Episode 15 Recap
The indifference shown towards Bai Shu Lei and Liu Xiao Fen’s sincere apologies has Bai Shu Lei seek Song Han Ming about it. When told about how Ai Li Si was not one but moved by their apologies despite almost apologising to the point of crying, even Song Han Ming seemed surprised by Ai Li Si’s cold response. She’s normally cold, but not to this extent.
After their meeting, which ends off with Song Han Ming giving Bai Shu Lei’s pair of shoes, he calls Ai Li Si out to a cafe to find out what might be behind her colder than usual treatment towards Bai Shu Lei and Liu Xiao Fen. Ai Li Si simply explains that it’s already been 13 years they’ve not been friends. It’s not strange for not wanting them as friends. Song Han Ming doesn’t accept this answer. He understood when she didn’t want Bai Shu Lei and Liu Xiao Fen as friends when they didn’t make their apologies, but not now after they’ve sincerely apologised.
Ai Li Si brushes Song Han Ming off, attempting to hide behind her reason. But then she suddenly experiences a headache, revealing the real reason she won’t accept Bai Shu Lei and Liu Xiao Fen as well as why she made a decision to leave He Hao Yi. Ai Li Si was distancing herself and protecting them from the burden that may result from knowing about the fact she has a blood clot in her brain which requires surgery. The success rate is low because of the location of the clot. She doesn’t want them to be sad over it.
At Jsut International, the plan to deal with CEO Wang kicks off. Bai Shu Lei has her Dad meet her at the company where he agrees to be the investor that is needed in this plan of He Hao Yi’s. Bai Shu Lei’s dad shows a concern towards his daughter which has not been seen. He advices her to protect herself should a situation arise from this.
CEO Wang receives news of this sudden interest to become the investor he’s been seeking in order to break off with their involvement with Capital. It makes him suspicious how one shows up right after Ai Li Si resigns, though. But as his assistant points out that it’s a known fact amongst the Business and Marketing Departments that Bai Shu Lei and Ai Li Si do not get along, CEO Wang is comforted. His assistance tells him that it’s not strange for an investor like Bai Shu Lei’s father to show up in this case.
CEO Wang’s suspicions settled, he confidently threatens the disestablishing of the Research and Development Department should Ai Li Si refuse to hand over the experiment log. This has her colleagues beg Ai Li Si to submit and do what CEO Wang wants. He Hao Yi saves Ai Li Si from sacrificing her research for the livelihoods of her colleagues and tells them off for expecting Ai Li Si to always give in. CEO Wang shows some pity towards them, giving them three days to hand over the experiment log.
He Hao Yi then takes Ai Li Si back to her apartment before he does as he had promised: to stop bothering her. He Hao Yi only makes one comment about how Ai Li Si isn’t as cold as she appears before he stops himself and announces his leave. Ai Li Si doesn’t want He Hao Yi to leave, though. She wants to invite He Hao Yi to stay, just that she’s unable to get it out. Instead, she stalls him with a towel which she offers to help him dry off. He takes it and wipes his face and a bit of his drenched shoulder. Ai Li Si moves to note that it’s raining heavily which He Hao Yi answers that he’ll be fine since his car is parked nearby. She’s mentions that he’ll catch a cold a cold next, which has He Hao Yi tell her that his sister will take care of him. With nothing else to hold him back and unwilling to say the words to have him stay, she has no choice but let him leave.
Just as He Hao Yi turns to leave, a power cut helps her out. She screams and holds onto him, keeping him from leaving. The night is spent sitting in the dark with only candles providing light. They are both on the sofa next to each other with Ai Li Si keeping to herself, trying hard not to be frightened by the claps of thunder that continue to hit. He Hao Yi offers his hand, but she won’t take it. She wants to continue keeping a distance from him.
In the morning, Ai Li Si’s fallen asleep on He Hao Yi’s shoulder and her hand is in his. That distance she wanted to keep and failed to keep has her wander outside, reminding herself that she can be independent and can remain alone. But then she is reminded of the surgery. It might fail. It might succeed, but if it it were to go well, there’s still the possibility she forget everything and not be able to take care of herself. She shouts in frustration, asking why she had to be sick at this time.
