Deep In

blurred lines

Overall: I have mixed feeling with this one. 12 episodes about 35 minutes (plus long end credits and bonus scene at the very end of each episode 1, 2, 4, 7, 9, 12 were my favorites). Aired on GTV YouTube Channel (ep 1 free, 2 onward for channel members?) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oRZsDVs7WAo (available in Africa, Southeast Asia and some countries in the Middle East); GagaOOLala (not available in the Americas, Europe, Middle East, Oceania, India, Japan or Korea); Viki viki.com/tv/41593c-deep-in and Heavenly (for S. Korea)

Content Warning (for the series): non con touching, punch, rape/dub con sex (drunk), non con kissing, non con recording/sharing, unwanted outing, homophobia, slap, manipulation, slurs

Content Warnings (for the series they were filming): therapist/patient relationship, trauma, mental health struggles, rape (shown, not between the MLs), attempted rape, self-harm, attempted murder, choking, blood, manipulation, punches, non con recording/sharing, victim blaming, drugging, threatened suicide

Watch Suggestions (to take out most content warnings and focus on sweet/steamy parts)
- watch episodes 1 and 2
- start episode 3 at 4:10
- skip episode 4
- episode 5 watch beginning-5:10
- start episode 6 at 12 minutes
- episode 7 watch beginning-14:25, 26:30-29:30
- episode 8 watch 7:50-10, 15:40-25:10, 28:30-31:45
- episode 9 watch16:20-23:25, 29:30-32:25
- skip episode 10
- episode 11 watch 7-9:30, 20:40-22:30, 33:10-end
- episode 12 watch 22-25 and 35:55-end

What I Liked
- chemistry/tension
- intimate scenes done well
- easy to understand premise
- non cliche female character
- one character wanted to fight for their relationship

Room For Improvement
- that both MLs had girlfriends and it felt like a gay for you trope
- love rivals
- the drunk sex/rape, it had the fictional 'active participant but later so drunk couldn't remember' trope
- too much time spent on the series within the series, also fast cuts (the black margins on the top and bottom of the screen are different as a way to tell)
- character in the series called the police
- time jump
- after all of that I was disappointed in what a character did in public

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My mind is fried and my moral compass is broken, but my heart is completely captivated.

Let’s be honest: as BL viewers, we have been completely conditioned by the industry to seek out comforting, sanitized fairy tales. We are used to flawless characters, predictable conflicts, and idealized romances where everything feels safe and wrapped in a neat little bow.

Deep In doesn't just step outside that boundary—it shatters the entire foundation of the genre
I have never felt this intensely complicated or morally conflicted while watching a series.

For the first time, a drama forces us to sit face-to-face with the raw, messy, and downright ugly realities of human behavior and choices. Watching the toxic underbelly of the entertainment industry collide with the terrifying phenomenon of 'character bleeding' leaves you completely stripped of your emotional armor.

You are forced to navigate a profound moral dilemma—feeling deeply unsettled by the characters' destructive real-world choices, yet entirely captivated by their consuming, inevitable chemistry.The level of psychological depth on display here is unprecedented. It refuses to offer easy answers, choosing instead to respect the audience's intelligence by leaving us in a dazed, contemplative state. Every single frame forces you to question where the performance ends and genuine identity begins.

I must give massive, unparalleled credit to the brilliant writer, the visionary director, and the phenomenal actors (my babies: Ollie and Shu Yuan) who laid their absolute souls bare for this performance. They didn't just deliver a romance; they orchestrated a cultural reset that has completely rewired how I view BL. If you are tired of the same perfect formulas and want a series that will genuinely challenge your mind and heart, this 12-episode masterpiece is it.

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Deep In the story. Deeper in their feelings.

I had been looking forward to Deep In ever since it was announced, and somehow it still managed to exceed my expectations.
On paper, the premise sounds relatively simple. Zhang Zhun and Zhen Xin are two young actors cast as the leads in a BL drama. One plays the brilliant Dr. Fang Chi, the other his patient, Gao Zhun. As filming progresses, they become increasingly immersed in their roles, and the emotions they portray on screen begin to seep into their real lives. Suddenly, rehearsals no longer feel like rehearsals, every glance carries a different meaning, and the line between performance and reality slowly disappears. What starts as acting evolves into something far more complicated—filled with longing, confusion, obsession, and feelings neither of them knows how to define.

