summerfancy
US
This review may contain spoilers
Finally! A C-drama that doesn't rely on a template!
This is a remake of the Taiwanese drama ‘Meet Me at 10:06’, which was pretty good (and on IQIYI), however, the Chinese have made some good improvements. First, believe it or not, they actually shortened it by 2 episodes, probably because we didn’t have a second or third couple taking up time and boring us. Second, I think the plot is tighter, and lastly, there’s more sweet romance and a much more satisfying ending. I think my favorite thing about this drama is it managed to tell a story WITHOUT meddling, tyrannical parents or obsessed female love rivals. It doesn't follow a prescribed template. The plot revolves around a past problem/event that the leads need to solve/change so they (and a few other people) could end up with a happy ending. It can get confusing at times, jumping in and out of 2021 and 2022, but the logic held together until we came to the end and the required happy ending. I think it kept my interest because 1) there was plenty of romance and sweet 'aww' moments; and 2) my mind was kept active analyzing the logic of overlapping time. Unlike most movies/novels, it starts out with the premise that ‘fate’ cannot be changed no matter what you do in the past. This is proven wrong as the drama progresses. I am a firm believer that fate isn’t fate if you can change it, HOWEVER, if time travel were possible outside the world of movies and novels, you’re darn tooting that it can be changed. And that’s why, although theoretically time travel is possible, I don't think we'll ever be able to do it because - fate must remain fate. Can you imagine the chaos that would ensue if people began popping back into their past (or any past time period) and changing things? The universe would cease to exist.
I liked both ML & FL as a couple and individually. I think they had good chemistry and were really sweet together. I like how 2021 Zhengyu fell in love with FL just like 2022 Zhengyu – although it took him a lot longer to see what his future self had already seen in her. They become a sort of odd love triangle although it’s only towards the end that Z-2021 finally starts softening towards her as they spend more and more time together. He sort of reminded me of ML is the K-drama 'Hyde Jekyll Me' - he was the other half watching longingly from the sidelines as his more likeable self enjoyed FL's love and affection. They were the same man, but FL sees them as separately.
Individually, ML is the more likeable of the two because of his unwillingness to give up on their happy ending. If it hadn’t been for him and his tenacity, FL would have surrendered to her ‘fate’. She would have continue on her path to first fate and then martyrdom. And that’s my biggest complaint about FL. I liked her character, but I really wanted to slap her starting at episode 15 where she decides to play the role of the noble idiot. She liked this role so much that she played it again! So, she dumps ML twice because she's overcome with fatalism, and then she, apparently, wants to be a martyr. She totally ignores ML's arguments and does what she feels is best. Argh! I wanted to shake her; it was SO frustrating! Honestly, the scriptwriter overused the noble idiot trope with this girl. Thankfully, Z-2021 finally steps up to the plate and saves his future with some much needed words to FL about how hurtful she was being by dumping Z-2022 over and over again. Because of this annoying fatalism, my warm feelings toward FL cooled slightly. Nevertheless, she was spunky, smart and mature and didn’t veer into that ‘cutesy’ character that the Chinese love so much and I hate so much. ML, although pretty cold and haughty in his lawyer persona, was wonderfully sweet as his future self. I really, really liked this guy.
My favorite scene was in episode 16 where ML shows FL their future in drawings/paintings. That was such a beautiful moment. It brought tears to my eyes – however, it still wasn’t enough to convince FL to give up her fatalism. This girl! Would someone just slap some sense into her, please?!
Thankfully, there were no second or third couples. Yes, there was the couple of Jirong and Shenghao, but we really didn’t see any of their romance or have to see them dating, etc. They and their marriage was just there as part of the overall plot. They were side characters. Unfortunately, Jirong, like FL, becomes completely unreasonable around the same time as FL and dumps Shenghao for basically no reason - it had some weird connection to her brother that I still can't make sense of. And amazingly, there were no parents – except for a brief appearance of FL’s grandma who was pleasant and didn’t meddle except to help ML draw FL out of hiding. There was also no annoying dingbat besties or equally annoying siblings. It was solely focused on the main couple and their journey to unravel the meaning/cause of their time overlap.
As mentioned above, I really liked the fact this drama managed to tell a story without relying on a template. I'm not saying there wasn't some of the usual tropes; what I'm saying is a lot of the usual (and annoying) ones were missing. Also, internet scandals were kept at a minimum. Oh, there was one, but it was quickly resolved. There wasn't a female love rival (unless you count Chen Kexin who tried to interest Z-2021 and failed miserably). Mu Shiming, the male love rival, was pretty much a non-entity. His role in the C-drama was smaller than it was in the T-drama. Z-2021 was more of a love rival although it took him a while to get the starch out of his breeches, and for a while FL couldn't accept him - she continued to see him separate from Z-2022.
