HIStory5: Love in the Future (2022)

This drama is an absolute must!

This drama is an absolute must. But, you have to see it right.

This is a BL drama, not an expensive Korean production. We are very spoiled now and that's a good thing.
We expect clichés in BL dramas. But they are not the old ones anymore (gay man walks around like a woman and works either as a hairdresser, in a fashion boutique or in a TravestyShow. I, being gay myself, can live well with the new stereotypes.

So if you know that the budgets of BL dramas are so low, then you shouldn't compare them to a cinema blockbuster either.
Unfortunately, some do. That's their right. But I try to understand the whole.

It is a production from Taiwan. A different language, a different culture. The story is really good. And it was also well executed. I did wish for a different ending, but that doesn't change my belief that this drama is fantastic. It's touching. It has a deeper meaning and it fulfills all the important stages of a BL series.

Since I don't do spoilers in my reviews, I won't go into the individual characters. I may change that one day.
Watch this series and feel the fever with the characters. Have fun!

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It's a good series...go for it!

I literally just finished watching it a minute ago.

Honestly...I...LIKE...IT! I do not know why there were so many negatives comments on HIStory 5. The story is not perfect but it is good. Tell me, which movie, drama or film has a perfect storyline? I thought Obsessed was the worst in the HIStory series.

HIStory 5 made me laugh and cried which speaks volume of the drama. Yes, it was slow moving at times but the flow was smooth and the momentum was right. I kind of preferred the second couple, Vincent and Wynn than Hai Yi and Johnny. Vincent and Wynn seemed to be more natural and comfortable with each other. There are numerous adorable scenes which will melt your heart, especially Vincent's expressions in Episode 2 (in the car), Episode 3 (in the office) and Episode 9 (in the shower). I will definitely rewatch this, mostly for Vincent and Wynn. Let me give you a tip...you wouldn't want to miss Episode 19...wink!

I thought having Xing Si and Yong Jie at the end was a nice touch. I like the way it included Xing Si and Yong Jie sharing the challenges faced by them, how it made their relationship stronger, encouraging and supporting Vincent and Wynn to work out the misunderstanding between them. I was more into them in HIStory 4 than the main couple. I really really don't understand why some viewers kept insinuating it was incest between them. They became step-brothers through their parents' marriage to each other. They do not share the same father or mother. Xing Si's father married Yong Jie's mother! It is NOT incest...period!

For those of you who have hesitated to watch HIStory 5 because of all the negatives and discouraging comments, don't be swayed by them. Remember...one man's meat is another man's poison. Watch and judge it for yourself. I am glad I did!

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Help, the future made me GAY??? *not clickbait*

I went to the future and fell in love with an undercover CEO??????? *emotional*
Listen, I have more of these but I'll stop myself.

I usually give these short shows a little bit of leeway. You cannot have the juiciest plotlines in 10 episodes - but maaan this show had 50 mins per episode. There are shows that managed to develop a better plot - or at least characters - with only 20 mins per episode. So I really reached my limit here. The end felt very .. clumsy kind of.

Also, personally, I'm not a fan of the "Doe-Eyed Innocent" character. They are adults?? hello? Why does he look like the puppy eye emoji all the time? The characters felt really flat overall. I was so excited about Wen Hsen as a character at first. Like, OMG AN AMBIGUOUS CHARACTER???? NOT just a goody two shoes? But OF COURSE in the end he turned out to be good all along... kinda meh.

The cast seemed to me mostly rookies and i think that is the downfall of the HIStory series. Tai Ze Ni looked like he had a stick up his ass. I laughed out loud a couple of times, yelling "WHY DOES HE WALK LIKE THAAAT?" and his an Huai En's expressions looked really cartoonish. I feel like the director should've kept an eye on that more.

The music slapped though. Whenever "more than friends" came on i was jamming - sreaming - crying.

Overall, I would say that this is an OK binge. But really didn't leave an impression on me and made me cringe more than it made me feel warm n fuzzy.

