Initially this drama started off at a pretty watchable standard. The young versions of the characters are played by the same people who play the adults, just in school uniforms. I liked the story behind the lead guys past, how he's looking for his sister, hiding out in book shops, living off of ramen. The introduction between the characters was great. The oddball friend falls in love with her best friends brother, the popular friend and the two guys crushing on her. I like the way that the oddball friend befriends 'Peter' and stays loyal to her promises.. however. I don't like the fact that this entire drama is based on the fact Ai Li Si refused to tell anyone who Peter was, and that her so called best friend didn't believe her. That was kind of the area things started to wobble.
Fast forward to the future and Ai Li Si has turned into this cold and distant woman who works as a science researcher. Now as a science researcher I would expect her to be fairly bright, despite her obvious emotional trauma. No. No she is not. The main female lead is probably one of the most naive, air heads I've seen in a drama. Now female empowerment in general is not something I talk about, I'm all for it but it's not something I ever talk about because I don't really argue my opinions. But this... THIS took the biscuit, the plate and the tiny little napkin it came with. I can't put into words how annoyed I felt at this female lead. I know a lot of female Asian leads are meant to be delicate flowers who need to be protected by the strapping young man with a six pack and a flaming axe made out of manly things, but this.. this.. I just can't. I don't see why or how the writers thought making the female lead so urghhhhh. I KNOW she's emotionally unstable but ughhh. Okay I'll stop talking about how peeved the female lead made me I think you get the idea, but it was like.. 73% of why I started skipping.
The actors themselves weren't awful, it was mainly just the way the characters had been written. I think with the scripts they were given, the actors did a great job. Not enough to win an Oscars (or Asian equivalent) but pretty good, especially in the first episodes when they're pretending to be high school students.
I like the way that bullying can be seen in this drama, as in... it shows that bullying can affect people whether that's the intention or not. There's one scene where Ai Li Si meets one of her past tormentors to try and only her memories, but he doesn't really remember bullying him. I think the way it shows that although it doesn't effect you, or doesn't seem like a big deal, bullying can be a big deal in some people's lives. It's kind of like how in Who Are You: School 2015 she tries to commit suicide, although not as extreme in this drama, showing the side effects bullying can have on the victims. Especially in Asia where you can hear a lot of extreme cases of bullying, but no one sees what's wrong with it (I don't know how accurate this is I'm just basing it off of blogs written by people who have taught in Asia).
That's second (and last) item I liked about this drama.
The music was okay, I don't really remember a lot of it... I know it wasn't bad, but I'm not about to go and download the OST.
So to summarise:
Good things - The first episodes where they're students, the portrayal of bullying in younger generations and the affect it can have on the victim.
Bad things - Weak female lead, predictable script writing and a little repetitive. Weak female lead and even seeping into weak second female lead is a large reason I disliked this.
But please keep in mind that this is my opinion and that I did start skipping because it bored me. It is possible that the parts I skipped had information to make this drama better, but in my personal opinion I highly doubt it. I was going to drop this drama, but finished it due to sheer will power. I wanted to give the drama a chance but it just didn't do it for me. I know a lot of people are fans of the innocent romance style, and if you like that kind of thing it might be worth giving this drama a try. But if you came up to me and asked me if you should watch this.. I'd say no. Or at least watch the scenes as kids and then just read up on the rest of the drama. There were a couple of good parts but I don't think that they were quite worth the other 10(ish) hours of not... very.. exciting script writing.
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I ultimately decided on a 3.5/5 star rating for this show because this show made me feel a lot of things. I HATED Lei Lei and Liu Xiao Fen at 17 and 30, even when they realized that they were wrong and were at fault, I still didn't care for them. I loved Peter because he wanted to protect Ai Li Si from everything in her past that gave her pain, even if it meant getting revenge on Lei Lei. I loved Ho Hao Yi and his dedication. Once reunited with her, he wouldn't let go of her. He promised that he wouldn't run away again and put 100% of his trust in her. That 13 years away from her was karma for him not showing up at 17. A little extreme, but homeboy was dedicated and knew that she was his only true love and he always known about it, but realized it a few hours too late at 17.I loved Ai Li Si, even though she tested me throughout the series, but I loved her character development and it made her pain feel that much more real. She was in a 13 year debate with herself, not knowing who she should be and if she should trust anyone. I felt her pain and let me tell you, it made this drama super emotional and hard to watch. Plus, that ending had me and my roommate ugly crying in our new apartment. I couldn't give this drama a 5 simply because each episode felt like 3 hours, and I am not sure if I was ever supposed to "feel" for Lei Lei and her struggles, but I didn't. I felt like it glorified Lei Lei and Liu Xiao Fen after they learned about Ai Li Si's past, and honestly, they were just horrible people. If they had a little bit of respect and faith in their friendship with Ai Li Si, none of this would have happened. Cet avis était-il utile?
