HIStory4: Close to You (2021)

A Weak HIStory Overall, But Not Complete Trash

Okay hear me out. Do I think this is a well written series? Overall no. It doesn't even come close to something like "Trapped" or "Make Our Days Count", however I gotta say I did not completely hate this. At first I did because I thought they were glossing over the sexual assault elements. However, they don't! If you kept watching after that you'd realize its clearly said it wasn't right by multiple characters. There also is added things to the situation that try to make it kinda grey a little bit. Yes Xing Si was drunk and irl you cannot consent if you're drunk obviously. However, he was conscious and was asked if he knew who was with him which he answered clearly. He also asked why he wasn't being kissed on the mouth so that was weird. Why would someone whose unaware of what's going on say that? Or have enough awareness to answer direct questions. Still wrong of course, but its food for thought. I still hate the step brother trope because I think its weird af. But at least its not glamorizing sexual assault to be romantic like some other BL's have in the past. I also don't take physical scenes totally to heart in shows because it's meant to be overly dramatized or extreme for shock value/to make more interesting content and conflict. Yong Jie's character was really interesting too. So whatever.

Moving past those two. The main couple I actually really started to like, I watched the series pretty much for them and that's it. At first the series was really boring for me, but it picks up some with those two. As well as the cameos from MODC which I loved of course. At first the one main guy (Li Cheng) was really annoying and said some semi-offensive dialogue. However this shifted, so I wasn't completely turned off to his character. There's this scene between them which is the real first sexual awakening scene in the series. It's in a bathtub and its actually beautifully shot. I was shocked it was in this series! Like hello budget! The warm lighting, beautiful music, sensual movements and stellar acting from Mu Ren's actor. He's also very gorgeous so that was nice as well lol. I was overwhelmed. I kinda wish it wasn't in this series, but what are you gonna do?
Favorite characters though were Xing Si and Mu Ren. Their interactions actually were some of the nicest too! Then of course there's Sun and Zhi Gang, but they are obviously cameos so not a ton of screen time lol.

Moving on to the negatives, this show has caused quite a diversity in viewership which I understand totally. However, these were my issues with it. There's wayyyyy too much unnecessary s*** in these eps. So when they end I started to get pissed off because not much has happened progression wise! Like why throw in a work crisis at the tail end of a series? That should've happened way before. Then the resolve of it was basically all in the last episode and its not very satisfying at all. Total bummer. Again I don't like the step-brothers trope, they could've just made them childhood friends or like ex step-brothers? Idk, having them live together too with the parents was extra weird. We loved seeing a gay wedding at the end, however it didn't really answer any questions as to what's happening in MODC season 2. Which I was hoping for because that was the opportune moment! We just know Hao Ting is still abroad, which he is in both endings technically. So boo. This felt kinda just like a filler season in between the stuff fans really are looking forward too overall.

In conclusion, the actors from this seem lovely. Seeing their behind the scenes and reaction videos added a lot for me about them. Which was kinda lacking in the show itself. I hope they get more work after this and I would say go into this series not expecting HIStory level storytelling. It's messy but has its moments

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Desperately needs a Xiao Li Cheng-Teng Mu Ren edit

So basically there are two storylines but the problematic bit is the whole Xing Si-Fu Yong Jie track. Fu Yong Jie is nothing but a RED FLAG all along yet the makers choosing to glorify and justify the actions of such a character makes me barf.
Drunk Raping is NOT acceptable at any grounds, neither is stalking or emotional manipulation of someone to like them back. I was almost about to discontinue watching the whole series but the Li Cheng- Mu Ren track kept me going. After a point I just skipped the Xing Si storyline and only watched Li Cheng-Mu Ren bits.
Being a big fan of the History franchise, I expected much better! "Close to You" would have been much better if Fu Yong Jie was not made up to be a lead.
To all the people watching, Fu Yong Jie is PROBLEMATIC AF & please steer clear of any such person in your real life if you encounter any, don't go by this series!

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What a FANTASTIC disappointment

What happened? Seriously, what happened?? That's what I kept asking myself as I watched this drama every week. HIStory 3 gave us Trapped and Make Our Days Count, two beautiful and compelling dramas. I couldn't WAIT to see how HIStory 4 would top it. And then we got.... this?!

