“You Are Mine” started out as your typical office romance, which, although overdone, is an easy and reliable (vanilla) romance story. While the story had a strong set up, by the 3rd or 4th episode, it was clear that there was barely anything solid to the story, which undermined the chemistry between the main characters and left us with a flavorless romance. The chemistry between the leads was unfortunately not enough to carry us through the show that barely had any plot. Considering the caliber of the BL series, we have in 2023, and in Taiwan, this was a rare miss.

The story follows Xia Shang Zhou (Parker Mao), a General Manager, who, despite his harsh exterior, falls in love with his oblivious secretary Yao Shun Yu (Hsiao Hung) because Yao Shun Yu takes care of him during his vulnerable moments, and even helps him overcome his insomnia, which is caused by some childhood trauma. “You Are Mine” suffers by centering the two leads in the story and neglecting the support characters, considering that there is barely any story for the leads to carry. It could have benefited in fact from a second couple, which could have taken away the pressure from the leads whose relationship becomes unnecessarily complicated merely for the sake of it. Xia Shang Zhou actively pursues Yao Shun Yu, but Yao Shun Yu never catches on, and the two characters, despite their strong romantic tension (I wouldn’t really call it sexual tension), do not communicate effectively, as there isn’t really anything standing in either of their way.

By all means, a slow burn romance can be endearing, but it can’t be drawn out for so long that the audience becomes frustrated with the characters, especially without any real obstacles other than the characters’ perceived insecurities or just failure to actively communicate. Xia Shang Zhou is not coy about his pursuit of Yao Shun Yu, and nothing about his character, according to the rest of the staff, suggests that he is someone who would want to toy with Yao Shun Yu. However, throughout the series, Yao Shun Yu, although he is also falling for his boss, does not act towards those feelings out of fear that he is being toyed around with.

Xia Shang Zhou and Yao Shun Yu have great chemistry, no doubt. However, as Yao Shun Yu battles with accepting Xia Shang Zhou’s feelings, despite even their coworkers rooting for them, it makes at least 7 episodes of the show a wild goose chase, with little to no character or story development. Even the kidnapping plot point, that shows us how much Xia Shang Zhou cares for Yao Shun Yu, is undermined by how little it even makes a dent in getting the two together. In my opinion, you actually have to work hard to make an office romance boring. It is such low hanging fruit, and the settings for great banter, sexual tension and romance are easy to achieve, and yet “You Are Mine” seems lukewarm and while the characters do have great chemistry, the bad story takes you away from their great chemistry.

By the end, when Xia Shang Zhou and Yao Shun Yu finally get together, Xia Shang Zhou’s mother tries to come between the two and fails. The stand-off between Yao Shun Yu and his future mother-in-law, although ridiculous, does cement how much he loves Xia Shang Zhou. However, this could have been set up at least by the 7th episode, with Xia Shang Zhou’s mother’s presence as an actual threat to the two’s relationship, which they could have resolved by the 9th episode, and given us a finale that revolved around the two getting together finally.

Although the beginning of the show was promising, “You Are Mine” took us on a bit of a boring ride, with nothing exciting anchoring us to it. While the leads were compelling, it was not quite enough. Considering where we are in the BL world, the shows that are produced in Taiwan alone, these did not live up to the current standards. The show was average at best and makes for a simple, relaxed watch with no stakes at all.

Rating- 3 out of 5

Streaming on- Gagaoolala