Aquí Nos Volvemos A Encontrar (2023)

On the ups and downs of modern love with a strong female lead . . .

The first half set in Xi'An is strong. Xiang Yuan, the high energy 'princess,' is assigned to a regional, failing subsidiary of her grandfather's company. There, she reunites with Xu Yan Shi, a former school genius now fallen from grace, This is an excellent core plot about how corporate spaces with their jealousy, mediocrity, and office politics can ruin talent. Additionally, Xiang Yuan is a great character - with family and friends, ambitions, ethics and intelligence. She is not just the muse for Xu Yan Shi.

Unfortunately, the show falls apart as they transition to Shanghai. The secondary romance never really gets off the ground and 'villains' pop on and off screen with no real logic to them. One highlight, though, was Xu Yan Shi finally seeing the university classmates who ruined his life reap the consequences of their own character flaws.

The main leads are attractive and competent. Vin Zhang playing the serious and 'old soul' lead with just the right touch of fire, and Xiang Yuan mostly succeeds in being high spirited and naive while not crossing the line into childish. The secondary characters and actors here are not memorable.

The music and credits are average, and there isn't much I'd rewatch. I grade on other criteria:

Complex Themes - 8.0
It's state propaganda sure, but the depiction of soul crushing office politics was well done and realistic. Greed and power often do override any desire to recognize great talent and create great products. I also appreciated the realistic depiction of the difficulties of modern relationships, the travel, lots of time apart, extremely hectic and busy with work lives that are emotionally draining.

I will always appreciate plot lines around supportive friends and I found that theme particularly touching here.

Complex Characters/Growth - 7.0
Xiang Yuan learns to transition from the girl who would throw away cake if it came an hour late, to someone who can be patient and persist. Xu Yan Shi recovers from his career set back and is forcibly pushed to realize his dreams of being a pioneer in Chinese technology.

Complex Women/Women Centered plots - 6.5
Xiang Yuan is a good role model of a modern career woman. Otherwise, her relationships with her women friends are fairly superficial. In her family, she is the only woman, on her team there is only one other woman and they barely interact, there is the typical middle aged woman villain etc.

Production Values/Cinematography - 8.0
The clothing here was excellent. There was the occasional misstep, but generally very fashionable and fit the main leads well. The sets, cars etc. were also well done and felt 'in the real world' for the most part. Otherwise, this was not very creative or cinematic.

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A light-to-medium romanctic comedy

The only reason I rated this show so highly was because of Bin Bin.
He's a terrific actor in each and every show I've seen him in, and this is no exception.
He carried this for me.

Characters:

ML is a very smart and capable IT programmer/designer. His ambition is to help build satellites/satellite navigation systems.
FL is the rich grandchild of a conglomerate owner with no great ambition in life.

Plot:

ML and FL are old high school classmates. She chased him but he seemingly turned her down.
They part on bad terms.
The show opens when they meet again at a subsidiary of Grandpa's conglomerate.
He's the leader of a tech team whose talents have been overlooked in favor of those with better connections.
She joins the company as a deputy team leader after betting with her grandpa that she can build up the failing subsidiary within a year before HQ decides to close it permanently. In exchange for doing so, Grandpa will stop pestering her to get married.

If I had to encapsulate the story in several words: The struggles of succeeding in business and achieving our dreams against a backdrop of workplace politics, financial struggles, and family struggles. And finding the right person, and sticking with them, despite all odds.

The relationship between the ml and fl is not antagonistic exactly, but they do push and pull each other in the directions they each want to other to go. Each somewhat manipulates the other in order to get their desired results.

The ML cares deeply for the FL and works extremely hard to protect her. Aside from one incident when things spun beyond his control, he never does anything throughout the entire show to harm her or hurt her feelings. He's too selfless sometimes. I only wish he'd used his words. Because while actions 'should' or might speak louder than words, in this case, our FL was just too dense to recognize what was happening, and this ended up hurting the ML unnecessarily.

