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...
Orphaned at a very young age, Gui, a fourth-year engineering student, has always had to work hard to support himself. Despite the many difficulties, he has kept his soft demeanor and gentle smile as well as his empathy for others. Solo, a freshman on the other hand has good looks, money and fame but something is bothering him. A chance encounter between the two boys make them instantly fall in love with each other. Then we have Sol's best friend Kao, who is madly in love 9for no reason explained whatsoever) with Phu, heir to a business tycoon who also happens to be Sol's cousin. And finally we have Khim, a girl who works with Gui at a barista and is obsessed with boys falling in love. There are 2 doctors who visit the cafe often and she wants them in love which one of them does to help Khim with her sickness. As expected, Sol's rich father is totally opposed to the idea of this son being together with Gui. In a few episodes we see some background of the orphanage that Gui spent his time and how slowly he starts to involve Sol in his life. When it comes time fo internship, Gui interns in Sol's fathers company with the bet that if he fails he will leave Sol alone. Gui succeeds and finally the lovers are united happily with acceptance from Sol's father as well.
This series has a lot of issues. First the very uneven pace. The whole college life and contests and forced comedy has started to get in my nerves in these BL shows now. over a time we get to know and understand Gui's past and his side of story but we are not told anything about Sol. Why the unhappiness? Someone says that he is linked to Mafia and that he is dangerous. But other than that his back story is still not revealed and that comment has no relevance at all. Why was Phu shown as Sol's cousin? There was absolutely no relevance of this angle too. And why is Kao so badly in love with Phu and pursues him relentlessly, not knowing whether Phu is even interested in boys or not! The whole doctor-Khin angle was so forced and annoying. The supporting couples are good and lively but they take away more from the protagonist's screen time (which itself is stretched in the first place). I would rather create a shorter crispier series that the audience will be able to connect better with. On the plus side, Sol and Gui's chemistry is nice but Gui is one dimensional soft nice character. I wish there was something that makes him angry. niceness doesn't take you a long way. Someone should create a version with only main characters and delete everyone else and maybe the series will be more focussed. The actors, as always good looking and act alright. They all just talk very very very slow and there are a lot of dramatic pauses.
Given the amount of time this series requires and the output it provides, I would recommend this with reservations. Watch it if you really are a huge fan of BL Thai series. (4/10)
Comments
You definitely are one of the more serious Asian BL fans that I have seen :)