A Date with the Future (2023)

Who is Your Destiny?

Originally I thought I would give this series an 8.5 but what changed my mind to score higher was the fact that even though it had many flaws of characters and script, it was a delight to watch and made me enjoy it more then the other two series I was/am watching. This made me laugh so much and later it made me cry. I left this series to watch last or save the best for last each day. I'll be finishing the other two today and Tuesday and starting three new ones but this show has gone into my permanent watchlist for rewatching. Let's get into this, shall we? Who is your destiny?

Pros: Favorite character other than Ping'an was the ML or JSC. It was my first time watching William Chan in anything so I had been looking forward to it. I knew he would be dubbed over because of his heavy accent from the get go but it didn't take away from his acting in the slightest and those dimples; each time he smiled, it made you smile. Who knew William was the biggest goofball on set? The BTS were night and day from his character. But I still really enjoyed the evolution of his character. He had to go from an ice cube, to a man in love who didn't understand it, to going through an existential crisis, being there for his girlfriend's, losing another friend and coworker, and being in a coma for x amount of months (wish they gave us the length of each time jump), after which he proposed in an awesome way and got married. Seemed the timeline was about a year within the show but so much happened to just him it was really fascinating to watch. It took the existential crisis and the coma to make him realize he wasn't superhuman but an ordinary person that had to still be able to lead and allow himself to be led and protected by others. William did a great job with all of the evolutions and challenges. I look forward to watching more things from him.

Other favorite characters were FL or XL; granted her gorilla glue attitude for the first 6 episodes made me cringe a lot, what impressed me about her was that she never gave up until her own existential crisis which JSC helped her through. She wasn't your typical FL that's a damsel in distress. She spoke her mind and knew what she wanted from day 1 in everything. She always stood up for others and never allowed herself to be bullied. It was quite refreshing to see. I'm tired of the "woe is me" FLs in c-dramas. XL in her little body was determined to do what was right and if she was at fault, she understood it and apologized. Though she loved JSC since he rescued her 10 years ago, technically they knew each other since they were kids. People can say that she was obsessed with him and that's partially true but he also inspired her to be an international dog trainer for rescue operations as well as a journalist. He gave her a lot of strength even before they met each other again.

Others were the second leads who were just too cute in general. But ZQ when it came to others always preached the truth. Her timely and honest responses to literally everyone was also so empowering. I thought it was awesome that though LFQ was always chasing after her like a kid after candy, when it came to his own crisis--and kudos to the writers and production team for accurately portraying what PTSD looks like as well as how there are different methods to treat it--she was there for him and Ren Hao who played him (redeemed himself in my eyes for a hot mess character from two years ago lol) did a phenomenal job at portraying someone with PTSD. I have PTSD so I know what it looks like; to address something properly like that in this rom-com of sorts was pretty amazing. It also was a reason for the raised score. When health issues I have or know well are accurately portrayed in a cdrama (which isn't often), that'll get an automatic pros mention.

The rest of the fire brigade were awesome and absolutely hysterical because they were like gossipy women. Them teasing each other or other antics in episodes had me roaring with laughter and quickly rewinding to watch again. The death of LX which was foreshadowed very obviously for a while, even though the CGI wasn't great, it had a very "Backdraft final scene" vibe (a classic movie w/Kurt Russell and William Baldwin from 1991), his final video message which was supposed to be for the team when he retired had me in tears as well as JSC waking up from the multi-month coma after that incident and everyone's reactions.

Other favorites were grandpa of JSC, mom and dad of XL (mom was nuts at first but thankfully evolved), chief of the fire brigade as well as of the tv station, and Shishi. I know her voice was irritating but when she appeared and started doing to the TML what he spent 29 episodes doing to FL, I loved her! She was childish but at the same time she knew her own worth and it proved to help a lot with TML. Their open ended ending as the 3rd couple was actually appropriate. The videographer intern was a mini antagonist until he returned to his original self and I liked that about him. OSTs (except in the proposal dance scene where the first song should have stayed) costumes, sets, locations were all on point.

