Sammy\’s Children\’s Day (Cantonese Series)
He ChuSan in a hospital and Xia LiuYi apparently headed toward arrest: that is where this first season leaves its lovers. It is quite a cliffhanger, with plenty still to resolve in another season. Yet after nine episodes of roughly 50 minutes each, what stayed with me most was not the danger surrounding these men, but how convincingly they love each other. I came for that relationship rather than the gangster story, and on that score, I left satisfied.
That preference should not suggest that the crime plot is disposable. Gay romances in criminal worlds are familiar territory, particularly in series from Thailand, but this one finds a fresh approach. It works as a fully developed series rather than a love story wearing gangster clothes. Competition for power and the politics within the gangs drive the narrative; remove them and the story would no longer hold together. The disorder of 1980s Kowloon Walled City also feels inhabited rather than merely staged. There is far too much happening to cover everything here, so the romance is where I am concentrating.
What makes that romance especially compelling is how misleading the apparent balance of power becomes. On paper, there is a sheltered, exemplary student opposite a dangerous gangster with a tender streak. He ChuSan is the pride of his family and his neighborhood, an intelligent, quietly ambitious young man who wants a future beyond triads and corruption. Xia LiuYi, meanwhile, is a fierce enforcer moving rapidly upward through the criminal world. Yet put them together, and the student’s unexpected resolve can make him seem more formidable than the man who eventually commands a triad. Xia LiuYi’s vulnerability gives their pairing a freshness that the familiar innocent-meets-dangerous premise might not promise.
The attraction begins before Xia LiuYi has any such authority, when he is still an insignificant figure in the hierarchy. He ChuSan is plainly drawn to him almost from the start, even as he spends much of the series attempting to avoid the underworld and repeatedly finds himself pulled back toward it. Xia LiuYi involves him in a scheme he never wanted to join, and is himself pushed into leadership he did not ask for. Their reluctant alliance gradually becomes a genuine partnership: as the complications and power struggles intensify, they pursue revenge together. He ChuSan supplies loyalty and a calculating financial intelligence; Xia LiuYi brings force, ferocity and a gentleness that keeps surprising you. In this lawless city, loving each other becomes their most dangerous undertaking.
Neither man’s principles sit comfortably alongside everything he feels. In familiar BL fashion, it is the gangster who has the harder time acknowledging his emotions, while the student’s attraction is apparent much earlier. But Xia LiuYi does not need to explain himself perfectly for his devotion to be unmistakable. The man he loves answers that devotion in ways Xia LiuYi does not anticipate. Their attachment feels deep and mutual, with an emotional pull that survives all the violence around them. Humor and moments that feel spontaneous also give them room to be people, rather than simply two doomed-looking figures suffering through a crime drama.
Around that relationship sits a substantial story of its own. Xia LiuYi’s rise, the revelations about his family, and the care he receives from He ChuSan’s family—including his doctor father—form the narrative’s backbone. Rival gangs are watching for their opportunities, and there is another gay romance involving a cop and someone else. Both central characters also keep struggling to square their love with their morality and personal convictions. That is a lot of material, and my focus on the couple necessarily leaves most of those other threads aside.
The actors deserve enormous credit for making the relationship work so well. Their chemistry is beyond question, and, frankly, both leads are ridiculously attractive. I even caught myself telling a friend just how good-looking they were. Add satisfying kissing scenes and good intimacy, and the romantic side delivers exactly what I wanted, while the tension and unfinished business leave a clear opening for more. One thing did keep nagging at me, though: did anyone else find the dubbing a little off? (7/10)