This review may contain spoilers
I actually loved it!!
So after a long hiatus from cdramas, I dove into this series like any other and was instantly hooked. The cast completely won me over, and I have found my new favorite Chinese actors!
Now you may ask, with such an abrupt ending, how can anyone love it? But I think that makes this series more lovable and beautiful in a realistic sense.
The series begins with the FMC facing a day that spirals from bad to worse, a feeling we’ve all experienced. She aches for a new beginning after discovering her so-called best friend sabotaged her exam and manipulated her into a toxic relationship with her crush, all to derail her. The regret of a missed gaokao score lingers like a shadow. While most people never get a second chance, fate steps in when an elevator accident with her terrible boss leaves her in a coma.
The story rewinds ten years, giving her a chance to rewrite her fate. Armed with memories from her past life, she shields her parents from debt, guides her brother toward a job in the gaming industry rather than at the internet cafe, and pours herself into achieving a stellar Gaokao score. Despite her dislike of her boss, she persuades him to help her achieve a good Gaokao score, since he was once considered the top student at the high school. With his help and guidance, she gets into her dream university, finally living the campus life she always dreamed of. She is free from the regrets of lost love and her best friend’s manipulations. Happiness seems within her grasp.
The focus shifts to the MMC, who remembers his past life and is determined to make it better. In the past, it's shown that after losing his best friend in a car testing accident, he blames himself, spirals, and his life derails. It's also shown that the MMC has always liked the FMC, who was working at the company. He hates that she gave up her ambitions and goals because of her then-boyfriend, who was just a leech and never treated her right. Since he also remembers his past, he wants to make his second chance at life "right." He saves his best friend from dying (which, I might add, just alters everything in real life; you can never bring anyone back from the dead or save them because there's no way around it, even in a fictional sense; maybe I'm being too realistic here, but that's just my opinion). He pursues his attraction to the FMC, but he is also afraid of messing everything up because, well, he has liked her for more than ten years.
Through it all, you see that once they get together, they build happiness for themselves, and it shows how different a life they could've had if they'd had a little courage, taken more risks, and not given a damn about other people's opinions of what they could or couldn't do. But this comes with the knowledge of their past selves, and since they've both seen the worst, they want something better for this life. You can see how they reflect and how different their perceptions are. The MMC is more open to experiences and life than he was before, and the FMC is not dwelling on what she could've done and is just bulldozing ahead with what she believes she could've gotten if her best friend wasn't being an absolute bitch to her. But somewhere, you see the cracks in the perfect second life. Even if you completely change your life and it works, are you actually living that, or is it still your first life? Are you actually living the life you wanna live because you actually want to?
I believe this drama shows you that if all of us had gotten a second chance, we would've seen the bullshit coming at us a mile away, dodged it, and made it out with a better outcome. But at the end of the day, we're all living life for the first time, and it's important we don't dwell on the past, learn and grow from our mistakes, but not let the past dictate us, because this is our first life. We gotta be a little patient, take some risks, and explore our world and the world outside a little, just to show us there are so many possibilities, and you just gotta give yourself a chance.
Now you may ask, with such an abrupt ending, how can anyone love it? But I think that makes this series more lovable and beautiful in a realistic sense.
The series begins with the FMC facing a day that spirals from bad to worse, a feeling we’ve all experienced. She aches for a new beginning after discovering her so-called best friend sabotaged her exam and manipulated her into a toxic relationship with her crush, all to derail her. The regret of a missed gaokao score lingers like a shadow. While most people never get a second chance, fate steps in when an elevator accident with her terrible boss leaves her in a coma.
The story rewinds ten years, giving her a chance to rewrite her fate. Armed with memories from her past life, she shields her parents from debt, guides her brother toward a job in the gaming industry rather than at the internet cafe, and pours herself into achieving a stellar Gaokao score. Despite her dislike of her boss, she persuades him to help her achieve a good Gaokao score, since he was once considered the top student at the high school. With his help and guidance, she gets into her dream university, finally living the campus life she always dreamed of. She is free from the regrets of lost love and her best friend’s manipulations. Happiness seems within her grasp.
The focus shifts to the MMC, who remembers his past life and is determined to make it better. In the past, it's shown that after losing his best friend in a car testing accident, he blames himself, spirals, and his life derails. It's also shown that the MMC has always liked the FMC, who was working at the company. He hates that she gave up her ambitions and goals because of her then-boyfriend, who was just a leech and never treated her right. Since he also remembers his past, he wants to make his second chance at life "right." He saves his best friend from dying (which, I might add, just alters everything in real life; you can never bring anyone back from the dead or save them because there's no way around it, even in a fictional sense; maybe I'm being too realistic here, but that's just my opinion). He pursues his attraction to the FMC, but he is also afraid of messing everything up because, well, he has liked her for more than ten years.
Through it all, you see that once they get together, they build happiness for themselves, and it shows how different a life they could've had if they'd had a little courage, taken more risks, and not given a damn about other people's opinions of what they could or couldn't do. But this comes with the knowledge of their past selves, and since they've both seen the worst, they want something better for this life. You can see how they reflect and how different their perceptions are. The MMC is more open to experiences and life than he was before, and the FMC is not dwelling on what she could've done and is just bulldozing ahead with what she believes she could've gotten if her best friend wasn't being an absolute bitch to her. But somewhere, you see the cracks in the perfect second life. Even if you completely change your life and it works, are you actually living that, or is it still your first life? Are you actually living the life you wanna live because you actually want to?
I believe this drama shows you that if all of us had gotten a second chance, we would've seen the bullshit coming at us a mile away, dodged it, and made it out with a better outcome. But at the end of the day, we're all living life for the first time, and it's important we don't dwell on the past, learn and grow from our mistakes, but not let the past dictate us, because this is our first life. We gotta be a little patient, take some risks, and explore our world and the world outside a little, just to show us there are so many possibilities, and you just gotta give yourself a chance.
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