themarchioness

I watched the remaining eps without subs

At the end of the book, the author shared an explanation that the drama was originally slotted for 20 eps which fit the book exactly except the drama was expanded to at least another 10 episodes (sounds like it was 36, but they must've then trimmed it down by 3 eps) and so from that, we know changes were made to the book for the drama.

I haven't read the book in full, but I did machine translate the last few chapters of the book and the extra chapters, so I have a bit of an idea. The biggest change is that in the book, it sounds like after finding out about Xiao Han and Chen Mo, Qian Jia Yue really distanced herself from both. They didn't interact again until Chen Mo told Xiao Han she wanted to go to school in Beijing. They actually "broke up" over this and so Chen Mo went to find Qian Jiayue, telling her she could have him. Qian Jiayue asked about the break up, learned about what happened, and then she went to find Xiao Han. He's actually a little leery upon seeing her, which isn't helped when she starts out with their matters again, but as Qian Jiayue keeps talking and explains to him why Chen Mo wants to go to Beijing for college, he realizes she's actually trying to help him and Chen Mo. It's through this conversation/experience that Qian Jiayue also realizes she's truly let go as well, which is why when their conversation ends, she calls him, "Xiao Han," for the first time - without the "ge" at the end - and because of that he also realizes Qian Jiayue has given up on him.

I thought this was a really poignant scene. The drama includes it.... but in a different, broken up sort of way. And that's because she starts talking to Xiao Han more quickly and then Chen Mo eventually, as well. It made sense in the drama with the way their two families were so tight; I feel like her sibling-like relationship with Xiao Han is unbreakable. I also actually liked seeing Qian Jiayue hanging out with Chen Mo again, the three besties having fun together, as well. But it is also because of these changes that the above scene from the book loses in poignancy, which was disappointing. When Qian Jiayue explains to Xiao Han why Chen Mo wants to study in Beijing, it doesn't feel so weighted. Similarly, when Qian Jiayue finally calls Xiao Han by his name without the 'ge' at the end, the only significance of that moment is the fact that it's taking place outside their gaokao exam rooms and so they're on the cusp of transition already. At least Qian Jiayue had the scene with Mao Tou where she processes her feelings about Xiao Han and her past infatuation -- that returned a little of that poignancy back to the drama.

Anyway, that's just my two cents and like I admitted upfront, it's not like I've read the book in full. The drama was pretty great as is, on its own.

Finished. I really enjoyed this drama, all the characters, and their stories. They were touching in many ways and I even found myself tearing up towards the end over a few storylines (Ep 29, especially - sniff). Truly, when you watch a drama like this one, you wish you had a neighborhood family like them!

I wanted to give a shout out to one character in particular, because I know she's probably one of the least popular ones and the one people found most annoying. I quite loved her, though: Qian Jiayue's mom - Chen Xiu'e. She was loud, she could be full of pretenses and even a little obnoxious at times, but she was solid. Her backstory with her mom, their history, their conflict, it really tugged at my heart. But what I saw was a woman who rose through all that and only wanted one thing, a better life for her daughter. We could say Chen Xiu'e was no different from her own mother by sending Qian Jiayue to Shanghai all by herself when the latter was just a child. But it's different. Chen Xiu'e sent her daughter away for a better life and then worked hard to return to Shanghai herself. Whenever she did something annoying, I'd think of what Xiao Han told Qian Jiayue at the beginning of the drama, when the latter was especially fed up with her mom. He said he was grateful for Chen Xiu', for her kindness and thoughtfulness in buying new shoes for him twice a year. Each time she would lie about them being discards for the sake of his pride. Whatever else we saw from Chen Xiu'e, that was the *true* Chen Xiu'e, and that was especially true when we saw how she stuck up for Qian Jiayue's cousin and made sure she would be allowed to finish high school.

As for changes from the book to the drama, and my thoughts on that, I'll share that as a Reply to this comment because of spoilers.

Haha. I think that's the whole point. His character was one year younger than everyone else, but since it's 10 years later, everyone got an "older look" for the last episode. I thought the facial hair gave him a distinguished look! :D

Now that I've watched all the remaining eps in full, I think I can understand why some viewers are upset. The drama really doesn't make it clear between that Qian Jiayue/Mao Tou/Chang Wuji love triangle! I mean, you've got all her friends rooting for Chang Wuji and then she goes to meet her online friend, meets Mao Tou, but like you noted, since we don't see the conversation that follows we don't know that Qian Jiayue is thinking. Sigh. Even when she and Mao Tou meet back up with the others it's not clear and the drama ends with Qian Jiayue standing in between both men.