The plot was abysmal. Seriously, just so bad. If you're looking for progressive LGBT content stay away from this one, because I assure you there is none to be found. Apart from having some really regressive BL tropes and plot points, the overarching story was just... not interesting, and even downright cringy. It's hard to say who the main couple was because I feel that both couples got fairly equal attention, but neither of them was watchable. I also found half of the characters to just be genuinely unlikable. Like, legitimately, when they were on screen I hated every second of it and wanted to look away.

Alright, now that that's out of the way, let's talk incest. If incest is a hard no for you, skip this one. If incest is a soft no for you, skip this one. And even if you LIKE incest, skip this one. Maybe it's just me, but I personally think that if you're going to ship an incest pairing, the parents need to be out of the picture or at least ignorant of what's happening. But the parents in this drama were so ALIVE AND INVOLVED, it was actually really upsetting.

As for steam and sexual content, it's not great. There are a handful of kisses and maybe one make-out scene, but most of them were really meh for me, if not downright unwatchable. The only thing that kept me going each week was the promise of the tolerable couple getting down and dirty on screen, and honestly? I can now say it wasn't worth it and I'd rather have my time back.

Overall, I wouldn't recommend this drama to anyone unless you're really really desperate and you've watched everything else out there.

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TW/SA/R4PE

The main couple were really cute and a nice couple however I don't like the follow up couple, I don't agree with a SA scene and I don't think it should be fetished or romanced about, the fact that the character admitted to getting his "brother" drunk and intended to rape him is disgusting, what's even worse is that their mum knew about it and didn't try and stop him, I also find them weird as a couple as they are "family" and it doesn't sit right with me. The guy's "brother" deserved a lot better, and the plot could have been so much better if it had more thought put into it. I did enjoy the main lead moments and skipped most of the second couple out as I couldn't watch it. I wouldn't watch this again as I cannot stand the casual rape scenes and how normalized it is.

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What's wrong with this series

The worse part was the rape. Not it's not incest they are not blood related thank goodness for that. As in most countries of the world step siblings are legally allowed to marry.
However this scene was out and out Rape premeditated Rape to be honest. Rape and any kind of sexual assualt or harressement should never be Romanitized period.
There was one tiny hint of some of the consquences of rape. Rape victims will often question and even blame themselves.
I would understand if the Producers/Directors/Script writters where going to show the effects of Rape on the victims and the Rapist was punished but no such luck. This part of the story line was downrigth disgusting and it's about time Asian Series stopped trying to either justify and/or romanatise Rape. There is nothing romantic, beautiful or wonderful about Rape.

The troupe of I'm not gay I only like him needs to be thrown out the window.

The women oh for goodness sake 1 dimensional characters and acting like children, come on they are supposed to be full grown women. We women do not act like that but immature little girls might. Yet another worn out and useless troupe.

Now to the other scene in the bath, clearly under the influence of some 'Date Rape Drug' and the fact his friend stays and watches. To some that might appear strange and weird but we need to look at it in context. He already worries about him otherwise he wouldn't of gone back and burst into the hotel room. This is his close friend. He knows he's still under the influence of the drugs and he's in a bath so I guess he would stay just to make sure he's 'safe'. But there are 2 other things to consider that could also give meaning to why he stays and watches (A) the first stirrings that he might not be completely straight (B) Simple voyeurism on his part.

Personnally I think it's a combination of all 3 possible reasons. As an older woman I've been suprised how many straight guys have admitted to watching a male friend, many confess they did that in their teens others while in the Army so they wouldn't be any embrassement between the 'Bond of Brothers.' As one said, "If you can watch your mate do that and it for doesn't bother you it then theres' nothing you cann't talk about" Hell I've even know guys talking about how they first learnt to kiss by practicing on each other as they were at all male boarding schools and wanted to make sure they could kiss well for when meet their first girlfriends.
As a result of knowing this sort of thing can and does happen it didn't bother me.

I was annoyed with the sexual harressment in the swimming pool ok make an approach but back off when you see the other person is feeling uncomfortable about it.

Will I continue to watch until the end I will simply to continue critiquing the series.

Would I watch it again - NO

Would I recomment it - NO

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Wouldn't recommend this show to my worst enemy

I’m not going to lie, this show completely sucks. I’ve watched a lot of BL in my time and I’ve watched all the other HIStory series and HIStory 3 may well be one of my favorite dramas of all time, which is why I was so excited when I saw they’d released the next series.

