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This review may contain spoilers
A good series about found family, mother issues and realistic adulthood. Not a good romance.
This is a good series with found family tropes. I quite enjoyed it, especially the first half. I love the interactions between the brother-sister trio when they are teenagers, the bickering interactions between the two dads, the father-daughter relationship between our female lead Jianjian and her father Li Hai Chao, and the father-son relationship between Li Hai Chao and He Zi Qiu.
My two most favorite characters are Li Hai Chao and He Zi Qiu. I like He Zi Qiu the most among the trio. I love to see him bickering with Jianjian. He truly loves and cares for Jianjian as an older brother, and always tries his best to protect his family, including Jianjian and her father. He always wishes to become a real family with them, and that's why he mistakes that feeling for romantic love. I love how he asks for Li Hai Chao's permission before making a move on Jianjian. He's one of the lights that I've found in this show. I also love to watch his journey on healing the relationship with his mother. Out of the mothers in the series (I don't include the mother of Zi Qiu's best friend as she is a very side character), she is one of the two mothers that I empathize with and deserves to be forgiven for her mistakes towards her children. I love her happy ending with Zi Qiu and Jianjian's father.
Another light is Li Hai Chao. He is the best dad ever, and the kindest man I've seen. He treats other people, including women and kids with respect. He's so loving, caring and patient towards his children. I love every scene with him in it. He makes my heart feel warm. I've never had a father like him, and have serious father issues, so I always have a soft spot for a nurturing father, and a loving father-daughter relationship.
I also like how the show implies messages about growing up and how difficult adulthood can be, and the relationship between Asian parents and their adult children. I love the friendship between the 3 girls Jianjian, Mingyue, and Tang Can. I think their bonding is beautiful and realistic. I love how they care and support each other through different hardships in life. There are some conflicts between them sometimes but that's how best friends treat each other in real life. They are straightforward towards each other and don't let any boy get involved and ruin their friendship. That's another good thing about this series, that there is no toxic love triangle.
I feel that "Go Ahead" is a series about mother issues. All the characters in this series, excluding ZiQiu's best friend, have serious mother issues. Most of them have toxic mothers that lead to a lot of trauma and shape their personality when they grow up. I relate to Mingyue the most. Some people may find her character annoying but it's realistic when she grew up with her parents. I used to be just as annoying as her. My father is an absent father like her father, and my mother is too controlling towards whatever I do in life. She's never satisfied with whatever I do. I was a model student, but I used to be so unconfident and never thought I'm good enough. I pushed away the people that liked me because I was scared that they would stop liking me after knowing who I am. I see myself in her a lot, and I felt so proud and emotional at the scene when she confronted her mother and expressed her suppressed feeling for a long time in front of her. Mingyue's mother is the other mother besides Zi Qiu's that I empathize with. She's a lot like my mother and I understand she just wishes the best for her daughter, although her method is wrong. I was also touched at the scene where Minyue stood up for her mother when her father confronted her and blamed her mother for an unhappy marriage between them. My absent father also did that, and I also stood up for my mother.
That's a few things I love about the series. Now there are things that I dislike. The first thing is the romance between the leads. They got together so quickly after treating each other like siblings for a very long time since they were kids. It feels so forced to me. I don't feel any chemistry between them either. Plus, I feel like Ling Xiao was forcing Jianjian into their relationship. He did a lot of toxic things. He wasn't satisfied when Jianjian had a boyfriend and tried to break them up. He met her boyfriend secretly and asked him to break up with her. This is different from Zi Qiu, because the reason Zi Qiu didn't approve of her boyfriend is that he was worried about him being a pervert and betraying Jianjian. Zi Qiu is just a protective older brother and wishes the best for her sister. Another toxic thing Ling Xiao did was confessing to Jianjian but didn't give her time to think, but kind of forced her into the relationship, and he kissed her without her consent!
Another thing is that they don't seem to consider mental illness as a serious issue in this series. Ling Xiao was severely depressed, but he never went to therapy and relied on Jianjian for his comfort. That's not a good way in the long run. I had depression for years and I know how burdensome and exhausting it is for people around me to be around me for a long while. That's not a healthy relationship. Also, it’s painful to see how Chinese people think of mental illness. It's considered something embarrassing. My Asian mom thinks so too, and she always tries to hide other people about me going to therapy. I know they care about me but it still hurts me a lot.
My biggest issue about this series is about the concept of family. What I love about this series at first is the concept of a found family. However, later the kids forgive their toxic parents after terrible things they have done for them, just because 'your mother is your mother'. I feel like it's somehow against the series' initial concept. Ling Xiao is forced to take care of the selfish biographical mother who abandoned him and never cared about her children, including Ling Xiao and her 2 sisters. I think the best ending for Ling Xiao's mother should be that both Ling Xiao and her sister cut her off.
Next is Tang Can's mother. She's also one of the worst mothers. It appears to me from the beginning to the end that she only cares about her own pride. When Tang Can was an inspiring young child actress, her mother forced her to do a lot of commercials to earn money, and such a young kid has already earned enough to buy her parents a house and a supermarket to make a living. Who loves their kid that forces her to do that? Later it was her who destroyed her daughter's acting career because of her pride. And then she became embarrassed about her daughter and not satisfied with whatever she did, no matter how hard she tried. She never noticed how exhausted her daughter was at every family gathering, but how much her daughter embarrassed her. Then in the end, Tang Can somehow still tried to please her mother, because 'it's your mother, and mother always wishes the best for their children'. In my opinion, this is not a good message for young people nowadays.
