This review may contain spoilers
The Adrenaline Rush of Precarious Street Racing and Love for a Toddler-Like Teenager
Welcome back to my review. As usual, I’m sorry for delaying “Speed and Love” review because I’m just too idle to write down my thoughts (FYI, my holiday will end in three days, so I’m making sure that I complete this review before getting back to school and being busy again). Without further ado, let’s just dive into the review.
“Speed and Love”, formerly named “Star Trails”, is a rom-com drama adapted from Shi Jiuyan’s novel with the same name (in Chinese), staged in the perilous world of street racing in Manshi, Thailand (supposed to be a remote area in China named Tong Gang). The series revolves around a pair nonblood-related siblings, Jin Zhao and Jiang Mu. After a crushing divorce, their dad moved out from the house and took Jin Zhao with him to Thailand, where they struggled to make ends meet to the point that Jin Zhao needed to quit from high school and took up odd jobs instead, including establishing a self-independent garage and joining high-stake racings in the midnight to earn some cash for the family. FYI, Jin Qiang married another Chinese woman, Zhao Meijuan, at that time and bore a new daughter, Jin Xin (no doubt there will a lot of mouths to be fed).
Meanwhile, Jiang Mu stayed in China with her mom, Jiang Yinghan, at Nanjing. However, Jiang Yinghan soon found a new Canadian-Chinese boyfriend, Chris, and they decide to marry together and live in Canada from then on. Nevertheless, Jiang Mu didn’t agree on her mom’s remarriage and demanded to stay behind in China for she didn’t have a good impression on Chris. After having petty arguments back and forth, Jiang Yinghan finally agreed to let Jiang Mu stay at her father’s place and told her about the past of Jin Zhao as well. This piece of truth only fueled Jiang Mu’s personal desire to search for Jin Zhao and her hope to rekindle the old memories together.
After settling down in Thailand, Jiang Mu enrolls a language foundation course and a Thai high school too (though this is a heavy point stressed in the novel, it’s completely brushed aside in the drama since it’s going all out in the aspects of emotional tension and sexual interactions). Not only that, she also learns about Jin Zhao’s new life and finds that he’s beginning to look like a stranger in her eyes. To understand his world better, she also learns how to race since Jin Zhao always participates in illegal street racings. Soon, she falls in love with Jin Zhao and slowly peels away his thick fortress, ultimately gaining his heart. But, an accident will occur in no time and the two is separated for a very long time, breaking each other’s heart while still yearning. Will they finally give in to their fates or fight against it to stage another fluffy love story?
To put it frankly, I do agree with most of the viewers that the plot is very cliché except the racing part. Firstly, the myriad numbers of tropes crammed into this drama is pretty outstanding, considering it only has 29 episodes. Nonblood-related siblings, spoiled girl x bad boy, accidental hugs, friends coming to disturb your peaceful moments of kissing, noble idiocy, ML decides what’s good for FL without asking for her consent. Those tropes have been utilized by other rom-com dramas and some even do better than this one. Honestly, if it hadn’t been for the electrifying chemistry of the main leads, most people would’ve dropped it long ago, and so do I.
However, I want to praise about how well the racing arc is done, especially Jin Qiang’s methods of how to adapt to tricky situations by relying on your neural instinct. The machinery of car is also explained in basic language so that viewers of non-physics background can grasp the foundation easily (one of them happens to be me, since I’m very awful in physics, but don’t get me wrong, I have deep fascination for mechanics and machinery stuffs).
Now, please welcome our high-and-mighty spoiled little queen Jiang Mu. Well, she does act like a spoiled 10-year-old little chick, as if she were a vexatious mosquito hovering around Jin Zhao’s orbit. No offence, but I’m also a picky eater and tend to pick out the vegetables that I dislike. However, there’s a little discrepancy between me and her. At least, I keep my tongue well shut while nitpicking the vegetables, unlike Jiang Mu, who keeps pouting and scowling interminably till I get irritated of her. Also, why does the designer love to dress Jiang Mu in conspicuous sexy clothing that apparently doesn’t fit her image as an ordinary high schooler at all? Even she only wears her uniform as a formality to conceal the black shirt and mini skirt beneath. And how does she know about cars just by having a single glance (the part where Xiao Yang and Tie Gongji are having a difficulty at)? And how does she manage to learn drifting after having seen Lin Sui performs it one time? And from when does she develop a feeling for Jin Zhao? I know it’s a taboo stuff for others when it comes to siblings falling for each other, but I think that’s fine for me. The thing that keeps troubling me is perhaps she had fallen for him since her childhood years and that feeling grows incessantly over years in the shape of the spoiled queen (don’t get me wrong, she initiates most of the intimate acts). Esther Yu’s acting and baby-ish voice don’t help much with Jiang Mu’s interpretation either. She’s trying hard to act like a toddler just because the script demands so, and she turns 180 degree into a mature woman in six years, but not that mature though. Check out the reason below after I finish blabbing about the ML.
