“You are not the Prince, and I am not Cinderella”. from Mr. Cinderella Season 2

In summary, this is a deeply dark and disturbing journey into the underbelly of mental illness with drug addiction and obsession thrown in for good measure. However, you have to keep in mind that this is an allegory of a child’s fairytale. If you lose sight of that resemblance, the storytelling might seem unusually somber and bewildering. I too had almost forgotten the parable behind the title of this series.

This is a continuing tale of a love story between Dr. Anh Khoa (Troung Minh Thao) and Dung (Nguyen Ba Ninh) [Mr. Cinderella Season 1]. They have been together now for several years and have a stable, loving and intensely committed relationship. Perhaps considered by both to be soulmates; their connection is that strong. This is indeed a story about ‘Cinderella’.

Although their relationship seems unbreakable, someone in the past resurfaces that wants to create tension and a wedge between them and knows how to use Khoe’s considerable weaknesses to effectively destroy their relationship. Since Khoe was adopted, the real brother arrives back, to not only claim as the rightful heir to the property, but also to claim his ‘right’ to Khoa as his love, as they had previously pledged to be together, had loved each other and promised to marry one another. Entering the picture in full force and fury was Tan Thanh (Mai Vu Luan) who ran off to Thailand before his parents passed away. There, he was in an accident and suffered medically which caused him to have severe migraines. Accompanying him is Dr. Min Khang (Kan Vu), seemingly his personal physician, who obviously is deeply in love with him. But it is an unrequited love. Not only is it unrequited, but it is also an obsession for Khang who gives in to every wish and demand from Thanh. To the point he too has lost all contact with any sense of reality.

I disliked watching this series – initially. Much like the first one, I just did not get it. The actions taken by the protagonists (except for Dung) seemed so counterintuitive to me until it reached its climax at the end. Then I was hit with a thunderbolt of clarity. It suddenly became a modern-day version of Tấm and Cám, Vietnam’s chronicle of the West’s story of Cinderella. I had an epiphany. Unlike the original Mr. Cinderella in Season One, this one did not have a ‘fairytale’ ending. This ending, however, was more like the story of Cám; not Tấm.

There is nothing but sadness and losses in this series. And bitterness. This is a deep psychological thriller that leaves you stunned by the ineptness of how badly intelligent people really operate. Or in this case, do not. We see the masterful manipulation of Khao & Dung by Khang and Thanh; with Dung the only one recognizing it. He sees right through their charade. And interestingly enough so does the owner of the coffee/bar shop, Tuan (Nguyen Tuan Viet) where Dung works. The two with the ‘least amount of education’ are the two wisest and most grounded people in this series.

This is one of the finest acted BLs I have seen in a very long time. It goes deep into the raw characterizations of the personalities, mental illnesses and foibles of the persons involved. We watch them devolve with scary and terrifying precision into almost sociopathic tendencies, especially Thanh and Khang. I cannot say enough about how sinister and scary Mai Vu Luan was as Thanh. He truly frightened me and felt he crawled so far down the rabbit hole of insanity, he seemed incorrigible. Whether that was due to his drug addiction to the various pain pills he was on, or his belief in a form of spiritualism that was unhealthy, or simply being around the toxicity of Khang, who fed into his every whim and sociopathic tendency. His acting mimicked the representation of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde – capable of being sadistic one minute while the next having an angelic look of innocence. The yo-yoing of emotions and his fits of migraines were so believable and convincing. I was surprised at the depth of his acting skills that went much deeper than mere superficialities; he got into his character with complete conviction. His performance is astonishing to watch. On a general note, all of them rose to the occasion in this series, however. The acting is simply top-notch and commendable. Kudos!

There is no happy ending here as there should not be. Much like in the first season, Khoa lacked character and fortitude. His timidity, his inability to question, to never doubt the veracity of the situation or individual except Dung, was mind-numbing, and he seemed to lack, or was incapable of seeing beyond what was simply right in front of him. He could not analyze anything beyond the superficiality of the moment or the status of the individual. Dung, on the other hand, realized that Khoa is untrustworthy, and he absolutely was. He cannot forgive him because it is not in Khoa’s real nature to see what he did wrong. Khoa only sees things as his loss; not from Dung’s. Dung honestly does deserve better.

This is a brilliant study on how you can lose what appears to be the relationship of soulmates by the simple misdeed of not trusting. And more importantly, not believing unquestionably your soulmate is your partner. And if you are so easily manipulated into distrusting your soulmate, then perhaps you never really had a resolute relationship in the first place.

The other bitter taste that this series leaves in your mouth is that the guilty are left unpunished. Khang who attempted to rape Tuan (who had the misfortune to fall in love with him) and who sabotages Khoa’s clinic, goes unscathed. Thanh, who manipulated and destroyed the relationship between Thanh and Dung, and who went out of his way to be cruel, heartless, and evil towards Dung is also exempted. Yet the two fly off not in an embrace of hope but in the grip of despondency. And Khoa, without any real sense of remorse or understanding the depth of the pain of mistrust he caused Dung, only makes a half-hearted and misguided attempt to ask for forgiveness. Leaving Dung to try and continue on with his life, after giving all that he had to Khoa, yet he is not completely bitter towards life. He should not need to think of himself as Cinderella anymore; perhaps now more as the Prince.

As a side note, the ending is a bit peculiar. One, I think the production company was trying to give some sense of hope that Khoa and Dung could get back together. However, it all seemed a bit lame to me and frankly distracted from the seriousness of the overall message of this series. That was disappointing and unnecessary. There also was an odd scene in there between Khoa and Dung during happier times that seemed out of place until you realized it was a dream sequence (an obscure reference from the beginning) but again, that was a bit too theatrical and unnecessary. Ignore it. It detracts from the quality of this series.

Still, for me, this is one of the finest acted series I have seen, with a very complex love story that ended up being tragic, melancholic, and tangibly empty. As weird as it is, I loved it because it does not fit into your standard traditional mundane BL mold. Its story is purposefully wayward – the antithesis of a fairytale.

This series will be on my “Top Ten Best List for 2023”. I fully understand this may not be for everyone. However, it struck an accord with me in a rather profound way.

Rating- 5 out of 5

Streaming on- O2 Production YouTube Channel