This review may contain spoilers
Great Chemistry with The Pacing Hiccup
Never-Ending Summer has all the ingredients to be the next mega-hit like Hidden Love or The First Frost. It’s a gorgeous, well-made youth-to-adult reunion romance that absolutely nails the vibe. The cinematography is stunning, the production value is chef’s kiss, and it completely ditches the tired, annoying clichés we usually see in contemporary rom-coms. But… this drama utilizes my most hated structural choice from the writers of the second chance romance— the uneven distribution of the youth and adult story arcs. And that really affected a lot of things that were the end of the show. I will talk about this in detail later on. That’s the reason why I didn’t give it a 10 out of 10.
The Vibe & The Plot
The first half (or rather 2/3) of the story captures the emotional atmosphere of a post-graduation youth romance between a rebellious young man from a rich family and a resilient young woman from a broken home fighting her fate against all odds. In the first part of the drama, the characters navigate personal hardships over a single, life-changing summer while slowly falling for each other. Unfortunately, they can’t be together for a number of reasons. The narrative then jumps ten years into the future, moving to a professional corporate backdrop where the characters must investigate a long-forgotten factory accident and face each other and their own feelings for each other.
The Stars of the Show
The chemistry between the leads is totally seamless, natural, and served without any annoying fuss.
Daniel Zhou as Lu Xixiao—Wow. Just wow. This is my first time seeing him(I haven't watched Sniper Butterfly yet), and he is a phenomenal young talent! I was quite surprised by the quality of his acting, considering he doesn’t have many titles under his belt. His character, Lu Xixiao, comes off like a reckless bad boy at the beginning, but a few episodes in we can already tell he is truly, truly lonely. As we get to know more about him and his story, it is heartbreaking. Lu Xixiao is a deeply multi-layered character; on the outside, he carries that defensive, wealthy-heir armor, but underneath, he is just a starved-for-affection soul who anchors his entire world around Zhou Wan. His father sees him as a pawn on a chessboard, and the only relative who actually truly cares for what Lu Xixiao wants is his aunt but she’s just too busy to give him time and attention. Even his grandfather doesn’t quite understand him. Daniel Zhou's character development here is easily one of the best, most well-rounded, and most consistent I've seen for a contemporary male lead in a very long time. He is never ever over the top and just seems extremely comfortable in this role. Additionally, I truly appreciate him speaking English quite a lot in this drama. His fluent in it so this was a treat.
I wasn't sure how Bao Shang'en as Zhou Wan would turn out. She started off a bit stiff, which reminded me her previous roles, and I was hoping that she was going to give us a little bit more energy, but as we take this journey with her further into the drama, she completely locked in. I think that stiffness at the beginning was partially what the role dictated. I liked her in this role the most out of all the roles I’ve seen her in before! I would say that she’s improved as an actress a lot.
Zhou Wan is a quiet and hardworking top student who is desperate to fund her critically ill grandmother's surgery. And I appreciate the fact that her character is morally gray because she will do whatever she has to do to ensure her grandmother gets the help she needs. Which includes her using Lu Xixiao to get the money from her biological mother. But we obviously know how that turned out. Girl couldn’t withstand his brooding charm.
The romance is so deep because they are two people from completely different social classes who just cannot get over each other. Plus, the show doesn't waste time on annoying extra characters or filler plots! Everything feels compact, and the emotional scenes are masterfully done. Some of the standout episodes: Zhou Wan getting assaulted and not telling anyone (absolutely heartbreaking to watch her keeping quiet), when Lu Xixiao gets stabbed, her grandma passing away, and many more. The soundtrack also hits you straight in the feels.
The Pacing Quirks (Let's Talk Spoilers)
Okay, here is my main grievance: the writers made the choice to give the youth/high school arc 20 out of the 30 total episodes. Why do C-dramas keep doing this?! Leaving only 10 or fewer episodes for the adult/reunion arc made the pacing a bit uneven. By episode 18, I felt like we were wasting precious time that could have been spent on their grown-up lives.
Because the adult arc was so compressed, the second half felt a bit superficial. We missed out on exploring Lu Xixiao's intense family dynamics, and the reintroduction of Zhou Wan into his adult life deserved way more room to breathe. Instead, the narrative got a bit choked up:
* The Grandfather Cop-Out: The grandfather was the literal catalyst who forced Zhou Wan to leave the man she loved. Yet, due to the lack of episodes, his entire opposition is resolved in one single scene where he just goes, “Okay fine, you can be together." Excuse me?!” This is definitely an opportunity on the missed family dynamics.
* The Cohabitation Excuse: Because they ran out of time, Lu Xixiao gets Zhou Wan to move into his house by basically telling her she "owes him." It made zero sense. And she just accepted? He tells her that they have to sleep in one bed after 10 years apart and this girl doesn’t even batt an eyelash. There should have been a lot more push and pull between the two. Give us 5 more episodes, and this reunion could have been so much smoother and more interesting!
