IN CASE I DIDN’T MENTION IT BEFORE THIS ITERATION OF HISTORY3 IS TERRIBLE. THIS WEEK’S EPISODE WAS SO BAD, EVERYTHING IS AWFUL, THIS IS WHY WE CAN’T HAVE NICE THINGS BECAUSE THEY EVENTUALLY RUIN IT, THEY CAN’T HELP THEMSELVES. I HATE EVERYTHING.
https://mydramalist.com/profile/ChinguMode/reviews/58635

9
11

    Nobody wants to help share my pain. Even @egads is asleep, stupid timezones.

    3
    2

      No! Not your partner-in-crime!

      3
      0

      It was 1:00 in the morning!

      Anyway, this is what I posted on your blog after I woke up:

      Everything about this latest installment in the HIStory series is not just disappointing, but also just plain problematic. In the first episode when Hao Ting has a make out session with his girlfriend in the school infirmary, my first thought was that this drama was going to give us an unapologetically bisexual character. I was looking forward to a, hopefully, interesting exploration of queerness, but no, that is not what we are getting. Instead, like you said, it’s the inexplicable “gay for you” that somehow seems to be a favorite trope that does an injustice to complexities of sexuality, queerness, and those who are not raging heterosexuals. It’s like it’s some romanticized notion of true love for this one specific, and idealized, human being, while still maintaining a destructive heteronormative identity.

      And the age inappropriate couple? Eww. Just no. By making the younger man (really a child both in age and level of maturity) the aggressor in the pursuit of romance and sex, the drama has also managed to reinforce the arguments of hordes of abusers throughout history: they wanted it.

      I want to rewrite this drama. Instead of an inexplicably “gay for you” bullying male lead forcing the very vulnerable Xi Gu into a relationship, how about a young man discovering his queerness, and a slower, more introspective, coming together between this two characters as they get to know each other and themselves. Additionally, let’s have an adult male who firmly maintains appropriate boundaries between himself and the teenager. Oh, and if the kid forces a violent kiss on him, calling the authorities is not out of line because that crap, no matter the age, is not okay.

      5
      2

        Oh, and we can’t forget the irresponsibility of unsafe sex as the cherry on top of the statutory rape scenario. Gahhh.

        2
        0

        Great comment, thank you. Glad you got some sleep, also timezones suck and I’m still not over how bad this episode was. Thank you for one of the rare comments on my blog and I replied to you too agreeing completely.

        1
        0

    I’m a little ambivalent on the HIStory series. Out of all of them I have really only liked HIStory 2: Boundary Crossing. Most are not very well written, acted or produced. I still need to finish HIStory 3: Trapped as I dropped it about half through. The OTP wasn’t too bad but the acting was not the greatest and the plot was kinda boring. I also couldn’t stand the secondary couple mostly because the police officer (forgot his character name) had the maturity and intelligence level of a 5 year old.

    But it’s sad this one seems even less well received than the others which is disappointing.

    1
    1

      *sigh* this is all true. I think HIStory has been so popular because Thai BL has been remaking the same show for five years and China has censored the gay out of their product.

      It really did seem to be improving and HIStory2 in particular was very much like old-school Taiwanese romcoms that happened to have two men in them. They were (are?) cheap web series and so the acting and production weren’t great. I still quite enjoyed HIStory3 Trapped despite the acting being awful (Chris Wu is really really bad) and the plotting being a train wreck (action is not a drama these people understand).

      However, with this instalment I have to admit that HIStory2 were the only two good stories they’ve produced (I did like Right or Wrong although I understand why others wouldn’t). But even Crossing the Line had a really bad stepbrother plotline wedged in it.

      Anyway, this one is awful. And I thought HIStory1 was awful but at the time didn’t have any expectations of them so it didn’t matter. This is disappointing.

      1
      1

        The HIStory series seem to all get high reviews and I think it’s because of the thirst for BL content that blinds people. The series seems to play up every BL trope out there which at times makes things cringy. I love BL dramas but I want a well done one. I wont give dramas a pass just because they happen to be BL.

        But thanks for the heads-up about HIStory 3

        1
        0

    Aw, this is disappointing. Hopefully the movie for Boundary Crossing will restore some faith.

    1
    1