Really ? I don’t remember there being any other ending ?
Honestly at this point I think I was completely misremembering and confusing it with another drama that aired in the same year as HNG, Winter Begonia. That one did have a "secret ending" that was released on bilibili lol
I got to around episode 19, then I read about the open ending and since I was already turned off by the dreaded "mum is sick so I have to lie to her" plotline, I think I'm not gonna watch the final episodes.
This doesn't take away from the fact that the first half is a 9/10 drama for me, and I loved every second of it. I'm a bit sad about this conclusion though, and how it started going downhill from the moment she left her job. It felt like they didn't really know what to to with the FL anymore, it's like her growth was suddenly halted both on the stand-up comedy side and the job side. I was expecting a little more of complexity and change from the ML too.
They're dating, but in the proper sense of the term. They're definitely not yet in an established relationship.…
Yeah, you're right about the proper meaning of dating. It's just that they call it 谈恋爱 in this episode and I associate it more to an established relationship so I was taken aback a bit. I am enjoying this stuff with Xu Yunfeng, it's just that the relatability of the drama dropped drastically lol
I have praised this drama before for its realism and for how characters stay grounded and relatable, but this CEO plotline is getting a bit too cheesy and unrealistic for my taste... So they're basically dating now? I thought they just agreed to get to know each other better? I would have seen him better in a "friend" role, without the dating part tbh. Hard to feel the relatability when normal people don't have a rich CEO bf who would fly you to another city to eat dinner. Anyway it's my only complaint so far about an otherwise excellent drama.
The fact that the "bad" ex-boyfriend is getting the chance to change and be better isn't something you often see…
I think it's a bit more complex than that. He never stopped loving her IMO, it's just that before he was paternalistic and sexist and didn't allow her to be her own person, but now she's opened his eyes on this regard and it looks like her words have had an effect on him. The ML has little to do with this.
It's more about each individual characters' growth than a matter of "now she likes ML so I'm jealous". That would be the same old plotline indeed.
The writing in this drama keeps being solid. Comments after episode 11 (almost halfway through) - mild spoilers
The fact that the "bad" ex-boyfriend is getting the chance to change and be better isn't something you often see in romantic dramas because it requires actual good writing, which this drama has. No character so far is left to 2-dimensional status but they're all well developed and written. Like, we even got a flashback for the office boss lady to flesh her out more!
And when you think a stale and tropey storyline is coming and you're like "oh no", like when rich CEO Xu Yunfeng appears and claims to like Xiuya, your expectations are soon subverted because instead of a predictable outcome you get some of the funniest moments so far and an interesting take on the trope itself. It's a drama so it's bound to have some dramatic plots, yeah, but I'm constantly surprised at how everything still feels so natural and sensible.
I love this current "yearning" phase in the relationship between Xiuya and Shi Ye, made of glances and hesitation and small gestures. It's much yummier than if they had started dating straightaway.
Finally, speaking as someone who's lived in Shanghai, the city setting is always pretty authentic, the cinematography captures it perfectly and makes the story feel even more grounded and realistic.
In episode 10 they explain how she feels about going into a new relationship with Shi Ye, and her hesitating is…
Your tone was very mocking to begin with (and still is), calling the story "wrecked" and saying how tired you are of stories like this, so it sounded like complaining to me? Sorry if I used the wrong word but the snarky one isn't me here
After ep 9, please oh please tell me she won’t date Shi Li because of Xiao Lan. I’m so tired of that kind…
In episode 10 they explain how she feels about going into a new relationship with Shi Ye, and her hesitating is not just because of Xiao Lan. You'll see. It's actually more complex and realistic, which is something I like about this drama a lot. It's not a cheesy, straightforward succession of tropes like most dramas nowadays but it actually resembles real life.
Also, it's a 24 episode drama so it's a pretty short one. Even if things are "dragged" they won't be dragged for too long as we're already basically half-way through so I really don't understand this complaint
This episode starts out with the bf interested in purchasing balloons from a street vendor. The narrator continues…
There is no actual hidden message behind the balloons imo. Ex-BF wanted to use them to create a romantic atmosphere when he called FL while standing out her window. Shi Ye didn't recognize him from that far. He thought he was just a guy who had confessed his love to a girl and maybe was rejected, since those balloons are often used for that purpose. The whole situation was just kinda sad, represented by the balloons flying away. At least that's the impression I got. I watch it in Chinese.
