Sneha Jaiswal (Twitter | Instagram)
The Chinese series ‘Revenged Love‘ (逆爱) follows protagonist Wu Suo Wei (played by Zi Yu), who is completely heartbroken after being mercilessly dumped by his ex. When he discovers that her wealthy new boyfriend, Chi Cheng (Tian Xu Ning), is also into men, Suo Wei hatches a harebrained plan to seduce Chi Cheng as an act of revenge. But what happens when he himself falls for the handsome, charismatic ‘bad boy’ Cheng?
‘Revenged Love‘ spans 24 episodes and is based on the novel ‘Counter Attack‘ by Chai Ji Dan, who is also behind the popular shows Addicted and Advance Bravely. Episode one comically sets the tone of the plot, introducing Suo Wei as a poor guy excited to have his girlfriend over for lunch. However, he is dumped for a rich guy, who in turn is ditched for an even richer guy: Chi Cheng. The girlfriend is so caricature-ly horrid, she is reduced to a joker-like vamp in the tale, just there to push forward the primary romance.
Suo Wei swears he’s straight and totally not into men, but he’s dead set on getting revenge on his ex by seducing her new boyfriend and breaking both their hearts. The only problem? Chi Cheng isn’t just rich; he’s young, hot, and very used to turning heads across the gender spectrum. Winning him over won’t be a walk in the park, it might just be a snake pit. In episode two, Suo Wei turns to his newly found doctor friend Jiang Xiao Shuai (Liu Xuan Cheng) to teach him the art of attracting men, since Xiao Shuai is openly gay. In a little twist, Xiao Shuai is aggressively pursued by wealthy playboy Guo Cheng Yu (Zhan Xuan), a close friend/brother of Chi Cheng. Yeah, the plot is a familiar combination of co-incidences, trickery, silliness and delivers some exaggerated yet entertaining drama, generously laden with comedic moments.
So, ‘Revenged Love’ has a primary romance that follows the naive-yet-manipulative nutcase Suo Wei trying to entrap the even crazier, snake-fanatic Chi Cheng. Yes, Chi Cheng might be the heir to a successful business, but he prefers spending his time breeding and petting snakes, participating in snake-fights (like cockfights), and occasionally playing basketball. Whatever time he gets in between is spent in pursuing more physical pleasures, or at least that’s the word on the streets.
There’s also the secondary romantic storyline about Cheng Yu hitting on Doctor Xiao Shuai, even though the latter shows zero interest at being pursued. In fact, Cheng Yu is also obsessed with snakes, just not as much as Chi Cheng. A major subplot in ‘Revenged Love’ revolves around Chi Cheng trying to recover his pet snakes after his father steals his large reptile collection to force him into taking over the company and marrying a girl. Suo Wei of course doesn’t want Chi Cheng to marry his ex-girlfriend and works hard to accelerate their break-up. Although, funnily, he has no idea that their relationship is barely serious (the one between his ex and Chi Cheng).
While Zi Yu is comedically cute as ‘Revenged Love’ protagonist Suo Wei, Tian Xu Ning is pitch-perfect as the fiendishly good-looking Chi Cheng and reminded me of Japanese actor Ito Asahi from ‘Futtara Doshaburi’. While in the first four episodes they’re still in the courtship period, their onscreen chemistry is fun to watch, with Suo Wei often experiencing ‘gay panic’ around Chi Cheng, while the latter often looks like he would devour Suo Wei in one bite. Tian Xu Ning suavely portrays Cheng’s dual personality – cool as a cucumber on the outside, but a maniac on the inside. He has ‘crazy in love’ eyes and often unsettles Suo Wei by blatantly flirting with him, saying things like, “Stop talking philosophy, let’s discuss anal anatomy,” with a serious face.
A lot of the dialogues in ‘Revenged Love’ are wacky as hell! For instance, when Xiao Shuai advises Suo Wei to simply seal the deal with Chi Cheng if he wants to stop him from marrying his ex-girlfriend, Wei says, “This thing of mine isn’t just for show. Why should I let him top me?!” LOL.
Just like drag queens have fairy godmothers, Liu Xuan Cheng, who plays Doctor Xiao Shuai, is like Suo Wei’s gay godmother in ‘Revenged Love’, inducting him into the world of queer love and sex. Xiao Shuai has a flirty and feisty personality, and it’s subtly funny and endearing how he never holds back from admiring Chi Cheng’s good looks whenever he sees him. Suo Wei’s is much like a BL fan, rooting for Suo Wei and Chi Cheng to hook up for real. Guo Cheng Yu’s character motivations aren’t clear yet, so it’s hard to evaluate Zhan Xuan’s portrayal of the character at this point of “Revenged Love”. Although, he does look good onscreen with Xiao Shua, and there’s potential chemistry there. Ironically, Zhan Xuan also looks great with Tian Xu Ning, each time they share screen space.
If there’s one glaring problem with “Revenged Love“, it’s the weird dubbing. It’s evident that several actors in the cast have not done their own voiceovers. While this is fairly standard in the Chinese industry, it can be quite distracting for foreign viewers. This problem is of course going to persist throughout the show, but at least the background score isn’t too bad, although, some sections could’ve benefited from more music.
Going by the first four episodes, ‘Revenged Love’ is fun, chaotic, and a pretty entertaining adaptation for BL fans who are tired of censored Chinese adaptations!
You can watch the first four episodes of ‘Revenged Love’ on YouTube.
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