This review may contain spoilers
Bit Boring and Huge Letdown to Go Go Squid S1 fans
This was a difficult watch. I've just finished Go Go Squid and this pales in comparison to the first one.
Acting
- Li Yitong is good. Hu Yitian is ok but their chemistry is lacking compared to Yang Zi and Li Xian.
Plot
- Aside from the comparisons to S1, the story on its own is quite flat. Feels very dragged out . It's ok if you just wanna watch for the sweet scenes and watch Hu Yitian swooning over Li Yitong.
- This was a major issue for me because they retconned so many things from S1 in order to fit this version i.e.
- 1. the biggest issue being that Han Shangyan never reconciled with Solo
2. the second issue, the removal of key supporting characters such as Niannian's best friend and Mi Shaofei's love interest, Demo etc
3. the third issue, the change from CTF to robotics. CTF felt more like an unknown industry and having such a big club/house/training center for such a small team in DT Appledog's Time seriously felt weird and full of loneliness.
4. the fourth issue, having Wu Bai be the main leader of K&K ... which is weird because Han Shangyan is the boss but he's barely seen in the club.. I understand that the story's focus would be on Wu Bai but and having Li Xian and Yang Zi being in the show so much might overshadow the focus on Wu Bai and Ai Qing. There are also budget concerns and scheduling and stuff to think about but it could have been done..
5. They should have just continued with S1 and recast Li Yitong as Ai Qing.
6. Even One's personality seemed different.
7. Go Go Squid wasn't just about Tong Nian and Han Shangyan's story.. It was also because they explored the family and friendship issues so well.. Like with Solo's daughter and every supporting character had their moment to shine. I kinda felt like this was lacking in Go Go Squid 2
Casting
- Recasting Ai Qing is fine because the original actress for Ai Qing has zero romantic chemistry with Hu Yitian but the rest of the cast should have been retained
- None of the actors recast for the new version had the same level of energy and charisma as the original actors for Solo, Mi Shaofei, Ou Qiang. Disappointing because the supporting cast is always a huge factor in a drama's quality.
- Would have been better to pull in the original actors for Tong Nian's parents at the end for the double wedding. This felt really weird having all Ai Qing and Wu Bai's relatives there but none of Niannian's parents there
OST
- This was nice and fitting for the story
Scene stealers
- Wang Anyu (I like him but I preferred the way the original Grunt was written and portrayed)
- 97
- The grandpa
- Lastly, Li Xian and Yang Zi
Acting
- Li Yitong is good. Hu Yitian is ok but their chemistry is lacking compared to Yang Zi and Li Xian.
Plot
- Aside from the comparisons to S1, the story on its own is quite flat. Feels very dragged out . It's ok if you just wanna watch for the sweet scenes and watch Hu Yitian swooning over Li Yitong.
- This was a major issue for me because they retconned so many things from S1 in order to fit this version i.e.
- 1. the biggest issue being that Han Shangyan never reconciled with Solo
2. the second issue, the removal of key supporting characters such as Niannian's best friend and Mi Shaofei's love interest, Demo etc
3. the third issue, the change from CTF to robotics. CTF felt more like an unknown industry and having such a big club/house/training center for such a small team in DT Appledog's Time seriously felt weird and full of loneliness.
4. the fourth issue, having Wu Bai be the main leader of K&K ... which is weird because Han Shangyan is the boss but he's barely seen in the club.. I understand that the story's focus would be on Wu Bai but and having Li Xian and Yang Zi being in the show so much might overshadow the focus on Wu Bai and Ai Qing. There are also budget concerns and scheduling and stuff to think about but it could have been done..
5. They should have just continued with S1 and recast Li Yitong as Ai Qing.
6. Even One's personality seemed different.
7. Go Go Squid wasn't just about Tong Nian and Han Shangyan's story.. It was also because they explored the family and friendship issues so well.. Like with Solo's daughter and every supporting character had their moment to shine. I kinda felt like this was lacking in Go Go Squid 2
Casting
- Recasting Ai Qing is fine because the original actress for Ai Qing has zero romantic chemistry with Hu Yitian but the rest of the cast should have been retained
- None of the actors recast for the new version had the same level of energy and charisma as the original actors for Solo, Mi Shaofei, Ou Qiang. Disappointing because the supporting cast is always a huge factor in a drama's quality.
- Would have been better to pull in the original actors for Tong Nian's parents at the end for the double wedding. This felt really weird having all Ai Qing and Wu Bai's relatives there but none of Niannian's parents there
OST
- This was nice and fitting for the story
Scene stealers
- Wang Anyu (I like him but I preferred the way the original Grunt was written and portrayed)
- 97
- The grandpa
- Lastly, Li Xian and Yang Zi
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