A Little Reunion (2019)

Altro che notte prima degli esami!

Serie televisiva ambientata a Pechino e basata sulla storia di tre famiglie della classe media durante l’anno fondamentale della vita di ogni giovane cinese, l’anno del 高考 “gāo kǎo”, l’esame di maturità cinese, che, in base al punteggio ottenuto dallo studente, determina a quale università potrà accedere.

Maggiore il punteggio, maggiore la probabilità di poter accedere agli istituti più prestigiosi ed avere dunque la possibilità di ottenere un lavoro migliore.

Per comprendere cosa rappresenti questo rito di passaggio dall’adolescenza all’età adulta nella vita di un giovane cinese si potrebbe pensare all’equivalente italiano, vale a dire l’esame di maturità, ma non renderebbe bene l’idea.

La pressione esercitata da famiglia, scuola e società sui giovani cinesi è almeno 100, 1.000 volte superiore. Per comprendere il 高考 “gāo kǎo” bisognerebbe conoscere il vecchio esame imperiale, vale a dire l’esame che dava diritto di accesso alla funzione di “mandarino”. Un esame a cui chiunque, anche il figlio di un contadino, poteva accedere, un esame che poteva cambiare la vita di una persona e della sua famiglia, donando solidità economica e prestigio sociale.

Questa serie di 49 puntate aiuta a comprendere il significato di questo rito di passaggio in maniera divertente e appassionante attraverso la storia di tre famiglie.

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Where should I start?? There are so many good things to say!!

Plot: From the first synopsis read on MyDramaList, I brushed it off thinking it was going to like other youth Chinese dramas, but boy was I wrong! It may seem like it is, but it focuses not only on the youths on their personal journey through the "gao kao" but their families too. It shows how their parents grow and learn from certain developments and how no parent is perfect. No mother is perfect. No father is perfect. No one is born knowing how to be a perfect parent. The growth of the parents is seen evidently through the 49 episodes as well as the 4 children.

Characters: I already briefly mentioned earlier, but the growth of each main character in the 3 respective families is so touching and as an Asian child myself, I can see certain traits in the parents in my own upbringing and my own parents. For instance, the emphasis on getting good grades as done by Tong Wen Jie and Song Qian reminded me so much of when I was younger. The question of "do grades mean everything" is brought up a lot because of the "gao kao," especially when Fang Yi Fan wants to do dance and singing instead of studying for the "gao kao." Ying Zi's fall into depression was very sad, but shows the reality of the result of so much pressure from parents to do well. The episodes focused on her was really emotional and successfully touched my heart.

Acting: This leads to acting which was major 100%. 120% I would like to say. Every character seemed so real and the actors truly embodied their roles. Even though I know some actors were new like the actor who played Yang Yang and Fang Yi Fan, but I could not even tell. All the children seemed experienced. The tearjerker scenes all brought me to tears. Lei'er... was brilliant at certain scenes like his broken phone and the heart-to-heart talk meeting near the end. T_T I was bawling. The adult actors were all experienced from my knowledge so they were no problem at all. NO ONE was awkward, everyone was so compatible with another on screen with amazing chemistry!! I loved Tong Wen Jie and Fang Yuan's family dynamic the most with their son and nephew. :) "where did Lei'er go again?"

Music: There was a variety of songs played with instrumentals and they matched the scenes so, so, so well! Sad piano BGM for the sad scenes and comedic sounds for the funny ones. Editing was very well done to flow everything together, I loved it!

Rewatch Value: YES YES YES, I am going to once I have time, but later on, so I can maybe learn some more from this drama :) There were many life lessons mentioned like the perspective to look at things, to not always compare your child with other children. 10/10

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Although the majority of people in my country don't place that much of an emphasis on college entrance exams, the shows message still resonates. I have never enjoyed a show that solely focuses on family before. There was very little romance, which in a way makes it very realistic.

The acting was excellent. Both the parents and kids were realistic in their portrayal. It's not even the big events in the show that convinced me of this, but the small instances, such as the mom hugging/"disciplining" his son, telling her nephew to be good. There was also one scene where said mom gave her friend's daughter a hug saying something along the lines of "daughters are really different from sons" while her son watches with a funny expression. LOL

There were heavy themes too, but they were handled pretty well.

Overall, this is something I would rewatch.

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this drama was really inspiring, it made me feel so much and relate with all the characters. it shows the life of 3 families in china and how they overcame their challenges and their gaokao
first, the storyline was different from most dramas i’ve watched, it showed students life in china which is really relatable and realistic. the problems the kids faced with their school work, stress and expectations from parents are all things that a lot of us face too, so i find it really relatable
second, the actors all did a fantastic job and really made me feel like i wasn’t watching a show. how yingzi portrayed herself when she had depression was outstanding, and i felt all the other characters also did well in their own roles
overall, the whole story was well thought out, very relatable and inspiring. it made me learn so many important lessons!

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At first, I really loved to watch it all the way to the end, because it was so realistic and had really sad moments, but then there was also the happy moments that made me smile. I'm going to rewatch it maybe soon, if I find time.
I really loved the relationships between the parents and the children, because it wasn't that great all the time, and there was the angry, sad and also happy moments, so it was more realistic than some other stories that has all the happy families and all that...
(sorry if there are any mistakes in this, I don't really know that much English, so... sorry)


(Can someone please tell me, if you know, what was the song and the singer that Liu Jing and Qiao Ying Zi listened to? I really loved the song, and it made me relaxed, so I would LOVE to know what was it's name, Thank You!)

