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...
This two part mini-series is a show that no one asked for and it didn't need to be made. It doesn't even have a coherent plot. It feel like a glorified ad campaign of something (a product that is never shown) or a music video or something like that. With just 2 episodes of 30 minute each, even this one hour series got me so mentally tired.
Set around a beach, there is a private resort where on December 30th, a guy named Pond shows up. He loses his key and is forced to then share a room with Golf, a guy who is there of location scouting. The two of them are forced to share a room and each other's company for New Years eve. Mild chit-chats and flirting happens while minuscule non-sensible interactions take place. There is not even a proper love story here, but there are feelings they both start to show for one another.
As said earlier, there is no concrete plot here and I am not really sure what it is that the makers were going for when they made this. The first half of the series takes too long to set up the simple premise. The plot often gets sidetracked by the supporting characters and their unfunny antics. Meanwhile, I'm waiting impatiently for the leads to interact. Even the second part where they interact a little more, nothing really exciting happens. They chit-chat and flirt mildly, but that's the extent of their relationship growth. I don't witness romantic sparks from the couple's shallow bond. The side characters are so annoying that you feel like slapping them. A totally unnecessary show, made for nothing, not memorable even for a second and completely avoidable. The half star I just for two good looking leads and the scene where we get to see proper abs of one of them. (0.5/10)

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