Be Loved in House (2021)

Mediocre plot but in BL standards its considered pretty average

Sept. 4, 2021

If I am being honest, I think I just kept watching this due to the actors and the cast since I love them so much. Honestly, the acting is so good and it definitely carried the show in my opinion. I feel like the plot is very weak and a lot of episodes have filler arcs so I was skipping a lot especially in the latter part of the series. The first half was okay in terms of writing but I think the writers just gave up in the last part. So many weird slow-paced parts that did not make sense at all. Like I love slow-paced arcs like in other dramas but I think the writers just kept throwing little subplots that did not really keep me interested or hook to watch the subsequent episodes.

However, I must say I definitely loved the main couple than the other couples in the drama. I really like how strong their chemistry is. Honestly for BLs sometimes, we have to lower our expectations since the budget is usually limited so I did not mind if the production is not as elegant as what other reviewers have pointed out.

THAT BEING SAID, I still recommend this drama for those who like shows in the category of "thrashy-romance" type.

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Run of the Mill BL

**Brief Synopsis**
T (Boss): Yu Zen
B (Employee): Shi Lei

- Beginning: B is a normal employee and T is his new boss. They start their relationship on the wrong foot because T is a perfectionist with OCD and needs everything done his way. B is not impressed by his boss no dating rule. However, when B gets kicked out of his apartment with no where to go, his boss lets him stay at his apartment.

- Middle: At first, B was only supposed to stay one day and after that no longer have any other contact with the boss outside of work, but they start spending more and more time together. Feelings starts to develop and they start getting more intimate.

- End: Before they could have their happy ending, T’s ex appears. It is revealed that the ex’s departure was the source of T’s trauma and the reason he didn’t want anyone dating in front of him. Unfortunately, T still couldn’t let go of his past despite loving B. B finds out and distance himself from T until he figures himself out. After realizing he might lose B if he didn’t act, T finally let go of the past and went to find B to confess. The series ends with them happily together.

**My Opinion**

WHAT I LIKED ABOUT IT:
- I really like the concept of enemies to lovers in a company context. I like boss-employee relationship stories as well.
- I like how T changes throughout the series, from his closed self to being more open with B.

WHAT I DIDN’T LIKE ABOUT IT:
- I just didn’t like how the plot was executed. I really didn’t like the angst introduced towards the end of the show.
- The plot is just so predictable and simple with no memorable moments.

**Conclusion**
This is a show I won’t be revisiting.

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The writing could be better

The show overall was very enjoyable to watch. The actors did a great job with the material they were given. I have just two criticism and it's at times a bit illogical plot structure and the OST.
Some of the "conflicts" seemed exaggerated to the point of not making sense whatsoever. And I totally understand that a show like that will present not very realistic scenarios and it will make some things much bigger than they should. I went into this show with that expectation. It was still waaay too much at times.
There were some plot holes and at the end some of the unfinished story had me asking questions.
Some of the dialogue felt a bit stiff and unnatural, but Idk if it's the translation error or not.
All of that I blame on the script, cause the actors were splendid. I really liked the main characters chemistry and tension they managed to create. It was really nice.
My other issue is the soundtrack. There were moments where the sound effects or the music really didn't fit. And again, I'm used to shows using weird sound effects for the comedic value. This wasn't it. Usually I don't really notice the soundtrack, unless the songs are very good. This time I noticed the soundtrack, cause it wasn't that good. It's a shame really.

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Not Compelling, But a Fluffy Sweet Love Story

The storyline is not very interesting, but the sweet fluffiness of this story and its pleasing visuals make it a worthwhile watch if you're interested in short, sweet love stories. The main actors do have chemistry, but their romantic scenes together felt on the brief end. The side characters are good fun, and don't exist merely to fill up space and time but are more fleshed out. I did end up skipping about half of the plot-heavy scenes at a certain point. The addition of a red herring-esque former ex-boyfriend at the end of the show felt deeply unnecessary, which was a tad frustrating, but it didn't throw off the endgame romance plot. Don't expect much, but enjoy the fluff.

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A big fat meh.

I'm a fan of Taiwan's efforts in the BL genre but this was underwhelming for me. After a few false starts I persevered and it did improve as it progressed. The acting was fairly amateur in the first episode and the cast took a while to iron out their rough edges and warm up. The story is fairly standard: unreasonable, arrogant handsome boss + affable and super cute employee struggling to work together in an office environment. What other tropes can we throw in here? Oh, wait, of course, let's make them housemates.

