This review may contain spoilers
This Drama: The Anticipation on What Happens Next
This is definitely one to add to my favorites for 2022. What I like about this was the progression of this drama from start to finish. We go from the lead characters freaking out that they're stuck in a time loop and keep dying in a bus explosion, to our lead characters wanting change and starting to look for clues for motives and doing trial and error on potential suspects of the passengers. The goal was to save everyone, so it was very interesting to see how the death toll decrease in this drama as our leads continue to do trial and error. Even though there was a main culprit, at times throughout the early stages of this drama, it seemed like the cops were the bad guys (even though I know they weren't. They were just like that due to suspicions & clues that they followed). Though not all of the bus passengers' stories were told, the ones that were shown was presented so well that you somewhat connected with them, even though they're just side characters. That's just how great the writing was.Of course, I could only give story 4 stars though. There were plot holes in this drama but that's mainly due to Chinese censorship. Had this not been an issue, I'm sure the questions a lot of us had would've been shown in this drama like how the novel tells those extra details. Lead characters were great, but they were just missing a story. It would've been nice for them to have a story that connects to the main plot. The connection was missing for me other than knowing that they are the heroes of this drama.
The acting was phenomenal. Our leads were on point with their emotions and expressions and even the side characters did really well with their roles, from the cops to the bus passengers. Again, I would've liked to see more stories from the other passengers and the leads of course, just in a way to understand their character better, but this still was good overall.
Music wise, I think I only heard like 2 OSTs from this drama but those two songs ended up being my favorite and added to my music playlist. I enjoyed it everytime the OSTs played in the background.
Would I rewatch this? Most likely, though probably would start at where the lead characters start investigating instead of the beginning. I could do without the panic moments.
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I WISH I COULD LOSE MY MEMORY JUST TO WATCH THIS DRAMA AGAIN!
First of all, I barely write reviews, meaning that this drama is not like any other drama. I was recommended this drama when it first came out but I was never really interested after hearing about the 'time loop' plot thinking it would boring. However a year later when finally gave in to watch it, I was so shocked. All the roles and background stories of each character were incredible, to the fact that I suspected everyone. the background music and OST were also on point, making the scenes seem 10 times more suspenseful and tense. The drama showed different problems in life that affects children, adults, students, and couples... The story was short yet flushed us with soo many emotions, you will definitely feel how much each and every actor, actress, director, and screenwriter... put work into this spectacular show. I would 1000% recommend this show to anyone.Was this review helpful to you?
It's brilliant
Practically everything about this drama - plot, pacing, production, acting - has so much care and scrutiny put into it and it shows. This is the kind of drama that sets the bar really high and makes it hard to go back to mediocre dramas. It's quite addicting, episodes fly by and its one of these just-one-more-episodes type dramas. I can even say it's a drama that may even get one out of a drama slump.The writing has a lot of detail and logic to satisfy the mystery elements but the pace is also fast to complement the action/thriller elements of the story. While the main characters are quite smart, the deductions they have make sense and they are not unrealistic geniuses. I really, really liked our male and female leads. The dilemmas they face and they have and evoke with all the other characters are also quite reasonable. In fact, the way the writing fleshed out almost all of the characters was wonderful. Time-looping can be a very tricky subjects but the flow of story was very smooth.
The acting matches the quality of the writing and it is extremely well done, especially all the micro expressions needed by actors at certain scenes. Our leads had a very good chemistry as well. The production quality was also excellent and again, so much attention paid to quality and detail.
The only, only gripes quite minor. Being an action/mystery set-up, our leads did go through some character development but on whole generally static characters as the norm with these genres. However, there was a little bit about the male lead's background and resulting character that was introduced and mostly but not entirely followed up on. Also, there is a specific point towards the end that spends quite some time at one points, story wise. It's very well-done but in consequence the wrap-up of the resulting scene was a little quicker than I would have liked. But these are very nit-picky and do not detract from the over all story.
This would be an interesting re-watch to try to spot the clues in advance and how everything break down. In conclusion, this is the kind of drama that is really hard to find. No matter the genre of preference, this is one most people should enjoy.
