If you guys have been around the blog for a while, you’d likely know that I loved – like, really, really LOVED – 2019/2020 drama Someday Or One Day (review is here!).
It was basically my drama of the year, in my 2020 year-in-review, coz I felt like it was THE best drama that I watched, in 2020. 🤩
So much so that I picked it as a group watch in December 2021 (Open Threads listed here), and loved it just as much, on my second watch.
(If you haven’t seen the show but are now tempted to give it a go, my advice is to go in as blind as possible; you can use my Open Thread notes as a guide, as you watch it.)
Which means that OF COURSE I’ve been waiting for the movie follow-up, ever since it was announced.
The only thing better than finding a show to love, is finding friends who love the show as much as you do, so today, I’ve got Elaine and MC (who LOVE the drama like I do!) joining me for this review.
AND, as a bonus, we’ve also got a special podcast episode, brought to you by some of our friends on Patreon, Michele, Leslie and JJ, who are huge fans of the drama as well, to talk about their thoughts on the movie.
Yay for this turning into a community sort of response to the movie! Thanks for making the time for this, ladies! 🥰❤️
THE SHORT VERDICT:
A twisty-turny, yet emotionally gripping journey, the Someday Or One Day movie is a worthy follow-up to the 2019/2020 drama that started it all.
On the nostalgic side of things, we get to revisit beloved characters, while sinking into the ear-wormy, heart-grippy soundtrack that’s stayed with us, long after the drama’s closing credits.
On the fresher side of things, Show explores some new territory while keeping to its core essence, AND fleshes out some areas that weren’t addressed in the drama.
Win AND win. 🤩
On the downside, it’s admittedly hard to keep track of everything on our screens, because so much goes on during the movie’s run – but that’s all part of the fun, yes?
Absolutely recommend, for fans of the drama.
BONUS PODCAST:
Huge thanks to Michele, Leslie and JJ, who took a leap of faith and said yes, when I asked them if they would be game to do a podcast for this review!
And, extra thanks and mad props to Michele, who not only took on the job of editing this podcast, but also created this amazing composite picture (on Leslie’s suggestion 😍), which gives us a glimpse of our 3 budding podcasters in the flesh! 😍
Also, big thanks to my friend Paroma of Dramas Over Flowers and The Drama Notes, for providing such generously patient technical guidance on how to podcast!
Please enjoy. ❤️
THE LONG VERDICT:
We have to admit that it was the podcast ladies’ composite pic that inspired us to do one too. 😁 Thanks to Elaine for the idea of us each showcasing something inspired by the movie!
I hope you all enjoy our conversation-turned-review of the movie! ❤️
Also: Trigger warning that we touch on suicide ideation in this post.
Ok the most basic question. Is the movie a continuation of the drama? Is it a prerequisite to watch the drama before watching the movie?
MC: Oof you know it’s a really deep movie when it’s difficult to answer such a simple question!!
Strictly speaking, it’s not a direct sequel so you don’t actually need to have watched the drama before the movie. You can figure out who’s who and who loves who and the background (the first 15 or so mins does set a good context and helps to remind those who’ve not watched in a while).
BUT you WILL benefit A LOT from having watched it beforehand so that you know the characters and their motivations, for example.
Personally, prior to stepping into the movie theatre, the concept of the drama, its world and its rules was so well explored in the drama that I honestly couldn’t figure out how else it could be explored.
So I assumed it ought to be either a rehash of the drama or a direct sequel (I was more keen on the latter and not the former).
Well, I’m pleased to report that I was wrong on both counts. I will say that it is an expansion of the world and explores what is possible in the world’s rules, in ways that I never imagined. It was a “D’oh! Why did I not think of THAT” when the plot unfolded.
KFG: That’s a good point! Why is it so hard to answer such a simple question? 😂
The local newspaper here in Singapore had published an article which was an interview with Greg Hsu and Alice Ke, and they were asked this very question. And their answer was that these are the same characters, but the story is not a continuation of the drama’s story.
This made me think that perhaps this would be a completely different take on the same concept, ie, our characters would still time travel and swap bodies, but it would stand alone, apart from the drama.
..And it wasn’t that, after all.
In the end, I do think that the movie continues the story of the drama – but not directly, if that makes sense.
One of the things that makes me think that, is because the movie draws on flashbacks from the drama, and refers to certain plot points from the drama, in weaving its story.
This tells me that the movie is an extension of the drama, but it doesn’t, y’know, continue the story from the exact point where the drama left off.
Time has passed since our drama story ended, and our characters as we meet them, have grown older and experienced more things, from the time that we’d left them, in the drama.
Which brings me to the question: do you guys think that it’s possible for someone who hasn’t seen the drama, to watch the movie and actually appreciate it / make sense of it?
MC: Fangirl, that’s a good question. I think you COULD watch it without watching the drama and still understand what’s happening.
As I said, the first 15 or so minutes does set the context just that you wouldn’t get the emotional depth from knowing the depth of the emotional context of the characters’ love for one another coz we’ve walked with the drama characters and it’s not been reduced to a montage.
I think that one benefit of not watching the drama (gasp, I know…) is that this is a pared-down world and some of the drama’s characters don’t appear. I sat in that theatre wondering “where’s so and so?” which can be distracting.
But the crux is will you be able to make sense of it – and my answer to that is probably NO – but that’s entirely due to the fact that this show is so dense it’s hard to wrap your head around it! SO don’t feel bad if you walk out like this: 🤯 (coz that was me!)
Elaine: My thoughts – this movie is definitely a continuation of the series.
Although it tries to be its own storyline, it makes many references to the series, including key pivotal moments, and core character traits. I would say that if you haven’t watched the series, you would be rather in the dark as to why so-and-so acts a certain way. (See spoiler below for more details)
I also wouldn’t recommend using the movie as an entry point to the series, because it spoils many of the big, key plot twists and surprises of the series!
Instead, I see this movie as one plausible sequel to the drama. Because, the drama…
[SPOILER WARNING FOR THE SOMEDAY OR ONE DAY DRAMA]
Ends with a reset of all the time travel. So in a sense, the movie is one possible timeline that results after the “reset”.
