Derailment (2023)

Interesting Premise Executed in the Most Boring Way Possible

On Viki this drama is tagged as romance and fantasy, and it's not really either. From the little I knew about it going into it, I thought it would be an action sci-fi thriller, but it wasn't that at all. Then when I started it and wasn't getting the sci-fi thriller, I thought the romance would be strong. And while there is definitely romance, it wasn't as strong or impactful as I think it should've been.
Whenever the show did focus on the sci-fi elements, it was interesting and I wanted more of that, but the majority of the show is weirdly about the FL making her way through life and starting her career in hairdressing and makeup. The amount of time spent on the makeup drama was so strange to me. It just didn't fit in with the other world/messing with people's brains storyline.
Basically, this show took a really fascinating idea and told it in the most boring way possible. Okay, that's not really fair, because I did finish the whole thing and I didn't hate it. I just think that this could've been so much better if time had been spent on exploring the relationships between characters (Jiang Bo and his mother, Qi Lian and his father, Qi Lian and Jiang Xiao Yuan) and actually given us more of the hunt for answers (in a cinematic and exciting way instead of the slow plod that was shown. There really wasn't a moment where I thought the stakes were high and I was on the edge of my seat).
All of that said, I didn't hate it. I just wish it lived up to it's potential.

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I love you in every universe - ft. rags to riches !

If you want something you have to make yourself worthy of it !

Same goes here - If you want to have a good rating you need to make yourself worthy of it ...and this wasn't ...it could have been so much more than just "ENGAGING"! - (cuz first half has great buildup)- yes I believe that's the most perfect word for it!

Synopsis -
Jiang Xiao Yuan finds herself struggling with her identity as she believes to have traveled across parallel universes. Once the owner of invincible wealth overnight becomes an ordinary working girl who has absolutely no idea about how the world works, but is determined to make it through.

All this fuss to cross paths with Qi Lian, who shall lend a hand in uncovering the mystery around her, and in journey of discovering her "real" identity.

To pick or not to pick ??
- well to be honest I am not a Lin yi fan and to me the very obvious reason is his expression that didn't make me feel anything and this goes for all of his projects till date. That does include this one too. But the FL does " make up" for what the ML seems to lack. She's vigilant , self reliant, caring, optimistic, hardworking, determined and everything nice !

So if you can bother tolerating lin yi for some time like me ....go for it ! Warning - ITS NOT THE SCI FIC YOU ARE EXPECTING !
and you'll be finishing it to know how it ends and not how it went !

this drama is very promising except for the fact that they cast lin yi and waste a lot of time in "make up and hair dressing" which apparently lead the story nowhere. The makers are so hell bent in showing us revolutionary make up (i don't know what is so revolutionary about it but yeah fuck it i mean skip it) that even if we have 2 eps to go or even if we are on the last ep ....the talk of the town shall be MAKE UP !
- yes I am so very annoyed !

The journey in the mid episodes is a bumpy ride - a lot of it went in circles and you may feel like quitting but the curiosity of how it shall end will keep you hooked !

the overall idea is so well built that it would be too difficult to actually believe that everything you believe is just a build up ! - you'll know what this means once you reach there ! (spoilers towards the end) - very convincingly done ! like commendable !

The music is nice so is the cinematography ! - the FL looks cute , The SML does look cute too !
Not a lot of time is spent around the mystery - which seems to be a down point to some( like me) - who signed up to see it after reading the synopsis !

But on the other hand ..the couple take time to develop - they are given space and you can see their dilemma - both have an awesome back story - like you feel that there's so much going on no one can be trusted no one knows who the villains are ....and there's just so much to the story. - but they be still crying over make up !

-- SPOILERS ------------------------------------------------------------------
The fact that it wasn't a time travel ....just took off all my excitement and thrill of watching. from then on the leads were nothing but lab rats to me. lab rats who were trying to get out and will probably do too ...but not that any of it was as enchanting to me as the time travel would have been.
that being sad ...even tho I was disappointed the build up was so well done ...so convincing that yes it had to be time travel with some parallel universe !

Tho makes sense that in FL's imaginary world everything was as she would have wanted in the real world !

The ML's reveal of being a lab rat himself - great
but his friend not existing - mehh - You emotionally invested me so much to come up with that ...and then lin yi didn't act it well on top - he cried and I knew it was all fake - so unbelievable that I skipped through it! - yes what was supposed to be a scene I cry for ...was skipped without a thought ! - at last all of those memories are fake and the wrap us is so unbelievable ! - wasn't it a car accident ?
When did we decide it wasn't ? like wtf ? - explain ?

At some point I just started watching for the curiosity and nothing else - so this lacked fun !
The villain has no motive what so ever and has no story at all ! - she's just bad bec she is bad ...it's 2024 bitches ...that shit ain't likable now !

I feel so bad for SML - like his story is the one I liked the most - less time consuming , well done, well portrayed ! - and they even turned him into a puppet ...any sort of redemption arc ? Like hello pls ? - he's also sick ...wth ?

Also the neck choke sucked ...like WTF bruh !
Even in the end it's MAKE UP ! - wow ! they wasted ep 29 and ep 30 doesn't give good enough closures but they have time for Make up !
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- The show is good but not worth the 30 eps it took ...more like if they just had more fluffy moments instead of make up or maybe more efforts towards unraveling the mystery I'd have liked it a lot more !

tho still hooked ....just so to say ...the makers did a good job making me curious enough !
Watch if you are good at skipping !


PS. I am not here to argue all of it is just my opinion ! - lin yi fans pls note !

My Fav part of the show
"People's memories determine who they are. Erasing their memories is equal to erasing them.
If one day you find out all your memories are fake, would you be willing to forget them ?
would you let yourself become someone you don't even know !? "

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