LilMeggs
San Jose, CA
Not sure where to start with this review - I was going back and forth between an 8 and a 9 for this, so a 8.5 will do. I liked the message overall and enjoyed how it wasn't solely a romance. This drama was more about Han Shang Yan or Gun learning how to forgive himself and his old teams about what happened in the past as well as learning to love and let people back into his life. In disguise, this drama was less about Tong Nian or Nian Nian, and more about Team SOLO and their journey over the course of 10 years and learning how to forgive each other as well as themselves before they could reunite. Yes Nian Nian did some maturing in this drama and it was around 50% about her and her life, but I don't think she went through any major change. If anything, she was there to show unconditional support for Shangyan regardless how many times he tried to push her away.
At the beginning, I wasn't feeling this drama at all. I am not a huge fan of love at first sight. Especially when you have Nian Nian who is an intelligent graduate student, acting like a 13 year old fan girl who follows Shangyan around like a lost puppy, trying to get him to fall in love with her. Then you have the fake relationship that started it all so he could please his grandfather, when he knew that she actually had feelings for him. It was painful to watch her go along with all of this. But of course, we find out that he had fallen in love with her at first sight (kind of) which I call fake news on. It seemed like he wasn't at all into the relationship until after the first breakup, and then randomly after the 2nd, it was like he knew exactly how to treat her. While she stayed consistent, every time they got into a relationship, he acted like a completely different person. All good steps in the right direction, but every time it happened, I was like...who is this guy?
Overall, cute and slow paced relationship. It was about two people who have never been in love, figuring out how to be in a relationship and learning that there is no wrong or right way. It was cringy (especially all the kissing scenes - I feel like I was watching Love 020 again, with dead fish Wei Wei), but as expected with first love. But I thought it was super interesting about the relationships in this drama. A lot of the elders and some of her classmates gave her and Shangyan so much crap for their age difference. But literally no one brought up the age gap when any of team SOLO got with someone younger. Given, I shipped Mi Shao Fei and his love interest from the beginning, and would have loved to see more of them and their feelings blossom. Then we also have Appledog's possible romance. I thought she was going to play a bigger role in this drama, but she was very behind the scenes. We don't really see her and her possible romance until literally the last ep or two, which I thought was kind of cute, but at the same time, why the heck are all the 30 year olds trying to get at the 20 year olds. Maybe she was younger than Solo or Gun, but she couldn't be by much. It was hard to get behind anything she did because she only really interacted with the love interest twice in the whole drama. Plus the relationship he had with Solo and Gun is just super weird to me. Kind of like...a younger brother dating an ex. I am glad that they didn't put Solo with anyone because out of all the people in this drama, Gun a close second, he had to learn to love and forgive himself before trying to ask for love and forgiveness from others. He did the right thing in the past, BUT I believe he went the wrong way about it.
At the end of the day, even though this drama had a good message and I enjoyed it, I feel like it dragged on. I feel like the director was going overboard with trying to make this drama very sentimental and emotional while going overboard with all the flashbacks. Yes, it was necessary for the story, but def could have cut out like 50% of them. Especially at the end when literally a good portion of the end episodes were all flashbacks. Normally, this would get me on any day. I suck at flashbacks. I don't care if it in a tv show, drama, movie, or even commercial. I am a complete baby, but this drama decided to take this idea and ring it dry, that scenes I know should have been emotional, such as the tub make up scene, just made me say ...meh ok. I think I might have a limit of how much you can mess with my emotions, but it was wild that I didn't shed a single tear. Like I told myself if Shangyan opened up and started crying, it would break me. Any grown man crying would break me, but instead I was sitting on my couch, cringing at him ugly crying, which I felt bad for after the fact cause it was such a turning point scene. After watching it, I think the only times where I almost cried were for Mi Shao Fei and Demo. I feel like they both got the short end of the stick for the majority of the drama, but once Little Mi joined K&K and once Demo got the encouragement from Gun that he didn't know he needed, both of them excelled. I also felt bad for ONE towards the end as well as GRUNT, but the writer did an amazing job with them getting a chance to prove themselves.
Overall, this drama was a lot better than I initially thought it was going to be. A story about a team from 10 years ago having a team of winning the championship together that year, but ending up getting their dream in a different way almost 10 years later. A story about a guy who felt like everyone abandoned him even after trying to be the glue that kept everyone together. About grown ass adults that just needed to sit down and apologize to one another. I think that is what I didn't understand about this drama. Why in episode 30-something that it took them 10+ year for GUN to tell SOLO something he already knew in order for him to apologize. Also Appledog randomly coming in the situation, and apologizing. Like everyone had 10 years to do this, and instead acting hella prideful and waiting until a drunk moment to do this. If I was GUN, yeah...I would be mad too. Only difference is that I cannot hold a grudge to save my life, so 10 years is very childish. Like the 20 somethings were acting way more grown up in this drama than the 30 somethings. Except for Zheng Hui. F*** that guy. Acting like he about to hurt someone in his final scene in the drama.
