Meet Yourself

Slice of Life

this is the show to watch if you enjoy slow paced, peaceful, slice-of-life type of shows.

i was very touched by the friendship between XHD and her bestie. it reminded me that we shouldn't take health for granted, and we should cherish every moment in life. watching her recount the times spent with her friend made me tear up.

the show showed the picturesque views of Yunnan and is an inspiration for city goers to put down everything and YOLO. not just because of the beautiful scenery, but because of the meaning of taking a break to treasure every minute of life. XZY's calling to go back to his hometown to make it better was also admirable.

i particularly enjoyed the mature and slow burn romance between the male and female lead, not rushing into things just because of physical attraction but because of aligned vision and values.

OST was also great, song was stuck in my head for the longest time...

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Slowing down admist all the hustle and bustle [of dramaland]

Meet Yourself is likely the type of show where you’d either love it to the moon or feel meh about.

To some, 40 episodes of a healing drama is too long; to a few others, the show probably inspire them to take intentional steps, as required, so they’d be able to appreciate the things that matter to them, before it’s too late.

For me, I quite like Meet Yourself for its lovely characters, awesome cinematography, mature romance, and nuggets of wise conversations…but it has to catch me at the right mood. Even this review has been a long time coming, which ironically fits into the show’s iconic slow pacing.

First things first, on the story premise, we follow Xu Hong Dou journey of healing in Yunmiao Village after feeling burnt out from the grief she felt of her best friend’s death. As she settled in and eventually got “coaxed” to take up an advisory position to assist the local cafe, she started to get more involved in the affairs of people at Yunmiao Village. And then, slowly but surely, Xu Hong Dou felt pockets of fresh air from this place and people, which gave her the energy to connect with herself and begin again.

While there may seem that the stories were unfolding in its own timing and there are many moments in the show that seems more like local tourism MV promotion, I’d say that’s how life kinda is. After all, we don’t necessarily stop to hear or remember the stories of people we deal with in our day to day life. Only when the interactions increase and we start to care about these stories of people who were once strangers to us would we then feel the impact in our hearts. It’s not a process that we can and should rush. And this is the timing that Meet Yourself follows - through Xu Hong Dou’s lens and timing.

Each character’s arcs and stories make Yunmiao Village a warm place. And the greatest anchor is Xie Zi Yao, a promising young lad who had the capability, heart and determination to work on his vision - a vision that Xu Hong Dou seems to understand and support. Neither of them were looking for romance. Yet, they found life is better with each other in it.

In the world of hustle bustle, in real life or drama land, Meet Yourself firmly cement itself as the place that everyone wants to rest and relax in, but unsure if they want it for that long. Still, I’d recommend everyone to give it a shot - perhaps at some point of your life, Meet Yourself may be what you need to reconnect with what you want to work towards to and what matters to you.

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a must watch c drama

it’s such a comfort drama 😔🤍🤍it is one of the best 5 c-drama i ever watched 🤍🤍🤍I loved everything from the cast to the production and the visuals.
i took my time watching the last episodes because i didn’t want to finish it😔
the grandmas in the show were the sweetest.
it made want to vist the village and move to the countryside even more😭💘💘💘💘💘💘💘💘💘💘💘💘💘💘💘💘💘💘💘💘💘💘💘💘💘💘💘💘💘✨✨✨✨💘💘💘💘💘💘💘💘💘💘💘✨✨✨✨✨✨✨✨✨✨✨✨✨✨✨✨✨✨✨💘💘💘💘💘💘💘✨

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Probably slow enough to meet ones past self

This is a slooooooooooooooooow paced drama that will make time stop... or at least it will fell like it stops at times, and I am pretty sure that is exactly what they are aiming for a drama that is there to slow down your pace and just let you enjoy the scenery. An invite to the great outdoors.... Country living without to much drama.

Had I been the type who enjoyed healing, slooooow stuff and whatever they where doing here this would have gotten a higher score unfortunately I am more the type who gets nauseous from that stuff. So clearly I am not the target audience for this, and should probably have run away at firs live your life... breath, carpe diem...

