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Brilliant Class 8 chinese drama review
Completed
Brilliant Class 8
3 people found this review helpful
by ljze
Apr 12, 2022
40 of 40 episodes seen
Completed
Overall 7.5
Story 8.0
Acting/Cast 8.0
Music 7.5
Rewatch Value 6.0
This review may contain spoilers

Interesting premise but...

There are a lot of dramas that focused on the lives of students but this was one of my first c-drama that focused on the teachers, which was such an interesting premise! However the execution could be better.

The first 10 episodes was a pain to get through, I had no connection with the the main leads one bit, the only thing that was powering me through was lin sheng (sml). However, after the 10 episodes, the main leads start growing, I could understand their thoughts and actions more and at episode 20 ish, I see the development of the female lead.

The chemistry between male lead and sml was fun to see, but it bugs me that we were not given backstory on why sml was so devoted to male lead. The only leads we have is that they are cousins, they always depend on each other and sml calls ml father yi fu (which means godfather - you don't call your cousin father yi fu). I wish their relationship could have been more fleshed out.

Also, I mentioned earlier that sml is one of my favourite characters in the show, but until the last episode, I still don't have a clue what he works as. It seems that he plays the role of ml assistant (but since ml has left the industry, what's the need for him to play ml assistant which does not really make sense) and the drama really made it seem that sml is just for driving people around. Apart from these holes that were not filled by the scriptwriter, I feel that they had written sml to be a very intelligent and meticulous in planning character which I enjoy watching him flaunt his knowledge.

Another issue I had with this drama was the background music. They play it too abruptly and it really ruins the moment. And also, not too sure if its my country, but teachers don't get too close to students where students would go to where the teachers are staying. A little weird to me...

Despite binge watching all the episodes in 2 days, tbvh, I skip alot of scenes especially Mu Chen. You can understand the story even without him on screen. I felt no sympathy for him to the last bit.

Lastly, the last 6 episodes was also a struggle to watch. The proposal came out of nowhere and the breakup was so hard to watch (i honestly skip straight to the last episode at this point). This drama took 20+ episodes for the main leads to get together and after a few days they were official, they had to break up... The last episode didn't even feel satisfying. For one, I was waiting for ml to write a song since episode 1 since he gained so much inspiration from his students and love, but he only wrote one love song and thats it. It would great if he could end it with a bang, as well as clear the ghost writer issue which made him exit the entertainment business in the first place. The ending was honestly underwhelming.

But aside from all these negatives, there were some aspects of the drama I did enjoy.

The drama is hilarious, some jokes can be cringey and try hard but there are some which are pretty funny too that I laugh out loud.

All the characters seem to have great chemistry with each other too even the security guards. Initially I personally like the friendship between gezi and the smart guy, but soon fell in love with the entire group and class. The problems they face are relatable for teens.

The women in the drama are very strong and capable women, who have their own ideals and not serve as accessories beside man. I really came to like Wei Lai who at first seems she would be an obstacle to the main lead romance and a spoilt rich brat. However she really prove me wrong that she was anything but that. Her attitude towards relationship and frienship was very realistic in that she gave up loosing a once in a lifetime friend over a one-sided love. She also very supportive of her ex-crush and guides them as well. Her friendship with main lead was very sibling like and its entertaining to watch them bicker or joke around. She is also not written as an empty headed rich celebrity, although she might be slow but she works hard and I relate to this a lot, so Wei Lai is really my comfort person.

I really do like how the drama addresses topics such as how sometimes students do not really see the effort teachers put in for them and judge them for that (so guilty of this), discussing about the discrimination of music and academic classes and also how we should act now than wait for the worst to come and worrying would be too late (they won't have a future then).

Overall, a decent drama despite its flaws, but I don't think it will be a memorable drama. I don't think I will ever watch this drama again due to its length (they could shorten it to 30 ep honestly). If you are considering whether to watch or not, I think its a drama to past time or if you like any of those actors/ actresses and I recommend to watch it at 2x the speed, but even if you don't watch, you won't miss out anything either.

Sorry for this long review, hope it benefited some way or another.

ps: gezi voice is really pure, cute and very unique to listen to.
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