Bai Hehuai Lover

I guarantee you've never seen anything like this

I actually went into this not expecting much of it. I've only been watching CDramas for about a year and one of the first ones I watched was Handsome Siblings. I really enjoyed Chen Zheyuan's screen presence and thought he was delightful as Xiaoyu'er and started adding a bunch of his other projects to my watchlist (so far the only other one I've seen is The Princess and the Werewolf which I also adored, but I will be binging his other work asap). When I first saw the trailer for Fated Hearts, I remember saying to myself, "I don't think I'll be into the romance, but I'm intrigued by the plot and I really want to see what Chen Zheyuan does with this role." And boy am I glad I decided to give this a shot when I'd been feeling hesitant!

So let's talk about this show on the technical level for a second. Every single detail is meticulously planned to a degree I've never experienced. The visuals are breathtaking. The production value is insanely high and I swear I've never seen it at this level for a television show. This is some of the best acting I've ever seen (need to especially shout out Chen Zheyuan, Li Qin, and Zuo Ye — the three of them need to be showered in awards for their performances), and I've consumed thousands upon thousands of hours of film and tv in my 30 years. The pacing is immaculate, the characterization is consistent, there's not a single plot point that is dropped and abandoned. The dialogue is so intentional and lines are never wasted. The way so many characters parallel each other (especially Feng Suige and Fu Yixiao), the way Feng Suige and the main antagonist are such perfect foils to each other, the way every major character has some grudge that they want to avenge and we get to see every plan come to fruition and it is so goddamn satisfying every time — even if it's a character we're rooting against (I'm thinking specifically about the Empress Dowager when she does The Thing™️ in 1.27). This show understands payoff on a bone deep level, it understands how to genuinely truly earn relationship progression — I have NEVER witnessed a show consistently hit the bullseye when it came to payoff on everything it set up every single time without fail.

The show also has biting commentary that left me shocked that the censors allowed this to be released. Calling abusers what they are and killing them off one by one — including parents, when filial piety is so important in Asian countries? Exquisite. One of the plots that it seems many people hated (from a quick look at the comments anyway) was Feng Xiyang's obsession with Xia Jingshi and while I agree that there were times when Xiyang was aggravating, to me that entire storyline could not be a more blatant deconstruction of the whole "dark romance" trope. Literally go watch any dark romance film/show and tell me how Xiyang's behavior differs from that protagonist. But because Fated Hearts is interrogating that genre, Xia Jingshi remains unmoved by her sacrifices and loyalty to him. The entire point of Xiyang desperately and repeatedly trying to win Xia Jingshi's affections through her love for him is to interrogate these misogynistic ideas that have been pushed down our throats about women enduring mistreatment in the hopes that the man will one day change. And the show point blank tells us that he won't! It's a primal scream pleading women to walk away from relationships where they aren't valued. There's also one character who's a sex worker who works with one of the villains and remains loyal to him when knowing he's up to something nefarious and he tries to have her killed but she gets to survive and start over!!!!! What other show has done that???? And the interrogations of misogyny don't stop there — the Susha Emperor believes women are meant to serve and be submissive, he had even been in love with a woman who commanded troops and he never once viewed her as his equal; the Jinxiu Emperor is a hedonist who will have his guards kill anyone over the slightest inconvenience (and while it can't be explicitly said bc censorship, he's undoubtedly a rapist) and the comeuppance these two characters face is just so *chefs kiss*. There's just so much to be said about the brilliant examination of misogyny but I fear anything else I say will veer into massive spoilers so I'll leave it there.

And let's get into the enemies to lovers of it all! I'm a known hater of this trope and I can't count the number of times I've had people start arguments with me online bc I pointed out that a dark romance pairing is abusive and they were determined to defend it. That was my main hesitance going into this show. When I watched episode 2 and Feng Suige had his men torture Fu Yixiao and he punched her and kicked her across the room I was thinking, "Yeah, about what I feared. Still going to watch bc Chen Zheyuan is fantastic in this, but how the hell are they supposed to come back from this?" But the writers DO come back from this because of a few things: 1) this torture scene is actually genuinely very important for character establishment for both Feng Suige and Fu Yixiao — Fu Yixiao is an enemy combatant who nearly killed him and he wants vengeance for himself and the troops that Jinxiu killed so he demonstrates how ruthless and brutal and lethal he is and honestly his safest course of action WOULD be to kill her, we see that while Fu Yixiao doesn't match Feng Suige in brute strength that she does a very good job of holding her own against him and that she will fight until her last breath and will use any means she can to get the advantage; 2) in the very next episode we see a completely different side of Feng Suige — a caring and protective older brother, a dutiful prince (even if he hates having to play that part), a brilliant strategist when it comes to court politics, a kind man who truly values the people who work for him; 3) once Feng Suige realizes Fu Yixiao does indeed have amnesia and decides to offer her the chance to work together to flush out the Susha spy, he behaves completely differently now that he no longer views her as an enemy combatant and, as she is staying in his residence and bc of who Feng Suige is at his core, he now fiercely protects her leading to the scene that turned it all around for me — episode 5 when Fu Yixiao is tricked by former allies from Jinxiu and Feng Suige comes to her rescue before risking his life and nearly dying to save someone close to her. Like…. what do you mean Fu Yixiao nearly killed him a couple months ago and now he's almost dying to save someone she cares about???? And the show just made me grow increasingly deranged about them as the story progressed, as they each become the person that the other trusts the most. This is the best that enemies to lovers has ever been done and it will probably never be done this well again.

