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...
Wayo and his best friend Ming have just been accepted into the university. Wayo is excited because he will finally get to see the person Pha on whom he had a crush for a while and who studies in the same university. Ming has known about his forever, so he is really excited and supportive of his friend. In the university the first few conversations between the two of them don't go very well. Its time for the "Moon and star" competition where one guy and one girl is chosen from every faculty to compete for campus moon and star. Ming and Wayo both get to represent their faculties. It turns out that Pha was campus moon last year and his fan following is off the chart. Slowly we see that Pha starts caring for Wayo and waits for him during his practice sessions. His best friends Kit and Beam also push him for it. We later find out that even Pha had a crush on younger Wayo for a while in school but Wayo has gotten much more handsome now and it took Pha a while to realize that its the same guy. Meanwhile another senior Forth takes a liking for Wayo, which makes Pha jealous. He gets even more possessive of Wayo. Ming meanwhile starts getting feelings for Kit and starts pursuing him aggressively. Kit agrees to go on a date with Ming if he wins the campus moon. Eventually competition day comes. Wayo gets popular vote and Ming becomes campus moon and finally indirectly the two couples confess their love for each other.
My one big problem with the BL shows is that it gets very repetitive episode after episode. And its until until the very last 2 episodes where the protagonists express their love and confess. Until then, all they do is flirt with each other, make each other jealous. eat almost all the time (What's up with the characters being hungry all the time in these shows). They are always hungry. The flirtations, the jealousy, the tease become repetitive; just the location and scenario change. And then there are a lot of scenes where the reactions are just frozen. I wish the editing was slightly more crisp. But on the plus side, I think the makers are very clear on their target audience and I can imagine why they would eat up shows like this. The guys are all amazingly cute and delicious and most of them have amazing chemistry. Wayo has a peculiar cute and innocent look that works in the characters favour. And I think most of his reactions were spot on, not only in this show but compared to even the others that I have seen. Pha on the other hand, was not that hot as his character i supposed to be. Beam and Kit were much cuter. Story of Forth wasn't really well developed for us to even be able to connect with his character. My absolute favourite character in this show was Ming. He was the best friend that anyone can ever ask for. He is always there for Wayo to the extent of even seriously asking Pha to take good care of him and not hurt him, knowing very well that he is senior. No wonder most guys think in the show that they are a couple. On the other hand, I am not sure Wayo paid enough attention to Ming, especially when he starts liking Kit and wants something concrete with him. Despite all this, Ming was amazing and I was happy that he is shown to win the contest.Even the way he pursues Kit and all their interactions were much more real and cute than those of Wayo and Pha. The good thing about these shows is that they try to not stereotype sexuality. I mean all these folks could be straight or gay and no friends judge them for it. It's about falling in love for a person. Whether it's a girl or boy is immaterial. Two things that I don't understand is how is these folks dorms so clean and huge. They all get to stay in individual hotel like rooms is amazing. And secondly when do these people ever study? Pha, somehow is always lurking around wherever the practice for the competition is going on.
If you have read some of my other reviews of Thai BL series, you will realize that you need a very specific temperament to be able to enjoy these shows. And this show stands very close to some of the other good BL shows that I have seen in last couple of months. (7/10)
Comments
Yo's number at the piano is to be remembered as the best scene in this show.
Can I say it's funny reading your review, when you were still forgiving and full of hope future thai BL would slowly evolve (... because we all know now that most of them didn't and will never lol).