Gigiu
For all Ariel Lin haters, she is the best actress and I don’t believe anyone else can play this role as well as her! No replacement for sure! I didn’t know who Zhang Bin Bin is until I see him in this drama. Wow, he is a great actor and handsome, but more importantly, his chemistry with Ariel is superior than any other females lead he played with in other dramas (IMO) or maybe the other female lead he was with weren’t as good as Ariel Lin. I say this because after I saw this drama and while waiting for new episodes to air, each week (lol), I searched for him and watched most of the other dramas he has been in (skipping through some boring episodes in other dramas). He was great in most of them and his character and roles are very consistent.
The second male lead, Austin Lin is very good too. His character seems misplaced a bit when he appears and he didn’t seem to fit the story line at first, but slowly, he did and I think viewers will sympathize with him and applaud him for his unconditional love for Ariel’s character. Also, he got into his character much better as the story flows on and I felt very sad for him in episodes 49-51. I believe if a character in a movie or a drama can act in a way to capture viewers and appear to viewers emotion, that actor or actress is great at acting!!
I have recommended this drama to many people!! My only wish is, the ending should be written differently and do the drama much better justice than just that!! Don’t want to spoil for anyone, but just FYI. Overall, I would and can still watch it over and over again!
Was this review helpful to you?
Good original screenplay with XZ
Story:Not your typical older sister and older brother love and romance. Very real, natural and adult drama like it is real life.
Casts:
The ml and fl are great and the chemistry between them are good too. You will love xz more as his fan or will become his fan after watching any of his dramas. He can act in many different roles and always take it to the top notch. In here, he plays a poor, sunshine character in an ordinary loving parents/family and with an aspirational spirit who has secretly love an older woman he met 10 yrs ago. He is hard working, determined and responsible.
Other than the little sister and her bf, all other supporting casts are great and they complement the leads and the story.
Dislike about the drama:
I dislike the little sister and her boyfriend characters. They should not be included and took up too much screen time and really unnecessary to add them in the drama. From the beginning episodes to episode 20, these 2 unnecessary casts took up and had more screen time than the main characters. It almost feels like the drama is promoting them. I don’t mind supporting the new comers but not when they are annoying, unnecessary and taking up more screen time than main leads. After all, most people watched because of XZ.
I’m also very disappointed with the ending as it was rush (kinda predicted because it went from 40 to 36), but again these 2 unnecessary casts took up half the screen time for the last episode. It was very annoying and hard to finish the first 25 mins. The last episode should mainly focus on completing the happy ending story for the main leads, instead of sharing half the screen time with the 2 unnecessary characters in the drama.
Overall, it is still a good drama and XZ doesn’t disappoint!
Was this review helpful to you?
Great script
I typically do not like this type of genre, but I’m a fan of XZ. But, I’m also not going to be partial either. He is a great and always improving himself actor. He embodies his characters and always challenge himself. Most of the dramas he played in are difficult and not alike.This drama is good because it is not about the military based story as expected, but instead is about youth, life, friendships, love and struggles in life to becoming someone successful, make an impact and to fulfill a dream that was not possible during that era in the country.
It is also not the typically ML and FL romantic or soapy storyline, weather, is the twists and turns that brought them together and how they overcome obstacles together as a life long partner.
Most of the main supporting characters are complicated and interesting. They may be seen as selfish, and in reality most people are selfish and not selfishness. So, you can’t hate any of the characters but at time feel sorry for them even.
Was this review helpful to you?
Patience will pay off
The story, plot is a bit slow and it requires patience. It does get more interesting as the plot slowly unravels keeping the viewers guessing what’s next and who is really a bad character. This drama makes you cry and make you smile in many ways.I can’t help but think of the Untamed in many of the scenes and some parts of the storyline. The set and costumes are beautiful. I keep watching the teasers just to find the theme plot and almost tempted to read the novel lol. I think all the casts again are great and you really can’t hate any one of them like in “The youth memories” or “Where dreams begin” with XZ. If you have not watched that, check it out, XZ is great and it is a really good storyline!!
Actors:
ML - Xiao Zhan again challenge himself with the drama and consistency proves he is a great actor. He deserves all the credits because no one can act at his level right now. He can play multi-facet roles ranging with emotions from being cold to be loved and to be sad. Esp 35-36 are so memorable and wow, what an actor he is!! Watching the BTS, he directed some of the critical scenes or inserted more memorable scenes to make the script and acting flow better and that was definitely great to watch and appreciate.
Shi Ying is such a great character, he is smart, powerful, decisive, direct, responsible, not needy, loving, honest and caring.
As always XZ didn’t disappoint, his ability to express his emotions, his crying scenes, no other actors can compare. He always takes his acting skills to another level every drama I’ve seen him in and always ingrained himself into each of the different character he plays. Hope we can see more of his dramas or movies in the future and especially can’t wait to see him play a good/evil cute and naughty villain character as he has always said he wanted to be!! He would be great in a character like that!
FL - I think she did a great job and was very complimentary to XZ considering she is young, 21 and new when they filmed this drama in 2021. If anyone watching found her to be annoying and childish, that meant she did a good job and fit her character well. She isn’t the prettiest actress out there, but she can definitely act. She is cute and seems humble too! There were a few scenes that she could have done better with expressing her emotions or acting more naturally, but overall she did good and she fits the character/role.
Supporting casts - they all did good, but 2nd male lead (Alen) was memorable and his character was good. He acted well too! He should get more attention and gigs after TLP and so will all the other casts.
Was this review helpful to you?
