I don’t foray into modern dramas all that often. I really wanted to find one that wasn’t too goofy, had a bit of romance, had a bit of drama, had a little something where I could learn more about a different culture in the modern day. I saw this and was like, hey, Shawn Dou is in it! Yay. He’s a great actor. I’ve been wanting to see him again anyway. Seemed like an interesting plot too.

First episode, great. I get the plot. Going back a little in time through a dreadful plane crash, fun. Oh noes, your man is with another girl? How’d that happen? What are we going to do about it? How do we go about asserting ourselves in this alternate time frame? Well. This is where it gets cringy. Apparently this involves creepy stalking your man- who isn’t currently your man- showing up where you know he’s going to be, inviting him out on dates, sending him strange late night texts, and (imo justifiably) triggering his current girlfriend. Who you tried to befriend as well. Ok maybe his girlfriend is a total brat sometimes. It doesn’t matter. You don’t have a right to him anymore. He asks you very sweetly and politely to stop creepy stalking him cuz it triggers his gf. You say “oh she just didn’t understand”. Um, yeah she did. (Facepalm.) This actually had me recoiling in my chair, wincing, and berating her through the tv like a fool.

At this point I’m really trying to hold out and start liking this show. I’m gritting my teeth and hoping that it works its way around to not freaking me out. I mean, I get missing the guy, he’s totally cute and is a bone deep good person in this. I’d miss him too. But at this point, I watch his poor girlfriend seeing them together from afar and my heart just hurts for anyone in her position. Maybe I missed something? I doubt it. I love the flashbacks, even if it still doesn’t justify the stalking to me. Her friend with the glasses is great. Her mom is great. I’m wondering if I’m a horrible person for not liking this girl right now. Oh wait, she just stole her friend’s job. Maybe I’m not.

I can’t even go into all the times she comes across as a self absorbed lunatic. I can tell that they’re trying to make me feel for her, but I am just so, so not. I’m struggling, and it’s making me frustrated. Am I really supposed to like her? Maybe everyone will have a personality lobotomy, except for Shawn’s Ye JiaCheng. So I hang on longer. I keep wanting to yell at her like her friend eventually does and I wonder why, if she read all those time travel books, she has never heard about the butterfly effect. But judging from her actions I doubt she’d care as long as she gets what she wants. Yikes. I’m past thinking if I might be a horrible person and I'm considering that I may be a masochist now. The seemingly endless circle of crazed hope and crushing letdown is making me wonder if i I should start day drinking. So far all this show had done is make me wonder about myself and give me a low grade craving for fish and dumplings. This is my day off, dangit, and now I'm upset.

Finally there is an epiphany. Maybe. Maybe.... things will turn less psychotic? I hang on some more and do some work- on a day off, yes, but I think I need a distraction from this- while I watch and wait. There seems to be a limitless supply of jean jackets, awkward and crazy in this show. The more I watch, the more I feel bad for JiaCheng, stuck between difficult and insane. What a nightmare. I’m stressed out just watching the guy. I’m questioning everyone’s life decisions, from Yi Pei to the bffs to the people walking down the street. I’m questioning my life decisions in watching it.
Then Yi Pei kind of enters the picture, and I’m thinking, okay. He’s a decent guy, and even if I don’t like her very much, maybe this will be a show that says “hey, even if things don’t turn out like you think they should be, they can still turn out good.” Sounds promising! I’m an eternal optimist, even if it feels unlikely. But why not.
Nope. More crazy follows. I nearly quit. I hold on, partly because I want to know how it ends and partly because I want to write a comprehensive review (I’m actually practicing my writing skills) and I don’t want to do it for only a quarter of the show.
There’s an ironic, mostly unrelated little dialogue about confusing possessiveness with love. Ironic because the entire first part of this show revolves around her making decisions that are more about her wanting him and deciding he’s hers no matter what reality they live in, rather than what’s actually better for him at that time. It scares me because the writers are aware of it, and still wrote a show that has this at the center. Maybe this is just a really roundabout way of defining the difference between selfish desire and unselfish love? I keep watching. But it keeps digressing.
She finds more ways of questionable nature to insert herself into his life.
Don’t get me wrong. I love a strong willed woman. But this girl just inserts herself into situations where she doesn’t belong, offers up her opinions like they’re edicts from gods, and looks surprised and hurt when someone has the temerity to take affront. I’ve started to realize that even if there is character development, I’m not sure I’m going to care. I’m just worn out by this point. I may come back to this, but probably not.

Overall thoughts: It’s a great cast. I’m sure there are a lot of people in the world today who will enjoy it. Lots of emotional moments and effort put forth by everyone in this production. It’s just not for me.

Those who will like this movie: Someone who likes a lot of drama, angst, with a questionable moral compass or an ability to just stare at Shawn Dou and ignore pretty much everything that happens around him.

“My advice to you: Maintain a moderate stupidity.” Whaaaat? (Yes, that’s an only slightly paraphrased quote from this. I’m serious.)