Some redeeming qualities - the lead couple did a fairly good job considering the mediocre story line and support cast. Hank Wang as Shi Lei was especially likeable and I largely saw this through because of his gallant efforts. The whole metalworks office thing was interesting and there were a few enjoyable moments. The second couple were like a tepid cup of coffee (kerpow!) and don't get me started on the other couple in the office. I swear the BL industry is out to make women the most unlikeable and unreasonable characters on the planet.

Look, the tropes are there for a reason - we love them and we love watching them time and time again. I understand Taiwan shows usually have fairly modest budgets to work with but the His Story and We Best Love franchises have proven that with some creativity, a good story and a strong cast, greatness can be made! I hope to see Hank Wang in better shows.

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Snooze fest

I really wanted to like this series as it seemed very promising from the trailers/clips. Unfortunately it was extremely boring. Probably one of the most boring and least innovative BL's I've watched so far. The acting was bearable but my main issue was the writing, it felt lazy, monotonous and very cliche. Which saddens me because Taiwanese BL's are usually very good when it comes to the actual story/writing. The only favorable thing I can say is the cast is very beautiful, however there's no real passion or believable connection between any of the characters so it's like watching pretty robots interact. If by chance there is a second season I hope they hire new writers and put more of an effort into making it feel authentic.

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Wasted potential

This started great tbh. The premise was nice. The old enemies to friend to lovers trope. The acting was great, ost was great and chemistry between the leads was also great. So why does this has such a low rating. The pacing, story and logic is all over the place. First, this series is so slow, I for one like it better because I watched it late and could watch it all at once but to be one of those people that had to wait for a new episode every week, I would have seriously dropped it. The problem that existed in the first episode became a problem till the last episode. They drag the problem of the main lead for too long. They made them become a couple till the last fucking episode and they thought that they could make up with us with a sex scene lol. I am thirst but not that thirsty to turned a blind eye to ridiculousness. Now the logic with this series or actually main lead makes no fucking sense. So there is rule that there should be no office romance. Stress on the OFFICE pls cause this mf thought that he has the right to ban an romance, doesn't matter if the person they are dating is an employee or not. The lead thinks that he can make them single forever lol logic where? Also the thing that I fucking hated the most was that they did not made the main leads a couple at the end of the episode but they also had the fucking audacity to make Yu Zhen and his ex have more chemistry and couple scenes than Shi lei do in the entire series. This was my breaking point of actually thinking positive about this series. But despite the terrible story and plot pacing. It did manage to make me entertained, laugh and smile at the main leads chemistry. But ehh, another series ruined by terrible pacing. The only reason the rewatch value is high since the main leads chemistry is cute and there were a lot of shirtless scenes and the everyone is attractive.

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Mejor que un simple cliché

El planteo es bastante simple pero muy bien elaborado, ya que el argumento principal acompaña siempre a los personajes y a la historia, y permite que su amor no caiga por completo en el cliché, ya que el ambiente laboral y la regla única le dan el toque distintivo a esta serie, que a mí parecer, está muy bien hecha y me gustó mucho.
La pareja principal es muy valiosa principalmente por el desarrollo que va permitiendo vislumbrar poco a poco la aparición de sus sentimientos con escenas de lo más dulces y absorbentes, la ingenuidad y los cambios de un corazón enamorado son expuestos con tanta delicadeza que es difícil no encariñarse con la pareja.
Por otro lado, la pareja secundaria no tiene tantos matices y dejaron bastante a la imaginación ya que, al contrario de la principal, no mostraron con tanto detalle su desarrollo, PERO es incluso más dulce que la principal, y aunque en el fondo se que es bastante cliché, no pude evitar enamorarme de ellos y esas escenas adorables que volvería a ver 929 veces más.
La dulzura hace a la serie, pero tiene dinámica por lo que mencioné al principio, lo que la vuelve entretenida. Lo que hizo que la puntuación no sea tan alta (además de lo que detallaré a continuación) fue la actuación, me pareció muy mala, en general estaban terriblemente durasos y su mirada transmitía lo que una pared.

