This review may contain spoilers
Misfortune bonds two people in an old small town
Such a pointless show. This is different from another show with the similar theme of communicating across time, Crossfire, which I thought had better execution.
This show depicts miserable people, who don’t develop, and end up nowhere. Not to mention that the modern storyline was also pointless. There was no plot dedicated to the young characters except the bonding they got from passing time together and putting up with each other. If the modern storyline was removed, this show wouldn’t be all that different. In fact it might seem more artistic because we’d get the firsthand perspective of the air of mystery and suspicion from only reading the letters and not the intention of the characters behind writing them. Not to mention our main characters in the past are too old to even be alive, there is no reason for them to be communicating since their communication has very little impact on their lives. It doesn’t lead to the modern young people finding their parents, and it doesn’t lead the characters in the past out of their unfortunate lives.
I was shocked by what a scoundrel Shen Chen was in the beginning. Like it’s the misfortune of Yu Nian to be next to him to be implicated in every suspicion he can have about someone. And he’s carrying legal weight behind his suspicions. Who would put up with someone like that after a couple interactions. It would solidly fall into the category of harassment in real life when you meet and interact with someone like this, want to leave the situation, and then be unable to shake them off. The only time he compromised was to get her cooperation which she already gave, and then when he got any leads he would keep it to himself. That has zero integrity or loyalty. Outside of the character being not well-rounded, I don’t see the merit behind a depiction of such a character. There is no moral to the story here.
I also don’t see why Tang Yixun and Ye Haitang’s romance is one of epic proportions. The themes of this show remind me of the anime Your Name. That movie was a real tearjerker in terms of people bonding across supernatural connection set in a backwater small town. Returning to the relationship between Tang Yixun and Ye Haitang, the only time I felt they were bonding was when Yixun protected her from her dad. After she moved out, I really don’t see why they felt any attraction to each other. Sure not everyone ends up the best of the best in life, but people sure get damn close if they try and there’s no point to a story that shows people getting nowhere. And that is what’s depicted in this show. Yixun ends up in the same place he started in the beginning of the show thirty-five years later. That’s one way to nail home if you don’t work hard in life you’ll end up on the bottom of society. Which is what he did, which is where he ended up, wow what an amazing journey. I really could’ve done without the modern timeline of how pathetic the characters ended up.
Despite being twelve episodes, it’s surprising that there could still be filler content. I think Chinese show writers really need to take a class on story telling and plot progression and delivering a meaningful message through story. A show is not about its length, but it still needs to be purposeful with each second and minute of its runtime whether that be sixty episodes or twelve episodes.
In my opinion, this show was missing two fundamental elements. One was the growth of the characters in their own timeline. It makes sense that discovering a way to communicate with the future could be insignificant if it doesn’t really impact your life so its novelty fades into the background at times, however, if this secret discovery isn’t going to drive the character’s actions, then they themselves need to have a driven direction, because, story. The counterexample show, Crossfire, achieves this. On one hand Crossfire shows that communicating with the past isn’t all that life changing because it’s not human to be able to capitalize on every little moment and detail to change your own reality in society. It shows this by depicting the casual friendship between Xiao Fan and Wu Lei’s character. They’re not winning any lotteries or founding any industries, but they just enjoy each other’s company and advice as two humans who have have something in common even across time. Imagine talking with a buddy living in the Grecian time period and you could still bond over your love of mathematics together. In their own timelines, however, they are both advancing in their fields, with or without the meaningful mentorship of the other. On the other hand, Crossfire still shows that having this extra power and access to knowledge is very powerful as Wu Lei’s character tries to save his brother from dying in a car accident because that was the central tragedy of his life. The important point is this is being built up to throughout the story and happens from the beginning to the halfway mark. Thus, this discovery drives the story. On the hand, in Twelve Letters, this communication with the future is largely ignored throughout most of the show. Part of the way through the show, I thought we were just watching the progression of sad people heading toward their sad ends. It was made even worse because they spoiled how they ended up in the modern timeline and they were doing largely nothing to change it for eleven out of the twelve episodes. Not only was the supernatural mailbox not that impactful on the character’s lives, the characters themselves were not progressing in their own lives without the mailbox.
