The main couple has really good chemistry. They suit each other well and their scenes are good. The angst in this romance is about them actually not supposed to be together, it was never meant to be. The butterfly effect has consequences. The second couple are also sweet and the romance plot is a tad angsty, I found myself worrying about the future I knew and wishing for a new future for them.
I have not noticed any big inconsistencies with this taking place in 1989. Even though the brands shown are of later date, I don't look at the brand names but rather the fashion style. I remember well all these horrible clothes, old technology and I feel myself being immersed. I am sure that if you really want to you can rip this show to bits finding loads of errors. I'm just not that kind of viewer. So far it feels like the 1989 that I remember.
All in all a well done drama, with the usual Taiwanese issues (low audio quality and at least one clown character). The extremely cheesy moments didn't bother me at all, I enjoyed them, squealed and cried my way through this very sweet story.
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I really fell attached with BT1989 and everything about it. There was a great blend of everything: family, first love, regrets, difficulties.. it was definitely my cup of tea. In my few years of drama watching, I've never heard of a plot like this drama. It's interesting, captivating, though quite confusing the more you think about it. It was so interesting to see how everything played out, and the writers definitely didn't let us down. However, TRIGGER WARNING for anyone uncomfortable with sexual assault. I did feel as though it got draggy near the end with the romance, but it was still an enjoyable watch. Many plot twists occurred that I didn't expect, and it had me on the edge of my seats with the different camera angles and shots. All the characters, as I've mentioned, I've become so attached with. While some were annoying at times, they each bring something important to the story. They made me laugh, cry, and shake my head in disbelief of how insane they were. We got your innocent and clumsy female lead and your smart and cool handsome male lead along with an adorable second couple and the awkward side characters that bring humour to any awkward situation, making it more awkward.
Some people really stood out with their acting, especially our second lead couple, which includes our second female lead Mini Tsai, and our second male lead Yorke Sun, both of whom I now adore their acting. It was nice seeing Ivy Shao play a different character from her cunning one in When I See You Again. However, I had mixed feelings on the main lead, Marcus Chang, though it was his first main role, so I still give him some credit. His crying made me laugh more than feel pity, but i could definitely see his improvement as the episodes progressed. Still not the best crier though, haha.
Besides the main theme song (you'll understand...), i loved the OST! I don't listen to them on a regular basis, but they suited the drama so well. They actually had hit songs from 1989, which was perfect for making it seem more realistic, along with a variety of songs that really scream Back to 1989. Besides Alien Huang, the rest were by more underrated or newer artists, so I was definitely intrigued. Now that I've finished the drama, I suddenly realize how amazing the soundtrack really is.
Overall, it has its flaws; it has a confusing conclusion with many issues still not explained, along with some draggy parts, but i loved this drama. It's what I looked forward to every Friday, and it was well produced, and it brought the feeling back of why i love Asian dramas. I'm so glad I found this, and I hope i persuaded some of you to watch it.
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This review may contain spoilers
I don't know how to say it but it took me until I watched half of the drama to become really interested. However, I think it was because I followed the previews and waited until it was nearly done airing before watching it. And thus, I recommend you to not watch/see/hear about ANY spoilers. That way, I think you'll be much more interested in this drama since the plot is pretty unpredictable. That said, there are dramas that are still like crack even when I know what happens. So there is something that is missing, a spark, an attraction in this drama for me. Set in 1989, I liked the retro vibe; the production did a good job at making sure everything was authentic-from the bb caller things to the attire. The drama also explored some delicate issues and in my opinion, it was done very well. This is my first time traveling drama and yeah, it's surprisingly kind of believably done, not extremely far-fetched.
Most of the actors are pretty new or have only been in a few dramas. Marcus Chang is cute but his acting is fresh. It makes it hard for me to become extremely invested in his character's dilemma when I feel like he is trying really hard to show his anguish. And frankly, Ivy Shao's character, Zhen Zhen got on my nerves quite a lot. She is very, very naive but at least through it all she has a lot of heart. Her character did contrast well with Chen Che so it was cutely done, just not the most innovative one out there in dramaland. There are quite a bit 'Romeo and Juliet' love line aspects so I guess that was another one of the reasons I didn't just love this show.
Negatives aside, I did like the family love shown throughout this drama more than anything. It was raw, shown especially well through the hardships the families had to face together. The drama also demonstrates that the simplest choices can result in something drastically different, which forces us- as viewers- to really think about the choices we make in our own lives and if we're making the correct choices-for both ourselves and our loved ones.
