Uncontrolled Love
The premise of Chinese short BL series Uncontrolled Love (also known as Irresistible Love) didn't appeal to me when I first read about it. But I thought I would give it a try anyway, seeing as it has generally good reviews.
Summary: Orphan Shu Nian is adopted by a wealthy industrialist family, the Xie's, when the malicious capricious young son Xie Yan chooses him from the other orphanage children, mainly on the basis of his passivity and his ability to withstand Yan's cruelty. They become very close as they grow up, but Nian's relation with the Xie's has clear boundaries that never allow him to become a fully-fledged family member. Instead he becomes a servant in a toxic master/valet dynamic with Yan and his parents. After high school, Yan is sent to England for several years to study and learn the family business. When he returns to China in his mid-20s, the two young men live together again in the family home but still as servant and 'young master'. Yan patronises and torments Nian mercilessly, which Nian tolerates because he is used to it since his youth - and, of course, because he adores Yan in secret. Nian now works in the family business as well, so they are constantly together. Immature Yan still holds onto childish things - he wants to sleep beside Nian every night, just as they did as children - but doesn't understand why he craves them. There's a strong suggestion that the boys had an erotic relationship when they were younger, though it's coyly glossed over. Yan is highly incensed when his girlfriend Jiang makes a snide accusation that Yan had a male friend just like Nian in the UK with whom he used to hold hands. When Jiang terrorises Nian for being too close to Yan, Nian reaches breaking point with his unbearable situation.
The master/servant theme in this short series set me against it even before I had watched it. I had low expectations about what the show would do with it, which proved to be worse than I had anticipated. I was constantly annoyed by the Xie family's proud declaration that they had never treated Nian poorly or differently, when all the while their actions had made it clear he was nothing more than a valet. He most certainly was not their son or brother. Even as an adult, Yan treats Nian like a sadistic child, with a few very nasty moments of violent temper and high-handed petulance. A viewer's enjoyment of the show might improve if they can forgive this premise to begin with, but unfortunately I couldn't.
In any case, it's an uncommon tack for a BL drama to take, so there's some interest to be found in its use here. And it's a tack that makes sense when you consider that it's a natural extension of the Asian cultural quirk of the senior/junior relationship. It demands total adherence and respect, and there's not much room to manoeuvre for someone who objects to it. (See season one of Thai series Sotus for an example of how all-powerful and destructive it can be, and what happens to conscientious objectors. And, equally, the good that can come from it too.) Nothing good comes from its use in Uncontrolled Love - it creates neither the respectful veneration from one side nor the 'noblesse oblige' from the other. It's just a chopping block of mutual distaste which just about obscures everything else, even the unacknowledged love. Its perverse achievement is to make one of the leads odious and unsympathetic, while making the other insipid and dull.
Ultimately, Uncontrolled Love is the story of Nian's manoeuvres to gain his freedom while still trying to keep Yan by his side and not alienate his adoptive parents. But with Nian being so passive and utterly without power, the responsibility falls on Yan's shoulders to rescue him once he realises his true feelings for Nian. Yan's growing understanding of his love and of the disastrous effects of his immaturity is where the best drama of the show derives its force. It certainly takes a while to get there though, so there's a lot of torture and heartache inflicted on Nian over the course of the series. It's well acted, with high production values and fine storytelling. The subtitles of the Youtube videos available are not great though, which ruins a lot of scenes by rendering them incomprehensible. Hopefully some better ones will come out soon or on other sites.
Interestingly, two endings for the series were filmed - one sad, and one happy. I watched both and they were equally silly, with neither ending doing much apart from delivering the good/bad news. At least the happy ending gives the viewer more of an emotional catharsis, which is a relief after what's gone before it.
Rating: 11 out of 20
Ending: take your pick, there's a happy one and a sad one available.
Best scene: Yan's emotional plea to his mother to help him is heart-wrenching.
Summary: Orphan Shu Nian is adopted by a wealthy industrialist family, the Xie's, when the malicious capricious young son Xie Yan chooses him from the other orphanage children, mainly on the basis of his passivity and his ability to withstand Yan's cruelty. They become very close as they grow up, but Nian's relation with the Xie's has clear boundaries that never allow him to become a fully-fledged family member. Instead he becomes a servant in a toxic master/valet dynamic with Yan and his parents. After high school, Yan is sent to England for several years to study and learn the family business. When he returns to China in his mid-20s, the two young men live together again in the family home but still as servant and 'young master'. Yan patronises and torments Nian mercilessly, which Nian tolerates because he is used to it since his youth - and, of course, because he adores Yan in secret. Nian now works in the family business as well, so they are constantly together. Immature Yan still holds onto childish things - he wants to sleep beside Nian every night, just as they did as children - but doesn't understand why he craves them. There's a strong suggestion that the boys had an erotic relationship when they were younger, though it's coyly glossed over. Yan is highly incensed when his girlfriend Jiang makes a snide accusation that Yan had a male friend just like Nian in the UK with whom he used to hold hands. When Jiang terrorises Nian for being too close to Yan, Nian reaches breaking point with his unbearable situation.
The master/servant theme in this short series set me against it even before I had watched it. I had low expectations about what the show would do with it, which proved to be worse than I had anticipated. I was constantly annoyed by the Xie family's proud declaration that they had never treated Nian poorly or differently, when all the while their actions had made it clear he was nothing more than a valet. He most certainly was not their son or brother. Even as an adult, Yan treats Nian like a sadistic child, with a few very nasty moments of violent temper and high-handed petulance. A viewer's enjoyment of the show might improve if they can forgive this premise to begin with, but unfortunately I couldn't.
In any case, it's an uncommon tack for a BL drama to take, so there's some interest to be found in its use here. And it's a tack that makes sense when you consider that it's a natural extension of the Asian cultural quirk of the senior/junior relationship. It demands total adherence and respect, and there's not much room to manoeuvre for someone who objects to it. (See season one of Thai series Sotus for an example of how all-powerful and destructive it can be, and what happens to conscientious objectors. And, equally, the good that can come from it too.) Nothing good comes from its use in Uncontrolled Love - it creates neither the respectful veneration from one side nor the 'noblesse oblige' from the other. It's just a chopping block of mutual distaste which just about obscures everything else, even the unacknowledged love. Its perverse achievement is to make one of the leads odious and unsympathetic, while making the other insipid and dull.
Ultimately, Uncontrolled Love is the story of Nian's manoeuvres to gain his freedom while still trying to keep Yan by his side and not alienate his adoptive parents. But with Nian being so passive and utterly without power, the responsibility falls on Yan's shoulders to rescue him once he realises his true feelings for Nian. Yan's growing understanding of his love and of the disastrous effects of his immaturity is where the best drama of the show derives its force. It certainly takes a while to get there though, so there's a lot of torture and heartache inflicted on Nian over the course of the series. It's well acted, with high production values and fine storytelling. The subtitles of the Youtube videos available are not great though, which ruins a lot of scenes by rendering them incomprehensible. Hopefully some better ones will come out soon or on other sites.
Interestingly, two endings for the series were filmed - one sad, and one happy. I watched both and they were equally silly, with neither ending doing much apart from delivering the good/bad news. At least the happy ending gives the viewer more of an emotional catharsis, which is a relief after what's gone before it.
Rating: 11 out of 20
Ending: take your pick, there's a happy one and a sad one available.
Best scene: Yan's emotional plea to his mother to help him is heart-wrenching.
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