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Just one word: AMAZING
Now I started watching this after seeing the gripping trailer and had pretty high expectations, and I can't believe the actual drama exceeded that and so much more! The suspense was unbelievable and each episode has something new to bring to the table. And it wasn't even just the suspense, but the heart that goes with the storyline.Things I liked:
- The mystery. What really is happening? Why are things happening? What do they need to do now? Where do they go from here? Every episode I am left with many questions and while we learn something new at each step of the way, the thrill is so intense that we are still left wanting more. I watched this while it was airing and really, the 1 episode per week is not enough lol
- The characters and their personal storylines. If you happen to see my other reviews, you'll know that I am a huge fan of good characterizations, and this drama did just THAT. And you know what's even better than a well-written character? It's well-written characterS. I really liked how each episode focuses on different characters which teaches us a lot of things on how we should view and treat the people around us. Special shout-out to my precious cutie pie Lu Di <3
- The subtle romance. The main point of this drama is the mystery, and while the love line between the main characters could have been easily, well, "exploited", I'm so glad that didn't happen. The development of their relationship just happens in the background and didn't take away from the story. Granted I'm good even if there's no romance at all, but it still makes sense given the grand scheme of things and seeing what the leads went through together.
Tbh if this was shown on Netflix, it would definitely be a huge hit. Nonetheless I am so glad I watched this and even if we're already halfway through 2022, this is still the best drama of the year for me. Huge kudos to the whole team and the actors.
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I miss it already
The best show Ever. I hesitated for so long before watching this drama. I first thought it was another overhyped drama like so many others out there. Boy was I wrong. Not only are the main characters well-written, but so are all the show's characters. Everyone did a fantastic job. The show does a great job showing us the character's background story which teaches us so many lessons in life. Out of the 100 dramas I watched out there this is the first time I wrote a review of more than one sentence. I love this show with all my heart.❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️Was this review helpful to you?
Amazing Action Adventure and Mystery Drama
This is a fantastic work of writing and acting that keeps viewers interested in a time loop over 15 episodes. All characters have immense depth and are brilliantly portrayed. Even the villains are redeemable. The action scenes are well done, and the production is not lacking. The character development and growing chemistry between the two main characters Zhao Jin Mai (Li Shi Qing) and Bai Jing Ting (Xiao He Yun) is expertly done. This is not a drama that leaves you wondering if the budget ran out. It is highly recommended and will keep you on the edge of your seat!Was this review helpful to you?
A great thriller til the end
Wow. I admit, I dove into this because of Bai Jingting but I stayed for an unexpectedly skilled cast, intriguing plot, and wondering just how they were going to explain the time loop. (I'm going with "injustice can rip a hole in time and space" lmao). The episodes giving passengers' backstories gave a very human element to the people in the show - no one was just a victim. I was a little unsettled by how much copaganda the early episodes had but was absolutely satisfied by the end. And the light romance! It felt like Just Enough for this plot. The leads were so sweet together, such chemistry! And the drama was the perfect length for once, not dragged out but enough to largely flesh out the plot.Was this review helpful to you?
This review may contain spoilers
This is a literal masterpiece
this drama gave me the chills and suspense. I don’t have the words to describe how great this cdrama is.The acting
The plot
OST
IS LITERALLY ALL SO GOOD
you should go watch it NOW ❤️
As I was scrolling in the last episode in YouTube, I came across a theory that seems legitimately true
(I think that mengmeng spirit was responsible for Li shiqing getting trapped in the time loop. Mengmeng didn’t want her parents to kill all the people in the bus + the parents themselves, and all she was able to do was to create the time loop and give someone the power to remember between each iteration. Li shiqing was chosen because of how similar she was to mengmeng when she died. They go to the same college, teacher and they are both 20) - credit to that person who commented this.
And I also noticed that Li shiqing was sitting in the same spot as the girl who took the photo! maybe li shiqing was going to be the hero that the girl who took the picture of the lecher was supposed to be but never got the chance to because she was scared. AHHH THE DRAMA IS SO BINGE WORTHY. BEST CDRAMA OF 2022 ❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️
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This review may contain spoilers
Amazing drama
Honestly one of the best Cdramas ive ever watched.Long story short its a time loop drama but very well written, directed and edited. Acting was excellent and the chemistry was amazing between the lead.
Even supporting characters had depth to their story.