The other thing this show is missing is the change and impact discovering a way to communicate with the future and change the past brings. Another thing that the counterexample Crossfire did well is after the characters try to change the past and don’t totally succeed, they unravel the mystery of where their timelines intersect. If they were such influential figures on each other’s lives in the past, where are they now? How do they not know each other? How have they not sought each other out? Then when their timelines meet up, they change their present together and head toward a different ending that could’ve never came about if they didn’t meet across times and develop a friendship. Not only does Crossfire address changing the past, how that intersects with the future reality, it also rounds out a third perspective of when the realities are aligned, how they can go forward and grow together. All these nuances are painfully missing from Twelve Letters.
Besides the story not being much food for thought, what this show does well is vibes. In Chinese media I’m seeing more “vibes shows”, shows that are a collection of scenes that have no purpose but are aesthetically pleasing to look at strung together. That is what this show is. It’s decent cinematography and production of some good looking actors that are caricatures of something, interacting in a shallow surface level way that realizes old cliche ideas and sayings, progressing in sequence until its end. It was nice to see some themes of a cute bad boy depicted by Zhou Yiran, having a die hard love for Haitang, because, no reason. But he can kick ass in a fight so he checks the bad boy box. Haitang is a pitiful girl with an abusive father who tries to study her way out, so she oscillates between getting beaten up by her dad and being happy with the male lead. What a tragic girl, now we can kind of skim the surface of misogynist attitudes and family dynamics? Then there’s the typical rich kid who doesn’t know how good he has it in comparison to those around him so he picks on others. There’s also the cliche of once you join a gang, you’re in for life and the only way you’re leaving is as a dead body. There’s also the cliche that a gambler will sell anything and anyone around them to feed their addiction. These people are all just vibes and walking cliches that are tacked on in sequence that don’t really develop anywhere. Their small interactions don’t bring about anything meaningful change in each other. This is especially proven when Haitang dies because she met up with her father in her old age. The man is one step away from the grave and you still allowed him to harm you. I thought you learned the lesson that nothing good comes from interacting with him when you cut him off? Nope, you managed to still die from him in the ripe and wise old age of fifty, thirty five something years later. Talk about no character growth. What was the moral of the book “It Ends With Us”?
While the show doesn’t have any groundbreaking messaging, this show is worth a watch if one is bored without anything else to watch. This show is good for passing the time. Its acting, visuals, and story elements are executed well enough that there aren’t any hiccups to the viewing experience. This show doesn’t insult the viewers in any way in terms of plot holes or acting and visual disbelief. There is enough plot and mystery hanging over the entirety of the show to fuel a binging experience.
This show depicts miserable people, who don’t develop, and end up nowhere. Not to mention that the modern storyline was also pointless. There was no plot dedicated to the young characters except the bonding they got from passing time together and putting up with each other. If the modern storyline was removed, this show wouldn’t be all that different. In fact it might seem more artistic because we’d get the firsthand perspective of the air of mystery and suspicion from only reading the letters and not the intention of the characters behind writing them. Not to mention our main characters in the past are too old to even be alive, there is no reason for them to be communicating since their communication has very little impact on their lives. It doesn’t lead to the modern young people finding their parents, and it doesn’t lead the characters in the past out of their unfortunate lives.
I was shocked by what a scoundrel Shen Chen was in the beginning. Like it’s the misfortune of Yu Nian to be next to him to be implicated in every suspicion he can have about someone. And he’s carrying legal weight behind his suspicions. Who would put up with someone like that after a couple interactions. It would solidly fall into the category of harassment in real life when you meet and interact with someone like this, want to leave the situation, and then be unable to shake them off. The only time he compromised was to get her cooperation which she already gave, and then when he got any leads he would keep it to himself. That has zero integrity or loyalty. Outside of the character being not well-rounded, I don’t see the merit behind a depiction of such a character. There is no moral to the story here.
I also don’t see why Tang Yixun and Ye Haitang’s romance is one of epic proportions. The themes of this show remind me of the anime Your Name. That movie was a real tearjerker in terms of people bonding across supernatural connection set in a backwater small town. Returning to the relationship between Tang Yixun and Ye Haitang, the only time I felt they were bonding was when Yixun protected her from her dad. After she moved out, I really don’t see why they felt any attraction to each other. Sure not everyone ends up the best of the best in life, but people sure get damn close if they try and there’s no point to a story that shows people getting nowhere. And that is what’s depicted in this show. Yixun ends up in the same place he started in the beginning of the show thirty-five years later. That’s one way to nail home if you don’t work hard in life you’ll end up on the bottom of society. Which is what he did, which is where he ended up, wow what an amazing journey. I really could’ve done without the modern timeline of how pathetic the characters ended up.
