Will Love in Spring (2024)

Love this drama, and the on-screen chemistry and acting are undeniably awesome with main CP

Will Love in Spring is a melodrama about two people who have known and loved each other since high school. Life curve balls separated them, and now they want to rekindle their love as they face life's difficult moments and support each other to overcome them.

My Reviews:
1. I love this drama. The dynamic duo of Li Xian and Zhou Yu Tong was fantastic and awesome. Their on-screen chemistry was great, and their acting was exceptional.
2. The supporting cast is awesome, especially Liu Lin and Fang Fang, who played the mother and grandmother, respectively.
3. The story's flow is good and engaging. It shows the main CP's insecurities and how they leaned on each other for emotional and moral support.

I give it an 8.0 rating for good script and good acting.

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It's like an emo teenage kid writing poems about life and death

This was a promising drama but I dropped it for four reasons:
(1) Love ZYT but the FL is too frivolous for my taste. Her flirting makes me cringe. Girl, get some self-respect and boundaries.
(2) The ML is like every other ML in every other drama. Stoic, expressionless, unkind towards FL. Why FL likes ML is a wonder at all - and don't get me started on the childhood sweethearts thing; dramaland has lost all originality.
(2) Unnecessary, completely gratuitous face slapping, when words and actual acting would more than suffice. What a weak storytelling device.
(3) Preachiness. Too much preachiness. About death. About life. About everything. So dramatic. All makjang.

It's giving "Look at me, I'm so deep, writing poems about life and death" vibe. I'm over it. Can't keep watching.

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"Let's not live by days, but by seconds."

Will Love in Spring is more of a story of life rather than a simple romance. It's a journey that includes the different people you meet in life and how everyone has value. It's a story of flawed and lovely individuals, different forms of relationships, and how our experiences shape us no matter our age; we're people that consistently change. The characters in this feel like real people, they are some of the most well written three dimensional characters I've seen. They have trauma that follows them the whole story rather than it being used as a plot device.; they have unresolved complexes and flaws that only make them feel more real. They have personalities shaped by their trauma, they have intellect, wisdom, and faults. It's about loss and grief and how that changes how we value life and the people that are a part of it. It changes how scared and how bold we may be to chase after happiness. It's about how love and loss affects grandparents, mothers, fathers, spouses, siblings, and children. Will Love in Spring is a lovely and unique story of life, romance, friendship, family, and the affect that loss has on ourselves.

One of my favorite quotes is between two of the grandmas in the story.
"We started with holding each other's tiny hands, now we're holding each other's wrinkled hands."

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Flawed, irritating at times, but worthwhile

This Drama had a lot of really good points to it. I had been waiting for it for more than a year, after seeing Zhou Yu Tong's great performance in Begin Again, and it did not disappoint. Her performance her as a very relaisitic character was impressive. As someone with a congenital disability, I enjoyed watching her character's arc from that perspective. It was also great that there was no trace of maudlin sympathy for her or excusing/grlorifying her personality flaws because of a 'she's disabled, let her off' kind of approach.

That lack of maudlin sympathy though was taken to extremes in the many scenes related to death and mourning. The "we're all gonna die, suck it up don't cry" mantra was megaphoned too often for my tastes. Others have accused the writer of doing a sloppy job, and that may be true, but having seen the dead hand (ha!) of SARFT at work for a decade now, my first reaction to such unsubtle preaching is to suspect state-mandate.

The other thing I really, REALLY hted were the constant references to the virtue of being fair-skinned. In a Drama that kept preaching against prejudice, to hear many characters including the FL repeatedly spouting THIS prejudice was really irksome

Despite that, there was a lot of very real and relatable human emotion on display. The leads were very flawed and complicated and that was great. The show also suprised me with it's repeated messages about gender equality - chauvinist misogyny is the norm in moden C Dramas, so this was very refreshing. I was REALLY surprised at what seemed to be a VERY clear "I'm gay" moment for one character. Given the crackdown obn BL Dramasa either SARFT missed it or they decided to let it pass.

I absolutely LOVED Wan Peng' role as the FL's BFF and the young actor playing her little sister was superb. Given the realistically open ending, the more extreme ending that was teased at the beginning of the final episode would not have been out of place either.

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Interessante, humano, mas não espetacular!

Tem uma temática diferente e interessante, mas teve alguns momentos que a história ficou muito arrastada (mas uma vez eu acho que isso é mal de chinês), que pra mim se tornou cansativa.

Vai para um lado mais adulto, maduro, mas há certos momentos que pra mim os principais estão sendo infantis. Claro que cada um tinha seus sonhos, desejos; o que parecia que eles não dariam certo. Mas havia certos momentos que eles complicavam demais! Principalmente a Prota! Para mim ele gostava muito mais dela.

Gostei do desenvolvimento dos secundários, da queria avó do prota, que fazia de tudo para mantê-los juntos. E os irmãos da Prota, cada um com suas peculiaridades únicas.

Pra mim a história não foi perfeita por conta da Prota! Gostei por ser uma personagem forte, uma mulher decidida e que batalha pelo seu. Mas tinha momentos que ela descontava nele todas suas inseguranças. Sendo que foi ela que foi pra cima, pois ele tinha medo de se machucar.

A cena da primeira tentativa deles terem relações me machucou muito a forma como ela levou a situação. Sei que ela tinha suas inseguranças, por conta da última relação, e ele num momento infeliz fez, sem querer, que ela despertasse esse gatilho. Mas precisava magoá-lo daquela forma? Sendo que foi ela mesma que atiçou tudo?

No mais possui um enredo interessante, mas esses pequenos detalhes para mim não o tornou perfeito. Contudo, é bem humano, pois a vida é assim. ?

