Memory of Encaustic Tile (2022)

Pleasing but full of clichés

I was eagerly waiting for this drama ever since its news reached my ears because of its cast line-up. I was excited for the collaboration of Chen Yu Qi and Lin Yi.

However, this drama's plot rater disappointed me as it is full of clichés. Memory of Encaustic Tile is adapted from the novel "Glazed Tiles of the Past" (昔有琉璃瓦) by Bei Feng San Bai Li (北風三百里). This drama tells us the story of five youngsters from Luli Hutong street, who grew up together. They faced many heart-rending situations because of which they grew up from inside. Some fell in love while some remained friends eventhough they wanted a change in their relationship. When they started pursuing their dreams, seperation between the lovers and friends and became inevitable. The drama was very obvious and predictable all the way long and all this also constantly reminded me of A Love So Beautiful which too focuses of such a plot. Anyways, when some scenes were illogical, some were heart touching too.

The character arcs and developments were so sub-standard and so was the romance portrayal. The main characters were the worst except Zhang Qi (Yan Zi Dong)and Wu Huan. They had a decent character arc, which made them more likeable that the other characters. Shao Xue and Zheng Su Nian was supposed to be more supportive of eachother. At some instances, we could make an exception of Shao Xue. But, ZSN was a complete fool when it comes to reading a girls's mind and supporting her. Sometimes, these character may make us laugh but not like them. Anyways, the portrayal of the bond between parents and children as well as the neighbours were heart-warming.

The delivery of the character the main and supporting leads were decent but the plot is not worthy of their acting skills. I have been a fan of both Lin Yi and Yu Qi ever since they first caught my attention in Put Your Head On My Shoulder and Ashes of Love. We have seen how Lin Yi improved from PYHOMS to Love Scenery and I had confidence in him from the very start. This drama is my first modern drama of Yu Qi and I had high expectations, which were not broken except when she was acting cute where it was not needed. However, both the actors are still quite behind in handling emotional scenes. This was my first drama of Yang Zi Dong's. In this drama, I'm satisfied with his performance. Sun Kai really surprised me with his performance. Also, there were many other familiar faces among the cast and I enjoyed spotting them and their changes from their previous drama.

There music was good but not memorable but, I quite liked the opening song which captured the liveliness of life.

A summary for lazy reades:

WHAT I LIKED

# The portrayal of the bond between parents and children as well as neighbours
# Commendable acting
# The slice-of-life discription of relationships
# Quite good OSTs

WHAT I DISLIKED

# Bad character arc and development
# Bad romance portrayal between leads
# Side characters becoming more likeable than lead characters
# Poor excecution
# Wasted talent of the cast
# Cliché plot
# Some illogical scenes

Overall, this was a pretty decent yet not so good drama. I would recommend this to Chen Yu Qi or Lin Yi fans or someone searching for a light and heart warming drama, which focuses more on family bonds. But, if you are looking for one with a strong romance and trust between the leads, this is not for you.

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It reminds you of your youth

The story starts in 2002. In a neighborhood of Liuli Hutong there are 5 childhood friends who are enjoying their school life while trying to find their dreams and passions. As time passes, they face heartbreaking situations and reality which change the dynamics and make them grow. Separation can't be avoided as they step into real world. You will laugh and cry together with them. But in the end, they are still the people from Liuli Hutong neighborhood whose bond never cease.

This drama is simple. It shows the realistic side of what people can experience in life and their journey to find happiness as they grow up. Each family has their own color. There's no annoying character, no violence involved, no bully, no overly dramatic situations. The kids face their own problems as they grow up into working adults. Each family has strong bond. The friendship is really strong and genuine, they're not friends with benefit. This drama will remind you of your youth when you were carefree, failed in your exams, argued with your parents, how you disliked going back to countryside, had to chose between dream or reality, experienced first love, separation, career, marriage.

Few people might not like Shao Xue at first, but you will see that she's more than just a tomboy and loud girl. Sunian is the popular boy but only Shao Xue can make him happy. Zhang Qi has a secret crush on Shao Xue, but chooses friendship instead. Shiyin might be annoying, but she dreams big and she's a loyal friend. Wu Huan is obedient and hard working. Don't forget the diversity of parents and the lovely elders who work at the restoration house. This drama is worth to watch especially if you like a daily life drama.

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Romance with a spectrum of emotions, from light hearted to the most heart wrenching

Just finished it and I totally recommend for people who wish to watch a cute drama with some real story to it.

