A River Runs Through It has the beauty of the older and brilliant Chinese school dramas (With You, My Huckleberry Friends, When We Were Young, A Love So Beautiful). It is a tale of friendship, family, love, school, college life and of the numerous joys and sorrows that lace the journey of life. A poignant tale about growing up, its brilliant performances truly make this a strong watch. Every character was the centre of their own story, and I, like many others, laughed and wept with most of the characters.

Xia Xiaoju's relationship with her mother was so meaningfully written that when the two reconcile after Xiaoju has moved to college, tears ran down my cheeks. The show managed to make me cry or tear up many times - the world of ARRTI felt lived in and real; the characters felt real. The friendships were heartwarming and beautiful, and for the most part, the show was about these friendships- the deep understanding between the three main leads, and their affection for each other. Certainly the strength of show lies with its profoundly well-written friendships. From the five friends, to the three (and even four/five if we count Le Tao and Huang Jun) and then finally to the touching friendship between Xiaoju and Lu Shiyi. 'Growing up means separation' as Xiaoju says to herself later on in the show, in what I consider to be the most philosophical moment on the show: to grow up is to separate from friends and loved ones. People move away as life gets in the way.

Growing up however entails falling in love too, and this story has a lot of unreciprocated love, unfulfilled love, heartbreaks and breakups. Yet, unlike many other shows, I was invested in these relationships which largely involved the secondary (and even tertiary) characters. They felt believable and their stories were not centred around the main leads- they were the masters of their own stories.

I really liked the main leads together and separately - I rooted for them. The friendship between the three was absolutely lovely and when Cheng Lang wasn't with them later on, Li Shiyu and Xia Xiaoju were great friends of each other. They understood each other, cared for each other.

I would have perhaps sang many praises of this beautiful friendship had I not been utterly disappointed by the lacklustre ending. What was it with this ending? what was the point of this ending? Was it supposed to be like With You, and yet in With You the separation made sense (the broken Yu Huai did not believe himself worthy of love- he wasn't the best of himself and that was WHY he disappeared- it made sense). However, why does Li Shiyu disappear without telling her anything? Or without even contacting her through 7 years? He did not suffer from low self-esteem and self-worth and did not have the family burdens that Yu Huai did. Also, it's strange that he doesn't visit his parents in 7 years? In that case he would definitely bumped into her. (My Calorie Boy also did the With You-style ending, which did not work for me either)

The last two episodes were truly a disservice to the main leads. I felt very sorry for Xia Xiaoju- her best friend and the one she finally came to love just ghosted and disappeared on her. After 7 years, the writers decided to fix the problem in just two-three days of interactions. We did not ever learn why he disappeared; why he had pictures with that other girl, etc. The proposal scene at the wedding made zero sense too. Ah. well.

Although I am disappointed with the last two episodes, it does not take away from the beauty of the first half (and more) of the show. It is still a very good show, and certainly one of the best in recent years.