Cons: TML! Dear lord, why just why? For 29 out of 36 episodes, this plum fool and his obsession with FL had everyone in the comments just ready to bury him alive. I've seen the actor before in a much better role but I felt sorry for him here. This shouldn't have gone on for as long as it did. He nearly got FL killed at least once. The script had a lot of problems; this was one of the biggest. Another was the propaganda inserted in the most random of places; you just don't stick that crap into a rom-com. Yes, this series was about firefighters as the main occupation and journalists but the speeches that came out of random characters in the most ridiculous of moments or those that didn't make sense would just knock the scene out of whack.

Making FL seem like essentially gorilla glue in the beginning was just weird. The crazy woman at the tv station was very much an unneeded antagonist. You already had so much going on, she was literally extra. But since she was added, she should have been arrested way before episode 31. It was a bad call on the part of writers and producers; 36 episodes for so much, they need to understand when less really is more.

The unnecessary plot of the FL's existential crisis to get her and ML to the place he rescued her just to be able to stick another natural disaster in. There are other ways to do that. And then having TML go to the disaster area in a suit? How is that even remotely plausible? Because of yet another rejection by FL and Shishi getting hurt, he out of nowhere snapped out of his obsession. It happened too fast. Given what we had seen, there was so much incohesion in all of this. It was a very messy part of the story.

The ridiculous pre-teen kisses amongst the leads were eye roll worthy each time. Only 3 were normal; it made no sense. Even if they were inexperienced, given their ages, it shouldn't have looked so unnatural because they had great chemistry. Though there is a 9 year age difference between the actors, that shouldn't be the reason for such flat kissing in a drama where they act closer in age.

Would I recommend? Despite a varying number of voices, I absolutely would. It was a great escape into silliness and cuteness for me everyday. The pros definitely outweigh the cons. Just enjoy all of it; cringing is ok too. But I promise laughter and some tears. All well worth it.

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Every cliche under the sun

I’m not sure if I watched the same show as a lot of these other reviewers, but I ended up watching the final episodes because I had already spent the time with the earlier episodes. I don’t know that I’ve ever seen a series where they tried to cram every overly dramatic themes into one show. What *can’t* the FL do? She’s apparently an expert at everything all the rescue firefighters, who train constantly, and do it all without gloves, protective gear, or sense. She is the ultimate dog trainer, AND she is the investigative reporter who digs in and uncovers ALL the corruption under the sun. Don’t even get me started on the annoying and pathetic second ML (can we even call him that?) He’s apparently a 25 year old CEO of a major financial powerhouse who rides around in Bentleys and Range Rovers who also hitches rides with random truckers and has time to personally carry a girl in his back all night long, with a sprained ankle…. Oh my god I could go on and on, but I’ll leave it here and just say painful!!

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I Still Like This Drama Despite The Annoying Things

I've seen my fair share of firefighting theme dramas and while this one isn't perfect and has a lot of annoying and frustrating moments for me, this is probably the better one I've seen compared to the others. To summarize my ratings, the story was good for about 25 episodes. Then fell flat the rest of the 11 episodes. Main characters were great but it's the FL's childhood best friend, the jealous reporter, & the good to bad intern were the reason the acting/cast category lost points. Lots of pointless characters or lack of character growth/progression. The music osts were pretty good overall. A lot of rescue/firefighter theme dramas tend to have good songs. Not a guarantee rewatch but I may come back to certain episodes that I enjoyed.

What I like about this drama:
* The ML's character Jin Shi Chuan & the FL's character Xu Lai both have a story that was focus on and both had a conclusion. It was a healing process for both of them.
* Main couple relationship was adorable and cute once they got together. Girl chases guy for a while but there was also a small moment where the guy had to chase the girl.
* Secondary couple also had a story (more of the SFL than the SML and I also enjoy the screen time of them together. Guy chases girl which also heals her and for a small moment, girl chases guy to help heal him.
* Love the brotherhood of the firefighters. I like how they are so relaxing with each other and love to talk among each other when it came to Capitan Jin.
* I enjoy the episodes when they introduce the dogs to the firefighters and trained with them
* The music osts were great. I enjoyed listen to every intro and ending ost when watching an episode.

