WILL WATCH AGAIN/CHINESE LANGUAGE

This is a very real, very gritty street view of life and one of my favourite productions regardless of language and country.  I would welcome a series with the same writers, cast and producers.

Heart-wrenchingly beautiful.   This story was so well written and portrayed that you cannot help but invest every particle of your emotional self in it.   I'm not overly emotional, nor am I a crier, yet this production routinely stabbed at my heart and had me sobbing most of the way through it.  I am grateful that I watched it alone; I would have been angered by and viewed anyone else as an intruder into a very personal event.

I will let a year or two pass before I brave it again.

Well then, another production to add to my very tiny list of Chinese anything that I enjoyed all the way through. 

It still had the cliche crap (one star off for that) ...evil, controlling matriarchs and everyone forgiving them in the end, regardless of the damage and hurt they caused...how come it is expected/demanded of children to be blindly filial but the generations above them get to behave in ways that make nightmares seem a pleasant pastime? I am so not a fan. 

Also included were the horribly rude and or spoilt children and that one person that started out being loyal and then turns into a total douche. NOTE: I've no patience for these behaviours or mindsets so I fast-forward through them.

 All that aside, I loved the female lead's portrayal of her character; such a fluid, expressive and believable presentation. The rest of the cast also played their parts well so kudos to casting also. 

The writing...except for the cliches, I truly enjoyed most of every episode. A shout-out to everyone else who participated in this production, well done. 

I'll watch this again next year.

Things I found annoying: 

-Some of the dubbing is cringy.
-CGI is obvious and repetitious.
-Some of the episodes were sooooo slow, but still managed to have something important happen in them so I'd have to go back if I skipped one...sigh!                                                                                        -The last episode! The writing was ridiculous compared to the rest of the series...an incredible letdown...to the point that I'm angry and want to through this series onto my 'Won't Watch Again' list.

Things I found not annoying: Everything else.

You don't have to think a lot while watching but it's still intelligent enough that it will suit a wide range of demographics...except the last episode.

Time will tell if I'll watch this again...except for the last episode, I'm not disappointed with the first time through.  I'll leave it here for now.

Well done writers, well done.   I'm not familiar with any of the cast but I look forward to seeing each of them in their subsequent endeavours.  

What I really appreciated was the calmness of this production...most of the characters were quietly strong rather than ridiculously loud and annoyingly aggressive.  

This is a story about tenacity, loyalty, friendship, living honourably and love.  While this is primarily a love story, I am impressed with how the writers incorporated an understandable and realistic life around it.  This gives the viewer an experience that is  accessible and easy to connect with.

The title is misleading, in English anyway, so I will give viewers looking for a good watch a heads up...Sweet Games is the name of the central company that develops gaming apps.  This movie focuses on just one game, but not the game itself, rather, the challenges faced by those involved in it on it's path to release.  

What a beautiful story...both heart warming and wrenching...if I could pick my dad, he would be  very much the character in this story.

I started watching this a while ago and abruptly stopped during the first episode, I don't recall why, but typically, I wouldn't stop this early unless it was so awful that it surpassed my capacity for annoyance at record speed.

However, having forgotten everything about it, I started again...I was only mildly annoyed through out.    I did skip a few episodes here and there because the story lagged in both content and activity.   I did make it to the end.

I think this is my first time seeing the FL act, I rather enjoyed her work and will look forward to more of it.

The ML I am familiar with, he is quite talented but dammit people, give the man some intelligent scripts, he really is wasted as the brooding jack ass boss turned the all round nice guy cliche...just saying.

Ha, this is a blast.   The little kid (Finn Han) is brilliant, I think I'm kind of biased though,  so much of his stature, looks  and character reminds me of my youngest grand daughter...

I'm only part way into episode 1, if it stays like this, I'll re-watch at least once a year.

I've watched the entire series without skipping even one episode, I am a regular 'skipper' when I'm bored, or too impatient and need to know outcomes NOW.  

