This review may contain spoilers
The plot had potential, the characters don't.
TW: SA, r*pe
After a almost year long break from bl, I picked up this series cause of a tweet with a still frame from this show. The plot summary seemed eh but I had hope that the couple would be worth it and that the snake plot would be interesting enough for me to keep watching for 24 episodes. Boy was I wrong!
From the start Chi Cheng irked me, it was established that he was some tough gangster from a rich family - pretty edgy but could make for a great, or at the very least, entertaining plot. Da Wei and Chi Chengs relationship is terrifyingly toxic, especially from the start. Honestly I didn't mind Da Wei getting roughed up by Chi Cheng at the start, before the whole revenge thing started, since Da Wei was troubling him (recording yourself pickpocketing other people? Really?) and also cause I'd get why a rich gangster boy like Chi Cheng would get ticked off easily. But then Da Wei finds out Chi Cheng is "dating" Da Weis ex gf (Yue Yue) and Da Wei starts trying to seduce him. First, I'd like to say how shallow Yue Yues character is. I suppose it's common in most romances, especially bl, that when there's a bad ex almost 100% expect them to be just that. They're bad for the sake of it and exist for the viewer to hate on while also pushing them to want the leads to get together to spite the ex. I feel like they could've fleshed out Yue Yues character a bit, a gold digger girlfriend isn't particularly new or special, and she only serves as motivation for Da Wei to keep trying to "seduce" Chi Cheng. Notice how I put seduce in speech marks because honestly no guy ever needs to try and seduce that man. It's implied and, might as well be proven with how he's treated Da Wei, that this man FORCES HIMSELF ON PEOPLE!!! HE'S JUST A STRAIGHT UP R*PIST I'M NOT EXAGGERATING. I'm gonna rant about this pos for a bit but when they start meeting regularly with no animosity between them Chi Cheng wastes no time harassing Da Wei. I'm not even joking Chi Cheng kept aggressively feeling this man up when he clearly didn't like it and wanted him to stop (literally yelling at him to and fighting his way out). The first time they have s*x, episode 10-11, it's because Chi Cheng THREATENED DA WEIS FRIEND, XIAO SHUAI, WITH R*PE. Literally came up to the roof of Xiao Shuais clinic and told him, despite already dating Da Wei at the time, that if Da Wei didn't have s*x with him within a set date, he would "force himself" on Xiao Shuai. I WOULD KILL SOMEONE, LET ALONE CONTINUE DATING THEM, IF THEY EVER SAID THAT TO MY BEST FRIEND? Even before this, a guy Chi Cheng was beefing with (over snakes I think) was begging for his life in front of other gang members. Chi Cheng asked the gang members what they thought of the guy and they said they like him. SO CHI CHENG LEFT THE ROOM AND LET THOSE GANGSTERS GANG R*PE THE POOR GUY? And after that, in a conversation with his gang assistant or whatever, the assistant asks why he didn't just force himself onto Da Wei by now. And this bastard Chi Cheng said that he can't bring himself to force himself onto Da Wei. YOU SHOULD NEVER EVER FORCE YOURSELF ON ANYONE WHAT??? I tried to ignore the harassment and creepy perverted stuff Chi Cheng said at first cause I assumed, or hoped, it was iffy translation. It probably isn't. I cannot state how the whole thing of Chi Cheng is that he forces himself onto men and how that's treated as normal, and in the case of Da Wei resisting, even comedic. Maybe its because you're expected to see any crime, any horridness, that a gangster does as normal. This is honestly a big problem in bl, so much so that with my experience in this genre, I wasn't even surprised. This character is taken to the extreme though because they acknowledge he forces himself onto guys and is depicted non consensually touching Da Wei in all ways. Even when they have s*x, it feels awful because Da Wei was pressured into doing it after Chi Cheng threatened his best friend. The only thing I appreciate is that for possibly the first time ever, Da Wei kissed first and started it, though I doubt it'd change much if he didn't. Da Wei irritates me as well, mostly because of his whole seduction thing. Revenge-seducing your exs current man is certainly an idea, but even looking past that he executes it not so well. Frankly his plan wouldn't have worked if Chi Cheng wasn't a pervert that got his thrill from harassing and r*ping men. For a guy who dated someone for ~3 years he sure doesn't know how attraction works. And