Notable Actors/Actresses
First Impression: 3/5
Mini Recaps
FanFanX: Just wanted to watch another miniseries but didn’t realize this one wasn’t light. This one comes with a warning.
Trigger Warning: Mental health issues, violent acts including suicide, death, assault, and rape.
[Ep1] Mi Chong’s POV (what happened before diving into the river): One by one everyone in Mi Chong's family dies (illness, accident, etc.). and he finally becomes an orphan. He has crippling social anxiety, lives alone, and keeps to himself. He allows his neighbor to come by once in a while (with the intent of having her find his body some day). On this day, he leaves the house to go to the river, where he intends to commit suicide (wants to share his death anniversary with the author, Osamu Dazai). Mi Chong is standing on a short boardwalk with rope tied on his body tethered to a block. But then he sees a young woman drowning and without any other thought, he jumps in to save her. She wakes up and decks him (as he's looking at her necklace).
Zhi Liao’s POV (what happened before the drowning): Zhi Liao is a pretty girl, dresses casually (punk/alternative vibe), wears huge hoop earrings and a choker. She is direct and loud (not too loud, but not exactly ladylike). She makes her living by scamming people at her boss' bar. (Boss gets a cut and the remainder is split with her partner.) Her partner in crime is Jin Jie - he cleans up after her latest target. On this day, she forgets to check her drink and ends up getting drugged and taken away by the two men (her targets). They intend to rape her in the car. She wakes up from the noise of the moving car. She’s in the backseat and notices the guy grasping at her clothes and so she forces herself to vomit (by thinking of vomit-inducing things including durian). She actually vomits on the guy, and causes the driver to look behind at them and causes him to crash into a construction sign. The men start arguing about the car damage. She is now barely crawling (more like dragging herself) out of the car while the men are arguing about their car damage. She is dragging herself onto the sidewalk and over the barrier, and ends up going into the river. She’s barely able to swim because the drugs have rendered her barely able to move.
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| Curious guy. |
Currently, she wakes up to Mi Chong looking at her necklace and she actually hits him right on the nose. She is also in his apartment laying in his bed.
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| She makes him stay seated on the floor. |
They’re sitting on the floor now while he’s tending to his nose. She starts asking for money to forget this ever happened. They’re interrupted by the doorbell and Zhi Liao looks through the peephole. She sees an older woman and purposely removes her pajama bottoms to answer the door. She opens the door and the woman looks at her bare legs, and it turns out to be his neighbor dropping off her rent payment. Zhi Liao accepts the envelope of cash and closes the door on the woman’s face. (Guess he owns more than one place.) She keeps the money, changes her clothes (more of his actually) and then leaves.
On her way back to her place, she realizes that her partner, Jin Jie who she trusted with her life had purposely let her get drugged and taken away. And now she overhears him saying that he was planning to turn her in to their boss (Boss Qiang) when he finds her.
Mi Chong’s POV: Mi Chong is not sure if he can wait another year to have the same death anniversary as Osamu Dazai. Now he's contemplating death by hanging, so he starts practicing ways to tie the perfect noose. Then he cleans the house and himself in preparation. He leaves his front door openly slightly with a note in the wall for his neighbor to find. He's standing on a chair and watching his last sunset before hanging himself - but Zhi Liao barges back into his apartment.
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| Dripping wet boxers hanging in the noose. |
He's kind of hanging with his hands on the noose, his head kind of in the noose. She asks what's going on. His timer goes off and jumps off the chair to turn it off. He replies with, "I just want to hang my clothes." Yup, because it’s normal for people to hang clothing with a noose in the middle of the room. He knows it’s a crappy lie. She thinks only an idiot would fall for it. So she offers to help him hang his wet clothes throughout his place, including a pair of dripping wet boxers in the noose. LOL
She flops down onto his couch, removes her boots and outside layers, and tells him to let her stay for a few days. She asks him several questions: when he leaves for work, does he make breakfast and what's for dinner. Meanwhile, he's thinking about his next suicide attempt. He tells her that he had just tidied up the place.
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| Everything is his. But somehow, it’s all hers now. |
She's drinking a bottle of milk and just glares at him in response. He sits down next to her and asks her why she is back. She tells him again that she's staying a few days and gives him the rent money (the money she stole from him). His inner thoughts: "it's all mine anyway" - the milk, clothes and money.
So she's literally hanging out at his place: watching TV on his bed and then sitting on the couch. He's thinking that she's ruining his plans, and if she had arrived 5 minutes later, he'd be done (dead) by now. He's looking up who died on this day but then he stops as he's reached his data limit for the day. He goes to another part of the room and is resolute on dying today. He is emptying a bottle of sleeping pills into his hand to see if there's enough, and thinks that he'll succeed today because he's a lucky person. (Perhaps bad luck?)