The "drama within the drama" concept is easily my favorite aspect of the series.
We constantly switch between the fictional drama—where they become Dr. Fang Chi and Gao Zhun—and the behind-the-scenes reality of filming. Normally, this kind of structure can become confusing, but here it's executed beautifully. Every transition serves a purpose. As the episodes progress, you almost stop noticing whether you're watching the characters or the actors because, little by little, neither can they.

That psychological blur is what kept me completely hooked.
Then there are the performances.
I honestly couldn't believe how young the two leads are. Ollie and Shu Yuan deliver performances that feel incredibly confident and emotionally nuanced. They don't rely on exaggerated expressions or dramatic monologues to sell their emotions.
Their chemistry is, without question, one of the strongest I've seen in a Chinese BL.
It never feels manufactured for fan service. Instead, it develops naturally through stolen glances, awkward silences, quiet conversations, and the growing uncertainty of two people who can no longer separate their characters' feelings from their own.

And yes... I have to mention that snow scene.
There's no grand declaration of love, no dramatic speech. Instead, everything is conveyed through silence, trembling voices, teary eyes, and one simple sentence that says more than "I love you" ever could. It felt intimate, painfully honest, and incredibly cinematic. I genuinely rewatched it several times before moving on.

The pacing is another reason why I enjoyed the drama so much. Every episode left me wanting more, and Fridays genuinely became something to look forward to. I also loved that the post-credit scenes weren't just bonus fan service—they often added meaningful little moments that made the characters feel even more real.
If you enjoy slow-burn romance, psychological tension, blurred realities, and stories that trust their audience, this is a series I couldn't recommend more.

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The tension is very good but the movie filming part is skippable

The chemistry between the two actors are extremely amazing. Ollie is super hot in the series as well. Given that they are newbies in acting, I think their acting are great. Their real life story line is really good to watch. However, one down side, I think the movie story line is really cliche and awkward. It’s super long (like half of the series) and boring, like watching two separate stories in a series, constantly changing between their movie and real life. I skipped lots of the movie part as I can’t handle it anymore.

Their chemistry outside the series is really good as well. Their lives every week is a must watch. Hope they’ll collab again, this couple is so cute together.

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This was frustrating

Trigger warnings for rape (acted out) and SA (both acted and real)

I'm going to start by talking about the things I liked.

1. Zhen Xin's girlfriend was actually really cool, and I liked her. I thought I would hate her at first because of the way she called Zhen Xin "honey" in that tone. It grated on my ears, and she did it too much. Thankfully, that didn't last long, and she turned out to be a very cool girl boss.

2. The ending. Both the one for Zhen Xin & Zhang Zhun and the one for Gao and Fang. I'm still wondering whether Gao and Fang's story inside Zhen and Zhun's was real.

3. The acting was really good & Ollie and Shu cried really well.

4. Good cuddles. It's sad we only got a couple of them.

Now, on to the things I didn't like, of which there are many.

1. The cheating was unnecessary. They should have just been single or broken up with their girlfriends right away. Zhen and Zhun barely get any screen time as themselves already, so why fill that time with something so toxic? I already didn't feel anything for the characters & I hate cheating, so I wasn't exactly rooting for them to get their happily ever after. Did Zhun ever talk to his girlfriend & properly break up? It didn't feel like it. I knew going in there would be cheating; I just didn't expect it to be handled so poorly, especially with Zhun's girlfriend.

2. I didn't really like any of the characters very much, besides Zhen Xin's girlfriend. We aren't given enough time with them to have any good emotional buildup or to really even get to know them. I simply couldn't make myself care about them.

