Somewhere We Only Know (2019)

This is a fine slice of life drama. The drama brings about the conflicts and decisions of the characters as they grow through their college years into adulthood. From the four female roommates and their significant others, the drama explores human sensitivities showing their emotional strengths and weaknesses as they experience love, intellectual and emotional challenges, and the process of life changing events. The drama develops slowly and realistically, presenting conflicts of connection, interests, and values among the different relationships (family, faculty and students, friends, and lovers). The cast did a good job bringing their characters to life, the lead couple had good chemistry but their romantic scenes lacked enthusiasm and energy and their separation went too long (through about 4 episodes) without any interaction and the end came abruptly . Still, it is a good drama to watch while waiting for a great one to come. Enjoy it!

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Great drama-go watch the extra episodes.

Since I want to watch more Cdramas I watched this and was pleasantly surprised. I enjoy a slice of life drama and this truly felt like a students slice of life. It was slow and steady and built the relationships and the friendships quiete well. When I finished the episodes on Netflix, I felt that something was off - I was left a bit disappointed because there were many many loose threads. Come to find out there are 3 extra episodes that tie the story up nicely- before finding these episodes I would've been disappointed in the time I spent watching the drama - but the extra episodes really made me enjoy the show even more.

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This is a story worth watching

I definitely think it can be a bit slow and hard to get into during the first few episodes, but after that it's so good. You really don't know what to expect with this story, it is so much more raw and heartfelt than it appears to be. I really liked the main character, and the story didn't feel so unrealistic that it took me out of the immersion. I would watch this again for sure. I watched this a long time ago so I do not remember the exact things that I disliked about it, but I know there weren't many things to dislike. Maybe the pacing could be off in some areas, but other than that I only have good things to say. If you enjoy stories set in the university environment, this is a perfect show for you.

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Uma história progressiva de amadurecimento

Na real eu não esperava muito do final.

Comecei o drama sem muita pretensão mas já super empolgada com tantos acontecimentos logo de início. Me apeguei ao Mu Chenghe e a Xue Tong, principalmente.

A progressão da história foi tão boa que, na minha opinião, não deixou a desejar. Foi possível perceber gradativamente o amadurecimento das personagens.

Eu ri, fiquei impaciente e também me emocionei com as diversas situações das personagens.

Não imaginava que ficaria até o final porque já pelo episódio 20 tava tudo muito estranho, e acho que foi essa a ideia mesmo. A Xue Tong se redescobrindo, crescendo. Mas continuei porque, como disse, me apeguei a ela. E ainda bem que continuei! Eu me surpreendi com o final.

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I absolutely adored this show. I must thank Netflix for bringing this beautiful show on because otherwise I would’ve never known about it.

Firstly the drama is a slice of life. It felt quite realistic and the pace is slow but satisfying.
Each character was endearing and relatable. portrayed. The actors all did an amazing job. From the four friends, we can all find someone who is most like us since their personalities are so varied.

With many Chinese dramas I’ve noted they follow the infamous trope of arrogant lead leads. Here the male lead was so pleasant and soft spoken. He seemed pure at heart albeit some flaws but that only made him more humane and relatable. The chemistry between the leads was subtle but unique.
I never felt the age difference with the leads as a hindrance or disadvantage to development of romantic relationship. I felt both characters brought the best of each other and they were soul mates.

Usually I seldom care about plots of supporting characters but in this drama I found myself caring for them just as much I did for the leads. The drama definitely had some subtle surprises in store. Whilst I didn’t agree with some, it did not disappoint me enough to even contemplate dropping the drama. And I’m the queen of dropping dramas, if I can say so myself.

For those loving dramas with romance, this is definitely one to go for. I wholeheartedly recommend this. I truly hope the cast achieves greater success because they were all very talented. I will end my review here.

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A good university series, relatively realistic

Romance between 1 foreign language student and 1 doctoral student / replacement teacher. The series deals with the university life of a group of 4 friends from the same dormitory, in a fairly realistic way.

PROS:
+ slice-of-life where everything doesn't go well: lover of a married man, ex-lovers who can't be together, good reasons for a break-up, etc.
+ the characters are complex, tortured, endearing, and the actors bring them to life with great talent.
+ Fairly well-written story (except the last part which contains quite a few inconsistencies).

CONS:
- Friends of the ML don't know the rule "no drop of alcohol for an alcoholic in withdrawal"? The relationship with alcohol seems complex in China...
- The last episodes are too long (3-4 episodes without the ML)
=> skip 21->23
- Ending which leaves a taste of unfinished business...
+ Fortunately there are 3 special episodes because the ending of the drama is too abrupt!!

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Romance entre 1 étudiante en langues et 1 doctorant / prof remplaçant. La série traite de la vie universitaire d'un groupe de 4 amies du même dortoir, de façon assez réaliste.

