EXCLUSIVE LOVE – 2025 – Taiwan

BLISS RATING: ★+

“Exclusive love is a contradiction in itself.” – Eric From

I can think of a no better quote to describe this series than the one above. This whole series is one giant contradiction. But it presents well. That much I shall give it credit for. It hides its flaws with beautiful men, a heart tugging storyline, and an endearing love story. While the men are quite beautiful, the core story is based on kidnapping and coercion, and the beloved love story (actually there are two) is right out of the trope cliché playbook. You have seen it all before.

Summarily, Wang Zhan (Chang Chia Sheng) comes from a wealthy family who happens to operate a thriving funeral business. He wants no part of it as his heart lies in making music and he is terrified of ghosts. Despite his own wishes and goals, he is kidnapped by Tang Du Zhi (Parker Mao) at the behest of Wang Zhan’s younger brother who now operates the family business but is dying. For some convoluted reason and reasoning, it was decided to kidnap Wang Zhan and force him to take over the business rather than be honest with him with the hope in time, he would learn to love it. This is the classic case of using the Stockholm Syndrome. I am guessing so the brother could die in peace. And it works. But it works because Wang Zhan begins to fall in love with the cold, calculating Du Zhi who secretly is indeed in love with Wang Zhan. Yet, he is the one who masterminded the whole kidnapping and cohesion regimentation.

Of course, Du Zhi’s bitterness towards life is somewhat justified, as the story unfolds.  Secretly listening to Wang Zhan’s music is what got him through this difficult period. Plus, Du Zhi’s invalid brother also loved his music as well. Slowly but inextricably, the two begin to break each other’s barriers down and they fall in love. True to trope script formula, a past friend to Wang Zhan comes back into the picture. Handsome and charming, Ian (Mai) who is also in love with Wang Zhan tries to derail their budding relationship between him and Du Zhi but to no avail. One does have to feel sorry for the third rail characters in these instances!

There is a secondary couple on the peripheral that is charmingly handsome with a somewhat implausible love story. Thick as thieves since high school and also inseparable, Zhang Yi Quin (Hsv Wei Tse) and Tu Jing He (Pu Ching Heng) are, as the expression goes, like ‘two peas in a pod’.  Stemming from a misunderstanding overheard way back in high school, they are in love with one another except it has never been executed. This is yet AGAIN one of those endless and now trite storyline of an immature miscommunication that turned into a reason for two adults to NEVER communicate. Something I simply cannot fathom at all in any culture.

Yi Quin becomes a wedding consultant and as luck would have it, or perhaps misfortune, Jing He’s mother ask him to plan his arranged wedding since they are such good friends. No worries, however, as there is an implausible but admittedly cute twist as to why the marriage will never take place. While cliché, since it was telegraphed fairly early in the series, it was still kind of an endearing reason to see it end the way it did. It provided for some much needed entertainment in this rather standard BL series.

Who really S.T.O.L.E. this series?  Everyone functionally acted well in this series. Can I say anyone caught my attention? Well, no. It all seemed rather robotic to me and with little effort and development to fully get into the characters or who they were. There was one minor exception, and he does stand out, albeit just briefly. He provides the only real link to a sense of connection to the real world. And that is Howin An as Tang Jing An, the younger brother of Du Zhi. Crippled and left with a significant heart condition after the car accident killing his parents, he knows or at least senses that his time left is limited. He sees Du Zhi withdrawing from the world and blaming himself for the accident and his condition. While he does want to enjoy some modicum of living a normal life both for himself and his brother, he has a difficult time trying to get Du Zhi to let go. He does know that the relationship between his favorite singer, Wang Zhan, and his brother is blossoming. Even though it is a significantly small part, Howin An gave this part a real sense of connection to a person who might honestly be existing and not to a mere character in a BL series. And when he passed away, I felt myself tearing up for some reason. He touched me. That is some strong acting.

This series indeed lives up to its contradictions. Let us see how this was accomplished, shall we?

1. It presents well. But its premise was based on kidnapping and coercion as if you could NOT tell Wang Zhan simply the truth. What kind of message is that? You literally use force to convince someone who had no interest, desire, training, inclination or fortitude to want to be the head of a funeral business in 3 months and make him successful. How is that humanly possible except in the BL world?
2. We see that Wang Zhan’s younger brother is dying and he even has a living funeral and then nothing. We are never told if he went to Japan for the experimental treatment or if he died. Bad editing and storytelling. What was his outcome?
3. The nonsensical ‘slow-burn’ relationship development on both couples was maddening. It is as if they tried to deliberately extend the series to fill in space rather than develop meaningful, intense interconnections within the two relationships. When will this ridiculous slow-burn plot line stop being used particularly after the parties already have confessed that they like each other? Develop a story, will you!
4. The ending completely fell apart and became a travesty. This kumbaya moment in which both couples get married at the same time was right out of a trope playbook and felt forced and so contrived and not a natural outcome. While some found the main couple’s connections sensual, I found the kissing anticlimactic and disappointing. None of it really occurs until the end and they missed any intimate effect completely. The trickery to look like they were kissing makes me quite angry (kissing above the upper lips thus kissing below the lower lip) and the rest of it becomes rehearsed scenes with no feeling of effort or commitment. It is really time for some honest dialogue about how sex and kissing is being portrayed in BLs as of late and who is presenting it. It seems more than ever a lot of performers are using BLs as a stepping-stone to further their careers and sacrificing quality of the product to do so as they do not want to do intimate scenes that look genuine real and honest. Shame.
5. The story starts out well and then turns half-baked and then completely non-sensical. The story arcs are all over the map with no one focused on any one thing which leads to inconsistencies in plot development and overall story flow. Three examples: Wang Zhan has a passion and seems good at music and completely forsakes that to take up a new direction. Du Zhi is like one of those old-fashioned faucets with one spigot with two handles. One for hot and one for cold. He could be cold or hot depending on who turns him on or shuts him off. Then of course, you have to have the introduction of the third wheel, Iam, just at the point Du Zhi was about to crack and admit his liking Wang Zhan. This of course is such a new plot twist, right?! And we could never guess how that would turn out?! Like it always does. There are other examples, but why bother.

Overall, this looks good. Polished performances. Even sometimes heartstring scenes. But an empty plot and an awful premise. One should not divorce, nor should one, from how the story developed. Falsely under duress and coercion using kidnapping and abusive techniques. And frankly no ‘love’ should overcome that premise. That is morally, ethically and I suspect legally wrong and unjustified. “Love’ will not change that.  To fall in love with your kidnapper, no matter how ‘valid’ the reasons might seem or be, is a foundation not built on solid trust and one that will become suspect in the future. That is the classic case of using the Stockholm Syndrome.

Personally, I think this is an awful series based on a poor premise, and a weak trite screenplay, and actors who were not good at even pretending to be sincere at being in love. Skip.