This review may contain spoilers
Toxic as hell but I ATE IT UP
* Trigger warning for sexual assault *
TLDR: This show is has a lot of problematic moments and isn't for everyone. However, it's well made and a lot of fun to watch so if you aren't put off by the toxicity, you'll probably like it.
Full review:
The premise is ridiculously wonderful. A virus that turned the world into an omegaverse? Hysterical. SIGN ME UP.
The acting, music and directing are all great. The show looks really clean and the premise is easy to buy into, I never felt taken out of the story, even when it got really ridiculous. The flowers on the hands were so funny to me though, my friend and I kept referring to them as the My Little Pony marks XD
The show did randomly switch up narrative style a couple times. For the first couple episodes we would get Hua Yong's thoughts written on a black screen but that was dropped early on and never happened again (that I can remember), and at the end Wen Lang's breakdown is just narrated by some random voice out of the blue lol, but these things didn't bother me, I just noticed them.
I'll go through my detailed thoughts in sections:
Hua Yong and Shao You (main couple):
Hua Yong gave me MAD whisplash throughout the show because half the time he was this cool, powerful mafia leader man with his Enigma powers, and the other half he was a pathetic, manipulative stalker boy who made me understand what 'getting the ick' felt like (e.g. the way he follows Shao You around and sends him so many letters after Shao You breaks up with him). Thankfully for the last few episodes he is the former and he was a lot of fun to watch.
Shao You was well written and well acted. The actor is a fantastic crier, like damn. I enjoyed his motivations and characterisation, and I also enjoyed his reaction to finding out about Hua Yong's lies. There was at least an ATTEMPT to set boundaries, which in a show like this, is already an achievement. Based on the premise, I found their getting back together believable and satisfying (though the consent of the marking scene was dubious at best, at least we got a scene showing Shao You being ok with it later). Despite the whole relationship being toxic as hell, Shao You is aware of and accepts Hua Yong's psychotic tendencies by the end (even calling him his 'Little Psycho') so at least he knows what he's in for. As a FICTIONAL romance I enjoyed them, although I only really started supporting them as a couple around episode 12.
It was around episode 12 when Shao You accepted Hua Yong as not an Omega and they get together without any lies or pretence. This is where they get really fun to watch. I loved Hua Yong protecting him from his brother's attack and the following pregnancy reveal. I love a good dynamic flip, and I feel for the most part it was done really well with Shao You.
My only major gripe with them is their rape scene in episode 9 which DID NOT NEED TO BE THERE. It doesn't forward the relationship or the plot. Shao You would still have figured out Hua Yong wasn't an Omega without that scene and their first time could just have been after the marking. The pregnancy thankfully came from a later, consensual love scene. I know it was supposed to make Hua Yong feel guilty and be more careful or something, but then just do a close call, I dunno, the way it was filmed all romantically as well just frustrated me.
Gao Tu and Wen Lang (secondary couple):
I use the word 'couple' lightly because they never actually get together. I've seen a lot of people complain about this but I LOVED it, it was so unexpected in the best way! If Hua Yong and Shao You were toxic, these two were irredeemable. To me, the big difference is that as a rich CEO and an S-tier Alpha, even though he's being manipulated, Shao You still holds power and a way out if need be. Gao Tu has none of these luxuries. He's poor, has a pheromone disorder and has to hide his status as an Omega from his abusive, phobic boss, and predatory, gambling addict father. Plus he has a sick sister he needs to provide for. Gao Tu has it rough, man. He also has my heart. Best character by far. So sweet and gentle and patient, and the way he makes the right decision for himself and his baby in the end made me so happy for him because the whole show all I wanted was for him to get away and be happy.
Wen Lang SUCKS SO BAD. STRAIGHT TO JAIL. To be fair, Hua Yong and Wen Lang both belong in jail but at least Hua Yong is fun evil (usually), Wen Lang is just a hot loser with money. He's constantly verbally abusive to Gao Tu, RAPES HIM, and then has the audacity to BLAME IT ON HIM. When he eventually finds out that he's pregnant (through Gao Tu's dad trying to extort money in exchange for aborting the baby against Gao Tu's will), Wen Lang, the man who has known Gao Tu for over a decade, believes his dad over him??? Gao Tu was right to run away and never look back. I cheered. Their ending is open-ended and I am open to believe they maybe co-parent their child in the future but I just can't see them together unless Wen Lang gets a personality transplant. I did enjoy him being the uncle figure for the main couple's kid though, it was nice to see he became a bit friendlier over the years at least.