[Ep2] Liu Zhi interrupts him and asks if he has any sleeping pills, as he's holding onto a palm full of them behind his back. She says that she's not staying anymore - she wants to die. He thinks there are many types of suicidal people, and she looked like the kind who would regret it. He says he doesn't have any pills, but is actually throwing the handful of pills into the trash can as they're talking.
She leaves him alone and flops down on his bed. She's thinking about why she's been betrayed, and that she should never trust anyone. She suddenly demands to use his phone. He hands it over and she makes a call, cursing loudly at someone and throws his phone out the window and breaks the neighbor's planter. (She’s got quite a temper.) He calmly says, that was his phone. She offers her broken phone to him and asks if he wants to throw it. He shakes his head. And so she just throws out her phone, too. He thinks to himself, she's slightly psychotic but it's okay that his phone just went slightly before he did.
Later in the night, she's laying on his bed watching TV. He's sitting in a chair next to her, and stares at the hanging noose in the ceiling (still has boxers in it) and thinks to himself as soon as she falls asleep… She suddenly pops up and tells him let's go out and have fun. (For her, this time of night is when she's in her highest spirits.) He asks, right now? And looks at the clock - it’s 10 o’clock at night. She says it's still early. He thinks, who goes out at this hour?
He doesn't usually go out. But he realizes he has a hard time saying no to Zhi Liao. (If he did say no to her, what would happen? If looks could cut…) Now they're at a dark club with bright strobe lights, loud music and it's crowded. He's sitting down while she's dancing all over the place. He drinks a shot and thinks that he's going to regret it. A random guy at the bar is watching Zhi Liao.
Now they're back outside, and he's drunk and flopped face-down on the stairs, not able to stand up and walk, while she's all energetic and yelling his name as a special guest for a concert, thanking him for taking her in and she's going to sing a song of praise. He's thinking that she's the most uninhibited person he's ever met. She dominates all the places that she doesn't belong to in her own way. Her singing voice makes someone like him who seeks death to want to survive this.
As he’s crawling up the stairs towards home, he feels like he’s a soldier trying to get away from her singing (pretty much full-on screeching, lol), and she’s a fighter plane carpet-bombing anything in the two-kilometer radius. (Hahaha, she’s a walking bomb either way.) Now he wants to get home as soon as possible, and keep her outside. A neighbor starts yelling at her noisiness. She starts climbing the stairs and walks around him. Nearby, the guy from the bar is on the phone, reporting on Zhi Liao's whereabouts.
The next day, Mi Chong wakes up with Zhi Liao next to him. Well, she’s kind of sleeping on him. He removes her arm and leg from his body. She remains dead asleep, so he gets out of the bed to attempt to go hang himself. He's standing on a stack of books and is about to put his head through the noose. It's nearly 5 a.m. but she wakes up abruptly and loudly which causes him to fall off of the books and he attempts to make it look like he's been reading (but the book is upside down). (Is he afraid of getting caught or just loses his nerve everytime?) She gets up to use the bathroom. He thinks about what he has to say to get her to leave.
She’s looking at his photo and asks if the fat kid in the photo is him. He says yes. Then she asks him where is everyone else? (It's a family photo with cutouts of his family members because they're all deceased.) He decides to reply darkly that he killed them. She continues eating her apple and just says, ou. He looks at her and she says that she likes that. (In the battle of wills, I'd put my money on her.)
They're now eating at a quiet restaurant - well, she's eating. And he's daydreaming about slashing his throat right in front of her as she's eating and his blood splatters on her. (It’s a short but violent and bloody scene.) She asks him why he's spacing and not eating. He replies that he's used to eating alone. She throws down a pair of chopsticks in front of him.
Some guy runs in yelling his name, ruffles Mi Chong’s hair and says he went by his place and there was no answer and figured he'd be there and just sits down at their table. Mi Chong is starting to flip out that there are three of them at the table now. The guy also takes Mi Chong’s water glass and drinks from it, and then steals his chopsticks and his bowl of food. He asks Mi Chong about his phone as he couldn't get through. Zhi Liao replies that she threw it away. The guy then asks if he knows this girl. Mi Chong nods but is thinking, he doesn't really want to know her. (Guy, you rescued her and brought her to your home - anyone else would’ve taken her to the hospital or called for an ambulance.) This guy then says hi to her but she just ignores him.
