‘In Between’ Chinese Urban Drama Stirs Up Waves with Messy Relationships and Cheating

Urban series In Between 半熟男女 hasn’t aired yet, but boy the show has already stirred up all sorts of waves online. Unlike “traditional” romance dramas, In Between challenges the norm with characters betraying their partners, having affairs and even being the third party. I guess some felt it was “too much” that the upcoming series is now being criticised for disregarding morals. To be fair, what else did everyone expect when the source material is a novel whose title 这里没有善男信女 translates to “there are no good men and women here”? There’s certainly no rainbows and butterflies here, and definitely NOT a light rom-com.

In a nutshell, the story is all about the emotional ups and downs young people face in their search for identity and love. But whilst most dramas show a “sanitised” version with a HEA tacked in, In Between errs on the darker side of reality. Men and women can be scumbags, who don’t believe in love and are only driven by desire. They cheat on their partners because of greed etc. Literally, there are no good men and women here.

Who’s Dating Who? It’s Complicated

Honestly, someone should draw a diagram just to illustrate the messy connections between all the characters. The main protagonist He Zhinan who’s portrayed by actress Tian Xiwei is seeing both Xin Yunlai’s Qu Yipeng and Zhang Zhehua’s Gao Peng. But then Zhou Yutong’s character Han Su is actually Qu Yipeng’s girlfriend, which means our main leads, played by Tian Xiwei and Xin Yunlai were cheating on each other? With characters portrayed by Chen Haosen and Hou Wenyuan also at play, the plot thickens quickly. There’re also supporting roles with Dong Xuan as the married woman whose husband, played by Yuan Wenkang is having an affair with Zeng Mengxue as the third party. The complexity of all the relationships (and the dotted lines between the characters) will no doubt leave viewers reeling.

People always say that any publicity is good publicity, but when a lot of the comments can be summed up as to how the plot “destroys people’s world view,” it’s got some wondering how it passed censors. Nonetheless, it’s certainly piqued the interest of some viewers. Besides, Linmon Pictures has been known to create solid contemporary dramas like 2020’s Nothing But Thirty.

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