Be Loved in House: I Do (2021)

Run of the Mill BL

**Brief Synopsis**
T (Boss): Yu Zen
B (Employee): Shi Lei

- Beginning: B is a normal employee and T is his new boss. They start their relationship on the wrong foot because T is a perfectionist with OCD and needs everything done his way. B is not impressed by his boss no dating rule. However, when B gets kicked out of his apartment with no where to go, his boss lets him stay at his apartment.

- Middle: At first, B was only supposed to stay one day and after that no longer have any other contact with the boss outside of work, but they start spending more and more time together. Feelings starts to develop and they start getting more intimate.

- End: Before they could have their happy ending, T’s ex appears. It is revealed that the ex’s departure was the source of T’s trauma and the reason he didn’t want anyone dating in front of him. Unfortunately, T still couldn’t let go of his past despite loving B. B finds out and distance himself from T until he figures himself out. After realizing he might lose B if he didn’t act, T finally let go of the past and went to find B to confess. The series ends with them happily together.

**My Opinion**

WHAT I LIKED ABOUT IT:
- I really like the concept of enemies to lovers in a company context. I like boss-employee relationship stories as well.
- I like how T changes throughout the series, from his closed self to being more open with B.

WHAT I DIDN’T LIKE ABOUT IT:
- I just didn’t like how the plot was executed. I really didn’t like the angst introduced towards the end of the show.
- The plot is just so predictable and simple with no memorable moments.

**Conclusion**
This is a show I won’t be revisiting.

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The writing could be better

The show overall was very enjoyable to watch. The actors did a great job with the material they were given. I have just two criticism and it's at times a bit illogical plot structure and the OST.
Some of the "conflicts" seemed exaggerated to the point of not making sense whatsoever. And I totally understand that a show like that will present not very realistic scenarios and it will make some things much bigger than they should. I went into this show with that expectation. It was still waaay too much at times.
There were some plot holes and at the end some of the unfinished story had me asking questions.
Some of the dialogue felt a bit stiff and unnatural, but Idk if it's the translation error or not.
All of that I blame on the script, cause the actors were splendid. I really liked the main characters chemistry and tension they managed to create. It was really nice.
My other issue is the soundtrack. There were moments where the sound effects or the music really didn't fit. And again, I'm used to shows using weird sound effects for the comedic value. This wasn't it. Usually I don't really notice the soundtrack, unless the songs are very good. This time I noticed the soundtrack, cause it wasn't that good. It's a shame really.

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Not Compelling, But a Fluffy Sweet Love Story

The storyline is not very interesting, but the sweet fluffiness of this story and its pleasing visuals make it a worthwhile watch if you're interested in short, sweet love stories. The main actors do have chemistry, but their romantic scenes together felt on the brief end. The side characters are good fun, and don't exist merely to fill up space and time but are more fleshed out. I did end up skipping about half of the plot-heavy scenes at a certain point. The addition of a red herring-esque former ex-boyfriend at the end of the show felt deeply unnecessary, which was a tad frustrating, but it didn't throw off the endgame romance plot. Don't expect much, but enjoy the fluff.

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A big fat meh.

I'm a fan of Taiwan's efforts in the BL genre but this was underwhelming for me. After a few false starts I persevered and it did improve as it progressed. The acting was fairly amateur in the first episode and the cast took a while to iron out their rough edges and warm up. The story is fairly standard: unreasonable, arrogant handsome boss + affable and super cute employee struggling to work together in an office environment. What other tropes can we throw in here? Oh, wait, of course, let's make them housemates.

Some redeeming qualities - the lead couple did a fairly good job considering the mediocre story line and support cast. Hank Wang as Shi Lei was especially likeable and I largely saw this through because of his gallant efforts. The whole metalworks office thing was interesting and there were a few enjoyable moments. The second couple were like a tepid cup of coffee (kerpow!) and don't get me started on the other couple in the office. I swear the BL industry is out to make women the most unlikeable and unreasonable characters on the planet.

Look, the tropes are there for a reason - we love them and we love watching them time and time again. I understand Taiwan shows usually have fairly modest budgets to work with but the His Story and We Best Love franchises have proven that with some creativity, a good story and a strong cast, greatness can be made! I hope to see Hank Wang in better shows.