I will say that unlike with Shao You and Hua Yong, the existence of the rape scene for these two doesn't bother me as much because it's somewhat essential to the plot. It's how Gao Tu gets pregnant, which is a major part of the reason why he leaves. Wen Lang is shown to be a scumbag and doesn't get the guy in the end, so it doesn't feel so unnecessary or romanticised as it did for the main couple.
The secretaries:
I loved the secretary characters and what their thoughts on any given situation might be. I particularly loved Pin Ming getting teary during Shao You's crying and birth scenes. My friend and I like to imagine Chang Yu, Pin Ming and Gao Tu having a secretary support club where they gossip about the crazy stuff their bosses get up. Especially after Shao You and Hua Yong get together, I like to imagine Chang Yu and Pin Ming become good friends so they can suffer their bosses' drama together lol
The ending:
I liked everything that happened in the ending, I just wish we'd gotten more detail. I feel the show could have been 18-20 episodes, rather than 16. I wonder if they ran out of budget and had to rush the ending or maybe the book really is written like that. I would have loved to have seen some of Gao Tu's life after he leaves since he's so unwell and unhappy most of the show, I really wanted to see him living a better life. It's implied of course, but it would have been nice to even have one scene of it.
I was also pretty frustrated with them skipping over the birth of the main couple's baby. Shao You has a dangerous birth due to being an Alpha and another trope I really love is a character's life being in danger and everyone worrying about them but ultimately they make it, so this could have been SO GOOD and exactly the kind of drama you need for an ending. But sadly they do a three year time skip right after they take him to the hospital. It would also have been such a great opportunity to finally have Hua Yong cry when Shao You wakes up from the birth because they built up his inability to cry so much and then never did anything with it. The main couple's baby finally being born, Shao You almost dying and surviving, Hua Yong finally crying, the friends celebrating, there would have been SO MUCH emotional pay off in this one scene it actually boggles my mind that they didn't make it. So much so that I decided to just write a fanfic to fill in the gaps for myself lollll
In conclusion, I loved it, twas incredibly entertaining. If not for the main couple's unnecessary rape scene and the rushed ending, this would have been a 9.5/10 for me. Despite that, I will definitely be rewatching this, and I will also be reading the novel.
TLDR: This show is has a lot of problematic moments and isn't for everyone. However, it's well made and a lot of fun to watch so if you aren't put off by the toxicity, you'll probably like it.
Full review:
The premise is ridiculously wonderful. A virus that turned the world into an omegaverse? Hysterical. SIGN ME UP.
The acting, music and directing are all great. The show looks really clean and the premise is easy to buy into, I never felt taken out of the story, even when it got really ridiculous. The flowers on the hands were so funny to me though, my friend and I kept referring to them as the My Little Pony marks XD
The show did randomly switch up narrative style a couple times. For the first couple episodes we would get Hua Yong's thoughts written on a black screen but that was dropped early on and never happened again (that I can remember), and at the end Wen Lang's breakdown is just narrated by some random voice out of the blue lol, but these things didn't bother me, I just noticed them.
I'll go through my detailed thoughts in sections:
Hua Yong and Shao You (main couple):
Hua Yong gave me MAD whisplash throughout the show because half the time he was this cool, powerful mafia leader man with his Enigma powers, and the other half he was a pathetic, manipulative stalker boy who made me understand what 'getting the ick' felt like (e.g. the way he follows Shao You around and sends him so many letters after Shao You breaks up with him). Thankfully for the last few episodes he is the former and he was a lot of fun to watch.
Shao You was well written and well acted. The actor is a fantastic crier, like damn. I enjoyed his motivations and characterisation, and I also enjoyed his reaction to finding out about Hua Yong's lies. There was at least an ATTEMPT to set boundaries, which in a show like this, is already an achievement. Based on the premise, I found their getting back together believable and satisfying (though the consent of the marking scene was dubious at best, at least we got a scene showing Shao You being ok with it later). Despite the whole relationship being toxic as hell, Shao You is aware of and accepts Hua Yong's psychotic tendencies by the end (even calling him his 'Little Psycho') so at least he knows what he's in for. As a FICTIONAL romance I enjoyed them, although I only really started supporting them as a couple around episode 12.
It was around episode 12 when Shao You accepted Hua Yong as not an Omega and they get together without any lies or pretence. This is where they get really fun to watch. I loved Hua Yong protecting him from his brother's attack and the following pregnancy reveal. I love a good dynamic flip, and I feel for the most part it was done really well with Shao You.