Unfortunately we only see the young Fan Xian in the first episode, this was VERY disappointing, however, the rest of the series is as good, but differently.

Kudos to EVERYONE involved in this production, well done!

There are some very scathing reviews about the beginning of season 2, I understand their points, however, I also understand the logistical nightmare of doing the second season of series 5 years later.  Some of the characters were changed, which affects each viewer differently,  I was not overly affected by this because the mains remained unchanged.   

Of the two noticeable changes,  Ye Ling'er and Yan Bing Yun, the transition from the actress who played Ye Ling'er in Season 1 and the one who played her in Season 2, was not smooth.  Of the upwards of 1.5 billion Chinese people on this planet, casting couldn't find someone that at least looked like the first one?  As far as Yan Bing Yun goes, they do not look alike, but to me, the acting styles are not far apart so it took me a while to even realize the actor had changed.

If the mains had changed, I wouldn't have even bothered with the second season.  We invest a part of ourselves in the things in life that affect us at a level deep enough to warrant emotion.  This investment forms a bond.  When the primary factors that made the bond are changed, it shatters the core of the relationship that drew us to invest in the first place.   

That's me for now, I'm at episode 24 of 36.   I'm am impatiently waiting for the last 12.  I'll add my final 2 bits then.

Well, this was unexpectedly good. 

  I watched this series because it came up in my suggestions after watching two seasons of Joy of Life, which was my first encounter with Zhang Ruo Yun who has now cemented his place on my list of favourite actors.

Casting did and exemplary job of pairing actors with characters, there isn't one that I thought would have been better suited to a different actor.

While this story does have a power struggle at the level of the royal children, it is a part of it rather than being the foundation of the plot, nice change.

One of my pet peeves is when a scene/script is written to accommodate some part of the plot with complete disregard for the character/nature of the character...like when a person who doesn't trust anyone, suddenly trusts some random...or an otherwise consistently intelligent person, who has all the facts of a situation and still makes a ridiculous choice... ARRGGGHHH!  This happens in this series a few times...which is a few times too many.   This is the reason there is a star off.

The series ends with a million loose ends, so I went down the rabbit hole known as Google and discovered a lot of wishful thinking, but no set date for production.  There were hints that it would be this year (2024) but there were also hints saying that the next series of Joy of Life would also be this year.  Unless they've figured out a way to clone Zhang Ruo Yun, I can't see how that is a possibility.  

These nine stars are to be viewed as 10 for all parts of this production except the lazy writing and the management that allowed it.

I'm not sure I've seen a series as underrated as this one.  I was hooked by the humanity almost as soon as I started watching.

It's about life and how we each struggle to find a way to live it, to find our own path, also a true coming of age story because every step in our journey between birth and death is in it's own way a 'coming of age'.  

It can be raw and gritty, if that's not your gig, don't watch, however it is tempered with so many examples of what a broken soul can accomplish when given the tools and shown how to build a strong foundation of its' own...when given hope.

My only real gripe is that whole filial thing...AGAIN.    Just stop that shit.  If your parents loved and nurtured you, you damn well better be filial.   If your existence went unacknowledged or you were constantly reminded of your lack of worth, or a multitude of other crimes...NO, you do NOT have to be filial and no one has the bloody right to say you must be.  

HOWEVER, regardless of how angry that makes me, the rest of the series is brilliant on all levels.

I will watch this again in a few years...I will also force friends and family to watch it...it's that good.

Watch on YouTube.

This is a story about ordinary people living ordinary lives in the best way they can.   It is a very calm slow burn of everything and utterly refreshing.

Watch on YouTube.

There are reasons to take off a star or two, but the reasons it deserves a 10 star rating far out-weigh them. 

The lead characters are always the calm in the storm, even when they have caused or are caught up in the storm. This calm keeps the viewer quietly anchored to their importance as well as maintaining a fluidity throughout production.

 The intelligence of the writers and their care for the characters as well as the production is evident by the absence of constant cliches, the evolution of the characters and the nuances of the relationships between them. 

