Shining for One Thing (2022)

I finished this drama and my first thought was ....Wow, that was good! A well written and well thought out time travel drama which covered a lot of loop holes....something I think is so hard to do with these types of drama. The alternative universe running parallel with actual time was a brilliant script. It was easier to make sense of what was happening and gave drama a chance to flesh out the side characters too. I thought ML and FL's connection and chemistry was beautiful. They did an amazing job conveying a range of emotions and you absolutely felt their joy, pain, sorrow, resignation, devastation, and hope. The twists and turns were well done, particularly FL's realization of what brought her back to real time. The last scene in the alternative universe... OMG ...my heart.

The ending... after what they endured, I'll absolutely take this one!! I'm convinced that whether ML just happened to spot her or the alternative universe crossed with real time... FL's eyes only ever lit up like that for him.

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Heart wrenching yet Beautiful Storyline, a story which caught me off my guard..

**revised my still confusing state of mind for the whole script about: to ease my mind, i really can't put this as a time travel story, though the story is about the past time line, for me it feels like just watching a dream reset the stories in a Loop, and wake up still in the same state of the original timeline, because one thing for sure "imho" about time travel story, that the story line for the future will always change and it's depend on how much consequences they made with the past..**

for you've warned, my review based on my mood of the drama, sorry if not really objectively speaking..
First time watched, i got annoyed as usual Modern CDrama i've watched so far with the yelling, but as i get to follow the storyline.. it's intriguing, then questioning the plot, reaching the 20er episode, waw, it's really caught me off my guard, i've never needed this much tissue wiping my tears even when i'm watching sad ending CDrama, it's my first cried that much, somehow the main lead story keep reminiscing me of my times in my middle school moments.. then i got annoyed for the ending story, re-watched the drama for the 3rd time, still got annoyed but my tears keep falling whenever the song "the whole world is behind me/you" and "goodbye" played, then addicted to Zhang Wansen scenes...

Though the script got me annoyed, agitated and couldn't grasp to comprehend each of the scenes at once as usual CDrama i've watched, but the Storyline unbelievably different from typical high school drama, it's actually on point with no draggy feeling (after i re-watched for the 2nd time with no skipping minutes), i love the main lead scenes because there's no quarelling, yelling and frustrating misunderstanding needed, i could relate the story to my own regrets moments with my past school times, that made me wondering to have those chances to turn back time as the FL did, that's the difference with other school storyline dramas, when i'm watching this drama, my sentimental emotions keep getting caught up, and some scenes caught me off guard, my tears keep on rolling from my eyes, couldn't stop my heart from aching..
the no kissing scenes in this drama unbelievably didn't made this drama less romantic, it's much more romantic in it's own way by just watching the main lead interactions and gestures to each other, then just one scene which the FL give a kiss in the ML cheek made my heart fluttered all the way, and all their interactions which shows ML and FL feeling toward each other keep my heart fluttering all through the story, that's why i felt so amazing to find this kind of storyline, but yet feeling so despair for the ending..

The Acting ML and FL was superb in my own opinion, i've watched some of Caesar Wu dramas not Qu Chuxiao, so i thought at first why not Caesar Wu for the ML..
as i warm up to 3rd episode, i can't get enough for Qu Chuxiao's eyes telling emotions, although ML character is timid and less talk person, but Qu Chuxiao could brought in his character the air of innocent, cute, sweet, calm and awkward but full of steady heart for the FL, his gestures all on point, the nerd with cool side, know what he wants and doing, and give in when the FL says so, i just have look in his eyes and know the feeling "only you in my eyes" and "you're my whole world to protect, no matter what you do/say" are.. never knew ones eyes could say so much literally, and he has a lovable shy smile, even his rarely jealousy eyes could make my heart fluttered, so i'm in love every scenes Zhang Wansen appearing.
The FL at first not really catching my interest to watch her scenes, just glad for her character being direct with no over-yelling, she's thoughtfull, caring, and a bit slow witted, and progressing with ML scenes, it's really addicted to see their chemistry with their eyes communicate to each other, their expressions complimenting each other, so i could really feel the storyline only by watching these 2 main lead communicating and expressing each other just by their gestures and facial expressions, it's superb chemistry to make me feel the ache, love, longing, jealousy and passion as pure as a high schooler has.

The Soundtrack and Music Background all beautiful songs and lyrics, and complimenting with the story, really enjoy the music background with no feeling off flowing with all the scenes..