So yeah. I wasn’t a big fan of how the writers messed up on the reunion arc.
The Final Verdict
Despite the writers hitting the fast-forward button on the adult arc, this is still a high-quality romance drama with superb acting, unmatched chemistry, and heavy emotional payoff. You will feel all the feelings. Definitely give it a watch!
The Vibe & The Plot
The first half (or rather 2/3) of the story captures the emotional atmosphere of a post-graduation youth romance between a rebellious young man from a rich family and a resilient young woman from a broken home fighting her fate against all odds. In the first part of the drama, the characters navigate personal hardships over a single, life-changing summer while slowly falling for each other. Unfortunately, they can’t be together for a number of reasons. The narrative then jumps ten years into the future, moving to a professional corporate backdrop where the characters must investigate a long-forgotten factory accident and face each other and their own feelings for each other.
The Stars of the Show
The chemistry between the leads is totally seamless, natural, and served without any annoying fuss.
Daniel Zhou as Lu Xixiao—Wow. Just wow. This is my first time seeing him(I haven't watched Sniper Butterfly yet), and he is a phenomenal young talent! I was quite surprised by the quality of his acting, considering he doesn’t have many titles under his belt. His character, Lu Xixiao, comes off like a reckless bad boy at the beginning, but a few episodes in we can already tell he is truly, truly lonely. As we get to know more about him and his story, it is heartbreaking. Lu Xixiao is a deeply multi-layered character; on the outside, he carries that defensive, wealthy-heir armor, but underneath, he is just a starved-for-affection soul who anchors his entire world around Zhou Wan. His father sees him as a pawn on a chessboard, and the only relative who actually truly cares for what Lu Xixiao wants is his aunt but she’s just too busy to give him time and attention. Even his grandfather doesn’t quite understand him. Daniel Zhou's character development here is easily one of the best, most well-rounded, and most consistent I've seen for a contemporary male lead in a very long time. He is never ever over the top and just seems extremely comfortable in this role. Additionally, I truly appreciate him speaking English quite a lot in this drama. His fluent in it so this was a treat.
I wasn't sure how Bao Shang'en as Zhou Wan would turn out. She started off a bit stiff, which reminded me her previous roles, and I was hoping that she was going to give us a little bit more energy, but as we take this journey with her further into the drama, she completely locked in. I think that stiffness at the beginning was partially what the role dictated. I liked her in this role the most out of all the roles I’ve seen her in before! I would say that she’s improved as an actress a lot.
Zhou Wan is a quiet and hardworking top student who is desperate to fund her critically ill grandmother's surgery. And I appreciate the fact that her character is morally gray because she will do whatever she has to do to ensure her grandmother gets the help she needs. Which includes her using Lu Xixiao to get the money from her biological mother. But we obviously know how that turned out. Girl couldn’t withstand his brooding charm.
The romance is so deep because they are two people from completely different social classes who just cannot get over each other. Plus, the show doesn't waste time on annoying extra characters or filler plots! Everything feels compact, and the emotional scenes are masterfully done. Some of the standout episodes: Zhou Wan getting assaulted and not telling anyone (absolutely heartbreaking to watch her keeping quiet), when Lu Xixiao gets stabbed, her grandma passing away, and many more. The soundtrack also hits you straight in the feels.
The Pacing Quirks (Let's Talk Spoilers)
Okay, here is my main grievance: the writers made the choice to give the youth/high school arc 20 out of the 30 total episodes. Why do C-dramas keep doing this?! Leaving only 10 or fewer episodes for the adult/reunion arc made the pacing a bit uneven. By episode 18, I felt like we were wasting precious time that could have been spent on their grown-up lives.
Because the adult arc was so compressed, the second half felt a bit superficial. We missed out on exploring Lu Xixiao's intense family dynamics, and the reintroduction of Zhou Wan into his adult life deserved way more room to breathe. Instead, the narrative got a bit choked up:
* The Grandfather Cop-Out: The grandfather was the literal catalyst who forced Zhou Wan to leave the man she loved. Yet, due to the lack of episodes, his entire opposition is resolved in one single scene where he just goes, “Okay fine, you can be together." Excuse me?!” This is definitely an opportunity on the missed family dynamics.
* The Cohabitation Excuse: Because they ran out of time, Lu Xixiao gets Zhou Wan to move into his house by basically telling her she "owes him." It made zero sense. And she just accepted? He tells her that they have to sleep in one bed after 10 years apart and this girl doesn’t even batt an eyelash. There should have been a lot more push and pull between the two. Give us 5 more episodes, and this reunion could have been so much smoother and more interesting!
So yeah. I wasn’t a big fan of how the writers messed up on the reunion arc.
The Final Verdict
Despite the writers hitting the fast-forward button on the adult arc, this is still a high-quality romance drama with superb acting, unmatched chemistry, and heavy emotional payoff. You will feel all the feelings. Definitely give it a watch!
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