Everyone goes about their lives, Chen Yunru has a slightly more positive outlook on life after Huang Yuxuan’s intervention and thus survives to adulthood, and Lee Ziwei and Huang Yuxuan even manage to meet as their real selves, rather than through time travel.
But I definitely see the movie as a sequel because the whole reason Ziwei and Yuxuan are drawn to each other, is because they have flashbacks to the alternate timeline (the drama timeline, before the reset), and they remember their time together not just in 1998 but also in 2017.
[END SPOILER]
What viewing lens do you think is helpful, going into this movie, to better manage expectations?
KFG: That this is one heckuva rollercoaster ride, and it’s not possible to keep track of every little detail, so pay attention, yes, but don’t beat yourself up if you can’t keep track of everything.
MC: Knowing that it’s a movie and that it’s not a drama. I think I suffered from not having the right expectations/ viewing lens – I love the drama so much that I was expecting more of the same.
I forgot that the drama had 13 hour-long episodes to explore the concepts and the characters’ emotions and even just… breathe (coz it’s so heavy and intricately plotted and designed!)
The movie had so much to achieve – had to introduce new folks to the characters and their background while satisfying previous drama viewers, create a separate yet related insanely mind blowing plot AND make you care about what is happening to the characters, all in under 2 hours.
I felt like I was on a rollercoaster being thrown more twists and turns with hardly any moment to breathe.
Basically imagine me trying to wrap my head around why and how that happened and then in the next moment I’m like HUH WAIT WHAT WAS THAT NEW THING NOW? QUICK ABANDON THE PREVIOUS THOUGHT AND FIT THIS NEW INFORMATION IN (which totally threw my previous theory out of the window).
Honestly I think this show will benefit from multiple re-watches.
Not because I’m trying to help the production house earn more money, but because the first time I watched it I was mostly mindblown trying to figure out what on earth was happening that I don’t think I was as connected emotionally with the characters.
A few re-watches would help me to not only figure out what was happening but also just appreciate the characters, the fantastic acting and the overall high production values!
And bring a friend to watch with you – because if you’re like me you WILL need to discuss all of the theories right afterwards!
KFG: Oh yes, definitely watch with a friend if you can – or at least, rehash it with friends and fellow fans afterwards, whether in person or online!
That said, while I would absolutely like to rewatch this, to figure out the various details that I’m sure I’ve missed (at this point, I don’t even know what I might have missed, y’know? 😅), I feel like this one is also very meaningful in terms of its themes and broad ideas.
So, even if you don’t catch every single detail and understand its significance, I think this could still be a very engaging and meaningful watch, with just allowing the themes to resonate with you.
Elaine: To use an analogy from the pop/rock music world, I think you can see the movie as a medley of the artist’s greatest hits, or a re-release.
Sometimes an artist will, after a decade or two, re-record their early hits, and put a different spin on it.
Or some artists will, as a homage, splice together two or three different songs by a famous artist, showing the similarities and contrasts, while putting their own spin on it and creating a whole new, very good track.
In the same way, the SOOD movie references the key themes, moods and character personalities of the original series, but reimagines them in a different storyline.
As you see these aspects echo and distort or warp, this might help you draw greater insights into what happened in the series. And it is also a treat to revisit favourite characters again and see what they have been “up to” in a sense.
KFG: Ooh, I do love your analogy, Elaine! So, this movie is an homage to the drama, while exploring new ways that the original concept and material can twist, in this new iteration.
Which means that someone might choose to watch the movie without first watching the drama, but that experience just wouldn’t be the same.
Not only would it be way more confusing, they just wouldn’t be able to appreciate what the makers are doing, in playing with the original material to warp it in interesting ways, to make a new thing that is still very much in character of the old.
MC: True, Fangirl, but I hope that people who want to start somewhere and choose the movie should still try. It might get more people on board the SOOD train! (yes, I am always trying to get more people to love this show!)
KFG: Ahaha, touché, fair point!
What are some of your favorite things about this movie? [SPOILER-FREE]
MC: I really liked that you can’t go in with your brain off. If you want a mental break, this show IS NOT FOR YOU! Haha. It assumes that you will catch the small hints and won’t have characters spell it out for you.
This is a show where you (I did, I assume you will too!) will have ALL THE THEORIES so you may find yourself in detective mode trying to piece information together.
Also, one of the best parts of the drama is that it both engages your mind (see above on all the theories!) yet it made you feel for all the characters and their plight. The movie also manages to do it which is no mean feat considering it is so plot heavy!
KFG: So true! This show has a way of engaging both the heart and mind. It was one of my favorite things about the drama, and I’m so glad (and impressed, really) that the movie manages to have a similar effect, despite a much shorter runtime.
I’m also just so glad that we had the chance to see these characters again. I’d grown super fond of them while watching the drama, so getting to see them again, as themselves, felt like such a treat.
And, to have them on the big screen? Just, wow. I think I spaced out for a long second, when Greg Hsu showed up onscreen as Ziwei – it almost felt like I was seeing Ziwei in the flesh, coz my eyes told me he was life-sized. 🫠😁
MC: One minor area I would improve about the drama is that there wasn’t enough of Wang Quansheng. The movie does dive more into him, which I appreciated.
KFG: YES, I so agree with you! It was nice to see a bit more of Wang Quansheng, and learn more about him, via the movie, since his arc in the drama was very short.
Another thing I loved, is that the movie still does use the music from the drama. I cannot tell you how happy this made me!
When the promos were being released, and the production released a track for the movie, I was actually apprehensive that we wouldn’t get to hear the music from the drama, and for me, the music was a HUGE part of the drama experience.
So when they started playing music from the drama, during the movie, I was literally ecstatic. 🤩😅
MC: SAME, Fangirl!!! It’s probably silly of me but I loved the drama OST so much that I didn’t really want new songs in case they couldn’t fully express the depth of love and longing in the movie?!!!
Thankfully I’m so happy to say that the new songs are also lovely and I really liked Shi Shi’s new song – here’s a non-spoiler lyric video of the song for your enjoyment!