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Nice effort, but disappointing

I honestly don’t know where to start. There were so many possibilities and they just fell flat or were completely ignored. Maybe I should talk pros and cons? Pros: Ummmm … the actors were good looking. The second couple had awesome chemistry. The music wasn’t bad. Cons: Storylines that were opened and not developed and conflicts that were ignored rather than dealt with. Overall disappointing and would not watch again.

In more detail (warning, spoilers ahead): The first couple (Johnny and Hai Yi). They did not have much chemistry and the acting was off. As far as the plot with this couple — it had a lot of potential but failed to go anywhere. Johnny came from the past and fast forwarded to the future to meet Hai Yi. Exciting possibilities here that were completely undeveloped. The only thing it was used for later was a plot device that might keep the couple apart. Because obviously Johnny wants to go back to his time to take care of his grandma. But she died and Hai Yi knew it and kept this from Johnny for no reason until Johnny attempted to go back to the past and Hai Yi told him. Why conceal this fact except to have a reason for Hai Yi to stop Johnny? Why not tell him as soon as you found out so your boyfriend could properly mourn her? Anyway, there’s no point to the time travel part of the story and it doesn’t appear to affect any other part of the story. So it’s pointless.

For the second couple we at least have some solid chemistry but I had a problem with a couple of major things. First, Vincent and Wynn are just starting their relationship when Vincent appears to be doing something morally ambiguous at best and downright sneaky and wrong at worst. Wynn calls him out on this behavior and plainly says they can’t be together if Vincent is the bad guy. Makes sense. Vincent is not actually the bad guy and is just pretending in order to help Hai Yi. Now, that isn’t bad by itself but the way they handled and then ignored these issues is weird and angsty for no reason. When Wynn questioned his lover about his behavior, rather than taking him into his confidence, Vincent ignored his concerns. When he saw his boyfriend was conflicted, rather than trying to show he wasn’t morally bankrupt, Vincent asked his new assistant to pretend they were now dating in order to make Wynn hate him. And while all of this was going on, other sources are telling Wynn that he needs to trust his lover. Why? Did they have a long standing relationship based on trust and mutual understanding? No, in fact their relationship was very new. So they in no way had enough relationship development to justify Wynn trusting Vincent implicitly. Nor did Vincent give him any reason to do so, he actually did the opposite by giving Wynn multiple reasons not to trust him. I can only assume that this was supposed to make it seem like these two really suffered in order to be together and to give them a conflict. But it felt manufactured and when Wynn finds out the truth, he doesn’t get angry and tell Vincent that he should have just told him the truth. Instead he begs forgiveness for not believing in him and they immediately jump into bed together. So there was a conflict but rather than deal with it appropriately they decided to just ignore the real issue and have a sexy scene and oh “I love you” how cute. Sorry, that annoys me. Why ignore the conflict you created?

Lastly, there is a real disparity in both relationships and it is discussed, and again, ignored. Wynn and Johnny are friends and while Wynn is bemoaning the fact that his boyfriend purposefully mislead him, he notes that it sucks to be dating your boss because they are the boss at work and the boss in the relationship. Rather than dealing with this in a reasonable mature way (like having a conversation with your lover and telling him that he cannot be the boss in the relationship that it has to be a full partnership), Wynn is advised by Johnny to just live with it because there is nothing they can do. Well for one, that mature conversation could take place where rules are set or, if that doesn’t work, you could break up because you don’t need to have a boss at home … anyway — just saying, brought up a conflict and ignored it. Twice. No further discussion needed apparently.

I would also like to discuss the obvious grooming going on the second relationship. Vincent is older than Wynn by I’m guessing at least 10 years based on the information in the story. Vincent is the boss, knows Wynn in a slightly stalker way, and then hires him as his assistant. Then he begins grooming his victim. Vincent (the boss) brings Wynn into his office and gives him lunch, eats with him, makes special time for him, treats him well, etc. So basically the guy in a position of authority going out of his way to approach his subordinate and in no time at all, he and the subordinate are dating. Not saying it was purposeful grooming, but since the characters themselves bring up the fact that Vincent is the boss at work and still the boss in their relationship, I think the comparison to grooming is valid.

