disregard logic, disregard the characters and treat it like soft corn
Personally, I think the way that this drama was approached in the first place is flawed. A title like never ending summer and all these go-lucky happy posters sets up a premise in the viewers mind that this is going to be a lighthearted drama like 'when I fly towards you' but that is literally the furthest from the truth.The story starts off with two people that obviously are not from the same world, there is no magnetic chemistry and no interesting plots or directing that make the viewer want to support the leads and follow their stories. We have a selfish male lead and an even more selfish female lead. They both have goals to complete and things to do so what is with the need to create a romance? This could have clearly been a heavier coming-of-age story about two people who come from hurt backgrounds but instead we have a mismatched romance where the leads are constantly not communicating and constantly pushing and pulling away from each other.
Now there is nothing wrong with a bit of push and pull in a romance drama but only if done tastefully in a way that makes sense. One example of the absurdity of this drama is around ep 8-10 the fl successfully enters into the ml's family but in order to get money for her grandma's treatment, she needs to find a way to send the male lead overseas. Mind you, the male lead wanted to go overseas already, one 5-minute conversation and both could have gotten what they wanted but instead we need an elaborate plan where the fl tries to 'win over' the ml with an obvious agenda. It is very hard for the viewer to subscribe to this kind of 'fake romance' where proximity and romance is created from straight up lies.
Not to mention, the logic of the plot is not well written, it seems like the first draft with many revisions needed. Take the fl, she is very poor and has a lot of debt seemingly from all of her grandma's treatment. It would seem logical that she may have debt collectors or people bothering her constantly. But instead we get debt collectors like twice in the show and once was literally to 'create' non-existant chemistry between the leads. At this point just get rid of the debt collectors? They don't add to the plot and certainty don't help anyones case. Suddenly they just disappear one day? It is incredibly illogical!
I think the best way to approach this is to literally disregard logic, don't care about the characters and just treat it like soft corn because the only interesting part of the story is the kiss scenes.
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Tasteful directing paired with an interesting plot
I have not finished this drama but I HAD to make a review to STRONGLY suggest anyone who is on the fence to watch this drama. I may be a little biased because I am an Ollie fan but Ollie is like the last reason I think of when thinking about how good this series is.Okay lets start with the obvious, the two male leads are INCREDIBLY good-looking. NGL it has been a little hard finding such good-looking actors that have visual chemistry with each other in the chinese bl world recently. Anyways those high-nose bridges and almost AI visuals should be enough to convince anyone to watch. Their visuals just naturally fit their roles really well so as the viewer, you're automatically convinced and able to buy-into the story. Shuyuan's eyes are like really mesmerising...
What really sets this story apart is the way that Wen Dao, the director, has presented this series. He is incredibly good at making moments with the leads intimate and honestly I am fascinated by the way he is presenting this story. It is impossible to tell this show is low-budget and although this is a dual story where the leads both play two characters, the director can clearly seperate the plots but make them both interesting and worth investing your time into. Honestly I am more invested in the story that the actors play than the story of the actors themselves. That is how good the director is at his job.
This leads me to point three, this plot is so novel. This type of relationship dynamic, love story, complex characters have never really been tapped into and it shows. I am SO invested, it seems like every episode brings a new (but equally important) layer into each character. This aspect of the drama makes every episode binge-worthy. I has been a while since I found a story worthy enough to stay up and wait for episodes to drop lol.
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