Frost_edelweiss

This is an interesting alternate reality drama starting with the transmigration of 30 years old Xia Xiaolan from 2026 : suddenly, after having been wronged in the company she worked in, she woke up in the 18 year old body of another Xia Xiaolan, being bullied in a village in in 1983. The story is about her tackling on hurdles to become a successful store owner and next architect, until the New Year of 1994 (around the time when the first XXL should have been born).

The drama itself is a roller-coaster of events, involving a large cast of people who all are made memorable so they are easy to recognize, when they reappear in later episodes. Among them is DU ZHAOHUI (Wang Guanyi/Lawrence Wong), son of a mob boss who, out of unrequited love for Xia Xiaolan, turns a leaf and enlists her help to build a legitimate business. And GRANNY YU (Gui Yalei) the owner of the building Xia Xiaolan and her mother first settle in the new city, a lady with a secret. Xia Xiaolan is injured by her cousin, but manages to pass the entrance examination to university brilliantly. The drama does not dwell on her time the, jumping quickly to her first business ventures in boom town SEZ « Shencheng » (Shenzhen). Her faithful friend and future husband lawyer Zhou Cheng found himself embroiled in the hunt for a murderer, linked to the « Gangdao » (Hong Kong) mob.

There are many couples that are formed, dissolved, or emerge in the drama, although none that hog too much time : they contribute organically to the thriller story.

Here is a list of the ones that contributed most to that engaging drama :
* XIA XIAOLAN (Zhou Ye) & ZHOU CHENG (Zhai Xiaowen) lawyer at Zhiyuan law firm
LIU FEN (Dong Xuan), XXL’s mother & Xia Dajun (Dong Ai) XXL’s father, divorced
LIU YONG (Zhao Da) & LI FENGMEI (Tu Ling) XXL’s mother’s brother and aunt in the village, parents of Liu Taotao (Ding Yi), XXL’ boy cousin.
Xia Changzheng (Li Xiaochuan) & Zhang Cui (Wang Yichan) XXL’s uncle and aunt in the village, parents of Xiao Hongxia (Chai Ye) food vendor and Xia Junbao (He Chen) XXL boy cousin
Xia Hong Bin (Li Bo) & Wang Jingui (Hu Xiaoting), XXL’s second uncle and aunt in the village, parents of Xia Ziyu
Chen taitai (Cui Yi) & Chen Wangda (Tan Jianchang), villagers, parents of XXLclassmate Chen Qing (Jiang Bowen)
* CHEN XILIANG (Jiang Yi) Luna founder and Theresa Li (Wang Zijia) celeb singer, 1st couple to marry in the drama
JI YA (Lan Xi) designer, founder of « Elegance » & George (Danny Ray) Ji Ya’s business partner
* LIU FEN (Dong Xuan), XXL’s mother & TANG HONG’EN (Zhang Duo) mayor of Shencheng, 2nd couple to marry in the drama
* BAI ZHENZHU (Lin Xiao) stall owner and martial artist & PAN BAOHUA (Fan Linfeng) restaurant owner, friends of XXL, 3rd couple to marry in the drama
KANG WEI (Kevin Z) Zhou Cheng’s friend & YOU LI (Jia Xiaohan) Luna salesperson and later XXL PA
XIA ZIYU (Jiang Zixin) aka WeiWei or VIVI (Zhao YuanYuan), XXL’s cousin & Du Chengrong (Hugo Ng) Gangdao mob boss
GONG YANG (Oakley Wen), painter & HOU Qi (Zeng Shuabgyi) architect at the firm – last couple to start dating end of 1993

The OST is very pleasant enhanced by a compilation of 1980s and 1990s Cantopop hits in background music (see Discussions section for more about these songs : https://kisskh.at/discussions/776939-again-my-life/149650-1983-dream-of-golden-years-ost-music)

In addition, many sequences allow audience to hear other accents and especially Cantonese, since the city that serves as backdrop was a melting pot of newcomers, both from putonghua speaking mainland but also from Hong Kong, from the Cantonese speaking part of the mainland, and even from English speaking countries (although those few foreigner actors are less convincing sometimes).

Zhai Xiaowen, who is also a pro singer, contributed one song and a duet with Zhou Ye ; we also hear them sing briefly in short moments of a couple of episodes. Zhai Xiaowen’s voice has a mellow, calming quality that contrasts with and complements Zhou Ye’s ebullient voice. His acting is engaging, although the drama does not focus much on romance : his steady and reassuring presence as Zhou Cheng who slowly realizes that Xia Xiaolan is « not from his world » and might disappear, makes the growing love between the two a natural evolution. The promise he makes to her is fulfilled in the last images, despite the 32 years gap...

This drama has become my favorite among the Zhou Ye dramas and movies that I have watched. Her acting and styling is excellent, conveying very believably the vibe of that past Reform era, when China’s new economic zones propelled the country into growing prosperity from very humble beginnings. Special kudos to the costume designers who found colorful dresses of the time, and many earrings that were in fashion then.

To me, this drama had « never a dull moment », so I warmly recommend it, to discover a thrilling side of the Reform era through the acting of an excellent cast which conveys many emotions !

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Final spoiler about ending and meaning of the drama : to be read only after having watched the final quarter of an hour in the drama, preferably) :

[I know the constraints of adapting to screen in China such novels as the one that was adapted here : the imaginary world or alternate world should not be made more desirable than the real one. So of course Xia Xiaolan needed to get back to "real 2026", but computing that she did so at the time when she was "born" and that she finally encountered again her true-love as if he too followed in the threads of alternate reality, was actually a neatly scripted ending. It does not negate the value of imagination and it is also an illustration of a modern science concept. What happened after she "left" in the alternate reality can be up to each to imagine.
If it was an alternate reality, then her body did not dissolve in sparks but only seemed to do so at the "junction moment", and lawyer Xu did not lose her as both feared: they went on living and having the twins, living in the house she designed ; but that other reality would then have split from than "junction" and have no contact with ours any longer, evolving differently. That's a soft illustration of the "reality threads" that modern science and science-fiction speculate about, regarding the fundamental nature of reality, particularly in quantum physics and cosmology.
The "real world" 2026 "modern" Xia Xiaolan, on the other hand, if she did only "dream", benefited from that contact with the perhaps imaginary, perhaps alternate reality, to get what the drama aimed at: boost confidence in oneself and be courageous to chase one's dreams, in line with guidelines for broadcast entertainment. And that was well done, not too abrupt, not leaving sourness or too much nostalgia, staying inspirational. But also adding appreciation for the real past through its possible comparison with the made more glowing alternate version of the real "historical decade", including the timeless songs that live on even today, which colored both versions of the mid 1980s to mid 1990s decade. Once the final chapter is closed,nostalgia is left behind and audience is encouraged to tackle their own future life challenges with as much confidence as they can muster in a world without "cheat cards" derived from foreseen events.]