Reviews

I dropped the show

It takes me a while to realize I don't like a show until I'm almost finished with it, and that's excactly what happened here. I used to be excited for the next episode and then it started feeling like an obligation to keep watching?

The issues I have with the show are:
The dialogue is bad and cringey, they baby Pat like he isn't a grown man (like the convo with his parents about their divorce was something that should have happened when they first broke up years ago), the music is bad, its WAYY too slowburn, Pat's feelings are so murky it's still even hard to see when he started liking Jeng and if he really does, the other characters stories are executed poorly, and the story overall just isn't that good.
Wouldn't reccomend unless you wanna feel like you wasted your time.

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Realistic Youth Drama

It's not an idol drama with fluffy romance, so I think this is not for everybody.
The drama sets in late 70s (Mao era) tells about a bunch of teenage kids from military family background, how they struggled with their life, chasing their dreams and love life. Then Deng era begin, they took the advantage from economic reform and became businessmen that change their life and became prosperous.

Some of them have successful life with happy families and some of them failed, the story ends in early 2000s when an epidemic hits China, I think it's SARS although they only said it's a highly contagious pneumonia.

The acting is really good from all the cast, Xiao Zhan acting has improve a lot, it's a realistic drama with the cast wear minimum make up and they look more human compare to idol dramas where everybody have flawless skin.

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Don' waste your time even you are a fan of one lead

The plot seems interesting : "girlfriend's" contract between 1 FL "gift from heaven" mechanic and 1 rich disillusioned and spoiled heir.

The quality of this show is low : saturated colors, unbearable 2ary characters (Chit fearful, stupid, bad liar, too overplayed + evil ridiculous competitor, actress who plays the ex not convincing, no chemistry within the CL, etc.)

The story is poorly writed and the tricks are too rough, clumsy, basic:
- The FL Mary-Sue who convinces the employees on strike to get back at work with just a few moralizing words,
- The evil competitor who follows the good guys by car, but who arrives there before them, who hears conversations from far away, etc.
- the ex arrives claiming that she has a 5-year-old daughter with the ML, and everyone believes her, without doing a DNA test? Seriously ??

From episode 20, it becomes nonsense: a pathetic video of a market vendor is communicated to the whole country in 10 minutes ? The FL who resigns and goes back to live with her mother? Corruption is put on the back of someone just for a (real? fake?) signature?And I'm not talking about the last episodes (rush of attacks, shots & deaths) with a hasty Happy End.

So, I did a lot of skipping and double speed to get to the end of this series.
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Plot intéressant : contrat "girlfriend" entre 1 FL "don du ciel" mécanicienne et 1 riche héritier désabusé et "fainéant".

La qualité du show est faible : couleurs saturées, personnages 2aires insupportables (Chit craintif, idiot, mauvais menteur, trop trop surjoué + evil concurrent ridicule, actrice qui joue l'ex pas convaincante, peu d'alchimie au sein du CL, etc.)

De plus, l'histoire est mal écrite et les ficelles sont trop trop grosses :
- La FL Mary-Sue qui convainc les salariés en grève de repartir au travail avec juste quelques mots moralisateurs,
- Le evil concurrent qui suit les gentils en voiture, mais qui arrive sur place avant eux, qui entend les conversations de très loin, etc.
- l'ex arrive clamant qu'elle a une fille de 5 ans avec le ML, et tout le monde la croit, sans faire de test ADN ? Sérieusement ??

A partir de l'épisode 20, ça devient du grand n'importe quoi : une minable vidéo d'un vendeur de marché est communiquée à tout le pays en 1 secondes ? La FL qui démissionne et va retourner vivre chez sa mère? La corruption est mise sur le dos de la FL juste pour une signature (vraie ou fausse ?) ? Et je ne parle pas des derniers épisodes (rush d'agressions, coups de feu & morts) avec une Happy End à la va-vite.

