JJJ

Love how supportive Lin Tuo's grandpa and tsundere brother, Lin Ye, is towards Lin Tuo and An Zhique. Lin Ye might seem prickly, but he is definitely a softie heh.

I love that they filmed this in Chongqing, you can see a lot of the unique architectures like the famous train going through a building.

Lmao with AZQ's clothes. They did explain in episode 7 with the conversation between AZQ and her dad that she wore pretty much old and inexpensive clothes because she barely buys any new clothes (to save money). I watched the interview with the costume designer and they mention they have AZQ's clothes the way they are to show that she is a very common girl who is not exactly fashionable (or have the time to care enough about her clothes and thus you have all these wacky patterns). Her clothes are meant to be comfortable looking to add to her cozy/warm vibe. Her clothes look better in later episodes though so maybe it is because she now got money to actually spend on some new clothes.

Yes, it is confirmed the ML will have ALS (you can see the starting signs of it around episode 5 when he dropped something and his legs went weak) and this is based on a Japanese drama of the same theme too. This production also has people diagnosed with ALS involved during the making of this drama + doctor who specialized in this is involved too.

This drama will definitely have angst but it is pretty wholesome too with a lot of exploration on family relationships, romantic relationships, friendships, etc. It /seems/ the drama is maybe going for a hopeful tone (based on the interviews I have seen) but only 7 episodes fully released for now (24 episodes in total).

Episode 7 when you can see their adult lives are starting to come together from Lin Tuo being officially signed as a designer + getting his own place and An Zhique seeing that her dream of being a cafe owner might actually be possible with her dad's support 🥲 I want their happiness to last so badly.

This drama loves having the characters drop comments that you know won't come true... the pain.

In episode 6, An Zhique talks about why she likes lollipops (her dad buying them for her mom since her mom needed to take bitter medication due to her illness and her mom would give her lollipops whenever she wasn't happy to cheer her up). Lin Tuo then said he will be in charge of her lollipops from now on (aka giving them to her when life gets too painful )...

Already foreseeing how An Zhique might look at lollipops in the future and think about his comment knowing he won't be there anymore to give them to her. 😭

Thinking about how An Zhique's mom passed away when she was young due to health reasons, then she got a heath scare with her dad fainting and needing surgery... and then later Lin Tuo...

Lmao, pretty sure Wang Youjun's character aka the senior (Jiang Chu Cheng) has a crush on An Zhique. Both WYJ and Li Landi were in "All the Way to the Sun" and his character there had a crush on her character there too and he got rejected.

Yup, I think Lin Tuo feels guilty about it too. That he as the older son didn't take on the "responsibility" to be the "doctor heir" so now his younger brother in a way bears the burden even more with all the sole pressure on him to become a doctor.

Oh I am sick. They are talking about marriage and living to 100 years old together in episode 4... why hurt me like this.

As much as this drama is meant to be angst, there are quite a bit of comedic scenes too lmao especially involving An Zhique's dad and our mains' best friends (He Xindi and Chen Guangpu). 🤣

*Lin Tuo and An Zhique being all cute and sweet*

Narrations from one of them from the future during those moments:
"If I can go back... but there are no ifs..."
"I drew her ideal house... but I couldn't give her a happy home..."
Etc.

They really said don't giggle for even one second too long!!! Because angst will come.

It is sad that it will have to take Lin Tuo to have a life ending condition in order for them to change. But sadly, this happens in real life too, that it takes someone dying for someone else to finally change and recognize what is truly important.

Such a difference between An Zhique and her dad talking about everything (examples: fate, pet fish, romance, technology, day to day life, etc.) to Lin Tuo and his parents really only talking about him getting a job and his little brother.

Yup! I appreciate how "human" they are approaching all this because it breathes a lot of life into them as characters and as a couple. It makes it believable that these are characters who can actually exist and someone you know in real life. And it makes it more believable why An Zhique would later stay with Lin Tuo through it all despite them only dating when not even some married couples would stay together through something like this.

Cracking up in episode 2 when Lin Tuo got to do his online interview and they gotta arrange the dorm room background to look decent, truly the college life with the life hacks haha

In the middle of watching episode 2 and I really appreciate the "get to know each other" conversations between Lin Tuo and An Zhique. I feel like sometimes a lot of convo between the leads in typical romance drama are a lot of nothing/superficial and the deeper talks are not really shown to the audience. But they are shown discussing about their background, their parents, how they grew up, etc. They are such simple convos but they serve to build a strong foundation for the audience to understand why they match (and not just because the drama wants the two together for the drama's sake).

Episode 1 reaction:

I really like the character/relationship set-ups already not just for the mains, but also the supporting roles.

Lin Tuo: Just from episode 1, we can tell he is actually a kind person. And not just a nice person to the FL, he is a nice person in general (from FL, to his friends, to even a stranger in the bathroom) which I think is almost a rarity in romance drama where the typical trope is ML is super nice to FL (because he likes her) but average/even cold to others. It is clear from episode 1 that his grandpa is almost like a parental figure to him while his own parents aren't always there for him (and he yearns for that).

An Zhique: Hard-working, courageous, and honest are the words I thought of our FL in episode 1. From her working different part-time jobs to her leaving the interview because she felt that it won't have been fair for her to have the interview when Lin Tuo took the fall for her. FL is someone who wants to give her a father a better life/paying their mortgage so is in the mind-set of earning money, but she won't let that cloud her integrity. I love how FL straight up says she is poor to the ML. 😂

Really love the chemistry between the mains so far just from episode 1. The mutual crush is so apparent and adorable.

The drama cast + production crew's episode of "Play the Play" 《剧说很好看》 of this drama will also be released on 3/10 on CCTV.

"Play the Play" is where the cast/production talk more in-depth about the drama making process and they perform scenes of the drama on live stage.

Link to preview: https://weibo.com/2030112487/5009946552566309

I watched Li Landi's dramas before and she is the one of the best in acting in the current 1995-1999 gen for me among the Chinese actresses. She is a child actress too so she has been in this field for around 10+ years at this point. She was also 2nd place (1st among the ladies) in her graduating class from Central Academy and definitely deserved.

I watched Lin Yi's historical drama years ago but that one I dropped because the plot was not great. So this will be my first drama with him fully.