Open Thread: Someday Or One Day Episodes 1 & 2

Welcome to the Open Thread, everyone! Thank you for joining me on this group watch of Someday Or One Day! 🥰 I’ll confess upfront that I have heart-eyes for Greg Hsu (also known as Greg Han) in this show, so I’m indulging my fangirl heart, in having him and his lovely smile headline our inaugural post. 😍

IMPORTANT ANNOUNCEMENT, before we begin:

1. We will be adopting a ZERO SPOILER POLICY for this Open Thread, except for events that have happened in the show, up to this point.

Because of Show’s twisty nature, we don’t want to spoil anyone’s watch experience with spoilers. The spoiler tags don’t work in email notifications, therefore, please take note that WE WILL NOT BE USING SPOILER TAGS FOR THIS OPEN THREAD. ANY AND ALL SPOILERS WILL BE REDACTED to protect first-time viewers in our midst (although, I’d appreciate it if you would save me the trouble of having to redact spoilers, heh 😅).

We need to protect the innocent! 😉

2. HOWEVER!! If you’d like to discuss spoilers from a rewatcher’s point of view, I’ve created a SPOILER ZONE for you, where you can discuss all the spoilers you’d like, without the need for spoiler warnings. You can find it here!

3. Discussions on this thread don’t have to close when newer threads open, just so you know! But as we progress through our group watch, please keep the discussions clear of spoilers from future episodes, so that future readers coming to this thread won’t be accidentally spoiled. Does that make sense?

Without further ado, here are my reactions to this set of episodes; have fun in the Open Thread, everyone! ❤️

My thoughts

Episode 1

What an excellent, surprising first episode! I feel like I appreciate this opening episode even more on this second viewing, than on my first.

Full disclosure that I’ve seen this show once before, about a year ago, so the details aren’t as faded from my memory as I would normally like, for a rewatch.

However, in the interest of supporting this group watch, I’m going to apply selective drama amnesia (ha!), and basically pretend that this is the first time I’m watching this show.

(On that note, did you see my announcement at the top of the post, about us having a Zero Spoiler Policy for this Open Thread? There’s also a Spoiler Zone, if you’d like to discuss retrospective spoilers; details above!)

For the record, there are elements in this episode that I don’t love the execution of, like the cartoony tone of the colleagues at Yuxuan’s office, and the cartoony pet whisperer cum mystic.

However, in the grand scheme of things, this isn’t a huge deal, because, first of all, the colleagues don’t feature much, in the rest of the show. When they show up, it’s usually a relatively quick drive-by sort of deal, so I’m pretty fine to just roll with it.

Secondly, these elements aren’t there just to take up screen time. They do serve a purpose.

From the exposition that we get through Yuxuan’s colleagues, we learn some important context about her: that her boyfriend Quansheng had died, 2 years ago; that even though Yuxuan appears to be fine and functional, she’s still actively in mourning, in her own way.

She tries to be strong, but the wound is still very raw and very open, on the inside.

The pet mystic more or less confirms this (so she’s not as much of a quack as she first appears), and she even gives Yuxuan what feels like an important clue – the number 32 – towards seeing Quansheng again.

I feel that Show does a very effective job of demonstrating just how much Yuxuan loves and misses Quansheng. The way she literally thinks of him multiple times a day; the way she can’t keep it together, when a video of him accidentally plays in front of her; the way she still dreams about him regularly.

He might be gone, but he’s everywhere, in her world, whether she’s awake or asleep.

The additional context that we get, that she had tried to stop him from going to Shanghai with her, and that he’d died in a plane crash, while on his way to join her in Shanghai, must make things so much worse for her to bear.

Not only must she be haunted by the “what if,” of him going with her on the flight she had taken, which would have kept him safe, she must also be tormented by the thought that the last words she’d said to him, were harsh ones.

From the flashbacks that we see, Quansheng looks to have been a really sweet and loving boyfriend, even if he was prone to pranking Yuxuan and exasperating her. Putting that together with the circumstances under which they’d said goodbye, and I can see why Yuxuan is unable to move on with her life.

Of course, one of the big questions this episode, is, who is that guy whom she sees walk past the elevator? He looks just like Quansheng, except he looks older than the Quansheng that we see in the flashbacks.

Given that it’s been only 2 years since the plane crash, why would Quansheng look visibly older..? And, if this is really Quansheng, why wouldn’t he show himself to Yuxuan, since, from the flashbacks, it’s clear that he loves her very much..?

The other question, is, is he a doppelgänger? After all, Show’s introduced the concept of doppelgängers, not only via the app that Yuxuan’s colleagues are working on.

