A Heartwarming Family Drama
I was looking for some melodrama and stumbled upon this one on iQIYI. I've never heard of this drama before. It's not one of those popular drama that you hear people talk about on social media. But I am glad I watch this drama. This is such a heartwarming drama about a big family that is joined by the parents' second marriage. Through the drama, you will get to see the journey of each of the family member and their ups and downs and their interaction with each other in the "step family" relationship. I like how close to real life this drama is. We all have one or two (or maybe all) of the characters in our own happy family :) This drama also shows how important family and friends are in your life, that in times of trouble, your family (and friends) are the only ones that you can turn to for support. This is also about second chances in life.The drama is not set in modern times. I think this is the period where China started to open their doors to the world, so you will see the introduction of TV and Cell phone towards the second part of the show and for many parts of the drama, the main means of transportation is still bicycle. I thought it's interesting to see how people in China live before they became as developed and modern as now. The Beijing Opera part of the story shows the traditional cultures and values with the poetic words --> although this is also the part that I enjoy less. But it does add context to the time period.
The characters in this drama is likeable (for the majority of them) and I thought the actors and actresses played their role really well, especially Yan Ni and the father. They are also my favorite characters. I would also like to mention Jiang Mei, who is someone you would hate in the beginning, but she became one of my favorites as well as the drama progresses. She has grown so much and became a very strong woman with a good and loyal heart. Jiang Lin and Li Bing are also adorable in very different ways. My least favorite character is Wang Gai Feng. OMG, she gets on my nerves and annoy the hell out of me with her uneducated hill-billy attitude and that loud no manner voice of hers and she is so materialistic and selfish, but the actress who played this role did it really well. The fact that I get so invested in most of the characters in this drama shows how much I enjoyed watching this.
I thought the editing and cinematography and the background music is great too. I would definitely re-watch this drama sometime in the future.
Was this review helpful to you?
Family and parents are most important
This drama is interesting, 😌not boaring, afterall drama has a chemistry, ❤❤❤ specially li bing (zhai xiaowen ) and jian lin ( zhang yi jue), they are classmate and then they become friends and afterall we see the two step brothers are get together 😌 and a brotherhood is created between them. The love is between not only mother with child, or father with his his children, this love is also between whole family, they are altogether and make their relationship good 😌, all the drama gives us a lesson that family is best ever, Nothing can be better than family, family place is above all ❤, love your family specially parents and After all the rest🙂, I think everyone should watch this drama 😌, all over i like and enjoy this drama, all actors and actress's role are played well done, their performance so good, specially Zhai Xiaowen as li bing's role played very good 🥰🥰🥰......❤️
Was this review helpful to you?
This review may contain spoilers
wholesome drama
first things first, i really enjoyed this drama. the cast are amazing and very good looking.the only things i disliked about the drama was gai feng. she's so annoying. like, she LITERALLY MANIPULATED SEN INTO MARRYING HER AND THE FAMILY IS OKAY WITH IT?????? What kind of parents allows that? i reallyyyyyy wanted sen with yuting so bad. also, she's loud for no reason. and I'm sooooo glad li bing's dad smacked the crap out of her.
i hated the fact that EVERYONE does jiang lin dirty. he likes a girl, she doesn't like him. okay fine. hong, same thing. my guy can't catch a break. no one considered his feelings when he gets dumped. jiang lin is one of most loyal characters on the show and he gets treated like crap. kicked out of a chair by his dad, that was messed up. but instead of talking to him, let's just physically hurt him. 🤌🏾
li bing's new wife irritated me. girl, if he doesn't want to call you mom, why does that bother you so much? weirdo.
mei's grandma was really unbearable to watch. so judgmental and a hater for no reason. and mei. but mei changed a whole lot. I'm happy for her character development.
tianhuai is a bad father but he has his good moments i guess.
liu biyan is patient AF. cuz i would have told the grandmother TF off and smacked her into next year for hitting me.
i honestly would have mei with xiangdong instead of tubby. this dude claimed he loved mei but cheated on her and got that girl pregnant. that's love? but she got a bit of karma cuz now she's a stepmother ☠️
oh yeah, F liu biyun's daughter. she leaves her child for like 3 years and now she wants to be a parent? girl, you were better off not having him. tbh.
my favorite character is jiang lin. out of everyone, he's my favorite. i just wish they didn't do him so wrong.
Was this review helpful to you?
I have a mixed feelings about this drama
Firstly, I kinda like the cinematography of this drama. It's not that bright, but also not that gloomy at the same time.Simply, this drama is taking daily life problems that we usually overcome. But it's just too much for me lol. Sometimes I can't take it and I just skip some scenes cause I can feel the tension and the emotion too much.
The acting and the emotion of every actors is just such a chef kiss. I laughed, I cried, and stressed by their too realistic emotions.
The setting is china in 70s to 90s so it brings some nostalgic feelings too.
I would like to appreciate Xiaowen's character Li Bing cause I LOOVEE him so much. He really got trough a lot of hard things. Sometimes I would say that he doesn't deserve those kind of treatments but that's what made him a better person in the future. He only missed one thing; that is when he was falling in love with that one girl but at least in the end of the day he chose brotherhood over love, and he made up everything with his family.
Everything is just so clearly ended and explained. So for you whom wants something soo complicated but finally finished and cleared, this one is a perfect meal for you.
For me personally, there is no unimportant scenes but I just can't take it because it's just too realistic. I was brought to my real emotion LOL.
Don't forget about lessons that we can take from this drama cause we really can take A LOT.
If you are a fan of Twinkling Watermelon, maybe you will like it because I felt the connection between children and parents from it too.
Was this review helpful to you?
Real life family with real life problems you can relate to
I don't know why I started watching this drama but I'm glad I didthis drama is so real that you can relate to within your own family ,, I have similar characters
the family problems are really similar to anyone's problems ,, having a new member to the family not accepting her ,, trying to adjust to her becoming on of the family yet she has her own problems ,, she has a teenage kid who is alone . weak and get beaten by his drunk father frequently ,,, the poor kid broke my heart and made me attached to the drama
I feel sometimes I want to scream at the screen watching him practically being tortured by his parents
also There is a bright side that is the husband he's a great person ,,he's so kind and caring towards his new wife , his kids , his mother and his wife's kid ,,, he's so gentleman really understands the problems he's facing and dealing with them with big heart
he's the bright light of this drama ,.,, him and his teenage son also such a sunshine cheerful kid
he's the opposite character of the abused boy ,,, he's so energetic naughty sometimes but in a childish way
I love his brightness too and his attempts of friendship with the poor kid
so overall the drama has great balance between melodrama , sadness and happiness ,,, it's not too dramatic or too funny
it's similar to real life day by day life but it's not boring also or draggy ,, it has an amazing pace
I didn't get bored one second ,, every character has his own issues that is dealt with
there is no draggy dialogues or boring romance
this drama shocks you to reality sometimes when you just begin to dream but then it's ok to live life as it is with all it's hardship and fight your own battles
such an amazing mature drama ,, Highly recommend it
Was this review helpful to you?
