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 ...
Danny is Taiwanese American man in a relationship with Tate in LA. His mother knows about his sexuality but choses to ignore it. Like everyone else she is obsessed with Danny should get married and have kids. For some reason, not explained, becoming a father is equally important to Danny even though his partner Tate is not onboard with it. A quest soon begins for a surrogate mother. Danny's mother is only too happy to help since she gets a grandchild but doesn't want to acknowledge Tate, who is himself not sure about the baby and they take a break. The legality of finding a donor and a surrogate soon takes its tool and the mother son duo travel to Taiwan, India and within US looking for suitable alternate. Eventually its the mother's young trusted maid who come to their rescue to be the surrogate. Even though the mother is happy, she is still in denial about letting her friends know about Danny's sexuality and his partner Tate. Eventually when Danny can't take it anymore, he confronts his mother eventually telling her that both Danny and Tate got embryos creates with different donors and its actually Tate's baby that finally made it. The mother finally comes to sense and accepts them as a family.
Even though the story is interesting, it only scratches the surfaces of the many issues that it tries to tackle with. The relationship between Tate and Danny is not very clear. They lack chemistry of a committed couple wanting to have a baby. They seem to be going through their own issues. But I guess the film's focus is more on the mother-son relationship that the gay couple itself. Their interactions oscillate back and forth between misunderstood, to loving, to passive-aggressive, to acceptance. She is pushy and interferes in every single thing about Danny's life, which I can understand is integral in an Asian family. The whole boyfriend situation felt like an afterthought add-on. There were random scenes about Danny's job, his friend from daycare, why does Danny want a baby and such which seem forced or not explained enough. Also, why does Danny have to say "okay" pretty much after every sentence to his mother? That was so annoying. Eventually, when the mother asks her maid to become surrogate, it actually felt like exploiting her and taking advantage of her poor situation which felt morally wrong to me. Eventually everything's well that ends well. Acting is strictly ok by the couple. It's the mother who shines out.
A decent story but an unconvincing screenplay. I have some major issues with the film as discussed above but its still an average film that can easily find a decent audience for itself. (5/10)
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