Such a Good Love

for the arts not the charts

i might be the only person who enjoyed this show throughout LOL if you're expecting a walking green forest of characters then dont even bother starting this show bc main leads are heavily flawed characters and both have their shortcomings but they were entertaining to watch (for me). this show is about troubled youth chasing their dreams together but dont expect a smooth sailing ride for them. i personally love shows like this (flawed characters, angsty) so if you're one of my kind you might like this show. the 'love will prevail all' mindset they had at the start is so frustratingly cute. im a forgiver to lovesick hopeless romantics unfortunately i found them endearing. some of the plots were questionable but for the most part it was good! second lead cp story was SUPER unnecessary. buuut zhou shui & dai daji's love was worth to watch! i loved seeing their growth and tbh they couldve added more eps to show zs&dj in present time. alsoo this show has an OE but i like it! which is rare bc i hate an open ending show but they somehow executed it nicely and i was satisfied with it at least!! teared up a bit here and there when watching this but i might just be attached to the show hahaa

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Such a Toxic Love

The fl was impossible. She was never happy with anything ml does and when she is.. it's something she did for him to make herself feel better. She treated him like a child at times. She makes the decisions in the relationship.

When Zhou Shui tells Daji something she doesn't want to listen or even consider what he says. She wants to be the boss all the time that it became draining watching their relationship. I know this is a break up drama, but it got really exhausting as the story went on.

The decision to go to Beijing after college and start making movies was insane. Especially after meeting a guy and listening to his dream you want to follow him.

Thought Zhou Shui kept getting the short end of the stick. Everyone told him what to do it got ridiculous.

Daji is never happy with whatever the outcome is.
She for real needed to be single with how she does things.

The 2nd couple story was insane.

Anyways, by the end I stopped caring bout how it'll end and was just rushing to finally finish this.

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Beautiful cinematography but frustrating plot

The first thing I noticed about this show is that it's filmed beautifully. The cinematography and lighting are really gorgeous, and the music really adds a nostalgic tone to everything.

I was really seated for this one at the start. This drama is very reminiscent of bittersweet Asian first love romance films, where we often see innocent couples grow up and become jaded from everything life throws at them. It's fine as a movie plot, but dragged out over 26 episodes...it really does get quite miserable, unfortunately, and I can only take so much before I think "yeah, these two should not be together" and we should all just move on.

I also think we spent so much time inching through every single repetitive conflict, but ended up time-jumping through the biggest changes, and that we should've paced it out a bit more so we got to see more growth in our characters before the end. The same goes for the second ship, who are intriguing in theory but ended up giving me whiplash. The third couple I just didn't care for at all, and I think their appearances in the present timeline actually took me out of my immersion.

Ultimately, I feel very mixed on this one. I didn't hate it; it's beautifully filmed and the characters are flawed and raw in a way that cdramas don't often depict. But I don't think I'll be recommending this to anybody, and I don't think I'll ever touch this drama with a ten-foot pole, because like I said...it was kind of miserable.

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Was the love really worthy as the title suggests? No, I'd tell ML to run for his life.

I've never watched a romance drama where I wished the leads wouldn't end up back together. This was definitely a first.

The story started out pretty interesting, but after the first few episodes, you start seeing problems sprouting. One thing I can't stand most, was that the FL plot armor was too strong. Whatever she does or says will always be law. And the writer probably just wanted to make ML a big pathetic fool.

The leads' love story feels like a raw, realistic, slowburn romance at first. They were young and wild, with big dreams and big ambitions, and nothing to fear. Both moved to the big city trying to make things work in Beijing. Both young and inexperienced. In the early episodes, ML is fixated on chasing his director dream, while FL makes him big promises claiming she'll be the breadwinner and support him. So all he needs to do is just focus on making his movie.