Is the show "perfect"? No. Was I utterly enthralled for every single second of it's runtime? No. Did it on rare occasions veer a little too much into melodrama for my tastes? Yes. There were definitely times when I started to falter and get worried, but then I'd get to the next episode or even two episodes later and I'd be like "Ah, I just needed to be patient and trust the writers." While there are definitely some small (INCREDIBLY SMALL) flaws, this is truly a masterclass in every possible way a visual story can be and no other show I've watched even comes close to this.

Now, if you'll excuse me I'm going to start a rewatch 😊

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DEEPLY flawed but this show is iconic. to me

Wow, there's a lot to say about this one, so I'm going to start with the negatives/things I think people should be warned about before diving into this.

1. When Jieun transforms into a man for the first time, her sister, Jihye, initially freaks out at seeing a man in their home (understandable), but then the second she sees "Jihun's" face, she's trying to smash???? Which is already insane behavior before we add in the fact that that would be incest. And unfortunately the incest jokes do not stop there. Jihye still flirts with Jieun after realizing it's her sister, there's a scene where she takes a photo of Jieun while sleeping which unfortunately ends up being plot relevant because when she gets pestered by friends about her dating life she shows that photo of Jieun claiming it's her boyfriend… And then when Jieun is trying to hide her transformation from their parents there's this whole situation where she "meets" her parents while pretending to be Jihye's boyfriend. And just when you think the show has finally stopped with this weirdness because Jihye has reconnected with Youngseok, even in the finale there's a scene of Jihye ogling "Jihun"... It's all really gross and really uncomfortable and the show finds it hilarious and just. Ew! Save me and Jieun from this mess!

2. Yunjae's mom has quite the temper and there are at least three scenes where she reacts by hitting someone — one scene where she smashes a vase on her husband's head, thinking she's about to smash the vase on Yunjae's head; another scene where she aggressively hits Yunjae with a pillow and her hands multiple times while he's heavily intoxicated; and then another scene where she's holding some kind of wooden(?) stick and she's trying to use it to hit her daughter, Yuna, but Yunjae and his father are trying to calm her down and she ends up hitting the father on the head with it. There's even another scene where she learns exciting news and starts screaming and congratulating Yunjae and he fully freezes in terror. Like, she is just fully abusive and it's despicable that these scenes are played for humor.

3. The writers try to give Minju more depth in the second half of the show, but basically she's a misogynistic caricature of the homewrecker. Yunjae politely sets boundaries with her multiple times, but she just does not respect him and completely bulldozes those boundaries, including even assaulting him and then attempting to assault him a second time. This is made even more frustrating by the fact that Minju has her own stalker who refuses to accept her rejections, and she somehow can't see that she is behaving in the same manner (AND SHE EVEN SAYS IN DIALOGUE AT ONE POINT "PARK YUNJAE REJECTS ME EVERY TIME WE TALK" SO SHE IS AWARE THAT SHE'S BULLDOZING HIS BOUNDARIES????? AND YET SHE DOESN'T SEE HOW SHE'S EXACTLY LIKE HER STALKER??????? HELLO???????????????) And, like the above two points, Minju's harassing Yunjae is mostly played for humor. (Also don't read the comments on here, people hate abuse survivors and love to victim blame. Of course Yunjae is going to have a hard time setting boundaries when his mother behaves the way she does and he has to constantly placate her and honestly a lot of his behavior towards Minju reads as him being in older brother mode to me. As someone who grew up in an emotionally abusive household, of course he is taking the path of least resistance and doesn't get more forceful towards her!)

And yet despite these very big gripes I have with the show, any of which probably should have been a turn-off, I was still incredibly charmed by it, and new episodes could never come fast enough — waiting from Thursday until the next Wednesday for the new episode always felt like torture. This show literally consumed my every waking moment after I hit play on episode 2. Excluding Minju and Yunjae's mother, I pretty much adored everyone. Yunjae and Jieun were so sweet and cute and silly, and even with how much Yunjae initially struggled with Jieun's transformation, you could still feel how deeply he loves her as he got used to this new reality. The love triangle between Jihye, Jeongja, and Youngseok was really interesting and surprising, and while I always did have a bit of a preference towards Jihye as I love childhood loves reuniting as adults, both dynamics work in different ways and you don't want to see anyone in the situation be heartbroken. I never would have expected the Yuri and Minhyuk relationship before Yuri's book signing event, but they ended up being so delightful. Yuna and Yunjae's sibling dynamic made me laugh a lot and I adored how supportive Yuna was and her attempts to help Yunjae and Jieun spend more time together. Yuri and Jieun's friendship was also easily one of the highlights.

Yoo Junghoo is incredible in this. This show is absolutely worth a watch for him, even if nothing else about the concept interests you. Every emotion that Jieun experiences is palpable in his performance. Like, it is up there with Shin Haesun's performance in Mr. Queen for me. Yoon Sanha is also really really good as Yunjae.

If you're watching this for BL reasons, you're going to be disappointed. Maybe I watch too much censored media and I'm being too charitable as I can't read the minds of the writers, but imo it really does feel like the writers wanted this to be more gay and were forced to tone it down. Especially since Yunjae was starting to initiate physical contact with "Jihun" and smiling to himself when Minju was complaining about Yunjae's relationship with "Jihun" and that "Jieun would hate knowing how close you two are" in episode 9 and then Jieun returns to being a woman in episode 10. Like... definitely giving the vibe of "Oh shit!!! It's getting too gay, we gotta remind the audience this is a straight relationship!!!!" I definitely wish it would have gone further, but I understand why it didn't and I appreciate the small moments we did get. And if you're going into this with the mindset of it being censored queer media, I think you will be pleasantly surprised with how far it does go.

