BLISS RATING: ★★★★★
“If you missed the train I’m on, you will know that I am gone. You can hear the whistle blow a hundred miles. A hundred miles, a hundred miles. A hundred miles. You can hear the whistle blow a hundred miles.” – Song by Peter, Paul, and Mary
This haunting song made most famous perhaps by folk singers, Peter, Paul, and Mary (look them up if you do not know who they are and listen to the song and see if you do not agree) were the words that came to my mind as I watched this series. You can hear the cries and sadness for years to come no matter how far you are away from the pain. This series came the closet of any series I have watched (since “Until We Meet Again” to becoming a masterpiece. It is a brilliant and superb work of beautiful art that will be remembered. It is a profoundly moving and deeply spiritual series that is one of the best if not the best acted BL series.
This is a story of love. Two love stories where nothing else really matters. Both are deep, intense, and forever. You know that; you sense that; you feel that. One love is destined for tragedy and the other is destined to transcend time itself in its simple beauty and intensity. No matter how you look at this series, it will be one that no doubt will deeply and profoundly affect you. It is impossible not to feel.
The series evolves around two couples. The one couple is a love story between Xiang Haoting (Wayne Song). He is an out-going, ill tempered, manipulative extrovert who is used to getting his way and to some degree can be a bully. Then you have Yu Xi Gu (Juan Zhi Huang). Xi Gu is a studious introverted individual who is trying desperately to blend into the surroundings without being seen. You know from the very beginning that he is a tragic figure who has had to work hard on his own, be on his own, and take care of himself alone. He is an enduring but sad figure, perhaps thinking of himself only in terms of making something of himself in the future and not seeing what is around him.
Meanwhile, Xiang is only thinking of the present and how he can use it for his own benefit. Slowly but inextricably their lives become intertwined, and their destiny is to fall in love which becomes a thing of beauty to watch. Yet, you cannot shake the feeling that this is not the whole story. You can sense and feel in Xi Gu that his life is sad from the moment he was born and to survive was difficult at best and happiness was allusive or was just not meant to be. There are just some people whose lives are meant to be painful to remind us that not all love stories are lasting. Some are like candles even in light wind, they can blow out quickly.
The second couple, while appearing to not be the primary focus, are indeed equally as vital to this story as the one between Xiang and Xi Gu. This couple balances the other one beautifully as this relationship seems destined from the beginning to be. It is also a stunningly beautiful story between Sun Bao Xiang (Wei Chen Liu). Sun Bao is a solid figure who knows exactly who he is and knows what he wants despite being a high schooler. He of any BL character in any series is the most secure, most passionate, most sincere, most committed, and most driven gay character I have seen. He is deeply and passionately in love with Lu Zhi Gang (Han Yuan Zhang). Lu Zhi is an ’older’ guy who Sun Bao sees at the gym where he works. He has fallen in love with Lu Zhi even if Lu Zhi tries to tell him he is too young and he does not know what love really is.
Somehow by sheer will power and the beauty of youth of never letting anything stop in his pursuit of love, manages to convince Lu Zhi of his sincerity. Again, even with his youth, he confesses his love to Lu Zhi who in a real sense has never genuinely experienced the depth of love he gets from Sun Bao. No one has ever loved his so deeply and with such commitment as Sun Bao, again despite his youth. There is a quiet yet progressive development of true genuine love between the two that is a joy to behold. They are, in action and purpose, connected. Their closeness transcends the physicality of being together and it seems to bind them to one another. You cannot but to see both when you see either one. This is because of their closeness to each other. It is indeed a sign of true beauty.
While the paths each couple takes to their relationships are different, there is no doubt in either one of these relationships of a connection that runs deeper than physical closeness and indeed is almost spiritual. Perhaps in a metaphysical sense, their connections have become so intertwined that their souls are almost united. But tragedy strikes. It rips at the heart and soul of Xiang. He tries to bury himself into schooling and to succeed for Xi Gu. But the loss is unbearable for Xiang. His family tries to have him understand the need to move on and do the normal things that you are supposed to do, like get married and have a family. Here is where the stories veers off in a strange direction. I am not sure if he has developed a closeness to someone named Phoebe which is alluded to but never fully explained. But the look on his face tells a very different story.
