mochachen
This review may contain spoilers
I never bother reviewing any dramas here, so you know this is worth it if I do.
In all my years (approx 15years) of dramaing, I never bother to create an account or write a review here. But, I thought this drama deserves a go. I really fell in love with this drama, to the point I dropped ALL of my other dramas to focus on this drama alone, which I've never done. Not even with Eternal Love Peach Blossom or any other great dramas. I have a tendency to skip episodes or skim through episodes, I even skipped an ep of Eternal LovePB, but I never did with Go Ahead, so that should say a lot.
The first two eps already brought me to tears, the child actors played phenomenal in their roles. You can already distinguish what their personalities would be like as adults so I think the child actors played an important role in this drama to bring the feels in such a short beginning of this drama. I was first attracted to this drama because of the trio, Tang Songyun, Steven Zhang, SWL, as the three all have their respective successful works this year. So to have all three in one drama is unheard of and just such a treat- it will also never happen again.
Now on to the drama, the drama is more family centered, hence the Chinese name "in the name of family"...I honestly don't know why they went with "Go Ahead". The drama depicts serious topics that not many would delve into, that is mental health and childhood trauma. How childhood experiences can traumatically influence adulthood. This drama also touches a lot of other spectrum of different family dynamics: tiger moms, moms that exploit monetary values of their children, left behind children (villages), divorced families, single dads. How all these types of family dynamics influenced the individual's adolescences and the person they become in adulthood.
No character is perfect, everyone seemed to have a scar of their own, especially the main two male leads. LingXiao (LX) seemed like the most perfect guy: tall, handsome, highly educated, smart, great career, high paying job, gentle and caring. Yet, I find him to be the most scarred and most pitiful character. His scars and sadness can't be seen bc it's all mental. What he went through as a child and later on in younger adulthood was truly unfair to him. He never got the proper mental help he desperately needed as a kid, thankfully JianJian(JJ) was there to save him. ZiQiu (ZQ), is another male lead, his abandonment issues was pretty evident. He was a tear jerker yet also the comedic part of the drama. I think Steven did amazingly as ZQ! JJ seemed like the saint in this drama, she has no jealousy and no resentment on anyone. She always forgave and was the one that supported everyone. Perhaps, it's bc of her artistic side that gave her a more empathetic and perceptive insight in life. So when she is sad and upset or cry I instantly cry along with her. Imagine the happy sunshine crying, that's outrageous and abnormal and everyone should do something to stop the sadness being emitted from her. I liked the cp, ok I'm obsessed with the cp, especially knowing how much JJ means to LX. How JJ was basically the light and hope that helped LX carry on that 9 years of hell and torment. I seriously think he would've given up and suicide if it wasn't for the fact that he wanted to see her again. When JJ asked him what he did all theose years in Singapore, LX replied with "missing you, missing home, day dreaming. Dreaming about being with you, dreaming about marrying you and having a kid....I even thought of our baby's name." I think anyone can tell how desperately he wanted to leave Singapore and go to JJ, how thinking about JJ was his only salvation to endure all those pain and hardship. Sadly, I think some people don't understand LX enough so they dislike his actor and SWL that acted as LX. I think it's bc he doesn't express his feelings and pain as openly as ZQ, he doesn't cry openly and he's not a happy sunshine like ZQ. It's bc he learned to be understanding as young as 7 years old. He keeps his true feelings and emotions inside all bottled up which is really really aversive to his mental wellbeing. He's a more closed off and solemn character that doesn't like to be close to anyone except his family (excluding his mom for good reasons). He has no will or energy to interact with anyone, and I find it heartbreaking but also understandable. Some people can't accept the fact that he suddenly liked the female lead or that he forced her to like him. Well if any viewer was perceptive enough for just a tiny bit can see that he viewed JJ as more of a female of the opposite sex than a sibling. I believe it was in ep 3 where his behaviours already portrayed his feelings towards JJ was different from how ZQ sees JJ as a kid sister. As you can see I've analyzed LX's character to a T, so I love LX's character very much.
The OST are all soo good, to the point I dl all the songs on Spotify. Each song does so well to bring the emotions in the drama out. The only pet peeve I have with this drama is the side characters have way too many scenes and unnecessarily bigger roles than they should have. There were 3 episodes where the main male lead wasn't even in it!! What kinda blasphemy is this, I've never in my entire life watched a drama with no main lead in it for so many eps. I get that the drama is trying to draw a closure to other characters' problems but I don't need 3 freaken eps of it. I had to grind through that. I also didn't like how the director or writer simply wiped clean of all the antagonist's wrongdoings by simply suiciding. I thought it was a selfish act upon the antagonist as it would've brought much more pain to the main lead and antagonist's family. Sometimes, not everything or everyone deserves forgiveness. I also didn't like how there wasn't enough air time for the cp, I was thirsting for their sweet scenes and I didn't get enough of it. I had to keep reminding myself this was a family centered drama not an idol romcom.