I also wish the show played with gender more, but as I've already mentioned Mr. Queen, I like how My Girlfriend is the Man approached the body swap a lot more. As much as I love Mr. Queen, it was soooooooo exhausting how Bonghwan's main crisis about being in a woman's body meant he no longer had a dick and how his lack of a dick was so distressing because he wanted to seduce women and "how can I be with a woman w/o a dick" and just. GOD. My Girlfriend is the Man is way more concerned about the outside perception than Jieun's body change, which makes sense given how most societies are very fixated on gender roles and people falling in line with gendered expectations. Also, Jieun has a very stable sense of self and I just really love that she has no discomfort with performing in ways that would be deemed feminine and we frequently see her wearing a hair clip while presenting as a cis man. (Also Jieun's grandmother 🥹)

Did some of the writing decisions frustrate me? Yes, but that is also true for probably 85% of the media I watch. The last 3 episodes were really eager to throw as many curveballs at the audience as they could manage and I think some of it was to the detriment of the intended message. Not that it "ruins" the message like some of the comments argue, but that things got muddier than they needed to be and there were moments that felt like Yunjae would take one step forward and then immediately take two steps back, which... I know progress isn't linear but this is a narrative and we shouldn't still be feeling this back and forth in the penultimate episode.

Also, very minor sidenote, but I just feel compelled to include it in this review: I cannot tell you how many times a sound effect made me lose the ENTIRETY of my shit (the angry meows and the witch cackle remain my faves — whoever was responsible for editing in these sounds, you are UNHINGED and I love you for it.) It's all so out of pocket and perfectly cartoonish, which is fitting since this is based on a webtoon.

TL;DR: this show is a MESS but it is also one of my favorite things ever and I definitely encourage you to give it a chance ✨

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for anyone who's wanted dysfunctional polycule rep

I mostly enjoyed this, but I do feel like it kind of started losing its way with the last few episodes. So the set up is that Toko, Minami, and Nishino all fell for Kita-kun and out of fear that someone else will tempt him away from them, the three of them enter an agreement where they all agree to share Kita-kun's attention equally. Cue the first half of the show being hilarious shenanigans of the three of them struggling to figure out cohabitation as they initially don't really get along, but as they deal with outside forces, they start to appreciate each other and become friends. They also have to confront traumas of their past and (in most cases) help each other work through it. A lot of it was genuinely sweet, and I love that the three of them grew to view each other as family.

But I can't lie, I did find it a little frustrating how it felt like the show would tease that Toko, Minami, and Nishino were developing feelings for each other too but then it didn't go anywhere with that. Case in point: around halfway through the show, Nishino and Minami are stranded in the wilderness together and Minami, being a nurse, tends to a wounded Nishino. This leads to Nishino developing romantic feelings for Minami, which he is very conflicted about - 1) because he feels guilty to have feelings for someone besides Kita-kun and 2) because of trauma related to his only romantic relationship with a woman. There's a few episodes of Nishino clearly pining and it seems like there might be a shift in their dynamic as he shares some emotionally vulnerable one-on-one time with Minami.... but then Toko makes a rule that they can't enter secondary relationships and his feelings for Minami are never acknowledged again. Toko talks about how she likes sharing Kita-kun with Minami and Nishino, that she likes making food for the three of them; and Minami completely freaks out when she thinks Toko has started crushing on an older man in a way that gives jealous vibes, but... that's the extent of anything that could be read as sapphic. And it doesn't help that there's so little content between Kita-kun and any of the three that is explicitly romantic. Despite this annoyance, one thing that I do really appreciate (that seems to be a common thread among the JDramas I've watched) is the way the show reaffirms these characters choosing to be together - Toko and Minami get a glimpse of the future where they achieved their dreams but decide it's no longer what they want and they now prioritize their dynamic with Kita-kun, and Nishino discloses the story of his previous relationship to Kita-kun and unburdens himself of that trauma and shame and after letting go, he asserts that he still wants this relationship with Kita-kun.

Also relatively minor side note, but I have to say it: the person trying to break up the quad is set up to be so ominous and threatening and then the reveal is extremely underwhelming and honestly kind of boring. (Also whyyyyy did this go the half-sibling incest route???? out of all the possible choices???????? HUH?????)

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unbelievably boring flimsy story

Before anyone just handwaives away my review as "being a hater," let me say that I had been looking forward to this for SIX ENTIRE MONTHS before it started airing bc I loved Hou Minghao so much in Fangs of Fortune. My friends who are also into CDramas could not get me to shut the f*ck up about how excited I was for this for like two whole months before episodes started dropping. And I still loathed this show. Now, having just come off of Fated Hearts when I started watching this, the deck was stacked against me bc the meticulous writing for that just makes almost everything else pale in comparison, but I'm confident I still would have had a terrible time with this even if I hadn't been coming down from the high that was Fated Hearts.

