This is the second vertical AI BL drama I've sat through, and honestly I went in knowing better. I had it on while I was doing cardio at the gym, and what struck me was just how much the plot echoed the last one I watched. Same step brother romance angle, same mystery girlfriend showing up near the end, same extra guy pining after one of the leads. Genuinely the only thing going for it was the runtime, the whole thing wrapped up in forty five minutes flat. The setup kicks off with Finn moving schools because his mom just married into money. He finds out his new step brother Aiden goes to the same place, and he's warned to keep his distance from him. Their first run in at school is rocky, just like you'd expect, but there's this odd pull between them neither can shake off. Finn keeps telling himself not to read into it because Aiden's straight and openly homophobic. Things shift when some kids start bullying Finn and the student council president, Ryan, steps in to ...
The main protagonist this time is Dustin. Closet gay, he had an abusive father who beat him when he found out his son was gay., His object of affection is Armani, a cute fellow student and soon they begin a relationship but Dustin is haunted when he witnesses gay bashing of his friend Moses. He is too scared to tell the truth to anyone. Dean and the mayor refuse to do anything, so the budding Gay Rights group on campus the Monroe 5 decide to take matters into their own hands under the direction of their leader Martin. They do get support from their African-American studies teacher but that is not enough. There is lot of gay bashing and murders for hate crime but no support from administration or the police. The gay rights movement becomes too much for Armani to handle and he breaks up with Dustin. Dustin and Martin then start a relationship because they both share a common passion. Ultimately their struggle does give way for a better future.
This season was a huge huge letdown from season 1, which itself was no great shakes in the first place. Dustin, who acted so well in season 1 becomes so plastic in this season as the main character. Its really hard to connect with him. All the interactions happening between students feel so fake and just too much to handle. His chemistry with Armani seems very fake. Thankfully its much better with Martin. Martin was the only actor alongwith the female teacher who were half decent actors. Everyone else was just poor. The direction was plain bad and the series got too preachy in every single episode. To salvage, there was always almost a 5 minute sex scene in every episode and that too was somehow managed to happen between a different couple every time. I guess just to keep viewers excited. Alas, thats not the only thing which is needed to keep one's attention.
Huge letdown. I wouldn't waste my time on this season. This needs a proper editing big time. This season is unnecessarily stretched way too much. (2.5/10)
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