All this time, He Hao Yi has been trailing her. Ai Li Si’s outburst is noticed by him, but the reason for it doesn’t seem to have been caught. After Ai Li Si registers his presence, He Hao Yi approaches her to ask about what it is she’s keeping to herself. Ai Li Si maintains the wall she put up between them, asking why she should tell him. He Hao Yi tells her that he is aware that Ai Li Si doesn’t see him as anyone important to her anymore—only the 17-year-old Ai Li Si likes the 17-year-old He Hao Yi; the 30-year-old sees He Hao Yi is nothing to her. He knows that, but to him, both the 17-year-old and the 30-year-old Ai Li Si are very important people to her. So, even if only as friends, he is willing to listen no matter what’s happened. Ai Li Si tells maintains her stance, telling him that she has nothing to tell him.
Over at Song Han Ming’s side, the news of Ai Li Si’s condition has him decide to let He Hao Yi know about it after some contemplation. He pays him a visit at the place He Hao Yi always is found when he’s troubled—at the basketball courts. The meeting is met with their usual verbal jabs at each other before Song Han Ming requests He Hao Yi’s time to discuss a matter. He Hao Yi doesn’t manage to meet the request as a call from CEO Wang threatening to go to court drags He Hao Yi away to carry out the final part of his plan and bring about the end of CEO Wang’s threats.
As CEO Wang wanted, He Hao Yi arrives with Ai Li Si’s experiment log and hands it over. CEO Wang thinks He Hao Yi has surrendered because of the weakness he has in protecting Ai Li Si. What he doesn’t know is He Hao Yi is baiting CEO Wang into confessing he stole Ai Li Si’s research to claim as his own. When CEO Wang tells him that he will use Ai Li Si’s experiment log to protect himself, He Hao Yi launches at the CEO, telling him that without Ai Li Si, the research will cease to continue. Unaware he’s being recorded, CEO Wang boasts that there are many out there looking for the opportunity to work on the experiment and it will not be difficult to find someone who will take over. The CEO then walks off, telling He Hao Yi that he will let off Ai Li Si from being sued.
He Hao Yi’s not quite there with the confession, but when he moves to warn CEO Wang against burning all bridges after crossing them—that is, don’t cast people aside once you’ve made use of them)—He Hao Yi succeeds. CEO Wang smugly ignores the advice. Instead, he turns to thank Capital for sending a Risk Management advisor to him and helped him solve his problems. He adds that not only did He Hao Yi not find evidence to prove he stole Ai Li Si’s research, He Hao Yi helped him take exclusive ownership of the whole research.
With that, He Hao Yi’s plan to take care of CEO Wang is almost complete. The only thing left is to have CEO Wang realise the research he plans to claim as his own at a press conference has already been published in a medical magazine under its rightful owner, Ai Li Si. The move has CEO Wang threaten He Hao Yi and Ai Li Si with announcing Ai Li Si as the stealer of company research. He is immediately silenced when He Hao Yi plays back the recording of his confession. Following this, the press conference is cancelled, CEO Wang is taken care of and Ai Li Si retains ownership of her research.
The news of the press conference’s cancellation is relayed to AI’s Manager Zhao, delighting him and Ai Li Si’s colleagues, Sha Sha and Juan Mao. Bai Shu Lei and Liu Xiao Fen high-five as they hear Manager Zhao’s report from their location by the doorway.
Song Han Ming turns up next to them shortly after. He is given the good news about the conference’s cancellation by Liu Xiao Fen. He is made to high-five her before she makes him high-five Bai Shu Lei. After their awkward, forced high-fives, Song Han Ming decides make his apology to Bai Shu Lei for hiding the fact he was Peter from her and for taking revenge on her. Bai Shu Lei doesn’t manage to respond as Liu Xiao Fen responds in her place, revealing to Song Han Ming how long she’s been waiting for him, something Bai Shu Lei seems to not want Liu Xiao Fen to say.
Ai Li Si returns from speaking to CEO Wang. Her manager and colleagues make their apologies to Ai Li Si for being selfish and asks her to not leave them. Ai Li Si forgives them. As for staying at the office, she tells them she wants to take a rest for short while.
