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This review may contain spoilers
He Was Too Proud. She Was Too Humble
Finally finished all 24 episodes of The Early Spring, and honestly, I really enjoyed this drama. Was it perfect? No. Did the writing frustrate me sometimes? Absolutely. 😂 But I think that is also why I liked it.
The drama literally begins every episode with: “You don't have to be perfect to be deserving of love.” And somehow people still watched it and decided Shang Zhitao is a “red flag” while Luan Nian is a “green flag.” 😭
I really hate reducing complicated characters to red flag/green flag. People have good qualities AND bad qualities. That's called being human.
Shang Zhitao came to Beijing as a fresh 22-year-old graduate from Harbin, trying to build a career in a huge city. From the beginning, Luan Nian repeatedly made her feel like she wasn't good enough—questioning her abilities, telling her she should leave, calling her stupid and talking down to her. People call him blunt, but there's a difference between being blunt and being downright rude.
So yes, of course she was insecure. And that insecurity explains a lot of her actions. When she was sexually harassed, people asked why she didn't immediately tell him. She was in shock, and she already had this habit of believing her problems weren't important enough to burden him with. She should have told him eventually, especially as her boyfriend, but I understand why she didn't.
Their biggest problem was never lack of love. It was lack of communication and trust. She kept things inside; he made assumptions. He was too proud to talk; she was too insecure to demand answers.
And Luan Nian's insults don't magically disappear because he's sweet to her later. Those things accumulate over six years. They're little cuts, and eventually they become a wound.
The relationship becoming public eventually proved exactly why Shang Zhitao was afraid. It affected her career, while Luan Nian was already established and powerful. She wasn't asking him for special treatment—she simply wanted to know beforehand that the position she had worked so hard for wasn't happening. He didn't tell her.
And that car conversation? Absolutely infuriating. Whatever Shang Zhitao did wrong, he had NO right to humiliate her and speak to her like that. I don't care how angry you are. You don't talk to your girlfriend that way.
I've also read the novel, and the adaptation changed their timeline considerably. Many events happened while they were still in a situationship in the novel, so the same reactions have a different context. I wish the adaptation had handled that better.
Still, I loved their chemistry, their growth, Tibet, and especially the ending. Shang Zhitao finally learned her worth, while Luan Nian finally had to let go of his pride.
That second quote sums them up perfectly: “I loved him. He also loved me. But he was too arrogant back then, and I was too humble.”
They loved each other. They just didn't know how to love each other properly.
Not perfect, sometimes frustrating, but complicated and human. And honestly, I'll take that over perfect any day
The drama literally begins every episode with: “You don't have to be perfect to be deserving of love.” And somehow people still watched it and decided Shang Zhitao is a “red flag” while Luan Nian is a “green flag.” 😭
I really hate reducing complicated characters to red flag/green flag. People have good qualities AND bad qualities. That's called being human.
Shang Zhitao came to Beijing as a fresh 22-year-old graduate from Harbin, trying to build a career in a huge city. From the beginning, Luan Nian repeatedly made her feel like she wasn't good enough—questioning her abilities, telling her she should leave, calling her stupid and talking down to her. People call him blunt, but there's a difference between being blunt and being downright rude.
So yes, of course she was insecure. And that insecurity explains a lot of her actions. When she was sexually harassed, people asked why she didn't immediately tell him. She was in shock, and she already had this habit of believing her problems weren't important enough to burden him with. She should have told him eventually, especially as her boyfriend, but I understand why she didn't.
Their biggest problem was never lack of love. It was lack of communication and trust. She kept things inside; he made assumptions. He was too proud to talk; she was too insecure to demand answers.
And Luan Nian's insults don't magically disappear because he's sweet to her later. Those things accumulate over six years. They're little cuts, and eventually they become a wound.
The relationship becoming public eventually proved exactly why Shang Zhitao was afraid. It affected her career, while Luan Nian was already established and powerful. She wasn't asking him for special treatment—she simply wanted to know beforehand that the position she had worked so hard for wasn't happening. He didn't tell her.
And that car conversation? Absolutely infuriating. Whatever Shang Zhitao did wrong, he had NO right to humiliate her and speak to her like that. I don't care how angry you are. You don't talk to your girlfriend that way.
I've also read the novel, and the adaptation changed their timeline considerably. Many events happened while they were still in a situationship in the novel, so the same reactions have a different context. I wish the adaptation had handled that better.
Still, I loved their chemistry, their growth, Tibet, and especially the ending. Shang Zhitao finally learned her worth, while Luan Nian finally had to let go of his pride.
That second quote sums them up perfectly: “I loved him. He also loved me. But he was too arrogant back then, and I was too humble.”
They loved each other. They just didn't know how to love each other properly.
Not perfect, sometimes frustrating, but complicated and human. And honestly, I'll take that over perfect any day
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