While I can’t say the story was completely pointless, There was nothing about this series that stood out and nothing about the relationships that made the characters or romance feel special or worthy of a series devoted to them. I was disappointed overall. Would not watch again.

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Skip this History Series

I really didn't like this season of History. The second couple were really all that held it together for me, but compared to previous seasons, neither of the couples had as much chemistry. I also didn't enjoy the plot. It was so convoluted and ended up not making sense. A lot of the conflicts between the main couple were really petty and stupid, and I found myself skipping through their scenes. The pacing was another issue. It felt like the main couple's storyline went way too slow and then the resolution was crammed into the last two episodes. Overall, this was a miss for me.

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I enjoyed History 5 a lot!

I have to say I was happily surprised at History 5 it was a great joy to watch. The actors are good and they all have good chemistry. The good parts are that I liked the storyline, it was a good story showing both couples had a long time history together without knowing it. I like how they brought the couples together with a surprising twist. I do wish they had touched on more of the storyline with the time travel as to the reason why Dai was the one time traveling and explain that part more. I did not understand it. I wish the father had more screen time too so it would help with the son and father's storyline before killing him off so fast. I really wished and hoped there was a lot more spice skin time with the intimacy scenes, sadly there was barely any. The intimate bedroom scene was all very short-lived. I am very happy that it had a happy ending. It was great to see grandma and dad at the end as well living in peace. The whole cast did a great job and it was nice to see the relationship and friends between each of the groups and show the history they all had. I have to say my favorite two are Wen and Hai Yi. I do wish that Dai was not so childish, and he lacked showing passion when it came to kissing which made it look weird, he did not look like he was really caring to be intimate or even kiss.

The only part I really wish did not happen was the end with the guest stars of Fu Yong and Ye Xing, as I never liked their story from History 4, their story was a horrible one and they do not have any chemistry it was a toxic relationship. I feel like if anyone was going to marry it should be the two main couples as both couples have a very long childhood history together that would have been the better ending double wedding. I was also sad that both Wen and Lin left the company when the four of them would have been great to lead the company into the future. I hope Hostory 6 brings out more passion and spicy scenes in the future with the characters.

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No Future Here

This was the third installment of the HIStory series that I've watched (I've also watched Trapped and Close to You) and I have to say that this one did not do it for me. I would sincerely love to know how the script ever passed muster with everything that was left unanswered. It truly boggles my mind. It was filled with plot holes, uninspiring characters, general absurdity, a confusing plot, overused cliches and in the end, it failed to draw me in or really make me care about any of the main characters. This isn't one that I can even say had a promising premise that just went awry. So much about it was lackluster and devoid of inspiration and originality which is a pity.

The plot is unnecessarily complicated to say the least. Ho Bo Wei lives in the year 2000, but somehow on New Years Eve, he rides his bike a different route and suddenly ends up in the year 2023 as Tai Che Ni. It's a weird and confusing premise that is never fully explained. I have to admit that I tapped out for a good bit after that first episode before forcing myself to continue so I may be forgetting things, but I don't recall an explanation ever being given for why he was brought into the future, nor is the soul swap ever in any way explained. So exactly what happened to Ho Bo Wei's body and the original Tai Che Ni is left completely up in the air. He ends up meeting Hai Yi and they eventually fall in love. On the side, you have Lin Huai En who starts a new job at the company that sponsored the orphanage where he was raised and runs into Liang Wen Hsen, the Managing Director. Sparks fly between the two and they fall in love as well at lightspeed. That is the bare bones of the story. It is far more complicated than that, but frankly I don't even know where to start because it's absolutely ridiculous how convoluted they decided to make everything.

