The Early Spring

A Lukewarm Mess

To start with, I've read the novel and I liked it. It was angsty in a good way. Here, like a lot of c-drama adaptations, everything seems dull. Like that stage where something is about to boil over but never does. I understand that drama/movie adaptations make necessary changes but this one changed the plot completely, and not in a good way.

In the novel, the FL starts from being a timid, underqualified newbie to a confident young woman who excels professionally and has a substantial personal growth. The relationship between them starts by just being casual sex, with her being young and naive, and him exploiting the fact that she liked him, and later grew to love him. He wanted to keep it a secret. He never gave her security. So, her actions like signing up for the date night to help her friend seems ok, because she assumes, and he lets her, that he had other women. And so the fall-out and break-up also makes sense because he was always vocal about not wanting a real relationship (though he had changed his mind) and she felt neglected and inadequate.

But the drama changed this completely. Here, the ML wants to be open about their relationship while she keeps it a secret. She always treats him like a stranger but I can't empathise with her because here it's her that's toxic. Aside from the dominating nature of the ML, I found him perfectly reasonable, especially when it seems the FL never introduces him as her bf and goes on dates, while privately being lovey-dovey. On top of all this, despite it being over 4 years since they got together, she looks physically repulsed and ducks away every time he comes close. Maybe this is to make her seem innocent but it's just icky and makes him look like he's harassing her. I heard they had an intimacy co-ordinator, but ig that was for nothing.

Reason I dropped: The plot was already a mess. They simply took scenes from the novel but changed the whole narrative, yet still expected the FL to be the innocent victim of the uncaring ML, when it's exactly that they changed. The newbie was supposed to be a competition to her, to make the FL insecure. Then when they visit her at her project, the ML is supposed to deny the FL to present a creative work she worked hard on, and have the newbie grab that opportunity. This causes major angst and a fall-out, which is later amplified when the FL is passed over for a promotion in favor of the newbie due to nepotism. Then, due to the ML's previous actions, the FL wrongfully assumes he also favored the other girl and then she walks out. Now the drama shows a whole different story. In order to show the FL's competence, she's the one that does this whole thing successfully. So, the layout for later conflict is not there. Yet, she somehow makes a comment about him spending time with the newbie. Without any context. The drama feels like it's missing a whole chunk of whatever story it has.

Coming to the leads, Jing Boran is so effortlessly good. He embodies the ML in every way. Otoh, Sun Qian is bland, and painfully so when paired with capable actors. I like Sun Qian. And because she's an acting graduate, I expect a lot from her. But she's not expressive. Just slight widening of eyes, pouting and smiling. Everything seems skin deep. She has a beautiful tall, model-esque structure that's very ill-suited for whatever baby-ish acting she's trying to do here. It simply doesn't seem believable.

So that's it. I'm dropping this. I see that a lot of people like this, so I hope y'all have a pleasant watch.

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Lacking but addictive

I never expected that JBR would do this type of romance idol drama so this was on my must check list.
I also read the novel so I can get a better idea of the story, and I have to say it's definitely not my cup of tea. I really hate LN character and I don't really like ZT either, so I was prepared to not like the drama at all... but I ended up buying the express eps because I can't wait. I was invested in their mess! 🤣🤣

Pros:

1. Jing Boran!!!
I knew he will be good, but he exceeded all my expectations. I think LN (Luke) is a hard character to play because he's such a bastard... you need something to make viewers tolerate him. This kind of role can also appear too greasy if the actor mess up.

Somehow Jing Boran was able to fulfil all plausibility, like LN is still a bastard but he's an extremely charming one in the drama. I still can't get over JBR puppy eyes, I got bewitched when that scene came up.
I also really really like LN styling, all his outfits are so pretty and imo added another fun aspect to the drama.

I think JBR kind of carry this drama to a certain extent (for me at least), because LN is just not a great character to begin with. The fact that he makes LN looks compelling enough to me is amazing.