The friends grow up together in a warm neighbourhood. It’s more than just romance- sweet family and friend interactions, characters have their own individuality and complicated relationships. There’s harsh realities of life and death and you will cry.
The puppy love, excitement and anxiety of teenage is portrayed wonderfully. The cuteness becoming passion over time is too wholesome!

Many people might hate FML and deem her to be childish and annoying, which she is a little bit but I promise she will grow on you, the actress did a great job bringing the character to life.
TBH I am one of 'those' Lin Yi fangirls who only watched because of him but Yukee Chen won me over. Well, the ML and FL are cute and all but the talented support roles, esp Zhang Qi- who did a phenomenal job of expressing complex emotions of SML, made it interesting.
The end episodes felt too hasty and I wish the reunion had more to it. It would have been super cool if they had done 2 more episodes, elaborating some more. The plot is illogical but just keep your brain aside and go with the flow. I enjoyed it regardless and would love to revisit certain moments from time to time.



ps- "Old Song" by Ma Di (the end credits song) deserves more appreciation, the lyrics are so beautiful- I'm emotionally attached to it. Gives me chills every time :,)
pps- back to Lin Yi- his acting skills have improved so so much, till now he was only roles in which he had to act cute but this one has him more mature and deep, a treat to watch honestly. It amazed me how swift he was in changing moods from a concerned older guy to a cute boy who is confused about his crush and feelings! 100 % go for it if you like him BUT this doesn't beat PYHoMS haha, sorry to be that person!

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the real star is the friendship

I wasn't exactly intrigued by the first episode it wasn't anything too special but from the second i had a feeling this wasnt exactly something overly different but something i currently needed
the friendship and family plot in the first half is the true winner to this drama, the main essence i might say it provided warmth and comfort every episode as i went through the journey of the youth of teenagers and the stories of their parents too here and there. The drama beautifully portrayed a loving group of people adults and children alike who just relied on each other and lived day by day.

The acting was good, better than expected Chen Yu Qi did a good job in the first half playing a bubbly teen, lin yi too, including the supporting cast i loved their characters and how it was bought to real life.
second half
while the latter part of the drama doesn't compare to the first and the romance could have been executed better. The leads practically had no character development which was a miss on their behalf I found the side characters had their development but not the two main leads, the writers should have handled the romance better but it ended up being cliches with a little bit of change to keep going, being attached to the characters, of course, was the only reason I could find good sides to the later half
i would recommend this for the first half and if you can watch cliches watch the whole thing

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GREAT WORK!

I love how the drama flows not boring at all. I had fun watching it from the start till the end. The casts really did an amazing job especially the main leads Yukee and Linyi actually everyone from the drama.

Its heartwarming I would say. It shows how the young generation behaves at home and in school too. Also, shows different situations of different families and how the kids are brought up such a great resource of moral values.

The actors or elders also played their role truthfully such a smooth drama they seem to really put their heart and mind in the story.

Yukee and Linyi and others acted well as young generation. The role suits the ML and FL. They never fail to amaze me.

I love how their love of friendship turns into a mature love. It doesnt only shows good feelings but heartbreaks too. But what I like about is faith, trust, hope and love is expressed so much in the drama.

Every episode is worth to watch. Its my stress reliever actually.

Keep up the good work!

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Slow start worth watching

As a diehard fan of Linyi I was waiting for a long time for this drama to Be aired This drama deserves to be a higher rating Though it is a slow start it improves as it progresses it tells the relationship of the neighborhood who lived in the same alley story revolves around 5 families They have beautiful portrayed the relationship between their parents too both ml and fl parents love story Was really heartwarming coming to their childrens our ml and fl are childhood sweethearts the friendship between suninan xioyue xiqi heshiyin and huannan are really amazing ml and fl get together only during their clg times The moments where suninan mom died was really heartwrenching i almost cried in those episodes which proves every one's acting mainly linyi acting is awesome in this finally the marriage scene is really amazing the one thing I felt sry for second atleast he must had a happy ending it beautifully portrayed the life in early 90s and 2000s the music and osts are awesome I started watching this drama for linyi but become a fan of fl and their friends This drama definitely is worth watching and it deserves to be a higher rating don't miss this gem

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I love my slice of life dramas and was super excited to watch this one. Overall, it was sincere, heartfelt, and a wonderful portrayal of family and friends living in a small but tight knit community. I loved the friendship between the 5 youth and the stories of their parents added depth and heart wrenching moments to the drama.

