uneven...I ended up dropping it.

Now to this drama. I saw a hilarious reel someone made about the director's struggles to cast it. I am pretty well versed in c-entertainment now, and even if I'm not a huge watcher of BL dramas, I hear the controversy and censorship issues, etc., so I know the difficulties around filming them in China and distributing them. I know actors who star in them risk their entire careers and being blacklisted from the rest of c-entertainment. This director apparently struggled for months to cast this. You all are probably already aware of his difficulties, but I guess he went onto Weibo and was openly complaining, like DMing actors and asking if they're willing to be in a BL and still not finding his cast, asking "can we just force Thai actors to speak Chinese?" and "Why is it so hard to find young actors with abs willing to work on a BL?" He quipped that he de-aged the characters from the novel "because actors in their 30's are already married, and I don't want to be filming the BTS of their kissing scenes with their wives and kids on set." Anyway, the reel was super funny, and it made me wonder who he finally cast, so I looked it up and saw that it was Ollie from Boys Planet and a brand new actor literally doing his first role. And I thought "Well, I'll just check out the first episode."

You guys. I mainlined every single episode out and was up until four in the morning. I. Am. OBSESSED with this show, these characters, these actors?!

I'm sorry, but HOW are they this young and able to pull off the nuance and layers of playing a role-within-a-role and all of the emotional subtext that goes with it?!

Also, there is no uneven pacing, slow, dragging moments, everything is deeply grounded, even the "drama" they are filming feels raw and real! The scene when GZ is telling FC what happened to him in the parking garage? So emotional.

Okay, so IRL Dr. Fang's, um, "therapy techniques" would get him banned from the profession and possibly jailed, but whatever, we can hand wave that since this is a "psychological romance thriller", lol.

And isn't this the director's first drama as well?!

I'm still stuck one HOW IS THIS SO GOOD?! HOW??? I can't get over it. I'm SO invested in both the "main" story and the secondary story of the drama they are filming in the show. Like...they are their own second leads and I think it's brilliant. I think the entire thing is brilliant. They are both playing two distinct characters, especially Ollie, but Shu Yuan is k1lling it playing GZ's trauma as well.

And their chemistry??? Look, neither one of them is my physical "type". But I am SO invested in them. Their chemistry is insane, and I don't even just mean the intimate scenes. Like, in every scene. In the scene in the snow. In the conversations on set. In every. Scene.

My friend has been trying to get me hooked on BLs for like a year and the most I've managed is finishing K/P and eventually Revenged Love. I think she stopped reccing me things because I never finished any of them. 😭😂

I have to tell you. I think c-BLs might be where its at for me. IDK. If they continue producing shows like this one.

I don't think I can adequately explain how much this show has captured me. Look, I CRIED when they finally confessed to each other in the snow. Not like sobbing or anything, but real, genuine tears.

I am going to be traveling when the finale airs and unable to watch it until some time next week and y'all...I don't know how I will survive until then. I think Ollie especially is a real talent and will have a very bright career ahead - both of them, really. AND this director.

I need recs, I think. But I also don't know that anything else can compete with the layers and characters and chemistry in this. But I've barely dipped my toe into this genre, so....I just have no idea.

Unfortunately dubbing is a consequence of how they film in China. The sets they are one typically have multiple dramas filming at the same time, often with very loud things happening just an insulated wall away that are very audible on the filmed cut. So they always remove sound and then dub over voices, sometimes with the original actors (depending on everything from if their accent is acceptable to their voice being considered a good fit, to if the actor in question has time in their schedule to dub.) So, dubbing is just the reality of c-dramas. I always prefer it if the original actors can dub themselves. Some actors have such distinctive voices that it throws me out of the drama if it isn't THEIR voice in the final product.

"I'm only marrying you because you have a year left to live." GIRL, you were crying last night thinking about all of your special interactions and staring at the plant you've tirelessly been cultivating to try to cure his cough. Quit fooling yourself! You can't say you have no feelings for the man while also crying over him.