This guy turns out to be Mi Chong's older cousin, Zhi Xian, and considered to be his only friend - if Mi Chong really considers him to be a friend. His cousin has brought him a proposal and contract and tells him to not miss out on this opportunity and wants a deposit now (5,000 yuan - and it sounds like a pyramid scheme.) He won't let him look at the paperwork. Zhi Liao has been glaring at Mi Chong’s cousin during his sales pitch. She starts coughing. His cousin pulls out his credit card machine for processing the payment. Then he puts his arm around Mi Chong and whispers to him to just agree to the contract and to give him the payment.
Now, Zhi Liao takes a drink of her water and sprays it accidentally at his cousin. She apologizes and says that she was feeling a bit disgusted. (She’s pretty much sneering at him. lol) She offers to wipe his face - by shoving a towel on his face, kind of presses it on his face, and just keeps talking about wiping his face. (His cousin deserves it for his rudeness.) Mi Chong has a curious look on his face and is wondering what she's doing. She then grabs the paperwork and flips through it. She suggests that he (his cousin) should just sign himself up for this great opportunity. She slaps the paperwork at his cousin and then asks for the bill (from the restaurant). His cousin tells him that his friend doesn't understand and he'll talk to him in private next time, and then he runs away like his pants are on fire. (It’s pretty funny watching him scurry away like the rat that he is.)
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| Our defeated puppy. |
Zhi Liao asks Mi Chong if he knew that that guy was trying to cheat him of his money - and if she wasn't there - would he have been cheated out of money. Mi Chong hangs his head and says, "I know." (He looks like a sad puppy to me.) She asks him then why wasn't he retaliating? She pulls out his wallet from his back pocket, pulls out the cash for herself and then shoves his wallet into his shirt pocket - and then says that her fees are more reasonable, right? (LOL, I already love this crazy girl.) He asks her, how is this different? She replies, how is this the same? She’s bullying him - but his cousin was bullying her friend (Mi Chong). (Her code of ethics is not necessarily sound but I’d still want her in my corner.)
Her saying the word "friend" triggers his high school memories of being called a jinx and being bullied by everyone including his cousin. Flashback: Students, including his cousin, are bullying him. His cousin puts the first jacket on Mi Chong's head and everyone else follows suit. "Friends are just like clothes. You can't wear too many. And I don't even want a single piece on me. " (I wanted to sob at this scene and statement.) He removed the pile from his head and threw the jackets down on the ground. "Friends are tiring. Discerning who is a true friend is even more tiring."
They’re back at the apartment and Mi Chong is soaking in the bathtub and realizes it's another good opportunity to kill himself. He turns up the radio and grabs his switchblade. Meanwhile, Zhi Liao is in the living room flipping through channels on the TV. The doorbell rings, and she looks through the peephole but can't see the person, only what looks like a package label. So she opens the door and it’s Jin Jie. She tries to close the door but it’s too late - he pushes his way in. She doesn't want to see him and tells him that he sold her out. He's telling her to go back with him and trying to take her with him. She’s fighting against his hold. Meanwhile, Mi Chong is getting ready to slit his wrists but decides against it because it would be too bloody. (Bloody for who - for her to find?)
Jin Jie is currently manhandling Zhi Liao and injuring her in the process. She is still trying to fight back. And then Mi Chong walks into the room, and gets punched several times by Jin Jie. Zhi Liao is yelling and jumps on Jin Jie’s back get to stop him from hurting Mi Chong, but he throws her off of him and onto the floor and pulls out a switchblade. Mi Chong sits on the couch and actually welcomes him and just waits for it. He’s thinking, let all of this end quickly.
He closes his eyes and waits. But he hears the crashing sound of something breaking. Zhi Liao knocks out Jin Jie from behind with a large vase. The vase breaks from the impact and Jin Jie flops down into the floor with his head bleeding out.. She asks Mi Chong if he thinks he’s (Jin Jie) dead. Mi Chong puts his ear to his chest and says that he hears something. (But he actually doesn't.) Zhi Liao grabs their jackets and tells him that they need to leave. She's injured and barely able to walk so he ends up carrying her on his back down the stairs. They end up taking Jin Jie's motorbike (she had grabbed his keys). The neighbor sees them leaving together.
[Mi Chong's voiceover: Some journeys have a clear beginning, a destination and a plan. But some have no plans nor destination. Even the travelers are forced to go together. Before you realize, you are already on a journey, not even knowing it has begun. You were just fleeing from this place. And you have no idea what is waiting for you up ahead.]
[Ep3] Mi Chong is driving them around on the motorbike now.
Mi Chong's POV: He doesn't know why but he thinks that Zhi Liao reminds him of family. He feels that the sense of uneasiness is growing strong.
