Dynamic Enthusiasm: Boys Over Flowers in Beijing (2024)

What a ride

Ok, Take Boys over flowers
film it vertically
Add some sudden rap battles,
Speed run the storyline, but just some of the main scenes
A fancy dinner party where everyone has a wine glass of milk (aside from the one that is spilt)
A random handstand
A drawn on mosquito
Totally the most subtle stalking you have ever seen
A hostage situation where they are threatening with...a pen

This was an absolute ride, I had no idea what was happening 80% of the time.
It took me a while to pick each character and just as I thought I worked them out, there were more introduced? I think there were just too many characters that were similar, for a short series.
About 5 of the episodes in the middle I have no idea what happened, what the story was or who anyone was. I think there was a 4th wall break and person teleported to series or something? I just continued from where it made sense again.
Some of them are siblings I think? It was just kind of hard to work out the storyline as everything kept changing so quick.
If I hadn't seen it, I would watch it. I love Boys Over Flowers so any addition I would love to see, but now that I have I don't think I would watch it again. I feel like it was just cropped too much and there was way too much happening.
It was super pretty though, and I did enjoy the casting and the stylists did a great job with the amazing outfits, I kind of want a few of the pieces now.

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Mostly a vehicle for TF Family 3rd Gen

So...I'm not going to try to tell you this is a /good/ series, but I do think it gets unfairly criticized on the standards of a real show, when this is actually (as far as I can tell) just a goofy mini project for the 3rd generation trainees at TF Family to showcase their abilities and deliver content to their fans. It's also somewhat self-aware, with snarky jokes about places they've filmed before outside of this microdrama, and 4th wall breaking commentary around a rap battle. I also heavily suspect a lot of the back end was also done by the kids themselves.

The intended audience isn't fans of actual Cdramas, or Boys over Flowers, or Meteor Garden (any version). The intended audience is fans of TF family 3rd gen (or T.O.P. now), who understand meta jokes about shows like Meteor Garden and mostly just want to see their favorite idol boys goofing around and being melodramatic/making bad jokes.

The story starts out as a pretty generic school drama, and then you can tell when things start to get crammed in at the end. It's too short and there are too many characters to really establish any real character or relationship development, but I guarantee this will be funnier if you watch it assuming multiple characters are the stars of their own harem animes. Yes, there are random rap battles and a scene involving milk in wine glasses, but it will probably be a little less wtf and a little more funny if you recognize this is the trainees poking fun at drama tropes.

Obviously if this style of humor isn't your thing, or you can't get over the terrible production, or you find it too cringe, this show is probably not going to be for you. Also, it's a really big group of idol trainees with similar haircuts (and as I said, not enough time to develop the characters), so it will probably be hard to separate who is who unless you are already somewhat familiar with the trainees as idols.

Honestly, I don't really recommend this if you're looking for an actual school drama or something actually related to Boys Over Flowers. This is really only going to be enjoyable for people who like TF 3rd gen stuff already.

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