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Journey With You (Chinese Series)

By Golu
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...
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My Sweet Brother-in-Law (Vietnamese Mini-Series)

By Golu
The little mini-series from Vietnam was a decent watch. IT had drama, love, emotion, family, everything in it. Sure, it is really hard to combine all this in a small series, but I would rather have the story move forward fast and crispy rather than it being starched unnecessarily. With only 5 episodes of average 15 minutes each, this is an easy watch.

The series starts with a girl introducing her boyfriend to her parents, Hi name is Bao. When her brother walks in, both the guys are surprised. The brother Khanh works a s aTA at the same department where Bao studies. We are told that just a couple of days back , the two had a steamy gay hookup. Also turns out that Khanh has a wife and he is always trying to avoid her. While continuing his affair with Bao, Khanh keeps requesting him to not play games with his sister, but in reality this was all a sham. The sister is actually lesbian and good friends with Bao and they were pretending to do a sham marriage so that eventually she could divorce and not have to tell her parents the truth. Meanwhile Khanh's wife suspects something fishy and finds out about the affair between her husband and Bao. She demands money from husband who refuses and so she exposes him, leading to Khanh losing his job. This is when Bao comes in and exposes how she also has been having an affair with her ex-boyfriend. Disgruntled, she comes to attack her husband in the university but Bao comes in between. He is now in coma. The series end sone year later, with Bao still recovering and suddenly his ex shows up.

As I mentioned , the series is pretty straight forward. I think the focus here is on the stigma attached to being gay in Vietnamese culture pr specifically some families. It is evident by how the inter doesn't tell her parents the truth even till the end. Khanh is ok to take all the blame and his parent's wrath and wants to protect his sister. I can totally see that happening in most Asian culture. Bao is also a good friend. Even though he is helping his friend and is also in love with Khanh, he never mentions anyone's secrets. He believes in people finding out on their own and making their own decision and I liked that about him. He could have otherwise easily created issues. The problem in the show is we don't see a romance build up between the lead actors which I felt was sorely missing. I would liked to have seen what brought them together, what made them stay together and do everything that they did. I watched this series with an open mind. It may feel silly and too convenient at many places, but overall it was a decent watch, more so, because it was focused and had sharp editing. Bot the boys Bao and Khanh were good looking and al the actors did their part well. (5.5/10)
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