A love story can be messy, toxic, and yet beautiful❤️
The Early Spring is not for people who only enjoys a nice love story as this drama isn't. The leads aren't nice either. They are flawed and have their shortcomings. But they want to love and be loved. It's just their flaws and their insecurities are the main hurdles. And that made their love toxic. But their love is true, and for their love, they are ready to grow.You don't always need to be better to deserve love. Along with love, you can become better.
Before the drama premier, I have already read the novel and enjoyed it. But as the drama is different, I'll mainly talk about the drama. Firstly, 24 episodes are not enough to express the characters, their relationship and their flaws. In many of the leads' misunderstandings, I felt it could be more slow and shown more deeply. I wanted to understand them more, but there was not enough material. And therefore, there was a disconnection with the characters. Or, I had to put effort myself and analyze the characters so that I could understand them. And let me tell you, you can misinterpret a lot here. However I still want to give a big applause to Jing Boran (Luan Nian) and Sun Qian (Shang Zitao), they had done a remarkable job in this drama. Their acting, chemistry, and their own understanding of the characters, deserves appreciation. At some points, their chemistry was the one saving this drama.
Still, the makers did a good job covering everything in just 24 eps. The direction, lightning, cinematography and music came out perfectly. Even with the fast pace, you find yourself lost in the story, and waiting for the next eps. All the supporting cast, they were perfect. No actor made me feel that they could have been better. I also loved, they gave quite a lot of screentime towards Shang Zitao's ambitions and her journey from an employer to starting a startup. It really inspired me that for a woman who comes from a small town and have no connections, her career is the most important. And at the same time, they rightfully showed that this journey can be brutal too.
About editing, I found it too inconsistent. I would love if there were time skips mentioned directly. I found it too confusing about how many years have passed. Also the scene changes felt too abrupt, as the mood changed too, and I didn't have enough time to go with it.
But overall, I enjoyed watching the drama, it was fun. Also we don't find this type of dramas often, and i don't think it's wrong to enjoy a toxic love story. Rather than glorifying it, you can just learn what you must not do in your own relationship. Many of chinese novels have complex characters, but on drama, they change it to green flag, perfect ones. I don't have anything against of it, but in reality, we are not perfect. Also, otherwise, all the dramas will have the same template. The Early Spring brought a different spice on the pallet, and we can enjoy it simply without getting too involved. Maybe take some lessons and go with our life.
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It's full of yearning!
Just finished watching the drama, and I will certainly take a week at least to get over this. The music is still playing in my mind, the actors' voices are all I am hearing, and the warmth is still lingering...This drama captivated me at the very first episode, that the very next day I started the novel it's based upon. They have changed the story a lot, some I liked some I didn't. But overall, I don't have any complaint. I saw many novel fans are disappointed with the changes, but they seemed okay to me. Though some ridiculous details are there, but the vibe, aesthetic, music, acting, didn't let me focus on those. And I only find myself every morning before the laptop waiting for the episodes to release.
The drama provides the peak angsty, yearning, losers characters. I mean why the ml says he will make the fl beg for him, and the next moment, begging is what he's doing. He's such a loser in love. He doesn't care being used as long as fl stays by his side.
I really love Keyu as Lu XiXiao and Bao Shangen as Zhou Wan, their chemistry is really what I was not expecting, they are so comfortable with each other, many scenes felt like they were not scripted. Perhaps being the same age added a charm, their acting really was natural to me in all their duo scenes. I saw Keyu first in Always Home, I know he is a brilliant actor. In this drama too, one can really feel his yearning, frustration, helplessness, his eyes are so expressive. This is my first time seeing Bao Shang en, I will say she really done a good job as Zhou Wan. I remember in the novel, it was mentioned, Zhou wan was innocent looking but wasn't exactly, also she is so independent that whenever someone is kind to her, she feels burdened and wants to repay it tenfold. And she asked lu xixiao to not be kind/good to her. Though in drama I guess they did not exactly include this, but you can really understand the moral conflicts she faced. She is a complex character, not the pure, innocent, cheerful one. I will say the actress done really well to showcase that, however I would really love if they could include more scenes explaining her thoughts.
About the story plot, I loved a lot of changes they have done, but one really put me off. Making the fl call ml brother once. It was really ridiculous to me. Also making them live together at ml father's house. It don't think it was really required. One more thing, they really need to understand forced kisses are not exactly romantic.
At last, I enjoyed the drama a lot, the chemistry is what one must really look forward to. And the fl and ml suffers a lot, so be ready to bawl your eyes.
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