dangitzme

I was all hyped about this drama even before it started airing because of two reasons, one being their height difference and second being a post on twitter saying how the ML begs for the FL to come back. I thought, "oh! a cute rom-com." Boy, was i wrong.

ZHOU WAN : I love this girl immensely. She's the embodiment of someone who suffers silently with a smile on their face. One thing that became very apparent to me by the time i finished watching episode three, is that she's very hard to read. As for me as an audience i couldn't really anticipate or figure out what she was going to do. And, it became even more evident in that one episode where Zhou Wan lost to Lu Xixiao and he told her to beg him if she wants to make it to the team. And, i'm sitting there thinking what she's going to do? Is she really gonna beg him? And, then BOOM that power move master card she pulled made me instantly fall for her. And, i'm really emphasizing on her being very hard to read because during the first episode we see her shyly smiling when Lu Xixiao is running around, naturally i thought that she liked him but the next moment she treats him so coldly and rejects him so quickly that i started questioning myself if i was wrong about her. Still, i kept a firm albeit fleeting belief that she liked him first though that belief grew precarious with each episode. But, then the last episode hits my screen as hard as it hits my heart. And, that's when i further cement my view that Zhou Wan was truly an unreadable protagonist. I couldn't figure her out even though i'm watching everything from her point of view.

I've seen a lot of people misunderstand her character and it truly pains me. This is just an eighteen year old girl, A CHILD that is bearing the burden all alone on her tiny shoulders. She saw her father getting trampled and beaten, the factory being destroyed and eventually saw him passing away at such an tender age. She didn't even properly come to terms with his death, when her mother abandons her. She takes this abandonment to heart blaming herself, that she might've done something to make her mother leave. Then, just at fifteen she gets to know that the only person who loved and care for her might die. How can you expect her to make mature decisions when she has no one to turn to or guide her through the big shambles of her life. One might question, that she shouldn't have used Lu Xixiao like that—she wouldn't have if she didn't see her mother repeatedly ignore her calls after she swallowed her pride to contact her after years. What choice did she have? And, even then, she repeatedly asks others if she's a bad person or that she has become a bad person because inside the guilt was gnawing her.

I look at her character and see a woman who had to sacrifice her childhood in order to grow up quickly to take care of the person who mattered to her the most. That particular scene after grandma dies, she's facing the ocean and then she turns back with a smile was very powerful because in that moment Zhou Wan reveals what kind of person she is—someone who'd repeatedly assure others that she is fine with a smile on her face so as to not burden them with her worries. And, it saddened me to see how an eighteen year old girl has gone through so much that she has internalised this firm belife system that being vulnerable or being honest with one's feeling is wrong. Which is why, i was so glad to see her having a mental breakdown at the hospital because she needed that.
"I'm only eighteen." Yes, inject that poisonous pain in my veins again.

Realistically, she has been through a lot. I don't want to repeat everything again but with her father and grandmother dying, her mother abandoning her, getting hit by the truth that her father could've lived for few more months, having to go against her morals to use and hurt the boy she loved the most and then watching that said boy nearly die because of you!! I have no idea how she remained sane for so many years which is where my theory comes that if it weren't for the revenge she was planning and the sheer will of destroying everything that Lu Xixiao's father had built for himself, Zhou Wan would’ve truly gone maniacal. That one montage where she was casually aura farming under the rain while glaring at him is etched it my memory forever. Zhou Wan's mother was cunning and a very shrewd lady albeit being one of the most gorgeous woman on earth and truly they'd made an undefeated pair if her mother's head were in the right place. Instead, Zhou Wan was clever, manipulative, observant with a hint of cunning nature. 2016 Zhou Wan was cute but 2026 Zhou Wan was so cool and so, so, gorgeous. I get why Lu Xixiao couldn't move on even after 10 years because i wouldn't too.

LU XIXIAO: My boy only wanted love and that was his tragedy. Lu Xixiao is introduced to us as a carefree guy with an air of arrogance around him. He portrays himself as a nonchalant bad boy but in reality he can't stay one second without being chalant. He's has big heart inside his chest that thumps and bleeds rapidly for people he considers dear to him. It grieves me that no one actually cares for him in his family expect for his aunt and his nanny. His father is a piece of absolute shit who locks him up in his room and controls his phone stopping any form of communication time to time whenever he needs him to behave. His grandfather never truly cared for him but only wanted him because of the LU name, like you're telling me your grandson ran away and the only person visited him was his aunt. Then, there was Zhou Wan's mother who feigned that she cared for him but only wanted him to get away from the family so she could peacefully marry his fatger without any protest.

When his phobia of heights was intriduced, i thought it was comical and kind of quirky because you're telling me a guy who's close to 190 cm is actually scared of heights. But, as we progressed and the answer slowly revealed itself that's when it hit me how much of trauma this boy must've been carrying after seeing his mother jump right infront of him and not being able to do anything about it. He must've beaten himself up for it. Her suicide to him felt like an abandonment. The only person whom he thought loved him and was truly by his side was suddenly jumping off right infront of him with a tear streaked eyes. He must've resented her for it especially since he was a child and couldn't really formulate what led to that fateful moment and yet, he loved her in his own way. Although, he felt his mother left him, he couldn't bring himself to leave her which is why he grasped at every little thing his mother left behind starting from the big house to the paintings. He picked up the paint brush and stroked the canvas with colours in the same way his mother had trying to get a closure, trying to find her remnants.

