Part 1 - One step at a time, together and independently

The thing about pair skating, it’s about pair work as much as it’s about individual work. Part 1 story was set in the 80’s, and it was a story that’s centred on pairs figure skating, a time when times were tough and opportunities were limited.

When I first tuned in, I thought it would be a story of hard work and true love triumphed the nationals. Little did I know, Part 1 was more about the story of Yan Zhen Hua and Li Bing He’s thin-ice romance, and excruciating hard work to fight for a spot in national ice-skating sports team. Alas, while they shared the same dream and true love, it’s a story about what happened when a pair of figure skaters did not share the same motivation, attitude, and talent / potential.

One of the key themes in Part 1 of the story was the contrast of our main leads’ family background. Coming from a poor family background, Yan Zhen Hua had all the reason and grit to struggle through arduous training on the ice so he can be his family’s pride. His greatest Achilles' heel, as all main characters would have, was this pride of his. Not that having pride was bad, in fact, it was a great motivator for YZH to push through the hurdles, so he can win the nationals. The pride did however limit his growth in ice-skate, and to a certain extent, blinded his empathy to his friends’ challenges.

In contrast, LBH, who started off as the innocent rich girl, whose eyes only had skating and her “Da Hua ge”, slowly came to develop her own comprehension about skating through her life experiences in latter part of the story. And when the rift started to become apparent, they both unfortunately decided to part ways.

It took me awhile, I surprisingly came to like this consistent characters portrayal and realistic story execution. While we can empathise with YZH’s situation and may even applaud him for gritting through and staying loyal to his dream, family and friends, truth to be told, it was hard to root for him - especially if we have also been through one or two life’s curveballs ourselves. After all, we don’t live life in vacuum. What the production team wanted to portray was the real and gruesome road to the nationals.

Part 2 - Focus on what matters

For part 2, we came to the short track speed skater story, featuring YZH’s son, Yan Yang’s training in Beijing in 00’s.

The pace was a lot faster and focused in part 2. In the present days, we can clearly tell that the facilities and support for young athletes were more matured. I particularly loved it when Coach Chen entered the picture - her no nonsense, tough love approach that focused on results might be harsh, but it’s clearly effective.

Comparatively to his father, YY is a lot more confident, calmer, and firmer on pursuing his goals. His approach when faced with setbacks were more matured. The only time he raised his voice was when YZH forcefully stopped him from a competition. It made sense, YZH and YY had quite different childhood experiences. Watching how YZH came to accept and eventually supported his son’s short speed track skating was heartwarming.

JY, as the female lead for part 2, is a determined, quiet, and awkward character. She had certain attachment to her past experiences to overcome. Watching how she warmed up to YY and going through it was enjoyable.

Apart from YY and JY’s development and journey, both on ice and off ice, there was also a clear arc / representation for each character:
- Yan Yang: The unsung heroes, those who helped trained their team but may not get the chance to compete at nationals
- Jin Ying: Athletes who had exposure in overseas training system, and how they adapted back to their country’s training system
- Jia Chang An: Talent vs Hard Work in competitive sports
- Tang Han: Impact of injuries to an athlete’s career
- Tian Miao: Competitiveness, which can serve as a motivator or downfall
- Coaches: The different training philosophies and how to instil the “right” attitude. When to step in, when to take a step back, when to push, when to remain as observer

All in all, I enjoyed Part 2 story a lot more as it’s my cup of tea for a sports series, that’s centered on training progress, characters’ motivation, and team members’ dynamics / support for each other, albeit a little propaganda-ish. Part 1 story would be lovely for those who liked melodrama stories that’s centered on the main characters’ journey, speck of life’s realism, and bittersweet romance.