This review may contain spoilers
Not quite "a fast-paced, illogical, black-and-white dream," but...
The actual quote comes from Xiao Chen in episode 8 and reads as follows: "Life right now is like a fast-paced, illogical, black-and-white dream." I just couldn't resist using parts of it as the headline. It's the perfect self-own after all. The first 4 episodes are particularly rough. And, believe me, I'm anything but opposed to toxic romances, so it's not that. It's just that the story bulldozes through conflicts at a breakspine, I mean breakneck, speed, the acting is subpar at best, and there are entirely too many slow-motion sequences set to an overly dramatic soundtrack. I finally understand why GMMTV requires their actors to have base-level musicality. The actors' foundation is distractingly mismatched; what I can only assume are the results of plastic surgery don't do anyone any favors either. Oh, and the plot points are ridiculously trite clichés. What do you mean, several parents die of homophobia-aggravated, heart-related illnesses"?!
Once we're past the halfway mark, this mess surprisingly gets better, which is something I rarely say about shows. Lu Feng reaches his full potential as a psychopathic abuser, of which we had previously only seen, like, 80%. Is it effective buildup or my lowered expectations? Who's to say? Anyway, the spine incident is actually when I thought to myself, "Hm, maybe I will enjoy this in a sick way." The false imprisonment arc works really well, in part because the story slows down for a change. Once Lu Feng lost his last marble, I started becoming invested in him and Xiao Chen, though certainly not because they had any allure as a romantic pair. Since my initial lack of emotional investment in the main couple almost became this series' death knell, that's quite the turnaround. I also like a not insignificant number of side characters, such as Zhuo Lan (love that she tries to save Xiao Chen), Ke Luo, and Chen's office coworker friends. The second couple is also sometimes quite good and I must admit that the humorous scenes forced a chuckle or two out of me.
Now I'm curious to see if the last two episodes will pull through or if I'll be left hanging. What I can say for now is that I sure feel dumb for getting baited by the opening into thinking there would be a GL couple.
Once we're past the halfway mark, this mess surprisingly gets better, which is something I rarely say about shows. Lu Feng reaches his full potential as a psychopathic abuser, of which we had previously only seen, like, 80%. Is it effective buildup or my lowered expectations? Who's to say? Anyway, the spine incident is actually when I thought to myself, "Hm, maybe I will enjoy this in a sick way." The false imprisonment arc works really well, in part because the story slows down for a change. Once Lu Feng lost his last marble, I started becoming invested in him and Xiao Chen, though certainly not because they had any allure as a romantic pair. Since my initial lack of emotional investment in the main couple almost became this series' death knell, that's quite the turnaround. I also like a not insignificant number of side characters, such as Zhuo Lan (love that she tries to save Xiao Chen), Ke Luo, and Chen's office coworker friends. The second couple is also sometimes quite good and I must admit that the humorous scenes forced a chuckle or two out of me.
Now I'm curious to see if the last two episodes will pull through or if I'll be left hanging. What I can say for now is that I sure feel dumb for getting baited by the opening into thinking there would be a GL couple.
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