Reviews

In line with a big budget series! Phenomenal !

Okay, I did not know what to expect and I'm very glad because this little drama series did a lot with the little time it had for each episode. This was a very well crafted and executed drama series for boy love...you really will forget at times that boys love is the overall theme.

The main protagonist were wonderful. They did their job and I hope to see more from them both, not just in this genre but I want to see them cast in other mainstream dramas that premier on major networks. Wishing them many successes.

The supporting cast, they also performed and executed, they did not leave the heavy lifting up to the main leads.

The Directors, Producers, Casting Directors, Stylist, etc...everyone put major effort into this series...from music, cinematography, location, wardrobe...the entire store, there were no plot holes. This is definitely going on my rewatch list.

I hope others will give it an honest watch and raise the viewership numbers, and keep talking it up everywhere.

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They dared take a chance, and it was worth it

⛓️‍💥Two main things stand out about this BL⛓️‍💥
1. The topic - Crime/Thriller is not a thing seen before in a Korean BL. At least not that I'm aware of. It felt like a breath of fresh air. For the most part, the show managed to balance the development of the relationship as well as maintaining the intrigue of the case

2. The actors - Aside from the fact that they are quite good at portraying their assigned characters and emotions, their chemistry is magnetic. Their story starts off as a rather toxic and hurtful one to both. The actor playing Tae Son does a great job of portraying desire mixed with hate. I loathed him for the 1st 3 episodes. If you saw someone in the comment section call Ju Tae Son an adult bully, that was me.

Chae Ha actor nailed his miserable role rather well. While the drama doesn't show us much of his life b4 where the story starts, you can tell through his demeanor and the few flashbacks that he's had a rather hard life. It was riveting watching how he still sort out Tae Son, unable to resist his desire for him and the warmth he provided. This is despite the fact that Tae Son constantly hurting him with his words and actions - the sex was also probably rough as all heck but little Chae Ha likely loved it. And who am I to judge?

⛓️‍💥Unfortunately, the last two episodes are a letdown. Due to time constraints, the ending is very rushed. ⛓️‍💥

We as the audience do not get a satisfactory ending/answers to

1. The case that this entire show was based on. They built it up so much only for it to end up kinda meh and confusing. There are so many questions left and unanswered. We shall also not be talking about how everything just conveniently came together in these last 2 episodes. Everything and everyone was where they needed to be to close the case and let the mains, largely Tae Son win. Makes zero sense. The show says and shows that the case was resolved but as the audience, I am left feeling like it wasn't. Very anticlimactic

2. The resolution of the r/ship - Ep 8 dropped the bomb of the century to these two characters. Based on how big that reveal was and how the incidents surrounding the secret and their relationship affected them all their lives, the resolution should've never been that fast. That anticlimactic. We needed angst, we needed groveling and we deserved a better conversation between the two on how to move forward. Love that they got their happy ending but like...idk, it felt a bit empty. All that hate and hurt resolved just like that? Nah, I'm salty about it

Final Thoughts,
Despite the atrocity that is the last 2 episodes, I say that this is a decent BL/Crime drama. It is a worthy watch just to see the electric chemistry that these two actors bring to the table

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What A great movie!!!!!!

I need therapy after this movie... It was truly amazing, so realistic, and the cinematography was absolutely fantastic!!!! I really commend it... And the actors, let me not even mention Nadech and Daou, they did an absolutely brilliant job!!!
It was insane... The whole movie made me nervous, but the last 30 minutes were the most nerve-wracking and crazy of all. As a Daou fan, it was so stressful for my nerves. I was so nervous and on edge the whole time.

Everyone put in a fantastic effort. Filming took place in harsh weather conditions, but despite that, everyone did a great job, and the production team did an amazing job bringing the work to light in this way.

I really recommend it only to fans of action and blood, or those with strong hearts.

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MORE DIVERSE GENRES OF BL PLZ!

I was so excited to watch a case-breaking prosecutor-investigator couple, enemies who were never meant to fall in love. The son of a murderer & the victim teaming up to solve their fathers’ case is such a yummy premise & it was executed really well. You can really understand Taeseon’s anger & need for revenge, realising Chaeha is also in the same hell & suffering worse than him. Yet Chaeha is inherently kind & timid, which melts Taeseon’s cold heart. The mystery solving of 5 random cases that are secretly linked was also detailed & interesting.
All the actors were amazing, big shout out to actress who played Jayoung! Yoonshik was oozing aura in every scene, especially the criminal questioning scenes (the rhythm of his line delivery was sublime). GIVE HIM ANOTHER LAWYER ROLE STAT! The cinematography was so so so good, I had chills (but FAWK the ai beach, that’s why I’m not giving this drama a 10/10. And I think the extremely short runtime doesn’t do justice to the novel & story). The director def had a VISION, the movement of scenes was so well through out. And ofc the intimate scenes are legendary. I’ve replayed the finger to mouth to mouth(!) part too many times to be normal. Real freaky shit by REAL FREAKS (the fckn handcuffs as a confession is MICHIN). The chemistry was through the roof, can we get a season 2? Pretty please?

