This review may contain spoilers
for the arts not the charts
i might be the only person who enjoyed this show throughout LOL if you're expecting a walking green forest of characters then dont even bother starting this show bc main leads are heavily flawed characters and both have their shortcomings but they were entertaining to watch (for me). this show is about troubled youth chasing their dreams together but dont expect a smooth sailing ride for them. i personally love shows like this (flawed characters, angsty) so if you're one of my kind you might like this show. the 'love will prevail all' mindset they had at the start is so frustratingly cute. im a forgiver to lovesick hopeless romantics unfortunately i found them endearing. some of the plots were questionable but for the most part it was good! second lead cp story was SUPER unnecessary. buuut zhou shui & dai daji's love was worth to watch! i loved seeing their growth and tbh they couldve added more eps to show zs&dj in present time. alsoo this show has an OE but i like it! which is rare bc i hate an open ending show but they somehow executed it nicely and i was satisfied with it at least!! teared up a bit here and there when watching this but i might just be attached to the show hahaaWas this review helpful to you?
Such a Toxic Love
The fl was impossible. She was never happy with anything ml does and when she is.. it's something she did for him to make herself feel better. She treated him like a child at times. She makes the decisions in the relationship.When Zhou Shui tells Daji something she doesn't want to listen or even consider what he says. She wants to be the boss all the time that it became draining watching their relationship. I know this is a break up drama, but it got really exhausting as the story went on.
The decision to go to Beijing after college and start making movies was insane. Especially after meeting a guy and listening to his dream you want to follow him.
Thought Zhou Shui kept getting the short end of the stick. Everyone told him what to do it got ridiculous.
Daji is never happy with whatever the outcome is.
She for real needed to be single with how she does things.
The 2nd couple story was insane.
Anyways, by the end I stopped caring bout how it'll end and was just rushing to finally finish this.
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This review may contain spoilers
Was the love really worthy as the title suggests? No, I'd tell ML to run for his life.
I've never watched a romance drama where I wished the leads wouldn't end up back together. This was definitely a first.The story started out pretty interesting, but after the first few episodes, you start seeing problems sprouting. One thing I can't stand most, was that the FL plot armor was too strong. Whatever she does or says will always be law. And the writer probably just wanted to make ML a big pathetic fool.
The leads' love story feels like a raw, realistic, slowburn romance at first. They were young and wild, with big dreams and big ambitions, and nothing to fear. Both moved to the big city trying to make things work in Beijing. Both young and inexperienced. In the early episodes, ML is fixated on chasing his director dream, while FL makes him big promises claiming she'll be the breadwinner and support him. So all he needs to do is just focus on making his movie.
But as we all know, reality doesn't work that way. They both end up struggling to make ends meet, still being very much in love in the first two years. But FL reaches her breaking point because neither of them are making progress, and they're both still broke af. They start communicating less, and distrust starts growing between them. By the end of the first quarter, they've basically lost trust in each other already.
The writer also seems quite conventional in her writing, but at times it felt like she wanted to step out of the box, only to end up creating this twisted fake unconventional thinking which don't make any sense. FL also barely apologizes for her mistakes, and indirectly demands ML to apologize all the time, even when it wasn't his fault, or it was BOTH their fault. ML is ALWAYS the one to give in and say sorry. Even when it was clear that FL trusted the wrong person and messed up, she still got mad at ML because he missed her call and mistook him for hanging up on her because his phone couldn't be charged in that old building and the power went out. So she blames ML for her bad judgment of a person, and blames that he's never there whenever she needed him. But he was always there except for this one time.
Deep down, I've always felt that FL looked down on ML no matter what she says. She kept saying how she loved that he was ambitious, full of dreams, passionate, and talented, But then she also hated that he wasn't being successful fast enough. When she realized she couldn't keep her promise of being the sole breadwinner and support him making his movie because it was too difficult, she decided to pack up and leave him. Whenever things didn't go her way, she would either blame him, or leave him.
