My friends. I picked up this one as a drama nightcap – y’know, to unwind to, before bed – and I’m very, very pleasantly surprised by how much this one grew on me, and then crept under my skin.

I started out thinking, “Oh ok, this isn’t half bad, I think I could roll with this,” to feeling very wistful at the thought of finishing this one, and therefore having to say goodbye to these characters and this story world. 🥲

Long story short, I’m really glad I picked this one up, and I wouldn’t discount the possibility of revisiting this one sometime in the future, just because I really do enjoy the vibes in this one.

If you like underdog stories, sports-themed stories, noona romances &/or wholesome story worlds, this one could be for you, the way it was for me. 🥰

WHAT IT’S ABOUT

Duan Yucheng (Wang An Yu) is a passionate, aspiring high-jumper who’s a bit of an underdog, because of his height.

When he meets assistant coach Luo Na (Gina Jin), who recognizes his potential, he sees a new hope for his future, and earnestly persuades her to coach him.

As they work together towards that future, love eventually blossoms. 🥰

OST ALBUM: FOR YOUR LISTENING PLEASURE

Here’s the OST album, in case you’d like to listen to it while reading the review.

I have to confess that I didn’t pay a whole lot of attention to the music in this show, so I don’t have strong feelings towards the soundtrack.

However, I do want to give a shout-out to Wang An Yu and Gina Jin, who each sing a track for the OST.

I like the groove of Gina’s song, “Do You Want to Stay?” but I think I’m more moved by the earnest tenderness that I hear in Wang An Yu’s song, “Cloudy to Sunny,” because it reminds me of Duan Yucheng’s vibe, as a character. 🥰

Here’s “Cloudy to Sunny” on its own as well, in case you’d prefer to listen to that on repeat. Just right-click on the video and select “Loop.”

MANAGING EXPECTATIONS / THE VIEWING LENS

Here are few things that I think would be helpful to keep in mind, to maximize your enjoyment of your watch:

1. The romance is a bit of a slow burn

If you’re here for the noona romance, I just wanted to give you a heads-up, that the romance is on the slow burn side of things.

Basically, the first half of our story focuses more on the sports stuff, while the second half focuses more on the romance.

Not that either element actually ever goes away, to be clear. It’s just where the emphasis lies, in each half.

It does help that Yucheng develops a noticeable crush on Luo Na, from very early on, so his hearts-in-puppy-eyes 😍 do help to keep the love train going, even before the love train actually arrives – if that makes sense. 😁

2. Luo Na is a postgraduate student

This is something that threw me during my watch, so I thought I’d mention it upfront here.

When the romance does finally get going, I’d been confused that there was no real issue with Luo Na dating Yucheng, even though she’s his coach.

It only really clicked for me, later on, that the reason for this, is that Luo Na is a postgraduate student who’s functioning as an assistant coach, but is not actually a staff member at the university.

Show does state this upfront in its initial episodes; I’d just been too distracted trying to piece this story world together, that I kind of forgot. 😅

So I’m mentioning it here – so that you won’t forget like I did. 😁

3. Yucheng does mature

When I first started watching this show, I’d felt a little uncertain of whether I would be able to get on board with Yucheng as a romantic male lead, because he does come across as rather immature when we start our story.

I needn’t have worried. Yucheng does mature as we go, and very nicely too.

By the time the romance got going, I had no problems with him as our romantic male lead. 🥰

4. Show isn’t perfect

Even though I like this one a lot, I feel I should state upfront, that Show isn’t perfect, by any means.

There are limitations in the writing and delivery, and Show is clearly not a high-budget, expensively polished sort of creature.

But, it has enough going for it, that these things don’t really matter, in the grand scheme of it all.

I thought it would be helpful to let you guys know this in advance, so that you can adjust your expectations accordingly.

If it helps, you could think of this as a less elegant, less polished cousin of Nothing But You (review here!), which is also a sports-themed noona romance that I really enjoyed.

STUFF I LIKED

Show’s wholesome vibes

In this story world, there aren’t any big antagonists or truly evil people.

Most of the time, the less-nice people were understandable, and they would either grow out of their not-so-niceness, or disappear from view.