2. Romantic and intimate scenes done right.
I'm usually a bit uncomfortable watching intimate scenes, but in this drama they were shot so beautifully. It's such a genius move to hire an intimacy coordinator and I think it should become the standard.
There are so many heart fluttering moments especially in the first half, and I would happily rewatch just for those scenes🥺

3. Combination of JBR and SQ.
Their visual combination is so harmonious and their chemistry just works so well. One of the best chemistry I've seen in a romance drama, and it's definitely the main reason why I got invested.

I also have to give Sun Qian appreciation for playing ZT pretty well. Tbh her acting get overshadowed by JBR, but she did get better as the story progresses, and I especially like her acting during the last breakup scene.
I've seen some comments comparing them but I feel like it's not a fair comparison at all because SQ doesn't have the same amount of experience as JBR. I think she did a pretty convincing job overall.

4. So many great side characters. I really adore Lumi, Tracy, and the roommates.

5. I like the overall aesthetic of the drama.
I think this director have a good sense in regards to visual translation, but unfortunately they fail at organising them.

That's all the part that I like from the drama.

Cons:

1. Lack of pacing.
The pacing was so bad that you can't even tell the passage of time throughout the whole series. It's very choppy and the transition is not smooth at all. I think if you don't read the novel, you will get very confused.

I'm not sure if this is due to lack of skills or censorship, because I heard the episodes were reduced from 32 to 24, so this might also contribute to it as well.

2. Story / plot is just not good.
This drama was adapted from a webnovel. For me, the source material itself is very wattpad coded and it feels a bit outdated.
LN in novel is so much worse and ZT is also such a frustrating character to read... so for me I don't really see the appeal.
It's just a very typical romance fiction where the author just want them together no matter how incompatible they are.

I was hoping the drama will present the story better somehow, but it doesn't really happen. I think this is also due to pacing issue because they spend way too much time showing the 6 years period and so they run out of time to show the rest.
They have so many subplots / event that they try to fit in, but since they don't have enough time, everything is kind of just shown on very superficial level. I think they should have cut some of the office politics because I don't think it adds much to the story.

3. Rushed resolution.
So really the first 2 issues kind of lead to the 3rd issue, which is the rushed resolution. It's not the worst, but it feels very underwhelming to me.

You really can't do anything about the episodes being cut by censorship, but I wish they allocate less episodes to show the 6 years period so they will have more than 3 episodes to build the reconciliation arc.
It was just too short and I just don't think LN & ZT have enough growth to get back together at the end.

4. Lack of budget.
The overall production is still ok, but some parts feels cheap and you can definitely tell they just don't have enough budget for it.

Overall this drama is a very interesting case because on paper I would have dropped and hate it, but I ended up really enjoying it instead. I think it really shows the importance of chemistry, visuals, and great acting for this genre (romance), and this drama just happen to really excel at those imo.

Will I recommend this drama?
If you're very story driven and you don't like seeing frustrating characters, then I don't think this is the right drama to watch.

For me, I watch drama for entertainment, and I think there are a lot of entertainment value in this drama that I got from other aspect (aside from the story). Overall it's very lacking in so many things, but it's still a very fun watch.

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The Early Fall

In my opinion this drama is so much ridiculously over-rated! 🤷‍♀️​

Warning: This ranting is bound to bring on plenty of disagreement and criticism! ⚠️

BUT....
Let's be Real: The romance is not ANYMORE romanticizing..
Maybe it is unpopular opinion, but I just ended up writing all these rantings about Mr. Luke "our ideal Male lead of this season"... 😅😭🤡😏

"The Early SPRING"❌️-------> "The Early FALL"✅️

Call it an early fall, because the temperature on this 'romance' plummeted to freezing conditions before the first petal even opened... 🧊🥀 Especially I’m practically shivering from the sheer attitude of his red flags... 📉 This couple would be the most frustrating for me in this year... 😶🤐

Officially dropped it, I am feeling like forcing myself to push with every episode after ep 13, while it already got draggy between 8 and 11 but still gave it a chance after that... but I think now it is time to give up totally on it for the unhealthy dynamic of leads, and for the story...

