This review may contain spoilers
Great to watch for the first 2 stories only.
This drama would be 10 /10 for first 2 parts and 3/10 for the last part. Hence my overall rating is 7.5. And I dropped after episode 25. Didn’t want to continue wasting time on the last part.
This drama started so well and continued to be so engaging until the second story ended. These first two parts are so well acted, with tight and fast paced plots. The first arc was beautifully narrated with some real beautiful people ie Cheng Lei, Jelly Lin as the main leads. The story was simple yet powerful in showing how unchecked corruption and wastage can ruin families and a nation. The love story was subtle yet strong. Second arc was equally strong. Although there were some annoying characters here eg the sister in law who loves to shout instead of talk like a normal person, I feel that the drama is trying to be realistic to what life was then. How early communist leaders and members got carried away with their ideals and abuse the so called intellectuals. It’s quite sad to see how low educated people was given power and they didn’t know how to handle the power and responsibilities, hence abused good people who did not have anything to do with the decadent and corrupt practices of the past. Again the love story between the leads were beautifully told. Mature love without super attractive leads. Yet I was so touched by their love. The actor is so good. The third story arc unfortunately is so boring. Again there is a character liuling who just acts like a hooligan. Boring storyline trying to show 1980s /90s China trying to open its economy. Acting was flat. I wish they had focused on a more romantic storyline to portray this era eg how people separated to pursue dreams overseas etc. instead it kept going on about factory and garment production. So bad that I dropped the drama with 5 episodes to go. No point for me to continue because I didn’t enjoy this part at all.
I still recommend this drama but just watch the first two stories.
This drama started so well and continued to be so engaging until the second story ended. These first two parts are so well acted, with tight and fast paced plots. The first arc was beautifully narrated with some real beautiful people ie Cheng Lei, Jelly Lin as the main leads. The story was simple yet powerful in showing how unchecked corruption and wastage can ruin families and a nation. The love story was subtle yet strong. Second arc was equally strong. Although there were some annoying characters here eg the sister in law who loves to shout instead of talk like a normal person, I feel that the drama is trying to be realistic to what life was then. How early communist leaders and members got carried away with their ideals and abuse the so called intellectuals. It’s quite sad to see how low educated people was given power and they didn’t know how to handle the power and responsibilities, hence abused good people who did not have anything to do with the decadent and corrupt practices of the past. Again the love story between the leads were beautifully told. Mature love without super attractive leads. Yet I was so touched by their love. The actor is so good. The third story arc unfortunately is so boring. Again there is a character liuling who just acts like a hooligan. Boring storyline trying to show 1980s /90s China trying to open its economy. Acting was flat. I wish they had focused on a more romantic storyline to portray this era eg how people separated to pursue dreams overseas etc. instead it kept going on about factory and garment production. So bad that I dropped the drama with 5 episodes to go. No point for me to continue because I didn’t enjoy this part at all.
I still recommend this drama but just watch the first two stories.
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