The whole entire set up of this show is the Ji Bozai/"Ming Yi" (Ming Xian, how I'll be referring to her for basically the rest of this review) romance. Yes, there is a bit of plot surrounding that with the sect politics, but the undeniable center of this show is the Ji Bozai/Ming Xian romance. Ming Xian, having had to lie about her identity her whole life and to literally everyone — seemingly the only people who know the truth are her mother and her animal companion, Twenty-Seven — holds her cards close to her chest and is reluctant to be honest with anyone. It's be nice if the show dug deeper into this fact and what it means for Ming Xian as a person, but sure, fine, this makes sense given how on guard she has to be around literally everyone all the time. So she has this facade of playing the damsel in distress to get Ji Bozai's attention and win his trust. Now, it'd be one thing if Ji Bozai thought this was her true personality, but it becomes clear pretty quickly that he's aware that this is just an act so...... what the hell is he falling for? Literally all he knows about her for the first third of the show is that she's playing him and putting on this facade. Like he knows absolutely nothing about *her* and he KNOWS he is not seeing the real her.... So, again, what is he falling for? And then, again, I don't inherently have a problem with Ming Xian lying to Ji Bozai, because — while the show should be connecting these dots and not me doing it myself — it makes sense given how she grew up in Yaoguang Mountain that she would have difficulty with being honest, but once she can no longer keep up this act bc she accidentally revealed that she has spiritual veins and Twenty-Seven — known to everyone as Ming Xian's animal companion — is accompanying her (meaning she has ties to Ming Xian and Yaoguang Mountain), she then is just incessantly lying to Ji Bozai. And this leads to one of my biggest problems with the romance: Ming Xian discovers Ji Bozai's goal of avenging his shifu in like... I want to say episode 7? So she has basically completely figured him out in the first 20% of the story — she knows his background, she knows his motivations, she knows what he wants to achieve. Ji Bozai doesn't know anything about Ming Xian until he learns her real identity in the last third of the show. Why should I be rooting for this romance when it is so uneven? (Also Ji Bozai just. sucks. lmao. After seeing Twenty-Seven appear in his home, he tells Ming Xian "Right now I'd rather kill you than Mu Qibai" as if he also hadn't been lying to her and using her for his plans?????????? And then after he starts to suspect that "Ming Yi" is Ming Xian he does all these f*cking tests to prove it instead of just asking her directly. Like he straight up does a test that WOULD kill her if he had been wrong. And I'm supposed to not want to throttle him for that??????????)

And to make matters worse on that front of Ming Xian's identity being hidden, one of the main antagonists literally comes to Ji Bozai's home WITH PROOF that "Ming Yi" is Ming Xian and it takes more than a dozen episodes after this for Ji Bozai to figure out that she is actually Ming Xian??????????? Like this is just embarrassingly bad writing. He had proof!!!!!! And everyone was like "No, that's ridiculous, you have to be fabricating it" ???????????? And on the thread of bad writing!!! So said antagonist who tried to reveal Ming Xian's identity has been raising an army of something called netherbeasts and Ji Bozai uses his cultivation to contain them and so the villain then makes it look like Ji Bozai was raising the army of netherbeasts and then an episode later Ji Bozai does an uno reverse of that to prove his innocence but nope! Can't let the villain be removed from the story yet, so his underling takes the fall. It's like the writers were allergic to any forward momentum of the story until they reached the final third, because any time it looked like there was actual plot progression, they'd just immediately undo it. AND ALSO!!!!!! to defeat the netherbeast army a handful of episodes later, Ming Xian and Ji Bozai use this thing called the Heartbond Array, which irrevocably proves Ming Xian's feelings for him because they have to be in love and trust each other or it doesn't work. But then when Ming Xian tries to steal the Golden Millet Dream a couple episodes after that, Ji Bozai doesn't think to ask why she needs it. He just jumps to "Everything was a lie." Like... brother you literally just did the Heartbond Array with her like a day ago what do you meannnnnnnnnnnnnnnn????? WHAT DO YOU MEANNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNN?????? And then I don't even have a problem with miscommunication as a trope, but the way like 90% of the problems between Ming Xian and Ji Bozai just. wouldn't even happen if they would just! share information! or ask pertinent questions! But they keep withholding info from each other for no real reason and repeatedly choose to walk away from each other instead of actually communicating. Like the writing is just so painfully bad I cannot take itttttttttttt.

anyway PETITION FOR YU CHENG'EN TO BE A ROMANTIC LEAD!!!! He's too good at looking completely and utterly devastated and being angsty and sad and totally sells the whole "devotion no matter the cost" type. I am convinced that this story would be 100x better if the romance was Ming Xian/Situ Ling because she never had to lie to him about her identity and just the way he was willing to give up everything to save her!!! Let that be the romance and she's just playing Ji Bozai for the Golden Millet Dream and never falls for him. also we have got to admit that the writers made Situ Ling a villain bc otherwise he would be a real genuine threat to the Ming Xian/Ji Bozai romance lmao.

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this completely rewired my brain

Literally thee best show of all time. Hou Minghao gives one of the most exquisite performances I've ever seen, and while he stands out among the rest of the cast, everyone else is also incredible in this too. The Zhao Yuanzhou/Wen Xiao romance was everything to me and the polyam vibes were off the charts as the second half of the show devotes quite a bit of time to Zhao Yuanzhou and Zhuo Yichen's dynamic. The found family story was beautifully done and you really believe that these people will risk absolutely everything to protect and/or save each other. Every song on the soundtrack is perfection and no matter how many times I hear some of the character themes (especially the themes belonging to Li Lun and Zhao Yuanzhou), I will still go bonkers insane every time.

