This review may contain spoilers
The art of perception will blow your mind, its more than a BL with good nc
It's hard to begin to explain how masterful this drama is, but I'll do my best.
Deep In is one of the very few, and I mean very few works I give a close 10/10. It's even rarer to know certainly I'd be rewatching it after the initial grief of saying goodbye passes. There are some nitpicks, but by far this BL surpasses any I've seen before (though of course, they each have their own strengths, as most don't even fit into the psychology tag at all to allow this kind of story to unfold).
I'm still reeling from thinking these two were only 19 and 22 at time of filming, friendly reminder. AND, they only had 2 acting coaches on set (you can see the credits). AND this is their first ever project. Please, I hope this is never the last because what the fxck.
Around the scene where the Cantonese track started playing, where Zhangzun reminicised his memories with Zhenxin, I was struck by an overwhelming feeling of nostalgia, like its the late 2000s again - where the portrayal of love was simpler, OH THE YEARNING, it was like being young again, finding the courage to just go for it, and recognising that loving someone was missing them, but it was also so painful.
Director Wen Dao is meticulous in his details about CRAFT. Can't believe this is his first work.
The book is a strong reference, but it takes real skill to jab emotional points at times in a video format where he wants them to land, and he did that so seamlessly (the author for the book, the shots for the director). He has made artistic choices.
Examples (too many) - that aspect ratio at EP12 with the curtain? Post credit scene? The colour grading - warmth for Zhenxin and cold for people like Justin and others, and the fiance?
The brilliancy comes when you realise the usage of a psychatrist as a character is delibrate from the author. Deep In is a taste of what acting means for many actors. it's beyond just living as a character, but the exploration and discovery of emotions, releasing them, is a process mirroring that of a patient with his own in a session. It's a form of release, and a strange kind of purging. Zhenxin and Zhangzun's own discoveries of their emotions for each other are a reflection of their own characters as patient and psych. Acting is a form of therapy and this is commonly said.
How can someone so young be able to pull off such intimacy, understanding, maturity in emotions - as well as layered complexity is beyond me. This drama deals (and took risks to portray) with extremely difficult topics, sensitive and heavy in every aspect - of grief, deep yearning, shame, confusion, love, reluctance, pain, denial, acceptance, hatred and simultaneously love - at themselves, at each other, it goes on and on.
Deep In has so many vulnerable moments that are handled with care, and such is given space without it dragging to the point where it's "too much".
This is especially for EP6 and opening of EP12. You'll know it when you see it. It's intense rather than explosive, and you, the viewer, are forced to sit in the aftermath - within THEIR secondary story, and while they are simply as Zhenxin and Zhangzun, and the tender moments where these two just came out of a scene.
They don't spare you by cutting away immediately or fade to black. You see every raw (and terrible) reaction, practically hear their very thoughts as if they are your own. It forces you to be uncomfortable, and yet you can't pull away.
I don't think I'm exaggerating when I say this drama sets a precedent. There is real emotion in this story, and it is the messiness, the raw spillage of it all, showing the ugliness and beauty and cruelty of human beings so unflinchingly, that makes this drama masterful.
There is no other quite like making the viewer want to run away from these heavy scenes and forced to stay because of merely how compelling it is.
Some criticism: I mostly view this as Gaozhun's story in their own drama. As much as I wish Fangchi's wound was more explored, him being shrouded in mystery and we are left to wonder is part of the craft, and it works very well. There was a scene in EP11 that cut off too easily to the next day of them texting in a script read, it was jarring and the resolve wasn't clear.
Overall, this is more than an inception of story within a story, it's where an episode leaves breadcrumbs and you happily work for your meal. You pause, you can't binge, you notice little bits, and you're left in awe.
I hope more dramas realise what Deep In has achieved, and try to inject this kind of character and a strong WOUND into their projects, because it will change the game. There is strength in other BLs, but few like Deep In, understand that the greatest stories (the most memorable), are the ones that doesn't make the characters too perfect.
For now, I can truly say it is difficult to say goodbye to this drama. Honestly so glad to be able to witness (for the first time since 2017 when I became a BL fan) that this is what the genre could become, and the possibilites of more projects of this quality awaiting us.
