Sunshine meets grumpy
It was a perfect series to binge on a long journey - charmingly fun, intriguing and visually appealing with strong, lovable characters, including a finicky cat sidekick.
Set in 1930s Shanghai, the story focuses on an accomplished authoress's emotional journey from a comfortable life beside her husband, through betrayal, grief and some murders, to a comfortable life beside her photographer friend Weiwei …or, in other words, from a relationship with one unhinged person to another (slightly less) unhinged one;) Youyi is that ‘ray of sunshine’ person who radiates positivity and warmth. Nothing gets her down for long. I’ve always been drawn to people like that in my life, so I wasn't surprised Weiwei fell under her charm so quickly. Weiwei, in the classic opposites attract way, is mysterious, reserved, suspicious and constantly on the defensive. There's unmistakable chemistry between the pair and their acting was very natural, but the quality of writing and editing dragged everything down.
My main complaint about this series is that while the plot was engaging, it was way too shallow to stay in my memory for long. There was more focus on delivering cute and funny scenes of the girls, skimping on emotional depth. Too many important moments between them (like the big confession about Zhang Wan) happened off screen which felt disappointing. Instead, we got served long emotional scenes with Youyi's ex. I was completely uninterested in the one-man pity party that was Yifan. No idea what the writers wanted me to feel for this character besides annoyance. Story would've been much better if they cut him out. I don't want to nitpick or spoil anything, but believe me there was some truly lazy writing. How many car accidents can you cram into one story before it starts feeling like a bad parody?
All in all, it's a good pick-me-up series if too lightweight and predictable for my taste. In any case, I still have high hopes for season 2 if/when it happens, because it looks like the focus will switch to Weiwei’s dangerous past. Btw the series ends on a happy, domestic note. A new conflict gets introduced in the last few minutes as a preview of S2, but the story of S1 gets resolved with a happy ending.
Set in 1930s Shanghai, the story focuses on an accomplished authoress's emotional journey from a comfortable life beside her husband, through betrayal, grief and some murders, to a comfortable life beside her photographer friend Weiwei …or, in other words, from a relationship with one unhinged person to another (slightly less) unhinged one;) Youyi is that ‘ray of sunshine’ person who radiates positivity and warmth. Nothing gets her down for long. I’ve always been drawn to people like that in my life, so I wasn't surprised Weiwei fell under her charm so quickly. Weiwei, in the classic opposites attract way, is mysterious, reserved, suspicious and constantly on the defensive. There's unmistakable chemistry between the pair and their acting was very natural, but the quality of writing and editing dragged everything down.
My main complaint about this series is that while the plot was engaging, it was way too shallow to stay in my memory for long. There was more focus on delivering cute and funny scenes of the girls, skimping on emotional depth. Too many important moments between them (like the big confession about Zhang Wan) happened off screen which felt disappointing. Instead, we got served long emotional scenes with Youyi's ex. I was completely uninterested in the one-man pity party that was Yifan. No idea what the writers wanted me to feel for this character besides annoyance. Story would've been much better if they cut him out. I don't want to nitpick or spoil anything, but believe me there was some truly lazy writing. How many car accidents can you cram into one story before it starts feeling like a bad parody?
All in all, it's a good pick-me-up series if too lightweight and predictable for my taste. In any case, I still have high hopes for season 2 if/when it happens, because it looks like the focus will switch to Weiwei’s dangerous past. Btw the series ends on a happy, domestic note. A new conflict gets introduced in the last few minutes as a preview of S2, but the story of S1 gets resolved with a happy ending.
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