I have some minor gripes with some writing decisions which is why I give this a 9/10 on story, but this is an absolutely must watch show for me.

EDIT Nov 2025: I want to keep my original review bc I like the idea of my reviews being immediate reactions to a piece of media, but I have watched a handful of other CDramas since that have made me start viewing the writing for this show negatively and I definitely no longer consider this a 10/10. (probably more like a 7/10 if I'm being charitable.) I've had issues with the narrative's treatment towards Bai Jiu since I watched but my frustration has grown so much — the reveal in ep19 (iykyk) is Bai Jiu having been abused/groomed into trusting someone but the show seems to put the blame on this CHILD for trusting an adult who wanted to use him. And then his ending gives the vibe that he is "atoning" for this...... It comes off very much as victim-blaming and then add in the fact that he sacrifices so much when he shouldn't be in this position in the first place bc again. he is a CHILD. Having just come off of Fated Hearts and Blood River and seeing good communication between the leads and also being surprised without constant fakeouts (that end up being fairly meaningless) has also made me sour a lot on Fangs of Fortune. Like what do you mean that Zhao Yuanzhou-Zhuo Yichen-Wen Xiao trust each other with their lives and are willing to sacrifice anything for the others but then they are STILL withholding information from each other even when we reach the the last five episodes????? 🙄 Anyway watch Blood River for the Su Changhe-Su Muyu-Bai Hehuai triad :)

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doomed romance masterpiece

God I just don't know where to begin with this. Probably about to be a long and slightly scatter-brained review.

I wish the show had the budget it deserved so it could have more episodes and the plot would be given more time to breathe because everything happened so insanely fast, but the story behind this is so solid. Xiao Shuhe and Duan Zi'ang became friends as children but circumstances separated them shortly after they formed their bond. They meet again years later after Duan Zi'ang has been manipulated by an assassin organization to be their weapon against Xiao Shuhe's family and he's given the mission to kill Xiao Shuhe's brother, Xiao Shuqian. Then begins a game of manipulation. Xiao Shuhe realizes Duan Zi'ang is the assassin who tried to kill his brother almost immediately but due to the fact of their shared history and a plot of his own to ensnare the palace official who has corrupted his brother, Xiao Shuhe allows Duan Zi'ang to stay in his residence. As the two of them spend time together, they start to fall deeply in love and decide to abandon their revenge plans, and as Xiao Shuhe's relationship with his brother becomes more and more strained and his life comes under threat, the two of them can no longer deny these feelings. Then Duan Zi'ang makes a choice to save Xiao Shuhe's life -- an action that Xiao Shuhe had previously warned him would be unforgiveable if he took it -- that shatters their romance. While there's resentment and anger and hurt between them, the love never went away. Duan Zi'ang desperately tries to cling to the past, becoming a monster that even rivals Xiao Shuqian, while Xiao Shuhe becomes a shadow of his former self as he's lost everything he held dear due to that one action Duan Zi'ang took.

MAJOR props to Zhang Zhexu and Mi Jin for the way they portrayed these characters. There are so many moments in the second half of the show that basically left me breathless because of their talent in bringing this story to life. I can't even begin to imagine how grueling it must have been to perform some of those downright devastating scenes. And we also have to give huuuuuuuuge props to Li Yixiang, who portrayed the beloved Shen Song in his first time acting and is also one of the script writers who gave us this beautiful show.

Also as a lover of horny media, I have to say the first half of this show is one of the most erotically charged pieces of media I've ever seen. The sexual tension was insane every time Xiao Shuhe and Duan Zi'ang interacted prior to their first kiss, and while that energy was less frequent in the second half due to the circumstances of their situation after Duan Zi'ang's "betrayal," there are multiple moments where the sexual tension is still palpable, even when Xiao Shuhe has every reason to hate Duan Zi'ang. I feel the need to discuss the sensuality of this show because I feel like A LOT of erotic media tends to include scenes of dubious consent or straight up non-con and depicting it in an erotic way [stares at Revenged Love and Desire]. So any media that has an erotic atmosphere but doesn't try to gaslight me into finding assault desireable is already revolutionary in my book. In addition to that, there is also a beautiful scene of a wedding ceremony which just the visual of that alone is revolutionary and it means so much to me as a lesbian to be reminded that we have always existed.

I do have a few gripes with the show though so I can't give it a full 10/10 - the fact that the only women in this entire show are unnamed maids who show up for a couple minutes and a Ji Bei princess who is given a name but doesn't even get the chance to speak; the abuse apologia of trying to make Xiao Shuqian seem less bad when he gives Huo Ying the antidote to the poison when he's dying, as if that makes up for the fact that he poisoned Huo Ying in the first place or how horrifically Xiao Shuqian treated him for the previous 7 episodes (or how abusive he was to Xiao Shuhe!); some plotlines feeling very incomplete (Gu Yuanshan never has to face justice for his responsibility in getting multiple people close to Duan Zi'ang and Xiao Shuhe killed and he just fully disappears after Xiao Shuqian dies, Duan Huaiyi's very odd behavior and the fact that his reunion with Duan Zi'ang happened through the assassin organization which seemed to be setting him up as an antagonist for Duan Zi'ang but it just goes nowhere); the (very likely) AI usage in episode 9 given the very limited budget the show had; and honestly the final scene felt like pure wish fulfillment as it contradicts the scene that came just before it. But overall what a beautiful and epic tragedy. Xiao Shuhe I love you sooooo much.

