An enjoyable flight
I really enjoyed this one. It has some flaws, but it was overall a good drama. It helps that I have a particular interest in airplanes and have binge-watched most seasons of Mayday (aka Air Crash Investigation).Some of the things I liked:
- They actually show them working and the pilot/flight attendant plot is not only so they can dress the main characters in nice uniforms like I have seen in most dramas that portray these professions;
- The female lead is quite an interesting character, be it for her excelling at her job or her personality as a whole;
- Most characters go through a nice character development and people who create or make issues worse eventually pay for their actions and the ones who work hard are rewarded;
- The romance is very slow-paced, mostly on the male lead’s side, but although annoying it actually made it more realistic considering his trauma and overall personality.
I probably missed a few things.
Of course it also had some flaws. It dragged here and there, which is expected from Chinese dramas, and it had some annoying sub-plots and characters...yeah, I am looking at you Captain Jiang.
Also, I feel like the last episode should have been merged with episode 38 instead of being a whole separate episode as episode 38 was a lot more interesting and would have made a better last episode. They also addressed something in the last episode that I am glad they did or it would have been a plot hole, but that I wish it was addressed sooner as doing it in such a rushed way in the last episode took away from the seriousness of it and just made the episode less enjoyable.
With all that said, I definitely recommend this drama for people who have any interest in planes, pilots, flight attendants, ... and for everyone else too I guess. My advice is to not binge-watch it and watch a few episodes everyday. I watched it as it was airing and while I had my breakfast and it made it more enjoyable.
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Unique drama, not really romantic, but pretty costumes!
This was my first C drama that centered around flying and I have to say, it was pretty educational and different.I 100% picked up this drama because of the leading actress, Tan Song Yun, I basically watch everything she is in and after the disappointment of Master of my Own, I was really crossing my fingers for an epic romance with Flight to you.
Sadly Flight To you was not the epic romance c drama I was longing for, but despite that, there was a strong emotional connection between the leads. I felt like the leads had a more teacher / student relationship, than two people falling in love at work. I didn’t feel the chemistry between the two of them at all.
I haven’t seen anything Wang Kai has been in, but judging from this drama, I feel like he could have done so much more. He was pretty much emotionless and cold. He was really good at acting as a male who knew how to fly and knew all the rules that goes into flying, but he didn’t really convey his affection towards the FL as much as I wanted when I watch C dramas.
I did like the costumes and the sets were pretty unique, you can’t get any more unique than airplanes right? I am really appreciative of the 1960’s inspired dresses for the flight attendants and the fitted pilot uniforms.
The drama was really informative and it was interesting to see what kind of storylines they could create focused on flying. I do think the pacing was a bit off at times. It was a little too center focused on certain arcs, where I felt like the script writers were just dragging it out.
The writers do address, sexism in the work force, sexual harassment on the job and other items that were interesting to watch. I know it’s a little different in China, you can totally hire someone based on weight and looks (nothing like America) so it still boggles my mind when they mentioned one of the flight attendants needed to lose weight (she is obvious model thin), but you take it for what it is.
Overall, I liked the first half of the drama more because it focused more on the relationship between the leads and it was like a cute little slow burn. You could feel the tension between the two. You were kind of rooting for a physical aspect to pop up, but it’s more emotional than anything.
The story arcs with the mom and the medical issues in the second half was just a drag and the relationship between the main leads kind of just fizzles in the back burner.
Overall, I would go into the drama for something different and pretty to watch, but not really a rom-com in my opinion.
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Solid drama to start 2023
1) I really appreciate how the focus was on character and professional development. When a drama tries to do too much, it just becomes a jumbled rushed mess. This one was not jumbled or rushed. The purpose and storyline were clear, pacing was good.2) I learned a lot about the commercial airline industry. Wow, kinda sucks to be female and trying to be an aviatrix. In the future, when I travel via plane, I will make it a point to thank pilots, flight attendants, ground crew, whoever I meet. It's hard work.
3) Family relationships were spot on! As an American born child of Chinese immigrants, I learned a lot about how I'm SUPPOSED to respond to family members, and how I've failed miserably at it. No wonder my grandmother and mom gave me such funny looks when I responded the way I did concerning professional career! Oops. Well, in the end, I guess I'm quite Americanized.
4) The music is gorgeous! To me, music is super important. If I don't like the music for a drama, I tend to not finish it.
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This review may contain spoilers
A makjang hidden in "life-genre" clothing
The beginning plot seems very promising. However, it was starting to shift from mid to end episodes. The overall plot's premise is to portray the difficulty of a woman surrounding a male-dominated job. Not only FL experienced bias and discrimination because of her gender, she also has to face her mother, who disapproves her career choice. In short, it is a story of a modern-time female warrior against prejudice and insane challenges throughout her career.Starting off by the main characters:
The FL who is hard-working and strives to be the best at her job. She doesn't take any bullshit from anyone and extremely confident - as it shows in her sassiness.
The ML is your typical icy-god male lead, who seems perfect on the outside, but also have flaws (as seen in his mental trauma regarding his ex-girlfriend's death).
