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superborbI really enjoyed this Taiwanese drama! 13 episodes of a little over an hour each, followed by a 1 h 47 min movie.
Our main character is outgoing and outspoken 27 year old Huang Yuxuan, who in 2019 is still mourning her boyfriend Wang Quansheng. She receives a mysterious walkman, and wakes up in the body of 17 year old Chen Yunru in 1998. Chen Yunru is her doppelgänger and has a totally different personality, morose and quiet. But by her side is Li Ziwei, a boy who looks just like Wang Quansheng! Li Ziwei's best friend Mo Junjie has a crush on her, but he finds himself falling for her...
Okay, that summary makes it sound like it's all love triangle nonsense, but it's done in a really genuine way! Yes, feelings are a plot driver, but so is the mystery of why she can travel in time, and Chen Yunru's and Wang Quansheng's fates.
The first couple eps are very contrived and draggy, but it picks up soon after the time travel happens. The pacing was generally good after that, though I found some (otherwise good) scenes were dwelled on for too long and got oversentimental.
They did an overall excellent job tracking the time skips through visual cues. Some of the adult ages were a bit harder because it was the same characters and the styling didn't change enough, but those weren't super necessary to follow -- the main distinctions of the Huang Yuxuan vs Chen Yunru characters and the general time period were strong.
I also was super impressed with the final timeline reveal -- the whole timeline snapped into view, even with multiple shifts, without any explicit explanation, just careful production. Some of the earlier fake outs about what was happening were annoying (e.g. you're led to think that X is a murderer, but then immediately find out it couldn't be him), but I found that they didn't do the extended misleading subplots that it's easy to fall into in time travel stories; the timeline and how they learned the pieces of it genuinely made sense.
The movie was a fine sequel, but it didn't really improve upon the concept, and reiterated the same ideas. I did like it, but while I'd definitely recommend the drama, I'd only suggest watching the movie if you finished the drama and wanted more.
Side note: there's an extended period pain / love interest gets period supplies for her scene, a trope I find tedious, but it's interesting it was cut in the Chinese airing.
In conclusion, the next 'asking for a friend' is 'asking for the person I've transmigrated / timetraveled into'.
Slightly more spoilery, but still vague ahead:
The female lead's actress does SUCH a good job at being Chen Yunru pretending to be Huang Yuxuan. I was skeptical at first at the Chen Yunru acting, because it seemed so awkward, but it made distinguishing them so easy.
I thought the storyline around suicide and suicidal thinking clearly trying harder to be realistic than most dramas get -- and the movie took it a little further and did just that little bit better at its portrayal.
The murderer's motivations etc were a bit simple, but the twist as to the origins of those motivations... I didn't expect it and it made the final resolution so undeniably the solution.
I was really annoyed that the gay character just doesn't have a resolution in the drama, but he gets more backstory and a great scene in the movie! The movie would have definitely been better if they explored those side characters more when they didn't say anything new about the mains, but it was still a satisfying resolution.
Content warnings: sexual assault, suicide, homophobia, murder, animal death (off screen), torture
Our main character is outgoing and outspoken 27 year old Huang Yuxuan, who in 2019 is still mourning her boyfriend Wang Quansheng. She receives a mysterious walkman, and wakes up in the body of 17 year old Chen Yunru in 1998. Chen Yunru is her doppelgänger and has a totally different personality, morose and quiet. But by her side is Li Ziwei, a boy who looks just like Wang Quansheng! Li Ziwei's best friend Mo Junjie has a crush on her, but he finds himself falling for her...
Okay, that summary makes it sound like it's all love triangle nonsense, but it's done in a really genuine way! Yes, feelings are a plot driver, but so is the mystery of why she can travel in time, and Chen Yunru's and Wang Quansheng's fates.
The first couple eps are very contrived and draggy, but it picks up soon after the time travel happens. The pacing was generally good after that, though I found some (otherwise good) scenes were dwelled on for too long and got oversentimental.
They did an overall excellent job tracking the time skips through visual cues. Some of the adult ages were a bit harder because it was the same characters and the styling didn't change enough, but those weren't super necessary to follow -- the main distinctions of the Huang Yuxuan vs Chen Yunru characters and the general time period were strong.
I also was super impressed with the final timeline reveal -- the whole timeline snapped into view, even with multiple shifts, without any explicit explanation, just careful production. Some of the earlier fake outs about what was happening were annoying (e.g. you're led to think that X is a murderer, but then immediately find out it couldn't be him), but I found that they didn't do the extended misleading subplots that it's easy to fall into in time travel stories; the timeline and how they learned the pieces of it genuinely made sense.
The movie was a fine sequel, but it didn't really improve upon the concept, and reiterated the same ideas. I did like it, but while I'd definitely recommend the drama, I'd only suggest watching the movie if you finished the drama and wanted more.
Side note: there's an extended period pain / love interest gets period supplies for her scene, a trope I find tedious, but it's interesting it was cut in the Chinese airing.
In conclusion, the next 'asking for a friend' is 'asking for the person I've transmigrated / timetraveled into'.
Slightly more spoilery, but still vague ahead:
The female lead's actress does SUCH a good job at being Chen Yunru pretending to be Huang Yuxuan. I was skeptical at first at the Chen Yunru acting, because it seemed so awkward, but it made distinguishing them so easy.
I thought the storyline around suicide and suicidal thinking clearly trying harder to be realistic than most dramas get -- and the movie took it a little further and did just that little bit better at its portrayal.
The murderer's motivations etc were a bit simple, but the twist as to the origins of those motivations... I didn't expect it and it made the final resolution so undeniably the solution.
I was really annoyed that the gay character just doesn't have a resolution in the drama, but he gets more backstory and a great scene in the movie! The movie would have definitely been better if they explored those side characters more when they didn't say anything new about the mains, but it was still a satisfying resolution.
Content warnings: sexual assault, suicide, homophobia, murder, animal death (off screen), torture
