A River Runs Through It (2021)

ONE OF THE BEST YOUTH DRAMAS!!

SPOILER!!
I honestly don't know where to start. I may ramble my way through this too but honestly this was one of the best youth dramas I've ever seen. It made me look back during my high school and university life. The ups and downs. The good and bad. Liking someone, getting rejected, being together. Struggling with own course, thinking about the future, losing people along the way, separating from your closest friends, etc. Youth is all part of self-discovery. Growing up. Experiencing all these to enter the society.

The story was honestly so heart warming but obviously at times, I just cannot help but get annoyed. The parents were very supportive of them. I have never felt a character so relatable Xiaoju's struggle growing up as an eldest and having to give way and feeling as if no one has got your back to support you, - the neglect -I totally felt that. I felt like my own story was being shown in this drama. Of course, in the end her mother had supported her all the way through. I like how the Xia, Lu and Cheng family were so close knit that during the early episodes, they were already wanting Xiaoju to be their daugther in law haha. To also include, Xiaoju's brother is hella annoying like every younger brother, but you can see how much he cares for his sister.

The trio, the best friends. I love how their friendship transitioned all throughout. Actually, the five OG bffs (inc Letao and Baabao), I loved their lil friendship throughout high school. Helping each other win that competition, caring for each other. It was just amazing. I was actually so sad that since Baobao left at that time, he had never shown himself. I've always felt that Taotao and Baobao were extremely suited for each other. Imagine my sadness when she got on with Huangjun. Not to be biased but Taotao's relationship with Huangjun was so toxic. The things she had done for him only to be taken for granted. But tbh, this experience for Taotao was her turning point, she had grown into such a strong woman and I really commended her character. I love her friendship with and support for Xiaoju. I guess because Taotao was such a strong girl crush, I actually really fell in love with her character. P.S. oh gosh that vocal girl in the band pissed me off too much. Imagine my happiness when Baobao came back in the end and being revealed to be Taotao's groom. I already expected it to be honest, but I WAS HELLA HAPPY!!!! He looked handsome too.

I honestly think Chenglang's first love was Xiaoju. But then he saw Linyou dance haha. I really believed in their relationship. They were definitely cute together. But I guess just like in real life, sometimes when you're not meant to be, no matter how much you've liked each, you just won't be together. I was actually waiting that maybe in the end she will come back but when Xiaoju said she had gotten married, I felt quite hurt for Chenglang. This guy deserves to be happy. I just felt like he did not even get a closure nor a happiness he deserved in the end. Like fair, be single, but that scene when he saw Linyou with her foreign husband, I just felt sad for him.

I actually watched this drama because of Hu Yixuan (I had finished watching Unforgettable Love. Through her I had found this gem. She is indeed a wonderful and versatile actress and I commend her for that. But my biggest disappoint in this drama was he character. Fair enough she grew. Her character development was good but I felt like it just dragged and dragged and dragged to the point where it was only until the last episode that Shiyi had fully gotten happy. But through her character, it just shows reality too, we like a guy for a very long time only to see him become happy with someone else. Then you also get scared to ruin your friendship with the bestfriend you really care for. I was actually glad she had gotten that closure with Cheng Lang with that mango pudding thing too. I just wished she had given Shiyi a chance a bit earlier on. But I guess if she did that, the ending would've been different.

Lu Shiyi. Shiyi oh Shiyi. I wish I had someone like Lu Shiyi in my life. If I had someone like him, I would've fallen for him already. I wound't be so dull and blind like Xiaoju. The amount of things and great efforts that Shiyi had done for Xiaoju is immense. He was definitely ANNOYING at the beginning but the transitioning of his relationship with Xiaoju was so smooth. Like his character development was not abrupt. He didn't just suddenly change overnight and started being nice on her. It was so gradual and smooth. I love it. It may have started when she finally agreed to do the relay with them and they all got really close with each other. I honestly just wanted nothing but Shiyi's happiness, but it was just so frustrating for me to see him in pain and suffer all throughout the middle until the end. Sometimes it was unbearable. Something that is still stuck with me until this day was when he said that he was not bad too. The way Shiyi had said that, the acting, the voice, I felt my heart shatter to pieces. I felt his pain. You know an actor is doing an absolute amazing job when he is really into his character that his emotions are overflowing and you could feel whatever emotion he was feeling. And that is how I really fell in love with Lu Shiyi's character and also Richards Wang as an actor. I really really want to praise him. I wish he had been happier earlier on. I cannot reiterate how much I felt sorry for him and just wanted him to be happy.