Xiang is profoundly sad and is in such intense pain from the loss of Xi Gu that nothing in this world will ever fix that, make it get better, or replace it. His soul and spirit were deeply touched and intertwined with Xi Gu that no amount of ‘moving on’ is going to fix it. He says to Sun Bao, “I have changed. [We have changed]. But he has not. His time stopped when he was 18. But mine will continue to move on, unable to stop.” The intense pain and suffering that he feels through the tears is almost unbearable for him as well as the audience. When Sun Bao tries to tell him that, “But for him, [Xi Gu] will always have you at 18 besides him.” This is such a beautiful sentiment that makes the intensity of the feelings become even greater. Xiang cannot, will not move on as his love for Xi Gu was and is so deep that replacement seems even more painful to think about than the loss of him. The depth of his grief is at such a profound level that it is affecting his entire life. He is living almost soulless and certainly with no happiness. He lives his life as in a shell surrounded by his grief and pain of his loss. He is only partially conscious of the world around him and takes no pleasure in anything that it has to offer. Xi Gu’s fate seemed to have been pre-ordained to be sad and painful. Xian’s fate is now the same. It is as if they were both drawn together and to share the same fate. They both talked about going to the Himalayas to so that Xi Gu can touch his parents in the sky. Xiang will be ready someday to go there to touch Xi Gu. My own sense is that he will not find peace there but will be reunited with Xi Gu. This is an utterly profound sad story of love lost by tragedy.
Who really S.T.O.L.E. the series? The acting in this series is nothing short of superlative. All four have shown great depth to their characters and took us on a journey through their characters’ developments. But there is not enough praise for the acting of Wayne Song as Xiang Haoting. The range of his emotions in this character is startling, especially in the last episode. He conveys an intense sadness in his eyes and his behavior that is almost fatalistic. I felt his pain from his loss. I understood the agony of his last six years trying to deal with the loss and utterly incapable of doing so. No one knows the depth of it except himself and perhaps Sun Bao. No one, more importantly, WANTS to know. As his mother tells him, “…you are like a spinning top, spinning around and around. It’s time you slow down a bit. Or you will miss what is going on in your life.” Meaningless words falling on ears that are deaf to empty words. His fate is sealed. Wayne should be proud of his work on this series. To say I cried would not quite by accurate. More like wailed. More like felt the pain to my core. I understood. Also, Wilson Liu as Sun Bao is nothing short of brilliant. So laid back and at times low-keyed but incredibly consistent and believable. He understands who Sun Bao is and in essence he becomes Sun Bao. Not only does he convey the ideal lover, but he is also finding ways to improve and maintain the relationship constantly and continuously. He is the antithesis of Xiang. He senses and knows the pain Xiang is in but all he can do is be there for him. Try to comfort him. Try to lessen the pain even for a little bit. The subtleties in this type of ranges of emotions is nothing short of brilliance. He is a superb actor and I tip my hat to his performance. It was stunning and beautiful to watch.
The production of this series is excellent. Some of the most intense (but safe) sex scenes are in this series. The mutual masturbation scene was so incredibly real and stunningly done. That was lust and that was real! Great scene and I am glad it was included. This is what happens sometimes. The lust becomes too great. There are also some disturbing scenes of physically attacking Xi Gu that are unnecessary as well as some bullying techniques that cheapened the message. Again, this is all so unnecessary. Let’s stop with the physical abuse and overt bullying of others or at the very least make sure there are some real consequences for individuals who use these techniques to resolve issues.
While I believe with every fiber of my being that series is the BEST of the HISTORY series, it does have some flaws in it. More so with the ending than the story as a whole. While the tragedy that took place is a shock, it did seem a bit too contrived to me. There is no closure to it. Six years pass without dealing with the calamity. That is not fair to the characters, or the audience and it almost felt as if the production did not trust the depth of acting these guys were capable of doing. Too often, these stories start out strong but move into endings that are so contrived when in reality some deeper connections could have been made. These guys CAN act and should be given the opportunity to take these roles from superficial to a deeper level. Why cannot Xiang grieve? How do families handle this? What did the friends do to get through this? We never found out. We only see the abject pain in his face after six years of apparently dealing with it by himself. Is that what happened? Why the subterfuge of alluding to perhaps him developing a relationship with a woman? Why the need to have a doppelganger interest? That made no sense and was unquestionably out of place.
This story had an opportunity to be a masterpiece of both art and BL but it concluded with too much theatrics as the end. More, I think, because they believed the actors could not add more depth to their characters. This is so wrong. These actors CAN act if given the right lines and the right direction. There is so much more to seeing the depth of Xiang’s pain and how he got there rather than 6 years later. Bring the audience on this journey. Let us see and feel his pain. For sure, the end of gay relationships do not usually end tragically, but that is not to say that it cannot. And again, to not see how gay people would go through the grieving process cheapens the production and glosses over the depth of despair and grief that we do feel after the loss of our love, and in this case, our soulmate.
Trust your story and more importantly trust your actors to deliver. I think you will have a way more outstanding series. Nonetheless, if you listen carefully, you will still hear that train whistle a hundred miles away. Will both Xiang and Xi Gu be on it? With great sadness, I think they will be. But they will be together.
This is still one fine BL and will go down in BL annuals as near perfection.
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