I loved it so much I just had to write a review. be warned, its super long lol
Apart from a few very minor details, it was a perfect series! I loved everything about it. Lets start with the main couples relationship. They had fantastic chemistry, a natural logical relationship arc (the more they got to know each other, the more they started liking each other, until it slowly progressed into love). Their kissing & sex scenes seemed really natural and believable. I also absolutely loved that they kept showing affection (holding hands, hugging, holding each other, kissing..) - all normal and natural parts of relationships that unfortunately often arent depicted in bls. I seriously cant give this series enough credit just for that! The storyline was quite unique and exciting! I love rebirth/transmigration plots and this one was done well. Credit to the guy playing Apo/Thorn, he was believable as both, and portrayed each character very distinctively. Its a happy ending and everything gets resolved at the end, as expected of a bl, but nevertheless, it was not predictable. I honestly never knew what was going to happen next, in which direction the show was going in order to take to get us that happy ending. I really didnt know which character was supposedly the "good" or "bad" guy. Some I thought to be "good" turned out to be "bad" and vice versa, I even changed my opinion on a few of those characters multiple times throughout the show.Again, credit to the show, there was no unnecessary drama used instead of actual plot, no "evil" characters doing evil shit for no apparent reason, no stupid misunderstandings. Even though we didnt necessarily know the motivation behind some of the characters behaviour right away, it still always seemed logical (unlike, unfortunately, many other bls).
So here is some criticism, but again, super super minor. As we know, the men of Yi's family can read minds but only through eye contact. For that reason, Yi gives Apo a special necklace which prevents the Yi men from reading his mind (Yi doesnt want his dad & brothers knowing Apo isnt the "real" Apo). Here is my question, lets say Yi's dad is having a conversation with Apo, face to face, but isnt able to hear his thoughts.. wouldnt he get suspicious? I was also under the impression no one else knew about this ability, even Yi's mum.. again, weird.. Here is my main issue though. The costume party scene. Yi's family hotel is throwing a party for whatever reason, and Apo comes up with the theme "universe", since everyone has to contribute in order to build a successful hotel chain (super cringy and doesnt really relate to "universe" but whatever). Apo also decides to make it a costume party, and guess what the theme is? thats right, "universe". And no, its not galaxy themed, its universe, as in there is no theme at all! guests can dress up as absolutely anything from the universe.
Now remember its a luxury hotel, all the guests (including Apo, Yi, their friends etc.) are ultra wealthy. Thus, one would expect fancy, upscale, luxurious costumes. I dont know how to put into words how terrible these "costumes" were. Calling it "costumes" is too generous. They were basically dressed in simple plain t's with a tomato/mustard/orange or some other food type shaped fabric sown on top. It wouldnt even be suitable for kindergarten.. I have to say that the rest of the show didnt feel cheap at all, the locations, wardrobe, production value etc. were fitting, I really dont know what happened with that costume party scene..
Lastly, lets talk about the side couple. The actors were fantastic (honestly all the actors in this were), they had good chemistry, good kissing scenes. What bothered though was that they had no connection. Out of nowhere, Yi's brother decides he likes Apo's friend Tai (I think that was his name?), they start hanging out but have almost zero conversations, we just see them in each others presence.. For example, we have this long scene where Yi's brother is driving Tai home.. its basically a quiet ride, where on occasion Yi's brother would ask Tai some really superficial question and Tai would give a short answer.. After a few more similar scenes, we are then meant to believe they are in love?? for real??
