The Early Spring

Character development of Luke and flora

I think they could give Luke more character development after their break up . I felt like he was still kinda same , there was no drastic change . Yea they showed his crying over her ( that part was so heart fluttering . When man cries they look beautiful 👀)
on the other hand , Flora's character development was better than Luke . She was so done with their relationship and she stepped out of here . But before tha last reunion, They could have given her more time and space , showing how annoyed she was , How disrespect she felt when she was in the relationship . They captured her insecurity, That's great . But I think they should have give her more time to show that

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I love flora’s character

The actors did a fantastic job with bringing this story to life and I must say their chemistry is off the charts!
You might not like Luke from the start but he did have a lil character development and Flora is that girl I must say and I know her character in the drama is often misunderstood but I understand her completely and I really love how she’s an independent strong woman and can hold her own.
And the OST?! Amazing
Overall it was a good watch even though I wanted more episodes before Luke’s proposal at the end, now I’m wondering what to watch next that will get me hooked to my screen again.

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The Early Spring (2026)

I absolutely loved this drama. ❤️ There’s something about The Early Spring that feels different from the usual workplace romances. It’s more mature, more grounded, and much more interested in the people behind the relationship—their ambitions, insecurities, mistakes, and the lives they are trying to build.

What I loved most was the relationship between Luan Nian and Shang Zhitao. Their chemistry is incredible, but what makes it work for me is that their relationship feels like it develops between two real adults rather than simply following the usual cold-boss-and-sweet-girl formula. I loved their conversations, their little moments, and especially the way their feelings gradually become impossible for them to ignore.

I also really loved Shang Zhitao as a character. She isn’t simply defined by her relationship with Luan Nian. Watching her struggle professionally, learn from her mistakes, become more confident, and eventually build a life of her own made her journey just as interesting as the romance.

And Jing Boran was so good as Luan Nian. He could have easily become an unlikeable character because of how cold and sharp he is, but there’s so much vulnerability underneath that exterior. I loved watching him slowly let his guard down and become more open with the people he loves.

The drama also does a great job with the atmosphere. The cinematography, the Beijing setting, the quiet moments, and especially the music all add to that slightly melancholic feeling the story carries. The OST is beautiful and fits the drama perfectly. 🎧❤️

What I appreciate most is that this isn’t just a story about falling in love. It’s also about growing up, choosing your own life, building a career, and learning how to love someone without losing yourself in the process.

A little note: One of my favorite C-dramas of 2026 so far. I’m genuinely obsessed with this one. 🥹❤️

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Transformative Despite 25% Content Cut

This story changed how I consume Chinese stories 80+ and 2.5 years later:
1st time waited for drama since filming / 1st time read translated novel
1st time feel cheated given 25% episode cut - Neflix please license complete
1st time understanding idol status changes viewer perception of unhealthy/toxic relationships, growth, etc. (Love For You good example where reviews/comments focus mostly on childhood rel. issues not dysfunction)

Half * off due to very rushed ending compared to novel that detailed 4 emotionally & professionally challenging years FL lived after returning home (& ML to lesser extent). If only watched drama, I would think FL pushover, based on last 3 episodes referencing 2 shallow years (only nod to pandemic ruining her business was sanitizer). Plus cut meeting his parents.

Finally, since never more relevant to any C drama watched to date: I've yet to become desensitized to censorship, which besides delaying release by 1-2 years vs K drama: allows extreme violence/crime, emotional and physical abuse, bare living subsistance etc. YET removes romantic/intimate scenses to point of G/G+ (Find YourSelf and You Are My Glory would not pass now). Plus not unform so wonder does one idividual do entire drama, teams etc.

Disclaimer: realize many modern drama viewers prefer no romantic relationship, or if exisits should show no intimary and/or passionate behavior - then don't watch - as hundreds of other choices so leave a few for us. Interesting how many shared being "uncomfortable" watching even with 1st time intimacy coordinator use.

