Steamily Chaste

Until I watched the mini-drama Grab Your Love I'd never before seen a steamy Chinese historical romance (steamy being in the eastern Asian sense of the term, which is much more chaste than the western version.) Later, when I read some of the comments I was surprised to see how many viewers considered the drama 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. That said, it was the raciest drama I've ever watched from any Asian country, and really surprised me being from China, which is infamous for its drama censorship and propaganda.

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 her 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: 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 admittedly major 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, which helps. Tan Yan Yan, the female lead, was his equal (maybe even a little better, as she showed a more 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.

*Be advised that 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.