Hen Jun Bu Si Jiang Lou Yue (2021)

The most romantic "bromance" out there

I don't remember the last time a drama made me have so many mixed emotions. At times I absolutely loved Killer & Healer. And at times I couldn't stand how stupid it felt. This uneven quality of the show made it difficult for me to rate it, but I ultimately still gave it a strong 8.5, hugely due to the absolutely enchanting, disarming and beautiful "bromance" between two main characters. However, they are not the only aspect of Killer & Healer worthy of appreciation.

Let me start with the things I disliked, though.

The biggest issue I had with Killer & Healer was that the entire police-vs-criminals plot was lacking in logic.

The police force would get an unconfirmed info about possible opium hideout, they'd barge in without an actual strategy what to do once they're inside, kill off almost all of the criminals and then be disappointed that they don't make any progress in their investigation. Well, how about keeping the witnesses alive? Going undercover? Having trusted informants?

Throughout the entire drama there were multiple situations when supposedly secret information got revealed because a person *forgot to close the damn door*. This happens not just once and even to people who are supposed to be big crime masterminds. It was especially hard to swallow when happening to Jun Bai - an otherwise mostly intelligent villain, who - for whatever reason - decided to discuss his criminal activities without closing the door to his room despite having an opera singer as a guest moving around freely in his villa.

And don't even get me started with the whole Yue Lou-goes-undercover mission, when San Ye (previously super vigilant about exposing his identity) reveals his true face to his archenemy from just two days ago. Like, what??!!

These are just some examples at the top of my head. There were more, but I didn't really wanna sit and make notes on everything I disliked, especially since I pretty much decided on suspending my disbelief and charging on, watching (or looking the other way ;))

Another qualm I had with this drama is the numerous deaths in the final episode. Most of them felt completely unnecessary and made me scratch my head, wondering what was the goal of the creators. How was I supposed to feel when Chu Ran is sitting terrified, yet keeping her veil on, her vision blocked completely for no reason I could think of, doesn't ask who entered the room and then proceeds to stab this person (who turns out to be her younger brother) without uttering a word of "who is it?". Why the brother, who previously kept on talking and talking didn't speak up to her at all?

Even more puzzling is why was his death even happening, when as audience, we didn't even get a story arc of Chu Ran suffering because of what she did, grieving her brother, questioning her life choices, wondering was it worth it to risk herself so much for a man who might've never loved her... We get none of that, because Chu Ran gets shot and dies herself 5 minutes later 🙃
And we're not even halfway deaths in this episode, btw.
The sheer amount of deaths would make a viewer somewhat numb, and it's even worse when half of them are pretty underwhelming...

Now, let's move on to the things I liked.

A huge redeeming quality of this show are its characters. Although they sometimes take some "damage" from the bad, let's call it "event-writing", most of the time they remain real and somewhat true to their established values, experiences and motivations. This pertains to both, male leads as well as side characters. I had no problem empathizing with them, because the show did a great job at making them feel human, with complex personalities. A couple of times I caught myself nearly-crying (and I actually ugly cried once) during the emotional developments, focusing on relationships other than the main love story.

The aforementioned includes the big villain as well, who had probably the most intriguing personality of all the characters. And that leads me to another aspect I enjoyed...

The villain himself. A good cops-vs-criminals story needs a powerful villain figure. Jun Bai aka San Ye is a very compelling "bad guy". He is composed, elegant, charming, intelligent and also ruthless and cruel. Still, he is capable of love - as shown by his feelings for Boss Yu - however the love he gives is terrifying, suffocating and borderline sadistic. Yet, he is still powerless in the face of his own obsession as ultimately it is still Boss Yu who holds the power over Jun Bai's heart.

Of course, an important aspect of the show is the "bromance" between two main characters. I call it "bromance" in quotation marks, because there is nothing bro- about the relationship Yue Lou and Yu Zhi share, aside from them sometimes referring to themselves as "xiong di". I can honestly say that I've yet to see another "bromance" cdrama that managed to create such an obvious romantic relationship between two male characters while still passing censorship (well, maybe Stay With Me could be a good contender, but it was marketed as a BL to start with, at least internationally). From the looks they give each other, to the looks the people around give to them, to the not-so-subtle comments they make about their relationship.

And the blatant display of the real nature of ML's relationship is not even the best part.

The best part is how beautifully their relationship is written. How reciprocal is their affection, how much they respect one another, how willing they are to sacrifice for the other person, how they take care of each other, lift each other up, trust one another and so on, and so forth. All of that is accompanied by a chemistry that I can only describe as sizzling (courtesy of two actors portraying the characters). Though, to be precise, the show somehow manages to fill their shared scenes with both, affection and tension simultaneously.

Ok, on to the final aspect of the drama I wanted to praise, and that is acting. It was simply really solid, coming from almost every character that mattered. There were also some exquisite performances, like e.g. the final moments of Zhao Jing Ming, being "interrogated" by San Ye. Zhang Jun Jie really acted his butt off in that scene. On the other hand, Mao Zi Jun and Ian Yi capture the essence of two people in love so well, it comes off fantastic and natural on screen.

All in all, Killer & Healer is a really enjoyable watch that can be at times frustrating as long as a viewer intends to keep their brain on while watching ;) but is capable of enchanting its audience with vivid characters and exploration of their relationships, the bromance between MLs being one, but not the only one of them. Despite its shortcomings, I intend to re-watch it in the future and I wholeheartedly recommend it to others.

EDIT: Oh, and just for the record. This drama has a female lead as well, but make no mistake - she is not here just to serve the purpose of making this show less gay, as it's often the case with such Chinese "bromances". Even more so, she is a full-fledged, complex character herself, with a complicated family background and her own struggles and ideals. She does fall in love with one of the male leads, but it is always very clear that - while they become close friends - she is never his priority and he never sees her in a romantic way.

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