He Hao Yi, who’s been standing behind, announces his departure. He tells them that since everything has been resolved, he’s able to leave them now. There’s a plan in progress here, one which Bai Shu Lei, Liu Xiao Fen and Song Han Ming seems to be in on. It’s a plan which they seems to hope will have Ai Li Si go after He Hao Yi, allow him to express how Ai Li Si has always been in his heart and (maybe) open up and make a move to walk towards him.
The scene doesn’t play out exactly that way—at least not immediately. After encouragement and a nudge from Song Han Ming to go after He Hao Yi, Ai Li Si chases him down the street and calls out to him. He Hao Yi turns around and makes a joke: did she suddenly realise he look good in his outfit?
(He Hao Yi’s wearing a T-shirt with printed leaves and flowers on branches which is teamed with a beige blazer and tan pants. Haha, we always found this T-shirt design an interesting choice! We think the writer is deliberately drawing attention to it for the same reason.)
Ai Li Si is unsure how to respond to He Hao Yi’s question. This has He Hao Yi tell her he knows she doesn’t have these kind of feelings for him and turns to leave. Ai Li Si stops him, asking him what the meaning was behind the three photos (we’re assuming she’s talking about the ones she sent him as clues to locate the experiment log). He Hao Yi answers with telling her how he can’t say he knows how she must have felt all these years because he’s never experienced what she went through; but similarly, she hasn’t lived his life, so she isn’t able to understand how he felt these last 13 years.
Ai Li Si asks how it has been for him these last 13 years. This has him finally reveal to her how both times he had kept the appointments to meet at the place they buried the time capsule. He went at 17, only he was late. He also went 10 years later, only he was perhaps early. He tells her that the feeling of loss he felt when he didn’t see her back then never disappeared. At first he thought it was just a feeling of regret from his youth, but it’s not. The reason this feeling stayed with him for so many years and why he remembered the 10-year appointment is because she has always been in his heart. He then goes on to tell her how he had thought he had another chance with her, but yet again, he didn’t manage to grasp onto it well.
Ai Li Si, who’s been standing there listening to his words intently, expresses it wasn’t because he hadn’t held onto the opportunity well. It’s because of her surgery which may fail or have her forget him and her friends all over again.
He Hao Yi seems to be thinking about the surgery as well. He knows about it because right after He Hao Yi came back from getting the recording of CEO Wang’s confession, he went and looked for Song Han Ming to discuss the matter Song Han Ming had come to him about. Song Han Ming never got to reveal the information (Ai Li Si had managed to stop Song Han Ming from telling He Hao Yi her condition through a call), but He Hao Yi was able to guess from the clues he got when he saw Ai Li Si’s outburst when he trailed that morning.
Thinking there probably won’t be a next time for them to meet again, He Hao Yi prepares to let go of her. He tells her that they can now run into each other, face each other and cherish one another without any regrets. He then turns to leave for the second time, but Ai Li Si won’t let him. She holds onto his wrist, stopping him.
He Hao Yi halts before pulling her into a hug, tears flowing down his face. As if willing another chance to be given to him, he tells her that if he had another chance, he’d start over with her. He would start over with her no matter what happens (he’s referring to the surgery we think). But as that chance isn’t given, he tells her through flowing tears that he can’t bear the sight of seeing her leave him again. “So…” He Hao Yi gives it a moment before he whispers goodbye, his voice shaking from crying. Then, eyes clamped shut, head down and both hands on her shoulder, he lets her know how glad he is to have met her and to have been liked by her back then. He then turns and leaves her.
Feeling his touch gone from her shoulders, Ai Li Si turns. His retreating back has her let out her cries.
The next morning, Ai Li Si is seen scrolling through the photos of her and He Hao Yi on that date she asked him out on. It has her think of the puzzle she gave him and heading off to the bookstore. There, she finds an envelope taped under the table where her experiment log used to be. He Hao Yi had left her diary in there for her to find. The message which he left on the last page isn’t read until after Ai Li Si receives a call from Liu Xiao Fen that He Hao Yi’s gotten into a car accident. It is then she sees his message: “It would be great if you took the initiative to walk towards me this time.”
