Bai sui zhi hao, yi yan wei ding

Found it extremely bland.

Im a sucker for school Chinese drama and this one had so many positive reviews and high ratings I wanted to give it a go.

The acting is great but the story is just too simple and typical. Almost every scene is about the main couple and yet I couldn't feel the rush or the emotions anywhere. Very slow and some chemistry but nothing else.

The thing it put me off the most was the fact that they literally show you the ending at the beginning of every episode, so there is no surprise at all. You can literally guess everything by the first scenes and dialogues ( even the title is full of spoilers lol).

If you like slow burn sweet EXTRA LIGHT romance this one is for you.

I considered giving this one an even lower rating, but a few sweet moments and interesting side characters (e.g, Duan Ning) nudged my rating up slightly. While the minimalistic romantic story had its potential, the drawbacks, at least for me, were too noticeable to overlook and significantly marred the overall quality of the show.

The issues plaguing this show begin with the casting choices. The female lead, barely 18 during filming, visibly lacks the depth of a seasoned actress. She still manages to pull off the high school phase and compared to her counterpart, she outshines in expressing emotions. The male lead, unfortunately, falls short with a static and emotionless portrayal, making the chemistry of some side characters more convincing than the lead couple.

Additionally, intimate moments suffer from uninspired and poorly executed scenes, something that I think is primary the responsibility of the director. If for whatever reason, you decide to try this series, I strongly recommend skipping the kissing scenes, as they were among the least convincing intimate scenes I've ever seen. Ironically, there is a scene where the lead couple are watching a romantic scene from a classic movie- could be Gone with the Wind (1939) or Notorious (1946), either way, to me it was so sad to see after almost 80 years, the series fails to replicate the memorable romantic essence of those classic movies.

Last but not least, the writing here is a chaotic mess. Twists and challenges faced by the couple felt disorganized, with resolutions consistently worse and totally unsatisfying. For instance, the love triangle subplot in the awkward birthday party scene, and the male lead's decision to hack into a public monitor or something similar to confess his feelings- a bizarre moment that lacks any emotional impact. The show is riddled with such poor writing choices, leaving viewers puzzled by what should be memorable emotional moments. E.g., the male lead's tragic!?! Backstory, his unexplained departure from his hometown, the messy introduction of the love triangle, the infamous timeskip towards the end (which I've seen almost everyone was confused about) and lots of more bad calls which only add to the series' narrative shortcomings.

In conclusion, I cannot recommend this show due to its amateurish execution and the absence of finesse expected in a quality romantic drama.

Although I didn't find much that was unique about the plot of this show, it was still entertaining enough, with good cinematography and decent acting. If you like Chinese shows and stories about college/ student life, this is worth a look. Circumstantially Recommended.

ROMANCE RATING: * * * 6/10. Although this IS a love story and the leads had good chemistry together, the romantic contact was kept squeaky clean, even by Asian standards. Three brief kiss scenes with barely there lip contact was less than satisfying in my book (though you may disagree), and basically zero sexual tension. But if that's your cup of tea, then there you go!