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...
Three oddballs in a school ultimately come together: Dan is a new boy in the neighborhood, openly gay and wants to start a gay straight alliance but the school board would not allow. We then have Diwata, an aspiring outspoken wanna be actress who is heart broken when she is not selected for a school musical because she is against the changes made to the story to suit the sensibilities of the conservative town. Finally we have Solomon, who has a lot of thoughts and topics that he wants to write about but the school newspaper is heavily censored because of board rules and hence he is also frustrated. Among the only options available to them, the make/join the ‘Speech & Debate’ club because they feel this is what will give them a platform to showcase their talents and fight against the outdated rules of their school. After a few weeks, they make a disastrous attempt to participate in a Portland competition, and get into some big-city trouble when they miss the bus home. They then come up with a master plan to use the board meeting to make people aware of their problems and hoping that with the use of media, things will finally improve for the three of them, for people like them and for the entire school and town.
My biggest problem like I mentioned above is that, this film never connects with the audience. It fails to make a convincing case. If you look from a point of view of brainless entertainment, maybe this is good but then I doubt this was the intention, since a lot of issues have been tried to highlight in this film. Hypocrisy, teen pregnancy, closet gay teacher, homophobia, social media craze, bullying, freedom of speech, and other general teenage issues; and because of this, it never does justice to anything. On the bright side, the acting from all the three main characters is amazing, especially Diwata. Actually she did crack me up a couple of times. Dan was gorgeous looking and gives in a very restrained performance of a city gay boy trying to adjust in a small town. Solomon was also good and added a charm to the story.
A strictly time pass film which I would say as below average. Good looking cast but a weak storyline. (4/10)
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