The sh*t is supposed to hit the fan before the finale for a reason. This episode was a trauma dump. And the good moments were not numerous, long enough, or to a high enough degree to make up for it. It made the ending feel rushed. And unbalanced. And it makes that whole "love heals all trauma" message just that much more blatant.
They didn't need to have the flashbacks and Sky telling the story separately. It took up precious time and felt repetitive.
They didn't need the beginning few scenes. They did nothing of consequence except establish that Sky is still a busy student, is openly lovestruck, and still has those nightmares.
They could've even made the scene after the nightmare longer in order to help balance out everything that was about to happen.
And this isn't even taking into account all of the scenes that surround the events of this episode in the book. (I'll leave those in the comment below).
I'm just extremely disappointed. Except in Fort. Fort's acting was top tier this episode. 👏🏼👏🏼
Yes, im referring to Past Love in the Future. We havent got an official notice of cancellation, but all of their teasers and promotional/confirmation posts have been taken down and/or privated. So it is as the very least shelved (possibly for rewriting).
Pure fluff. And not the cringe-y kind either. Extremely enjoyable and wholesome. And the characters still felt like the same beloved ones from the drama.
That said, everyone outside of Adachi and Kurosawa are basically cameos. We spend hardly any time with them.
As for chronology, this is set up to supposedly fill in the time gaps present in the drama.
What was inconsistent for you? I sort of feel that way, but I can't put my finger on it.
Yea, this isn't following Tonhon Chonlatee at all - both in characters and in plot. Definitely more of a reboot than a prequel.
A lot of it is plot and backstory, but that still influences how a character interacts with events. There is so little consistency or definition to Ai that besides wanting to sleep with Nhai and taking care of Nhai, we can't read ANYTHING about his character. Or predict what he will do with any level of certainty.
Some of what Nhai does is definitely to rev Ai up. He admitted so in a previous episode in relation to the shirt ironing. So yea, a sizable dose of manipulation and passive aggression going on. But he's been consistently an idiot in many other regards, and before he realized Ai's feelings and even while Ai isn't around. So it's not just him playing. So I don't give him that much credit to be so insightful.
Eh, for Ai's reaction to the call (and the call in the restaurant reportedly by the same person), I'm leaning towards an actual sister. And the person who gave him the cacti.
What was inconsistent for you? I sort of feel that way, but I can't put my finger on it.
In character writing? Ai: He hops back and forth between being [an experienced playboy with several sexual encounters and a violent streak that got him trouble on at least a few occasions before his eventual expulsion] to [love sick puppy and hopeless romantic with the patience of a saint and no knowledge whatsoever on consent, boundaries, etc that he has to ask his parents about]. He's apparently super close to his family, but doesn't talk to or about them much outside of those first few episodes. Sometimes he's happy about having a friend group, other times theyre an annoyance that he can't be bothered with. We don't know what he likes or dislikes outside of Nhai. It's like his whole character is centered around being in love with Nhai, that everything else is just to fuel whatever relationship scene the writers want to happen.
Nhai hops back and forth between being [an absolute idiot with no understanding of the most obvious stuff] to having moments like in episode 7 he can PERFECTLY read his friends and how that meeting will go down from just hearing that it was happening. He apparently has no understanding of anything LGBTQ+ whatsoever, despite having a trans(?) childhood friend that he regularly hangs out with at a (presumably) LGBTQ+ bar. But at least he has some solid character traits: Messy, food-obsessed, insecure, gets easily lost, and is pretty self-centered (he has yet to really do anything for Ai - except not eating In's pocky and asking Ai instead).
The friend group, One of them is supposed to be quite religious, with regular buddhist sayings, but we only see this like twice.
All of them keep going back and forth about whether it's okay if Ai and Nhai are together or not, and which assumption they are leaning towards - without hardly any narrative indication that they are uncertain.