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Great, engaging story with such a talented cast

The story of this drama was engaging, kept its fast pace throughout the whole series, and had my heart pounding and me sitting on the edge of my seat a lot. Some of the plot twists were really mind-blowing and quite unpredictable (they fooled me more than once... and big time!), and the romance of the main couple was beautiful, sincere, and warm. The greatest joy for me was that for once, novel-readers couldn't accidentally spoil the plot for me, because, well — it's an original!

For everyone who worries about the age gap between AiMi and Hou Minghao and maybe hesitates to watch this for that particular reason, I can tell you — the romance doesn't include kisses. It's mostly platonic, with some embraces, hand-holding, and warm gazes at each other.

As for the characters, Xiao WuYi was easily my favourite one. Not only because he was played by one of my favourite actors, but also because his growth was the most visible. He started off quite calculating and deceptive, with only his mission on his mind, not caring about his fearsome reputation or his own life, for that matter. Yet, gradually, through his love for Xie JiaYu, he learned to value his life and changed some of his views on other things, as well as his relationships with the people around him.

Xie JiaYu was the other character whose growth was very visible. She started off as a cheerful, carefree, and mischievous girl, sheltered by her parents and full of idealistic dreams, yet the hurdles on her path changed her beautifully into a mature, responsible young woman, while always remaining able to choose the path she preferred.

A special joy for me was having Riley Wang and Peter Ho among the cast. I had seen Peter Ho only once before in Unchained Love, but his talent really left a huge impression on me there. And with his performance here, he proved once again what a masterful actor he is! As for Riley Wang, he has stayed in my mind for his wonderful role alongside HMH in Back From the Brink.

HMH once again showed what a talent he is! Not only did his performance look as though he lived his role, but he also took part in most of the OST songs. He has such a wonderful voice, and his talent is amazing as both an actor and singer. I think this is one of the few dramas where I watched the opening credits in every single episode! That song... Well, that was a masterpiece to my ears. And something completely different from the rest of HMH's repertoire that I've heard.

As for AiMi, this was the first of her works I have seen. I think she's very talented and was able to portray quite a wide range of emotions. I expect her to have an amazing career ahead, and I will be looking forward to her other works in the future as I expect her talent will only grow. Also, her looks remind me a lot of Olivia Rodrigo, especially in her teen years.

In conclusion, I think the drama was very good, and I personally enjoyed it a lot. However, due to the controversy surrounding the age gap of the lead actors, I'll leave it up to each person to decide if watching this is right for them!

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I HATE Min Jun/Je déteste Min Jun

English:
This show was okay. It was EXTREMELY similar to "Our Dating Sim," and that show was way better than this one. Min Jun pissed me off beyond belief. He kept blaming Jin Hwan for everything when it was LITERALLY MIN JUN'S FAULT. He kept assuming things and never talked them out with Jin Hwan. Even after the 8 years, when Jin Hwan and Min Jun talked everything out, Min Jun kept saying "we're incompatible," and Jin Hwan was trying to reassure him, saying, "we know what went wrong last time, and we know how to fix it and do better this time," but Min Jun just REFUSED TO BE COMPETENT AND LISTEN. I was getting so heated watching this because of Min Jun. However, I loved Jin Hwan. Jin Hwan was so sweet and caring towards Min Jun, and the actor of Jin Hwan literally has the CUTEST smile. I love him. Other than Min Jun as a whole, this show was pretty good overall. I like how it was short (longer shows tend to drag out plot points and I hate that), and the actors were really talented. Overall, I think this was a decent show. I don't think I'll rewatch this, but it was a good one-time watch.

Français:
Cette émission était correcte. Elle était EXTRÊMEMENT similaire à "Our Dating Sim" et cette émission était bien meilleure que celle-ci. Min Jun m'a énervé au-delà de toute croyance. Il n'arrêtait pas de blâmer Jin Hwan pour tout alors que c'était LITTÉRALEMENT LA FAUTE DE MIN JUN. Il supposait des choses et n'en parlait jamais avec Jin Hwan. Même après les 8 ans où Jin Hwan et Min Jun ont tout réglé, Min Jun continuait de dire "nous sommes incompatibles" et Jin Hwan essayait de le rassurer en disant : "nous savons ce qui a mal tourné la dernière fois, et nous savons comment le réparer et faire mieux cette fois," mais Min Jun REFUSAIT simplement D'ÊTRE COMPÉTENT ET D'ÉCOUTER. Je devenais tellement en colère en regardant ça à cause de Min Jun. Cependant, j'ai adoré Jin Hwan. Jin Hwan était tellement doux et attentionné envers Min Jun, et l'acteur de Jin Hwan a littéralement LE SOURIRE LE PLUS MIGNON. Je l'adore. À part Min Jun en entier, cette émission était plutôt bonne dans l'ensemble. J'ai aimé que ce soit long (les émissions plus longues ont tendance à étirer les intrigues et je déteste ça), et les acteurs étaient vraiment talentueux. Dans l'ensemble, je pense que c'était une émission correcte. Je ne pense pas que je la reverrai, mais c'était agréable à regarder une seule fois.