Donc, j'ai fait beaucoup beaucoup de zapping et de speed X2 pour aller au bout de cette série.

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Love is Boring and Makes No Sense.

I don’t know if the FL gets better or not but for someone that’s supposedly smart, she is anything but. I can’t believe how many times the ML had to save her because of what she did. She is incredibly reckless and rash. She gets herself hired at a high stress job when she KNOWS she’s deathly allergic to tears, which makes no sense at all. ALSO, WHY DOESN’T SHE CARRY AN EPI PEN!.

I don’t get the hype of Bai Lu. There’s just something about her acting that screams - acting. I can never get into the story because it’s like she’s reading lines.

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Mediocre story but good acting from the cast. To me it is more of brotherhood story than romance

The Youth Memories is A melodrama in the 70s with a group of high school friends. Xiao Chun Sheng and his two buddies Ye Guo Hua and Chen Hong Jun, are children of military families and government workers who grew up in the same courtyard. They share many experiences, like joining the army, taking the gaokao, going out to sea, and starting a business while supporting each other the entire way. They also meet Tong Xiao Mei, a Beijing girl pursuing her dream of becoming a doctor. This is an inspirational story of the growth and transformation of ordinary people during the 1970s reform era in China as the country was opening up to the world.

To me, this drama is about brotherhood, where the focus is on the male characters, especially Chúng Sheng, and his relationship with others. The acting of the entire ensemble is good, especially Xiao Zhan, the ML of this drama.

I feel bad for Li Qin, the FL of this drama, but she has less screen time in the first almost 20 episodes than the supporting actress who played Chúng Sheng's first girlfriend. Her character didn't show up much until halfway through the drama. In addition, there are no romantic scenes between the two leads, which is disappointing.

I enjoyed the drama overall but didn't like the script much. I give it a 7.5 rating.

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Adorable and calming

It was adorable! I really enjoyed the simplicity of the plot and of the farm life we got to see. It felt calming and refreshing, different from what I usually watch. I really liked the cinematography and how they used it to portray some of the differences between the main characters, especially in the ending scenes.

Yul & Ye Chan: Ye Chan is an absolute sweetheart! He was cute from the start to finish. Him realizing his feelings and trying to deal with them had me smiling. And his whinny voice when Yul did something that got him mad? Adorable! Yul came to the countryside to escape both his life and father. He might not fit in right away, but he does start to adjust and relax quite quickly. He is older than Ye Chan and also more mature, but their dynamics still worked. Ye Chan is the golden retriever boyfriend, while Yul is similar to a black cat boyfriend.

My pet peeve with the drama is their portrayal of the country folk. It often portrayed them as dumb. They might lead a simple life in the eyes of many, but just because they spend most of their time working outside does not mean they are stupid. That is something that has been implied a few times and it didn’t really sit well with me.

Let’s talk Mark for a second. He stole the show whenever he appeared. He is a foreigner who settle down in the same village as Ye Chan and became friends with him. He’s advice is always very solid and realistic, but he also makes sure to remind Ye Chan that there are certain boundaries he should not cross. I liked that. But it also annoyed me how this whole foreigner thing played into the idea that the rest of the villagers are not very bright.

I still have some questions about the ending, but all in all, I am happy with the way it ended.

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This drama surprised me

I had known about this drama for a few months but never actually started it since i didn’t think much of it from what I heard. All i knew is that Park Jihoon and Choi Hyun Wook (who i really liked in twenty five twenty one btw, he’s a great actor!) played the two main characters. I started it a few days ago and i have to say it’s so much better than i ever imagined.

The story is something almost everyone can relate to, it’s about high school students who all have similar but very different lives at the same time. My favorite character was definitely Ahn Sooho (Choi Hyunwook), but I really liked Sieun too. I quickly got very attached to both characters, their friendship is so well portrayed and it’s realistic too. The actors did such a great job with that and had great chemistry as a duo.

