SEMI-ENGAGING MEDIOCRITY
I understand the type of show MEET YOURSELF wants to be. And I celebrate that ambition. And I wanted the hype around the show to be true. But in almost every facet possible this production underwhelms. I can't recommend it to anyone.
As to not spoil much, what I will share is this series treats all characters as supporting characters. The FL and ML aren't really the thrust of the show. This choice makes the series feel really long... because it's almost like looking out a window and watching real life. There's no real plot.
Now, many around here seem to love this. Me? I love an ensemble show, but I need it to have some discernible direction. THE YOUTH MEMORIES is a show like this show that has a great ensemble. It's slice of life too but there's more ups and downs, twists and turns, and so many things that are not predictable.
This show seems to be developed for people who are going thru so much personal stress that they cannot handle any fictional stress as well. Like a show someone in a hospital might like to watch. I love CDramas precisely because many of this very relaxing quality that makes for calmer entertainment before bed, but is overlong series is too calming for my tastes and I'd predict most tastes.
------------- DETAILED ANALYSIS -------------
PREMISE -- Our FL lead experiences an immediate tearjerking event, which breaks her heart and sends her off to an extended vacation in a village. Once there, said event quickly fades off and we're stuck with a stranger in a strangeland situation. It only takes a few more episodes to realize this shock and awe opening was a cheap unnecessary trick to engage us into a show that goes into a completely different direction: a warm cozy sweater.
PACE -- Terribly slow. This story could have been done much better in 28 episodes instead of 40. I read people who binge this show. Of course they do: you have to watch 3 episodes to get 1 episode's worth of story. And the most maddening talking point about this is 'slow burn'. The implication is that there's small flame growing larger and warmer. Completely false. What happens is that our main story is lit like a candle... that goes out often.
DRAMATIC STAGING -- is painfully weak. SCREENWRITING 101 insists you avoid putting two characters in a room simply talking at each other, because that's 'radio' and not taking advantage of 'the moving pictures'. But over 95% of the time these characters are either talking while preparing a meal or eating the meal. That's not only crazy lazy -- but I'm dieting and the show isn't about cooking.
PLOT -- is almost non-existent. And it's not only predictable but inevitable, since this story abhors conflict and therefore doesn't offer alternative resolutions. There are countless subplots, however, and most are wordy filler. Fans wax poetic about these characters and plots -- but have these fans ever seen another CDrama? Almost every other drama I've watched has stronger characters and subplots. THE YOUTH MEMORIES is a great example of being on the edge of your seat with almost every character in the story. MEET YOURSELF? As the story repeatedly suggests, it's two grannies taking an afternoon nap.
LI XIAN -- our ML is... okay... but I didn't love him. Yes ladies, I'll grant he's cute and sweet. In the first half of the show I felt he was over-using his squint, tilt the head, and laugh thing. I sensed he wasn't much of an actor. As the series progressed, though, his charm won me over. I really didn't like his costuming sometimes. (You know that blue denim-ish shirt he had, made of different denim panels? Yuck. And he'd often wear this white teeshirt that made him look like someone named Skippy.) Often I wondered if this show would have worked better if he had been the lead.
SUPPORTING CHARACTERS -- There are waaaay too many. Less is more.
Remember the lady that had a heart attack at the end and wound up in a hospital. My wife and I spent minutes trying to figure out who she was. Why? Because she wasn't a major character.
Many of these supporting characters just don't feel real. I'm not asking for sex, drugs and rock and roll, mind you. I love stories about kind and nice people, but you need darker characters to contrast against the nice ones.
That said, there's cuteness everywhere. I loved Aunt A Gui because she was identical to an Irish Aunt I have, which is strange but true. Annabel Yao stole every scene she was in -- and the producers wisely kept her comic relief lovelorn struggles to a minimum. My heart absolutely went PITTER PATTER every time I saw Ma Meng Wei, the struggling writer. It's hard to believe she only has supporting roles in her future projects. Wake up, Producers -- she's cute as hell.
One character I had a little trouble with was Shen Xiao Mei (Hao Wen Ting). She is our ML's business partner. She was smart, pretty, pragmatic, an excellent business partner -- and even looked like our ML. The story failed to notice they should have been interested in each other, because why not.
