Reset

failure is not an option

The idea of being stuck in a time loop is not really a new concept, but how it's used is always fun to explore. In this series, two strangers gets trapped in a traumatizing loop and must work together to uncover information pertaining to their situation in order to escape. Time loop stories are usually characterized by repetitiveness, which has the potential to get annoying or boring after a while. However, I think the series does a great job with keeping me engaged. I was always kept intrigued and wanting more from start to finish. The characters are all interesting. It was also fun trying to figure things out along with the characters as information is dripped to us.

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● SHORT REVIEW
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[ --LIKES-- ]

✔ Very engaging. As new discoveries/information are revealed, we get get to slowly construct the solution to the puzzle along with the main characters to progress the plot.

✔ Lots of interesting supporting characters with depth to them.

✔ Lu "Castle Apostle" "Asthma Conquerer" "A person chosen by the light" Di was very cute. I just loved that he just accepted what our leads told him. Very open-minded. I wished he was utilized more.

✔ Plot was easy to follow along with. Sometimes with time-travel stories, there are a lot of layers that makes the story overly complex, confusing, convoluted, and hard to digest. This one, however, felt pretty straight-forward narratively.

✔ Seeing the same scenario over and over again, there is potential for things to feel quite repetitive and maybe it will for some, but it didn't for me. With each loop, behavior and interactions are changing. We see and learn new things, which keeps the story fresh and interesting.

✔ There is a lot of depth to the storytelling. Lots of emotional and heartfelt backstories and moment. There are topics and themes related to ethics, morals, family, kindness, and other aspects of human nature. There are lessons about not judging people and the consequences of our actions and inactions. Overall, I thought the series was very thought-provoking.


[ --DISLIKES-- ]

✖ I felt that we learned a lot more about many of the supporting characters than we learned about about female lead Shiqing. While the connection she had as a student was important, being a student is the only thing I really know about her life.

✖ I think even the male lead's backstory could have benefited from a bit more development as well. They did introduce this idea of him being a game developer working on a violent game, but it never really went anywhere more than just to show some of his character development later on regarding his stance on not making the game so violent. I would have liked to learn more about that game or have it play a larger role in the story.


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● IN-DEPTH REVIEW
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[ --STORY/PLOT-- ]

The way the plot unravels is very similar to playing a video game. Every time you fail the mission or objective, you have to restart from the last save point and try again. There are two main objectives for our two main protagonists, excluding some side missions. The first is investigating the passengers on the bus to figure out the cause and motive of the explosion. The second goal is to use the knowledge they've obtained about the people on board to figure out the right course of actions to prevent a tragedy from happening.

The series reinforces the idea that every stranger has a story. A lot of characters have a life and a story of their own that we explore. While they're strangers to each other on the bus, but they are not just nameless roles or extras. The plot makes us want to know about them, and as we learn their stories, we begin to care and sympathize with them. Some passengers are explored in greater depth than others, but everyone in the bus played a role, regardless of how big or small.

The passengers aren't the only significant characters, though. The cops also play an important part in the unfolding of the story. As annoying as they may be for our main characters, the cops are also pretty competent. At least, the ones in command are. I'm talking about Captain Zhang and Chief Du. Viewers will find both to be very observant, calm, and logical thinkers as oppose to the younger Detective Jiang, who is more hotheaded and often jump to conclusions. Apart from investigating the passengers, our two leads often use the cops as a source of information. They also try to help lead the cops in the right direction as they all ultimately have the same end goal.

Everything that our leads and the viewer learn about all these other supporting character is important. It gives us insight into their psychology and behavior, which is instrumental in finding the right sequence of interactions needed in order to stop the bus explosion, while also insuring everyone's safety. It's a study of each character's human nature. Not everything can be predicted, but that's why there are multiple loops. I felt invested in their success and was always wanting to see the next episode.


[ --ACTING/CAST-- ]

I think the cast did a great job with micro expressions and just the general emoting of emotions. It's not just our leads that were great, but all the supporting roles as well. I think a great example is Leon Li who plays Detective Jiang. Boy oh boy was his character annoying at first, but that's a testament to how well Leon portrayed him. I think the scenes that happen towards the end of the series after witnessing and learning of his mentor's death is where the acting of Jiang's character stood out the most to me. Other places where the acting stood out to me was Mengmeng's parents and how their grief descended them into a place of irrationality. And then there was also a lot of scenes of characters seeming sus outwardly but are really wholesome characters once we learn about them. There are lots of great emotional acting skills. Everyone was amazing.