Overall, I really enjoyed this drama! This drama has a deep meaning, it portrays different family dynamics, mental wellness, child abuse/trauma, abandonment issues, departure and re-connection, forgiveness and reconciliation, friendship and love. A drama that's definitely worth watching.
The first two eps already brought me to tears, the child actors played phenomenal in their roles. You can already distinguish what their personalities would be like as adults so I think the child actors played an important role in this drama to bring the feels in such a short beginning of this drama. I was first attracted to this drama because of the trio, Tang Songyun, Steven Zhang, SWL, as the three all have their respective successful works this year. So to have all three in one drama is unheard of and just such a treat- it will also never happen again.
Now on to the drama, the drama is more family centered, hence the Chinese name "in the name of family"...I honestly don't know why they went with "Go Ahead". The drama depicts serious topics that not many would delve into, that is mental health and childhood trauma. How childhood experiences can traumatically influence adulthood. This drama also touches a lot of other spectrum of different family dynamics: tiger moms, moms that exploit monetary values of their children, left behind children (villages), divorced families, single dads. How all these types of family dynamics influenced the individual's adolescences and the person they become in adulthood.
No character is perfect, everyone seemed to have a scar of their own, especially the main two male leads. LingXiao (LX) seemed like the most perfect guy: tall, handsome, highly educated, smart, great career, high paying job, gentle and caring. Yet, I find him to be the most scarred and most pitiful character. His scars and sadness can't be seen bc it's all mental. What he went through as a child and later on in younger adulthood was truly unfair to him. He never got the proper mental help he desperately needed as a kid, thankfully JianJian(JJ) was there to save him. ZiQiu (ZQ), is another male lead, his abandonment issues was pretty evident. He was a tear jerker yet also the comedic part of the drama. I think Steven did amazingly as ZQ! JJ seemed like the saint in this drama, she has no jealousy and no resentment on anyone. She always forgave and was the one that supported everyone. Perhaps, it's bc of her artistic side that gave her a more empathetic and perceptive insight in life. So when she is sad and upset or cry I instantly cry along with her. Imagine the happy sunshine crying, that's outrageous and abnormal and everyone should do something to stop the sadness being emitted from her. I liked the cp, ok I'm obsessed with the cp, especially knowing how much JJ means to LX. How JJ was basically the light and hope that helped LX carry on that 9 years of hell and torment. I seriously think he would've given up and suicide if it wasn't for the fact that he wanted to see her again. When JJ asked him what he did all theose years in Singapore, LX replied with "missing you, missing home, day dreaming. Dreaming about being with you, dreaming about marrying you and having a kid....I even thought of our baby's name." I think anyone can tell how desperately he wanted to leave Singapore and go to JJ, how thinking about JJ was his only salvation to endure all those pain and hardship. Sadly, I think some people don't understand LX enough so they dislike his actor and SWL that acted as LX. I think it's bc he doesn't express his feelings and pain as openly as ZQ, he doesn't cry openly and he's not a happy sunshine like ZQ. It's bc he learned to be understanding as young as 7 years old. He keeps his true feelings and emotions inside all bottled up which is really really aversive to his mental wellbeing. He's a more closed off and solemn character that doesn't like to be close to anyone except his family (excluding his mom for good reasons). He has no will or energy to interact with anyone, and I find it heartbreaking but also understandable. Some people can't accept the fact that he suddenly liked the female lead or that he forced her to like him. Well if any viewer was perceptive enough for just a tiny bit can see that he viewed JJ as more of a female of the opposite sex than a sibling. I believe it was in ep 3 where his behaviours already portrayed his feelings towards JJ was different from how ZQ sees JJ as a kid sister. As you can see I've analyzed LX's character to a T, so I love LX's character very much.
The OST are all soo good, to the point I dl all the songs on Spotify. Each song does so well to bring the emotions in the drama out. The only pet peeve I have with this drama is the side characters have way too many scenes and unnecessarily bigger roles than they should have. There were 3 episodes where the main male lead wasn't even in it!! What kinda blasphemy is this, I've never in my entire life watched a drama with no main lead in it for so many eps. I get that the drama is trying to draw a closure to other characters' problems but I don't need 3 freaken eps of it. I had to grind through that. I also didn't like how the director or writer simply wiped clean of all the antagonist's wrongdoings by simply suiciding. I thought it was a selfish act upon the antagonist as it would've brought much more pain to the main lead and antagonist's family. Sometimes, not everything or everyone deserves forgiveness. I also didn't like how there wasn't enough air time for the cp, I was thirsting for their sweet scenes and I didn't get enough of it. I had to keep reminding myself this was a family centered drama not an idol romcom.
Overall, I really enjoyed this drama! This drama has a deep meaning, it portrays different family dynamics, mental wellness, child abuse/trauma, abandonment issues, departure and re-connection, forgiveness and reconciliation, friendship and love. A drama that's definitely worth watching.
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