I know the two shows have nothing to do with each other but I was excited about the continuing improvements the show had been making as well as the narrative complexity and maturity of 3 so I wanted to see where this series took it.

I think in every sense this show was a giant step back for the franchise. Leaving aside the fact that the plot felt lifted straight out of a c-list BL manga (seriously, some scenes felt so much like shot for shot recreations of common BL tropes I had to look to see if this was an adaptation of something), or the fact that every single acting choice made by the guy playing Li Cheng grated on my very soul, or the fact that they could not apparently find even a single outfit that would correctly fit Teng Mu’s actor, there is looming over all of it the abject horror of yet another stepsiblings plot line, this one featuring a super concerning age gap, literal stalking and of course sexual assault that is not only played off as a romantic stepping stone but is explicitly depicted in an erotic way in the show.

I hate with my whole entire soul the fact that this show for some absolutely unknowable reason chose to tie together the plot lines about coming out of the closet and being accepted by your parents (something the vast majority of BLs just gloss over completely) to the couple that is literally a guy who wants to sleep with his much younger step sibling. The writers of this show looked at the possible problematic tropes that BLs so often contain and I do my best to overlook and just went right for the absolute most harmful, insidious ones.

I don’t think Teng Mu and Li Cheng’s storyline was that bad, like it was fine and if it had been a standalone I would have considered this show slightly disappointing but completely mediocre. The acting isn’t great and the back and forth is seriously exhausting but at least it’s well within the realm of universally accepted romance content. Everything else however, a disaster. I would actively warn people away from this series.

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Amazing acting skill by all four actors and rest actor actress!

I watched this series although two episodes still didn't air, and I am eagerly waiting for those episodes. Actors did great acting, I love Taiwanese actors more and more. Hats off to director who direct such an amazing piece. Looking forward for such type of series with great actors !! It's amazing to watch Taiwanese series, now I am so fall in love with bl series that I always wanted to watch bl series and yes Taiwan represent the best bl series ever like this one. Actors' acting skill, either lichen or muren or younger brother or elder brother. All actors did a great job. And actress also did amazing and cheerful job and she really cheer viewers by her charming smile.

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Very recommended (if you know what fantasy means)

This drama is very enjoyable and there’s nothing wrong in it.
The notorious “second couple” that seems so shocking to some people, is what I liked the most. Reason is simple: it is the most unrealistic part of the plot and, of course, it plays in a super-sweet way with dark kinks.
Fu Yong Jie is my favorite character and I love him exactly because he is an unreal, romantic, unselfish and vanilla tasted manipulative sociopath. A kind of character that has been part of romance and erotic literature for ages and by now should have worn out his ability to shock people. Sadly it hasn’t so let’s review an old true fact about human race...

In their fantasies, many human beings like to imagine bad guys doing various degrees of bad things to them. Even take them as slaves and then fall in love with them, or other horrible, “toxic” kind of situations. I’m sorry if people who don’t share this kind of taste feel offended by it but… it’s their problem. Not this story’s problem, nor a problem of the people who like this kind of FANTASY. And here comes the most shocking news: this is not school. You don’t learn from dramas how to behave in the real world, same as you don’t learn how to fly watching Superman. This is pure imagination created to please emotional and illogic parts of you, being them about a couple of heterosexual guys falling in love with each other or two siblings, who already love each other, developing a morbid sexual relationship.

Guys, please, read Shakespeare. It’s filled with “toxic” parts of plot (same goes for the holy bible you know?). I’m astonished to see here, again, the old bigoted hypocritical habit of blaming fantasy because it doesn’t respect rules and boundaries of reality. Of course it doesn’t! It’s exactly what makes if funny! You don’t drive a bumper car same as you drive a real car because it’s made to give you fun! Let’s try to make it clear again…

Reality and fantasy are different things. Rules of the first don’t apply to the second.
Nobody is entitled to judge other people fantasies. You can judge actions of other people not what they like to imagine.
If you don’t like something it doesn’t mean that thing is evil, disgusting, or ugly. It only means that you need to watch something else.

I started watching and reading BL in 1999 and I’m astonished to see how bigoted this fandom has become. If this is the result of us, old fans, fighting for the chance and the freedom of reading and watching whatever we liked in a world that considered a girl liking BL as a freak, well, I’m sorry to say new generations wasted our efforts entirely.
You can watch, read, talk about BL because people like me believed that fantasy in all it’s shapes was a sacred world. A world to be defended against any kind of prejudice and any attempt to make it a sad branch of reality. Please don’t forget it because the next “toxic” fantasy to become a target may be yours, for a million reasons none of us can even imagine. This is why we stand for a principle not a personal taste.