The whole setting especially their hometown really brings be back to my own hometown. I love the OSTs too. That I like you song, the amount of times I've heard her try that part over and over again, sometimes I would just hear the song in my head randomly. Now it is one of my faves hahah. The producers did a great job choosing that song when Shiyi had proposed to her. I actually cried when they were finally together. I just wish I had seen them as a happy couple a bit longer. That's one of the it's a shame parts.

Overall I LOVE THIS DRAMA AND I WOULD DEFINITELY REWATCH IT AGAIN!!!! TOTALLY RECOMMEND!!!!

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Strong Start with A Badly Written Abrupt Ending

Up to Episode 25, the show had a good pace and showed some character growth for each of the main storylines. Then things began to go downhill. It's like the writers gave up and tried to rush finishing the Season. Everything they had built up until then , like strong friendships, got thrown out the window. Their choices on how to conclude the couples and who paired up with whom, became dumb and fed into what in reality would be extremely toxic relationships. I was completely disappointed in how it ended. If you're going to sabotage what you initially created, then do it right, not this mess! If you don't want to have a happy ending for each of the pair ups, then give it a dramatic break up and that's it. Also I really disliked the mother of the main FL. The mother doesn't trust her daughter at all and even ignores her privacy. The mother is annoying and out of touch, even after FL tells her off. The little brother was more understanding and supportive, than the mother!

LIKES: for the most part the acting was good, showing true emotions for what their characters felt. The filming locations and scenery were sometimes really beautiful. The camera work was steady and knew how close to go when zooming in to a character's face [A LOT of dramas have shaky camera syndrome and zoom in way too close {like you can see their nose hair}.]. Also the story is nothing new, but initially they took their time with building a strong foundation, just to mess it up later.

I will not rewatch this. If I was rating it up until Episode 25, then it would be 7/10, but for the whole thing, it's barely a 4.5/10. I do NOT recommend this drama.

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Awesome , loved it...would never be bored to watch it n no of times

The Story is awesome with a middle class backdrop.the Male Lead (Richards Wang)..... is soooooo Handsome...how can someone be soooooo handsome.
The Female Lead played her part well, though I would have loved if she was dumped , as she was so heartless.
Overall , lovely story, all actors played well be it the ML or the supporting Male actors or the Supporting Female cast.Thumps up and well done... the 2nd best after you are my Hero ( this will always be No1 for me) and would give Eternal Love number 3 now.
Great job ..... writers,directors,produces,actors....Well Done!!

PS:This is for Richards Wang your good looks were hidden as Mo Yuhai in Eternal love but in this Drama, I could not put my eyes away from you.Someone do convey my compliments and wishes to him Pleaseeeeee.

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Because of this drama, I got obsessed to Richard Wang.

I am very picky with my dramas, and I love this drama. It is very heartwarming and cute, it makes me happy and want to watch more and since it has a generous amount of episodes, I'm always glad I wake up and I get excited to finish this drama.
The cast is great, the characters themselves and relationships are kind of shallow especially some of the side couples. I also feel like the story was really rushed even though they had plenty of episodes, I really wished there were more scenes with the MLs together. Some episodes I felt like was top tier content while some other episodes were kind of boring and kind of like a "filler". It was your basic emotional roller coaster. Don't get me wrong, it's a really good drama, I'm just not a big fan of the development of the story. There's structure but sometimes it feels really empty and rushed. The MCs are super cute, the ML was funny and is quite literally the reason why my type fluxuates, the FL was trying to be independent but sometimes like a lot of dramas I think their kind of Naive.