The CGI dolphins...really? Who okayed that crap for the last scene. CGI is too advanced for that to be acceptable and you've left that as the image we say our goodbyes with???? GRRRR!

I can't truly express how surprised I was by this series.  I went into it with very low expectations and came away remarkably impressed.   For the most part, it was written with an intelligence that allowed a logical path from beginning to end.    The times that I questioned the necessity of an action or comment were few and far between so really not worth the time to point out.

This is not a cheery production as there is a level of 'darkness' hanging over it that keeps it strangely calm.   

Kudos to everyone involved in its' creation.  I am eagerly awaiting season 2.

This was fun, informative and very well written.  I laughed, choked up AND did an in depth re-evaluation of my own privacy security.  I never thought I'd be appreciative toward the Chinese government for anything, but here we are.  So thank you for allowing this to be seen and enjoyed by  the world.

A special shout out to everyone involved in this production, for your intelligent, moving and hilarious interpretation of the brilliant writers handed you.

The cast was well thought out and each actor fit perfectly into their roll.

While all of them excelled at their craft, and brought their characters to life in a way that let me forget they were acting... my personal favourite was the younger girl in the office's character/actor.   If she's like that in her personal life, we'd be buds...and likely in trouble all the time, lol.

Do give this series a go, even if it's just to learn.  Each episode ends with advice on how to manage and maintain the safety of your identity.

This was very well done! I am truly impressed with the intelligence of the writing and how brilliantly the actors brought their characters to life.

Kudos to all involved.

This story was lovely, heartfelt and somehow 'real'.   I don't often get emotional over...anything really, but this series managed to drag me through every feeling a human can have when faced with what life throws at them.

Thank you casting for your diligence and care whilst seeking to fill the rolls of these wonder and diverse characters.   And, thank you to everyone else involved in this making of this story for your commitment to giving us this quiet piece of intelligent humanity.

I am truly glad I watched this production and recommend it whole heartedly.

This series was simple and sweet.  It wasn't overly cerebral, but it was well written, with believable characters with believable circumstances.  Even the flamboyant mother of the FL was delightful.

I gave it a full 10 stars because it was for the most part, peaceful.  This is something I rarely see in any Asian drama and this made it a much needed  breath of fresh air for me.  

Well done everyone.

I will definitely watch this again in a few years.

It gets a 9 for the cliches but a 10 for everything else.  It had some depth, some fun and some drama, a not horrible coming of age story.

I'll probably watch this again in a few years

10/10 for everything except the writing for the FL.  The writers spent a lot of time showing us the depth of each character but left the FL to be decidedly child-like...not to be confused with childish as she was far from  that.

This is my only gripe.  

I thoroughly encourage you to watch this at least once.

Casting 10/10
Acting 10/10
Writing  8/10
Cinematography 9.95/10
Overall production 9.99/10

I think 24 episodes is enough time to answer the 'why's' of each character so I'm a bit annoyed at the holes left in back stories/plot.

The ending left plenty of room for a second season, hopefully that was was intentional, otherwise I'll be exponentially more annoyed.

One star off for the cliche adult sounding like a whiny and very immature seven year old (the female that barges into the apartment and sets up shop...and they let her???...and does awful and very harmful things but still gets to be a huge active part of their lives???...WOW<---not in a good way)...Added into the deduction is some of the writing.

The leads are just brilliant, and not at all because of their esthetic value, this accolade is based on the writing and the level of skill the actors employed to portray their characters, nothing else.

As a whole, the casting was impeccable.

I'm confused about the age gap between the leads though...it seems the writers are saying that there is somewhere between a 10 and 13 year age gap, but in flash backs of when they were younger, there is NO way there is that much difference between the actors...

The age difference doesn't bother me, they are both adults in the end, free to make their own choices.

It was worth the watch and I doubt most will find the points that made me groan, as annoying as I did, so give it a go.

I'm giving this a 10 because it's nice and light with a balance of dark spots.  You don't need your brain to watch it, just your willingness to enjoy a good story about the power of love.  It does have the stereotypical tyrant mother, but her part is small (nice!) and she changes her spots when she returns to the plot...

