This was the third installment of the HIStory series that I've watched (I've also watched Trapped and Close to You) and I have to say that this one did not do it for me. I would sincerely love to know how the script ever passed muster with everything that was left unanswered. It truly boggles my mind. It was filled with plot holes, uninspiring characters, general absurdity, a confusing plot, overused cliches and in the end, it failed to draw me in or really make me care about any of the main characters. This isn't one that I can even say had a promising premise that just went awry. So much about it was lackluster and devoid of inspiration and originality which is a pity.

The plot is unnecessarily complicated to say the least. Ho Bo Wei lives in the year 2000, but somehow on New Years Eve, he rides his bike a different route and suddenly ends up in the year 2023 as Tai Che Ni. It's a weird and confusing premise that is never fully explained. I have to admit that I tapped out for a good bit after that first episode before forcing myself to continue so I may be forgetting things, but I don't recall an explanation ever being given for why he was brought into the future, nor is the soul swap ever in any way explained. So exactly what happened to Ho Bo Wei's body and the original Tai Che Ni is left completely up in the air. He ends up meeting Hai Yi and they eventually fall in love. On the side, you have Lin Huai En who starts a new job at the company that sponsored the orphanage where he was raised and runs into Liang Wen Hsen, the Managing Director. Sparks fly between the two and they fall in love as well at lightspeed. That is the bare bones of the story. It is far more complicated than that, but frankly I don't even know where to start because it's absolutely ridiculous how convoluted they decided to make everything.

Everything has to have a reason and connection. No, Hai Yi is not the lazy bones son of the department store owner, it was all part of a master plan to unveil the misdeeds of his father's former second in command. He and Wen Hsen were never actually at odds, they were always working together, in fact, Wen Hsen in the mysterious Sam that Hai Yi kept contacting throughout the series. And Wen Hsen didn't just happen to fall in love with Huai En, he's been keeping an eye on him since he was at the orphanage which definitely added a creepy undertone to their story once that was revealed. Ho Bo Wei rescued Hai Yi when he got separated from his father as a child and gave him his lucky bracelet. Of course, since then, Hai Yi repeatedly wished on the bracelet to be reunited with the big brother who helped him out and then voila, it happens. So much of it just doesn't flow or make sense, especially the whole master plan with Wen Hsen pretending to be corrupt and vying for the chairman position. That was a giant misfire.

And then there were the cliches and general ridiculousness. Of course we have to have the villainous ex-girlfriend cliché. She actually gets multiple uses as she tries to sink her claws into Wen Hsen as well and fails. That was kind of a great scene when he calls Huai En to join them and basically show that he's already taken. Sorry, sweetie. You also have the Hai Yi's father's second in command who practically screams villain. He just needed a villain laugh to complete the image. Adding to the cliches is Wen Hsen's whole sacrificial thing with pretending to be close to Tony because it would be easier if Huai En hated him. Insert eye roll. Tony and the other office workers lock Huai En in cold storage, essentially attempting murder, and absolutely nothing happens to any of them. Wen Hsen yells at Tony a bit, warns him not to bully anyone again and that's that. You can try to kill someone and there will be no consequences in this company apparently. Also the fact that Huae En is left in there for so long that he falls unconscious, but Wen Hsen evidently doesn't take him to the hospital. He's so concerned, but not enough to make sure he received medical attention. Apparently his love is enough to save him.

