Flight to You

Fasten your seatbelts. Turbulence ahead.

The pairing of the leads got me interested in this drama and the setting within the Chinese aviation industry hooked me.
The meet-cute is fairly tropey. Ice king boss meets sassy female pilot. Totally works for me. :)

What is more challenging is the work environment. It is next level misogynistic. Initially, I thought it must be overstated for dramatic reasons then I found out that there are less than 1000 female pilots in China! There is definitely a glass ceiling.
To add to her woes, the main antagonist wants to drive her out of the company. She did well with the support of her mentor (ML aka GnT) and overcomes obstacle after obstacle. Her steady career progress is mirrored on the romantic front as well. The ML was initially cool and distanced, but he soon grew fond of the FL. The FL is definitely in the driver seat in this relationship. She made some bold moves in pursuing GnT. The Show is heading in the right direction and it looks to be a worthy contender for the top shows of 2023. Then episode 24 happened.

For reasons unknown, the writer decided to forego all the gains thus far and make the second half full on melodrama. So much angst . . so much. The ML ended up behaving irrationally when he is the most rational character in the show. He was a Noble Idiot and managed to hurt everyone close to him for zero gain.

If that trope is not enough, the Show added a poorly constructed mid-air medical drama to push the plot along.
When you consider international aviation is one of the most regulated industries in the world with many cross checks and rules, the use of this subplot is baffling. There are so many holes and discrepancies, I don’t know whether to laugh or cry.
The show then doubles down on the perturbation by bringing FL's onerous mum into the fray. This unruly mess drags on for several episodes (too long) which adds to my growing dismay. Why Dear Writer? Is it to pad out the length or is it some kind of script crib sheet?

The Show finally starts to reverse course at the EP.35 mark. Everyone gets a redemption, Oprah Winfrey style.
Even though things are looking up, GnT still suffers from a bad case of confession-itis. The air is filled with expectations but nada on the action front. It is exhausting to watch the “will he, won’t he” line plays out once again.

We finally get the true confession in ep.37 but it was done in a weird setting. It made sense to him (and to the writer) so who are we to judge? My opinion of the Show is yo-yoing all over the place by now. It is hard to ignore the shambolic mess dropped on our laps between ep.24-36. We are given plenty of positive hints that things will get better but the spectre of the last few episodes haunts me.

Ep.38 is all about fan service. Hallelujah! However, I can’t help but feel like I'm watching a To-do list being ticked off. We have a bunch of unrelated clips tying up loose ends then a random time skip to the next event. It ticked all the boxes but a weak narrative, nevertheless. BTW, the skinship quotient went from 0 to 100 in one scene but fades quickly as well. The progress of the 2CP is on steroids and feels kooky.

The Show had a last go at an angsty subplot at the start of ep.39, but a HEA ending was never in doubt. To be honest, the ending is fluffy and innocuous but that's about it.

Two parting thoughts; I thought macular degeneration is incurable but I'm too tired to argue. The whole D191 (a thinly disguised C919) storyline is the biggest PPL I have ever seen! It was jingoistic and flag waving but you have to give them credit for trying. ;)

Acting from the leads are good. The FL is certainly given the more challenging role. The ML is handsome and a seasoned actor. He definitely has a workout on his stoic poses. The support cast are mostly one dimensional. There is “growth”, but it is fairly predictable and a means to an end.

I did enjoy most of the show. It has its moments, and the first half is certainly engaging and eye-opening. If it has stuck to the original aviation focused plot and office romance all the way through, it would be on a winner. Instead, it took us down a long and tortuous path which adds little to the proceedings. The fan service in the end might placid some viewers who just want to ship the CP’s and swoon at their belated sweet moments. To me, that’s a sneaky way to paper over the disappointing melodramas that came before.

It could and should have been better. Peace out.

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If you come for the romance, just be patient

The reason why I love this drama is because at the beginning, I didn't come for the romance but end up enjoying it altogether. XD
I can see they put so much effort to create every scenes, although I can't justify the technical accuracy because I am not a person from airforce. Yeah.. there are still some scenes that make me question "do people really do it like that in the aircraft?"

After 15 episodes, it actually starts to change the direction into romance and drama.
But I admire the performance of natural reaction and acting from the cast. We don't see much slow mo or those type of kissing by accidents that's usually happening in drama XD. I love how they make the loveline slow burned. Those two make it quite convincing although they dont do much skinship. They just don't choose the easiest way possible to show it and that's what make us always 'wanting more'.

I like the way the main characters keep trying to solve their problems. It's not just done by miracle. Although she was a mess at the beginning and might not always has the perfect solution, CX doesnt give up easily but at the same time, let thing go quickly. I love the fact that the story doesnt push CX much to be the cure for Nan Ting's trauma, like most of other drama would do to create an unspoken fate between them. Nan Ting has figured it out and worked on the problem by himself and he likes her not because she is a replacement. They just unconditionally care for each other.
Not only the main leads, the supporting characters also show quite few development. What I like the most is everyone is always trying. It's not always about coincidence or luck or fate like any other drama would usually do. For example, the character of Yuheng who has a crush on Gu Nan Ting (male lead). This type of second lead really could make me worry that she could snatch him but at the same time admire her effort of not-giving-up-on-him. And that actually quite makes senses because the man is frrrreaking single and she knows him for a long time and also befriend with his family! Of course she would fight until the end.

I also appreciate the amount of focus on the negative attribute in every character. Well, we might see these many male leads that are stoic, handsome, cold and charismatic, but most of the time, it feels like they just exist in drama because the way they react. This time, I don't have that feeling. Gu Nan Ting's character makes me think that someone like him might exist in real life and yeah...he can be boring sometimes? But that's just him being himself.
Overall,you can see how much I end up enjoyin the slow romance part . Lol.
I love this show!

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