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Totally absorbed by this drama

Usually the most episodes I can watch in a drama is 16. I have watched all 24 episodes in this drama, The Early Spring. I was left wanting more, I would have easily watched 32 episodes.
I enjoyed the drama, the main characters frustrated me at times with their lack of communication. The performance of the actors was great, there were times I had a cry and reached for tissues. Jing Boran’s acting was excellent, playing a character with many dimensions, arrogance, self righteousness, loving, emotional. The Norway scene looking at the Aurora, when he was on the phone pouring his heart out to Flora, crying with a broken heart, was very emotional, I felt that sadness, I was reaching for tissues.
The outfits he wore were incredibly, he is very handsome.
I felt Flora’s character could have been more dimensional, and communicated more with Luke. I was surprised Flora never told Luke about her friend committing suicide, such a devastating thing to happen, why didn’t she tell Luke, I felt that was lacking in the script. Jing Boran and Sun Qian did a great job acting the intimate scenes, it was done so well, making it seem so realistic.
I thoroughly enjoyed this drama and recommend it to anyone who loves watching romantic dramas.

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It feels like a wish you never knew you had

I don’t know what possessed me to read the book. I geuss it is cause I wanted to understand the show better. I still stand firm saying they should have never gotten back together. Too much angst for my heart. The way I dislike Luke should be studied. The way I feel for Flora should be commended. The way she accepted him back is beyond understanding. At some point, maybe her going back to her ex would have been better. I’m just angry that the show was unable to capture and invoke the level of emotion the book brought.

At the end of the day, trust my taste.

Read or watch The Early Spring.

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A badly executed Anti-Romance.

"You don't have to be perfect to be worthy of love" 👉 Love this message and the reoccurring theme it carries throughout the drama.

This should be tagged as ANTI-ROMANCE. It's filled with red flags to the point you can actually study and analyse themes in a toxic relationship. It's worth watching only in this context. I would avoid if you want a romance with any positivity, depth or gentleness.

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We are first introduced to the female lead Sang Zhi Tao, English name 'Flora.' She is a young 22 year old, fresh graduate who is offered a job at a world famous advertising company - Lime.

On her first day she meets her direct supervisor, 28 year old Luan Nian AKA 'Luke.'

The drama goes straight into getting them acquainted. In the first few episodes they develop a friendly co-worker rapport. Unfortunately this did not translate well into a relationship. The problems quickly become apparant and the drama wants you to know it will be as problematic a relationship as possible.

The first red flags come in episode 5, after they have a one-night stand where neither of them seem to strongly deny each other out of concern for their positions at work. The next morning both are hurt hearing each other downplay the night before as only an 'accident.' Instead of simply doing the obvious thing by talking to each other, they go straight into believing what their friends who have NO involvement in this have to say. In hindsight, a huge foreshadowing for the rest of the drama that their strength lies in having sex, instead of being able to communicate with each other.

Flora applies for a transfer at work and remains distant with Luke. Yet it's this fact that she behaves different towards him (ie. does not chase him) compared to other women which causes Luke to pursue her. Of course this is a very overused and clichéd trope, Flora having to be 'Not Like Other Girls' is so overused.

Luke is very obtuse here too, he's unable to put himself in her shoes of how she would cope at work, how it would feel to be a new employee who is still at the bottom of the ladder being in a relationship with someone who is so much more senior in the company. She could potentially loose her job, or due to her gender + lower status be unfairly accused of sleeping her way up the ladder.

▶️ The POWER IMBALANCE is staggering in this regard. She has a lot to loose, whilst he does not.

Luke ends up proposing an arrangement where they sleep together without emotional/romantic attachment. HE is the one to set these clear boundaries into place....yet the next minute is acting like they have something much more. He was upset that he was not invited to her birthday party, and begins to trick her into spending time with him. Like please dude, just ask to be her boyfriend. We all know you want to be, just in denial.

We also don't know why Flora agrees to this arrangement. WHY would she choose to enter this arrangement with her boss? Especially because she is scared of having it outed. Flora should have just chosen one, either Luke or the job.

Episode 10 has a significant time skip but does not specify exactly how much. Flora only says in her second year working at Lime that they started dating. One of the ongoing issues from here on is the difficult timeline in the narrative, and even right now we don't know how long they've been dating.

Seeing their version of 'dating' was just bizzare! They never behaved as if they're together. Flora doesn't communicate with him: she always wants to avoid, avoid avoid communicating with Luke. It's like she doesn't care to speak to him, even about anything important that her boyfriend should know. It IS okay for her to be independent to solve her own problems, but because of this she makes no attempt to make Luke feel included in her life and as if she needs him emotionally. And you start to understand why she is so distant when you see how LUKE communicates.

