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Bravely Pursue Your Dream against All Costs
Truth to be told, I've been tuning on and off "Ray of Light" while juggling on "Mystic Nine" simultaneously back in August, then "Pull Strings", and "See You Later... Maybe" for a while. Aside from my shift of focus to other dramas, my clashing schedule also contributes to my inability to binge-watch as swift as before. Currently, I'm in the 12th grade and I admit it's the most crucial point of my life which will determine my entire blueprint of future. By the way, "Ray of Light" also has the similar themes as what I'm experiencing now, making it easier for me to relate to its characters. Let's see my take on "Ray of Light".
Disclaimer: I'll also include a little bit of my high school life in this review 'cause I've been bottling it up for a long time.
On the surface, "Ray of Light" may seem like a typical high school drama, but it strips off the idol image completely by showcasing the cruel yet realistic life of the characters, which helps the watchers emotionally bond with them even though it's just a mere fiction. The story revolves around the "garbage class" Class 14 (as per public's stereotype, the last number represents trashy students and delinquents alike despite their talents and dreams - I myself am put in Class 4 of the five science classes - well, most teachers always compare us with Class 1 or Class 2, considering most of my classmates are underachievers and love causing ruckus in the hope of playing the whole day). Recently, their homeroom teacher just resigns and enters Hao Nan as their new teaching staff. Hao Nan was once a brilliant teacher before he withdrew due to an incident three years ago. After resigning, Hao Nan transformed into a gangster and opened a billiard hall with his gangster brothers with Hong Mao as his close confidant. However, an unexpected accident happens when Hao Nan's billiard hall is vandalized by someone unknown and he must look for other jobs to survive. Hong Mao, feeling sorry for his sworn brother, secretly sends Hao Nan's CV to Qingyun High School, hoping that Hao Nan can return to his old grounds. At first, Hao Nan has a difficulty in adapting to the school life and overcoming his students' constant pranks, but he still perseveres all the way until they graduate with flying colors. To be honest, it's very hard to find a teacher like Hao Nan in the real life, because most teachers only support students who can benefit them or help them ascend to a higher position through winning competitions or Olympics (in this way, the teachers are considered having contribution points). Until today, I haven't found any teachers who will support his/her students through ups and downs without asking something in return (even my homeroom teacher has her own targets as well - if we keep rebelling, she'll reprimand us harder than ever before). Hao Nan even proposes the extra tuition for Class 14, which helps them considerably in grasping the materials. My school also has mandatory extra classes after school for twelfth-grader. Instead of studying hard and attending classes, my class deliberately plays truant and skips classes, leading my homeroom teacher to yap at us through online messages (including me 'cause I feel the extra classes isn't that effective). The more I think, the more I catch the ironic vibe between the fiction and reality. After discussing about Hao Nan Laoshi, let's go to the students:
1. Ren Zhen (Ren Min) is the main protagonist of the story, as a major portion of the plot is told through her point of view. Ren Zhen is a headstrong yet resilient girl who will do anything to achieve her goal. She grows up in a half-broken family consisting of a supportive mother and a doting but irresponsible father. Ren Zhen is currently redoing the 12th grade after her NCEE (National College Entrance Examination) score didn't satisfy the minimum required to enter a medical university. Ren Zhen is initially hostile towards Hao Nan, whom she thinks is a hoodlum. However, after Hao Nan repeatedly helps her solve crises, she begins to respect Hao Nan as a good teacher and even recommends him to other classmates who may need counseling or consultation. It is also Hao Nan who tells Ren Zhen to pick Huaqing Medical University as her next target. Ren Zhen wants to be a doctor to cure other people's diseases alongside her mother's asthma. Ren Zhen develops a slight romance for Gao Yuan. In the next NCEE, Ren Zhen aces the exam and enters Huaqing Medical University and works as a doctor later on, in the respiratory medicine department to be precise.
2. Gao Yuan (Roy Wang) is the second protagonist of the story. He first met Ren Zhen when she went to the beach with her former friends after NCEE. After a brief exchange of words, Gao Yuan never thought he could meet her again at school. Gao Yuan, despite his polite and distant facade, hides a deep self-inflicted guilt over his brother's death, which has haunted him for nearly a year before he starts going to school again. After Ren Zhen discovers his bleak past through Sister Ming (Gao Yuan's brother's girlfriend), she becomes Gao Yuan's emotional anchor and listens to every of his story and how his brother's death affects his parents deeply. Through painstaking efforts, Hao Nan and Ren Zhen manage to help Gao Yuan get out of his hollow shell, and even his parents decide to move on too. Nevertheless, fate plays a cruel joke again when Gao Yuan's mother insists he be a doctor to replace his brother. In fact, Gao Yuan never wants to stay in the sterile disinfectant room and chooses to be a pilot (he loves collecting plane models and even learns each plane's specifications). Thanks to Ren Zhen's relentless and unwavering support, Gao Yuan decides to walk out of the "so-called doctor path" and boldly pursues his lifelong dreams for good. Gao Yuan also scores well in the NCEE and goes to a civil aviation college, later serving as a pilot for a commercial airline.
