For a HIStory series this show was pretty mediocre but it had some enjoyable moments. The overall storyline is brimming with cliches, typical bl tropes and some annoying stereotypes, yet I still ended up enjoying some of it in a guilty pleasure-y type of way.
This show had two couples and I’m going to talk about Li Chen and Muren first.

I really liked the comedic tone of this couple. I wasn’t expecting to laugh as much as I did throughout their interactions. A lot of times it was over the top but in a fun way. The acting was decent enough for their comedic exchanges and I really enjoyed their exaggerated expressions. The story wasn’t necessarily realistic or even believable but it was enjoyable and made sense in a BL-tropey type of way.
And while I said that the acting was decent, their first kiss was strange enough. I assume it was supposed to be accidental bc Li Chen specifically told Muren he wouldn’t kiss him and the kiss happened excatly at the moment when Xsing came into the room but I swear it looked so fake lol It didn’t look accidental at all. I actually rewinded the scene bc I wasn’t sure what happened.
A lot of Murens fashion choices were a tad weird too. He is very tall and lanky so the oversized clothes made him look even taller and lankier and his head looked a lot smaller in comparison. It just looked strange to me but I’ve seen people liking it so maybe it’s just me.
Another thing that bothered me was how they implemented the fujoshi girl. I didn’t like that she was basically the catalyst for Lichen and Murens relationship. It honestly felt very disrespectful in how Lichen decided to pretend to be gay in order to get to her. That is just wrong on so many levels. First of all it’s deceptive and kind of predatory, secondly it’s plain disrespectful towards lgbtq. Having said that I still let it slide for the most part bc of the comedic tone and nature of this couples storyline. Regardless, the whole shtick left an arguably bad taste in my mouth.

Now let’s get to the second couple. This one was hard to stomach and that’s not bc of the step-brothers-trope. I personally don’t have a problem with that. My main and maybe only problem stems from how creepy and manipulative the younger brother was. He was obsessed with the older brother to an extremely unhealthy degree. It was actually very scary. First of all he was introduced to the audience as a stalker, dressed all in black with a cap and we barely see his face. Then he stalked his brother and even got into his room, when he was asleep. And don’t get me started on the actual rape scene.He obviously had some serious mental issues that made him rape his drunk brother while he was half-conscious and also thinking that it’s somehow going to help the brother in the long run.
I kind of understand where his f*cken up ‘logic’ was coming from, he basically explained it himself :
Older brother can’t come out to the family bc father will be mad-> If he rapes his older brother and showed it to the father, the father will be mad at the younger brother instead of the older one -> older brother would be out and the father would be too mad at the younger one for raping his son to even acknowledge his disappointment about his (older) sons sexuality. This seems to be the logic that the younger brother was going for but that’s just sick. He has a sick mind.
I absolutely have nothing against f*cken up and/or sick characters but they need to be portrayed as such. The younger brother was definitely not portrayed as needing to have some mental help and while the other characters did comment on how wrong it was for him to rape his brother, that’s literally the only consequence he gets. He just got slightly reprimanded by everyone. Great. He didn’t even feel sorry for his actions but felt like it was a necessary evil. This way of thinking is just abhorrent. And the older brother getting together with him felt like a consequence of him suffering from Stockholm Syndrom after being sexually assaulted by the younger one.
The younger brother was very manipulative and had no remorse while the older brother was a complete pushover with an apparent Stockholm Syndrom on top of that. This couple was very uncomfortable to watch, truly.
I want to reiterate that I don’t mind the portrayal of unhealthy relationships if they are presented as such. In this case it was a unhealthy relationship presented as healthy.

The difference in tone between the two couples felt jarring as well. Li Chen/Muren couple had a very strong comedic undertone while the step-brothers couple had a much more dramatic and serious tone. And both of them worked against each other. It felt like I was watching different parts from different shows instead of two couples from the same show.

All in all I’m giving this series 5.5 stars. 3 stars for Li Chen and Muren, 1 start for the wonderful portrayal of Xsings (older brothers) father, half a start for the nice soundtrack and an extra star for the portrayal of a gay wedding which was incredibly nice. The camera work and editing won’t get any starts from me, it was too amateur imo. The acting was watchable even though the younger brothers actor was a bit stiff. I know that the character wasn’t supposed to show many emotions but it still felt way too artificial