Reviews

A Masterpiece on Reframing Queerness Within Religion

What a gorgeous series. From the themes, to the symbolism, to the OST, to the photography and the wardrobe, to the character arcs and the acting and, above all, the message it leaves behind.
We're so used to stories where religion comes between love and is portrayed as an adversity and so many of us have lived that experience as well, that a story like this, where God coexists with queerness, is both refreshing and healing. I know many might not relate to christianity particularly but to me this means a lot and, actually, I think the message can be broadened to other faiths and beliefs. It's simply a masterpiece.
My only regret is that they didn't hire older actors to play the characters in their 40s and that was a bit uncanny because the makeup is frankly unconvincing but oh well... In a series so beautiful it does stand out but it's far from killing it. It's just too gorgeous a story to be undone by that kind of thing.
Marvelous from beginning to end, GeminiFourth showed everyone in the industry what acting means and I couldn't be happier about it.

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A dark Cinderella story

I stopped at episode 3 as it crossed the line from dark drama into exploitation.

The rape and prolonged humiliation weren’t simply uncomfortable, they felt gratuitous. What puzzles me is how Chinese censors continue to allow this kind of content in same-sex stories when Addicted was effectively shut down years ago for portraying a consensual gay relationship. The inconsistency is hard to ignore.

At this point, the series feels less like a romance and more like an omegaverse fantasy wrapped in a prestige drama. Attraction may exist between the leads, but attraction does not justify abuse. There is nothing romantic about coercion, humiliation, or sexual violence.

Whether the relationship is heterosexual or homosexual makes no difference. A relationship built on domination and abuse should never be romanticized.

Unfortunately, BL dramas have a recurring habit of equating passion with violence, reinforcing the stereotype that gay relationships are inherently toxic, masochistic, or defined by power imbalances. Those dynamics may exist for some people, but they are far from the reality for most.

Unlike Double Helix, where two damaged people slowly destroyed each other through their choices, Bittersweet begins with a master-and-slave dynamic that demands sympathy for the victim while simultaneously packaging the abuse as the catalyst for romance. That’s a premise I struggle to accept.

The one thing the director unquestionably gets right is making us empathize with the protagonist. Every indignity he suffers makes me want to see him reclaim his agency. But if the series is trying to present this as meaningful social commentary about China, it misses the mark. The supporting characters are so relentlessly cruel that they feel more like caricatures than people.

I’m sure the story is building toward the protagonist finally standing up to his controlling brother, his manipulative wife, and ultimately his abuser. I only hope that when it gets there, it earns that redemption instead of asking viewers to mistake trauma for love.

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A questionable choice to watch, but still enjoyable

Choosing to watch this drama was one of my questionable choices in June. Before starting, thanks to the generosity of the internet and its unwelcome spoilers, I already knew there was poor editing and that one of the characters had an AI-generated face. Those aspects made me hesitant, yet I decided to give it a try just to check out Tan Jianci, whom I liked a lot in "Love Me, Love My Voice".

The first episode already proved all the buzz about the said issues to be true, but the story itself looked promising if I overlooked those flaws. It's basically about the business world, with our leads always ending up in the epicentre of many corporate schemes. They start off as business enemies of sorts, but eventually, working side by side on the same project and due to some circumstances even living together, they learn to understand and even care for each other.

Their personalities are completely opposite, leading to many comedic, chaotic, and sometimes even frustrating situations, and their banter is one of the best things this drama has. The other is the FL's best friend, Jingjing. But I must warn you, if someone wants to watch this for a lot of romance, you'd better not, because there's very little.

Overall, this is not a drama I would recommend, but it's an OK watch if you're there for any of the actors. Now I can close this chapter and move on to the next ones.

P.S. The intro song will be stuck in my head for quite some time.

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Started out strong then got flat quick

Ok so 100% honest, overall it was good but not the great epic love story and political drama I was expecting to see. The best part was Li’s emotional journey dealing with the tragic loss of her family and how she moves through that at heals from it. They did a good job building a solid loving relationship between them. They go from strangers to a wonderful healthy supporting couple. But if you’re waiting for an epic, romantic love to develop, this ain’t it. There were absolutely no romance scenes between them other than maybe one or two very low key kisses. I’d call their relationship more platonic than a newly wed 100% in love couple discovering their relationship.
On to the action. Meh. Very few battle scenes. I was disappointed here too. I am a big fan of Cheng Lei and his ability to do some epic general butt kicking. But this show literally skipped all chances to show off those skills. They send his character off to fight the rebellion and we don’t get a single scene of him beating the crap out of the rebellious prince Li?? The whole show was literally leading to that situation and they just skipped over it. We get reports that he’s kicking ass but no action? It’s just done. Like what? Then they get to the point where he’s basically defeated yet they don’t actually capture him. They just celebrate and walk away. He easily storms the capital while Prince Ding is like oh they’re throwing me a party. Cool. Like what?

