Never-Ending Summer

Review based on Episodes 1–12 episodes

**Never Ending Summer** starts with a premise that promises far more than it is ultimately willing to explore.

For a brief moment, a confrontation between mother and daughter makes it seem as if the series is about to leave behind its conventional coming-of-age romance and evolve into a revenge thriller built around abandonment, resentment, and emotional manipulation. Unfortunately, that never happens.

Instead, the drama retreats to the safest possible route. The family conflict becomes nothing more than fuel for the romance, while the story repeatedly falls back on misunderstandings, emotional blackmail, repetitive relationship drama, and conflicts that could be solved if the characters simply had an honest conversation.

The biggest disappointment isn't the romance itself. It's the wasted potential. Every time the series finds a genuinely compelling conflict, it immediately steps back and returns to the familiar cycle of "together, apart, together again." As a result, nothing ever feels truly irreversible, and the emotional stakes gradually disappear.

The mother-daughter storyline had the potential to become the heart of the drama, but it ends up functioning as little more than another obstacle for the main couple. That decision makes the entire narrative feel surprisingly predictable despite having all the ingredients for something much more psychologically engaging.

In the end, **Never Ending Summer** feels less like a character-driven drama and more like a classic melodrama dressed up as a modern youth romance. There is certainly an audience for this kind of storytelling, but if you're expecting the series to fully embrace the darker emotional implications of its own premise, you'll probably come away feeling that its greatest strength was also its greatest missed opportunity.

Background entertainment. Perfect to leave on while doing housework.

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I really love this series. The storyline is perfect. The director and cast did a great job portraying their characters, especially the main leads. Every episode is different from the previous one, and you can learn something from it because this series is not just about the love story between Lu Xixiao and Zhou Wan; it's about how the two of them overcome the challenges and struggles at the age of 18.

I love how they grow independently from being teenagers to becoming adults. They don't rely on each other because both of them succeed in their chosen fields.

Spoiler alert: For me, this is just my personal opinion, but I think Zhou Wan leaving Xixiao had a good effect on him because if Wanwan hadn't left him, he wouldn't have grown up on his own.

However, I noticed one problem while watching some episodes because I could definitely see the cut scenes. If you watch closely, you can see the cuts, and it's like they just patched the scenes together . I don't know if it's because they were taken from different angles or what. And also, you can see some scenes that doesn't make sense.

Additionally, I really love the OST, and you know what they say: if the OST is good, then the series is also good.

Overall, the drama is perfect. Highly recommended. I will give it a 10/10.

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Mixed emotions

I ended up with mixed emotions after watching the drama.

On one side, I got a dopamine hit from the happy ending and enjoyed the main 'leads' performance, which convinced me of their true feelings, since, from my point of view, it is very difficult when you are framed in rom-coms. I personally like the no-dating-in-high-school campaign; I like this trend of the FL with great achievements complementing and even saving the ML, and the scenery and costumes, which made it worth going through 29 episodes.

On the other hand, the plot relied too much on main-character chemistry and soap-opera-typical drama, with exaggerated characters, and it lacked a consistent script, scene sequencing, and a credible story to identify with.

For example, when they eloped, they took a train with nothing but the clothes they were wearing, then suddenly appeared with a fully complete, neat wardrobe. Then two teenagers full of hormones living together, kissing each other, and nothing happened—too much asian drama style.

From my perspective, exploring the challenges of a rich ML suddenly exposed to poverty, doing low-level, hard-working jobs, and the challenge of daily life as a couple at such a young age will be very interesting, and even educational as a wake-up call.

The gangsters were also exaggerated, as was the grandfather, whose character could be deleted and nothing would happen, and no wonder the father almost looked like a silent-movie villain. The half-brother's performance was poor and unnecessary, with the same expression whether happy or sad, losing the opportunity to develop a good story about an illegitimate child born out of wedlock.

Then the ML's behavior after they found each other years later was like a maniacal, dominant psycho, and the independent FL suddenly became submissive, accepting the most outrageous situation.

The second leads’ story was very good and deserved more scenes, since it showed the challenges of a couple after getting married, as the female lead expressed in one scene. Still, it was left hanging because it seemed easier to rely too heavily on the main-character chemistry.

No wonder about scene mistakes, changing locations within the same scene, the typical wardrobe mistakes in Chinese dramas, sudden solutions without explanation, and characters living a great life without income.

In the end, I enjoyed it, but I regret not watching a better drama that wasted the great chemistry between the leads.