Ai Li Si rushes off to the hospital and is told he is still unconscious and will need to be under observation for the next 24 hours. As Liu Xiao Fen is let in to see him, Ai Li Si stays outside waiting for a whole day and night without eating anything. She just sits there, looking at He Hao Yi’s message in her diary.
Bai Shu Lei sits herself down next to her. She expresses her concern over Ai Li Si’s refusal to eat anything for such a long time, before she notices Ai Li Si’s preoccupation with the words on her diary. It has Bai Shu Lei ask whether He Hao Yi wrote it. Ai Li Si confirms. This has Bai Shu Lei ask why Ai Li Si couldn’t believe He Hao Yi before going on to let her know about the deal he made with Capital for handing over the experiment log—that deal being, if he hands over the experiment log, Capital must agree to continue supporting Ai Li Si and her research; but, if He Hao Yi were to fail in locating and handing over of the experiment log then He Hao Yi would pay with his resignation. This has Ai Li Si ask why He Hao Yi never told her about this, which has Bai Shu Lei explain that very likely it’s because he wanted her to genuinely like him.
Ai Li Si almost admits genuinely liking him, but she quickly stop mid-sentence, realising what she was about to say. Bai Shu Lei attempts to get her to continue what she was about to say, but Ai Li Si just won’t say it. Liu Xiao Fen enters at this point and lets Bai Shu Lei and Ai Li Si know that He Hao Yi’s woken. Ai Li Si wants to see him, but she’s not allowed. Liu Xiao Fen passes on the message that He Hao Yi doesn’t want her to see him. As this is the case, Bai Shu Lei suggest Ai Li Si return home.
He Hao Yi not permitting Ai Li Si see him has her wander the street reflecting on all the times He Hao Yi wanted her to open up to him. She regrets not doing so and asks for a second chance. She expresses that if she were given a second chance, she’d tell him everything. She’d do anything he asks of her. With that thought expressed, someone looking like He Hao Yi cross her line of vision, giving her that second chance.
Ai Li Si runs after him, calling He Hao Yi’s name. She grabs onto his wrist when the man she’s chasing doesn’t stop, and as she had said she will do, she takes this second chance to say everything she’s been holding. She apologises for disregarding his feelings and tells him that she does like him. If only she wasn’t sick then they’d be able to be together. The whole time she is saying this, this person she’s held onto has remained silent and kept his back towards her. It has her plead for this person before her to tell her is real. She apologises a couple of more times to him before he shows himself to her, granting her desire for him to be real, to be He Hao Yi.
Now that she finds out that he is real and he is He Hao Yi, Ai Li Si suddenly registers that He Hao Yi should be in the hospital. He Hao Yi apologises to her for the deception. He then let’s her know about his knowledge about her needing surgery and urges her to quickly undergo it and recover so he can wait for her return to him. This has Ai Li Si take offense as she sees it as a joke being played on her. Ai Li Si almost passes up this second chance, but through her friends, Song Han Ming, Bai Shu Lei and Liu Xiao Fen (who all appear before her), she takes hold of this second chance again.
Through Song Han Ming’s words she is made to see that all of this may be God’s way of giving not only her, but them all a second chance and she should take hold of it. Bai Shu Lei makes a point that life is transient; no one can predict the future. She shouldn’t worry about becoming a burden to He Hao Yi, implying that Ai Li Di shouldn’t fear what might or might not happen in the future and live in the present. He Hao Yi concludes, telling her that the short distance which separates between them has wasted so much of their time together. He then hands the book which keeps the four-leaf clover he found. As the four-leaf clover symbolises the four of them being together forever and He Hao Yi’s found it, she can now believe that they will stay together now and forever. (It could also be seen that He Hao Yi brought them all back together we suppose.)
He Hao Yi then tells her that he doesn’t want to miss the train anymore before posing the question to her. She doesn’t and allows He Hao Yi to pull her in for a kiss.
Friendship mended, He Hao Yi and Ai Li Si finally together, they meet to bury a second time capsule at the same place they buried the first one 13 years ago. Liu Xiao Fen is missing though as she’s at home with He Hao Yi’s assistant, Lin Jun Xiong, spreading on him a face pack. (She forgot the appointment until Bai Shu Lei gave her a call.) Song Han Ming is also invited to join the burying of the time capsule. Ai Li Si had invited him.
