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Frost_edelweiss

Frost_edelweiss

When I See Your Face chinese drama review
Completed
When I See Your Face
0 people found this review helpful
by Frost_edelweiss
Feb 2, 2023
15 of 15 episodes seen
Completed
Overall 6.5
Story 6.5
Acting/Cast 8.0
Music 8.0
Rewatch Value 2.0

Predictable fast-food like youth c-drama

At Decheng Technical University (fictitious), set near Xiamen and its well-known twin towers raised like gigantic 58-stories high surfboards close to shore, Lu Hui (Duan AoJuan), a face-blind student, is starting another year together with her best friend, bespectacled Zhen Fanxing (Kuliko Shen). Lu Hui often takes photos of young men’s walking, backs turned to her, in the hope of finding a long-lost savior boy from her childhood, and wins a prize with one such picture, submitted by Jiang Yiming (Lu YunFeng), the president of the photography club, whose almost same age niece Guo Jiajia (Zhang Xinyi) leads the News club. Two young guys, handsome and athletic Lang Chenzhou (Chen Bohao), and his cutely bespectacled cousin Lang Youlang (Xiong Wenwen) join these clubs…. The story, from then on, is very predictable, and despite some choppy editing, it could have even been further reduced in episodes. The students are shy, can’t get together swiftly, don’t dare even to kiss, until last episodes. Still, the drama amusingly ends on an encouragement for one couple to have three children in 5 years (yes, the message is that China has turned its back on the one-child policy for a while, and urges young couples to alleviate the greying of its population, together with being more accepting of some physical or cognitive defects, such as prosopagnosia, i.e. face blindness).

There is not much more to say.

The actors are not very well-known, most have hitherto only played support roles in some other dramas, except Zhang Xinyi, who was FL in unremarkable “Warm Time With You” but is playing a rather annoying and insensitive part here; and Lu Yunfeng who had a number of roles including a few ML ones in other unremarkable dramas, and is perhaps best remembered for his short guest role as Xia Xue / "Snowing" ['King of Glory' professional player] (Ep. 13-14) in “You Are My Glory”. He also has support roles in recent “Song of the Moon” and in “Insect Totem”. 26-year-old ML Chen Bohao, a graduate of the Beijing Film Academy, has a pretty face which will appear again in upcoming “Till The End Of The Moon” as supporting actor, and in four other upcoming dramas. 22-year old Duan Ao Juan is a singer, born in Chengdu, Sichuan. She was a “member of Rocket Girls 101 (火箭少女101), which debuted in June 2018 and disbanded in July 2020”. This is her third screen appearance, except for TV entertainment shows.

Hidden ads are not hilariously obvious. This drama is probably going to be boring and unsatisfactory for many, despite the cute childish green or blue rimmed clear glasses of Lang Youlang (the production did not dare throw in rose-hued ones…). Having just changed my own to nylon-thread rimmed light sensitive lenses turning to purple color, complementing the deep red temples and bridge, I was musing whether finally I should instead have dared a flashy green rim in cat-eye form? Anyway, this was an OK show to watch while waiting in the car, on a long weekend. No surprises and not too much excitement. Just like for a serving of bland fast food. There are some jiaozi pictured at one moment, and this reminded me that the CNY celebrations are still on, until Lantern festival this weekend. But I won’t re-watch this over the final bowl of sweetJust like for a serving of bland fast food. There are some jiaozi pictured at one moment, and this reminded me that the CNY celebrations are still on, until Lantern festival this weekend. But I won’t re-watch this serving over the final bowl of sweeter tangyuan.
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