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Bank

hai hai ggggggg bheja hai meri ID Chali nahi aa raha tha aur ek baar bhi nahi hai didi ke liye hai didi ke liye hai didi ke liye hai didi ke liye hai didi ke liye hai didi ke liye hai didi ke liye hai didi ke liye hai didi ke liye hai didi ke liye hai didi ke liye hai didi ke liye hai didi ke liye hai didi ke liye hai didi ke liye hai didi ke liye hai didi ke liye hai didi ke liye hai didi ke liye hai didi ke liye hai didi ke liye hai didi ke liye hai didi ke liye hai didi ke liye hai didi ke liye hai aur ek nahin hai didi ke liye hai didi ke liye hai didi ke baad bhi nahi hai didi ke liye hai didi ke

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Intensely romantic

**Never-Ending Summer** is a deeply emotional romance that blends the longing of *Lighter and Princess* with the intensity of *The Dazzling*. The chemistry between Lu Xixiao and Zhou Wan was unforgettable, and every glance, silence and reunion carried so much emotion.

Zhou Keyu made Lu Xixiao a memorable male lead—devoted, protective and vulnerable—while Bao Shang En delivered painfully realistic emotional scenes. The beautiful styling and shift from warm youthful tones to a more mature palette also reflected the characters’ growth.

This drama made me cry, stayed with me and has definitely earned a special place in my heart. Zhou Keyu is also quickly becoming one of my favourite male leads.

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Should be titled as "Never-Ending Sadness"

Come to the end of what could have been a better journey. Daniel Zhou and Bao Shang En are great actors and had enough chemistry, but not even that could save the plot which was simply not plotting. Whilst the drama did have a few saving graces, it was still a disappointment overall.

On the surface this can look like a happy romance drama showcasing youth and coming of age. The title and poster portray it as a bright, happy go lucky drama. The OST is very light and charming. Episode 1 also starts out to be fun, bright and happy. But the drama *as a whole* is anything but that.

The main problem stems from the 2016 timeline (which takes up 90% of the drama) being full of misery, lies and misunderstandings for the leads. There is no break from it. Leading to the plot, there is very little of any plot existing either. The ENTIRE plotline is literally just both the lead's parents being emotionally and mentally abusive towards the ML/FL. Credit to the actress who played Zhou Wan's mother in particular, she managed fantastically to get the viewer to hate her with a passion.

There is nothing wrong with break up dramas where the leads reunite years later. This drama has been compared to Lighter & Princess and also The First Frost, but those dramas had much stronger plotlines as well as less of the consistent misery before the main break up. This drama does not do that - Zhou Wan and Lu Xixiao do not get much time to be happy together in the past timeline. The first 20 episodes mostly consists of back and forth between Zhou Wan, Lu Xixiao and their parents who blackmail or emotionally abuse them. There were a few moments in between that felt nice like when the leads along with the second leads went to the amusement park, and in the lead up to Ep 20 when Zhou Wan and Lu Xixiao ran away together to another part of the country. But that felt fleeting in comparison to the rest of the unnecessary, badly written sadness.

Whilst I did hugely appreciate Daniel Zhou and Bao Shang En, I did have some problem with getting invested and loving the characters themsleves in particular. Zhou Wan is indecisive for way too long. I understand she was young but she spends over 10 episodes emotionally hurting Lu Xixiao (we as the viewer know why, but he did not). She listens to her mother too many times and makes unnecessary sacrifices that work for no one. She seemed more likeable in the 2026 timeline being an assertive woman who held her own. We have to assume she went through great character development during the 10 year break up.

As for Lu Xixiao, he is convincing as a romantic, yearning die-for-you male lead, and thankfully there is very little of the drama where he seems angry against her for the break up. (Probably one of the more illogical things here was that he immediately associated himself with her again)

The second leads felt like they were written in as filler? They seemed cute at first in the High School/2016 arc. But later contributed nothing and their storyline was badly written. They only had a romantic moment near the end, but it was too late in the drama to care if you weren't invested in them in the first place.

The last episode, 29, was made to be as romantically beautiful as possible. I honestly loved that SHE PROPOSES TO HIM FIRST! 💍 It was such a surprise being totally unexpected, as it's usually always the male lead who proposes. This time it proved Zhou Wan was the green flag 💚 especially considering their past - she did not wait for him to propose or make any moves first. She knew what she wanted and went for it.

Overall a 6.5/10 because I still appreciated some scenes, the leads acting and chemistry, as well as the other cast. Could have had potential in another universe, could have been in the 7 or 8 range if it had better plot.

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The acting was quite good, but the storyline wasn't what I expected. From the plot description, I thought the male lead would constantly make the female lead's life difficult. However, that wasn't really the case. Instead of making things harder for her, he actually helped her most of the time.

I did enjoy their romance and thought they had great chemistry. Their romantic scenes were the highlight of the drama for me. Unfortunately, everything else felt way too slow. The drama dragged on so much that I found myself skipping a lot of scenes. Even after skipping so much, I could still easily understand what was happening, which says a lot about the pacing.

At times, I honestly felt like my time was being wasted. Even though the romance was enjoyable, it wasn't enough to make up for how slow and repetitive the story felt. It took me much longer than usual to finish because I kept getting bored.

Overall, I wouldn't personally recommend this drama. That doesn't mean it's bad—I'm sure many people who enjoy slow-burn, leisurely paced dramas will like it. But if you're someone like me who prefers a tighter, faster-moving story, this one probably isn't for you.

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