Everything has to have a reason and connection. No, Hai Yi is not the lazy bones son of the department store owner, it was all part of a master plan to unveil the misdeeds of his father's former second in command. He and Wen Hsen were never actually at odds, they were always working together, in fact, Wen Hsen in the mysterious Sam that Hai Yi kept contacting throughout the series. And Wen Hsen didn't just happen to fall in love with Huai En, he's been keeping an eye on him since he was at the orphanage which definitely added a creepy undertone to their story once that was revealed. Ho Bo Wei rescued Hai Yi when he got separated from his father as a child and gave him his lucky bracelet. Of course, since then, Hai Yi repeatedly wished on the bracelet to be reunited with the big brother who helped him out and then voila, it happens. So much of it just doesn't flow or make sense, especially the whole master plan with Wen Hsen pretending to be corrupt and vying for the chairman position. That was a giant misfire.

And then there were the cliches and general ridiculousness. Of course we have to have the villainous ex-girlfriend cliché. She actually gets multiple uses as she tries to sink her claws into Wen Hsen as well and fails. That was kind of a great scene when he calls Huai En to join them and basically show that he's already taken. Sorry, sweetie. You also have the Hai Yi's father's second in command who practically screams villain. He just needed a villain laugh to complete the image. Adding to the cliches is Wen Hsen's whole sacrificial thing with pretending to be close to Tony because it would be easier if Huai En hated him. Insert eye roll. Tony and the other office workers lock Huai En in cold storage, essentially attempting murder, and absolutely nothing happens to any of them. Wen Hsen yells at Tony a bit, warns him not to bully anyone again and that's that. You can try to kill someone and there will be no consequences in this company apparently. Also the fact that Huae En is left in there for so long that he falls unconscious, but Wen Hsen evidently doesn't take him to the hospital. He's so concerned, but not enough to make sure he received medical attention. Apparently his love is enough to save him.

The characters, oh my goodness, well, they're not boring, I guess. I'm not sure if that's a good thing though?
-Tai Che Ni was such a study in opposites. On the one hand, he could be responsible and mature. On the other hand, he could be so over the top/obnoxious there were times I wanted to suffocate him with a pillow. He's kind of cute but that only gives you so much leeway and as the series progressed, he became less endearing and more annoying. I also struggled with him because of his naivety and the level of self-sabotage with him was so high. He had moments where his instincts were good, but he listened to that twit Se Mo instead and it just made things worse. And then Huai En who actually had a level head on his shoulders would give him advice and he would question him. As for the self-sabotage, I get so sick of characters in BLs just not communicating and this was no exception. Instead of talking to Hai Yi about what was going on, he decided his best options were to create distance between them and then just leave with no warning. I am fairly certain that Hai Yi would get that he was concerned about his grandmother, but his methods were stupid and just caused unnecessary conflict. And I have trouble forgiving him for the fact that not once did he offer any kind of comfort to Hai Yi regarding his father's death. He was so self-absorbed with his antics that he completely failed to be there for him when he needed him most.
-Hai Yi was significantly less obnoxious than Che Ni, but he was also a bit boring. Nice to look at, but not much there. He's basically a big kid in some ways. His father was never there for him, always focused on the company he was building, so he suffers from abandonment issues, something that comes up in his relationship with Che Ni as he's terrified of him leaving and being alone again. I did feel for him though because I felt like he was truly trying in his relationship with Che Ni and I could understand his frustration with Che Ni trying to put distance between them. Hai Yi actually tried to communicate and figure out what was wrong. I liked that he wasn't playing games like waiting till the 20th ring or some other stupid crap. He may not have been the most interesting character, but he was relatively straightforward and I appreciated that.
-Wen Hsen took a bit of a hit for me once they revealed exactly how long he'd been aware of Huai En. The fact that he'd been watching him and sponsoring him for so long, that he'd kind of paved the path for him to be hired and everything, it started to read as a bit creepy to me. I don't think he had any bad intentions, he doesn't use the fact that he has helped Huai En out in any way to curry favor with him, but there's almost an element of grooming there. I think I'm reaching, but their relationship just made me slightly uncomfortable which was disappointing because I found it kind of sweet initially. Some drama was added to him when he was thrown into the race for chairman. Though how anyone could seriously believe he was actually evil, I don't know. His character did become a bit more interesting when it was revealed that he was the Sam that Hai Yi had been communicating with and asking to look into people.
-Huai En is a bit of a bland character. He's sweet, he's one of the smarter characters, if only Che Ni would have listened to him sometimes, but he's just not that interesting. We do get to see some character growth with him, in the office at least. He learns to stand up for himself and not let his coworkers walk all over him. I do like his friendship with Che Ni, their characters actually seem to work together well. His relationship with Wen Hsen develops far too fast to seem remotely natural and I've already mentioned my reservations regarding it, but there is also a certain sweetness to it.
-Se Mo was just annoying. I didn't like her character and I didn't feel that she added anything beneficial. She tried to come across as some kind of love guru but she caused far more problems than she solved. She had a few moments where she was genuinely sweet and helpful but for the most part, I just found her frustrating.
-Fu De was interesting in his many roles. I still don't fully understand what the point of him was, but I did like his character for the most part. If nothing else, he did provide some comic relief.

