HIStory Season 2: Right or Wrong
After watching the wonderful Crossing the Line recently, I decided it was time to catch up on the rest of the various HIStory sub-series from both seasons 1 and 2. I'd originally started watching Right or Wrong a couple of weeks back, but I had struggled with its early episodes, so this was a good opportunity to revisit it and give it a second chance.
Summary: Fei Sheng Zhe is a university student who also participates in the drama club with his friend Ruan. When a lost young girl Yo Yo interrupts their rehearsals, Zhe and Ruan take her back to her home, only to find that it's an unliveable mess. Yo Yo's divorced father Shi Yi Jie can barely keep up with the demands of being a single parent. Zhe and Ruan are shocked to discover that Yi Jie is also their university lecturer. He has a terrible reputation for being strict and intimidating, which proves to be an understatement when they finally meet him in class. Zhe agrees to work as a nanny and cook for the father and daughter, who soon become accustomed to his virtually living with them. Zhe nurses some severe trauma from his high school days, having been horribly persecuted as gay, which led to a downward spiral of self-loathing and destructive behaviour. When stronger feelings develop between the two men, Zhe has difficulty breaking the cycle of distrust.
I'm glad I gave this show another chance, it's well worth it. The story is much more adult than the usual BL drama - Yi Jie is in his early 30s - and provides an interesting mix of the usual BL themes of coming out, accepting oneself and first love, together with more serious, unusual themes such as gay parenting, homophobic violence, gay men's mental health and LGBTQI recognition. The focus is still very much on the two leads, but their story intersects regularly with these themes and keeps the drama more pointed than solely being a love story. As usual with the HIStory series, there's no heavy-handedness here. Each character and theme is given plenty of room to breathe, which reaps the rewards on the overall effectiveness of the storyline.
I still have reservations about the character of Jie though, to the point where they detracted from my enjoyment of the show. I found him to be too brutal and selfish, both at home with his daughter - to the point of criminal neglect - and at work with his students. He barely treats Zhe with respect, at least initially. As a result, Zhe's love for him was inexplicable. It's also extremely disappointing to find the "I'm not gay, I just love this man" approach in Right or Wrong.
Despite its general leaning towards comedy and even some slapstick, this series edges towards some very dark places at times. A scene depicting school bullying is disturbing, not least because Zhe is betrayed by the boy he loves. There's a truly terrifying scene where traumatised high-school-aged Zhe virtually hands himself over to an unknown man for sex. This is almost an impossibly difficult subject for such a superficial genre as BL to broach in any meaningful way, and Right or Wrong certainly fails to deal with it properly or in any depth. It becomes a source of Zhe's trauma and connection between the two leads, and that's about it. But for this scene alone, I would recommend that you watch Right or Wrong, simply because it's unlikely we'll ever see anything like it again in a BL drama.
Once the Jie / Zhe relationship reaches such a point as to be inevitable, the second half of the series tips over into more overt political references, especially the legitimisation of gay relationships, legally and socially. After being so obnoxiously stubborn and direct at the start of the series, Jie's iffy characterisation now begins to make sense by being so resolved and determined about everything to do with Zhe and their partnership. It becomes especially important as Zhe starts to back away out of cowardice. When his ex-wife makes a (rather contrived) reappearance, Jie's immediate reaction is to turf her out the door - the complete opposite of the usual approach in BL. But unfortunately Zhe's reaction is to capitulate instantly, which disgusts Jie. In the best scene of the entire show, on a riverside quay, Jie angrily confronts Zhe with his cowardice and sham motives in such stark and brutal terms that Zhe is forced to examine himself more closely and acknowledge Jie is correct. It's such a fantastic tack for the screenplay to take, and it's forcefully written for maximum impact. It reinforces the importance of the political point it's trying to make, by using Jie's blunt personality to rip apart the logic of Zhe's stance of remaining silently in the closet and not causing an upset. The implication is that it's not just Zhe who thinks this way, and the only way forward politically is to make visibly bold, persuasive statements in one's personal life. It's hard to overestimate how radical this sentiment is, and BL is greatly enriched by it. It's no coincidence that Right or Wrong was created shortly after Taiwan's constitutional court ruled in 2017 that same-sex couples have the right to marry.
Despite all these positives, I'm still ambivalent about Right or Wrong purely as a BL construct. The central relationship is just not convincing, and BL lives or dies by its leading men and their journey to love. It's a shame because there's so much else the show has to give its audience.