Zhi Liao's POV: What surprised her is that this person actually made her feel that she could trust him.
Mi Chong suddenly stops the bike, gets off and tells Zhi Liao that she's not safe with him. She's thinking if she doesn't follow him around, he wouldn't live for more than two days. (I guess she doesn't realize he's not trying to live? Or she's ignoring that fact altogether.)
Mi Chong is thinking that if he takes her with him, she's the one who won't survive for more than two days (because of his bad luck?).
Zhi Liao's boss, Qiang, who owns the bar, has severe OCD, sets the rules, father of the gang and loves birds, and is currently cutting avocados in half and comparing them. Something has happened to his bird. One of his guys is telling him that he had something to do in the afternoon, so he asked Jin Jie to take the bird to the vet. However, Jin Jie and the bird are both missing now.
Mi Chong and Zhi Liao check into a motel, and they ask for one room. But Zhi Liao won't register for the room and says she'll leave when he's settled in.
Boss Qiang and his goon are now calling Jin Jie, from outside Mi Chong's place and the phone rings in his pocket as he's still laying down on Mi Chong's floor. (Is the guy dead? Who knows.)
Mi Chong is wrapping up Zhi Liao's left foot as she's thinking about Jin Jie and what's happened. She not sure why these awful things keep happening to her. She asks Mi Chong if he's always been alone. Then she asks if he's kissed a girl before and if he wants to try. She suddenly kisses him on the cheek. He realizes his heart is beating too quickly. And as someone who has been finding ways to make it stop beating, something like this is clearly not part of the plan. They’re staring at each other now. Then she goes to kiss him again and he just shoves her away and she falls off of the bed. (LOL. It was not a pretty fall either.) He runs out of the room and stands outside the door for a moment. He thinks that Zhi Liao is ruining his peace. He finds this very troubling, so he goes to the desk and asks the motel owner for another room. Zhi Liao shows up and shoves him out of the way and says she'll leave once he's settled in.
She limps down the stairs and Mi Chong watches her limp away from the staircase. She's mentally begging him to go after her, put his arm on her shoulder and say something, anything to her. (I felt so bad for her then. She doesn’t want to be alone either.) He ends up turning around and walks away, walking back up the stairs. He's thinking he shouldn't do anything outside of his plan, let alone fantasize about what he's never had. Possessing something foreshadows losing it one day. This is something that he's always known since he was young. (This explains everything about why he is the way he is - he’s lost everything and stopped trying to care a long time. Because caring meant more loss.) He's not sure about this intense feeling. He thinks he should've been like that person laying dead in his home.
Mi Chong is now trying to listen to the radio in the hotel room but there isn’t a good signal. He hears Zhi Liao's voice, yelling at someone, who sounds like she's in trouble.
An hour earlier, because he didn't stop her from leaving, she decided then that the next person to enter the motel would be her new friend. That new friend is Xiao Dong,a skater boy who works at night as a valet. She’s been drinking with this guy and they are now laying down (fully-clothed) on a bed at the motel. Xiao Dong is telling her that drunk people are indecent, and he's taken photos of a very drunk woman before, and posted it online. This makes Zhi Liao sit up and ask him if he thinks he’d crossed the line. This guy gets very angry and starts throwing things in the room. He starts grabbing at her and she tries to leave the room. The motel owner breaks down the door and grabs her to take her to the police (does he think she's a sex worker?) Mi Chong is still just listening to everything from his room.
Xiao Dong runs out of the room, steals their motorbike and slams down on the ground what is presumably the missing bird in a covered birdcage. The hotel owner is demanding compensation from Zhi Liao for the damage in the room. Mi Chong finally rushes into the room and says she's his girlfriend, then changes it to his girlfriend's friend. He offers the only money he has, change, to give to the owner, who then demands that he take off his socks. The guy picks them up and starts sniffing the worn socks. (Creepy and gross!) He calls Boss Qiang, who tells them that she should serve the two men well. (Does he think she’s still with the ones who tried to rape her two days ago?) Mi Chong and Zhi Liao leave the motel and discover the birdcage on the ground. She tells him to take it with them. Mi Chong is starting to feel that luck and fate does exist in this world. And he's wondering if there is any special meaning behind saving Zhi Liao at the river that day.
[Ep4] They’re hiding in what looks like the locker room for a skating rink. She is telling him how much money they have left - started with 3,000 and they’ve spent 300 at the hotel. And he's thinking that he misses his sleep. Compared to Zhi Liao, he'd rather be with it more. He passes out asleep on her shoulder. She checks his forehead, realizes he isn't well, covers him with her jacket and leaves him with some cash. He knows he has had so many opportunities to leave Zhi Liao but he doesn't know why wasted all of them. This is the first opportunity that he missed out on.