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Nightmare drama brought to you straight (pun intended) from the ninth circle of hell

If you're currently writing a BL story and you need guidance on what not to do, look no further than this trainwreck.

Normalising straight women fetishizing gay men? Check!
R*pe being justified and romanticised? Check!
Mind you, this drama also has an attempted r*pe scene that's treated as disgusting and enraging, but i guess it doesn't count if they're brothers, which brings me to...
Weird and unnecessary incest plotline? Check!
Like, they could have written about ANYTHING, just anything, and they went with a bizarre and uncomfortable "love" story between two unrelated brothers who grew up together, one of whom is legit written like a sociopath? Why. Can someone PLEASE for the love of gay gods explain to me, WHY?!

Also, it's got consent issues all over. The way LC confessed his love for example. And I'm sorry but him getting horny from the way MR reacted to BEING DRUGGED after he was literally SEXUALLY ASSAULTED AND ALMOST RAPED?! just makes me want to slap the life out of whoever wrote thus. He literally brings it up when explaining why he's suddenly interested in MR and I'm like "that was a traumatizing experience for him after which you literally avoided him and you're trying to make it into something sexy?"

It's such a shame because I think the dynamic between a deadpan guy and the soft and caring type (the two "brothers") could have been interesting, if not for the incest implications and the fact that the younger one is literally acting like a sexually abusive stalker.

In conclusion: I'm tired.

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Disaster looms on the horizon

I'm not sure where to start talking about this series, because it is a disaster on practically every level. The script to begin with does not follow a logical structure and the rhythm is so uneven that it seems that it was written in the middle of a roller coaster ride.

The story itself, is like many others already seen in the world of BL, two friends who at a certain point in their friendship discover that their feelings go beyond camaraderie and embark on a new journey of love and sexual questioning, there is nothing wrong with exploring a previously seen plot again, the problem is when you have nothing new and innovative to contribute and, on the contrary, your product tells the same story as always in a rather mediocre way.

Before continuing to speak about the series that we are dealing with today, it seems important to me to do an exploration of its antecedents, in order to find the reasons why I believe that this series fails; HIStory as a franchise, began by giving us rather regular series, in favor of a nascent market for BL consumption, in those yesterdays, with titles such as Obsesses, My Hero or Stay Away From Me, it is easy to discern that many of problems came from the low budget, the short duration and therefore a reduced or rushed character development and the exploration of a new market for the target audience, as the generations of HIStory progressed their history also deepened and the development both creative, as on a script, acting and even budget level they were notorious, thus gaining a solid fan base across the globe.

Now, the highest point, we saw it without fear of being wrong in HIStory 3, both Trapped and Make our days count, were great series that touched our hearts on more than one occasion and that at production and acting levels were more than good received, at this point Make our days count was a watershed for what would come later and although the series was objectively a success, for the franchise itself, we can perhaps argue that it was a failure, for those who have seen the series, they will know that the Its conclusion was at least controversial, I am not here to say if it seems a good or bad conclusion to me, the important point is that it raised a stir, there were hundreds of thousands of opinions about it, the production received thousands of hundreds of criticisms and a a lot of fans ended up with a broken heart.

In the midst of this situation, in addition to other major problems to consider, such as the difficulties that the pandemic brought to the production of any series at an international level, or the lack of budget for the continuation of the franchise, Close to you was born; one of the big problems with generating successful products is that over time you have to make a decision between following your instinct as a creator or pleasing your audience, with Make our days count the former was, with Close to you the latter, I think it was very, very clear that Close to you I try to be as accommodating with the public as possible, the problem is that by doing this there are many issues that are left untreated and they subtract depth and relevance to the story that is being counted.

Close to you is a boring story, not because the plot is repetitive, or the characters are uninteresting, but because it lacks depth, the story is flat, without substance, it appeals to cheap resources to excite the public such as sexual innuendo or provocative kisses, and have I am not against this, I am not saying that if a series uses these elements it is not good, not at all, the point is that if that is the only thing you have in your favor it is an easy resource, a good story must be based on its script and production not the kisses and bed scenes, because they know well when the two elements come together good scenes a little more explicit and a good story, there they do leave you a good taste in your mouth.