PROS:
+ slice-of-life où tout ne se passe pas bien : lover d'un homme marié, ex-lovers qui ne peuvent pas être ensemble, bonnes raisons de break-up, etc.
+ les personnages sont complexes, torturés, attachants, et les acteurs leur donnent vie avec beaucoup de talent.
+ Story assez bien écrite (sauf la dernière partie qui comporte pas mal d'incohérences).

CONS:
- Les amis du ML ne connaissent pas la règle "aucune goutte d'alcool pour un alcoolique en sevrage" ? Le rapport à l'alcool semble complexe en Chine ...
- Les derniers épisodes sont trop logs (3-4 épisodes sans le ML)
=> skip 21->23
- Ending qui laisse un gout d'inachevé...
+ Heureusement qu'il y a les 3 épisodes spéciaux car la ending du drama est trop abrupte !!

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Overall, this show was good. It's super cliché but it's also unique in its own way. My favourite part about the show was how it showed people with ordinary lives. They didn't try to perfect the cast, and I thought that it was their best feature. I would've given this a 10, but some details aren't too great.

For example, I'm going to start with the ending. DO NOT READ IF YOU HAVEN'T WATCHED IT YET!
So. Xue Tong chose Mu ChengheThe ending...was weird, in some ways. I'd always shipped her with Sir Mu but when they broke up, he was gone for 3-4 episodes...then miraculously shows up, AND Xue Tong chooses him?! It's too good to be true. I felt really bad for Liu Qi because he did cheer her up when Chen Yan died. Anyhoo, I felt like the ending was too inadequate.

I also thought that Xue Tong's friend Ba Lin was in a toxic relationship with her boyfriend. I felt disgusted and shameful about how she treated him.

This is an amazing tv series, but if the producers want to make it better, I suggest they focus on 1 couple instead of all the other support characters.

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Toxic relationship& red flags

Although the character development of the FL and her 3 friends is really beautiful to see throughout the series ( bailin story was a bit annoying but the ending is graceful for her :) ) I am really disappointed in the story.

It would have been perfect if the ML and FL story actually ended when the ML left before coming back by the end of the series.

I feel the Fl needed to fully move on from this guy as he has been a great lesson to her.

We have no clue what happened to make the ML deserve the FL and see them married all of a sudden in the last minute of the series.

The SML had many chances to showcase and present the Fl with a healthy relationship. The show took the time to develop their relationship , I feel bad for the SML. The scene after death of a friend was really well done and how the SML even knew the Xue tong better than Mu were great elements. I thought the show was really about personal growth and lessons from past relationships. -but it ended up being a sucker for love story cliché

Her heart belonging to the ML by the end of the show was not realistically shown. Was she just waiting for him to apologize? Why did the show not encourage a more healthy development for the ML? Or for the Ml to own up to his toxic traits?

While the main love story development leaves me in disappointment, I did enjoy some of it, especially in the beginning where the FL is navigating life and her first romantic relationship.

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In general, the history is pretty good and the lead couple are really cute but, the ending was rushed and this is a bit annoying, i had to search on fansubs sites to find the 3 specials episode. I had passed some parts because i was frustraded, i did not know if the main couple would really be together and the secondary chracter, Liu Qi really annoy me, i mean, he was stalking Xue Tong and watching her going to the shower room, chasing her until in class even though she made it very clear that she was irritated by that, why did he continued chasing her when he broke her heart trying to make her get her own friend to him? He was really selfish, but im happy he matured.

Now Bai Lin was the most selfish at all, treating her boyfriend as an slave, her only personality trace was skip class and make her friends cover her while she only want to have fun without carrying about the studies, and her friends never said or tryed to make her change this kind of life, and the same happened to QiQi, dating with an married man? She knows what she did, and her friends only comforted her. And because of him, she lost the chance to be next to someone who really liked her not only this, but messed with her studies, and the married guy? He really stressed me, seriously, i hated him, i hope he spend his entire life alone, to not do this with someone, specially with an wife.

I have nothing to say about Xiao Tong, she is really strong and have an good personality, one of my favorites!!!!

Now... Mu Cheng He and Xue Tong, I ALMOST DIED BECAUSE I WAS ANXIOUS TO KNOW IF THEY REALLY WERE TOGETHER IN THE END, they are cute together, when ChengHe became so obssessed with his work i knew that something would happen, Xue Tong worried about him but he though have an girlfriend is just happiness, but the time he spend on germany helped him to mature a lot and think about. While this, Xue Tong was only pretending she really moved on, focusing on her studies and postgraduation, she grew a lot, but the memorys of ChengHe never left her, and she know and Liu Qi knew about it.

The soundtrack is good too, you may not noticy but OST were cute

The main thing that really frustraded me was the fast and rushed ending, not explaining well what happened before, how Mu Cheng and Xue Tong end together, you have to watch the specials episodes to know better about the relacionship of all the 3 girls.

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