KFG: I’m very pleasantly surprised by how much I enjoy the new song in the movie, actually! I mean, I’m biased in favor of the drama soundtrack (all the feeeelss, y’all 🥰), so I’d imagined that it would be a hard sell, for me to take to the new music in the movie.
BUT, I’m happily gobsmacked by how lovely the new song is, and how perfect the lyrics are, for this story, and our characters.
This production clearly had its songs written for its story – well, except for Last Dance, of course, which predates the drama itself. 😅
MC: Ok, we ought to move on from the OST, lol.
Elaine: This Singapore review (in Chinese) put it well – the plot is complicated and confusing (especially if you haven’t watched the series!!), but this doesn’t affect the romance of it.
And make no bones, it is a sweeping romance! I got so many FEEEEEELs from this movie, I literally felt goosebumps arise at several key moments in the plot!
KFG: Oh yes, absolutely, the feeeelss! 🥰🥰🥰
Arguably, the feels are THE most important part of this show, because if not for the feels, we wouldn’t have given it so much love, and anticipated the movie follow-up so much!
I mean, if the drama had been challenging mentally, but not as emotionally engaging, I honestly wouldn’t have been as affected as I was, nor would I have walked into the theater feeling slightly dazed that I would be revisiting these characters and their world again.
Elaine: I loved the production values. The movie looks absolutely gorgeous. I loved revisiting our beloved characters and seeing them grow and change.
As MC noted, certain characters who were under-served in the drama get better treatment in the movie.
I also feel like the metaphors (both linguistic and visual) that were used in this movie actually helped me to better understand the characters’ emotions and motivations. More details in the spoiler section!
What are some things you didn’t like so much? [SPOILER-FREE]
MC: Honestly, I feel like I’m repeating myself but just the fact that it’s under 2 hours meant that things had to be cut and couldn’t be explained as clearly so some parts were rather confusing to me.
Also amongst the three main cast, one has significantly less screentime than the other two. I’m sure you can guess who!
KFG: Oh yes, I would have loved it if this were a mini-series or even a full-on second season, so that we’d have more time to explore the different arcs, characters and mindbendy details!
Another thing I think could have been better, are the English subtitles.
While some of us are fortunate to be able to understand spoken and written Mandarin, I think that the subtitles, while decent, put non-Mandarin speakers at a disadvantage.
Not only are things onscreen not translated, like text messages, nuances are also lost in translation. In some cases, I remember thinking, “Gosh, there’s a MUCH better way to translate that!” 🧐
I know the same happens in other shows, and not just in Chinese shows too, but with a twisty show like this where it helps to understand as much of the details as possible, this feels like a disservice to all non-Mandarin speaking fans of the show, unfortunately.
Elaine: Ditto on the short length of the movie! Even for someone who has watched and loved the drama (I also went through kfangirl’s comprehensive review before watching the movie to confirm that yup, I do remember all the key plot points), I found myself rather lost.
To this day, I’m still scratching my head at some of the key plot points, like why did a character do this? I have a theory, but it is a best-effort theory!
Unfortunately I couldn’t take leave to watch the movie a second time. But you can be sure I will definitely watch it again once it’s out on streaming, or Blu-Ray!
MC: WE NEED TO WATCH THIS ONE AGAIN!
What are some of your favorite things about this movie? [SPOILERS!]
MC: I cannot go off without talking about the wonderful acting.
Alice Ke and Greg Hsu were INCREDIBLE. They had to act as they did back in 2019 which is hard enough (here’s an interview the cast did in Korea where Alice talks about it – but it’s a bit spoilery though, read at your own risk), but they had to play different characters in different bodies and it must have been all so confusing.
Yet they brought out the essence of the characters out, so beautifully that you know who’s in whose body at most times. So incredibly done.
KFG: 100% agree with you on this!
I was most blown away by the fact that when Greg Hsu was Wang Quansheng, you could tell, at a glance, that this was Wang Quansheng and not Li Ziwei, even without any dialogue or narrative context; he’s just THAT GOOD. 🤩🤩🤩
MC: This is a highly twisty show so there are many twists but my favourite was when we realise that Chen Yunru had ALSO time travelled and was in Huang Yuxuan’s body! (insert a mindblown MC here).
KFG: Omigosh, YES, that reveal honestly blew my mind, because I hadn’t even considered the possibility – AND YET, this is SO very possible, within the internal rules that this show has set for itself.
REALLY well done, I thought! 🤩
MC: I KNOW RIGHT?!?!?!
When I thought back to an earlier scene where Yuxuan is in Yunru’s body and meets with Junjie and Ziwei and Yuxuan is also present but just sits there quietly (quieter than the usual Yuxuan…) when that happened I thought “oh she’s probably quiet as she’s confused just like the guys) but NO, IT WAS YUNRU IN YUXUAN THATS WHY SHE WAS QUIET!!!! AHHHH MIND BLOWNNNNNN I”M DEDDD SAVE ME SOMEBODY!
It was one of those hidden clues that you DID not see it then but now it totally changed how I perceived that moment. That’s the kind of amazing twist this show does. How incredible is this writing and directing team and how amazing are Alice and Greg?!?!!
Ok there was the other twist where everyone’s wondering where’s Yunru and we later find out she’s the Taiwanese wife of Yang Hao, Yuxuan’s boss. Ok, I must proudly admit here that I SAW THAT TWIST COMING!
When Yuxuan and Yang Hao were in the club and he shared his love story I thought, “that’s Yunru right?” Ok it’s just one out of a million twists but still that is my small pat on the back moment! Lol.
KFG: I am so impressed that you managed to guess that Yunru was Yang Hao’s wife, MC!!
On hindsight, I feel like with the amount of drama exposure I’ve had, I should have at least guessed at it as a possibility, like when Yang Hao mentioned that he’d met his wife in Taiwan, coz story worlds tend to be small and all, right, but I didn’t. 🙈😅
I think my brain must have been doing spaced-out cartwheels trying to keep track of all the rollercoaster twists and turns, and just.. forgot, that there were also drama conventions that might be able to tell me something about the story. 😅
MC: Speaking of Yang Hao – It’s hard to love new characters when old ones are so beloved but I liked the new guy Yang Hao at two levels.
