1
What should have been
This is one of those shows where I see the idea very clearly, and simply and truly love the concept, but the editing caused by chinese censorship and ban, has completely ruined it. It's like serving a great meal and having someone say they dont like a certain ingredient and waste the whole plate.
If the ML had been female, and the editing was straightened out into a coherent flow, I would still have loved it.
Xia Yao is a graphic designer by day and a champion boxer by night. I would have loved to have seen more of his matches. He's an elite rich boy in the neighbourhood and catches the attention of Yuan Ru. Xia insists to her that she's not interested, so Yuan Ru goes to her brother to act as a messenger for her, to bring him gifts to woo him. Enter Yuan Zong, the classic seme, stoic, badass and silent. This is when it starts to get silly. He just stalks him relentless until Yao is forced to meet up with Yuan Ru and tell her he's impotent. Meanwhile Zong, has clearly developed a crush of his own.
In an attempt to try and 'defeat' Zong's marital abilities, Yao joins his bodyguard business to train. In comes the chinese censorship to chop and hack the developing relationship to pieces.
All the materials that I normally like are there. We've got some gritty, physical training, a little bit of jealous drama, slow burning tension, physical pining, motorbikes, some underground gang in the background that just kind of disappears.
I can clearly see the original thought development of this show. I feel like this was meant to be tough, gritty, dirty with some erotic pining and eventual love and I would have been strapped in for it. Whether as a BL or a Hetro, if Yao was a woman and had reasons of her own to train as a bodyguard, and I think that's why this is popular despite the clear and very disappointing editing issues.
By the time we get into double digit episodes, the show has lost all it's flow as scenes are cut midway or missing entirely. Yao had a falling out with his friend but we never seen that scene. The show ends the way it progresses, just randomly, in the hospital with the guys looking at each other, as though there more to it. There were more episodes afterwards, it just stops.
This does seem like a low budget show but once again, as a BL, it was never going to have much money to spend. As for the actors, they did ok with what they have. The actress for Yuan Ru was terrible though but since the rest of show was a cliched, cheesy mess, she fit right in.
As for rewatch value, I would be rewatching this simply because I know the dissatisfaction of what could have been, will have me rewriting the plot in my head and filling in the blanks for my own amusement.
If the ML had been female, and the editing was straightened out into a coherent flow, I would still have loved it.
Xia Yao is a graphic designer by day and a champion boxer by night. I would have loved to have seen more of his matches. He's an elite rich boy in the neighbourhood and catches the attention of Yuan Ru. Xia insists to her that she's not interested, so Yuan Ru goes to her brother to act as a messenger for her, to bring him gifts to woo him. Enter Yuan Zong, the classic seme, stoic, badass and silent. This is when it starts to get silly. He just stalks him relentless until Yao is forced to meet up with Yuan Ru and tell her he's impotent. Meanwhile Zong, has clearly developed a crush of his own.
In an attempt to try and 'defeat' Zong's marital abilities, Yao joins his bodyguard business to train. In comes the chinese censorship to chop and hack the developing relationship to pieces.
All the materials that I normally like are there. We've got some gritty, physical training, a little bit of jealous drama, slow burning tension, physical pining, motorbikes, some underground gang in the background that just kind of disappears.
I can clearly see the original thought development of this show. I feel like this was meant to be tough, gritty, dirty with some erotic pining and eventual love and I would have been strapped in for it. Whether as a BL or a Hetro, if Yao was a woman and had reasons of her own to train as a bodyguard, and I think that's why this is popular despite the clear and very disappointing editing issues.
By the time we get into double digit episodes, the show has lost all it's flow as scenes are cut midway or missing entirely. Yao had a falling out with his friend but we never seen that scene. The show ends the way it progresses, just randomly, in the hospital with the guys looking at each other, as though there more to it. There were more episodes afterwards, it just stops.
This does seem like a low budget show but once again, as a BL, it was never going to have much money to spend. As for the actors, they did ok with what they have. The actress for Yuan Ru was terrible though but since the rest of show was a cliched, cheesy mess, she fit right in.
As for rewatch value, I would be rewatching this simply because I know the dissatisfaction of what could have been, will have me rewriting the plot in my head and filling in the blanks for my own amusement.
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