Anyways, these were super minor and easy to look past details, so if you guys havent seen it yet, do it, watch it, right now. I promise you are gonna LOVE IT!
let me start with some "minor" plot holes.. (1) Johnny travels to the future (from 2000 to 2022) and pretty much straight away is able to use a smart phone, stalk people on social media and is just generally great with the internet and technology. (2) Hai Yi supposedly hires Johnny to find this girl that broke up with him the second she thought he lost all his money. At first I assumed he needed Johnny's help to find her physical location, and Johnny being the expert on all things internet and social media was obviously the logical choice. Later though we realise Hai Yi knew where she was, and was sorta looking for revenge?? again what exactly was Johnny's part in all of it? assuming he managed to download facebook.. (3) Johnny wakes up in 2022 in the same body but with just a different haircut and no glasses, but he has an id with a different name. so far makes sense. Later though we learn that Johnny actually woke up in someone elses body (his identical twin from the future). Did the original Johnny die? Is he going to want his body back? did Johnny's body from 2000 just disappear into thin air? (4) The warehouse Johnny and Hai Yi live in somehow has running water and a proper kitchen? prob shower and bathroom too? a warehouse meant strictly for storage. (5) Johnny is desperate to go back to 2000 to be with his grandma but learning that she passed away shortly after his disappearance from a broken heart somehow translates to her dying regardless and thus making his return pointless?? (6) An employee (in love with Vincent and jealous of Wynn) orders two other employees to lock Wynn in a fridge and he almost dies. Vincent finds Wynn basically on the brink of death (from hypothermia we can assume), so instead of calling and ambulance and taking him to the hospital he sorta drapes his thin jacket over him and decides that that would be the perfect opportunity to confess his love and just sit and cry, then take him home to maybe potentially die in his bed??? oh and later on Vincent of course decides to not even reprimand these employees. are you fucking kidding me?????? this is attempted murder!!!!!!! call the police!!!!!!
and thats just to name a few..
Now obviously i am familiar with bl dramas and though this is a Taiwanese bl which is usually on the higher end i was still sorta fine looking past all of that.
here is where things started getting much more problematic, at least for me.. lets talk about the second couple, Vincent & Wynn. though i am not a fan of age gaps, apparently Wynn is in his early 20s and Vincent in his early 30s, so whatever. The much much bigger problem is the boss/employee relationship. hopefully nowadays we can all agree on how problematic it is in general and i dont need to explain why. In Asian culture though, at least to me, it seems an even bigger issue since the whole your boss is kinda your god and you should worship him thing, plus he sorta decides your whole future. in this series Vincent seems kinda okay, not too controlling or anything but still Wynn seems super young and naive, and isnt even on a first name basis with Vincent, and again worships him. Vincent, after seeing Wynn a few times in his youth (during which time they maybe exchanged a sentence or two max) decides to hire him. then after a few super awkward meals (that he sorta forces onto Wynn), Vincent is in love and they start dating?
But I was even willing to look past that! here is what broke me. Johnny and Hai Yi are living and working together and obviously care deeply for one another and are on the brink of dating. Johnny confesses his feeling to Hai Yi just as he is stepping into an elevator after receiving an important phone call. Turns out his father had some medical emergency and a few hours later dies in the hospital. he consequently inherits his fathers role as the chairman of the company (though he is in no way fit or suited for that role, other than his last name of course). Johnny is unaware of it all, so we have a few scenes of poor heartbroken grieving Hai Yi and Johnny calling him and looking for him having no idea whats going on. so obviously in my head i can picture the moment Johnny finally finds out, rushing to Hai Yi's side, hugging him and comforting him and just being there for him. the next day Johnny finds out that Hai Yi is the new chairman and they have a fight because Johnny is upset Hai Yi didnt tell him about his familys connections (which i guess i can sorta understand but obviously Hai Yi just enjoyed the fact that Johnny liked him for him and not for him family). in any case i am starting to think that maybe Johnny is a bit of an idiot and doesnt understand what happened that made Hai Yi inherit this new job title so suddenly. but later on we realise that he does know!!!!!! so let me ask you, WHAT THE ACTUAL FUCK??????????? a person you supposedly care deeply about just lost his father and you think yelling at him about why he didnt tell you some sorta insignificant detail and then playing a middle schooler and waiting 20 sec before answering his call, if at all, is the way to go??????? can anyone please explain that to me????? and this is where i gave up
Apart from a few very minor details, it was a perfect series!