3. The chemistry. To put it simply, there was very little to be had. I checked out during the smut scenes, which is honestly nothing new, but even the kisses were bland and dry. The kisses weren't the worst, but I expected a lot more from these characters, considering they "love" each other. Yeah, I really didn't believe that for a second.

4. Even with the ending being what it was, we should not have spent over half the show on Gao and Fang's story. I didn't even pay attention to the first scene because I thought it was something they would show small pieces of every couple of episodes. I didn't know we would be living through their entire story! Sadly, their story, which I was bored with at first, turned out to be the more interesting one to follow.

5. Where the fudge did that proposal come from? It was the most out-of-place proposal I've ever seen, IRL & in fiction. What was he thinking? What makes it worse is that it didn't have to happen. I'm assuming it happened to get the rings to both characters so they could reunite dramatically later. Could have just made them promise rings; it would have worked just as well and made it so Zhen didn't look like an idiot who was rushing things.

6. Why did their boss change their mind about them dating? What happened in those 8 months that made them say, "Okay, if they still like each other, just let them date"? I don't mind the change of heart; what I mind is not knowing why it happened.


I really don't understand the hype or the high rating. I think I'm going to stop considering the rating before I watch a show. I normally use it as a way to pick between two shows if I'm torn, but I've been disappointed almost every time. I was really looking forward to this show as well. I thought it would be a dark, fast-paced plot that would have me excited for each new episode, but instead, each episode became a chore to get through.

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IDK yet

* note: the story works for me (at places), the execution not so much (the acting is wooden around the edges for my taste, possible reasons: work with actors, highly probably actors' age), the music is beautiful - and does not blend with acting; it is 2 levels stronger as if wonting to rely what the acting itself doesn't; still solid enough to not stop watching

Edit: So finally, I went to inspect the series thoroughly, and I came to these conclusions:

1) What I mentioned in the initial post of this review - wooden acting - it is used for the melodramatic movie within the series, which, from a technical side, is maybe not done as smoothly as it could be, but I don't mind it as much as I would, if it was in the series itself (it is there, but sparsely, which is good).

2) The original material for the series is tragic if you take it from a real-life perspective. And I believe once it gets into live action, it gets way more fairly inspected than if it stayed only in written words. As it is, from what I have heard, it is the worst of the hell of a situations you would want to fall into if it were happening in real life. And no, it is no excuse that tragic things happened in real life, because if it is a self-reflective work that works with how tragic stuff in real life is, then it would never fall into certain specific traps that it did fall into in here.

And don't get me wrong, there is no shame to the author, because I still believe it has its place in a fictional world. But I must stress here: it is not copy-paste, role-model behavior, it is not something you should excuse if it happenes to you in real life, it is not something you should romanticize in your real life, and it is not something you should accept in your real life. It is definitely not something you should internalize or look up to. As long as you take it as a metaphor, as a symbol non-translatable into real life and not as a representation of anything, we are fine.

3) Construction-wise, it was obviously done by someone older who does understand the craft. I just must admire how incredibly smoothly it works if you watch all of the episodes together. There is zero room for any filler content. It is absolutely like they knew what was going on at all times. Logic-wise, it makes sense; even the story within a story is perfectly done. It's very smooth, very portable, very page-turner-ish, and very digestible.

Where it leaves room for improvement is still acting, and one of the reasons why there is room for the acting to improve is, I would say, thanks to the actors' very young age. It did get into my experience of what I was watching, I'm not going to lie, and at the same time, I must admire to what level and to what capacity the acting already is as it is (...good).

But in this specific circumstance, we must take into consideration what type of material we were dealing with: non-consensual sex, very dangerous types of behavior, rape, and other various very bad human things that you are definitely going to portray differently if you are 20 and if you are 35.

And then again, don't get me wrong, there is a drastic difference, in my perspective, in how you are going to portray university students as a 20-something and as a 30-something. But the impact of portraying students at different ages, and the impact of portraying doctors who are supposed to take care of mental health issues, are going to be drastically different. A person is not going to happen to be a doctor anywhere before 26, if not around 30 years old; to get a degree, you need to be old enough to treat people. On top of that, a doctor who obviously has severe mental issues himself (btw, including supervision was ingenious, grown up idea, great to let people see that even as a doctor who takes care of you as a patient, they are not left alone on all of these things, in fact, they must undergo this in order to do their work, and to fo it right. They absolutelly need supervision and peer supervision) - these things are going to be drastically different.