Cosas que no me gustaron con SPOILER:
1) La intromisión del Ex del director arruinó el desenlace. Si bien todos esperábamos su aparición para echar luz sobre el pasado de Yu Zheng, fue súper intenso y le dieron demasiado protagonismo, no ayudo a la pareja (como querían demostrar) si no que se metió entre medio, forzandolos a unirse por el dolor. Su presencia solo debió empujar al director a hablar de su pasado y abrir su corazón con su chico, pero el tipo ese se encargó EL mismo de contar el pasado de Yu Zheng, causarle inseguridades a Shei Leí y abrir las heridas del director de una forma súper cruel para "ponerlo a prueba", lo cual no era necesario porque para antes que el ex apareciera, Shei Lei ya estaba seguro sobre sus sentimientos, y, por otro lado, Yu Zheng comenzaba a aceptar los suyos, quizá si debía aclarar las cosas con su ex para "cerrar una etapa" y juntar fuerzas para comenzar una nueva, pero con la fluidez y dulzura que venía caracterízando a la serie, y no así. Lo que más me dio bronca es que al final este tipo de mierda quedó como el buen salvador cupido de la historia, y ellos hubieran quedado juntos sin su regreso de mrdd >>:(

2) Baches argumentativos:
-El justificativo para la regla única fue bastante pobre, todos entendimos que Yu Zheng quedó traumado por amor, pero ¿Que sentido tiene prohibir los sentimientos de sus empleados? Además se mostró bastante abierto desde un principio con Shei Leí, lo cual no es propio de alguien que tiene tanta fobia al amor (al punto de poner una regla tan irracional)
-¿En que quedaron los flashbacks de Yu Zheng enamorado de Shei Lei en el pasado? Siempre mostraban que el director tenía sus ojos puestos en su empleado hace tiempo, pero jamás hondaron en eso, por lo cual quedó bastante colgado también.

3) quería ver el matrimonio de la pareja hetero jsjsjs

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It really grew on me

When I first started watching this show I only liked it fine until somewhere around the half-way point when all of a sudden it dawned on me that I'd not only become invested in the characters lives without realising it, I'd also wholly fallen in love with the entire story.
This series has its flaws to be sure, but it also features some incredibly compelling story-telling delivered through beautiful cinematography, solid editing, and fantastic performances by the entire cast.

The set-up may seem contrived at first, but quickly paves the way for some fascinating characterisations; the story at times feels like a character study more than anything else and I personally really enjoyed that aspect of it. The characters are all given a lot more depth than strictly necessary for a light, romantic drama, as well as the agency to sometimes act outside the simplistic bounds of black-and-white morality.
Yu Zhen, for instance, is shown to be clearly aware that his "Single Rule" is not strictly legal, he simply bets on his employees being too invested in the company's continued existence to report his wrong-doings to any authorities.
Similarly, Shi Lei's meddling in the affairs of a client proves to be largely successful, but it is also made clear that his actions are ethically questionable.
And of course there's Yi Zi Tong, whom viewers appear to either despise as an unnecessary addition to the plot for the sake of drama, or appreciate as a necessary instigator of Yu Zhen's character development.
His addition to the story may in fact not have been strictly necessary, but he is a very complex and interesting character. He appears out of nowhere as Yu Zhen's self-styled saviour, presumably out of some lingering sense of guilt over how their relationship ended, and thoroughly derails the leads' budding relationship. He has nothing but good intentions, he's correct in a lot of his assumptions about Yu Zhen's mental state, but for the most part his actions seem to cause more harm than good.

It's these small, unusual elements that, to me, elevate the story way above the level of a silly rom-com.
Yes, it makes liberal use of tropes and cliches, but the characters are three-dimensional, they are flawed, likeable, often genuinely hilarious, and feel like real people, which makes the relationships depicted feel real and believable in turn - a personal highlight for me is Qiqi and Gang's relationship, which is a wonderful depiction of a healthy age-gap romance. Their age difference isn't ignored or put off as irrelevant; their different life experiences lead to differences in opinion and relationship expectations. This in turn leads to conflict, which the two then resolve through open and honest communication and compromise - it is truly a joy to watch.

So if you're looking for a rom-com with great acting, lovely queer representation (there is even a very touching coming out scene, if that sways you either way), and a very sweet slow-burn romance which has some bite and intelligence to it, then look no further.
If you just want something light and easy to watch that's perfect for a lazy weekend on the couch, then this series will deliver as well.
I will say, however, that this is a show best enjoyed in one or two sittings. The slow, gentle pacing best lends itself to binging rather than to watching one episode at a time :)

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