don't tell me it's because he dated a girl and that gay relationships are different in regards to this. Da Weis made sure we all think that. Chi Cheng made it clear that he was interested, s*xually for the most part, in Da Wei. What I don't understand is why Da Wei would continue to do things to further advance their relationship when he clearly wasn't comfortable with any kind of s*xual acts with Chi Cheng. If someone kept forcing themselves on me I would try to create distance both physically and emotionally. Surely getting revenge on Yue Yue isn't worth being potentially r*ped for, right? Honestly he had Chi Cheng wrapped around his finger and didn't have to try to act smart or appeal to Chi Chengs other interests, though it was pretty funny to see him act like an academic on his date with Chi Cheng, like what are you doing bro? I understand the silly scheming is to be entertaining but it felt a bit immature compared to what happens in the show but maybe that's cause I expected a more serious plot. But even after they have s*x, when Chi Chengs harassment and uncalled touches are repackaged as consensual and attractive, I can't help but feel that Da Wei is uncomfortable. Maybe it's the acting of his or aggressive nature of Chi Cheng but it still felt like he was being harassed by Chi Cheng, just that he gave up and accepted his fate which made me upset, poor guy :( I also thought for a guy having s*x for the first time with another guy, Da Wei would need more help or even instructions but he jumped right into it. He was also having trouble walking after that, I'm not an expert on s*x especially man-to-man, so maybe it's expected because behind can be more sensitive, but I hope Chi Cheng went easy at the very least because with his aggressiveness he could've caused unnecessary pain to Da Wei which isn't the healthiest but this whole show is a red flag thanks to Chi Cheng so it's a small thing.
And bringing that up, I'd like to talk about the second couple, Xiao Shuai and Guo Cheng Yu. They were honestly a nice breather from the toxicity that is Chi Cheng. The issue is that thanks to him, the bar is so low that a fellow gangster like Guo Cheng Yu not laying his hands inappropriately and without consent makes him perfect.
I didn't like how he kept pestering Xiao Shuai even after eating a slap from him. He's always stalking this man, seen sitting somewhere behind him at a bar or anywhere else he goes honestly. I know it's all "aww he's keeping an eye on his crush even when the crush feels like he doesn't care about him" or that he's rich and well connected and it's normal for people like that to stalk their interests. Just text or call this guy when he clearly misses you or leave him alone entirely after that slap. But other than that I actually found them cute despite the slow burn compared to the other couple, my fav scene being when Xiao Shuai was drunk out of his mind over a horrible ex and contrary to what I expected Guo Cheng Yu took him back to his place and handled the drunkeness really well! He didn't try to correct or argue or take advantage of a drunk Xiao Shuai and instead adjusted to whatever reality Xiao Shuai was experiencing. I like how Guo Cheng Yu, albeit after he figured out Xiao Shuai liked him, never pushed it and at worst he'd do some cringy flirting. Chi Cheng take notes.
The weird thing about Guo Cheng Yu though is that at the start I think he "traded" a visibly scared boyfriend to Chi Cheng over some snake fighting bet. I'd rather die than meet a Chi Cheng in real life let alone be traded to one. How do you even trade a person without it being trafficking?
The doctor Xiao Shuai is the only nice one besides some creepy comments he made about Da Wei cause he was shirtless. It was right after Da Wei found out Xiao Shuais gay but its pretty narrow minded to assume that a gay man's gonna get seduced or suddenly become attracted to another guy, let alone his best friend, just cause he was shirtless/showed some skin. If someone I had a strictly platonic relationship with took their shirt off I wouldn't really care. But that's all I have to say about the characters.
Now, the plot. To me it felt like it ended at episode 9 and from there it was petty, boring stuff. I do tend to like bls that focus more on plot than romance so forgive me but I did find the snake thing pretty interesting. I also liked the gang-ish aspect of Chi Cheng and Guo Cheng Yu when it came to snakes; I love some good dangerous and mysterious characters. That side that felt completely forgotten later on.