For the ML, I actually and truly love him very much that I also want him to be my boyfriend. Welp, who doesn’t want to? He can race, cook, dry your hair, repair the water heater, exceptionally outstanding in physics, draw, fetch you back from school as if his time had been reserved just for you, and many other things I can’t think of anymore. But, the noble idiocy really irks some people and I really don’t know why because noble idiocy is a rudimentary key point during their separation arc or it would’ve been less fulfilling (for me). Also, Jin Zhao’s character is also shaped from the harsh reality of the world and how he can overcome the trials and vicissitudes of life. I think He Yu has shone brighter than ever and it’s his outbreak role after several mediocre performances. He totally rocks Jin Zhao’s portrayal and embodies his essential point quite well.
For this paragraph, this is going to be a hell of a ride, so please bear with me. The show does convey dangerous moral impacts about how to selflessly sacrifice your dignity for someone you’re not supposed to love and how unrequited love soon blooms into a bold yet dangerous possessiveness. This is shown when Jiang Mu confronts Wan Qing in an unfriendly manner and keeps thinking that she has an affair with Jin Zhao, when he actually never reciprocates her feelings. If Jiang Mu had initiated a more proper and clearer communication instead, things wouldn’t have gone awry and the girls would’ve made such good friends from the get go (I tried really hard to suppress my urge to yell at Jiang Mu, seriously). Not only that, the show also romanticizes taboo stuffs such as how you ogle for that person to be your emotional anchor when things go wrong or unlike your expectation. If the person-in-demand doesn’t give you the respond that you desire, you’re going to start throwing tantrums here and there, in order to attract his attention back to you (which is not worth your time at all). I even have to restrain myself not to take any lessons from this show so as not be deluded into an astray path, given that this show is directed for young teenage girls like me, who will be self-deluded in your little fantasy bubble and have a great rage when your reality turns out to say no to you.
Now, to the OSTs. Yes, I love most of the OST in “Speed and Love” especially the upbeat hip hop track sung by Yan An (not Pentagon’s member). I also like the sultry song by Alyce Zhou (R.E.D) and the wistful memory in Zhang Bichen’s track. The other tracks are as pleasant as well. Backgrounds and settings are thumbs-up for me, while the costume can be toned down a little bit for our dear Jiang Mu.
Will I rewatch? That will be a 50/50 answer. If you’re looking for hot sexual tension and dozens of intimate scenes, then you’ll have a great fun here. However, if you’re into a coherent storyline, I’m sorry to say that this show doesn’t fulfil this requirement. It’s time to end my review now (since I have to go to sleep now), good luck and happy watching!!!
“Speed and Love”, formerly named “Star Trails”, is a rom-com drama adapted from Shi Jiuyan’s novel with the same name (in Chinese), staged in the perilous world of street racing in Manshi, Thailand (supposed to be a remote area in China named Tong Gang). The series revolves around a pair nonblood-related siblings, Jin Zhao and Jiang Mu. After a crushing divorce, their dad moved out from the house and took Jin Zhao with him to Thailand, where they struggled to make ends meet to the point that Jin Zhao needed to quit from high school and took up odd jobs instead, including establishing a self-independent garage and joining high-stake racings in the midnight to earn some cash for the family. FYI, Jin Qiang married another Chinese woman, Zhao Meijuan, at that time and bore a new daughter, Jin Xin (no doubt there will a lot of mouths to be fed).
Meanwhile, Jiang Mu stayed in China with her mom, Jiang Yinghan, at Nanjing. However, Jiang Yinghan soon found a new Canadian-Chinese boyfriend, Chris, and they decide to marry together and live in Canada from then on. Nevertheless, Jiang Mu didn’t agree on her mom’s remarriage and demanded to stay behind in China for she didn’t have a good impression on Chris. After having petty arguments back and forth, Jiang Yinghan finally agreed to let Jiang Mu stay at her father’s place and told her about the past of Jin Zhao as well. This piece of truth only fueled Jiang Mu’s personal desire to search for Jin Zhao and her hope to rekindle the old memories together.
After settling down in Thailand, Jiang Mu enrolls a language foundation course and a Thai high school too (though this is a heavy point stressed in the novel, it’s completely brushed aside in the drama since it’s going all out in the aspects of emotional tension and sexual interactions). Not only that, she also learns about Jin Zhao’s new life and finds that he’s beginning to look like a stranger in her eyes. To understand his world better, she also learns how to race since Jin Zhao always participates in illegal street racings. Soon, she falls in love with Jin Zhao and slowly peels away his thick fortress, ultimately gaining his heart. But, an accident will occur in no time and the two is separated for a very long time, breaking each other’s heart while still yearning. Will they finally give in to their fates or fight against it to stage another fluffy love story?