Boss Qiang is now inside Mi Chong's place. Jin Jie tries to sneak attack Boss Qiang from behind but ends up face down on the couch with a knife in his back. (He's alive with a bandaged head, and left arm.) Boss Qiang just wants to know about the bird. Jin Jie blurts out that it's Zhi Liao, and that she and a guy beat him up. He goes even further to say that they stole the bird.
Mi Chong wakes up to Zhi Liao bringing him a cooling pad for his forehead, a bottle of medicine and a bottle of water. She's limping pretty badly still.
Zhi Liao realizes that Jin Jie could find them at any moment, so she gets a haircut. She gets her side braids taken out and has bangs. She looks nice and softer, even with her customary scowl. (I actually loved her previous look - very edgy.)
Later, she tells him about her necklace with the pendant. It's from her grandmother who is still alive, and sends her food every month without fail. He had assumed that she was deceased. She says that she just hasn't been back home in a long time.
Boss Qiang has Mi Chong's ID card and now they're looking for him as well.
They're running low on funds and can't afford to ride the bus. So Zhi Liao leaves to earn money, and leaves the bird with Mi Chong. This is the other opportunity that he missed out on (leaving her). She's out selling the scooter, and spots Boss Qiang's goons looking for her. They're talking about Jin Jie. She thinks about Jin Jie and wonders if he's alive. She despondently brings the money to Mi Chong and he says he bus is leaving. She asks him about him hearing Jin Jie's heartbeat. He says he did hear it. She asks him what the beat was like. He finally admits to her that he didn't hear one. She's now upset that they left him there. She asks if he feels anything. He tells her that everyone dies, we're all the same, it's just a matter of time. He tells her that she shouldn't have killed him then and they wouldn't be in this situation. She just looks at him with tears dripping down her face. She gets in his face and says that she shouldn't have picked up that vase and should've let him kill him, that way she'd be able to get rid of two jerks. He says that he never asked her for her help, and she was being nosy. (He's thinking that he shouldn't have said that.) She walks away from him but looks back at that and gives him a thumbs up gesture. They go their separate ways but he's still carrying the bird cage on his back.
Mi Chong is jealous that people could mourn Jin Jie's death, and wonders if anyone will mourn and be saddened by his death. He puts down the birdcage and walks down to the water and dives in. But as he’s letting himself sink down in water, he thinks about Zhi Liao and wondering why she's worried about Jin Jie and where she is, and he suddenly starts swimming up towards the surface because he needs to figure it out. (Does he actually care about someone now?)
Mi Chong's neighbor finds a ringing cell phone in a bag of rice while she's watering plants. She answers the phone and ends up meeting with Lu Ming, a social worker/investigator/prosecutor. She's looking for the owner of that cellphone, Zhi Liao. She needs to check in on her and to tell her something very important.
[Ep5] Boss Qiang’s goons are still looking for Mi Chong, who has no friends.
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| Such an accurate rendering of Zhi Liao. lol |
Mi Chong is at the bus station looking for Zhi Liao. He puts together a (horrible) drawing of her, which mentions the bird and that he'd meet her at their usual place until 6 p.m. He puts up the fliers and hands them out to anyone walking through the station.
He later meets up with a man named Zhao who owns an aquatic products shop, and a former gangster for help in finding Zhi Liao. This man is actually Mi Chong's uncle (his mother’s brother). But he won't help him.
The neighbor and Lu Ming are inside Mi Chong's place now. They find boxes of books by Osamu Dazai, and Lu Ming mentions that this author tried to commit suicide with different women, who all died but only he would survive every time. They also find Mi Chong's cousin hiding in the bathroom. He recognizes Zhi Liao in a photo shown by Lu Ming. The cousin says he was there because Mi Chong left him his will.
Zhi Liao is now starving to death. She is about to smash a display with a chair until she notices the cake stand of free samples. She eats about 90% of the samples. The owner finds her doing this and actually offers her more baked goods to eat. He explains that the bakery is closing permanently. He also gives her a huge bag of baked goods to take with her. His kindness reminds her of Mi Chong. Someone comes by demanding money from the owner but he doesn't have the money. She gives him all the money that she has, and writes a note for him to collect her pay from Boss Qiang and takes the bag of baked goods with her. She leaves and accidentally bumps into a stranger and finds Mi Chong's flyer for her. She discovers that her watch is not working, so she runs but still ends up arriving late to the station, at 6:35 p.m. She is upset but finds him sitting on the stairs. She hugs him. He apologizes to her and she struggles to get the words out but she does apologize as well. (She barely spits out that apology. lol)
Mi Chong and Zhi Liao ending up stealing his Uncle Zhao's truck for their getaway. (He considers this as taking back his mother's money.)