I know a lot of people are frustrated with Shen Xihe and her cold demeanor, but IMO it isn't that she has no feelings, it's that she is so afraid to trust in admitting them. Even Prince Xin, who she never loved throughout the marriage of her previous life, when faced with him dying she was overcome with emotion and rushed to save him, overwrought and exposing herself to him. And that was just the basic empathy toward someone she was once tied to.

I will tell you I got a little teary myself when the crown prince told Xihe his new timeline and she was obviously having an emotional reaction but suppressing it like she always does. This woman isn't unfeeling, she is terrified of risking her heart, and of trusting another partner when the last one literally executed her entire family.

Sigh. Really? You act like my statements are these extreme absolutes when they are not. For example, I said it’s been reported by Chinese social media that the director issued a no real kiss rule for the drama, and that this is a common practice in romance dramas where a minor is playing an lead role, and you say there is no proof. Okay. Yes. That is why I said it’s being REPORTED as such. I guess time will tell if it’s true when all of the episodes are out, but you can look it up yourself if you want to see how media and netizens are saying it is: in fact I saw this being reported before the drama started airing. Also, it is an established fact that China has done this on dramas with similar age casting, you can look that up, too.

On your whole break down of how we don’t know if HMH was protective of her or if AM felt safe in every scene: yeah, okay, I have no proof. I’m basing it on BTS and interview interactions for this and previous dramas, both of them together and of HMH as an individual. you also have ZERO evidence for the reverse assertion, All of the haters posting crap are making a lot of assumptions about literally every aspect of this casting, the filming, etc. oh, and a 36 year old actor WAS attached to this project before HMH - Liu Xueyi, you can look it up if you want.

Also, you’re trying REALLY hard here to say that just being cast in a romantic lead role at 17 for a Chinese production is somehow comparable to western shows se*ualizing minors. It’s mind boggling to me. My entire point is that this is not an isolated occurrence in Chinese entertainment, and you can look at other productions for how it was handled, such as the no real kiss practice.

At the end of the day: Ai Mi and her family and her agency/company made the decision for her to take on a lead role, HMH very likely didn’t even know who he was cast opposite of, and had zero impact on casting and us receiving unfair hate directed at him by largely western viewers.

You can call my comment trying to give actual context an emotional defense of him if you want, I guess, but I would have made a similar post about any actor in this situation because cultural impact , historical practices in similar situations, and the established behavior of the actors involved adds important context that a lot of people are ignoring.

To everyone attacking Hou Minghao over the age gap with Ai Mi in this drama: you are severely misunderstanding how the Chinese entertainment industry operates, and the cultural context.

    1.    Strict "No-Real-Kiss" Rule Enforced: Due to China’s conservative censorship laws and to protect the minor actress, Chinese viewers and social media has reported that the director banned all kissing or physical intimacy scenes - a common practice when actresses younger than 18 are cast in lead romantic roles, which often happens in china with child stars transitioning to lead roles, both because like Ai Mi they often have an enormous body of work behind them by the time they are late teens, and also because the historical drama characters they are playing are quite often AS young or even younger than the actors. This to say, this drama and Ai Mi's situation is not unique, and China has practices in place to handle it, which includes no "real kisses". The romance in this drama is focused strictly on political alliance, growth, and slow-burn emotional partnership—not sexuality - which is also common in a large number of c-dramas, not just those featuring minor actors in lead roles.

    2.    Intimacy Scale Shifting: To completely shield the underage actress from adult themes, nearly all of the dramatic romance weight is carried individually by the adult male lead. It is expressed through Hou Minghao’s protective body language, micro-expressions, and eye contact.