But as we all know, reality doesn't work that way. They both end up struggling to make ends meet, still being very much in love in the first two years. But FL reaches her breaking point because neither of them are making progress, and they're both still broke af. They start communicating less, and distrust starts growing between them. By the end of the first quarter, they've basically lost trust in each other already.

The writer also seems quite conventional in her writing, but at times it felt like she wanted to step out of the box, only to end up creating this twisted fake unconventional thinking which don't make any sense. FL also barely apologizes for her mistakes, and indirectly demands ML to apologize all the time, even when it wasn't his fault, or it was BOTH their fault. ML is ALWAYS the one to give in and say sorry. Even when it was clear that FL trusted the wrong person and messed up, she still got mad at ML because he missed her call and mistook him for hanging up on her because his phone couldn't be charged in that old building and the power went out. So she blames ML for her bad judgment of a person, and blames that he's never there whenever she needed him. But he was always there except for this one time.

Deep down, I've always felt that FL looked down on ML no matter what she says. She kept saying how she loved that he was ambitious, full of dreams, passionate, and talented, But then she also hated that he wasn't being successful fast enough. When she realized she couldn't keep her promise of being the sole breadwinner and support him making his movie because it was too difficult, she decided to pack up and leave him. Whenever things didn't go her way, she would either blame him, or leave him.

Often times, it felt like the FL only loved a certain idealistic version of the ML, and constantly wished that he fit into that mould. But when he no longer fits into it, she starts borderline hating the relationship and looks for excuses to find fault in the ML. From the past until the present, she wanted ML to become the person she likes, not the person he is.

FL also has a line she says all the time. She emphasizes on LOYALTY. Well guess what? She only has loyalty until she has to make a sacrifice on her end. That's when she'll bail and blame things on ML again. And whenever ML had to make a choice, he ALWAYS chose her. He was always loyal TO HER. And towards the end, that one time he makes a choice for himself, she calls him a selfish betrayer. (But it's okay when she does it in the name of "doing this for their future and for his dreams". *roll eyes) His friends, who once made selfish choices as well, turned their backs on him and sided with FL when he didn't turned his when they were selfish and left. Whatever ML does, it's just never enough. He's just being criticized by almost everybody.

The FL's mother is also another toxic one. She reminds me of the FL's mother in "Something In The Rain". She just wouldn't stop interfering in their relationship and looks down on ML. And here's the interesting part. FL never directly disagree with her mom or even stops her mom from criticizing how unsuccessful ML is, and how he made her waste her youth on him (erm, is was her own choice?). And I honestly feel it's because she actually agrees with her mom, but never wants to admit it to ML's face. She once claimed that she could be the sole breadwinner, but when she realized it was too difficult, she didn't want to keep that promise anymore, and put the burden on ML. But when ML decides to give up on his idealistic dream and makes a realistic choice so that they could settle down and get married, she judges ML for it, as if only SHE is allowed to make a mature and realistic choice for the sake of them.

ML definitely has his flaws too, though. He's quite prideful and very stubborn. He's unbending when it came to filming and his art. But over the years, he changed to make ends meet, to take some burden off FL's shoulders, and to make FL and FL's mom happy. Yet, all that was never enough. He was never meant to make anyone happy no matter what he does. He also has inferiority complex, and that caused him to doubt FL in the early years of their relationship. But he learned his lesson quick, and didn't doubt her the second time, but warned her of their sleazy boss. He also kept saying he wasn't good enough for FL, but I honestly think he deserved so much better. It was FL who didn't deserve him. In the end, it was definitely the ML who loved the FL more. And ML never wanted the limelight all for himself. He was always happy to share. But he's the director, and directors are usually the face of the project, while the producer seldom appears as the face unless they're very popular. I also understand how she wanted to be seen and acknowledged. But she shouldn't have been upset with him?? Take it up to society for the unequal rights and respect. ML worked just as hard to be seen. If she wanted to be a director too, she could've written HER OWN script. (But nah, she gets to make ML's movie in the end, leaving out the ML, and acting like she's so selfless and had big dreams all along. I'm so pissed.)

