A Little Dilemma (2021)

Cannot be compared to A Little Reunion

When they started releasing information and pictures of this drama, I was excited and hopeful. Could it be as good as A Little Reunion? I sure hoped so! The trailer seemed good and the actors seemed experienced. However, it was quite disappointing.

Plot: There are two primary focuses in this drama- schooling and complex families. Tian Yu Lan's family is strict on pushing the kid to tutoring sessions after class while Nan Li is the opposite and lenient on her children. It raises questions on how hard you should be pushing your children so that they can succeed in the future and whether you should be constantly comparing your children to others. "Do only smart children deserve to be loved?" is a question raised. In contrast to A Little Reunion, the children are in primary school (5th/6th grade) and their parents are worried about the middle school they're going to enter soon.

Then, the topic of complex families is shown with Nan Li being the biological daughter of Nan Jian Long and Tian Yu Lan being his step-daughter. Auntie Cai was the mistress that caused Nan Li's parents to divorce, which causes rifts between the two women. The drama begins right away to show you how they cannot get along with another and you'll see how this is resolved later on. Be prepared for lots of drama when they have a showdown at the dinner table or wherever. I would say the plot development and pacing is decent but it could be better. There were some areas that were not as smooth when switching between the two topics.

Characters: They were all alright, but not really relatable. It felt more dramatized for entertainment. They didn't feel like real people that existed out there. It's not to say the acting was bad, but it felt like they were characters- and not people. Tian Yu Lan and Auntie Cai got annoying at some points of the drama. They acted self-righteous and like the whole world wronged them and deserved better even though they did break up a family. They resorted to some extreme (and quite embarrassing) lengths just to get Zi You into a special class. And talking about annoying characters, Huan Huan was a spoiled kid. She got low grades but would rather play than work hard to improve. She has some moral/character issues as you will see near the end of the drama through her actions toward Mi Tao. I felt really bad for Mi Tao who was told to suck it up and be the bigger person.

Acting: I enjoyed most of the acting, except Huan Huan's. Unfortunately, I did not enjoy the casting of the younger characters, especially Huan Huan. She was annoying and I couldn't help but cringe whenever she cried or yelled back at her parents. Her eyes didn't really carry the emotion of the scene, so when she screamed, it broke the tension/mood of the scene. Maybe I'm just being picky with her since I am no expert. The other young actors were fine though. I truly emphasized with Mi Tao. It's the sad reality that introverted people lose out to the extroverted ones in this society. The main cast, excluding the children, were seasoned actors that I have seen before so I didn't have any problems. There were some emotional scenes that made me cry, so they did convey the lines well for that to happen.

Music: The only reason I rated it so high is because I love Zhou Shen's voice. He sang the ending song and it's amazing. They play it throughout the drama too, and the high notes are beautiful. Check if out if you have not already!

Rewatch Value: Sorry, I do not usually rewatch but this will definitely not be worth it. 42 hours would be better spent on A Little Reunion instead. I had to speed some scenes up because some scenes felt too slow and some were just scenery with BGM.

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