Secrets in the Lattice (2021)

If this is THE best youth drama, then I'd rather stop watching them.

I'm surprised as to how many people loved this drama & gave it the title of THE best youth drama.

PLOT :
The drama was filled with cliché plot and nothing particularly different to make this drama unique. The only difference between this & other youth dramas is that in this one the FL was a little smart. But, not more than the ML. Still, I'd prefer other dramas over this since the FL being smart or not, doesn't matter much.

This drama solely focused on the leads and failed to develop the story of the side characters. There was too much focus on the MC, which made it even boring. Sometimes, misunderstandings also make a drama a good one. No couple is pure.

They introduced difficulties but ended it real quick which ruined the fun. Sometimes, difficulties is what keeps me going since I love see how they would tackle it.

In a 24eps drama, I don't think there was a need to make them a couple in he 20th ep. Okay, I know since they became couple really late, there were 0 chances of a breakup. But, what was happening before they were a couple was just like a breakup.

ACTING :
Tbh, the FL nailed her character of being cute but shy. The ML's acting was decent & not too annoying. The side characters were good; but my only complaint is that they should've focused on the side couple.

OVERALL :
This drama was boring because its the first time fast forwarded almost al the eps. I would like to say that if you love youth dramas, you can try it out. But this! was definitely not for me. :))

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Well, I did not enjoy that.

I'm not sure how I finished watching this show. Around episode 11, I realized that I wasn't enjoying this very much but I thought I'll finish it anyway. Around episode 18, the show became unwatchable and I had to fast-watch my way to the end.
After watching "A River Runs Through It" I became interested in youth dramas and I decided you watch a few more. "Our Secret" cured me of that. I think I am done with youth dramas for the foreseeable future and need a total palette cleanse with some seriously good shows to get over this nightmare. I don't recommend this. I just can't. I hated it.

Things that exist in this show that infuriated me beyond belief:
1. Sadistic younger brother
2. Unhinged, abusive, moody, and immature mother whose behavior is excused as caring
3. A second male lead who must possess a Time-turner because there is no way he achieved that character assassination in just three years
4. Dumbest university arc ever.
5. The female lead's voice. It was like having honey poured into my ears if honey was made of acid. -_-
6. Villain of the weeks who make you gain respect for scooby-doo villains
7. Regressive sexist rhetorics

Plot: This was like a slice of life, high school drama with an appendage arc in a fantasy university in which meeting drawing club deadlines is somehow more important than spending arduous hours crying over your engineering homework that you will definitely not finish anyway. The plot starts fine. It's a bit sad and I was really feeling for the FL. The characters were so balanced and nice, even though nothing important happened, I was enjoying it but before the show even reached its halfway mark, I was done with it. It was too long and things moved very slowly at first so eventually, everything became tiresome. The romance plot was sweet but they had to wait until they were out of high school to consummate it and that hurt the story because it took too long to reach that moment, made more complicated by unnecessary melodrama plots that were pointless and it just wasn't engaging anymore. So the story became lazy and exaggerated and boring.

Acting: The ML is fine. He isn't doing anything much. The plot doesn't require complex acting chops so moderate skills would suffice for all the performances. Unfortunately, the FL lacked for me, still. Her talking style was grating on my nerves. At first, it was fine but slowly...it just felt like my ears were bleeding. She sounded like a spoiled child who is constantly pouting. The ensemble was pretty subpar too as most fell into really cliche archetypes so again: bare-minimum skills required.

Music: Idk, most of it was copyrighted so the YouTube video's sound got muted...I wasn't gonna like it anyway. Generic, whatever sounds.

Production: I wanna say bad? This was supposed to be 2009. It looked very little like it was from that time. I was in school back then and save for their phones, the fashion, the decoration, and hairstyles all looked out of place. Just watch some shows produced in 2009 and you'll understand. Moreover, the concept of seasons was not one the creators had heard of. Characters wore freaking shorts in winter...how? This was probably filmed in summer. No matter what season it was, everyone was constantly in summer clothes. That is just lazy.

Rewatch value: Oh sure, I'll torture myself again.... -_-

Negative: The whole university stuff. This show should have ended after they took the entrance exam and ended my misery. I might have rated it higher.

Overall: If this is the best youth drama out there, then I was right to avoid them from the start. I'll have to write down my love for ARRTI as an anomaly. This show had no real direction. It must've been targeted at younger viewers. Perhaps actual high school students but even in that case, some plot choices become even more dubious. How can you encourage your young viewers to just take the abuse of bad parents? Or become a new person to appease a boy you like? wtf! Don't teach girls to put someone else's likes and dislikes above their own. Only in a fantasy world would anyone give a job to a person who is studying a completely different field. Trust me, I learned that the hard way...
At the last leg of the show, there is a sudden realization about the weird messages they have sent their young and impressionable female audiences and they try to fix that but it's just such a frustratingly silly fix that it made me angrier.
Anyway, I don't know how clear it is in my tone but I am so mad right now; mostly at myself for watching this but also at the creators for starting the show normal and just ending it so ridiculously. Dear creators, please make steadily good or bad shows so a b**ch can know her deal from the start and not waste so much time investing in a show that will crash and burn later.