What annoyed me about this drama:
* Xu Lai seemed a bit stalkerish in the beginning and made the first several episodes hard to watch. She wasn't much different from her childhood best friend who had a crush on her.
* The love rival for Shi Chuan aka Xu Lai's childhood best friend Huo being delusional thinking he has a chance with her despite Xu Lai specifically stating she doesn't seem him as someone she could fall in love with but just as a bro. Bad writing on this character since the writers stalled his progression until around Ep 29.
* Breakup of the main couple that lasted 3 episodes. The old, I don't want to be a burden to you so that's why I'm breaking up with you cliche.
* The failure of the 3rd couple featuring Huo due to the lack of growth and progression in his character and not moving on from the crush he had on Xu Lai after being rejected.
* Stupid jealous witch reporter: A minor villain who served no purpose in this drama other than to annoy the viewers. You can easily take her out of the drama and this drama wouldn't be affected. A case of bad writing and adding nonsense to a drama that wasn't needed.
* The anger from the camera man intern: What was the point of this? He all of the sudden gets bad at Xu Lai, who he was interning under, for something that's beyond her control? This is another case of stupid writing because his character wasn't even significant enough to be shown he had a problem.
* Another case of wedding not fully being complete because of a sudden call for an emergency. Seriously? Why do Chinese writers keep putting this scenario towards the end of the drama?
* Story plot stalled. Repetitive things happening once the main issues for Shin Chuan & Xu Lai were resolved. It almost seemed like the writers ran out of ideas and started to repeat things towards the last several episodes. Examples: Stupid jealous reporter returning to cause trouble, Huo not giving up on Xu Lai, etc.

The problem I have with rescue or firefighter themes drama is there's seemed to never be enough rescue missions. The writers did a good job showing it in the beginning only to rarely show it in the middle and towards the end. I did like the episodes where the firefighter rescue squad met and train with their dogs, but even then, there wasn't much mission with the dogs as well. That's a bit disappointing considering there's a dog on the drama poster. I kind of wanted more involvement with the dogs but it is what it is.

Despite all of that, I still enjoyed it, mostly because of the main couple, secondary couple, and the firefighters. Their cute & silly moments are the reason why I manage to continue this drama despite all of the other frustrations. The ending could've been better but at least it's a good ending.

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Romanticized stalking

This was not a big it for me - mostly because of the writing - it felt so lazy and sloppy - like someone just cut and pasted every rom-com trope, wrapped it around a rescue team and threw it out there. I had a hard time right out of the gate with the very premise of this ‘love story’.
You have a 15yr old girl who survives an earthquake and immediately ‘falls in love’ with the man who rescues her. She never even actually speaks to him until he is leaving. Then she obsesses about him for ten years (again, never meets him or talks to him in all this time) , comes back to find him (randomly) and then basically stalks and harasses him. I was disturbed at the romanticization of trauma induced feelings (it called transference), obsessive love and then stalking that is played off as determination and persistence. And it wasn’t just the main FL - you had her best friend who was obsessed for 10 yrs with her, you had the celebrity girl who kind of stalks the best friend - the amount of completely unhealthy ideas of ‘love’ this drama had was astounding. All packaged as somehow romantic and ‘cute’.
Next there as just the bad, lazy writing that had repetitive story’s all through the drama - like, how many times are the leads going to get injured and end up in the hospital. How many times is the FL’s coworker going to try and screw her over - it just kept happening, over and over and over to the point of absurdity. The ultimate being the end earthquake - come on - really, she goes back to the place where she experienced the first earthquake, only to have another one just conventionally happen again - it was just dumb.
And I get that this a drama - but so many pieces that were just beyond absurd - made it hard to watch sometimes (especially the parts of her constantly at rescue scenes and jumping into the middle of them - soooo would not happen).
I also wondered if the FL was ever going to write a story that did not involve the ML and his crew - seemed that was all she ever did or covered.
In then end - it just became draggy and predictable and I didn’t really care about most of the characters. Main couple was ok - but not great. They actually felt a little awkward to me. They have the FL be super-aggressive in chasing him and then once caught - she becomes coy and shy - super-annoying and inconsistent (again, writers fault here) Kissing scenes were horrible - FL leads to learn how to move her lips - its that horrible dead-fish kissing

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A watchable funny Romcom with many flaws and stupid ending, but I enjoyed it.