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Snooze fest

I really wanted to like this series as it seemed very promising from the trailers/clips. Unfortunately it was extremely boring. Probably one of the most boring and least innovative BL's I've watched so far. The acting was bearable but my main issue was the writing, it felt lazy, monotonous and very cliche. Which saddens me because Taiwanese BL's are usually very good when it comes to the actual story/writing. The only favorable thing I can say is the cast is very beautiful, however there's no real passion or believable connection between any of the characters so it's like watching pretty robots interact. If by chance there is a second season I hope they hire new writers and put more of an effort into making it feel authentic.

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Good but not excellent

When I initially watched this series, I gave it a very generous 9.5 rating. This was when I first got back into watching BL series again, and the last series I watched before my hiatus was during the 2gether and TharnType era where the standards were much lower. I thought that this series was brilliant because it does not succumb to the early BL days toxic plot, it was very refreshing to see two parties who are undeniably attracted to each other without one person looking like they're about to shit themselves just thinking about kissing a dude.

However, the rating for this series went down quite a bit for me when I watched this without my rose-tinted glasses. Don't get me wrong, this is still a good series and quite enjoyable of a watch, but there are major issues that affects my watching experience. Let's get the bad out of the way first:
1. Pacing is not the best. The ending felt rushed and although I do like that they honor past relationships and did not demonize the ex, it just doesn't make sense to make half the final episode about YuZhen and his ex instead of the main couple. The flow between YuZhen hesitating to take the next step with ShiLei and then finally getting over his hesitance and fear is also not very well written in my opinion.

2. The ex's motives are weird - borderline incomprehensible to me. Spoiler: the ex pretended to be the villain to get YuZhen to move on because he felt guilty that he caused YuZhen trauma. This just doesn't make sense to me, especially with the way it was written. This could have been sold to the audience better if they either: change the ex's motives, or change the writing of the interactions between the ex and the main couple.

3. I am not convinced that ShiLei is YuZhen's first choice. This is hugely due to the editing and writing choices made for the last couple of episodes. They started out so well. The actors had amazing chemistry, they did the enemies to lovers trope well, and the progression felt organic. However, everything they built was ruined the moment they wrote ZiTong's character in. This is just something I can't get over after my second watch.

Now let's move on to the things that were executed really well:
1. The actors were absolutely adorable together. They have a very natural chemistry with each other and I absolutely adore that they nailed the dynamics of being enemies, then friends, and then love interests. Hank Wang is a standout in this drama to me - it is an absolute joy watching him on screen.

2. Characters were written well. Even when they were enemies and were technically hostile toward each other, they were never unnecessarily evil or mean which I adore. I also hate incompetence so it is an absolute pleasure to see two people who are very competent at their jobs with each other. No useless uke trope here! Shi Lei is also an assertive character - even though he is YuZhen's employee, he is also someone who will stand up to YuZhen to defend his team and to defend his stance on issues. Hugely adore this.

3. This was basically the perfect amount of romance, pining, and companionship until ZiTong's character was written in. If they eliminated the whole ex storyline, this would have stayed a 9.5 for me.

4. I did enjoy the fact that they respect previous relationships and first loves - I love that they didn't do the whole "I've never loved anyone until I met you" thing, because people can have big love stories before they find their soulmate and it does not negate their feelings for their current partner. I do not like the way this was executed, but I do respect the decision to showcase YuZhen's previous love for ZiTong.

5. Side couples are sweet.

Look, this still ranks high in my books because I am biased and choose to focus on the excellent first half of the series. I would still recommend watching this drama, but please try to turn off your brain in the second half otherwise you'd be as frustrated as I am with the writers.

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Wasted potential

This started great tbh. The premise was nice. The old enemies to friend to lovers trope. The acting was great, ost was great and chemistry between the leads was also great. So why does this has such a low rating. The pacing, story and logic is all over the place. First, this series is so slow, I for one like it better because I watched it late and could watch it all at once but to be one of those people that had to wait for a new episode every week, I would have seriously dropped it. The problem that existed in the first episode became a problem till the last episode. They drag the problem of the main lead for too long. They made them become a couple till the last fucking episode and they thought that they could make up with us with a sex scene lol. I am thirst but not that thirsty to turned a blind eye to ridiculousness. Now the logic with this series or actually main lead makes no fucking sense. So there is rule that there should be no office romance. Stress on the OFFICE pls cause this mf thought that he has the right to ban an romance, doesn't matter if the person they are dating is an employee or not. The lead thinks that he can make them single forever lol logic where? Also the thing that I fucking hated the most was that they did not made the main leads a couple at the end of the episode but they also had the fucking audacity to make Yu Zhen and his ex have more chemistry and couple scenes than Shi lei do in the entire series. This was my breaking point of actually thinking positive about this series. But despite the terrible story and plot pacing. It did manage to make me entertained, laugh and smile at the main leads chemistry. But ehh, another series ruined by terrible pacing. The only reason the rewatch value is high since the main leads chemistry is cute and there were a lot of shirtless scenes and the everyone is attractive.