I liked the father's involvement in it especially because its simply someone Chi Cheng cannot afford to beat, and the fathers motivations, the need to put extreme pressure on a guy like his son, are somewhat interesting as well. The snake gangs were so cool honestly, I liked that snake den of Chi Chengs and the snake fight scene. Too bad that in a 24-episode show, that ends at episode 9. I was a bit confused with the snake trade, specifically how all sides were handling snake breeding, transportation and losses (snake deaths). Pair that with potential misunderstanding via translation and you've got me puzzled. I was so hyped to see what Da Weis money-making, Chi Cheng-attention-grabbing plan with snake breeding was but I couldn't wrap my head around it all. I was also confused with what and how Guo Cheng Yu planned to do what he wanted with Chi Chengs stolen snakes. I also couldn't make out how Da Wei would help Chi Cheng snake-wise and kept cursing him out when he decided to go into an active fight zone to pick up the post-crash, unsecured snake boxes for safe keeping. Honestly I was hoping he'd make an effort to hide his face/identity, doing all that so Chi Cheng wouldn't see him, cause maybe its my bad but I expected Chi Cheng to get mad at him for getting himself into all of that, especially when he's been shown as a gangster type who intimidates people even when he's worried about them.
I did stop watching at episode 14, but I skimmed through the rest of the eps and read a summary for each of them to see if anything plot relevant or interesting happens since I was losing interest and patience with Chi Chengs r*pey behaviour. It seems that Da Wei gets kidnapped possibly by Chi Chengs dad but it happens so later on I couldn't care to watch more fluff and more ex beef (Wang shuo) just to get to that. I know Da Weis mother dies (she also told Chi Cheng to not warn Da Wei of her cancer, because why wouldn't she?) which I expected since she's an older parental figure, single mom, extremely kind, rural and broke: all standard requirements to be The Family Member That Dies in bls and other shows. Reading that solidified in my head that I'm not finishing this show; for me to go through eventless s*xual teasing and general fluff - the thing I feared would happen once I finished episode 9 - just to be hit with another extremely common trope you'd see from miles away is a bit insulting.
I wish the dad took on a bigger role throughout the whole show, like the villain Yue Yue was made to be, but his reckless act of stealing his sons prized possessions, live animals, and the consequent death of them didn't even feel that bad. This whole gang thing was set up around snakes, its basically the thing Chi Cheng lives for, and for there to be no real consequences for the father and for everyone to move on hurts my soul. Chi Chengs most interesting trait was his ability to handle snakes and the shady stuff surrounding that type of work, but it really didn't get as developed as it should've been. One thing I will say though is that that fight scene at the snake van crash site was amazing, no doubt thanks to the budget and wonderful choreographers. Too bad we don't see that often or again.
I also quit watching once Wang Shuo, Chi Chengs ex, entered the picture. I thought the big beef between the main couple would be that Da Wei had ulterior movies when approaching Chi Cheng, even if I didn't think it mattered at all at this point because Chi Cheng outweighs any bad by Da Wei and also that Da Wei clearly loves him otherwise he wouldn't have gone as far as he did and be open to continue dating even after confessing his secret, but surprisingly it was yet another ex, just Chi Chengs ex instead.
I was thinking about how we started with a potentially super interesting plot surrounding snake gangs just for the base plot in the middle eps to be some petty ex drama and everyone and their mother getting mad about each others past relationships. Then apparently at the end Chi Cheng gets detained for tax evasion (he should be detained for much more) and Da Wei spends and devotes everything to getting his guy out of jail. Where was this kidnapping and tax evasion plot when I was dying of boredom for 5 eps straight post episode 9?
Anyway, didn't enjoy the show plot or relationship wise and I wouldn't recommend it. Chi Chengs actor would do a good job playing an evil, criminal character that isn't romanticised. Da Wei should've taken all of Chi Chengs money and run off with his mother. Xiao Shuai and Guo Cheng Yu should get their own lighthearted bl show.
