Does that mean you shouldn't watch it? Absolutely not, it's still a great watch but I do think viewers NEED to understand it's importance to BL and Mainland China.
There are a lot of comments and reviews about consent. I think every viewer is going to have a different understanding of how consent worked throughout this show, and the translations did not help in most cases. If you pay attention to what Luoyin says in each scene, your perspective will change. I am not going to do any spoilers, because I think this is a show you have to watch for yourself.
If you keep in mind that this is Mainland China in 2015/2016, with two strong characters on polar opposite sides of the personality spectrum, the situations work for the story and relationship building between the two. To me, this was a story where Gu Hai was completely confident in himself without caring what anyone else in the world thinks and was open and free in expressing himself. His obsession with Luoyin is what made him fall in love and want to be the person Luoyin could rely on for the rest of his life. Luoyin though, has so many walls built from living his life that nothing else but Gu Hai's obsession was going to tear them down.
This show also portrayed a very different side to China than you generally get to see, the lower class and how they live. Sure one of the main plot points is the dependency between each families wealth, but normally you see the poor kid living with the rich family. This was completely opposite, and truly part of what makes this show great. Gu Hai and Bai Luo Yin were better people than other character in this show, and deserved any happiness they could find with each other.
I hate unfinished stories, so if I re-watch it I will end it just before the final scene (about the last 3mins). At least then it's just soft conclusion instead of a cliff hanger.
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What the hell did I just watch?
Absolute gold, that's what. Okay, hear me out. Just like everyone else you have GOT to watch this wild f**king show. WARNING: while it's labeled an omega-verse story, if you are an avid omega-verse reader then this is not your normal story. They handle some parts of an omega-verse story well, but absolutely butcher other parts and it sucks. If you can survive that, then great! But there's more. Male Pregnancy. This is a pretty uncommon theme for romance readers but if you have read it, they do a TERRIBLE JOB WITH IT. Trust, you will laugh when you see how it's handled.Okay for the actual review. I absolutely loved the male lead characters. Once you learn who everyone really is, every interaction changes completely from the tone that is set. I could not stop laughing EVERY TIME Sheng Shao You played into Hua Yongs hands the scene was supposed to be romantic and sweet but in reality it's a cunning, manipulated interaction that just somehow...becomes comical. This is another villain love story, for the psychopaths.
The second male lead set however, that was the most TOXIC relationship I have ever seen. That was wrong from start to finish, and I am personally glad the writers did not put them together. Like WHAT THE F**K. Oaf, had to get that off my chest. Okay, you really can't help but feel sorry for those two idiots, but like what the hell guys. USE YOUR DAMN WORDS.
You have to use your imagination in a few scenes, like really suspend your belief, but it's absolutely worth it. The ending however, did not feel like an ending to a series. It felt like the ending to a season and was VERY abrupt. The main leads storyline was finished up well enough that it was acceptable, but absolutely not for the second leads. Be warned!
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Where did this show even come from?
It came out of far left field without any warning. Listen, these dramas really need to come with trigger warnings like how books do, because this is not a show about good people. If you don't like a bad guy being the ML character in a romance, and expect there to be some sort of character growth into a "good guy", then this show is certainly not for you. This is a story about bad guys, finding other people who love them despite being bad guys. A villain story, through and through.For those of you who like to suspend belief in reality and enjoy the types of story's that dive into different depths of humanity, and are okay watching a villain get their love story, then this show is absolutely for you. As other reviewers share, you NEED to get to episode 3 before the drama really kicks off, but Chi-Wei will drag you along kicking and screaming. Sure, there are definitely some hang ups through out the show, that you don't really realize you never get a real answer to until it's 4 episodes later. But by then, it doesn't really matter because you're already invested in the next drama shenanigans. And there are a lot of shenanigans.
Be ready for your heartstrings to be wretched several times by the leading men, but don't forget that all the characters reap what they sow and that's a major plot throughout the entire show. The second male leads were the perfect example of this, as they only sowed good between them so they didn't have any of the drama the main male leads had. Those idiots were idiots through and through, but it really worked for their development as a couple. The actors behind each of these characters clearly know their craft well and put so much effort into these roles; I can only hope they all revisit BL dramas in the future. They did not shy away from bringing each of their characters to life no matter how good or bad they were, and I wish other BL dramas out there learned from them on how to show passion and intensity.
Don't forget, villain story here. There were a lot of problematic themes that anyone should be aware of before entering: implied sexual assault, homophobia, victim blaming, clear parental abuse, the lying...OMG the lying, so much manipulation (everyone to each other for reals), and the list goes one. Don't enter if you can't handle these things because you will hate this show. If you are a romance reader, particularly in the dark fantasy or villain, this show will become a re-watch staple.
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