As they wait for Liu Xiao Fen to arrive, Song Han Ming and Bai Shu Lei both stand at the entranceway, watching He Hao Yi and Ai Li Si who are a short distance from them. It has Bai Shu Lei express to Song Han Ming that second chances aren’t always there to take advantage of so they all must use all their efforts to hold on to things (or in Bai Shu Lei case, people she likes) right away. Song Han Ming smiles, understanding she’s referring to him. She turns to Song Han Ming and explains that she’s not saying she wants Song Han Ming to fall in love with her at once, just that whatever she wants, she will strive to win them over.
Liu Xiao Fen present, time capsule in the ground, the five friends watch Ai Li Si cover it with soil with an obvious worried expression on her face. She’s worried about the surgery and how she may not make it through and unearth this time capsule. (This is implied through Bai Shu Lei’s confidence that they will all return 10 years later to dig it up.) She’s worried that if she does make it through she will forget He Hao Yi. He Hao Yi brings out a bottle and fills it with soil and tells her that if she really, seriously look at it, she will remember. She takes it, smiles then nods, choosing for the time being to believe that the bottle will do what He Hao Yi says it’ll do.
Moments before the surgery, Ai Li Si poses the question again, seemingly worried about how He Hao Yi will live on rather than being worried for herself. Standing over her as she lay in her bed just outside the operating room, He Hao Yi tells her to stop mentioning the word ‘if’. But if she were to forget, he tells her he will help her remember; if she disappears (does not make it), he promises her he won’t be sad for too long; and if the surgery is a success, it will be the greatest gift to him.
They share a kiss through tears before Ai Li Si is wheeled into the operating room. We then skip to one year later. He Hao Yi is outside by himself, listening to a recording of Ai Li Si requesting him to follow the way to remember her in the following days, month and years. She asks of him to start off with thinking about her with decreasing frequency.
In the first three months, she requests he think of her 10 times a day and only cry once in a while. Between the fourth and six months, she requests him think of her only three times a day and not feel sad anymore. After six months she requests he thinks of her once in a while and when he does, think of the good times between them, smile and throw out the sad memories. One year later, she requests he think of just one thing and that’s him, He Hao Yi. The recording ends with her telling him that his name is the name she likes the most in the world, that He Hao Yi is the person she likes the most in the world as well. This, she tells him, is the confession she owed him for the last 13 years.
It all looks like Ai Li Si didn’t make it/remember He Hao Yi from the way He Hao Yi was listening to the recording and appearing to hurt remembering her, but the emotion may actually be nerves. There is an item sitting next to him. We never see this until the final shot, but it’s a bottle with Ai Li Si’s four-leaf clover bracelet wrapped around it. Around the four-leaf clover bracelet is a ring. It looks like he is waiting there for Ai Li Si to propose to her. We never find out if this is what he is doing, but it is a happy ending for the two as Ai Li Si shows up, looking vibrant and cheerful, just like her past self. The surgery was a success and He Hao Yi and Ai Li Si got their second chance.
Thoughts
Yay! Happy ending! We never doubted it would be a happy ending, but we did worry about the time that was left for the happy ending. The CEO Wang part of the story took up half the episode already, how were they going to get to the happy ending with the developments they put in there?
For example, the introduction of Ai Li Si’s blood clot and needing to get surgery, this kind of development typically appears in the middle of the drama and a whole set of episodes to resolve. How could they, why? We know why: it’s so Ai Li Si can use it as a reason to keep pushing He Hao Yi away. Actually, even though we question it like we think it was a sudden, bad insert, we don’t think that way at all. It actually works and makes sense. A blood clot can happen and we actually think it does help create the drama needed to carry on and explain Ai Li Si’s insistence on distancing herself from He Hao Yi, Bai Shu Lei and Liu Xiao Fen.
That goodbye scene between He Hao Yi and Ai Li Si was so sad! It’s the first time we thought the ending wasn’t just pointless, unjustified drama. He Hao Yi really did try with all his might to grasp his second chance with Ai Li Si, but with Ai Li Si’s blood clot, it’s understandable Ai Li Si wouldn’t want to move towards him in case the surgery failed or she forgot all over again and make He Hao Yi and all her friends go through pain. He Hao Yi letting go and leaving, Ai Li Si not going to him made sense to us.