Rating: 13 out of 20
Ending: Happy
Best scene: the riverside scene, where Jie verbally rips Zhe to shreds.
Summary: Fei Sheng Zhe is a university student who also participates in the drama club with his friend Ruan. When a lost young girl Yo Yo interrupts their rehearsals, Zhe and Ruan take her back to her home, only to find that it's an unliveable mess. Yo Yo's divorced father Shi Yi Jie can barely keep up with the demands of being a single parent. Zhe and Ruan are shocked to discover that Yi Jie is also their university lecturer. He has a terrible reputation for being strict and intimidating, which proves to be an understatement when they finally meet him in class. Zhe agrees to work as a nanny and cook for the father and daughter, who soon become accustomed to his virtually living with them. Zhe nurses some severe trauma from his high school days, having been horribly persecuted as gay, which led to a downward spiral of self-loathing and destructive behaviour. When stronger feelings develop between the two men, Zhe has difficulty breaking the cycle of distrust.
I'm glad I gave this show another chance, it's well worth it. The story is much more adult than the usual BL drama - Yi Jie is in his early 30s - and provides an interesting mix of the usual BL themes of coming out, accepting oneself and first love, together with more serious, unusual themes such as gay parenting, homophobic violence, gay men's mental health and LGBTQI recognition. The focus is still very much on the two leads, but their story intersects regularly with these themes and keeps the drama more pointed than solely being a love story. As usual with the HIStory series, there's no heavy-handedness here. Each character and theme is given plenty of room to breathe, which reaps the rewards on the overall effectiveness of the storyline.
I still have reservations about the character of Jie though, to the point where they detracted from my enjoyment of the show. I found him to be too brutal and selfish, both at home with his daughter - to the point of criminal neglect - and at work with his students. He barely treats Zhe with respect, at least initially. As a result, Zhe's love for him was inexplicable. It's also extremely disappointing to find the "I'm not gay, I just love this man" approach in Right or Wrong.
Despite its general leaning towards comedy and even some slapstick, this series edges towards some very dark places at times. A scene depicting school bullying is disturbing, not least because Zhe is betrayed by the boy he loves. There's a truly terrifying scene where traumatised high-school-aged Zhe virtually hands himself over to an unknown man for sex. This is almost an impossibly difficult subject for such a superficial genre as BL to broach in any meaningful way, and Right or Wrong certainly fails to deal with it properly or in any depth. It becomes a source of Zhe's trauma and connection between the two leads, and that's about it. But for this scene alone, I would recommend that you watch Right or Wrong, simply because it's unlikely we'll ever see anything like it again in a BL drama.
Once the Jie / Zhe relationship reaches such a point as to be inevitable, the second half of the series tips over into more overt political references, especially the legitimisation of gay relationships, legally and socially. After being so obnoxiously stubborn and direct at the start of the series, Jie's iffy characterisation now begins to make sense by being so resolved and determined about everything to do with Zhe and their partnership. It becomes especially important as Zhe starts to back away out of cowardice. When his ex-wife makes a (rather contrived) reappearance, Jie's immediate reaction is to turf her out the door - the complete opposite of the usual approach in BL. But unfortunately Zhe's reaction is to capitulate instantly, which disgusts Jie. In the best scene of the entire show, on a riverside quay, Jie angrily confronts Zhe with his cowardice and sham motives in such stark and brutal terms that Zhe is forced to examine himself more closely and acknowledge Jie is correct. It's such a fantastic tack for the screenplay to take, and it's forcefully written for maximum impact. It reinforces the importance of the political point it's trying to make, by using Jie's blunt personality to rip apart the logic of Zhe's stance of remaining silently in the closet and not causing an upset. The implication is that it's not just Zhe who thinks this way, and the only way forward politically is to make visibly bold, persuasive statements in one's personal life. It's hard to overestimate how radical this sentiment is, and BL is greatly enriched by it. It's no coincidence that Right or Wrong was created shortly after Taiwan's constitutional court ruled in 2017 that same-sex couples have the right to marry.
Despite all these positives, I'm still ambivalent about Right or Wrong purely as a BL construct. The central relationship is just not convincing, and BL lives or dies by its leading men and their journey to love. It's a shame because there's so much else the show has to give its audience.
Rating: 13 out of 20
Ending: Happy
Best scene: the riverside scene, where Jie verbally rips Zhe to shreds.
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