But also, there’s that excellent (EXCELLENT!) twist at the end of the episode, where we learn that the flashbacks to high school, which we’d assumed to be of Yuxuan and Quansheng in their younger days, are actually of a completely different set of people. Mind. Blown. 🤯

This may be my favorite twist ever, that I’ve watched on my screen. 🤩

We’re told that instead of Quansheng, the boy in the flashbacks, is named Li Ziwei, and the girl, who looks just like Yuxuan, is named Chen Yunru. Wow. Talk about turning everything on its head.

That changes everything, doesn’t it?

Where before, we’d thought that this incident at the record shop was part of Yuxuan’s memories, now we know that these memories must belong to a different set of people; Yuxuan’s and Quansheng’s doppelgängers, it looks like.

This begs the question of whether the guy that Yuxuan sees at the elevator, and then later, from the bus, is really Quansheng, or whether it’s really Li Ziwei, who only looks like Quansheng.

But then.. how does that explain the cake? Circumstantially, it seems that it was he who had left that cake for Yuxuan at her client’s office, for her birthday.

If this is merely the doppelgänger, how would he have known that it was Yuxuan’s birthday, and that this was her favorite cake? Scratch that, how would he even know about Yuxuan’s existence..?

And then Yuxuan finds the photo on the internet, when using the app to search for Quansheng’s doppelgänger. That’s not her in the photo, since she doesn’t ever remember taking this photo, but.. is that Quansheng’s doppelgänger, or might that be Quansheng himself..?

So many delicious, confusing questions! 🤩

Episode 2

One of the main things that makes Show so interesting, is how we’re being served up various nuggets of information that are supposed to coexist in this drama world, but yet, appear to be at odds with one another.

Trying (and trying!) to make sense of how these nuggets of information fit together, is one of watching this show’s joys.

We’ve established that Yuxuan and Yunru are two different people, and now, with the timeline becoming clearer, it also appears to be the case, that Wang Quansheng and Li Ziwei are two different people as well.

But then, Show gives us little things that suggest that Quansheng and Ziwei are somehow connected, like the way they have the exact same attitude towards the third birthday wish, and use the exact same words, to express it.

What is this magic, exactly, right? How would they think the same thing, and say the same thing, if they existed in different timelines? Did they.. know each other, perhaps?

And, if Quansheng really didn’t survive that plane crash, then this means that the person whom Yuxuan saw, would be Li Ziwei. And his age matches the timeline too, since he looks older than Wang Quansheng had looked, in the flashbacks.

BUT – and this is a biggie – how would he know of Yuxuan’s existence, and how would he know her preference in cake, and why would he go to the trouble of delivering a birthday cake to her..? It’s enough to make your head spin, really.

The other main draw that I find, in watching this show, is getting to know our characters. The more I get to know them, the more invested I feel, in their stories.

For example, I really feel for Yuxuan. The more I understand of her grief and her struggle to move on with her life, now that the love of her life is gone, the sorrier I feel, for her. Her regrets, mixed in with her love for him, make for a potent combination, and I honestly wouldn’t know what to tell her, as a friend.

And then there’s Yunru, who has her own set of cares and struggles. First of all, it looks like she’s being taken for granted at home.

She takes care of her mother and brother, which looks to be a thankless task, and then to make it all worse, it seems that her parents are getting a divorce, and only care about who will get custody of their son – with no apparent regard for Yunru herself.

Dang. That’s gotta hurt. It’s no wonder Yunru always looks like she’s got a lot on her mind.

Then there’s the friendship between Ziwei and Junjie. I do love that little backstory, of how Ziwei had extended his friendship so easily, to Junjie, at a time in his life when Junjie had felt marginalized. Ziwei didn’t care that Junjie had a hearing issue.

In fact, he delighted in playing with Junjie’s hearing aid – and that had made the other kids see Junjie differently too. It’s no wonder that Junjie thinks of Ziwei as his best friend in the world.

Which is why it’s gotta hurt so bad, when Yunru, whom Junjie clearly likes, appears to like Ziwei instead. I mean, that birthday scene was so cheerful and lovely – until Yunru indicated that she wanted Ziwei to send her home, rather than Junjie.

OUCH. Poor Junjie. On the one hand, it’s his best buddy whom he thinks the world of, and on the other, it’s Yunru, on whom he has this big crush.

What’s a guy to do? Junjie shrugs it off like it’s no big deal, and leaves on his own, but I can just imagine just how painful and confusing this must be, for him. 💔

And, I can imagine how awkward it must be, for Ziwei. I completely believe him when he says that he wouldn’t think of pursuing a girl that his friend liked. I also appreciate how upfront he is about this, to Yunru.