Secondary characters also could have been way better developed. They had such potential but felt like they were just thrown in because they felt like they had to have them. Like Han Ming Xi. I really don’t know what the point of his character was. He didn’t really do anything but be there once in a while. His brother and him weren’t really influential in Prince Li’s rebellion or in stopping it. They could have done so much more with his character. Then there was Prince Li, who instead of the villain they portrayed him as, actually had a valid reason to rebel. The Empress Dowager killed his family and stole the throne from him. In other dramas that person is the hero. So I actually felt bad for him the whole show. He was just fighting for just revenge. And in the end the empress even admits she was wrong for it all.

So overall, it was worth watching,started out with a strong idea and intention, then fell really flat for me. Bai Lu was great in her acting skills and really brought the emotion to the character. I don’t think they gave a chance for Cheng Lei to shine in this one. The last 5-6 episodes he is barely in and more like a side character. In the beginning I felt like I was waiting for his time to shine and it never happened.
So take this for what it’s worth but I felt like it had a lot of potential and then fell really flat.

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Innovative and interesting concept

Things I loved

1 The concept. I don't watch short dramas because I never found one I liked. But I like competition shows so this caught my attention. I don't regret watching it. I may didn't like everything but the concept worked quite well, which I didn't expect to be honest.

2 The short drama that it won. I did think it was the best. The acting and the direction were good. I also liked the one that came second. Different but also well done. I didn't care for the third one and I regret that one of the directors who lost for one vote didn't have the chance to come back because his was my favorite. The rest of the 7 last dramas wasn't to my liking. Too ordinary and I've seen many similar stories to care. That said, they found a way to make it work and I'm looking forward to a second season.

Things I liked

1 The jury. I didn't love them but I liked all of them. They were funny and seemed to love being there. I want to believe they ere honest in their assessments and I quite agreed with most of the evaluations.

2 Most of the dramas presented. They were interesting and different enough to keep my attention. I'll admit there were some I disliked a lot and I would have voted out right away and would never reached the last round, but all in all I agreed with how the voting went.

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IDK… I Expected Something More

The story of this BL show in itself is strong but the execution is very weak.

The show started strong, intriguing too and then as it progressed everything went downhills. I don’t even understand what’s happening or what the story aims to achieve anymore, that’s how confusing it got.

One big problem here would be the run time for each episode. There’s so much to unpack, so little time to make the plot this complicated and confusing.

It’s so weird i don’t know what to say but honestly don’t waste your time with this one, just watch something else.

You’re welcome.

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A very good start, good pacing, but most important: amazing acting!

A really, really good start!!! This drama made a strong first impression on me. I was hooked within the first 10 minutes. The acting is amazing, the pacing is great, and I'm especially impressed by how well they cast the child actors.

First, I really want to praise the child actors! They play a huge role in bringing Chen Yi and Miao Jing's characters to life.

I've seen Zhou Yu Chen's performances in several dramas, and they've always been amazing. He's consistently left a strong impression on me with his acting. But in this drama, you can really see how much he's matured as an actor through the way he portrays young Chen Yi.

As for Chen Zi Xuan, this is my first time watching her, and she did such an incredible job. She perfectly portrays an obedient, intelligent, timid, and kind-hearted child. Despite carrying so much pain, her eyes still convey warmth, which makes her performance even more touching.

Both the child and adult versions of the male and female leads embody their characters so well that the entire backstory is delivered beautifully and feels incredibly believable.

Zhang Jingyi and Song Weilong bring their characters to life sooooo well. I would describe their chemistry as completely natural. They genuinely feel like step-siblings who support and care for each other. As the story progresses, their chemistry develops at the perfect pace. You can clearly see the warmth, pain, confusion, hope, sadness, and happiness reflected in their eyes.

