This got mentioned quite often in my FB Chinese drama group so I thought I’d check it out. The drama clearly didn’t have high expectations as the episodes all dropped at once on iQiyi. I would give it a solid 3.5 to 4 stars. But at the end of the day, because of 想見你, I did not fall in love with the drama as others have.
- Age: 12+, tweens if you’re okay with some romance
- Romance: “can’t even get to hand holding” sweet
- Genre: high school, mystery, time travel
- Episodes: 24x45min (18 episodes)
- Actors: 張佳寧 (Karina Zhang), 屈楚蕭 ( Qu Chu Xiao )
- Wiki: English
- Released: Jan 2022
- Where to Watch: iQiyi
TLDR for Friends
Watching this drama makes me want to rewatch 想見你 again as they seem to have almost the same premise. I know it’s not a ringing endorsement, but it’s a good to fall asleep to drama. I fast forwarded a lot through the middle because I wanted to see the mystery solved (why she traveled through time).
It’s just it had none of the feel 想見你 managed to convey that made you root for the couple. Probably because the ‘romance’ part in this drama is non-existent and platonic, and the ML’s personality wasn’t one that made the audience fall in love with him, hence, fall-asleep-to drama.
Plot and Quick Review
張佳寧 (Karina Zhang)’s finance breaks up with her two weeks before their wedding and she just got fired from her dead-end job. Life isn’t going so well. While going through her high school momento, she accidentally travels back in time repeatedly. She eventually figures out the reason and tries to save 屈楚蕭 (Qu Chu Xiao), who has had a crush on her for years. Of course they kinda fall in love. Will she be successful in saving him?
I guess I did most of my review in the TLDR portion. ha. I don’t think it was a waste of my time. But if I’d known the spoiler, then I wouldn’t have binged watched 24 episodes over 1.5 days. Very solid acting, directing, and writing. And most people would fall in love with it if they hadn’t watched 想見你. That’s the reason I would give it just 3.5-4 stars, it didn’t move me. I appreciated it from afar.
I would totally watch the drama with Astroboy, as he’d be drawn into the mystery aspect. Thumper would roll her eyes a bit as sometimes the characters lack common sense. You know, why not bring an umbrella?
But the parent-child conflicts could totally be up a teenager’s ally. One character wants to be a 相聲 master but his parents don’t support him. Another wants to go to art school but is neglected by her principal dad.
It’s just a very teenage drama type of drama. So good for teenagers.
After you watch this drama, go watch 想見你.
What Parents Need to Know
A character falls to his death in the beginning of the series. There are some gang violence, namely people beating people up. There’s a stressful scene where the FL is stuck in a burning room. The romance is almost non existent, it’s 99% talk about how the ML has a crush on the FL. You can even let a 7 or 10 year old watch it, except these kids are high school kids so it’s just more content appropriate for tweens and up.
Chinese Aspect or Things to Talk to Kids About?
The kids in the high school spend a lot of time prepping for their college entrance exams, 高考. I don’t know if that’s what it was really like, but it was quite interesting. My idea of a big multi-subject test is like the SAT, whereas they’re doing these little long sheets of exam papers much like normal exams you’d take in school.
Since this is a high school drama, there is your typical ‘what do I do with my life’ angst, plus your typical parent kid conflict.
