Good start to a drama that lost the pacing war
I had such high hopes for this drama. The first 3 three episodes were genuinely so intriguing and the cinematography was and honestly still is (they were consistent in at least that) stunning. The colouring was warm and nostalgic, the quiet closeup shots were visually pleasing and the overall scenery was actually nice!
I gotta say, this drama could've been so much more than what it ended up being. I thought I was in for an emotional ride with a genuinely captivating storyline and good pacing. Well, at least the first part was true, it was definitely emotional. Unfortunately the storyline that started so good with a sorta-enemies-definitely-strangers to lovers kind of trope set in the 2000s, which sounded like something that was right up my alley, got lost somewhere on the way as there were a ton of unnecessary fillers: the psycho classmate, a slice of family drama that didn't fully go into depth (nor did it actually get resolved?) and ten thousand side quests at university.
The characters that were actually the most memorable were Ouyang Han and Li Ming. They had good chemistry and were actually interesting characters and not as bland as the main couple.
While I appreciate that they really tried to give us a romantic 2000s gay love story, it just didn't give me the feels and was unnecessarily draggy. Also: the whole "I love you like a friend, I'm your bro" thing is OUT. Like, come on, Yu Lei, you didn't have to take THAT long to figure it out and get over yourself. I thought we finally moved on from that brotherly bond type of love. The last episode just felt like a mess, a futile effort of giving us a grand, dramatic finale while tying up all the loose strings and somehow it was anything but satisfying... *sigh* the premise was so good and the filming too, they just couldn't keep it that way.
I gotta say, this drama could've been so much more than what it ended up being. I thought I was in for an emotional ride with a genuinely captivating storyline and good pacing. Well, at least the first part was true, it was definitely emotional. Unfortunately the storyline that started so good with a sorta-enemies-definitely-strangers to lovers kind of trope set in the 2000s, which sounded like something that was right up my alley, got lost somewhere on the way as there were a ton of unnecessary fillers: the psycho classmate, a slice of family drama that didn't fully go into depth (nor did it actually get resolved?) and ten thousand side quests at university.
The characters that were actually the most memorable were Ouyang Han and Li Ming. They had good chemistry and were actually interesting characters and not as bland as the main couple.
While I appreciate that they really tried to give us a romantic 2000s gay love story, it just didn't give me the feels and was unnecessarily draggy. Also: the whole "I love you like a friend, I'm your bro" thing is OUT. Like, come on, Yu Lei, you didn't have to take THAT long to figure it out and get over yourself. I thought we finally moved on from that brotherly bond type of love. The last episode just felt like a mess, a futile effort of giving us a grand, dramatic finale while tying up all the loose strings and somehow it was anything but satisfying... *sigh* the premise was so good and the filming too, they just couldn't keep it that way.
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