I loved everything about it.
Lets start with the main couples relationship. They had fantastic chemistry, a natural logical relationship arc (the more they got to know each other, the more they started liking each other, until it slowly progressed into love). Their kissing & sex scenes seemed really natural and believable. I also absolutely loved that they kept showing affection (holding hands, hugging, holding each other, kissing..) - all normal and natural parts of relationships that unfortunately often arent depicted in bls. I seriously cant give this series enough credit just for that!
The storyline was quite unique and exciting! I love rebirth/transmigration plots and this one was done well. Credit to the guy playing Apo/Thorn, he was believable as both, and portrayed each character very distinctively.
Its a happy ending and everything gets resolved at the end, as expected of a bl, but nevertheless, it was not predictable. I honestly never knew what was going to happen next, in which direction the show was going in order to take to get us that happy ending.
I really didnt know which character was supposedly the "good" or "bad" guy. Some I thought to be "good" turned out to be "bad" and vice versa, I even changed my opinion on a few of those characters multiple times throughout the show.Again, credit to the show, there was no unnecessary drama used instead of actual plot, no "evil" characters doing evil shit for no apparent reason, no stupid misunderstandings. Even though we didnt necessarily know the motivation behind some of the characters behaviour right away, it still always seemed logical (unlike, unfortunately, many other bls).
So here is some criticism, but again, super super minor.
As we know, the men of Yi's family can read minds but only through eye contact. For that reason, Yi gives Apo a special necklace which prevents the Yi men from reading his mind (Yi doesnt want his dad & brothers knowing Apo isnt the "real" Apo). Here is my question, lets say Yi's dad is having a conversation with Apo, face to face, but isnt able to hear his thoughts.. wouldnt he get suspicious?
I was also under the impression no one else knew about this ability, even Yi's mum.. again, weird..
Here is my main issue though. The costume party scene. Yi's family hotel is throwing a party for whatever reason, and Apo comes up with the theme "universe", since everyone has to contribute in order to build a successful hotel chain (super cringy and doesnt really relate to "universe" but whatever). Apo also decides to make it a costume party, and guess what the theme is? thats right, "universe". And no, its not galaxy themed, its universe, as in there is no theme at all! guests can dress up as absolutely anything from the universe.
Now remember its a luxury hotel, all the guests (including Apo, Yi, their friends etc.) are ultra wealthy. Thus, one would expect fancy, upscale, luxurious costumes. I dont know how to put into words how terrible these "costumes" were. Calling it "costumes" is too generous. They were basically dressed in simple plain t's with a tomato/mustard/orange or some other food type shaped fabric sown on top. It wouldnt even be suitable for kindergarten.. I have to say that the rest of the show didnt feel cheap at all, the locations, wardrobe, production value etc. were fitting, I really dont know what happened with that costume party scene..
Lastly, lets talk about the side couple. The actors were fantastic (honestly all the actors in this were), they had good chemistry, good kissing scenes. What bothered though was that they had no connection. Out of nowhere, Yi's brother decides he likes Apo's friend Tai (I think that was his name?), they start hanging out but have almost zero conversations, we just see them in each others presence.. For example, we have this long scene where Yi's brother is driving Tai home.. its basically a quiet ride, where on occasion Yi's brother would ask Tai some really superficial question and Tai would give a short answer.. After a few more similar scenes, we are then meant to believe they are in love?? for real??
Anyways, these were super minor and easy to look past details, so if you guys havent seen it yet, do it, watch it, right now. I promise you are gonna LOVE IT!
(1) Johnny travels to the future (from 2000 to 2022) and pretty much straight away is able to use a smart phone, stalk people on social media and is just generally great with the internet and technology.