I usually watch Rom Coms and they r usually filled with gringy momnets and unnecessary misunderstandings. And horrible acting. BUT this one surprised me. (Yes i know its not a romcom)
Usually u know who the culprit is in these dramas but this one held the secret out well until it was time
I would definitely watch it again.
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Superb piece of sci-fi suspense drama but can't sustain the excellence the whole way
The c-dramascape is well populated by crime/thriller/suspense dramas. However, if you throw in a sci-fi spin to the mix then the candidates for top dramas in this genre is somewhat thin on the ground. Maybe it has to do with censorship or culture but the writing in that sub-genre tends to be more muted and less innovative than creators from beyond their border. I’m glad to report that this show stood head and shoulder above the typical competition.It is not a spoiler to tell you that the story is revolve around our protagonists being “trapped” on a bus that will explode and kill them in a matter of minutes. Each time they die, the sequence resets (hence the title) and they return to the bus. This is all laid out in the opening scenes and reinforced in the first episode. As our leads live through more cycles, they learnt how to work with the time loop and manipulate the events. They have to find out why they are looping and do what they can to stop it.
As this is such a suspenseful drama, I shall try to remain spoiler free. Most of the comments will be intentionally vague.
As you can imagine, with the scenes and scenarios being replayed over and over again, the writer have to find ways to present their predicament from different angles and perspectives. This is where the writer did a very good job for much of the show.
Similarly, the actors are repeating variations of the same plot, but they showed a lot of emotions and dedication. The leads were standouts and kudos to them. There are definitely no squeamish or wimpy characters here.
The production value of the show is quite good. Maybe it is the repetitive nature of some scenes that allowed them to get more bang for their bucks by editing explosions and car chases shot from different angles to generate more “unique” footages. One thing that piqued my interest is the police station. It seemed to be modern and “nice”. I don't know if it is based on a real police station or whether it was embellished.
I appreciate the show expending efforts to fresh out the backstories of some support roles. It made their behaviour more meaningful.
Alas, I wish the show was able to sustain this high standard all the way, but it did begin to falter towards the end. Not so much individual acting and scenes but the consistency of the main plot.
A lot of the issues came from the time loop concept. By the time we find out who the bomber is, the rest of the story is not that hard to deduce. Even so, the repetition still went on when the leads failed to break out of the loop. This gave us a lot of time to contemplate the raison d'être of the main event. It exposes some narrative weakness, and you start to question the goals and motivations of the antagonists. The internal logic still holds, but there are now cracks where there was none before.
The Show also paid a lot of attention to the backstory of the antagonists. It was nicely done and with a delicate touch. However, by then we have already sat through several backstories, we know what will happen and when, we know who did it so there is little intrigue left. This only brought about a distinct change in pacing and tension.
Another issue is why the leads are involved? They were just trapped and then released once they solved the puzzle. These issues would have been less contentious if this was a two hours movie or have fewer episodes.
The ending also did not sit well with some viewers (no spoilers). I can sense the writer was preparing us for a different ending, but it took a detour. Was it because of censorship?
In the end, rating this show is like judging some Olympic sports. You start with a perfect 10 and then you start to deduct little bit here and there as you spot minor imperfections.
OST was fine. Rewatch is difficult as there is no mystery left and the repetitions will test most people's patience.
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Worth a watch!
It has only 15 episodes which nicely wraps up everything without being too draggy. You can finish binge watching it over the weekend. The plot is intriguing and often leave you on a cliffhanger at the end of each episode which I’m so happy that i could binge watch it instead of having to wait every week. The side characters’ stories were well covered and although there is some repetition on the premise, it doesn’t get boring as new details were incorporated each time. Not much toxicity and it illustrates the social issues of this generation. Lastly, the romance aspect is subtle which is great because it shouldn’t be the main focus of the whole storyline.Was this review helpful to you?
NEED MORE DRAMAS LIKE THIS
I had been planning to watch this drama for a long while but only recently i got the time to watch this and it is a masterpiece. It was my first time watching Zhao JIn Mai and god she is good I am looking forward to seeing more of her in other projects. The drama is pretty short so you can just watch it in a day the plot is plotting the acting is there too. I need 100 more dramas like this. Please don't skip this drama it is a must watchWas this review helpful to you?
