Edge to Happiness (2016)

A romcom rollercoaster

In general, that’s been a fine series, which began as a romcom, then resembled almost a classical story about characters’ inner demons, then traditionally slipped into a million flashbacks and tearful quarrels and reunions, but still ended quite believably. It turned out to be a slightly glossy story, in places resembling a humorous show, about the life of ordinary people, and this is not so bad. What I really liked it's that there are many ever-changing pairings.

Some words about male characters. Mostly you watch dramas for an exciting plot, and if there isn’t one - because of the cute male characters. Here, I liked both He Han and He Mu. Although He Han’s love line could have been even more complex, his psychological motivations are shown convincingly and, if the lines are translated terminologically well, they are plausible. I also have to say that I equally enjoyed the villainous image of He Han and his determination to fix the consequences of his deeds. He Mu’s image also changed dramatically, and if I saw that change as a character development part at first, then it became clear that it has been done for the sake of melodrama (at the one hand, he actually was nice from the very beginning, at the other hand, it was a bit confusing that in the final episodes he looked too timid for a lively and arrogant young man you first met). True, maybe his image does not seem holistic if you analyze the whole story and not the parts of it, but it’s fine in all its manifestations. I'm especially glad that in the first few episodes He Mu is really shown as a selfish rich boy, and only later the same deeds are seen from a different angle. Ma Tian Yu has become one of my favourite actors after this series. What’s more, he struck me with the ending song - I fell in love with it just to the point of insanely replaying the same song countless times. I didn’t even realize at first that it was he who was singing. I mostly associated that song with the story of He Han and Zi Ji.

Some words about female characters. It is noteworthy that in this series the main female character is not infuriatingly silly, although she is shown as an average girl, not super smart, naïve and too trusting; she’s at the same time cheerful, cute, and very cozy. She’s so sweet and her cactus as a symbol of love is cute as well. That’s what she really got: love is not without thorns but sometimes they make a feeling meaningful. She really is a typical younger sister who needs protection and deserves to live in a fairy-tale but actually has enough energy to face the real world and unite the people around her. Apparently, this is the merit of the actress: Xiao Xiao turned out to be so lively and comfortably simple that you see no obstacle to the plot development in her. Sadly, the main couple lacks the storyteller’s attention that Zi Ji’s relationship has attracted. In the progress of the story, Zi Ji evokes one-at-a-time irritation, sympathy, and admiration. She is a lost soul, broken and healed anew. In contrast to Xiao Xiao, she meets a moral dilemma when fighting for her love and after a few mistakes finds her way. I also really liked He Mu’s mother and the way she treated both He Mu and He Han.

The plot itself has been a fast developing one in the beginning and began to sag mercilessly in the second part. In general, it is watchable, but sometimes overly sentimental and draggy. And FLASHBACKS! They should have given the characters the equal time throughout the whole plot and avoid numerous repetitions in the end. The part when everybody was trying to save the family business could have been shortened and some more complex plot solutions could have been found. Anyway, I definitely got more than I expected starting to watch a love melodrama just to kill time. If I ever rewatch it I’ll just skip the repetitive parts and watch the emotional ones.

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I can't believe I made it through to the end...

But it took fast forwarding (even when I was watching at 2x speed!).

The main couple in this drama is so cute together and they have an adorable chemistry. Starting from Episode 20 of 44!, I was jumping to there scenes. There were so many unnecessary scenes with supporting characters and it felt like every 5 minutes of the 45 minutes there was a 3 minute flashback to scenes we already saw!

I am giving this a seven entirely and only for the underlying storyline of the main couple. I like that arc of friends and partners who went through struggles together and found their own way to survive in the world in their little piece of happiness.

That's it, that is what was good about it. The business and the other relationships were not interesting and so hard to find a lens through which I could view it with any enjoyment.

If you have a list of "plan to watch" shows, don't give up your time for this one. If you are in a lull, sure , go ahead, make use of the fastforward button and kill some time....

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