Conceptually I appreciated how they expanded and showed how the time travelling caused so much pain and hurt not just to our main three but to others too.
And on a more emotional character level, he was so well done. He could have been played very one dimensionally, as a token new character but I felt his grief and regret over neglecting Yunru was so touching and very realistic.
KFG: About Yang Hao; I know this is a minor thing, but for some reason, I really appreciated the attention to detail, in terms of his casting and accent.
I like that they cast an actor from Mainland China, so that we would have that difference in Mandarin accent between him and Yunru, in the scenes where they’re talking to each other.
Without having to add anything to the dialogue itself, I felt like that difference in accent brought out so effectively, their difference in background and personal context, which, even without twisty developments in our story, would provide a measure of challenge to their marriage and relationship.
Elaine: On Yang Hao – he isn’t just from Mainland China, the actor is from Shanghai himself! Shanghai people have their own unique accent when speaking Mandarin (I find the accent less heavy than a northern accent, so easier for me to understand as a Singaporean.)
KFG: Ahh! I hadn’t caught that, that Jin Shi Jia’s from Shanghai! Love that attention to detail! 🤩
MC: I’m just relieved that creepy psychiatrist didn’t turn up! I was sooo afraid that Yang Hao would be bad but he was a nice guy. Phew. Creepy psychiatrist gave me nightmares in the drama, so I’m glad he stayed far away!
KFG: You’re definitely not alone there! I was pleased too, that Creepy Psychiatrist was retired for the purposes of the movie! 😅
Elaine: OK since we can go into spoilers here – I really loved the opening voiceover by Chen Yunru, where she talks about how she often feels like she is oftentimes submerged below water, while everyone else lives above the surface.
This linguistic metaphor echoes the new visual metaphor used in the drama to depict what happens to the consciousness/personality who needs to take a backseat when the time-traveler persona is in the driver’s seat.
In the drama, the “backseat” Original is trapped in a blank, white house, she can see what is happening but cannot control her own body’s actions, instead, she is aware that another consciousness (the Doppelganger from another timeline) is in control.
In the movie, instead of a white house, the backseat consciousness feels like he/she is submerged underwater. Murkily through the water, he/she can see what the “in-control” consciousness is doing/seeing, but isn’t in control.
These two metaphors, linguistic and visual, combined to help me understand (somewhat), the pain, confusion and psychological schism that Chen Yunru was going through, such that she took the drastic step of ending her own life, which had devastating effects for those around her.
I also feel like some of the more aggravating things about the drama were corrected. E.g. when Huang Yuxuan is offered an overseas posting in Shanghai, she doesn’t break up drastically with Lee Ziwei and scold him for being childish for trying to follow her to Shanghai (as Wang Quansheng tries to in the drama).
Instead, both of them maturely decide to do a long-distance relationship. (Unfortunately, this is shown to be just a vision/hallucination, argh, cos at this point Lee Ziwei is already dead.)
Also, Wang Quansheng in the movie is saved from committing suicide by Chen Yunru! He grows up and has a love life. Unfortunately his story is still tragic, as his lover dies young.
I enjoyed Huang Yuxuan and Lee Ziwei’s courtship! Very sweet and loving. And then argh cos this is a less than 2 hour movie, the happiness is all too soon cut short by tragedy! And then time-travel shenanigans.
What are some things you didn’t like so much? [SPOILERS!]
MC: This kind of syncs in with how I found the ending but I will say that because it’s a movie many things were cut out so some things felt disjointed.
One example is that I didn’t understand what the opening shots (and occasional shots) of FL or ML floating in the sea meant.
I suppose it’s their shared consciousness / where the original soul goes once the other person enters their body but it wasn’t very clearly spelt out. The drama did a far better job in exploring this portion (especially when Yunru turns “bad” when she regained her body).
BUT Elaine explains it so well that now I get it. The benefits of chatting (be it in person or online) with a fellow fan!!!!! Thanks, Elaine!!!!
KFG: Ah yes, that sea! I’d just assumed that it was some kind of sea of consciousness, where they had access to the memories of one another, including the memories of the past.
BUT, it’s true that Show didn’t provide an explanation for what that sea really represented (vs. what I think it represented).
MC: Also, it’s criminal how under-utilised Mo Junjie was!! Halfway or ⅔ in I wondered eh where did he go?? I’m ok that Yunru’s mom and brother weren’t featured but how could they do Mo Junjie so dirty!
Yes, there was that short montage in the end but he had a legit storyline of liking Yunru and losing touch with her so I wished they showed more of him grieving and how that motivated him to help / not help the whole time travelling.
While Yang Hao’s part was precious and I would still keep it, I wish that there was more of Mo Junjie.
KFG: That’s very true! For a character who’s part of the main cast, Mo Junjie really had very little screen time compared to Yuxuan/Yunru or Ziwei/Quansheng.
Again, something that I think Show would have more than likely corrected, if they’d made a sequel series, rather than a movie.
Maybe it was because there was so little screen time with which to tell this twisty tale, that something had to give, and that was, unfortunately, Mo Junjie?
Poor guy. I feel like Patrick Shih’s main task in this movie, was to pine for Yunru from afar. 😅 And he definitely deserved more than that!
I also thought Show could have done more to explain to us why Yunru decided that suicide was the best way out, for her and everyone else.
I mean, we do get that scene where Yunru asks Yuxuan about things (I was going to say “past” but realized that that didn’t work, and “future” didn’t seem completely right either 😅), but it’s still a big leap to connect that to “I need to die so that everyone won’t suffer anymore,” y’know? 😅
And, for fans of the drama, yes, we’d have the context that Yunru’s been depressed and suicidal from a young age, and that would likely predispose her to think of suicide as a solution.
BUT, that’s not established in the movie, and for viewers who are coming in fresh, because the production has stated that this isn’t a direct continuation of the drama, that doesn’t feel fair?
Elaine: Very much agree on all your points! I checked and the movie is apparently only 107 minutes long. What!!! Most US movies are around 2 hours long, some even stretch to 2.5 hours. Argh. Why didn’t they at least go for 2 hours?
