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This review may contain spoilers
A double helix of love and destruction and two souls
This drama is not for fragile hearts or people who are looking for ideal character.It is way darker than what one can handle. It comes with a heavy warning of SA, Torture,Kidnap, Homophobia, Emotional Codependence,Bipolar Disorder,Societal pressure, Unsupportive parents, On and off situation.
Drama starts with very romantic and a relationship that gives you nothing but butterflies in your stomach. But don't fall for it.. because as the story progresses the drama gets darker and darker. It is hard to say who is good and who is bad and what caused this. All characters in the series are flawed but you will cry with them as well.
Plot-
The story revolves around two souls Lufeng and Yichen who fell in love with each other deeply in their school days. All they wanted was to spend the lifetime with each other. Throughout the time they loved each other but like the two crossed lovers fate brings them together and then separate from each other leaving nothing but pain and longing for just be together. That seperation took the form of destruction. A destruction that brought harm to both of them and separated them even more to the point of not able to fix anything. They both were toxic to each other but at the same time the happiness of each other. Even though they bring out monstrous side of each other they chose their love and tried to fix as much as it was possible.
Though the plot sounds dreamy but there are certain parts in the plot that I wish it could be handled with care. The characters pov should be shown better in order to avoid the notion of that only one is obsessed and other is not when both lufeng and yichen were obsessed with each other.
Characters:-
Lufeng- Lufeng was nothing but a person who grown up with abusive parents. He don't know how to love someone with care and softness. So when he fell in love with yichen who was his light. He just wanted to hold onto that warmth.His love know no boundaries. But as he was brought up in rich family he can't take no. So when separation happens instead of letting go or just handling the matter in a mature way. He went into completely black flag era which i don't think I have ever watched of that toxic level. That longing and separation which made him like a walking corpse in order to show his pain and take revenge he went to the lengths of raping and inflicting the pain and harm to the person he loved most( yichen) on soul level. But he learnt to restrain his actions. Lufeng will make u cry, hate and feel pain along with him. He is a very flawed character. Sometimes u ques him if he deserve his happy ending. But this series handled the atrocities that he inflicted on yichen with care by repeatedly showing that this is not acceptable, that what he is doing is completely wrong and he don't deserve yichen. Series will ques his love for yichen. Even lufeng will ques himself. That part is something that i appreciate in the series.
Yichen- He is a person who is unable to take actions and runs away from the situation whenever little discomfort happens. He is people pleaser. But he is also the victim like lufeng. One decision of him not holding his ground and leave lufeng due to his Homophobic family and dying mother wish changed the whole relationship with lufeng. But he is also the person who time and again chose to go back to lufeng just because he is in love with him and his hope that what if this time they get their happy ending, what if there is even slightest of hope for lufeng to change. But he is also the person who never fights for his relationship. U will understand his logic and emotion behind his decisions but hate him also. But u empathize with him as well.
Yichen's brother Yichen-I don't hate him. I just never understood why drama never showed that he intentionally hid lufeng's parting msg to yichen later. This decision led yichen to believe that lufeng is gone for good and will never come back.
Yichen's mother-I get it that society was against the same sex relationship that time so she chose society pinpointing and their standards over his own son yichen's happiness and her homophobia is also the reason of whatever pain both yichen and lufeng beared for almost a decade.
Costume- Throught out the series, costume of both lufeng and yichen has been designed to reflect their state of mind and their emotional stand in relationship. Earlier in the series, both lufeng and yichen wore bright colours like warm sunshine rays in spring season. Then during lufeng's black flag era lufeng wore black depicting his obsession, death, emptiness. While yichen wore white showing peace and freedom he seeks but has been snatched away from. Then again in their last phase they wore plain and neutral colour not too bright but not too dull. Just like their relationship.
Camera and lighting- The directors has done a very good job in portraying diff colours according to their relationship. In beginning phase showing bright and warm colours of sunlight then after separation and black flag era mostly white showing depression like vibes then at the end again neutral or original lighting. Mixture of both.
Props/ Screenwriting - What amazed me is how screenwriter has used perfect props as metaphor to reflect their state of mind during black flag era. All those bird cage, chains, double pendulum, the furniture, the placement of actors in screen and their posture. The repeated reference to sunflower and sunlight. Everything was so perfectly done.