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just watch At 25:00 in Akasaka instead

Before I get into my many complaints, let me be nice and say the few things I did like:
- good acting esp from the two leads, some nice cinematography
- Su Yi and Su Bai as characters and their dynamic
- the way the show got kind of meta in its critique of censorship
- the show exploring what it's like to become disabled
- the press conference comeuppance for Fang Runzhi was kinda awesome ngl

Okay, now that I've said that time to be a hater!

Things fell apart for me by the second episode with Su Yi mentioning he is only 19. We are never told Pei Jia's age, but as he's been acting for a while and he was in the public eye even before that, I imagine he's got to be mid-late 20s. And then a few episodes later we learn that Su Yi sent Pei Jia a piece of fanmail a year prior that he really values so like....... we've got Su Yi who is still a TEENAGER who has very much looked up to Pei Jia and idolized him for years and I'm supposed to find this dynamic cute and not think that Pei Jia is taking advantage of someone very young who doesn't have a solid sense of self yet?????????????? BONKERS.

I kept watching bc I'm apparently a masochist and this is popular, so I wanted to see just how bad the rest of it is and honestly even ignoring that the power imbalance was creepy as hell, I do not see the appeal of this one. Pei Jia's feelings come out of nowhere -- he clearly finds Su Yi super aggravating in the first episode but then in the second episode he's giving Su Yi pointers on a shared scene but outside of that he's still extremely rude to Su Yi and the vibe is that he doesn't like him at all and then in the third episode Yi Wei forces them to do that game where they ask each other questions and one of Pei Jia's questions is "if you could have dinner with anyone who would it be?" and Su Yi is like "you" and then suddenly Pei Jia has a gigantic crush on Su Yi and is obsessed with him?????? What????? The vibes are self-absorbed and egotistical.

When we first meet Fang Runzhi and he cornered Su Yi at that dinner, there are no words to express the relief I felt that he didn't assault Su Yi... but then he does at a party a few episodes later and then the show becomes primarily about trying to expose Fang Runzhi as a predator. Pei Jia (rightfully!!!!) blames himself for Su Yi's assault as he knew Fang Runzhi sexually harassed other actors he managed and didn't say anything to warn Su Yi beyond vague pleas for Su Yi not to sign a contract with him. I get not being able to talk about your experiences with sexual harassment/sexual assault as someone who has experienced those things as well, but come on, you can't just be like "hey, I don't want you to sign with this guy, you don't know what he's truly like" and leave it at that when he is a literal abuser! Thank God the press conference exposing Fang Runzhi was as satisfying as it was bc otherwise my rating would be even lower. But even the press conference doesn't completely escape my criticism bc it's insane to me that Pei Jia was going to play the recording of Fang Runzhi admitting to assaulting Su Yi when Su Yi wanted to back out bc he didn't want to publicly disclose being assaulted and if Su Bai didn't talk some sense into him, Pei Jia would've still played the tape even against his wishes??????? Like..... no???? The abuse survivor is the one who makes decisions about disclosing their own assault, violating their consent on disclosing that for a public takedown is so shitty and a terrible thing to do to someone you claim to care about????????

And as for the secondary romance -- Su Bai / Yi Wei was so annoying!!!! Yi Wei never valued Su Bai as a partner and then wouldn't accept their breakup! And I typically hate when people use the "they have no chemistry" complaint bc chemistry is subjective but.... they truly had no chemistry. They're seemingly back together by the end given we see them holding hands before the press conference, but I couldn't feel anything but exhaustion about it. I'll admit that Yi Wei did win some points for his part in exposing Fang Runzhi, but god I just found him insufferable overall.

Yeah, I just didn't enjoy this. Like... at all.

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okay-ish short & simple slice of life story

I wish I liked this more than I did. The show really shined when it was focused on the queer community - i.e. episode 2 showing us how Damian and Jerry met and started dating, episode 3 at the PRIDE parade - but it was just kinda meh otherwise. Also there was surprisingly little of Kaikai given the show is titled "Papa & Daddy"? Like, obviously Kaikai doesn't factor into the flashback episode, there's A LOT of Damian at his restaurant, there's a lot of Jerry's dynamic with his mom (which Kaikai mostly isn't involved in). Like it does almost feel like false advertising to give the show that name, but then probably a solid half, if not more, of the story has nothing to do with Kaikai?

Anyway, back from that tangent, gay marriage was only legalized in Taiwan a couple years before this show was made, so I definitely understand (and support!) the intention of the show being to present a gay couple as normal parents and to combat homophobic narratives. But I did find it very perplexing and slightly tiring how much of these 6 episodes were devoted to Damian and Jerry having to come out. Episode 4 is about one of the moms from school catching Damian and Jerry getting ice cream with Kaikai and being extremely confused about both of them being Kaikai's dad and there's an implied discomfort, especially since she sees Damian's sister pick Kaikai up from school the next day and she excitedly ambushes her, assuming she is Kaikai's mom. The episode ends with Damian and Jerry asking the teacher to explain things but then.... episode 6, the gossip moms still aren't aware that Damian and Jerry are a gay couple until Jerry accidentally sends a long text about it in parent group chat? And suddenly these moms are all very excited and want Jerry to be their gaybestfriend? It's just... jarring. Also basically the entirety of episode 5 is about Jerry's strained relationship with his mom - she has no idea about him being gay and he doesn't plan to tell her, but she forces him to go on blind dates, which inevitably leads to him coming out to her and an explosive argument as she's distraught about him being gay. This is seemingly resolved by Jerry's father coming by and gifting Damian a bracelet(?, I could not tell what the gift was lol) but imo the show never satisfyingly grapples with her discomfort.