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Awesome youth cdrama

Jan. 7, 2022

A River Runs Through It is definitely a strong youth drama. The plot is very realistic and the leads have interesting stories, perspectives, and emotions to tell. What I love about this drama is how it made certain parts or characters in the end have an unpredictable ending. I know maybe certain viewers might not like it, but it makes it more realistic as our lives are not predominantly predictable in any shape or form.

I really love our male lead here, Shi Yi really sets the bar so high for all the other male leads in the CDRAMA world. Also can we talk about his character development? Like he really stepped up his game. I love this man so much, I don't think I can ever forget him especially on how he treats Xiaoju. From how he accepted everything and how he did that to build on himself. His character is such a chef's kiss in my opinion. He deserves everything, and to be honest, there are certain points where I got frustrated with the female lead since she is taking her god damn time. LIke sis hello.

As for other characters, there are some twists and turns that made my heart ache but I won't mention it too much since that will ruin the fun. But I feel like each character was wrapped nicely along with their own subplot. As much as I hate the writers for how they did some characters dirty. I am happy with their endings.

THO I MUST SAY, this the slowest burn youth Chinese drama I have watched as of this date. A very roller coaster ride but I definitely loved it. I really felt like that I grew up with the characters starting from their high school journeys to their University life then to their early adulthood.

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A drama that mainly focuses on unrequited love, but the characters make up for it

This drama had an amazing start. I was hooked from the beginning and it made me wish my high school life was similar. The characters are all very lovable and there's no clear villain in this series. However, the unrequited love in this drama was a big focal point, so if you like that or relate to this, you may find no issues.

Story:
I loved all the aspects but the romance was starting to bore me a bit to the point where I started watching episodes in 2x speed.Personally, they dragged on the FML unrequited loved for the 2ML so much that it starting becoming hard to watch. If that was their goal, well done. It's also realistic since the heart wants what the heart wants and loving someone cannot go away at will. It will cloud your judgment and actions which is portrayed mainly thorough the FML, 2ML, and the ML.

Besides the romance, I love the family and friendship aspect. It was super heartwarming with a touch or realism that will leave you relating to some characters.

Acting:
The acting in this drama deserves a round of applause. Every single actor did a phenomenal job. Personally, I love the acting of the ML aka Shiyi. He had me cracking up while watching the drama and embodied his character well.

Le Tao did an amazing job too. I loved her scenes.

Music:
Oh My Goodness!!! The music was one of my favorite parts. It was so fitting and memorable that I added them to my playlists. The opening and closing were lovely paired with the scenes they put in.

Rewatch:

Would I rewatch? Probably not, mainly because of Xiajou's unrequited love.

Overall:
I would recommend this drama to people who love slow burns, have patience, and love the unrequited love trope. I laughed, cried, got mad, nostalgic, and felt a multitude of emotions while watching this.

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It was a very good and lighthearted drama the only issue was the lack of closure

I loved this drama as it followed lovable characters through different phases of their life. I personally loved the relationship between Shiyi and Xiaoju and how it progressed. I would have given it a 9 if it wasn't for the lack of closure at the end. SPOILER AHEAD: after Shiyi left for abroad without telling anyone, and he cut Xiaoju and everyone else off, we never got a proper explanation. The last episode ended with their engagement, but we didn't get to see Shiyi and Xiaoju work out their misunderstandings and talk about all of their built up emotions over the years. I was eager to see that confrontation, but it never really happened, and it ended up feeling like they just ignored Shiyi's trip abroad and all the misunderstandings that took place. Another issue was that I would have loved to see more of Tao and Bao Bao's relationship and how that progressed as they were a really cute couple. This drama would have been perfect with just one more episode giving us some closure. Other than that, I loved the butterflies I got watching this, and how cute it was. I would definitely rewatch.

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It's a nice drama!
Hope one day the writer surprises us with a second season!!❤️
I looooooooooooooooooooooooooooooove it❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️
The story is soooooooo iconic omg love it
I looooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooove it omg hhhhhhhh ❤️❤️❤️❤️
I looooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooove it❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️

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Friendship, one sided love and dreams.