I'm guessing the writer (who was involved in the scriptwriting) wanted to make it purposefully vague for the drama because otherwise, I feel like she and the other scriptwriters could've made the end game clearer if they'd wanted to. For example, when Qian Jiayue and Chang Wuji have their separate chat at the high school reunion, we finally get to see what happened that day that Qian Jiayue went to meet her online friend after the gaokao exam. Chang Wuji ended up meeting her and even delivered the words that Mao Tao had wanted her to her so her confidence would be boosted. I feel like if they wanted the arrows to point with greater certainty towards Mao Tou, they could've had Chang Wuji finally confessing that parts of what he'd said to her that day had been him serving as a messenger.

Ah well. It was still a really good drama and I'm just going to with Mao Tou being Qian Jiayue's end game. Although... not gonna lie, I'm pulled to Chang Wuji, too!! LOL. So maybe they predicted this would happen with the viewers and that's why they left it purposely vague so that people could imagine the rest as they desired.

As FeiJin metioned, Ka Men becomes a manager in the entertainment circle -- specifically, she's now Lu Yao's manager. At the end of the drama, the kids (now grown up) go back to their high school to celebrate their 10th reunion. Afterwards, Ka Men takes them to a rooftop. It's not the same one as the one they visited after the alley fight - that one's been torn down - but she's found a similar one and she wanted them to experience it. She'd been looking for a rooftop as a favor to Lu Yao's singer friend, though, because this singer wanted to film a MV. The others ask if this singer is famous and Xiao Han answers they must be if they know Lu Yao. Ka Man answers that she really doesn't know who this singer is. It's at this moment, Lu Yao arrives (he'd missed out on visiting the high school with them due to a schedule conflict). He brings with him Chang Shin Che (Jeff Chang) -- Ka Men's idol (and all their idol) from back in the day. The drama ends with them singing Jeff Chang's song - the same one they'd sung back in the day on the other rooftop - with flashbacks to revisit the drama.

Casting overlap is common when watching Yu Zheng produced dramas; it’s always a bit of a who’s who when starting a new drama of his.

Shen Hui Zhao investigating the death of a woman buried alive... the irony was not lost on me considering the role this actor played in "The Double"... LOL! I wonder if that was intentional considering they are both Yu Zheng-produced dramas. :D

I think most of us expected that going into this drama -- it is the usual trope, after all. But that's not the story here and I think it's better to think of the leads as the two who shared top billing and otherwise had their own story. Tbh, I kinda like this unique aspect of the drama -- it's a refreshing change and each have interesting, satisfying experiences while remaining friends.

I see. Thank you for sharing!

I agree with you, though -- for both the book and the drama, I think we are supposed to think of it as a happy ending for Jia Yue and Mao Tou (and the others). Maybe it's just me but I kind of like the open-endedness of it. There's a lot of room for the imagination to take over, and I love that. I don't think dramas (or books) need to show us every little detail. It can be nice, too, when they offer just enough for us to draw our own conclusions. I think this kind of an ending suits the tone and tenor of this kind of a story where it has always been more about nostalgia and relationships generally across the families in this neighborhood.

I'll have to wait to watch the remaining eps as they air regularly, but your spoiler on the ending has me all sorts of curious! :)

What didn't you like about the drama ending, or what were you hoping to see? It sounds like it's on par with the last extra chapter of the novel and, in fact, gives us a little bit more. The book ends with Mao Tou introducing himself as Jia Yue's online friend, but from what you've described from the drama, it sounds like the drama goes a little beyond that point as they're meeting up with their friends and Jia Yue is even smiling -- that indicates acceptance, whereas in the book, we can only assume she will accept him. Otherwise, all we're shown is Jia Yue cautioning Mao Tou that she's not the same person who she was in the past, and Mao Tou agrees saying he's not the same person he was back then either, and then he introduces himself formally -- signaling a new beginning for them both.

Also, his self-introduction was the very last line of the book. You mentioned he does the same in the drama (only it doesn't end there, as they show a bit more), so what last line were you hoping the drama would add from the book?

You can't always count on MDL's countdown feature. It's dependent on user updates and clearly, is no longer correct for this drama. I just checked the Release Information page for this drama and it's set as airing 2 episodes every day of the week. That's why the MDL count is currently way ahead of what this drama's actual airing schedule is. Specifically, it doesn't account for the fact that this week, some days only had one episode that aired.

Separately, the WeTV express schedule is one ep ahead and so there always be a one-episode difference from what you're probably watching.

