1
Klio
Bosnia and Herzegovina
There are no gains without pains, but if you continue fighting sooner or later you'll be rewarded.
I never expected to have a drama of this genre in the list of my all-time favorite dramas, but here we are - after 36 episodes and bad English subs that occasionally made my brain bleed, I can say that I don't regret watching it. Since I rate dramas based on my personal enjoyment, Cross Fire easily deserves the highest rating I can give. It's a beautiful and wholesome story about youth, chasing dreams, friendship and love, set in the world of gaming and professional e-sports, but combined with some sci-fi elements that make it all the more interesting.
The story is set in two timelines and follows two main characters and their teammates, Xiao Feng, who lives in 2008, and Lu Xiao Bei, who lives in 2019. Due to an unexplained glitch in the game they're both playing, they manage to meet, start communicating and slowly form friendship with each other. Their storylines later converge in real life, but saying anything more would be a spoiler so I'll leave it at that.
What I love the most about this drama is the story, the way it flowed perfectly, the way they portrayed friendships, character developments and betrayals. There was a healthy balance of humor and emotional scenes. After all, life consists of both tragedies and happy moments. Humor was on point, it made me laugh out lout, and the emotional scenes managed to make me cry. It was not all about gaming. Yes, the frame in which they operated was mostly centered around the world of e-sports, but they managed to naturally squeeze in the stories about families and friendships & they managed to make all the characters likable. They weren't perfect but none of them were annoying & most of them had good backstories which made it easier to understand their actions.
Another thing I liked was the portrayal of the game itself. It's a shooting game, and they mixed the scenes of characters playing on their computers and characters being IN the game. The whole 'in the game' segment was really well choreographed and interesting to watch, and the parts in which they competed against other teams were actually suspenseful and exciting to watch.
I would also like to praise the MLs. I'm familiar with Wu Lei's works and he was the reason why I started watching this in the first place. I never watched Lu Han tho. I knew of him, but this was the first time I saw him acting and all I can say is - the man can act! Both of them were really good, their characters were likable and their bromance and friendship was really heartwarming. Wu Lei's emotional scenes were some of my favourite moments of the drama. They all just felt very natural & were heartbreaking. The show doesn't let you linger on heartbreak too much tho. After every loss comes the gain, and in the end it becomes a beautiful story about life.
The unexplained sci-fi part may be something that bothered some watchers, but I didn't really need to know how the 2008-2019 communication worked to be able to enjoy the main point of the story. There was also another sci-fi subplot that wasn't that well explained (it happens in 2008 and is completely unrealistic in regards to the rest of the story) but again, I didn't care about the explanation. It worked as a good plot device that moved the story forward and that's all that I really cared about. Other than those points, I really have no other complaints. It's a really well thought out and executed drama.
10/10 from me and it goes straight to the list of my favorite dramas.
[Fun fact: I watched it together with my 60+ years old aunt who doesn't like sci-fi or any type of unrealistic plots and she loved it as much as I did. We watched dozens of dramas together and this is the only one she openly praised. I was dumbfounded but extremely pleased. If she could like it, anyone can ?]
The story is set in two timelines and follows two main characters and their teammates, Xiao Feng, who lives in 2008, and Lu Xiao Bei, who lives in 2019. Due to an unexplained glitch in the game they're both playing, they manage to meet, start communicating and slowly form friendship with each other. Their storylines later converge in real life, but saying anything more would be a spoiler so I'll leave it at that.
What I love the most about this drama is the story, the way it flowed perfectly, the way they portrayed friendships, character developments and betrayals. There was a healthy balance of humor and emotional scenes. After all, life consists of both tragedies and happy moments. Humor was on point, it made me laugh out lout, and the emotional scenes managed to make me cry. It was not all about gaming. Yes, the frame in which they operated was mostly centered around the world of e-sports, but they managed to naturally squeeze in the stories about families and friendships & they managed to make all the characters likable. They weren't perfect but none of them were annoying & most of them had good backstories which made it easier to understand their actions.
Another thing I liked was the portrayal of the game itself. It's a shooting game, and they mixed the scenes of characters playing on their computers and characters being IN the game. The whole 'in the game' segment was really well choreographed and interesting to watch, and the parts in which they competed against other teams were actually suspenseful and exciting to watch.
I would also like to praise the MLs. I'm familiar with Wu Lei's works and he was the reason why I started watching this in the first place. I never watched Lu Han tho. I knew of him, but this was the first time I saw him acting and all I can say is - the man can act! Both of them were really good, their characters were likable and their bromance and friendship was really heartwarming. Wu Lei's emotional scenes were some of my favourite moments of the drama. They all just felt very natural & were heartbreaking. The show doesn't let you linger on heartbreak too much tho. After every loss comes the gain, and in the end it becomes a beautiful story about life.
The unexplained sci-fi part may be something that bothered some watchers, but I didn't really need to know how the 2008-2019 communication worked to be able to enjoy the main point of the story. There was also another sci-fi subplot that wasn't that well explained (it happens in 2008 and is completely unrealistic in regards to the rest of the story) but again, I didn't care about the explanation. It worked as a good plot device that moved the story forward and that's all that I really cared about. Other than those points, I really have no other complaints. It's a really well thought out and executed drama.
10/10 from me and it goes straight to the list of my favorite dramas.
[Fun fact: I watched it together with my 60+ years old aunt who doesn't like sci-fi or any type of unrealistic plots and she loved it as much as I did. We watched dozens of dramas together and this is the only one she openly praised. I was dumbfounded but extremely pleased. If she could like it, anyone can ?]
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