He’s definitely not risking a misunderstanding with her, and he is careful not to lead her on. I think that’s upstanding of him, though I also feel rather bad for Yunru, who probably feels mortified at this clarification.

The fact that Uncle, in the present timeline, lets us know that Yunru died, presumably not too long after this point in time, makes her entire story land with an added layer of pathos.

In fact, when Yunru gets home on her birthday and finds her mom and brother gone, and starts wandering the streets in tears in the middle of the night, I half expected this to be the moment she died. PHEW that she didn’t die. 😅

ALSO. Who’s the person who sent Yuxuan that Walkman with that specific cassette? It’s the exact album that Ziwei and Yunru have been listening to in the past timeline, and it’s also the song on which Yuxuan’s memories of Quansheng hinge. Who sent her that cassette, and why?

In the bus, as she listens to the music – and presumably wakes up in Yunru’s body – the person sitting behind her looks suspiciously like Cake Dude. The profile and the glasses look very similar. Is Cake Dude following Yuxuan..? If he is, why?

So many questions, all up in the air.

Now that Yuxuan appears to be waking up in Yunru’s body, and is coming face to face with Ziwei, perhaps she’ll be able to get some answers? Or maybe.. just more questions. 😅

How surreal it must be for her, though, to see Quansheng’s face in front of her. Incidentally, I thought I’d mention that in the last text message that she sends to Quansheng’s phone, just before she falls asleep and then wakes up in Yunru’s body, is that she wants to see him.

The last three words of her text, “想见你,” (literally, “want to see you”) is the Chinese title of this show.

Wait.. does this have some kind of link to the words engraved on the inside of her ring..? “Only if you ask to see me”?? But.. that doesn’t really make any sense, in the context of everything that we’ve been told..?

Maybe we all need a some bandages to our heads, like Yuxuan/Yunru has on, in these screenshots. 😝😅

WHERE TO WATCH:

Available for free on Viki.

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J3ffc
J3ffc
1 year ago

Past Me totally missed the fact that the elevator floors matched the birthdays shown in flashbacks. Present Me thinks that this show sure loves its numerology.

Kay
Kay
1 year ago

Love this show so much! Yeah, it’s so hard to talk about having already seen it though 😅 Like you, I find the opening scene particularly impactful on re-watch. It actually completely drew me in the first time too, but it has much more meaning now.

And yes, the ending twist is one of the best! I never would have guessed they were different people! It was edited together so well. So many questions are introduced in the first two episodes. We have quit the journey to go on 😍

Ele Nash
1 year ago

Oh WOW, I am IN LOVE with this show already 😍 It is, as you say kfangurl, completely brain-unhinging 🤯 but in an excellent, intriguing, Life On Mars kind of way. I can’t even really hazard many plausible guesses of what is going on – though I’ve spent the few hours since watching episode one and two trying 😆

So, as a complete innocent first-timer, my impressions are thus:
The office crew exposition and ‘help’ felt very for a purpose and fell flat for me – I was properly worried about the show. Yay, I didn’t need to be as our girl seems to have fallen into the past now 😅 Bye-bye!
Ooh, the tape player stuff in the past got me momentarily super-confused when I thought it was our present day girl. Like, who runs a tape shop ten years ago! I mean, I’m not convinced they did twenty years ago, but it has such a retro, my childhood vibe thing going on, I am smitten! I also like the kitsch song. It’s lovely and although I’ve never heard it before in my life (if it even is an old song) it sounds authentically of another time.
The fact the young version was in fact a different girl did blow my mind. As for the gorgeous Junjie, I mean I don’t think I’m meant to be more heart eyes for him than the main guy, but I just am. What a lamb! He’s so much more my cup of tea than the bolshier Ziwei – although his friendship with Junjie is very nice.
As for the grief in our girl’s present timeline – oof 😭 The actress and show do an amazing job of that. It felt heavy and laboured, as it should, like she really had been crying for two years. I believed it, felt it, and had lots of little cries with her.
And on a thoroughly superficial note, Alice Ko has just about the loveliest nose I’ve seen. I’m obsessed with it 😆

Anyway, I am so desperate to watch the next two! What an excellent choice. Thank you so much kfangurl for putting on this group watch! xx

CarpControl
CarpControl
1 year ago
Reply to  Ele Nash

Fun fact: Wu Bai’s Last Dance is very much a ‘Peak 90’s’ song, released first in 1996. It recently got a massive fanbase after this show, as more of the youth discovered it. Kinda like Mariya Takeuchi’s ‘Plastic Love.’
The walkman, the record shop, the casette tapes and the beats of the song certainly do bring me to my past too!

