Heracin

A BL featuring a forbidden romance betwen two (soon-to-be) stepbrothers is usually a storyline that I enjoy, mixed with a dash of cohabitation trope and my interest is picked for sure. However, this drama contained so much pet peeves of mine with noble idiocy and miscommunication at the forefront of it that I completed it feeling very disappointed regarding the overall romance and the way the fantasy element was badly layered into the story. It was just poorly written.

Regarding the acting, I have also mixed feelings. Kou Wei Long was quite good and committed in the angsty scenes but his chemistry with Li Yi Mu (whose acting was really average) was lacking. As the central romance is supposed to be a rather taboo one, it is essential for the viewer to feel the passion and the "impossible to repress feelings, despite all of the obstacles". Here it was a miss. A cute love interest at first that remained mid and devoid of any depth despite the fiery nature of the relationship.

The overall production value was pretty average with some of the painful moments looking almost parodic in the way it was filmed. Budget was probably quite limited and it shows.

I would not recommend this as it was just too frustrating to me to see the poor writing choices made and rules of the fantasy elements making so little sense.