OST- The songs "My love" and "Love song that nobody cares about" are so good that now it's been in my playlist on repeat. It's memorable.
Ayden acting- I can see no one but ayden to play this role. Lufeng was such a complex character but ayden portrayed so well. His pain, sadness, yearning and love, his possessiveness and the way he used to look at yichen as lufeng as a character. It won my heart. Everything about his acting was perfect. I am definitely looking forward for his future projects.
Lu si tong acting- He did a good job in showing the resistance and the hurt. He showed what yichen is feeling and his dilemma so well. What remains memorable to me is how he portrayed that lufeng has hurted him to the core and he is seeking protection by his body posture and the way he portrayed his depressed smile when he was hurting inside.
Kisses- It was after a very long time that i have seen an actor to portray the intensity of love, possesion, obsession, anger and desire through kisses. And Ayden deserves this recognition because it's rare these days for an actor to be able to do that.
Drama handling of sensitive issues- Although i genuinely believe that some topics should be handled more sensitively but overall they did good job in repeatedly showing that this is wrong.
Drama vs Novel- This is imp. I loved drama adaptation way more. In novel the way lufeng was shown if that would have been adapted the same in drama i would never wanted lufeng to be happy. The way drama toned down him and the way their separation period was lessen with no son involvement is what I am happy. Plus in drama the portrayal of lufeng being sick and him undergoing therapy made him and his actions little bit understandable which was unlike novel and i am so grateful about that. Although that still not justify his SA towards yichen. That was crossing all humanity and there is no redemption arc for that. That SA is like a thorn in flower petals carpet.
Rewatch- I would hardly rewatch it as this drama gave me nothing but trauma and i need only their special ep with only green flag aura to heal. Only their ep1-2 and 11-12 is re-watchable for me. Other ep just gives me trauma.
Overall I loved this drama for how flawed their characters are. The way I was obsessed with this drama by sleeplessly waiting for next ep each week and thinking about the drama whole week and rewatching their sweet moments made this my toxic bl drama of the year. It was a heavy watch for me but this drama kept me engaged that I never dropped. Sometimes it's not the perfect story that remains with us but it's their pain and tears and the characters flaw with character development is what that stays in ur heart.
I would recommend it to watch only if you can handle the depth of the characters and the toxicity that it comes with it. As this drama actually can be triggering to people given the sensitive issues that it has shown.
Drama starts with very romantic and a relationship that gives you nothing but butterflies in your stomach. But don't fall for it.. because as the story progresses the drama gets darker and darker. It is hard to say who is good and who is bad and what caused this. All characters in the series are flawed but you will cry with them as well.
Plot-
The story revolves around two souls Lufeng and Yichen who fell in love with each other deeply in their school days. All they wanted was to spend the lifetime with each other. Throughout the time they loved each other but like the two crossed lovers fate brings them together and then separate from each other leaving nothing but pain and longing for just be together. That seperation took the form of destruction. A destruction that brought harm to both of them and separated them even more to the point of not able to fix anything. They both were toxic to each other but at the same time the happiness of each other. Even though they bring out monstrous side of each other they chose their love and tried to fix as much as it was possible.
Though the plot sounds dreamy but there are certain parts in the plot that I wish it could be handled with care. The characters pov should be shown better in order to avoid the notion of that only one is obsessed and other is not when both lufeng and yichen were obsessed with each other.
Characters:-
Lufeng- Lufeng was nothing but a person who grown up with abusive parents. He don't know how to love someone with care and softness. So when he fell in love with yichen who was his light. He just wanted to hold onto that warmth.His love know no boundaries. But as he was brought up in rich family he can't take no. So when separation happens instead of letting go or just handling the matter in a mature way. He went into completely black flag era which i don't think I have ever watched of that toxic level. That longing and separation which made him like a walking corpse in order to show his pain and take revenge he went to the lengths of raping and inflicting the pain and harm to the person he loved most( yichen) on soul level. But he learnt to restrain his actions. Lufeng will make u cry, hate and feel pain along with him. He is a very flawed character. Sometimes u ques him if he deserve his happy ending. But this series handled the atrocities that he inflicted on yichen with care by repeatedly showing that this is not acceptable, that what he is doing is completely wrong and he don't deserve yichen. Series will ques his love for yichen. Even lufeng will ques himself. That part is something that i appreciate in the series.