The writer also loves incorporating these traditional views, eg. the man has to naturally bear the burden of becoming the breadwinner. And if they can't get married when they're young, it's the girl who wasted her youth on the guy (so it's the guy's fault) as if it wasn't the FL who also wanted to build her career in the big city???? They were both working hard to make ends meet and become successful together, yet if the guy doesn't become more successful than the girl, he's useless and doesn't deserve any respect.

Besides ruining the main FL's character, the writer also ruined the second FL's character. That's a whole other nightmare I can't even be bothered to talk about anymore. The writer just seems to have a weird perception of what makes a strong FL, and likes making the MLs grovel, making them pathetic and swallow all their prides. I just couldn't come to like any characters in the end. Maybe just the ML for most of the time, but definitely not how he's still feeling guilty about their ending. At least I'm glad he still chose to walk away (I hope!) instead of getting back with her.

The songs were nice. The shots, camera angles, and the rustic, old school vibe were really nice, to be honest. Even the slowburn was good too. But the writer messed up the characters big time, which affected the plot because this was a character-driven story. Things just felt like a pot of big mess and made no more sense in the end. Even if a drama was bad, I'd rarely feel this way, but I honestly regret watching this drama so much. I did stay till the end because there were still some good moments here and there, and it was only really unbearable in the last few episodes. I also stayed mainly because of the ML's character and Wang Anyu. He really impressed me with this role. I really wanted to like the FL too. I was quite fond of the second FL at first, but towards the end, I could no longer like any of the FLs. Not even the third one.

In short, I don't think their love was worth it. It feels like the writer was trying hard to mask it as a realistic love story, but their relationship was actually VERY TOXIC. And I think they were the happiest when they were like buddies instead of lovers. I wouldn't recommend watching this drama at all unless you wanna torture yourself, or you like the leads. Lol. I'd want to give a lower rating, but I'm keeping it at 7/10 for Wang Anyu's acting and because the first half wasn't that bad.

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beatiful potrayal of being young and in love in the big city

this show was very original with the way it was filmed, the scenes, the music, the acting everything tied together made watching this show such a completely 值得 experience for me.
the potrayal of their love, the angst, the toxicity, the struggle felt so real to watch.
i normally don't like attaching myself to a tv show and its characters, because by the end of the show i get too sad that i have to say goodbye to them, so i always hold myself back from attaching myself to them. BUT this show made me completely break that rule that i set up for myself, because the main leads felt so real to me, so i ended up getting EXTREMELY attached to their story.
the way their relationship was potrayed through the years was done perfectly, when they were first together it almost felt like they were on top of the moon, but as the years go by their dynamic change step by step, that by the end of their relationship you're left watching a completely different dynamic (but the love stays the same).
also i thought the younger couple were cute.
i love modern shows that are potrayed throughout the years, and this might really be the best one out of all them, the 2000s feel was really there, beijing was potrayed perfectly, it was a really bitter sweet experience to witness them getting older year by year, but it was still really really beautiful.
as for the ending, for me, i really think as long as they clear out the little confusion/misunderstanding it's a happy ending
10/10 definitely recommend this to everybody :)

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I found the ending realistic, which I like(but not enough)

I don't get why people say that this drama has an OE. Unless the story was meant to have a change in what was told in the beginning, otherwise the point of the whole show was simply to show the events leading up to it. The only thing that was missing was ZS's (expected)response to DD, which was finally revealed in the final ep.

I would say however that the 2nd couple (Yalin and Guixi/Jingshu) was the surprising one, as DD had mentioned that they got married in Ep1 and I was expected a HE for them, instead of what actually conspired.

If DD had accepted ZS's kiss on the bus, I would have liked the ending lesser(an expected HE where they patched up), but instead, she slapped him(打的好!Well done!) and to show through the embrace that she only accepted him as a friend, but not anything beyond.