After a almost year long break from bl, I picked up this series cause of a tweet with a still frame from this show. The plot summary seemed eh but I had hope that the couple would be worth it and that the snake plot would be interesting enough for me to keep watching for 24 episodes. Boy was I wrong!
From the start Chi Cheng irked me, it was established that he was some tough gangster from a rich family - pretty edgy but could make for a great, or at the very least, entertaining plot. Da Wei and Chi Chengs relationship is terrifyingly toxic, especially from the start. Honestly I didn't mind Da Wei getting roughed up by Chi Cheng at the start, before the whole revenge thing started, since Da Wei was troubling him (recording yourself pickpocketing other people? Really?) and also cause I'd get why a rich gangster boy like Chi Cheng would get ticked off easily. But then Da Wei finds out Chi Cheng is "dating" Da Weis ex gf (Yue Yue) and Da Wei starts trying to seduce him. First, I'd like to say how shallow Yue Yues character is. I suppose it's common in most romances, especially bl, that when there's a bad ex almost 100% expect them to be just that. They're bad for the sake of it and exist for the viewer to hate on while also pushing them to want the leads to get together to spite the ex. I feel like they could've fleshed out Yue Yues character a bit, a gold digger girlfriend isn't particularly new or special, and she only serves as motivation for Da Wei to keep trying to "seduce" Chi Cheng. Notice how I put seduce in speech marks because honestly no guy ever needs to try and seduce that man. It's implied and, might as well be proven with how he's treated Da Wei, that this man FORCES HIMSELF ON PEOPLE!!! HE'S JUST A STRAIGHT UP R*PIST I'M NOT EXAGGERATING. I'm gonna rant about this pos for a bit but when they start meeting regularly with no animosity between them Chi Cheng wastes no time harassing Da Wei. I'm not even joking Chi Cheng kept aggressively feeling this man up when he clearly didn't like it and wanted him to stop (literally yelling at him to and fighting his way out). The first time they have s*x, episode 10-11, it's because Chi Cheng THREATENED DA WEIS FRIEND, XIAO SHUAI, WITH R*PE. Literally came up to the roof of Xiao Shuais clinic and told him, despite already dating Da Wei at the time, that if Da Wei didn't have s*x with him within a set date, he would "force himself" on Xiao Shuai. I WOULD KILL SOMEONE, LET ALONE CONTINUE DATING THEM, IF THEY EVER SAID THAT TO MY BEST FRIEND? Even before this, a guy Chi Cheng was beefing with (over snakes I think) was begging for his life in front of other gang members. Chi Cheng asked the gang members what they thought of the guy and they said they like him. SO CHI CHENG LEFT THE ROOM AND LET THOSE GANGSTERS GANG R*PE THE POOR GUY? And after that, in a conversation with his gang assistant or whatever, the assistant asks why he didn't just force himself onto Da Wei by now. And this bastard Chi Cheng said that he can't bring himself to force himself onto Da Wei. YOU SHOULD NEVER EVER FORCE YOURSELF ON ANYONE WHAT??? I tried to ignore the harassment and creepy perverted stuff Chi Cheng said at first cause I assumed, or hoped, it was iffy translation. It probably isn't. I cannot state how the whole thing of Chi Cheng is that he forces himself onto men and how that's treated as normal, and in the case of Da Wei resisting, even comedic. Maybe its because you're expected to see any crime, any horridness, that a gangster does as normal. This is honestly a big problem in bl, so much so that with my experience in this genre, I wasn't even surprised. This character is taken to the extreme though because they acknowledge he forces himself onto guys and is depicted non consensually touching Da Wei in all ways. Even when they have s*x, it feels awful because Da Wei was pressured into doing it after Chi Cheng threatened his best friend. The only thing I appreciate is that for possibly the first time ever, Da Wei kissed first and started it, though I doubt it'd change much if he didn't. Da Wei irritates me as well, mostly because of his whole seduction thing. Revenge-seducing your exs current man is certainly an idea, but even looking past that he executes it not so well. Frankly his plan wouldn't have worked if Chi Cheng wasn't a pervert that got his thrill from harassing and r*ping men. For a guy who dated someone for ~3 years he sure doesn't know how attraction works. And don't tell me it's because he dated a girl