On top of that, the supporting cast: including the parents, friends, and other side characters, did an amazing job building the viewers' emotions. Whoever was responsible for casting this drama deserves a huge thumbs up!

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Propaganda, fantasy or an attempt to face a problem?

Spoilers: contrary to the initial trailer (released 26.11.2024, roughly 1,5 years before the show aired) "Ticket to Heaven" is not about a priest standing in the way of "forbidden" gay love nor is it about any kind of conflict or drama involving faith and sexuality. Instead TTH attempts to present an internal struggle of a young gay man – Tanrak (Fourth). The way it is written and portrayed the struggle is not (as you might think) about trying to reconcile being gay and catholic, but about Tanrak having to choose between continuing on a path to become a priest or going away with his newfound love – Barth (Gemini). One might think that this is the same struggle, but not really. Although he is presented as a firm believer, Tanrak is first and foremost a kid raised by a catholic institution and filled with genuine gratitude for everything he received from his caretakers over the years. Orphaned at an early age, Tanrak longed – and still does during the events of the show – to reunite with his parents "in heaven". With a background like that becoming a priest seems the right thing to do; it is not a matter of faith (or not just a matter of faith), but of repaying a debt, returning the good Tanrak received. Abandoning that path to be with Barth seems more like a choice between being selfless and selfish/ungrateful, rather than between his faith and his identity – that is the entire struggle Tanrak is going through. As for Barth’s side of the story: he is intended to be a "rebel" character, a gay teen who suffered a lot because of his sexuality and, as a reaction, rejected faith – only to find out he cannot abandon god. With other words: Barth only thinks he is rebelling, acting like a child, not understanding how great and wise god is – and coming to his senses later, at a moment of need. That is my main complaint regarding TTH’s story: it evades what could be interesting, feigns being about deep and serious personal issues of both main characters and turns out to be uninteresting (Tanrak) and disappointing (Barth).

My other issue is that TTH was written like a puff piece for catholicism. In TTH there is no confronting catholicism on its homophobia and hypocrisy nor confronting the church on its corruption and moral bankruptcy – those issues are not even mentioned. Father Arnon ("An" Oliver Poupart) – main stand-in for organized religion as well as main figure of authority – is benevolent, patient, understanding, supportive, forgiving and certainly not homophobic. Basically he is the opposite of an actual catholic clergyman and a made-up, fairytale version of one. The only one who somewhat connects faith and homophobia is Barth’s father – and although the show does not hesitate to present him as evil, it is clear that he is that way despite of his religion and not because of it. TTH goes deeper into fantasy territory by condemning homophobia (even punishing it on screen), but separating it from catholicism and presenting the latter as a force for good. For me – a gay male from a predominantly catholic country which till this day is homophobic, to a large degree because of catholicism and its influence on culture, society, politics and law – that is offensive and awful. I understand the local context – Thailand is a predominantly Buddhist country where less than 0,5% of the population is catholic – but it does not change how I feel about it.

TTH’s pacing is problematic: on one hand most episodes feel slow, with hardly any story progression, on the other hand instead of actual scenes we got several montages of Tanrak and Barth spending time together – as if the show wanted to make up for lost time or had less episodes than it should to present everything properly. This also makes it hard to tell how much time passed from Barth’s arrival to him and Tanrak running away – no idea whether it was a few weeks, months or more than that.

Performances of both Fourth and Gemini are alright, but I did not feel any of the magic they brought to the screen in "Moonlight Chicken" and "My School President"; the once strong chemistry is mostly gone. Fourth manages to properly convey Tanrak’s uncertainty, hesitation and undecidedness, but his subdued performance makes his character even less relatable and even more uninteresting. To be clear: that is almost exclusively on the writing and direction, not the actor – but I did miss the old Fourth spark. As for Gemini, what I liked in particular was him in the ep. 6 prison visit scene – by far his best performance. After his lackluster role in "The Dark Dice" I was worried Gemini forgot how to act, but TTH proves the contrary. Shame he could not save his character.

All in all TTH was a long awaited chance to see Fourth and Gemini again – a chance squandered by poor writing, bad pacing, very low number of episodes and a horrible, pro-catholic message of the show. Not planning on watching any of that ever again.

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its like a breath of fresh air..you can happily watch... all are shining in their specific roles

I have watched 8 episodes till now
pacing is great
Esther as teacher is really fresh and beautiful to watch
jinke as the coach and also the one who is suspecting the teacher also is perfect
all the students are really cool, cute and wonderful
looking forward to the coming episodes
give it a try , you will not be disappointed.

