Zogitt

This series grabbed and held my attention right from the start. The small town setting is refreshing. The warm and quirky locals gave the drama a cosy feel. It is a hoot when the entitled FL lands with a thud in the middle of the backwaters town and start the whole fish-out-of-water trope. But wait! There is more. Toss in a handsome, no-nonsense ML and we get the central enemy-to-lover storyline. Those innocent villagers are in for a wild ride!

Everything is going swimmingly for a while. I don't think I'm spoiling anything by telling you our leads are falling in love by the day. Unfortunately, as they played students in preparation for the Gaokao, they have to play it straight. Lots of accidental closeness, cutesy gestures and meaningful gazes are all we are getting.

I'd happily eat all that up and ask for more. Even the odd second leads seem to read the room and fades away gracefully. What a pleasant change. Unfortunately, the distracting side plots just keep piling up.

Most of these subplots are of little significance and centred around small town shenanigans and school yard antics. There are also some criminals running amok in the background. I don't understand why those repeated offenders are not hauled away. You'd think the production would be keen to send an anti-crime message. Yet, the same gang pops up repeatedly.

All these subplots only serve to hamstring our OTP's progress. While both our leads are close to 30yo in real life, they must look and act like teenagers for the bulk of the show. They did well for the most parts. How I wish their young love is as straightforward. (sigh)

Let's face it, by the 2/3 mark, they are together in every sense of the word other than going public and doing all the couple things. We end up in this vicious cycle of maximum yearning but minimal fan service. Just when you think they can breakout after the Gaokao, the FL's father happened.

As expected, our leads lost all their agency and must default to "your father know best". This is a insurmountable roadblock as far as our leads are concerned. The writer then play the Noble Idiot card on us with minimum warning . . just for LoL. To rub salt into the wound, this lasted FIVE miserable years!

Call me stupid, but what is the point of this "twist"? This is just gambling with your future. What happens if one of them got hit by a Big White Truck of Doom™? What if someone swept them off their feet and they meet again years later with spouse and bambini in tow? I'm sure this is a trope as well. 🤦🏻

As if to confirm the pointlessness of it all, once they found each other again, they went from 👋🏻 to get a 🛏️ in one EP. They could have had 2.2 kids by now. Grrrr

Which brings us to the last 3 eps. It is fan service overload. Everyone either gets a redemption or are living their best lives. They need to seriously market that town as some kind of Happiness Retreat. Of course, our leads are 110% together by then and inseparable. Woe to anyone who stood in their way.

I'm not saying this is a bad show. It is an easy watch with nice characters and a cosy setting. I just wish they didn't fluff around (technical term) in the middle and double down on the Noble Idiot trope. It turned a promising romantic drama into a typical idol village/school drama. Peace.