Often times, it felt like the FL only loved a certain idealistic version of the ML, and constantly wished that he fit into that mould. But when he no longer fits into it, she starts borderline hating the relationship and looks for excuses to find fault in the ML. From the past until the present, she wanted ML to become the person she likes, not the person he is.
FL also has a line she says all the time. She emphasizes on LOYALTY. Well guess what? She only has loyalty until she has to make a sacrifice on her end. That's when she'll bail and blame things on ML again. And whenever ML had to make a choice, he ALWAYS chose her. He was always loyal TO HER. And towards the end, that one time he makes a choice for himself, she calls him a selfish betrayer. (But it's okay when she does it in the name of "doing this for their future and for his dreams". *roll eyes) His friends, who once made selfish choices as well, turned their backs on him and sided with FL when he didn't turned his when they were selfish and left. Whatever ML does, it's just never enough. He's just being criticized by almost everybody.
The FL's mother is also another toxic one. She reminds me of the FL's mother in "Something In The Rain". She just wouldn't stop interfering in their relationship and looks down on ML. And here's the interesting part. FL never directly disagree with her mom or even stops her mom from criticizing how unsuccessful ML is, and how he made her waste her youth on him (erm, is was her own choice?). And I honestly feel it's because she actually agrees with her mom, but never wants to admit it to ML's face. She once claimed that she could be the sole breadwinner, but when she realized it was too difficult, she didn't want to keep that promise anymore, and put the burden on ML. But when ML decides to give up on his idealistic dream and makes a realistic choice so that they could settle down and get married, she judges ML for it, as if only SHE is allowed to make a mature and realistic choice for the sake of them.
ML definitely has his flaws too, though. He's quite prideful and very stubborn. He's unbending when it came to filming and his art. But over the years, he changed to make ends meet, to take some burden off FL's shoulders, and to make FL and FL's mom happy. Yet, all that was never enough. He was never meant to make anyone happy no matter what he does. He also has inferiority complex, and that caused him to doubt FL in the early years of their relationship. But he learned his lesson quick, and didn't doubt her the second time, but warned her of their sleazy boss. He also kept saying he wasn't good enough for FL, but I honestly think he deserved so much better. It was FL who didn't deserve him. In the end, it was definitely the ML who loved the FL more. And ML never wanted the limelight all for himself. He was always happy to share. But he's the director, and directors are usually the face of the project, while the producer seldom appears as the face unless they're very popular. I also understand how she wanted to be seen and acknowledged. But she shouldn't have been upset with him?? Take it up to society for the unequal rights and respect. ML worked just as hard to be seen. If she wanted to be a director too, she could've written HER OWN script. (But nah, she gets to make ML's movie in the end, leaving out the ML, and acting like she's so selfless and had big dreams all along. I'm so pissed.)
The writer also loves incorporating these traditional views, eg. the man has to naturally bear the burden of becoming the breadwinner. And if they can't get married when they're young, it's the girl who wasted her youth on the guy (so it's the guy's fault) as if it wasn't the FL who also wanted to build her career in the big city???? They were both working hard to make ends meet and become successful together, yet if the guy doesn't become more successful than the girl, he's useless and doesn't deserve any respect.
Besides ruining the main FL's character, the writer also ruined the second FL's character. That's a whole other nightmare I can't even be bothered to talk about anymore. The writer just seems to have a weird perception of what makes a strong FL, and likes making the MLs grovel, making them pathetic and swallow all their prides. I just couldn't come to like any characters in the end. Maybe just the ML for most of the time, but definitely not how he's still feeling guilty about their ending. At least I'm glad he still chose to walk away (I hope!) instead of getting back with her.
The songs were nice. The shots, camera angles, and the rustic, old school vibe were really nice, to be honest. Even the slowburn was good too. But the writer messed up the characters big time, which affected the plot because this was a character-driven story. Things just felt like a pot of big mess and made no more sense in the end. Even if a drama was bad, I'd rarely feel this way, but I honestly regret watching this drama so much. I did stay till the end because there were still some good moments here and there, and it was only really unbearable in the last few episodes. I also stayed mainly because of the ML's character and Wang Anyu. He really impressed me with this role. I really wanted to like the FL too. I was quite fond of the second FL at first, but towards the end, I could no longer like any of the FLs. Not even the third one.
