Meet Yourself

Giving a tired soul a bit of warmth – more than a healing drama

This is my first ever review after watching so many dramas; that's how much I love this drama.

Just like warm hot soup on a hungry raining day, this drama heals your soul. It just feels like you are watching a documentary of this village. It feels like you went into their world and are enjoying their stories. It doesn't feel like acting at all. All characters feel like these are made for these actors. Their play is so amazing. Everyone is a main character, and it highlights each household’s problems and their life.

Everyone is a main character, and it highlights each household’s problems and their life.. The story tells about life and choices we have to make in our life, different kinds of love, parents’ love for their children, neighbours’ love and friends’ love. Real-life struggles of families in an undeveloped village, friendship, and pure love between the main characters. In life, people come and go, and people part ways with attachments and feelings. It is so lovely and scary at the same time. The love between two people from different places and the courage to start and continue their love — it's so lovely.

I feel so attached to each and every character of this drama. Thanks to all the actors and screenwriter for producing such a masterpiece drama. Even 40 episodes feel short for me. This will forever be my first to watch whenever my soul needs healing. And sad after finishing, because these are characters and not real.

PS. I started this without any expectation because I saw many allegations about this with Hometown Cha-Cha-Cha. But after finishing, this drama became one of my all-time favourite dramas, more than Hometown Cha-Cha-Cha. This drama has more details, more warmth, more emotions than HCCC and nothing similar at all except that this was a village-based drama.

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A Death That Inspires Life...

I loved this. But I'll start with a gripe so I can end on a good note.

I remember interacting with an MDL user once who said she didn't like Cdramas because they glorified work in an unhealthy way. That stuck. I thought it was interesting, since I expected Chinese entertainment to portray more traditional family dynamics, being a traditionally patriarchal country. But I discovered this is not the case. Almost all dramas portray both spouses working in some capacity. So, as I've watched more Cdramas, unfortunately I think this critique is true. I'm not sure if this is just a Chinese ethic or if it's propaganda from the government (any time a drama portrays the government as "goodhearted" and "functional" instantly smells fishy; there is no such government. And entertainment is the place where much of that critique happens in countries with the freedom to speak their mind in media (but not so in Cdramas! It makes me a bit leary)). While the writer and/or director managed to meld this glorifying of work into a much healthier and more tempered message about healing (that includes taking something of a break from work, but not really, because Hongdou can't help but jump in again) and finding your passion, discovering who you are, finding a partner to build a life of mutual dignity and respect with, and figuring out what you want in life, it still smacked of the clear message, "Every good, responsible citizen will do their part." But again, the glorifying of work (thankfully) was almost smothered by the more positive, cozy, and upbeat elements of this story, and these allowed me to embrace it despite some of the drawbacks.

On to what I loved.

The drama just oozed cozy, comfy, and relaxing vibes. The plot plods along at a gentle, soothing pace, like a stream flowing slowly and calmly to its destination. The leads' relationshop was one of the healthiest I've seen in a modern Cdrama. It was all just so comforting and like a warm hug (my favorite kind of slice of life drama). It does remind me of Hometown Cha Cha Cha in ways, but it's a much slower pace, and very little drama or angst in comparison. I love the quiet, ambient moments where a person is just filmed enjoying a breeze in Youfeng Couryard, or sipping a cup of tea as steam wafts from their drink, or shots that almost felt like snapshots or still lifes of the countryside in all its quaint beauty (I can totally see why this area boomed with tourism after this drama aired!).

Finally, as I was close to finishing the drama, I thought about how much Hongdou's life was changed (for the better) by traveling to Yunnan. And it was all because of Chen Nanxing. If it weren't for Chen Nanxing's death, Hongdou would never have gone to Yunnan, and she would never have grown, blossomed and flourished like we see her do as she rediscovers who she is, and what she wants in life. Nanxing changed Hongdou's life, but also so many other people's lives by extension. What a beautiful legacy! I hope my death can mean as much (whenever it happens, haha).

I just loved watching Hongdou grieve, heal, fall in love, and find her feet and stumble upon her passion unexpectedly. It was beautiful, and inspiring.

P.S. Granny has to be my favorite old grandma from any drama to date.

P.P.S. The music was perfect.

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Tempo super slow. Vague characters esp. in support roles. Selling point is just the scenery.

The story progresses super slow. I could watch it with full attention for only 10 minutes then I had to go with 2x speed, but that's still too slow. In the end, I had to go faster or else I wouldn't be able to get myself to the end of the episode. And at the end of EP.1, I didn't feel like I missed anything at all.