To put it frankly, I do agree with most of the viewers that the plot is very cliché except the racing part. Firstly, the myriad numbers of tropes crammed into this drama is pretty outstanding, considering it only has 29 episodes. Nonblood-related siblings, spoiled girl x bad boy, accidental hugs, friends coming to disturb your peaceful moments of kissing, noble idiocy, ML decides what’s good for FL without asking for her consent. Those tropes have been utilized by other rom-com dramas and some even do better than this one. Honestly, if it hadn’t been for the electrifying chemistry of the main leads, most people would’ve dropped it long ago, and so do I.
However, I want to praise about how well the racing arc is done, especially Jin Qiang’s methods of how to adapt to tricky situations by relying on your neural instinct. The machinery of car is also explained in basic language so that viewers of non-physics background can grasp the foundation easily (one of them happens to be me, since I’m very awful in physics, but don’t get me wrong, I have deep fascination for mechanics and machinery stuffs).
Now, please welcome our high-and-mighty spoiled little queen Jiang Mu. Well, she does act like a spoiled 10-year-old little chick, as if she were a vexatious mosquito hovering around Jin Zhao’s orbit. No offence, but I’m also a picky eater and tend to pick out the vegetables that I dislike. However, there’s a little discrepancy between me and her. At least, I keep my tongue well shut while nitpicking the vegetables, unlike Jiang Mu, who keeps pouting and scowling interminably till I get irritated of her. Also, why does the designer love to dress Jiang Mu in conspicuous sexy clothing that apparently doesn’t fit her image as an ordinary high schooler at all? Even she only wears her uniform as a formality to conceal the black shirt and mini skirt beneath. And how does she know about cars just by having a single glance (the part where Xiao Yang and Tie Gongji are having a difficulty at)? And how does she manage to learn drifting after having seen Lin Sui performs it one time? And from when does she develop a feeling for Jin Zhao? I know it’s a taboo stuff for others when it comes to siblings falling for each other, but I think that’s fine for me. The thing that keeps troubling me is perhaps she had fallen for him since her childhood years and that feeling grows incessantly over years in the shape of the spoiled queen (don’t get me wrong, she initiates most of the intimate acts). Esther Yu’s acting and baby-ish voice don’t help much with Jiang Mu’s interpretation either. She’s trying hard to act like a toddler just because the script demands so, and she turns 180 degree into a mature woman in six years, but not that mature though. Check out the reason below after I finish blabbing about the ML.
For the ML, I actually and truly love him very much that I also want him to be my boyfriend. Welp, who doesn’t want to? He can race, cook, dry your hair, repair the water heater, exceptionally outstanding in physics, draw, fetch you back from school as if his time had been reserved just for you, and many other things I can’t think of anymore. But, the noble idiocy really irks some people and I really don’t know why because noble idiocy is a rudimentary key point during their separation arc or it would’ve been less fulfilling (for me). Also, Jin Zhao’s character is also shaped from the harsh reality of the world and how he can overcome the trials and vicissitudes of life. I think He Yu has shone brighter than ever and it’s his outbreak role after several mediocre performances. He totally rocks Jin Zhao’s portrayal and embodies his essential point quite well.
For this paragraph, this is going to be a hell of a ride, so please bear with me. The show does convey dangerous moral impacts about how to selflessly sacrifice your dignity for someone you’re not supposed to love and how unrequited love soon blooms into a bold yet dangerous possessiveness. This is shown when Jiang Mu confronts Wan Qing in an unfriendly manner and keeps thinking that she has an affair with Jin Zhao, when he actually never reciprocates her feelings. If Jiang Mu had initiated a more proper and clearer communication instead, things wouldn’t have gone awry and the girls would’ve made such good friends from the get go (I tried really hard to suppress my urge to yell at Jiang Mu, seriously). Not only that, the show also romanticizes taboo stuffs such as how you ogle for that person to be your emotional anchor when things go wrong or unlike your expectation. If the person-in-demand doesn’t give you the respond that you desire, you’re going to start throwing tantrums here and there, in order to attract his attention back to you (which is not worth your time at all). I even have to restrain myself not to take any lessons from this show so as not be deluded into an astray path, given that this show is directed for young teenage girls like me, who will be self-deluded in your little fantasy bubble and have a great rage when your reality turns out to say no to you.
Now, to the OSTs. Yes, I love most of the OST in “Speed and Love” especially the upbeat hip hop track sung by Yan An (not Pentagon’s member). I also like the sultry song by Alyce Zhou (R.E.D) and the wistful memory in Zhang Bichen’s track. The other tracks are as pleasant as well. Backgrounds and settings are thumbs-up for me, while the costume can be toned down a little bit for our dear Jiang Mu.
Will I rewatch? That will be a 50/50 answer. If you’re looking for hot sexual tension and dozens of intimate scenes, then you’ll have a great fun here. However, if you’re into a coherent storyline, I’m sorry to say that this show doesn’t fulfil this requirement. It’s time to end my review now (since I have to go to sleep now), good luck and happy watching!!!
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