The FL is innately kind. She'll go to bat for those she cares about. And she will not silently swallow or watch injustice. She's a fighter and l love that about her. She's also very witty and sarcastic, the queen of one-liners. She made me LOL multiple times.
My one gripe with her, and this is a big gripe which continues through a large part of the developing story, is how she treats the ML.
While she's kind to everyone, as I said earlier, with him she isn't. Or, at least, not to his face. She blows hot and cold so often and suddenly, that it's impossible for our poor ML to know if he's coming or going. Through no fault of his own, he's forced to put up with her drastically changing moods and her inexplicable temper, all the while being left in suspense about how she truly feels about him. Another thing she's the queen of is mixed messages. That's cruel and childish of her. A grown woman of 26 should behave better.

My favorite part of the show began at approximately episode 20. That's when things really started getting good.
However, the last three episodes introduced a new conflict which the characters handled in a way I didn't like. As always, it was the FL who annoyed me the most with her response. Although for once, the ML wasn't 100% blameless here. Since the two were already a couple at that point, he could've handled things better. I still appreciated his responses though, and admire him for what he did.

Ultimately all conflicts are resolved and we are shown everyone's happily ever after.
The ending was very sweet.

Music and Cinimetogrophy:
Mediocre

Acting:
ML= terrific
FL= fine
Side characters= solid

Rewatch value:
6.5 to 7

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Very catchy, well-paced drama with cool OSTs.

I really liked this series, on the one hand because I'm a fan of the 2 leads, Zhang Vim ❤❤❤ & Janice Wu ❤❤❤, on the other hand, because the story is believable, well told, well written and that the production is almost perfect.

Plot: reunion of 2 former high school friends/lovers, ML / FL, who had parted over a misunderstanding, in a high-tech company. The ML is a manager of the Technology department and the FL (heiress sent anonymously by her grandfather, by challenge , to refloat this company in distress) is an employee there.

The 2 leads, both famous actors, have developed an incredible chemistry, with intense OTPs. The other actors are good, performing the secondary roles brilliantly, with a bit of humor and a lot of friendship.

=> An excellent drama to watch and rewatch without any hesitation.
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Drama très accrocheur, bien rythmé, avec OST sympas.

J'ai beaucoup aimé cette série, d'une part parce que je suis fan des 2 leads, Zhang Vim ❤❤❤ & Janice Wu ❤❤❤, d'autre part, parce que l'histoire est crédible, bien racontée, bien écrite et que la réalisation est quasi parfaite.

Plot : retrouvailles de 2 anciens camarades de lycée, ML / FL, qui s'étaient quittés sur un malentendu, au sein d'une entreprise de géolocalisation / navigation. Le ML est un manager du département Technologie et la FL (héritière envoyée anonymement par défi par son grand-père, pour remettre à flot l'entreprise en perdition).

Les 2 leads, tous les 2 acteurs renommés, ont su développer une alchimie incroyable, avec des OTP intenses. Les autres acteurs sont bons, assurant les rôles secondaires avec brio, un peu d'humour, beaucoup d'amitié.

=> Un excellent drama à voir et à revoir sans hésitation.

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Worth the watch in 2023

This is a very cute series with strong leads. I love the chemistry between the ML and FL as well as the 'banter' that they have between each other that only they understand. There are times where the communication is lacking. Due to the 'history' of the lead characters, the communication to avoid misunderstandings should be better between them. The support cast is very good. There are a few scenes that are unnecessary and could have been dropped so that the last episode wouldn't feel rushed. The last episode was cute, but definitely rushed. The last episode had a lot of spot 'assumptive' scenes that just left the audience saying 'okay'. The series gave you that 'You are My Glory' feel. However, it's not as tightly executed. This could have been a solid 28 to 30 episode series with tighter editing. Both leads are good. I appreciate the dynamic acting from them both. Good OST and Production.

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Writing is a mess but good romantic scenes

Wow! So many resemblances with "You are my glory" and "A Romance of the Little Forest." But the drama had its own story and vibes. I gotta say I was really expecting more from this one, but there were some things that bothered me along the way.