Either way, this helped to keep our story world a rather warm, wholesome kind of place, and I enjoyed very much, being a vicarious part of this wholesome world. 🥰

The underdog sports story

I have a big soft spot for underdog stories, and this one definitely is, with Yucheng having the odds stacked against him, because of his height.

His angst around this, his earnest desire to rise above his limitations, and his willingness to sow hard work and discipline towards this goal, really drew me into his story.

I was in his corner, all the way to the end. 🥲

Wang An Yu as Duan Yucheng

You guys, I ended up really loving Wang An Yu as Duan Yucheng. Wayyy more than I’d expected to. 😍

There’s an earnestness and sweet vulnerability in the way he plays Yucheng that really appeals to me. When Yucheng tears up, I tear up too, and hope that everything will go well for him. 🥲

In terms of what I mentioned earlier, about Yucheng maturing over the course of our story, I thought Wang An Yu does a fantastic job of portraying that increasing maturity.

In particular, I loved that the gaze that Yucheng wears when he looks at Luo Na, is completely different, by the time the loveline gets going in earnest.

At the start of our story, Yucheng comes across as very young, with stars in his eyes for his coach, but by the time our loveline begins for real, he comes across as a young man looking upon the woman he loves.

There’s tenderness there, but there’s also smoldering intent, and I was very pleasantly surprised. 🔥😉

On the sports side of things, Wang An Yu said in an interview that he didn’t think he did super well, because he’s not at the level of real athletes, but I absolutely give him props, because I found it all pretty darn believable, from a layman point of view.

Given the fact that he doesn’t have an actual pro athlete background, I’m even more impressed at the fact that, based on the full-body shots, you can tell that he performs at least a good chunk, if not all, of the jumps himself.

And, during the sprinkling of shirtless scenes that we get, I couldn’t help noticing that he does look very athletic.

If you’re a track and field expert, you might find it less believable than I did, but as a layman, I was very satisfied with how believable I found him, as an athlete.

Gina Jin as Luo Na

This was my introduction to Gina Jin, and I thought she was pitch perfect, as Luo Na.

Even though she might look thin at first glance, it isn’t long before you realize that she’s actually got a decent amount of toned muscle on her frame, so she doesn’t look frail; she just looks lean. And that really works for the character.

I really liked that Luo Na comes across as cool, self-assured and confident, and that she carries herself very professionally – at least, until the romance gets under way.

She’s passionate and dedicated, and is willing not only to stand up for what she believes in, but also, shield and protect those under her charge, even if it’s to her own detriment.

Putting that together, and adding on her personal charm and elegance, I can see why Yucheng would be so smitten with her – which is important, because this means that I am able to get on board with rooting for him to win her heart. 😁

The OTP together

I’d honestly thought that this OTP might be a hard-sell for me, given that the set-up has Luo Na as Yucheng’s coach, but Show handles this very well.

Additionally, like I mentioned earlier, because Luo Na is technically also a student, albeit a postgraduate one, that makes this loveline that much easier to embrace, because there isn’t any real teacher-student taboo at play here.

What I really like about this loveline, is that Show takes the time to build a bond between Yucheng and Luo Na, before introducing the romantic element to their relationship.

I like the idea that there’s a good foundation to their relationship, and not just sparks from mutual attraction.

On that note, I must clarify that the chemistry at play between them is excellent.

When they are just coach and trainee, they spark in their interactions in a platonic fashion, even with Yucheng’s hearts in his eyes, but when their connection turns romantic, the sparks amplify to some serious sizzle. 🔥

This is definitely an OTP where the skinship feels real and natural, so much so that there were times when I really felt like I was a voyeur peeping at a real-life couple.

Definitely one of Show’s highlights, in my opinion. 🫠

[SPOILER ALERT]

Because I didn’t take notes while watching this show, I have just two things that I wanted to mention, in this section.

The first is, I really appreciate that these two people are able to continue to work together as coach and trainee, even after their romantic relationship is established.