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Some flaws but it is a good story
This show is a bit close to my heart. Not for the bullying part but for the part where she had a brain tumor. although that part did tear at my heartstrings. I felt for her every time they show bits and pieces of what happened to her and why she turned out the way she did.I can sympathize with her because I went through surgery for a brain tumor at 22 yrs of age. It is not an easy thing to go through. One thing that really bothered me is if she had surgery for a brain tumor, make it more believable. Recovery time is long and if it was where they had to go through the skull they would shave the head where they did surgery at. And the bandage they had on her head was not believable. Lol sorry just a bit of a pet peeve of mine. Make it a bit more believable!! So for that part of the show I struggled a bit. That being said...
Story... could it use some work? Yes, but so can all shows. They are not perfect.
The storyline I loved! It broke my heart every time her friends ignored her or were rude to her. Their lack of acknowledging that they were in the wrong and put the entire thing on Ai Li Su only was really wrong. Lei Lei ticked me off because she really was selfish. She ditched Ai Li Su because she was keeping a secret for someone else. I get it was a secret that was kind of about her. But if she truly understood Ai Li Su she would not have treated her the way she did. She made me mad a lot of times. The other friend (sorry can’t remember her name lol) was a follower and weak. She did anything Lei Lei wanted her to. She was as much to blame as Lei Lei was. I am glad she was quicker to realize her mistake and showed remorse for her part. To bad Lei Lei did not. She was to much of a selfish, vain girl. Also, “Peter” had as much fault as any of them. Especially for not making it perfectly clear that he was wrong for making her promise to keep his secret. I get why he did it but he was at fault big time.
I wish the end had a bit more. Yes, I say this a lot! But it is true. It hinted at marriage and so on but not much more than that. I do like how they let you think she is gone at first and then she appears. Was a cute little twist.
Acting/Cast... I thought they all did a good job. I felt all their pain, happiness, uncertainty, betrayal, and love. I do think the actress who played Ai Li Su was perfect for the part. She did a good job at being more or less like a robot. She showed many sides to her acting. The one who played Lei Lei also did good at playing a selfish vain woman.
Music... I really loved! I hope I can find the soundtrack.
Overall it was an enjoyable show. I have watched it twice now and loved it both times. Again... really love the storyline. It was heartbreaking and then heartwarming. It is worth the watch even if you see it just once.
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Somewhere after the change from one year to another, things go sour in the female relationship areas. I am willing to suspend disbelief to some extent, but I do get tired of adult women being portrayed as two-dimensional, children who are either dim-witted or mean-spirited. There is good interplay with the male characters, and the story does add new considerations. Then it stalls out for about 5-6 episodes, with the female lead going from one extreme to another, spending most of her time looking like a frog with the flu, and honking and whining, really a lot of whining. Flashback scenes are relied upon a little too much, and while I understand the purpose, it sometimes feels like they are being used to fill up the time demanded in the contract.
The last third or so picks back up, and although it goes in circles occasionally, we do get to see that the good guys are not impossibly good, and the mean-spirited women are capable of some introspection. Sadly, a female supporting actress was cursed with the inevitable man-obsessed, drama queen, screaming, stomping hot mess identity, so I fast forwarded during her appearances after a while.
The last two episodes are probably the best of the series; they are certainly the most tear-jerking. I'm calling it bingeworthy because there is enough new stuff going on throughout to keep your interest at a positive level most of the time. It doesn't demand a whole lot of close attention either, which is also OK. The realistic friendship portrayals in the front and back ends save it from being a Bechdel fail, but I really hate it when it gets all stereotype and caricature. The music was on the upside of OK because it did vary throughout the series.
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Most insufferable Male Lead!
I think this is the first drama I've watched where I hated the Male lead and was actually fine if they didn't end up together with FL. After a while I just started forwarding the parts with the ML so that I could just get done with the show. I found myself enjoying Peter's parts even more, even though I didn't see him ending up together with Alice, and that was fine. I think I just started disliking him from the start when he mistook Alice for his twin sister and kept bullying her, and all the time he had that stupid confident look on his face, and even when he found out he was mistaken, he didn't seem remorseful at all.Another issue with ML, after they had reconnected after 13 years, he was always grabbing her hand and at some point it just became annoying, and he acted like nothing had happened and kept forcing himself onto her. And when her memory was reset back to 17, he suddenly had an issue with her grabbing his hands, yet he had been doing it all along. He also started gatekeeping her from Peter when she lost her memory, the only friend she had for the 13 years they weren't in contact, I found that quite infuriating and just stupid. And to top it all off, him and her friends were still making her apologise for the misunderstanding they had had in highschool when she lost her memory, even without knowing the full story, and all the time the ML had that look on his face of confidence.
If i had only found the ML likeable, it could have probably been a better show for me, otherwise the story was not bad. Maybe someone else might enjoy it.
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