Time travel aside, its a testament to the bonds that people can forge even in adversity.  

I will definitely watch this again in a few years.

GD that was a long one...however, well worth the watch...except the WAY over the top FL's grandmother...ugh, sooooo had to ff any time she came into a scene.

The acting was fine, had the stereotypical dark and moody ML along with others, however, at least this series gave a back story so there was  a valid and understandable reason for it.  The CGI, other special FX and the dubbing weren't cringy.

I have to give it a 10 because it was eventful enough to make me watch every damn episode.

For those of you that are like me and ff a lot or skip episodes altogether, just ff where you have to, don't skip episodes because you'll miss events that you need the info from to understand what the hell is going on in the next.  I'm a habitual episode skipper, because the plots in C-dramas and the rest of their ilk tend to be either blatantly obvious or drag on with little or no content in each episode.  This drama turned me into a habitual backtracker...it made me itchy and felt altogether wrong...yay ADHD.

This entire series was a slow, ever so slow burn...which for some reason appealed to me.   I loved that there was no annoying bestie.  We did have the domineering and ever so unreasonable mother figure, but I happily skipped through her bits to get to everyone else.

The two leads are by far the calmest mains in the history of mains...it was sweet and unnerving at the same time.   I'm bat shit crazy so people with this level of maturity and civility don't tend to venture near enough to me to meet, but I hear they exist:)

Full stars and a heart felt Kudos to all involved

This series was very low key cool because it was written far more intelligently than most I've seen recently.

My favourite characters were the female athlete and the male coach that liked the FL.  The were both extremely low key awesome.

I really wasn't a fan of the FL character but I can't put a finger on the why of it.  However I did enjoy the relationship between her and the coach that liked her...I can't deny that was rooting for them to get together even though I knew it wouldn't happen...that was blatantly predictable.

I'm actually confused about why she chose the ML...he was so flip floppy between mature and immature behaviour whereas she wasn't.  From my point of view, as a grumpy old cow that's been around the block a few times, that behaviour, along with how he went very much across the line between suitor and stalker, would have had me spitting daggers at him.  But hey, I didn't write the story, so whatever.


I'll probably watch this again in a few years.

All the Asian drama clichés are present...ad nauseum.  That aside, this drama was reasonably sensible and low key.  For the most part, the characters were portrayed with a maturity level that would be expected for their ages, this is a nice change.

This was my second time through as I seem to have forgotten to leave a review the first time.

I'm sure everyone will enjoy it for their own reasons.

Brilliant.  The was one of the most intelligently written productions I've seen.  Yes, it does have its' clichés but, they are portrayed in a manner that allows them to retain their humanity in the eyes of the viewer.

The heart of each main character in this series is shrouded in a dark shadow of despair.   This is their journey...it ends as it should.

Thank you to every single person that contributed to the making of this story.

I think I watched a bit of this when it first came out.  For some reason I didn't like it and dropped it very early on.   This time, of the 50 episodes I only skipped two...I think that's a new record for me.  Is it the best production ever, no...but the depth and the intelligence of the characters makes it superior to most period C-Dramas.  Good on you, writers, good on you.

Also, I'm old and find the whole 'love story' theme, lame...always the same crap, different pile.  This production spent it's efforts on the foundation of the story rather than on the nausea inducing 'boy meets girl, then x number of other boys meet girl, all fight to win girl, while there are completely avoidable misunderstandings between girl and no fixed number of the boys'  theme.  Kudos.  

Not disappointed!   I was expecting this to be as lame and cliche ridden as so many of the others I've watched lately...it wasn't.   My only complaint (but not enough to deduct stars for), were the two female leads.  Could two couples be more mismatched?   One FL's character had the maturity level of a seven year old and was matched with a stoic, outwardly emotionless, walled up mountain, while the other FL's character was like that of a middle aged woman and was paired with a man child.  