What I mean is, Luo Na continues to be very focused on helping Yucheng achieve his goals and dreams, and even when he’s trying to persuade her to go easy on him so that they can go on dates, for example, she is never actually persuaded.

She runs a tight ship, and y’know, I have to admire that about her, given that she really is properly smitten with Yucheng herself.

The other thing I wanted to mention, is the skinship between Yucheng and Luo Na feels quite.. frank with attraction and desire.

This is quite a surprise to me, honestly, because I’d expected the skinship in this show to be on the tamer side of things, given the strongly wholesome vibes in this story world.

But no, aside from kisses and hugs (which are quite swoony in their own right, no doubt), we’ve also got other facets of skinship, that effectively lift the skinship from feeling posed and sanitized (like in some shows), to feeling like the product of very real, very intense feelings.

Like him kissing her neck, or casually hiking her leg up around his hip, so that he can better cradle her waist. That.. kind of thing. 🔥🥵🫠

[END SPOILER]

Chi Jia as Wu Ze

Wu Ze is a character that took a while to grow on me, mostly because of how gruff he is, at the beginning of our story.

Over time, though, I definitely found myself softening towards him, once I knew more about his backstory, and what makes him tick.

He might be tough and gruff, but he’s also got a lot of heart and loyalty, and I really felt for him, as I progressed through my watch. 🥲

There are two key relationships that I associate with Wu Ze. One is his bond with Li Ge, which I talk about in the next section, and one is his friendship with Luo Na, which I thought I’d talk a bit about, in this spoiler section.

[SPOILER ALERT]

Although Wu Ze isn’t the type to say much, it really isn’t long before we become aware that he nurses romantic feelings for Luo Na.

He mostly doesn’t let it show, preferring to stick to the easy chummy tone that he and Luo Na have settled into, over the years.

Some people might say that he should do more to woo Luo Na, since he likes her so much, but I can understand where Wu Ze’s coming from.

The platonic vibe is strong in the way Luo Na relates to him, and Wu Ze has enough discernment to see that he doesn’t stand a chance with Luo Na, because she simply doesn’t see him in a romantic light.

Wu Ze isn’t successful in winning Luo Na’s heart (his single shot of buying her roses is gently but quite firmly declined), and what I appreciate about this, is that it never dampens Wu Ze’s loyalty towards Luo Na.

He remains strong and steadfast in his care for Luo Na, as a friend, even after his romantic overtures have been clearly turned down and he’s been officially friend-zoned.

That says a lot about how strong and pure his regards is, for Luo Na, and I do love that.

[END SPOILER]

Wu Ze and Li Ge

Roughly halfway through our story, Show introduces Li Ge (Li Zhou Zhao) in what feels like a rather random arc (more on that later).

The arc felt so throwaway, that I was honestly quite surprised that Li Ge turns into a rather key secondary character in our story world, and even develops a reluctant bond with Wu Ze.

I ended up enjoying this bond quite a bit, which is why it’s in this section.

[SPOILER ALERT]

At first, Li Ge just seems like Wu Ze’s ticket to having a winning athlete on his team, but it soon becomes clear that Li Ge is just as stubborn and willful as Wu Ze had been, in his own youth.

And, the kind of trouble and angst that Li Ge puts Wu Ze to, is exactly the kind of trouble and angst that he’d given his own coach.

Given what we find out, that Coach had given up his chance for surgery, by using the money that he would have used for the surgery, to bail out Wu Ze from trouble that he’d gotten himself into, and how that had changed Coach’s entire prognosis, it’s deeply, sharply poignant, to see how Wu Ze now pours out that same sacrificial care, towards Li Ge.

Like, yes, Li Ge often has a bad attitude and doesn’t deserve the help that Wu Ze gives, but I can understand that Wu Ze thinks of this as his opportunity to pay it forward, in a manner of speaking.

He’s doing for Li Ge, what Coach had done for him, and I do believe that in a way, this eases his sense of guilt and debt towards Coach.

At the same time, it is admittedly quite satisfying to see that Wu Ze is extremely in tune with the methods that would work with Li Ge – because he’s been in Li Ge’s exact same spot, in the past.

I found it very heartening to watch Li Ge’s attitude change, first towards Wu Ze, and then towards running.