3) Zhao Xiaoxiao (Xu Shiyue) is the class president of Class 14. She is an assiduous and hardworking girl who juggles through studying continuously and taking care of her frail sickly grandmother. Xiaoxiao is used to hiding her fatigue beneath the layer of carefully-constructed calmness. Xiaoxiao and Wang Fang are a pair of childhood sweethearts. Due to her grandma's deteriorating health, Xiaoxiao chooses to stay behind at Hong'an Normal University and works as a teacher at their former school.
4) Wang Fang (Liu Xiaobei) is the class clown and troublemaker who just wants to outdo his father (basically, he's got the role of rebellious chaebol boy). Previously, Wang Fang always neglected his studies and preferred to looking for odd jobs outside school. Wang Fang himself admits that he has no particular talents aside from eating, sleeping, playing basketball, and gaming. Wang Fang has a soft spot for Xiaoxiao, his childhood sweetheart. Wang Fang scores moderately at NCEE, thus placing himself in the cut-off of second-tier universities. As an adult, he starts his own business and currently works as pet food supplier.
5) Jia Kun (He Liao Lu Yun) is Wang Fang's best buddy. His father is a worker at a construction site and inevitably has to leave Jia Kun alone in a run-down resident. He longs to be recognized by his parents and wishes to stay together with them too. Jia Kun's emotional anchor is Sister Irene, his sworn sister from the same hometown who goes to Shanghai and works as a nail art designer. Jia Kun then decides to go a university in Shanghai so that he can accompany Sister Irene. Due to his slightly lower score, Jia Kun opts to vocational college at Shanghai and later opens a hairdresser salon with Sister Irene.
6) Xia Fan (Zhao Yunzhuo) is a beauty-obsessed girl who is engaging in an unknowingly toxic relationship with her senior brother, Song Xiaohui. Unfortunately, Xiaohui constantly uses manipulation, guilt-tripping, and body shaming to destroy Xia Fan's self-esteem and transform her into an insecure person. For the sake of Xiaohui, Xia Fan tries every single attempt to get his attention (Xiaohui dislikes fat girls, so she needs to be as slim as possible) from dieting, throwing up her food, minimizing her waist's size, and more. At Xiaohui's student council celebration party, Xia Fan accidentally learns that he has been two-timing her and that he has another girlfriend called Xiao Ya. Hao Nan and Hong Mao then rush to the restaurant and they successfully ruins his party. Xiaohui feels humiliated and promises to Hao Nan that he won't disturb Xia Fan any longer. Despite being a toxic person, Xiaohui becomes a key person who helps Xia Fan in choosing her favorite subject (foreign language) and university. Xia Fan always confides to her deskmate, Wu Kai. Xia Fan goes to Chengdu and works as an interpreter there.
7) Wu Kai (Lu Qi) is an emotionally closed-off boy who constantly faces bullying and mistreatment before transferring to Qingyun. Wu Kai's real talent lies in drawing, but his mother forbids him to take the art exam and takes accounting instead. While Wu Kai secretly blames his mother for not listening to his request, she also drowns in self-guilt as she's afraid that the past will come up once again. Wu Kai's mother had long divorced from his father, who's a pure artist himself. Wu Kai is ready to sacrifice his life for the sake of his interest, which is a brave thing to do, Hao Nan remarks. Wu Kai successfully enters Central Academy of Fine Arts and now works as a graphic designer in Beijing. He also has a girlfriend, which isn't introduced in the drama.
P.S.
Hao Nan later leaves Qingyun High School and dedicates himself to teach at a rural primary school and help the children there.
