Maybe the line above is the most suitable line to sum up what I’ve been through after 36 episodes of The Bond. This drama is not perfect. The characters are not perfect either. They are bloody annoying and manage to make my blood boil in every single episode.

But, I still finished this drama. I’m still able to find my strength to see how the ending is for the Qiao family, especially those unfortunate children. In those 36 episodes, I can’t help but think, how can people get through all of those events but still survive and always have each other back.

After the final episode, I give myself some time to think about it, and the answer is laid on the English title of this drama, The Bond.

The Bond that they have created since the day their mother died. The Bond which was glued by their eldest brother who carried them for decades. The Bond that makes them stronger to pursue their happy ending, tho life always throws them in the miserable place again and again.

Synopsis

The story began in 1977. In that year, the fifth and the last child of the Qiao family was born. But unfortunately, the mom passed away right after giving birth to Qiao Qiqi. She left her five children with their irresponsible and not capable dad, Qiao Zuwang. This dad loved to gamble and didn’t even care about his home or his children at all.

This left no choice for the eldest brother in this family, Qiao Yicheng who was only 12 years old at that time to step up and be the caretaker of the family. He suddenly became the mother and the father of them.

This kept going on until they were teenagers and adults. This eldest brother is always the one who cares and protects them. Even when they started to have their own romantic life, their bond was still as strong as ever.

Review

To be honest, I don’t know how to give this drama an objective review, because I’m so damn attached with it. I have followed this drama since it was airing on August 17th until September 8th. The Bond was airing 2 episodes everyday in Tencent Video, that’s why it ended pretty fast. And I’m very content with this kind of schedule, though it made me couldn’t watch the other dramas because my mind was full of these children.

This drama actually has shortcomings, especially towards the ending. It seems so rushed. If it really followed the original material (the novel), this drama should have more than 36 episodes. Some parts of the novel were changed to fit the TV drama schedule. So, it left me a little bit unsatisfied. I really want one or two extra episodes just to see them being happy, especially the eldest brother, Qiao Yicheng.

It doesn’t have to be exactly like the novel, but I do wish the part when the eldest brother was sick wasn’t changed that much or at least a little bit longer. If you watched this drama and saw with your own eyes what Qiao Yicheng has done to his family, you would also want this man to be pampered for a little bit longer. Especially when you have Bai Yu (Guardian, Suddenly This Summer, The Long Night) who pulled off the sick character so well.

I saw so many complains about the drama, which they think too miserable, too annoying, too *狗血 (gǒuxiě), etc. But when I read those comments, I realized they never really criticized the plot. What they actually criticized was the choice of the characters.

“Why the hell was he married to that woman?” “Why is he so stupid?” “This man is good for nothing.” “This woman is too blinded by love.” and so many other things.

I said those things too, but it didn’t make me leave the drama. Instead, this drama turned me into a noisy aunty who lived as their neighbor. I talked about them with the other aunties and was always curious what would happen with their life after they made a certain decision.

This drama would never work so well for me if it wasn’t because of the ensemble cast. We have Bai Yu as Qiao Yi Cheng, Zhang Wan Yi as Qiao Er Qiang, Mao Xiao Tong as Qiao San Li, Song Zu Er as Qiao Si Mei and Zhou Yi Ran as Qiao Qi Qi.

I will emphasize my compliment to Bai Yu. I don’t want to sound biased (since he’s indeed my favorite Chinese actor), but he’s indeed really that good. He can show the development of Qiao Yicheng in the span of 20 years in the drama. He can transform himself from the temperamental, awkward, naggy and full of energy young Qiao Yicheng to still naggy but relatively calm, insecure and tired older Qiao Yicheng. He can show the complicated emotions of Qiao Yicheng perfectly. When you watch this drama, you will see how wide the emotional range of Qiao Yicheng is. He is a completely different person depending on his opponent. His line delivery is so natural as if he isn’t acting. It makes the drama feel even more real.

What I like about this drama (it may be a minor reason and not necessarily important but I love it) is this drama never dubbed the inner thought with voice over nor did monologues. We can easily understand what they were thinking only by looking at their expressions. For me, it’s such praise worthy of the actors. It means, they succeed in giving us a narrative without too much dialogue. That’s what real actors should do.

Beside the main leads, we still have tons of supporting actors who also did extremely well to bring the story to life, such as Liu Jun as Qiao Zu Wang, Li Jia Hang as Qi Wei Min, and Zhao Fan as Ye Xiao Lang. All the child actors are also impressive.

So, in the acting department, I’m quite satisfied. There are some actors who didn’t meet my expectations but overall they are still watchable and didn’t ruin the flow.

Original soundtracks of The Bond are one of the best. The opening song, “Life Should Always Face the Light”, is sung by Zhou Sen and it is sooooo beautiful. The title is full of hope and the lyrics get me teared up every time I listen to it. I almost never skip the opening just to listen to this song.

The most important thing from these brilliant soundtracks is how well placed they are. The timing when the songs are played is never missed. It hits right in your heart at the perfect moment to add more emotion in this drama.

Last, I love the details for the setting and properties. Though I’m not Chinese and obviously I didn’t live there in that era, I feel very familiar with all the properties there. Especially when they enter the millennial year when the handphone was found. I’m like, “I recognize the ringtone!” “Ah, that was my first phone!”. Something like that.

The tone and color grading that they use from time to time is also distinctive. It looks like it’s the same, but it’s actually not. It follows the year the drama took place. It’s such a pleasing for my eyes.

In the end, I can say again, this drama is no where near perfect. But this drama teaches me so many thing about life and how we should handle it. That’s why, I can’t help but put this drama in a very high place in my heart.

This review is also posted at https://lalasalittleworld.wordpress.com/2021/09/10/review-the-bond-qiao-jia-de-er-nu/