What I dislike about the drama in general:
- As I said, the plot seems very promising in the beginning, but the writers started to drift the drama genre to melodrama. The melodrama genre is a double-edged sword, while it's fine for a drama to have melodramatic moments for a touch of thrill, it can also create a draggy plot line - especially where the drama contains 39 episodes and slow-paced.
- The romantic story is minimal and not in a pleasant way. It felt somehow lacking in chemistry and the relationship felt forced and rushed. Sure, there are some "eyes flirting" or sparks along the way, but the couple somehow fit more as co-workers/mentor-student.
- I also don't appreciate how draggy this mother-daughter conflict with dead-ends. After all the drama writers bring to us, the best excuse they can come out with was "your mother was afraid of losing you". Excuse me? This is the mother who sided with her own daughter's harasser. Not only that, when her superior decided to drop the blame on FL, FL's mother decided to work against her daughter. It's very contradicting to the excuse. She could've gone to jail if something went wrong, or she could've spent her life blamed for someone's death. It's basically the same - if not - worse than losing her daughter. FL's mom is either written badly by the writers, or just plain dumb for a lawyer/mother.
- The ending is too rushed as it felt like the writers gave what the viewers wanted on the last bits of episodes. It felt ingenuine, unconnected, and unrealistic. Even in the last episode, the writers chose to put conflict between the two main leads, which somehow felt like the writers are trying too hard to grab opportunity till the last bits.
- I think it's happening too often, where the writers put the most important plot at the end of the drama, and they rushed it till the end. Yes, this could've been prevented if they follow the basic "beginning, climax, ending" rule. But this drama is more beginning-------dragy---------climaxend.
What I like about the drama:
- The FL's character is refreshing, always love actress' works as she's excellent at portraying her characters. I've been a fan of her since "Go Ahead".
- ML is charming and good looking, and I also love how he implicitly turned explicitly cares about FL. Too bad his character is not written in the best way.
In conclusion, the drama could've been better if they focus more on FL's inspiring journey as a pilot. Instead, they chose to focus on creating a makjang out of a drama that is supposed to be empowering.
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The cast performed satisfactorily, despite the characters not being captivating, the actors impregnated their marks in the composition of the characters.
The direction managed to produce good scenes, didn't make big mistakes in editing.
The soundtrack isn't bad.
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This review may contain spoilers
Great Slice of Life Drama Inside an Airport
This drama was a great pick me up drama atm because I'm currently in a drama slump.It is more slice of life with hints of romance and some melodrama cause there were quite some tear jerkers. I loved how Chengxiao is a strong female lead, there was always something pinned against her and she always stood her ground and got through it all and I admired that about her. She also was incredible when it came to her love life- she indirectly confessed and flirted and teased the ML all the time and it was so cute to watch those scenes. And of course Tan Songyun is an amazing actress (one of my favs) so I expect nothing less of her performance.
The actor for the ML (Wang Kai) was honestly super handsome and looks so good for his age like wtf but he also did great in his role, but at the same time I felt like it was lacking a bit? Maybe it's just how his character is too. But I loved loved how supportive he was with Chengxiao and her career as a pilot.
I have never watched any dramas with a setting as an airport/pilots etc so this drama was pretty informative. Also I LAUGHED at the American scenes and actors- the part where they started clapping when they poured water on her ??? cringe tbh not sure where the writers got their information from...
Anyways the plot was great! Lots of good information, some drama, trauma, family issues, friendship issues etc etc everything you could want in a drama !!
The only thing that was annoying was the love story- they dragged way too long - like we want more cute scenes. So if your looking for a romance drama, this ain't it.
The cast was amazing, the main actors and all the side actors/characters were great. I'm happy they were able to wrap everything up nicely at the end and everyone got their redemptions.
Overall, a great watch with amazing actors and actresses'
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An easy watch
I haven't watched many dramas as the airport setting so I really enjoyed that the plot actually revolves around many issues and day to day lives of the various staff employed at an airport - from pilots (main focus), cabin crew, mechanics to ground handling staff. It's done fairly well. Would have loved to see more of that in fact. A lot of the story revolves around the office politics and struggles of our female lead much of which is the result of misogyny.The main plot is about a young enthusiastic female pilot, Cheng Xiao, who is transferred to flying commercial planes whereas she worked in the transport department thus has to go through a period of training. Unlike other male pilots, she faces harsher scrutiny at every stage and she pushes herself harder to prove her worth. Gu Nanting, is an experienced pilot who is one of the best at Luzhao Airlines. He is also in charge of training Cheng Xiao. He has also had a tragic experience which makes him a stickler for rules and safety.
The pace of the series is decent but can feel a bit slow at times. If you're main focus is romance, then you are in for a long haul flight. This will be the slowest of slow burn romances ever. But the writers depict a good build up of chemistry between the leads despite their contrasting personalities. We also have a very strong contender for the second lead syndrome - Ni Zhang, who works as the chief engineer. He is also a long time friend of Gu Nanting and probably understands him best. The show depicts a very mature version of bromance. It's subtle but you can feel it.