I loved it. It was refreshing,funny and just cute. I related to the FL's woes with her family tho I'm the youngest 😂. The friendship between the main cast was so cute I laughed a lot at their shenanigans I felt like I was one of them. I also found myself liking the second lead along with the FL tho I quickly realised it won't work and gave up unlike her 😂 I can't believe she kept liking him for so long it didn't make sense tho he's nice and all but he already got someone he liked at some point so... Welp anyways I also liked how the bestie broke up peacefully at the end with that guy it was different. The ml and FL were so good Richard really outdid himself in this drama I loved his character a lot. Most importantly what I liked in the drama is that each character is given a very good realistic persona with good points and flaws they felt real. The only thing I have a complaint about is the ending... Like it was a little abrupt? We needed a little explanation maybe also a closure? It felt a bit rushed I found it lacking!! The time she spent liking the other guy felt more than the time they spent loving each other and to be precise what I mean is her reciprocating his feelings finally. So yeah I felt a little frustrated like we were robbed of The perfect ending. Overall, it was still beautiful.

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realistic take on youth

i will never ever recommend watching this to anyone looking for a fairytale romance.
story and characters: this is a slice of life. it is about youth. a very realistic portrayal of life and love, loss and separation, reunion and complex attachments that happens to most of us. it is highly relatable to many viewers. many may not like the fl because she spent over half the drama pining for the 2ml, who was busy with his own love life. but in reality we all probably know someone like the fl and 2ml, and maybe even a toned down version of the ml. obviously guys like ml are very rare, thats why this is a drama not a documentary.
we often come across someone who is in love with their best friend but never confesses and thinks they are oblivious to their love, but in fact they choose to stay oblivious to keep a precious friendship because of their own strictly platonic feelings. so many people really cant see the good things right in front of them because their heart blinds them to only see what it wants, and its not until late that they finally realize the true worth of things. how often do we see couples breaking up because of their ex coming back? there are also couples really in love but that love isnt enough to sustain their relationship and end up in a push and pull situation, thus breaking up and patching up again and again only to have an ugly separation, and possibly leaves one of them in lifelong regret. some people find everlasting love again after a messy breakup, some people don't move on even after a long time after breakup, some people give in to their regrets but never move on from that one love, some get back with their ex partners to ultimately breakup again with them and finally find their soulmate in someone else, some fall in love and get blind to others and after a long time subconsciously grow to love someone else that they have always relied on, some only just love one person forever and silently stay by their side doing everything for them selflessly just for their happiness. some of them get their happily ever after, some don't. some get their first love as their life partner, some don't get their beloved ever. this is real youth. this is what real people go through. this is what arrti portrayed through 6 characters who grow up and mature over time. growing up means separation, people go their own ways to build their lives, down the line we reconnect with some, while some are lost permanently. also lets not forget that the premise is set in pre 2000s which progresses to early 2000s during which most of the plot happens., so communication through internet wasn't exactly the best. another important part is that, i couldn't bring myself to hate any of the characters, be it lin you or huang jun.
acting: the acting was great actually. my first time watching wang ruichang as ml and this proved that he very well deserves more ml roles. 2nd time watched hu yixuan as fl and she honestly delivered her part well.
production: i wonder where they managed to find such rural looking settings that are actually fitting of pre 2000s society. they also found some pretty scenic locations too. also that song that xiaoju sang for cheng lang was my favourite ost. overall pretty decent production.
one complain is the ending. an ending like that? awful. i get that it was a happy ending but we deserved some more scenes of that.
i am not really into youth dramas, because of mostly the airheaded fls who speak in a baby voice, rich vs poor, love triangle cliches. and i most definitely never watched a slice of life before. so i am impressed by this one as it is my first time. i regret not watching this sooner. but maybe if i had watched it before, i wouldn't have appreciated it as much as i do now, since now i understand the story on a personal level. meaningful friendships, mature characters, and a realistic storyline. overall a good watch for sure.

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