- It was little draggy in the beginning. I didn't really understand why the couple took that much time to be together. It's not that they took a long time, but they didn't have any obstacles to their love, so why didn't Xiang Yuan say yes to Xu Yanshi before?
- The writing is not that good. There were some plot points that were poorly explained or could've been better developed. Like Yanshi's family; his father was never present in his life and he holds a grudge bc of that, but they never really talk abt that and Yanshi just gives his little brother away to his father. And no explanation is given as to why he let his brother go that way; Yanshi's mother appearing in the last ep was really weird. His dad raised him all by himself, through many difficulties, Yanshi is always addressed as a poor and alone guy, but then we find out that his mother is alive, well AND rich! And they are in good terms with each other. Then why did he need his professor's help with his brother so he could study?! And the debt with Chen Shan?! Where was his mother during all that?!
- The main couple is good and have chemistry. I really like that they have a lot of skinship and appear natural and intimate together. There are a lot of good kissing scenes and the couple trust each other. But that break up in the 30th ep was unlike them. They should've talked abt their views and opinions on the problem. Both of them had a point but they just didn't talk clearly with each other and just gave up. At least that lasted only one episode.
- Second couple is boring af. They have absolutely no chemistry and doen't even make sense together. Chen Shu is annoying and so it is Gao Leng. I didn't understand why she was so mad at him to the point of breaking up with him, so it was confusing why she came back to him in the end.
- Side characters are a little boring as well. I didn't hate anything or anyone in specific but they were just forgettable. Like I said, the second couple was boring, and the other characters didn't shine or have their story told.
- All the Beidou lecture was too patriotic and just cringey. Maybe for chinese people it made sense but for me, a foreigner, it was just annoying. I also didn't understand most of the talk about navigation systems and all, so I just zoned out on those parts.

That's it. All in all, I enjoyed watching it, first eps are a little draggy but the couple is good. Although the writing is a mess, I think for some people it would be worth for the couple. They really deliver good romance. If I were to rewatch I would skip everything but them. I also think this drama could be 10 eps shorter, it would be faster and it wouldn't waste time with characters and plots we don't really care.

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Only You...

Played by Janice Wu & Vin Zhang of course I've to watch this one...

The drama told about 1 man, Xu Yan Shi (YS), that like 1 woman, Xiang Yuan (XY), in his life. But life played them good & separated them again & again until life decided enough time to make them together now. Haha...

YS & XY have 4 times encounter: kindergarten, high school, university & workplace. But when in high school & university, YS's dad succeed screw up their chance & finally they have their chance in the workplace.

The story begin in Velin company, the branch of Donghe group that in the verge of collapse, cause bad management, corruption & nepotism deep in the management. XY is happy go lucky girl from rich family that at first don't care about her family business. XY grandpa, chairman of Donghe group, send XY undercover to manage this branch. In there XY finally group up from happy go lucky girl to the girl that finally understand how to manage business & care enough about her family business in the end.

What I like:
+ First of all really happy to finally have another director that using their brain when cast, to separate the cast of adult time & high school time... Sometimes I must sigh when I see actor/ess on end off their 20s or early 30s play as high school student. I know sometimes that relate to the budget etc. & the bonus point, they even cast the actor/ess according to their respective age in the drama...
+ The chemistry between Janice Wu & Vin Zhang is good.... They match each other perfectly. It feel really like old friend that finally get together. Janice & Vin Zhang looked like having fun while filming this drama.
+ The develop of YS & XY relationship is make sense. YS a few times make XY angry & XY not immediately forgive him, all need process....
+ YS is quite jealousy boyfriend, but his jealousy several time quite make sense. But I really like when he never restrict XY's life & really respect her, especially when he said that XY should not change herself just cause him.
+ The story of Gao Leng (GL) & Chen Shu (CS) also make sense. They love each other, but GL indeed need to grow up to match CS. And I kinda like how GL just not give up, but he still care & try to chase CS again.
+ The cute & adorable XY's grandpa. Especially when YS's friend try to messed his mind about his evaluation toward YS. Is just so funny...
+ Janice is quite adorable played XY, but still nothing too new about her acting...