My only major gripe with them is their rape scene in episode 9 which DID NOT NEED TO BE THERE. It doesn't forward the relationship or the plot. Shao You would still have figured out Hua Yong wasn't an Omega without that scene and their first time could just have been after the marking. The pregnancy thankfully came from a later, consensual love scene. I know it was supposed to make Hua Yong feel guilty and be more careful or something, but then just do a close call, I dunno, the way it was filmed all romantically as well just frustrated me.
Gao Tu and Wen Lang (secondary couple):
I use the word 'couple' lightly because they never actually get together. I've seen a lot of people complain about this but I LOVED it, it was so unexpected in the best way! If Hua Yong and Shao You were toxic, these two were irredeemable. To me, the big difference is that as a rich CEO and an S-tier Alpha, even though he's being manipulated, Shao You still holds power and a way out if need be. Gao Tu has none of these luxuries. He's poor, has a pheromone disorder and has to hide his status as an Omega from his abusive, phobic boss, and predatory, gambling addict father. Plus he has a sick sister he needs to provide for. Gao Tu has it rough, man. He also has my heart. Best character by far. So sweet and gentle and patient, and the way he makes the right decision for himself and his baby in the end made me so happy for him because the whole show all I wanted was for him to get away and be happy.
Wen Lang SUCKS SO BAD. STRAIGHT TO JAIL. To be fair, Hua Yong and Wen Lang both belong in jail but at least Hua Yong is fun evil (usually), Wen Lang is just a hot loser with money. He's constantly verbally abusive to Gao Tu, RAPES HIM, and then has the audacity to BLAME IT ON HIM. When he eventually finds out that he's pregnant (through Gao Tu's dad trying to extort money in exchange for aborting the baby against Gao Tu's will), Wen Lang, the man who has known Gao Tu for over a decade, believes his dad over him??? Gao Tu was right to run away and never look back. I cheered. Their ending is open-ended and I am open to believe they maybe co-parent their child in the future but I just can't see them together unless Wen Lang gets a personality transplant. I did enjoy him being the uncle figure for the main couple's kid though, it was nice to see he became a bit friendlier over the years at least.
I will say that unlike with Shao You and Hua Yong, the existence of the rape scene for these two doesn't bother me as much because it's somewhat essential to the plot. It's how Gao Tu gets pregnant, which is a major part of the reason why he leaves. Wen Lang is shown to be a scumbag and doesn't get the guy in the end, so it doesn't feel so unnecessary or romanticised as it did for the main couple.
The secretaries:
I loved the secretary characters and what their thoughts on any given situation might be. I particularly loved Pin Ming getting teary during Shao You's crying and birth scenes. My friend and I like to imagine Chang Yu, Pin Ming and Gao Tu having a secretary support club where they gossip about the crazy stuff their bosses get up. Especially after Shao You and Hua Yong get together, I like to imagine Chang Yu and Pin Ming become good friends so they can suffer their bosses' drama together lol
The ending:
I liked everything that happened in the ending, I just wish we'd gotten more detail. I feel the show could have been 18-20 episodes, rather than 16. I wonder if they ran out of budget and had to rush the ending or maybe the book really is written like that. I would have loved to have seen some of Gao Tu's life after he leaves since he's so unwell and unhappy most of the show, I really wanted to see him living a better life. It's implied of course, but it would have been nice to even have one scene of it.
I was also pretty frustrated with them skipping over the birth of the main couple's baby. Shao You has a dangerous birth due to being an Alpha and another trope I really love is a character's life being in danger and everyone worrying about them but ultimately they make it, so this could have been SO GOOD and exactly the kind of drama you need for an ending. But sadly they do a three year time skip right after they take him to the hospital. It would also have been such a great opportunity to finally have Hua Yong cry when Shao You wakes up from the birth because they built up his inability to cry so much and then never did anything with it. The main couple's baby finally being born, Shao You almost dying and surviving, Hua Yong finally crying, the friends celebrating, there would have been SO MUCH emotional pay off in this one scene it actually boggles my mind that they didn't make it. So much so that I decided to just write a fanfic to fill in the gaps for myself lollll
In conclusion, I loved it, twas incredibly entertaining. If not for the main couple's unnecessary rape scene and the rushed ending, this would have been a 9.5/10 for me. Despite that, I will definitely be rewatching this, and I will also be reading the novel.
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