Yichen- He is a person who is unable to take actions and runs away from the situation whenever little discomfort happens. He is people pleaser. But he is also the victim like lufeng. One decision of him not holding his ground and leave lufeng due to his Homophobic family and dying mother wish changed the whole relationship with lufeng. But he is also the person who time and again chose to go back to lufeng just because he is in love with him and his hope that what if this time they get their happy ending, what if there is even slightest of hope for lufeng to change. But he is also the person who never fights for his relationship. U will understand his logic and emotion behind his decisions but hate him also. But u empathize with him as well.
Yichen's brother Yichen-I don't hate him. I just never understood why drama never showed that he intentionally hid lufeng's parting msg to yichen later. This decision led yichen to believe that lufeng is gone for good and will never come back.
Yichen's mother-I get it that society was against the same sex relationship that time so she chose society pinpointing and their standards over his own son yichen's happiness and her homophobia is also the reason of whatever pain both yichen and lufeng beared for almost a decade.
Costume- Throught out the series, costume of both lufeng and yichen has been designed to reflect their state of mind and their emotional stand in relationship. Earlier in the series, both lufeng and yichen wore bright colours like warm sunshine rays in spring season. Then during lufeng's black flag era lufeng wore black depicting his obsession, death, emptiness. While yichen wore white showing peace and freedom he seeks but has been snatched away from. Then again in their last phase they wore plain and neutral colour not too bright but not too dull. Just like their relationship.
Camera and lighting- The directors has done a very good job in portraying diff colours according to their relationship. In beginning phase showing bright and warm colours of sunlight then after separation and black flag era mostly white showing depression like vibes then at the end again neutral or original lighting. Mixture of both.
Props/ Screenwriting - What amazed me is how screenwriter has used perfect props as metaphor to reflect their state of mind during black flag era. All those bird cage, chains, double pendulum, the furniture, the placement of actors in screen and their posture. The repeated reference to sunflower and sunlight. Everything was so perfectly done.
OST- The songs "My love" and "Love song that nobody cares about" are so good that now it's been in my playlist on repeat. It's memorable.
Ayden acting- I can see no one but ayden to play this role. Lufeng was such a complex character but ayden portrayed so well. His pain, sadness, yearning and love, his possessiveness and the way he used to look at yichen as lufeng as a character. It won my heart. Everything about his acting was perfect. I am definitely looking forward for his future projects.
Lu si tong acting- He did a good job in showing the resistance and the hurt. He showed what yichen is feeling and his dilemma so well. What remains memorable to me is how he portrayed that lufeng has hurted him to the core and he is seeking protection by his body posture and the way he portrayed his depressed smile when he was hurting inside.
Kisses- It was after a very long time that i have seen an actor to portray the intensity of love, possesion, obsession, anger and desire through kisses. And Ayden deserves this recognition because it's rare these days for an actor to be able to do that.
Drama handling of sensitive issues- Although i genuinely believe that some topics should be handled more sensitively but overall they did good job in repeatedly showing that this is wrong.
Drama vs Novel- This is imp. I loved drama adaptation way more. In novel the way lufeng was shown if that would have been adapted the same in drama i would never wanted lufeng to be happy. The way drama toned down him and the way their separation period was lessen with no son involvement is what I am happy. Plus in drama the portrayal of lufeng being sick and him undergoing therapy made him and his actions little bit understandable which was unlike novel and i am so grateful about that. Although that still not justify his SA towards yichen. That was crossing all humanity and there is no redemption arc for that. That SA is like a thorn in flower petals carpet.
Rewatch- I would hardly rewatch it as this drama gave me nothing but trauma and i need only their special ep with only green flag aura to heal. Only their ep1-2 and 11-12 is re-watchable for me. Other ep just gives me trauma.
Overall I loved this drama for how flawed their characters are. The way I was obsessed with this drama by sleeplessly waiting for next ep each week and thinking about the drama whole week and rewatching their sweet moments made this my toxic bl drama of the year. It was a heavy watch for me but this drama kept me engaged that I never dropped. Sometimes it's not the perfect story that remains with us but it's their pain and tears and the characters flaw with character development is what that stays in ur heart.
I would recommend it to watch only if you can handle the depth of the characters and the toxicity that it comes with it. As this drama actually can be triggering to people given the sensitive issues that it has shown.
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