A HE for the main couple would have just thrown out the realistic portrayal of the show, and I feel that such an ending would have rendered watching the show "不值得not worth it"

All that said, my 6.5 rating is because I feel like this show was just the actors playing(during the fun scenes)and it felt more like a musical sometimes than a drama.

Perhaps it's because that i'm already at the age that the mains were that I prefer a drama to be a linear drama rather than the circumstances constantly changing(making up then breaking up multiple times), even ZS says so "every couple that gets back together have the illusion that they will stay together". We see that the reality is so different

The first airport scene also got me thinking that if I ever faced such a situation, I would still allow myself to go through it again, because every experience is a lesson.

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Romantic Story about Realistic Relationships

I hope the title of this review doesn't put you off watching this series. If you are a hopeless romantic who only likes sappy, happy endings, this is not the show for you. If you are past the starry-eyed phase of love and want to see something more messy, complicated, sophisticated and realistic, then give this a try. This is a story about the love between two young people who grow up together and as they grow, so does their love evolve with time. It's not always perfect, but it's real and the viewer is taken along through their ups and downs.

Zhou Shui is an idealistic young man with dreams of becoming a famous movie director. He has a few more years of school left before he can realize his big dreams which are suddenly derailed by a beautiful young woman with a hammer in her hand. Although she isn't there for him, Shui is so taken by her charm and fire that he does what he always does--pick up his video camera and film. Very soon these two idealists have their lives planned out and are ready to take on the world in pursuit of their dreams together, come what may.

The acting and directing in this series is outstanding. Our main leads are gifted young talents who, with exemplary direction, were able to take me through the highest highs and lowest lows in their relationship. I grew to care for them both deeply and rooted for them from the bottom of my heart. I loved the storyline from beginning to end. Even the night shots of the city at the top of the program gives sophisticated vibes, telling you that you are about to see something different than your typical romance drama. I was all in and made to feel a voyeur in the lives of two young people, who speak directly to the audience from time to time, breaking the fourth wall. When it happens during the first episode, I felt surprised in an unpleasant way, and doubted the integrity of the production. But it worked here, because the intent was to make us feel like voyeurs in this couple's star-crossed story. To further this sense of voyeurism, we have a younger couple who manage to find some of Shui's old recordings of his life with Dai and are brought together in their curiosity of how their romance ends up. Do they stay together or break up?

The intent of this series isn't to tell the story of a couple that fall in love and live happily ever after. It's to describe the life, love and pitfalls of two people who try their hardest to love one another and come up short. Neither are perfect, both make horrible mistakes and lose faith in each other. They deal with obstacles, upon obstacles, expect the impossible from each other, and transition into winter with acceptance and closure. It was the most grown-up romance I have ever watched and I loved it.

A+

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Not the best creation, but I see the passion shines in this project

I was really looking forward to this film ever since I watched the trailer, but I was disappointed by the lack of a strong script. Regardless of how hard the actors worked, the intentions behind the cinematography, or the quality of the setting, all those efforts fell flat without a convincing story. This left me feeling regretful.

However, the ambition to depict a maturity journey through love and friendship over more than ten years is admirable. What’s particularly interesting is that it feels like I’m observing individuals born in the late '80s and early '90s navigate their youth, much like the two young Gen Z characters in the film. The film conveys a clear message: "Love is valuable, and everything that has happened and been chosen is worthy of appreciation in the present."

The drama evokes a rather nostalgic feeling reminiscent of the early 2010s film adaptations such as Fleet of Time (2014), The Left Ear (2015), With You (2016) (maybe because it was set in that period too, even though the storytelling differs). The main themes of the film—such as pursuing careers and dreams, settling down in a big city, and the complexities of love—remind a generation that was once young and experienced subtle inner transformations. Although I didn't experience these feelings personally, I can vividly imagine the young people of that era rushing forward to embrace their desires, along with their misconceptions and realizations.

