This review may contain spoilers
An unfortunate let-down of a much-anticipated novelty
I have to start off by saying there's a lot of valid criticism for ABO in the first place. A lot of the time it seems like an attempt of straight women to eroticize the abuse by men against women by using feminine gay bottoms as a proxy to not feel personally victimized by it. That's always been off-putting to me because I will never understand why women, who are so often assaulted by men, would find the fantasy of it hot and want to be dominated by men without the ability to not consent as in the ABO universe.
Having said that, if you're going to do an interpretation of The most stereotyping genre of fiction then you have to do justice to its base archetypes. Call me a tradjoshi but I don't want to see the alpha and omega being of the same height and proportions, the sub-genders being reversible (since when was that ever an option in ABO) or the omega-looking and acting enigma turning into an alpha top. In that case what is even the point of even making up such normative sub-genders? So I suppose my main gripe with the show is the writing and the source material itself which defeated the whole premise of having these supposedly fixed sub-genders and their innate traits and came across as very unconvincing and all over the place.
I would have loved to have seen a powerful secretly independent dominant omega who has the alpha wrapped around his finger with his charms (and pheromones) alone rather than what we got: an all-powerful, borderline sociopathic, manipulative, r*pist 'enigma' turned alpha who was simultaneously too gentle, poised and feminine to take him seriously in that role, again considering the very distinct rules of the ABO verse.
The r*pe scene (or should I say scenes?)Is what killed any interest I had had for the show. Because there is a way to make dubious consent at least somewhat tolerable and sensual in ABO by making the alpha and omega so overcome by their hormones, pheromones and cycles that they mutually cannot resist each other. In this case though, particularly between the main couple the enigma just r*pes the alpha who is not in his right mind because of the heat the enigma artificially started in him, who thinks the enigma is a stranger and verbally says he does not want it. Amidst all the boring business jargon and pointless plotlines, this moment is when the show really took a dive for the worst. The enigma's acting as a top wasn't believable either and the alpha looked visibly uncomfortable with being the bottom till the end so their whole dynamic was just stilted and weird.
Li Pei (aka Gao Tu) was the only good actor in this show but to be honest I didn't find the chemistry between Gao Tu and the alpha good enough or their story compelling enough to want to see a continuation of it. Not a fan of the bigot and his victim becoming lovers trope either. Overall such a let-down of a show which seemed quite promising. Still, I have to commend the showrunners for getting this made at all despite CCP’s hideous homophobic censorship and will be looking for better gay media from China in the future. Would love to see proper gl as well.
Having said that, if you're going to do an interpretation of The most stereotyping genre of fiction then you have to do justice to its base archetypes. Call me a tradjoshi but I don't want to see the alpha and omega being of the same height and proportions, the sub-genders being reversible (since when was that ever an option in ABO) or the omega-looking and acting enigma turning into an alpha top. In that case what is even the point of even making up such normative sub-genders? So I suppose my main gripe with the show is the writing and the source material itself which defeated the whole premise of having these supposedly fixed sub-genders and their innate traits and came across as very unconvincing and all over the place.
I would have loved to have seen a powerful secretly independent dominant omega who has the alpha wrapped around his finger with his charms (and pheromones) alone rather than what we got: an all-powerful, borderline sociopathic, manipulative, r*pist 'enigma' turned alpha who was simultaneously too gentle, poised and feminine to take him seriously in that role, again considering the very distinct rules of the ABO verse.
The r*pe scene (or should I say scenes?)Is what killed any interest I had had for the show. Because there is a way to make dubious consent at least somewhat tolerable and sensual in ABO by making the alpha and omega so overcome by their hormones, pheromones and cycles that they mutually cannot resist each other. In this case though, particularly between the main couple the enigma just r*pes the alpha who is not in his right mind because of the heat the enigma artificially started in him, who thinks the enigma is a stranger and verbally says he does not want it. Amidst all the boring business jargon and pointless plotlines, this moment is when the show really took a dive for the worst. The enigma's acting as a top wasn't believable either and the alpha looked visibly uncomfortable with being the bottom till the end so their whole dynamic was just stilted and weird.
Li Pei (aka Gao Tu) was the only good actor in this show but to be honest I didn't find the chemistry between Gao Tu and the alpha good enough or their story compelling enough to want to see a continuation of it. Not a fan of the bigot and his victim becoming lovers trope either. Overall such a let-down of a show which seemed quite promising. Still, I have to commend the showrunners for getting this made at all despite CCP’s hideous homophobic censorship and will be looking for better gay media from China in the future. Would love to see proper gl as well.
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