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I admired its mysteries, loved its OST, and respected its cast more than I loved the story itself.

Some mystery dramas make you obsessed with solving the case.

Others make you emotionally attached to the people solving it.

For me, Unveil: Jadewind leaned much more toward the first.

That doesn't mean it wasn't a good drama.

In fact, I genuinely enjoyed watching it from beginning to end.
I simply never reached the point where I became emotionally attached to its characters the way I did with dramas like Coroner's Diary, Blossom, A Journey to Love, or Youthful Glory.

Perhaps that's why my overall experience felt more like admiration than emotional attachment.

Going into this drama, I was immediately drawn by the casting.

Bai Lu and Wang Xing Yue are already two of the actors I deeply respect, so dropping this drama was never an option for me.

Even during the slower stretches, I genuinely enjoyed watching both of them bring their characters to life.

One of the drama's biggest strengths is Bai Lu's portrayal of Li Pei Yi.

She isn't written as an overpowered heroine driven solely by revenge.

Instead, she carries years of grief with quiet restraint.

Every investigation, every clue, and every step she takes is rooted in one purpose—finding justice for the brutal massacre of her family.

Bai Lu portrayed that determination beautifully.

She never relied on exaggerated emotional breakdowns to make the audience sympathize with her.

Instead, she expressed Li Pei Yi's pain through subtle expressions, quiet moments, and unwavering resolve.

Watching her reminded me once again why she continues to be one of my favorite actresses in historical dramas.

I was equally impressed by Wang Xing Yue as Xiao Huai Jin.

Coming from roles where he often portrays intimidating, dominant, and physically powerful characters, this role felt surprisingly refreshing.

At first, I actually found myself frustrated.

I'm so used to loving male leads who are both brilliant strategists and terrifying martial artists that watching Xiao Huai Jin rely almost entirely on intelligence instead of combat felt unusual.

There were countless moments when I wanted him to simply draw his sword and fight beside Li Pei Yi.

Instead, he remained calm.

Observant.

Patient.

His greatest weapon wasn't martial arts.

It was wisdom.

As the story progressed, I realized that was exactly what made his character unique.

Not every hero has to save people through strength.

Some save them through truth.

That quiet confidence eventually became one of the things I appreciated most about him.

The chemistry between Bai Lu and Wang Xing Yue was natural and believable.

I liked them together.

I rooted for them.

But if I'm being completely honest, I never became deeply emotionally invested in their romance.

Their relationship quietly complemented the investigations rather than becoming the emotional center of the story.

The biggest reason for that, at least for me, was the structure of the narrative.

The drama follows a procedural format.

One case.

Another investigation.

Another mystery.

Another clue.

Each individual case was interesting enough to keep me watching.

But throughout much of the series, I often found myself asking the same question:

"How does this connect to Li Pei Yi's family massacre?"

Sometimes the connection was obvious.
Other times, it felt distant enough that I temporarily lost sight of the emotional core of the story.

I understood that each investigation was gradually building toward the truth, but emotionally, I occasionally felt disconnected from Li Pei Yi's revenge journey.

Episode 22 finally changed that feeling.
The brutal murder of Li Pei Yi's master genuinely shocked me.

His throat being slit before being stabbed through the heart was one of the most brutal scenes in the drama.

It wasn't simply another character death.

It was the moment when the conspiracy suddenly felt real.

The danger became personal.

The cost of uncovering the truth became painfully clear.

I honestly thought Episode 30 marked the climax after the mastermind behind the massacre was finally revealed.

But I was wrong.

The revelation wasn't the ending.

It was only the beginning of the final revenge arc.
Because exposing the mastermind wasn't enough.

As the powerful Right Chancellor, his position allowed him to hide behind authority and political influence.

The final four episodes shifted away from simply uncovering the truth and focused instead on finally delivering justice.

Looking back, I actually appreciated those final episodes much more than I expected.

They completed Li Pei Yi's revenge in a satisfying way while reminding viewers that revealing the truth and achieving justice are two very different battles.

If there is one aspect of the drama that completely won me over, it would be the soundtrack.

I absolutely loved the opening theme.

Netflix gives you the option to skip the intro after a few seconds.

I never did.

Not once.

Every episode, I let the opening play from beginning to end because the music perfectly captured the elegant, mysterious, and melancholic atmosphere of the story.
It became part of the experience rather than something to skip.

Visually, the drama remained consistently beautiful.

