An excellent but underrated drama

This isn't just a simple time travel story, it is the story of a man realising that though past cannot be changed, present can be.

I started watching this drama expecting the lead role Hao Hui Gui to be trying to change some events in his past that lead him to live such a miserable life in his middle age. As the drama proceeded, I realised, it has a lot deeper meaning for us to learn.

Hao Hui Gui lands in 1998 as a class-teacher of his own past self. This allows him to have an overview of his own life from the viewpoint of a teacher. He started off by doing what anyone would do upon meeting his past self; trying to protect him (Liu Da Zhi) from every difficulties he faced in the past but gradually starts being strict on Liu Da Zhi to guide him to the right path. He never enjoyed being a professor in the present but being a teacher to himself and his classmates, he actually starts liking his job.

He tries to change several bad events in his life but only ends up realising that those things will still happen. Hao Hui Gui is more than just a school teacher for Liu Da Zhi and his friends; he guides them in taking important decisions of life, overcoming difficulties and emotional turmoil and even in friendship. Now that he is grown up, he knows what immature mistakes he made as a teenager than weakened the friendship between him and his friends even in present day.

It is a slow paced drama where some parts may seem boring but are essential to understand the emotional condition of all the characters.

To conclude, I would say this drama taught the lead role and me to cherish every moment of life and learn from bad experiences rather than just regretting. This drama also reminds us that friends need to be there for each other in tough times. Another major teaching of this drama is that we should express our feelings or it might be too late.

This is a highly underrated drama. I hope more and more people watch it to make it more successful. It is indeed a lot more than just a time-travel fantasy but story revolving around friendship and changing relationships.

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Too realistic to be a Drama

When I say it is too realistic to be a drama, read it as compliment. This drama is going to be an adventurous joy ride. Sometimes your patience would seem like drying out because why can't the FL and ML just get together? And then, the story picks up speed, sometimes accelerating, sometimes pulling a break and sometimes just driving in cruise mode.

The drama is not the kind of romance between a girl and a boy who God sky-dropped only for her from heaven, because that does not happen in real life. FL and ML find out who their true love is through trial and error method, just like you and me and anyone else not living in dreamland would do. Nor is it the drama where FL is poor in studies while the ML has an IQ of above 140. Both of them are good in their respective fields and go through ups and downs in both personal and professional life. It was so realistic that sometimes I would just get fed up and think why can't something magical happen and let them stay together or maybe an unintentional one night stand like other dramas. But then, the realistic nature is what wins your heart.

Acting was another point winner for this drama. Not just the lead roles but also the supporting roles acted according to the nature of their character.

A great story like this needs a good director. I agree that the director went bland at points but that was only to balance the burst of flavours ahead. So don't take the word 'bland' as a thumbs down but rather a good quality that very few directors have.

How can I give rewatch value without considering whether or not I'm going to watch it again. I'm definitely going to watch this again after some time but maybe I'll skip some parts where they seem to be going slow because I already know what's ahead.

Conclusion: If you like slice of life, this one is definitely for you but if you are someone living in the strawberry cake world where everything happening is good and magical, just watch this and get to know the real world.

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Not your average fantasy drama

Let me spill some beans, this isn't the time travel fantasy kind of drama you expect it to be. The summary does no justice to this thriller. I started watching it expecting to be some love story where ML comes back in time to save his girl or their relationship. I kept waiting for that to happen but they made it clear in the first episode itself that this is going to be some sugar free romance but the mystery and thrilling side was what kept me intrigued.

Let's talk about acting. You won't essentially fall in love with characters , they are not meant to be. But you will surely fall for their acting. I have watched a drama of Derek Chang earlier and believe me, this wasn't the sweet and loving Derek I knew, this man had a whole new persona that was so eccentric. Lyan Su too did pretty well. Her expressions while thinking about ML are so natural.

Story? Let me repeat, it is really much better than what you are expecting. After watching 2 episodes, I actually came back to check the tags and genres again to make sure that there's some romance in it. There's no ML & FL ending up living together or an other typical drama cliches but a much more natural and mature kind of romance.
Mystery dramas usually unfold step by step but this one only kept getting more mysterious, which they well-maintained until the very last episode.
Sadness is the basis of the story so keep some tissues handy. Because, well, life is not all strawberry cakes and with every superpower comes some problems.

