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Chained To My Bully Stepbrother (AI Vertical BL Drama)

By Golu
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 ...
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The Most Peaceful Place (Vietnamese Series)

By Golu
Had I seen this BL back in 2021 when it came out, I might have a slightly more appreciation for the show than what I have right now. And to be honest, as of today, I don't really have much to say about the show. It just made me realize how basic were the stories that were being told in BL context from most Asian countries and makes me appreciate how we have grown both in terms of storytelling and the production efforts that are going in every year to make these stories bigger and better. This series was 6 episodes of about 25-30 minutes each and honestly was all over the place.

The basic premise is between Phuc and Tung who share a on-again-off again relationship. Phuc is staying with his cousin in countryside. When Tung visits his parents who are neighbors, they are not home so Tung ends up staying with Phuc. They were likley boyfriends or had feelings before, but Tung is a bit envious and jealous by nature. He once saw Phuc hugging another boy, who was Tung's brother and since then he has sort of been resentful with Phuc. And as a second couple we see that Phuc's cousin has a secret crush on Tung's brother, who I was never sure on whom he has a crush on. It seemed as if he was always into Phuc but when he sees that he is in relationship with Tung, he sort of gave up. The secondary couple of two brothers banter back and forth with one another without either one ever really confessing that they like each other. They pretend that they do not but are inseparable. All these folks move to Saigon for various reasons and live together. Phuc befriends his neighbor, a good looking guy who takes a liking for Phuc. Oblivious to this fact, Phuc, because of his nice nature, make friends with him, but this new guy plays all kind of dirty mind games so that he can get Phuc and Tung break up, which they eventually do since Tung himself is the jealous types. Eventually the misunderstand is clear and Phuc and Tung make up with both confessing their love for one another and that they will never hide anything from each other again and never say ‘good-bye’ to each other. The secondary couple also finally admit to each other that they like one another. 

It is obviously a low-budget production and is not particularly developed to advance any significant depth to the characters. So as mums it felt almost a torture to watch he show 4 years later, it is nice to see stories and production companies doing more for audiences all around. Coming back to this series, the editing was particularly bad. The show would randomly, all the time, just cut to some flashback sequence, which a lot of times would not make sense. Also, it was never clearly mentioned whether Tung's brother was also into Phuc or not because at a lot of places, thats what the case seemed to me. Even acting was pretty basic for me, which I would mostly blame the director. I have seen the lead actor playing Phuc in many other shows, so I know he is a decent one, but I guess he also evolved over time. I guess the show wanted to put forward that its al about communication when you are in a relationship. The primary couple never talked openly and honestly leading to misunderstandings while the secondary couple never felt brave enough to confess their feelings. But the big problem is that there is not enough time to develop the characters with any real sense of depth to them and therefore, I just did not enjoy or appreciate it overall. (3/10)
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