HOWEVER!

80% of the characters in this are not only human, but are actually pretty lovable humans who make great connections, friendships and have this lovable familiar feel to them that you find yourself wanting in on whatever they have together. The elderly in this village are pure gold, and the kids are fun to watch too. There are some annoying characters who show up here and there but they are manageable/skippable.

The male lead does not force himself on the fl even once.. I do not think he even attempted a wrist grab nor did he shove her up against a wall... I guess he is a true prince on a white horse? Though she makes it clear that she can ride the horse herself. The leads are both smart, have amazing chemistry both as friends and lovers. There is this lovely playfulness to the two of them, though the process is painfully slow the two actually stay true to their characters even after they get together unlike some similar dramas (I am looking at you Hometown ch cha cha) where the leads seem to loose all brain power once they acknowledge their feelings for each other. So I love these two and am willing to say that they are one of the best main couples in all of C-dramaland.

The cinematography is gorgeous, the OST is waay to repetitive and while some of the songs are pretty decent, romantic, slow the type you would hear at a wedding. There is one song that I found myself muting for its lovely combination lullaby and traditional children's nursery song...

The way the drama approaches divorce, second chances , age gaps and facing ones fears is pretty ok, a bit preachy at times but relatively ok. I am also pretty sure that if it weren't for this being a C we would definitely have a lesbian second couple, the twos chemistry is even better than the leads chemistry.

All in all a sloooooow drama, with some good, some meeh and a whole lot of lovable characters.

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A scenic slice-of-life that slowly loses its soul

What I Liked

- This was my first Liu Yi Fei drama, so I had no prior performances to compare it to, but I really liked her portrayal of Xu Hong Dou. The nuances she brought to the character, even in the way she spoke, felt incredibly fitting and natural.

- Similarly, I appreciated Li Xian’s interpretation of his role. I don’t have much to reference since the only other drama I’ve seen him in was Go Go Squid! (2019), which I unfortunately dropped. Still, it’s clear he’s a good actor.

- The early episodes captured slowness, stillness, and simplicity beautifully. There were moments when the scenery took center stage—no background music, just the sound of wind rustling through leaves or birds chirping. It grounded the viewer in the moment.

- Emotional scenes weren’t overacted. Instead, they were quiet and restrained, letting raw, adult emotions speak for themselves, often paired with a well-chosen OST.

- The story began with the female lead navigating burnout and grief, but it didn’t stop there. It gave emotional depth to the supporting characters and villagers too. You don’t just root for the leads, you end up caring about the entire community.

- The romance was paced well and felt realistic. Both leads acted their age, transitioning from acquaintances to friends to romantic partners in a way that made sense. I also appreciated how healthy their relationship was. They didn’t hold each other back and respected each other’s priorities.



What I Didn’t Like

- The slow pacing worked—at first. It’s a slice-of-life drama, so that’s expected. But as the series went on, it felt like the writers got complacent. The slowness became a crutch, and the story started to feel aimless. Side plots lacked weight, and character development—especially for the leads—stalled, which was disappointing given the show’s premise.

- The storytelling began to feel a bit too on-the-nose. Characters often sounded preachy, delivering monologues about life and its meaning in moments where natural dialogue would’ve been more effective. It felt like the show was forcing moral lessons onto the audience, rather than letting the characters learn and grow into them.

- The drama also leaned heavily into tourism promotion—clearly aiming to showcase Yunnan, which, to be fair, it did beautifully. The villagers’ stories, especially around improving the local economy to keep the younger generation from leaving, were compelling. But I wish it hadn’t been packaged so overtly as a tourism campaign. The story was already strong on its own.

- After the leads got together, the narrative lost momentum. With no further character development, it felt like the show had nothing left to say, which was frustrating, considering how promising it started.

Honestly, this could’ve been a tight 30-episode series. Instead, it dragged. The emotional weight and quiet power of the early episodes slowly faded, until I eventually couldn’t bring myself to finish it.

