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Sam Arora

India

Sam Arora

India
A River Runs Through It chinese drama review
Completed
A River Runs Through It
1 people found this review helpful
by Sam Arora
Jan 4, 2022
36 of 36 episodes seen
Completed
Overall 8.0
Story 7.0
Acting/Cast 10.0
Music 10.0
Rewatch Value 7.0
This review may contain spoilers

A Bittersweet Journey of Growing Up!

I'd like start writing this review by telling y'all that I am following the guidelines and won't summarize the show for you nor I'll give you a lot of major spoilers. (At least I'll try not to :) )

•Plot:-

This show actually reminded me of one of my favourite shows, Reply 1988 especially for the initial 10-12 Episodes. I loved the Main Gang and their journey of Growing Up. Their interactions with each other and their parents as well. You will actually laugh and cry with our Lovely Leads and their friends.

The way they grow up, the way they learn what growing up actually means is what makes this show a good watch. The plot although is your typical youth drama so nothing really outstanding there but it's a good show.
A show that'll take you through the memories of your school or college time.

• Characters + Acting:
(I won't give character descriptions here since I want you to watch the show yourself.)

My favourite character has to be Lu Shiyi although he ain't a perfecf person, he might appear naughty and not serious about his life but he genuinely likes and cares about Xiaoju. He doesn't actually force himself onto her which is commendable since you rarely see such ML. His interaction and chemistry with Xiaoju is the highlight of this show IMO.

Xia Xiaoju started off as a clumsy and "not so bright" girl who got transferred to a new school in a new city and is gradually shown as a Kind, Loyal and Warm girl who genuinely likes Cheng Lang and wants his happiness. The way she wrote those "secret letters" as Mango Pudding to support Cheng Lang showed that.
Though cuz her character was not given proper chance by the writers.... she took too long to understand herself, Shiyi's feelings and to not ponder over Cheng Lang continuously.

I wish if writers wrote Xiaoju a lil different.

Qiu Le Tao is the character which I didn't hate but neither loved. Le Tao while not being able to handle her own relationship gave advices to Xiaoju on "Love". She kept pestering Xiaoju to chase after Cheng Lang which actually didn't do any better for Xiaoju.

Lin You's character was meh :-\
While I liked Cheng Lang, he was a good BF, a good Friend and good son. I wish he had a different ending as well.

I liked the parents too, although they don't standout that much unlike Reply Series but they did a good job in their parts.

Now coming to the "Acting" part,
Each and every actor actually did a good job in portraying their respective characters. The Leads as well as the supporting cast did well in living their characters. Richard Wang has become one of my favourite C-Actors and Hu Yuxian is so Good. Having watched her before in "Unforgettable Love" she did a good job here too.

• The OST:-
I liked all the songs although I didn't know the back story of those old songs which they featured, it was still good and will make you feel the warmth of Friendship and Love.

• Things that I didn't like:-

erhhhhh.... The Writing

The writers actually wrote well till I'd say Episode 20 and captured the immaturity, the lessons you learn after committing mistakes or failing. But then the show started dragging unnecessarily with Xia Xiaoju chasing after Cheng Lang despite knowing that he doesn't like her but Lin You.
While ignoring the affection shown by Lu Shiyi to her. This chasing and failing again and again kept going till E32 when finally the story moved away from this arc but by that time it was too late and chaotic which made the writers to rush and grab the clutter they made in which they didn't do a "Good Job" I'd say.

This whole clutter actually kinda ruined the ending and stole the time away from our Lead Characters, their relationship and the time that they could've spent together as a couple who are still learning 'What being a Grown-up means?'

Left a lotta things unexplained like why Shiyi pretended to have a girlfriend.
Besides it left me wanting more.
I wanted to see the parents' reaction when they would've found out about Xiaoju and Shiyi. The whole mess they created in last 2 Eps ahhhhhhh >.<

There were some unnecessary plotlines and characters which could've been missed but were given focus like Xiaoju's classmate "Cheng Le" (Played by the Bad Guy from Skate into Love), that whole story arc was unnecessary.

•Conclusion:-

Despite not being satisfied with that ending (it's happy ending don't worry!) it's still a good watch. If you love Youth Dramas then definitely watch it but be prepared to have that "wanting more" feeling at the end.
If you'd ask me 'If I'd rewatch this?'
then Yes! totally but perhaps skipping some parts after E20 and not watching the ending.

It's a good 8 ⭐ for me.
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