Drama Rating: 7/10 Neck Score: A
This completes all of the current dramas based on books by Zhao Qian Qian, the previous two being A Love So Beautiful and Put Your Head on My Shoulder. While I loved them all, I think this one ranks slightly below Put Your Head on My Shoulder, with A Love So Beautiful as third. Not that my ranking them was that important, I just felt like it. All of them have the same basic premise, with a smart stoic boy who falls for a spunky girl. But why knock a proven fun plot, I'm super into that trope. The reason this one only hits second place is that I really dislike misunderstanding breakups and while this one wasn't the worst I've seen, the year gap soured me just enough. It might also have to do with me watching PYHOMS first... maybe. See those reviews for more details though. But ultimately it was super cute, the couple had lots of chemistry, and I was very invested in everyone's happiness and binged watched the whole thing very fast.
I really liked the characters in this for the most part. They were all really straightforward, and you could see them growing. They all started out pretty immature as freshmen, but you could see them grow through the story. I loved how obsessed with detective Zhou Xiao was, and how Fan Zhou found ways to get to know her, get closer to her, and even watch her thrive as he fell for her. Like the rest of these shows, he smoothly became one of her friend circle through his quiet and determined maneuvers. It's like plotting, but nicely? He's chasing her from like episode 1, but since he's the quiet type, it's subtle and sneaky, haha. Zhou Xiao is pretty clueless, and has a weird criminal obsession with forensic scientists (his major) and even made one the villain/main character in her story. This makes her fascinated and terrified of him at the same time.
Somethings that this drama really wins at includes: Simon Gong literally being a personified puppy dog. I certainly couldn't resist those puppy stares he made at her, silently adoring. A second couple that is pretty compelling too. I didn't think I was going to like the roommate/badminton star. He was so full of himself and cocky, but he strangely turned into one of my favorite people. He was really good at putting his foot in his mouth, but he was also a super sweetie. I also super loved the friendships that were developed. The dorm sisters were the best. The way they supported each other, called each other, and were ready to fight for each other was awesome. The fact that one of the early frustrations of the main couple's romance was her picking her roommates over him is awesome and adorable, especially since he learned to help support them too, or at least let her do her thing.
The only problems I really have with it was the misunderstanding, but more of how it was resolved. A year seemed like much, like how could they come back from that? That bitch was basically the worst, especially since he never gave her anything to work with and was constantly rejecting her from the start. I also thought the very end was annoying. I liked how everything wrapped up, but at the graduation ceremony? Whatever. It was chaos, which is probably fine, but it bugged me a bit. It was a little like the end of It Started With a Kiss with the role reversal wedding which was supposed to be funny but just felt too weird and forced to me.
I really liked the characters in this for the most part. They were all really straightforward, and you could see them growing. They all started out pretty immature as freshmen, but you could see them grow through the story. I loved how obsessed with detective Zhou Xiao was, and how Fan Zhou found ways to get to know her, get closer to her, and even watch her thrive as he fell for her. Like the rest of these shows, he smoothly became one of her friend circle through his quiet and determined maneuvers. It's like plotting, but nicely? He's chasing her from like episode 1, but since he's the quiet type, it's subtle and sneaky, haha. Zhou Xiao is pretty clueless, and has a weird criminal obsession with forensic scientists (his major) and even made one the villain/main character in her story. This makes her fascinated and terrified of him at the same time.
Somethings that this drama really wins at includes: Simon Gong literally being a personified puppy dog. I certainly couldn't resist those puppy stares he made at her, silently adoring. A second couple that is pretty compelling too. I didn't think I was going to like the roommate/badminton star. He was so full of himself and cocky, but he strangely turned into one of my favorite people. He was really good at putting his foot in his mouth, but he was also a super sweetie. I also super loved the friendships that were developed. The dorm sisters were the best. The way they supported each other, called each other, and were ready to fight for each other was awesome. The fact that one of the early frustrations of the main couple's romance was her picking her roommates over him is awesome and adorable, especially since he learned to help support them too, or at least let her do her thing.
The only problems I really have with it was the misunderstanding, but more of how it was resolved. A year seemed like much, like how could they come back from that? That bitch was basically the worst, especially since he never gave her anything to work with and was constantly rejecting her from the start. I also thought the very end was annoying. I liked how everything wrapped up, but at the graduation ceremony? Whatever. It was chaos, which is probably fine, but it bugged me a bit. It was a little like the end of It Started With a Kiss with the role reversal wedding which was supposed to be funny but just felt too weird and forced to me.