The cinematography, costumes, lighting, and historical aesthetics were all well executed and helped maintain the elegant tone throughout the series.

Looking back after finishing all 34 episodes, I realized something.

I never once considered dropping this drama.

I genuinely enjoyed every episode.

I admired the intelligent investigations.

I respected Bai Lu's restrained yet powerful performance.

I appreciated Wang Xing Yue's calm, thoughtful interpretation of Xiao Huai Jin.

I loved the soundtrack.

And I found the final revenge arc satisfying.

Yet despite all of those strengths...

I never fell in love with the drama emotionally.

I admired it far more than I loved it.

And sometimes, that's perfectly okay.

Not every historical drama has to become one of my all-time favorites.

Some deserve recognition simply for telling a well-written mystery with strong performances and a satisfying conclusion.

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I love this series!

Hey so I just finished this drama and it's amazing!! when Ai Mi was announced to be the female lead, I had no hesitation waiting and to watch for this. Despite the age gap issues, I think the leads executed the romance well-enough that I don't mind when they had zero kissing scenes. I can really feel the chemistry with their expressive lovey-dovey acting!

Plot wise, the pacing is just alright, not too fast and not too slow, the build-up was superb although there were many twists and turns that left my brain buffer.

Ai Mi is soooo amazing, I'm so proud for her first lead role <333 Thank you Key to the Phoenix Heart!!!

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This is the biggest emotional roller coaster any show has ever given me. ? ?

So let me be honest, this is the first time ever I'm writing any review for any movie or drama or show or dating show but I really had to because this particular one was so interesting. It was very good. It was a very good investment emotionally. Honestly a lot of people would have their own opinions about the show but to me this was a very, very deep show. The emotions were raw. The cast, I loved their synergy. Despite the fact that they were in a dating show, they also had this synergy between the girls and the guys. Although at first I was looking as if the synergy was trying to scatter, maybe they had a different discussion. Some things they didn't show us but after some episodes their synergy got better again. In fact they became like a very tight friend group.

Apart from that the relationship huddles. Oh my God! If you really just want to watch a show where you'll keep guessing and guessing, this is the show for you. You want something that will keep you on your toes😋 then watch this show. I'm serious, this show will make you think, everything you know, honestly. You would ask yourself, "How is this possible?" Honestly at a point I think it was in episode 12, I wanted to drop the show but I was so mad at my ship. I was mad at them but then I was like, "Let me fast forward it." I watched the show consecutively so I went to the ending of episode 14 and then I came back again. After seeing, because I was so invested in the show that I wanted to cry, I was so invested in the show that I seriously wanted to cry but I was like, "Let me just watch what actually happens because the emotions were so raw," honestly. WY and YY their growth in this show was real. I watched you from episode 1 to episode 15 and I can tell you that their growth in this show was real because that's not something that you can fabricate. You can't fabricate growth. You may be able to script things but you can't fabricate a growth.

I watched him trying to be smooth with everybody that he comes across to try to be the best because he's young so he wanted to look mature and cool. He didn't know something was happening to him but viewers could actually feel it. If you were very invested like me, you would have felt it. The glance, the eyes, the eyes were the most crazy part. The eyes, whenever I was looking at her, that was the killing part for me. It was just too crazy and then I noticed that he didn't always have that expression with the other girls. It was only with her but he didn't know at that time. That's why many people think she was a smooth talker and he was navigating. He was cautious at first so he was doing this smooth talking but that's how he knows how to do it normally. Accompanied with his very fine features, everything he says definitely sounds smooth. That's just because he was a very handsome guy. Anything he says sounds smooth to most viewers. That's the truth.

People don't like her because they think she played all the guys in the show. I made all of them remain steady with her or dedicated to her but that's not what happened. From the beginning of the show she has been investing all her emotions in one guy and this guy had three options. At first it was two options. He was leaning more to the other person than her because at first that was how it was going but there was curiosity. That curiosity kept growing as the show kept going on so that curiosity was what led to their relationship at the end.

Honestly speaking if you've not watched the show, I'm telling you this is the best heart signal season ever. I thought this before was good but my two ships did not have courage. That was the difference between them and these people. These ones were able to communicate, discuss, and figure out what was going wrong. There was a scene where she was telling him because any time he talks to her, she doesn't believe him because she believes it's too smooth. If he discovered that she was not trusting him, then he now decided to clear everything and focus on her. That was how he was just focused like that so go and watch the show. That's all I can say. Ah Min Ju, she was really pretty. She looked like a combination of Rose from Blackpink and Zhao Lusi, the Chinese actress. She looked like the combination of both of them. She was really pretty but she fell in love too quickly. I'm sure she grew in this show too. She must have grown very well. She must have grown so well.