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SEMI-ENGAGING MEDIOCRITY

I understand the type of show MEET YOURSELF wants to be. And I celebrate that ambition. And I wanted the hype around the show to be true. But in almost every facet possible this production underwhelms. I can't recommend it to anyone.

As to not spoil much, what I will share is this series treats all characters as supporting characters. The FL and ML aren't really the thrust of the show. This choice makes the series feel really long... because it's almost like looking out a window and watching real life. There's no real plot.

Now, many around here seem to love this. Me? I love an ensemble show, but I need it to have some discernible direction. THE YOUTH MEMORIES is a show like this show that has a great ensemble. It's slice of life too but there's more ups and downs, twists and turns, and so many things that are not predictable.

This show seems to be developed for people who are going thru so much personal stress that they cannot handle any fictional stress as well. Like a show someone in a hospital might like to watch. I love CDramas precisely because many of this very relaxing quality that makes for calmer entertainment before bed, but is overlong series is too calming for my tastes and I'd predict most tastes.

------------- DETAILED ANALYSIS -------------

PREMISE -- Our FL lead experiences an immediate tearjerking event, which breaks her heart and sends her off to an extended vacation in a village. Once there, said event quickly fades off and we're stuck with a stranger in a strangeland situation. It only takes a few more episodes to realize this shock and awe opening was a cheap unnecessary trick to engage us into a show that goes into a completely different direction: a warm cozy sweater.

PACE -- Terribly slow. This story could have been done much better in 28 episodes instead of 40. I read people who binge this show. Of course they do: you have to watch 3 episodes to get 1 episode's worth of story. And the most maddening talking point about this is 'slow burn'. The implication is that there's small flame growing larger and warmer. Completely false. What happens is that our main story is lit like a candle... that goes out often.

DRAMATIC STAGING -- is painfully weak. SCREENWRITING 101 insists you avoid putting two characters in a room simply talking at each other, because that's 'radio' and not taking advantage of 'the moving pictures'. But over 95% of the time these characters are either talking while preparing a meal or eating the meal. That's not only crazy lazy -- but I'm dieting and the show isn't about cooking.

PLOT -- is almost non-existent. And it's not only predictable but inevitable, since this story abhors conflict and therefore doesn't offer alternative resolutions. There are countless subplots, however, and most are wordy filler. Fans wax poetic about these characters and plots -- but have these fans ever seen another CDrama? Almost every other drama I've watched has stronger characters and subplots. THE YOUTH MEMORIES is a great example of being on the edge of your seat with almost every character in the story. MEET YOURSELF? As the story repeatedly suggests, it's two grannies taking an afternoon nap.

LI XIAN -- our ML is... okay... but I didn't love him. Yes ladies, I'll grant he's cute and sweet. In the first half of the show I felt he was over-using his squint, tilt the head, and laugh thing. I sensed he wasn't much of an actor. As the series progressed, though, his charm won me over. I really didn't like his costuming sometimes. (You know that blue denim-ish shirt he had, made of different denim panels? Yuck. And he'd often wear this white teeshirt that made him look like someone named Skippy.) Often I wondered if this show would have worked better if he had been the lead.

SUPPORTING CHARACTERS -- There are waaaay too many. Less is more.

Remember the lady that had a heart attack at the end and wound up in a hospital. My wife and I spent minutes trying to figure out who she was. Why? Because she wasn't a major character.

Many of these supporting characters just don't feel real. I'm not asking for sex, drugs and rock and roll, mind you. I love stories about kind and nice people, but you need darker characters to contrast against the nice ones.

That said, there's cuteness everywhere. I loved Aunt A Gui because she was identical to an Irish Aunt I have, which is strange but true. Annabel Yao stole every scene she was in -- and the producers wisely kept her comic relief lovelorn struggles to a minimum. My heart absolutely went PITTER PATTER every time I saw Ma Meng Wei, the struggling writer. It's hard to believe she only has supporting roles in her future projects. Wake up, Producers -- she's cute as hell.

One character I had a little trouble with was Shen Xiao Mei (Hao Wen Ting). She is our ML's business partner. She was smart, pretty, pragmatic, an excellent business partner -- and even looked like our ML. The story failed to notice they should have been interested in each other, because why not.