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Fresh and normal main leads, no typical stoic, cold and trauma male lead

This is one of the most normal drama out there. When i read the synopsis, i thought this is just like typical cold, stoic, trauma male lead but i got hooked after 2 episodes. The male lead is very refreshing to watch. Of course he is a smart guy but he is a normal smart guy where you saw in your high school and the teacher likes him. So no overdramatic genius here. The female lead also a hardworking girl but her result is average. She is not very smart or very dumb but just an average high school girl you can relate.

What i like is there is no too too much cliche or cringe moment. As the episode goes by, they just fell for each other but there is no force in their relationship. The supporting role also very good and fun to watch especially their friendship. Not a boring drama. You will smile all the way throughout the episodes except when they argued and the scene with her mom of course. Her mom and little brother is quite annoying.

I always dropped typical drama halfway. So glad i found this drama and this is one of the few drama i can fully watched from start until the end

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A Really Slow Paced Drama...But Chen Zhe Yuan Is Worth The Watch

As a head-start, for those who are curious about this drama, the appeal will be to those who enjoy watching high school dramas and also welcome dizzying feeling of first love and all the challenges that comes with it. I actually fall into this category and wasted no time to watch, with all the high ratings given by other viewers.

However, as I dived into this drama, I suddenly realized it is one of the slowest paced drama I have ever watched. The story line was predictable, the plots pretty flat, the conversations pretty monotonous, background music was not appealing and yet I completed 24 episodes without fast forwarding.

After completion, I thought back to what held the show together, and needless to say, it was the main lead Chen Zhe Yuan. It was his portrayal of Si Yue that kept the show interesting. His attitude, his persona and the way he transitioned from his young confident self during high school, to his un-certainty during his University days and to his maturity when clarity comes to him in life and love. He commits, he is loyal, he is protective and fearless when it comes to love. So, this was what kept me watching. The portrayal of this character alone is enough to keep the ladies swooning.

I won't be watching this drama again, and only recommend to those who are interested get to know Chen Zhe Yuan. I will definitely be looking out for his other dramas.

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Went into it for a sweet romance and it’s mostly what I’ve got. Natural development of feelings between the leads and beautiful friendships were for sure the highlights. The issue was the second half of the show and all the overdramatic plotlines added. It worked the best as a chill slice of life, why add more?

The first half of the show is everything one might want from high school romance: playful, smart, caring male lead. Smart, positive and driven female lead. Friends with good comedic timing delivering a fun side romance. Plot touching on internal struggles like not knowing what you want to do in your life, wanting to both please your family, but also do what feels right for you. The chemistry between all the cast was amazing, the innocent jealousy, the bickering - butterflies in the stomach mode on.

But then something happened in the second half that made me lose a bit of my interest. The plot surrounding Zhou Si Yue’s family and how it made him hesitate and take a step back was literally enough to fill all the remaining episodes. Why add more to it? Why focus on the 2nd male lead after such a long time? Why add the whole “crime and business” related aspects? A lot of random plotlines were introduced and concluded in 2-3 episodes, so why even bother making them happen if they did not plan to develop them in a proper manner?

All that considered, I still enjoyed Our Secret for fluffy romance, heartwarming friendships and great performance from the cast. Honestly, can we talk about Chen Zhe Yuan? Because he aced the role. I am completely in love with this man right now. He was so natural in his performance. He made me want to go back to my high school days, and that was for sure not the best and most exciting part of my life…

Meng Jie Xu also did a great job with the presentation of Ding Xian. I wish some of her emotional scenes were a bit more… emotional? I don’t think the character was written in a way she would try to restrain her feelings, but that’s the vibe I’ve got a few times.

Overall, a high end of the decent high school romances. Surprisingly not cheesy, not leaving you with second hand embarrassment.

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Tiptoing around forbidden puppy loves, jiā yóu!

I enjoyed watching this drama, but I cannot help but feel that it's perhaps overrated a tad. All the glowing reviews are not wrong of course, the bromances, the slice of high school life were up there. The entire cast was great, the leads had great chemistry & looked wonderful together and there is more than enough fluff and sugar in the drama for my liking.

So why is this not one of my favorite cdramas? Well, the high school episodes (1>14) were certainly decent, but I feel that the high school years were perhaps dragged out too much. In China puppy loves are frowned upon & I'm sure censorship also comes into play and so the end result is that the leads were crushing on each other real hard from very early on, but due to the aforementioned limitations they kept tiptoeing around the issue. Doing that for 2-3 episodes before graduation would've been okay, but it was more like 10 episodes here. There was perhaps a repetition problem too, with some recycled plots. The bigger problems surface in episodes 15-20. I always hated the rejection/separation due to noble reasons trope, but that's minor compared to how annoying the leads had acted in that period. "I will keep chasing you, I will never give up"proclaimed FL, fastforward 1-2 episodes & FL's resolve immediately faltered due to an extremely minor misunderstanding. Considering how much shit FL went through to finally stand in front of ML this could not have been going any more against her character, that's just sloppy writing. I must also mention that one of the biggest reasons behind said noble rejection makes zero sense, since it was revealed later on that ML's family still kept their pretty luxurious apartment from before.