It's crazy watching a show and putting all my emotions into it. That was very rare. Normally I would have just stopped and changed it and gone to something else but, like I said, the producers and the editors were too good. Knowing that we were more invested in the lives of some particular set of cast and then focusing on that, because there's not much time, the time frame for the show is limited. They had to focus on the most important aspects of the show so I can't really blame them.

That was the most engaging and dramatic. We are all looking for dramas. That's why we watch other shows. We watch them because we want to see raw emotions, we want to see real dramas, and that is why the cast were interesting: Minju, Sungmin, Seowon. I really hope they find closure, either together or as friends, because something was really going on but I don't know why they didn't develop it in the show.

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The Weight of Someone Else's Sins

I can't believe it's already over.

Was the ending satisfying? I think so. Could the series have used two more episodes? Two more seasons? Absolutely.

The setup is almost unfairly good: fifteen years after a murder shattered both of their lives, the son of the victim and the son of the killer find themselves reunited on opposite sides of the law. Ju Tae-seon has turned his grief into purpose. As a prosecutor, he's relentless and unforgiving, carrying the past like a weapon. Lee Chae-ha, now an investigator, has spent his entire adult life trying to prove that he's more than the legacy his father left behind. Two magnets with every reason to repel each other, pulled together anyway.

The intensity between them is real and immediate, and the show earns it.
That scene in episode seven — Lee Chae-ha standing in the rain outside Ju Tae-seon's door and then stepping across the threshold. Chef's kiss doesn't cover it.

Where I found myself slightly disconnected was around the big reveal of Ju Tae-seon's true identity. I had assumed both men already knew who the other was — that their mutual pull came precisely from that shared, unspoken understanding of what it means to carry that particular kind of grief. The idea that they were the only people in the world who truly knew what the other's pain felt like.
That, to me, was already enough. I didn't need a hidden identity to create tension; I wanted to watch two people who recognised themselves in each other's grief. So when the revelation landed as a dramatic twist, it didn't quite hit me the way it was probably intended. If anything, it made me wonder why Lee Chae-ha had allowed himself to be treated the way he was, without that context.

What I would have loved instead: both of them knowing from the beginning, and the complexity coming not from the secret itself but from what they do with that knowledge. Lee Chae-ha accepting Ju Tae-seon's anger — even their increasingly complicated intimacy — out of guilt, while both of them slowly realise that what's happening between them has started to heal something that neither of them ever expected to heal. The power and the tenderness existing at the same time, and neither of them quite knowing what to do with that.

The actual crime investigation is where the series occasionally lost me. I enjoy a good mystery, but I found it genuinely difficult to follow what was actually happening — who was connected to whom and why it all mattered. Ironically, I had guessed who the real culprit was fairly early on, despite never feeling like I had a complete grasp of the investigation itself. And I could have done without the AI elements, which felt unnecessary and slightly out of place in a story that worked best when it stayed grounded and human.

But none of that changes how much I appreciated what this series was doing. The performances are excellent across the board, and the intimate scenes carry genuine weight — that particular combination of intensity and vulnerability is genuinely rare in BL. This is adult storytelling: a crime series where two men happen to fall for each other, rather than a romance that uses crime as decoration. The show understands the difference, even if I occasionally wished it had leaned even harder into the slow burn — more pining, more quiet terror at the realisation of what these feelings actually are.

There was still so much left to explore. I wasn't ready to leave these characters behind.

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Good Series Sad Ending

HIStory3: Make Our Days Count is a series that I genuinely loved, but man… the emotional damage this show put me through was something I was not prepared for. 😭 The tears, the heartbreak, and the amount of overthinking I did after finishing it were honestly insane.

The story follows Xiang Hao Ting, a loud, impulsive, and outgoing high school student, and Yu Xi Gu, his complete opposite—a quiet, hardworking student who is focused on maintaining his scholarship and building a better future for himself. At first, they seem like two people who couldn't be more different, but as fate brings them closer together, their lives begin to change in ways neither of them expected.

What really stood out to me was how their relationship developed alongside the personal struggles they each carried. Xiang Hao Ting isn't simply the troublemaker he initially appears to be, while Yu Xi Gu's quiet and hardworking personality hides the pain of his tragic past. As they grow closer, more of their stories and struggles are revealed, making it easy to become emotionally invested in their journey and genuinely care about what happens to them.

And then came the ending. 😭 I was not ready for it. The ending was heartbreaking, and I honestly found myself crying and thinking about the story long after I finished watching. This wasn't the kind of ending that allowed me to simply close the show and move on. I kept replaying moments in my head, thinking about the characters, their choices, and all the "what ifs" surrounding their story.

Overall, HIStory3: Make Our Days Count is a show that I truly loved, but it also left me emotionally devastated. The characters, their relationship, and the journey they went through made me feel genuinely connected to the story, which is why the ending hit me as hard as it did.

