Exclusive Love – Series Review & Episode Guide

Wang Zhan dreams of becoming a musician. He loves how his songs can bring joy to other people. His older brother, Ying Xiu, has very different plans for him. Ying Xiu expects Wang Zhan to take over the family business, a successful funeral home. Wang Zhan has always hated this industry, since he's terrified of anything related to death. He spent six years in university just to avoid working there. Now that Wang Zhan has graduated, he's out of excuses. Ying Xiu makes it clear that he'll step down soon, so Wang Zhan must become the next successor.

Wang Zhan is upset. He doesn't want to give up his dreams of becoming a musician. He also doesn't understand why his brother is suddenly forcing him into this role. Ying Xiu refuses to give him a straight answer. Instead, he assigns Wang Zhan to be mentored by Du Zhi, the top funeral director in their company. Du Zhi is an emotionless man who never cracks a smile. He's determined to spend the next three months teaching Wang Zhan everything about the funeral home industry. Du Zhi even moves in with him to keep a closer eye on things, making sure Wang Zhan doesn't run away.

Du Zhi has a strict training plan in place. First, he focuses on forcing Wang Zhan to confront his fear of blood and funerals. He uses psychological tactics to make him face everything he hates. Another part of the training is improving his physical condition. Running a funeral home means being on call 24/7, so you can't afford to be fragile. Du Zhi turns this into a physical boot camp, dragging Wang Zhan through morning drills every day. Of course, there are classes too. Wang Zhan has to study all the traditions and customs that come with funeral planning.

Wang Zhan absolutely hates his training. When Du Zhi gets busy, he spots an opportunity and runs away from home. Hui Yu, the assistant watching over him, gets outsmarted by Wang Zhan and his friends. With help from Jing He and Yi Qing, he manages to escape. With his new freedom, Wang Zhan puts on an outdoor concert for his biggest fan, a young man in a wheelchair known online as Iron Man. When the crowd causes trouble, Du Zhi arrives just in time to stop the situation from escalating. Wang Zhan is stunned to learn that Iron Man is Jian An, Du Zhi's younger brother. After their parents died in an accident, Du Zhi raised him on his own.

Jing He is an architect with a crush on his high school best friend, Yi Qing. His parents pressure him to get married and won't stop playing matchmaker. They want to set him up with You Ning, a potential partner from a wealthy family. Jing He's heart is still stuck on Yi Qing, who works as a marriage consultant. He keeps dropping hints, hoping his friend will return his feelings. Sometimes, Yi Qing seems just as interested. Other times, he pulls away when things feel too intimate. Jing He has no idea whether to pursue him or try dating You Ning instead.

Exclusive Love is stacked with handsome men. All four leads are good-looking guys who seem very confident showing off their great bodies. If you watch BL, you already know that eye candy makes a huge difference. Early on, I enjoyed the series simply because of the hotties. Was the story full of plot holes? Sure. Did I care? Not when Parker Mao stands there in just a towel. Nothing is going on in my head except for thoughts like, "Wow, he's soooo sexy~" I had a big dumb grin on my face, grateful for the view.

A BL drama set in a funeral home? How unusual! At first, I thought Exclusive Love would be like HBO's Six Feet Under. I expected a poignant drama with meaningful messages about grief. Instead, I'm watching a weird storyline about a boot camp. Why is Du Zhi making Wang Zhan do physical exercises? What does that have to do with running a funeral home? The logic makes no sense, but you better get used to this stupidity. The rest of the series is dumb as hell. Thankfully, the leads flirted a lot in the early episodes. Their intimate moments distracted me just enough to ignore the plot holes and excuse the bad writing.

By Episode 5, the hot-guy goggles came off. Attractive men can only distract me for so long. The writing becomes so stupid that not even Parker's sex appeal could work on me anymore. Some storylines are pure nonsense. Others pull out the most stereotypical melodrama, like terminal illnesses or car accident trauma. The characters are also annoying weirdos. There's a scene where Du Zhi gets punched in the face for mourning his dead parents instead of celebrating a birthday. WTF!? I gave up on trying to understand the series. It has nothing interesting to say anyway.

Wang Zhan and Du Zhi begin the series with some sparks, but they drag out their relationship forever. The family trauma and pointless love rivals are such a buzzkill, so I'm not in the mood to watch them anymore. The other couple pisses me off! Jing He and Yi Qing realize they like each other, yet they pretend to be just friends. They have a million dumb excuses for creating unnecessary drama. Episode after episode, there's still no progress. Annoyingly, we must wait until the end to see those romantic scenes. By the time they finally hook up, I have cobwebs growing on me.

Du Zhi's actor (Parker Mao) looks great when he's smouldering silently. Sexy glances? Nailed it. Emotional moments? Not so much. His co-star (Chang Jia Sheng) seems inexperienced, which shows in some scenes. Since the storylines are full of angst, the heavy material exposes the cast's limitations. At least the series is beautifully produced. Thanks to the slick cinematography, every shot is designed to make these men look as attractive as possible. Plus, the styling team knows what they're doing. Everyone is dressed to impress, like they're ready to strut down a fashion runway.

Near the end, the plot gets so ridiculous that all I can do is roll my eyes. I reached a point where I stopped paying attention and only looked forward to the steamy moments. Thankfully, both couples are comfortable with physical intimacy and deliver lots of affection. The finale gives us three sex scenes, exceeding my expectations. The man-on-man action is like a small reward after sitting through many awful episodes. Sadly, not even the erotic content can redeem the series. As much as I enjoy the hot guys in Exclusive Love, the story is too much of a hot mess.