HIStory5: Love in the Future (2022)

Still can't believe this is a History series..

Let's start with the positives. The second couple is amazing, the chemistry is hot, the storyline between them is good, and I am absolutely living for it!

Now, onto the main couple. We've got a time-travel story here, and we all know time-travel storylines are like complicated recipes. If you're gonna make it, make it right! Unfortunately, they didn't do that. The time-travel element in this series is not only confusing but doesn't really add any significance to the show. And let's talk about Dai-Johnny. Dude comes off annoying, childish, and worse, a terrible kisser. I mean, if you're gonna go back in time, at least learn some kissing skills before you do.
Plus, Considering this is a History show, I don't think he should have played this role, because dude acts like he isn't up for this gay ish. Come on, man, show some enthusiasm. And what's up with the lack of skinship? It's been 20 episodes, people! Get it together!

And speaking of things that don't make sense, how did they end up going from living in a storage unit to working for Hai-yi's dad's company, when the whole point was Hai-yi running away from home and not wanting to work with his dad? A lot of details are missing in this series. It's a little confusing, and I have so many questions

Overall, I am quite dissappointed considering how History 1 chemistry even has more spark than this. But hey, at least it's not boring. So i'mma hang in there. Who knows, maybe things will heat up in the next episode... or not."

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had potential, but cliched/nonsense writing ruined it

Overall: the weak script hurt what could have been a unique premise. It has twenty 25 min episodes on GagaOOLala and ten 50 min episodes Viki. I'll be referring to the longer Viki episodes in my review.

Content Warnings: bullying, fight, attempted murder, fight, death, grief, dub/non con kiss

What I Liked
- the intro/music
- clear about when this takes place at the start and after the jump
- that magic dude (who vanished for a large chunk of time)
- the friendships between characters
- sweet/caring moments
- the final episode was better than several episodes previous to it and the NSFW scenes were done fairly well

Room For Improvement
- my main complaint is the weak script, characters are doing things "because the writer said so" not because they would actually do them in real life, I don't want to list all of the nonsense things out but there are a bunch like what kind of warehouse has a kitchen (and a bathroom?!?)
- several characters are too unlikable/hot and cold
- cliches abound including the flamboyant guy as a villain and the evil ex girlfriend cliche
- the boss/employee dynamic had a bit of a grooming aspect to it and it was difficult for me to see past it, wish they hadn't been boss/employee
- the total nonsense with the freezer and lack of consequences
- awful communication
- I like cameos but was not into the stepbrother cameo
- a lot of filler/slow pacing

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Probably the TAMEST History show of the series yet.

First, this show was not all that terrible. I was expecting worse based on these comments/reviews. It was actually better than History 4, in my opinion.

My likes:-

1) Tai Che Ni. He was a high functioning, neurotic mess, but very likeable and funny and I'm glad he released all that energy in taking care of Hai Yi. They had the bickering couple thing going on and it's my fav troupe.
2) Hai Yi. Lips to die for, a big kid, getting through his abandonment issues, but still very sweet.
3) The Time Lord or Time Deity. Whatever the hell he was called, he was funny and his random scenes always cracked me up.
4) I liked how they didn't waste time with Che Ni freaking out when he came to the future. He was adaptable. It helps that it was just 22 years into the future. But yea, they got right down to it.
5) The Sam reveal was a nice plot twist.

My Dislikes:-

1) The second couple really didn't have anything going for them expect for all that company drama and Liang Wen Hsen keeping tabs on Lin Huai En throughout his entire life. But they were cute I guess.
2) Tai Che Ni. The big dummy started to sabotage the relationship from episode 18 and onwards.
😭 Then him asking Hai Yi to go back to the past with him. Child, ain't no sane minded person will go back to 2000 when they have millions and a company to run in the future.
3) The misunderstandings. It's 2023. Time to put this troupe to rest unless it actually works for the story. ALL of these misunderstandings could've been solved if these guys had sat in a room, told their respective partners to STFU, listen and don't walk out of the room, until they had finished EXPLAINING the issues.
4) At one point we got nothing on the time travel element and they just focused on company shenanigans. But this was also clearly soul transmigration since Bo Wei ended up in Che Ni's body. So where's the REAL Bo Wei??? Because they clearly didn't give two craps about what happened to the real Che Ni that must have been trapped in Bo Wei's body back in 2000.

