Be Loved in House (2021)

Be aware: you may get obsessed with two main leaders

One must know that I do not have a lot of experience with BL dramas. Before watching, I read some comments and reviews saying that there are a lot of things that should be included or improved etc and I was not expecting much from the show. This is probably the first Taiwanese drama that I watched at all (normally, I watch Korean dramas) and I didn't know the actors at all, but oh boy, after that? And mind me, I watched the ENTIRE thing in one evening, I bingle-watched that on one breath, I'm now OBSESSED with the two main leaders, because I have not seen such a chemistry between main leaders in YEARS. You should totally watch Aaron Lai and Hank Wang together being interviewed or behind the scenes, their chemistry exists out of drama and that is probably why I'm missing them already. I actually miss the feeling in my real life that they have here. Everything was perfect for me, except the second couple, sorry but I skipped their scenes. The show was too short and that's too bad, the story has such potential. Would love to see more of them and in a more slow-burn way. But I'm greedy here, of course.

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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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Good but not excellent

When I initially watched this series, I gave it a very generous 9.5 rating. This was when I first got back into watching BL series again, and the last series I watched before my hiatus was during the 2gether and TharnType era where the standards were much lower. I thought that this series was brilliant because it does not succumb to the early BL days toxic plot, it was very refreshing to see two parties who are undeniably attracted to each other without one person looking like they're about to shit themselves just thinking about kissing a dude.

However, the rating for this series went down quite a bit for me when I watched this without my rose-tinted glasses. Don't get me wrong, this is still a good series and quite enjoyable of a watch, but there are major issues that affects my watching experience. Let's get the bad out of the way first:
1. Pacing is not the best. The ending felt rushed and although I do like that they honor past relationships and did not demonize the ex, it just doesn't make sense to make half the final episode about YuZhen and his ex instead of the main couple. The flow between YuZhen hesitating to take the next step with ShiLei and then finally getting over his hesitance and fear is also not very well written in my opinion.

2. The ex's motives are weird - borderline incomprehensible to me. Spoiler: the ex pretended to be the villain to get YuZhen to move on because he felt guilty that he caused YuZhen trauma. This just doesn't make sense to me, especially with the way it was written. This could have been sold to the audience better if they either: change the ex's motives, or change the writing of the interactions between the ex and the main couple.

3. I am not convinced that ShiLei is YuZhen's first choice. This is hugely due to the editing and writing choices made for the last couple of episodes. They started out so well. The actors had amazing chemistry, they did the enemies to lovers trope well, and the progression felt organic. However, everything they built was ruined the moment they wrote ZiTong's character in. This is just something I can't get over after my second watch.

Now let's move on to the things that were executed really well:
1. The actors were absolutely adorable together. They have a very natural chemistry with each other and I absolutely adore that they nailed the dynamics of being enemies, then friends, and then love interests. Hank Wang is a standout in this drama to me - it is an absolute joy watching him on screen.

2. Characters were written well. Even when they were enemies and were technically hostile toward each other, they were never unnecessarily evil or mean which I adore. I also hate incompetence so it is an absolute pleasure to see two people who are very competent at their jobs with each other. No useless uke trope here! Shi Lei is also an assertive character - even though he is YuZhen's employee, he is also someone who will stand up to YuZhen to defend his team and to defend his stance on issues. Hugely adore this.

3. This was basically the perfect amount of romance, pining, and companionship until ZiTong's character was written in. If they eliminated the whole ex storyline, this would have stayed a 9.5 for me.

4. I did enjoy the fact that they respect previous relationships and first loves - I love that they didn't do the whole "I've never loved anyone until I met you" thing, because people can have big love stories before they find their soulmate and it does not negate their feelings for their current partner. I do not like the way this was executed, but I do respect the decision to showcase YuZhen's previous love for ZiTong.

5. Side couples are sweet.

Look, this still ranks high in my books because I am biased and choose to focus on the excellent first half of the series. I would still recommend watching this drama, but please try to turn off your brain in the second half otherwise you'd be as frustrated as I am with the writers.

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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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