Wait My Youth等等啊我的青春 – Sweetest School Drama!

Drama Inspect Rating: 8.9/10

I know most people probably will not agree with my rating but I personally just really loved this drama. In a sea of school day dramas, Wait My Youth seems to have been neglected, but it is probably my favorite one. I’ve rewatched it over four times. I know A Love So Beautiful is what a lot people refer to when it comes to high school dramas but this one left a heavier impression on me. What seems like a simple drama actually has a lot of thoughtful details. Character traits and small gestures that you see while they’re in high school permeate through college and adulthood in small inconspicuous bits. Every time you rewatch the drama, you find something new. True to its name, one thing that is consistent and reiterated in the end, is the longing and nostalgia of vibrant youth.

The story is centered around five friends. There are pretty much no antagonists in the drama. Su Cancan (Li Jia Qi) and Tianye (Zhao Yiqin) start off as enemies. She tries to nab her crush, Lin Jiazhe (Li Geyang), Tianye’s best friend, as her deskmate in the new semester but a blunder occurs and she ends up next to Tianye. While they bicker a lot, Tianye still explains the classes to her as she is very bad in math and science and he happens to be the best at those subjects. Her strengths lie in writing and her teachers capitalize this by having her take charge and write different things for the schools. She is eager to join the radio broadcast club because Jiazhe had been recruited. Tianye’s passion is making music while Cancan likes to write lyrics. Tianye reluctantly teams up with Cancan and together along with her best friend, Xu Meili (Stephanie Xu), they make into the radio club.

The friendship between the five main characters grow as they spend most of their free time together in the club. Both Lin Jiazhe and Tianye grow to like Cancan more and more but neither are very obvious. All five friends support each other and make it to neighbor colleges in Beijing.

College is where things really start to change. Tianye is pretty sure of his feelings. Jiazhe knows that Cancan likes him and decides to treat her really well to make her happy. Cancan is pretty oblivious to both of them. She is convinced she still has feelings for Jiazhe but acknowledges they are fading as she grows closer to Tianye.

I was bracing for a misunderstanding or a bad decision on Cancan’s part, afraid she’d still think she liked Lin Jiazhe and go to him instead of Tianye. But alas, our protagonist is not stupid, she knows what she wants. When it came down to making the crucial choice, she chose to be with the one that really understood her the best. Cancan and Tianye is one of my all time favorite drama couples.

True to most of these school/youth dramas, the couple will break up at one point. Tianye and Cancan want to study abroad at Berklee School of Music but only Tianye is accepted. She tries year after year but doesn’t make it. In the end, she makes the decision to just break off the relationship and let Tianye fly. Cancan’s situation is quite realistic. It is not easy to go abroad and sometimes you really will just continue to be rejected. It grates at your confidence and overtime the long distance relationship seems bleak.

Tianye comes back after three years and their feelings are reignited though Cancan doesn’t want to face it. Their fates are tied together as their companies end up partnering and they are the project managers.

Characters and Cast

Perhaps what makes this drama so memorable is the cast and the characters. When you look at the behind-the-scenes footage, you know for sure they casted actors that were very similar to the characters they played. Each character has a distinct personality that evolves over time.

Su Can Can and Lan Tianye

Su Can Can is clumsy but she is not stupid. She is capable and knows what she wants. Her quirkiness isn’t annoying but endearing. Tianye who insists on being stoic and cold can’t help but be amused by her weirdness. She doesn’t give Jiazhe false hope out of kindness. She is always intent on making sure their relationship is platonic after she and Tianye got together. I really like how they didn’t make her perfect. She makes mistakes that hurt other people but own up to them and does her best to make it better.

There are so many sweet nuances that just makes you really fall in love with the characters. The chemistry between Can Can and Tian Ye is unreal. Tianye tries not to get caught up in her mess but always ends up being by her side. One of my favorite moments was when Can Can stood up for Tian Ye while the parents and teachers berated him. His dad had forced him to move his desk to sit alone at the back of the classroom and the teacher gave Can Can the chance to choose another desk partner. But Can Can bravely took her desk to the back of the room as well, next to Tian Ye’s, explaining to the elders that he was very good and that her grades drastically improved because he would teach her. Their relationship is full of these small gestures that build up over time, bringing them closer.