Fun fact 2: Alice’s nose is also what’s called an ‘aquiline‘ or a ‘Greek‘ nose in facial aesthetics. It was, and still is thought to be more attractive on men, than women. East Asia mostly regards it as an ‘imperfection‘ which is why most people get it surgically ‘corrected’. Thus, I’m pleasantly surprised to see a famous T-actress with an aquiline nose, and being quite proud of it! She makes me feel less conscious about mine! 😇❤

I found a member on ‘Team-Kleenex’ for this drama, in you! Thank you!😭

merij1
merij1
1 year ago
Reply to  CarpControl

Aquiline noses rock! “Like an eagle…”

Ele Nash
1 year ago
Reply to  merij1

They’re the nose that says, I’m here, no apologies 😊

Ele Nash
1 year ago
Reply to  CarpControl

Oh, that’s cool to know about The Song! I thought it sounded authentically of another time. I loved my Walkman 😊 At the end of episode two, when she’s on the bus and the tape starts skippity-warping made me smile. Such a nice touch!

Yes, I do like that nose stylee on a man! And it’s great any actor, any gender, from any country has confidence to wear their own face! She’s lovely looking. Imperfection? Madness.

Oh, I’m a weeper, CarpControl. I cry over adverts sometimes… I’m welling up, feeling so honoured to be in your Team-Kleenex 😭😭😭

Gloglo
Gloglo
1 year ago

Intriguing show so far. I’m enjoying the situations and the very cute main couple. He’s is just so cool and handsome and she is so chic and has such lovely clothes! well her 2019 version of herself does. Not so much the 1997 version as she has a purposely less flattering look.

My only caveat with this show so far is that I’m finding myself trying to work out how this whole big puzzle is going to piece together rather than making meaningful connections with the characters… I mean, they are cute as I said, particularly those more fleshed out (like the girl in 2019 and the boy in 1997) and there is longing and conflict, but I feel so far the show is not making me feel at ease with its set up, and I’m uncertain about which version of these characters I should be rooting for in order not to feel cheated… It’s early days and still not trusting the show completely. I’m sure that I’ll feel more settled when the twist unfolds and we have an idea where this whole thing is going.

I have theories about who the ML version with the green coat is and about who is the sender of that cassette tape and walkman. I suppose my brain just wants to settle on an answer so that I can start enjoying the OTP moments and enjoy the heart melting stuff. Bring it on!

Last edited 1 year ago by Gloglo
Glogló
Glogló
1 year ago
Reply to  kfangurl

I’ve seen the beginning of episode 3 and I’m starting to see how things are piecing out… I’m sensing a Back to the Future vibe, although to confirming or denying it could a spoiler in itself, right? 😅 I confess every time I think about this show I come up with another theory… now as I write I’m thinking of another possibility 🤔

Anyway, I’m intrigued and fear starting to binge episodes… but I’ll resist the urge because I want to offer my very fist impression every week. The ML is definitely a cutie 🥰. Taiwan certainly has good looking actors! The ML in Refresh Man and Bromance come to mind.

Glogló
Glogló
1 year ago
Reply to  kfangurl

Ugh yes! I forgot about Chen Bolin, although I only saw the start of that show… I must come back to it at some point because I was liking it. So much to watch!

I’m kind of fond of the “little hooligan” I have to say, although I’m not sure if XY would be happy with him, she loves perfect boyf WQ, who, yes, is just so mature and so very swoony, wanting to move away to Shanghai with her and that proposal… Sigh.

CarpControl
CarpControl
1 year ago
Reply to  kfangurl

Yes, Li Zi Wei / Wang Quansheng and Li Da Ren. My two loves! ❤

Last edited 1 year ago by kfangurl
CarpControl
CarpControl
1 year ago
Reply to  kfangurl

No problem… ! I say Li Zi Wei and Li Da Ren, cuz in my book. they are brothers/ cousins (in my head-canon space!) Cuz of their last name Li! (And the same production team b/w the two dramas, hehe) ^^ Though, is the character ‘Li’ different in script/ writing for the two? I wonder :’)

And past-me… yes! 😛

CarpControl
CarpControl
1 year ago
Reply to  Gloglo

Yeah, I too was worried about ‘being on the wrong ship‘ for the longest of time. No worries, I hope whatever theories you have on the green-coat dude comes true…. or maybe not! Surprises are the best! ^^

No comments on right or wrong ships…! xD And I am the firm proponent of the ‘Wormhole-theory‘! 😀

Glogló
Glogló
1 year ago
Reply to  CarpControl

Oh I see a hint here… mmm a plane crash and a disappeared body alludes to a Bermuda Triangle kind of thing.Big mystery box here…

