This review may contain spoilers
Difficult viewing but a psychological nugget
Yesterday was a drama that had been sitting in the back of my mind for a while because I’m a huge FortPeat fan. The only reason I kept postponing it was because extremely toxic relationships have never really been my cup of tea. And honestly, after finishing it, I feel even more certain about that. Stories pushed to that level of dysfunction are definitely not my favorite thing to watch.
Still, despite the discomfort I felt during a large part of the drama, I came out of it feeling pretty conflicted because it genuinely has qualities that kept me from completely disconnecting from it.
The first thing that bothered me was the timeline, which ended up being one of the biggest weaknesses of the series for me. The story constantly jumps between the present, the past, and future events. While the drama technically tells us where we are in time, emotionally it becomes difficult to build any real continuity. Toward the end, some scenes felt so fragmented that I struggled to place them in the overall chronology.
I’m not against non-linear storytelling at all. When done well, it can be fascinating, like 4 Minutes. But here, I found it more frustrating than effective. Personally, I would have preferred a chronological progression: the meeting, the bond, the fracture, the psychological downfall, the captivity, and finally the redemption.
Because strangely enough, even if their relationship starts with manipulation, there was still something touching between Kelvin and Vier in the past scenes. But constantly ending episodes with captivity scenes prevented me from fully investing in the romance. Instead of developing butterflies, I mostly developed discomfort.
And I also have to admit that this simply isn’t the type of BL I naturally gravitate toward. Even with toxic romances, I still need some emotional warmth that makes me want to root for the couple.
My brain kept imagining a completely different story. One where Vier helped Kelvin heal, face his family, and rebuild his life rather than becoming the victim of the only person who ever showed him kindness. So even though Kelvin’s development makes sense, emotionally I kept wanting something else for them.
However, I have to give a lot of credit to the psychological writing because Kelvin’s character is genuinely well developed.
Since childhood, he grew up in a terrible environment. His father treated him like an object, his family constantly manipulated him, and he spent his entire life deprived of genuine affection. Naturally, revenge and reclaiming what belonged to him became his only purpose.
Then Vier enters his life.
At first, Kelvin sees him as an opportunity. Vier is kind, compassionate, and easy to approach. But that manipulation slowly evolves into something much more complicated. Kelvin develops an extremely unhealthy attachment to him.
And honestly, at first I don’t even think it can be called love.
It feels more like emotional obsession toward the first person who ever gave him care and affection.
But Kelvin continues pursuing his goals while using Vier as collateral damage, and eventually destroys the very person he became attached to.
Then comes the captivity arc, which was by far the hardest part of the drama for me.
Kelvin completely loses touch with reality. He creates a distorted world where he refuses to acknowledge what he is doing wrong. The craziest irony is that he becomes convinced that Vier is the one who is psychologically unstable, to the point of taking him to a therapist.
As ridiculous as that sounds, it somehow still feels believable because Kelvin no longer operates with normal logic.
His morality also becomes strangely selective. In his mind, manipulating or imprisoning Vier becomes acceptable because he sees it as preserving their relationship. Yet he still draws certain specific moral boundaries and genuinely apologizes when he crosses them.
And then there’s Vier… my poor baby.
He was the character I became attached to the most.
Throughout the captivity, he goes through denial, sadness, anger, and eventually complete resignation. Since his freedom is taken away, words become his only weapon. He lashes out, tries to provoke Kelvin, and fights back in whatever way he can.
But the hardest scenes to watch were the moments where he simply stopped reacting.
When he almost felt like an empty shell, the drama became genuinely suffocating because it felt like watching someone slowly disappear.
Eventually, when Vier nearly dies and Kelvin realizes what he has become, something finally breaks inside him. He realizes he turned into the very monster he hated in his father.
And strangely enough, that was the moment the romance truly began for me.
Because for the first time, Kelvin’s feelings stopped being about possession and finally became love.
Unlike some similar redemption stories that never managed to convince me, Kelvin actually confronts his own monstrosity. He understands that he no longer deserves Vier and chooses
Still, despite the discomfort I felt during a large part of the drama, I came out of it feeling pretty conflicted because it genuinely has qualities that kept me from completely disconnecting from it.
The first thing that bothered me was the timeline, which ended up being one of the biggest weaknesses of the series for me. The story constantly jumps between the present, the past, and future events. While the drama technically tells us where we are in time, emotionally it becomes difficult to build any real continuity. Toward the end, some scenes felt so fragmented that I struggled to place them in the overall chronology.
I’m not against non-linear storytelling at all. When done well, it can be fascinating, like 4 Minutes. But here, I found it more frustrating than effective. Personally, I would have preferred a chronological progression: the meeting, the bond, the fracture, the psychological downfall, the captivity, and finally the redemption.
Because strangely enough, even if their relationship starts with manipulation, there was still something touching between Kelvin and Vier in the past scenes. But constantly ending episodes with captivity scenes prevented me from fully investing in the romance. Instead of developing butterflies, I mostly developed discomfort.
And I also have to admit that this simply isn’t the type of BL I naturally gravitate toward. Even with toxic romances, I still need some emotional warmth that makes me want to root for the couple.
My brain kept imagining a completely different story. One where Vier helped Kelvin heal, face his family, and rebuild his life rather than becoming the victim of the only person who ever showed him kindness. So even though Kelvin’s development makes sense, emotionally I kept wanting something else for them.
However, I have to give a lot of credit to the psychological writing because Kelvin’s character is genuinely well developed.
Since childhood, he grew up in a terrible environment. His father treated him like an object, his family constantly manipulated him, and he spent his entire life deprived of genuine affection. Naturally, revenge and reclaiming what belonged to him became his only purpose.
Then Vier enters his life.
At first, Kelvin sees him as an opportunity. Vier is kind, compassionate, and easy to approach. But that manipulation slowly evolves into something much more complicated. Kelvin develops an extremely unhealthy attachment to him.
And honestly, at first I don’t even think it can be called love.
It feels more like emotional obsession toward the first person who ever gave him care and affection.
But Kelvin continues pursuing his goals while using Vier as collateral damage, and eventually destroys the very person he became attached to.
Then comes the captivity arc, which was by far the hardest part of the drama for me.
Kelvin completely loses touch with reality. He creates a distorted world where he refuses to acknowledge what he is doing wrong. The craziest irony is that he becomes convinced that Vier is the one who is psychologically unstable, to the point of taking him to a therapist.
As ridiculous as that sounds, it somehow still feels believable because Kelvin no longer operates with normal logic.
His morality also becomes strangely selective. In his mind, manipulating or imprisoning Vier becomes acceptable because he sees it as preserving their relationship. Yet he still draws certain specific moral boundaries and genuinely apologizes when he crosses them.
And then there’s Vier… my poor baby.
He was the character I became attached to the most.
Throughout the captivity, he goes through denial, sadness, anger, and eventually complete resignation. Since his freedom is taken away, words become his only weapon. He lashes out, tries to provoke Kelvin, and fights back in whatever way he can.
But the hardest scenes to watch were the moments where he simply stopped reacting.
When he almost felt like an empty shell, the drama became genuinely suffocating because it felt like watching someone slowly disappear.
Eventually, when Vier nearly dies and Kelvin realizes what he has become, something finally breaks inside him. He realizes he turned into the very monster he hated in his father.
And strangely enough, that was the moment the romance truly began for me.
Because for the first time, Kelvin’s feelings stopped being about possession and finally became love.
Unlike some similar redemption stories that never managed to convince me, Kelvin actually confronts his own monstrosity. He understands that he no longer deserves Vier and chooses
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