this same spring will never come again

(random aside for a fun fact: he is actually learning mandarin and a little bit of korean on his own time)

So, I finally took the chance to watch We Best Love which was in my watchlist for so long and I've never taken the time to sit long enough to watch it. I admit that sometimes it's not as fun to watch older series as it is with newer ones and I think it's because I'm liking the enthusiasm you can see her in this little corner of internet when there is a new episode airing. Half of the fun I get to be on Tumblr, it's because I can read so many different takes on a series and it feels like I'm watching it with you. However, I've discovered that it can also be great to watch older series because there are some little gems and it's always better to make your own opinion about a story after you've seen it (I'm thinking about the experience I had when watching SOTUS for example). That's why holidays is the best time to watch those older series I still haven't watched. We Best Love was really recommended by some of my mutuals and I believe they know the type of stories I like to watch, so I felt pretty confident that I would eventually like it too.

You need to know that I watched the series on WeTv and I was keeping track on MDL just because I mostly use to have the calendar and to have a “list” of series I'm following, watching or having completed. You may ask yourself why I'm taking so much time explaining this, but it will make sense soon. The thing is that on MDL, the series is listed with 6 episodes, but on WeTv, there are 7 episodes. I didn't know why, but I decided to watch it anyway. Since I'm on holidays I knew I would finish the whole season tonight. I binge watched the season and I finally tuned it for the last episode on WeTv, the 7th episode that is not listed. It almost changed my whole impression of the series. It even made me question you all! You know I hate sad ending. Even if I know a sad ending can be the best ending for a series I can't really like them (I accept the ending for DFF because it was perfect to me this way, but that's the exception, not the rule). I thought everyone was teasing me. How this series could be so loved, with this type of ending?! Then, I looked online and I get that it's supposed to be an episode that make the transition to the second season. So, I will pretend that it doesn't exist while talking about this first season.

The story is pretty simple: it's about unrequited love. What do you do when you love someone, but you do know how to say it? What can you do? Zhou Shu Yi is in love with his best friend, but she already asked his other friend to become her boyfriend. This will lead him to spend more time with his “rival” Gao Shi De who has always been around him. In truth, there is a reason that explains why Gao Shi De is always following Zhou Shu Yi and that's because he has always been in love with him, but never find the courage to say it. So, it's unrequited love from both of them, but the outcome is different. I would say that the story is more about “love” in so many different shades: the unrequited love, the love you missed because it wasn't meant to be, the love you get after a heartbreak and the love that gets fulfilled. There are love story, good friendship and even good parental figures. I felt like the story was good because it seemed simple, but it serves as a soothing watch infused with a few moments of pain, evoking both comfort and longing. I took pleasure into watching how their rivalry was changed as some types of “forced proximity” to a seemingly friendship that evolved and deepened into a more romantic relationship.

The best point of this story is its characters. Despite the simple premise of the story, the main characters Zhou Shu Yi and Gao Shi De possess a much layered emotional depth as they try to navigate around what it means to love and be loved. These moments when the sadness and emotional despair when they were lost about their feelings could show it. I think I really liked how the story manages to capture the free fall trust and butterflies of newfound love. As much as it was deeply obvious for the viewers that Zhou Shu Yi was love-sick with Gao Shi De, I particularly liked how when the latter accepted his feelings for Zhou Shu Yi, it changed everything in the way he was living that love. He truly embodies the idea that he didn't love first, but he loves harder. I'm the best judge of chemistry, but I think the actors did well because I believed in every change of hearts they were experiencing in those six episodes. There is a whole love story being showed during these episodes and even though they are on the shorter sides, it never felt like they were rushing things. It was very natural how the characters changed and became a couple.

I believe that if everything seems so smooth and natural, it's also because of the interconnected network of relationships, interactions, and conflicts among the other characters with the main leads. Fang Zheng Wen and Jiang Yu Xin, Zhou Shu Yi's childhood friends serve as the catalyst that would make Zhou Shu Yi get closer to Gao Shi De because they get together. Despite that, they remain good friends and their interactions and conversations with Zhou Shu Yi are essential to make the character keep growing. The same way, Pei Shou Yi (and also his mother to a lesser extent) had the same role for Gao Shi De. We also get more secondary characters such as Liu Bing Wei or Shi Zhe Yu who still got their moments to shine, but they were primarily used to make a contrast with the main leads. I believe this whole network of secondary characters serves as highlighting the struggle and the success of the main characters, but I appreciate how the story still lets them have their own primary specific purpose, it makes them feel real and not just here to serve the main characters. They all had their own personalities and when I get to like and care about secondary characters, it means the story is doing a good job.