As for “ships”, I’ll just trust the show (and you, guys) and let it convince me of whatever outcome. I’m sure it’ll be somewhat satisfying 😊

CarpControl
CarpControl
1 year ago
Reply to  Glogló

I think we should all compile a list of theories after we finish group-watching this show. I think it could be a fun little exercise! 😀

I remember all Harry Potter fans kept discussing fan-theories, and ultimately one of them made it to the 7th book! :’)

Glogló
Glogló
1 year ago
Reply to  CarpControl

Good idea. I need to write all my theories down! 😅

Elaine Phua
Elaine Phua
1 year ago

I really like how the show toys with our expectations. Eg after colleague Kun Bu explains how Huang Yuxuan’s every social media post seems to be aimed at Wang Quansheng, we cut to a guy in a cafe who looks like he could be WQS, viewing Yuxuan’s Insta feed and the rubbing his face – with longing? Regret? We see a scar on his temple. And aha, a ring on his finger! Did they break up and he got married to someone else? And then the reveal that he died in a plane crash. Then who was that person in the cafe? I actually thought for a moment that WQS survived the crash, got injured and had amnesia and got married to his rescuer. And then and then – the alternative timeline reveal! Is he perhaps Lee Ziwei in this timeline? But why he is injured? And why did he bring cake? How did he even find out about her client appointment that Kun Bu didn’t know about? So many mysteries,

well aside from the unfunny colleague shenanigans, I thoroughly enjoyed the rest of the two episodes, the reveals of the wonderful relationship Yuxuan and Wuansheng had enjoyed, and the rural high school lovingly recreated. It seems to be from a time earlier than the 90s actually but I guess cos it’s set in rural Taiwan rather than in a major city,Wow the gossip mongers sure are mean in this school!

Pixaiated
Pixaiated
1 year ago

Watching this for the first time – seems fairly interesting. Going in more or less completely blind. Some of my thoughts on the first couple of episodes.

Episode 1:

  • This is the first drama from Taiwan I am watching. Find that it’s quite different in vibe from k-dramas.
  • Not a huge fan of how the back-story is being presented. Feels like there’s a lot more ‘tell’ than ‘show’. Most notable example being the conversation between colleagues that highlight how much FL misses dead guy.
  • Didn’t really like the whole mystic scene either.
  • Highlight of this episode was, as you said, the twist at the end where they reveal that the people in the record shop were a different set of people. Interesting route for the show to take … guessing that there’s going to be some sort of sci-fi elements?

Episode 2:

  • This felt like a much better episode compared to the first one – I feel much more emotionally engaged. Really liked how the backstory of the trio in the past played out. All of them already feel like very well-established, believable characters.
  • Also really liked the VR scene. Beautiful way to capture the YX’s grief. I think we also saw something similar (concert) in episode 1?
  • Also noticed the guy sitting behind YX on the bus – was odd that he was wearing a cap and that he was conspicuously in the frame. Not sure what to make of him or if he’s even relevant at this point.
  • Wonder if there’s changes to the timeline, and if YR originally died in this accident?

There’s definitely a lot of weird-ness going on. Very curious as to how the two timelines are linked / how much time we are going to spend in each. Looking forward to slowly watching the rest of the show.

merij1
merij1
1 year ago

Despite having seen the full show, I find myself struggling to keep track of the Chinese names, especially when abbreviated down to 2-3 letters in our comments. 

So here’s my cheat sheet for the lead characters we’ve seen thus far, starting with three/two-letter initials for their full/given name, then the single-word name as KFG tends to write them, followed in parentheses by three-word spellings for their full name.

One complication if you read about the show elsewhere is that KFG spells the present time FL as a variation on Yu-Xaun, whereas it’s often spelled as Yu-Hsuan. 

Present time:

  • FL: HYX or YX – Yuxuan (Huang Yu-Xuan or Yu-Hsuan)
  • ML: WQS or QS – Quansheng (Wang Quan-Sheng)

Past:

  • FL: CYR or YR – Yunru (Chen Yun-Ru)
  • ML: LZW or ZW – Ziwei (Li Zi-Wei)
  • Secondary ML: MJJ or JJ – Junjie (Mo Jun-Jie)
Last edited 1 year ago by merij1
eda harris
eda harris
1 year ago
Reply to  merij1

merij1, that’s interesting,  I find myself struggling to keep track of the Chinese names, and i find myself having an extremely difficult time with korean names but not so much chinese. may be i really was chinese at some point of my existence on this planet. sorry, i am off the topic, but had to tell you, if you know my history with all chinese.

