Another twisted story from the "Light On" series.
When an actor/actress left a strong impression on me by both their acting and charisma, I like to check their filmography to see if among any of their other works I could find something I like. This way I feel like I'm still in a familiar and secured territory thanks to their known face and acting but I can discover new stuff. That's basically how I (very slowly) build most of my watchlist. So after seeing Dai Xu's performance in Unnatural Fire, I got curious. Among his many works, this one show grabbed my attention. I liked the premise a lot and having watched a few of the Light On dramas, I decided to give it a try. Plus, it's by the screenwriter of "The Bad Kids". What could go wrong ?
Well, it's a bit unsteady. The writing is kind of odd. The pacing is... debatable. There are good ideas but connected in a bizarre manner. This drama felt like an awkward preview of "Lost in the Shadows" which certainly was inspired by it and a revisiting of "The Bad Kids" mixed together, sprinkled with some other good and less good ideas here and there, maybe or maybe not from other Light On shows I haven't seen. I don't mind revisiting and mixing up. Every story is a mix-up of something else pre-existing. As long as it's effective. But I'm unsure if that's the case here.
I also struggle with stories where the majority of their characters' ethics are at best extremely grey and at worst completely messed up. It's good if some are messed up and some are grey, as long as the majority (or at least the mains) are good. In this drama, they're almost all messed up or immature or disappointing to some degree. Among the entire main+support cast, I can definitely affirm only 2 characters are objectively good all along, from beginning to end : good heart, good intentions, good actions. Almost all the rest is either neutral or grey, those who are not that bad are not that good either. They may have their reasons, more or less understandable. They may or may not have a positive arc to go through. But they're still not pleasant to be around for most of the adventure.
Their relationships are also messed up. Their mind processes are messed up. You Xi and Wei were kind of cute together, I guess, and the love and devotion that You Xi had for her lost friend Xiao Xu were beautiful and inspiring. Some scenes were very emotional. Some characters were very touching (won't spoil which ones, though). But regardless of what is nice, the uneasiness lingering under remains.
It's a strange and frustrating story that doesn't really feel pleasant and is barely worth it for me in the end. The OST is fine, the ending song is beautiful. The acting is excellent, from the youngest to the oldest. Zhang Zi Feng in particular is very good, her character somehow suits her wonderfully. It's also pretty, I liked the filming and the directing. And the plot is interesting, albeit the writing being... well, I don't know. Odd. The finale is relatively satisfying, which is a good point. Yet I don't really feel like rewatching this one. And as a serial rewatcher, that says a lot about my enjoyment.
I guess these kinds of atmospheres with barely any breathing space aren't my thing. I didn't hate this drama, but the experience was a bit difficult. If you like thrillers, mysteries, exceedingly dysfunctional families and/or you enjoyed "Lost in the Shadows", "The Bad Kids" and/or even "The Long Night"'s icky vibe (it's still better here than in The Long Night, that one's really nasty), you would probably like "Homesick". It's very short so you're not risking much by trying it.
Well, it's a bit unsteady. The writing is kind of odd. The pacing is... debatable. There are good ideas but connected in a bizarre manner. This drama felt like an awkward preview of "Lost in the Shadows" which certainly was inspired by it and a revisiting of "The Bad Kids" mixed together, sprinkled with some other good and less good ideas here and there, maybe or maybe not from other Light On shows I haven't seen. I don't mind revisiting and mixing up. Every story is a mix-up of something else pre-existing. As long as it's effective. But I'm unsure if that's the case here.
I also struggle with stories where the majority of their characters' ethics are at best extremely grey and at worst completely messed up. It's good if some are messed up and some are grey, as long as the majority (or at least the mains) are good. In this drama, they're almost all messed up or immature or disappointing to some degree. Among the entire main+support cast, I can definitely affirm only 2 characters are objectively good all along, from beginning to end : good heart, good intentions, good actions. Almost all the rest is either neutral or grey, those who are not that bad are not that good either. They may have their reasons, more or less understandable. They may or may not have a positive arc to go through. But they're still not pleasant to be around for most of the adventure.
Their relationships are also messed up. Their mind processes are messed up. You Xi and Wei were kind of cute together, I guess, and the love and devotion that You Xi had for her lost friend Xiao Xu were beautiful and inspiring. Some scenes were very emotional. Some characters were very touching (won't spoil which ones, though). But regardless of what is nice, the uneasiness lingering under remains.
It's a strange and frustrating story that doesn't really feel pleasant and is barely worth it for me in the end. The OST is fine, the ending song is beautiful. The acting is excellent, from the youngest to the oldest. Zhang Zi Feng in particular is very good, her character somehow suits her wonderfully. It's also pretty, I liked the filming and the directing. And the plot is interesting, albeit the writing being... well, I don't know. Odd. The finale is relatively satisfying, which is a good point. Yet I don't really feel like rewatching this one. And as a serial rewatcher, that says a lot about my enjoyment.
I guess these kinds of atmospheres with barely any breathing space aren't my thing. I didn't hate this drama, but the experience was a bit difficult. If you like thrillers, mysteries, exceedingly dysfunctional families and/or you enjoyed "Lost in the Shadows", "The Bad Kids" and/or even "The Long Night"'s icky vibe (it's still better here than in The Long Night, that one's really nasty), you would probably like "Homesick". It's very short so you're not risking much by trying it.
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