I definitely think they should have taken a bit more time to explain all that you guys mentioned, i.e. how the time travel works, what happens to the other consciousness that is not in control.
Also, WHY DID CHEN YUNRU want to kill her past self? Argh. I mean, I have a theory, but it took me a lot of head-scratching to puzzle it out.
And even though this is supposed to be a time-twisty mind-bendy show, but still, for the central pivotal scene, it should be evidently clear to an empathetic audience why the character made such a drastic choice.
Very much agree that Mo Junjie was underserved. He has like one moment where he holds his hand to one ear.
If you didn’t watch the drama, you wouldn’t even know that he is hearing-impaired, and this was his way of sifting through the noise (by covering up his hearing aid) and using his sight + intuition to suss out what’s really going on.
Also, why was everyone so drawn to that abandoned building? In the drama, there was a reason for the characters to return to that building at a pivotal point.
[SPOILER FOR SOMEDAY OR ONE DAY DRAMA]
The abandoned building is where Chen Yunru was attacked by the psychopath class monitor early in the series, and where she blacks out. That’s why Chen Yunru returns there later in the series, to be murdered by the psychopath.
[END SPOILER]
But in the movie, there doesn’t seem to be a reason for all the main characters to gather at the abandoned building, other than that they remember that building being the site of the fatal accident, but no one quite remembers why they were there in the first place?
So the only reason for the characters to go there, is that they remember it being the site of the accident, but the only reason they remember it as the site of the accident, is because of time travel. Circular paradoxical logic.
KFG: I wonder if there’s an element of them being “fated” to do certain things over and over, regardless of what timeline they’re in?
So, kinda-sorta similar to the idea in Reborn Rich, where [VAGUE SPOILER FOR REBORN RICH] Song Joong Ki’s character muses that things that are meant to happen, will happen? [END SPOILER]
If that idea is in force, then fans of the drama would much more easily reconcile some of the things that we found unexplained, like why Yunru tries to kill herself, and why the characters are drawn to that abandoned building – because that’s what they’d done, in that other reality?
ALSO – really good point, that the movie didn’t even explain to potential new viewers, that Junjie is deaf in one ear. Which, actually, reinforces the idea that this movie was made for existing fans of the drama as a follow-up, rather than as a vehicle that could also attract new viewers.
Any other thoughts to share? [SPOILERS!]
KFG: I think there’s this idea of Fate vs. Free Will, in the sense that our characters seem fated to be stuck in this cycle of loving each other, but having circumstances tear them apart, over and over again.
The fact that they exercise their free will in the limited capacity that they have, to free the other person from pain, even if it means not being able to be with that person or even remember that person, is very touching.
It makes you think about what love really means, I feel.
MC: The show (IMO) beautifully explores the pain of loving and losing someone and wondering if it’s better to never have loved at all. I … don’t know how I would respond, if it were me caught in that cycle.
And yes, as you say Fangirl, the rage and impotence of trying to change things while achieving nothing was so painful and so relatable!
Elaine: I think that both the drama and movie had key central themes of what it means to be a successful person, and how those who are not as successful by society’s standards can feel very lonely, “less than”, or separate/dislocated from everyone else.
Our central couple – Lee Ziwei and Huang Yuxuan, both have quite optimistic, go-getter dispositions. They are talkative and extroverted. They are successful in their chosen careers, and have found their soulmates in each other.
In contrast, Chen Yunru, Mo Junjie and Wang Quansheng are much quieter characters, and each has a trait that has led to them being bullied and ostracised by their peers.
Chen Yunru is shy, socially awkward and has depressive tendencies, Mo Junjie is hearing impaired, Wang Quansheng is gay.
By personality, they are quiet and much less assertive than Ziwei or Yuxuan, and can take it quite hard on themselves when they are bullied.
I think the movie brings out the theme of 沉默 (chen2 mo4) very well.
This phrase means “silence” in Mandarin. But the first word, 沉 (chen2) also means sinking or the sensation of heaviness.
This perfectly describes Chen Yunru and her quiet suffering and oppression until she feels she has no choice but to destroy herself. She describes herself in the movie as being submerged below the surface of the water, while others are above the surface.
And she contrasts her own sadness with the experience (through time travel and sharing memories with Huang Yuxuan) of living as a more sunny, bright version of herself (she uses the Chinese phrase 阳光 to describe the other her, which literally means “sunlight”).
It also describes how Mo Junjie tends to observe quietly on the sidelines, helpless to stop Yunru from her self-destructive path.
And as I thought further, I realised that our two quiet characters are named CHEN Yunru (陈韵如）and MO Junjie (莫骏杰)!! The Chinese characters and meaning of their surnames is different from the characters 沉默 (chen2 mo4) but they are pronounced the same!
Not sure if it is an uncanny coincidence or something well-thought-out by the drama writers.
Another thematic name I observed is Huang Yuxuan (黄雨萱).
Her surname Huang literally means “yellow” which is the colour of the sun. And her name includes the characters for 雨 (yu3) “rain” and 萱 (xuan1) which means “day lilies” but sounds and looks a lot like 宣 (xuan1) which means “announce” or “declare”.
And I was like “Whoa, Yuxuan’s iconic moment from the drama (also referenced in the movie) is when she ran in the rain and yelled at Lee Ziwei to hurry up and run with her! Aaaaah 🤯
KFG: Ahhh! I LOVE your observations, Elaine!!
Given how carefully Show’s makers work (the fact that they made the first time travel in the movie happen at the 32-minute mark, because of the significance of the number 32, in the drama! 🤯), I wouldn’t be surprised if these were Easter eggs, carefully planted for the keenly observant fan – like you!
Also, I just had a thought about Yuxuan’s name..
Besides it being reflective of her iconic moment in the rain, could it also be a reference to her as a rainmaker (ie, declaring the rain)? Someone who makes things happen, vs. our quieter, more withdrawn characters, who tend to be more passive?
Because, in both the drama and the movie, Yuxuan does come across as a character who actively moves things forward..?
THOUGHTS ON THE ENDING [SPOILERS!]
