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...
Danny is Taiwanese American man in a relationship with Tate in LA. His mother knows about his sexuality but choses to ignore it. Like everyone else she is obsessed with Danny should get married and have kids. For some reason, not explained, becoming a father is equally important to Danny even though his partner Tate is not onboard with it. A quest soon begins for a surrogate mother. Danny's mother is only too happy to help since she gets a grandchild but doesn't want to acknowledge Tate, who is himself not sure about the baby and they take a break. The legality of finding a donor and a surrogate soon takes its tool and the mother son duo travel to Taiwan, India and within US looking for suitable alternate. Eventually its the mother's young trusted maid who come to their rescue to be the surrogate. Even though the mother is happy, she is still in denial about letting her friends know about Danny's sexuality and his partner Tate. Eventually when Danny can't take it anymore, he confronts his mother eventually telling her that both Danny and Tate got embryos creates with different donors and its actually Tate's baby that finally made it. The mother finally comes to sense and accepts them as a family.
Even though the story is interesting, it only scratches the surfaces of the many issues that it tries to tackle with. The relationship between Tate and Danny is not very clear. They lack chemistry of a committed couple wanting to have a baby. They seem to be going through their own issues. But I guess the film's focus is more on the mother-son relationship that the gay couple itself. Their interactions oscillate back and forth between misunderstood, to loving, to passive-aggressive, to acceptance. She is pushy and interferes in every single thing about Danny's life, which I can understand is integral in an Asian family. The whole boyfriend situation felt like an afterthought add-on. There were random scenes about Danny's job, his friend from daycare, why does Danny want a baby and such which seem forced or not explained enough. Also, why does Danny have to say "okay" pretty much after every sentence to his mother? That was so annoying. Eventually, when the mother asks her maid to become surrogate, it actually felt like exploiting her and taking advantage of her poor situation which felt morally wrong to me. Eventually everything's well that ends well. Acting is strictly ok by the couple. It's the mother who shines out.
A decent story but an unconvincing screenplay. I have some major issues with the film as discussed above but its still an average film that can easily find a decent audience for itself. (5/10)
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