The guy with Zhi Liao’s note goes to see Boss Qiang to collect his money but he ends up getting beaten up.
[Ep6] Zhi Liao is happily driving the stolen truck (she's actually screaming with joy) and Mi Chong actually looks happy, too. He thinks that everything looks good. So far, at least.
They end up at the amusement park but it's closed. Zhi Liao still wants to spend the afternoon there. Mi Chong is pushing her in a bumper car (no electricity). But they're interrupted by a loud car horn outside. There's a woman tying up her sleeping daughter in the car (who she has drugged her daughter with sleeping pills), and now she's pouring gasoline all over the exterior of the car. She is interrupted by a call and it’s the dad is on the phone asking where she is and to not hurt their daughter.
Mi Chong and Zhi Liao decide to stay and try to save the girl. Mi Chong distracts the mother while Zhi Liao grabs the little girl from the car. Mi Chong carries the girl, and with Zhi Liao thy run and hide behind a wall in the bumper cars area. The little girl wakes up in Mi Chong's arms while her mother is screaming for her. (I’m not sure where the mother goes off to?) Zhi Liao checks to make sure she's okay. Mi Chong is reminded of his mother yelling at his father for drinking, his father leaving constantly to go get drunk and getting called useless because he was a drunk. In turn, growing up Mi Chong was told that he was useless by different people, adults and children, including his cousin, due to his father's alcoholism. He wonders, does people avoiding things like them have a greater responsibility? Is death the solution?
Currently, the dad drives up in his car to pick up the little girl. He explains that the mother has severe depression and does inexplicable things. He’s relieved that nothing happened to his daughter and then he drives away.
Lu Ming is driving on the road with Mi Chong's odious cousin. She mentions Mi Chong's will to his cousin. Then she talks about her theories: Mi Chong is evil and revised his plan to include her in his suicide plan, so Zhi Liao could be in danger; or he's a good person and she prevented him from killing himself but something unexpected happened and made them run away. His cousin is taking notes of everything she's saying. (I'm not a fan of Lu Ming's lines/acting so there's limited recapping for her.)
Mi Chong tells Zhi Liao that meeting her was the most special thing that happened to him. His inner thoughts: Meeting Zhi Liao is like finally finding the missing piece of an unfinished puzzle, the obsessive-compulsive self in him finally feeling satisfied. The sky finally clears up after 28 consecutive days of rain, and after a harsh winter, being able to go out at last in single-layered clothes on a warm afternoon. He's looking at her as he's thinking all of this. (Is she his bright light?)
They've finally arrived in Zhi Liao's hometown. She knocks on the door of her grandmother's home and a woman answers the door with a baby in her arms. She asks who she is. A man walks up, he says her name and asks why she's come back.
[Ep7] He's her older brother. She's asking about her grandmother, who apparently doesn't live there now. Zi Liao actually hasn’t visited in 5 years. She is very distant and hostile with her brother, who acts very friendly but meek around her. She finds out that her grandmother is staying elsewhere, while her brother is allowed to live there with his wife and their baby. (Mi Chong thinks that something doesn't feel right as he's watching them talk.)
They end up staying for dinner at her brother’s insistence and they stuff themselves. (It’s pretty funny watching them stuff their faces. Hahaha.)
Boss Qiang and his goons pay a visit to Mi Chong's cousin and father at the aquatics shop. Both men are being held hostage and threatened to tell Boss Qiang where Mi Chong is. His uncle tells them that he has GPS tracking for the truck (the key fob). Mi Chong's cousin calls Lu Ming to let her know about Boss Qiang's visit to his father’s shop.
After dinner, Zhi Liao's brother tries to approach her to talk to her, but she tells him to stay behind the line. There's a line on the floor in the room they’re standing in. She says he knows the rule and that she's only back for her grandma and she doesn't forgive him. He then asks how long she intends to stay this time. She says, why should she tell him about her plans? Mi Chong tries to intervene but Zhi Liao tells him to not tell her brother anything. She leaves to take a shower.
Mi Chong goes for a walk with Zhi Liao's brother. He asks him about his family, and Mi Chong says they've all passed. Her brother tells him that marriage is a good thing, as it gives him the opportunity to choose his family again. Mi Chong corrects him and says they're not getting married. Her brother laughs at this and says the two of them really look like a couple just then. Her brother gets some popsicles and cigarettes at a shop and looks pointedly at Mi Chong to pay. Mi Chong pays for the stuff.