[ --MUSIC/OST-- ]

The series has three OSTs. "If Only", "Rebound", and "Wake Up". Honestly though, they were all just okay and not really that memorable for me. They weren't bad. Did they fit the story? Yes. However, they didn't really stand out to me enough during any of the scenes as something I needed on any playlist.

[ --REWATCH VALUE-- ]

I think I could easily rewatch this. The cool thing about time-travel based series is that there are often more details that can be caught when revisited. Plus all the characters and the development of those characters were very interesting to watch. While I can see the repetitive nature of the story getting less interesting on rewatch, I think it'd be cool to analyze some of the scenes more closely and/or see if I missed anything. I also binged through the series in a weekend on my first watch so I'd be nice to take more time with it later and process everything.

[ --FINAL THOUGHTS-- ]

Every action has a reaction, and every inaction has a consequence. The series present a lot of topics and themes relating to human nature for viewers to think about. We also see how our experiences shape who we are and how we grow as a person. I think the Heyun is a great example of that. We explored the emotional and psychological weight on him after a traumatizing experience in one of the loops and how that affected him. There were many lessons that we can draw from "Reset" about working together, determination, not judging others, etc. It was very thoughtful. It was also very engaging. It was just a very fun and interesting series with great development for both the characters and the overall story.

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● NOTE
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I'll always conclude my review by saying that ratings and reviews is not really a indicator of whether you may enjoy something. We all have different criteria and standards. Don't let a bad rating, review, or comment discourage you from watching something. My advice will always be to give something a chance if the premise interests you, and only use the ratings/reviews to determine priority if you have a list, or if you're deciding if you want to continue it due to time limitations.

♥ Thanks for reading my review! Feel free to comment or hit me up if you want to discuss anything ♥

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an instant hook

while the concept of time loop didn't arouse my interest at first, i pressed 'play' and that's when i was stuck in my own loop of not getting out of the hands of this drama.

a big warning for this drama is that it truly pulls you in and you can't help but want an answer for the mysteries that uncovers for each episode. this drama was VERY addictive.

reset did a pretty good job at keeping its audience entertained as the suspense wasn't randomly thrown in but it was made to be filled with thrills and tension. besides the suspense, the background stories for every character wasn't dragged out. it suited the pace the drama was going with to the point that the story didn't feel overwhelming. it was short but straight to the point.

so, if you're looking for a good mystery drama, reset might be for you. my advice is to watch this at daytime if you don't want to end up walking like a brain-dead zombie the next day.

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Literally the best, a masterpiece in time loop dramas.

Not much needs to be said really, other than go right now and watch it. My kinda genre with a perfect wrap up and no loopholes. Chef's kiss.
Just when I thought it was getting a little boring, they spiced it up to a perfect level and didn't let me drop my phone even for a snack. Their acting was pretty good and the story was very reasonable- I'd like to add how glad I was when they jumped into action as early as possible after interpreting their very unrealistic and crazy situation instead of crying for a whole episode.
Overall no second thoughts- go for it.

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I bet you’ll never be bored with this drama

That's really the best C-drama I have ever watched in past years..This is the drama you will never be bored of.. It's my first review but not the last..

At first when I first started to watch the drama I thought this will be not good enough ad I'm quite picky whilw choosing drama to watch.. But it's really worthy drama to spend your time with..

The story,casting, acting all of these are up to the mark...Though it's a story about 'time-loop: but you'll never be bored with watching the same scene repeatedly.Besides you will become more and more excited to watch the next episode. The scenery will be same but each of person's acting will be different...you'll know why I am repeatedly saying the drama is worthy after you see it yourself!!!

