This review may contain spoilers
Like 500 days of summer, except ML gets the girl in the end
This is the best modern-day romance CDRAMA so far that I've seen, although I think the title should have been 白月光 （The One that Got Away). The acting, the visual appeal of the leads, the sound/music, cinematography and production quality is at a whole other level entirely compared to other cdramas (especially compared to Hidden Love, the prequel to this story and from the same universe).
Heavily influenced by Taiwanese filmmaking and directed by a veteran Taiwanese director, this series uses an ingenious set of flashbacks as a plot device to tell the childhood love story of the two main leads, Sang Yan and Wen Yifan (WYF) from the female lead's perspective: when they first met, how their relationship develops throughout high school and college, followed by the present when they meet again 6 years later. The end scenes of each episode also show flashbacks from the present and sometimes include the same scene from the ML's perspective. It's from his perspective that the audience realizes early on how much he's been secretly pining for her all along and how he hopes she will come back to him. Even as he acts brusque and aloof to the FL, he secretly yearns for her and does everything he can to stay within her orbit and protect her even as he waits for her to come around to him (he even set up his bar to wait for her).
My favorite arc was the first 10 episodes when they meet each other after being apart for 6 years and become roommates. Their awkwardness as they hide their feelings for each other is both heartwarming and heartbreaking as they inch towards a reconciliation and then more. Her sleepwalking becomes the catalyst that brings them closer together as it reveals her true feelings for him, something she doesn't have the courage to express to him initially (when in truth she had moved back for him). (Sang Yan's sister asks WYF if she ever loved him in high school and she confesses to her that she did, something that must have given Sang Yan further hope that reconciliation was possible).
Eventually they get back together, and my favorite scene (besides the finale with the tender proposal scene and final flashback) is in episode 31 when Wen Yifan tearfully confesses to Sang Yan that she regrets leaving him alone for 6 years and wants to make it up to him by living for 6 more years without him so she can live through the pain he experienced. Rarely do you see FLs apologizing for their actions in a relationship, and her opening up and confiding in him was really a sign of growth and maturity for her character. Sang Yan is very moved by what she says and suggests that she can pay him back in their next lives.
In episode 31, the first flashback of when they first met is repeated, this time from the ML's perspective, and the audience realizes that Sang Yan fell in love with WYF from the moment he laid eyes on her (WYF doesn't know this) and that his aloofness and cockiness had always just been an act. (As his best friend, Su Haoan says, Sang Yan may seem tough on the outside but is actually very vulnerable and easily hurt, while WYF seems vulnerable on the outside but is actually very strong and resilient. )
The soundtrack was released before the cdrama and it has some incredible songs on it, including my favorite from the Taiwanese band, Crispy Band: 雨滴中有你 (There Is You Amidst Raindrops). Other standouts include: 任性 (Willful) by Taiwanese band: 五月天 (Mayday) - Sang Yan's theme song, 像晴天像雨天 (Like A Sunny Day, Like A Rainy Day) by 汪苏泷 (Silence Wang), 看着我 (Look At Me) by 严艺丹, 只在今夜 (Serenade) by 毛不易, My Dear by 张洢豪, 倔强 (Stubborn) by 陈珊妮
Overall rating: 9.5/10 - I deducted for the boring side plots like the annoying news intern and grandpa Su and 2ML/2FL romance that weren't really interesting or relevant to the main storyline and for 32 episodes that could easily have been cut in to half that number had the series focused solely on the story of the two main leads.
Heavily influenced by Taiwanese filmmaking and directed by a veteran Taiwanese director, this series uses an ingenious set of flashbacks as a plot device to tell the childhood love story of the two main leads, Sang Yan and Wen Yifan (WYF) from the female lead's perspective: when they first met, how their relationship develops throughout high school and college, followed by the present when they meet again 6 years later. The end scenes of each episode also show flashbacks from the present and sometimes include the same scene from the ML's perspective. It's from his perspective that the audience realizes early on how much he's been secretly pining for her all along and how he hopes she will come back to him. Even as he acts brusque and aloof to the FL, he secretly yearns for her and does everything he can to stay within her orbit and protect her even as he waits for her to come around to him (he even set up his bar to wait for her).
My favorite arc was the first 10 episodes when they meet each other after being apart for 6 years and become roommates. Their awkwardness as they hide their feelings for each other is both heartwarming and heartbreaking as they inch towards a reconciliation and then more. Her sleepwalking becomes the catalyst that brings them closer together as it reveals her true feelings for him, something she doesn't have the courage to express to him initially (when in truth she had moved back for him). (Sang Yan's sister asks WYF if she ever loved him in high school and she confesses to her that she did, something that must have given Sang Yan further hope that reconciliation was possible).
Eventually they get back together, and my favorite scene (besides the finale with the tender proposal scene and final flashback) is in episode 31 when Wen Yifan tearfully confesses to Sang Yan that she regrets leaving him alone for 6 years and wants to make it up to him by living for 6 more years without him so she can live through the pain he experienced. Rarely do you see FLs apologizing for their actions in a relationship, and her opening up and confiding in him was really a sign of growth and maturity for her character. Sang Yan is very moved by what she says and suggests that she can pay him back in their next lives.
In episode 31, the first flashback of when they first met is repeated, this time from the ML's perspective, and the audience realizes that Sang Yan fell in love with WYF from the moment he laid eyes on her (WYF doesn't know this) and that his aloofness and cockiness had always just been an act. (As his best friend, Su Haoan says, Sang Yan may seem tough on the outside but is actually very vulnerable and easily hurt, while WYF seems vulnerable on the outside but is actually very strong and resilient. )
The soundtrack was released before the cdrama and it has some incredible songs on it, including my favorite from the Taiwanese band, Crispy Band: 雨滴中有你 (There Is You Amidst Raindrops). Other standouts include: 任性 (Willful) by Taiwanese band: 五月天 (Mayday) - Sang Yan's theme song, 像晴天像雨天 (Like A Sunny Day, Like A Rainy Day) by 汪苏泷 (Silence Wang), 看着我 (Look At Me) by 严艺丹, 只在今夜 (Serenade) by 毛不易, My Dear by 张洢豪, 倔强 (Stubborn) by 陈珊妮
Overall rating: 9.5/10 - I deducted for the boring side plots like the annoying news intern and grandpa Su and 2ML/2FL romance that weren't really interesting or relevant to the main storyline and for 32 episodes that could easily have been cut in to half that number had the series focused solely on the story of the two main leads.
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