Mi Chong arrives back (with the shopping bag) with her brother, and they find Zhi Liao sitting at the table waiting for him. (She’s pretty scary and very angry-looking here.) She asks Mi Chong where he’s been, and her brother answers her. But she cuts him off by telling that she's not talking to him. When she finds packs of cigarettes in the shopping bag, she is now even more livid that her brother made Mi Chong spend their money on his cigarettes. Now she's upset with Mi Chong, too. She leaves the room and Mi Chong follows her out.
Mi Chong and Zhi Liao are sitting outside and feeding the bird. Her brother sets down a bucket of herbal soak for her foot, and says he'll give her ointment later. She looks at Mi Chong who has a little smile and just nods. Her brother says that Mi Chong told him about her injury. She tells her brother that she doesn't want him pretending that they get along and asks him to leave her alone. She refuses to use the foot soak and asks for peace and quiet. (She thinks to herself, this is one of the reasons why she didn't want to come home.) He leaves them alone. Mi Chong says he thought that since they were family. She cuts him off and asks if he knows what family is. She continues that he's only her brother and nothing to her. She tells him to stop being a busybody and walks away. Mi Chong and Zhi Liao sleep in the same room but in separate beds. His thoughts: He's confused as to why she's somewhere familiar but it makes them more of strangers now. Her thoughts: Does anyone who has apologized deserve to be forgiven?
The next day, Zhi Liao wants to leave but Mi Chong tells her that he promised her brother that they would eat breakfast before leaving. She's not happy about it but she stays for breakfast. It's an awkward silent breakfast but she then compliments her sister-in-law's cooking.
Someone is at the main door and she runs out to check, and her brother runs after her. She opens the door with a smile thinking it might be her grandmother. She loses her smile instantly. It turns out to be a man, smoking a cigarette and says to her "You've grown up girl." She freezes at the sight of him and backs away from him as he keeps walking closer and closer to her. She keeps asking why he's there. The man says he's there to talk to her brother, and to check on his daughter. She looks at her sister-in-law and her brother.
Her brother looks at her and says things are not like how they were previously, and to let bygones be bygones. She was staring at the man but now she glares at her brother. He goes on to say that his father-in-law has felt guilty since the incident and has apologized many times. Her brother goes on further to say that he’s been looking for her but she wasn’t around.
Her sister-in-law physically drags her father out and makes him leave, and he is still looking at Zhi Liao. Zhi Liao then goes to follow them but her brother stops her. Her sister-in-law comes back. He asks Zhi Liao to let it go. Now she starts screaming and beating on her brother, and her sister-in-law tries to stop her from continuing to beat him. Finally, her brother gets off the ground and grabs her to shake her and screams over and over if she's done yet. Then he shouts if it's enough that that man raped her and he's raped that man's daughter (his wife). (What a heartless asshole.) His wife slaps him for that and leaves sobbing. However, her sister-in-law returns and says that she can't believe that she went along with the act. She gives her a photo of her grandmother, her grandma's inheritance and all the money that she had sent to home in the past 5 years, and suggests that she have a talk with her brother. Zhi Liao is looking at her brother in shock, and is speechless now. Her sister-in-law runs off and her brother goes after her. Mi Chong is watching all of this unfold from a distance. (Is her brother seriously that emotionless that he’d think she’d want to see her rapist?!)
Flashback: She's in a school uniform and getting raped by that man in a basement. And it turns out that her brother had walked down the stairs, and seen it happening and heard her screams but he did absolutely nothing but watch and cry silently. So this is why she won't forgive her brother.
[Ep8] She's now standing at her grandmother's tombstone and clutching at her pendant. She's remembering when her grandmother gave the pendant to her. She kneels down and breaks down sobbing, and Mi Chong consoles her by putting his hand on her shoulder.
[Mi Chong’s voiceover: It's only at this moment that I feel I finally understand her. Although it's difficult to find someone whose feelings you can relate to, but I could understand how she's feeling.] He finally does not feel lonely.
Zhi Liao: Does the death of your family members hurt you this much last time?
Mi Chong: I don't know much since I was too young. When my father left, I was the saddest.
Zhi Liao: Do you still think about them?
Mi Chong: Yes. Every day. I do, every day.
Meanwhile, her brother is at home and destroying things at his house and in the courtyard. He's venting his anger at his sister for hitting him, and starts stomping on the bird cage as the bird continues squawking. He is still stomping on the bird cage as Boss Qiang and his goons show up at the house. Later, Lu Ming arrives as Zhi Liao's brother is being loaded into the ambulance.