Keeping it short, the direction was just as good as story.

Cinematography (overall look/ aesthetics) might not seem very good to the eyes as it was very dark but it was what gave the drama's theme a boost.

I originally wanted to give this one a 9 or 9.5 but let's gulp down the fact that it has very less re watch value because the mystery is revealed. It pained my heart when average rating was reduced because of it. That's the shortcoming of these mystery dramas.

Will I watch this again? Probably no.

Will I recommend this? DEFINITELY YES!!

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Good Watch

To summarise, it is yet another body swap movie but the story is quite different fro others. Even after breaking up with his 7-year long girlfriend, LI Xiaoyao loves her and is bent on getting her back but he finds that she has already moved and spots her with another man. He believes she has been cheating him. He is driving in anger and BOOM!! he crashes and dies. Two angels come and save him but he wakes up as a girl in hospital one month before the breakup. She (new body, old soul of ML) goes to meet and live with the original Li Xiaoyao (original body, original soul just one month back) and tries to save his relationship but only ends up realising his mistakes and how he didn't pay attention to her.

Story: The story is a fantasy one about time-travel and body swap but the story was quite different. The ML does not meet his future girl but himself. It is not a story in which ML succeeds in saving his relationship, instead realises how he has neglected himself and other aspects of his life. It makes people realise how we should sometimes learn to let go.

Direction: The story though seems cliche, director made it easy for us to understand. So it was 9/10

Acting: Acting was Head-on. Run Chen is good in acting and has great visuals. The best emotion he portrayed in the movie was of surprise. Zhao Wan Ting was good as a tomboy (boy in girl's body). Supporting roles were pretty good too.

To conclude, it was a good watch for time-pass.

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All's Sweet That Ends Sweet

The drama started off in a haste, with time-travel thing happening too fast but this drama wasn't as sweet as I imagined it to be. But that is what makes this one unique.

Story: Yes, it was a rom-com but had a scientific side to it too. This drama curbs your fantasy of going back into future to make things right because everything comes with a price and whatever you do there could have a butterfly effect on present times. But the ending was finally sweet.

Acting: Do I have to comment on Ivy Shao's experience and Marcus' skills?

Cinematography: This is simply the overall aesthetics of the drama. Drama lacked fancy shots but all that add to the realistic feel it gives off. This drama did take me back to 1989 with all those obsolete things people used back then.

Direction: When I say this drama took me to 1989, it simply means the director did a great job. Although, it could have been just a bit shorter. Also, when Chen Che travels through time, his body does not transport but when another person (I will keep this a secret) travels, his/her body is transported. Director overlooked this but it's okay, as long as it is sweet.

If you want to get out of the sweet sweet world of dramas yet try something that inspires imagination, do try this.

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Sweet but Short

So, this is a drama you might finish in just a day. It is one of the sweetest dramas I watched in a while. Though it falls in the same plot like most other fantasy dramas- an immortal falls in love with a mortal, love melting the heart of an evil, willing to die for each other; but I can assure you that it was a fun watch.

Being a miniseries has it's own advantages and disadvantages but this one was heavier at disadvantage side because the the story moves at light-speed. The angel fell from sky just an hour ago and they say it's been 3 months since they met? What sweet things happened during these 3 months, I badly wanted to see. And what exactly happened in the end? How did the angel and Death God become human?

Like the plot the actors and their acting was also sweet. Director gave his best shot staying within the plot and given time frame; can't blame him. Though, what I found off-ish was the cinematography and techniques used. This drama was released in 2012 and the latest technology at that time wasn't that bad. Maybe, the producers were tight on money. Being from India, I can tell that this technique was equivalent to those used in 90s Bollywood movies. The drama was is so dark that you will have to increase your brightness to full and you would still be rubbing your eyes.

But, as I said, the drama was sweet and not much predictable. Though it has its shortcomings, I would still recommend it.