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It really grew on me

When I first started watching this show I only liked it fine until somewhere around the half-way point when all of a sudden it dawned on me that I'd not only become invested in the characters lives without realising it, I'd also wholly fallen in love with the entire story.
This series has its flaws to be sure, but it also features some incredibly compelling story-telling delivered through beautiful cinematography, solid editing, and fantastic performances by the entire cast.

The set-up may seem contrived at first, but quickly paves the way for some fascinating characterisations; the story at times feels like a character study more than anything else and I personally really enjoyed that aspect of it. The characters are all given a lot more depth than strictly necessary for a light, romantic drama, as well as the agency to sometimes act outside the simplistic bounds of black-and-white morality.
Yu Zhen, for instance, is shown to be clearly aware that his "Single Rule" is not strictly legal, he simply bets on his employees being too invested in the company's continued existence to report his wrong-doings to any authorities.
Similarly, Shi Lei's meddling in the affairs of a client proves to be largely successful, but it is also made clear that his actions are ethically questionable.
And of course there's Yi Zi Tong, whom viewers appear to either despise as an unnecessary addition to the plot for the sake of drama, or appreciate as a necessary instigator of Yu Zhen's character development.
His addition to the story may in fact not have been strictly necessary, but he is a very complex and interesting character. He appears out of nowhere as Yu Zhen's self-styled saviour, presumably out of some lingering sense of guilt over how their relationship ended, and thoroughly derails the leads' budding relationship. He has nothing but good intentions, he's correct in a lot of his assumptions about Yu Zhen's mental state, but for the most part his actions seem to cause more harm than good.

It's these small, unusual elements that, to me, elevate the story way above the level of a silly rom-com.
Yes, it makes liberal use of tropes and cliches, but the characters are three-dimensional, they are flawed, likeable, often genuinely hilarious, and feel like real people, which makes the relationships depicted feel real and believable in turn - a personal highlight for me is Qiqi and Gang's relationship, which is a wonderful depiction of a healthy age-gap romance. Their age difference isn't ignored or put off as irrelevant; their different life experiences lead to differences in opinion and relationship expectations. This in turn leads to conflict, which the two then resolve through open and honest communication and compromise - it is truly a joy to watch.

So if you're looking for a rom-com with great acting, lovely queer representation (there is even a very touching coming out scene, if that sways you either way), and a very sweet slow-burn romance which has some bite and intelligence to it, then look no further.
If you just want something light and easy to watch that's perfect for a lazy weekend on the couch, then this series will deliver as well.
I will say, however, that this is a show best enjoyed in one or two sittings. The slow, gentle pacing best lends itself to binging rather than to watching one episode at a time :)

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Only for Aaron and Hank

Ok, so I watched this series because of the main leads. I believed they have a powerful chemistry. Hank is so adorable. And Aaron is the mysterious type.

Story is just so so, its kinda boring in the middle. The development of their love story is too slow. They could have added more sweet moments or some love-hate relationship more. The music is just ok.

I was hoping for season 2. Just to give justice to the missing pieces left from season 1. I hope season 2 will answer some details that is missing in season 1.

Overall, I still recommend everyone to watch this.

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I recommend it!

I've read a lot of people complaining about this series but I personally really liked it.
Yes, it's slow paced and I think the broadcasting team made a bad decision by releasing one episode a week. When I saw that, I decided to wait until the end of the series so that I can watch it in one go and that was a pretty good decision that I've made because I'm satisfied with the result.
I think it is a pretty realistic story, the characters not able to be upfront with their feelings because they're scared. It happens to a lot of people (and I'm one of it). So maybe for a show, it is annoying but I liked it a lot.
The only thing that I wasn't quite happy with was the end and the trio Shi Lei, Zi Tong and Zhao Gang. To me, it wasn't necessary as Shi Lei was already ready to confess his feelings.
Also, I was suprised to see Wayne! Is his goal to make a cameo in every BL show from Taiwan (and Japan)?

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