At the start, to be honest the drama was enjoyable and I was sharing their romantic vibes moments without complaints though felt the drama began on the wrong foot, when male was a premium "defective product" masquerading as a dream guy...🤡 So I admit that I was tricked when seeing so much tempting high ratings of this show... BUT it turned out to be delusional when diving in more episodes later and discovering the truth behind this facade of main character energy vibes of our legendary Male lead... 🤡🤦‍♀️


It started illogical that how he turned from that harsh, disparaging one to her one to that completely different person soft gentlman in a blink of eye... In my opinion, it was so ridiculous making the pace of romance igniting into rapidly a fiery chemistry just within 2 to 3 episodes... 🤔


At ep 13, Male is really so possessive and toxic, wanting to take advantage of her talents at work just for himself to be besides him, in his team, only for him.... 🤦‍♀️


Male is just a PRO in SEDUCING female for such unfruitful relationship, making her clumsily falling head over heels for him... He misled her and wanting to set the rules of love as he desires while she should have been more aware of such relationship that fastly developed in such passionate bond when she was nothing to him at start! 😏


He provoked me with this mindset to come back being so hateful with his sharp tongue not respecting her decisions looking for a better opportunity and him getting overly jealous over nothing when she is discussing business with her superior... but also getting jealous over a pet that he is calling "stupid" while not looking at himself, when all the flaws are tarnishing him from head to toes... 😏🤡


I am feeling repulsion for how a fickle person like him would change the overall connection with her in such chaotic relationship, this is not a romance concept but just him making from her a toy, to play in his own rules...



●WHAT WAS THE MOST WORTHY THROUGH ALL THE PART I WATCHED??

This drama was only worth watching for this cute fluffy ball—he was the TRUE STAR who stole the show! Honestly, nothing else compares to this adorable little cutie! 🤌✨️🔥

A 10/10 performance exclusively brought to you by this absolute icon! 👌💫❤️‍🔥 I was literally only interested in every scene he was in before almost dropping the show entirely! 😭🥲😅 I skipped straight past all the frustration just to hit pause on this fluffy superstar for an instant serotonin boost! 😭 More than every cast of humans, he was the real lead and character that carried the show on his precious little paws! 💖❤️‍🔥🔥🐾 🐶

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The C-Drama version of Fifty Shades of Grey

I like how the story has been adapted so far to fit the cultural nuances of a C-drama. It retains some of the basic flavour of the original premise while reshaping it enough to feel at home in its new setting.

The acting is good, but the standout for me is the Music. The OST does a lot of the heavy lifting in creating the romantic tension and atmosphere.

Everything else? Same old, same old.

A fresh graduate falls for her cold, seemingly unyielding highly efficient boss, who is secretly head over heels in love with her but is far too emotionally guarded to express it. Throw in a couple of love triangles to stretch the story across more episodes, and you pretty much know what you're getting.

There isn't much here that feels particularly fresh or surprising, but it's not a bad watch either.

If you have time to spare and enjoy this particular brand of emotionally unavailable boss romance genre, this does the job.

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A frustrating but good drama (light spoilers)

I loved this drama and gave it a 9 but holy hell it gave me high blood pressure. the chemistry was fire and intense but the show was so frustrating. I normally hate dramas like this so much and either stop watching or know not to start it from the beginning. I rate this one highly but if it was not done this well it would have been super low rated.

It had many things I hate in dramas. Main one when they are together but dont trust each other/ treat each other as opposition and never feel like a couple (not the whole relationship just a part of it but I feel like it was intented that way). I also hate this constant break ups and when they are always in this gray zone of together and not.

They are both flawed main characters (and its a whole discussion for both of them) and thats what brought out the frustration but the writing and chemistry still kept me going and not thinking of dropping it which is surprising since normally I would get annoyed and drop a show like this immediately. but I was so invested in seeing how it played out. The fact that it had so many troped i hate I still enjoyed it and thats a testament to it being a really good drama

The one thing I would add/change to this drama which I woulf count as a knock against it, is that they should have shown more romantic moment and not just intimate moments between the pair. A bit into the drama I remember thinking do they love each other or just into each other's bodies. And even one or two added moments of them having a connection without main plot drama would have improved this drama greatly for me, possibly pushing it up to a 9.5 or possibly a 10

(edit as I forgot to put what I love about this drama lol)

I loved the progression as both main characters grew as people. Main Character was also sp cute :<. chemistry was amazing and the drama had me wanting to watch more

(edit end)

Ultimately I think this is a really good drama and definitely worth a watch and if you watched it you would know what I mean, even though I complained about it in this review its because it has such a emotional reaction.