His language is sarcastic, belittling, biting, degrading towards her. He constantly tears her down, saying is suited to "Green foxtail," a type of grass. Calling her "cheap and obedient" just because he believed she was ready to join another company. He always questions where her brain has gone. He even tells her to "label the toiletries so the next woman knows which one not to use." Um, WTF? Literally the worst thing a man could say to the woman he is with. It signifies to a lack of respect for her on his side, if you respected and loved someone you wouldn't talk to them like this.

What's more annoying is, they never care to try to work over those problems whenever they argue (which was a lot) and then reconcile. It's simply as if those problems never occurred at all, it all remains forgotten about until the next argument - rinse and repeat.

Luke also gets more controlling as the drama goes on. In Phuket, he told her not to wear the clothes she was wearing again, as he "didn't want any other men looking at her." The drama doesn't linger on it though, it leads to them (predictably) having sex and there's nice background music on, so we are meant to think it is romantic. The silly thing was her dress was not even that bad or revealing. It was relatively modest for the beach. He might have had a heart attack if she showed off her skimpy bra like Lumi.

Flora acknowledges the relationship she's in is not right. But she never ends this 'situationship' in all this time - calling it this is accurate since even Flora is unable to define what their relationship is even after 4 years of being together. She is so indecisive and uncertain of herself despite being older at 26 years old. She has no boundaries with how Luke treats and speaks to her, and is insecure and unconfident. There's no reasoning as to why she just puts up with Luke, his vicious mouth and willing to be his doormat.

Giving Flora the benefit of doubt here, I might understand why Flora stays with Luke. But first let me just put on my rose-tinted glasses: He is older, wealthier, more experienced, more influential, as well as caring and attentive towards her when he cares to be. There's also the way Jing Boran plays Luke with such intensity.

Okay, now taken the rose-tinted glasses off: Luke is rude, arrogant, jealous, possessive and controlling. His nice behaviour at times doesn't cancel out his toxic traits and the fact he is unable to exclude Flora from this bad treatment. I've watched a lot of Kdramas and Cdramas where the ML is stereotypically red flagged towards everyone else EXCLUDING the FL, but this drama runs away from that trope entirely. In a way it is kind of refreshing to show a drama go against the popular grain - if someone is not pleasant enough to other people, why would their love interest suddenly be unique? They need to first unlearn their toxic behaviour to become better in themselves as a person first; textbook Mr Darcy trajectory.

4 years into this and I don't even see the point of them being together. Every episode is them being toxic, and you cannot convince me as to why they should be together. Yet unbelievable as it is, they still get far worse.

Episode 18 had to be pure ragebait! Flora tells Luke she is meeting her Ex-boyfriend, but does not tell her Ex that Luke is her current boyfriend. And this is all in front of Luke....it's unbelievable that Flora thought this was a good thing to do knowing Luke's temper. Luke has to cope with the Ex taking care of her when she is drunk, and then see her hugging that Ex. Luke was never in a secure enough position emotionally to be able to take all this in a sane manner.

But also, Luke was deliberately stalking her here. And you get a flashback to when he was previously stalking her when she was walking with Sun Yuanzhu. He's so possessive that he literally stalks her whenever he knows she is with male acquaintances in her life, then gets jealous and verbally lashes out at her. He gaslights her for being close to other men. He doesn't trust or respect her enough.

The hypocrisy, audacity and sexist mindset of Luke is so hypocritical here. In the same time frame he had the same kind of hug with his female friend who he knew had a crush on him, and allow her to be physically close with him all WHILST he was dating Flora. But Flora being close with her male bestfriend, and hugging her Ex is close to giving Luke an apoplexy. The only difference here is Flora did not see him being physically close with his female friend, which still doesn't reduce his hypocrisy and double standard.

After this Flora proposes the idea of marriage to him - which after all that had just happened until now....WTF Flora? Being so badly timed, it seems like a huge bomb she drops on him and the viewer straight after she couldn't even admit he was her boyfriend 10 minutes before.

The irony is that he was also thinking about things like marriage and baby (e.g, the conversation he had with his mother about giving her a granddaughter), but never communicated that to FLORA herself in those 4 years. Instead he coldly and point blank rejects her here, even if it could all be what he wants too. So bad and messy all around.