Overall this really one good drama this year...

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This was so close to You Are My Glory, so I knew I was going to love this!

Instead of an actress and aerospace engineer, we have a corporate girlie, whose grandpa is the CEO of the company, and a GPS engineer who is a prodigy in his field. The ML and FL are technically grade school sweethearts, who keep running into one another at different points in their lives, but seeming to miss one another.

I would sum this up as a sweethearts to strangers to friends to strangers to online lovers to strangers to coworks to lovers, romance. When I say they keep missing one another, I mean it!

I loved Janice Wu in this, a quirky yet mature businesswoman who wants to help her grandpa's sub-company not go bankrupt while correcting all the internal fraud that is being committed by the VP. I loved seeing Vin Zhang finally in a lead role, and not being a side character to a Dilraba drama... which is funny because I just said that this drama reminded me of a Dilraba drama.

In the 30-40 something episode drama, the writer and director took their time letting us get to know all the characters and their roles in the company as well as follow them throughout different projects - I felt like I was a part of the team! And I appreciate a drama that is well written and shot, not feeling like it is dragging... because I know these longer Chinese dramas and feel scary and boring when seeing how many one-hour episodes there are.

The romance was very cute, and honestly a bit sexy ... more than I have seen in a Cdrama before. I fell for both characters and wanted them to find love so badly with one another, and once they were together, it was sweet.

But going along with that point, I had to knock a point off because there were times throughout that I had no idea what was going on, and why the FL was crying or why the ML was comforting her or why the ML thought it was cool to start making out with the FL during an argument. There were also times when either one of them would be in a sales meeting and I had no idea what was going on... especially when the company seemed to be a huge factor or when the meeting ended up being fake? It is hard to explain even now because I feel like I was... on drugs and a part just flew over my head.

Other than that, loved this.

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That it's always takes time..

I really love it you must watch it❤️❤️ I recommend this Cdrama ❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️💜💜💜💜💜💜💜💜💜💜💜💜💜💜💜💜💜💜💜💜💜💜💜💜💜💜💜💜💜💜💜💜💜💜💜💜💜💜💜💜💜💜💜💜💜💜💜💜💜💜💜💜💜💜💜💜💜💜💜💜💜💜💜💜💜💜💜💜💜💜💜💜💜💜💜💜💜💜💜💜💜💜💜💜💜💜💜💜💜💜💜💜💜💜💜💜💜💜💜💜💜💜💜💜💜💜💜💜💜💜💜💜💜💜💜💜💜💜💜💜💜💜💜💜💜💜💜💜💜

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Promising, But Boring

We get it, China. People with money= bad, poor people= good. We get it.

Two childhood sweethearts divided by class difference. Nothing new here. We know they are going to get together, but there is no actual connecting story here, so the plot is stretched over sexual tension that just doesn't burn bright enough to keep interest.

I have a girl crush on Janice Wu, which is why I gave this a chance in the first place, and she did not disappoint. I love her facial expressions and mannerisms. The ML was ok as well, but he was written without any real depth, and that also has to do with his lack of flaws. A perfect ML is a boring one.

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Great chemistry and flirty repartee!

I love the fact that this story doesn’t rely on one of those cold, stiff characters that never smiles. Serious, yes, but not stiff. The flirty banter by Janice Wu’s character is always entertaining. I like the way they have revealed the hidden backstory of the ML slowly. I wait eagerly each day for the new episodes and while I wait I’ve rewatched scenes from earlier episodes that I particularly like. I almost never rewatch anything so this says a lot about just how much I enjoy these characters and their interactions.
I understand the review about the FL’s misunderstandings being too easily influenced, but this is so far the only annoying trope we are dealing with in this series, and I feel like the smile I’m wearing on my face for most of each episode is more than worth it.
It’s funny, heartwarming, romantic — what more could you ask for?

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