and that gay relationships are different in regards to this. Da Weis made sure we all think that. Chi Cheng made it clear that he was interested, s*xually for the most part, in Da Wei. What I don't understand is why Da Wei would continue to do things to further advance their relationship when he clearly wasn't comfortable with any kind of s*xual acts with Chi Cheng. If someone kept forcing themselves on me I would try to create distance both physically and emotionally. Surely getting revenge on Yue Yue isn't worth being potentially r*ped for, right? Honestly he had Chi Cheng wrapped around his finger and didn't have to try to act smart or appeal to Chi Chengs other interests, though it was pretty funny to see him act like an academic on his date with Chi Cheng, like what are you doing bro? I understand the silly scheming is to be entertaining but it felt a bit immature compared to what happens in the show but maybe that's cause I expected a more serious plot. But even after they have s*x, when Chi Chengs harassment and uncalled touches are repackaged as consensual and attractive, I can't help but feel that Da Wei is uncomfortable. Maybe it's the acting of his or aggressive nature of Chi Cheng but it still felt like he was being harassed by Chi Cheng, just that he gave up and accepted his fate which made me upset, poor guy :( I also thought for a guy having s*x for the first time with another guy, Da Wei would need more help or even instructions but he jumped right into it. He was also having trouble walking after that, I'm not an expert on s*x especially man-to-man, so maybe it's expected because behind can be more sensitive, but I hope Chi Cheng went easy at the very least because with his aggressiveness he could've caused unnecessary pain to Da Wei which isn't the healthiest but this whole show is a red flag thanks to Chi Cheng so it's a small thing.
And bringing that up, I'd like to talk about the second couple, Xiao Shuai and Guo Cheng Yu. They were honestly a nice breather from the toxicity that is Chi Cheng. The issue is that thanks to him, the bar is so low that a fellow gangster like Guo Cheng Yu not laying his hands inappropriately and without consent makes him perfect.
I didn't like how he kept pestering Xiao Shuai even after eating a slap from him. He's always stalking this man, seen sitting somewhere behind him at a bar or anywhere else he goes honestly. I know it's all "aww he's keeping an eye on his crush even when the crush feels like he doesn't care about him" or that he's rich and well connected and it's normal for people like that to stalk their interests. Just text or call this guy when he clearly misses you or leave him alone entirely after that slap. But other than that I actually found them cute despite the slow burn compared to the other couple, my fav scene being when Xiao Shuai was drunk out of his mind over a horrible ex and contrary to what I expected Guo Cheng Yu took him back to his place and handled the drunkeness really well! He didn't try to correct or argue or take advantage of a drunk Xiao Shuai and instead adjusted to whatever reality Xiao Shuai was experiencing. I like how Guo Cheng Yu, albeit after he figured out Xiao Shuai liked him, never pushed it and at worst he'd do some cringy flirting. Chi Cheng take notes.
The weird thing about Guo Cheng Yu though is that at the start I think he "traded" a visibly scared boyfriend to Chi Cheng over some snake fighting bet. I'd rather die than meet a Chi Cheng in real life let alone be traded to one. How do you even trade a person without it being trafficking?
The doctor Xiao Shuai is the only nice one besides some creepy comments he made about Da Wei cause he was shirtless. It was right after Da Wei found out Xiao Shuais gay but its pretty narrow minded to assume that a gay man's gonna get seduced or suddenly become attracted to another guy, let alone his best friend, just cause he was shirtless/showed some skin. If someone I had a strictly platonic relationship with took their shirt off I wouldn't really care. But that's all I have to say about the characters.
Now, the plot. To me it felt like it ended at episode 9 and from there it was petty, boring stuff. I do tend to like bls that focus more on plot than romance so forgive me but I did find the snake thing pretty interesting. I also liked the gang-ish aspect of Chi Cheng and Guo Cheng Yu when it came to snakes; I love some good dangerous and mysterious characters. That side that felt completely forgotten later on.