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The Early Spring, or How to Turn a Workplace Complaint Into a Love Story

I wasn't actually planning to review The Early Spring.

I put it on hold once, came back, made it to episode 13 and finally accepted that my grown-up self was objecting more often than my drama-watching self was having fun.

Truthfully, judging purely by where I thought the writing was heading, I probably wouldn't have made it past episode 3.

Somehow I made it to episode 13.

This is what happens when a questionable script is surrounded by attractive people, good styling and Jing Boran looking emotionally unavailable in expensive coats.

I am not immune.

Put that man in a tasteful knit sweater, give him unresolved emotional issues and let him stare pensively through an office window, and apparently my critical judgment develops a ten-episode processing delay.

So believe me, I understand the appeal.

Unfortunately, eventually the paperwork cleared.

And underneath all the talk about how "realistic," "mature" and refreshingly adult this romance is, I kept finding something much more familiar: a fairly conventional workplace fantasy that has discovered sex, muted cinematography and better tailoring.

Which, admittedly, is excellent rebranding.

To be fair, there are things The Early Spring does well.

It looks good. The production is polished without becoming excessively glossy, and the advertising setting gives the drama a distinctive environment for the romance. There are recognizable elements of workplace ambition, exhaustion, competition and hierarchy, even if I don't always buy the situations built around them.

Sun Qian gives Shang Zhitao an appealing awkwardness early on. She feels inexperienced without being completely incapable, and I liked watching her slowly find her footing.

And Jing Boran is extremely well cast as Luan Nian.

That is actually important, because Luan Nian is a character who depends enormously on the audience wanting to keep looking at him long enough to discover what exists underneath all that arrogance.

Jing Boran makes that very easy.

Possibly too easy.

He usually chooses his scripts rather carefully. I suppose even discerning actors are allowed the occasional commercial holiday.

There is also chemistry between the leads. Some of their attraction develops nicely through irritation, observation, proximity and those tiny shifts where two people start paying suspiciously close attention to someone they supposedly don't care about.

I understand why people are hooked.

And yes, chemistry matters enormously in a romance. But if "the chemistry is amazing" has become the final defense of a twenty-four-episode drama, I do start wondering what exactly the other twenty-three hours are supposed to be doing.

Chemistry is the spark. Long-form storytelling is supposed to build the fire.

That's the whole advantage of the format. It has time for attraction to become intimacy, intimacy to reveal character, conflict to produce consequences and those consequences to actually change people.

If two charismatic actors looking very good while wanting each other is enough to carry the entire thing, then we've reduced long-form romance to a short drama with longer loading times.

Watchability and good storytelling aren't the same thing.

My problem is what the screenplay keeps asking me to interpret as complexity.

Take Shang Zhitao's job interview. She is invited into a supposedly elite advertising company despite lacking the experience they apparently want, only for Luan Nian to point out those deficiencies during the interview.

Presumably somebody possessed her résumé before she entered the building.

But perhaps HR was going through something.

She gets hired anyway, of course, because this isn't really recruitment.

It's destiny wearing an employee badge.

Then there is the strange recurring pattern where Luan Nian behaves unnecessarily badly and somewhere inside the behavior we are expected to discover a lesson.

He humiliates, but he's teaching.

He dismisses, but he's observing.

He wastes her time, but he's teaching her that her time is valuable.

Which is certainly one way to do it.

Another might be not wasting it.

At some point I stopped watching a manager and started watching a handsome corporate escape room.

Find the hidden lesson before your self-esteem expires.

And this is where the "realistic workplace" argument starts losing me.

Yes, parts of the environment are recognizable. Young employees get exploited. Offices have hierarchies. People work ridiculous hours. Colleagues dump work on one another. Bosses can be arrogant. Talented people can also be terrible managers.