You definitely can do stuff a little differently as someone who is an adult and has much more perspective on the settings, but the implications and executions will vary much less and the depth is gonna be somewhere entirelly different no matter if you're 20yo acftor or 50yo actor. But as a 20-year-old, you cannot really give all of the necessary emotion-wise insight to a doctor who has all of these experiences himself when he is 15 years older than you.

And I would be very careful about undermining the series if someone were replying to my complaints about this with the argument that we are supposed to tell romance stories, not educational stories or whatever stories. There is something you should see once you get older that you cannot see when you are young, and the twist here is mostly responsibility.

And while they have done many beautiful things in the series, I would say the department of responsibility was severely left behind from the doctor's side. While everything around him grew up — the doctor and author with it — he as a character remained at his age range (20 - and should be much older). (Now, to clarify the confusion - the character was written like that, the actor portrayed him lie that. The character did not allow the actor and his actions to grow up, restricting him. If hewas written differently, if actor was able to rewrite him, it could be easily added those 6 + years in behavior and in thinking both.)

And for some strange reason, in this specific case, I cannot just wave my hand and say, "It's fine, it's just fiction." But at the same time, it's perfectly fine with me, and I have no issues if you decide to go with this simplified route of "it is just fiction" and not scratch that deeply into it. I can even understand why you would be unwilling to go deeper into this.

4) Just to make it perfectly clear, in both actors I have seen wooden-type acting, but at the same time, I have seen that it was very disproportionate because at some points they were way ahead of their age in acting, and at the same time, somewhere they were wooden in their reactions. I would say it applies to both actors. I would say I am leaning more towards wooden acting in the case of Shu Yuan. But it is served in such a way that I can write it off by saying it was done for the character that was supposed to be melodramatic in the movie within the series, so we are covered there.

5) Part of why I was so disappointed that it was supposed to end last week is probably that I thought and felt like this series deserved a longer scale, because we were delivered only around 30 minutes per episode and we had only 12 episodes, which is very much like lower-budget Thai series. I would definitely say there was room for delivering more if we had more time.

But because it's Chinese, somehow we managed to do it relatively short, yet relatively complex, yet relatively deeply intelligent, yet relatively layered — and I am fine with that combination. I actually love it. I just feel that it deserved way more space than it was given.

6) What I enjoyed the most and was the most happy with were the differences between the actors within the series versus the characters within the movie, and how we had this puzzle and the shifted perceptions of it and shifted perspectives of it.

How one of them villan in the movie was a good friend in real life. How someone wanted the role of the main actor, and then, when we were watching the movie, they were actually a character that wanted the main lead. And in real life, how they acknowledged that there were some skills in the main lead that he did not see and would not have shown if he were one of the main characters in the series. Etc.

7) I would say the script and the way the story was told was in lot of ways very satisfying. So is the choice of costumes; that's really nice. I would maybe opt for different colors within the actors' age range and different colors for the stories, just because I feel like the deep atmosphere that it is setting is kind of between their acting skills and acting range.

As in, they cannot pull it as gloomy as the darker furniture and coloring gets, nor as "cold" as it gets, because at some points it is really a very passionate story. And we are constantly trying to drown it in dark colors — why? Well, I know why; that is just a rhetorical question.

Also, I'm not so sure, technique-wise, why series that tend to work with very dark colors — as in gray, white light, and a black or dark color scale — have such a misery about abandoning it and using contrast.

I mean, in *Deep In*, there is at least some attempt at switching from light, like the gold lights, to yellow warm lights. Aka, the white lights are like the therapy room, versus the warm yellow light, which is like the hotel room during the night when they spent time together.