Another eye-candy character to note was the handsome young actor playing 'Woodworker Boy'. (I can't find him on MDL.) It's rare to find such a handsome actor (or actress) that convinces you they are not aware of their attractiveness. So many CDramas are loaded with pretty boys pretending they're not and this actor pulls it off, which is funny because netizens swarm him and say how cute he is and he completely pulled off how unaware of this he was... and embarrassed.
(By the way, in later scenes -- we watch him carve wood. He smashes his palm against a tool that chips the wood. OUCH. I winced every time he did it, because within two weeks anyone would be crippled doing that.)
CRYSTAL LIU -- is spectacular in A TALE OF ROSE. If you'd like to see her act, watch that. MEET YOURSELF was a career waiting room, where she smiled pretty in pretty clothes and did next to nothing else. The show didn't need her as the lead. I'd have cast the young lady that plays the 'struggling writer' instead. Oh, yes, speaking of that --
NAVAL GAZING -- or what I like to call WRITER'S WRITING ABOUT WRITING. Bad writers have a terrible habit of writing about 'the terrible struggles of writing'. Who... umm... cares? What's really going on here is the writer of MEET is insecure about their script, and so they insert themselves into the story to say 'how hard writing is' and then characters swarm that character and say 'but you're so good'. It's sickening. And this story did it two more times, with a songwriter and a vocalist.
THE SCENERY -- Most fans LOVE THE SCENIC SHOTS and such. Do I need to see an eye doctor or is over 94% of this series shot in a cafe set and that 'homestay' set? And when it does go outside here and there, the photography is ordinary. Uninspired. Some of it looks like file footage too. See TO THE WONDER and learn what real cinematography is.
I should say the sets were gorgeous! (Unrealistically so, but still eye candy.)
MUSIC -- Oddly the shows strength, even though there's miscalculation even here. This show loves playing the same six songs over and over, so that sequence after sequence is a montage. It's filler for a story that's barely there. And my favorite song, SADDLE OF MY HEART -- was translated poorly into English. It's so indicative of a show that means well but keeps misfiring. Like the opening sequence which is all 'sitcom' bouncy but the show isn't. 'Wind' should have been the ending song.
SO IF IT WAS SO BAD -- why did I watch it all the way through?
1. This is my 3rd Crystal show, and her quality acting, unique beauty, and lovely outfits do not disappoint.
2. I love a show attempting to stage a community based on kindness.
3. At the halfway point I wanted to walk, but I was interested on how it would end.
As to not spoil much, what I will share is this series treats all characters as supporting characters. The FL and ML aren't really the thrust of the show. This choice makes the series feel really long... because it's almost like looking out a window and watching real life. There's no real plot.
Now, many around here seem to love this. Me? I love an ensemble show, but I need it to have some discernible direction. THE YOUTH MEMORIES is a show like this show that has a great ensemble. It's slice of life too but there's more ups and downs, twists and turns, and so many things that are not predictable.
This show seems to be developed for people who are going thru so much personal stress that they cannot handle any fictional stress as well. Like a show someone in a hospital might like to watch. I love CDramas precisely because many of this very relaxing quality that makes for calmer entertainment before bed, but is overlong series is too calming for my tastes and I'd predict most tastes.
------------- DETAILED ANALYSIS -------------
PREMISE -- Our FL lead experiences an immediate tearjerking event, which breaks her heart and sends her off to an extended vacation in a village. Once there, said event quickly fades off and we're stuck with a stranger in a strangeland situation. It only takes a few more episodes to realize this shock and awe opening was a cheap unnecessary trick to engage us into a show that goes into a completely different direction: a warm cozy sweater.
PACE -- Terribly slow. This story could have been done much better in 28 episodes instead of 40. I read people who binge this show. Of course they do: you have to watch 3 episodes to get 1 episode's worth of story. And the most maddening talking point about this is 'slow burn'. The implication is that there's small flame growing larger and warmer. Completely false. What happens is that our main story is lit like a candle... that goes out often.
DRAMATIC STAGING -- is painfully weak. SCREENWRITING 101 insists you avoid putting two characters in a room simply talking at each other, because that's 'radio' and not taking advantage of 'the moving pictures'. But over 95% of the time these characters are either talking while preparing a meal or eating the meal. That's not only crazy lazy -- but I'm dieting and the show isn't about cooking.