The music of the series is an element that seems to be good to me, the main song is good and some used at certain high points in history also seem to me to be well selected, in general I do not have a strong comment on this topic.

In conclusion, the series does not captivate me in any way, I understand that there are people who do, and it seems super respectable, we all have different tastes, but I do believe that the series has to balance many problems at a technical level that other series do not they have, I think that if they had risked a little more with the story, things would be very different, I think it is more or less clear that I am a fan of the franchise itself, at least I reviewed all its deliveries and although this one did not particularly leave me excited about the future of it, in the same way I will continue to support the creation of new works and deeply hoping that they will bring us better and better stories.

And by way of relief I just want to add two things, the first is that the final scene is tremendously anticlimactic, I think it is not well achieved at all and that Anson Chen seems to me a beautiful person, at the beginning of the series he could not say that it was love at first glance, but over the course of the same, his face and expressions seemed more and more fascinating to me (like a bit of an unattainable prince actually) and I didn't just want to mention it.

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This series is not for everyone

Before I start with my review, I would like to say that people need to know that everyone has a personal preference be it to shows, songs, food and other things. What you may like in something, another person may despise. I feel like people in this comment section need to realize that. That doesn't make you better than them if an individual likes something and you are pointing out the flaws. I also feel that people need to respect people's opinion in the comments section. I would also like to add that these are my opinions and rating on this series, so...yeah.

Story-8/10
I am giving this series an 8. The reason is due to the fact that I have some issues with this series. And no, it's not because Ye Xing Si and Fu Young Jie are step brothers and had sex with each other. It's because I have a pet peeve with using certain devices to move along a series. In this series, they used alcohol. I don't care if a person is in a relationship with someone, married or have underlying feelings for each other. Once you use alcohol on one of the characters and the relationship develops off of this, it's going to annoy me. Also, I had some issues with Xiao Li Chen and Teng Mu Ren's progress in relationship as well when Xiao Li Cheng told Teng Mu Ren that he liked him (the way he told him when they went on the trip). I originally was going to give the storyline a lower score, however, due to Ye Xing Si father's reaction and acceptance of his son's and step son's relationship, I went with an 8.

Acting/Cast-7.5/10
Not gonna lie. I was going to give this a lower score due to one character. But then I realized that the show did bring out an emotion in me every time that I saw Fu Young Jie on the screen, so I am going to give it a 7.5. I do love the actors of Xiao Li Cheng and Teng Mu Ren, although there were times I felt it there acting was a bit over the top for me.

Music-5/10
Gonna be real with you- the music is neither here nor there for me in this series. I actually don't remember how the OST goes, unless I watch the series. And then when the series is done, the song is forgotten again.

Rewatch Value- 4/10
Honestly, I do not see myself coming back to watch this series anytime soon. There were some things in this series that I don't like and Xiao Li Chen and Teng Mu Ren can't pull me back in to give this series another watch soon.

Overall-6/10
I can see why people love this series and I can see why people hate it. I don't see myself recommending this series to anyone wholeheartedly. However, if someone ask if they should watch this series, I will tell them give a few episodes a go and see if it is for you. This series isn't for everyone and people need to respect that.

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First time seeing a Same-Sex Wedding in a BL drama, so great!

This drama is conflicting for me. I don't hate it but I don't love it.

There are a few things I like about the show like the TengTeng and Li Cheng pairing, the budget for high and quality production, the music and the costume design for the characters. That attention to detail was fantastic to see and well appreciated.

What I love the most is definitely the Wedding. So phenomenal to see a couple be together and have it be official and legal and recognized and celebrated. I'm so glad Taiwan is so much more progressive than other Asian countries so moments like the wedding - it's not only a fictional fantasy but an actual reality for all couples living in Taiwan. It's so heartwarming to see.

Things I hate or am disgusted by about this drama is almost everything with the other 'couple' and how they become a 'couple'. Not why, just how. S**ual assault and r**e should not ever be acceptable and it especially should not be the cornerstone of a relationship. That's just so unhealthy. Trigger warnings for that because this drama brings up the issue with multiple reactions to it and it's up to the viewer to decision how they feel about it. But I say no, no thank you.

TengTeng and LiCheng were the MVPs of the show! Honestly.

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