The acting was a bit stale. Sean Chang plays as a straight guy trying really hard to be gay and it just does not work. There is no chemistry between him and Linus Wang and I lay most of the blame on him. I just could not take him seriously. For this being Linus Wang's first role, I thought he did a serviceable job. He seemed like he was really trying and while he definitely needs some polishing, I think he has potential and I hope to see him again in the future. Anson Chen and Jason Tauh are both good looking men, but I was not feeling the chemistry between them either. They had a few scenes where it felt like maybe there were some sparks, but it just never really took off. They also didn't really seem to connect with their characters. Jason was almost boring as Huai En at times and Anson was very one note with the same expression used repeatedly.

I was not thrilled that the stepbrothers from HIStory 4 were brought back. I generally liked HIStory 4 aside from them but I hated their storyline. The rape and the fact that they were stepbrothers really didn't work for me, and to have them be the ones they brought back instead of Li Cheng and Mu Ren did not sit well with me. It was just very disappointing and kind of killed the ending for me, personally.

This latest release in the HIStory series is the weakest of the ones I've seen. It lacks in so many ways and has so few redeeming qualities that I really don't think it's worth the time or effort to watch it. You're not going to miss anything skipping this one.

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It feels like the writer had four or more different ideas for a story, couldn't develop any of them enough to fill all the episodes, and then decided to just throw them all together like Dr Frankenstein when he created his "human being".

The four stories are:
* A silly time travel story with supernatural elements
* A story of corporate intrigue
* An office romance
* A story about finding yourself and your place in life.

I loved the first episodes (Time-travel story with lots of silliness and over-the-top acting) -- loved many of the elements, such as the deities using modern communication, the inclusion of Covid, Ho Bo Wei's attempts to return to his time and the developing relationship between Ho Bo Wei and Hai Yi. I wish they had shown more scenes of Ho Bo Wei marvelling at the development of his hometown, of him using his ability to find anything and everything, and more of the supernatural elements (I would have liked the god's backstory and how the Jade Emperor reacted to his mistake).

But then this plot is (almost) completely dropped and the second story about the corporate intrigue starts. Both main characters seem to change their whole personality -- Hai Yi turns into a closed-off, workaholic person (which, at least, is explained later) and Ho Bo Wei is suddenly a whining guy, whose only goal in life is to get together with Hai Yi. The sexual tension that had been building up completely disappears in favour of one person lying and not telling important things and the other (of course) completely misunderstanding. These episodes made me dislike both of them, and I almost gave up.
This story, too, could have been something good -- but on its own, not in conjunction with the time travel part, and without so much one-sided lying.

It is only in the last two episodes that the first story is taken up again, and underwhelmingly "resolved".

Some other minor plot points that are dropped, and sometimes picked up again -- the god, who is responsible for this whole thing, shows up and disappears again; the girl disappears for several episodes, shows up briefly because they needed a female person who can play pregnant, and disappears again; Covid plays an important role in the beginning but then everyone just walks around without masks or anything -- except when it is needed for the story.

The parallel story of the second couple does not have this problem of trying to tell two stories in one, but I hate how the managing director lies to his future partner from the very beginning. He does explain his decisions at the end, but it still doesn't sit right with me, and I don't think it's a good basis for a balanced and trusting relationship, especially as there is somewhat of an age difference.