PLOT -- is almost non-existent. And it's not only predictable but inevitable, since this story abhors conflict and therefore doesn't offer alternative resolutions. There are countless subplots, however, and most are wordy filler. Fans wax poetic about these characters and plots -- but have these fans ever seen another CDrama? Almost every other drama I've watched has stronger characters and subplots. THE YOUTH MEMORIES is a great example of being on the edge of your seat with almost every character in the story. MEET YOURSELF? As the story repeatedly suggests, it's two grannies taking an afternoon nap.
LI XIAN -- our ML is... okay... but I didn't love him. Yes ladies, I'll grant he's cute and sweet. In the first half of the show I felt he was over-using his squint, tilt the head, and laugh thing. I sensed he wasn't much of an actor. As the series progressed, though, his charm won me over. I really didn't like his costuming sometimes. (You know that blue denim-ish shirt he had, made of different denim panels? Yuck. And he'd often wear this white teeshirt that made him look like someone named Skippy.) Often I wondered if this show would have worked better if he had been the lead.
SUPPORTING CHARACTERS -- There are waaaay too many. Less is more.
Remember the lady that had a heart attack at the end and wound up in a hospital. My wife and I spent minutes trying to figure out who she was. Why? Because she wasn't a major character.
Many of these supporting characters just don't feel real. I'm not asking for sex, drugs and rock and roll, mind you. I love stories about kind and nice people, but you need darker characters to contrast against the nice ones.
That said, there's cuteness everywhere. I loved Aunt A Gui because she was identical to an Irish Aunt I have, which is strange but true. Annabel Yao stole every scene she was in -- and the producers wisely kept her comic relief lovelorn struggles to a minimum. My heart absolutely went PITTER PATTER every time I saw Ma Meng Wei, the struggling writer. It's hard to believe she only has supporting roles in her future projects. Wake up, Producers -- she's cute as hell.
One character I had a little trouble with was Shen Xiao Mei (Hao Wen Ting). She is our ML's business partner. She was smart, pretty, pragmatic, an excellent business partner -- and even looked like our ML. The story failed to notice they should have been interested in each other, because why not.
Another eye-candy character to note was the handsome young actor playing 'Woodworker Boy'. (I can't find him on MDL.) It's rare to find such a handsome actor (or actress) that convinces you they are not aware of their attractiveness. So many CDramas are loaded with pretty boys pretending they're not and this actor pulls it off, which is funny because netizens swarm him and say how cute he is and he completely pulled off how unaware of this he was... and embarrassed.
(By the way, in later scenes -- we watch him carve wood. He smashes his palm against a tool that chips the wood. OUCH. I winced every time he did it, because within two weeks anyone would be crippled doing that.)
CRYSTAL LIU -- is spectacular in A TALE OF ROSE. If you'd like to see her act, watch that. MEET YOURSELF was a career waiting room, where she smiled pretty in pretty clothes and did next to nothing else. The show didn't need her as the lead. I'd have cast the young lady that plays the 'struggling writer' instead. Oh, yes, speaking of that --
NAVAL GAZING -- or what I like to call WRITER'S WRITING ABOUT WRITING. Bad writers have a terrible habit of writing about 'the terrible struggles of writing'. Who... umm... cares? What's really going on here is the writer of MEET is insecure about their script, and so they insert themselves into the story to say 'how hard writing is' and then characters swarm that character and say 'but you're so good'. It's sickening. And this story did it two more times, with a songwriter and a vocalist.
THE SCENERY -- Most fans LOVE THE SCENIC SHOTS and such. Do I need to see an eye doctor or is over 94% of this series shot in a cafe set and that 'homestay' set? And when it does go outside here and there, the photography is ordinary. Uninspired. Some of it looks like file footage too. See TO THE WONDER and learn what real cinematography is.
I should say the sets were gorgeous! (Unrealistically so, but still eye candy.)
MUSIC -- Oddly the shows strength, even though there's miscalculation even here. This show loves playing the same six songs over and over, so that sequence after sequence is a montage. It's filler for a story that's barely there. And my favorite song, SADDLE OF MY HEART -- was translated poorly into English. It's so indicative of a show that means well but keeps misfiring. Like the opening sequence which is all 'sitcom' bouncy but the show isn't. 'Wind' should have been the ending song.
SO IF IT WAS SO BAD -- why did I watch it all the way through?
1. This is my 3rd Crystal show, and her quality acting, unique beauty, and lovely outfits do not disappoint.
2. I love a show attempting to stage a community based on kindness.
3. At the halfway point I wanted to walk, but I was interested on how it would end.
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