From being a burden, running becomes his passion, through which he wants to earn honor, not just for himself, but for Wu Ze too.

The way Wu Ze cries when Li Ge wins his first gold medal, is incredibly moving, and then the way Li Ge gets so upset when Wu Ze won’t go with him to the national team, is very poignant.

I can understand Wu Ze’s position, though. He wants the best for Li Ge, and he knows his own limits. He knows that this is the furthest he can take Li Ge, professionally, and he is setting Li Ge free into better pastures, where he can meet better coaches.

Eep. I teared up at this part, not gonna lie. 🥲

Overall, I simply love how far this relationship has come.

I love that Li Ge has glommed into Wu Ze like a baby duck, and I do believe that Coach would be proud, for how far Wu Ze himself has come. 🥲

[END SPOILER]

STUFF THAT WAS OK

Some arcs feel quite random

Some arcs feel like they’re stitched into our story in a rather rough sort of manner.

This wasn’t a deal-breaker for me personally, but it also wasn’t my favorite thing that Show did, which is why it’s in this section.

Here’s an example of what I mean.

[SPOILER ALERT]

In episode 15, some troublemakers show up at the new noodle shop set up by Jiang Tian  (Guo Jin Qi)and end up thrashing the place.

Now, it doesn’t make zero sense, in that the main troublemaker is someone who’s felt rubbed the wrong way by Yucheng, and these are his friends.

But it does feel very tangential, that Li Ge is one of his troublemaker friends, and because Li Ge is able to run that fast and that far while trying to avoid getting caught by Yucheng, he gets talent-spotted and persuaded to compete with Yucheng for a chance of Wu Ze clearing his debt for him (for wrecking the restaurant) – and that’s how he then gets  reluctantly roped into the running team, under Wu Ze’s tutelage.

It does make some kind of sense, but it’s more a sketch-like, connect-the-dots sort of sense, rather than an organic kind of sense, if you know what I mean.

[END SPOILER]

THOUGHTS ON THE ENDING [SPOILERS]

Honestly, when I look back at the final few episodes of this show, I realize that our OTP spends a good chunk of time apart.

First, when Yucheng gets accepted into the national decathlon team and goes for closed-door training, and then later, when he goes overseas, to train with Luo Na’s father.

What I appreciate about how Show handles this, is that even though our OTP has to spend time apart, they are actually very much on the same page.

We see Luo Na encouraging Yucheng and helping him to keep a good attitude and perspective, even when things don’t go the way they’d hoped.

And, we also see them putting in a good amount of effort, in terms of keeping in touch, and staying connected, despite the physical distance between them.

On that note, I do appreciate that Yucheng switches away from the decathlon, and goes back to the high jump.

This feels right, because the high jump has always been his primary passion, and I’m so glad that Luo Na recognizes and honors that.

Of course it’s not an easy road, but I’m glad that Yucheng manages to make good during his overseas training, and win over Luo Na’s parents, while he’s at it.

It’s just like Yucheng to try to spring a surprise proposal on Luo Na, since he’s been talking about marriage for such a long time, but it’s also just like Luo Na, to pick up on the fact that Yucheng’s acting weirdly, and force him to come clean with the truth, because she hates lies.

It’s quite cute how she’s super contrite for ruining the surprise, and asks him to just pretend that she doesn’t know anything, and continue with the plan. 😁

What we get, in the end, is a montage of what looks like a part-engagement, part-wedding sort of mash-up, but I don’t actually care about the details, because it’s just so heartwarming and sweet, to see all our characters gathered together, and being so cheerfully delighted, as one big found family. 🥰

As the final credits roll, I get the feeling that Yucheng and Luo Na are going to be very happy together, and that they will always be surrounded by these people, who have become a permanent part of their world.

Bliss. 🥰

THE FINAL VERDICT:

Warm, sweet and wholesome. Perfect for a drama nightcap.

FINAL GRADE: B+

TRAILER:

MV:

WHERE TO WATCH:

Show is available on YouTube, Netflix and Viki.

If you know of another platform that has it, please share in the comments!

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