ML didn’t disappoint and I was impressed by his range of emotions. He was still charismatic and charming and I loved his little smirk. FL grew on me as she got older…. her initial over the top acting cute and bratty (Chinese peeps really like that!!) didn’t fit her persona. I think you really have to be a certain actress to be able to pull that off and still be likeable.

I loved ML and FL’s chemistry and sweet moments together and wish there was more. At times, I felt like their story didn’t quite have that flow because there were SO many stories going on. Aside from the 5 friends and their respective parents, drama also focused on the lives of co-workers, roommates, and master teachers. It spent a lot of time diving into certain storylines but then there would be years in between that barely got touched upon. I appreciate drama for at least giving us the last 2 episodes!!

As in almost all C-dramas, I didn’t know what was going on with the English dubbing. This one in particular with the robotic voice over… oh my goodness. FL would have been better off speaking English herself!

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Good cozy feel of 90s. Watch it if you like these kind of shows. worth it

What i liked

The whole 90s vibe and the whole community of antique restoration department and their relationship. They are not nosy but very caring and involved with each others family. The alley with the houses has such a good feel to the over all feel of the show.
There were some scenes which felt as if its dragging but its very small part of the drama.
i know actress is much older than what she played but it didnt bother me she didnt look that old .I felt actress in go ahead felt much older in high school years than FL here.

What could be better
Although i have liked the actress who played FL even in other shows like AOL , here sometimes acting was over the top.Could have toned it down a bit and sometimes when she just stares with her big eyes it doesnt bring out her emotions . Even with that i liked the FL character. She is childish, innocent , has a dream of her own and emotionally mature when dealing with people . She kept telling her friend how to deal with people . She didnt figure out ML liked her for long but that could be attributed to their relationship since childhood.
ML is as usual( as in case with most dramas) perfect except when he suddenly decided to be noble (this trope is a must in all dramas isnt it. ) but even then there was a good arc of him figuring out what he wants in life.
Loved almost all side characters specially their friends circle.

What i hated :
Some very childish scenes of FL . not everytime but there are couple of them
FL realising she wants to come back after something really bad happened to her. it just gives out wrong message that if you go to foreign country you will end up being like that (specially for a girl) . She could have realised without all that fiasco of getting duped etc.

If you ignore these i think its still good watch and i would rewatch this show now and then

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It was cute.

Chen Yu Qi who plays one of the strongest women in dramas didn't play that strong woman in this drama. She played a normal young lady in the real world versus the fantasy world. It was a change for me to watch her play this type of role. I hung in there and watched all of the episodes but it took me a while. This tells me what kind of actress she is, she can take on any type of role and that is awesome. I will make sure to watch her performances in strong female roles in the future. Thank you to all the actors and actresses who took this story on. Y'all were great. Thank you to the writers and stage crew. BTW I loved the wedding dress at the end. That was perfect.

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Heartwarming drama

This drama is about whole life from family, friendship, dream and love. For me, It's heartwarming drama that heals my broken heart. The love story of this drama is in slow mode because it tells detail conflict from a lot of characters. But it has a lot of romantic scenes indeed. I love all of the characters in this drama. Their acting are impressed me so much, especially yuqi chen. She can act as a cute teenager naturally even now she is an adult woman. For Lin yi, in my opinion, this his best performance if I compare to all of his drama before. His expression is improved a lot. Lin yi and yuqi chen make a great couple. They looks so cute together even their age gap is quite big. I love this drama, I love this couple. Hope they will be more success in the future. Cant wait their next project..

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A walk down memory lane

The main reason to watch this is Nostalgia. You want to see Beijing in the early 2000s.
And, of course, the main actors, who are all eye candy.

But there's just not much to it. The story is bland, and it's really hard to stay engaged. There is a handful of youth actors and their parents. The story's main focus is the interpersonal relationships. You can kind of put up with a few episodes of the background/bland, but then somewhere around episode 6 or 8 it's time to move to actual plot. I can't even say that I think the huge cast of characters had particularly interesting personalities... I did make it through to the end, but only because there really wasn't anything else going on.

Best acting was in episodes 16-18, from ML Zheng SuNian (Lin Yi) and his father Zhen Jin (Fang ZiBin). Lin Yi showed a new skill compared to prior shows (crying, although Dad was still way more believable).

Worst feature of this show: NONE, and I do mean not a *single* one, of the youth actors look like they could be high school students. I believe Lin Yi was the youngest actor (born 1999, age 22), while Chen YuQi is the oldest actor (born 1992, age 29). And they're all supposed to be high school students. It works (or can work) for occasional flashbacks, but not complete episodes.

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