We didn’t quite get what the three photos meant when she asked He Hao Yi about it in that same scene. We just thought that they were clues to lead him to the bookstore and find the experiment log. But then, she mentions it again, asking whether He Hao Yi understood the meaning of the three photos. Then after He Hao Yi leaves, she suddenly thinks to go to the bookstore again after scrolling through her photos of their date together and happens to feel under the table to find her diary He Hao Yi taped under it. We think we’re missing something…
But geez, He Hao Yi deciding he’s going to let her go and say goodbye two-thirds the way through, this is another development that keeps us from getting to the happy ending. Great scene, though!! What an emotional scene it was! This is the end episode, so we didn’t believe it was forever, but to think these two parting and go about their own way after all the effort He Hao Yi put in to make sure he didn’t mess up his second chance, it’s so, so sad! We really love this scene. We love the dialogue, we love how He Hao Yi hugs Ai Li Si after she pulls him back to stop him from leaving, and how he turns her around to say his last words before walking away, just so she doesn’t have to see him leave her.
We think he probably did this to hide his pain and tearful appearance from her, too. He Hao Yi has been described by Song Han Ming as the type to like coming off as aloof and not wanting to show he can be affected by things. He’s also been taught by his father to be strong and to use swimming to hide his tears. He seems to be the type to not like showing this kind of emotion to people.
The writer(s) really did so well with this goodbye scene. We think we can watch this scene a number of times without it losing its emotional impact.
Third development, He Hao Yi’s car accident which had everyone at the hospital awaiting him to wake up from his coma. This happens with only 15 minutes left in the drama. Now, this was unexpected development! We’ve seen dramas add a car accident in there in the last episode, but not in the last 15 minutes!
At this point, we could only think that this was a trick, that He Hao Yi’s actually fine and it was only to make Ai Li Si act. As we mentioned above, there was definitely a plan in progress (this was hinted by a subtle look, a signal He Hao Yi sent across to Bai Shu Lei, Liu Xiao Fen and Song Han Ming when Ai Li Si was talking to Manager Zhao and her colleagues after coming from CEO Wang’s office), but it makes us wonder when this plan started and stopped.
Did it begin from the moment He Hao Yi announced his work was done and continued right through to when he forced himself to turn away Ai Li Si, past when he had the car accident and up to the point when Ai Li Si spots him on the street? If that’s the case, how can the emotions He Hao Yi expressed when he said his goodbye to Ai Li Si come out like that? He Hao Yi isn’t an actor: Lego Li is, but not He Hao Yi. :oP :oP. We can only justify this with a second plan that took place after the plan to have Ai Li Si walk towards him failed on the night he turned her away. We like to think that He Hao Yi really did have a run in with a car after his initial plan to have Ai Li Si walk towards him failed, that he really was distraught from having to turn Ai Li Si away, and because of this, he wasn’t watching where he was going and he did get hurt, only not as badly as it was presented to Ai Li Si. We like to think that it was at this point a new plan to get Ai Li Si to walk towards him was hatched. That would work. Otherwise, if the goodby scene was all part of the plan from the start, it’d lessen the impact of that wonderful, emotional scene.
So, now Ai Li Si’s walked towards He Hao Yi with that plan of his, we should get our happy ending. No, not yet. With only five minutes to go, the episode just had to make us guess a little more. Did Ai Li Si make it through the surgery? Did Ai Li Si remember He Hao Yi? The recording sure suggested otherwise. We’ll never know what happened in the year after the surgery, but it looks like He Hao Yi’s meeting Ai Li Si to propose. Aww! Super happy ending. Finally!
This was a very nice final episode. Despite the possibility the goodbye scene was not real and was part of He Hao Yi’s plan all along, we still really enjoyed all the developments in the episode. It all managed to keep us watching every minute of the entire episode. In fact, when we got to the end of the episode, we actually stayed staring at the screen and waited for it to switch to the credits just to make sure it was the end and there wasn’t anything extra past it, despite seeing the words “The End”.