CarpControl
CarpControl
1 year ago

Not exactly a spoiler, but……

There is this moment where HYX earnestly wishes to see WQS, and sends him a we-chat on the bus, while listening to the Walkman on the bus. It’s time-stamped 11.11.19, and the message is sent at 5:00AM. 
I got goosebumps and shivers through my spine. Because when I watched this show, the date on my desktop was 11.11.21. And the time was 5:00AM in Taiwan Time. 👀
I still have the screenshot. SD1D is my own personal little time-machine! ❤

CarpControl
CarpControl
1 year ago

There is absolutely NO way I’m not joining in the comment section of a SD1D watch-party! T_T I luff this show *so* much! :’)
In keeping up with the spirit of SD1D, I shall henceforth speak as the ‘past-me‘, who watched and experienced the show for the very first time, with ‘virgin eyes’ lol! 😛 . Kinda like visiting a time-capsule, hehe! My rewatch-spazzes will go under KFG’s ‘spoiler zone’ posts. In true sense, I want to keep this area pristine for first-time watchers, and somehow SD1D is a show that feels *very* different when you know…… stuff! 🙂

SD1D is like my 4th T-ent venture, and I’m cringe-happy that certain things still exist (like those eyeroll-inducing employees at Yu Xuan’s office!) xD The first episode has blown my socks off with the feels already. I love how domesticated and next-door this couple feels. Yu Xuan’s sorrow, guilt, regret, non-acceptance, etc. all feel very real, although I know this couple for like 20-odd mins, and the guy, exclusively through flashbacks. There is something about this actor’s disarming smile that has me captivated. Or is the fact that he 90% resembles my High-School sweetheart. It must be those teeth. And the eyes! 🙂
The show has already made itself special, because I bitterly cry every time I see WQS, knowing he’s dead/missing? in the present, and seeing HYX trying to put up a brave-face, even after TWO years. I have a feeling this might take a ‘PS. I Love You‘ route: I hope somehow WQS has left her something to finally heal! <3
I’m pretty much in a mournful mood myself, so I don’t make big of WQS appearing ‘older & injured‘. Maybe his doomed flight flew over a wormhole or something?

The flashbacks to the High-School days, already has me rewinding 5 times already. And mainly because Wu Bai’s Last Dance is so catchy, and tear-inducing (in the context of the lyrics & our story here), I forget to focus! The only detail I hold onto dearly, with my life and entire brain-power, is the fact that the vintage photograph is taken in the year WQS & HYX were 5/6 y/o toddlers, so what looks like them, cannot *BE* them.

Okay ‘wormhole’ is the only sci-fi explanation I got at this point. There is NO way Li Zi Wei and WQS have the exact same quirks, but appear different age! And even though the protagonist armor on our ML WQS has me believe he HAS TO be alive, somehow, somewhere….. I still soak my pillowcase in tears, as Yu Xuan hugs a VR WQS while attending Wu Bai’s concert in VR. Augh. My heart. I honestly don’t think I can ugly-cry even more during the span of this show.”

Fun fact, I did ugly-cry, even more. Watch me prove myself wrong in the future, heh! 😛 Soon, enough! 🙂

Elaine Phua
Elaine Phua
1 year ago
Reply to  CarpControl

Same! I’ll try to comment as if I am past me!! I didn’t enjoy the three colleagues very much first time around, a little bit more forgiving this time. Tonally they just felt so different from the rest of the cast who are much more natural in their acting, almost as if they were acting out an office skit on a Taiwanese variety show haha. I actually loooved the fortune teller cameo both times, her acting was so OTT and wacky and her silly peering out the window to grab at the number 32 was hilarious yet turned out to be spot on.

CarpControl
CarpControl
1 year ago
Reply to  Elaine Phua

Heh, you must check out another (currently airing) T-drama called ‘Rainless Love in a Godless Land‘ then. The fortune-teller plays the FL there, Alice (the FL here) plays the SFL. In fact the ML actor here (Greg) has a supporting role there, and so does the actor for the psychiatrist! 🙂
The overlapping cast is mainly because both Rainless Love… & SD1D are done by the same writers/ prod-team! 🙂

The employees… well, lets just say I watched In Time With You, and Fated to Love You, and other T-drama classics. The annoying colleagues haven’t changed one bit! xD

Elaine Phua
Elaine Phua
1 year ago
Reply to  CarpControl

Hahaha good to know, thank you for the recommendation!

CarpControl
CarpControl
1 year ago
Reply to  kfangurl

That’s excellent, shall look forward to your blog-post! It finishes airing on Jan 9th, the 13th ep is the finale!

, fair tip, do not look up the cameos in Rainless Love. In fact, do not visit Greg’s MDL page, because that’s a major spoiler listed right there. 😭 I wish I could un-see it. 🙈

Last edited 1 year ago by CarpControl
merij1
merij1
1 year ago
Reply to  CarpControl

Ha, I love your style! Is “carp” a reference to Koi?

