At times, you get these dramas which throw you down a rabbit hole. It was 2 AM and I woke up still thinking about the Chinese Drama ‘Someday or One Day’, a week after finishing it. There was lots of internal head talk for this drama for me. You know the talk you have with yourself about the significance of what you saw. Writing about dramas can be a healing catharsis. While my explanation of the Chinese drama may make it less complicated to watch, I give away very little in the top section. The spoilers are separated below. The drama has only 13 episodes and is on DramaCool at present. The movie version of Someday or One Day is on VIKI at present, but this movie storyline is different from the drama. It is an alternative universe all together. I watched the Chinese version of this drama in anticipation of the Korean version ‘A Time Called You’, which will be dropping shortly in the latter half of 2023.

‘Someday or One Day’ is a heavily romantic drama. It is a complicated Time-Travel and Time-Loop Fantasy School Romance drama. This drama is a Time-Travel drama instead of a Time Slip, because there is a definite mode used for the Time-Travel. The viewer gets commentary on the action through important background information spoken by the characters throughout the drama. In addition, as with the Korean Time-Travel Fantasy Drama ‘My Perfect Stranger’, the big surprises are truly the big surprises. Someday or One Day received multiple post-production awards for writing.

One trick to understanding the 13 episode drama is to keep up with the two different names for the male and female leads. Taiwanese actor and singer Greg Hsu Han plays the modern day lover Wang Quan Sheng and the 1999 teenager Li Zi Wei. Taiwanese actress Alice Chia-yen Ko plays the modern day Huang Yu Xuan and the 1999 teenager Chen Yun Ru in whose body she inhabits during time travel. These are characters from different time universes. Taiwanese actor Patric Shih (1% World) plays Mo Jun Jie, who is the best friend of High Schooler Li Zi Wei. He is in love with the real Chen Yun Ru and can tell the difference between the two. While Huang Yu Xuan does take control over the body of Chen Yun Ru, Chen Yun Ru is forced to become a mere passive observer.

The main story pivots around Huang Yu Xuan, who is so in love with this wonderful guy who was her boyfriend (Wang Quan Sheng). He is missing and presumed deceased from a plane accident in the first time universe. She is distraught beyond existing. Mapped around this world is a second time universe which creates the opportunity for Time-Travel. Huang Yu Xuan has found out how to escape to this world while she sleeps listening to a particular song. In this alternative existence, Huang Yu Xuan lives her life through the body of her look-a-like, a High Schooler named Chen Yun Ru. In this universe, Chen Yun Ru loves Li Zi Wei, but she is loved by his best friend Mo Jun Jie. In the alternative existence, the deceased Wang Quan Sheng is a like-a-like for Li Zi Wei. Both worlds are mapped on top of each other and creates an inter-crossing of events as the Time Travel occurs, also creating time loops. Both worlds becomes connected because of the desperate need for Huang Yu Xuan to see again her deceased lover Wang Quan Sheng. There is a constant switching back and forth between each time period which is nearly 10-12 years apart.

This wonderful Time-Travel Romance Fantasy School Drama is about how love can transverse Time and Space and how love can be patient and sacrificial. The vehicle for Time-Travel is listening to this tape recording of the song ‘Last Dance’ by Wu Bai and Chinese Blue. Most confusion created by the two time universes should be cleared up by episode 3.

SPOILERS ⚡️⚡️⚡️⚡️?

This is a story about loneliness and depression, an emptied heart torn by the death of a love one and hope in seeing that dead loved one again.

At age 27 in 2019 in her Time Universe, Huang Yu Xuan was born in 1992. The real Chen Yun Ru dies on New Years Eve 1999 or Y2K at age 18 in her own time universe. She was born in 1981. Chen Yun Ru was murdered. As stated in the drama, Chen Yun Ru passed away in 1991 in the first timeline, but this death year changes (or is corrected in translation) as action fluctuates around changing circumstances, created by the Time Travel. I believe that the year 1991 is a mistranslation, because the timing does not work. In 1991, Chen Yun Ru would not have been in High School. She would have been around 10 years old. I believe that the timeline of the first death of Chen Yun Ru was 1999 and not 1991 as translated. The translators are mixing up Huang Yu Xuan (who was 7 in 1999) with Chen Yun Ru (who was 18 in 1999).