So, it was especially endearing to see this boy risking it all to save a random girl who was trying to kill herself like his mother. Even though he was so, so, scared he couldn't just stand by and watch and i think it was one of those moments when Lu Xixiao shone bright as a character, so contrary to the notion of him being introduced as a typical bad boy trouble maker. He was much more than that, far more beyond than what is present at the surface level. He was trembling yet he still reached out without knowing if she'd ever grasp it or not.

Lu Xixiao as a character wears his heart on his sleeves. He is just so honest and that it actually hurts seeing him go through whatever he went through in the show because at the end of the day he was also a child. The confusion he must've been going through after witnessing Zhou Wan's hot and cold behavior. He suffered so much and was truly being used as a pawn by everyone around him. When Zhou Wan came to his life, he thought he finally found someone who understood him and was willing to stay by his side only to get betrayed. Many people disliked him for going on a few dates with Li Na but i actually liked it that they added it to his character. He was boy who was going through the worst period in his life. He took a knife for the girl he loved without hesitation and she left him behind. He made that choice of dating her out of pure anger. As a woman, i hated how he used Li Na who had genuine feelings for him but as a audience i understanding why he did it. 2016 Lu Xixiao was reckless and would pick a fight but 2026 Lu Xixiao was rational and this character development was noticeable during that one scene when Zhou Wan recounted her near sexual assault. Like any other typical ML i expected him to be angry and bang on something then go beat up the guy but he was extremely calm and logically dealt with the matter, first by telling her to take the day off and then exposing that said person. I liked this development a lot.

CHEMISTRY: i believe that there are three kind of chemistry—𝘰𝘯𝘦>when there is no chemistry between the actors but they're forcing it on us to think that they have, 𝘵𝘸𝘰> when there is a lot of chemistry between the characters and the actors but you could feel that they're acting at certain junctions, 𝘵𝘩𝘳𝘦𝘦>when the chemistry is so good that you feel like an invisible omnipresent entity watching two people fall in love. The chemistry between Zhou Wan and Lu Xixiao or Baobao and Zhou Keyu falls into the third category. It was effortless and natural that it didn't even feel like they're acting.

2016 WanXioa were new to the feeling, hesitantly trespassing each other's emotional threshold yet they're so strong and understood each other so well that it didn't feel like they've known each other only over the summer. Lu Xixiao jumped from the terrace despite his fear if heights only for her and Zhou Wan after waking up in the hospital, the first thing she assured him is that she didn't try to kill herself knowing how much his mother's death has cost. They're so sweet together even though there was always a hint of bittersweetness around their relationship. The parallel image of them blowing the dandelion and him removing his hair from her palm that was very profound in my opinion.

Lu Xixiao knew that Zhou Wan loved him even though she left him, afterall which girlfriend would hide a keep safe where she wrote prayers for him to have a peaceful and happy life that was the last thing given to her by her late grandmother—which is why he was so adamant in making her say that she loved and when she didn't, in that moment he resented her.

2026 Lu Xixiao is such a loser in love because what do you mean "Zhou Wan, don't let me see your face again or else i'll make you beg and cry for me." he says and then begs and cries for her two days later. Literally, falling down from the sofa while clinging and begging her not to leave. And, the way i laughed when he nonchalantly slinged his jacket over his shoulder and strided to HER HOUSE to repeat the exact same words like a messenger pigeon during a war. Brother that's her house, you'd definitely see her there. And, what makes this scene even more comical is that he completely ignores Jiang Yan out of pure jealousy but the first thing he says, "Is that not a lot of food. Are you sure you can finish it?" Were you expecting to get invited for dinner A'xiao. Not a single rigid nonchalant bone in his body stand stalls the moment Zhou Wan appears, he becomes like child in need of her constant attention and coaxing.

Jokes apart, but the damage episode 20 did to my psyche is unrepairable. I love my girl Zhou Wan. I'm ready to take a bullet for her but girl you're supposed to only traumatise your husband not us innocent bystanders. Someone said people usually plays hide and seek for a while but Lu Xixiao has been playing it for years, 10 YEARS. And, then that schizophrenic episode of him hallucinating her and dancing with actually no one completely broke me. I heart was hearting so bad that i had to stop and take a long break before i could continue watching it. 2016 WanXioa had chemistry but 2026 WanXiao was full of sexual tension. That one episode where he wanted to paint her had so much heat that it was practically radiating off my screen. I felt like i shouldn't watch because the scenes were so intimate. And, just when i thought that they couldn't get any hotter BOOM episode 26 dropped. The confession, the slow reasoning and the intimate kisses were top notch. I've never felt so my butterflies explode in my stomach before. The way this scene was so viral that you couldn't escape it even if you tried to. And, whoever decided to put Baobao in that backless dress needs their hands to kissed because it made the scene even more hotter.

Lu Xixiao was such a freak. He never let my girl rest like on the bed, on the sofa, on the table, while showering and then ON THE CHAIRS?? Brother, consider the size difference between the two. I just wish that the last interview was shot on a Saturday because after knowing that girl he loved and yearned for ten years had secretly loved him for thirteen years, i don't think Lu Xixiao is letting her slip out of the bed.

This is once in a lifetime chemistry and shouldn't be wasted on single project, give me fifteen more of them right now.

I love, love, love Never Ending Summer. I've never felt so empty after watching a show. I couldn't move past them for more than a month. Everything about them was holding me down from their cinematography to the music.

Sunburn by Brian Cheng, you deserve a grammy.