This review may contain spoilers
In short, the vibe kind of feels similar to Offline Love?
Ten young professionals get a five day vacation at Hainan, at a beach side hotel with a tropical climate. Then, we get a second half where they can choose to meet each other to date one on one. The visuals of the participants are pleasant and realistic - you can see their head shots on the cast page. From my view, they are calm, rational, and polite people who still hold onto some hopes and ideals. Just at the stage between the edge of youth and maturity. They mostly were filmed being themselves. This created a pleasant, positive vibe where you enjoy the feeling of people meeting new friends and getting to know each other, so if you like lighter shows mostly centered around real conversations and contemplative moments, you might enjoy this.
The ladies have stronger personalities and it's really wholesome that they get along so quickly. They felt like long-time college roommates having a small reunion. While the guys also got along okay, the show is carried by the ladies having fun together and taking time to confide in each other, with so many shots of them talking with each other, laughing with each other, and having fun. The shots of the guys are almost all them alone or off to the side, hovering but not directly interacting with the group of girls - although I can imagine college self at a party or bar trying to find an "in" to chat with a girl when they're in a group - nearly impossible if I were in their shoes. Luckily, they got to get some alone time and interactions through the dates on the show.
Even then, the production of the show gets the group off to a slow start. The show's accommodations have them all staying on a single hotel floor. They don't have the normal co-habitation of other shows in this sense. The cast often chose spend time in their rooms, sometimes together but often alone. They were only forced to meet at the hotel dining area on another floor, which had a long table that often separated the guys and ladies due to their comfort. Guys had to either send letters, take the initiative to knock on multiple doors to invite ladies private late conversations, and the guys felt much more shy than the ladies, despite the ladies also being introverted. So, half of the shots in some episodes end up being people alone in their room contemplating life, rather than group interactions. Eventually, people do get to know each other better, but it's a slow burn show.
The style of the production is hands-off, aside from offering date options and having daily cast interviews, there's no panel and no feeling of heavy handed producers directing storylines behind the scenes. Music choices and sound effects were all pleasant, indie-pop or pop covers in a soft style. The filming angles were from long-distance and were focused on being non-intrusive, though I can imagine some lighting crews working really hard behind the scenes. Unlike some shows, there weren't strict rules about how they could communicate, like not being able to tell each other ages or jobs until a certain day. So they all knew basic facts about each other and were free to pursue or not pursue anyone, they were only forced to choose a date activity and preferred partner, and they could also choose not to go on the date. I think the dates ended up being less important than their communication attempts at night to get to know each other.
In all, the casting and production choices led to a quiet, cozy show with many shots of just everyday activities, only sometimes accompanied by what the editors could get from the interviews about how they were feeling and those little editor text overlay comments. In the finale, my feeling was that of quietly rooting for these people to find happiness.
Note, I watched this on the HunanTV youtube channel, which that at the time of my review, episodes 4, 5, 6 and 10, the final main episode lacked English subtitles, and there's some errors in episodes 1-2. My Mandarin isn't great so it's possible for me to have missed some interesting tidbits.
The ladies have stronger personalities and it's really wholesome that they get along so quickly. They felt like long-time college roommates having a small reunion. While the guys also got along okay, the show is carried by the ladies having fun together and taking time to confide in each other, with so many shots of them talking with each other, laughing with each other, and having fun. The shots of the guys are almost all them alone or off to the side, hovering but not directly interacting with the group of girls - although I can imagine college self at a party or bar trying to find an "in" to chat with a girl when they're in a group - nearly impossible if I were in their shoes. Luckily, they got to get some alone time and interactions through the dates on the show.
Even then, the production of the show gets the group off to a slow start. The show's accommodations have them all staying on a single hotel floor. They don't have the normal co-habitation of other shows in this sense. The cast often chose spend time in their rooms, sometimes together but often alone. They were only forced to meet at the hotel dining area on another floor, which had a long table that often separated the guys and ladies due to their comfort. Guys had to either send letters, take the initiative to knock on multiple doors to invite ladies private late conversations, and the guys felt much more shy than the ladies, despite the ladies also being introverted. So, half of the shots in some episodes end up being people alone in their room contemplating life, rather than group interactions. Eventually, people do get to know each other better, but it's a slow burn show.
The style of the production is hands-off, aside from offering date options and having daily cast interviews, there's no panel and no feeling of heavy handed producers directing storylines behind the scenes. Music choices and sound effects were all pleasant, indie-pop or pop covers in a soft style. The filming angles were from long-distance and were focused on being non-intrusive, though I can imagine some lighting crews working really hard behind the scenes. Unlike some shows, there weren't strict rules about how they could communicate, like not being able to tell each other ages or jobs until a certain day. So they all knew basic facts about each other and were free to pursue or not pursue anyone, they were only forced to choose a date activity and preferred partner, and they could also choose not to go on the date. I think the dates ended up being less important than their communication attempts at night to get to know each other.
In all, the casting and production choices led to a quiet, cozy show with many shots of just everyday activities, only sometimes accompanied by what the editors could get from the interviews about how they were feeling and those little editor text overlay comments. In the finale, my feeling was that of quietly rooting for these people to find happiness.
Note, I watched this on the HunanTV youtube channel, which that at the time of my review, episodes 4, 5, 6 and 10, the final main episode lacked English subtitles, and there's some errors in episodes 1-2. My Mandarin isn't great so it's possible for me to have missed some interesting tidbits.
Was this review helpful to you?
