uoow

Road to success is a drama that I've come to love. I didn't have big expectations or anticipation in the beginning when I first heard of this drama last year. I watched it when it was released and didn't expect to love it as much as I did.

Road to Success is a drama that depicts healing, trauma and coming-of-age stories. It has many storylines that could at least pique your curiosity, but the problem is that with many, the storylines are bound to get wrapped up quickly and badly. Such as the mysterious person who dragged the team back together in the beginning. It gets its focus for a few episodes but then completely goes forgotten; then it was only addressed by the time the 2nd half came around. We never actually get to learn whether Wen Chengye's dad accepts him as a part of the soccer team and how he's treating him after that. The thing is that we never do get to learn if LWX's parents have accepted her decision; they only get chased away by Wang Fa's dad.

Also, we never did get much focus on LWX's perpetrator who caused her to drop out. The main lead rather found the person easily then took him down. They forget about it to focus on the students' storyline, then they finally decide to wrap it up by the end and it doesn't leave much emotional impact because it happens too fast and easily. It shows that 32 episodes may not have been enough, it also kinda shows during the ending as well.

Besides that, I really did love the message this drama was incorporating about mental health, women's rights, and coming-of-age struggles as a teenager. We don't talk enough about just how much we struggle with our mental health, especially when it's women's mental health. How easy and damaging it is for one single rumour to ruin a woman's life. In the drama, the court scene really stood out to me when the female lead finally dares to face her perpetrator. She referenced a case of a female student in university who graduated and dyed her hair pink for graduation. She received a lot of hate from Chinese netizens simply because they deemed her hair to be unruly and improper.

I find it funny just how they timed it perfectly with the World Cup lol and ended at the same time the World Cup did.

I really came to love how LWX was there for her students, so I kinda wish I had an adult like her in my life haha. I really loved LWX's character, because she wasn't afraid to still live, to not give up. She stood up for her students and became the adult they needed in that moment. The found family trope really touches my heart, honestly.

I loved how Wang Fa became the safety net that will catch LWX no matter how many times she tries to fall. The chemistry between them was really cute and natural; sadly, we didn't get to see much of it due to how the romance was sidelined for the majority of the drama, being like the 3rd most important plot.

I found it interesting how Esther once revealed that her acting coach told her to choose characters more like herself, and I can definitely see the resemblance between her and LWX; it breaks my heart knowing that she faced such hate that made her probably feel a lot of negative emotion like LWX did. Im glad, honestly, because she really is venturing out more from the script her ex-company made her choose, and I hope it showcases more of her acting range through these projects and helps her grow.

When it comes to the acting, it wasn't bad. Esther delivered a nice performance, and so did Chen Jingke, but I gotta say CJK's lips really distracted me, like not romantically; it felt like he was meowing sometimes lol. One of the problems I had with this drama in the beginning was how I felt like I was seeing Esther Yu and not exactly LWX sometimes. I guess it's due to the styling that made me feel like I was watching Esther Yu.

Really such a beautiful found family story about healing and coming of age. I found it cute as well how Esther reunited with her former bandmate Chloe Xie in this drama and they are childhood friends in the story, not to mention how Esther's name, Yu Shuxin and Lin Wanxing both have the word star in them, which I found was a cute coincidence as well.

I gotta say that Victor Ma really nails these comedic characters so well! He was so funny lol. Whenever they were snacking in the beginning, I got so jealous and hungry lol; it looked so delicious as well. I gotta say, with the amount of times Esther promoted the Wakuku dolls, I think in this drama it made me tempted to also get one lol.

I would recommend checking this out if you want a more emotion-driven plot, but it's understandable why people would find it boring and not to their taste.