Overall, it's probably the best time travel C-drama I've watched. The logic held together for the most part, but it ended up having the same problem as 'The Lakehouse'. If she hadn't dropped the bird, and if he hadn't picked it up, none of this would have happened, and they basically eliminated her dropping the bird by changing the past. Also, what happens when Z-2021 arrives at the day in the future when Z-2022 did what he did to save FL? I guess it won't happen because Mr. Sun went nutty - don't know how you logically resolve that. BUT, I still liked this movie just like I liked 'The Lakehouse'. Sometimes you just have to turn you brain off and enjoy the romance. I gave the re-watch value a 9 because it might be worth watching again if you had trouble following the time overlap logic.
I liked both ML & FL as a couple and individually. I think they had good chemistry and were really sweet together. I like how 2021 Zhengyu fell in love with FL just like 2022 Zhengyu – although it took him a lot longer to see what his future self had already seen in her. They become a sort of odd love triangle although it’s only towards the end that Z-2021 finally starts softening towards her as they spend more and more time together. He sort of reminded me of ML is the K-drama 'Hyde Jekyll Me' - he was the other half watching longingly from the sidelines as his more likeable self enjoyed FL's love and affection. They were the same man, but FL sees them as separately.
Individually, ML is the more likeable of the two because of his unwillingness to give up on their happy ending. If it hadn’t been for him and his tenacity, FL would have surrendered to her ‘fate’. She would have continue on her path to first fate and then martyrdom. And that’s my biggest complaint about FL. I liked her character, but I really wanted to slap her starting at episode 15 where she decides to play the role of the noble idiot. She liked this role so much that she played it again! So, she dumps ML twice because she's overcome with fatalism, and then she, apparently, wants to be a martyr. She totally ignores ML's arguments and does what she feels is best. Argh! I wanted to shake her; it was SO frustrating! Honestly, the scriptwriter overused the noble idiot trope with this girl. Thankfully, Z-2021 finally steps up to the plate and saves his future with some much needed words to FL about how hurtful she was being by dumping Z-2022 over and over again. Because of this annoying fatalism, my warm feelings toward FL cooled slightly. Nevertheless, she was spunky, smart and mature and didn’t veer into that ‘cutesy’ character that the Chinese love so much and I hate so much. ML, although pretty cold and haughty in his lawyer persona, was wonderfully sweet as his future self. I really, really liked this guy.
My favorite scene was in episode 16 where ML shows FL their future in drawings/paintings. That was such a beautiful moment. It brought tears to my eyes – however, it still wasn’t enough to convince FL to give up her fatalism. This girl! Would someone just slap some sense into her, please?!
Thankfully, there were no second or third couples. Yes, there was the couple of Jirong and Shenghao, but we really didn’t see any of their romance or have to see them dating, etc. They and their marriage was just there as part of the overall plot. They were side characters. Unfortunately, Jirong, like FL, becomes completely unreasonable around the same time as FL and dumps Shenghao for basically no reason - it had some weird connection to her brother that I still can't make sense of. And amazingly, there were no parents – except for a brief appearance of FL’s grandma who was pleasant and didn’t meddle except to help ML draw FL out of hiding. There was also no annoying dingbat besties or equally annoying siblings. It was solely focused on the main couple and their journey to unravel the meaning/cause of their time overlap.
As mentioned above, I really liked the fact this drama managed to tell a story without relying on a template. I'm not saying there wasn't some of the usual tropes; what I'm saying is a lot of the usual (and annoying) ones were missing. Also, internet scandals were kept at a minimum. Oh, there was one, but it was quickly resolved. There wasn't a female love rival (unless you count Chen Kexin who tried to interest Z-2021 and failed miserably). Mu Shiming, the male love rival, was pretty much a non-entity. His role in the C-drama was smaller than it was in the T-drama. Z-2021 was more of a love rival although it took him a while to get the starch out of his breeches, and for a while FL couldn't accept him - she continued to see him separate from Z-2022.
Overall, it's probably the best time travel C-drama I've watched. The logic held together for the most part, but it ended up having the same problem as 'The Lakehouse'. If she hadn't dropped the bird, and if he hadn't picked it up, none of this would have happened, and they basically eliminated her dropping the bird by changing the past. Also, what happens when Z-2021 arrives at the day in the future when Z-2022 did what he did to save FL? I guess it won't happen because Mr. Sun went nutty - don't know how you logically resolve that. BUT, I still liked this movie just like I liked 'The Lakehouse'. Sometimes you just have to turn you brain off and enjoy the romance. I gave the re-watch value a 9 because it might be worth watching again if you had trouble following the time overlap logic.
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