The Value of an Individual's Life
Before going into this, I hadn't known that the screenwriter was the same one for An Ancient Love Song , the 10/10 14-episode stunner I watched sometime back. No wonder the plot is just as tightly woven, the layers just as complex.The story begins with a man in his 40s, 赵左右 (Zhao Zuoyou), who is in a rut. He is struggling to make his mortgage payments and his marriage is in shambles. He blames it all on the moment in high school when he chose to go into science/tech rather than the arts, because in 2033, no one cares about tech anymore. There is instead a nostalgic return to a non digital time.
Zhao decides to travel back in time (utilising a for-profit service) to his younger self to dissuade him from making what he perceives to have been the wrong choice. He takes on the persona of a student, 旬未来 (lit. looking for the future) to meet his younger self in school.
Shortly after his entry into 2008, however, he meets a mysterious 60+ year old man, 赵了 (a hilarious name, as 了 means finished or completed)... who turns out be himself from 2058. 赵爷爷's objective is to stymie his efforts.
The acting in this show was stellar and the story riveting. Besides the central question of whether the two older 赵s would succeed in thwarting fate, there were secondary characters who were as vibrantly portrayed, including the two good male friends, the future wife, and a quasi romantic interest who is a tightly wound type A overachiever. The parents were also lovely, especially the mom, who carried her own hopes and dreams from her youth. There were light-hearted moments that made me cringe and laugh, and moving moments that made me feel all choked up.
Watching this show made me feel compassionate towards my younger self, and made me wonder how much of my life I would want to change at the age of 65 or 70. The show portrayed the prickly and tender dynamics between the 3 men at different stages of their life so well.
Many thanks to the YouTube reviewers 麦驼 and AvenueX who led me to this underrated gem. One of my favourites of 2026 alongside 12 Letters.
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An Intoxicating Story Brought to Life by Stellar Acting
This was the first Chinese drama I watched after my childhood days. It was during the Covid-19 pandemic (2021), I was on a long course that was held mostly online, and I wanted to improve my Chinese. I clicked idly into Netflix and found this show. The ratings looked good and so I started...Little did I know that TRoP would open the door into the fascinating world of Cdrama for me, for the next four years (and counting). I have watched over 55 other Cdrama since then, and TRoP still remains among the top tier for me. I didn't know when watching TRoP that:
1) Chen Kun and Ni Ni are truly special. Most actors just aren't in their league.
2) When it comes to period drama, voice-dubbing is actually more common than actors using their own voices.
3) More often than not, CGI (absent here) is used to create special effects or even provide poetic landscape backgrounds.
4) Chinese language, even in period dramas, is usually not *this* difficult to understand (this was the primary grouse of the mainland Chinese audience).
5) Not all shows are so immersive right from the start -- many Chinese dramas take several episodes to warm up.
TRoP had a huge budget and it showed in the beauty and opulence of the sets and costumes. Everything was a feast for the eyes. The actors' natural voices conveyed every emotion with precision, and it helped that almost all of them were great -- besides the ML/FL, Ni Dahong (playing the emperor) and Zhao Lixin (playing Xin Ziyan) were standouts. I loved the music, and even listening to snippets nowadays can transport me back to the pain and melancholy of the story immediately.
The story is not difficult to understand. Ning Yi (played by Chen Kun) is the Sixth Prince who had fallen out of favour with his father the Emperor at the beginning of the show, but who started plotting and manipulating his way back into power over the course of the many episodes that followed. When he crosses paths with the highly intelligent Feng Zhiwei (played by Ni Ni), he is intrigued by her and sees her strategic value. Gradually, Zhiwei becomes embroiled in the power struggle between the princes and subsequently, even the political affairs between states.
There are many light-hearted moments and witty banter that alleviate this densely political atmosphere. Comic relief is also provided by the trusty advisor Xin Ziyan, right-hand man to Ning Yi, and his bodyguard Ning Cheng. Zhiwei has a family history/ tragedy, however, that casts an ominous shadow over much of the narrative, creating layer upon layer that leaves the audience unable to fully relax.
The stars of the show are undoubtedly Chen Kun and Ni Ni, who make sparks fly whenever they appear in the same frame. These two seasoned actors do not need physical touch or even words to convey love or longing. Their total commitment to each other appears in the catch of Zhiwei's voice and the way her eyes fill with tears when she calls Ning Yi Zhong Kui; in the way Ning Yi gazes up at Zhiwei -- caressing, tentative, and taking charge all at once -- when he offers to do the impossible during a particularly difficult stage of the story.
Chen Kun and Ni Ni made Ning Yi and Zhiwei unforgettable. Watching them was just as good as watching two actors on stage in the flesh. Even when the story was a little hard to get behind, the audience's investment and faith in them remained unshakeable.
This show left me with a huge hangover that took me a long, long time to recover from.
PS: This show is no longer on Netflix Singapore but is available on YouTube.
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