But other than that, this was alright. There was another obligatory History cameo with the stepbrother and psychopath getting their happy ending, but they refuse to give us a proper ending to Hsiao Li Cheng and Teng Teng because their story still felt unfinished. This was possibly the tamest and fluffiest of the History series.

P.S, I liked the main couple's love scene. It was sloppy and more realistic looking.

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Pretending this is not a HIStory installment...

Now, where to begin... I love a good BL drama. This ain't it.

I enjoy the HIStory franchise, which holds in posesion one of my all time favorite dramas ever: HIStory3: Make Our Days Count (I pretend that the last episode doesn't exist). I just can't forget the undeniable chemistry between the main and the side couple - the longing, the kisses, the sexy stuff, the acting AND the plot (again, when rewatching I stop at half of episode 9 and pretend this is the actual end).
I enjoy HIStory4: Close to You - again I am pretending that there wasn't a particular plotline, but other than that we had amazing chemistry between leads.
Overall, there is a lot of pretending involved that something didn't happen in this franchise, but I always gave it a pass, believing that we are moving forward to better and better quality of content.

Now, I never imagined that I have to pretend that a whole a** season of this franchise does not exist. But here we are with HIStory5: Love in the Future.

I just cannot grasp the fact that the same director of HIStory 4 directed this thing too. What went wrong? Instead of moving up, we took a deep plunge into a big mess. I have to believe there was a big, overwhelming issue with the production, cus this is the only excuse I can make up.

About the plot - an absolute chaos, the future element that one would think was going to be a major plotline, we could completely go without, it wouldn't affect anything.

The editing and camera work - writing this review I am actually laughing, while recalling He Bo Wei's love confession to Hai Yi, where the actor ran after his love interest and stopped in the middle of the mall, having his legs wide spread, almost squatting, yelling dramatically at Hai Yi's back. What a glorious shot I'm telling you...

The acting - well, here I will say this: How can you have Jason Tauh (Red Balloon, which by the way was good despite its time and budget) and make him the most bland and helpless character (Wynn). I am actually angry, knowing the guy CAN act and he is pretty darn good at it...
Linus Wang (Hai Yi) is handsome, he has a deep voice, hot body, big lips... I could hear his potential screaming from miles away, but I guess the script writers couldn't. I hope he has other chances to show what he's got.
Sean Chang (He Bo Wei)... Cute boy with not a single gay ounce in his body. He played like a straight guy would think a quirky gay dude would act. And his character was written so poorly - overdramatic, childish, and nonsensical!
Anson Chen (Liang Wen) - again, unused potential.

There is no chemistry between the couples whatsoever. At some point I willingly skipped the "steamy" scenes, if you could even call them that.
I have a lot more to say, but this will become a full blown thesis if I proceed.
I wish when there is a next HIStory installment (I really hope there is), things will be taken into account and we will have quality drama without the need to pretend at some really questionable decisions.

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Disappointing is the verdict

Oh geez! There was certainly a lot of sweet and touching emotional events that occurred in the finale. I'm going to accept the H4 inclusion in the finale as a positive. Still, it doesn't make up for the issues of the previous 9 episodes. In my mind there are only two noteworthy scenes in the first 9 episodes. They are the boxing scene and the lightening rod scene. The latter being hysterically funny. Both rose to the level I expect for History series. I would have liked to know how did He Bo aka Johhny get to 2022? Was it divine intervention or a freak time warp coincidence? Anyway, Wynn gets the best actor award. I never did take to Liang even though he was reincarnated in the finale. We could have seen Linus Wang shirtless a few more times. It would have helped in some episodes. Lastly, I have to congratulate Elaine Ho as Se Mo for being likeable and understanding of her role. Most females in BL's are not likeable and are usually annoying. Yeah, overall, it was disappointing. At least the finale was good.

