‘The Missing Piece’ starts on a confusing note, gets interesting somewhere in the middle by clarifying a few weird plot holes, and then gets ridiculously boring again. It’s often missing logic and coherence, and recycles earlier events like nobody’s business. And why do rich people think ‘kidnapping’ their problems is the best solution out there? If you’re thinking I’m jumping from one thread to another too quickly and randomly, wait till you watch this series!
Based on a book by Kun Yi Wei Lou, The Missing Piece stars Rao Zi Hao as the protagonist Shen Mo, a struggling artist in a contractual relationship with wealthy businessman Ji Ming Xuan (Hou Ming Xuan), after the latter saves him from a violent kidnapping orchestrated by the family of Shen Mo’s boyfriend, Zhou Yang (Deng Zhi Hao), in an attempt to tear the couple apart. Ex-boyfriend really, because the guy simply flies abroad to study, pretty much ghosts Shen Mo, and then bizarrely tries to get back together as though nothing happened when he returns to the country.
But The Missing Piece isn’t a straightforward story about a poor man in a contractual relationship with a rich businessman, like Thundercloud Rainstorm. Instead, it throws in an amnesia twist: Shen Mo suffers memory loss after being attacked and mistakes Ming Xuan for his ex Zhou Yang for quite some time. Shen Mo’s mental health deteriorates as he struggles with denial and trauma over being abandoned by his ex, and Ming Xuan takes care of him, laying the foundation for a morally grey relationship. To complicate things further, it turns out Zhou Yang is set to marry Ming Xuan’s sister.
The episodes don’t unfold in chronological order, and large chunks of the protagonists’ lives are simply skipped. Shen Mo’s memory isn’t the only missing piece here. Hou Ming Xuan plays the typical cold, controlling, dominant and wealthy romantic lead who, despite having a soft spot for Shen Mo, behaves as though he’ll be executed if he expresses his true feelings. Rao Zi Hao’s Shen Mo is reminiscent of a fragile porcelain doll; you never know what might break him. And while there’s promising onscreen chemistry between the lead actors, the chaotic, fragmented and often illogical storytelling makes it difficult to stay invested in the series.
If the amnesia trope sounds interesting, I’d recommend watching the Japanese BL Jack O’Frost instead, a tender exploration of how two former lovers find their way back to each other after one of them loses his memory following their break-up. The Missing Piece feels like a messy remix of that premise, except Shen Mo is heartlessly abandoned by one man and eventually finds some semblance of stability in the arms of another.
Whether what develops between Shen Mo and Ming Xuan is genuine love or simply an unhealthy dependence on each other is a question the series never explores quite convincingly enough. There’s an interesting story buried somewhere beneath all the memory loss, emotional manipulation and rich-people nonsense, but the writers seem determined to make viewers work unnecessarily hard to find it. In the end, The Missing Piece is less of a romantic puzzle worth solving and more of a frustrating mess with far too many pieces that simply don’t fit.
Watch The Missing Piece on Viki or GagaOolala.
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Looking for more BLs to watch? Check out quick reviews of three dramas below.