ADWTF is a Romcom starring William Chan and Zhang Ruo Nan. A decade ago, a deadly earthquake almost claimed the life of a high school girl named Xu Lai. Only the quick thinking and bravery of a young firefighter Jin Shi Chuan saved her. As he rescued her from the falling rubble, she became smitten with him as they made a comforting “promise” – and when they parted, she resolved to seek him out at all costs. Now, 10 years later, Jin Shi Chuan has risen to the rank of captain. Xu Lai has become a news reporter. When a major highway accident happens, Jin Shi Chuan saves her again. While she recognizes him immediately, he does not do likewise – and thinks she is just a trouble-making reporter.

To make matters worse, her report is taken out of context, leading many social media posters to criticize the fire department! But Xu Lai’s love for him has not diminished – and she resolves to fix this and win his heart at all costs. She becomes a dog trainer – helping train special fire-fighting canines who can help rescuers in their efforts. This brings her closer to Jin Shi Chuan.

I like the drama and the camaraderie among firefighters. The supporting cast of firemen was fun, and each of their characters was fun to watch. The onscreen chemistry between the ML and FL was not bad. It seems she was the take-charge type who did the chasing and courting in their relationship. The 2nd and 3rd CPs took too long to warm up; actually, the 3rd CP was not needed in this drama, imo.

The last two episodes were stupid, and the ending was lame. Overall, it was an okay drama; I give it a 7.0 rating.

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Oh How the Sparks Can Fly!!

We all know how dangerous Firefighting can be and William Chan plays an excellent part. I have seen him in other dramas and I find he is versatile and sophisticated in his acting. This is my first time seeing Zhang Ruo Nan and I am so impressed by her performance in this drama. She is someone I will continue to follow. It is interesting to see how to Reporters can also have a dangerous job and how well this fits with Firefighting. We can't forget about the dogs....they are adorable. I enjoy how William Chan can be awkward around Zhang Ruo Nan but she is strong willed but not clingy. Men don't always have to be macho around women and that's what I like about this drama. I also like Ren Hao and Luo Qiu Yun characters...a fireman trying to break down her barriers . The Director/Producer did a great job in selecting this actors for this drama,

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Beautiful story but...

I love romantic Cdramas. This drama follows the typical trope; a girl chasing her childhood love. at first, it was a little too much IMO, yet the ML actually fell in love with her in the long run.

The drama started off pretty ok and the pacing was relatively slow in my opinion. Yet this drama was all over the place. it got too chaotic at some point( which was expected, as this drama is showing a firefighter), mixed with too much patriotism and complications. The second and third couples were ok too.

I personally liked the leads and their chemistry, but if you're a romance lover like me, you know how important it is for the actors to show affection. This drama is not some melodrama with a slow-burn romance, it's rather straightforward even from the beginning. However, the leads have the most superficial kiss scenes ever. They kiss like a few times, but each time it's like nothing. just lips touching. The chemistry is there, the kisses? NOPE. this happens a lot in cdrama world but still.

Overall, if you don't have any issues with the couple's chemistry and body language, the story is ok and watchable(albeit slow)

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I will be your light!

This drama is seriously so good! It deserves a ten! Can we start off with the ending song, which was sung by Angela Hui. This song is so touching and beautifully sang and fit in really well with the touching parts of this drama.

I initially was going to skip this drama, not the biggest fan of William Chan, but decided to give it a chance anyways! This drama is such a gem.

All of the characters are like-able and the firefighting scenes are done superbly, making you feel all the emotions, nervous , anticipation, excitement.

Female lead is a reporter/dog trainer - I loved the female lead. She is a bad ass, dont give a shit about the consequences , I'm going to report the truth no matter what kind of girl. I loved her persistent attitude to pursue the male lead. Their encounters are cute

Male lead is a lead firefighter. I love that he is so passionate about his job, so serious, yet facing the female lead he becomes nervous and cute. He really is a good leader and great firefighter!

The firemen on the team is loveable too. I can feel the closeness of the brothers.

The second male and female lead had a good storyline and also glad that the third couple was together.

Those firefighting scenes were crazy! It really takes you inside and shows what they are facing while fighting fires. All of the firefighting scenes were top notched, you could feel the intensity.