All in all, i wished KDrama make the adaption for this one.. ahahah sorry, it's beautiful as it is, but i never get annoyed/confused/angsty with KDrama interpretation, their Logic way like food to my brain, i'm so in love with this drama for now, i just hate the torture with the ending, so just wistful thinking to get beautiful closure for the ending of this drama..

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If you think this is just another time travelling drama then you are wrong

This is a drama which will make you laugh and smile but at the same time you are gonna cry like a baby. The story is mind blowing and the actors are just awesome . I recommend you this drama. Dont miss this gem. This one is a masterpiece. I literally cried for a week thinking that i was the female lead. It was like it was my story. Every body want to travel back change our past right. Its the same here but with lots of twists and turns. At first i thought it would be boring as the leads are rookie. But i never expected a award winning acting from them. The female lead seems to be annoying sometime but she is in lots of pain at last. You will feel somebody just stabbed you in the heart . If you miss this it will be a great loss.

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Felt the angst and longing through the screen

The show really had me at the first half when we went through the school lives with the leads where scenes were heartwarming and cheerful. As someone who doesn't really enjoy an entire high school series, I was ready to drop it... until the second half came and they focussed on the time-travelling aspect. The second-half episodes were all very tear jerking and I shed tears EVERY SINGLE EPISODE for the last 8 eps. I truly felt the longing that both leads felt for each other that it makes my heart ache. Overall, I felt that the first half of the drama was a typical school drama with a few aspects of mystery as it slowly unfolds the truth behind zhang wansen's accident. The second-half felt more emotional, similar to what "Someday or One Day" felt to me but slightly more toned down.

- Story: Pace was great and it helps that there's only 24 30mins-45mins episodes. I also liked how smoothly they transition between the present and future. Every single episode had its purpose and there were no filler episodes in my opinion.
- Acting: The leads' chemistry was great but felt that the second lead couple didn't have chemistry and had slightly awkward acting but it didn't bother me that much since I usually skip their scenes LOL
- Music: 10/10 for me! The music fits the scenes very well and the meaning of the songs are also very accurate to the scenes. Super touching.

Recommended if you are looking for a light-hearted but emotional drama (ironic but it's really a mixture of both as explained above HAHHA)

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When the rain falls, I'm here!

I loved so much the first 18 episodes- they were masterpiece ,then the rest was just frustrasting and a big mess :(. It’ one of these dramas when you think that 2 different people directed it or the director messed up everything at the end. As i said the first 18 eps were phenomenal, the rest lackluster, and I’m not talking about the happy ending or not , rather the way the story was executed at the last episodes. . Nevertheless I don’t regret watching it, we were spoiled with many happy moments between the main leads , it has many meaningful dialogues, the love story and chemistry were also teriffic.

Some people wrote in the comment section, that the Fl didn’t cried enough, whattt ??then I I tell sth, there are people in this world that can’t cry at all plus the amount of tears isnt the indicator of how much we suffer !!!

Actors were excellent as well , especially the charismatic Ml . I don’t know many actor like him .. His manner , way of acting and face fascinated me. I was looking at him as if i were analyzing an amazing painting and could hardly take my eyes off .He is face is like art for me . Happy I discovered him- he got def a a new fan!

I binged this on two 2 days and still can’t get over it. Probably I will change the rating to higher later , because as I said , the 18 episodes were grandiose. At the moment i don’t even know how I feel about the drama overall.

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This show requires your curiosity over substance

This show takes a little bit of unpacking to really understand and enjoy it. It heavily reminds me of A Time Called You/ Someday or One Day and Extraordinary You in both plot and vibe so if you liked either of those then you will probably get some enjoyment out of this one. The unique part of this one is the mechanism/reason for the time travel here but because it is an alternate universe and does not effect her real life at all it kind of all feels pointless as well. The OST here is hands down one of my all time favorites as well.

The first scene in this drama is what will draw you in. At least for me it did. My curiosity over what happened to him is what drove me forward even though the first few episodes were truly difficult to get through. The female lead is not relatable in the beginning at all and I can not understand why she would like this guy (once you meet him as a high school student) and then how that high school relationship even ended up with them being engaged and there is only one very short scene later that tries to explain that to you and still fails to make me understand. His attraction to her after she stops following him makes far more sense and I could understand that plot better than her following/badgering this completely asinine character around until he decides to date her later on but then from his interactions with her during the breakup it seems like he treated her like trash the whole time. So WHY did she ever like him?!

