This review may contain spoilers
Beautiful modern drama about friendship and finding your path in life
Remembrance of Things Past is a near-perfect show. If you like realistic modern dramas, this is a must watch.
Brief synopsis (spoilers for Ep. 1):
When Hu Jing Jing dies by suicide on her birthday, her friends and family are shocked. Jing Jing was bright, cheerful, and seemingly carefree. Why would she kill herself? Her best friends, Xiao Xi Chen and Xu Yan, and her older cousin, Ji Nan Jia, are lost without her. Jing Jing was the heart and soul of their friend group, and without her, the three women must learn new ways of supporting each other through life's challenges.
Review:
It's a beautiful show. The story is thoughtful and well-paced, giving enough time to somber and thoughtful moments without becoming slow; and tackling serious issues while maintaining an overall sense of hope and grounded optimism. It's well-directed and well-shot. The music is much less repetitive than most Chinese shows I've watched.
The acting is superb. I picked up the show because Zhou Yu Tong's acting impressed me in the past (Will Love In Spring), and she is phenomenal here. Ren Su Xi and Sun Qian are excellent too, and the cast overall performs at a very high level, with even supporting actors bringing nuance and power to their roles -- Li Cui Cui is especially memorable as Hu Jing Jing's mother.
I won't summarize the full plot, but I want to discuss a couple aspects of the story (minor spoilers ahead). The story is relatively balanced between the three main characters, although I think Xiao Xi Chen (played by Zhou Yu Tong) gets slightly more screen time than the others. All three women face challenges with work, romance, and their personal lives; but their personalities and struggles are distinct, and therefore so are the paths they take to overcome them.
Xiao Xi Chen is a marketing specialist working hard to avoid layoffs and maybe even get a promotion, who finds herself in a budding office romance. I found her character the most relatable. Her romance with Jian Yi Fan is healthy, mature, and full of moments of real support and connection. (Although he is her direct boss for much of the show, this does eventually get addressed.)
Xu Yan dreams financial success and material comfort while working an unfulfilling customer support job, and her attempts to chase the lifestyle she wants cause repeated conflict with Shen Zi Chang, her boyfriend of several years. Their relationship was the most frustrating to watch for me, although it is definitely realistic. Xu Yan is very focused on external validation and material success, and often makes poor decisions because of that. She and Zi Chang keep having arguments in which he is basically right (they really can't afford that vacation!) but every time, she pouts at him and he backs down and ends up apologizing. They feel very immature compared to the other characters, and although they do both display character growth, it really takes a while. Both characters have enough heart and charm that even when I was frustrated by them, I still liked them and wanted the best for them.
Ji Nan Jia is several years older than the others, a successful business woman who put her love life on hold to take care of her health. She eventually finds herself being pursued by Ou Yang, one of Xiao Xi Chen's coworkers, who I think is about 10 years younger than her. Their relationship ended up being one of the best age gap relationships I've ever seen portrayed in a drama. In many shows, especially when the woman is older, the age gap is mostly an issue because of how it's perceived by other people, and is basically forgettable inside the relationship. Here, Nan Jia really does seem older than Ou Yang -- she is more established in her career, and she is grounded and secure in herself in a way that most people only achieve with age. It takes a while for her to see Ou Yang as an option for a real relationship, and by the time they get there, you can really see how they complement each other and can't help but root for them.
Warnings:
Love triangle - NO active love triangle. One character's ex comes back and ask her out, she is obviously uninterested. We find out in flashbacks that at one point in time, two of the friends had a crush on the same guy, but there isn't ongoing drama from it.
Horrible moms - NO horrible moms in this show, all mothers (and fathers) are loving, supportive, not controlling. One of the moms says something unkind early on that made me worry she was going to be horrible, but it was a one-time thing.
Suicide - A character jumps to their death in the first episode, but no gore is shown. A secondary character considers suicide later but decides to live.
Sexual harassment/assault - Some scenes of one character feeling unsafe walking alone in the city at night. A plot line dealing with mild harassment in the workplace.
Alcohol/drugs - One scene where characters are pressured to drink at a business meeting, relatively mild as far as this goes in Chinese tv.