CarpControl
CarpControl
1 year ago
Reply to  merij1

Oh, at first, I too assumed it referred to Koi carps, till my fellow blog-mate clarified she coined it for me, because I tend to be rather chatty and verbose talking about dramas! 🙂
It’s the biggest irony on our blog, and an inside joke (& now you’re one of us, merij) because I anything but control my carp! 😛
Ps. she’s called QuibbleMaster! 😀 I shall thank her for the pen-name!

Last edited 1 year ago by CarpControl
merij1
merij1
1 year ago
Reply to  CarpControl

Yay. I’ve finally arrived on your inside joke!

manukajoe
manukajoe
1 year ago

I love your analysis KFG! Great thinking and this reflects your experience with the show, since you know there’s a lot of mystery to untangle. I tend to go with emotions rather than puzzles but this is great for me.

I am more forgiving of the goofiness in the first episode this time; the first time I found it distracting, and it’s pretty typical of other Taiwan shows I have seen but not my kind of humour. I can see otherwise the first episode could be a downer, so they lighten it up a lot. And it is done pretty carefully and with a lot of double meanings. Cleverer than it seems. I also actually love the fortune teller (surprisingly) because of her predictions.

Loving it again. Love the two leads.

Trent
1 year ago

Having seen this once, I can already tell it’s going to be super hard to say anything that doesn’t draw on knowledge of context and events further into the show. So…

Let’s see, there are at least a couple things that can be mentioned that come entirely from these opening episodes:

I had forgotten that the whole show actually opens with Yunru and the boys back in the past (although as you say, it takes a little while to realize that these are different, separate people from the “present day” (i.e. ca. 2019 when this came out)). Interesting that we see them first on our screen before moving to the present.

I get serious nostalgia vibes from the countryside the earlier characters are wandering through. The lettering on their high school uniforms indicates that they attend Feng Nan High School (鳯南高中), and a quick stroll through Google indicates that this is a fictional name for Feng He HS (鳯和高中), a private high school in Tainan that is now closed down. I’ve actually never been to Tainan, which is a city down on the southwest coast of the island, but the countryside (open green fields with mountains in the distance) and general architecture gives off a very similar feel to places that I did live when I was in Taiwan in ’88-’90, about a decade before the ’98-’99 time period that Yunru’s uncle indicates would have been the time we’re looking at.

It seems a bit weird to me that Yuxuan would be so deeply attached and close to Quansheng–given the progression of birthdays, we see that they’d been together for at least five years, and they were living together for a number of those years–that she would still be deeply in mourning for him two years later, and we see in flashback that she broached breaking up simply over a job transfer to Shanghai, and had in fact firmly rejected his sincere willingness/desire to move with her to Shanghai. (I know you actually brought up this point, KFG, in your original review, but I’m still not pacified/satisfied. It doesn’t quite jibe for me, no matter how I jiggle it).

Last thing I pull from these opening episodes, is that I find Li Ziwei (the boyfriend doppelganger in the past) to be pretty annoying. I don’t think he’s malicious or bad-hearted, but he does give off the sort of effusive puppy dog vibe of which a little bit goes a loooong way for me, and more than that is actively irritating. (Sorry to all of you who love him…promise you can still love him, don’t mind me!) So I have to manage my approach to him for maximum enjoyment of the show….

CarpControl
CarpControl
1 year ago
Reply to  Trent

Both Taiwan & Japan are two entertainment lands, that take their countryside very seriously. In fact, even if the main story is pretty much solidly set in Taipei/ Tokyo… there has to be a mandatory countryside/ seaside/ village trip in between the show, as a change of pace, and of course, to romanticize the rural. I really wish more k-dramas actively did this! 😀

While I haven’t been to Taiwan, but it seemed to me they captured late 90’s pretty well. I say that because I grew up watching a few late 90’s/ early 2000’s t-dramas! ^^

The school, as you mentioned, is my favorite little detail from that Timeline. Belonging to a third-world country, development/technology wise, we used to run 10 years behind East Asia, and about 15-20 years behind Europe/ North America. While I am HYX’s age, my school looked absolutely identical to CYR’s, who happens to be 10+ years older than HYX (& me!). :’) There’s something profoundly nostalgic about those rain-stained concrete rooftops, the sterile-looking white corridors, the ugly hall that doubled as the ‘school auditorium’, painted white tennis shoes, that familiar ringing of the school-bell and-disciplinarians chasing behind you as snuck out from school post-lunch. They are very much a part of my high-school, but as recent as 2010! <3

Last edited 1 year ago by CarpControl
merij1
merij1
1 year ago
Reply to  CarpControl

even if the main story is pretty much solidly set in Taipei/ Tokyo… there has to be a mandatory countryside/ seaside/ village trip

Which becomes the entire premise for A Thousand Goodnights a lovely/sweet show that serves as a tribute to Taiwan’s rural beauty and small town life. The protagonists live in Taipei, but venture out pretty much every episode.

merij1
merij1
1 year ago
Reply to  merij1

FYI, the actor who plays the record store-owning uncle also has a prominent role in A Thousand Goodnights as the secondary ML’s T-pop manager.

