This series could have done with more episodes to strike a better balance with its own elements
Trapped follows police officer (Shaofei) and underworld head (Tang Yi) as the former tries to uncover the story of an accident that changed their lives years ago. On Shaofei's end, his mentor was killed, for Tang Yi, his father figure was killed. I came into HIStory after starting with Trapped's sister series, Make Our Days Count. Trapped was chronologically before MODC. Why did I leave Trapped for second? Because I was worried that Trapped would have a heavy crime underworld plot and I had to be in the right mood for that. Does Trapped have that problem? Nope. In fact, it's quite the opposite. Trapped is beyond silly when it's ready. Shaofei has a fever dream idea for him and Tang Yi to strip down to their underwear and try to get someone to pick them up, betting on their good looks to work as a good lure. Shaofei gets into a fist fight with a love rival before the two decide to join forces to take down a common enemy in front of an unamused Tang Yi. A kidnapped character cheerfully bids his kidnapper farewell while the other promises to see him again. It's absolutely wild and I love those moments. Unfortunately, when Trapped is not being crazy, it's quite boring. The crime plot has little time to really build up to something interesting and the show has zero atmosphere of a crime underworld. The police force doesn't do much policing or investigating, the crime aspect of the series is barely explored beyond a surface level and I'd even say that the synopsis saying that a police officer becomes "trapped" in the underworld is a little embellished.
Trapped does have some twists and turns coming down to the end that are fairly interesting, but they barely packed a punch for me. I honestly didn't care beyond a "Huh!", perhaps if the show had more episodes it would have been better for it. The silly wouldn't have felt so out of place and would have been necessary to balance the grittiness of the serious crime plot. Meanwhile, the serious crime plot would also been able to have more time to develop into something interesting and have a proper atmosphere around it as opposed to being boring, tension-less scenes.
Anyway, if you decide to skip everything concerning the crime plot, Trapped manages to stand up decently. Shaofei and Tang Yi don't have as much chemistry as the show's other couple Jack and Zhaozi do, but their relationship progression was very well done. Chris Wu's Tang Yi is expectedly steely, but his emotions come through his eyes very well. In his tender and tsuntsun moments with Shaofei, it's easy to be swooned. Jake's Shaofei unfortunately doesn't get to do much beyond be an Eager Police Officer trying to uncover the truth and be teasing with Tang Yi. The two have tension that builds and the way that Shaofei's near obsession Tang Yi is silently reinterpreted by himself onscreen for the viewer was great. Subtle, but very well done. Jack and Zhaozi on the other hand, are just great together. Though their relationship is nothing more than two quirky guys finding themselves together, they're easily the most entertaining part of the show and I wish that they got more screentime. Ironically, Jack and Zhaozi do handle the police officer x underworld member subplot better than the main couple does despite their scenes being so humorous.
As it stands, to me, Trapped is a very mediocre BL series with a serviceable plot. The underworld aspect isn't taken seriously by the show, when it does get focus, it feels as if it's just taking time away from what you're actually enjoying about Trapped.
Trapped does have some twists and turns coming down to the end that are fairly interesting, but they barely packed a punch for me. I honestly didn't care beyond a "Huh!", perhaps if the show had more episodes it would have been better for it. The silly wouldn't have felt so out of place and would have been necessary to balance the grittiness of the serious crime plot. Meanwhile, the serious crime plot would also been able to have more time to develop into something interesting and have a proper atmosphere around it as opposed to being boring, tension-less scenes.
Anyway, if you decide to skip everything concerning the crime plot, Trapped manages to stand up decently. Shaofei and Tang Yi don't have as much chemistry as the show's other couple Jack and Zhaozi do, but their relationship progression was very well done. Chris Wu's Tang Yi is expectedly steely, but his emotions come through his eyes very well. In his tender and tsuntsun moments with Shaofei, it's easy to be swooned. Jake's Shaofei unfortunately doesn't get to do much beyond be an Eager Police Officer trying to uncover the truth and be teasing with Tang Yi. The two have tension that builds and the way that Shaofei's near obsession Tang Yi is silently reinterpreted by himself onscreen for the viewer was great. Subtle, but very well done. Jack and Zhaozi on the other hand, are just great together. Though their relationship is nothing more than two quirky guys finding themselves together, they're easily the most entertaining part of the show and I wish that they got more screentime. Ironically, Jack and Zhaozi do handle the police officer x underworld member subplot better than the main couple does despite their scenes being so humorous.
As it stands, to me, Trapped is a very mediocre BL series with a serviceable plot. The underworld aspect isn't taken seriously by the show, when it does get focus, it feels as if it's just taking time away from what you're actually enjoying about Trapped.
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