BLISS RATING: ★★★★
“The heart knows what it wants, all you have to do is speak for it.” – quotediary.me
This Bl starts out rather non-descript and frankly a bit boring. While the initial premise is interesting, it is only referenced once in the beginning mysteriously and then only tangentially afterwards. Which made me wonder about the whole series. True to its Vietnamese roots, it has some powerful and poignant dramatic resplendence. However, its sustainability wore off rather quickly.
Binh Vienh (Ba Vinh) is a troubled individual who escapes to the countryside and finds an inexpensive house to rent because of its ‘haunted’ reputation. Vienh maintains a sense of inward pensiveness and remains a serious character throughout this series. When he moves in, there is a cat that lurks about and is attached to the house and sleeps in the bed. Vienh does seem to take comfort in its presence.
One morning, Vienh wakes up to find a rather handsome young man holding him where the cat was. Figuring he was the cat that has now somehow been transformed into a human. This human is a young rather handsome man that he eventually names An (Mai Vu Luan). Although An acts like a cat, eventually he begins to display human qualities. An explains his transfiguration by saying he has been watching humans for a long time and can model and emulate human behavior.
This story waxes and wanes a lot. It emotionally has such high moments and then profoundly dull ones. You never get an intense sense that they wanted each other when together, yet when they are away from each other, they pine away for one another. It is almost palpable. There are no significantly strong moments in this series, which is a real shame, as the sexual tension is always underlying.
There is a convoluted subplot to this series that initially seemed just thrown in for a distractable storyline. But it becomes way more than that. Vienh’s former girlfriend and companion, Thanh (Cao Trang) manages to find him and tries to reconnect with him, partly at the behest of Vienh’s mother, and partly because she is still in love with him. Of course, An begins to realize what is happening and becomes increasingly jealous as he has become attracted to Vienh. While it has been 5 years since they broke up, there are still feelings on both sides, more so on Thanh’s side. It is hard to just dismiss the feelings by either one. But Thanh soon begins to see that Vienh’s attention, all of it, both realized and unrealized, is for An.
She becomes the guiding light and force for him to recognize his love is with and for An. Slowly but persistently, she forces Vienh to start to deal with his feelings for An. She is and will support him in his effort and helps him to realize that. While she knows that Vienh going back to visit his mother and leaving An alone is not the answer, she will nonetheless support him on his journey to find himself. As fate would have it though, his mother also concluded that Vienh coming home would not make him happy. His happiness is being there with An. She begins to accept the reality. It is her son.
Who really S.T.O.L.E. this series? As a neighbor, they have a quixotic and colorful character named Sammie (Tran Vu Duc Duy) who always seems to be around at the wrong time and seemingly misinterpreting what he sees. Irritating, ingratiating, and exacerbating situations at times, he still provides a sense of comfort when needed and an anchor to An when the times are rough. Often misunderstood himself, he always seems to put the welfare of others first but does so in a clever way. He is a curious soul. Annoying perhaps, but solidly reliable when needed. Always there for you. In other words, a true friend.
This series seemingly did not go deep, until the end. Then it did. And then all the pieces of a puzzle, at least for me, fell into place. And in true Vietnamese fashion, it surprised me by its ending (which I will NOT reveal or even hint at). I genuinely was caught off guard but maybe I should not have been. The ending made it feel more alive, real, and solid and impactful. Throughout, I had felt little connection to these characters and could not figure out why. Yet Vienh knew all along. And so did An. There is and was a story underneath that was not a fantasy but a reality. I did not see it until the end. And frankly I was moved. It now made sense. And it pleased me.
Frankly I am not a fan of the Tik-Tok format to watching a series as it narrows the focus on the content and intent of the series. I feel it limits the scope of having a full experience. Watching it in that format is too constrictive.
To be honest, this is my least favorite Vietnamese BL series, and I am a passionate, almost obsessive, lover of Vietnamese BLs. Yet I cannot dislike it. It is deeply moving and powerful. Vietnamese BLs always have messages and this one is no exception. What is its message? It is the internal struggle of acceptance of who we are individually, the external acceptance of who we want to love, and the facades we hide behind to mask ourselves from the outside world truly finding out who we truly are.
Look at this series in that way. It may take on a deeper meaning for you.
Enjoy!
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