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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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People Come Later (Vietnamese Mini-Series)

By Golu
A down to earth BL series set in the rural country side where the realization to stop the pain, a self-sacrifice had to be made which is the price of love. Continuing the trend, this is also a low production series from Vietnam, but at least here, the was not as bad. Acting and story had some depth and thought was given through. One of the shows where things don't end on a happy ending, but probably more reality. And in this case, the choice was made, deliberately, not to have one. This mini-series was 4 episodes of 30 minutes each. For some this show may feel genuine and real, which it likely is, but it could still use a lot of polishing.

In rural village, we meet Bach and Han, two brothers. Bach is the older one who odd job jobs and work in a wood factory to take care of him and his younger brother. One of the neighbors nephew Tung comes to stay with her leaving's home since his family cannot accept that he is gay. Tung is employed at the same location where Bach works. Before long a close relationship develops, and both seem to be in love with one another. Interestingly, once Hao sees Tung, he also falls in love with him and wants him bad. There is a fourth charger of this Ruch boy who has always liked Bach and wants him. So this rich guy and Han orchestrate a plan to break this couple. They frame Tung for robbery and he loses his job. But the guy's hopes are still dashed. Bach and Tung are still in love. One night when Tung is very drunk, he ends up staying at Han's place. This is when Han starts to blackmail him making him go on dates with him, failing which he will tell Bach that he slept with him. Tung complies multiple times but makes very clear that Han for him will always be just like a brother. When Bach realizes everything that his brother has been doing, jealousy takes over him as well and he shoves his love with Tung in Han's face. Unable to bear the loss of his love, Han meets with an accident. Once recovered, Bach realizes his mistake and he choses taking care of Han over his love since he made a promise to his mother. 

I was not expecting the ending where eBack will take responsibility for his actions to create the path to redemption. I had started to wonder in the beginning of last episode on why the show has suddenly made Back to be this villain tormenting his brother with his love with Tung but it made sense eventually. It is a complex story, and I strongly feel that if a big production house takes this up with some more polished writing, this story can do wonders. It's almost like the show is tali about various sins and how people deal with it like lust, envy, jealousy etc. The cast does a good job, as best as they could. As mentioned before, this series, has no happy ending. We do not know if Bach and Tung will ever be together. But the reality is that individual responsibilities do not permit one the luxury of basking in that blessing for very long. It presents moral dilemmas that needed simply ethical solutions to resolve immediately. Bach must learn to live with it, and in the end, with he and his brother beginning to smile, you know, for him, it is the right one. I think Vietnam does have interesting story ideas, but however hard I try to ignore the basic low production values, it is too obvious to disregard. (5.5/10)
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