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Not much of a cliche

Honestly. when I first read the summary, I thought the story would be a okay-ish but drama might be cliche because the FL has dissociative identity disorder. So, I thought maybe the directors won't be able to clearly portray both the personalities of Meng Hui and may fail to clarify when which personality appears. Surprisingly, the drama did not face this problem.

Story: There are a lot of c-dramas out there on 'dissociative personality disorder' but this one is different. The story is not only about true love but also fighting the curves life throws at you and accepting your past and regrets.
All the couples had a cute and funny love story. Funniest part was that this bossy and cold CEO, though crazy rich, is a miser. This adds spice and uniqueness to the story. The drama at points gets damn serious but then in five minutes, your stomach is aching due to laughing too much.

Direction: Director Zhong Qing definitely delivered his best. As mentioned earlier, the summary may seem a mess but the drama is not. Director clearly knew when to reveal which part of the lead roles' past. However, they forgot to mention why Shen Yi's parents separated.

Acting: Both the main leads did a great job expressing their emotions. Though Zhao Yi Qin portrays a bossy CEO, he can easily transform to a lover boy desperate to keep up with his girlfriend's emotions and the other personality. Li Jia Qi also did well in acting both timid and strong, unforgiving and accepting. Supporting characters too created an aura with their acting.

OST: Honestly, the OST was just average.

Conclusion: This is a good drama to watch if you want to experience intense but rapidly changing emotions.

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A Suitcase-full of Sadness

I won't repeat the summary here but the movie failed to convey it's actual message.

On one hand, the movie is trying to tell the actual meaning of a family- a unit of people who are dependent on each other and care for each other; it is not be determined just by who you are born to. While, on the other hand, those having brotherly-sisterly feelings for each other get married! (Wait, WHAT!!??) That's what I call as 'insist' (yeah, I'm trying a wordplay with homophones, if yk, yk)

Looks like the director completed this movie in a week. There was no romantic buildup between the couple that end up together. Had it been a drama, they could at least have the space to show that like Go Ahead. It could still be a pretty good movie had they not wasted too much time on the sisters-swapping part. Emotions shown were deep and necessary for us to understand young girls' mental state but it could have been much shorter.

Cinematography (overall aesthetics) was dark, to complement the dark theme but maybe they could at least make the play-house scene more colourful as it was to show cheerful childhood memories. So it was okay-ish.

The only thing I actually liked was acting. Every single tear that dropped seemed so real. Every single smile looked so fake. Every single character was so gloomy.

In short, The whole movie is full of sadness. Watch it if you are bored of being happy.

Thumbs up: Acting
Thumbs down: everything else

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'Mountains and Valleys' Kind of Drama

As someone who has only watched this adaption and not the other versions... I would say there was too much hype about the drama, but I was left a bit disappointed. Maybe the hype was because of the original version but this one definitely did not give as much as it promised.

Story was pretty much okay-ish. Some episodes were spicy, some were sweet with hugs and kisses, some were bitter with couples and friends turning each other but some were just too bland. I had been planning to watch this drama for quite some time; the only think that kept me from doing so was the number of episodes (I don't have the patience to watch dramas with more than 38 episodes). What I loved about the story was that unlike other rom-com dramas, it isn't all strawberry cakes, some hearts are broken too and some never get to be with their lover, which is quite realistic.

When you get to see so many handsome boys, it just makes your drama better but your sense of judging acting skills poor. But it was still quite good.

Direction was overall average but a bit flat at parts with python-like long flashbacks. There were episodes I completed in just 5-10 minutes because they were made up of only flashbacks. Some lovey-dovey scenes were so long, it became annoying. I just went skip-skip-skip and skipand skip...

Aesthetics (overall look) was good, made better with those handsome F4 boys. There were so many beautiful sceneries, especially the part shot in London. There weren't much shots in the dark, which require you to turn to dark mode to be able to watch them.

Music was varied and good- some soul soothing tracks, some can sing you to sleep, while some were just rock on!!

Conclusion: I named this review 'Mountain and Valleys' Kind of Drama because it was just up and down- sometimes going uphill, sometimes just traveling on a plane, sometimes going downhill. It is good if you are just looking for something to watch for time-pass or during a boring lecture (secretly; don't get caught!!)

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