In EP1, it's the story of FL and her best friend - which is boring - really. They try to make it touching, but nothing in the girls' relationship moved me. The story between them is very loose. I don't feel attached to her friend or believe they're best friends at all. The script writer team did very less in building the foundation for the girls' relationship - I don't see where their strong bond comes from nor believe the bond exists or is even real. And with nothing to convey, the team still forces their way to drag the girls' story into a full EP. This sets a too lagging tempo for the series from the start - which is hardly a wise opening strategy for any series, I would say, as this means they imprint their 1st impression in the audience's eyes as a boring story.

Since the ML doesn't show up in EP1, I gave myself and the series another go with EP2. Here, the setting changes from the city to the pretty village in small town. The set is very relaxing. The atmosphere totally contrasts with EP1 (in a good way). The cinematography is decent and does justice to the location.

However, the same problem isn't solved. The story hardly goes forward. Nothing much happens along the way. I don't feel life in other characters apart from the main characters though they're close relative, colleagues or has long dialogue in their own scene. They're very puppet-like. The team has done a bad job in introducing their characters. And the huge problem is - I don't feel that any character (even FL or ML) is interesting. Until the end of EP2, they still can't make me feel engaged to their characters or story.

And when I glance to see the number of total episodes.... my gosh 40 is to many for this level of story. I imagine it's gonna get more dragging. They're going to squeeze all kinds of their bodily liquids into dragging it to 40. No matter those liquids are blood or tears, it's gonna turn into plain water half way.

So with that glance, I decide to drop this series.

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Definitivamente uma jóia.

No começo pensei que fosse o velho clichê de sempre, moça da cidade que vai pro interior e acha cara "bonitão" e blá.

Mas a história vai muito além, segue um fluxo nem muito rápido nem devagar, abrange vários tópicos, problemas e críticas a sociedade, e uma boa visão sobre os mesmos assim como pontos que fazem você refletir.

Quimica entre os personagens muito boa, história leve, agradável e muito boa de acompanhar. Recomendo fortemente que você dê uma chance caso esteja cansado(a) da mesmice.

Geralmente eu não assisto mais de uma vez a mesma séria, mas essa me fez rever este conceito.

Espero ter ajudado,
Abraçs o/

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A recommended drama!

Baru nonton pas 2 agustus 2023. Sebenarnya udah sering liat reviewnya cuman emang belum ketemu mood yang pas buat nonton. Akhirnya kemarin memutuskan untuk nonton tanpa ekspektasi apa-apa. Jujur buat aku, episode 1 itu penting banget buat aku menilai buat lanjutin nonton apa enggak, karena ini tipe drama slice of life yang slow plotnya yang kalau engga bagus bakalan super lelah nontonnya. Dan dari episode 1 sangat menjanjikan jadi aku tetap lanjut terus dan akhirnya hari ini 7 agustus 2023 aku udah selesai nonton. jujur bagus bagus bagus banget dramanya. nontonnya beneran feelnya tenang, enjoy banget liat dramanya, narasinya bagus bener-bener cocok buat orang orang yang mungkin lelah menjalani hidup, agak merasa kehilangan. Aku nonton ini beneran ketawa ngakak-gemesh-nangis gitu terus sampe tamat dan ngerasa kehilangan ㅠㅠ jujur nyesel kenapa gak hype drama ini pas tayang.

Ini drama punya ost yang bagus, view yang diambil juga bagus, jadi beneran pengen ke yunnan 哈哈哈 cast nya juga bagus meraninnya dan peran semua cast tuh bener-bener bagus banget semuanya. Semua punya cerita dan dapat ending dari jalan hidup masing-masing. sangat realistis sekali karena gak semua hal dalam hidup kita cuman dapat bahagia bahagia aja. Benar benar nunjukkin pentingnya punya keluarga yang support, teman teman yang baik dan lingkungan baik. Pokoknya 1000000000000000000/10 dari aku.

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Meet Yourself

Meet Yourself é aquela clássica história de alguém que saiu da cidade grande e foi para o interior em busca de aconchego, acolhimento e ressignificação da própria jornada de vida.

A história contada nesse drama é linda, pois explora temas como luto, cura emocional, autoconhecimento e o valor das conexões humanas. Além disso, também enaltece a beleza da vida simples e das relações comunitárias. Os protagonistas são ótimos e tem uma química muito boa juntos. Outros personagens também se destacam com seus dilemas pessoais.

Ao final, senti que algumas subtramas secundárias foram resolvidas de maneira aceleradas e gostaria que o desenvolvimento de alguns personagens tivessem sido diferentes, mas acabei a série com aquela sensação que só uma história de cura e reflexão consegue deixar na gente. O gênero Slice of Life é um dos meus preferidos quando se trata de cinema e TV, e produções asiáticas são experts nele. Meet Yourself se destaca nesse gênero, na minha opinião!

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