OST is nice, catchy, but not my favorite.
I don't think I would re-watch. It was a decent one-time watch but ultimately, I didn't fall in love with it. Would I recommend it though? Yeah, sure if
-you like retro vibes (the clothing, the music, the atmosphere)
-you like 'forbidden'/denial from family love lines
(7.5, 8.5)
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Pleasant drama, not memorable, but nice, to watch especially for Marcus Chang.
A TIME TRAVEL series, with Marcus Chang, where the plot's originality lies in the fact that the ML is sent 1 year before his birth. He was raised by his lonely and visibly unhappy single mother, who always refused to tell him about his father. He will seize this opportunity to find out who his father is and his mother's life before his birth.Interesting plot, with a very good reconstruction of the period (costumes, sets, accessories). However, the storyline is a bit "off the rails" with a weird time travel process.
2nd part with some lengths , but no clichés or too much expected twists. Happy end a bit hasty and "far-fetched".
Very good actors (all of them), dynamic production and good OST.
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TIME TRAVEL avec Marcus Chang, où l'originalité du plot réside dans le fait que le ML est projeté 1 an avant sa naissance. Il a té élevé par sa mère, seule et visiblement malheureuse, qui a toujours refusé de lui parler de son père. Il va saisir cette opportunité pour découvrir qui est son père et le vécu de sa mère.
Plot intéressant, avec une très bonne reconstitution de l'époque (costumes, décors, accessoires). Cependant, la storyline est un peu "perchée" avec un processus de voyage dans le temps bizarre.
2nde partie avec qq lenteurs, mais pas de clichés ou de twist trop attendu. Happy end un peu hâtive et "tirée par les cheveux".
Très bons acteurs, réalisation dynamique et bons OST.
Drama agréable, pas mémorable, à voir surtout pour Marcus Chang.
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WHAT I LIKED
You really need to pay attention in order to follow the relationship twisties.
- GREAT DRAMA to eat up some of your valuable time with because you have to think while you watch lol.
- OST-Gary Chaw: During the course of this drama I discovered a fantastic music artist! LOVE LOVE LOVE! Tubed and download an unbelievable video from this guy that gave me goosebumps and that was so INTENSE.
in fact all his Mvids seem to message with intensity about life. Great Poet. LOVE!
If you care to check him out just cut and paste:) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ETCyOYqHXrQ
- AWSOME ENDING.
-It's a rewatch because I KNOW will have to. Even though I scored it so high.
WHAT I DIDN'T LIKE
-mmmmm...PACE. Sometimes I felt I wanted to PUSH the story forward by force. and it made my FF finger twitchy in some places..THEN I'd have to rewind because I needed the info to continue understanding the story properly. That finger still twitched though! lol.
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Finally: JUST KNOW THAT THIS DRAMA was WORTH what my IT was and this may be the case for you as well! :)
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First of this drama is very good even with few flaws. We shoud have a low bar when viewing an Taiwanese drama unlike Kdrama.
What i like about this drama is mainly its short number of episodes being 21 unlike 35+ episodes of useless dragging in T dramas. This show is all about mystery about the Main lead's father and the relationship b/n his mother along with some romance b/n 2 couples.
After watching this drama you will get answered abt the estranged rlxn between mother and son, mystery about his father. What we want is how they answered this qstns? also is there a happy ending?
Yes, the the questions are answered to its satisfactory in a good way. The time travel concept in this drama is less logical and more magical. But it was shown in a good way as the time travel isn't the main theme here but the mystery and reconccilation. The cultural differeces b/n two time periods are shown in a good way. Also there are few flaws with the time travel concept which can be neglected. And the Romance b/n main couple can be a little weird in last two episodes.Also they (in drama) seem to be thinking that only robbery can occur to women for few episodes. I mean its a Woman, how hard can it be to guess what happened when you look at her ??
Anyway this drama is very good for a taiwanese drama worth of 8.5 / 10.
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I committed myself to watch all of the episodes (Netflix has this for 34). It seemed a bit long to me but I wanted to hang in there. I wanted to play detective and find out who his father and what happened to Chen Che's mom just as bad as he did.
I am sorry to say that I failed in my quest. At about episode 20, I gave up. I couldn't pull myself to continue to watch this show. So I cheated and watched the last episode. It really didn't reveal much. The mom looks happier and she got her happy ending with her first love. Chen Che at first I though his love died but only to see at the end she miraculously appears in 2016. Part of me wanted to know what the hell? I thought because it was time travel there would be no way they would end up together.