    3.   The Male Lead Doesn't Control Casting: In C-dramas, the main leads are cast entirely independently by networks like iQIYI (https://www.iq.com/) and production boards. It is not unheard of for actors to not even know who they are starring opposite until the day they sit down for the first table read. But the salient point here is that Hou Minghao and Ai Mi were not cast together, and in fact often it is the network and the actors' individual company they are contracted to who picks their projects for them.

    4.   A Safe, Professional Dynamic: The two actors are trusted coworkers who previously established great rapport working together on other sets, including Fangs of Fortune and another drama. They are not strangers. Ai Mi is a seasoned professional with guardians and acting coaches overseeing her on set at all times - this is apparently standard practice for ALL minor actors in China. They are required to be accompanied by their guardian and acting coaches so they are never actually left alone on set without someone with the ability to advocate for them.

5. Western Media vs China: Western media historically has a dark track record of sexualizing minors, so Western audiences are hyper-vigilant to this. However, C-dramas keep these pairings strictly safe and strictly PG. Not to mention, almost all long form dramas even with adult actors are extremely chaste compared to their western counterparts.

Please stop attacking an actor for starring in a highly monitored, completely chaste historical production. In fact, be glad Hou Minghao was her co-star, because they know each other, because he is experienced in the field and would make sure to protect her and care for her on set, and because the first actor cast in this drama had an even LARGER age gap with Ai Mi. Stop putting Western expectations of what is "morally right" and Western assumptions of what this move means for Ai Mi onto an Eastern drama. Her next lead role will film while she is 18 years old, btw. This isn't true for other child actors who made this same transition, such as Huangyan Tian Tian, who played her first wuxia romance lead at just 15 years old - with the same protections and cautions in place that have been taken for Ai Mi.

Also, reminder to everyone: the block feature is your friend. Click on any user name, and then on the drop down arrow next to "add friend". choose "block user". You won't see anymore comments from that person.

Did you read my comment? He appears to die and is gone for several years but returns under a new identity and takes his place back as a husband and father.

Yes! She was Princess Consort to the 5th Prince - who was ordered by the court to wipe out her family, and then she uses her death to make him seek her revenge for her by blaming her poisoning on her family's rival/enemy house, so he then wipes them out. He fell in love with her but she never returned that love, so he is still mourning her in the rest of the drama.

The novel ending is an HEA! However, there is a fake out "ending" where the ML "dies" and is gone for many years but then comes back under basically a new identity even though everyone immediately close to the Empress-regent (SXH) knows it's him because she would only ever love him and marry him.

Hey folks, my usual reminder that you can block users on this platform. These comment sections seem to fill up with negativity and sometimes the same repetitive commenters repeating the exact same hate against an actor or actress or show over an over instead of just moving on - I've even seen complaints of people who disagree being continually harassed?? - so my strategy is to block them. Click their user name, where it says "add friend" click the down arrow and select "block user" and you will never see another comment by the person. You're welcome!

Block them. You can block people on this site. Click on their username. Where it says "Add friend" there is a drop down arrow...click it and "block user" will appear. I utilize it liberally.

Did everyone miss the part where he was led to believe he could take the fox spirit without k1lling her and how he even did a spell to take her injuries onto himself?? Yes, he made a bad choice. He betrayed her. But nowhere in this story so far has he been explicitly told how deeply attached she is to Riyuan emotionally, all he knows is the fox spirit is hiding on her, and he expected to remove the fox spirit and save her from any injuries and pain in doing so by taking those into himself, and save the brother who has been the only support he’s had in his life.

It was bad and wrong and he absolutely needs to pay consequences for his actions, but as others have said it’s all part of his character growth.

Also, I 💯 agree with the other comment about MLs in this genre. Tantai Jin, Dongfang C, so many others. You can’t have a demon general/prince/king and not expect some dark plot moments. 🤷🏻‍♀️ Especially as they learn to grow emotionally, which is always part the of the character arc.

I know! 😭 I'm going to really hope we're wrong and he either has no romantic storyline or he gets his own side romance with someone NOT the FL.