This review may contain spoilers
Huge colossal disappointment - When show don't tell becomes tell don't show for the ML
Before the review I would like to say - I love Youth Dramas. The whole journey from school to their adulthood of the characters is nice to watch. This Genre need not have twists and turns. Little things even simple interactions between characters matters. Here characters take the centre stage.
Now coming to this drama, I went with so much of expectation. I have heard a lot of this PH house. On top of that good actors in the genre I loved. But...
First few episodes they build the equation pretty well. I loved the kids. You know from the beginning that FL is the big rock of the group who easily gets attached to the people. It is also shown how her relationship with ML develops. So far so good although there is still choppy editing with no organic flow it is still interesting.
Problem starts right there but we don't notice. First problem is we do not know the timeline. We never get the idea of how long ML was in Qun Shan with her. They just mentioned he will leave next winter. We do not know how long he has been there in the first place. Only from novel readers we know they were together for two years. Timeline is never really shown clearly.
Slowly the loop starts. ML is missing more and more. All we get is characters discussing about ML. We do not know what happened with him. Here and there we do get glimpses. It is really glimpses. Be it his mother tearing up his letters or their family fights. We get more of side characters reaction than the ML's reaction. Even ML's father gets a good 1 minute scene of aftermath of their fight but not ML. Every episode the FL's friends discuss about ML but ML is not in the picture. Side characters get their perspective, their life story in full glory but not ML. We do not know how his life was, how he coped with toxic mother, what his cousin's role was in his life etc etc.. He pops in to give some romantic cheesy dialogue and then disappears.
Every episode there is a new character revolving around FL but ML who is supposed to be one true love of her life is still MIA.
May be this is the story of FL , her growth etc..But we hardly get to know about the most important person in her life who she is holding on to for so many years. Even side characters get more time than the so called ML that is the problem.
Even for a moment if we forget that ML exists and try to enjoy her journey that too is not fully carved out well. The friendship between the gang too is there but not there. Most of her friend group sort of disappear and reappear once in a while. Editing is so choppy. Random scenes appear disappear and sometimes it feels out of order. And the school gossipping and characters are so out of touch. There are scenes far and wide between which are good. But they are all in isolation.
All this leads to discourse about whether FL is obsessed. If they had shown the life of ML and good bonding of FL with ML in the school (not just romantic dialogues with FL blushing all the time whatever few scenes they did have in the school) they would not question the love. FL has more bonding with her friend YQ than with ML JQX...
Basic rule of visual story telling is "show don't tell" but it was all "tell don't show" for ML.
After episode 18, I finally lost all hope of holding on to this drama. It was a mess that cannot be salvaged.
Sighhhhhh
PS: I am not a "fan" of ZLH. His only other show I watched is Flourish in Time which I liked. So it is not about the actor not getting screen time. It is about the character and the flow of the story lacking depth and visibility.
Now coming to this drama, I went with so much of expectation. I have heard a lot of this PH house. On top of that good actors in the genre I loved. But...
First few episodes they build the equation pretty well. I loved the kids. You know from the beginning that FL is the big rock of the group who easily gets attached to the people. It is also shown how her relationship with ML develops. So far so good although there is still choppy editing with no organic flow it is still interesting.
Problem starts right there but we don't notice. First problem is we do not know the timeline. We never get the idea of how long ML was in Qun Shan with her. They just mentioned he will leave next winter. We do not know how long he has been there in the first place. Only from novel readers we know they were together for two years. Timeline is never really shown clearly.
Slowly the loop starts. ML is missing more and more. All we get is characters discussing about ML. We do not know what happened with him. Here and there we do get glimpses. It is really glimpses. Be it his mother tearing up his letters or their family fights. We get more of side characters reaction than the ML's reaction. Even ML's father gets a good 1 minute scene of aftermath of their fight but not ML. Every episode the FL's friends discuss about ML but ML is not in the picture. Side characters get their perspective, their life story in full glory but not ML. We do not know how his life was, how he coped with toxic mother, what his cousin's role was in his life etc etc.. He pops in to give some romantic cheesy dialogue and then disappears.
Every episode there is a new character revolving around FL but ML who is supposed to be one true love of her life is still MIA.
May be this is the story of FL , her growth etc..But we hardly get to know about the most important person in her life who she is holding on to for so many years. Even side characters get more time than the so called ML that is the problem.
Even for a moment if we forget that ML exists and try to enjoy her journey that too is not fully carved out well. The friendship between the gang too is there but not there. Most of her friend group sort of disappear and reappear once in a while. Editing is so choppy. Random scenes appear disappear and sometimes it feels out of order. And the school gossipping and characters are so out of touch. There are scenes far and wide between which are good. But they are all in isolation.
All this leads to discourse about whether FL is obsessed. If they had shown the life of ML and good bonding of FL with ML in the school (not just romantic dialogues with FL blushing all the time whatever few scenes they did have in the school) they would not question the love. FL has more bonding with her friend YQ than with ML JQX...
Basic rule of visual story telling is "show don't tell" but it was all "tell don't show" for ML.
After episode 18, I finally lost all hope of holding on to this drama. It was a mess that cannot be salvaged.
Sighhhhhh
PS: I am not a "fan" of ZLH. His only other show I watched is Flourish in Time which I liked. So it is not about the actor not getting screen time. It is about the character and the flow of the story lacking depth and visibility.
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