WingedBean

Looking at the high praise for this drama, I find myself wondering if I might have missed something. If you were to ask me to rate this on the cinematography, location, ambience, acting by our 2 main leads, and the music, it'd be an easy 10/10. But if we're going to talk about the plot, dialogue, the coherence of the story being told, that's where you lose me.

These leave me largely confused and disappointed for the following reasons

1. Lack of dialogue - It is no secret that I am not the biggest fan of stories told in silence. I enjoy dialogue in a story. You do not need to explain every sequence of events or every emotion to me. That's not what I need. Characters do not need to talk much, but when they do, it needs to be meaningful.

The use of dialogue in the story needs to tell me who they are, what they are feeling, their motivations, etc. This story lacks that. When our mains spoke, they often made me feel like I was in a philosophy class or something. It's cryptic and almost poetic, which is hella weird when you remember that

a. They are very young - In my head, Xiao Zhi was 16 at most, while Chen Li was 18, maybe 19. Imagine my shock at seeing XZ in uni
b. These cryptic, poetic, philosophical conversations were meant to be everyday, regular conversations. It felt like they wanted to make Xiao Zhi deep and maybe a little angsty, but in the end, it made him and his conversations a bit convoluted.

2. There's a lot of nothing going on in the first 4 and a half episodes - It's all nothing, but it is largely nothing. They spend their time running around in the orchard and the rain, eating fruit, talking about birds philosophically, watching each other swim and paint, and subtly touching. This is great. It shows us how those feelings developed. But it felt like a very drawn-out montage.

Because they do not talk about anything important, I ended up not feeling the impact of these moments.

While some commenters and reviewers say that the latter half was disappointing, I actually liked it more than the 1st half. Because this is where conversations happen. The dialogue that was lacking in the beginning is here, and it helps you feel more. It adds weight to what the show is trying to say. Helps you get into the minds of the characters and understand them

3. The resolution - They get their happy ending, but it doesn't feel earned. Especially from Chen Li's side. He ghosts Xiao Zhi for a year, comes back talking about 'I'm also your brother', ghosts again for 2 years, comes back with lychees just when Xiao Zhi is starting to move on, they have one micro conversation in Chen Li's house, and suddenly they live happily ever after...? Eh? This whole sequence left me with so many questions

a. How did XZ know the area that CL lived in?
b. What was that weird running sequence they showed us? Seriously, does anyone know why XZ was mimicking bike riding while running alongside that one bike rider on the street?

c. Why didn't they go deeper into Cl's struggles with accepting XZ's feelings outside the summer camp? Was it society as a whole that made him scared, or did it have something to do with XZ's weird-ass meddling brother?
d. Why was XZ's brother the way he was?
There are so many unanswered questions and unexplored things for me to be satisfied with the plot and overall progression in this story

All in all, I find myself thinking that 'Secrets Happened on the Litchi Island' is beautiful but empty. Visually, it's stunning, but emotionally, it's hollow. Like a sneeze that never quite materializes