A sequel to “The Star Always Follow You”, “Stormy Honeymoon” is a ‘stand-alone’ production. I personally think the prequel was so much more powerful and dramatic. This epilogue to one of the love stories, however, took the main couple from where we saw them in the prequel to where they are now at such a galloping speed that I felt like a missed something in between. Besides, it went from a serious theme to a light-hearted and silly narrative. A somewhat big schism for me to jump.

It continues with the story of Son (Hao Dan) and Dang (Troung Van Ngoan). Having met a while back in the rural village of Dang’s grandmother, Son was the village teacher and the two of them became close and eventually fell in love. So much so that they have moved back to the city and Dang is finishing his degree. In addition, they have now gotten married and have a very successful life together and live in a beautiful home. There are a lot of clichés in this story sprinkled with amusing lover interactions that I must admit are humorous and interesting, mainly because of the great chemistry that the two actors have together. There is certainly nothing deep in this mini movie. It is the slice-of-life of a rather affluent gay married couple in Vietnam. Certainly nothing wrong with that.

Its major plot is jealousy. Son is jealous of the friendship that his ‘wife’ (a term I detest) has with an old friend, Tam (Ton That Tam Duc). He seems to think that they are closer than they are but,Tam is really interested in Son’s friend, Khoa (Ly Thanh Chi), an owner of the pottery shop where Tam works.

This is a light-hearted nugget, not meant to be heavy, but it still has a message. And that message is loud and clear.

1. Sometimes we say things to our partners that are insensitive without realizing how wounding they can be. Such as the age difference between the two. Even if said jokingly after a while, it becomes raw. We need the courage to talk about that openly and they did.

2. Jealousy is an ugly creature and can consume even the strongest relationship. Here again, we must see the ‘warning signs’ on both sides. If nothing is happening, then be more cognizant of the feelings that your partner might have. If you feel jealous, do not let it fester. It is cancerous and will consume you. This snippet did a very good job of allowing both partners to openly discuss how each other felt and how jealously made them suffer.

Admittedly, the two main characters, Hao Dan as Son and Troung Van Ngoan as Dang, have matured their characters from the prequel and the acting is well done. We get a glimpse of their everyday married life. It is full of mundane occurrences we all face, and they make it all look so ordinary. That was a pleasant surprise, and it was a joy to watch a solid, thriving GAY couple ‘making it’. And they played it with ease. Functioning in their society without major problems or issues and seemingly being very successful at doing so. No drama, real or artificial. That was a nice and pleasant change from most BL series.

What, for me, seemed lacking was the gravitas from the prequel. I wish I had seen more of that story to get to this story. This pleasant and light fluffy sequel seemed a bit too contrived, predictable, formulaic, and rather unoriginal. For me, there is no star here to follow.

Still, Vietnamese BLs never leave you completely empty-handed. Their axiom here is that they showed how to resolve a communication issue between partners in an honest, straightforward fashion, well grounded in the clear perspective that if they are going to make this work, they must be open, and honest, and share with each other, their feelings. They are now both in a relationship together, not as teacher/student or as friends, but as a married couple. So, it must go deeper. Simple, basic but some impactful stuff!

This sequel augmented way too much from a powerful story of humanity to comedic lightheartedness with little transition to understanding why. For me, the why would have been important?

Rating 3.5 out of 5

Streaming on- RL Studio YouTube Channel