I think this could have been much better if someone else had a look at the script and made a more cohesive story. Or, alternatively, go back to the roots of the HIStory shows, and tell one story in just a few episodes, like in HIStory 1 and 2.

Since others seem to like it, go and try for yourself, but I won't be coming back to this show.

[This is a very slightly edited version of the review I posted on Viki]

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Struggled to finish it

This is a classic example of what happens when a story has good elements and potential, but ends up being ruined by awful plot devices and bad pacing.
The beginning was actually pretty interesting. I was really enjoying the series for the first 4 or 5 episodes: stories with a time-traveling trope usually have the main character going back to the past rather than to the future, and I thought it would be interesting to see how would the writer develop a plot like that. I also really liked the dynamics of both couples: the main one is very energetic and funny, the secondary one is more calm and sweet overall. The actors are good enough, although they are not mind-blowing in their performances, and very cute in their respective couples.
...and then the plot just went in unexpected directions. I don't mean it in a good way: I felt like the plot just decided to change topics and overall atmosphere all of a sudden. Huge problems seemed to appear out of nowhere and for no good reason. Last but not least, this drama seems to be affected by some of the worst miscommunication issues I've ever seen in any romantic series or film. There are multiple instances where the characters could just talk to each other sincerely, explain themselves and their thoughts or feelings, but they just don't (they will literally stay quiet or even leave the room in front of a question). Some of the episodes are just full of unasked questions and lack of explanations, which made the series feel frustrating, long and tiring to watch.
The last episode was the most annoying one, because it's the one that should connect dots and give proper closure to everything, but it only made me feel like it could all be done a lot sooner and spare me a couple headaches.
It might sound weird, but the actual highlight of this series was the appearance of the couple from HIStory 4 (the step-brothers), which I guess says a lot.

In conclusion, while I can still say that I've seen a lot worse in the past, I can't say that this was good enough. In some ways it was even worse than HIStory 4 (didn't think it could be possible), although at least it didn't include some of the worse tropes available. It can still be a cute watch if you're exclusively interested in cute guys kissing, but if you're looking for a proper plot then this is not for you.

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History tapi hampir punya konsep cerita yang sama seperti season 1

Seperti hal-nya series history sebelumnya, series HIStory adalah series bL Taiwan yang menurutku paling menarik. Punya konsep seperti pendahulunya HIStory1: Obsessed (2017), History 5 ini membahas mengenai perjalanan waktu. Diceritakan ada seorang pemuda yang super-rajin bernama He Bo Wei ; kehidupannya serba biasa, tidak ada yang menarik selain bekerja - saat tahun baru dia meminta sesuatu yaitu seorang pasangan yang mungkin akan bisa mewarnai kehidupannya yang serba biasa itu, hingga akhirnya dia pulang dari pekerjaannya melewati sebuah terowongan jalan raya ~ sesuatu terjadi, dia ternyata terlempar ke masa depan. Bagaimana kisahnya? saksiksan series ini. Dari segi dialog dan alur menurutku mudah difahami ya, dari segi konsep cerita, lumayan menarik ya karena berisi beberapa reaksi He Bo Wei ketika melihat masa depan. Namun, beberapa hal terasa kurang realistis, konsep seperti "malaikat pengatur manusia dan assiten tuhan"-pun di hadirkan di sini, membuatnya seperti sangat Ghoib dan jauh dari kata ilmu pengetahuan dan teknologi, walaupun begitu saya tidak terlalu mempermasalahkannya ya karena toh isinya juga untuk lucu-lucuan aja. Ada beberapa hal yang membuat cerita ini seperti biasa saja ya karena beberapa scene mengangkat pembahasan mengenai hubungan "orang dalam" dan "pekerjaan", semuanya cenderung terlalu ideal, beberapa masalah pun sebenarnya tidak terlalu spesial, walaupun mungkin menurutku pribadi dari segi konsep cerita dan scene masih ada di bawah series history lainnya, namun series history ini juga menurutku sangat rekomendasi untuk ditonton.

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