All true.

But recognizable details don't automatically make the machinery around them realistic.

Shang Zhitao gets pushed around.

Luan Nian appears.

She works late.

Luan Nian appears.

She needs a ride home.

Somewhere, Luan Nian's car senses narrative opportunity.

The company may have several departments, but the screenplay has one:

Romance Logistics.

And this is also where The Early Spring starts feeling like part of a larger trend I've been noticing in long-form dramas lately:

the short-drama recipe has escaped containment.

Manufactured proximity, convenient coincidences, sexual tension and carefully timed emotional spikes aren't inherently bad storytelling. Short dramas practically run on them, and they're effective for a reason: they keep people watching.

But effectiveness at holding attention isn't necessarily the same thing as effectiveness at telling a story.

Long-form has something short-form doesn't: time. Time to let attraction become intimacy, conflict produce consequences and characters actually change between plot beats rather than because the next one requires it.

Borrowing short-form's immediacy isn't the problem.

Letting immediacy replace development is.

When long-form starts borrowing short-form's addiction to immediate payoff while abandoning its own patience, we end up with an interesting exchange:

short-form storytelling with long-form running times.

And considering how enthusiastically the industry seems to be experimenting with it, it will be interesting to see where that eventually takes long-form drama.

At this rate, AI may not even get the chance to ruin it.

The writers may beat it to the job.

I just wish we'd stop confusing the absence of accidental kisses and cartoon CEOs with documentary realism.

The same applies to the relationship.

I have absolutely no problem with flawed people falling in love. In costume dramas I have watched couples survive attempted murder and thought, "you know what, I see the vision."

My issue isn't that Luan Nian is difficult.

My issue is that backstory is not character development.

Learning why someone behaves the way they do can make that person understandable. It can create sympathy. It can add context.

But explanation isn't transformation.

Knowing why somebody keeps setting the kitchen on fire doesn't make the kitchen less on fire.

And "he's flawed" cannot become a universal diplomatic passport that gets a character through every checkpoint.

Of course he's flawed.

So is Shang Zhitao.

She can be insecure, avoidant and frustratingly poor at communicating. In fact, the potentially interesting story here isn't "toxic man versus innocent woman" at all. It's two people whose weaknesses fit together terribly well: one has too much pride; the other begins with too little confidence.

That's interesting.

What bothers me is the power structure underneath it.

Luan Nian begins as the established superior: professionally secure, socially confident and holding actual authority in the workplace. Shang Zhitao begins as the inexperienced subordinate trying to establish herself.

That doesn't mean they can never have an equal relationship.

It means the drama has given itself the responsibility of convincingly showing how they get there.

And maybe the remaining eleven episodes eventually do.

But thirteen episodes is a fairly generous amount of time to ask me to keep waiting for the relationship to become the relationship the drama apparently wants me to believe in.

Up to the point where I stopped, the trajectory felt less like:

they grow toward equality

and more like:

she grows until she becomes worthy of standing beside him.

Those are not quite the same story.

And then we arrive at my favorite word surrounding this drama:

realistic.

They fight?

Realistic.

They misunderstand each other?

Realistic.

They have sex without immediately discussing marriage?

Adults!

They spend years struggling to communicate?

Finally, a drama understands relationships!

By this standard, half of Reddit qualifies as cinéma vérité.

Yes, people really do stay in unhealthy relationships. People sleep with people who are bad for them. They fail to communicate. They repeat patterns. They love people who frustrate them. They waste years. They change. Sometimes they eventually make it work.

All realistic.

But something being possible in real life doesn't automatically make its depiction psychologically convincing or its storytelling realistic.

People also win lotteries.

The screenplay still has to sell me the ticket.

And if we're going to invoke realism so enthusiastically, there is another perfectly realistic ending available:

Shang Zhitao grows up, becomes professionally secure, looks back at six years of emotional exhaustion and sends Luan Nian directly to a thousand hells.

Then she chooses her career.

Or herself.

Or another man.

Or nobody.