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Underrated more than anything on MDL

This drama is really underrated internationally, though from my knowledge it was quite popular in mainland China. It's very deserving of its popularity there... this slice of life drama is comedic, entertaining, and gripping, and I did not skip a single episode while watching it. Additionally, the characters were all developed beautifully and were easy to remember based on their individual personalities (despite there being a lot of characters). An all around great drama that's definitely worth your while : )

The story is about college entrance exams and follows three families and their lives. It's realistic, entertaining, and not at all drawing (though I would usually worry about such plots). The characters in the story are all developed wonderfully and add to the story's sense of stress, urgency, etc. during the entrance exam (especially Song Qian) as well as the joy of just being in a family (perhaps Fang Yuan or Fang Yifan). I found this much more gripping than most slice-of-life's (for example Joy of Life and Hidden Love), and would definitely rewatch it; it's a very heartwarming and surprisingly lighter drama.

The acting is where this show really shines. Veteran actors like Huang Lei, Hai Qing, Yong Mei, and others come together to play the parents in this show so wonderfully from their own worries to helping their kids' worries. The acting here is definitely the best I've ever seen for a slice of life (modern dramas don't have as much to act for). The expressiveness of the actors and actresses, especially Hai Qing and Huang Lei, remind me of Luo Yunxi a lot so if you're into him you might check this acting out; very natural yet perfectly emotional. The kids also portray their personalities beautifully and you develop a sort of relatability (difficult to do in most dramas) as well as empathy for the characters and their situations.

The music is pleasant but not personally my cup of tea; I very rarely rate OSTs well so that's that.

Overall definitely watch this one; it's a whole package and gift neatly wrapped. To add to it, you'll enjoy the content inside ;)

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This is the first review I've ever written on MDL, but this drama is too too good not to say anything about. I held back watching it for so many months becuase I was afraid of not liking it, but I had nothing to worry about.

The storyline and plot of this drama was so genuine, realistic and raw. What these kids face will resonate through you and you come to understand a parent's P.O.V too. This drama makes us realise that while we may have good intentionns in mind, how we think it should be executed isn't always necessarily the best method. Certain plotlines made me question, 'What does life mean in the face of such a situation?', 'What really matters in this life?'. If you're someone who's afraid of watching family type dramas, I strongly recommend this one. It will pull at your heartstrings and reach right into the depths of your heart as you walk through this period of life with these 3 families.

The music goes so well with the scenes too, the theme song will really get to you. Highly recommend listening to it on its own!

I can't compliment the actors' enough, especially the dynamics they portrayed and brought out in the drama. Whether it was the friendship between the kids' or the parents', I loved them all. There were definitely moments of frustration, but these were all real problems faced by real people in the real world. It all felt so relatable and life-like, be prepared to shed buckets if you're a more emotional person.

All in all, this is one drama I highly recommend and will definitely be rewatching.

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Your reunion with family and life dramas

This one is pretty popular in the mainland, but ceases in popularity here. I think that's unfortunate. Huang Lei and Hai Qing (as well as all the other actors) are a masterclass for acting, and the easygoing storyline hides intricately written character development for both the students and their parents going through the 'gaokao' (college testing) period of their life.

There's a lot of themes explored here too, including depression, stress, parental pressures, single parenthood, etc. It all comes together wonderfully to make a heart-warming yet sometimes heart wrenching drama.

My only criticism is that this drama does get into nitty gritty things. I think that it's kind of the point with a drama like this, but I find family dramas have the potential for a lot of fluff for how much substance they have. Here, the fluff is interesting, but it doesn't mean it's necessary.

For OST lovers, the OST is fine, but not great... I don't think this drama focused its budget on the OST more so than the actors (a lot of famous veterans here).

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This represents the story of every Asian kid

Let me start by saying that I could relate to this drama so much that after watching certain episodes I was crying, because the drama made me realize that I was sick and tired of the way I was living my life. They have managed to touch points related to childhood depression, suicide, pressure while studying and many other stuff but what actually caught my attention was the friendship; friendship not only between school classmates but your own family, your parents. The drama started off by showing everyone's lifestyle and how they were all flawed but at the end, although they were still not a perfect family, they managed to realise their mistakes and make amends

This drama shows the true value of friendship which actually is the basic of every relationship but the most important one is the friendship between parents and their children. Parents would never be able to give their students proper upbringing without actually understanding their children and accepting the fact that their happiness is not the end of the world cause even children as small as 3 or 4 have their own mentality and dreams; and with friendship some trust and love. For most asian family, parents have the final say while they do not care what the children are thinking because apparently they are too "immature" to understand the world. They go on lecturing the kids all day every day without even understanding what the kids are going through and sometimes there are physical abuses. For many cases, they vent out their anger on the kids and overprotect them to such a point that the kids can't even breathe. Maybe all these cannot be blamed just on the parents cause they are actually going through a lot of trouble but the very least they can do is be considerate towards the children, not just spend their fortune for some sort of major the child does not even like. All these sort of things are shown in the drama and this mostly revolves around the drama and mental health of the family members.

While all those points made the drama fabulous, the pacing was rather abrupt and in many cases, their were many scenes that seemed unnecessary and I would say that although they were fillers, those scenes actually helped the viewers to get a better understanding of the characters and their personality but well they overdid it sometimes. Their were not many OSTs, just one or two I guess and they were not very good. The story was extremely good but its just that they used too many episodes to deliver a simple message and I hate the fact that all those family did not get equal screen time. One out of those 3 families was like near to insignificant in the storyline and the adopted kid did not have any other plot except for increasing financial pressure in the family but I did like his acting and character and I guess he was meant to be that way, the near to perfect type, but still something feels amiss.

Lastly, a 7.5 is not a bad rating for me, its just I have seen better dramas and maybe it has something to do with my biased opinion against this genre plus it did not have enough tissue rate for me.

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