HIStory: My Hero – Series Review & Ending Explained

Okay story

I'm going to make some allowances for HIStory: My Hero, considering it only had an hour to tell a high-concept love story involving ghosts and the afterlife. The series establishes the premise as quickly as possible, which does feel rather rushed, but I understand why they wouldn't want to spend too much time setting up the plot either. If the series was longer, I'd love to see the story pace itself better. Unfortunately, the time constraints limit the effectiveness of the storytelling.

The premise of a ghost girlfriend coming back to life isn't entirely unique, but it seems uncommon enough that there's some novelty to the idea. I was excited to see how the romance would unfold, especially with a clear BL twist in the mix. While HIStory: My Hero doesn't execute the storyline perfectly, it gets some points for creativity and ambition. Overall, the story is cute and quirky enough as long as you don't scrutinize the plot holes too closely.

My hero

Ying Hsiung's name (麥英雄) literally translates to 'hero' in Traditional Chinese, which explains why this series is named "My Hero". In addition, the title also refers to the reason why Sse Jin fell in love with Ying Hsiung in the first place.

From Sse Jin's perspective, Ying Hsiung is his hero who rescued him from the school bullies. It was the bullying incident that brought Sse Jin and Ying Hsiung closer together. They had an opportunity to know each other better, where they developed a connection from there. However, neither of them would act upon their feelings, unsure if the other person would reciprocate.

It was only after Ying Hsiung read Sse Jin's journal that he realized they both feel the same way about each other. Once Ying Hsiung knows the attraction is mutual, he's prompted into confessing his love. At the end of the series, the two of them happily get together. It's almost like a fairytale ending, as the damsel in distress gets swept off his feet by his knight in shining armour.

BL romance

Yes, History: My Hero is a BL series. There's a covert romance between the two male characters, particularly towards the end. I feel the need to clarify this point because the lines get blurred with a female love interest in the mix. The definition of what's considered BL tends to be up for interpretation, but we have to draw the line somewhere. If this drama was strictly about a ghost girlfriend reconnecting with her boyfriend in a man's body, I wouldn't consider it as a BL.

However, the twist in HIStory: My Hero is that Ying Hsiung and the real Ssu Jen already had feelings for each other before Lan Hsi possessed his body. In the diary entries, Ssu Jen reveals that he had a crush on Ying Hsiung, believing these feelings are reciprocated. That's why Ying Hsiung seemed so receptive to Ssu Jen's advances during the series. Not because he could "feel" his ex-girlfriend's presence, but Ying Hsiung already had these budding feelings for the actual Ssu Jen long ago.

There's a tragic irony to Lan Hsi's journey. All along, the poor girl thought she was connecting with her boyfriend on a romantic level, transcending through the boundaries of gender. It turns out that no, he's actually attracted to the guy instead of her. If anything, her actions only pushed the two of them closer together, making her boyfriend accept that he's in love with another man.

BG romance

Although there's a BL romance in HIStory: My Hero, it focuses mainly on the BG relationship instead. Ying Hsiung may be attracted to the real Ssu Jen, but he spends most of his scenes with the fake Ssu Jen, who's his dead girlfriend in disguise. As a result, any of the cute couple scenes that we see between Ying Hsiung and Ssu Jen aren't really BL. While we see the two male actors interacting, their romantic moments are actually between a female character and her boyfriend.

Not that there's anything wrong with Lan Hsi and Ying Hsiung having a romance, but understandably you don't want the BG relationship to be the bulk of a BL drama. I'm left with mixed feelings about the complicated love triangle in HIStory: My Hero. On one hand, I do think it's an interesting angle to approach a romance. It's interesting to see the POV of the dead girlfriend as she tries to recapture her boyfriend's love.

On the other hand, BL Watcher just wants to watch BL content, dammit! At the end of the day, I don't care about the girlfriend, not when there's a much more urgent BL romance that needs development. Give me some guy-on-guy action now! 😤

Decent acting

The acting in HIStory: My Hero is decent. I think the actress playing the ex-girlfriend (Lan Hsi) is good in the few scenes where she appears. I also think the actor playing Ssu Jen (Yun Lin Chaing) has a versatility to him as well. However, he's limited by the story, which doesn't give him enough materials to work with.

In a longer series, all the actors would have more opportunities to showcase their acting capabilities. I'll give them the benefit of the doubt and believe they carried their roles pretty well. Overall. I have no problems with their performances.

Both happy & sad ending

HIStory: My Hero has both a happy ending or a sad ending, depending on whose perspective you prioritize. From a BL perspective, the ending is a joyous occasion. Both Ying Hsiung and Sse Jin confess their love for each other, resulting in a kiss during the final moments of the episode. The real Sse Jin also returns back to his body after the kiss. He's the real winner here, getting both the man and his mortality back.

On the other hand, HIStory: My Hero has a tragically sad ending if you view the story from the girlfriend's perspective. Other than the glaring fact that she's DEAD, Lan Hsi also realizes that her boyfriend is in love with another man. He was her raison d'être, the main driving force of why she wanted to come back to life instead of moving to the afterlife. She assumed they had some epic love story, one that could defy gender and sexuality.

Instead, it must be devastating to know that Ying Hsiung had developed feelings for someone else. She was still clutching onto the old romance between them, while he moved on to a new relationship already. Her hopeless expression in the end was actually a pretty sad moment. It dampened the happiness that I felt about the BL couple getting together. 😥 Of course she's also kinda homophobic, so my sympathy for her character is very limited. 😏

Ending explained

The love triangle is resolved by the end of HIStory: My Hero. The ending reveals that Ying Hsiung's love for Sse Jen overpowers any lingering feelings for his girlfriend. Even though Lan Hsi succeeds in getting a kiss from her boyfriend, she isn't the one who comes back to life. That's because whom Ying Hsiung loves isn't actually *her*. He has feelings for the real Sse Jin, not the fake Sse Jin with Lan Hsui controlling him.

When the two of them kiss, Lan Hsui gets ejected from the body and Sse Jin returns to life. The magic spell worked exactly as Chang Chang said it would, except it applied for Lan Hsui's love rival instead of herself. With true love's kiss, the deceased is supposed to come back to life. Sadly for Lan Hsui, she is not Ying Hsiung's true love.

Lan Hsui's last line is a bitter acceptance of her cruel fate: "In relationships, the one who is not loved is the third wheel." Even though Lan Hsui used to be the girlfriend, she's now considered the third wheel in their relationship. Seeing them kiss in front of her is a pretty solid confirmation that Ying Hsiung doesn't love her as much as he loves Sse Jin.