BLISS RATING: ★
“The best smell in the world is the scent of the person you love.” – Paulo Coelho
I must confess that I knew nothing, and I mean nothing, about the world of Omegaverse especially as it pertains to the BL genre. Honestly, the hierarchical society that it creates is not just novel, it potentially unwraps a cacophony of creative possibilities for romantic and sexual relationships among men. So, the concept intrigued me. Perhaps I am not within the demographics the purveyors of this type of art form were aiming for, however. For I found, overall, this diegesis confusing and the dynamics of the plot messy, empty, and frankly hard to follow. However, that is not the only reason why I so intensely disliked this series. It is a ‘wolf in sheep’s clothing’, which I detested even more. Whether one likes to admit it or not, this story is filled with pervasive ugly bullying, abuse of all various kinds, toxic masculinity, rape, rampant sociopathic personality disorders, over-the-top arrogance, and perceived entitled overindulgence. Why is all this not seen? Because of the stunningly handsome men who sugar-coat it with wit, charm, astonishing good-looks (eye-candy), and persuasive discourse. In a sense, these super-rich guys can do no wrong for the sole reason being the status of who and what they are. If this series had been portrayed with other than handsome men (e.g. pot-bellied, acned-faced, balding with missing teeth middle-aged guys instead), what would our reaction be?
The story also hides another, regrettable major flaw in this series. And that is its lack of an acting magnitude. ALL these characters, save one, are one-dimensional characters who after a while became caricatures. Some of them completely sickened me as to what they represented and who they were. Almost all were astonishingly self-centered, conceited, so self-absorbed it was hard to feel sorry for them, which I did not in any way shape or form. Almost all of them are manipulating con-artist and feel entitled and when they did not get their way, they pouted and whined like petulant children. Only so much could be blamed on pheromonal imbalances – the rest of it is personality disorders. After a while, most of them dismayed me as humans and I found the lot of them unworthy of feeling anything except contempt and disgust. They were rich, spoiled, pampered, overindulged children and why lucid viewers could not see that simply baffles me. None of them, save one, showed love in any true sense of that word. And none of it could be blamed or cursed on whether they were Alphas, Betas, or Omegas. They were all simply bad guys who were dealt good hands in life.
Specifically, the relationship between enigma Hua Yong (Huang Xing) and S-Class Alpha Sheng Shao You (Qiu Ding Jie) would need several volumes to decipher. It is a simple relationship made complex that was, is, and always will be based on lies and an obsession, and an unhealthy one at that. Watching their relationship fester is like watching a sociopath work his magic. It is both beguiling and tragic at the same time. But not real. It is all a fantasy, an illusion. It all looks so good and feels satisfying superficially but is built on a house of cards. And it is full of deceit and manipulation. I do not have issues with the Omegaverse hierarchy structure and how individuals develop. I have an issue with the lack of any sense of integrity, morality, scruples, or ethics. If it please me, it is ok. That I have a problem with.
There is a second couple which unfortunately is equally as spurious and dishonest as the first but even in a more harmful fashion. Gao Tu (Li Pei En) is the lone exception here. Among the protagonists, he is the only one with some sense of integrity but unfortunately lives a life of lies out of necessity. He is an Omega pretending to be a Beta for the sake of his job and ‘friendship’ with his boss, Shen Wen Lang (Jiang Heng), the head of a company who is an abusive Alpha. Shen Wen Lang despises Omegas and has disdain for children. One can use all the psychobabble that one prefers to justify his actions, but he too is an obnoxious, arrogant, ruthless, and a rather naïve individual. Throw in being dense as well.
While most of these men are gifted, they do not use their intelligence to enhance anything that shines of goodness, or improve the quality of humanity, or specifically any singularly within the population; only themselves. I found that sad, dispiriting, and barren of any connection to society.
Who really S.T.O.L.E. this series? Li Pei En as Gao Tu did. He had integrity and worth and a goal outside of himself. He sacrificed and subjected himself to abuse, neglect, and bullying along with rape from his boss Shen Wen Lang. He needed his job for his sister’s medical bills and to feed his father’s gambling addiction. While being of weak character, that is still not a reason to be a subject of abuse. And the fact that his boss, who in reality is deeply in love with him, is too self-centered and arrogant to see past his own personal space. So, when Gao Tu becomes pregnant with Shen Wen Lang’s child, he would rather face it alone than subject himself to the consternation, humiliation, and frankly abuse that he would have gotten from Shen Wen Lang, since he knows how he sees Omegas and his revulsion of children. He could not abort the pregnancy and would rather face the world alone than be subjected to the continued torture from the man he deeply loves but who loves himself more and is incapable of loving others. Le Pei En plays the part with such a quiet fortitude and conviction that indeed he convinces all that he is an Omega. We can see the struggles in his eyes and on his face, he has with trying to navigate life living such a lie. We can see clearly Le Pei En himself become a beaten and almost defeated Gao Tu. But he never does. His portrayal is simply outstanding and is deeply convincing and persuasive.
Honestly, how anyone can see romance in this series escapes me. I found none. Beautiful men pretending to be something they are not. I found this to be the worst form of caste system. Everyone knew their place. A sad commentary of what is to take place.
The ending completely baffled me. I simply did not understand it but by that point I lost all interest in this charade and did not care. This happy-go-lucky picture-perfect family life where everything seemed ‘normal’ was so far from the truth, that I felt I was watching a dream sequence buzzed on something I took too much of. It did not seem real at all. This is not normal, and we should not even remotely entertain that this is conventional.
This is a toxic abusive unhealthy representation of what gay relationships are. I am sorry to say that, but it really is. Of course, the men are gorgeous and handsome and so we do not want to see the flaws; but this is a sick and demented series. It is NOT the genre itself, as that indeed has potential. It is the way that none of this is tethered to any sense of morality, decency, or ethical standards let alone a demented way love is presented.
This is a vile, indecent story sugar-coated to look good.
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