I liked the father's involvement in it especially because its simply someone Chi Cheng cannot afford to beat, and the fathers motivations, the need to put extreme pressure on a guy like his son, are somewhat interesting as well. The snake gangs were so cool honestly, I liked that snake den of Chi Chengs and the snake fight scene. Too bad that in a 24-episode show, that ends at episode 9. I was a bit confused with the snake trade, specifically how all sides were handling snake breeding, transportation and losses (snake deaths). Pair that with potential misunderstanding via translation and you've got me puzzled. I was so hyped to see what Da Weis money-making, Chi Cheng-attention-grabbing plan with snake breeding was but I couldn't wrap my head around it all. I was also confused with what and how Guo Cheng Yu planned to do what he wanted with Chi Chengs stolen snakes. I also couldn't make out how Da Wei would help Chi Cheng snake-wise and kept cursing him out when he decided to go into an active fight zone to pick up the post-crash, unsecured snake boxes for safe keeping. Honestly I was hoping he'd make an effort to hide his face/identity, doing all that so Chi Cheng wouldn't see him, cause maybe its my bad but I expected Chi Cheng to get mad at him for getting himself into all of that, especially when he's been shown as a gangster type who intimidates people even when he's worried about them.
I did stop watching at episode 14, but I skimmed through the rest of the eps and read a summary for each of them to see if anything plot relevant or interesting happens since I was losing interest and patience with Chi Chengs r*pey behaviour. It seems that Da Wei gets kidnapped possibly by Chi Chengs dad but it happens so later on I couldn't care to watch more fluff and more ex beef (Wang shuo) just to get to that. I know Da Weis mother dies (she also told Chi Cheng to not warn Da Wei of her cancer, because why wouldn't she?) which I expected since she's an older parental figure, single mom, extremely kind, rural and broke: all standard requirements to be The Family Member That Dies in bls and other shows. Reading that solidified in my head that I'm not finishing this show; for me to go through eventless s*xual teasing and general fluff - the thing I feared would happen once I finished episode 9 - just to be hit with another extremely common trope you'd see from miles away is a bit insulting.
I wish the dad took on a bigger role throughout the whole show, like the villain Yue Yue was made to be, but his reckless act of stealing his sons prized possessions, live animals, and the consequent death of them didn't even feel that bad. This whole gang thing was set up around snakes, its basically the thing Chi Cheng lives for, and for there to be no real consequences for the father and for everyone to move on hurts my soul. Chi Chengs most interesting trait was his ability to handle snakes and the shady stuff surrounding that type of work, but it really didn't get as developed as it should've been. One thing I will say though is that that fight scene at the snake van crash site was amazing, no doubt thanks to the budget and wonderful choreographers. Too bad we don't see that often or again.
I also quit watching once Wang Shuo, Chi Chengs ex, entered the picture. I thought the big beef between the main couple would be that Da Wei had ulterior movies when approaching Chi Cheng, even if I didn't think it mattered at all at this point because Chi Cheng outweighs any bad by Da Wei and also that Da Wei clearly loves him otherwise he wouldn't have gone as far as he did and be open to continue dating even after confessing his secret, but surprisingly it was yet another ex, just Chi Chengs ex instead.
I was thinking about how we started with a potentially super interesting plot surrounding snake gangs just for the base plot in the middle eps to be some petty ex drama and everyone and their mother getting mad about each others past relationships. Then apparently at the end Chi Cheng gets detained for tax evasion (he should be detained for much more) and Da Wei spends and devotes everything to getting his guy out of jail. Where was this kidnapping and tax evasion plot when I was dying of boredom for 5 eps straight post episode 9?
Anyway, didn't enjoy the show plot or relationship wise and I wouldn't recommend it. Chi Chengs actor would do a good job playing an evil, criminal character that isn't romanticised. Da Wei should've taken all of Chi Chengs money and run off with his mother. Xiao Shuai and Guo Cheng Yu should get their own lighthearted bl show.
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