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...
Stephen and John are both struggling young actors who live in a very open and proudly gay section of Dublin. They are both extras (or crowd arteeeeest, as their agent likes to call it). They are close friends and enjoy the daily ups and downs of the single gay life including drinking, flirting and just having fun. John has a masculine lover, who is in prison and they both yearn for each other. Meanwhile Stephen meets a guy couple of times, but nothing happens. It turns out that this guy is David, who happens to be the director of the commercial who have signed Stephen for it, making that his big break. David is a player and doesn't shy away from hiring prostitutes for fun. After a few meetings, David and Stephen fall for each other but some misunderstanding occurs when one of David's old tricks gets overdosed in his apartment. All's well that ends well. John gets to marry his imprisoned lover eventually and Stephen and David start all over again afresh.
From a story perspective, it's a very simple one. The two friends are very close and thankfully the makers don't try and create any unnecessary sexual tension between them. Yes, gays can be just close friends too. Falling for David, in my opinion, was very opportunistic on Stephen's part, when he finds out that he is a director. David is the same guy whom he had subbed earlier saying that David will never be able to have him. Why would David forget that, is beyond my comprehend, but I guess eventually they both end up genuinely liking each other. John's love story is funny and adds some light moments to the film. Besides this, there are a lot of random characters who pop in and out not adding much to proceedings as a whole. My favorite was the agent who liked to be called Duchess. There is really not much to talk about in this film. It is a strictly very average, very basic, neither boring nor entertaining film. Oh! And I have no idea what's the reference of the title. I'd appreciate if someone could educate.
I usually like or hate or have simple opinion about a film, but this film was something I really didn't care much about. It wasn't horrible. It was just 'meh!'. (3.5/10)
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