Then you have the best friend that stole her fiance and when the FMC went back in time she immediately cuts the friend off and that friend immediately becomes the mean girl for no real reason. She is then only there to be an annoyance and cause friction for the FMC occasionally. Were these girls ever really friends? Her character is so pointless.

Now the MMC is all kinds of a green flags from start to finish of the series. He is the reason I stuck around to even find out what happened and the reason I found enjoyment in the show. His character and reasoning are all thoroughly explained and the actor does a great job.

Finally the story. The show does do okay in explaining things to you throughout so you do not find yourself confused about the plot or movement which I liked. I would not say that it needed to be as long as it was, however. There were several filler scenes in the middle of the drama that could have easily been removed as they did not add much to the plot or forward motion of the show. That is when I began to fatigue a little with this show as it gets much slower in the middle. The romance is cute once it picks up speed and I do like this couple together. Then you have the big scene that leads you into the final 6 or so episodes that will keep you pretty teary eyed. The emotions shown in those last episodes from the FMC as she looks at him are exceptional and her best performance throughout the show. But since this show pointed out several times that it was an alternate universe and does not effect her timeline at all it leaves the show without any stakes. The last episode I also found unfulfilling as the entire experience could be written off as a dream since nothing at all changed or had any consequence other than her finding out the truth behind his sacrifice.

In conclusion I will say that if you are like me you will find your curiosity is what will carry you through this show. But then as it concludes it just feels pretty mediocre. An okay ride at parts but ultimately leaves you feeling like it could have been so much more.

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Travelling across the time to protect the person who has been protecting you all the time.

This is actually a drama which shows a man who has always been protecting FL for a very long time without letting her to know that he is protecting. That makes us wonder can there really be a man who loves a girl to this extent.

For some reason the ML dies by jumping over a lighthouse. FL travels back to stop it again and again. The story becomes interesting when she travels back to the beginning of her third year of her senior grade, when they both fell in love with each other gradually, those were the beautiful episodes. But still at the end she failed to stop him from dying. Then we should be prepared with whole box of tissues coz after that the drama will let us know how much the ML loves FL secretly and protect her from all the hassles leading him to the death finally.

I was crying hard... knowing how much he loved her, how much he wanted her to be safe, and how much he endured alone to protect her. I'm damn sure no one in this world can be like this and that's why this drama is so special for me. I will never forget 'Zhang Wansen'.
The actor himself did a very great job. His acting was soo good. I loved it. Thank you for the hard work

The ending : Actually I didn't like the ending nor hate it. I don't like open endings. may be I should watch the Movie

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Kept me glued to the tv until the end

Story starts with a disappointed FL travelling to ghe past after her fiance breaks up with her a few days before the wedding… originally the plot revolves about her, getting kver her ex-fiance… but slowly, plot changes.
Her time travel is attached to an incident with a classmate that suicides… the more she looks into it, and gets to know this guy, the more complicated everything gets… this is the ML… loved her forever, she just did not notice him until too late.

The story has fun, sad, happy and a lot of slow romantic moments… successfully manages ro keep it interesting.. even with 24 episodes.

Music is lovely… whole production is nice.
Bad point… the ending! Literally the last 5 secs leave thw whole thing open… but still.. liked it enough to watch the movie that is supposed to explain more…

Lovely story with good character development…

I liked it

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He's a stray of light warming me all the time

A bittersweet school romance. This drama was more depressing yet fluffy than I expected . To be very honest plot holes are everywhere but a well written heart wrenching love story. They were like star crossed lovers but not meant to be together. Had a good cry watching a drama after so many months. Both of them tried their best to protect each other silently. I got a bit frustrated how the story was going back and forth between real time and college entrance day several times. But everything was worth. Not gonna lie I'm not a very big fan of open endings but i love how the makers left it for viewers to make their own interpretation. But i really wished everything to be clear for my mental peace so I made 2 interpretations but of course i won't spoil here. Read further at your own risk. Contains a little spoiler which is not really a spoiler. So only if she could manage to save him in her 1 year space journey, it would've been the best ending. Happily ever after? No we don't always get a happily ever after in real life. Their fate didn't allow them to be together anyway so hoping for happily ever after was useless. But i still have a ray of hope it was a happily ever after.