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Not enough credit given

RANT: I see a lot of people hating on this show and it doesn’t do it any Justice. There’s a lot of talk about not enough BL material? Plot holes? No chemistry? Like did we watch the same show? People were upset with Sean Changs character saying over acting? I found his character hilarious. He did really well. I think he portrayed his character perfectly showing how naturally funny and unserious he is but also how people like that also have their own problems and sometimes aren’t happy. I genuinely don’t know what plot holes there are? Everything was covered? Yes we could’ve had less episodes but I didn’t find there to be too many “filler” episodes. I’ve seen plenty of BLs and dramas in general and my first reaction when finishing this was not me being unsatisfied. People were liking HIStory 4 better which makes me not even want to hear their opinion on this show anymore. Aside from Ansen and Charles character I was bored with the HIStory 4. The step brother storyline was an ick especially because of the whole SA storyline and unfortunately I had to relive that trauma with this couple again but it’s tradition to bring back a previous couple 😭😂. I skipped a lot of HIStory 4 and none of HIStory 5 so idk man. Anyways RANT OVER don’t let all these bad review keep you from watching it and enjoying it! There’s plenty of worst BL shows out there than this one that’s for sure!

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Lost In The Future

The HIStory franchise has grown again; this time with a series about a clumsy time traveler. Out of the last three HIStory series, this one couldn´t quite catch me but I still somehow enjoyed watching it nonetheless. Sometimes when stories get out of control there is a charm to the chaos of it. "HIStory 5" isn´t one of their best works but definitely is not one of their worst either.

STORY 5.5
Time traveling is the fundamental trope of this series. However, despite this being the extraordinary basement, they didn´t quite play around with this special situation and the various options coming with it. Having a theme that is so difficult to portray, they of course made the best out of it. However, it just felt a little rushed and incomplete to me when it came to the "time-traveling" aspect. I also had some difficulties with how the romances evolved and how some of their problematic behaviors were not criticized by the people around them.

ACTING / CAST 8.0
The acting was not disappointing, I just felt that I was watching an older series in terms of exaggerated expressions and behavior, which could have been, of course, a mindful choice by the director because the series leaned towards comedy. It just felt a little out of place and awkward sometimes. All in all, I enjoyed their playfulness in testing the given space for brave and expressive acting.

MUSIC 7.5
I grew fond of the OST and I liked the general choice of music in this series.

REWATCH VALUE 3.0 >> OVERALL 6.5
I just doubt that I will come back to watch it as one of my priorities in the future BUT I can still recommend giving it a try. It has some very sweet and heartfelt moments and it got me hooked on watching for further development. My disappointments might not be your disappointments. So, give it a go :)

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Where's The Doctor when you need him?

Or at least a Dalek.

This is so badly made on almost every level that it's hard to believe anyone from H4 was involved. Sigh. I guess I'll dig in:

Writing: The "plot" revolves around a man (Johnny) from 2000 getting transported to our present. This has absolutely no impact on the story whatsoever and could have been skipped entirely, and then they could have saved the money they paid for the... whatever he was. Fraudulent time travel agent? I don't know. Johnny only takes a minute to totally aclimatize to the 20+ year jump, and then barely remembers he has a granmother who is dependent on him.

He meets Hai Yi, the estranged son of a department store mogul. Who apparently owns one department story, which I guess makes you a gaziliionaire in Taiwan or something. They have a classic enemies to lovers dynamic - classic except for their total lack of chemistry. He befriends Lin Huai En, a peon at the company, who has attracted the notice of the Managing Director, Vincent.

Hai Yi is an irresponsible playboy who hires Johnny to Cyrano a women he wants, and they end up moving in with each other at a company warehouse. Meanwhile, after a tragic death, Hai Yi and Vincent are pitted against each other for control over the company.

Vincent is apparently evil, to the disappointment of Lin Huai En, who is loyal to Hai Yi, whose family funded the orphanage he grew up in. But SURPRISE (not), it was all part of the plan, which makes absolutely no sense and totally cancels Hai Yi's character. If he was a driven and brilliant schemer, why did he lounge around half-naked in a warehouse playing video games and mooching off a destitute time traveler? How did they plan all this if they didn't know the chairman would die? And why would they need to create this scheme in the first place, if they had just supported each other from the beginning? It's totally nonsensical and is an incredibly lazy and lame attempt to create any drama - as if anyone believed for a minute Vincent was evil.