Idk. It's perfectly fine, but the intention of this show is very much to combat homophobia, and while there is some fluff (and a bit of smut too!), that definitely gets lost under the push to guide straight audiences to be more accepting.

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cute, chill, and wholesome

Given how disappointing I found 23.5, I was feeling cautious about this show, but then once I started it, I adored it. Maewnam and Wan are super cute and they have minimal drama/angst - Maewnam is the daughter of the family that owns the competing grocery store which Wan is fine with after 24 hours to digest that information; and then near the end they have a conflict about Wan feeling like a burden since the store is struggling so much, and they make up in the next episode. Beyond that, it's basically just cute fluff and the two of them being supportive of each other. Tonnam and Chompoo's storyline is where most of the angst and conflict resides. They've been dating for 3 years and Chompoo is scared to come out because she expects that her mom won't be accepting (spoiler alert: Chompoo is right, at least initially). Tonnam is nearing her breaking point of the two of them keeping their relationship hidden, especially after Maewnam learns of their relationship. We see Chompoo's journey from being a people pleaser to the detriment of their relationship to her standing up for Tonnam to her mother. I wish we were allowed to see more of them as a couple, but I can't be mad at a depiction of someone struggling to come out and their fears being proven right as that unfortunately is the reality for a lot of us. The rest of the drama comes from Maewnam's unsupportive and controlling mother who is displeased by Maewnam and Wan's relationship and Wan's ex, Manhmook, reentering her life.

As much as I enjoyed this, I have to admit that there are some perplexing decisions in last few episodes - Maewnam's mom, after trying to break up Maewnam and Wan, has a heart to heart with Maewnam where she says she's proud of her and basically accepts their relationship. Chompoo's mom pretends Tonnam is invisible after learning of Tonnam and Chompoo dating and then when Chompoo confronts her she has this whole breakdown of "I feel like I don't know you and that hurt me," as if she's the center of her daughter coming out 🙄. And then she's still being homophobic but according to the show she is trying, so we're supposed to find it heartwarming 🙄. We also learn about Manhmook and Wan's breakup and Manhmook treated Wan terribly while they were together and then has the gall to blame Wan's friend Noey for this and somehow Manhmook and Wan are back to being friends???? Girl, why would you want to make up with the girl who stole your thesis and blamed you for that?????

But overall it's a very good time and an easy watch and MilkLove being domestic is just so cute and heartwarming <3

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unnecessary and confusing

So I enjoyed the first season well enough and decided to watch the second bc why not. The pacing issues were bad in the first season, but they're even worse here. The first season felt like a complete story with everything being wrapped up and resolved, the second season revives the villains and basically just retreads the exact same plot but with Pookan being a vampire this time and an attempt to expand the lore. Confusing, repetitive, overdramatic, nonsensical..... I mean if you really want to see female vampires I guess it's worth the ~70 minutes but otherwise you don't really gain anything.

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definitely entertaining but the lore collapses in on itself in the final stretch

Where to begin? Like I say in the headline, I can't make sense of the lore. There's a lot I don't want to spoil from the last few doors, so I can't bring up most of the inconsistencies, but let me give an example of the least spoiler-y one. It's established very early on that death in the VR game = death in real life and violating a taboo condition means the Door God will kill you. The Door Gods are (typically) presented as unkillable, and in multiple doors a person is either immediately killed by the Door God after violating the condition, or a supernatural force ensures their death (i.e. the Sunny Dolls door). So when Ling Jiushi accidentally breaks his egg in the Fitcher's Bird door (second door challenge), why does the Door God just give up after one failed attempt at killing him? Two other people have already died in that door for violating the same taboo condition and they are killed minutes after their eggs break, but the Door God doesn't attack Ling Jiushi until he's sleeping (the egg was damaged a while before) and then he just gives up after one attempt at stabbing him?? Huh? Like multiple days pass after Ling Jiushi's egg breaks, and he gets out of that door unscathed. It doesn't make sense to me.

Then there's also the misogyny - the majority of women we meet are Door Gods (aka antagonists) where basically all we know about them is how much they have suffered, and then there are three women who I would consider prominent characters. One of them is Xia Jie, a one dimensional villain who's set up to be this huge threat but then she's following orders from the male antagonist of the show so it's not even like she's the one making these elaborate plans to try to get the upper hand against Obsidian, and while she is ruthless and absolutely willing to sacrifice other players for her goals, we never actually see her use violence which makes it hard for me to view her as an actual danger. Then there's Zhuang Rujiao who mostly exists to be incessantly mocked by Ruan Lanzhu and to pine after Li Dongyuan. And then there's my favorite character Tan Zaozao - when we first meet her, she's there to be comedic relief and throughout the show there are A LOT of jokes at her expense because she's "stupid", but she actually becomes a fairly well rounded character as we see her complete more door challenges, but then episode 60... iykyk. That episode is actually when I basically stopped having fun with the show and I just felt really worn out watching the remaining 18 episodes.

All that being said though, the show doesn't pull punches when it wants to emotionally devastate you. The character dynamics are really good and whenever there's a blow to the team, you feel it. If you care more about a narrative successfully hitting emotional beats than you do about logic, you'll enjoy this. It's also very gay for a censored cdrama, so if that's your main interest, you'll probably enjoy the show in that regard as well.

