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 ...
Xiang Hao Ting and Yu Xi Gu are high school students. Xiang Hao Ting is a rebel who frequently gets into trouble. He is intelligent , only if he focusses on studies. Yu Xi Gu on the other hand is a book worm without friends and studies hard so that he can get into a national university as well as receive scholarships for his high school studies. His parents died when he was young, so he works multiple part time jobs so he can ease the financial burden on his aunt who raised him. Xiang Hao Ting has no such issues given he has a loving and a well to do family. After a few misunderstandings, Xiang Hao Ting finds himself falling for Yu Xi Gu. He doesn't understand what's going on, and asks his close friend Sun Bo who is also gay. Sun also works in his cousin's gym and is a very emotional boy. He has a huge crush on Liu Zhi Gang, an older guy who runs a cafe where Yu Xi Gu works part time. He also likes Sun Bo, but given their age difference and him being just a school boy is very apprehensive of their relationship. We see the lives of these two couples in parallel. Eventually Xiang Hao Ting convinces Yu Xi Gu of his feelings for him and soon start dating. By the time Xiang Hao Ting's parents find out they are furious and forbid them to meet. Yu Xi Gu comes with a proposal that if he can make Xiang Hao Ting focus on studies and get him into a national university, the parents should allow them to see each other again. Eventually it happens. But not everything has a happy ending. One couple gets a happy ending while the other gets a lifetime if grief.
The one thing I really liked was that the series was focussed. Unlike Thai shows where there is a lot of fluff for no reason, this show had no such issue. I mean, they did show a lot of fun banter between Xiang Hao Ting and his friends but it was all so much fun and was more to show the comfort that the group shares and how close they all were to each other. Young kids do and say silly things. We will talk about the ending of the show later, because I am sure a lot of people will have very mixed feelings about it, but lets focus on some of the positives and good things about the show. Firstly, Yu Xi Gu fit the character really well and did a great job from from a physical and emotional perspective. Somehow Xiang Hao Ting was not the right choice of actor for this role IMO. Something was lacking and I could never connect with him. Sun Bo was one of my favorite. He was meant to be a dumb, naïve and impulsive teenager who is kind of falling in love and he portrayed that really well. Liu Zhi Gang was the cutest of them all but very sugar sweet one-dimensional. The slow progress of love between the main couple was done really well. How eventually Yu Xi Gu also falls for the hunk. I really appreciate the fact that more than a couple of episodes were dedicated to the whole sex part between the guys. It felt very real. The fear, uncomfortable, inexperience; and the fact that they talked about a lot of things rather than just make it implicit gave the show a new perspective. The friendships between the group and how they were always there for each other was also portrayed really well. The slow burn love of Sun Bo and Liu Zhi Gang was shown real nice. Did I say before Sun Bo was my favorite and the most real of them all.
Talking about the elephant in the room, the ending is indeed controversial. To be honest, given the title of the series, I was expecting something drastic to happen but when everything seemed going good till episode 9, I thought maybe I was wrong. But sure enough last episode gives you a jolt. It wasn't shocking even then but unexpected, yes. I think the decision was taken to add more of a shock value, because believe it or not, unexpected endings are talked of much longer than happy endings. Also it felt very abrupt, so clearly there is a lot more to the story than what we viewers will ever know. Despite all this, as expected HIStory series has not failed to deliver to its promises. When fresh stories, good production and mostly great cast and acting, this series is definitely making a difference in the portrayal of LGBT community in Taiwan. (7.5/10)
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On a side note, I read some really funny comments on the explicit sex scene between Liu Shi Gang and Sun. Apparently some BL fan girls were not really ready for it lmao.
I really appreciated how they tackled sex in this series. Right from, oh shot! I won't know where to start for a teenager, to pain, to pleasure to actually doing it (Unlike Thai shows, where even getting a kiss leads to P'Dean kind of reactions :)