Happily ever after - The three romances don't all end in a traditional HEA, but each main character makes decisions that are right for herself and that she can feel satisfied with.
Brief synopsis (spoilers for Ep. 1):
When Hu Jing Jing dies by suicide on her birthday, her friends and family are shocked. Jing Jing was bright, cheerful, and seemingly carefree. Why would she kill herself? Her best friends, Xiao Xi Chen and Xu Yan, and her older cousin, Ji Nan Jia, are lost without her. Jing Jing was the heart and soul of their friend group, and without her, the three women must learn new ways of supporting each other through life's challenges.
Review:
It's a beautiful show. The story is thoughtful and well-paced, giving enough time to somber and thoughtful moments without becoming slow; and tackling serious issues while maintaining an overall sense of hope and grounded optimism. It's well-directed and well-shot. The music is much less repetitive than most Chinese shows I've watched.
The acting is superb. I picked up the show because Zhou Yu Tong's acting impressed me in the past (Will Love In Spring), and she is phenomenal here. Ren Su Xi and Sun Qian are excellent too, and the cast overall performs at a very high level, with even supporting actors bringing nuance and power to their roles -- Li Cui Cui is especially memorable as Hu Jing Jing's mother.
I won't summarize the full plot, but I want to discuss a couple aspects of the story (minor spoilers ahead). The story is relatively balanced between the three main characters, although I think Xiao Xi Chen (played by Zhou Yu Tong) gets slightly more screen time than the others. All three women face challenges with work, romance, and their personal lives; but their personalities and struggles are distinct, and therefore so are the paths they take to overcome them.
Xiao Xi Chen is a marketing specialist working hard to avoid layoffs and maybe even get a promotion, who finds herself in a budding office romance. I found her character the most relatable. Her romance with Jian Yi Fan is healthy, mature, and full of moments of real support and connection. (Although he is her direct boss for much of the show, this does eventually get addressed.)
Xu Yan dreams financial success and material comfort while working an unfulfilling customer support job, and her attempts to chase the lifestyle she wants cause repeated conflict with Shen Zi Chang, her boyfriend of several years. Their relationship was the most frustrating to watch for me, although it is definitely realistic. Xu Yan is very focused on external validation and material success, and often makes poor decisions because of that. She and Zi Chang keep having arguments in which he is basically right (they really can't afford that vacation!) but every time, she pouts at him and he backs down and ends up apologizing. They feel very immature compared to the other characters, and although they do both display character growth, it really takes a while. Both characters have enough heart and charm that even when I was frustrated by them, I still liked them and wanted the best for them.
Ji Nan Jia is several years older than the others, a successful business woman who put her love life on hold to take care of her health. She eventually finds herself being pursued by Ou Yang, one of Xiao Xi Chen's coworkers, who I think is about 10 years younger than her. Their relationship ended up being one of the best age gap relationships I've ever seen portrayed in a drama. In many shows, especially when the woman is older, the age gap is mostly an issue because of how it's perceived by other people, and is basically forgettable inside the relationship. Here, Nan Jia really does seem older than Ou Yang -- she is more established in her career, and she is grounded and secure in herself in a way that most people only achieve with age. It takes a while for her to see Ou Yang as an option for a real relationship, and by the time they get there, you can really see how they complement each other and can't help but root for them.
Warnings:
Love triangle - NO active love triangle. One character's ex comes back and ask her out, she is obviously uninterested. We find out in flashbacks that at one point in time, two of the friends had a crush on the same guy, but there isn't ongoing drama from it.
Horrible moms - NO horrible moms in this show, all mothers (and fathers) are loving, supportive, not controlling. One of the moms says something unkind early on that made me worry she was going to be horrible, but it was a one-time thing.
Suicide - A character jumps to their death in the first episode, but no gore is shown. A secondary character considers suicide later but decides to live.
Sexual harassment/assault - Some scenes of one character feeling unsafe walking alone in the city at night. A plot line dealing with mild harassment in the workplace.
Alcohol/drugs - One scene where characters are pressured to drink at a business meeting, relatively mild as far as this goes in Chinese tv.
Happily ever after - The three romances don't all end in a traditional HEA, but each main character makes decisions that are right for herself and that she can feel satisfied with.
Was this review helpful to you?