It's one of those shows that stays with you after you've finished watching—not because the ending made me sad, but because it left me with so many emotions and questions that I couldn't stop thinking about it. I loved the experience, but I definitely wasn't prepared for the heartbreak that came with it. 😭

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Both good and bad

This series really leaves me torn. There's is a lot to like, and a lot to dislike too. in terms of the pros, I really liked the cinematography and visuals, so artistic and serene, matched by some nice music. The plot is also very intricate but with some good explanations at the very end. In terms of the cons, Esther, the FL is really not my cup of tea, and she made this worse by playing the character as a very timid person who is always speaking softly and looking at the ground. Even worse was the Zishan character who apparently is the comic relief in an otherwise very solemn feeling series. This Zishan character was so jarring and annoying that I can only compare her to the Jar Jar Binks character in the Phantom Menace. She really detracted from the story for me. The other characters were better, although Zhang Linghe as the ML is still a bit stiff, but better than his first shows. And last of all, the ending is a cliffhanger and I doubt that there is even a second season coming. Awful to leave the viewers like that.

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Lost to You — What the Bloody Hell Was That Ending?!

Lost to You production team, I genuinely did not think you could find a way to make me angrier than Addicted, and yet, somehow, you have managed to accomplish the impossible. For context, Addicted had multiple versions—three or four, depending on which adaptation you count—and somehow, every single one managed to arrive at essentially the same destination: nowhere. No proper conclusion. No satisfying resolution. Just an ending that leaves you staring at the screen wondering whether someone forgot to film the rest of the bloody story. And yet, somehow, Lost to You has managed to surpass even that level of narrative incompetence. Congratulations, Lost to You production team. You have officially produced the most infuriating show I have ever watched. And I do mean watched. I sat through all twelve episodes.

Twelve. Each episode running approximately thirty to nearly forty minutes. That is several hours of my life I will never get back, and after investing all that time into these characters, this story, and their relationships, you had the audacity—the absolute gall—to give me that ending. What in the ever-loving hell was that? Let us begin with the actual story, because—and this is the truly tragic part—Lost to You was not a bad concept. The story follows Zhan Wang, a seventeen-year-old returning to Beijing, his hometown, carrying a devastating secret: he has been diagnosed with terminal brain cancer. Upon returning, he meets Xu Yuan, also seventeen, a top student who has been unfairly branded by the entire town as a "child of misfortune." Essentially, whenever something goes wrong, this entire community collectively decides, "Yes, obviously it's that poor boy's fault." Because apparently personal responsibility and basic critical thinking were both unavailable in this town. Zhan eventually discovers that Xu Yuan is living in his late grandmother's house. His grandmother had apparently waited years for her grandson to return, but after Zhan's father took him away at a young age, the house was eventually left to Xu Yuan because, naturally, the town's ridiculous superstitions had already decided that he was some sort of walking bad-luck charm. Naturally, Zhan initially assumes Xu somehow manipulated his grandmother into giving him the house. He is understandably upset—until he discovers the truth through a letter his grandmother left behind. And this is where Zhan realises that, perhaps, he has been unfairly judging Xu.

So, he starts treating Xu better. They grow closer. Zhan learns more about Xu's life and discovers that the entire town has been treating this boy like a human scapegoat for years. The story progresses. The relationship develops. The emotional stakes rise.
Then Zhan collapses while helping Xu's mother renovate her new, larger food business and is rushed to hospital. And this is where Xu, Zhan's brother, the brother's boyfriend, Xu's sister, and the sister's girlfriend finally discover the truth about Zhan's terminal brain cancer. Naturally, Zhan's father enters the picture, determined to take his son somewhere for better treatment. He also discovers that Zhan has a boyfriend, becomes furious, attempts to pay Xu to leave his son, gets rejected, and then Zhan sneaks Xu into the hospital. Eventually, Zhan and his father have a massive confrontation. And now, dear Lost to You production team, I have a question. WHERE. IS. THE. OTHER. BROTHER?! We are repeatedly told that Zhan has two brothers. Two. Yet we spend the majority of the story seeing only one of them. The other brother? Apparently, he exists in some mysterious alternate dimension where the writers decided character development was optional. All we know is that Zhan's father apparently beat him nearly half to death. That's it. No meaningful explanation. No proper backstory. No exploration of what happened. No resolution. Nothing. You introduce an entire family dynamic involving this mysterious second brother, imply a history of severe abuse, and then seemingly expect the audience to just shrug and move on. Excuse me?! And then we discover that Zhan's father has a particular issue with his sons dating men because—wait for it—**HE HIMSELF HAS DATED MEN. Oh. Okay. Interesting. So naturally, I assumed we were finally going to get some actual backstory. Some explanation.