But for the contrast's sake, I would abandon this color grading and color scale altogether. Even in *Justice in the Dark*, I have so frequently seen scenes that could have been lightened and brightened way more than they were, and they just refuse to get rid of the constantly dark colors. At places, it was very suitable, and that is an example, by the way, where I would say it worked perfectly well and was justified.

And/or — but even there, I would say that there was this great disproportion in overusing it, and they did not really do enough justice to make a contrast for these very dark atmospheric scenes with something that screams light and brightness.

I think, texture-wise, this was not a problem for me in *Fangs of Fortune*, I cannot now pinpoint why it was not an issue there. Obviously, the creators there work very much with visual storytelling, and it just shows, and it's perfect in a sense.

And I wouldn't even say they managed to balance the darkness with contrast, as in making something that is incredibly bleak and dark and uses heavy atmosphere and heavy colors to translate this on screen. They don't use the opposite contrasts to balance it out, but for some reason, it might not be an issue there.

It might be because the storytelling from A to Z is kind of a very dark atmosphere too, but it kind of makes sense, and it's smooth, and it gets the impact all together. There is no reason there that would force you out of it, while I would say in *Deep In* and *Justice in the Dark*, it was kind of annoying in places because they pushed it unnecessarily everywhere, even where it did not belong anymore.

Another thing and reason why I think *Fangs of Fortune* uses something many series don't is that I get that if you have a dark, heavy atmosphere with a low-quality budget, and you want to convey the darkness and heaviness through dark colors, it might look laughable if you all of a sudden use baby, bright and light colors. You want to avoid parody-impression.

I think series like *KinnPorche* or *Payback* could balance it ideally. They might have overused the dark tones and made it fierce, but they interchange them with, again, warm other colors heavily saturated lights. And if you cannot switch into a palette of light colors because it would simply not fit the storytelling overall, you have the option to use deep, dark colors but across the whole spectrum.

In *Payback*, what struck me the most were these cuts where we go out of something incredibly deep and dark into darker red, dark green, dark purple, the KinnPorsche series again using yellow light, as in like a rising or falling sun, and green and purple — still heavy, but colorful colors, you know.

So, if you cannot switch to light colors, it's fine, but make it somehow visually diferentiated by using something that gets you out of the constant gray cloud you put on the screen. Using vivacious red, green, purple, and yellow on the darker side of the color spectrum can tone and balance it out perfectly.

And then all of these other bleak, dark gray, dark brown moments will make sense and bigger impacts, and it will fit way better than if you just use this one monotone type of color grading.

8) I have to admit I'm in love with the original soundtrack for the series, which is another reason why I did not want this to end so soon after I started watching it properly, just because the initial credits and now the final song for it, *Tiger in My Love*, were so beautiful. And I just love the sneak peaks after the song; that was ingenious (and wicked).

I also appreciate that they decided not to force the ML to create the lyrics for the OST. Not only because this is overdone already, but also I feel like if you have an actor who is 20, it's way wiser and it adds layers as time goes by if someone older writes the lyrics for them to sing. I might be completely wrong, and the creator of the lyrics might be — I don't know — maybe 15. Kids these days are relentlessly intelligent and bright, and experienced, of course. However, whatever it is, I really love that song.

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Don't read the novel before watching this

Really enjoyed this one but I'm glad I didn't check the novel first. Once you know the original characters are in their late 30s you just can't undo it and the actors appear terribly miscast, they're just too young... At least take actors in their 30s. It's particularly true for Shu Yuan in my opinion.

Both actors are too skinny but Zhang Zhun who is acted by Shu Yuan is supposed to be thin but muscular... I would say, think Bruce Lee though probably not as muscular. Skinny asian but does martial art so beautiful body overall, pretty firm and solid... They mention several times in the drama about how beautiful he is... It's only when I checked the novel (which is much more graphic but also gives way more in terms of the psychology of the characters) that I understood why they were always talking about Zhang Zhun's beauty... He's got a very beautiful face very "uke" like, so beautiful that he attracts men but also is the reason why he doesn't get lead roles as his face is a bit too pretty, too feminine.