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Only we can decide how we want to live and love

“The first time I truly felt happy is when I knew I have the ability to love my family. Even when I am disabled, it didn’t stop me from providing for them.” Zhuang Jie

~~~~

Zhuang Jie was like any other lady. In fact, she was more charming and chic than your girl next door. Except she had a disability - she lost a leg and her father from a bad accident during her teens.

This trip back to Nanjing was to recuperate from her surgery. She never planned to stay for long. Until she met Chen Maidong, her crush from high school.

Chen Maidong was like any other guy. In fact, he … really was like any other guy. With a granny that worried for his singlehood and aloofness about marriage. With a job at funeral line he held a little more dearly because of his past.

He never planned for his life to be different. Until he met Zhuang Jie.

Will Love in Spring could be a typical romantic contemporary story. What made it stood out and great was firstly, perfect casting choice.

Zhou Yu Tong and Li Xian chemistry as the main leads are on fire! How I love watching romance between adults. Their pull and push. Their fights and getting back together. Their kiss scenes. Purfect!

The supporting characters were great too. Each of them have their personalities which made them memorable and relatable. They aren’t only tools who push the plot forward. Their interactions with the leads and each other give more color and warmth to WLiS and the Nanping town.

First mention is Granny Chen’s and Granny Lin’s friendship - how lovely, being decades of friends. I love the depiction of their friendship which shows from this quote -
“以前是小手拉小手, 一转眼就是老手拉老手.
Last time, we held each other’s small hands, in a blink of an eye, we now hold each other’s old hands.”

The younger representation of equally great friendships were ZJ’s mum / Aunty Wu’s, and of course, ZJ and Wang Xi Xia.

The next mention is the sibling‘s relationship between ZJ, Zhuang Yan and He Niao Niao is another love. This is the kind of siblings we all wish to have. It’s a testament to how successful ZJ’s mum was in bringing them up. I love love their family scenes. Even when ZJ’s mum were scolding and had a more traditional mindset, this is a heartwarming family.

Similarly, Granny Chen and CMD family dynamics is lovely to watch too.

Special mention of Cui Ge and Jisan Goose. They added a lot of humour to WLiS.

With an ensemble like this , everyone one of them made facing all the heavy topics like separations, deaths, long distance relationships, disability, conflicting wants and adulting easier. How lovely and heartwarming.

Next, let’s dive deeper about the main leads love story.

Real and adult are 2 words come to mind.

I seen a lot of comments critiquing ZJ for shamelessly flirting CMD when she didn’t plan to stay long. I judged too - but then again, it’s the kind of judgment that holds a little envy. I envy her boldness of to speak her mind and enjoy the moment. I admire her quick wittedness and willingness to apologise first.

How charming, how attractive and how believable that CMD sunk.

It’s not a bed of roses after they confirmed their feelings for each other. Even when they made blunders and fight, I was satisfied with their resolution.

Some could name ZJ’s and CMD’s relationship toxic. I feel this is how real relationships are like. We stumble. We say things we don’t mean. So long we learn to apologise and we don’t repeat, I think it’s fine.

…well I guess the problem is sometimes we don’t. Thank goodness our leads do in WLiS.

Lastly, funeral makeup artist is no longer an unusual onscreen occupation. With this onscreen job, death is brought up every other episode. If not done well, the empathy for characters who passed away in the story and messages about appreciating life could feel empty and overtly cheesy.

For WLiS, I felt the balance was appropriate. They successfully made me care for the characters, hence, receptive with the subsequent messages that come with each death case that CMD had to handle.

This particular chat he had with someone contemplating suicide touched my heart somewhere. And I hope it reaches you too.

~~~~

“Everyone has times when they are tired of life. The reasons may vary, but the pain will feel the same.

Some family members want to use special coffins, unique urns or expensive headstones to prove the deceased was special.

However, these are all illusions.

Once we die, everyone is the same.
We can only prove how special we are by living well.” Chen Maidong

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Zhou Yutong disappointed me..!

Acting is great but Fl's character is confusing and annoying..! At start she started off like she is an independent woman but later on her obsession towards Shanghai..,to me it seemed disgusting..! and Li Xian is Brilliant as always..! Chen Nai Nai and Lin Nai nai's Sisterly bond is As Pure as Coconut water ? their Sismance is Divine ✨..! And here comes the reason why i watched this drama..! eventhough Zhou Yutong is used to be one of my favourites, But I worship Wanpeng..! she is my goddess..! starting from "My Girlfriend is an alien" .! i especially checked the cast and Later found out my goddess and immediately started watching this one..! she is such a cutie, elegant, and Most beautiful actress ever..! I'm crazyily in love with her ??? Her Bff bond with Zhou yutong is also a Visual Treat.! and He Niao Niao is the cutest of all the Characters inside the drama.!

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A wonderful character driven drama

If you're someone who likes plot driven dramas, this one probably isn't for you. It relies entirely on the main protagonists; their opposite personalities, highlighting the emotional turmoil they face, relationships with each other and their families, etc. There are some minor "quasi storylines", but even those seem to be there to push characters' growth. They basically have the autonomy to decide how their story progresses, and I'm a big fan of the approach 'Will Love in Spring' takes in this regard. It's basically humans being humans and humans doing what humans do when they're sad, happy, angry or in love.

The sensitive themes being tackled here are death, physical disability and mental health which more often than not turn into a life lesson in the end, both for the protagonists and viewers at home. Unfortunately, it's why the argument from reviews that say it can get a bit preachy at times rings true and why it makes a slight dent into the story/writing aspect of this particular drama.

But the beautiful setting, soundtrack and especially our main leads' chemistry more than make up for it. Acting of the whole cast feels really natural and honest. Li Xian is consistently great in all his roles and Chen Mai Dong was no exception. Zhou Yu Tong was a true revelation, such a brillian actresss!

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