Another eye-candy character to note was the handsome young actor playing 'Woodworker Boy'. (I can't find him on MDL.) It's rare to find such a handsome actor (or actress) that convinces you they are not aware of their attractiveness. So many CDramas are loaded with pretty boys pretending they're not and this actor pulls it off, which is funny because netizens swarm him and say how cute he is and he completely pulled off how unaware of this he was... and embarrassed.

(By the way, in later scenes -- we watch him carve wood. He smashes his palm against a tool that chips the wood. OUCH. I winced every time he did it, because within two weeks anyone would be crippled doing that.)

CRYSTAL LIU -- is spectacular in A TALE OF ROSE. If you'd like to see her act, watch that. MEET YOURSELF was a career waiting room, where she smiled pretty in pretty clothes and did next to nothing else. The show didn't need her as the lead. I'd have cast the young lady that plays the 'struggling writer' instead. Oh, yes, speaking of that --

NAVAL GAZING -- or what I like to call WRITER'S WRITING ABOUT WRITING. Bad writers have a terrible habit of writing about 'the terrible struggles of writing'. Who... umm... cares? What's really going on here is the writer of MEET is insecure about their script, and so they insert themselves into the story to say 'how hard writing is' and then characters swarm that character and say 'but you're so good'. It's sickening. And this story did it two more times, with a songwriter and a vocalist.

THE SCENERY -- Most fans LOVE THE SCENIC SHOTS and such. Do I need to see an eye doctor or is over 94% of this series shot in a cafe set and that 'homestay' set? And when it does go outside here and there, the photography is ordinary. Uninspired. Some of it looks like file footage too. See TO THE WONDER and learn what real cinematography is.

I should say the sets were gorgeous! (Unrealistically so, but still eye candy.)

MUSIC -- Oddly the shows strength, even though there's miscalculation even here. This show loves playing the same six songs over and over, so that sequence after sequence is a montage. It's filler for a story that's barely there. And my favorite song, SADDLE OF MY HEART -- was translated poorly into English. It's so indicative of a show that means well but keeps misfiring. Like the opening sequence which is all 'sitcom' bouncy but the show isn't. 'Wind' should have been the ending song.

SO IF IT WAS SO BAD -- why did I watch it all the way through?

1. This is my 3rd Crystal show, and her quality acting, unique beauty, and lovely outfits do not disappoint.
2. I love a show attempting to stage a community based on kindness.
3. At the halfway point I wanted to walk, but I was interested on how it would end.

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Relaxing & Healing

Did not expect to like this but wow, this drama is very healing to watch! It took me about 3 episodes to really get into the drama but after that I finished each episode very quickly. The acting and chemistry of Liu Yifei and Li Xuan were unexpectedly good and fun to watch. The villagers were funny in their own way as well. There were many moments where the villagers and others touched me, and it made me wish such supportive people could surround me. There were also many comedic moments that were not too silly to watch. However, some supporting roles story arch near the end were not as interesting as others and I had to skip to keep watching the episode. I appreciate the writers building out each character though, it made it easier to understand their actions. It was definitely a healing drama to watch overall.

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Pleasant Drama , country side, beautiful sceneries , not for binge watching, Slow drama

I gave 9.5 because the drama is very pleasant to watch, somewhat different story and it needs some appreciation. One of very few Chinese dramas i can say there is some real quality . I kind felt there much Chinese culture and kindness is there in this tv show. The story takes place in a country side and very beautiful village, looks very nice, the wooden houses and the old grannies wearing the traditional Chinese dresses, and particularly the ranch is very scenic. All the characters were very pleasant ppl, i am bored watching those tv shows with many bad ppl.

Cons:
May be bit more romance could be added, i binge watched it so sometimes i felt i t was bit slow at times,

But the all characters in the show were different and cool, like the man who serves tea and the writer, singer etc.. Wow seriously some characters and some story. I binge watched many episodes but i guess, once can watch it slow. But 40 episodes may be not needed

My opinion after watching many Chinese dramas, this is very rare good Chinese drama

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