This drama is so good!! There are no idiotic or annoying characters, every scene is interesting, the romance is developing naturally without clichés, the ex boyfriend is actually an interesting character too! Even when the characters are put into drama-like scenarios, it's done really well and they feel like actual real life situations.
The pacing is well done, even when the story doesn't seem to progress you still get cute, relatable slice-of-life moments that make it worth watching.
The writing is especially quite smart. I love how they use the narrator voice to give relatable sociological insights, and love the way they sometimes tell the story in a non-linear way from different POVs. This drama can actually be very therapeutical if you are or were a people pleaser like Xiuya.
And on the technical side, thank god there are no crazy white-washing, softening filters for once. Everything looks real, Shanghai looks like the actual Shanghai! People have skin texture!
Stop bringing up Smile Code, they're very different dramas despite a few similar elements! This one is so much better and looks a lot more realistic. The writing is really good
It's been a while since I watched this drama, now I'm rewatching it and I remember also watching an alternate ending back then... maybe something released as an extra episode or a video by the producers. If there is such an extra, can someone help me find it again? Am I remembering wrong? (I'm not referring to the Dear Missy cameo)
Qu Yipeng is the trashiest ML I've seen in a long time, what a creep. If they try to redeem him later on please spoil it for me because I'll stop watching and save myself some time
This doesn't take away from the fact that the first half is a 9/10 drama for me, and I loved every second of it. I'm a bit sad about this conclusion though, and how it started going downhill from the moment she left her job. It felt like they didn't really know what to to with the FL anymore, it's like her growth was suddenly halted both on the stand-up comedy side and the job side. I was expecting a little more of complexity and change from the ML too.
I have praised this drama before for its realism and for how characters stay grounded and relatable, but this CEO plotline is getting a bit too cheesy and unrealistic for my taste... So they're basically dating now? I thought they just agreed to get to know each other better? I would have seen him better in a "friend" role, without the dating part tbh. Hard to feel the relatability when normal people don't have a rich CEO bf who would fly you to another city to eat dinner. Anyway it's my only complaint so far about an otherwise excellent drama.
It's more about each individual characters' growth than a matter of "now she likes ML so I'm jealous". That would be the same old plotline indeed.
And when you think a stale and tropey storyline is coming and you're like "oh no", like when rich CEO Xu Yunfeng appears and claims to like Xiuya, your expectations are soon subverted because instead of a predictable outcome you get some of the funniest moments so far and an interesting take on the trope itself. It's a drama so it's bound to have some dramatic plots, yeah, but I'm constantly surprised at how everything still feels so natural and sensible.
I love this current "yearning" phase in the relationship between Xiuya and Shi Ye, made of glances and hesitation and small gestures. It's much yummier than if they had started dating straightaway.
Finally, speaking as someone who's lived in Shanghai, the city setting is always pretty authentic, the cinematography captures it perfectly and makes the story feel even more grounded and realistic.
Also, it's a 24 episode drama so it's a pretty short one. Even if things are "dragged" they won't be dragged for too long as we're already basically half-way through so I really don't understand this complaint
This drama is so good!! There are no idiotic or annoying characters, every scene is interesting, the romance is developing naturally without clichés, the ex boyfriend is actually an interesting character too! Even when the characters are put into drama-like scenarios, it's done really well and they feel like actual real life situations.
The pacing is well done, even when the story doesn't seem to progress you still get cute, relatable slice-of-life moments that make it worth watching.
The writing is especially quite smart. I love how they use the narrator voice to give relatable sociological insights, and love the way they sometimes tell the story in a non-linear way from different POVs. This drama can actually be very therapeutical if you are or were a people pleaser like Xiuya.
And on the technical side, thank god there are no crazy white-washing, softening filters for once. Everything looks real, Shanghai looks like the actual Shanghai! People have skin texture!