Some insight into why this man behaves the way he does. Surely, after spending eleven episodes building up this complicated family history, we would eventually learn what happened to him. Nope. Apparently not. Why bother explaining the most interesting parts of your own characters when you could simply leave the audience sitting there with a thousand unanswered questions? But then we arrive at Episode 12. The grand finale. The moment where everything should finally come together.
And, my God, did it not. The town has to evacuate because a meteor shower is apparently heading directly towards it. Because clearly, terminal cancer, family trauma, homophobia, abusive parents, and years of emotional turmoil weren't quite enough. We apparently needed to throw an extinction-level natural disaster into the final episode as well. Xu makes some sort of deal with Zhan's father. A deal. A supposedly important deal. THAT WE ARE NEVER ACTUALLY TOLD ABOUT!! Brilliant. Zhan is put into a car to be transported onto a ship. He eventually realises the meteor shower is approaching, begins asking where Xu is, and then Xu's sister, Zhan's brother, the brother's boyfriend, and the sister's girlfriend arrive at the dock. Xu's sister is looking for Xu. Zhan panics. He realises Xu stayed behind. So naturally, Zhan decides to go back for him before the meteors hit.
Back at the dock, Zhan's father is furious. The older brother has a conversation with him, and suddenly, after an entire series of conflict, the father has a moment of realisation. He finally acknowledges that his sons are grown adults. He apologises. He tells his sons and their partners to look after one another. He gets back into the car to catch up with Zhan. Zhan's father eventually finds him. They talk. They forgive one another. They locate the place where Xu was last seen. Zhan gets out of the car. Then this terminally ill seventeen-year-old runs through a forest, climbs over rocks, and somehow manages to locate Xu while METEORS ARE FALLING FROM THE SKY!! Xu is praying for Zhan to live a long and happy life. He hears Zhan calling his name.

He looks up. They see each other. They smile. The meteors are falling in the background. And then— THE SHOW ENDS!!
WHAT!? WHAT DO YOU MEAN, "THE END"?! Lost to You production team. DON'T PISS ME OFF!! What the actual hell was that? Did they die? Did they survive? Did the meteor shower destroy the town? Did Zhan's father return to the dock? Did he leave his son and Xu behind? Did they somehow make it off the island? Did they escape the town? Did anyone actually survive?
WHAT HAPPENED?! I am not asking for an entire additional season here. I am asking for the bare minimum. This is incomplete storytelling. I cared about these characters. I watched Zhan and Xu's relationship develop. I endured the family drama. I sat through the cancer storyline. I watched the father slowly confront his own issues (barely). The show had me. It had my attention. It had my emotions. It had me sitting there thinking, "Okay, surely they're going to stick the landing." And then Episode 12 came along and took all of that emotional investment, threw it directly into the nearest bin, set the bin on fire, and apparently launched it into space. I have never felt so personally insulted by a television ending. Lost to You had twelve episodes to tell me what happened to these people. Twelve!! I am giving Lost to You 1.0 out of 5 stars. And honestly, that half-star is being awarded entirely because the first eleven episodes managed to convince me that the twelfth would actually be worth watching. Lost to You did not merely disappoint me. It pissed me off. It took my time, my emotions, my investment, and my patience, put them through a bloody blender, and then had the audacity to end with two teenagers smiling at each other while meteors fell from the sky. This was not an ending. This was a crime scene. 🤬So yeah I'm gonna need a season 2 please and thx -_-

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Never ending summer? more like Never ending trauma

I finally got around to finishing the drama, and it makes me sad that it's over. When I first saw the Reuters videos of it last year, I thought this would be a cute, youth drama. I WAS WRONG.

I never expected to be met with trauma and sadness to the point that I thought this was more like never-ending sadness.
There's some inconsistency with the story; for example, Zhou Wan is a top student, and it doesn't really make much sense that her school wouldn't bat an eye at her missing the gaokao and skipping school, especially given how much China values studies.
I know they probably had to change a lot due to the censorship, but also to avoid "promoting" bad behaviours like smoking. This did create some plot holes in the end, which is a shame.

I personally wished they would develop the 2nd couple more because they were quite cute but didn't get much attention. I honestly got bored after the timeskip when they started to talk more about the business side of things; I guess it's more a me problem.

I saw a lot of people complain that the flashbacks were too long and dragged but I think it's necessary because we need to know what happened in the past then just directly showing the present but i feel like they couldve avoided this by doing a half and half situation where they showed the past then present but overall I didn't have much problems with it despite anxiousness of notknowing when the seperation woukd happen.

The revenge did feel rather underwhelming knowing that the Lu family was the cause of Zhou Wan's misery, but it's a modern show so the best she could do was crush his role at the company, tho it did feel like the revenge was kinda sidetracked sometimes.

The ost's were so good and amazing and they added a lot to the scenes and overall vibe of Never-Ending Summer. The acting was great; Zhou Keyu did amazing and Bao Shang En did fantastic as well. One scene in particular that stuck with me was when Zhou Wan ended up in the hospital due to a gas leak she wasn't paying attention to because her grandma had just passed away and she shouted, " I can't live anymore, I'm only 18"something along those lines that I cannot remember lol. That scene struck me hard because I'm close in age to Zhou Wan and I've had my ups and downs with my mental health that made me want to leave. So I related a lot to her in that moment despite how different our struggles were.