Despite being twelve episodes, it’s surprising that there could still be filler content. I think Chinese show writers really need to take a class on story telling and plot progression and delivering a meaningful message through story. A show is not about its length, but it still needs to be purposeful with each second and minute of its runtime whether that be sixty episodes or twelve episodes.
In my opinion, this show was missing two fundamental elements. One was the growth of the characters in their own timeline. It makes sense that discovering a way to communicate with the future could be insignificant if it doesn’t really impact your life so its novelty fades into the background at times, however, if this secret discovery isn’t going to drive the character’s actions, then they themselves need to have a driven direction, because, story. The counterexample show, Crossfire, achieves this. On one hand Crossfire shows that communicating with the past isn’t all that life changing because it’s not human to be able to capitalize on every little moment and detail to change your own reality in society. It shows this by depicting the casual friendship between Xiao Fan and Wu Lei’s character. They’re not winning any lotteries or founding any industries, but they just enjoy each other’s company and advice as two humans who have have something in common even across time. Imagine talking with a buddy living in the Grecian time period and you could still bond over your love of mathematics together. In their own timelines, however, they are both advancing in their fields, with or without the meaningful mentorship of the other. On the other hand, Crossfire still shows that having this extra power and access to knowledge is very powerful as Wu Lei’s character tries to save his brother from dying in a car accident because that was the central tragedy of his life. The important point is this is being built up to throughout the story and happens from the beginning to the halfway mark. Thus, this discovery drives the story. On the hand, in Twelve Letters, this communication with the future is largely ignored throughout most of the show. Part of the way through the show, I thought we were just watching the progression of sad people heading toward their sad ends. It was made even worse because they spoiled how they ended up in the modern timeline and they were doing largely nothing to change it for eleven out of the twelve episodes. Not only was the supernatural mailbox not that impactful on the character’s lives, the characters themselves were not progressing in their own lives without the mailbox.
The other thing this show is missing is the change and impact discovering a way to communicate with the future and change the past brings. Another thing that the counterexample Crossfire did well is after the characters try to change the past and don’t totally succeed, they unravel the mystery of where their timelines intersect. If they were such influential figures on each other’s lives in the past, where are they now? How do they not know each other? How have they not sought each other out? Then when their timelines meet up, they change their present together and head toward a different ending that could’ve never came about if they didn’t meet across times and develop a friendship. Not only does Crossfire address changing the past, how that intersects with the future reality, it also rounds out a third perspective of when the realities are aligned, how they can go forward and grow together. All these nuances are painfully missing from Twelve Letters.
Besides the story not being much food for thought, what this show does well is vibes. In Chinese media I’m seeing more “vibes shows”, shows that are a collection of scenes that have no purpose but are aesthetically pleasing to look at strung together. That is what this show is. It’s decent cinematography and production of some good looking actors that are caricatures of something, interacting in a shallow surface level way that realizes old cliche ideas and sayings, progressing in sequence until its end. It was nice to see some themes of a cute bad boy depicted by Zhou Yiran, having a die hard love for Haitang, because, no reason. But he can kick ass in a fight so he checks the bad boy box. Haitang is a pitiful girl with an abusive father who tries to study her way out, so she oscillates between getting beaten up by her dad and being happy with the male lead. What a tragic girl, now we can kind of skim the surface of misogynist attitudes and family dynamics? Then there’s the typical rich kid who doesn’t know how good he has it in comparison to those around him so he picks on others. There’s also the cliche of once you join a gang, you’re in for life and the only way you’re leaving is as a dead body. There’s also the cliche that a gambler will sell anything and anyone around them to feed their addiction. These people are all just vibes and walking cliches that are tacked on in sequence that don’t really develop anywhere. Their small interactions don’t bring about anything meaningful change in each other. This is especially proven when Haitang dies because she met up with her father in her old age. The man is one step away from the grave and you still allowed him to harm you. I thought you learned the lesson that nothing good comes from interacting with him when you cut him off? Nope, you managed to still die from him in the ripe and wise old age of fifty, thirty five something years later. Talk about no character growth. What was the moral of the book “It Ends With Us”?
While the show doesn’t have any groundbreaking messaging, this show is worth a watch if one is bored without anything else to watch. This show is good for passing the time. Its acting, visuals, and story elements are executed well enough that there aren’t any hiccups to the viewing experience. This show doesn’t insult the viewers in any way in terms of plot holes or acting and visual disbelief. There is enough plot and mystery hanging over the entirety of the show to fuel a binging experience.
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