(2) Hai Yi supposedly hires Johnny to find this girl that broke up with him the second she thought he lost all his money. At first I assumed he needed Johnny's help to find her physical location, and Johnny being the expert on all things internet and social media was obviously the logical choice. Later though we realise Hai Yi knew where she was, and was sorta looking for revenge?? again what exactly was Johnny's part in all of it? assuming he managed to download facebook..
(3) Johnny wakes up in 2022 in the same body but with just a different haircut and no glasses, but he has an id with a different name. so far makes sense. Later though we learn that Johnny actually woke up in someone elses body (his identical twin from the future). Did the original Johnny die? Is he going to want his body back? did Johnny's body from 2000 just disappear into thin air?
(4) The warehouse Johnny and Hai Yi live in somehow has running water and a proper kitchen? prob shower and bathroom too? a warehouse meant strictly for storage.
(5) Johnny is desperate to go back to 2000 to be with his grandma but learning that she passed away shortly after his disappearance from a broken heart somehow translates to her dying regardless and thus making his return pointless??
(6) An employee (in love with Vincent and jealous of Wynn) orders two other employees to lock Wynn in a fridge and he almost dies. Vincent finds Wynn basically on the brink of death (from hypothermia we can assume), so instead of calling and ambulance and taking him to the hospital he sorta drapes his thin jacket over him and decides that that would be the perfect opportunity to confess his love and just sit and cry, then take him home to maybe potentially die in his bed??? oh and later on Vincent of course decides to not even reprimand these employees. are you fucking kidding me?????? this is attempted murder!!!!!!! call the police!!!!!!
and thats just to name a few..
Now obviously i am familiar with bl dramas and though this is a Taiwanese bl which is usually on the higher end i was still sorta fine looking past all of that.
here is where things started getting much more problematic, at least for me..
lets talk about the second couple, Vincent & Wynn. though i am not a fan of age gaps, apparently Wynn is in his early 20s and Vincent in his early 30s, so whatever. The much much bigger problem is the boss/employee relationship. hopefully nowadays we can all agree on how problematic it is in general and i dont need to explain why. In Asian culture though, at least to me, it seems an even bigger issue since the whole your boss is kinda your god and you should worship him thing, plus he sorta decides your whole future. in this series Vincent seems kinda okay, not too controlling or anything but still Wynn seems super young and naive, and isnt even on a first name basis with Vincent, and again worships him. Vincent, after seeing Wynn a few times in his youth (during which time they maybe exchanged a sentence or two max) decides to hire him. then after a few super awkward meals (that he sorta forces onto Wynn), Vincent is in love and they start dating?
But I was even willing to look past that! here is what broke me. Johnny and Hai Yi are living and working together and obviously care deeply for one another and are on the brink of dating. Johnny confesses his feeling to Hai Yi just as he is stepping into an elevator after receiving an important phone call. Turns out his father had some medical emergency and a few hours later dies in the hospital. he consequently inherits his fathers role as the chairman of the company (though he is in no way fit or suited for that role, other than his last name of course). Johnny is unaware of it all, so we have a few scenes of poor heartbroken grieving Hai Yi and Johnny calling him and looking for him having no idea whats going on. so obviously in my head i can picture the moment Johnny finally finds out, rushing to Hai Yi's side, hugging him and comforting him and just being there for him. the next day Johnny finds out that Hai Yi is the new chairman and they have a fight because Johnny is upset Hai Yi didnt tell him about his familys connections (which i guess i can sorta understand but obviously Hai Yi just enjoyed the fact that Johnny liked him for him and not for him family). in any case i am starting to think that maybe Johnny is a bit of an idiot and doesnt understand what happened that made Hai Yi inherit this new job title so suddenly. but later on we realise that he does know!!!!!! so let me ask you, WHAT THE ACTUAL FUCK??????????? a person you supposedly care deeply about just lost his father and you think yelling at him about why he didnt tell you some sorta insignificant detail and then playing a middle schooler and waiting 20 sec before answering his call, if at all, is the way to go??????? can anyone please explain that to me????? and this is where i gave up