My Love in Seventeen (2024)

when a bright sun becomes a black hole; Yang Zi's most challenging role yet

This is a story of 6 childhood friends, growing up together until university & career scatters them all for the next decade. An impending marriage prompts a reunion, setting the stage for the rest of the drama. The story centres around Huang YingZi, played by Yang Zi, who is tasked with finding and bringing everyone back to their home town for the wedding of one who is marrying outside of the group. Frequent flashbacks gradually tie past & present together as each member of the group tries to come to terms with the problems in their lives, where they've been & where they need to go. Which is putting it lightly. The themes of domestic/sexual violence & familial neglect eventually bring the story down to the darkest depths of depression, culminating in an horrific trauma rocking the entire group at a time when most teens experience their highest hopes. The primary arc involves YingZi & her relationship with her closest friend & unrealized long love JiangYi. A significant secondary arc is the friendship between adult YingZi & her literary idol, Ding Ye, a once famous but now struggling author who shares a similar past trauma.

Somewhere between Ashes of Love and Immortal Samsara, YZ's acting matured very impressively and I was looking forward to seeing her in this drama. In a recent news article YZ is said to have had reservations about playing an 18 yr old & didn't want to be seen as "overacting" the part. Unfortunately, "overacting" is exactly the first word that jumped into my mind early on. Teenage YingZi is not only the centre of the story, she acts like the centre of the group: loud, in-your-face, commanding all the attention & telling everyone what to do. When switching to 30 y/o YingZi, YZ plays her much more subdued even though the character maintains the central status, & YZ appears more comfortable in the older role.

I didn't realize Yang Zi is already 31 years old. And I don't know why, but age & representation are becoming a big issue with me these days. Because the story jumps back & forth between past & present so frequently, & due to the large cast, using the same actors for both time periods makes sense. But the problem here is there's a 10 year age span between the oldest & youngest actor portraying this cohort. YZ is finally in an age appropriate role, but has to act opposite people who weren't even born yet when this fictional group first formed at age 6, & there's an 8 yr gap between her & her ML. Lack of maturity results in lack of depth. With the exception of YingZi, the group all experience severe abandonment & emotional abuse throughout their lives & portraying how that affects someone at age 30 is not something actors in their early 20's can pull off. Adult YingZi has matured to being better able to understand the issues her friends struggle with, & works to bring her friends together to help each other resolve them. However, some of the younger cast succeed only at giving downcast looks & being helpless. This just sets up YingZi to the rescue because, of course, she's the centre.

While the drama starts with the awkward overacting, it then follows a conventional line with the main leads dancing around each other, dodging possible love triangles along the way. YingZi became more sympathetic as YZ's handling of the transition of the leads' relationship was funny & spot on. And her character's in-your-face-edness is actually brought back to her as a criticism. The rest of the group go through workplace & marital/relationship problems of their own. The strength of the writing came through as I became more interested in the outcomes of all of the group member's challenges by the 2/3 mark of the show.

Unfortunately, not until the final 1/4 of the show comes a shocking twist, catalyzed by the character of Ding Ye. Instead of being the bright sun which all around her orbited, it becomes clear YingZi had actually been a black hole for 10 yrs, sucking up all of her friends' & family's energies into her own problem. I then realized the drama all along has been as focused on YingZi as she is on herself. Only her birthday is shown being celebrated with a big show of her receiving gifts from the others. They all bend to her whims. She's the only one with 2 stable & caring parents. She's done very little for her friends in comparison to what her friends have been doing to preserve her fragile psyche in her own fantasy world, in the aftermath of the severe trauma that affected them all. It's narcissism in the extreme. However, YingZi does come to realize her behavior with the help of ever patient & all forgiving JiangYi, & all her self-centredness comes crashing down on her. Nevermind whether this situation is even realistic or not, I'm not qualified to say, but this rollercoaster was exhausting to watch.

So... not knowing anything about the story beforehand, I found this drama very compelling & surprising that it tackled such heavy themes. What I found wanting was a deeper exploration of each member of the group, more of their own perspective & individual response. Whether the narcissistic focus on YingZi was intentional or not, it's too much to have viewers also get sucked into that black hole. The character of JiangYi could've served as an anchor & should've been given much more weight. Finally, I wonder about the overly aggressive product placement of Stefanie Sun at the end. This caters to a specific audience & only serves as a time waster. At any rate, it was nice to see YZ playing her age. This role is very challenging & I give her credit for being brave enough to try. I hope she continues to challenge herself in this way & I'll continue to watch her shows with interest.

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