Episode 19 was sweet but gave me whiplash....there was supposed to be a break up? I'm sorry but when did they break up? It doesn't feel like they broke up at all. I must have blinked and missed it. There was no angst or tension that followed up from everything that happened from Ep 18. If you had no context, Ep 19 was the sweetest thing ever with Luke behaving nicely, and the adorable couple photoshoot they had in Tibet. You wouldn't have thought they actually broke up for 3-4 months or something at all. It doesn't help either that Flora easily lets him back into her life, this time acknowledging him as her boyfriend. But they don't talk about anything that happened that led to their break up in order to solve their problems? Luke just says he misses her, apologises and does some chores for her. And of course she accepts him.

It was also quite weird seeing them talk like they just started dating and not like they had been together 4 years. Luke just finds out NOW that she likes a gentle and soft man...when this is the sort of thing you find out on your first or second date? Lol. They did nothing but be Fuck Buddies during those 4 years??? They were together starting every Friday night through to Sunday - but apparently never even talked to each other in between having sex to figure out what the other was like as a person. Flora also says this is the first time she 'trusts' him and the first time she calls him her boyfriend....after 4 years of supposedly having 'dated' already. It's so sad and depressing, not a good relationship at all.

His softened up behaviour at this point makes you think he is changing for the better.... only to act just the same as soon as he feels insecure and jealous again when they are back home in Beijing. Literally just the next episode. That means he didn't really change, he just missed her and chased her enough to persuade her that he will behave better towards her.

He behaves horribly because he saw her hugging Sun Yuanzhu, and doesn't care to know the context of why. Almost the identical situation as the last break up, utterly exhausting by this point. Flora had just given him a lot of grace by claiming she 'trusted' him enough to accept him again, yet he takes her for granted. Of course he doesn't believe he would face consequences like her leaving him again.

They've made it 6 years together now, and their final big break up was not just because of one reason, e.g: Flora not getting the award. It was definitely due to the acummulation of many things over the last 6 years. Flora being expectant for the award and then feeling like a fool when Luke knew all along she wouldn't win it, was just the last straw. Not the sole reason!

I admired how she did not just go along with HIS plan for HER life; that she would stay working in Lime, and get the award the year after. She took the initiative herself and quit. This is great character development for Flora, who until now would just let Luke walk all over her even as her boyfriend.

I liked seeing her develop her independence in Episode 22. This should have been the last episode in this context. Seeing the FL develop her spine and leave a toxic relationship for her own independence would have been such a nice, progressive story. It would have been more satisfying if this was it, THE END ✋.

Unfortunately for the category of 'romance' there has to be an ending where they still end up together. I hated this so much, especially Luke's sudden character development was not believable to me here. Suddenly in what must have been less than 2 episodes, we are supposed to believe that he had changed so much? It just seemed like major love bombing and guilt tripping with how he forced his way into her life.

It's hard to understand why Flora accepts him back with just a brief apology. He's sorry for how he treated her, but doesn't specify what exactly he is sorry for, neither on how he has made changes to improve himself. Again, we don't see them discuss the problems for why they broke up. These 2 have consistently been avoiding the big questions hanging in the air, and then predictably they still run into the same toxic relationship problems sooner or later.

The last 10 minutes of the final episode end with a proposal. But after such bad pacing and unconvincing character development from both, I was not emotionally invested enough to care. An important thing here is that they only make the timeframe of the ENTIRE drama clear NOW, right at the very end - we find out it was 2012 when it started in the first episode, and 2021 in current day. So unbelievable as it is, 9 years had passed.

I was willing to like it and went in with a positive mindset. But it ended up being poorly executed. Episodes 18-24 especially felt like it could have been done over many more episodes, instead of just 7. It meant their break ups and make ups were all very close together, with no time to just breathe in between.

Their relationship itself also just felt very empty and devoid of any meaning. I couldn't believe they really loved and suited each other. Poorly implemented romantic moments, and not enough to balance out the red flags. Imperfection includes BOTH green and red flags, not just all the toxic aspects.

It doesn't help either that they show very little time between them that isn't working at Lime and having sex, sex, and more sex. We rarely see any non-sexual activities, hobbies they do together. Even when they go to Phuket, it leads to him dragging her into his room for sex.