This drama really has been a great watch. Love at Seventeen knew from the beginning where it wanted to go with each of its episodes, which made it so great to watch each week. The first few episodes, we did find the He Hao Yi and Ai Li Si scenes a bit too much. They were constantly falling and tripping over each other, but then when the drama skipped to 13 years later, they worked so well to contrast the relationship He Hao Yi and Ai Li Si used to have with the present one. His one mistake of not trusting and listening to Ai Li Si’s explanation split them up for 13 long years and turned her into a cold, distant machine-like Ai Li Si. The 30-year-old Ai Li Si and He Hao Yi’s mistake of not believing Ai Li Si 13 years ago were great obstacles for him to overcome. It created some great scenes, like the one where he almost loses control and kisses her. Ai Li Si’s fear of He Hao Yi leaving her developed some great drama, too, like that goodbye scene in this final episode.
Song Han Ming, he’s an awesome second male lead. Song Han Ming actually featured a lot and was made use of here. He wasn’t just a character brought in for short period and forgotten the rest of the drama. He was actually made to be a very important character who Ai Li Si trusted with information she wouldn’t tell others. Song Han Ming had said that no one had the power to affect her like He Hao Yi. Although that is true, Song Han Ming’s power to make her listen and see his point isn’t too bad, either. We love that the drama allowed him to play such a useful, important role in the drama.
We also love the way they dealt with the ‘triangle’ between He Hao Yi, Ai Li Si and Song Han Ming. It was quite subtle and not focused on hugely, but Song Han Ming does like Ai Li Si. After Ai Li Si’s memories returned, there was just a short scene showing that he was disappointed in himself for failing in affecting Ai Li Si the way He Hao Yi managed. He spent so long trying to have her show some emotions and bring out the old Ai Li Si he used to know, only to fail. But He Hao Yi, who’s been absent from her life for the last 13 years, manages to do it just like that. It’s okay though because Song Han Ming is all about seeing Ai Li Si happy. If that meant that He Hao Yi is the one, he’s happy to send her towards him. This kind of thinking isn’t too different from some of the second male leads out there in the drama world, but what makes Song Han Ming different is that it was very clear that this was all he really, truly wants for Ai Li Si from the beginning. His guilt from being part of the misunderstanding that lead to her becoming cold and distant had him decide that seeing Ai Li Si happy as being more important than seeing her be happy with him.
We felt that the drama really tried to make He Hao Yi and Song Han Ming equally great. They made Song Han Ming as handsome, as sporty (Song Han Ming swims and shoots baskets! Subtle hint that it’s not only He Hao Yi who can play basketball) and he is as great of a fighter as He Hao Yi. He Hao Yi just happens to have more of an influence on Ai Li Si. Clearly though, Ai Li Si regards him as a close friend. He was invited to the burying of the time capsule! Yay!
Bai Shu Lei and Song Han Ming’s relationship, we like how this ended. They didn’t get these two together. They only had Song Han Ming and Bai Shu Lei on good terms with the potential to becoming a couple in the future. We like how the drama suggest that Bai Shu Lei is going to have to do some chasing. Nice!
Are there any bad points in the drama? Not too many. Probably if we had to nitpick, maybe the introduction of a brain tumour that gets Ai Li Si to forget. But we’re just nitpicking. We don’t mind the use of this to move the story along. It’s not a bad way to go back in time without a time-machine actually.
We felt that the drama remade certain scenes a few too many times. For example, the bus scene where Ai Li Si falls into He Hao Yi’s arms. This scene was recreated three times. Another example is the running hand in hand scene, dragged by each other. This was done probably three times, too. Some other scenes that are redone at least two or three times is the library scene where they’re having noodles (which was recreated at a bar then at the convenience store), the fever scene which was done a number of times, too. We call these déjà vu scenes. We said in our recaps that these scenes can be seen as a technique of going back in time, reliving them to bring out the memories and rewrite history. We mentioned that we liked this technique. We still believe that, but probably towards the end, it was used a little too much.
This is just minor criticism, though. Overall, a fantastic drama. It started off well and ended off fantastically. If you haven’t watched this drama, we recommend it!!
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