To put it simply, "Ray of Light" mixes all kinds of ingredients needed for a coming-of-age high school show, from self-discovery, supportive friendship bonds, broken family, past trauma, and even body shaming (Xia Fan's arc). At the first episodes, I wasn't that convinced to proceed further - but, I was proven wrong soon after. When it reaches to the middle until the end, the story becomes more and more engaging, hooking the viewers in effortlessly and giving them a sense of deja vu back to the youthful era. For me, I'll cherish my own memories as well as this is the last chance to do crazy things with my friends before our graduation day looms by. The dialogue is cleverly arranged too, sprinkling life lessons here and there in either explicit or implicit way. However, I also want to point out something that may come off as a chimerical fantasy rather than a true case in reality. Take Gao Yuan and Wu Kai for example. Both badly want to chase their own dreams and defy their parents in the process, when the older generation just wants what is good for them. I'm not saying chasing one's dream is wrong - that's definitely not the case - but, reality is crushing down on us every single day and you'll have to face it sooner or later. So, between your dream and survival, which one will you trade for? It's like a double-edged coin or a desperate gamble of future, which you can't afford to lose of course. Supposedly you became a prominent figure or earned a great deal of pay, that would be a different story. What if you were to fail and lose everything? In fact, not many people prepare for this outcome and will regret over their foolish decisions one day. I've seen and listened a lot of these generic plots - honestly, I'll prefer survival to dream if I'm to choose between them.
For the acting, I have to commend the whole assemble of casts. All of them follow the stream of dialogues seamlessly and embody his/her emotional depth in an expressive way. FYI, I'm also swept in because of the wonderful acting, but I also feel cringey over Ren Zhen and Gao Yuan's ridiculous tricks (cosplaying as doctors in the hospital has been the last straw for me before I force myself to continue).
OSTs are surprisingly nice despite some tracks not being uploaded on Spotify or YouTube (which is a pity). Sets, backgrounds, and costumes reflect the 2010s vintage vibe (I can't make a detailed judgement because I was still a toddler back then). Don't get me wrong, but I'm also astonished to see how they effortlessly use the 'ancient' mobile phone so easily. Even if you ask me to switch my android with that phone, I can't even use it, let alone typing Mandarin characters using those keypads TT.
Overall, it's yet another 10 out of 10 and I'm really grateful to finally watch "Ray of Light" (fun fact: I badly wanted to watch it back in 2023, but I never got the chance until I discovered it in Bilibili lately). If you're into high school drama or you want to reminisce your old school life, this drama may be suitable for you. And for those who are still high schoolers, I hope this drama can help you relate to your current life or give a momentary space to make a self-introspection on yourself. Guess it's time to end my review, good luck, and happy watching!!!
P.S.
I do cry several time during my voyage through this drama. I'm going to list some of the most emotional parts that prompt me to weeping...
1. Ren Zhen's realization of how much her parents love and support her in their respective ways
2) Ren Zhen's insistence on inviting her father over for a family reunion dinner
3) Liu Nian's (Hao Nan's former student) struggle and inability to cope with mounting academic pressure with her overbearing parents on top of it
Disclaimer: I'll also include a little bit of my high school life in this review 'cause I've been bottling it up for a long time.
On the surface, "Ray of Light" may seem like a typical high school drama, but it strips off the idol image completely by showcasing the cruel yet realistic life of the characters, which helps the watchers emotionally bond with them even though it's just a mere fiction. The story revolves around the "garbage class" Class 14 (as per public's stereotype, the last number represents trashy students and delinquents alike despite their talents and dreams - I myself am put in Class 4 of the five science classes - well, most teachers always compare us with Class 1 or Class 2, considering most of my classmates are underachievers and love causing ruckus in the hope of playing the whole day). Recently, their homeroom teacher just resigns and enters Hao Nan as their new teaching staff. Hao Nan was once a brilliant teacher before he withdrew due to an incident three years ago. After resigning, Hao Nan transformed into a gangster and opened a billiard hall with his gangster brothers with Hong Mao as his close confidant. However, an unexpected accident happens when Hao Nan's billiard hall is vandalized by someone unknown and he must look for other jobs to survive. Hong Mao, feeling sorry for his sworn brother, secretly sends Hao Nan's CV to Qingyun High School, hoping that Hao Nan can return to his old grounds. At first, Hao Nan has a difficulty in adapting to the school life and overcoming his students' constant pranks, but he still perseveres all the way until they graduate with flying colors. To be honest, it's very hard to find a teacher like Hao Nan in the real life, because most teachers only support students who can benefit them or help them ascend to a higher position through winning competitions or Olympics (in this way, the teachers are considered having contribution points). Until today, I haven't found any teachers who will support his/her students through ups and downs without asking something in return (even my homeroom teacher has her own targets as well - if we keep rebelling, she'll reprimand us harder than ever before). Hao Nan even proposes the extra tuition for Class 14, which helps them considerably in grasping the materials. My school also has mandatory extra classes after school for twelfth-grader. Instead of studying hard and attending classes, my class deliberately plays truant and skips classes, leading my homeroom teacher to yap at us through online messages (including me 'cause I feel the extra classes isn't that effective). The more I think, the more I catch the ironic vibe between the fiction and reality. After discussing about Hao Nan Laoshi, let's go to the students:
1. Ren Zhen (Ren Min) is the main protagonist of the story, as a major portion of the plot is told through her point of view. Ren Zhen is a headstrong yet resilient girl who will do anything to achieve her goal. She grows up in a half-broken family consisting of a supportive mother and a doting but irresponsible father. Ren Zhen is currently redoing the 12th grade after her NCEE (National College Entrance Examination) score didn't satisfy the minimum required to enter a medical university. Ren Zhen is initially hostile towards Hao Nan, whom she thinks is a hoodlum. However, after Hao Nan repeatedly helps her solve crises, she begins to respect Hao Nan as a good teacher and even recommends him to other classmates who may need counseling or consultation. It is also Hao Nan who tells Ren Zhen to pick Huaqing Medical University as her next target. Ren Zhen wants to be a doctor to cure other people's diseases alongside her mother's asthma. Ren Zhen develops a slight romance for Gao Yuan. In the next NCEE, Ren Zhen aces the exam and enters Huaqing Medical University and works as a doctor later on, in the respiratory medicine department to be precise.