The best thing you can rely on is the drama's actual airing calendar/schedule.

The twin bodyguards were played by actual twins! Liu Zi Hao (刘子豪) and Liu Wei Hao (刘未豪).

https://mintyrecaps.com/twin-talents-of-blossom/

That's pretty much what happens *any* time you watch a Yu Zheng produced drama (which both "The Double" and "Perfect Match" are) -- you spend at least the first couple of episodes mentally thinking, "Oh, they were in [such and such Yu Zheng drama]." LOL

The part I was dreading the most was Qian Jia Yue finding out about Chen Mo and Xiao Han (haha, I kept wanting to write Song Mo and it took me a full second to remember his character name in this drama). Fortunately, now that we are finally at this juncture in their story it wasn’t as terrible as I was fearing. But still, this is the suckiest of situations for all three children. Nobody can be blamed. Xiao Han never had feelings for Qian Jia Yue; he’s only ever seen her as a little sister, and he can’t be blamed for falling for someone else. Chen Mo didn’t know how Qian Jia Yue felt about Xiao Han, but also, she should have the freedom to pursue who she likes. And as for Qian Jia Yue – my heart breaks for her and has been breaking every episode leading up to Episode 24. It doesn’t help that she has always suffered from lack of confidence. We saw how hurt she was when Chen Mo first entered their friends circle with Ka Men and she felt left out. Through that, we knew how devastated she was going to be when she found out she’d lost Xiao Han to Chen Mo, too. But honestly, even if Qian Jia Yue was a more confident person, it was going to suck regardless. It always does. That’s the real/raw part of the story writing that I love!

Qian Jia Yue is now grieving that loss, and I love how she expressed her current feelings. She knows Chen Mo and Xiao Han aren’t to blame. She hates that she feels as she does. But she can’t help it either. She couldn’t have been more honest or real. But Chen Mo’s mother and Mao Tou’s father are also correct. Time will heal all wounds, and I’ve faith that Qian Jia Yue will find her way out of this. After all, we aren’t defined by any one moment in our life and she has such a long road ahead of her.

Plus, we already know she has one eager suitor waiting in the wings! And while I know most of us are Team Mao Tou, I’d be lying if I didn’t admit that part of my heart tugs for Chang Wuji! He’s so sweet, earnest, and clueless, lol.

Finally caught up to Ep 25 and I just wanted to say I really love this drama and find it so well-written. I love how all the characters are genuine, complex, and multi-dimensional. No one is perfect, everyone is flawed, but at their core they are all good people and that’s what makes them so interesting to watch. Whether it’s the children or the adults, everyone is busy navigating family relationships, friendships, romantic relationships, school/work, and life in general.

That said, as much as I enjoy the drama, I have found it hard to watch at times too. What is the drama’s strength is also it’s hardest part – for me, at least! I also do not say this as a criticism, as I wouldn’t change a thing. But what I mean is because the drama is so real, at times, it hits the emotions hard and that’s especially true when I can see pain coming down the pike. It has sometimes made me dread watching and then I have to remind myself – this is life, this is what happens, but it’ll be okay because we deal with it and we grow/learn and move on…

(Posting the rest of this Comment as a Reply so that I can put it under a cut for potential spoilers.)

We've been mostly getting two eps a day, which is pretty quick, IMO. It's not uncommon for Cdramas to switch to releasing only one ep a day at some point in their schedule. It's also not uncommon for Cdramas to have different airing schedules depending on membership levels -- it's how the platforms make their money. Honestly, this is far better than with other Asian dramas where you only get two or - eep! - one ep a week!

According to the airing calendar, 26 and 27 won't come until Thursday (2/6) and Friday (2/7), respectively.

https://kisskh.at/photos/VX28R0_3

Not sure if Chen Mo's parents are divorced in the book. I read the last few chapters/extra chapters machine translated and the impression I have from one of the extra chapters is that her dad is present while Chen Mo is helping her daughter with her math homework, and when Chen Mo expresses frustration over her daughter's wrong answers her dad's the one who's telling her to not be so hard on the child whereas Chen Mo's a little speechless given how her father treated her while growing up. But everyone knows grandchildren are treated differently than children!

I totally agree the dad is frustrating in the drama, especially with how overbearing he is towards his wife and daughter! Scenes with Chen Mo's dad when he's interacting with his family can be very frustrating!! But on the other hand I like the relationship he's formed with QJY's dad...

The actor playing Daniel (small role) hasn’t been added to the cast list yet, but he was played by this actor: https://kisskh.at/people/17279-kudousi-jiang-ainiwaer