In short, I don't think their love was worth it. It feels like the writer was trying hard to mask it as a realistic love story, but their relationship was actually VERY TOXIC. And I think they were the happiest when they were like buddies instead of lovers. I wouldn't recommend watching this drama at all unless you wanna torture yourself, or you like the leads. Lol. I'd want to give a lower rating, but I'm keeping it at 7/10 for Wang Anyu's acting and because the first half wasn't that bad.
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Beautiful cinematography but frustrating plot
The first thing I noticed about this show is that it's filmed beautifully. The cinematography and lighting are really gorgeous, and the music really adds a nostalgic tone to everything.I was really seated for this one at the start. This drama is very reminiscent of bittersweet Asian first love romance films, where we often see innocent couples grow up and become jaded from everything life throws at them. It's fine as a movie plot, but dragged out over 26 episodes...it really does get quite miserable, unfortunately, and I can only take so much before I think "yeah, these two should not be together" and we should all just move on.
I also think we spent so much time inching through every single repetitive conflict, but ended up time-jumping through the biggest changes, and that we should've paced it out a bit more so we got to see more growth in our characters before the end. The same goes for the second ship, who are intriguing in theory but ended up giving me whiplash. The third couple I just didn't care for at all, and I think their appearances in the present timeline actually took me out of my immersion.
Ultimately, I feel very mixed on this one. I didn't hate it; it's beautifully filmed and the characters are flawed and raw in a way that cdramas don't often depict. But I don't think I'll be recommending this to anybody, and I don't think I'll ever touch this drama with a ten-foot pole, because like I said...it was kind of miserable.
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This review may contain spoilers
I found the ending realistic, which I like(but not enough)
I don't get why people say that this drama has an OE. Unless the story was meant to have a change in what was told in the beginning, otherwise the point of the whole show was simply to show the events leading up to it. The only thing that was missing was ZS's (expected)response to DD, which was finally revealed in the final ep.I would say however that the 2nd couple (Yalin and Guixi/Jingshu) was the surprising one, as DD had mentioned that they got married in Ep1 and I was expected a HE for them, instead of what actually conspired.
If DD had accepted ZS's kiss on the bus, I would have liked the ending lesser(an expected HE where they patched up), but instead, she slapped him(打的好!Well done!) and to show through the embrace that she only accepted him as a friend, but not anything beyond.
A HE for the main couple would have just thrown out the realistic portrayal of the show, and I feel that such an ending would have rendered watching the show "不值得not worth it"
All that said, my 6.5 rating is because I feel like this show was just the actors playing(during the fun scenes)and it felt more like a musical sometimes than a drama.
Perhaps it's because that i'm already at the age that the mains were that I prefer a drama to be a linear drama rather than the circumstances constantly changing(making up then breaking up multiple times), even ZS says so "every couple that gets back together have the illusion that they will stay together". We see that the reality is so different
The first airport scene also got me thinking that if I ever faced such a situation, I would still allow myself to go through it again, because every experience is a lesson.
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good cinematography and they literally review their own stories?
FIRST THING I like abt this drama is the camera works, color grading, and the beautiful scenery that they shots. perfect combine with the emotion they want to deliver in the scene.but it's too hard watch. it's realistic ig, bc the selfishness, the misunderstanding. it was the first reaction in the reality. the regret and accepting their fate was the saddest scene I've ever seen in the story.
but yea, I don't wanna to watch it for the second times. the toxicity was crazy. and I felt so weird and pity at the same time for when jingshu. but she's not right tho.
also I'd like to mention how pure they dream was. it's quite interesting and adorable
at all, in the ending. I thought there'll be the climax. but I think it's good for them too not in relationship again. but I'm happy for tong leyi and her Didi. I hope they can be together. I. hope so... bcs the cp in this drama got seperated for second times and never coming back awkwkwk
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