I never saw WHY they loved each other or HOW they make each other feel special as boyfriend and girlfriend. Luke is never romantic towards Flora until right at the end, and is rarely nice to her for majority of the drama. As for nice things Flora does for Luke....I don't think there was any time to be honest. Maybe having Luke take care of her dog with the same name as him could have been her version of a 'gift.'

Main things I liked about this drama:

▶️ Their very mature chemistry, they made passion and desire come alive.

▶️ The ace soundtrack: 'Her' by Liu Yuning, as well as 'You Should Know,' 'Lady Snow,' 'This Moment' and 'Passing Sunshine.'

▶️ Flora's friendship with her flatmates, especially with what happens to Sun Yuanzhu :(

▶️ The female friendships, for example Lumi and her unconditional support for Flora.

--- Conclusion ---
Overall I did not enjoy The Early Spring. The parts I liked was not enough to make up for it for me. It feels massively overhyped and romanticised for all the wrong reasons.

This is the drama where the extreme red flag male lead which becomes romanticised when he was in no way romantic. The character of Luke was highly emotionally and verbally abusive. If he didn't look like Jing Boran, it would've been far quicker to call him every shade of red flagged....more like a whole red sea. A black flag. A walking disaster. It's the Christian Grey effect all over again; if these men did not look as handsome as they did, were poor and lived in a caravan, their behaviour wouldn't have been tolerated at all. Women like Flora or Anastasia Steele wouldn't have even looked twice at these men in this scenario.

Most of all, I disliked how The Early Spring was unable to balance a complex relationship with positive aspects - it was just ALL fully toxic. The romance was hugely lacking - almost as lacking as Flora's spine, ha. I will not be rewatching this drama because the toxicity was enough stress just for one watch, and there's no good wholesome vibes that make it worth rewatches. Even if this was better written with more believable character development and plot, the themes are too heavy to even make it a comfort drama in any sense.

IMO if it ended with Flora not accepting him again, it would have been far more realistic and likeable.

People defending/justifying his terrible behaviour since this drama released have also loved to endlessly pick on the female lead. In NO way am I defending her behaviour, she was also a red flag. But to think SHE was somehow worse than HIM is just being ignorant and willful blind. Flora was still problematic, but not as toxically abusive like he was!!! So the misogyny of this has got to stop.

Lastly the bad pacing, as well as the unconvincing character development for both leads as I gave examples of.

Giving this a rating of 4.5/10 - half a point for Luke the dog 🦮 🐶

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Interesting story, relatable, not at all the right drama for me!

The Early Spring has a very good rating on here, with many people praising the drama, its characters, and its story. I’m finishing episode 20, and I’ve decided to drop it.

I probably would have stayed until the end just to see how much Flora would flourish and grow, but the writers’ decision to remove Yuan Zhu from the group was the last straw for me. From the very beginning, I loved the relationships that developed between these roommates. I especially enjoyed Yuan Zhu and Sun Yu and found myself genuinely rooting for them as supporting characters. I understand that not every character can remain until the end, but the way Yuan Zhu was removed felt unnecessary and disappointing. It completely changed something I had really enjoyed about the drama.

There are, however, characters I absolutely love. Lu Mi and Tracy are my two favorite characters in the entire show. Lu Mi is beautiful, kind-hearted, capable, straightforward, intelligent, tough, and, most importantly, a great friend. Tracy is elegant and kind, and I simply love her aura and sense of style. Whenever they are on screen, I find myself much more interested in their stories and personalities.

As for the leads, I do appreciate that this story isn’t a fairy tale where Cinderella finds the perfect man and the perfect relationship. I’ve seen many comments praising how beautiful the love story between the leads is, and while I neither agree nor disagree, I have to admit that I’ve gradually found myself drifting away from them.

The awkward silences during their car rides and the constant back-and-forth between them brought me back to some of my own experiences, memories I honestly wasn’t looking to revisit through a drama. More importantly, I find their relationship quite toxic.