CarpControl
CarpControl
1 year ago
Reply to  merij1

I loved Uncle in this one, and I surely will love him in a 1000 goodnights. He reminds me a tad of veteran c-actor Liu Ye! 🙂

merij1
merij1
1 year ago
Reply to  CarpControl

He’s less lovable in the other show. Which is interesting, because even in that show his face and overall affect shout “you should like this guy!!”

But because he’s a K-pop manager, he has to play the heavy to block the secondary ML from certain choices in his private life.

merij1
merij1
1 year ago
Reply to  merij1

s/b: T-pop manager

CarpControl
CarpControl
1 year ago
Reply to  merij1

I have had that on my PTW list forever. Cannot wait to get on with it, although I have pretty much gone through KFG’s blog review post thrice, and I’m well-prepared with my lens-adjustment to enjoy the show! 🙂

Elaine Phua
Elaine Phua
1 year ago
Reply to  Trent

I actually was quite convinced by the breakup. Even though they’d been together for a long time and were in love, maybe Taiwan is similar to Singapore in that couples don’t tend to settle down and get married until late 20s or early 30s, and not straight out of college. I think it was quite realistic that Yuxuan calculated that it would be too risky for Quansheng to follow her, cos what if he sabotaged his career and blamed her later. In our mid 20s some of my friends and I were also going through the “should we stay together for long term?” phase of evaluating our romantic relationships. Thus I can understand why Yuxuan thought that was the right choice. But she probably was too harsh instead of offering to try to make things work long distance. Maybe Quansheng was getting too clingy too. Anyway it was with hindsight after he died that she realised what a good thing they had and how terribly she misses him still.

Trent
1 year ago
Reply to  Elaine Phua

That’s a good insight, Elaine, thank you for sharing. It’s still kind of jarring, but if I give my cultural sensitivity lens a swift kick it’s not quite as hard to understand.

CarpControl
CarpControl
1 year ago
Reply to  Elaine Phua

I think based on my re-watch, it makes a lot of sense for somebody like Yu Xuan who ‘doesn’t know‘, to break up with Quan Sheng, [SPOILER REDACTED]

It’s the gift of hindsight, y’know. IRL relationships work that way too. We sometimes make stupid choices because we aren’t sure if the person with us, IS THE ONE. However, I’m sure things would be easier if we magically had a time-machine and we could skip to 20 years ahead, and *then* make the choice. It’s just so much easier when y’know the person with you is worth all the troubles, and is the one! ❤

[SPOILER REDACTED]

Last edited 1 year ago by kfangurl
CarpControl
CarpControl
1 year ago
Reply to  kfangurl

I cannot delete the comment! TT Could you please help? 🙂
I apologize… I tried to be as cryptic, but I guess that just defeats the purpose of going in blind…

Last edited 1 year ago by CarpControl
CarpControl
CarpControl
1 year ago
Reply to  kfangurl

Thanks once again, and I’m really sorry. I love SD1D (& your blog) too much… so I shall be extra careful from now on. I am, effectively the ‘past-me‘ here! 🤣

JJ
JJ
1 year ago

I am already loving the first episode ! Sucked me right in, I had to watch episode two right away. I cannot wait to read your notes even though I think I am tracking so far as I think we are in my favorite wheelhouse 🙂

merij1
merij1
1 year ago
Reply to  JJ

This is your first watch, JJ? I envy you. You will love it, I guarantee!

CarpControl
CarpControl
1 year ago
Reply to  merij1

I would choose to get selective amnesia/ mengpo soup in a heartbeat, like those Gods in chinese xianxia dramas, just to experience this drama for the first time again! T_T

JJ
JJ
1 year ago
Reply to  merij1

– Exciting!!!! I have three theories running so far in my brain, but then think I should just let all that go and immerse myself in this story without trying to figure it out 🙂

merij1
merij1
1 year ago
Reply to  JJ

Unlike Stranger, I think this is a show where playing with the theories is fun.

JJ
JJ
1 year ago
Reply to  merij1

– Good to know 🙂