The summer of youth.. and the midsommer night's dream
Haaah..I needed to let it just stew for a while after that finale because the feels.. all the feels I'm feeling.. haaah..
Between the poetic vibe and the bright lens they used to tell the story, there's a ton of whiplash on what you think you're supposed to experience, but none of that matters, because watching this is an experience in itself. I was left contemplating the meaning behind their actions as they left them in a sad and vulnerable state, while experiencing joy beyond explanation just by watching two people become the entire world to each other.
I love those bonds, just pure love. Where you know what the other person is thinking, can anticipate what they're feeling, when you know them better than they know themselves on every sort of level. The melancholy and excitement, and the growing pains of being a teenager who is suddenly thrust into unfamiliar and uncomfortable environments only to end up finding the one person who is going to be their entire life was so incredibly moving to watch.
A lot of my words until now have been vague and philosophical, so let me just say this, they perfectly managed to encapsulate the feelings of being in a new environment and then discovering that it's more home than anywhere else. Budding friendships, familial ties, first love, and all the confusion, happiness and pain that comes with it.. just perfect.
This was more than just a romance, not only because that wasn't the only focus of the story, or because they weren't the only couple in the story, no. It was because, more than a romance, this was a story of love. A love I can't quite explain, so it's best to watch and experience it firsthand.
Where's my season 2 though :(
Was this review helpful to you?
Just rewatched and upped score to 10.
This story is much more realistic than most BL's I have watched. The main characters have both been mostly on their own when they are brought together in a newly formed family. Before any thoughts of romance, they seem to know the others needs better than they know their own and they begin to care for each other in very touching ways. I have never seen anyone express so much, tell so much, with so few words, than Benjamin Tsang does as Jiang Tian.That I understand Sheng Wang's reasoning (when he has not explained it) also speaks to Liu Dong Qin's acting ability. I think about these boys (characters) as if I knew them and wonder how they are doing.
The OST- wow. "Just Lonely" by Ricky Hsiao is on repeat in my playlist daily. I don't know exactly what he's saying but I could listen to him "Ooh yeh yeh, ooh yeh ooh" for 45 minutes.
I will love this show even if there's not a part 2, but I really hope there is.
Was this review helpful to you?
Was this review helpful to you?
Loved the whole production!!!
The first time I'm writing the review here since this series deserved a lot of appreciation!! The direction, acting, cinematography, soundtrack, scripts, and the whole production who worked on this were doing so great where I didn't even feel that I watched an hour episode without feeling of 'slow-paced' as some reviewers said (Honestly, I kinda worry that it'll be so slow at first).The ending was pretty clear for me, but some people said the first season only covered the half of story from the novel which I feel we deserved the second season. Hope we'll get the good news soon!
Not a spoiler, but if you loved "Your Name Engraved Herein", I bet you definitely will love this one too! I still remember how's my feeling when I watched every single episode that left me a good impression and didn't even disappoint me at all.
- ngl, I've been re-watched this series 3 times......
Was this review helpful to you?
Was this review helpful to you?
The best series of the year.
After The Untamed, i think this drama is gonna be my all time favorite. The storyline is so refreshing to watch and the actors (Eric and Ben) are so good in their characters that it really feels like they are the real sheng wang and jiang tian. This drama proved that it really don't need to have intimate scenes or anything to portrait the pure love and affection of two people. Each and every episode left beautiful yet painful marks on my heart. Really wishing for its second season because it is the story which really have to end and doesn't go in vain, like it's necessary and must to know what future holds for them. Really invested in the second season. At last i would say the actors are so amazing like its so refreshing to watch them. The very last episode really left me in hurtful situation. Hopefully we'll see them again, until then I'll cry and be depressed.Was this review helpful to you?
Was this review helpful to you?
This review may contain spoilers
Pay closed Attention this series is Highly recommended!
Seriously guys, can you make it a perfect 10, this series is Highly recommended! We want to support this series at all costs. Even though the S1 of this series ends. As a supporter, I am looking forward for S2! haha, I am enjoying watching this series and happy to recommend to my fellow BL fan.#theon1yoneS2
Was this review helpful to you?
Too polished & Not Logical
Although this series seemed to capture the hearts and minds of many, I found it lacking in story in terms of empathy and logic. Not acting, however. It is exceptionally well acted. And yet, that is also what bothered me. It seemed too polished, slick, and flawless. I honestly do not look to review the actors or actresses who are performing in series. I take everything at ‘face value’. This series, with acting not the problem, still lacked a Gestalt for me to connect to, in what seemed like a flawless acting exercise. I simply could not warm up to either of the protagonists at all. Something felt absent. Even though it had all the right elements and great screen chemistry, it felt too polished to be believable. It looks and feels off. The angst, rawness, realness, silliness, immaturity, and pain of teenagers was missing. It got too wrapped up in telling a cute story.Was this review helpful to you?
This review may contain spoilers
THE ENDING?
I’m literally crying so hard why did they leave us off like that!!!!! im so angry he should’ve confessed his love they kept stalling so hard! i loved this show and the story but the ending threw me off so hard i wanted way more too the story they can’t just leave us off like that! they better have a second season or i’m gonna go crazy! 10/10 show though def recommendWas this review helpful to you?
Perfect
I love how Tian didn't become homophobic after his father's incident and still found love with a boy who finally offered him a home. I love how Wang has evolved and matured because pushing your love away is not something easy and even more difficult when you find your mother in them. I wish there was some more development but if S2 is coming I hope they confess and the plot move to college and further, becoming adult and loving each other in every possible way with pride and confident.Was this review helpful to you?