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One of the best Time Travel dramas, Korean or Chinese.

Shining For One Thing (2022) is a Time Travel School Life Romance Drama (contains no spoilers).


Qu Chuxiao (Wandering Earth) and Karlina Zhang (Tang Dynasty Tour)

Short Review

Sometimes you pick up your next drama by following a favorite actor from the previous drama that you watched. I followed actor Qu Chuxiao from ‘Wandering Earth’ to ‘Shining For One Thing’. This Chinese drama is a Time Travel Drama which is very technical and science rich in story construct, but very romantic. The Chinese are often sticklers for technically sound plotlines. The writer was very careful to try to stick to the modern Scientific constructs of time travel/displacement thinking. I have covered the different modes of Time Travel in the past, like the differences between Time Travel, Time Slip, and Time Blend as a writing style for a story. ‘Shining For One Thing’ goes one step deeper, to try to explain Time Placement. It covers which timeline you are breaking, the possibilities of where you end up and the consequence possibilities when you travel into different Time Displacement zones. While this may sound too scientific for some, ‘Shining For One Thing’ really breaks through by making the explanations uncomplicated and informative, producing a very entertaining Time Travel drama. Shinning For One Thing is a “Time Travel” drama, because the mode of traveling through time is a definite object, an outdated phone. Great OST! Great love story. Although many time travel dramas use time travel only like a cab ride to the past, Shining For One Thing uses great writing, great concept, and a great use of time travel itself, to produce a great time travel story.

The female protagonist in this drama uses time travel to go back and forth in time to change her dismal future/present. Through it all, she gets hooked up with a young male student whom she knows (in the opening segments of this drama) dies in the past. She then makes it her mission in time travel to change her future/present, but also try to save this boy too. Along the way, she falls in love with the boy. The story is complicated, but totally intriguing. It progresses very slowly, I suppose this is so that the viewer can keep up with the action and the science. You have to sit with this one. However, there is a grand payoff in the back half of this drama.

Time travel is a modern construct, which is not believed to be naturally occuring. It has been given meaning by humans who believe that time travel is a definite possibility. In Shinning For One Thing (2022), the time travel was caused by the inexplicable use of an old phone and by deleting the messages to cause time travel to that point in time of the deleted message.


Extended Review

The female protagonist traveled to a new past each time she attempted to go back in time. She kept failing to enter an open loop of time where changes could be made to the future. To fix the future she needed to enter the right alternative universe.


Quote

Scientist in the Drama—We can go back to yesterday or even the distant past. But it is unlikely for humans to open the wormhole. Most travelers who claim to go back to the past did not enter the closed structure of the wormhole universe. Instead, they enter the crack of a parallel universe. The crack of a parallel universe takes place in every time and space, without affecting or changing each other.

Female Lead—So I did not travel to the past. I went to a new time and space (parallel universe). No wonder nothing changed (when she traveled through time).

Unquote

At the end of the Korean drama ‘The King: Eternal Monarch’, the male protagonist had to search through many alternative universes to find the right one which held the right circumstances and the woman he loved. This became necessary after his mode of time displacement (That family heirloom) was broken. The Wormhole had to be manipulated manually in The King: Eternal Monarch. In Shining For One Thing, the girl knows the outcome, the death of her schoolmate. We find that out in the opening minutes. She makes several attempts to enter the right time wormhole universe, which would allow her to change the past, but she keeps failing. She needs to enter the time and space where changes are possible. She must find the open time loop, instead of the closed time loop where changes can not be made to what has happened already. Along the way, even with all her course corrections, she finds romance.

This is time travel with a definite mode of travel, the outdated phone. With some travel, you are just an observer and can change nothing (closed time loop). With some time travel, you can change the outcomes (open time loop).

The female protagonist keeps failing, because she is not entering the open time loop section of the time wormhole. She is entering the crack of a parallel universe and is not able to change anything in that future. Same with the Chinese Drama Someday or One Day (2019), you must find the right time wormhole with the right set of circumstances, before change is possible. With the Korean Drama A Time Called You, the right time wormhole was entered on the first try in this time travel Korean drama, using a Song Cassette and Walkman as the means of time travel to the right alternative universe.

Cast

Qu Chuxiao (Wandering Earth) and Karlina Zhang (Tang Dynasty Tour), and Caesar Wu (Meteor Garden)

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