However, on their own, I like all of the character portrayals except the FL character that was paired with the prince.  

Everything else was fabulous.   The writing was incredibly intelligent.  Some of the scenes dragged on longer than they needed to, enough so that I think this could have been cut down at least five episodes...but that's a me thing...my attention span and patience are extremely finite so I need constant movement.  

I will definitely watch this again in a few years

If anyone has read any of my reviews, you KNOW how much I loathe adults acting and sounding like whiny children...This gets a resounding 10 stars from me solely because the FL's servant/hand maiden spoke like an intelligent adult...I was in a perpetual state of confused awe waiting, with debilitating apprehension, for the writers to betray me and fall back into their lazy cliche ways...they DIDN'T!  I bow to you.

FL did a fabulous job with her character.


There are a pile of reasons to take stars off, but I just can't.

-the story itself was interesting, but it would have been better served had it been 30 episodes rather than 40.
-it was still cliche ridden.
-the CGI was cringy in spots
-the dubbing also cringy in spots
-ML is probably a good actor, but he was given the cliche stink face character and likely forced to portray it in the typical cliche stink face way.
-waaaaaaaaay too many nasties...it was exhausting.

I'll watch this again just to see the FL's servant!

This production was well thought out and flowed smoothly.  It was a nice mix of drama and humour while keeping the characters reasonably believable.

I hate endings were people disappear for 'many years' and then show up in some random public place and the other person is like 'YAY!'  I'd be like weretf  you been??? Why we meeting at the food court??? WTF??? WTF???, WTF???  Then I'd hug them really tight, cry, hyperventilate....and promptly toss them in the damn river...then I'd stomp home, spewing as much foulness out my mouth as is humanly possible while probably kicking and throwing things for the entire trip.  Doors will be slammed...

I will watch again in a few years.

I forgot I was watching this, and subsequently forgotten much of the first 39 episodes...yay me.   I watched to 39 and only skipped a few so I assume I liked it.  The last episode was okay and pretty much like every other series....the whole series is go, go, go, the last episode is a lot of not much...sigh.

This review is for the entire series.  The acting was great, the writing was okay to mediocre in spots.   All of the female characters asked redundant and or pointless questions throughout the production.  

The CGI wasn't too bad.

The whole thing should have been pared down to 30 episodes.  I randomly skipped at least 10 in order to get  to something with substance.

I will probably watch this again in a few years.

I rarely go into a series expecting anything more than a rearranged version of every other series I've watched....and then this happened.  Well done!

WRITING: Brilliant!  The characters have depth and a visible evolution/devolution.  Not one word is wasted for the task of filling up space (giant peeve) while still giving us glimpses of the mundane parts of everyone's existence.  The humour...while I thoroughly enjoyed the profound intelligence (amongst many other things)  of the Wu Xie,  because of my nature/character, I was more drawn in by the intelligence of  Fatty Wang  for how the writers naturally balanced it with a dead-pan, dry, and witty sense of humour...perfect!

SETS: For the most part, well done...some things verged on 'meh',  but still decidedly better than many, many, many other productions.

ACTING: Right up there with the writing.  I didn't recognize any of the actors, but I will absolutely hunt down everything each of them has done to this point.  Bravo to casting for doing your job well and giving us this wonderful menagerie of talent.

DUBBING: Well, this is my only real gripe, and it goes across all dubbing by all countries in all languages.  I seem to find it considerably more annoying when I find it in and otherwise brilliant production...pay the extra bucks for people who speak the language they are dubbing with, LIKE A NATIVE...and CAN actually do voice overs properly...like so we as a humble audience don't have our auditory systems hit with the painful incongruencies between what we see and what we hear.  Call me...I'll do it for next to nothing...sigh.

I absolutely look forward to watching this again.

I enjoyed this series and I'll probably watch it again.  However, I really think it was a little drawn out...okay, a lot drawn out.  It also seemed as if writers drew straws here and there so decide who was writing that day and the difference was visible.

The actors did their jobs well, no complaints.