This drama contains violence and I did see some people who thought about dropping it because of that. For me personally I love action dramas but I can understand that since it’s school violence and gets pretty extreme at times.

I want to add that I loved the music so much too! the intro song ‘Hero’ has been added to the playlist!! The music fits the entire concept of this drama and brought everything together and made it even more emotional ??

This drama constantly kept me on the edge of my seat and I had no problem finishing it in 2 days?
It’s no doubt one of my favorite k-dramas i’ve watched so far!

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Romantic makjang blockbuster

It has been over 2 decades since the release of this drama. This drama marked the advent of Korean dramas outside of Korea. It took the drama scene by storm at that time and Bae Yong Jun became the heartthrob of Asia.

While I had watched the Untold Scandal (movie) and The Legend (drama), and was impressed with Bae Yong Joon's acting skills and certainly his good look, and heard a lot of the Winter Sonata, I had never watched this drama, partly because of it 'low' rating on Mydramalist. With the large number of dramas to choose from, I typically do not pick a drama with rating less than 8. This time, I decided to give it a go - afterall, it was once a blockbuster and a classic.

I highly appreciated Bae's and Choi's (the main leads) acting and their onscreen chemistry in this drama, it had a very good cast and the cinematography was great. However, this story was not my favourite genre - the melodramatic romantic makjang with sobbing being the mainstay, but I had enjoyed most part of it. The entire drama would take you on an emotional roller coaster. And it is slow-moving as it worked to build up the emotions - given my impatience to get to how the story would develop, I clicked the forward button many times.

It had all the classic cliche of a makjang drama - love triangles, a scheming love rival, an upright patiently waiting fiance, unreasonable parental objections, unexpected death, dramatic return of an old flame, amnesia, attempted rape, flirting with incest, deceits, blindness, unwavering love, birth secrets and more. (Makjang = highly melodramatic, outrageous storylines that keep viewers hooked despite how exaggerated the stories become.) While all these can happen in real life, you have it all played up in one makjang drama. It played up my emotions so much that I was irrationally thinking: yah, just eloped together, who cared if you were half-siblings if you loved each other so much and had gone through so much together (although I did suspect that they were not real half-siblings).

Then, there was all these coincidences : the right / wrong person hearing what they should not hear, walking into the person you wish to see etc. I had encountered walking into classmates in countries away from where we had studied, seen incidences of being caught between 2 lovers, unexpected deaths, read in news about incest of siblings not knowing they were closely blood related. But they were few and far apart. Certainly the triangles were resolved quite quickly with little ramifications - there is a life to live, move on.

And definitely the moral of the story is: honesty handled with tactfulness is the best policy. Also, stop deciding for others what is best for them, let them decide for themselves. The obsessive, neurotic Kang mother in the drama and the two male lead characters certainly had lots to learn from this. If the mother was honest, a lot of anguish would have been avoided and certainly the accidents.

However, if makjang is your thing and you enjoy the emotional roller-coaster, then this is a must-watch for you. But if I rewatch, I do wish to find a version of the videos which are played in its original size and not stretched to fit the screen size of newer computer/TV screen, which makes it all blurry and the characters look fat.

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Thrilling and impressive cohesion

I went into this with middle-of-the-road expectations and was so blown away by it. Although it took me a little bit to get into it, it really grew on me.

Tunnel had a really good balance of humor and thriller, the time-travel aspect was used really intelligently, and character stories were tied together surprisingly well. That last point, with the characters, was probably my favorite part of the entire drama. I was so impressed with how characters fit into the timeline and into each other's lives.

I was also pretty satisfied with how the mystery was wrapped up. I still definitely wanted a little more — like wanting one more reunion, one last conversation, but overall I thought it was overall really well thought-out.

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Everything is green .. Everything is comfortable!!!