Their relationship seemed a bit weird to me because that was his mom's best friend and practically god mother type relationship. Never mind the twenty year difference in age. I wasn't really buying this relationship and although at times I do like happy endings this was one of those times that I wanted to see them fail. Horrible of me right? I guess I wasn't in a happily ever after mood at that point.
Anyway....being that I went straight to the end without watching in between...I still do not know who his father is (although I have a guess). By reading some of the earlier reviews I think I have an idea of how she got pregnant but not 100%. Although I want to know....I have no motivation to go back and watch the episodes I skipped.
Acting wise....they were ok. Nothing to write home about. I wasn't really invested in any of the characters. Chen Che was ok but way too stiff for my likening. The Guitar 5 (or whatever they called themselves) was not a group that I think I would like to hang out with.
Music: I liked the intro song...it was nice and sounded like an oldie but goodie.
Not worth watching the first time let alone a 2nd. Just my opinion.
So I guess the fat lady has sung for this drama for me.
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Rather boring with some sweet moments
I was intrigued by the storyline and wondered, while watching, how they will manage to give everyone a happy ending. Well, everyone got a happy ending, but there was no logic behind that whatsoever. It felt like they didn't know themselves how to manage that and then just threw the ending in, in the last 5 minutes, completely out of the blue with no explanation at all. That was cheap and disappointing.The story and the characters had their sweet moments. But overall, it was - I read it in a different review and agree - dull. I watched the series on Netflix, where it has 34 episodes, and the first 20 episodes were boring. Nothing exciting happens at all. They could have explored the time travelling aspect more, with the main character trying to figure out what happened together with his grandfather. But they missed that chance completely.
The acting of the main cast was below standard. Only Mini Tsai, the main character’s mother, did a really good job and was very convincing. The two leads’ acting was either over the top or too stiff and felt very artificial. I’ve seen Ivy Shao in The Perfect Match first and I loved that show, and liked Ivy Shao very much. But in this show I could see her trying to act. I didn’t feel the chemistry between the two of them at all.
The show was good enough to keep me going till the end. Though it took me longer than normal and every now and then I had to force myself to keep going.
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This review may contain spoilers
*Spoiler alert* characters painfully ignorant!
Watching this with my mom right now.... and seriously would not finish this if it were not for her wanting to keep watching. Can not stand the ditzy female lead (Ye Zhen Zhen) and her obsessive/crazy behavior with the male lead (Chen Che) even though he rejects her multiple times.Also, Chen Che has the goal of hopefully making his mother’s (ya Juan) life happier in the future by keeping watch over her when he goes back to 1989, but seriously the chain of events that lead to the “incident” could have easily been prevented. The writers should have done a better job of making a more believable build up. Also Chen Che is supposed to be super smart, yet it takes him a painfully long time to figure out what happened on Xmas day and how he was conceived.... Probably cuz they try to awkwardly alternate in between Ye Zhen Zhen/Chen Che love story while the mom (ya Juan) is going through her crisis. Honestly can’t wait until I’m done with this drama.
Back to 1989 makes me very weary to start any other Taiwanese dramas, since it is one is one of the most highly rated ones on MDL :(
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this story has everything a drama needs: romance, angst, good chemistry between the actors and nice music. when watching this drama, I didn't feel like the story progressed too quickly or too slowly, the timing was perfect. 21 episodes was also just enough episodes, I feel like 1 more episode would've made the pace of the story too slow. the acting was also really good and the main couple definitely had chemistry.
the only thing I kind of disliked was the open ending. I would've preferred it more if they had given us some closure, but I'll just assume it's a happy ending! plus, aesthetically, there was this weird oversaturized filter over the scenes set in the 80s that took a while to get used to. other than that, amazing drama that I would like to rewatch sometime soon!
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I really love this heart-warming story…..
currently I really into Taiwanese Drama. Actually I don’t even know this drama existed until I watched it on netflix. I’m fans of time travel drama genre. so without any hesitation I watched the first episod until the last episod just in 2 days. I completed watch the 34 episod on netflix. I just want to said that I really recomendded this drama to watch. this drama for me really something that I can’t even tell to describe. this drama really hit me as a child. It make me thinking about what secret that my own parent would never tell about it to me and my siblings. It indeed really hard for them. I thought I knew them. but it just a percent of their life that I know. My parent also love to share about their life before they’re married and their chilhood memory but still it doesn’t mean that I know them. This drama really teach me how to be more grateful and cherished them more. Of course reality is not as beautiful as what we dream but still we need to accept it even it hurt.Was this review helpful to you?