Everything about this is formulaic and predictable. BOTH couples contain the stupid past-connection cliche, and the concluding love scenes are so lacking in chemistry and passion that I had to skip them because it felt like the actors were sexually harassing each other.

There are two positives to this series:

1. Linus Wang's a$$, and just about everything else about him phyiscally. I'm probably not the only one that stuck with this hoping for one more treadmill scene.

2. The appearance of the brother couple from H4, who showed everyone what a kissing scene is - that was one of the best I've scene in a BL, and their acting put the main cast to shame.

Ratings:

Writing: 2. Generous, but they get a point for putting Linus Wang on the treaddmill and another for the H4 couple.

Acting: 4. Jason Tauh can certainly act, but he has nothing to do in this - what a waste of talent. Everyone else was mediocre at best, and Sean Chang's Johnny was supernaturally annoying. His character is a horrible, horrible person. His love interest's father died, so did he offer his condolences? No. Instead he treats him like sh#$ and tries to manipulate him into showing him more attention because he's a malignant narcissist who the entire universe revolves around. His behavior is supposed to be fiunny or something, but you just want him to die.

Music: It was OK I guess

Rewatch: No. Well, maybe the treadmill and the H4 couple's love scene.

Just skip this. If you really like the H4 brothers, there are a couple of scenes worth watching - they don't belong in this series, but I'm not sorry they were here.

What a disappointment. H2 Crossing the Line, H3 Trapped, H4 Close to You, even H3 Make Our Days Count, if you pretend the ending didn't happen, and then this steaming pile of awful. What a sad end to an otherwise brilliant series.

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I thought that overall the series was pretty good. I will admit that Johhny was annoying at time, That being said with out putting any spoilers in this review I think episodes 19 and 20 saved the series. Before that I rated it about a 7 but I liked the ending so I bumped it up to an 8, There was a mixture of story lines : one for the main couple and one for the secondary couple the third couple wasn't necessary except to tie up loose ends from History 4 (for fans of that series it was satisfying to know what happened with one of the couples). I thought that the 2 story-lines added depth to the series. I was glad HIStory 5 had a happy ending. Give it a try I hope you will like it, i sure did.

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An Execution Casualty

I placed major spoiler alert at the end of this review.

First off, I was happy but skeptical when this was announced. Happy because I thought this franchise was done, as its future was unclear. Skeptical because I didn’t know who the screenwriter was. I was also hesitant about watching this because I’m not a fan of time travel love stories because they rarely end well. I would have skipped this series due to this concept, but I gave it a try because it is part of the HIStory Franchise.

This part is about the series as if it was not part of the HIStory Franchise. This had some interesting story concepts that got lost with poor execution. The main problem is the script. Although it had its cute moments, it had too many things going on. See the major spoiler alert at the end of this review if you want more information. I wish they had cut down on all of the various story elements and stuck with the two main story concepts that were listed in the synopsis. It has a great cast that did the best job with what they were given. Some of the acting seemed over the top, but I don’t think it was the actors’ fault. This was probably due to poor choices made by the director.

When comparing this to the other series in this franchise, it doesn’t quite measure up. This script reminds me of season one because it had a lot of the same quirkiness and weird story elements (soul swapping and time travel). Again, the main problem is the script. It appeared the screenwriter did not have any original ideas and pulled multiple story elements from the other seasons in hope it would make this series fit in.

Random Note:

Overall, It’s not the worse series in the franchise. It just could have been better. Despite my long rant in the major spoiler alert section, I would rewatch this at some point. Especially now that I know which sections I can skip.

I like the mention of HIStory 3: Trapped because it’s my favorite series from this franchise.

For those that are new to my reviews, I love seeing familiar locations used from other series. The bar used in many of the scenes was the same one used for My Tooth Your Love series.

