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Lack of consequences
Dropping at episode 23, which will probably be telling to those who watched the whole drama (or at least up until this point). During the first 10 episodes, I disliked both the ML and FL; the first was arrogant turned laughable, the second selfish and lacking empathy. But eventually I made it through (with a big help of the second couple, who actually were decent and sympathetic characters), and then grew more and more curious how the crucial moment, when FL's secret will be revealed, will play out. Turns out - it was nonexistent. The FL said sorry, the ML nodded, and that was pretty much it. No consequences, no explanations, no reactions which would suit normal human beings. As a result of it, the ML feels pathetic and FL like Mary Sue with a free pass. Not for me; I prefer romances with balanced, equal couples, instead of those where one is butt of every joke and borderline desperate, while the other is "cool" and can't do any wrong (regardless of which gender gets which role).Was this review helpful to you?
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"When We Were Young" vol.2
The user jes wrote that this series is a mix of "A Love So Beautiful" and "When We Were Young". I would somewhat disagree; it's much, much closer to the latter (it could be even called a 'remake' or 'another adaptation'). There is romance, but it's not the main focus of the series. Just an Encore is primarily about growing up, the last year(s) of high school before university, and all the experiences, dreams and conflicts which come at that age and point of life. I can only repeat again that it is very similar to "When We Were Young"; the main differences being time setting (this one happens around the year of 2005, so about decade latter than WWWY) and ending - where WWWY closed with high school graduation, "Just an Encore" adds a final '9 years later' conclusion.To sum it up: if you are looking primarily for romance, similar to "A Love So Beautiful", you may end up (slightly) disappointed here. However, if you are a fan of WWWY, then this series is pretty much a must for you.
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Very good
For starters, I'm a big fan of Hidden Love, so First Frost happening in the same universe has inevitably influenced my experience; more about it below.The biggest plus of the whole series is certainly the FL, who is a very interesting and very likeable character and probably the best role of Zhang Ruo Nan so far. She alone was worth watching the drama. Compared to her, the ML comes somewhat short. First of all, I couldn't help but compare him with the Hidden Love counterpart, and eventually settled with First Frost happening in an alternate universe instead of a shared one, as I couldn't see him as "that Sang Yan" (goes for most of the other shared characters). It's my personal preference, just a heads-up in case you also watched Hidden Love. "This Sang Yan" also feels a bit flat - his arrogance is slightly overdone, and unlike the FL he lacks any other nuances. As a result, the first half of the drama wasn't completely smooth to watch, however once the romance properly kicked in things improved a lot, since the romance was top notch.
The drama was a bit longer than it should be. I would cut out the second couple and their circumstances completely - while they were alright characters on their own, their relationship added nothing to the overall plot. The Hong Kong part (apparently not in the novel and added only for the drama) was also pointless, somewhat out of place and with literally no consequence despite its "real time" length. On the other side, consequences weren't missing for the "evil" characters, and I truly appreciate them being there instead of going the "we are family so let's forgive ourselves" route.
Overall a recommended watch for fans of romance, complex female characters and "dedicated" male characters.
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Love story with ML and FL who do not fit together
This is just another take on a point which was already presented in several other reviews here. The drama is listed as "fake marriage evolving into true marriage" and "hate relationship into love relationship". The problem with that, however, is that the ML and FL simply aren't compatible with each other. This was actually the first drama where I honestly wished the main heroes won't end up together and will go their separate ways. Generally the blame for that (here as well as in Youtube comments) goes to the FL, but in my opinion the the ML isn't without a fault either, and in the end it's really just a natural conflict between two people with different stances and expectations.The ML is in love with the FL from the very beginning (aka there was no "hate phase" for him), and as a result he turns somewhat overpossessive and ovejealous in the relationship. Conversely, the FL seems to never reach the true "love phase" - most of the time, she takes the ML at best as her buddy/good friend, who certainly has a place in her life, but is barely worth a compromise (not to mention sacrifice) from her side. Good pairing for a drama, just not one with the "love" adjective in it.
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Two quite different halves
The headline says it: The first and the second half of the series have a big variance between them.The first half is cute, funny romance between a cold, clever, rich businessman (36 y.o) and vivid, somewhat silly, poor yet brilliant chef (21 y.o) which easily deserves at least 9/10 rating, if not higher. The focus is on the cooking aspect, the age and social gap between the main protagonists isn't really crucial, and everything is going in a smooth, fast pace (in fact sometimes too fast - I wouldn't mind having some subplots to get a bit more attention).
Then second half comes, and things change: focus shifts from cooking to business, social gap becomes more prominent, new (and often unnecessary) subplots and characters are introduced for the sake of conflict. Most importantly, and I'm not sure if it was the author's intention: the expected issues of age gap really start to show up. While ML is mature and acts maturely in the relationship, the FL is/does neither. In the end, it feels more like a father struggling to manage his teenage daughter, rather than a romance between two adults.
A pity. The first half was really promising, and if it was more expanded at the expense of the second half, it would make a great series overall. The way it is though, I cannot give it better rating than 7/10.
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"When We Were Young", modern version
Dai Lu Wa plays in modern variation of "When We Were Young", this time as the female lead and with many parallel plotlines (ML is a newcomer in FL's class, the ML and FL have a teacher/pupil dynamics - just reversed this time, FL's clever classmate whom she knows for a long time has a crush on her, carefree but generally supporting brother of FL, incomplete family, dysfunctional family, etc ...). It works pretty well, you just have to approach the drama with the "When We Were Young" setting in mind - romance is not the central point here, but just a part of the overall picture of high school years and life. Only issue I have so far is that Dai Lu Wa's character has a bit too much Mary Sue's vibes, especially in the romantic subplot - not just two, but three popular boys chasing after her (plus countless others just being mentioned) while she is the ice queen who generally ignores them all. Her Huang Deng Deng had much more "rooting for" dynamics (and so did Yang Xi), but maybe this changes in later episodes.Was this review helpful to you?
Initial impression rather than a review
Obviously, after dropping the series after just 4 episodes (in fact after three, I watched the fourth one some two months later and it didn't help) I cannot really provide a proper review, so here's just my personal reasoning.Note that I'm writing this as huge fan of Janice Wu: I truly dislike the character she's playing here. People are praising the fact that she (the character) is not another dumb sweet girl, but for me the creators went way too far in the opposite direction. The character (at least how presented in these first episodes) is simply a bully; she was bully in the past, she is bully towards the male lead in the present (which I'm OK with, as I don't mind ML&FL bickering), and what's by far the worst, she's bully/bossy towards her friends - or I should rather write 'servants'. The 4th episode does make some attempt to portray how she won them over, but to me it still feels like "I helped you this once, so now you'll follow me and I'll order you around".
Maybe it gets better in further episodes, I don't know. For me this series is already a lost cause and the biggest disappointment of 2020 so far.
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