If this had been a temporary infatuation situation between a mature, successful, good-looking boss and a newly graduated, inexperienced employee, I could perhaps understand some of their dynamics. But they were together for six years. Six years is a long time. At that point, I have a much harder time accepting the idea that their communication problems are simply the result of youth, inexperience, or not knowing how to express their feelings. Especially when they have broken off and gotten back together quite a few times. Then there was that time when Flora mentioned about one of the thing on her list is to be married with someone she loves, Luke said he could not give her that without even a consideration after all that years being together. Personally as a woman I would not invest 6 years of my youth with a guy if he doesn't want to get married. What is worst about this situation is Luke doesn't even want to introduce Flora to his parents after all these years being together, let alone marriage.

To be honest, if I were Flora, I would never choose to be with a man like Luke.

I do believe Luke cares about Flora, and I don’t think he is necessarily a bad person. He clearly has feelings for her and often shows that he cares in his own way. But being a good person and loving someone does not automatically make the way you treat that person healthy.

There are many moments when Luke talks down to Flora in a way that, to me, crosses into verbal abuse. I’ve seen comments saying that Luke is simply “telling Flora the truth.” But I always wonder: would we be so quick to call it “the truth” if we were the ones on the receiving end of those words?

What bothers me most is how often Flora seems nervous around him, constantly watching his reactions and looking for his approval. She seems to second-guess herself and worry about whether she is saying or doing the “right” thing in his eyes. That dynamic is difficult for me to watch.

I also find Luke manipulative at times, particularly when he asks Flora to repeat something she has said, seemingly waiting for her to correct herself and give him the answer he wants to hear. That is not healthy communication to me. It creates a power imbalance where one person becomes afraid to express what they genuinely think or feel. There are many comments criticizing Flora for keeping everything in and not telling, or confront Luke. I sure wouldn't if I think I will be corrected.

Metaphorically, Luke feels like a wolf and Flora like a deer. There are moments when the way he looks at her and interacts with her feels predatory to me, not necessarily in a literal sense, but in the sense that there is such a significant imbalance in power and confidence between them. He can be controlling, demanding, manipulative, and extremely harsh with his words.

I honestly cannot imagine how exhausting it would be to be in a relationship like that, regardless of how deeply the other person may love you.

And this is something I feel strongly about: there is a difference between telling someone the truth and intentionally hurting someone with the truth. You can be honest without belittling another person. You can disagree without making them feel small. You can communicate your frustrations without constantly making your partner question their own worth.

Ladies, please remember that someone saying “I love you” does not automatically make the relationship healthy. If someone treats you like you are beneath them, does not respect you as an equal, constantly puts you down, or makes you afraid to speak your mind, that is not a healthy expression of love.

There are many ways to love, and some ways are healthy while others are not. Unhealthy love can be incredibly draining. It can slowly wear you down, affect your confidence, and make you question yourself. That is why I’m actually happy to see Flora beginning to recognize her own worth and learning to love herself more. That growth is one of the things that kept me watching this long.

As for the constant lack of communication, that is something we see in practically every drama. Miscommunication becomes the starting point for misunderstandings, conflicts, and endless mishaps. And honestly, it happens in real life too. We all fail to communicate properly sometimes.

The flaws we see in these characters are also flaws we encounter in countless dramas and stories. For that reason, I don’t necessarily think these elements deserve special praise simply because they are portrayed here. To me, they are fairly common storytelling devices.

At this point, though, I’ve realized that I simply don’t care enough about the leads anymore to continue watching their journey. I understand why The Early Spring resonates with so many people, and I can certainly appreciate that others see something beautiful in this story that I don’t.

For me, however, the emotional connection just isn’t there anymore.

I stayed because I wanted to see Flora grow, find herself, and flourish. I stayed because I loved the friendships and the roommate dynamic. I stayed because I genuinely cared about characters like Yuan Zhu, Sun Yu, Lu Mi, and Tracy.

But removing Yuan Zhu was the point where I finally said, “That’s enough.”

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From casual friends with benefits to turning serious!

Praiseworthy first half with secret skinship, office life intrigue, and boss vs employee power dynamics. CP in a Love and hate relationship loop beginning at casual friends with benefits to turning serious!

Glad to see both ml and fl have trustworthy and comforting friend circle and parents.
Appreciate the attempt at sensual over steamy, chemistry feels overdone yet undercooked at the same time. Strong portrayal of women at work!
Definitely a tingling must watch overall for those looking for ragebait love and s3xy forbidden office romance!
Would I call it fresh...hmmmm not really!

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