Ta Hao Ye (2025)

Unexpectedly dark Jie Jie romance

Came for the smut, stayed for the plot. The first scene is the heroïne's very vivid wet dream about her adoptive brother who's also very much not her fiance. I thought it was going to be all about hot and heavy secret makeout à la Prince is too Wild, but despite the title (He's so Wild) it's not another take on the famous plot, the hero is the scapegoat while the heroïne is the golden child, and the drama becomes darker an darker as it goes (turns out, that first scene had layers). The adoptive parents are very messed up, they want to pretend that everything is great, the engagement between their favored son and adoptive daughter is a display of their perfectly curated image while their illegitimate son, the living embodiment of their hypocrisy, doesn't care for any of that and is the one lifting the veil (and punished for it). I was not sure why the drama was three hours long based on the premise, but I understood when I realized they had Important Things to Tell (yes it's a vertical with a Message). While I appreciate what the drama was trying to achieve, I did feel tricked into watching something very dark that I didn't signed up for when I clicked on it. Nevertheless, I have to admit that it didn't came from nowhere either, it's just that I didn't expect it to go there.

Ma Xiao Yu is getting better and more subtle, precise, in his delivery and moves, which means he's getting more dangerous, as he was already fascinating when his acting was hammy and clumsy. He's taking full advantage of his stature to do some very, hum, interesting acrobatics, and the gap between his frame and his character's vulnerability is, as always, pure crack. The romance is both moving and spicy, if you like the trope of the older girl befriending a sad cub and later realizing she's raised a lion hungry for her, you are in for a treat. The dialogue is also next level, filled of double-entendres ("brother I'm a little tied up now", the whole "big young and durable" electric car exchange). You can count on MXY and Xiang Yun Jie (the girl who said okay for tongue kissing with Lui Lan Bo) to bring the eroticism. The production was correct, though some fashion crimes were committed (I need those horrendous SHEIN party outfits in synthetic velvet to be burned). Overall, a tempting treat, but beware of the plot's dark turns.

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