*"Without a doubt, Episode 8 cements itself as the absolute best episode of the series so far. It delivers a masterclass in balancing breathtaking romance, laugh-out-loud comedy, and deep narrative substance. Visual storytelling peaks during the mesmerizing fireflies scene, which is so beautifully shot it leaves you breathless. The intimacy between the leads deepens in a profoundly tender sequence where she helps him fall asleep using aromatherapy—a moment that feels incredibly cozy and genuinely good.The comedy in this episode is absolute gold; their iconic bickering remains to die for, especially during a hilarious subplot involving them learning English. Yet, beneath the laughter, the emotional maturity of the drama shines brightly. The little dog scene highlights a very unique narrative dynamic: despite both characters harboring so many personal secrets, they remain remarkably open, transparent, and raw with their immediate thoughts around each other. Concluding with the mentors passionately standing up for their student, Episode 8 delivers an awesome, emotionally fulfilling triumph that elevates the entire show."*

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I love Link click but...

I have no idea how to start this review... I'm a huge Link click lover. Time travel is my thing and when it comes with bromance, 'm down bad for it. But... But. I haven't seen Chinese live action and honestly I don't think I'll watch it, but I am very familiar with original donghua, which will be releasing a season 3 soon.

I won't start very positively. It's just my subjective opinion, but I think that Hikaru and Toki don't do justice to Lu Guang and Cheng Xiaoshi. Japanese are generally known for making their live action characters look exactly like they do in manga or anime, so what went wrong here? Where are Lu Guang's white hair, cool and cold attitude but caring heart and the look he always give Cheng Xiaoshi? And where is Xiaoshi's ponytail? Their appearance really bothered me but when it came to their characters, they were almost perfect. Almost. Hikaru cares for Toki and he tries to hide it, but it's not the same as Lu Guang. Lu Guang would burn the world for him, but I honestly can't see Hikaru to do that. Again, as I already mention, that's my point of view, if you can see it, I honestly envy you, because I really miss it in both meaning of this word.

Now I'll say something positive. It's easy to make different animated characters to act like one. When Xiaoshi enters other people, he can't hide his personality. In donghua, it was easy to do, but to put multiple actors who can act exactly like that one character? That's not an easy task and I want to praise the actors of side characters who had to act like themselves and as Toki in their body. All of them nailed both characters perfectly (clapping hands).

About story, there's not really much I can say... It was different from donghua but also the same. I feel like episodes here were fillers, while in donghua there was some kinf of continuation. Not everytime, but at some point, all cases were connected. And everything started and ended with Ema. Here, Ema didn't really get as much space as she desered, which makes me sad, because I was looking forward towards her episode.

Last thing, I'll talk about is bromance. Lu Guang and Cheng Xiaoshi are secretly dating (call me whatever you want but if it wasn't chinese, they'd be a canon couple). Even if not, their bromance is really strong and you can actually feel even through the screen that they love each other and care about each other in whatever meaning you want to interpret it. But here, I couldn't really sence that bromance from Hikaru and Toki. Especially not from Hikaru. Toki lives in his own world and that was shown exactly as it should be.

It's not bad, if you don't expect much. And I expected a lot... Which was my fault and I admit it. Overall, I recommend you to at least give it a try.

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Zhao Yanzhou is the most inconsistent and fickle character, completely irresponsible toward others.

When it comes to love, he feigns ignorance and tricks someone into loving him, even though his ultimate goal is to die. He makes no effort to survive to take care of the one he loves. Yet, when his lover and others are in a life-or-death situation, he suddenly starts to cherish his own life—isn’t that a bit too late? If a person is truly bound to die, they shouldn’t form emotional bonds, fall in love, or court someone just to leave them heartbroken upon their death. I absolutely cannot stand this.

I dislike the excessive crying of the characters. It might look aesthetically pleasing, but it is completely unnecessary. They just cry over and over until tears lose their value.

Watching this drama, I can't help but feel an attempt to glorify the beautiful masculinity of the two male characters, while the female character seems to be treated as mere window dressing.

It's a shame for the highly talented cast. The show should have delved deeper into relationships and developed the characters in a more defined direction.

Xiao Zhuo's role was intentionally written to stand out, yet he couldn't fully shine because they still had to defer to the male lead. Sigh...

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