Small Town Stories (2024)

What Actually Matters…

A truly must watch if you are a sucker for slice of life theme that triumphs on meaning making plots and characters.

I started this with low expectation and purely because I have seen Katrina’s (FL) past works and thought will just try this out. It’s my first drama with ML, to my surprise, his acting is really good, spot on and made the whole character lively and relate-able. He is not an idol but definitely a good actor and should be given more recognition. After watching, it was beyond my expectation, there were no dull moments in the main or side stories narrated.

It is a slice of life theme but not overly dramatic, stories were realistic and the plot were characters’ driven. The growth of characters are organic and progressive with lots of learning moments and very touching.
The conflicts were resolved quickly and no ridiculous fillers.
Normally I don’t pay much attention to side couples, but this drama, I even enjoyed watching the development of the other 2 secondary CPs storyline.
Overall it’s extremely therapeutic and healing for me, like my daily chicken soup reading.

The gist of story…
I won’t give too much spoiler, the synopsis already mentioned the main storyline. It’s about a talented, self-centered, prideful, small town girl who plays Suo Na (an instrument that I always thought it’s too loud to listen solo and only works in a group with orchestra). She always have a fixated dream, one goal in mind which is to be a Principle Suo Na player with the reknown National orchestra group, however during her audition, deal to stress and pressure, she couldn’t perform and developed an auditory condition.
In despair, she decided to go back to her hometown to recuperate - there she found new friends, love, and rediscover what she truly value and her growth. We will also understand later that her fixation of this goal was also related to a deeper value she longs for, a connection whether with self, family or her instrument.
Apart from FL’s journey of growth, redefining her values, finding love, reconnecting with family, there is also a background theme in this story which is to flourish the rich Chinese culture in this small town and to create more awareness.

The mini stories of the town folks were tear-jerking in both flavor of joy and sadness. The stories narrated the two major life changing events which are marriage and death.
The main ML holds businesses in both wedding and funeral arrangements.
He is a very sensible and sensitive character (well-written), who struggle with limited life options and circumstances yet never gave up his positive and constantly manages his challenges with resilience.
The message in each mini stories were touching and show us how we can be kinder to each other even when life is hard. There are so many good mini stories, one has to watch it to feel it. I will share one touches me, it is the first few stories that was also a turning point for FL. It was her first case of helping out to re-arrange a song and she played it at the funeral of a child who died from a car accident. That story left me so sad but the story resolution was so meaningful and healing, that cannot be explained through words.

The ending was nicely wrapped up on a joyous and warm note, with a progression of the main theme and the characters. I have a feeling that with all the given struggles and challenges that this characters have overcome. I believe the town, the people and the couples will do well.

The only complain for international viewers is the poor sub., so hopefully this drama receive more recognition and gain more publicity, where better streaming platform will take this up and provide good subtitles for more international audience.

This is a 9/10 for me.

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