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 ...
Tong and his friend Tonkla have grown up in an orphanage. Tong was told he is sick and is beer allowed to play otherwise he could bleed which will not be good for him. Truth is his blood is what's called 'Golden Blood' in vampire lingo. More on that later. When he and Tonkla move to city for further studies, one day Tong takes up job of a waiter at an event, which turns out to be events of secret vampires. He meets Mark, a 200 year old vampire and heir to a big empire but Mark tries to keep Tong away from the crowd, sensing the danger. One slip, one small cut—and the scent of Tong’s blood, his Golden Blood, floods the room. The villain vampire Nakan also smells it and wants the blood too. Mark runs away with Tong to protect him. Turns out the vampire mother had tasked Mark with protecting Tong ever since he was a kid, since his blood is extremely important to vampire community and till Tong turns 21 he needs to be protected. From here, for a few episodes, the typical BL tropes set in where Tong doesn't believe the story Mark is telling him but sending danger, he has to trust Mark to safeguard his life. They duo eventually tell Tonkla the secret as well but they cannot trust anyone since the villain Nakan has the ability to hypnotize others. A lot of cat and mouse chase continues with Nakan attacking and Mark trying to save Tong. In the process Tonkla dies. Of course while all this is going on, Mark and Tong are hopelessly falling in love withe each other, Every time they make love, Mark has to control his desires, because the smell of 'golden blood' is very attractive. But slowly Mark discovers that there is a larger conspiracy in play. Mark has been the pawn in a larger game, that has been planned by none other than the mother vampire herself. After a last few episodes of kidnappings, fights, lengthy dialogues, Tong and his blood saves the day but in the process he also ends up becoming vampire. At least now mortality will not be in the way of Mark and Tong being together.
This fantasy genre series starts off really well actually. After the first two episodes I was genuinely excited and was looking forward to something new and different. The campy, over-the-top storytelling was somehow working. Soon enough Tong is in the university and Mark joins too. Regular BL tropes start to follow with the feelings of every individual changing every few minutes. Their decisions didn’t make much sense and their emotions seemed to flip on and off like a switch. One minute they are scared, the next they are head over heels, with zero explanation. One moment one tries to kill the other and the next moment they are hot and heavy for each other. Whatever logic the show had in the beginning clearly checked out halfway through and what was left was just an unintentionally cringey mess. The show would have been nicer and tighter if all the fluff from the middle had been taken away and this was seriously made fantasy show. Nakan's character also started off pretty strong but somewhere it was relegated in background only to resurface again. There was so much potential here. The twist in the end where Nakan was probably the nicer guy trying to protect both Tong and Mark and make Mark see the truth behind his blind loyalty was interesting but people like me saw it coming miles away.
Th actor suit their part. I thought Mark was handsome, hot and hunky and had no issues showing his body. His love scenes with Tong were sensual and the duo had good chemistry. But Tong was very one dimensional I felt. He always had this puppy look of save me syndrome. Sadly, the show struggles with momentum. There's a lot of build-up, but not enough payoff. For a vampire show, it seriously lacked any bite. The series flirts with so many interesting themes—immortality, forbidden love, the sensuality of vampirism, existential dread—but never fully commits to any of them. The writing feels safe, sometimes flat, and misses the emotional punch that this kind of story should deliver. Parts of it are extremely interesting while there are parts in the middle that are a big yawn. But hey, visuals the show is still high production , visually pleasing and with a good looking cast and some hot BL romance. And if that floats your boat, then definitely go for it. (6.5/10)
Comments