Anything with Leo Wu I'm in
Finished watching it 2 weeks ago but was too lazy to write a review.The first C-Drama where they actually went abroad to film & didn't fake it.
Lin Yi Yang is a student living in Finland. He is reserved, not a big talker, good with people, hard-working. A snooker player who is good at his studies. He is studying communication but doesn't know how to do it in person.
It was funny to see the way Yin Guo was suspicious of Lin Yi Yang being a fraud & him showing her his IDs.
The way Yin Guo was saying that Lin Yi Yang wasn't that handsome & suddenly he suggested a place to visit was so funny.
The awkward silence between Lin Yi Yang & Yin Guo.
It was cute to see how Lin Yi Yang slowed his walking speed when he saw Yin Guo struggling to match him. And then he switched places with Yin Guo when he saw her struggling to walk.
Lin Yi Yang treated Yin Guo with expressive things when he didn't have that much money & Wu Wei getting annoyed with him. Also, he arranged everything for Yin Guo's room, even taking Wu Wei's things.
It was funny to see Yin Guo & Meng Xiao Tian so scared when they saw Lin Yi Yang & Meng Xiao Dong face to face.
Love the way Meng Xiao Dong talks, he is cocky, not the kind of brother who stops his sister from pursuing her love and even encourages her to make a move. Everyone needs a supportive brother like Meng Xiao Dong.
Loved Lin Yi Yang & Meng Xiao Dong snooker face off. Also, when Lin Yi Yang signaled Meng Xiao Dong to stop playing, because he needed to message Yin Guo.
Lin Yi Yang gets annoyed whenever his friends come & disturb his & Yin Guo moments.
Wu Lei shirtless Ufffffffffffff
Yin Guo gets shy & breathes heavily whenever Lin Yi Yang is close to her.
Meng Xiao Dong changes completely whenever he sees Lin Lin. And how Jiang Yang & Lin Yi Yang push him towards Lin Lin. I want a drama about them with the same cast, obviously.
I wished they had shown more about their friendship, brotherhood.
And I think steamy kissing scenes depend on the director & not because of restrictions of the government. Because there're many dramas where there are a lot of steamy kissing scenes, like Love is Sweet, Till the End of the Moon, Story of Kunning Palace, Dramas that I haven't watched, like Hidden Love, You Are My Glory Destined, New Life Begins and many more. If there was restriction by the government, these dramas wouldn't have steamy kissing scenes.
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Best among the rest!
This drama is one of the best in my opinion. The storyline is captivating and keeps you engaged until the very end. The cinematography and soundtrack are also excellent, creating a vivid and immersive experience. It's truly a masterpiece and should be watched by anyone who wants to enjoy a great drama.Vond je deze recentie nuttig?
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The best masterpiece of 2024
Honestly, I went here without any expectations plus I'm not a big fan of Wu Lei. However, I've watched Zhao Jinmai before and she has impressed me in 'Reset'. Months before this show aired, I've read the complete version of the novel so I will make my judgement based on what I watch and read.The plot, in my opinion, is quite simple. The story basically tells us about two strangers bumping into each other in a bar on a rare snowstorm night. Then, the ML starts having a crush on the FL when they shared the same apartment days later. He also learns that she is a popular nine-ball player and it sparks more of his interest towards her. Because of her, he starts over his already-retired career as a snooker player and becomes a famous player once again.
I can say that the chemistry between the leads is swoon-worthy. I found myself constantly giggling in front of the screen for no reason. Wu Lei and Zhao Jinmai really nailed the role and fitted the description of Lin Yiyang and Yin Guo. I can't imagine any other leads being them. They were just too perfect in being a green-flag couple. Special mention to the supporting characters too, including Meng Xiaodong, Jiang Yang, Wu Wei, Chen An An, and Meng Xiaotian. I also love the master-disciple relationship between Lin Yiyang and Mr. He Wenfeng. I'm usually indifferent when it comes to the angst. However, I shed some tears in Mr. He's funeral scene.
OSTs are quite nice and adds more sweetness in the scene. I like nearly all of the OSTs in this drama. Usually, I would've skipped the OSTs, but this time I'm all ears for them.
I seldom rewatch dramas, so I think I will only watch some clips and try to rewatch it if I have spare time. Kudos to all the casts and the production team. All in all, this the best modern c-drama I've ever watched (the best gift for celebrating Lunar New Year). This is the end of my review. Enjoy your day and happy watching!!!
P.S.
The drama follows closely to the novel except they changed the shooting location from the USA to Finland (and France for a brief moment).
As for the ending, the novel ends after Lin Yiyang proposes to Yin Guo after singing a song. However, in the drama, 3 years later, they return to Finland and take Jiang Yang's son with them. In the last scene, they go back to Redfish (the bar where they met for the first time) and listen to 'Love and Shine' again. The final scene shows that they've left Redfish and walked together side by side. Nevertheless, it's a HE and you won't be disappointed.