Where is should begin !!!

okay so I read the webtoon a year ago and it was so perfect and beautiful .. nothing but love and laugh ? .. didn't expect this to be drama but they did and I was so afraid that they would ruined it for me bc Ye Chan character is really hard to be real ?? .. but OMG they found him somehow !!!!! Yoon is aaaamzzzzzing actor it's his first still he did a wonderful job to bring Ye Chan in real life ?? ..
they wrote it so well .. didn't make anything feel weird or too much and the actors both did well job .....
away if the acting the countryside views was sooooo perfect I was kinda watching bc of it and feel relaxed ?!!

the kiss is something I hardly seen in BL Kd .. or even not BL but it's one of the best maybe THE BEST I ever seen in Kd till now ??

I really recommend it for everyone to watch .. and I hope for a second season cause I really enjoyed it so much ❤️?❤️

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Refreshing, simple, light-hearted, and nothing too serious

I personally really enjoyed this drama. I will admit one of the downfalls is there is a good bit of just filler; where the girls are just kinda talking and giggling and nothing interesting towards the plot. I did skip through some of this. However, I did find some of it nice to watch. Sometimes it's just refreshing to watch a bit of "slice of life" where it's just kind of normal stuff going on.

The overall plot is nothing spectacular or new. It is nicely done though.
The acting is good despite most of the cast being rookies and trainees at the time of filming.
I definitely think you should give this drama a chance. Especially if you are looking for something light-hearted and not filled with drama or complicated plot lines to follow.

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Amazing actors and good ending

Ok, so the ending is "bad" in the sense that it will make you cry. I watched the last episode with tears in my eyes the whole time ... and then watched it again. Will probably watch it again tomorrow.
The main actors are amazing, no childish behavior as you often see in BL but real characters with real emotions. It just clicks on so many levels that I don't understand why people don't like the ending. Ok, so I guess it is not like in the books, but man ... Wayne Song knows how to portrait first love and the way he shows sadness ... it breaks my heart. Ok, I give in, need to rewatch it again now.

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A Must Watch for lovers of Wuxia-Romance drama!!!

I have watched plenty of Romance, Wuxia dramas but this one has surpassed them all
Despite all the issues n problems it always gives a positive vibe and hope....The chemistry of the leads is beyond amazing..both are strong sensible and always protected each other which is rare to find in dramas...Leads have done a phenomenal job in portraying different shades of their character, even side characters are quite amazing and add value to the plot...The story is super engaging and truly well directed...OST is breathtaking!!
I am highly impressed with the drama...The only thing I kind of missed in this was a good kissing scene.
I highly highly recommend this to everyone...Not a single person will disappoint investing time in this for sure
My Rating - 9.5/10

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Such a good story

I loved this drama the first time I watched it, it held my attention the entire time. Sure there weren't many if any angsty moments. Things go relatively smoothly for the couple once together. They have great chemistry together and a ton of sweet moments. If you like shows with lots of angst and drama you probably wont like this one.

Pros:
The leads both actually like each other. In the beginning they have misunderstandings but throughout the drama they actually communicate with each other and demonstrate a healthy relationship.
The second couple isn't forced or given an inordinate amount of screen time. The story focuses mainly on our main couple and their life.
Lack of love triangles. Not that there aren't any, it is just that our leads shut them down and don't entertain them.
The series sticks pretty closely with the novel it is based on which is nice.
The young boy wanting to stand up for the FL and 2FL all the time. I think the young actor did a great job in his role.
I feel like this drama fits well within the found family type of drama. The couple both have family issues, and depend on each other as well as their core group of friends more than actual family.

Cons:
While the drama held my interest on the first watch through I do find myself fast forwarding certain portions on subsequent viewings.
I wish they explained more about boy staying in Beijing, They gloss over some details that explain his situation.
Some moments from their past were shown to much, we got glimpses of past events from each of the leads pov which was nice but sometimes felt repetative.
I wasn't a huge fan of the final episode. I hoped for more even if it was a conclusion for out 2nd couple, or more of the main couple together as family.

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