This review may contain spoilers
The most perfect love story I've seen in a while
There are many aspects that make this the best BL show I've seen this year, but in this review, I'll concentrate only on why Sheng Wang and Jiang Tian are perfect for each other and why I think they are "The On1y One" for each other.Let's start with Jiang Tian. I don't think I remember the last time I've seen someone to appreciate, adore and respect their love interest as much as Jiang Tian does. I did a rewatch of the entire show the last couple of days and with the exception of one time (the revenge kiss at the beginning of episode 3), I never saw Jiang Tian get angry at Shang Wang, no matter what he did. He was hurt and confused both times when Wang pulled away from him, but he still tried to understand and never blamed Wang or tried to pressure him into anything. He accepts him for what he is from the very beginning and is there for him, but only to support and encourage him, never to try to change him in any way. For him, Wang is perfect the way he is.
Wang is clumsy and falls down a lot? Well, it's adorable, and if necessary, Tian will let him drag him to the ground and lay down with him. Wang pouts a lot? Tian thinks it's the cutest thing he's even seen and it makes him smile every time. Wang is picky about food? No problem, Tian will make sure to get him something he would eat. Wang needs help to catch up with his lessons? Tian will stay up at night with him and will prepare notes for him, even with the power down. Wang wants to skip class? Tian will go with him even though he's never done it before. Wang gets drunk by accident and needs someone to bring him home? Tian will do that, carry him home on his back, even though Wang is taller and bigger than him, without accusing him or blaming him. Wang needs to distance himself, because he has to sort out him newly discovered romantic feelings? Tian will accept that, even though it hurts him immensely, and will wait for him. Wang constantly needs to borrow ink fillers? Tian has them ready for him. Wang can't stand a bully treating a helpless man like dirt and hits him? Tian is right there and will do the same. Wang doesn't want the honor student title? Tian doesn't either.
Also, he lets Wang make all the important decisions that define their relationship with each other at his own speed. More on this later.
Seriously, it's so rare to find someone who completely and utterly adores you like that. Of course, Tian is generally the caring type and this is his way to express his love for everyone he cares about, but his absolute devotion for Wang overtakes the way he treats everyone else in the show, because the difference is that unlike with the others (his mother, Uncle Ding, etc.) he opens up to Sheng Wang and not only shows him that he cares, but also tells him, several times. Tian is the perfect person for Wang, because for him, Wang can do no wrong, and he's able to read and understand what Wang wants and needs and is willing to do anything to give it to him, even if it hurts him.
Now about Wang. Although there are similarities in their childhood (both have experienced abandonment, although a different kind), Wang has a different way to deal with it and hasn't closed up like Tian. Wang is, despite having no mother and an absentee father and being forced to move a lot, thus becoming an outsider in his schools, an open, curious, friendly and positive person. He's capable of opening up to Tian almost from the very beginning and in being active, in talking about himself, smiling, making puppy eyes, asking for (or demanding) things, even being bothersome sometimes and making Tian care about him, he manages to get Tian out of his self-inflicted isolation and make him enjoy life without dwelling too much on the past. Tian didn't want to attend the first party with their classmates at the beginning; at the end, he was there and no one questioned it. He never participated in the school games before; this time he did, because Wang was there. Wang is the sunshine, Tian the sunshine-protector. It's Wang who moves their relationship forward and makes the important decisions, Tian simply follows them, because he knows that being with Wang, whichever way possible, has changed his life for the better. There is a person who genuinelly cares and understands and expresses it without being scared. This person also appreciates everything he does for them. In episode 12, they made a very important point: Wang is a brave person, and I think Tian got it.
It's Wang who tries, clumsily, but still, to break the ice when he went to Tian's room to ask for help with the homework he couldn't do. While he wasn't brave enough to say what he wanted, Tian is very smart and got it anyway, and the first step was done. It was Wang who added Tian's number and chat contact on his phone first and asked to be friends and was hoping that Tian would confirm it. It was Wang who pointed out to Tian that everybody around them was the opinion that they were close to each other, even though it wasn't true, and it was Wang who opened up and told Tian about his lonely childhood, about what happened after his mother died and his father stopped coming to comfort him, thus making Tian decide that the past didn't matter anymore and they should try to become close. It was Wang who decided that first they were going to stay together in the house and after getting why Tian wasn't able to feel there at home and would stay only because of him, he changed his mind and told Tian they should stay together in the dorm in order for Tian to finally have a place to call home. It was Wang who took Tian out on a date (well, not officially, but this is what it was), bought the bracelets, and made a promise to be there for him. And of course, painful as it it, it was Wang again to decide that he needed some distance from Tian in order to get his feelings sorted. What broke my heart was that Tian immediately closed himself to others after that. Without Wang around, Tian turns into the person we met at the beginning of the series - the best student in the class and respected for it, but with no friends, no other contacts except an elderly man who used to take care of him as a child but to whom he hasn't completely opened up either, and no real happiness, dramatic as it sounds, in life. Tian hitting the wall in the last episode was not exaggerated, because he knew Wang was deliberately pulling away from him and saw how far Wang would go to do that, and he felt absolutely helpless and knew he couldn't do anything to prevent it and had to wait until Wang comes around. He literally was experiencing the person he cares about most and the only one able to make him smile and laugh and relax and just enjoy simple things putting a barrier between them. This hurts.
To sum it up: these two complement each other perfectly and I honestly can't remember the last time I'd seen such a well-written couple. I have to admit that I needed some time and understanding to appeciate episode 12, because the ending was not what I wanted, but after waiting and rewatching it today I have to say that while I still would've preferred a different ending, I've changed my mind so far as to say that episode 12 is exactly as good and amazing as the rest, and the fact that Tian, despite his breakdown, realised that Wang will return to him and he has to wait for him. is enough even if season 2 doesn't happen. Because Tian knows Wang will come back, and we know, too.
Was this review helpful to you?