Mi Chong and Zhi Liao decide to stay in an abandoned house for the night. The next morning, Zhi Liao wakes up alone and goes frantically looking for Mi Chong. She has a bad feeling about this.
Boss Qiang's goons show up and they find Mi Chong first. Then they find Zhi Liao. They're both tied up. Boss Qiang tells her that he's angry about the dead bird (his late mother’s last gift to him) and tells her that Jun Jie isn't dead. (She's relieved that he's not dead.)
Lu Ming finally shows up (always several steps behind). She saves Mi Chong who the goons are burying alive. Once she frees him, refuses to let him look for Zhi Liao. But he gets tears in his eyes and asks what if she has only one minute left? Lu Ming agrees to let them split up and look for Zhi Liao.
Boss Qiang wants her to pay for the bird’s death, and calls her impure. She starts fighting the goons, screaming as she's being carried closer to the water. The goons throw her on the ground, and Boss Qiang asks her to choose between his (Mi Chong’s) life or her own life.
Zhi Liao: You're the real weakling. My biggest mistake is associating with you guys before.
Boss Qiang: Is it worth it for a stranger? What bewitching potion did he use on you?
Zhi Liao: He's the one who's opened up my eyes. He let me understand that some people can be good to you without conditions.
The men throw Zhi Liao into the water with her hands tied behind her back. Her last thoughts are of Mi Chong and her moments with Mi Chong. “Someone once said, ‘You're never too late when it comes to certain things.’ I'm not sure if it was too late for me to change. I wish I could have met him sooner. Thank you. Thank you for giving me this last bit of warmth.”
Mi Chong is swimming towards her. “29 years old. Who knew the first day of spring in my life would be about water and the men by the water. I thank him for forcing the girl I like to jump into the water a second time. I'm referring to a story about buoyancy.“ He reaches her and kisses her underwater to give her oxygen. She opens her eyes and he brings her back up to the surface. They get up above the water and catch their breath. She finally asks asks him, why did he come? He just looks at her wordlessly, and she stares back. Until they’re interrupted.
Boss Qiang is watching them menacingly, and says that her boyfriend is interesting. Mi Chong thinks this is the second time he’s met Qiang Ge and he feels...He looks at him and tells him, “I’m not scared of you” as he is still carrying Zhi Liao in his arms in the water.
 |
| He’s brave now. |
Lu Ming shows up behind Boss Qiang and his goons while video recording them on her cellphone. Then she rattles off all of his crimes and how many laws were broken. Finally, she kicks him in the head and the cops finally show up in time to arrest them.
Zhi Liao and Mi Chong are now sitting by the water with towels draped on their shoulders. Lu Ming tells her that she had been looking for Zhi Liao to tell that her rapist was out of prison. And she tells her that the person who hurt her can't decide her future. And then she leaves.
Mi Chong: Perhaps, we should live by the beach.
They’re looking at each other.
Mi Chong: Find a small town by the beach and open a bakery. Make the world's best bread. My skills aren't too bad. I can be your assistant. I thought you liked having bread.
Zhi Liao: Are you serious?
Mi Chong: Yes. It's just an idea. If we don't open a bakery, a salon would do as well. I normally cut my own hair so it may work. But you'll need to handle the customer relations.
She looks away, and now he's watching her.
Mi Chong: Only if you're willing to.
She's still looking away from him and says nothing. She finally lets out a big sigh and finally looks at him again.
Zhi Liao: I like bakeries.
And then they both laugh. He nods. And she puts her arm around him, on his shoulders.
Zhi Liao: I’m in charge of the money.
Mi Chong: Yes.
They both laugh at this.
Voiceover:
Mi Chong: I’m Mi Chong.
Zhi Liao: I’m Zhi Liao.
Mi Chong: I’m a lucky person.
Zhi Liao: It turns out that I’m a lucky person, too.
The End.
Remarks
[First Impression (Ep1-2)] At this point, I’m intrigued as Mi Chong has already attempted suicide four times (kind of) and is now dealing with an unwanted houseguest. I already have a soft spot for Mi Chong. I admire Zhi Liao’s fierceness and her ability to survive and persevere. In the interest of providing full warning - this series is dark - there are acts and descriptions of violence, trauma and suicide attempts.
[Actors/Actresses] I seriously love seeing (and listening to) Liang Jiang Kang right now. I liked him in My Love, Enlighten Me, which led me to this series. I also like Wei Wei, who has some good range - from being fierce to soft and broken. They have good chemistry together.
[Behind the Scenes] N/A. :(
[Ending] Sweet ending.
[Review & Rating]
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