Not sure if I would rewatch this again. So much back and forth with the couple; when it was bad, it was bad, and when it was good...it was so good. The competition scenes were so well done and the emotions from the coaches and players were so emotional. Seriously, Little Mi needs to be in more dramas. Loved his character. Loved the moments when he broke down. He should win an award for those scenes.
At the beginning, I wasn't feeling this drama at all. I am not a huge fan of love at first sight. Especially when you have Nian Nian who is an intelligent graduate student, acting like a 13 year old fan girl who follows Shangyan around like a lost puppy, trying to get him to fall in love with her. Then you have the fake relationship that started it all so he could please his grandfather, when he knew that she actually had feelings for him. It was painful to watch her go along with all of this. But of course, we find out that he had fallen in love with her at first sight (kind of) which I call fake news on. It seemed like he wasn't at all into the relationship until after the first breakup, and then randomly after the 2nd, it was like he knew exactly how to treat her. While she stayed consistent, every time they got into a relationship, he acted like a completely different person. All good steps in the right direction, but every time it happened, I was like...who is this guy?
Overall, cute and slow paced relationship. It was about two people who have never been in love, figuring out how to be in a relationship and learning that there is no wrong or right way. It was cringy (especially all the kissing scenes - I feel like I was watching Love 020 again, with dead fish Wei Wei), but as expected with first love. But I thought it was super interesting about the relationships in this drama. A lot of the elders and some of her classmates gave her and Shangyan so much crap for their age difference. But literally no one brought up the age gap when any of team SOLO got with someone younger. Given, I shipped Mi Shao Fei and his love interest from the beginning, and would have loved to see more of them and their feelings blossom. Then we also have Appledog's possible romance. I thought she was going to play a bigger role in this drama, but she was very behind the scenes. We don't really see her and her possible romance until literally the last ep or two, which I thought was kind of cute, but at the same time, why the heck are all the 30 year olds trying to get at the 20 year olds. Maybe she was younger than Solo or Gun, but she couldn't be by much. It was hard to get behind anything she did because she only really interacted with the love interest twice in the whole drama. Plus the relationship he had with Solo and Gun is just super weird to me. Kind of like...a younger brother dating an ex. I am glad that they didn't put Solo with anyone because out of all the people in this drama, Gun a close second, he had to learn to love and forgive himself before trying to ask for love and forgiveness from others. He did the right thing in the past, BUT I believe he went the wrong way about it.
At the end of the day, even though this drama had a good message and I enjoyed it, I feel like it dragged on. I feel like the director was going overboard with trying to make this drama very sentimental and emotional while going overboard with all the flashbacks. Yes, it was necessary for the story, but def could have cut out like 50% of them. Especially at the end when literally a good portion of the end episodes were all flashbacks. Normally, this would get me on any day. I suck at flashbacks. I don't care if it in a tv show, drama, movie, or even commercial. I am a complete baby, but this drama decided to take this idea and ring it dry, that scenes I know should have been emotional, such as the tub make up scene, just made me say ...meh ok. I think I might have a limit of how much you can mess with my emotions, but it was wild that I didn't shed a single tear. Like I told myself if Shangyan opened up and started crying, it would break me. Any grown man crying would break me, but instead I was sitting on my couch, cringing at him ugly crying, which I felt bad for after the fact cause it was such a turning point scene. After watching it, I think the only times where I almost cried were for Mi Shao Fei and Demo. I feel like they both got the short end of the stick for the majority of the drama, but once Little Mi joined K&K and once Demo got the encouragement from Gun that he didn't know he needed, both of them excelled. I also felt bad for ONE towards the end as well as GRUNT, but the writer did an amazing job with them getting a chance to prove themselves.
Overall, this drama was a lot better than I initially thought it was going to be. A story about a team from 10 years ago having a team of winning the championship together that year, but ending up getting their dream in a different way almost 10 years later. A story about a guy who felt like everyone abandoned him even after trying to be the glue that kept everyone together. About grown ass adults that just needed to sit down and apologize to one another. I think that is what I didn't understand about this drama. Why in episode 30-something that it took them 10+ year for GUN to tell SOLO something he already knew in order for him to apologize. Also Appledog randomly coming in the situation, and apologizing. Like everyone had 10 years to do this, and instead acting hella prideful and waiting until a drunk moment to do this. If I was GUN, yeah...I would be mad too. Only difference is that I cannot hold a grudge to save my life, so 10 years is very childish. Like the 20 somethings were acting way more grown up in this drama than the 30 somethings. Except for Zheng Hui. F*** that guy. Acting like he about to hurt someone in his final scene in the drama.
Not sure if I would rewatch this again. So much back and forth with the couple; when it was bad, it was bad, and when it was good...it was so good. The competition scenes were so well done and the emotions from the coaches and players were so emotional. Seriously, Little Mi needs to be in more dramas. Loved his character. Loved the moments when he broke down. He should win an award for those scenes.
Was this review helpful to you?