No longer is it labelled to be something that girls are obsessed with and actually, there CAN BE profound storytelling within it, just like any other fiction.
Deep In is one of the very few, and I mean very few works I give a close 10/10. It's even rarer to know certainly I'd be rewatching it after the initial grief of saying goodbye passes. There are some nitpicks, but by far this BL surpasses any I've seen before (though of course, they each have their own strengths, as most don't even fit into the psychology tag at all to allow this kind of story to unfold).
I'm still reeling from thinking these two were only 19 and 22 at time of filming, friendly reminder. AND, they only had 2 acting coaches on set (you can see the credits). AND this is their first ever project. Please, I hope this is never the last because what the fxck.
Around the scene where the Cantonese track started playing, where Zhangzun reminicised his memories with Zhenxin, I was struck by an overwhelming feeling of nostalgia, like its the late 2000s again - where the portrayal of love was simpler, OH THE YEARNING, it was like being young again, finding the courage to just go for it, and recognising that loving someone was missing them, but it was also so painful.
Director Wen Dao is meticulous in his details about CRAFT. Can't believe this is his first work.
The book is a strong reference, but it takes real skill to jab emotional points at times in a video format where he wants them to land, and he did that so seamlessly (the author for the book, the shots for the director). He has made artistic choices.
Examples (too many) - that aspect ratio at EP12 with the curtain? Post credit scene? The colour grading - warmth for Zhenxin and cold for people like Justin and others, and the fiance?
The brilliancy comes when you realise the usage of a psychatrist as a character is delibrate from the author. Deep In is a taste of what acting means for many actors. it's beyond just living as a character, but the exploration and discovery of emotions, releasing them, is a process mirroring that of a patient with his own in a session. It's a form of release, and a strange kind of purging. Zhenxin and Zhangzun's own discoveries of their emotions for each other are a reflection of their own characters as patient and psych. Acting is a form of therapy and this is commonly said.
How can someone so young be able to pull off such intimacy, understanding, maturity in emotions - as well as layered complexity is beyond me. This drama deals (and took risks to portray) with extremely difficult topics, sensitive and heavy in every aspect - of grief, deep yearning, shame, confusion, love, reluctance, pain, denial, acceptance, hatred and simultaneously love - at themselves, at each other, it goes on and on.
Deep In has so many vulnerable moments that are handled with care, and such is given space without it dragging to the point where it's "too much".
This is especially for EP6 and opening of EP12. You'll know it when you see it. It's intense rather than explosive, and you, the viewer, are forced to sit in the aftermath - within THEIR secondary story, and while they are simply as Zhenxin and Zhangzun, and the tender moments where these two just came out of a scene.
They don't spare you by cutting away immediately or fade to black. You see every raw (and terrible) reaction, practically hear their very thoughts as if they are your own. It forces you to be uncomfortable, and yet you can't pull away.
I don't think I'm exaggerating when I say this drama sets a precedent. There is real emotion in this story, and it is the messiness, the raw spillage of it all, showing the ugliness and beauty and cruelty of human beings so unflinchingly, that makes this drama masterful.
There is no other quite like making the viewer want to run away from these heavy scenes and forced to stay because of merely how compelling it is.
Some criticism: I mostly view this as Gaozhun's story in their own drama. As much as I wish Fangchi's wound was more explored, him being shrouded in mystery and we are left to wonder is part of the craft, and it works very well. There was a scene in EP11 that cut off too easily to the next day of them texting in a script read, it was jarring and the resolve wasn't clear.
Overall, this is more than an inception of story within a story, it's where an episode leaves breadcrumbs and you happily work for your meal. You pause, you can't binge, you notice little bits, and you're left in awe.
I hope more dramas realise what Deep In has achieved, and try to inject this kind of character and a strong WOUND into their projects, because it will change the game. There is strength in other BLs, but few like Deep In, understand that the greatest stories (the most memorable), are the ones that doesn't make the characters too perfect.
For now, I can truly say it is difficult to say goodbye to this drama. Honestly so glad to be able to witness (for the first time since 2017 when I became a BL fan) that this is what the genre could become, and the possibilites of more projects of this quality awaiting us.
No longer is it labelled to be something that girls are obsessed with and actually, there CAN BE profound storytelling within it, just like any other fiction.
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