Among a lot of the other characters, I also enjoyed the character of the pilot, Song, who is a colleague and friend of Cheng Xiao.
Probably the most frustrating characters on the show is the FL's mother. I simply could not stand her. She actually made some of the episodes unbearable for me.
Overall, I genuinely enjoyed the show. I'm glad I picked it up.
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If you want romance, watch till EP23 only
I finished it out of spite and thanks to the 2x speed and multiple fast forwards.It started strong. The storyline was slightly ridiculous, I kept waiting for her to sue the company for discrimination and wrongful punishment lol, but at least it had merit. It was fun to watch.
Then the Lanshan last morning incident happened and things really went downhill. I wish writers would rely on actual character personality traits to manufacture plot and conflict and not just use the same old tropes.
EP 38 was proof that if the love Ni-Gu love rival shit wasn't there we still could've had a beautiful, hesitant love relationship without needless conflict.
Also Ni never apologized for his shameful accusations to Gu did he?
The drama would have benefitted had there been no romance or better/more romance. This proportions of rom and drama were off here. Also the workplace conflicts were too much. In 2ish years Cheng got on news what 4-5 times? Ridiculous.
The last work conflict and its resolution was so needless and made no sense what so ever. All in all, waste of time to watch the whole show. Just watch yt compilation videos
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work drama, nothing special
If you have watched most of Tan Song Yun's show, her character here is very much like other shows - I wouldn't think it's a breakthrough or anything. I feel like this show is similar to Master of my own, in a sense where there is workplace romance, mature adults, slow paced and also no big drama or anything.Show revolve around the main leads and their lives as pilot at Lu Zhou Airlines. I can't rate based on the technicality as to how real it was to real life aviation but the show does not really bore you and moves on fast. Don't expect the romance to be super fluffy kind or anything like that. There is abit of love triangle but nothing too much, romance between main leads only start towards the end of the show.
There are also some story on the supporting characters... which is boring to me.. didn't really enjoy the story on the female lead friend so i usually skip through it.
Recommend to watch if you're into work drama. Skip if you're not. The romance part got nothing much to offer. Both leads are pretty good but chemistry is quite meh.
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An enjoyable watch, but too little romance too late
The main draw of the drama is the acting of female lead who is able to portray the charming, likeable and strong-willed personality of the character. Although the actress is not exactly the prettiest by mainland Chinese drama standards, she fits the role well. would say the drama would have flopped if not for her.What the drama excels in, is the story of how the FL stood her ground despite the odds, as well as depicting the work of pilots and aircrew, through interesting incidents and the lives of the cast.
The male lead’s acting is on point by not impressive, but it may be hampered by his character setup (he is supposed to be someone is not expressive) and by the annoying choice of the director to convey his emotions by the tapping of his hand whenever he is anxious, nervous, concerned, or overly emotional.
It is a typical drama where the ML rejects the FL due to a tramautic past and is ridden by guilt, creating tension and anticipation for the audience on whether and when the couple will get back together.
For viewers who wish to see more romance, this drama is severely lacking. The 2nd main leads are not featured much, and the romance between the main leads happens in the last 2 episodes.
I felt towards the end it’s less of a workplace romance drama but more of a occupation promotion drama littered with romance. The ending was rushed and had too much of big China propaganda. The surmise of the male and female lead appears to be work above romance, country above self, and no worklife balance.
I personally enjoyed the drama pretty much, but fast forwarded towards the end, and tolerated the bits where the support cast were just really being vases which is a shame.
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Meh...
OVERALLWatch if you're into LOADS of work drama. Skip if you're not. This drama doesn't have much more to offer.
THE STORY
These days Chinese romance dramas are NOT romance dramas haha This one in particular was essentially a work drama. On the good side, it really manages to get your attention. I kind of liked seeing all the issues pilots and flight attendants go through - which is a first, I usually don't care for work drama. The series makes the ordeals they go through realistic and gripping. Another thing I like with Flight to You is that Female lead is the one that does the chasing for a while (and openly too), which is refreshing, while Male lead is the one that is shy and awkward. Male lead also has a bit of depth, with a backstory that makes him a complex character, and he's into gender equality, which is nice.
On the bad side, that's basically all there is to Flight to You. The romance is subpar, the typical twenty episodes of veeeryyy slow burn followed by 10+ episodes of utter and complete stagnation, and ending with 2-3 episodes of rushed resolution, topped with the most archaic of all tropes: miscommunication between the leads, who don't know how to TALK and seem to compete for worst bad decision of the year. Also, the secondary characters are not too annoying, but I couldn't really care about them or their storylines. Female lead is not unbearable, but she's still ditsy and borderline childish at times. The villain is a villain for NO reason, which is just bad writing. And then there's the mom, the typical devil that magically is redeemed by the end of the drama (even though she clearly does not deserve it). And then the drama gifts you with an unnecessary, hateful cliche in the last episode too.
Bottom Line: I don't recommend...unless you're into the secret lives of pilots and flight attendants.
THE ACTING
Cool. I like both Wang Kai and Tan Songyun, especially him. No chemistry though.
THE MUSIC
What music?
REWATCH VALUE.
Low.
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