Story-wise: Ai knows full well who fell first. Ai knows about Nhai's sexuality at least to some degree, he should've answered it's not his answer to give - not that he doesn't know. Ai previously said his mother died while he was young. But then in episode 7 he talks about meeting her. So it should have also been mentioned that he lied while he was talking about that. Ai previously said it was only him, his dad, and Nan, so shouldn't Nhai have had more questions about this sudden sister? Ai has had relationships of some sort before. Because we saw that the man in the first episode was a reoccurring fling of some sort. So while he is supposedly being honest to Nhai on this topic, shouldnt that aspect of his past have been brought up? Nhai supposedly informed his father about Ai, but yet his father was super confused at the reference to "more than a friend." But if it was a lie, would Nhai have really had Ai stay over? What happened to going to Ai's house over the weekend - that was mentioned many many weeks ago? When did Nhai start getting conscious about what behaviors of his make Ai jealous? That came out of nowhere.
Not this boy lying to Nhai and all of us xD Sure, a car with tinted windows huh? Sir, we have been looking at…
It could be tinted for the storyworld, but untinted for drama viewers. There are several other things in dramaland that are supposed to be treated that way.
This episode was better. As in, not as cringe-y or cheesy. I found myself giggling and smiling in this one.
Character writing is still inconsistent. And are the writers just forgetting what they wrote? Because there are several blatant contradictions between this episode, itself, and previous episodes.
I came out of the film with far more questions than answers. It doesn't really tell us anything - about the characters, what happened between them, or what's going on now.
A quaint little film with a nice atmosphere and music. I love how the ML had 0 reservations whatsoever at considering all the baristas (male and female) as possibilities of who his secret admirer is. It's another film where I feel like we spent so much time on the love interest, that the main character's personality gets a bit lost. But it was enjoyable nonetheless.
It tells that the Tang'an City Police Center received a report that there was a time bomb in the airport. At a critical juncture, the grassroots policewoman Hao Ailing quickly identified the alarm person as Hu Kun with her comprehensive understanding of the area under her jurisdiction. However, Hu Kun, who was detained in the detention center because of the bombing, resented Hao Ailing. After being released, he joined the gang involved in the crime, and was instigated to intimidate Officer Hao's son to go to elementary school. Hao Ailing knew that it was Hu Kun who made trouble, but she helped her family several times, and finally influenced Hu Kun to get him back on the right track. [1]
35 
85 
16 
3 
1 
The sh*t is supposed to hit the fan before the finale for a reason. This episode was a trauma dump. And the good moments were not numerous, long enough, or to a high enough degree to make up for it. It made the ending feel rushed. And unbalanced. And it makes that whole "love heals all trauma" message just that much more blatant.
They didn't need to have the flashbacks and Sky telling the story separately. It took up precious time and felt repetitive.
They didn't need the beginning few scenes. They did nothing of consequence except establish that Sky is still a busy student, is openly lovestruck, and still has those nightmares.
They could've even made the scene after the nightmare longer in order to help balance out everything that was about to happen.
And this isn't even taking into account all of the scenes that surround the events of this episode in the book. (I'll leave those in the comment below).
I'm just extremely disappointed. Except in Fort. Fort's acting was top tier this episode. 👏🏼👏🏼
That said, everyone outside of Adachi and Kurosawa are basically cameos. We spend hardly any time with them.
As for chronology, this is set up to supposedly fill in the time gaps present in the drama.
A lot of it is plot and backstory, but that still influences how a character interacts with events. There is so little consistency or definition to Ai that besides wanting to sleep with Nhai and taking care of Nhai, we can't read ANYTHING about his character. Or predict what he will do with any level of certainty.
Some of what Nhai does is definitely to rev Ai up. He admitted so in a previous episode in relation to the shirt ironing. So yea, a sizable dose of manipulation and passive aggression going on. But he's been consistently an idiot in many other regards, and before he realized Ai's feelings and even while Ai isn't around. So it's not just him playing. So I don't give him that much credit to be so insightful.
Eh, for Ai's reaction to the call (and the call in the restaurant reportedly by the same person), I'm leaning towards an actual sister. And the person who gave him the cacti.
