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 plot follows Jordan and Dave, a couple who have been together for a few years. Right before Christmas, Jordan pops the question, expecting a big "Yes!" but instead, Dave basically says, "Can't we just stay the way we are?" They head off on a train to spend the holidays with Jordan's aunt, bringing along Jordan’s "sister" Lisa—who was raised by the aunt—and her boyfriend. Most of the movie is just them bickering and talking through Jordan and Dave’s relationship issues. In a weird twist, Dave meets a 20-year-old ski instructor who seems to be closeted and invites him over for a hot tub session, hoping for a threesome, but that doesn't actually lead anywhere. The movie just kind of stops as abruptly as the rest of the story.
The way they filmed this was really awkward because it uses a bunch of flashbacks and has one of the guys talking directly to the camera, almost like he’s on a reality dating show. It felt like Jordan was trying to narrate everything, and the constant jumps to how they met were just annoying. To make it worse, the version I watched looked terrible, and the two leads had zero chemistry. There’s an aunt character who is supposed to be racist and homophobic in a funny way, but none of her jokes actually landed. I think the script itself had some potential, but the acting and the directing were so bad that it was almost impossible to sit through. You could tell the lead actor was struggling because he kept laughing at the wrong times or looking right into the lens. It feels like a short film that someone tried to stretch out into a full movie, but it just didn't work. Even though it's technically a Christmas movie, it doesn't really have that holiday feel to help save the weak plot. Plus, the whole side story with the sister and her boyfriend just felt like extra filler to show off a messy family.
It’s a low-energy holiday flick that suffers from a major lack of chemistry and a messy filming style that makes it a bit of a chore to finish. (2/10)
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