MC: I… genuinely didn’t understand the ending. Ok I’ll be honest I didn’t understand other stuff too but the main one was that I did not get the ending.
I got that it was multiverses and everyone was time travelling to change the outcomes of death (different persons in each world but still, people died and they were trying to prevent it), they all converge and Ziwei/ Yuxuan died while Yunru and Wang Quansheng kiss on the ledge, cry and decide to burn the tape so that they can break the cycle.
BUT how then did we suddenly have a happy ending where Yuxuan and Ziwei get engaged at her office, Yang Hao finds another Wu Bai fan and Junjie and Yunru reunite and listen to the song in the shop?
I would honestly have preferred that they ended on that sombre note that nothing could be changed so they had to burn the tape and live without the light of loving each other as that fit more with what had happened.
The happy ending felt kinda fanservice tacked on that did not flow from what had just happened.
Did burning the tape cause everything to reset and lead to a happy ending? Am I supposed to believe that their true love would conquer all and lead them to finding each other again? That’s a nice thought but… didn’t quite work for me, unfortunately.
KFG: Unfortunately, I have to agree that the happy ending feels like fanservice, in that, it isn’t explained how we went from our characters feeling hopeless in the face of their cyclical suffering and separation, to Yuxuan waking up in Ziwei’s arms..
For a hot second, I wondered if either dimension was all a dream. Like, could all the time travel twisty stuff have been meant to be a dream? Or was her waking up in Ziwei’s arms meant to be a dream?
Was this Yuxuan waking up in a parallel universe? And could her going back to sleep mean that she would return to her original universe, via the sea of consciousness?
And actually, when the screen blacks out right then, when she’s lying next to him and going back to sleep, I think it would have been a pretty apt place to end the movie, instead of tacking on the happy-ever-after fanservice that we get instead.
I remember when I watched A Werewolf Boy many years after the movie first premiered, and then wrote a review for it (here!), I was blown away by how many people responded in the comments, and more than that, how FRESH their emotional reactions still were, even though almost all of them had watched the movie much earlier than I had.
This really impressed on me the value of an emotionally haunting ending, even if that ending might not be a happy one.
I feel that cutting off our story there would have given us a bit of that emotionally haunting effect, where we can’t decide what is dream and what is reality, and where our characters truly are, and what’s happened to them, really?
We would never really know, and my gut says that that would have kept this movie alive in my heart for literal yeaarrs afterwards, and the emotions around that, raw and fresh, anytime thoughts of this movie and these characters came up.
I personally think that in choosing the fanservicey happy ending, Show’s makers missed an opportunity to stay more true to its core, AND, an opportunity to haunt us all, forever. 🥲
Elaine: For me, the ending was marred by the fact that by the end of the movie, it was not clear to me why the central conflict (i.e. Yunru trying to end her life) occurred.
Whereas the series had time to build up her pain and suffering, which was further cemented when Yuxuan took over her life and then everyone around her preferred the more sunny Yuxuan persona, in the movie it just wasn’t so clear what had brought her to that point where she felt she had no other options.
Unfortunately in the movie, we do not get to know Yunru as well as we did in the series.
We are only told that there is someone who is identical to Yuxuan, but quieter. We do not get to know Yunru as her own character until it’s suddenly revealed that she is in control of Huang Yuxuan and then the tragedy happens.
We find out more about her later, and only by flashback, through Mo Junjie and Shanghai husband’s retelling. So I felt that undermined the emotional impact of the pivotal crux of the movie.
As for the actual last moment, I am also inclined to agree with kfangirl and MC that the more ambiguous ending where Yuxuan wakes up next to Ziwei, and we don’t know which reality is real or all a dream, would have worked better, instead of the tacked-on “happy ending”.
I guess what I’m trying to say is, I need to have the “causal chain of events” established better.
It was established in a satisfying way in the drama, such that the resolution made sense. As in, the key conflicts were clear, so when certain things happened I could accept – ok, that has definitely changed the timeline.
Unfortunately, by the end of the SOOD movie, I wasn’t quite sure what made the characters burn the tape… Um… what changed to make them make that decision?
All the prior cycles before were because they were not aware of what happened on that fatal day, if not they would have taken more decisive moves to prevent Yunru from being violent right?
So, what changed on the last cycle, such that Chen Yunru now regains consciousness with a better awareness of what’s happened and what needs to change? Ack. OK, I have a theory which I will outline below.
BUT I feel if the movie leaves your audiences scratching their heads and puzzled, rather than moved, you kind of haven’t met one of your key objectives, heh. I have understandably high expectations for this production team and cast!!
Also hang on, why would the burning of the tape reset the Wu Bai concert such that Yang Hao meets another fan instead of Yunru?? The time travel loop took place between 2014 and 2017, but the concert was in… 2001?
PLOT BREAKDOWN BY ELAINE [SPOILERS!]
It took many drafts before I penned this down!
I have approached this as an “explainer” of sorts, to help a viewer make sense of the movie they just saw.
This breakdown draws on both the drama as well as the movie, so SPOILERS ahead!
[SPOILER WARNING]
To start with, we need to introduce the cast of characters in the show.
See the figure below for a quick description of each character, and briefly, their relationships with each other.
While Huang Yuxuan and Lee Ziwei are the ostensible main protagonists of the movie, the other characters also play important roles.
Mechanics of Time Travel
In SOOD, your physical body does not travel to the past. Only your consciousness jumps back in time, taking control of the body of your doppelganger (lookalike).
So Huang Yuxuan from 2017 jumps back into 2014 Chen Yunru’s body, while Lee Ziwei from a parallel timeline in 2017 jumps back into 2014 Wang Quansheng’s body.
Similarly, 2017 Chen Yunru also does a jump back in time to 2014. Mo Junjie has no doppelganger, so he doesn’t time-travel.
What’s the significance of 2014
A specific date in 2014 (can’t remember the exact date but I think it was somewhere in July) is VERY SIGNIFICANT, because a fatal accident occurs on that day.
Who dies in this accident? Well, it depends on which timeline happens.
See the figure below for how this accident became a branching point for two alternate timelines (or parallel universes).