After years of watching Chinese dramas, I've noticed a particular trend: when it comes to films about early adulthood and youth topics, many current works tend to reflect the experiences of a previous generation (like in the 2010s I saw youth films set in 2005, and now in 2020s the films set in 2010). This drama has condensed that experience of reflecting youth into a long journey of the two main characters from living wildly to being constrained by reality, becoming disillusioned and finally accepting, almost giving me the feeling of watching an autobiography.

I hope that the script pays more attention to detail and creates stronger connections. However, I appreciate this film for its enthusiasm for directing, filming, and especially acting, as it stands out in a 2020s film market that often recycles ideas.

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Such a Gaslight love

What initially seemed like a beautiful love story between two young people who were still trying to find their place in the world, is becoming more and more a realistic demonstration of what a toxic relationship can do to the other. My God, what a bad person the female protagonist is.

Episode after episode, she sucks all and any vitality out of the male protagonist. From a dreamy and fun boy, all that's left is melancholy from such an uneven and selfish relationship.

Of course, he's not perfect, far from it. But many, if not all, of the problems stem from her need to control him and dictate what he should want, when he wants it and how he wants it. Hell, she even manages to find a way to blame him for the fact that her mother is horrible.
Here at home, the only thing we could hope for was that for the love of God, he wouldn't end up with her in the end.

But even though it's terrible to watch her destroy everything he wanted to be, the show is great, very well filmed (especially the first half), and demonstrates in a very raw way how the concrete jungle of the big city and the adult world can destroy dreams, relationships and, consequently, mold us into people very different from who we imagined we would be.

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good cinematography and they literally review their own stories?

FIRST THING I like abt this drama is the camera works, color grading, and the beautiful scenery that they shots. perfect combine with the emotion they want to deliver in the scene.

but it's too hard watch. it's realistic ig, bc the selfishness, the misunderstanding. it was the first reaction in the reality. the regret and accepting their fate was the saddest scene I've ever seen in the story.

but yea, I don't wanna to watch it for the second times. the toxicity was crazy. and I felt so weird and pity at the same time for when jingshu. but she's not right tho.

also I'd like to mention how pure they dream was. it's quite interesting and adorable

at all, in the ending. I thought there'll be the climax. but I think it's good for them too not in relationship again. but I'm happy for tong leyi and her Didi. I hope they can be together. I. hope so... bcs the cp in this drama got seperated for second times and never coming back awkwkwk

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Good story but too many flashbacks that were confusing, and I did not like the open-ended ending.

Such a Good Love is a melodrama about young lovers who do anything to be together as they are trying to make it in Beijing. Eventually, the hustle and bustle of trying to establish their careers in a big city took a toll on their relationship. Eventually, they part ways.

I adore Wang AnYu and Wang Yuwen. I watched both of their dramas separately. They are both decent actors, and they did a good job in this drama. However, there were too many flashbacks, making it hard to keep up and follow. Even though they eventually broke up, they still love each other. Still, the ending was open for interpretation instead of having the two of them get back together. I did not like the ending.

Synopsis: This story follows the epic yet ordinary love journey of an 80s-born couple in Beijing. When the most talented young man, Zhou Shui, meets the most loyal and righteous young woman, Da Ji, they fall deeply in love. They dream of a better future in their cramped rental room and find joy amidst hardships, supporting and cherishing each other. Eighteen years later, a young couple born in the 2000s stumbles upon this record of their love story, becoming spectators and commentators of this tale of youthful romance. The intersection of these two generations sparks memories and reflections on love: Is it truly worth it? Do we still "dare" to love as they did?

My Reviews:
1. Acting: 8
2, Script: 7
3, Music/OST: 6
4, Production Quality: 6
5. Cinematography: 6
6. Rewatchable: 6
7. Onscreen Chemistry: 7

Overall Rating: 6.5

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