However Shu Yuan... Well face is all personal preference so I won't go there but he is JUST skinny. Not muscular skinny... Just skinny, his body which should be lean and honed by years of martial arts isn't there... This is not the body of somebody who exercises...

The vibe is also too youthful. The novel sells mature characters, you get two baby faced actors.

In fact, apart from the height and acting ability, they're just wrong for the role... No matter how good your actors are if their physique doesn't fit the roles given it's gonna be a hard sell.

Now... Was it bad... No it wasn't... One of the best BLs I've watched... I'm gonna stick with my 9 ratings BUT ... I would recommend to anyone interested in the novel, to read it AFTER watching the drama... Otherwise you won't be able to appreciate it for what it is.

The novel is way better though... It goes darker but both love stories are also more heart-wrenching. Truly beautiful... AND you get epilogues for both stories so that's also great.

I don't think they could have gone farther than what they did in this adaptation though, so overall, well done China.

EDIT: Rated down to 8.5 in the end... It's just that I can't with the casting choice... Again I understand the logic of choosing younger actors given the censorship in China... Might be awkward for older ones... But in that case... Well it just doesn't work for me... One character is supposed to be 38, the other 36... These two are just too young. Still worth the watch though, it was a good show.

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THIS SERIES IS SOO GOODD

I enjoyed every episode it's sooo good like the actors and actresses are soo goood looking the plot, the story, etc. all soo good they had a budget very well spent.

The story flow was also good I need to see more asap very good series ☺️👍

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Morals are blurred too apparently

Disappointment is an understatement.
I would've given this a solid 9 if it weren't for the following-
T/W: Rape (ep 3)

• Let's not try to downplay rape. What Zhen Xin did was rape. There is no argument there. And the confrontation scene pissed me off; Zhang Zhun clearly explained what he did, literally spelt it out for him, and this bitch had the audacity to say, 'Is it that serious?' gang. fam. please.
• Why include the cheating arc? And if they included it, why make two innocent women suffer? The only way I would've rooted for the main couple was if their partners were cheating on them too (doesn't make it better, but still), or if Zhen Xin's partner was a pr stunt. Glorifying cheating without any consequences and happy endings pisses me off. Genuinely wanted the two mains to have some sort of suffering for their actions.
• Reenacting the trauma. Wtf? At least they acknowledged it was fucking weird; wish they had fought to change the script.
• No real relationship between Zhen Xin and Zhang Zhun. All they did was be physically involved. Wish they had emotionally connected, since the rest of the drama was layered. Their relationship felt so superficial. Also, a proposal? After what, he said that they should break up? Also why? Bro doesn't even properly know who he is.

Right, all of these aside, the actors acted beautifully. The emotional scenes were carried out perfectly; I cried several times (or maybe I just cry a lot). Very great premise. I got too immersed in their world. All the more increasing the feeling of disappointment. More character depth and details were needed, but morals were clearly thrown out the window.

Really wish the drama ended with them breaking up and crying, and both of them suffering the consequences of their actions. Then it'd be 10/10. Can't believe men can get away with pulling stupid shit like this.

4/10 only for the premise.

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Romance That Would Happen Between Two Actors on Set

Two “straight” actors, mind you, but this show is telling the story well.

Four episodes in, and there are a lot of things that makes this a good CBL so far. The story, the acting, the chemistry, the sexual tension, and the insane visuals.

So far, I’m liking the progression, but we all know a CBL cannot exist without something like a “red flag” that would have viewers questioning the whole romance dynamic (and this has that too) but I want to see how the romance would develop between these two “straight” actors. (I put “straight” in quote because it’s questionable so far, they could be latent biromantic/bisexual) but I’ll leave it here to avoid spoilers.

All in all, leave your hesitations and give this a watch! It’s good so far and you won’t hate it.

(PS - I’ll edit my review as I watch as usual)

Edit 01: After watching episode three, I have to say CBLs are notorious for featuring morally dark characters and I’m just never a big fan of that. There are some things that shouldn’t be represented even in fiction.

Not sure how I feel about this new episode, but I’ll keep watching.

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