At last, a modern take on the tried and true coming-of-age drama.

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Characters:

• Xu Wei Zhou as Bai Luo Yin
• Huang Jing Yu as Gu Hai
• Chen Wen as Yang Meng
• Lin Feng Song as You Qi

Details:

• Chinese (webdrama)*
• 15 episodes
• Original run: January 26 – February 29, 2016

*Due to Chinese censorship of the “controversial” content, this webdrama was taken off most viewing platforms after a couple of episodes. But no worries, all episodes are uploaded onto the show’s official YouTube channel!

Quick Rundown:

Bai Luo Yin and Gu Hai come from completely different sides of the tracks, but fate brings them together when Luo Yin’s mother is about to remarry Gu Hai’s father. In strong opposition of this betrayal, Gu Hai runs away from home, transfers schools, and somehow ends up as Luo Yin’s classmate. Despite their social class differences, the two boys develop a friendship over time that potentially means even more.

Anna’s Recap

I went on a bit of a recap hiatus, but I’m back! And while coming-of-age stories are a dime a dozen, Addicted/Heroin provides a new take on the drama staple with the same-sex angle to the storyline. I will also admit that knowing that this drama was first heavily censored and then banned in China further encouraged me to watch and recap it. Such a rebel, right? Haha. I think it’s admirable that writers and filmmakers are still willingly to make such shows and movies despite knowing full well the restrictions on their creative freedom. These recaps are my very, very small gesture of supporting them, and will hopefully allow more people to have access to this drama.

And while I don’t think it’s really necessary to say this because we have very supportive readers here on Drama for Real, I just want to make it clear that hateful and bigoted comments will not be tolerated at all. Everyone’s still entitled to their opinions, so feel free to comment on the drama, my recaps, whatever…as long as it’s respectful to everyone in this blog community. But like I said, all our readers are awesome, and I’m sure this won’t be an issue at all. Hope you’ll enjoy the drama and recaps with me! =)

Episode 1

Bai Luo Yin is getting ready for school when he realizes that his absent-minded father left a pair of his shorts soaking wet in the sink. Luo Yin’s annoyed, but hey; what can ya do? Especially because his dad immediately forgets what they’re talking about like 5 seconds after the convo. (Alzheimers?) Luo Yin meets up with his friend, Yang Meng, on his way to school and discusses how his mom is getting remarried soon. Based on his bro’s reaction, no one seems to know he even has a mom…

Meanwhile, Gu Hai is throwing a temper tantrum at his butler/chauffeur/assistant about his father’s remarriage to some gold-diggin’ homewrecker. Of course, this is none other than Luo Yin’s mom. They casually mention something about how Gu Hai’s own mom’s death was purely an accident that was confirmed by the medical examiner. Hmm, interesting. During dinner that night, evil stepmom tells him that she has a son his age, but Gu Hai ain’t in the mood for a civil dinner conversation.

Luo Yin gets ambushed by his mom and her flashy Audi in his shabby neighborhood. She tells him that he should transfer to the fancy high school that her stepson attends, and she’ll send him abroad for college. He gives her the cold shoulder, so she turns on the waterworks and says some stuff about how she’s trying to be a good mom to him. Luo Yin responds by telling her to leave him alone and to STFU about her new family. Oh yes, this blended family is off to an excellent start.

First day of the new school semester, and whaddaya know…there’s a new student in Luo Yin’s class! It’s Gu Hai, of course, after he secretly ran away from home and asked his aunt to transfer him to another school. The teacher assigns Luo Yin to organize the seating chart. Since he can’t decipher Gu Hai’s scribbles, Luo Yin has to personally ask him what his name is to put in the seating chart. Just for good measure, he also throws in some shade about how ugly his handwriting is.

When Luo Yin steps away from his desk, Gu Hai rips out the seating chart he had prepared in his notebook. The teacher freaks the hell out about the blank chart Luo Yin gave to her because she thinks he’s trying to make fun of her. What? This lady’s got zero chill lol. But yeah, the guys don’t seem to be destined to be best bros…yet.

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Episode 2

Luo Yin is still pissed about being falsely accused of turning in the blank seating chart, and wonders which mofo it is that ripped it outta his notebook. Turns out that Gu Hai did it not in retaliation for the insults to his own handwriting, but because he admired Luo Yin’s so much! At home, he practices his penmanship by tracing over the characters in the stolen seating chart. Awww.

A girl from a different class asks Yang Meng about one of the guys in his class, You Qi. She begs him to tell him what he likes so that she can woo him, so Yang Meng very kindly informs her that he likes feminine care products/pads. That girl is dumb enough to actually believe him, and buys a whole pack to leave on You Qi’s desk. The note with it that read, “For You,” accidentally lands on Luo Yin’s desk behind him. Weirdly enough, You Qi is totally cool with this random gift and thanks Luo Yin, much to his denial.

Some girl sees Gu Hai is staring in the direction of Luo Yin, so he asks her what she knows about him. She tells him mostly useless info like how she chased after him before and he was named the “Most Handsome Boy” in their class. And even though he has a strong personality, he’s very smart and pleasant to be around. She then reveals Luo Yin’s big secret about not having a mom. Hearing this, Gu Hai immediately breaks out into a cold sweat.

After school, Gu Hai ditches his chauffeur and instead hops into a cab to follow Luo Yin home. Standing outside the front door, he hears that Luo Yin’s dad accidentally washed his only clean pair of underwear. In a nice gesture, Gu Hai leaves a pair of brand-new underwear in Luo Yin’s desk the next day. Luo Yin subsequently thinks You Qi left it there for him in return for the pads, but nope! But because he’s wearing that damp pair all day long, poor Luo Yin spends half the day with a stomachache. When he later finds a box of pain medicine in his bag, Gu Hai freely admits that they’re from him and also that he was the one who ripped out the seating chart. Luo Yin flips out, but no real fisticuffs happen.

Gu Hai successfully convinces the teacher to switch his desk to behind Luo Yin’s, and notices that the rip on his white jacket is sewn with a black thread. When he asks why, Luo Yin tells him it’s called “cow fashion.” Like, duh. Gu Hai decides to help him out with his fashion statement, so he cuts little slits in the back of Luo Yin’s jacket while he’s napping. Not cool, dude. The next day, he waits until Luo Yin’s asleep to mend those slits with the black thead he painstakingly prepared ahead of time. Bad timing though because the bell rings for gym class before he could even get one stitch done.

The gym teacher isn’t happy with the class’s efforts today, so he makes them yell out the exercise orders themselves. Gu Hai is being his usual smartmouthed self, so he refuses. Gym teacher tells him that if he can do 60 pushups in a minute, then he’ll ignore that blatant disrespect he just showed. Gu Hai easily does a whoppin’ 106 to shut him up. The rest of the students egg on the teacher to show them his ex-military athleticism. You can just tell he’s thirsting to show off because he practically runs to the hanging bar to demonstrate how pullups are done. Everyone rushes over to watch while Luo Yin lags behind.