Is this technically a gay show? Even after getting through the whole thing, that's still kind of tricky to answer. There's never any physical intimacy shown between the two leads, not even a single kiss. What it gives you instead is something that goes way deeper than that. It traces an emotional bond that spans a full decade between two guys who are both dealing with their own baggage, and what they share basically amounts to being soulmates. The story moves across Japan, South Korea, and Berlin. Honestly, whether people want to call what they have a romantic relationship or not doesn't really matter to me. A relationship doesn't need a label like boyfriends attached to it to actually mean something. And closeness doesn't need to be physical to feel genuine. What this show captures is something quieter but way more powerful, a bond rooted in understanding, respect, and just showing up for each other. Across eight episodes, each running 35 to 45 minutes, this is one...
The show starts with Xiao Bai and Da Hei looking for an apartment as roommates together. They dont know each other well. Once they find an apartment, we find that Da Hen is actually an investigation officer, who has been sent to keep an eye on Xiao Bei, who works for a local gangster to raise some money for his sister's surgery who is in hospital and insurance doesn't cover. Da Hei has lied to his grandmother who runs a food stall near the gangster's office about the sister. Xiao Bai follows Da Hei everywhere when he goes for "assignment" but he never finds anything fishy and always says that he goes for simple work. The duo, at some point start to pretend they ar boyfriends, when Da Hei's grandmother suddenly shows up at his apartment looking for his girlfriend. As expected, a fake relationship soon becomes love, especially when Xiao saves Da Hai a few times on his risky work assignments. Meanwhile intelligence agency finds out that Xiao Bai has fallen in love and may not be serious about his work so he is called off from mission. He tells the truth to Da Hen, who feels betrayed while they are deeply in love still. He forgives him mentally and then the last three episodes are literally about Xio Bai's grandfather having to accept that his grandson is gay and is in love with another man. He cannot comprehend that but when the grandma pays a visit, everything is sorted. There is also a parallel short story of sorts about the gangster (who is probably a nice guy), once had an affair with Xiao Bai's boss at the agency but eventually he is now in love with Bai's older brother.
The thing with this series is that it's just basic. Chemistry and acting was more than decent and it was quite fun to watch, but nothing earth shattering. It doesn't leave you with any long lasting impressions. Personally, I was into the show just because of Xiao Bai. He was super cute and the way he secretly follows Da Hei and falls in love with him and makes him fall in love was all cutesy. When the show started, I thought I will get see some spy stuff since Da Hei is supposed to work for a dreaded gangster, but both the gangster and the intelligence agency was almost a dud. We never see the gangster guy do anything shady and meanwhile the less said about the "intelligence office" the better. So, maybe you will enjoy the show if you tell yourself that it is just one of those silly shows that just want to entertain and does not have to be taken seriously. The problem is when you set expectations in first couple of episodes but then the series goes in a different direction. Even the whole premise on how they got in a relationship and how it progresses over a period of time was full of gay BL tropes and nothing was new here. I did enjoy the frequent kisses though. The series works primarily because of leads and their chemistry and some other good looking characters. But besides that it was yet another average show. (5.5/10)
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