I've always had kind of a love hate relationship with Chinese historical BLs. Some are genuinely excellent, but then there are others that cram in so much plot that keeping track of all the layers of betrayal and scheming gets exhausting, and I end up checking out mentally. Part of the issue is also just how much content is out there in this space, so something really has to stand out to keep me hooked. In this case, the production value is genuinely impressive, top tier stuff, but story wise, I just couldn't bring myself to actually care about these characters. There's a ton of political scheming and backstage manipulation running throughout. Somewhere in the middle of all that chaos, a hostage ends up falling for his own Prince Charming. The show runs eight episodes, each around 50 to 60 minutes long. After spending three years guarding the border, Fifth Prince Yin Qi gets called back to the capital because of a secret letter, only to end up walking straight into a deadly...
This is actually an 8 part gay drama series that was telecast in Hong Kong produced by GayRadioHK in partnership with HongKong Aids Foundation. The serial revolves around the lives of 8 gay guys and cover topics like coming out, safe sex and the important of regular HIV testing. The drama is amateurish but maybe reminiscent to some of the people in the country.The story revolves around the gay community in Hong Kong. It depicts the dilemma and problem faced by most queer during their adolescent or when they started to enter the gay circle before settled down. There are stories involving gay being bullied, isolated by family, unable to find stable relationship, too attach to previous relationships, and many more. Ben is a matured guy who is still in grief on the death of his boyfriend, Zac. After Zac's death, he opened a blog entitled 99 Days. Mike has failed in his previous relationships, he ought to fun instead of love. Jerry is deeply in love with Mike, despite being very famous among the gay community in HK. Don, friend of Tom, victim of bully in his school after he came out of closet. He is very comfortable with his sexuality and don't mind showing his queer's side around Tom. Tom has been hiding his sexuality from his family and friends. Tom and Don love each other but since they are best friends, are afraid to talk about their feelings. There are few other characters. There are couple of stories where Do becomes a big fan of Ben's blog and almost falls in love with him. But Ben is an older guy and he explains that he probably loves him more like a brother. Meanwhile Tom is trying to come out to Ben and uses radio to come out to him and also to tell him how much he loves him. And then there are a couple of random side stories that play which make no sense.
Like I said, this was so amateurish that sometimes I couldn't believe I was watching the crap. Maybe it did make a statement in HK. I mean, I would like to applaud the efforts of the people involved to bring the issues of gay and their problems out in open but please give it some credibility as well. Otherwise the best of intentions can get lost. This is what seems to have happened in this case. And my ratings are hence gonna be based on comparison with other gay cinema that I see.
Completely avoidable. (1/10)
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