And Luan Nian's eventual emotional awakening becomes what emotional awakenings very often are in real life:

too late.

That would be realistic too.

Instead, we know what kind of story we're watching. All this messiness is ultimately moving toward romantic permanence.

And that's fine.

It's a romance.

But then perhaps dysfunction shouldn't automatically become evidence of realism simply because the happy ending takes six years to arrive.

Which brings me back to the reason I somehow lasted ten episodes longer than expected.

Take away the styling, the chemistry and all the attractive people. Take Jing Boran out of those suits, coats and strategically deployed states of undress, and leave the writing to fend for itself.

Would I still have made it to episode 13?

Absolutely not.

I would have been gone by episode 3 with remarkable efficiency.

So while the writing never quite managed to convince me, the eye candy clearly mounted a heroic delaying action.

Ten extra episodes is no small achievement.

And I do understand why the drama works for so many people. There is chemistry. There are good performances and appealing scenes. The production has atmosphere. The characters aren't sanitized into perfect romantic leads, and if you're tired of sugary modern romances, I can see why this feels like a more interesting alternative.

Where I part ways is with the idea that messiness itself proves maturity, or that finding this relationship unconvincing means failing to understand its characters.

Sometimes two viewers understand exactly what a drama is doing and simply disagree about whether it works.

That's criticism.

And perhaps that's why I finally wrote this review.

People should be able to enjoy The Early Spring without having to defend it as a masterclass in realistic relationships.

And the rest of us should be allowed to look at the same six-year romantic journey and conclude that Luan Nian being complicated doesn't automatically make the writing around him complex.

I understood him.

I just didn't particularly want another eleven episodes with him.

So after two attempts, thirteen episodes and a heroic amount of assistance from Jing Boran's face, I finally dropped The Early Spring.

My drama brain considered continuing.

My grown-up brain filed a workplace complaint.

For once, management listened.

The coat remains excellent.

5/10. Half the points may or may not be wearing Jing Boran.

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Good Start..

This Review will be updated once the story progresses,
Started with Good Hope and it fulfilled my expectation...Strict ML and Steady/ Ambitious FL make a good pair.

ML and FL are gorgeous... ML has such a magnetic Aura and carries his role perfectly... Truly exceptionally handsome...
FL looks pretty and sometimes very naive.. She has the audacity to question the lead in the first meet, asking her lady lead to be the assistant of PM in the first meet but portray very childish behaviour sometimes..
C dramas have to bring the balance here... They need to come out of this' childish and cringy or extreme innocent ' FLs in this 2026 era at least depending on the stories and characters...This is a generic comment..

The scenes are good and honest. They were attracted and had some intimate moments. They want to keep it separated because it will affect their professional Life... Very fair and Good..A mature thought...

A small observation, But In Episode 6, when FL moved to other team, She has been assigned to get the previous team source files , I am really disappointed how it progressed.. ML has initially rejected the ask. Then she went to his home? ML handed it over her just because of their connection . When the Male colleague asked for it ,his teammate said No... Just imagine if there is another lady who has been assigned this task, She would have been said no , but the FL would have done just because she slept with him ? Where is the professional ethics here? How are they promoting this? This is the reason no one is glorifying office romance...It really questioned both of their images , upright nature which i had initially...

Music , Dialogues, Aesthetic backgrounds and scenes are the strengths here..You will have butterflies in few scenes Lets see how it progresses.. Guys Do Watch. without fail..You will be hooked esp by the ML and the chemistry !!!

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the plot is good

the actors are good I have watched abt 4 episodes which was released today and I like it .
sun qian has done pretty good acting in the first 4 episodes which I have seen yet so dont know abt the future episodes.
but what I can say is that this series is abt reunion, second chance at love . they drift apart due to a misunderstanding and meet again. I also like the acting of male lead. for the male lead this is not the first reunion, second chance at love trope series he has already acted one called road home with tan songyun which was very nice so whoever wants recommendation for second chance at love, road home is one for you.
the first 4 episodes kept me hooked ngl. I liked how he was being strict and still helping her ,uk the mentor vibes which was pretty nice. so I like till now lets see what happens ahead

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