In Timeline 1, Lee Ziwei dies protecting Huang Yuxuan during a fall from an abandoned building. In Timeline 2, it is Huang Yuxuan who dies, and Lee Ziwei survives.
The Fatal Accident of 2014
What happens during this accident? Why did it occur?
See the sequence of figures below for my interpretation of what happened on the day itself.
Three characters gather together at an abandoned building. Why? They all know it is the site of the fatal accident, and they want to prevent it. But unfortunately, no one knows WHY the accident took place, so all they can do is gather.
Mo Junjie is not present at the fateful moment, because he and Yuxuan split up while trying to find Yunru and Ziwei, and he’s in a different part of the building, when Yuxuan comes upon the two Ziwei’s.
2017 Huang Yuxuan (in Chen Yunru’s 2014 body) has shown up to prevent Lee Ziwei’s death. She is surprised to see two Lee Ziwei’s.
One of them is the 2014 Lee Ziwei, while the other is Lee Ziwei from a parallel future (Timeline 2), who has time-jumped into Wang Quansheng’s body in 2014 to help his past self prevent Huang Yuxuan’s death.
Suddenly, 2014 Huang Yuxuan appears. In a major surprise to the viewers, it turns out she is being controlled by the consciousness of 2017 Chen Yunru. She asks them to trust her, and says she needs to disappear in order for the outcome of everything to be different.
She then attempts to stab her younger self (remember, 2017 Huang Yuxuan is currently controlling 2014 Chen Yunru’s body). One of the Ziwei’s blocks the blow.
Since she is unsuccessful, 2017 Chen Yunru-in-2014 Huang Yuxuan’s body then attempts to push her younger self off the ledge.
This is when the timeline split occurs.
In Timeline 1, 2014 Lee Ziwei leaps to save 2014 Huang Yuxuan.
He absorbs the impact of the fall and dies, while Huang Yuxuan is seriously injured. 2017 Chen Yunru’s consciousness, who was controlling 2014 Huang Yuxuan, returns to 2017 and dies (in 2017, Chen Yunru is in a coma after suffering a bad fall where she also miscarried and lost her child).
A couple of months after the fall, Huang Yuxuan recovers from her injuries, but has no memory of what happened to cause the accident.
In Timeline 2, both 2014 Chen Yunru and 2014 Huang Yuxuan fall to their deaths. And it is Lee Ziwei and Wang Quansheng who survive.
Parallel Timelines
Timeline 1 and Timeline 2 then proceed in parallel universes. The survivors of the accident carry on from July 2014 through to 2017
In Timeline 1, both Huang Yuxuan and Chen Yunru don’t remember what exactly happened during the accident. But there are lingering effects.
For 2014 Yuxuan, she deeply grieves Lee Ziwei and continues to have visions that he is still with her and conversing with her.
For 2014 Yunru, she resumes her normal life, and meets Yang Hao in Shanghai. They fall in love and get married. But because of work demands, he neglects her and isn’t there for her when she falls while pregnant.
Unfortunately, the doctors can’t save the baby, and Yunru falls into a coma. Yang Hao reads Yunru’s old journals to her, where she talks about having visions of another life, living as a more “sunny” version of herself.
[Note: I scratched my head as to when Yunru would have experienced this alternate life (referring to Huang Yuxuan’s persona, who is much more assertive and optimistic than Chen Yunru).
Yes, Chen Yunru was “hijacked” by a time-travelling Huang Yuxuan for a few days in 2014, but that didn’t seem to be enough time to fully experience the more “sunny” Huang Yuxuan persona, and feel the contrast with her own life, where Chen Yunru has had a tendency to be more depressed, feeling left out and mistreated by her family and peers.
Then I realized, even though their consciousness only “mingled” for a few days, that would have been enough time for “memory osmosis” to occur.
What is “memory osmosis”? Well, that is my own term for the sharing of memories that took place in the SOOD drama.
When Huang Yuxuan from 2019 first wakes up in 1999 Chen Yunru’s body, she experiences some confusion. She can remember her life as Huang Yuxuan, but she has also absorbed Chen Yunru’s memories, as if by osmosis.
That’s my best guess as to how Chen Yunru wrote in her 2014/2015 diaries that she has memories of another life.]
OK back to 2017 Chen Yunru in a coma.
Upon reading her journals talking about another life, time travel and how it is all connected to a Walkman and tape in her possession, Yang Hao lets a comatose Chen Yunru listen to the Walkman and the Wu Bai Last Dance tape.
And this is how 2017 Chen Yunru travels back in time to the 2014.
As for Huang Yuxuan, she gets a chance to work in Shanghai, where lo and behold she meets Yang Hao.
He anonymously sends her the Walkman and Wu Bai tape, she listens and she is transported back to 2014 as well. (I am guessing this was after Chen Yunru’s demise, and Yang Hao was still trying to change the past via Huang Yuxuan.)
Even though they start from different points in 2017, Chen Yunru and Huang Yuxuan end up back at the same point, a few days before the BIG ACCIDENT.
They have swapped bodies, and 2017 Chen Yunru ends up in 2014 Huang Yuxuan’s body, while 2017 Huang Yuxuan ends up in 2014 Chen Yunru’s body. (In SOOD, the time-travelling never seems to happen in your own past body, it’s always a swap with your doppelganger.)
Remember Timeline 2? In Timeline 2, it was Lee Ziwei who survived, and Chen Yunru and Huang Yuxuan perish. Well, Lee Ziwei is determined to try to find a way to undo the death of the love of his life.
After the incident, Ziwei seeks out Quansheng, whose body had gotten stabbed while trying to protect 2017 Huang Yuxuan in 2014 Chen Yunru’s body from being stabbed by 2017 Chen Yunru in 2014 Huang Yuxuan’s body.
At this point, it is actually Wang Quansheng who knows more than Lee Ziwei about time travel. Because remember? Back in 2014, it was Future Lee Ziwei who inhabited Wang Quansheng’s body.
And during that time, Wang Quansheng said it felt as if he was a backseat passenger, submerged underwater and murkily observing what Lee Ziwei was doing.