Ai: He hops back and forth between being [an experienced playboy with several sexual encounters and a violent streak that got him trouble on at least a few occasions before his eventual expulsion] to [love sick puppy and hopeless romantic with the patience of a saint and no knowledge whatsoever on consent, boundaries, etc that he has to ask his parents about]. He's apparently super close to his family, but doesn't talk to or about them much outside of those first few episodes. Sometimes he's happy about having a friend group, other times theyre an annoyance that he can't be bothered with. We don't know what he likes or dislikes outside of Nhai. It's like his whole character is centered around being in love with Nhai, that everything else is just to fuel whatever relationship scene the writers want to happen.
Nhai hops back and forth between being [an absolute idiot with no understanding of the most obvious stuff] to having moments like in episode 7 he can PERFECTLY read his friends and how that meeting will go down from just hearing that it was happening. He apparently has no understanding of anything LGBTQ+ whatsoever, despite having a trans(?) childhood friend that he regularly hangs out with at a (presumably) LGBTQ+ bar.
But at least he has some solid character traits: Messy, food-obsessed, insecure, gets easily lost, and is pretty self-centered (he has yet to really do anything for Ai - except not eating In's pocky and asking Ai instead).
The friend group,
One of them is supposed to be quite religious, with regular buddhist sayings, but we only see this like twice.
All of them keep going back and forth about whether it's okay if Ai and Nhai are together or not, and which assumption they are leaning towards - without hardly any narrative indication that they are uncertain.
Story-wise:
Ai knows full well who fell first.
Ai knows about Nhai's sexuality at least to some degree, he should've answered it's not his answer to give - not that he doesn't know.
Ai previously said his mother died while he was young. But then in episode 7 he talks about meeting her. So it should have also been mentioned that he lied while he was talking about that.
Ai previously said it was only him, his dad, and Nan, so shouldn't Nhai have had more questions about this sudden sister?
Ai has had relationships of some sort before. Because we saw that the man in the first episode was a reoccurring fling of some sort. So while he is supposedly being honest to Nhai on this topic, shouldnt that aspect of his past have been brought up?
Nhai supposedly informed his father about Ai, but yet his father was super confused at the reference to "more than a friend." But if it was a lie, would Nhai have really had Ai stay over?
What happened to going to Ai's house over the weekend - that was mentioned many many weeks ago?
When did Nhai start getting conscious about what behaviors of his make Ai jealous? That came out of nowhere.
Character writing is still inconsistent. And are the writers just forgetting what they wrote? Because there are several blatant contradictions between this episode, itself, and previous episodes.
MangoTV Sparkle: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?app=desktop&list=PLEwMCGv50LfIMjU--sAZNXZd9mseTdqXk&gl=JP
MangoTV Short Play: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLQSzgdt775cr7H_HdOfUqsaQhv5a6pI60
It tells that the Tang'an City Police Center received a report that there was a time bomb in the airport. At a critical juncture, the grassroots policewoman Hao Ailing quickly identified the alarm person as Hu Kun with her comprehensive understanding of the area under her jurisdiction. However, Hu Kun, who was detained in the detention center because of the bombing, resented Hao Ailing. After being released, he joined the gang involved in the crime, and was instigated to intimidate Officer Hao's son to go to elementary school. Hao Ailing knew that it was Hu Kun who made trouble, but she helped her family several times, and finally influenced Hu Kun to get him back on the right track. [1]
Source:
https://baike.baidu.com/item/%E9%9D%9E%E5%87%A1%E5%AE%88%E6%8A%A4/62145572?noadapt=1
More info:
https://www.163.com/dy/article/HLG59S1D05346960.html
Trailer (no subs):
https://youtu.be/b_0rrrHhYdA
Set to stream on IQIYI.
Rumored to be close to the post-production stage.
Source:
https://www.163.com/dy/article/HDRJDR5M05346960.html
https://www.sohu.com/a/573597118_114733
But this watch guide will be fully up and running by then 👌
https://kisskh.at/737225-jie-zi-gui-cheng
https://kisskh.at/692399-the-mystic-nine-2
https://kisskh.at/56837-can-hai-hua
https://kisskh.at/56835-cang-hai-xi-lin
https://kisskh.at/700335-cases-of-the-south