I also like the storyline, not just romance not just firefighter, but also about support and dealing with people passing and their mental health. The female lead overcame obstacles in her path and also the male lead too! as well as others in the drama.

However there was some parts that i could predict... like towards the end that incident ( wont spoil what happen)

Their chemistry was definitely there but their kisses still was a little lacking. A lot of it was a peck on the lips nothing to intense.

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Started well but went downhill midway and disaster at the end

After watching two firefighter shows (which were not great but not bad ) i was curious about this one.

It started well and i had no problems with FL that much as others and ML although aloof was not cold and their dynamics was fun to watch along with other firefighters. But i saw first sign of stupidness when FL saves ML by jumping into fire when there was full team of trained firefighters and ML instead of scolding her thanks her as if that was not sheer violation of rules. But i still went on thinking it is too early to judge based on once incident but then series of cliches appeared. ML instead of communicating being a pighead about SML or his injury. FL being embroiled in a case and stupidly getting involved in situations that doesnt make sense. But final nail in the coffin was how earthquake happened again in the same city at the same day when FL and ML lands . Like what! Really did the team did not have any story other than convieniently placing an earth quake at the same time when FL lands again . i mean come on . atleast if she had stayed for a month or so then happened i would give some leeway. They also really went extreme making FL outshine in everything even in firefighting. Thats just too much!

So ya although this came before Fireworks of my heart and some scenes of that drama seems to have been taken from this drama it was much more mature (although i find that drama wanting in some areas too). i would suggest watch you are my hero or Fireworks of my heart instead ,. They are definitely not this immature.

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This brough a lot of "light" while watching!

It does bring so much light and prettiness. When i first read the title, i thought is a fantasy drama and just avoided so many times, but i saw some reviews and i gave it a go, no regrets at all.
I enjoyed it from the start till the end. The story is mostly about firefighters and the job of a journalist. It comes more as a propaganda to become a firefighter and save the country, which in Chinese dramas is a norm.
Pros: The chemistry between main leads is outstanding. The female lead i haven't seen her before, even she has some good works, but played the role so naturally. It does have some overdoing it, but you can feel all the emotions she showed us. Very strong and gets what she wants, not cringy voices.
William Chan at his 37 looks great and played well his character too. There is no exes, but is a love triangle. The second male lead i just felt for him so much. It did make him a little bit obsessive, but i don't think he overdid it, he loved her through all the drama. When you love someone, you cannot change your feelings in one day, you cannot stop loving even when told not to do so, you just love until it fades away at some point.
Fires and accidents were filmed pretty well. All the female characters are beautiful. Fire brigade guys all handsome. Dogs cute and funny, but not too much screen of them.
Another thing that i loved the unusual osts, just loved all of them.
And also the unusual proposal. I didn't see it before in a drama, it was really lovely.
Cons. I think they spent more time in the hospital than in the fire brigade. At some point for a couple of episodes i was bored, it picks up at the end with emotions, but still i think this could be shorter and not just filled with staying in the hospital so many times and for such a long period. Dubbing is another thing that i don't like, and it spoiled some moments as it did not synchronize.
Too much of propaganda, how soldiers, special forces, firefighters need to forget about everything and just save the country, is good, but still life is short, you need to live for yourself too (maybe i am wrong, but this is just my opinion).

Fav quotes: "You are the light in my life" and "I will be with you to rebuild your world".

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I really like the story of the main characters and how they love each other. Even at first sight, I thought that the outlooks of the actor and actress somehow matched so well and created a good chemistry already. I would still feel that the energy and characteristics of the female lead are too idealistic, but I guess it makes sense for someone who survived that kind of tragedy with positivity. I normally don't watch similar theme dramas because I can't handle these kinds of hardships and losses, but this couple really gives me a soothing feeling. Their story is really well-plotted.
The second doctor-firefighter couple is also cute with meaningful stories of their own, though I think that they should have more time telling the stories in more detail.
Of course, there are things that I don't like in the drama, such as the evil reporter. She committed a fatal unethical deed especially in the journalism industry since the beginning, got reported and all; and yet, somehow still stayed in the same position to do more evil things.
But anyway, I can oversee those and enjoy the other parts of the drama. The OSTs are also nice, I like the song "Day Dream" the most, very sweet.

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