Zhao Yiqin was such a perfect choice to play Lan Tianye. Tianye is a good child with some parental issues. He lacks affection with his family but deeply cares for people and treasures his friendships. Tian Ye, despite cold and aloof, is actually pretty open when taking care of Can Can. She is a little dense so doesn’t really pay attention to the progression of the way he treats her. The drama does a great job in connecting everything. For example in one episode Can Can and Tian Ye are sweeping leaves outside their school. She picks a gingko leaf off of him and mentions it’s too bad it wasn’t yellow yet or else she could use it as a bookmark. Fast forward an episode later, he deliberately positions himself in a way that she sees a leaf stuck in his clothes. This time the gingko leaf has dried and yellowed making her happy. Throughout the drama, Can Can gets teased by him for collecting trash because she always keeps candy wrappers. Knowing this though, he purposely takes out candy in front of her, knowing she wants the wrappers and that it would make her happy.

Lin Jiazhe

Lin Jiazhe…I can only ever sigh when I think of him before wanting to choke him. You definitely get second lead syndrome in this drama because Jia Zhe is an absolutely amazing person. He is that popular, nice guy that everyone likes. Like a prince. I’m grateful they skipped the whole “I shouldn’t chase her because my best friend likes her” mentality. Both male leads clearly didn’t care too much about that and were determined to both get the girl and keep their friendship intact. His arc was the epitome of ‘the one that got away’. Jia Zhe’s biggest mistake was waiting too long and he knows it. Can Can put the ball in his court when she gave him the love letter. Instead of directly reciprocating he proceeded to just treat her caringly…which isn’t too different from the way he treats others. He was giving mixed signals to Can Can despite knowing that Tian Ye was upping his own game with her.

His chances are pretty much completely shot after Tianye and Can Can get together. Even after spending three years with her post graduation, their platonic relationship could not compare to what she felt for Tianye when he came back to China.

Xu Meili

Xu Meili (Stephanie Xu), Cancan’s best friend, is the most funny character in the drama. Her lines are amazing. She is very straightforward and fearless and will not hesitate to say what’s on her mind. But when it comes to love, she becomes very insecure. Her relationship with Tang Xingyi is probably the most entertaining. They are clumsy and bicker like an old couple. In front of him she tries to be the perfect girlfriend that can clean the house and cook. She dies on the inside because she secretly is very sloppy and doesn’t cook at all. Xingyi actually knows all of this though and reassures her he just loves her the way she is.

Tao Yating

Although in the beginning Cancan really dislikes her perfect cousin Tao Yating (Wu Shuangyi) out of jealousy, Yating is truly a good child. She’s touted as the school’s prettiest and best student but is very modest and just focuses on her music and her studies. Cancan will throw her snide remarks but she never fights back or have negative feelings for Cancan. Luckily they become very close after Cancan realizes she really screwed up. Tao Yating’s love line is that of the student falling in love with the music teacher, Zhou Lin (Vincent Wei). No matter how many guys throw themselves at her, her sights are continuously set on Zhou Lin. Even when he’s getting married, she tries her best to give them a blessing.

Problems

My main criticism for this drama would be the last four episodes. They rushed the storyline, trying to cram a lot of information in the last four episodes after Tian Ye comes back from the USA. This is actually the best opportunity to input some really juicy situations between the two leads. The way they get back together is rather uneventful but I will admit, quite fitting. I just wish they had more screen time with Tian Ye and Can Can. A Love So Beautiful did the fast forward ending spectacularly with lots of sweets scenes of Chen Xiaoxi (Shen Yue) and Jiang Chen (Hu Yitian).

Also there are some editing bugs throughout the drama but mostly in the end. It starts off as quality production but it felt like things got a little careless towards the end. Let’s see if you catch them!

All in all this is a great drama that even though is light-hearted, has a lot of thoughtful details and really captures the glory of youth.