The chemistry was amazing that I wish they would get cast in another modern drama together cause the chemistry is there!!!
I gotta say that this drama made me fall in love with Bao Shang En! Especially the way she smiles and talks, omg I'm obsessed, and I tried to watch Generation to Generation that aired before this and I couldn't really get into it. I gotta also mention Zhou Keyu's English scene and the way he spoke in English was so attractive that I'm obsessed lol.

The cinematography was beautiful, especially the past episodes in their youth; it really felt like it was a never-ending summer by how bright yet sunny it was. It really made me wish that my youth was like those summer days lol. Sadly, it does fail during more emotional, sadder scenes because it didn't feel like the event that was happening was sad.

I wanna talk more about the characters now; Zhou Wan has been misunderstood so much by people on this site and social media that it reminded me of my girl Wen Yifan. So many people don't understand her decisions and complain or believe that she has the right to be with Lu Xixiao and so on but many people don't bother to see beyond that tunnel vision they formed.

She was just a kid when her dad's business failed and he died; then her mother abandoned her and left with her dad's insurance money to go find sugar daddies. She was basically left with nothing with her grandma but it didn't matter because she had her grandma with her. That all changed when her grandmother got sick; she became desperate and reached out to LXX as a desperate mesure because she was racing against time. Either she let her die or get money to help her get surgery.

So many people thought she was a villain for hurting LXX so much but they never tried to understand that she was desperate to save someone she loved and dare I say love makes us do all sorts of crazy things. This is why critical thinking is pretty much gone nowadays, when people never bother to think beyond why she did that? She knew it was wrong, she hesitated but desperation makes us do the worst things even if it's morally wrong. After all, she was just 17-18 when it all broke down. No child should suffer that but our world doesn't create a system that is fair to everyone. These are the same people who want more complicated characters in media, but the moment they are a woman, suddenly that empathy is gone out the window.

Lu Xixiao was rather someone who had a selfless love. He didn't care that Zhou Wan lied to him if that was what it took to let her stay by his side. I admire him for that quality cause I couldn't. That was, I guess, what led many people to think that Zhou Wan didn't deserve him or that he needed to move on. Honestly, it was sad seeing him being hurt this much by the breakup, but it doesn't really give you the right to whine about that, because one might think that you would want him to end with you because you "can treat him better". Not to mention what his grandpa said was really cruel to a girl who just went through a traumatizing moment

I gotta say it really felt like two lonely hearts that got attracted to each other lol. It was crazy when I found out that in the novel, LXX took the stab for Zhou Wan because he didn't want her to leave him, which was crazy to me. In the end, she still left, and he had a stab wound, so it didn't work out lol. The novel version of him must have been, to a certain extent, a red flag.

I know a lot of people hated Jiang Yan because he was annoying, but I related a lot to him, especially being a coward and feeling helpless. Many people needed to remember how insufferable his family situation was. He had a mother who was breathing down his neck because she couldn't accept her wedlock child to be mocked by the Lu family and his illegitimate blood because it would be admitting defeat and admitting that he was illegitimate and thus lower than the rich Lu family, who were better and smarter. So she had to raise him to be a smart and proper child because he NEEDED to be successful, not a maybe but a definite one, even if it meant his mental health hit an all-time low.

His dad wasn't a help either because he kept pressuring him to be a good child but also the connecting link to him and his mother because his mom decided to never speak to him, but it seems he still had lingering feelings. He had to be a good, obedient child because whenever Lxx, his legitimate son, wasn't there, he was the backup.

So he was basically the rope in a game of tug-of-war. How would you feel if you found out your dad was the reason you got the job and the girl you loved for so many years licked the guy that you were compared to your whole life because you were "illegitimate"? I could never because it sounds so insufferable tho I relate a lot to his situation; what makes it sadder is how confident he got after the timeskip. All for that to crash down because of his father.

It felt like the sadness was just never-ending lol. I liked this drama, and I'm definitely gonna miss hearing the beautiful ost's and cinematography of summer. I do gotta say that I did wish we could've gotten a wedding scene because there were Reuters videos of them doing a wedding for promo, so I kinda wish they ended with them in their wedding attire riding off in the sunset, but it's fine, the documentary, I guess.

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Love in a Secret is the story of a stepbrother and stepsister who fall in love. The girl's father marries the boy's mother, making them part of the same family. At first, the girl hates her stepmother and her stepbrother, while the boy is constantly involved in her life and often looks out for her.

As time passes, they gradually fall in love with each other. However, their relationship is eventually exposed, which leads to their breakup. Just when everything seems to be getting better, a tragedy strikes.

I didn't like the ending. The writer could have given the story a happy ending.

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