came for esther, stayed for he yu
this is such a surprising and unexpected find at the tail end of this year. speed and love really broke expectations for me. i've been a fan of esther since she starred in "love between fairy and devil" and i've been in a drama slump lately so i thought to give this a try. to say that i was hooked on the first episode is an understatement. the only other drama i've chased this hard was "a dream within a dream" that aired earlier this year.i am such a big fan of this cast and i know esther typically gets a lot of hate for her cutesy voice and personality, but i feel like her contributions fit this drama perfectly. we can see her mature throughout the episodes and time skips without feeling like something in her vital personality is missing. she portrays the role of mumu flawlessly. the ray of sunshine she brings into zhaozhao's life can't be missed.
i can't say that i've seen any of he yu's other productions, but i definitely will start now. he did not disappoint in his performance at all and we, as the audience, is able to watch zhaozhao slowly mature alongside mumu (not to mention my tiktok feed is now full of edits of him). apparently he filmed all the racing scenes without a stunt double as well!
the storyline isn't perfect, nor is the editing, and i've heard that many scenes did not pass the censorship in china and ended up cut in the final production, but this story is perfect to turn off your brain and just enjoy. i love this storyline of childhood friends turned lovers and seeing zhaozhao and mumu navigate their relationship throughout the years is super satisfying. this was such a refreshing and surprisingly great drama to tune into and i genuinely enjoyed every episode!
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