This review may contain spoilers
"Horrible People", The Show
Some basic spoilers, but I won't go over the whole story or nitty gritty details.
For the setup, oddly enough they start by establishing that ABO is NEW to this universe, which had until only a generation or 2 ago, had been the same as our normal universe. ABO is something that spontaneously developed and the medical world just kinda rolled with it. And the social norms of the entire world have drastically changed, regardless of centuries of history. Strange, but I was curious how they would address this. They don't. This was just so the writers wouldnt have to do extensive world building. Fine. We have ultra powerful alpha rich businessman A, moderately powerful rich businessman B (competitor), meek but competent assistant C, and secret femme fatale posing as delicate flower D. 4 main characters. 3 of which turn out to be monsters.
The story seems to be the trope of rich asshole takes an interest in downtrodden beautiful poor person, but we the audience know the poor boy is actually pretending. So it's a mystery of who he really is, why he's doing this, and what he's really after. There are the trope-y "romance" moments, but always with the context that the weaker one is playing into expectations. Which just draws more attention to how manipulative the scenes WOULD be on the alpha's side if he really was in control the way he thinks he is. He thinks this boy is destitute, trying to pay for medical expenses for a sick relative, having to work multiple jobs in bad situations, on the verge of homelessness, and being taken advantage of by their boss. So he throws a bunch of money at him, makes him owe him, and offers that he can pay with his body by agreeing to a sexual relationship. Regardless of the other party's hidden truth, he is an awful person. So as the watcher, you think, ok the "omega" (not really) knows he's like this, played the part to manipulate the situation, knowing the direction it would take so he could get closer. So he has dealt with this type of person before. He knows how they think. So obviously the expectation is that this is a revenge/power play against these type of people.
Turns out he has no motivation or goal at all besides to be close to him. Because he is obsessed with him and has been for years. The manipulation, the lies, the sabotage, etc. were all just his own way of getting close because he figured just approaching him honestly wouldn't work. He's a stalker yandere, willing to to anything, destroy anyone and anything, hurt the one he cares about, to satisfy his own obsession. That's it. And then not only is there the lying and coercion, meaning any relations they had would technically be nonconsensual, he straight-up forcefully sexually assaults him. There is unambiguous r@pe in this show. More than once. And once everyone involved is fully aware of what happened and with who, it all just gets brushed over. Every r@pe is forgiven. By the story writing and by the characters. It's atrocious.
3 out of the 4 main characters in this show are garbage people. Morally bankrupt and powerful enough to just get away with whatever they want. The other one I just feel bad for. He felt like he should have been the actual protagonist, especially given how much the first episode is about him and his story. I kept watching for the initial mystery and hoping that he (and only he) would get some sort of happy ending. As it went on, this honestly became a hate watch. It's a toxic train wreck of a show, but I kept coming back to see if the wreckage would explode.
For the setup, oddly enough they start by establishing that ABO is NEW to this universe, which had until only a generation or 2 ago, had been the same as our normal universe. ABO is something that spontaneously developed and the medical world just kinda rolled with it. And the social norms of the entire world have drastically changed, regardless of centuries of history. Strange, but I was curious how they would address this. They don't. This was just so the writers wouldnt have to do extensive world building. Fine. We have ultra powerful alpha rich businessman A, moderately powerful rich businessman B (competitor), meek but competent assistant C, and secret femme fatale posing as delicate flower D. 4 main characters. 3 of which turn out to be monsters.
The story seems to be the trope of rich asshole takes an interest in downtrodden beautiful poor person, but we the audience know the poor boy is actually pretending. So it's a mystery of who he really is, why he's doing this, and what he's really after. There are the trope-y "romance" moments, but always with the context that the weaker one is playing into expectations. Which just draws more attention to how manipulative the scenes WOULD be on the alpha's side if he really was in control the way he thinks he is. He thinks this boy is destitute, trying to pay for medical expenses for a sick relative, having to work multiple jobs in bad situations, on the verge of homelessness, and being taken advantage of by their boss. So he throws a bunch of money at him, makes him owe him, and offers that he can pay with his body by agreeing to a sexual relationship. Regardless of the other party's hidden truth, he is an awful person. So as the watcher, you think, ok the "omega" (not really) knows he's like this, played the part to manipulate the situation, knowing the direction it would take so he could get closer. So he has dealt with this type of person before. He knows how they think. So obviously the expectation is that this is a revenge/power play against these type of people.
Turns out he has no motivation or goal at all besides to be close to him. Because he is obsessed with him and has been for years. The manipulation, the lies, the sabotage, etc. were all just his own way of getting close because he figured just approaching him honestly wouldn't work. He's a stalker yandere, willing to to anything, destroy anyone and anything, hurt the one he cares about, to satisfy his own obsession. That's it. And then not only is there the lying and coercion, meaning any relations they had would technically be nonconsensual, he straight-up forcefully sexually assaults him. There is unambiguous r@pe in this show. More than once. And once everyone involved is fully aware of what happened and with who, it all just gets brushed over. Every r@pe is forgiven. By the story writing and by the characters. It's atrocious.
3 out of the 4 main characters in this show are garbage people. Morally bankrupt and powerful enough to just get away with whatever they want. The other one I just feel bad for. He felt like he should have been the actual protagonist, especially given how much the first episode is about him and his story. I kept watching for the initial mystery and hoping that he (and only he) would get some sort of happy ending. As it went on, this honestly became a hate watch. It's a toxic train wreck of a show, but I kept coming back to see if the wreckage would explode.
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