That's the best c-drama I have watched so far..I really loved it!💜

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Started 2022 with one of the best Cdramas

"Reset" is a perfect drama to start your cdrama journey in 2022. The ending was so satisfying. With all the suspense & thriller they managed to pull out many emotional, heart fluttering & funny scenes. One of my fav scene is xiao heyun & Li shiqing hug in the reiverside While "only one" ost playing in bg. I loved that ost. The crazy woman acting was so good. Omg her voice, eyes & dialogue delivery perfectly fitted the character. 1st ep may seem confusing to you. But trust me everything will get cleared one by one. Its a journey. Main lead Xiao heyun & Li shiqing was the best partners of each other throughout the whole drama. Their chemistry was top notch despite the drama has mostly subtle romance. The confession at the end was so heart fluttering. The drama proved how to show best romance despite a drama not being romance centric. They manged to slip ambiguous dialogues, a subtle love triangle, a confession & a kiss in a suspense thriller drama. This is a perfect drama to get mixture of all kind of emotions. The acting is top notch. All characters are equally important in their own. I think this drama has only 2 osts & both are so good as well. My fav was "only one". I would definately rewatch our main leads moments & some never wrecking scenes. Specially scenes from ep 5-10 are my most fav.

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Excellent Web drama!

I am usually not fond of Web dramas partly because they are oftentimes warped in melodrama and the plot can drag too long.

This however was a rare gem in the making! It was nicely paced and each episode would really keep me on my toes and looking forward to the next episode. The novelist and screenwriter(s) did an exceptional job and you never think that daily tragedies in our lives all affect various people in various ways with similar fates and we wish sometimes we could turn back the time. The plot was so moving that it really hit me hard that life is short. Way too short and I will always be reminded to pick the phone calls from my loved ones...

The male and female leads were also superbly represented in their roles with so much depth in their characters that were extrinsically real. I loved that they ended up well and together in the end. So happy for them.

With 2022 CNY starting out, this was a very good drama to reset all that he world has had to suffer this past 2 years and hopefully we can really start afresh with living the new norm more meaningfully. 'Tis a drama anyone should catch if searching for one that is worth your time.
Blessed New Year to all...

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My view on this drama

Normally I just watch these Chinese dramas to practice my Chinese language skills (I'm a German national) and don't bother leaving reviews or feedback, but this drama is really nice and I had to leave a comment.

I was watching another drama (episode 5 of Love is Sweet) on Youtube when on the browser side with the video thumbnails I saw this Reset drama and it looked sort of interesting. So I paused Love is Sweet and opened episode 1 of Reset in another tab and only listened to the sound while doing other things on my PC (to practice my Chinese listening skills sometimes I just listen to Chinese speech in the background).

By the end of episode 2 of Reset I realised that this drama is something very special. I went back to episode 1 and started watching it, both audio and video. I finished the first nine episodes in 2-3 days, then had to stop because episode 10 wasn't available yet on Youtube. Later I found episodes 10-12 on Youtube with English subtitles.

I managed to find episodes 13-15 on another website, but only with Chinese subtitles. This was a bit tough, because without English subtitles I understand only about 80%-90%. But sometimes individual words are essential to understand what is being said on the screen. So I ended up watching these three episodes (as of today, January 30th they are still not on Youtube with English subtitles) in a stop and go mode - pausing the video and using my Chinese dictionary to translate certain words needed to get the meaning.

In any case this drama is really special - I hope it gets an average score as close to 10 as possible, because it really deserves it.

It's a mix of very interesting story, some science-fiction elements, very good acting and you see real people with their tough, every day life. It's not a drama like Love is Sweet, where everybody/everything is perfect and beautiful, You see some ordinary people who together manage to achieve something very special.

Episode 15 is the one I liked most. I've been watching certain scenes of the second half several times (and the soundtrack, Wake up, is also very nice).

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JUST GO WATCH IT DON'T HAVE ANY DOUBTS

Started this thinking that it will be another normal cdrama and told myself to just watch one episode but i watched the whole series in one go so i am a little bit ashamed of myself.

The first episode is bound to get you hooked it just pulls you in yk, and it also hooks you by wanting you to find out what exactly will happen

So it starts off with this girl waking up in a bus and then the bus explodes and then she wakes up again and pulls this guy along with her into the time loop and they both work together to find out how to stop the bus from exploding

It was just super duper amazing i usually get bored with timeloop dramas but this was wow i didnt even get bored every passenger had their own story and the director and scriptwriter made sure to show them all

I wasn't expecting a romance out of this but then when they hugged each other out of fear damn i had to expect it, their chemistry is insane

It's just a really really great watch and the acting was spectacular they showed the frustration the fear the anxiousness all so well

Best cdrama i've watched hands down

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Tick Tock Tick Tock

Here’s a scenario - if you are able to loop back to minutes before a bus explosion, having the chance to escape the death vs trying to stop the catastrophe, what would you choose? And the catch - you don’t know how many times you can reset, how many chances you have before it’s truly game over, and if you get to survive anyway. Would you still confidently say you will die trying to stop the explosion? It’s a true test to one’s courage, resilience, and morality. Herein comes our main characters dilemma and the story for Reset.