As for minor annoyances, there were quite a few of those as well. It's like the writer couldn't decide if the main character should be poor or upper middle class. Following ML having to work to pay his father's medical bills we reach a point where ML & FL kept throwing around hundreds of thousands of yuan, but later on once again we reached the poor phase, where Si Yue could not afford a proper wedding ring. Using arbitrary writing like this just to activate that not so great double proposal trope does not sit very well with me.
It's also mildly annoying that almost every single obstacle the OTP had to overcame in their adulthood was something really annoying & cliche. (plagiarism, copyright X2 etc)

The love triangle is frustrating too. Luckily there is not a whole lot of it, though it gets PRETTY DAMN ANNOYING at one point. The main issue is that the second ML is once again the usual kind senior/childhood friend character. It's equally annoying every time how the FL pretends for 20 episodes that she is completely dense about the whole "being courted" situation & once she is confronted with his confession(s) she keeps ignoring the situation for quite a while more. Unnecessary plots, unnecessary character and he has gotten a mini redemption ark even.

People in the comments kept comparing this to You Are my Glory, well that's a pretty weird apples and oranges comparison, but if I ignore the obvious differences in genre, I can only say that Glory is a hundred times better. Even as high school dramas I cannot help but feel that A Love So Beautiful(the cdrama, not the newer kdrama) and Lovely Us resonated with me a lot more..


All things considered I feel the 7.5 rating is more than generous.

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A very pleasant surprise.

If you are a fan of Itazura Na Kiss/It Started with a Kiss/A Life So Beautiful, this is the drama for you. The story is very , very similar, high schoolers that go to college with the FL chasing ML. Even some of the conflicts are similar, you cannot tell me that this isn't an Itazura Na Kiss adaptation. Lol. ML of course is wonderful- smart, good looking, but cold. He is not mean though and this is why I love this version so much. You can feel how much he likes her even though he does not say anything, which is my favorite. He is so dedicated to her it makes me happy inside. Honestly, there has been so many remakes/adaptation of the original Itazura Na Kiss story in various languages and some of them are great, while some of them are just okay and what makes this distinction are the ML and FL and how they work together. ML and FL chemistry here is undeniable!! Probably one of my top if not top 3 adaptation of the story. The characters, even supporting roles are all very endearing. Neither one of them are high schoolers and they are so believable. The OST is also very pleasant and enhances and does not distract from the scenes. Also, I love FL. SHE IS NOT WEAK. She is sure about her feelings and assertive in not annoying way. Also, some of her speeches in episodes 16-17...has my heart. One of my favorite lines/scenes are from episode 17 in the lab when she tells him his feelings again. I love her so much. All in all, highly recommended! I found this randomly searching on youtube for a new Chinese drama and obviously the plot spoke to me. Hope these two actors get to work together again in more mature/adult roles because their chemistry is everything!!

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Comfort Food - I Would Watch This 100x

I came to this drama because I wanted to watch more of Chen Zheyuan in between new episodes of Mr. Bad and I saw that iQIYI was promoting this old drama of his and what a hidden gem it is. It's so heartfelt and romantic and earnest and depicts the trials and tribulations of high school

Story - A super sweet story of growth, friendship, love, and life. It's a feel good romance about 2 classmates and seatmates falling in love over a stretch of 6-7 years. I would watch this drama again and again and again. I can never get enough of Zhou Siyue and his Ding Xian.

Acting - Incredibly natural acting from an underrated cast. The cast has such good chemistry.

Production - Top notch. The editing isn't choppy. The pacing felt natural.

OST - Super love the OST.


100% would rewatch again and again. Have already watched it back to back 2x

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This is soooo sweet!

The whole cast of this drama is someone that I have never seen before, but I shockingly loved it. This story line wasn't too cliche in my opinion. It was very sweet and the people in this had really good chemistry Even though there was one particular scene that bothered me near the end, the rest of the scenes were amazing. I am now interested to rewatch this drama over and over again. The new actors in this drama are also amazing actors. It really portrays the struggles of school, and trying their own best to get into their own dream universities. The OST of this drama is pleasing to listen to, especially 一直一直一直，喜欢你. I wish there was a deskmate like him that was as good looking, and as smart as him. He's too caring for her :(

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Pacing too slow and weak indecisive main character

I had finished a River Runs Through It and wanted something similar so based on reviews went with this one.

I did not like it as much. I thought the female lead was fine as actress but the damn script and dialogues just made her into such an annoying character.

She is constantly indecisive and weak minded. Every scene is her on the verge of crying or feeling sorry for herself.

I think this drama might appeal more to younger girls who feel sorry for themselves.

I did not like it much. Music and videography was fine.

Pacing was not good.

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