My two most favorite characters are Li Hai Chao and He Zi Qiu. I like He Zi Qiu the most among the trio. I love to see him bickering with Jianjian. He truly loves and cares for Jianjian as an older brother, and always tries his best to protect his family, including Jianjian and her father. He always wishes to become a real family with them, and that's why he mistakes that feeling for romantic love. I love how he asks for Li Hai Chao's permission before making a move on Jianjian. He's one of the lights that I've found in this show. I also love to watch his journey on healing the relationship with his mother. Out of the mothers in the series (I don't include the mother of Zi Qiu's best friend as she is a very side character), she is one of the two mothers that I empathize with and deserves to be forgiven for her mistakes towards her children. I love her happy ending with Zi Qiu and Jianjian's father.
Another light is Li Hai Chao. He is the best dad ever, and the kindest man I've seen. He treats other people, including women and kids with respect. He's so loving, caring and patient towards his children. I love every scene with him in it. He makes my heart feel warm. I've never had a father like him, and have serious father issues, so I always have a soft spot for a nurturing father, and a loving father-daughter relationship.
I also like how the show implies messages about growing up and how difficult adulthood can be, and the relationship between Asian parents and their adult children. I love the friendship between the 3 girls Jianjian, Mingyue, and Tang Can. I think their bonding is beautiful and realistic. I love how they care and support each other through different hardships in life. There are some conflicts between them sometimes but that's how best friends treat each other in real life. They are straightforward towards each other and don't let any boy get involved and ruin their friendship. That's another good thing about this series, that there is no toxic love triangle.
I feel that "Go Ahead" is a series about mother issues. All the characters in this series, excluding ZiQiu's best friend, have serious mother issues. Most of them have toxic mothers that lead to a lot of trauma and shape their personality when they grow up. I relate to Mingyue the most. Some people may find her character annoying but it's realistic when she grew up with her parents. I used to be just as annoying as her. My father is an absent father like her father, and my mother is too controlling towards whatever I do in life. She's never satisfied with whatever I do. I was a model student, but I used to be so unconfident and never thought I'm good enough. I pushed away the people that liked me because I was scared that they would stop liking me after knowing who I am. I see myself in her a lot, and I felt so proud and emotional at the scene when she confronted her mother and expressed her suppressed feeling for a long time in front of her. Mingyue's mother is the other mother besides Zi Qiu's that I empathize with. She's a lot like my mother and I understand she just wishes the best for her daughter, although her method is wrong. I was also touched at the scene where Minyue stood up for her mother when her father confronted her and blamed her mother for an unhappy marriage between them. My absent father also did that, and I also stood up for my mother.
That's a few things I love about the series. Now there are things that I dislike. The first thing is the romance between the leads. They got together so quickly after treating each other like siblings for a very long time since they were kids. It feels so forced to me. I don't feel any chemistry between them either. Plus, I feel like Ling Xiao was forcing Jianjian into their relationship. He did a lot of toxic things. He wasn't satisfied when Jianjian had a boyfriend and tried to break them up. He met her boyfriend secretly and asked him to break up with her. This is different from Zi Qiu, because the reason Zi Qiu didn't approve of her boyfriend is that he was worried about him being a pervert and betraying Jianjian. Zi Qiu is just a protective older brother and wishes the best for her sister. Another toxic thing Ling Xiao did was confessing to Jianjian but didn't give her time to think, but kind of forced her into the relationship, and he kissed her without her consent!
Another thing is that they don't seem to consider mental illness as a serious issue in this series. Ling Xiao was severely depressed, but he never went to therapy and relied on Jianjian for his comfort. That's not a good way in the long run. I had depression for years and I know how burdensome and exhausting it is for people around me to be around me for a long while. That's not a healthy relationship. Also, it’s painful to see how Chinese people think of mental illness. It's considered something embarrassing. My Asian mom thinks so too, and she always tries to hide other people about me going to therapy. I know they care about me but it still hurts me a lot.
My biggest issue about this series is about the concept of family. What I love about this series at first is the concept of a found family. However, later the kids forgive their toxic parents after terrible things they have done for them, just because 'your mother is your mother'. I feel like it's somehow against the series' initial concept. Ling Xiao is forced to take care of the selfish biographical mother who abandoned him and never cared about her children, including Ling Xiao and her 2 sisters. I think the best ending for Ling Xiao's mother should be that both Ling Xiao and her sister cut her off.
Next is Tang Can's mother. She's also one of the worst mothers. It appears to me from the beginning to the end that she only cares about her own pride. When Tang Can was an inspiring young child actress, her mother forced her to do a lot of commercials to earn money, and such a young kid has already earned enough to buy her parents a house and a supermarket to make a living. Who loves their kid that forces her to do that? Later it was her who destroyed her daughter's acting career because of her pride. And then she became embarrassed about her daughter and not satisfied with whatever she did, no matter how hard she tried. She never noticed how exhausted her daughter was at every family gathering, but how much her daughter embarrassed her. Then in the end, Tang Can somehow still tried to please her mother, because 'it's your mother, and mother always wishes the best for their children'. In my opinion, this is not a good message for young people nowadays.
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