What Reset did really well, was the execution of the plot, having an engaging storytelling approach, and a well fleshed-out cast. In a story about time loops, it’s easy, too easy, to make our main characters played the idealistic heroes that will choose to overcome all obstacles for every loop. After all, it’s the mission of being the “chosen ones”. Failing means getting another chance, it means unraveling the mystery until the loop ends. In other words, there was no “real” consequences from the get go if we watched Reset from this lens. Hence, this was the most important thing that the production team and cast did right - engaging the audience to care for the main characters to escaping the loop and saving the passengers.

In 15 episodes, with 8 suspects to investigate, 2 main characters’ rapport to establish, and 1 team of smart police who were doing a proper job, Reset did not waste any minute telling a comprehensive tight knit story. Li Shiqing was the “Heart” of Reset duo while Xiao Heyun complemented as the “Brain”. Through the course of the story and each time loop, the Brain learns to care more for the people around him while the Heart learns to better consider the implications of her actions - it made us believe that one cannot exist without the other, and it made us buy in their romantic development amidst the tension and escalating crisis as they got closer and closer to the perpetrator in the next loop.

I also especially loved the subtle unexpected comic reliefs within the narrative to balance out the tension as well as strong supporting characters who had their own identity within Reset. Inspector Zhang is the kind of police you’d want in your district. The passengers are the everyday passengers whom you'll come across, adding color to Reset. Some of their backstories were relatable, heartwarming, and were by no means fillers.

On a deeper layer, Reset is also trying to deliver a message on the negative consequences of irresponsible social media use and ignorance - we never know when the hurt invoked will cause an unintended time bomb to someone else, figuratively speaking. And life as we know it, has no Reset button.

All in all, Reset is a wonderful, logical, engaging time loop story for the ones who love a good mystery. Even if you are not a mystery fan, there’s a lovable couple who try their best for our heartwarming cast to root for.

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Thrilling

This show is so fast-paced and intriguing that I binged 10 episodes in 24 hours. I even watched the later episodes without subtitles with my limited Chinese because i need to know what was gonna happen to them.
The plot is logical and was able to sustain my interest throughout. I really enjoyed the two main leads' acting and i think their chemistry is fantastic.
It was a bit slow at first but once the male lead realised the situation they were in, things got really exciting. I found myself on the edge of my seat since episode 8. Overall, this drama is a wild ride and it's definitely worth your time.

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overall: weak characters, interesting premise, ehhh execution

this wasn't worth my hl essay worktime and my chem exam study time. Also, this is purely a rant of disjointed thoughts about my irrelevant opinion, ofc.

- first of all. It's blatant police propaganda lmao i swear this shit was funded by the police there was no nuance at all
- second, wtf was the ending. Why were they in the time loop?
- the ending was basically a massive, dragged out sob story
- plot wasn't as tight as I would have liked. The beginning dragged dude. The amount of dramatic shots i can't.
- the edge of tomorrow did this premise better
- the girl was boring. Sorry she's basically a portrayed as a saint with no character development. Her naivety pissed me off. Can we have cool female character that doesn't act like a 10 year old kid for once?
- the two leads have no chemistry. The kiss was abysmal, the usual for cdrama kisses.
- i think this is every gamer's wet dream. I think that statement is explanatory in itself. tbh he was sort of cute, but again underdeveloped, and i didn't like him very much.
- beginning half was better. Seriously how did this become a cop drama in the last few episodes? (also: how many shits did i give about the cop almost dying? 0). The ending? Basically the cop said, trust me bro. And the man was like ok dude I will. ???
- also isn't it funny how china lets you see graphic severe burns where the skin is literally molten but refuses to air some cleavage? smh puritans. Make it make sense ccp
- I did like how they subverted expectations several times and how the villains were understandable, like we got their motivations. Also i may be tripping but I swear the antagonists better developed than the protagonists themselves?
- the crazy wife was good but dude she overdid it sometimes. LIke bruh we get it ur crazy.

- messages: don't judge ppl by how they seem, the perils of keeping silent with sexual assault (omfg the moms rant about wearing short skirts shut up boomer), the consequences of police failure, etc.

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