2. Gao Yuan (Roy Wang) is the second protagonist of the story. He first met Ren Zhen when she went to the beach with her former friends after NCEE. After a brief exchange of words, Gao Yuan never thought he could meet her again at school. Gao Yuan, despite his polite and distant facade, hides a deep self-inflicted guilt over his brother's death, which has haunted him for nearly a year before he starts going to school again. After Ren Zhen discovers his bleak past through Sister Ming (Gao Yuan's brother's girlfriend), she becomes Gao Yuan's emotional anchor and listens to every of his story and how his brother's death affects his parents deeply. Through painstaking efforts, Hao Nan and Ren Zhen manage to help Gao Yuan get out of his hollow shell, and even his parents decide to move on too. Nevertheless, fate plays a cruel joke again when Gao Yuan's mother insists he be a doctor to replace his brother. In fact, Gao Yuan never wants to stay in the sterile disinfectant room and chooses to be a pilot (he loves collecting plane models and even learns each plane's specifications). Thanks to Ren Zhen's relentless and unwavering support, Gao Yuan decides to walk out of the "so-called doctor path" and boldly pursues his lifelong dreams for good. Gao Yuan also scores well in the NCEE and goes to a civil aviation college, later serving as a pilot for a commercial airline.
3) Zhao Xiaoxiao (Xu Shiyue) is the class president of Class 14. She is an assiduous and hardworking girl who juggles through studying continuously and taking care of her frail sickly grandmother. Xiaoxiao is used to hiding her fatigue beneath the layer of carefully-constructed calmness. Xiaoxiao and Wang Fang are a pair of childhood sweethearts. Due to her grandma's deteriorating health, Xiaoxiao chooses to stay behind at Hong'an Normal University and works as a teacher at their former school.
4) Wang Fang (Liu Xiaobei) is the class clown and troublemaker who just wants to outdo his father (basically, he's got the role of rebellious chaebol boy). Previously, Wang Fang always neglected his studies and preferred to looking for odd jobs outside school. Wang Fang himself admits that he has no particular talents aside from eating, sleeping, playing basketball, and gaming. Wang Fang has a soft spot for Xiaoxiao, his childhood sweetheart. Wang Fang scores moderately at NCEE, thus placing himself in the cut-off of second-tier universities. As an adult, he starts his own business and currently works as pet food supplier.
5) Jia Kun (He Liao Lu Yun) is Wang Fang's best buddy. His father is a worker at a construction site and inevitably has to leave Jia Kun alone in a run-down resident. He longs to be recognized by his parents and wishes to stay together with them too. Jia Kun's emotional anchor is Sister Irene, his sworn sister from the same hometown who goes to Shanghai and works as a nail art designer. Jia Kun then decides to go a university in Shanghai so that he can accompany Sister Irene. Due to his slightly lower score, Jia Kun opts to vocational college at Shanghai and later opens a hairdresser salon with Sister Irene.
