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Not so Clean But

Until I watched the mini-drama Grab Your Love I'd never seen a steamy Chinese historical romance (steamy being in the eastern Asian sense of the term, not the western version.) Later, when I read some of the comments I was surprised to see how many viewers considered it slightly smutty. No one gets naked (the male lead does remove his shirt twice) and while there are a lot of suggestive scenes, nothing steps a toe past PG territory. I've seen more skin in a broadcast TV show, frankly. That said, it was the raciest drama I've ever watched from any Asian country, and the fact that it came from China (infamous for drama censorship and propaganda) blows my mind.

The story is very basic: during the late Republican Era a poor but beautiful tutor wrangles a job from a villanous rich man to tutor his troublesome kid, rich man falls for tutor, clingy and jealous socialite wannabe girlfriend decides to use rather drastic measures to get rid of her. This includes drugging the tutor with an aphrodisiac* that results in her first love scene with the rich man. There are a couple subplots but they're very basic, too. Each of the 24 episodes lasts only about 15 minutes so the production was very rushed.

Two big problems I want to mention upfront as a warning for those who may be triggered by the content: the first love scene is dicey when it comes to sexual consent. The female lead is in the throes of the aphrodisiac* when the male lead tries to sober her up with a tub bath. Sure. He does offer to take her to the hospital, or help her personally, and she agrees to the latter. She's obviously impaired, so given the situation the scene should have been delayed it until the effects of the drug dissipate and she can make a responsible choice. Also, what happens to the socialite in the end is pretty cruel and upsetting from my POV. I'm sure a lot of viewers thought it's deserved, but not me. There's never any reason that should happen as punishment.

Those two problems aside, I really liked this drama. The time period, costumes and settings are dreamy. Wang Xuan, who plays the male lead, had a very difficult role in being scary, silly, not so villainous but insanely romantic, and pulled it all off effortlessly. He's also gorgeous, well-spoken, and able to shift emotions like a NASCAR driver with a car in the lead, which helps. Tan Yan Yan, the female lead, was his equal (maybe even a little better, as she played more of a realistic character.) My favorite actor was the troublesome kid, played brilliantly by Luo Wei Chen. That young man is a wonderful character actor. Available to watch on Viki.com.

*Aphrodisiacs are pure quackery. Any desire they produce in willing users comes from the placebo effect. Most of the herbal variety contain potentially harmful ingredients. Do not under any circumstances use something being sold as a aphrodisiac.

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