******Major Spoiler Alerts******

The main problem with this series is the script had too many story elements. For the first main couple, it started with some sort of time travel mixed in with a body/soul swapping element with He Bo Wei. This also introduces a mystery mystical character which pops in every once in a while. They mixed this with the traumatized past but you saved me combo with Hai Yi. On top of that, we get the classic “I’m gay for you” story element between Hai Yi and He Bo Wei. This includes the very classic evil ex-girlfriend (fiancé?) that actually causes trouble for both of the main couples. As for other main leads (Lin Huai En and Liang Wen Hsen), there was a hidden love element mixed into an office romance involving the classic new employee and boss scenario. They also include an age gap between them for good measures. This also includes the jealous manager Tony trying to sabotage the office romance by using other employees as his minions. Then they add an attempted murder of Lin Huai En by the manager Tony and his minions. We then have the sudden death of Hai Yi’s father which leads to the common misunderstanding/lack of communication story elements between both main couples. Then they add the old fashion disappearing act from Liang Wen Hsen. This is also tied into the other old fashion element of I’m pushing you away for your own good involving both main couples. Because they have to remind us this is part of the HIStory universe, they introduced random characters from a previous season towards the end of the series. If it was not for MDL, this would have gone over my head (I didn’t watch HIStory 4). However, this helped the script check off the step-brother turned lovers story element too because they had to waste a lot of screen time to give us their backstory. They also wanted to emphasis this with Ye Xing Si very bizarre introduction of Fu Yong Jie. Then we get the usual last episode plot twist that was not really much of a surprise and clears up all of the misunderstandings in a manner of minutes.

The relationship progression between Liang Wen Hsen and Lin Huai En happened way too quickly. They go from co-workers to a couple in what seems a manner of weeks without them actually dating in-between.

As for the attempted murder, Liang Wen Hsen does not take Lin Huai En to the hospital or have a doctor check him after almost freezing to death. Manager Tony or his minions don’t receive any real consequences for their actions.

Although the last episode had a happy ending for both couples, it was very bizarre. Why did they feel the need to incorporate the step-brother couple from the previous season towards the end.

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Help, the future made me GAY??? *not clickbait*

I went to the future and fell in love with an undercover CEO??????? *emotional*
Listen, I have more of these but I'll stop myself.

I usually give these short shows a little bit of leeway. You cannot have the juiciest plotlines in 10 episodes - but maaan this show had 50 mins per episode. There are shows that managed to develop a better plot - or at least characters - with only 20 mins per episode. So I really reached my limit here. The end felt very .. clumsy kind of.

Also, personally, I'm not a fan of the "Doe-Eyed Innocent" character. They are adults?? hello? Why does he look like the puppy eye emoji all the time? The characters felt really flat overall. I was so excited about Wen Hsen as a character at first. Like, OMG AN AMBIGUOUS CHARACTER???? NOT just a goody two shoes? But OF COURSE in the end he turned out to be good all along... kinda meh.

The cast seemed to me mostly rookies and i think that is the downfall of the HIStory series. Tai Ze Ni looked like he had a stick up his ass. I laughed out loud a couple of times, yelling "WHY DOES HE WALK LIKE THAAAT?" and his an Huai En's expressions looked really cartoonish. I feel like the director should've kept an eye on that more.

The music slapped though. Whenever "more than friends" came on i was jamming - sreaming - crying.

Overall, I would say that this is an OK binge. But really didn't leave an impression on me and made me cringe more than it made me feel warm n fuzzy.

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Disappointing In Every Aspect, But Not The Worst.

Every aspect is disappointing (it's hard to believe it's the same director as HIStory4), but it’s not the worst, and I did manage to watch the whole thing though I started to think about dropping it by episode 5. I hung in to see what happened with the secondary couple.

I wouldn't recommend this series, but you may enjoy it if you're in the mood for something kind of silly with a lot of angst and a happy ending that doesn't require a lot of brain power to watch. If you're craving skinship and physical romance/intimacy, I suggest looking elsewhere because there's not much here.

The plot is all over the place, repetative, cliche, and with a ton of contrived, unrealistic, and unnecessary miscommunication and angst. To the point that it's ridiculous. And the main couple become annoying idiots who go around in endless hot/cold circles yet are somehow in love with each other.

The dialogue, camera work, and music were all basic. The acting was okay (I preferred the two secondary male leads who were more natural), but the chemistry... just didn't have the same feel or believability as previous series of this franchise. I felt the most pull of attraction and longing between the secondary couple. Anson Chen as Liang Wen Hsen was good; he had a calm, focused intensity that was believable as actual physical attraction for the character Lin Huai En. Everyone else came off as actors attempting to pretend attraction, in my opinion.

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