Through “memory osmosis”, Wang Quansheng vaguely remembered that it was Wu Bai’s Last Dance which helped Future Lee Ziwei travel back to 2014.
Lee Ziwei then embarks on a very dogged search for that specific cassette tape (goodness, there are still cassette tape shops in Taiwan in 2017??) and he finally finds it and travels back to, you guessed it, a few days before the fateful accident in 2014.
The tragedy of the movie is that, no matter how many times Lee Ziwei and Huang Yuxuan travel back in time to try to prevent that fateful accident, it always occurs.
With varying combinations, but always Chen Yunru decides to commit suicide and end her suffering, inadvertently causing pain to the star-crossed couple of Huang Yuxuan and Lee Ziwei too.
Initially after watching the movie, I couldn’t quite figure out why Chen Yunru took such drastic action at the abandoned building. But when I fit it together with what I know of her character from the drama, and what was told to us in the movie, it started to make sense.
The drama fills in the details of what happened during Chen Yunru’s high school years. Neglected and criticised by her own parents who favoured her brother, ostracised in school for being quiet and socially awkward, in the drama Chen Yunru tries to kill herself.
In fact, she does succeed, but through time travel, Huang Yuxuan manages to save her.
Before resetting the timeline, Huang Yuxuan persuades Chen Yunru to shift just a little bit in how she thinks about her problems, and it’s enough to get her to reconsider and see the world just slightly better and more hopeful.
The drama then resets the timeline (the time-travelling cassette is burned by Huang Yuxuan and Mo Junjie).
In the movie, Chen Yunru’s life seems to have turned out better than it did in the drama. She is professionally successful and has a sweet husband.
But if I take what I know from the drama – that she has all along suffered from low self-esteem and depressive tendencies, just because she set it aside for several years doesn’t mean it’s entirely gone.
Her husband neglecting her due to work, her isolation from her Taiwanese friends in Shanghai, the fall and miscarriage, all would have been tragic enough to reawaken her depression and despair.
Furthermore, as I explained above, through time travel and memory osmosis, she had visions of life as another her – the more sunny, confident Huang Yuxuan.
And that contrast between who Yunru is – quiet, melancholic – vs Huang Yuxuan, who is a go-getter and achieves all that she wants, would also have triggered Chen Yunru’s feeling of never being good enough.
A third trigger – when 2017 Chen Yunru goes back to 2014 Huang Yuxuan’s body (nobody knows it is Yunru, everyone assumes this is 2014 Huang Yuxuan), Yunru hears from 2017 Huang Yuxuan (who is controlling 2014 Chen Yunru’s body, goodness how confusing!) that the fateful accident that is to happen in a couple of days results in Ziwei’s death, and a lot of pain and grief for Yuxuan.
On this third point, I’m not too sure how Chen Yunru also takes it on as her fault. But in the journal that her husband Yang Hao reads, there’s a bit where Yunru writes about dreams and reality, and wonders if death is the real dream.
This tells us that she does have depressive tendencies, and has a view of death as a way of escape.
And so when she comes to the conclusion that all the pain for everyone, is all Yunru’s fault, it’s only one step away, that she reach for death as a solution.
It is drastic and doesn’t make logical sense (especially because it becomes a self-fulfilling prophecy, when Yunru’s suicidal impulse is the cause of the 2014 accident).
But then we must remember that depression does skew the brain’s sense of logic and reason. Until it feels there is only one option left =(
Breaking the Time Loops
I’m not too sure what finally breaks the cycle in the movie.
I suspect it has to do with 2017 Huang Yuxuan finding out the truth about Chen Yunru’s grief, from Yang Hao in Shanghai. Yang Hao tries to get Yuxuan to time travel for him, to save Yunru, but Yuxuan refuses, saying that it would change nothing, because Yunru would just end up killing herself.
Thus in the final final outcome in the movie, because Yuxuan and Ziwei say a final goodbye to each other (this is when they are inhabiting 2014 Chen Yunru and 2014 Wang Quansheng’s bodies, and both 2014 Lee Ziwei and 2014 Huang Yuxuan have perished), the only survivors of the accident are 2014 Wang Quansheng and 2014 Chen Yunru.
Chen Yunru seeks out Wang Quansheng. Between them, they manage to piece together what happened, and they decide to destroy the magic time-traveling tape together.
The Ending
Whew, I’m finally at the very end! OK yes, after they burn the tape, that resets all the time travel.
We see Huang Yuxuan wake up next to Lee Ziwei, and then the screen fades to black.
This is the point where MC and Kfangirl said it would have been good to end the movie, on an ambiguous note.
Why ambiguous? Because the same shot of Huang Yuxuan waking up next to Lee Ziwei was used earlier in the movie – not for a happy occasion, but it was after Lee Ziwei’s death, and Huang Yuxuan imagined waking up next to him.
To repeat this scene at the end of the movie would then invite questions like – is this a real happy ending? Or only imagined? Maybe Lee Ziwei and Huang Yuxuan are condemned to forever be apart? Or maybe somehow they will get together again?
An epilogue then happens in the movie with All the Good Things – Lee Ziwei and Huang Yuxuan get engaged, Mo Junjie successfully woos Chen Yunru and Yang Hao meets someone else. To be honest, this happy ending felt unearned.
Besides burning the tape, it was not clear what else had changed to achieve the happy ending.
After all, the drama had also ended with burning the tape and resetting the timeline, yet we see in the movie that these same characters are still destined to come to grief if Lee Ziwei and Huang Yuxuan fall in love.
So, should the movie have ended with an ambiguous or happy ending? Sound out your opinion in the comments!
THE FINAL VERDICT:
MC: Compared to the drama, the movie is still intricately plotted and deep emotionally with fantastic acting and writing, but keep in mind that it has a much shorter runtime and manage your expectations accordingly!
KFG: A rollercoaster for both the mind and heart. Not quite perfect, but a wonderful treat, for fans of the drama, nonetheless.
Elaine: An emotional reunion and eventful, compelling ride for fans of the series. Heart in my throat in many instances, plus itchy scalp from all the head-scratching I did, lol!
