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...
The story follows two best friends, Danny and Elliot, who are desperate to get out of the draft. They decide the best way out is to pretend they're in a relationship, but the Army doesn't just take their word for it and puts them under surveillance. Even though they’re both young and have girlfriends, they’re forced to move into an apartment building full of gay residents to keep up the act. It’s a total mess because they’re trying to date women on the side without getting caught by the military investigators watching their every move. Their landlords, Malcolm and Craig, are constantly in their business, and at first, the boys just dismiss them with some pretty rude slurs. However, as they get to know the couple, they realize they’re actually good people and start to question all the prejudices they grew up with. Tensions boil over between the friends because Elliot just wants to go out and party with girls, while Danny is terrified of slipping up. Between parents visiting the apartment and a trip to a gay club, things stay chaotic until a twist ending: even when they get caught, they don't get drafted because the Army investigators are actually gay themselves and want to keep straight people out of the military.
As you’d expect, the whole movie is extremely campy. If you don't take it too seriously, you might actually find yourself laughing once or twice. I’ll admit I smiled at a few parts, especially the scenes with Malcolm and Craig—like when Malcolm pops over to fix them breakfast. The opening scene where a military doctor grills them with questions to see if they're "actually" gay was also pretty funny in a ridiculous way. Yeah, the movie is packed with every stereotype in the book, but it’s a farce from the late 60s, and they were basically just playing off how people saw gay men at the time. It’s probably asking too much for a movie from that era to be ahead of its time. The actors were actually all really good and played their parts exactly how they were supposed to. It’s pretty interesting to see how gay characters were shown in mainstream movies back when being gay was still mostly underground.
You have to watch it for what it was meant to be: just a bit of light entertainment. It’s not trying to make a big political statement or anything; it just wants to give you a quick chuckle. (5/10)
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