In 1999 the female protagonist Huang Yu Xuan (Huang Yu-hsuan) was 7 years old in this original timeline in the past. However from the future, she comes back to this same timeline, not as herself but the older teenager Chen Yun-ru (Her doppelgänger). As a little girl, Huang Yu Xuan does meets the male protagonist Li Zi Wei (Wang Quan Sheng) in 1999. She is the little girl who is lost and he gives her a ride home. This is covered in the last episode of the series. In the time travel backwards, Huang Yu Xuan exists as the older Chen Yun Ru and as herself. Since both of her existences are in the same time slot during time travel, they should never meet and they did not.

Li Zi Wei is 18/19 in 1999 and Chen Yun Ru is 18 when she dies in 1999. Huang Yu Xuan is about 7 in 1999, as we see Li Zi Wei meet her as a lost child. He buys her ice cream to stop her from crying. Little Huang Yu Xuan tells Li Zi Wei that she will marry him someday or one day. Being 7 in 1999, this would make the birth year of Huang Yu Xuan roughly 1992. That would mean in 2019 or 20 years later (You must count the year 2000), Huang Yu Xuan would be roughly 27. In 2019, Li Zi Wei should be 37-39. There is a 10-12 year age difference between Li Zi Wei and Huang Yu Xuan in the real time universe. Li Zi Wei is the doppelgängers for Wang Quan Sheng and he does take the place of Wang Quan Sheng when Wang Quan Sheng dies.

The modern day lover Wang Quan Sheng and the 1999 teenager Li Zi Wei are really the same exact person. Li Zi Wei lives through time and catches up with now grown Huang Yu Xuan in time in the late 2000s. Also, some may have missed that Li Zi Wei initiates all time travel, as he desperately tries to regain his first love Huang Yu Xuan/Chen Yun Ru. Li Zi Wei take over the life of the real Wang Quan Sheng who is gay and died tragically. In addition, Li Zi Wei tries to stop Chen Yun Ru’s murder through his own time travel. Best friend Mo Jun Jie was falsely blamed for the murder of Chen Yun Ru.

There is an unexplainable 10 year time difference in the original timeline which may have been caused by a translation error.

At age 27, Huang Yu Xuan lives in 2019 in her Universe and Chen Yun Ru dies 1999 at age 18 in the other time universe. Huang Yu Xuan is happy to inhabit the body of this teen girl (Chen Yun Ru) who should have died in an accident a couple of years back, but continues on as Chen Yun Ru. She will die shortly in the future in this second timeline (or there is a translation error). Chen Yun Ru’s World has in it Wang Quan Sheng’s look-a-like Li Zi Wei. It eases Huang Yu Xuan’s extreme pain to see and be with Wang Quan Sheng | Li Zi Wei. These two worlds converge at the “death” of Chen Yun Ru. With this background infonpmation of this time travel drama, the action in the drama may become clearer. In one Universe Wang Quan Sheng dies and in the other Universe Chen Yun Ru dies. Everything, but the death of Chen Yun Ru is put back in place.
All Is Corrected

To correct the havoc played on the timelines, because of the time travel interference (The Butterfly Effect—small changes here creates havoc with the whole time line there), drastic decisions are made. Time keeps looping as different life scenarios are realized and lost. In the end, time is corrected. Freed from the burden to love Wang Quan Sheng | Li Zi Wei, Chen Yun Ru allows herself to consider Mo Jun Jie. He waited patiently as the troubled and tortured triangle of Huang Yu Xuan, Chen Yun Ru, and Li Zi Wei played out. Through it all, Mo Jun Jie was willing to sacrifice his comfort and hopes to make sure that his love (Chen Yun Ru) was happy. It was the most endearing in the end for me to see his love realized.

Li Zi Wei had met 7 year old Huang Yu Xuan in the past. This meeting was fixed already historically. She promised to marry Li Zi Wei Someday or One day. In the natural undisturbed timeline their meeting in history would never change. Li Zi Wei should have and now must only accept how things play out in the future when Li Zi Wei and Huang Yu Xuan meet again.

My Timeline explanation of A Time Called You (The Korean remake of Someday or One Day) will help in understanding Someday or One Day.

Actors Corner

I would be remiss if I did not mention the excellent job that actress Alice Chia-yen Ko did with her two characters that she portrayed (Huang Yu Xuan | Chen Yun Ru). While Greg Hsu Han played both of his characters as the same likable person for a good reason. Alice Chia-yen Ko portrayed 17 year old Chen Yun Ru as a very timid, non confident unassuming teen and portrayed 27 year old Huang Yu Xuan as a very confident take no prisoners and take the lead 27 year old female. The two portrayals could not have been more different. Her performance won her many post production awards. Greg Hsu Han won a post production award as well. Both gave powerful performances.