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They are really in love
Oh my god, from the beginning of the episode I've fallen in love with the way Yiysng looked at yin gou. This series really describes what romance is like. While watching I felt the awkwardness, falling in love, and sadness of the yiyang and yingou couple! Their acting is like not acting! Like really in love! I feel like I really want to have a girlfriend like yiyangVond je deze recentie nuttig?
Slow burned natural romance
This drama is so so good, it has everything in it. If you're looking to watch something easy going without big plots and turns then you should definitely watch it. The actors played the roles so beautifully that you'll get butterflies in your stomach every time they share screen. If you love sports dramas then this is perfect for you. The way this story is written is so beautiful.Vond je deze recentie nuttig?
Very awkward romance
Full disclosure. I stopped after the 3rd eposide.I usually give shows a fair chance to build characters and engage me. But in 3 full episodes, there was zero development, and zero character growth. The worst part, is that in a romantic drama, you want to see the attraction between the leads develop and grow. In this show, they seem to fall for each other by the 2nd episode, with absolutely no reason provided. All we get from them are quiet awkward conversations from the beginning. So when you add the fact that there is no other ongoing story line, i just gave up.
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The drama itself is very slow-paced, yet it absorbs with its narrative
I started watching ASSOL without any background information. At the beginning of the first episode, I thought that the blizzard city could be from Finland (by default, some place in China). After a while, I realized that the series was partly filmed in Finland. The cities of Helsin and Hel(l) in the story is Helsinki. Thus, as a Finn, the interest in drama rose all at once.The drama itself is very slow-paced, yet it absorbs with its narrative. The male lead in his role is very convincing. The female lead is certainly a talented actress, but the image of women in Chinese dramas is annoying, to say the least, from such a European perspective. This time, shyness has been taken to extremes. Extra points for the following points: Due to Arctic conditions, this time there has been no need to look at the microskirts of female actors. In addition, the number of soft toys is kept to a minimum.
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Unexpected disappointment
I usually don't write reviews here, I use my twitter account to simply send my random thoughts during the watching party, but I am afraid this one deserves a greater explanation than 2-3 sentences I can squeeze in a tweet.Back when this drama was airing, many of my friends were watching and praising it. I was asked on multiple occasions why I don't give it a try, and at first, it was because I was busy, but later on I found out it's a sports drama which is usually not my cup of tea. Lately, I've been more into cdramas so I decided to finally give this drama a try. Everyone and their mothers loved it, I should too, right?
Hah, how wrong I was.
I won't lie, the first 2 episodes were actually entertaining, I loved the idea of a guy who randomly saw this pretty girl and fell in love with her at first sight. I found their initial awkwardness around each other cute and realistic, but as time progressed, instead of dissipating, that awkwardness became more and more evident.
There was too much staring and almost 0 communication between them. Every time they had one of their staring parties, I had to divert my eyes because I was physically uncomfortable with it. The lack of communication between them was also killing me because how are you so madly liking someone, but not knowing anything about them except the basic info? They could be a total nuthouse, as opposed to their good looks, aren't you interested in finding out more? They even brought it up multiple times, asking each other why are they so quiet and that raised my first red flag because they literally had so many things to talk about (billiards, moving from China, uni life, adaptation to new surroundings, heck even weather talk would do), but they opted to keep their mouth stuffed with food with a sprinkle of bizarre staring on top (the lack of music in staring scenes made it even creepier).
We got a glimpse of ML's traumatic past which could possibly be a reason for his rather cold and seemingly unbothered behavior, but at the same time, he seems to get along with everyone - every random character that spawned out of nowhere had nothing but good words about him, treating him and taking care of him. So, if you managed to make them like you, why are you now blanking in front of the girl you like? Math ain't mathing.
FL's behavior also didn't really make any sense, but I guess it had to be like that for the sake of the plot. Moving in with the first guy you met on another continent seems like the start of a horror movie to me.
And my last, and probably the weirdest reason I dropped it is the age gap. Now, I watched HL before, and for some reason, I didn't really mind the age gap, but I just can't get over it here. I tried multiple times to forget it, but it just kept pestering me to the point that I started associating their lack of talk with their age difference which made me hate it even more.
I know I dropped this early and that there is plenty more room for it to get better, but I literally can't force myself through it anymore. I had a really high expectations and they weren't met so I should stop torturing myself and ruining the image for the people who actually loved it. The cast was actually good, I loved Zhao Jinmai in Reset and this whole review has nothing with them, but their characters, but even they couldn't make me stay. OST and pretty city shots are also a bonus, but they're not the ones I am ready to sacrifice 25 hours for.
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