A truly sad but hopeful love story.

Without much spoilers:
I think this story is one of the best time travel stories I've seen. It is definitely worthwhile and meaningful for such a short drama. The various decisions the two main leads did for each other is truly admirable. The ending was sad but it gives hope to the watcher. Hope that their story will end well.

With more spoilers (how the female lead did what she did was really worth it even though I spoiled it a bit):
The two main leads end up doing so much to save each other and their friend. By the time the female main lead decided to do one last thing for the male main lead, I was really sad. She gave up everything she will experience (and lived through it while knowing what she missed) so that they can have a brighter future. Where their friends will never have to go through all this. Where the male lead she loved dearly won't go through this. The story of the female lead is truly admirable. If there was a part 2 (I doubt), I really hope that the female lead will be able to experience everything she was suppose to (but gave up on to save everyone from the pain).

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One word - Amazing

This show really let you know new songs from both the older and newer generation. Some of the older songs were songs my parents would listen to but I would never know the name of because my parents don't remember either. However, they do remember most of the lyrics and emotions that comes along with the song and they would hum it while doing work around the house. The Cantonese songs in particular touches me because I grew up in a Cantonese environment.

I also really appreciate the jokes and how they laugh off some of the mistakes that are bound to happen sometimes when you are on stage. It makes the show seem less of a competition and a friendly exchange of songs of different generations.

If you are wondering if you should watch it, I think you should just give it a try. At the very least you will be get encouraged because what other show is there a 70+ years old singer doing high notes. Truly amazing.

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A nasty story that leaves you both loving and hating it.

This is a movie that gets you really hard if it is your first time watching it. It has a nasty plot that leaves you both loving how it plays with your emotions but hate it because of the same reason. The emotions I felt after watching was not complex. It was simply wtf, wow, and sad at same time. Because of that, it is one of the few movies/dramas that I felt really deserves a rating in my view (I watch a lot of dramas/movies but only bothered to rate a handful because most are really generic. Most of the time it isn't because it wasn't good, but just that it wasn't surprising.)

The plot twist is simply well done. For most of story, you will think that a boy worked hard to change how he looks, does things, etc. to finally find the one for him. It was sweet and emotional. The most you would think would happen was that they will end up with a bad ending because of an unforeseeable event. The plot twist teared all this down. It was one nasty plot twist. It is not only nasty because it got me but because it really feels like it can happen in reality. There's really nothing preventing this mess to happen in real life. I also feel sad how all of these relationships that showed up in this movie could've been nice ones but none of them end up being nice ones. It's a pity. It is also hard to say who is more wrong than the other, but at the same time you feel that there should be that one turning point or reason that sticks out.

Like most others described it, it was a roller coaster of emotions.

Honestly, the music wasn't memorable to me. Rewatching it will not have the same effect as the first time. If it isn't the first watch, you will probably start seeing all the "hints" of the twist about to occur. Everything else was awesome, but not exactly in a good way.

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Shows some of the harsher realities of life

I rarely write reviews and ratings, but I believe this drama deserves one. My whole family watched this drama together for once (usually we don't do that) because we would find the storyline interesting as we are doing our business around the house.

SPOILER ALERT: My review will reveal some of the plots in a very general way but won't get to the specifics or include all of the plots. None of it will be in order in any way though, but if you want to find out yourselves maybe it's best to skip it. I can tell you my family enjoyed it though.

I think one of the most interesting aspects of the drama is how realistic it is. Like my headline says, it shows some of the harsher realities of life. It touched upon a lot of things in life that most of us would probably seldom mention. This would include the difference in treatment between siblings, disease/illness, childhood traumas, misunderstanding between family members, miscommunication between family members, economic problems arising from certain decisions, former spouses and their interactions (a lot of dramas don't explore separating but still entangled), etc.

It doesn't try to beautify anything. It includes things that can happen in life. It showed how hard growing up can be. While the solution it offers at times is to throw money at it (the family is pretty lucky to have some members capable of earning lots of money), it exposes A LOT of problems that can occur between people.

The best part for me is how well it ended. It shows that, at the end of the day, these people are still your family. It is not always a sign of weakness to give up something to accommodate each other. All the main characters had their own regrets in their lives, but they can still live on together while physically apart at the same time. They ended up finding a nice middle ground. Like the Chinese title (I don't think the English title reflects this as well) suggests, everything “都挺好.” It is not the best of things, but it is far from the worse.

Finally, I want to share what I feel like the message is. I think it is trying to say growing up is tough. Growing up is not about making correct decisions all the time, but to understand why some decisions/things happen even though you don't agree with it. Most of us will end up with a scar or two from bad decisions and mistakes, but that shouldn't stop you from living a full life with people that are important to you.

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