6) Xia Fan (Zhao Yunzhuo) is a beauty-obsessed girl who is engaging in an unknowingly toxic relationship with her senior brother, Song Xiaohui. Unfortunately, Xiaohui constantly uses manipulation, guilt-tripping, and body shaming to destroy Xia Fan's self-esteem and transform her into an insecure person. For the sake of Xiaohui, Xia Fan tries every single attempt to get his attention (Xiaohui dislikes fat girls, so she needs to be as slim as possible) from dieting, throwing up her food, minimizing her waist's size, and more. At Xiaohui's student council celebration party, Xia Fan accidentally learns that he has been two-timing her and that he has another girlfriend called Xiao Ya. Hao Nan and Hong Mao then rush to the restaurant and they successfully ruins his party. Xiaohui feels humiliated and promises to Hao Nan that he won't disturb Xia Fan any longer. Despite being a toxic person, Xiaohui becomes a key person who helps Xia Fan in choosing her favorite subject (foreign language) and university. Xia Fan always confides to her deskmate, Wu Kai. Xia Fan goes to Chengdu and works as an interpreter there.
7) Wu Kai (Lu Qi) is an emotionally closed-off boy who constantly faces bullying and mistreatment before transferring to Qingyun. Wu Kai's real talent lies in drawing, but his mother forbids him to take the art exam and takes accounting instead. While Wu Kai secretly blames his mother for not listening to his request, she also drowns in self-guilt as she's afraid that the past will come up once again. Wu Kai's mother had long divorced from his father, who's a pure artist himself. Wu Kai is ready to sacrifice his life for the sake of his interest, which is a brave thing to do, Hao Nan remarks. Wu Kai successfully enters Central Academy of Fine Arts and now works as a graphic designer in Beijing. He also has a girlfriend, which isn't introduced in the drama.
P.S.
Hao Nan later leaves Qingyun High School and dedicates himself to teach at a rural primary school and help the children there.
To put it simply, "Ray of Light" mixes all kinds of ingredients needed for a coming-of-age high school show, from self-discovery, supportive friendship bonds, broken family, past trauma, and even body shaming (Xia Fan's arc). At the first episodes, I wasn't that convinced to proceed further - but, I was proven wrong soon after. When it reaches to the middle until the end, the story becomes more and more engaging, hooking the viewers in effortlessly and giving them a sense of deja vu back to the youthful era. For me, I'll cherish my own memories as well as this is the last chance to do crazy things with my friends before our graduation day looms by. The dialogue is cleverly arranged too, sprinkling life lessons here and there in either explicit or implicit way. However, I also want to point out something that may come off as a chimerical fantasy rather than a true case in reality. Take Gao Yuan and Wu Kai for example. Both badly want to chase their own dreams and defy their parents in the process, when the older generation just wants what is good for them. I'm not saying chasing one's dream is wrong - that's definitely not the case - but, reality is crushing down on us every single day and you'll have to face it sooner or later. So, between your dream and survival, which one will you trade for? It's like a double-edged coin or a desperate gamble of future, which you can't afford to lose of course. Supposedly you became a prominent figure or earned a great deal of pay, that would be a different story. What if you were to fail and lose everything? In fact, not many people prepare for this outcome and will regret over their foolish decisions one day. I've seen and listened a lot of these generic plots - honestly, I'll prefer survival to dream if I'm to choose between them.
For the acting, I have to commend the whole assemble of casts. All of them follow the stream of dialogues seamlessly and embody his/her emotional depth in an expressive way. FYI, I'm also swept in because of the wonderful acting, but I also feel cringey over Ren Zhen and Gao Yuan's ridiculous tricks (cosplaying as doctors in the hospital has been the last straw for me before I force myself to continue).
OSTs are surprisingly nice despite some tracks not being uploaded on Spotify or YouTube (which is a pity). Sets, backgrounds, and costumes reflect the 2010s vintage vibe (I can't make a detailed judgement because I was still a toddler back then). Don't get me wrong, but I'm also astonished to see how they effortlessly use the 'ancient' mobile phone so easily. Even if you ask me to switch my android with that phone, I can't even use it, let alone typing Mandarin characters using those keypads TT.
Overall, it's yet another 10 out of 10 and I'm really grateful to finally watch "Ray of Light" (fun fact: I badly wanted to watch it back in 2023, but I never got the chance until I discovered it in Bilibili lately). If you're into high school drama or you want to reminisce your old school life, this drama may be suitable for you. And for those who are still high schoolers, I hope this drama can help you relate to your current life or give a momentary space to make a self-introspection on yourself. Guess it's time to end my review, good luck, and happy watching!!!
P.S.
I do cry several time during my voyage through this drama. I'm going to list some of the most emotional parts that prompt me to weeping...
1. Ren Zhen's realization of how much her parents love and support her in their respective ways
2) Ren Zhen's insistence on inviting her father over for a family reunion dinner
3) Liu Nian's (Hao Nan's former student) struggle and inability to cope with mounting academic pressure with her overbearing parents on top of it
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