(Also, I do think the final two episodes fumbled the ending but that also kinda ties into my complaints about inconsistencies.)

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disappointing as a "girl's love" story

So firstly I should probably mention that I watched this on iQiyi and the English subtitles were AI translations so I'm sure there were tons of mistranslations because a solid 25% of dialogue was just completely incoherent collections of words that the AI spit out which sometimes I could gather the meaning from context and other times I was just completely lost. The first two episodes were deeply upsetting as we see Gu Jinyu gagged and held by two guards as she was forced to perform a marriage ceremony with Bai Yunxi and then Bai Yunxi is eager to have her wedding night and Gu Jinyu is very clearly not willing and the only reason it doesn't happen is because they are interrupted. If you can stomach the first two episodes, it does get better, but any entertainment I was finding is completely soured in the final 4 episodes. As Gu Jinyu has been presenting as male for most of her life, Bai Yunxi is unaware of this fact until it's exposed and... honestly her reaction comes off as her being disgusted with the fact that Gu Jinyu is a woman, esp given she already knew who Gu Jinyu's family was prior to learning about her disguise.

Anyway, there's a lot going on, but honestly the heart of the story is Gu Jinyu and Bai Yunxi getting closer as they work together as business partners and Xiao Tian Hu, Bai Yunxi's brother (I don't think biologically? it's impossible for me to tell with the AI translated subtitles, but she clearly views him as family), starts to realize he is crushing on Gu Jinyu as well and I can see why people wouldn't like this development but I found it kind of hilarious because it felt like the writers were saying "no matter what gender you are, if you are attracted to Gu Jinyu, you are gay" I love people with confusing genders!!!!!!!!! Gu Jinyu you are an icon <3

Also despite my loving the Gu Jinyu androgyny vibes: given censorship, I'm not expecting any CDramas to be outwardly trans positive but this show is insanely transphobic, made extra upsetting given how much of the show hinges on crossdressing. Like the constant reassurance in Gu Jinyu's inner monologue about her being a woman, a scene where Xiao Tian Hu wears a dress and he is immediately swarmed by a bunch of women who start hitting him and pull off the dress (which is played for humor), a scene where Gu Jinyu tries to confess about being a woman and Bai Yunxi misunderstands and wants to "prove" she's a woman by trying to make Gu Jinyu touch her boobs...... like it's really concerning that people are calling this a cute "Girl's Love" show when Bai Yunxi's reaction to learning Gu Jinyu is a woman is straight up lesbophobic, the homophobia of Xiao Tian Hu's internal panic about crushing on Gu Jinyu because he thinks he's "sick" for liking a man and another character agreeing with him, and then the rampant transphobia. Cursed show honestly.

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desperately wanted to like this but it was exhausting

Honestly the first episode was pretty cute and I was eager to see where things would go, but the main plot completely falls apart by, like, episode 3. So Ongsa catfishes Sun for 5 episodes under the identity of a boy named "Earth", which is a HUGE betrayal of trust and the scene where Sun finds out pissed me off SO badly. So Ongsa, upon being caught, is like "I'm sorry" and Sun is like "I don't want you to say sorry, I want you to give me an explanation" and then they just keep going back and forth with Ongsa saying nothing but "I'm sorry" over and over and over and Sun repeatedly begging for an explanation, especially since she had confided in Ongsa about how she was developing deep romantic feelings for Earth. AND THEN ONGSA JUST RUNS OUT OF THE ROOM SOBBING????? Like, girl, you literally did this to yourself, I cannot muster up any sympathy for you because it would have been so easy to NOT continue catfishing Sun. And then Sun isn't even allowed to be mad about this??????? Because literally 24 hours later, Sun is like "I want to start over as friends"??????????????? And then the next episode Sun is being jealous and possessive of Ongsa and says she wants them to be girlfriends????????????????????? And then a few episodes later when they have been dating for a minute, Sun outs not only Ongsa to Ongsa's parents but also Aylin and Luna and the fact that they're in a relationship. And then the narrative acts like Ongsa is in the wrong for not being ready to be out???????????????????????????????? Excuse me, what?????????????????????????? Like absolutely cursed main ship. My rating would be much higher if Aylin and Luna were the leads instead.

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okay if you want to turn your brain off I guess

Xu Kai is really great in this and I adored Wang Lu (most of the time). Wang Wu, his shifu, is by far the most insufferable FL I've seen in a CDrama and the show likes to play her abusive behavior for laughs 🙄 Some of the humor was so good (I loved all the meta jokes and references to other popular media) and some of it was unbelievably horrendous (abuse played for laughs, contempt for fat people, contempt for people the writers deem "stupid"). And there is just sooooo much abuse apologia and attempts to retroactively defend abuse - ranging from Wang Wu's incessant mistreatment of Wang Lu and her beating him up to the point of breaking his bones being "for his own good" and to "help" him with his cultivation, a sex pest who has sexually assaulted multiple women being referred to as a good guy and befriending our heroes, and a man who murdered his children revealed to having done so to protect his citizens from a demonic entity... yeah, it's maddening.

My favorite character was Ling'er and I absolutely adored her plotline (for the most part) when she left Lingjian Mountain. Her and Boren 🫶. Also my favorite dynamic was Wang Lu and Hai Yunfan, but there is also A LOT of queerbaiting wrt their relationship and they're both shoved into awful romances with women. 😕

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