The characters, oh my goodness, well, they're not boring, I guess. I'm not sure if that's a good thing though?
-Tai Che Ni was such a study in opposites. On the one hand, he could be responsible and mature. On the other hand, he could be so over the top/obnoxious there were times I wanted to suffocate him with a pillow. He's kind of cute but that only gives you so much leeway and as the series progressed, he became less endearing and more annoying. I also struggled with him because of his naivety and the level of self-sabotage with him was so high. He had moments where his instincts were good, but he listened to that twit Se Mo instead and it just made things worse. And then Huai En who actually had a level head on his shoulders would give him advice and he would question him. As for the self-sabotage, I get so sick of characters in BLs just not communicating and this was no exception. Instead of talking to Hai Yi about what was going on, he decided his best options were to create distance between them and then just leave with no warning. I am fairly certain that Hai Yi would get that he was concerned about his grandmother, but his methods were stupid and just caused unnecessary conflict. And I have trouble forgiving him for the fact that not once did he offer any kind of comfort to Hai Yi regarding his father's death. He was so self-absorbed with his antics that he completely failed to be there for him when he needed him most.
-Hai Yi was significantly less obnoxious than Che Ni, but he was also a bit boring. Nice to look at, but not much there. He's basically a big kid in some ways. His father was never there for him, always focused on the company he was building, so he suffers from abandonment issues, something that comes up in his relationship with Che Ni as he's terrified of him leaving and being alone again. I did feel for him though because I felt like he was truly trying in his relationship with Che Ni and I could understand his frustration with Che Ni trying to put distance between them. Hai Yi actually tried to communicate and figure out what was wrong. I liked that he wasn't playing games like waiting till the 20th ring or some other stupid crap. He may not have been the most interesting character, but he was relatively straightforward and I appreciated that.
-Wen Hsen took a bit of a hit for me once they revealed exactly how long he'd been aware of Huai En. The fact that he'd been watching him and sponsoring him for so long, that he'd kind of paved the path for him to be hired and everything, it started to read as a bit creepy to me. I don't think he had any bad intentions, he doesn't use the fact that he has helped Huai En out in any way to curry favor with him, but there's almost an element of grooming there. I think I'm reaching, but their relationship just made me slightly uncomfortable which was disappointing because I found it kind of sweet initially. Some drama was added to him when he was thrown into the race for chairman. Though how anyone could seriously believe he was actually evil, I don't know. His character did become a bit more interesting when it was revealed that he was the Sam that Hai Yi had been communicating with and asking to look into people.
-Huai En is a bit of a bland character. He's sweet, he's one of the smarter characters, if only Che Ni would have listened to him sometimes, but he's just not that interesting. We do get to see some character growth with him, in the office at least. He learns to stand up for himself and not let his coworkers walk all over him. I do like his friendship with Che Ni, their characters actually seem to work together well. His relationship with Wen Hsen develops far too fast to seem remotely natural and I've already mentioned my reservations regarding it, but there is also a certain sweetness to it.
-Se Mo was just annoying. I didn't like her character and I didn't feel that she added anything beneficial. She tried to come across as some kind of love guru but she caused far more problems than she solved. She had a few moments where she was genuinely sweet and helpful but for the most part, I just found her frustrating.
-Fu De was interesting in his many roles. I still don't fully understand what the point of him was, but I did like his character for the most part. If nothing else, he did provide some comic relief.

The acting was a bit stale. Sean Chang plays as a straight guy trying really hard to be gay and it just does not work. There is no chemistry between him and Linus Wang and I lay most of the blame on him. I just could not take him seriously. For this being Linus Wang's first role, I thought he did a serviceable job. He seemed like he was really trying and while he definitely needs some polishing, I think he has potential and I hope to see him again in the future. Anson Chen and Jason Tauh are both good looking men, but I was not feeling the chemistry between them either. They had a few scenes where it felt like maybe there were some sparks, but it just never really took off. They also didn't really seem to connect with their characters. Jason was almost boring as Huai En at times and Anson was very one note with the same expression used repeatedly.

I was not thrilled that the stepbrothers from HIStory 4 were brought back. I generally liked HIStory 4 aside from them but I hated their storyline. The rape and the fact that they were stepbrothers really didn't work for me, and to have them be the ones they brought back instead of Li Cheng and Mu Ren did not sit well with me. It was just very disappointing and kind of killed the ending for me, personally.

This latest release in the HIStory series is the weakest of the ones I've seen. It lacks in so many ways and has so few redeeming qualities that I really don't think it's worth the time or effort to watch it. You're not going to miss anything skipping this one.